NOVEL NEXT Chapter 972: Proposal
Even though Ryan was getting stronger, at some point, the future stopped changing. He began to be defeated by Lucifer at the exact moment.
"Do you understand why that is happening?" Chronus asked. "That is because your reservoir of mana is decreasing. It doesn't matter how much you try. You won't reach his level before you run out of mana."
Ryan bit his lips in annoyance when he heard that. He couldn't say that Chronus was wrong… Regardless, at least that made other people notice that someone hadn't given up. Right in that place, the humans began to train and spar against each other. They could only obtain so much strength in a couple of hours, but all the strength was welcome. They survived the last year struggling to their utmost limits, so they might as well keep doing that.
Chronus saw the future of those people, too, and he saw that their current actions were causing a wave that slowly changing the future… which wasn't something Chronus had seen yet. Still, the humans could only do so much to change their imminent doom. That being said, if any word could describe Ryan, that word was stubborn. If he couldn't change the future by getting the power that he could receive there, he would use the present. Using Merlin's power, he made Light Spear level up. Once it hit level one hundred, Ryan noticed that the future had changed again… it was only a single minute, but the battle got longer.
Looking at the humans trying to change their future with all their might, Chronus recalled and wondered how many times he had seen a future where the universe was destroyed. While he also gave birth to some species and decimated others. He enjoyed those periods. Some species were destined to doom anyway, so he made sure to end those early on. However, on a certain day, he noticed that the entire universe began to tremble as if something from outside had penetrated that reality, and from that point onward, he began to receive the conscience of his future selves that used time magic in order not to experience the end of the universe. At that moment, Chronus understood that such an incident and the end of the universe were connected. However, he didn't find a single clue as to what had happened.
Chronus always thought that Lucifer was somewhat connected to that. Still, he never found any clue aside from the fact that he always started the fights that ended the universe. Chronus received many consciences of his future selves, where he decided to openly antagonize Lucifer and get answers. However, those times he never obtained any information, and the universe ended up destroyed Anyway.
What could he do to obtain answers and to prevent the end? Fight Lucifer won't end well. Siding with Ymir or even the elder gods was a waste of time. That will only boost Lucifer's ego and make him stronger with the power of pride…
"Perhaps, I who have already given up on this universe should entrust this task to others…" Chronus thought.
Chronus considered dividing his power among the living beings of Earth, but that wouldn't do. Nothing good ever came out in granting so much power to others for free… Chronus had to make them obtain power by themselves, a power that would give them the chance to face even him. They had to find that power inside themselves. However, that was easier said than done…
Making the elder gods to find motivation after living for so long was close to impossible. Making all humans do the same was also something Chronus couldn't do. While he could control time, he couldn't just force all the humans to transcend… after analyzing all the humans in front of him, Chronus noticed something and had an idea.
"Your will to change the future is admirable, but that isn't enough," Chronus said. "I don't intend to let those two do what they want anymore. I am tired of it. So, I will give all of you one hour to attack me. If none of you damage me in the meantime, then I will destroy this world."
It was possible to read Chronus' deadpan expression, but Ryan knew that he was plotting something. By judging his words, it seemed that he was planning everyone to attack him as they saw fit. If he had that much confidence that not all that many people could pull that off, how come Zeus and the other Olympians thought that they could defeat him.
"What do you think of this, Isis?" Ryan asked.
"I think this is a golden opportunity," Isis replied. "To be honest, Chronus is the target that scares me the most even though his behavior is leagues apart from the other two. I saw what happens when he uses his power, and I have to say that I can't see how to prevent that. To defeat him, I imagined that we would have to obtain a portion of the power of one of the other two, but…"
While they were talking, Zeus suddenly cast that spell that summoned thick lightning clouds in the sky. He approached them to get hit by those and charge his body, Zeus would have one hour to charge his body and then unleash all his power on Chronus, and he wouldn't let go of that chance.
"I don't like the way things proceeded, but we will have to use this chance," Athena said. "Prepare yourselves to use your best attacks with all that power that you can control. We will attack Chronus at the same time in fifty-five minutes."
That was probably the best way to act based on the situation. Still, Ryan's instincts were warning him that something was off. Chronus suddenly grew too quiet after that proposal of his. Thanks to that, Ryan only grew more worried… Ryan could use Foresight and see what might happen. Still, he had already used more than half of the massive amount of mana Femradiel had infused on her Soul Eater for weeks.