Chapter 468
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Chapter 468:
His presence alone, without even broadcasting himself was....immense.
Kronos, the Titan of Time.
Realistically, he represented the waning of the seasons, the inevitability of the harvest, the falling of the leaves, the falling of the snow, and finally the melting of the snow. In a more practical sense, he embodied the rebirth of every new season and the withering of the previous. Two ends of a spectrum that merged into the Authority of Time.
Beyond this....my knowledge of the Titan was minimal.
I never really thought I'd have to know important information on a Godly Entity that was supposed to be long dead.
Time was not a domain one could lightly touch.
Just to understand this, you could look at all the major Pantheons of the world and point out how many Gods there are with such a domain.
How many fingers on a single hand would be left over?
Time was a nebulous concept. It wasn't like looking up to the Sun and feeling its warmth. It wasn't like hearing the thundering of the sky and roaring of the oceans. Time was...much more immaterial.
Which was why I was on guard.
Not to mention, the weapon in his hand gave me a very bad feeling.
Frankly, it didn't even look like it was properly forged. Almost....amateurish in its design and form. Like someone just took a slab of metal and hammered it vaguely into the correct form without doing much else and then sharpened it.
But that did nothing to dissuade from the archaic aura it exuded. It was something personally crafted by one of the Greek's Primordials. Something on the same level as Nyx.
Which was where his own Authority was inherited from.
All in all, he was dangerous.
Just from the feeling of danger....I would place him in that ranking floating around as the 'top 10' for how much that bracket was really worth.
He looked at me with a rather casual smile. There wasn't a wisp of killing intent in his gaze. It was as if he was watching something utterly fascinating.
He hefted his large Scythe up. A single swing of it, and it could easily cut this building in half. Instead, he put it upside down, letting the massive metal head drop into the floor, shattering and cracking it in dozens of feet. He then leaned onto the handle. "So fierce." He repeated his words from earlier. "I almost didn't believe them when they told me how powerful Mortals have become."
I could feel Sairaorg's Touki ignite silently.
His was the most obvious, but everyone around me looked like they were ready for battle. Well, most of the people around me.
I glanced at Bikou and Boy Band, they had enough survival instincts to realize the situation, but there was a hint of trepidation there.
As for Venelana's Daughter and Glasses, along with most of the other Devils....they seemed frozen in place.
I remembered what I said to them only moments prior and....I may have went a bit too far. It wasn't fair how I bit into them maliciously like that.
I should apologize later.
I was glad that I already had Mirage in my hand, because I began running some calculations secretly.
There was a beat of silence as everything remained still. Only for Kronos to slightly shift in place. That seemed to be the catalyst for Boy Band to draw upon his Divine Dividing.
Wings sprouted from his back.
"Div—"
Before he could finish, I pushed his head down, slamming him into the ground.
An invisible ripple passed right over where he had been.
A gesture from Kronos, and the tip of his scythe emerged from nothingness, slicing across the air. He was still standing there, leaning upon his weapon, yet he managed to attack so bizarrely.
Kronos merely raised an inquisitive eyebrow.
With an annoyed growl, I used a burst of Shunpo to appear right in front of him. He was.... genuinely startled by my sudden burst of speed.
I gathered enough Magical Energy through the Dimensional Refraction Phenomena.
Spell Circles reached peak efficiency.
At this moment, it was all I could bring to bear with so little setup.
"Ether Cannon!"
The Multi-Colored light shot out at the Titan, enveloping him completely. He was hit, and I could sense his body suffering from the blast, as for how much damage he took, well....I wasn't too optimistic.
His massive body went rocketing back, slamming into a space devoid of people, demolishing the furniture and further the wall.
"You bastard!" Boy Band forced himself up. "I had him!"
"Don't be stupid." I didn't retract my gaze from Kronos as he pulled himself out of the rubble. "No one came to help. Despite there being dozens of Gods, and any number of actual guards set up for this event, no one is here helping. Think about why that is for a second."
I glanced at Bikou and Sairaorg both, silently letting them know that went for them as well. They both seemed like the type of people to jump head first into the fight without proper consideration.
"He's right." Kronos grunted, getting back up to his feet. He cracked his neck looking none the worse for wear. "That was interesting."
"Never encountered Ether before?" I smiled lightly, holding Mirage gently to the side.
"Can't say that I have." He admitted.
Despite this World not operating the same as back home, there were still certain truths. Ether was a concept introduced with the rise of Humanity. It should be something utterly foreign to him, which was why it took him by surprise.
But mostly, I just wanted some space between him and everyone else.
"When did you notice?" He asked, almost cheerfully.
"Almost immediately." I answered.
"Hah." He slapped his knee. "Maybe I lost my touch?"
"Oi, what's he talking about?" Bikou was tense even with his Divine Weapon in his hands.
"We're outside of the Time-Line." I briefly explained. "The reason why no one has come yet. A few hours could pass in here and it might only be a few seconds outside." I wasn't entirely sure, but best to err on the side of caution.
"Correct!" Kronos smiled and his body fizzled away into nothingness. Simultaneously, he appeared in the back at the table holding all the snacks. "Mmm, this is some good stuff. It doesn't compare to Nectar or Ambrosia, but that's not a fair comparison. Back then, we'd be happy with some meat roasted over a fire and some salt sprinkled on it was decadent. Look at this? I can't even recognize all these things, but they're delicious." He said, holding a tray up of appetizers and letting them slide into his mouth.
The little manipulation of wind he did was a piece of a Divine Authority....
"You're angry that Mortals no longer roll around in the mud?" I snorted.
The arrogance and ruthlessness of a deity shined through despite his casual demeanor. "The only place a mortal should be is on the ground in prostration or in our stomachs."
Right, despite how he was being humorous before, he was always cited as a vindictive and arrogant entity. To the point where the other Titans rarely wanted to even be near him. It would be like if Zeus was actively malicious rather than being selfish and egotistical.
"It seems like a fight is inevitable then." I was ready to call upon my power to fight him properly. It would not be in the best circumstances with all these people around, but I would do the best I could.
Maybe I should sneak them away during the fight?
Jeanne was here to back me up in that regard. She hadn't said anything, but I knew she didn't need any orders from me on how to act.
And there were a few people here I could possibly rely on.
"How about we play a game instead?" He offered, the tension sort of dissipating.
"...what?" I blinked, surprised at how things shifted so easily.
He dropped his Scythe to the ground. "I heard these Devils were obsessed with a Game – Chess was it? Dreadfully boring, but I can admit it had its own unique charm. Let's do something like that, but a bit more fun."
I frowned, considering the alternative. Well, it was a matter of time before the people outside came barging in.
I honestly didn't want to fight in these circumstances.
"You're stalling for some reason, aren't you?" I questioned.
He grinned. "How about the stakes? If I win...I'll just kill everyone here. If you Win..well, that should be obvious."
"Fine, I'm on board." I agreed. "But what –"
Kronos let out a shout, clapping his hands. His eyes lit up with a blinding light, and I felt something connected. It felt like he just bound me to a Geass, but through my divinity.
...Clever dick.
I've never encountered that trick before. I'll need to talk to Izzy about it and see how to not let it happen in the future, because he basically just touched my Divinity with his own and made our agreement binding.
Something appeared between us.
It was like....
"There we are, I created a miniature world for us." He declared. "It has its own rules, and I bound it to us through our agreement."
"...did you just create a miniature Reality Marble?" I looked in a bit of awe.
He tilted his head. "Is that one of this era's terms?"
"Forget it." I bit my tongue. I looked down, as it was like a...bubble. Inside, it appeared a smaller version of me, and a smaller version of him...relatively speaking. "Explain the rules." I crossed my arms.
"I mentioned that Chess, but it's not really the same. Just a small idea I came up with after playing it a few times. We each command a copy of ourselves to fight." He said that like it was extremely simple.
"How does it work?"
"It operates on absolute truth. The law within this small world dictates that your copy can only move and act how you could possibly do so normally. Don't try to cheat now, the oath I bound you to also assures the truth."
The Geass he put me under is basically reading me then? It's basically that this miniature version of me was a genuine projection within this small world.
And it's not as if it's actually copying my abilities, but mimicking the cause and effect. If it summoned the Gauntlet, there would be no Ddraig, but it would still have the abilities because that's within my memory and verified through my own acknowledgement and thus is channeled through the Geass.
"Only verbal commands?" I asked.
"Correct." He answered.
"Interesting." I found myself amused by this...game that he went through the effort of creating.
I didn't know what his purpose here was, even if his earlier anger was real. I had no doubt that he would casually slaughter everyone here in a heartbeat, but his entire purpose for coming was....suspect.
There was certainly a higher purpose, not just ranting about the 'kids these days'.
But, it's better this than him deciding that they would look better with less body parts. And the moment I try to open a portal, he's probably going to abandon this charade and start making heads roll, so I may as well play along for now.
"Jump once." I commanded.
My little projection jumped into the air once.
"Well? What do you think?"
"I'm intrigued." I answered in all honesty.
"Why don't I show you another one of the rules." He smiled happily before quickly turning it into something more malicious. "Stab his arm."
Before I could properly react, my miniature's Aura flared to life. Kronos's Scythe skipped and twisted through space, like a serpent it came at me at a strange angle. My Aura collided with it, dispersing a significant portion of the blow, but even still, his Divine Weapon tore into the flesh of my Minature's arm.
Simultaneously, my own sleeve was torn in the same spot, and a gash opened up, blood dripping down my skin.
"Will!" Jeanne exclaimed running towards me, but an invisible barrier shunted her off.
Kronos wagged his finger. "No interfering. If you try to help him, he will suffer a backlash."
"All of this is based on a single agreement." I frowned, looking at my arm. "I'm amazed you could force this onto me."
"I am Kronos, Titan King, Son of Gaia." His eyes narrowed. "You insult me by thinking so little of me, Mortal."
If this was all fake...in a sense, then I had plenty of things I was more than willing to throw out without a second thought.
"Well then, let's play." If this was how he wanted to do this, I was more than happy to oblige, after all it gave me several options.
[***]
A/N
Wanted to try something a little different than a normal fight this time around. Kronos's purpose here isn't so obvious, but he's not really there to get into a real fight either.
If you want to read 9 chapters ahead or support me, visit my p.a.t.r.e.o.n.c.o.m / astoryforone
I also have a h tt p s: // b oo sty .t o/ astoryforone for people who can't use the forbidden P-Word.
Please report us if you find any errors so we can fix it asap!
Chapter 468:
His presence alone, without even broadcasting himself was....immense.
Kronos, the Titan of Time.
Realistically, he represented the waning of the seasons, the inevitability of the harvest, the falling of the leaves, the falling of the snow, and finally the melting of the snow. In a more practical sense, he embodied the rebirth of every new season and the withering of the previous. Two ends of a spectrum that merged into the Authority of Time.
Beyond this....my knowledge of the Titan was minimal.
I never really thought I'd have to know important information on a Godly Entity that was supposed to be long dead.
Time was not a domain one could lightly touch.
Just to understand this, you could look at all the major Pantheons of the world and point out how many Gods there are with such a domain.
How many fingers on a single hand would be left over?
Time was a nebulous concept. It wasn't like looking up to the Sun and feeling its warmth. It wasn't like hearing the thundering of the sky and roaring of the oceans. Time was...much more immaterial.
Which was why I was on guard.
Not to mention, the weapon in his hand gave me a very bad feeling.
Frankly, it didn't even look like it was properly forged. Almost....amateurish in its design and form. Like someone just took a slab of metal and hammered it vaguely into the correct form without doing much else and then sharpened it.
But that did nothing to dissuade from the archaic aura it exuded. It was something personally crafted by one of the Greek's Primordials. Something on the same level as Nyx.
Which was where his own Authority was inherited from.
All in all, he was dangerous.
Just from the feeling of danger....I would place him in that ranking floating around as the 'top 10' for how much that bracket was really worth.
He looked at me with a rather casual smile. There wasn't a wisp of killing intent in his gaze. It was as if he was watching something utterly fascinating.
He hefted his large Scythe up. A single swing of it, and it could easily cut this building in half. Instead, he put it upside down, letting the massive metal head drop into the floor, shattering and cracking it in dozens of feet. He then leaned onto the handle. "So fierce." He repeated his words from earlier. "I almost didn't believe them when they told me how powerful Mortals have become."
I could feel Sairaorg's Touki ignite silently.
His was the most obvious, but everyone around me looked like they were ready for battle. Well, most of the people around me.
I glanced at Bikou and Boy Band, they had enough survival instincts to realize the situation, but there was a hint of trepidation there.
As for Venelana's Daughter and Glasses, along with most of the other Devils....they seemed frozen in place.
I remembered what I said to them only moments prior and....I may have went a bit too far. It wasn't fair how I bit into them maliciously like that.
I should apologize later.
I was glad that I already had Mirage in my hand, because I began running some calculations secretly.
There was a beat of silence as everything remained still. Only for Kronos to slightly shift in place. That seemed to be the catalyst for Boy Band to draw upon his Divine Dividing.
Wings sprouted from his back.
"Div—"
Before he could finish, I pushed his head down, slamming him into the ground.
An invisible ripple passed right over where he had been.
A gesture from Kronos, and the tip of his scythe emerged from nothingness, slicing across the air. He was still standing there, leaning upon his weapon, yet he managed to attack so bizarrely.
Kronos merely raised an inquisitive eyebrow.
With an annoyed growl, I used a burst of Shunpo to appear right in front of him. He was.... genuinely startled by my sudden burst of speed.
I gathered enough Magical Energy through the Dimensional Refraction Phenomena.
Spell Circles reached peak efficiency.
At this moment, it was all I could bring to bear with so little setup.
"Ether Cannon!"
The Multi-Colored light shot out at the Titan, enveloping him completely. He was hit, and I could sense his body suffering from the blast, as for how much damage he took, well....I wasn't too optimistic.
His massive body went rocketing back, slamming into a space devoid of people, demolishing the furniture and further the wall.
"You bastard!" Boy Band forced himself up. "I had him!"
"Don't be stupid." I didn't retract my gaze from Kronos as he pulled himself out of the rubble. "No one came to help. Despite there being dozens of Gods, and any number of actual guards set up for this event, no one is here helping. Think about why that is for a second."
I glanced at Bikou and Sairaorg both, silently letting them know that went for them as well. They both seemed like the type of people to jump head first into the fight without proper consideration.
"He's right." Kronos grunted, getting back up to his feet. He cracked his neck looking none the worse for wear. "That was interesting."
"Never encountered Ether before?" I smiled lightly, holding Mirage gently to the side.
"Can't say that I have." He admitted.
Despite this World not operating the same as back home, there were still certain truths. Ether was a concept introduced with the rise of Humanity. It should be something utterly foreign to him, which was why it took him by surprise.
But mostly, I just wanted some space between him and everyone else.
"When did you notice?" He asked, almost cheerfully.
"Almost immediately." I answered.
"Hah." He slapped his knee. "Maybe I lost my touch?"
"Oi, what's he talking about?" Bikou was tense even with his Divine Weapon in his hands.
"We're outside of the Time-Line." I briefly explained. "The reason why no one has come yet. A few hours could pass in here and it might only be a few seconds outside." I wasn't entirely sure, but best to err on the side of caution.
"Correct!" Kronos smiled and his body fizzled away into nothingness. Simultaneously, he appeared in the back at the table holding all the snacks. "Mmm, this is some good stuff. It doesn't compare to Nectar or Ambrosia, but that's not a fair comparison. Back then, we'd be happy with some meat roasted over a fire and some salt sprinkled on it was decadent. Look at this? I can't even recognize all these things, but they're delicious." He said, holding a tray up of appetizers and letting them slide into his mouth.
The little manipulation of wind he did was a piece of a Divine Authority....
"You're angry that Mortals no longer roll around in the mud?" I snorted.
The arrogance and ruthlessness of a deity shined through despite his casual demeanor. "The only place a mortal should be is on the ground in prostration or in our stomachs."
Right, despite how he was being humorous before, he was always cited as a vindictive and arrogant entity. To the point where the other Titans rarely wanted to even be near him. It would be like if Zeus was actively malicious rather than being selfish and egotistical.
"It seems like a fight is inevitable then." I was ready to call upon my power to fight him properly. It would not be in the best circumstances with all these people around, but I would do the best I could.
Maybe I should sneak them away during the fight?
Jeanne was here to back me up in that regard. She hadn't said anything, but I knew she didn't need any orders from me on how to act.
And there were a few people here I could possibly rely on.
"How about we play a game instead?" He offered, the tension sort of dissipating.
"...what?" I blinked, surprised at how things shifted so easily.
He dropped his Scythe to the ground. "I heard these Devils were obsessed with a Game – Chess was it? Dreadfully boring, but I can admit it had its own unique charm. Let's do something like that, but a bit more fun."
I frowned, considering the alternative. Well, it was a matter of time before the people outside came barging in.
I honestly didn't want to fight in these circumstances.
"You're stalling for some reason, aren't you?" I questioned.
He grinned. "How about the stakes? If I win...I'll just kill everyone here. If you Win..well, that should be obvious."
"Fine, I'm on board." I agreed. "But what –"
Kronos let out a shout, clapping his hands. His eyes lit up with a blinding light, and I felt something connected. It felt like he just bound me to a Geass, but through my divinity.
...Clever dick.
I've never encountered that trick before. I'll need to talk to Izzy about it and see how to not let it happen in the future, because he basically just touched my Divinity with his own and made our agreement binding.
Something appeared between us.
It was like....
"There we are, I created a miniature world for us." He declared. "It has its own rules, and I bound it to us through our agreement."
"...did you just create a miniature Reality Marble?" I looked in a bit of awe.
He tilted his head. "Is that one of this era's terms?"
"Forget it." I bit my tongue. I looked down, as it was like a...bubble. Inside, it appeared a smaller version of me, and a smaller version of him...relatively speaking. "Explain the rules." I crossed my arms.
"I mentioned that Chess, but it's not really the same. Just a small idea I came up with after playing it a few times. We each command a copy of ourselves to fight." He said that like it was extremely simple.
"How does it work?"
"It operates on absolute truth. The law within this small world dictates that your copy can only move and act how you could possibly do so normally. Don't try to cheat now, the oath I bound you to also assures the truth."
The Geass he put me under is basically reading me then? It's basically that this miniature version of me was a genuine projection within this small world.
And it's not as if it's actually copying my abilities, but mimicking the cause and effect. If it summoned the Gauntlet, there would be no Ddraig, but it would still have the abilities because that's within my memory and verified through my own acknowledgement and thus is channeled through the Geass.
"Only verbal commands?" I asked.
"Correct." He answered.
"Interesting." I found myself amused by this...game that he went through the effort of creating.
I didn't know what his purpose here was, even if his earlier anger was real. I had no doubt that he would casually slaughter everyone here in a heartbeat, but his entire purpose for coming was....suspect.
There was certainly a higher purpose, not just ranting about the 'kids these days'.
But, it's better this than him deciding that they would look better with less body parts. And the moment I try to open a portal, he's probably going to abandon this charade and start making heads roll, so I may as well play along for now.
"Jump once." I commanded.
My little projection jumped into the air once.
"Well? What do you think?"
"I'm intrigued." I answered in all honesty.
"Why don't I show you another one of the rules." He smiled happily before quickly turning it into something more malicious. "Stab his arm."
Before I could properly react, my miniature's Aura flared to life. Kronos's Scythe skipped and twisted through space, like a serpent it came at me at a strange angle. My Aura collided with it, dispersing a significant portion of the blow, but even still, his Divine Weapon tore into the flesh of my Minature's arm.
Simultaneously, my own sleeve was torn in the same spot, and a gash opened up, blood dripping down my skin.
"Will!" Jeanne exclaimed running towards me, but an invisible barrier shunted her off.
Kronos wagged his finger. "No interfering. If you try to help him, he will suffer a backlash."
"All of this is based on a single agreement." I frowned, looking at my arm. "I'm amazed you could force this onto me."
"I am Kronos, Titan King, Son of Gaia." His eyes narrowed. "You insult me by thinking so little of me, Mortal."
If this was all fake...in a sense, then I had plenty of things I was more than willing to throw out without a second thought.
"Well then, let's play." If this was how he wanted to do this, I was more than happy to oblige, after all it gave me several options.
[***]
A/N
Wanted to try something a little different than a normal fight this time around. Kronos's purpose here isn't so obvious, but he's not really there to get into a real fight either.
If you want to read 9 chapters ahead or support me, visit my p.a.t.r.e.o.n.c.o.m / astoryforone
I also have a h tt p s: // b oo sty .t o/ astoryforone for people who can't use the forbidden P-Word.
Chapter 468:His presence alone, without even broadcasting himself was....immense.Kronos, the Titan of Time.Realistically, he represented the waning of the seasons, the inevitability of the harvest, the falling of the leaves, the falling of the snow, and finally the melting of the snow. In a more practical sense, he embodied the rebirth of every new season and the withering of the previous. Two ends of a spectrum that merged into the Authority of Time.Beyond this....my knowledge of the Titan was minimal.I never really thought I'd have to know important information on a Godly Entity that was supposed to be long dead.Time was not a domain one could lightly touch.Just to understand this, you could look at all the major Pantheons of the world and point out how many Gods there are with such a domain.How many fingers on a single hand would be left over?Time was a nebulous concept. It wasn't like looking up to the Sun and feeling its warmth. It wasn't like hearing the thundering of the sky and roaring of the oceans. Time was...much more immaterial.Which was why I was on guard.Not to mention, the weapon in his hand gave me a very bad feeling.Frankly, it didn't even look like it was properly forged. Almost....amateurish in its design and form. Like someone just took a slab of metal and hammered it vaguely into the correct form without doing much else and then sharpened it.But that did nothing to dissuade from the archaic aura it exuded. It was something personally crafted by one of the Greek's Primordials. Something on the same level as Nyx.Which was where his own Authority was inherited from.All in all, he was dangerous.Just from the feeling of danger....I would place him in that ranking floating around as the 'top 10' for how much that bracket was really worth.He looked at me with a rather casual smile. There wasn't a wisp of killing intent in his gaze. It was as if he was watching something utterly fascinating.He hefted his large Scythe up. A single swing of it, and it could easily cut this building in half. Instead, he put it upside down, letting the massive metal head drop into the floor, shattering and cracking it in dozens of feet. He then leaned onto the handle. "So fierce." He repeated his words from earlier. "I almost didn't believe them when they told me how powerful Mortals have become."I could feel Sairaorg's Touki ignite silently.His was the most obvious, but everyone around me looked like they were ready for battle. Well, most of the people around me.I glanced at Bikou and Boy Band, they had enough survival instincts to realize the situation, but there was a hint of trepidation there.As for Venelana's Daughter and Glasses, along with most of the other Devils....they seemed frozen in place.I remembered what I said to them only moments prior and....I may have went a bit too far. It wasn't fair how I bit into them maliciously like that.I should apologize later.I was glad that I already had Mirage in my hand, because I began running some calculations secretly.There was a beat of silence as everything remained still. Only for Kronos to slightly shift in place. That seemed to be the catalyst for Boy Band to draw upon his Divine Dividing.Wings sprouted from his back."Div"Before he could finish, I pushed his head down, slamming him into the ground.An invisible ripple passed right over where he had been.A gesture from Kronos, and the tip of his scythe emerged from nothingness, slicing across the air. He was still standing there, leaning upon his weapon, yet he managed to attack so bizarrely.Kronos merely raised an inquisitive eyebrow.With an annoyed growl, I used a burst of Shunpo to appear right in front of him. He was.... genuinely startled by my sudden burst of speed.I gathered enough Magical Energy through the Dimensional Refraction Phenomena.Spell Circles reached peak efficiency.At this moment, it was all I could bring to bear with so little setup."Ether Cannon!"The Multi-Colored light shot out at the Titan, enveloping him completely. He was hit, and I could sense his body suffering from the blast, as for how much damage he took, well....I wasn't too optimistic.His massive body went rocketing back, slamming into a space devoid of people, demolishing the furniture and further the wall."You bastard!" Boy Band forced himself up. "I had him!""Don't be stupid." I didn't retract my gaze from Kronos as he pulled himself out of the rubble. "No one came to help. Despite there being dozens of Gods, and any number of actual guards set up for this event, no one is here helping. Think about why that is for a second."I glanced at Bikou and Sairaorg both, silently letting them know that went for them as well. They both seemed like the type of people to jump head first into the fight without proper consideration."He's right." Kronos grunted, getting back up to his feet. He cracked his neck looking none the worse for wear. "That was interesting.""Never encountered Ether before?" I smiled lightly, holding Mirage gently to the side."Can't say that I have." He admitted.Despite this World not operating the same as back home, there were still certain truths. Ether was a concept introduced with the rise of Humanity. It should be something utterly foreign to him, which was why it took him by surprise.But mostly, I just wanted some space between him and everyone else."When did you notice?" He asked, almost cheerfully."Almost immediately." I answered."Hah." He slapped his knee. "Maybe I lost my touch?""Oi, what's he talking about?" Bikou was tense even with his Divine Weapon in his hands."We're outside of the Time-Line." I briefly explained. "The reason why no one has come yet. A few hours could pass in here and it might only be a few seconds outside." I wasn't entirely sure, but best to err on the side of caution."Correct!" Kronos smiled and his body fizzled away into nothingness. Simultaneously, he appeared in the back at the table holding all the snacks. "Mmm, this is some good stuff. It doesn't compare to Nectar or Ambrosia, but that's not a fair comparison. Back then, we'd be happy with some meat roasted over a fire and some salt sprinkled on it was decadent. Look at this? I can't even recognize all these things, but they're delicious." He said, holding a tray up of appetizers and letting them slide into his mouth.The little manipulation of wind he did was a piece of a Divine Authority...."You're angry that Mortals no longer roll around in the mud?" I snorted.The arrogance and ruthlessness of a deity shined through despite his casual demeanor. "The only place a mortal should be is on the ground in prostration or in our stomachs."Right, despite how he was being humorous before, he was always cited as a vindictive and arrogant entity. To the point where the other Titans rarely wanted to even be near him. It would be like if Zeus was actively malicious rather than being selfish and egotistical."It seems like a fight is inevitable then." I was ready to call upon my power to fight him properly. It would not be in the best circumstances with all these people around, but I would do the best I could.Maybe I should sneak them away during the fight?Jeanne was here to back me up in that regard. She hadn't said anything, but I knew she didn't need any orders from me on how to act.And there were a few people here I could possibly rely on."How about we play a game instead?" He offered, the tension sort of dissipating."...what?" I blinked, surprised at how things shifted so easily.He dropped his Scythe to the ground. "I heard these Devils were obsessed with a Game Chess was it? Dreadfully boring, but I can admit it had its own unique charm. Let's do something like that, but a bit more fun."I frowned, considering the alternative. Well, it was a matter of time before the people outside came barging in.I honestly didn't want to fight in these circumstances."You're stalling for some reason, aren't you?" I questioned.He grinned. "How about the stakes? If I win...I'll just kill everyone here. If you Win..well, that should be obvious.""Fine, I'm on board." I agreed. "But what "Kronos let out a shout, clapping his hands. His eyes lit up with a blinding light, and I felt something connected. It felt like he just bound me to a Geass, but through my divinity....Clever dick.I've never encountered that trick before. I'll need to talk to Izzy about it and see how to not let it happen in the future, because he basically just touched my Divinity with his own and made our agreement binding.Something appeared between us.It was like...."There we are, I created a miniature world for us." He declared. "It has its own rules, and I bound it to us through our agreement.""...did you just create a miniature Reality Marble?" I looked in a bit of awe.He tilted his head. "Is that one of this era's terms?""Forget it." I bit my tongue. I looked down, as it was like a...bubble. Inside, it appeared a smaller version of me, and a smaller version of him...relatively speaking. "Explain the rules." I crossed my arms."I mentioned that Chess, but it's not really the same. Just a small idea I came up with after playing it a few times. We each command a copy of ourselves to fight." He said that like it was extremely simple."How does it work?""It operates on absolute truth. The law within this small world dictates that your copy can only move and act how you could possibly do so normally. Don't try to cheat now, the oath I bound you to also assures the truth."The Geass he put me under is basically reading me then? It's basically that this miniature version of me was a genuine projection within this small world.And it's not as if it's actually copying my abilities, but mimicking the cause and effect. If it summoned the Gauntlet, there would be no Ddraig, but it would still have the abilities because that's within my memory and verified through my own acknowledgement and thus is channeled through the Geass."Only verbal commands?" I asked."Correct." He answered."Interesting." I found myself amused by this...game that he went through the effort of creating.I didn't know what his purpose here was, even if his earlier anger was real. I had no doubt that he would casually slaughter everyone here in a heartbeat, but his entire purpose for coming was....suspect.There was certainly a higher purpose, not just ranting about the 'kids these days'.But, it's better this than him deciding that they would look better with less body parts. And the moment I try to open a portal, he's probably going to abandon this charade and start making heads roll, so I may as well play along for now."Jump once." I commanded.My little projection jumped into the air once."Well? What do you think?""I'm intrigued." I answered in all honesty."Why don't I show you another one of the rules." He smiled happily before quickly turning it into something more malicious. "Stab his arm."Before I could properly react, my miniature's Aura flared to life. Kronos's Scythe skipped and twisted through space, like a serpent it came at me at a strange angle. My Aura collided with it, dispersing a significant portion of the blow, but even still, his Divine Weapon tore into the flesh of my Minature's arm.Simultaneously, my own sleeve was torn in the same spot, and a gash opened up, blood dripping down my skin."Will!" Jeanne exclaimed running towards me, but an invisible barrier shunted her off.Kronos wagged his finger. "No interfering. If you try to help him, he will suffer a backlash.""All of this is based on a single agreement." I frowned, looking at my arm. "I'm amazed you could force this onto me.""I am Kronos, Titan King, Son of Gaia." His eyes narrowed. "You insult me by thinking so little of me, Mortal."If this was all fake...in a sense, then I had plenty of things I was more than willing to throw out without a second thought."Well then, let's play." If this was how he wanted to do this, I was more than happy to oblige, after all it gave me several options.***A/NWanted to try something a little different than a normal fight this time around. Kronos's purpose here isn't so obvious, but he's not really there to get into a real fight either.If you want to read 9 chapters ahead or support me, visit my p.a.t.r.e.o.n.c.o.m / astoryforoneI also have a h tt p s: // b oo sty .t o/ astoryforone for people who can't use the forbidden P-Word.
