232 Chapter 229 A New Rune (1/2)
”I ended him,” said Joseph into the darkness. There still wasn't anyone there to talk to. The voice was echoing from s.p.a.ce. Whoever owned this place was hiding.
”RIDICULOUS!” the voice shrieked. ”NOTHING YOU CAN DO, CANNOT BE UNDONE BY ME!”
”EMIT?”
”YES! FOOLISH MORTAL, IT IS I. THE G.o.d OF TIME. AND YOU, YOU INSIGNIFICANT ANT OF A BEING, DARE TO CHALLENGE ME. YOU MAY HAVE ESCAPED THROUGH SOME STUPID LUCK LAST TIME, BUT THIS TIME, I WILL ERASE YOU COMPLETELY. FIRST, I'M GOING TO FIGURE OUT WHY I CAN'T BRING BACK THAT NURKONG BRAT.”
Joe had almost figured out the divine realm thing. It was a good thing NURKONG used his powers on them several times for practice. Joseph didn't have as many countermeasures for time magic, instead of just death. Hopefully, this moron wanted to brag.
”KILLING SOME OF THE PETTY UNDERLING G.o.dS WAS BAD ENOUGH, BUT THEN YOU WANTED TO RAISE YOUR HAND AGAINST ONE OF THE TRUE G.o.dS.”
”I was defending myself.”
”FOOL! WE ARE G.o.dS. YOU ARE ONLY A MORTAL. IF WE WISH YOU TO DIE, THEN YOU SHOULD DIE. YOU HAVE NO OTHER USE BUT TO PROVIDE US WITH MORE POWER. YOUR ARGUMENT IS AS WORTHLESS AS ONE OF YOUR CATTLE SAYING IT WISHES TO NOT BE KILLED.”
”Actually, if one of my cattle started asking not to be killed, I would totally spare it.”
'There, he took long enough,' whispered Joe. ”I figured out how his divine realm works.'
”THIS IS WHY IT'S USELESS TALKING TO YOU MORTALS. I HAVE EXISTED FOR COUNTLESS EONS. YOU CANNOT EVEN BEGIN TO IMAGINE THE THINGS I HAVE SEEN AND DONE. AND I HAVE NEVER LOST.”
”Of course not. You're a coward.”
”WHAT!?”
”Whenever you lose, you just rewind time to try again, don't you?”
”HOW DID YOU…? HOW DID A WORM LIKE YOU FIGURE THAT OUT? EVEN THE OTHER G.o.dS DON'T KNOW OF WHAT I DO. WHENEVER I AM FOUND OUT, I REVERSE THINGS TO BEFORE AND PREVENT IT. I HAVE LEFT NO TRACES FOR YOU TO DETECT!”
”I figure that's why you don't like others jumping in time, right? It's harder to hide that you do that, when others do it too. All that complaining about time lines being in disarray is just because you're lazy.”
”WHAT DO YOU KNOW, WORM? THERE ISN'T ANY PROOF, AND I'M ABOUT TO ERASE YOU!”
”Oh, I was just stalling.”
”HAHAHAHA!”
DIVINE AUTHORITY - REWIND TIME.
”NO MATTER WHAT YOU TRY, I WILL SIMPLY REVERSE IT. YOU CANNOT BEAT ME. I NEVER RUN OUT OF DIVINITY. DO YOU KNOW WHY? BECAUSE DEATH AND THE Pa.s.sAGE OF TIME ARE WHAT MORTALS FEAR THE MOST. I FEAST ON THE POWER OF EVERY MORTAL, IN EVERY REALM IN EXISTENCE. ALL THE G.o.dS OF DEATH HAVE TO SHARE THE HARVEST, BUT I ALREADY REMOVED ALL OF MY COMPEt.i.tION. THEY NEVER EXISTED IN THE FIRST PLACE.”
Joseph was relieved. If he had tried it immediately after summoning him, he would have really struggled with preventing that.
”Thank you for confirming my suspicions. I was worried there was some other G.o.d behind you, too. It's good to know killing you will clear up all of this divine shavist.”
”WHAT ARE YOU TALKING ABOUT? YOU SHOULDN'T REMEMBER THE CONVERSATION WE WERE HAVING.”
”Do you know how hard it would be to break in here? You brought me here, so there wouldn't be any traces of trying to erase me, but it was still incredibly stupid. STELLA.”
”Yes, Joseph?” Stella stepped out of his shadow, and looked around.
”IMPOSSIBLE! HOW DID YOU BRING SOMEONE TO MY DIVINE REALM WITHOUT MY PERMISSION?”
”I brought her to my realm. My mana territory is absolute, and you talked long enough to let me overcome this little section of your divine realm.”
DIVINE AUTHORITY - REWIND TIME.
EMIT appeared, fury written all over his features. Stella charged him, while Joseph threw a fireball. It winked out of existence as soon as it pa.s.sed 100 yards.
He turned to Stella as she pa.s.sed the 100-yard mark, but she didn't hesitate. Joseph had told her to keep going through their mind link, so she did.