[I can’t believe this. I’m still falling short with this.]
It was the memory of Time.
Lee Gun’s eyes turned round at the unexpected sight. He saw a familiar young man within the memory.
‘That bastard is…’
He was sure of it. There was no mistaking him. It was Time, whom he had seen in Pisces’s palace.
At a glance, Time looked to be around the same age as him.
‘He really looks like that Crab bastard.’
This made Lee Gun gnash his teeth, but he then looked at his surroundings. It seemed this scene depicted a situation right after a war.
Time stood atop the corpses of countless monsters. The surprising part was the monster he was facing.
‘That’s…!’
It was a monster that Lee Gun was familiar with. Of course, its magical energy and presence differed from the one he knew, but it was unmistakable.
‘That bastard is the monarch of Space-Time, who I saw in the basement of the Devil’s Tower.’
That monarch was the one from whom Lee Gun had extracted EXP through the infinite reset. Sungjae had leveled up thanks to that monster, and Lee Gun had acquired the power of Space.
The monarch of Space-Time spoke to Time.
[You won’t win against the great monarchs, no matter how much you struggle. We are cut from a different cloth.]
It seemed a class system existed amongst the monarchs.
[A cub like you cannot beat us, who have been monarchs from the beginning.]
Time let out a sharp laugh.
[Do not be conceited, old fools. You guys are dim-witted beings that cannot move against time.]
[!]
[You guys are creatures that can live only on a single rail.]
Time disappeared after saying words with unknown meaning.
Lee Gun frowned. Accompanying an enormous flash of light, he watched Time travel across time. While doing so, the monarch conversed with his butler.
[Master! Do you really plan on helping the Constructs of the Divine world usurp the original owners of the Seats of power?]
[Yes. Even if I don’t help them, the usurpation will happen. If I help them in an overt fashion, I’ll be able to acquire some things in exchange.]
[…!]
[It will help in advancing my plan. Moreover, I will be victorious in this timeline.]
As he said those words, the next scene was surprisingly around the time when the current Zodiacs had usurped the original owners.
[I will give you a power that’ll allow you to usurp the original owners of the Seats of power.]
Time grinned as he looked at the Pisces, who was a slave at the time.
[As a price, you have to hand over the corpses of the original owners.]
As the bloody laughter rang out, Lee Gun saw something surprising. It was probably the scene after the current twelve Zodiacs had usurped the original owners of the Seats of power.
After receiving the corpses of the original owners, Time created something. However, it wasn’t like watching the creator make something.
[Eat! Eat each other and grow.]
Time put the corpses of the original owners in a jar and grew something within it.
A monster’s basic nature was called Feeding. Monsters got stronger the more they ate things stronger than them.
Time’s origin was unclear, but he had started as a small creature. He kept eating and eating until he became a monarch. Then, the allies of Time finally appeared in front of him.
[Your name is Abundance. You’re an existence that multiplies as you eat endlessly.]
A piece of flesh befitting its name surged up from the jar. It was Abundance.
Time laughed when he saw the twitching monster. That wasn’t all.
[Your name is Abyss.]
[Your name is Negligence.]
Time grew its comrades as a breeder. He did it to drive out his ignorant predecessors.
To create the strongest power, he had used the original owners and created allies. This allowed him to get rid of three out of the twelve existing monarchs.
However, the thing worth seeing happened afterward.
“Why are you here?”
Lee Gun’s eyes turned sharp when the scene changed. It was to be expected.
“I never expected Time to appear instead of Giselle.”
“!”
The scene changed to show Jean-Louis. The location seemed to be a place underneath a shrine within the holy ground of the Cancer Saint.
Time wore the face of a different person as he spoke to Jean-Louis.
[Soon, Giselle will come to give you a commission. She wants you to kill Lee Gun.]
“!”
[If she asks, will you kill him?]
“No. I cannot let him die so easily. I want him to suffer for eternity.”
Time smirked as if he had expected this answer. His eyes said this was the reaction that he expected of himself.
[Yes. Lock him up inside the Devil’s Tower. Put him in the eternal trap. It will make sure he will never see the light of day. I’ll provide the place to do it.]
Murderous intent appeared in Lee Gun’s eyes.
‘That bastard…’
At that moment…
‘!’
Lee Gun’s vision suddenly distorted. The cause was obvious.
[How dare a Zodiac steal a glance at a great monarch’s memories!!!]
Square poured out enormous amounts of power as if to say Lee Gun shouldn’t dare look at its master’s memories.
[Impertinent bastard! I’ll drag you along with me!]
Lee Gun laughed in derision. “Fuck off! You will be a hair growth solution!!”
Then, he immediately brought down Heaven’s Punishment to destroy the monster’s head.
[You have acquired EXP.]
[You have acquired Time’s Bible.]
[The power of Life is showing a reaction to the highly concentrated power of Time.]
[You have acquired data.]
[Return!]
Lee Gun laughed. It seemed Time would allow him to grow the power of Life.
As an incredible light flashed, Lee Gun killed the monster that had tried to kidnap him. Then, something poured out from the top of the monster’s head.
Hoo-doo-doohk!
“!”
Kevin and the Virgo Constructs were surprised to see these items.
[Ah! Those are the items from inside the vault!]
Lee Gun’s items and remains poured out from the bundle. Everyone let out a sigh of relief.
[We were fortunate. We recovered everything stolen from the Virgo Saint’s vault.]
On the other hand, Lee Gun’s eyes flashed. “It seems Time tormented me so much through the Devil’s Tower for a reason.”
[Baby snake-nim?]
It was contemptible. On the other hand, things had worked out well.
“I will be able to chase after Time with this data. It doesn’t matter where he goes.”
[What?]
[You really will be able to chase after Time? That bastard is capable of moving to the past, right?]
[I-Is that possible?]
Instead of answering them, Lee Gun merely smirked as he looked at the data that he had extracted.
[Return]
– You can return to the contracted owner. The time doesn’t matter.
“I think it’ll be possible.”
“Then…!”
“Well, it seems I’ll have to upgrade my equipment in a way that’ll allow me to go up against that bastard.”
It didn’t matter for now.
“Anyway, it also means you’ll have to quickly return me to my normal self.”
“!”
Goat looked anxious when he heard those words. “I guess it really is hard to fight in that body, right?”
“No. It doesn’t get in the way of using my abilities at all. However, my neck hurts.”
“Your neck? Why would your neck—”
Lee Gun became angry as if it should be obvious. “Why else? I have to look up at you guys, so my neck hurts!!! All of you guys except Sungjae are tall! It’s hard to look up at you guys!”
“…!!!”
Moreover, his clothes kept sagging. Lee Gun threw a tantrum as he looked up. “From what Taeksoo said earlier, you guys can return me to normal, right?”
“Ah! Yes! We acquired the crystals of Time. The Zodiac Saints of the Serpent Bearer temple should—”
“Ok, guys. Hurry up and return me to my normal self.”
Despite his words, no one answered back.
Three seconds passed, and Lee Gun tilted his head in puzzlement. “Guys?”
The Chun siblings slowly started to walk backward.
“A-About that… The crystal… We left it at home!”
“Yes! We’ll go look for it!”
“Yes. However, it might take us three days to find it.”
“I think it might take a week.”
“It might take a month.”
“No. I think we might never find it.”
“!?”
In the end, the Chun siblings tried to run away, and Lee Gun got angry. “Taeksoo!! Catch them!”
Since those two were good at hiding, Lee Gun was telling Hugo to use the tracking skill on them.
Hugo was the only one here who wouldn’t stand by and do nothing.
“Taeksoo?”
However, for some odd reason, Hugo wasn’t chasing after his children. He just stood there.
“Hey, what are you doing?”
“Do you really have to return to your normal self?”
“What?”
“You should just live like that. Yes. That’s right. That’ll be for the best.”
“??!!!”
Lee Gun looked at Hugo, taken aback.
It seemed Hugo liked the mini Lee Gun better. “Why not! You said it won’t hinder you in fights! In fact, you said it was better since you became faster!”
Hugo didn’t say anything false, yet the dumbfounded Lee Gun kicked him. Lee Gun then went toward Goat, Carly, and Taylor. “You guys have it too, right? I don’t care whose it is. Give it to me. I’ll do it myself.”
“Ah. Yes! Here— Kuhk!”
When Hugo stole the crystal Goat had brought out, Lee Gun’s eyes flashed. Lee Gun connected another kick!
Hugo despaired after being beaten to a pulp, while Lee Gun activated the crystal.
Flash!
An incredible light surrounded Lee Gun. Everyone looked disappointed at this sight.
“Ah! The smaller Lee Gun-nim was so cute.”
However…
“What the hell? What’s wrong with this?”
“!”
They were surprised since Lee Gun’s appearance remained the same.
Hailey, who had been unconscious up to this point, looked surprised too.
“Lee Gun isn’t returning to his original self?”
Was the crystal lacking in power?
Hailey volunteered to do it herself and used the power of Time. Although she wasn’t the Time monarch, she could use a portion of Time’s power.
Flash!
[The power of Time has been applied to the body/]
[The body will return to its original state/]
Lee Gun tilted his head in puzzlement. Unlike the notification, his body showed no reaction.
“Why is Uncle still in his kid state?”
“What’s going on?”
Lee Gun soon figured out what had happened.
[The power of Confusion has been activated.]
[The power of Confusion tries to maintain a state of confusion.]
[Since everyone around you is confused seeing your younger self, the power of Confusion is working to keep this state of confusion.]
“!”
Lee Gun quickly looked at his surroundings.
“Gun?”
Lee Gun furrowed his brows. A magical energy had sneaked into the surroundings. It had probably happened when he was viewing Time’s memories.
Lee Gun’s eyes savagely flashed, and the light of Death surged forward! The black light washed over his surroundings.
Kwahng!!!!
“Koo-goohk…!”
Everyone was taken aback by the sudden attack, but it was effective.
[The power of Confusion that was spread all over the surroundings is disappearing because of the power of Death.]
[The power of Confusion that was placed on the Serpent Bearer is slowly dissipating.]
Hailey also picked up on what was happening. “It’s the power of Confusion!”
“Confusion?”
“Alongside Time, it’s one of the two great monarchs.”
“!!!”
She was sure of it. Confusion was as troublesome as Time.
An example of this was that when a war might end, a wound might be healed. However, one might remember the confusion of that event, and the monarch would be able to make one stay in that period forever.
Basically, with the power of Confusion, the war would never end. The wounds would never heal.
Everyone looked at Lee Gun in surprise when they heard this.
“Does that mean Lee Gun-nim will never return to his normal—”
“Ah! It’s fine. I’m slowly returning to normal.”
Hailey nodded at Lee Gun’s words. It was a very faint power that would be difficult to spot in the first place.
“The ability Confusion used this time wasn’t a powerful one. It might be a prank he played.”
“That means…”
Lee Gun snorted when they looked at him. “I’ll be back to normal after one night of sleep. I’ll have no problems using my abilities.”
The young Lee Gun huffed and puffed before turning around.
When the others heard this, the light in their eyes changed. This meant Lee Gun would be in that state for at least a day.
Hugo held up his camera as he grabbed Lee Gun. “Gun, do you want to eat a kid’s lunch set?”
Lee Gun became angry, and the fierce power of Death spread throughout the Virgo Saint’s holy ground.
* * *
Around that time in Venice, where the recovery was in full swing.
Confusion uproariously laughed as he watched Lee Gun in real-time. “No way! Did he just kill Time’s butler?”
The staff member of Time that Lee Gun had just killed wasn’t an ordinary one.
‘It’s an elder that always returned with Time even after all of humanity was wiped out.’
Therefore, this monster was powerful and adept at using its abilities. Yet it had died?
‘It died because of the power of the thirteenth Zodiac?’
Confusion smirked. Since Time was obsessed with that power, Confusion had also been monitoring them.
‘That power is much more useful than I thought.’
Confusion’s subordinate tilted its head in confusion when it saw the light in its master’s eyes.
[Master?]
[My objective has changed. I’ll move on my own. I want you to deliver this order to all the monsters.]
[!]
[We are invading. We will start annihilating all of humanity.]
Confusion’s eyes flashed.
