Chapter 478 - 474: Awakening
"I'm starting to tilt more towards Janus's suggestion after seeing this sight as well. If we're fighting like this before even getting the bracelet, how will we fight after one of us gets it? I don't want to be a part of another great war like last time. One had been more than enough for me," the Lord of Time muttered as he nodded his head.
"I support this decision as well." Lord of Space also declared.
Soon, more and more gods started supporting the decision. The voices of support that had drowned previously against the voice of opposition again got the lead as two Great Gods supported Janus.
The God of War looked at the people who were supporting losing the bracelet. "You've all gone crazy. We shouldn't lose this bracelet again."
"Alright. Let's do one thing. We will give the bracelet to the Goddess of Destiny. If you agree to that, we'll keep it," Janus took a step forth as he chimed in.
The Lord of Time understood what Janus was trying to do. He couldn't help but laugh out loud.
"Interesting. That's right. You and Goddess of Destiny seem to want the bracelet more. If you can sacrifice it for her, it would mean that we can deal with one person keeping the bracelet. What do you say?" he let out.
"Letting her keep it?! No way! I would rather lose it forever than give this to her!" The God of War war exclaimed furiously.
With his decline, the decision was made.
"And with that, the people who support losing the bracelet again have the majority. It's decided. We'll go with Janus's suggestion," the Lord of Time acknowledged.
"Even though it would mean that I'll need to destroy the soul of an innocent mortal, it's worth it," he added as he looked towards Ryder.
"Destroyed his soul? What do you mean?" The Lord of Space asked curiously.
The Lord of Time breathed a sigh of relief as he explained, "This guy seems to have managed to unlock a few of the bracelet's seals. One of which happened to be the seal made by me."
"With that, we can't kill him. Even if we kill him, he'll just go back in time and make sure that he isn't found again. The only way to stop him is to reverse the time of his soul until the moment it doesn't exist anymore," he further said.
He added, "That way, there would be nothing to bring back. He would be dead. The bracelet would be ownerless, and it would be lost in the void."
"Interesting. So only you can kill him," the Lord of Space muttered as he rubbed his chin.
"Previously, Janus got to kill the owner of this bracelet. Now it's your turn. He had to kill his brother, whereas you have to kill an unaware mortal. I guess every time this bracelet appears; it makes us decide between a rock and a hard place," he added as he found similarities between both situations related to the Bracelet.
"That's a good analogy. Hopefully, we won't see this bracelet ever again," the Lord of Time muttered as a sad smile appeared on his face.
He started stepping towards a Ryder. There were a few gods that still didn't support losing the Bracelet of Immortality like this, but they couldn't do anything as it was decided with the majority like last time.
They could only fight if they wanted to keep the bracelet, but they knew that it was going to be a bad decision.
The Lord of Time stopped a few inches away from Ryder, who was lying on the ground.
Janus stood in the back with an expressionless face as if it was something he didn't care much about.
The Lord of Time raised his right palm towards Ryder's face.
"Forgive me for taking your life. After your soul is destroyed by going to nothingness, not only will you die, but you won't even come to being ever again. But this is something we just do. Yours is a necessary sacrifice," the Lord of Time said as he closed his eyes.
His entire body started shining with mystical light. His body shone for a few minutes as he stood still with his palm raised towards Ryder's face.
After a few minutes, his shine started decreasing as his body returned to normal. The Lord of Time slowly opened his eyes which were pure white as if there was only a white abyss inside.
"Return to nothingness," the Lord of Time muttered softly as a small white speck of light left his palm.
The speck of light moved towards Ryder's chest. It hit Ryder's chest and disappeared.
"Now his soul will keep regressing into reverse time until it completely returns to the time when it didn't even exist," the Lord of Time muttered as he smiled. "Looks like we're done here."
On the side, Janus couldn't help but shake his head.
'No, we're not done here. We're just getting started,' Janus thought as he gazed towards Ryder.
'I'm sorry, brother. I know I'm pitting you against them all by exposing you, but it's the only thing I can do. The situation was completely out of my hand with the arrival of Lord of Time. I didn't think he would find the distance in time big though to come out. With him here, the only thing I could think of was to use him,' he thought as he shook his head.
Ryder laid on the ground. He remained unconscious. His face seemed so peaceful that it seemed like he was sleeping. But only the knowledgeable ones knew what was truly happening.
Even though his body seemed to be normal, it was his soul which was suffering.
Ryder's soul started going back in time.
It started regressing. The Lord of Time had thought that Ryder was a normal mortal. Unfortunately, he didn't realize what Ryder actually was.
He had thought that Ryder's soul would be destroyed by reversing its time. Unfortunately, that was only possible on a mortal's soul. On a god's soul, it was impossible.
The only possibility to destroy a god was if their soul had lost its divinity.
Ryder's soul had lost its divinity which it was gaining back slowly. Unfortunately, with the time-reversal, something mystical happened.
Ryder's soul regressed in time to the moment when it had its Divine Powers. It was Janus's entire plan. He wanted Ryder to awaken his powers so he could deal with the situation himself.
It was out of his range now, after all. He couldn't face so many gods. Only Ryder was the one who could deal with the situation and survive.
Ryder's soul kept regressing. It regressed to the lowest of his mortal lifespan. Typically, before this point was nothingness. But for Ryder, before this point was the time where his soul had complete Divinity.
Thud... Thud... Thud....
The ground started shaking. Winds began moving faster as if a storm was on the way.
"Hmm? How is this possible? I didn't free the time. Why is this world moving again?" The Lord of Time muttered in confusion.
He looked back towards the God of Wind and the other gods.
"Are you guys doing it?" he asked softly.
"Not at all. We thought you released time, and that's why it was happening. If you didn't free time, then how...?" The God of Wind exclaimed as he talked about his non-involvement in these things.
"Strange. What's happening then?" The Lord of Time muttered in confusion.
"The only thing I did differently is send his soul back in time to nothingness," she let out as he shifted his gaze to Ryder.
It was at that moment, Ryder's eyes opened suddenly.
As soon as his eyes opened, a wave of energy came out of his body that tossed back all the gods.
Not even the Lord of Time and Lord of Space were safe. Even the two of them were tossed back like stones.
As none of the gods had expected it, they didn't take any precautions to protect themselves from this wage of energy.
All the gods crashed on the wall in the back. Not even Janus was safe who suffered the same thing.
Ryder's eyes had opened, but they were different. His eyes weren't blue like that had been previously. Instead, his eyes were blood-red in color.
His hair started growing. His hair got longer and longer until they came down to his waist. His height also started increasing. His face also changed a little bit. It kept most of the features of Ryder's face, but it seemed a little more devilishly charming now.
Ryder breathed out a mouthful of air before his body started flying upwards. He stood up without having to use his legs or hands. He did all that with what could only be described as controlling his surroundings.
"Janus, Oh Janus. You just had to drag me into this again, didn't you?" Ryder muttered softly. His voice was a little heavier and sounded much more intimidating.
His voice sounded especially intimating to the gods that recognized it. The gods seemed like they had seen a ghost.