NOVEL NEXT Chapter 980: Later
At some point, Chronus noticed something weird. Ryan's bolts were getting more powerful and pushing away the shockwaves caused by his fists. It was only natural that Ryan would get stronger while fighting an enemy much more powerful, but that speed was weird.
Eventually, Chronus used Absolute Appraisal and finally learned the skills he obtained before getting up. Ryan was fixing his skills with Personal Mastery, and he was also increasing his dexterity by using Absolute Buying. He basically had obtained Merlin's abilities…
When Ryan saw the look of understanding on Chronus' face, he clicked his tongue. He had intended to fix his build slowly and without letting Chronus notice it. But as expected, fooling someone who lived probably for hundreds of thousands of years wasn't that easy.
"You don't have to hide what you are doing, I can give you the time to do it if you want," Chronus said..
"I will make you regret that," Ryan glared at him.
"That is impossible, for someone like me who has so much life experience, regrets are something impossible to experience," Chronus said. "I have lived for far too long and I have done everything that should be possible, there are only two things that seem beyond me, though. Leave this universe and prevent its destruction. If I fail on doing the second, then it means that it was something impossible to do. Thus, regretting something impossible doesn't make any sense."
Everything that Ryan heard sounded like bullshit. Thanks to that, he was having a hard time keeping a straight face. On the other hand, he was getting some mana thanks to Anger Manipulation.
Although Chronus said that he would wait, Ryan didn't want to make use of his bullshit help. He summoned Snake Eyes Crossbow and then pointed toward him after selecting the skill Legendary archery. The effect of the skill worked when Chronud granted the bolts with his hands instead of his fingers, and he didn't do anything else aside from that. Despite how convenient that was for Ryan, it only pissed him off.
"Yes… it is getting much stronger," Chronus said.
Congratulations! The skill Legendary Archery has leveled up.
Congratulations! The skill Legendary Archery has leveled up.
Congratulations! The skill Legendary Archery has leveled up.
…
"Stop that," Ryan said while glaring toward Chronus. "What you are trying to do is making me sick."
"I can't avoid it, you are the only one in this timeline who can wound me," Chronus said. "In fact, you are the first who caused so much damage on my body, aside from Lucifer and Ymir. I want to see you reach your true potential. But don't worry, I won't overdo it. Making you relieve this fight over and over again would increase you power, but it wouldn't solve anything. You made the future change a little bit thanks to your greed, so we need to keep betting that it will be enough."
"Seriously, you will regret this… not a single enemy until now made me thirst for blood this much," Ryan said.
"That is completely fine, it is understandable since I am doing this for myself," Chronus said. "I have achieved the pinnacle in pretty much everything, but like I said, I couldn't prevent the destruction of the universe and I still can't do it. That is why I am trying something new, if I fail, it is fine. If I succeed, then everything would be worth it."
"How incompetent can you be with those god-like powers?" Ryan asked. "You just have to go to a point in time where those who will cause the destruction of the universe are no match for you and kill them."
"It isn't that simple," Chronus said. "Imagine that time is like a river, if you let it flow normally, nothing that isn't supposed to happen won't happen. But if you do something drastic, it will cause some issues. For example, if I were to send my conscience to the past now, those two might learn the technique. So, the best moment to do it is when the universe is collapsing."
"Bullshit… if they could use your powers, they would have done many times," Ryan said.
"Usually, they wouldn't, but considering how useful the spell is, they will do it," Chronus said. "Resetting time would be the best option, but when I learned about the end of the universe, it was already too late. I didn't have enough mana to use that skill and move to a point where those two weren't a threat. If I were to try to use all the mana in the universe, I might succeed. But that also might cause my death. Trying to make time Reset for more than a hundred of thousand of years is just that dangerous."
Although it made a lot of sense, Ryan couldn't help but think that it sounded just like a bunch of excuses. Ryan could imagine so many ways where he could use the time to prevent the end of the universe… like creating a wormhole and then moving to another point in time. Chronus used a technique similar to that earlier and probably would consume less mana… However, after thinking for a while, Ryan understood that such skill would take him to another timeline, where he still existed, that might cause some problems…
Even if that wasn't possible, Ryan probably could send a message to the past. That should cost a lot less mana as well… still, informing his past self about events probably will cause some issue… the Ryan of two years ago probably wouldn't believe that in two years, he would be facing the possibility of the end of the universe.
Maybe Chronus was right… he had a lot of time to consider and experiment with his powers. Still, that didn't matter. What mattered was the fact that he killed Femradiel and his kid that didn't even have the time to be born, and he didn't hesitate in doing so… Ryan will kill him no matter what and then worry about the end of the universe later.