He was just a fish on the chopping block anyway; whether he lived or died depended entirely on someone else's mood, so what was there to care about?
Ryn watched with amusement as a Honkai Beast and a Quantum Shadow held a wedding. It was somewhat beyond his comprehension, but in the Sea of Quanta, anything was possible.
So, Ryn offered them his heartfelt congratulations.
How hilarious. If a Honkai Beast and a Quantum Shadow could get together, would there be a Corpse Girl and a Quantum Octopus next?
No, no, if I keep thinking like this, it'll get out of hand. I can't think about it anymore~
Time then began to accelerate again, hundreds, thousands of times faster than before.
Ryn wondered, what was the guy controlling time thinking? What's so special about this! Why am I the only one left out!!
Is it fun to watch me, powerless, holding the same posture for thousands or tens of thousands of years!!
If I ever get the chance to mess with someone like this in the future, I have to try it out for myself.
To prevent his memories from being eroded by the passage of time, Ryn chose to seal his mind and enter a deep sleep, minimizing the wear and tear of time on himself.
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An unknown amount of time passed before Ryn woke up again. Time had returned to normal.
And before him, two indescribable entities of unclear form were conversing about something unknown...
Then, it seemed their conversation broke down. The entity that looked like a blood-red abyssal pupil slapped the other entity that appeared later, turning it into a ball of light and throwing it in front of him.
Ryn could now see one of the entities, a black and white ball of light?
But this light looked a bit familiar...?
"Damn, this light! It was you, you bastard, who blew up Kiana!!"
If looks could kill, Ryn would have loved to grind this asshole ball of light to dust several times over.
At that moment, the gaze of the blood-red abyss began to focus on Ryn's body...
It transformed into a pure white ball of light that looked very similar to himself and slowly walked over to him.
Ryn looked at it and fell into deep thought. It was sacred and could not be looked at directly, and perhaps it had a thousand faces for a thousand people; everyone who saw it would see themselves.
The ball of light stopped in front of Ryn, its glow beginning to dim, as if it were about to shed its golden light and reveal its true form to him.
Stop, stop, stop! Bro, don't do this! I know the rules. If I see your full form, I'm definitely a goner, so this is fine! Let's all keep a little mystery!!
Unable to speak, Ryn screamed frantically in his mind, terrified that the ball of light would reveal its true form in the next second and then, like a major villain, say something like, "You have seen my true face, I cannot let you live."
"Idiot."
"Huh?"
Ryn blinked uncertainly. Did he just hear this unknowable, unseeable being call him an idiot?
The light disappeared, and the form of Honkai God · Ryn appeared before Ryn.
He looked very much like himself when he transformed into Tianqi-Ryn, except His right eye was tightly closed, and His left eye...
No, it should be his left face now. The bloodstain, so similar to his own and Tianqi's, had merged with his eye, becoming a blood-red cross-shaped abyss that occupied most of his left face like a mask...
Looking at Honkai God · Ryn, who was almost identical to him except for a few details and his clothes, Ryn fell silent.
I have such a badass otherworldly counterpart?
Honkai God · Ryn curled his lip. The thought that Ryn's current pathetic state was his own past made him want to kill himself.
He canceled the time stop on Ryn, allowing him to move freely again.
Suddenly returning to normal after holding the same posture for so long, Ryn couldn't react in time and watched himself fall to the ground.
"Wait... let me recover."
Ryn shouted as he squirmed to his feet, meeting the gaze of Honkai God · Ryn.
"So... you saved Kiana and the others?"
"Yes, they are alive and well in the prime world now." Honkai God · Ryn nodded, then kicked Ometeotl on the ground, pointing at its remains and said to Ryn:
"See it? A certain god from the quantum side who holds the position of a creator god—Ometeotl.
Because Kiana was chasing your trail, she broke into the Sea of Quanta. Gods do not meet gods. This directly led to her being hunted by it."
Ryn fell silent and mimicked Honkai God · Ryn's action, kicking Ometeotl a few times.
Then he hugged his thigh, which was almost burned away by the light from Ometeotl's body, and hopped around in pain like a golden rooster on one leg.
Ryn was numb with pain. Why did he have to be so reckless? Even if he cut off his own thigh, removing the ball of light, he couldn't get rid of its influence.
Because this was the power of a true god, a manifestation of rules. Because it was burning and eroding Ryn's leg, the concept of his leg being burned and eroded by it was carved into the world's rules.
If he cut off his leg, he'd be fine without a leg, but as soon as a little bit of it grew back, the ball of light would reappear and continue to burn and erode Ryn's leg.
After trying several times and finding that he couldn't solve the problem at all, Ryn lay on the ground, looking pitifully at Honkai God · Ryn.
Honkai God · Ryn looked straight ahead, his heart, which was originally calm, suddenly stirred, and the corners of his mouth couldn't help but lift.
So that's how he felt when he looked at himself back then...
He raised his hand and extinguished the light of Ometeotl on Ryn's body.
"As long as the concept of duality exists in the world, it will not die. It will return in its full glory at some point.
All gods are like this, so take this as a lesson. In the future, don't go touching the belongings of gods, not even their remains."
Honkai God · Ryn explained to Ryn, but he only gave a rough outline. There was no need to say more about the specifics; they would understand when they reached the level of gods.
Ryn grew his leg back, stood up again, then moved away from Ometeotl's remains and asked Honkai God · Ryn.
"My name is Ryn, what's yours? A being of your level wouldn't appear before me for no reason, right?"
"It's nothing, just like you, I got lost by accident."
Honkai God · Ryn playfully winked his only left eye in a very human-like way, then placed his hand on Ryn's right shoulder and looked at him seriously.
"Next, I'm going to tell you something very important, something that only you can do."
Ryn took a deep breath and nodded in anticipation. "Go on. If I can do it, I'll do my best."
"Hehehe..."
Honkai God · Ryn suddenly burst out laughing, then pushed Ryn back with force, sending him into a portal that had opened behind him at some unknown time.
In the last moment before the portal closed, Ryn saw Honkai God · Ryn move his lips and say a few words.