[I've been waiting.]
At that voice, Lee Geon's eyes turned fierce.
That was because the bastard was sitting on the workshop sofa in the form of Jang Rui.
And he wasn't just sitting there.
He was sitting there, holding Hugo's head.
So Lee Geon, his face flushed with anger, instantly raised ██████ to level 3.
"You little shit. That chair wasn't put there for you to sit in."
And in an instant, Lee Geon vanished and swung the Celestial Condemnation.
Crunch!!
At the same time, the guest chair was smashed to pieces, and even Hugo's head turned to mud and disappeared.
But ██████ was not in that spot.
Rather, ██████ appeared behind Lee Geon, smiling as if surprised.
[You don't go berserk from something like this anymore?]
"!"
This time, he was not in the form of Jang Rui, but in the form of ██████.
And the reason he had deliberately appeared as Jang Rui was probably to provoke Lee Geon's temper even more.
Thanks to that, Lee Geon glared at him as if it was pathetic.
"Fool me once. Fool me twice? Get rid of that face before I split it open and hang it up."
[I went to the trouble of bringing it back from the past for you.]
But that was only for a moment; ██████ soon raised the corners of his mouth faintly.
[Then, shall I see if you react to this?]
"......!"
When ██████ summoned something, Lee Geon's eyes flipped.
That was because what ██████ had summoned this time was none other than Yeonu.
And it wasn't even a whole Yeonu.
It seemed as if he had been pulled out immediately after being devoured by ██████, a sight unbearable to look at with a sane mind!
However, her face was so intact that you could instantly recognize who she was.
Naturally, the blood vessels in Lee Geon's eyes were bound to stand out.
But what was this?
Kwakwagwang!
Instead of going berserk, Lee Geon unleashed a deadly attack on ██████.
And at that reaction, ██████ seemed surprised.
[You can even control your rage?]
No, beyond the degree of control, Lee Geon was actually trying to suppress ██████ rationally.
And by this point, you'd expect him to be irritated by the plan's failure, but ██████ rather raised the corners of his mouth as if pleased.
[Then there's nothing to worry about?]
"!"
That was because he had deliberately experimented with the things that would enrage Lee Geon the most.
The reason was simple.
[From now on, that body will become mine, so it would be troublesome if you went berserk at the 6th stage again.]
Having said that, ██████ looked at the ring on Lee Geon's index finger and seemed satisfied.
'As expected of one with ██████'s talent.'
Thanks to that, it prevented the 6th stage ██████ from going berserk, and it was even balancing the ██████ that kept trying to go awry.
And perhaps he had cunningly even finished checking in case of any unforeseen situation.
[Then that's no longer needed.]
'!'
██████ reversed the summoning of Yeonu, whom he had called to provoke Lee Geon.
He intended to send her back to her original timeline.
And then.
[Hand over that body.]
But it was precisely at that moment.
Crunch!
Lee Geon grabbed Yeonu, who was about to disappear into a time warp gate.
And immediately activating ██████, Lee Geon smiled sharply and swung with full force.
"The one who needs to hand something over is you, you bastard!"
Crunch!
Having struck down with Condemnation on ██████'s body, Lee Geon immediately activated the power of ██████.
'If I eliminate ██████, ██████'s level goes up.'
And when it reaches level 5, I could call not only Yeonu, but also Hugo, who has become a subordinate god!
That wasn't all.
"Thank you so much for even bringing Yeonu's data from the past!"
Lee Geon, having embraced Yeonu's body after super-regenerating it, smiled.
Although it didn't regenerate well because it was a body that had been devoured by ██████, it was still more than enough to secure physical data.
Of course, the Cheon siblings, being his crazed fans, knew his exact three sizes, hair length, and even parts they didn't need to know... but he was different.
'Still, this is more accurate than creating a physical body relying on memory.'
Well, he had the confidence that he could recreate a face identical with just memory, but who knows.
'If I do it well, there might not even be a need for the process of creating the body at all.'
And.
"You just become my experience points!"
Finally, the power of ██████ struck ██████.
Kugugung!
And the light of ██████ shone intensely, just like when it was ██████, and decomposed ██████'s body.
The response was very good.
[With the power of ██████, ██████ is drawn into a massive flow]
[Decomposing ██████]
[The experience points of ██████...]
But it was right then.
[The experience points of ██████ are 0]
"!!"
The ██████ that Lee Geon killed disappeared, bleeding.
But unlike when it was ██████, no experience points came in at all.
And the reason became clear soon.
[██████ exists anywhere, anytime.]
"!!"
The voice appeared from behind Lee Geon.
And the ██████ that appeared from behind grabbed Lee Geon's face in an instant.
[Time Stop]
"......!!!"
Lee Geon's body stiffened solidly.
At the same time, Lee Geon realized the cause of this phenomenon.
'This bastard. Right before being decomposed, ██████ from another timeline crossed over to this side.'
In short, you could think of it as a baton touch.
No matter how many times you killed ██████, if ██████ from a different time crossed over, that became the main body.
In other words.
'██████ is not recognized as dead.'
As if that assumption was correct, ██████ smiled.
[You, who can only exist in this timeline, can never kill me, who exists in any timeline.]
Those words were true.
No matter how many times he killed the ██████ right in front of him, ██████ from another timeline would just fly in.
So Lee Geon flashed his eyes.
And once again, the intense light of ██████ decomposed time.
At the same time, Lee Geon tried to completely eliminate ██████ before ██████ from another timeline crossed over again.
[No. The level of ██████ is too low to attempt that.]
"Keuheok!!"
This time, ██████ from two more times appeared and grabbed Lee Geon.
'This bastard...!'
The time laughed sharply.
[It's not a matter of speed in the first place.]
At the same time, ██████ shoved its hand into Lee Geon's body.
[You, who can only exist in this timeline, will vanish if you leave this timeline.]
"!"
[On the other hand, my existence transcends this place, existing everywhere, and all of them are the Lord of ██████. No matter how much you struggle, this situation will only repeat forever.]
At those words, Lee Geon smiled as if it was despicable.
Who would've thought he wasn't Jang Rui's main body? He hadn't split off like some dog spreading its seed.
'And not even on a single Earth, but on the scale of parallel universes called timelines?'
It was absurd.
'At this rate, the method to kill this bastard...'
But it was right then.
'......!'
Lee Geon seemed to realize something for a moment.
Perhaps he had thought of a way to kill ██████.
But his expression wasn't good.
That was because it was a method he couldn't carry out himself.
However, Lee Geon didn't show it.
"Even so, you can't take the power of ██████."
There was one way for this bastard to take his ██████.
'It's to extract the core of my divinity.'
He didn't know exactly which part he would take, but he would probably take it just as he himself had obtained the cores of other star gods.
But now, with ██████ at 6 and ██████ at 4.
'The moment he extracts that, ██████ will definitely go berserk.'
Because of that, Lee Geon smiled.
"Just so you know, this ring will never follow any master other than me."
And at that expression, ██████ raised the corners of its mouth.
[You probably don't know. Why I haven't approached you until now.]
"!!"
At that moment, Lee Geon flinched.
[Snake Catcher]
"......?!!"
██████, with its hand inside Lee Geon's body, had activated Lee Geon's ability at will.
And in that instant, Lee Geon's body was dragged out.
"Keuk!"
Lee Geon glared.
He couldn't understand why this bastard could use the ability of ██████.
Well, it had been strange from the start when he talked about stealing and using ██████, someone else's divinity...!
And it was then.
"Take good care of the body!"
[!]
Finally, ██████ entered Lee Geon's body.
Strangely, there was no rejection reaction.
But Lee Geon soon realized why.
In that fleeting moment when he was dragged out and the bastard entered his body, Lee Geon had clearly felt it.
'This bastard. His energy is similar to mine.'
It was similar to the energy of the bones he had obtained inside ██████.
Of course, it wasn't that they were brothers or the same person, but...
At the same time, Lee Geon gritted his teeth.
A massive flash soared.
[A third party uses the ██████ of the Serpent Master]
[Leads to ██████]
It seemed ██████ intended to decompose himself.
But Lee Geon was not one to be decomposed like this.
'Actually, this is the only chance to kill this bastard.'
A method he had thought he could never put into practice!
But the moment he felt that the bastard could use his power and that his energy was similar to his own, a method came to mind!
'It's a gamble, but it's worth testing.'
At the same time, just before being decomposed, Lee Geon entered someone's body.
It was the body of ██████.
* * *
Meanwhile, around that time.
Bang! Bang!
"Damn it! Has Lee Geon still not approved the subordinate initiation?"
"That bastard isn't even answering his phone, what's he doing!"
███'s great air raid had begun.
A war for the survival of humanity had started.
And the enemies were not just monsters, but also the blackened star gods brought by ██████.
Because of that, the Saints who had to face off against their own star gods were truly having a hard time!
"Damn...! I'll give you a Churu, so just go back!!"
[As if something like that would work! You fool!]
Stephen, who was blocking the blackened Gold Beast Master in his half-god beast form, gritted his teeth.
"Once Lee Geon approves the subordinate initiation, our power goes up and we can use Serpent Bearer Seat skills! Hang in there a little more!"
Kevin, already boasting superior power as a subordinate of the Serpent Bearer Seat, blew away enemies in his half-god form.
"The moment you receive the protection of the Serpent Bearer Seat, not only the Saints of that subordinate, but even the star gods become stronger!"
Of course, unlike Stephen and the others, there were those who were anxious about having applied, but anyway.
Firstly, the Ten Stars who became slaves just like the star gods and Saints because they all became Lee Geon's slaves.
'Ha. Why on earth did you target Lee Geon-nim.'
And secondly, Seongdanjang Choe Seong-hyeok who ended up coming here because of a sudden contact from Heiji.
'Heiji-nim. Do you really not regret this?'
Third, the Seongdanjang of the Libra Seat who had suddenly received all authority of the Libra Seat from Kalli.
'Damn. If we become subordinates of the Serpent Bearer Seat, wouldn't Kalli-nim return as well...! Please give up that strange dream of becoming a Saint of the Serpent Bearer Seat...!'
And lastly, the Geohae Seat who had already mortgaged their divine seat to Cheon Yuha.
'Right now, there's no other way.'
They were holding back the enemy with all their might.
And it was then.
Pajik!!
New forces appeared before them.
And they were none other than the Cheon siblings!
Massive flames and flashes struck the star gods.
Bang!!!
The Saints were surprised at the familiar faces.
Following that, Gote, who launched powerful cannon-like arrows, and Lee Jae-won, who unleashed wide-range strikes, also appeared.
At the same time, when the Cheon siblings appeared, the Saints glanced around for a moment.
It was for a different reason.
"Uh, you guys, so..."
Stephen tried to choose his words carefully, which was completely unlike him, but the other Saints spoke.
"What about Hugo-nim?"
"Did he really fall to the monsters?!"
Stephen and Kevin glared at them, but the expressions of the Cheon siblings darkened.
"Dad is..."
Perhaps that was enough of an answer.
Haley's expression darkened.
But it was right then.
"It's okay, he died doing his best."
"!!!"
Everyone was surprised at the familiar voice.
The one who appeared before them was none other than Lee Geon.
"Uncle!"
"Weren't you going to the workshop?"
"Ah. I was. But it seemed helping here came first."
However, Haley's expression turned pale.
It couldn't be helped.
"Everyone get back!"
"Haley-nim?"
As soon as the words left her mouth, Haley used a skill, and Lee Geon raised the corners of his mouth.
At the same time, a massive explosion occurred.
It was the power of the Serpent Bearer Seat's ██████.
Amid screams, they all flew away.
"Aaack!!"
It was probably thanks to Haley blowing away Lee Geon's attack with her skill that it was only this much.
In the end, Haley glared at the opponent as if to kill him.
"...!"
"As expected, you're the only one who recognizes me. My daughter."
"!!"
But at Haley's words, the Saints and Seongdo were bewildered.
"██████!"
"Then what about Lee Geon?!"
Sensing something ominous, Haley glared at the time as if to kill him.
"What did you do to Lee Geon?"
"I killed him. So now, I am the Serpent Master. In other words, all of you are my subordinates."
At those words, everyone froze.
Especially, ██████ raised the corners of its mouth as it looked at the Cheon siblings.
"The level of ██████ is still low, you see. If I deal with Saint-level beings, experience points should pile up quickly, right?"
"......!!!"
"Well, don't worry. I'll accept all of you as subordinates."
At that vicious gaze, their bodies stiffened.
██████ was already strong.
And now it was ██████ with the overlord's demonic power stacked on top!
But as they were on guard, ██████ walked towards them with a cruel smile.
"You can't attack, right? Subordinate Saints can't dare kill their master star god."
"......!"
In that suffocating atmosphere, it felt like everyone would collapse.
Why did it have to become this kind of situation at a time like this...!
But it was right then.
"Hey."
"!"
Someone was standing behind ██████.
And what was aimed at the back of ██████'s head was none other than a bow.
██████ was surprised.
And the Cheon siblings and the Saints, who confirmed the opponent, all gaped.
"What are you?"
"!"
"What are you, emitting a monster's smell with my teacher's voice?"
Long golden hair full of youthful recklessness, unlike now.
A very young Hugo was there.
(Continued in the next part)