CH 325

There was no way Gi-Gyu could forget his voice and face.

“Kronos!” Gi-Gyu yelled as he put more force into propelling the sword. If one looked at the scene, they might think he was only physically pushing the sword, but the truth was far from it. Gi-Gyu’s eyes were already gray with Chaos, and the same Chaos was storming inside him. The amount of power he used to propel the sword could easily annihilate a city.

However, Kronos easily blocked the attack with his bare hands. He mumbled calmly, “You have gotten much stronger.”

Kronos sounded like a teacher instructing a child with his wooden sword.

“And you’re pretty good at wielding Chaos too,” said Kronos before swinging his arm, smacking Gi-Gyu so hard that he flew far and fell to the ground.

“This can’t be…!” Gi-Gyu mumbled as he rose quickly. “How is he so powerful?”

Gi-Gyu couldn’t understand. He was certain he was powerful. He was stronger than before, and he was becoming stronger still. So this wasn’t fair. It was true that he couldn’t use God’s power perfectly, but after becoming one with Jupiter, he had become much better at using Chaos, Death, and other energies.

Yet, it appeared that it just wasn’t enough.

“Ackkk!” Gi-Gyu screamed as if he had lost his mind while he ran toward Kronos. Hermes and his entire body glowed from the use of the Accelerate skill. Gi-Gyu put much more power into his sword and swung.

‘I did it. I cut him,’ Gi-Gyu thought. Kronos slowly crumbled down, and Gi-Gyu absorbed him. His body split, and many thoughts crossed Gi-Gyu’s mind.

‘Why did the Tower and the gates appear on Earth?’

‘Why were my mother and Yoo-Jung forced to leave?’

‘Why did my father have to die?’

He thought about Andras, Ironshield, Gabriel, and the one behind all this.

While Gi-Gyu was watching Kronos melt away aimlessly, the voice he hated the most whispered from behind him, “I let you cut me because it seemed that you were desperate to do it. Yet it looks like you aren’t happy with it.”

Gi-Gyu turned on one foot and stepped back. He got ready for an attack, but Kronos appeared to have no intention of battling him.

“...!” Gi-Gyu gasped when the man’s face became clearer. “You are…”

Staring at Kronos’ face, Gi-Gyu asked, “Ha Song-Su…?”

Since the voice belonged to Kronos, Gi-Gyu had assumed the figure would have Kronos’ face. But the face undoubtedly belonged to Ha Song-Su—the same guy he had defeated in Berserk Mode.

“How…?” Gi-Gyu’s face filled with confusion.

“It’s probably because it reacted to my energy,” Kronos said nonchalantly as he hid in the darkness again.

‘Are my eyes deceiving me? Was I confused by Kronos’energy?’ Gi-Gyu wondered as he calmed down and thought about the situation logically.

The man in front of him was definitely Kronos.

‘Could it be that he stole Ha Song-Su’s body?’

Perhaps Kronos’ immense power and Chaos had deceived Gi-Gyu, making him think the figure looked like Kronos. After all, the man before him undoubtedly had Ha Song-Su’s body.

“But you’re Kronos,” Gi-Gyu muttered. He had defeated Kronos, Kronos had melted away, and he had absorbed Kronos as a nutrient—Everything was a lie. He had just realized it was all an illusion.

‘It’s because this is his space.’ Gi-Gyu realized that Kronos had created this place and flooded it with his power. Gi-Gyu remembered the time when he had met Kronos inside the Tower. In that particular place, Kronos had acted like he was a god. Kronos had the power to create and destroy everything at will.

“Now.” When Kronos waved his hand, something appeared. It was a giant table and a chair, just like the one Gi-Gyu had seen the last time.

Kronos explained, “I originally planned on appearing at another time, but I thought this would be amusing as well. That is why I interfered in person to see you.”

“Shut up.” Gi-Gyu’s energy annihilated the table and chair, which appeared to be something Kronos had selected with care.

Kronos seemed to appreciate the coldness in Gi-Gyu’s voice. With a smile, he replied, “Good. I like that. Son, do you know the truth about creation?”

It was such a random question. With madness dancing in his eyes, Kronos asked again, “Do you know how this world was created?!”

***

“Tsk! This is nuts,” Lou spat out blood and muttered. The internal damage he had suffered wasn’t from being attacked. It was from using too much energy to wield Harmageddon when he wasn’t fit enough.

Looking up at Gabriel, who was still floating in the sky, Lou continued, “I guess we should at least be thankful that he still hasn’t attacked us yet.”

After using his divine energy in the form of a laser beam, Gabriel hadn’t moved a muscle. He hadn’t spoken a word either.

“It’s probably because he still hasn’t gained his full power yet,” El replied. Lou agreed with her. Gabriel had descended to Earth using a power he wasn’t allowed to wield. He was only an angel, yet he had stolen his master’s power to descend to Earth.

El continued, “The power he holds is different from that of God, but its amount is comparable.”

What Gabriel had wasn’t the power of order like God had. He only had simple divine energy, but there was so much of it that he seemed like God.

Hamiel wondered out loud, “How could he have gained so much power?”

Hamiel couldn’t believe his eyes when Gabriel had descended. After all, having enormous power was one thing but being able to use that power was a whole new ballgame.

‘It means he has a shell that can hold all that power,’ Hamiel thought in awe.

Looking at Michael, Lou asked, “But you said that’s not even Gabriel’s real body.”

Michael, with his wings open wide, was panting heavily. He had been attacking Gabriel all this time, which was why he looked exhausted. Gabriel looked like himself from the past, but the truth wasn’t as straightforward.

Michael explained, “He used his power to change his appearance, that’s all.”

Gabriel’s original form now belonged to the human Michael. Surprisingly, the real pope’s body was strong enough to hold God’s power, and it had become Gabriel’s current body after a few modifications.

“The Holy Grail…” Michael mumbled. “He stole my Holy Grail.”

“Holy Grail? You mean that divine item?” asked Lou apathetically. “So what? The grail holds a lot of power, but even that can’t expand someone’s shell. That has nothing to do with this.”

The Colosseum’s air boiled even as they chatted. They had no idea when Gabriel would make his move, but they all knew one thing for certain.

‘Once he’s ready, we’re all doomed.’ 

They would die if Gabriel took the offensive. They had already used everything they had to kill him. And Gabriel had just taken the attacks without even actively defending himself. Still, they had failed to even scratch him.

“...!” El suddenly looked up at the sky. “Could it be… that the legend is true?”

“...?” Lou and Hamiel looked at her in confusion.

But Michael understood what she was referring to. He replied, “Saintess—I mean, El… Yes, you're probably right. I only briefly had Gabriel’s memories, but I believe you’re correct.”

For Gabriel to control Michael, Gabriel had to inject his memory into Michael.

“The Holy Grail represents…” Michael began.

“The mark,” El and Michael said simultaneously.

El continued, “It’s the mark of an angel king.”

“And whoever holds it and can summon its power will have the ability to…” Michael added.

“Gain the power of all angels,” El and Michael said simultaneously again.

Lou looked up at the sky.

El explained, “It’s just an ancient myth. But I wanted to believe it, so I tried to carry out the procedure before the holy sword ceremony. But I didn’t know the proper steps, which made it an impossible task.”

To have the power of all angels would mean that the recipient would gain power comparable to that of God. It seemed like an impossible dream, but perhaps Gabriel had succeeded. If so, the current situation would make sense.

El asked, “But how did he find the way to do it? Do you know?”

“That’s…” Michael shook his head. Since Gabriel had only shared some memories with Michael, Michael didn’t know everything.

“Whatever,” Lou announced when the air stopped shaking. Gabriel, who had his eyes closed until now, opened his eyes.

It can be hard to make great work when its stolen from bit.ly/3iBfjkV.

Lou warned, “I think he’ll make his move now. Everyone, let’s focus. If any of us get directly hit, then…”

Kaboom!

A light spear had struck the spot Lou had been standing on. Thankfully, Lou had already taken to the sky with Harmageddon in hand.

-Like I said, get distracted, die.

Lou finished his warning silently.

***

“The truth about creation?” Gi-Gyu couldn’t help asking with interest.

“That’s right. It holds every secret of this world. So what do you know about it?”

Gi-Gyu didn’t answer Kronos’s question. Kronos didn’t seem to mind because his lips curled up, and he asked, “God and Chaos appeared one day, and God put Chaos to sleep and created the world. Is that what you know?”

Many questions in Kronos’ voice echoed all around Gi-Gyu.

“When they used the Tower to kill God, and everyone fell into Chaos, Gaia used God’s power to recreate this world. Is that what you believe?”

“God died, and Chaos is still alive. Do you think that is the truth?”

“The truth about creation is a cruel fact. It will be enough to make you wonder if everything you have accomplished so far has any meaning,” The same voice whispered in Gi-Gyu’s ear. “And it looks like Gabriel learned one of these truths.”

For the first time, Gi-Gyu’s expression changed.

“Aren’t you curious? Don’t you want to know which truth Gabriel found out? Don’t you know Gabriel’s plan?” asked Kronos.

Gabriel wanted to become God and then use his power to purify the world.

‘But how?’ Gi-Gyu asked himself. How could an angel obtain God’s power? Was gaining as much power as God even possible? Could the Holy Grail make it a possibility? Gi-Gyu had seen it in Michael’s memory.

‘No.’ Gi-Gyu knew that alone couldn’t accomplish this. For that, one needed something extra that not even El—who once reigned over all the angels—knew about.

It was the truth.

“I’ll tell you, Son.” Kronos’ sounded serious and majestic. Gi-Gyu felt like Kronos was standing right beside him and whispering in his ear.

Kronos continued, “Gabriel learned that the God I killed using Babel was…”

Kronos’ voice turned ever so sweet as he added, “A false god.”

“...!” Gi-Gyu couldn’t hide his shock. False god?

Kronos explained, “That was why Gabriel began to think. If the God they served was a false god, then… couldn’t he become a god too?”

Kronos, who had been hiding, appeared in front of Gi-Gyu. He added, “That god wasn’t the God who created this world. It also wasn’t the God your precious El served so faithfully. And it certainly isn’t the God your treasured Lou resents so much.”

“...”

What was this madman saying?

“He wasn’t God. He was nothing more than a fragment of God.” Kronos smiled. “Both Chaos and that god were just fragments of the real creator. Consequently, any creation of the real creator can become God or Chaos. All you need is to recognize this fact and find a way.”

“What the hell are you talking about?” asked Gi-Gyu.

Kronos responded, “Gabriel found a way. He found the only thing that could exert as much power as the god he used to serve. All he needed to do was get this limitless shell and condense the power of all angels into it.”

‘Limitless shell?’

Kronos continued, “It was the same method as cloning the hell kings. You have Paimon in your hand, don’t you? So you must’ve heard how it was done. I’m talking about how the hell kings were made.”

Gi-Gyu did know about it because Paimon had explained it to him. It was done by killing humans and demons and stealing everything, mainly their souls, also called shells. Forcefully connecting all the shells to create a single shell would produce something akin to a limitless shell. However, the product would be unstable and could shatter at any time.

‘Gabriel…’ Gi-Gyu wondered if Gabriel used this method to make his shell. However, only a powerful existence or something equally powerful could forcefully connect shells.

‘A divine item could do it,’ Gi-Gyu realized the truth. To clone the hell kings, Andras had used Satan’s soul as a medium. Similarly, Gabriel most likely had used the Holy Grail to connect the human and angel shells.

“You got it!” Kronos clapped as if he was proud of Gi-Gyu for getting the answer. “And you can’t defeat him. He may be another false god, but he is as powerful as the god I killed with Babel. They have different energies, but that doesn’t matter.”

Kronos didn’t continue, but he silently asked Gi-Gyu what he would do.

“So what?” asked Gi-Gyu.

“...!” An odd look appeared on Kronos’s face for the first time.

“Does that matter? Who cares if god is real or this world is real?” Gi-Gyu shouted. “All I wanted was to live my life. I just wanted to live without being controlled by someone like you.”

“So…!” Voice filled with rage, he screamed, “Get lost!”

The space shattered. Gi-Gyu had been secretly filling the space with Chaos. And once the area was filled with his energy, it spectacularly cracked the time-space Kronos had created.

“...” Kronos disappeared without a word.

Looking at the shattering space, Gi-Gyu declared, “I’ll find you soon, and I’ll kill you.”

The whole world around him cracked; the space between the cracks showed Rome. Gi-Gyu could see the city, Gabriel—looking down from the sky—and his creatures on the ground.

-I’m impressed.

Kronos’ voice rang in Gi-Gyu’s head, making him frown. In the past, Gi-Gyu could have never accomplished something like this.

-Let me give you one piece of advice, my son.

Kronos ignored Gi-Gyu’s frown and continued.

-Do not trust the one who goes by the code name Lucifer. She may not be your ally.

Crack!

The space around Gi-Gyu finally shattered, and he heard Lou’s frustrated voice.

“How come you’re always so late?”