Ranker Who Lives Twice

Rip! It was as if a piece of paper had been torn apart and stuffed into a small hole as Hades' Spirit Eating Sword sucked in the world of Kronos' conscious mind between its serrated teeth.

『I'll kill you… I'll kill you all…!』As though he had completely lost his sanity, the Demonism realized what Yeon-woo was attempting to do. His body expanded as he gathered back the opaque darkness that he had gushed out, trying to accelerate the destruction of the world of Kronos' conscious mind. Kronos' black wind lashed more violently to stop the Demonism, but nothing he did seemed to slow the Demonism down.

Rumble! Suddenly, pockets of emptiness started appearing around the Demonism, black chains shooting out of them. The chains wrapped around the Demonism, overlapping with each other. Even though he was tightly wound up, the Demonism's skin burst through the small openings between the overlapping chains. Whenever this happened, more chains wrapped around the gap to seal the Demonism. Eventually, the Demonism was as tightly bound as though he were in a cocoon.

Clatter! Clatter! However, the chains couldn't fully contain the Demonism, and the cocoon started shaking and cracking as if it would give way at any moment from the Demonism's struggles. Whenever the chains were stretched to their limits, they would begin to make ominous, clashing sounds. Throughout all this, Hades' Spirit Eating Sword continued to devour everything.

[A considerable amount of holy power has been devoured. The amount has passed the maximum limit.]

[Warning! Too much holy power has been devoured. Your current body cannot absorb the holy power you have devoured. It is recommended that you attempt the absorption after a period of preparation.]

[Warning! The opponent you are attempting to devour has too much power. If the difference is too large, Hades' Spirit Eating Sword will overload. This could cause a collapse of the power you are attempting to devour.]

[Warning! The number of legends that you are attempting to devour is too great. Devouring the legends improperly may result in dangerous ego swapping. It is recommended that you immediately stop the devouring process.]

[Warning! The size of the being you are trying to absorb is too large…]

[Warning! The devouring of…]

…

The warning messages came one after another. Although they all relayed different messages, they advised Yeon-woo to stop. It was impossible to devour a supreme god, especially one that had almost reached the emperor level. Even Zeus, who had taken over Kronos' throne, had found it too difficult to take away all of Kronos' possessions. In the end, he had shared them with his brothers, Poseidon and Hades. Furthermore, to prevent anyone else from obtaining Kronos' remaining possessions, Zeus had locked them away in Tartarus.

And yet, Yeon-woo was trying to devour all these possessions. It was a crazy attempt. Additionally, Yeon-woo was trying to do this unfathomable act even though he hadn't fully transcended or exuviated. The sheer amount would likely crush Yeon-woo's spirit. However, Yeon-woo believed in the capacities of Hades' Spirit Eating Sword. Whenever he was bumped against a limit, the Spirit Eating Sword always found a way to elevate and develop Yeon-woo further. Furthermore, Yeon-woo trusted the Philosopher's Stone.

[Warning! The target you are trying to devour is too large.]

[Warning! The target you are trying to devour is too large.]

…

[You have gone beyond your limits.]

[You have reached the status: limit exceeded.]

[You have reached the status: unable to devour.]

[You have reached the status: unstable spirit.]

…

[The Factors that have not been devoured are becoming unstable. The teeth of Hades' Spirit Eating Sword are starting to shake.]

[Exceeding your limit has placed your body into overload. It has been locked down. Cracks are starting to appear throughout parts of your body.]

[The formation of cracks is accelerating.]

[The process of collapse has started.]

[The skill 'Regeneration' has been initiated.]

['Regeneration' is helping the collapsed portions of your body recover.]

…

[The Sin Stone (Gula and Superbia) is shaking. Gula (Greed) is unsatisfied and wishes to continue devouring. It is looking for another way and is greedily baring its teeth.]

[Superbia (Pride) is attempting to contain the unstable divine power.]

The Philosopher's Stone possessed two qualities that were now fully reinvigorated. Superbia (Pride) would not acknowledge any limits. It sent tremendous vitality to Yeon-woo's body to contain the unstable divine power, funneling it to the Philosopher's Stone and attempting to subjugate it. The divine power fought the suppression, but the more it struggled, the more Superbia tried to crush it.

It was the same for Gula (Greed). It took control of Hades' Spirit Eating Sword, which had begun to slow its devouring, and enlarged the sword's teeth. The sword no longer restricted itself to devouring the world of Kronos' conscious mind but greedily sought to devour the entire true body of Kronos. The Philosopher's Stone had gone into a frenzy. This was why Yeon-woo had endured overload and continued to absorb all of Kronos' possessions despite the spirit-tearing pain.

Crack! Crunch! Though this was the world of Kronos' conscious mind, Yeon-woo could hear the cracking and crunching sounds of his body as it began to change.

[Your proficiency in the skill 'Regeneration' has increased. 71%, 72%...96, 97%...100%.]

[Congratulations! Your proficiency in the skill 'Regeneration' has reached its maximum level.]

[All stats have increased.]

[Your strength has increased by 25 points.]

[Your dexterity has increased by 32 points.]

…

[You have gained a new understanding of your skill. A superior skill is being opened.]

[The skill 'Transcendent Regeneration' has been created.]

[Your proficiency in the skill 'Transcendent Regeneration' has reached its maximum level.]

…

[A search for a new skill is being undertaken in consideration of your enhanced abilities.]

[The Sin Stone's Superbia property is influencing the process.]

[Your Sin Stone's Gula property is influencing the process.]

[The superior skill 'Status Return' has been created.]

…

[Your mastery of the skill 'Status Return' has explosively increased…]

…

[Your skill has surpassed its limits and has become a divine skill.]

[The spring of death has been activated]

[The divine skill 'Universal Recovery' has been created.]

[Universal Recovery]

[Rank: Power]

[Mastery: 0.0%]

[Summary: Those who wish to become gods must be steadfast, and those who wish to become kings must be able to defend their throne. Even in the face of unrelenting storms, the one who wields this divine skill must maintain a steadfast spirit, like an evergreen tree with deep roots. You may even escape from the clutches of death. The spring of death shall always be with you.]

[*Status Return

The peak status of your body and spirit shall be duplicated and stored as an Idea. Regardless of the damage you sustain, even if your brain stops operating or you are on the brink of death, your body and spirit will regenerate from this Idea. The amount of time and magic power required for this process will be based on the status of your body and spirit.]

[*Defying Death

As you seek the throne of Kronos, who reached the highest mastery of death, the domain of death will be under your control. You will be able to defy death with the data stored in your Idea. However, once Defying Death is used, the skill cannot be used again for a minimum of one week to a maximum of one year.]

Yeon-woo's eyes widened as he looked at the renewed Regeneration—now the Universal Recovery skill. Defying death! No matter how powerful and great the Regeneration skill was, it required a huge amount of magic power and could not bring one back from the dead. However, once Yeon-woo acquired the divine domain of death, which was one of the halves of Kronos' spring, he managed to cross the boundary.

Whoosh! Whoosh! Yeon-woo could feel the spring turning in his heart. The left wing of his Sky Wing began to resonate. Yeon-woo's divine domain greatly expanded from his Philosopher's Stone to the spring of death and then to his Sky Wings.

[The Giant Demonic Divine Draconic Body is attempting to evolve.]

[A search for a new possibility is being undertaken.]

Yeon-woo's body was trying to evolve, and with his increased limits, he started devouring a greater amount of divine power. He could feel his spirit developing until it seemed to reach a limit. At that moment, he realized: 'I've hit a wall.'

He knew that he could not enhance his spirit further. The limitation wasn't because he hadn't reached the seventh-step Dragon Body awakening. It was because he had reached the absolute limits of a mortal. He could no longer delay his exuviation and transcendence. Since he was already at his limits as a mortal, it was time to exuviate. However, Yeon-woo did not try to foolishly hurry the process. He could exuviate and transcend at any time; right now, he had to focus on defeating and completely devouring the Demonism, which he could finally accomplish.

『No…!』 As he watched the world of Kronos' conscious mind and his own opaque darkness being devoured, the Demonism could not help crying out. However, his cries faded like a dying fire. The Demonism's expanded body was also shrinking at a fast rate as it made deflating sounds. The world of Kronos' conscious mind started to collapse, and a new darkness took its place—the world of Yeon-woo's conscious mind was taking over.

['Hades' Spirit Eating Sword' has completed devouring!]

[The unaligned god, Kronos, has been devoured. You have acquired all of his legends.]

[You have made an achievement that is not easily accomplished. Additional karma will be provided.]

[You have acquired 150,000 karma.]

[You have acquired 200,000 additional karma.]

…

[The purification process has begun.]

[You have inherited Kronos' qualifications.]

[You have acquired the qualification to vie for the throne of <Olympus>.]

[Your legend has been spread throughout the heavenly world!]

[Your ally <Niflheim> is greatly surprised by your achievement. The ruling leaders have entered discussions.]

[Your ally <Chan Sect> is congratulating you on your achievement.]

[Your ally <East Demon Army> is praying for the birth of a new king.]

[Combined force <Asgard> are showing no response. They are keeping silent.]

[Combined force <Olympus> are busily moving around to better understand the situation.]

…

[The neutral force <Deva> is silent.]

[The neutral force <Jie Sect> is silent.]

…

[The godly society <Malach> is silent on the birth of a new being. They wish that you choose the side of good.]

[The demonic society <L'Infernal> is voicing concern over your rapid development.]

[Vimalacitra is expressing happiness in your development.]

[Cernunnos is carefully examining you.]

After a countless number of messages, the sound of chains moving rose as the Demonism returned to his normal appearance. Rumble! The chains tightened around his arms, holding him up. The Demonism tried to escape from the chains by squirming around, but with his powers completely devoured, he was nothing more than an empty shell. He couldn't even sustain Yeon-woo's appearance, which he had taken, and he quickly returned to appearing as a dark shadow. However, the opaque darkness continued to flow out of the Demonism through his wounds. Kronos put Scythe's blade on the Demonism's neck, making him look like a prisoner on the execution block.

『You two…no matter what…I'll kill you…!』 Though his body had deflated, and he lacked any power, the madness in the Demonism's eyes still gleamed. Yeon-woo looked at the Demonism and couldn't help ridiculing him.

"I think you should first understand the situation you're in, right?" As soon as Yeon-woo finished speaking, Kronos swung down Scythe.

Slash!

[You have successfully removed the impurity.]

[You have successfully completed your quest.]