Ranker Who Lives Twice

[The summoned target could not be found.]

『…What?』 The message was identical to the one that appeared when trying to summon Cha Jeong-woo's soul. Naturally, Kronos' face became distorted. He had never considered this outcome. Kronos quickly turned to look at Yeon-woo.

Contrary to what Kronos expected, Yeon-woo had a calm expression on his face. He did not seem to be holding back any anger. It was as if Yeon-woo expected this outcome.

『You… Did you guess that this would happen?』

'Mother properly speculated on what would happen and had left preparations to help us all over the place, right? She put the ark in the Tower and had By the Table guard her letter… Then, wouldn't she have prepared something before coming over to Earth to find you?'

『And what would that be?』

'That's what we need to find out.'

Clank! Yeon-woo loosened the chain that was wrapped around his arm and put it on the table.

[The thought vestige space, 'Rhea's Memory' has been connected to the spring of time.]

[Time has stopped!]

The collapsing thought vestige space was forcibly stopped. Jeong-woo's thought vestiges were still in his pocket watch, which Ananta possessed, but the spring of time was in Yeon-woo's possession. Moreover…

[The spring of time is turning.]

[The vestige space is continuing to play.]

The space took on a new shape and started depicting scenes that occurred after Rhea had gone to Earth. Rhea's hidden stories began to unravel, one after one.

The place where the fallen Rhea regained her consciousness was in a small single room in an unknown shotty neighborhood. There, her single mother, having a hard time raising her child by herself, soon sent her child to an orphanage.

Rhea was already aware of who she was from the moment she was born, so she understood that she was being given up, but she did not cry or fight back. She just wanted her young body to quickly develop. That way, she could start searching for Kronos, who she suspected was somewhere on the planet.

Rhea did not believe it would be difficult to find Kronos. Based on her projections, she expected him to be in Korea. However, if she had calculated the year incorrectly by mistake, Kronos may already be dead or too old. She wanted to avoid these two possibilities as much as possible. Unlike Kronos, who could continue to live with his previous memories and identities intact with the help of the spring of time, Rhea only had this one chance, this one lifetime. There was nothing she could do about this. She had to leave everything to chance.

Rhea viewed the world in a rational manner, so she hated the idea of leaving things to chance. Thus, a part of her could not do away with some concern.

"…Huh?" Rhea soon saw a child who stood out amongst the others in the orphanage. Though the child looked like any other child, his eyes told a different story, as his eyes seemed to reflect a depth and understanding that encompassed multiple lives. Although his face looked different, Rhea was able to recognize the boy at once.

For the first time, Rhea seemed to have gotten lucky. She had stumbled onto some fortunate chance, a concept she detested relying on. "See. I told you so, right?" A smile soon formed on Rhea's lips. "I told you we'd be able to see each other once again."

***

After that fateful meeting, Rhea and the boy grew up together, got married, and had children… Rhea was finally able to fulfill her long-cherished wish. The happiness that she longed for and had expressed within her paintings and sculptures was here, and like many enjoyable times, the time seemed to pass all too quickly.

However, throughout this happy time, a slight uneasiness remained in the corner of Rhea's heart. It was an uneasiness and sense of anxiety of not knowing when the hand of darkness would reach out and snatch everything away. Rhea was anxious that her happiness, stability, and serenity might be shattered overnight.

"What's wrong? Your complexion is not too good."

"It's nothing."

Although a concerned Kronos occasionally asked Rhea what was wrong whenever she fell into these times of worry, Rhea never revealed her true feelings. She always shook her head and said she was fine. Moreover, perhaps because she fell from grace forcibly of her own accord, her health was never very good. Of course, she could not treat this condition in a traditional hospital, so Kronos was forced to run from place to place to find a cure.

"Not yet… I can't succumb yet."

Although darkness had not made its appearance, Rhea was succumbing to sickness due to her failing physical health. Rhea also had no luck in trying to remedy her condition. There were many occasions when she longed for the absolute powers of a transcendent, which she had given up to reunite with Kronos.

However, what broke Rhea's heart the most was that the happy family she had barely managed to achieve was beginning to show signs of cracking. As Kronos spent more time outside the home, Rhea's sons, Yeon-woo and Jeong-woo, had no choice but to grow distant from their father. Yeon-woo, in particular, showed signs of openly disliking his father.

Since Rhea and Kronos had already promised each other to let their two sons live 'normal' lives, Kronos made no excuses as to why he spent so much time outside the home. Furthermore, the more time he spent outside the home and away from the family, the greater the distance became between him and his sons. Rhea could only helplessly look on at the deteriorating relationship between Kronos and his sons.

The past that Zeus and the others had gone through was happening all over again… Though she wanted to somehow stop it, Rhea, who had already reached her physical limit, could not do anything.

One day, at such a precarious state in their familial life…

"Jeong-woo! Jeong-woo!"

Cha Jeong-woo had suddenly disappeared while only leaving behind a letter stating that he would look for a drug to cure his mother's illness.

Rhea knew Jeong-woo's decision was a trick played by the darkness. The darkness, which had been quiet for decades, had finally made its move. Moreover, the darkness had targeted Jeong-woo, who had a strong sense of responsibility within the family and was the youngest…

Though Rhea suspected that the darkness would target Jeong-woo first, as he was the most susceptible to being tricked, Rhea still felt heartbroken. She knew the darkness would target her mortal offspring first, but seeing it happen was an entirely different feeling. To make matters worse, it had happened while she had let her guard down, as she was not feeling physically well. If she tried just a little harder…perhaps she could have blocked the darkness' machinations and spent just a little more time with her family.

However, it was already too late. Cha Jeong-woo had probably been dragged to the Tower. She knew what the Tower was like, so she knew how much Jeong-woo would probably suffer in that space. And when Kronos, who had moved to save Cha Jeong-woo, showed no signs of returning after re-entering the Tower…

"…I can't leave things like this." Rhea shut her eyes tightly. She tried to stop the darkness. She paid attention to her surroundings, but the darkness eventually crept into her life without a sound and took all that was important to her. Just as it had done before, the darkness was taking everything this time around as well.

"…I have to bring things back to what they were." However, unlike the previous occasion, Rhea was unwilling to surrender and let things progress without a fight. As the previous queen who ruled over Olympus and as the mother of eight children, she was determined to not suffer the same fate as last time. She was unwilling to lose her husband, whom she had just reconnected with, again.

Luckily, since Rhea knew that the darkness was going to make an appearance at some point, she had made preparations to fight and counter the darkness' tricks.

'Jeong-woo. Husband. Just wait a little longer.' This was what Rhea thought as she made her move. Up to that point, Rhea believed that Cha Jeong-woo had only been chosen by the darkness.

***

Beep, beep, beep… In a hospital room where an ECG machine was beeping aloud, Rhea slowly opened her eyes and barely raised her upper body. Her body drooped and slumped over. Her body felt too heavy. It was cumbersome for her to even sit up.

"…Yeon-woo." Rhea had a concerned expression on her face as she stroked Yeon-woo's head, which was half-buried in her bedsheets. Yeon-woo had not slept properly for several days to take care of his mother. He had finally fallen asleep from exhaustion.

Originally, Yeon-woo was highly sensitive to external influences, so he would normally wake up from his mother's touch. However, his current exhaustion preceded all else.

Rhea did not say anything as she stroked Yeon-woo's head. The words she wanted to say, the words she wanted to offer… Too many words lingered at the tip of her tongue, but no words came out. Knowing that she would be going away for a long time, how could she tell Yeon-woo to stay safe and healthy in the meantime?

Thus, Rhea spent each precious second looking at her son's face one more time. And she hoped that this would not be their last meeting. She hoped that there would be a time when they could meet again and smile. Rhea wanted to clear up any misunderstandings that Yeon-woo may have about the family and tell him that he had six other siblings. She wanted to laugh once more with all her children around her.

If possible, Rhea told herself that she would take a picture next time. She would make sure that they took a family photo. It was a pity that the four had never had the wherewithal and time to take a family photo. However, Rhea thought, the next time would be different.

Rhea took Yeon-woo's hand in her own and squeezed. She was trying to convey her request through her actions, as she could not convey it through words. She quietly lowered her head.

Beep. A straight line soon appeared on the ECG's screen.

***

One of the things Rhea prepared before her fall from grace was to gather her divine powers altogether in one place. Rhea utilized her Quirinale power, the application of space, to customize a specific space through her power. Furthermore, she was able to configure the laws that flowed in that space to her liking. It was a similar concept to establishing a holy territory, but it was a much higher concept. Using her family's unique powers, she became the absolute creator of a specified space.

Thus, Rhea made a separate subspace. If anything went wrong on Earth and brought upon her death, the subspace would be triggered and operational right away. Thus, when Rhea died as a mortal human, her soul deviated from the flow of reincarnation and reawakened in her subspace.

In other words, Rhea had rejected her place in the flow of reincarnation. This meant that she was throwing away any opportunity to reincarnate and to continue preserving a connection to her past lives. Thus, her 'death' would lead to total annihilation.

Moreover, the reservoir of divine power she currently possessed was limited. Rhea had simply 'saved' a finite amount and could not replenish it. This essentially meant that she had enough divine power for one use. The problem for Rhea was that she did not know how quickly her divine power would be consumed while responding to the darkness' actions.

There was a chance that Rhea would cease to exist after saving her husband and son. As a divine being, Rhea knew what total annihilation entailed and how terrifying it was. However, she did not fret or care about any of that. In her mind, her first priority was to save her husband and son, who was currently possessed by the darkness.

『So…your mother followed after us.』 Kronos clenched his jaw.

Even after Rhea closed her eyes, she was busily moving about in the shadows to help them. Yeon-woo could not help but feel heartache for his mother. He now understood why his mother's soul did not respond to <Summon of the Dead>.

It was not that Rhea did not respond. She could not respond. His mother was like a flickering candlelight. Although her light may still be shining, once all the candle wax was used up, she would have no choice but to flicker off forever…

[The spring of time is fast-forwarding.]

[Playback speed increases.]

The place Rhea headed to afterwards was not the Tower, where Kronos had already gone to and disappeared there. Since starting its machinations in earnest, the darkness probably placed Kronos and Jeong-woo in a place that no one would ever suspect.

Kronos and Cha Jeong-woo would be there… Rhea thought. So, Rhea chose the void, which was a place deep in the unconscious. The bottom of the world where all souls flowed through like a flowing river. The foundational structure of all laws. The end or borderline of the 'dream'. It was the same place where Yeon-woo had gone to look for Cha Jeong-woo only to be forcefully kicked out.

Rhea had swum through the void for many years before she finally reached the end. "…so, it's here." Rhea gulped in front of the large gate. Coming directly to the place that she had only heard about from oral traditions passed down from her ancestors, Rhea felt goosebumps form all over her body.

And the moment she opened the door, Rhea was hit with the thought that she would never be able to go back to where she came from. Of course, she had already considered that possibility countless times, so she did not waver in her determination to continue onward.

However, the part that puzzled her was that, based on what she had heard in her family's oral tradition, there should have been a separate 'gatekeeper' to guard the 'gate', but she did not see such a gatekeeper.

Rhea had been prepared to use up all her divine powers and face death to pass by the gatekeeper. However, as if on purpose, the gatekeeper was nowhere to be found. Rhea had no reason to refuse this opportunity, so she opened the 'gate'.

Whoosh! Rhea was able to push open the gate and pass through only after using up most of her reserved divine powers. Beyond the border of the 'dream'…was a place located in the middle of Day and Night.

In that place…

Kikiki!

What is this?

I've never seen this being before. Who is this?

Numerous letters spun around her in a dizzying circle. All of them contained a clear aura of malice, but they also harbored curiosity regarding the unfamiliar intruder.

Rhea thought that the black haze behind the letters…or the thing that looked like a shadow was the master of the voices coming from the letters. She felt an uncountable number of prying eyes from all around her. Were there a hundred million? A billion? A trillion? It was an immeasurable number.

These were the Demonisms. Could it be that these were the individual pieces that made up the collective of the Black King?

I think it's a snippet of this 'dream'. It looks like it has made its way all the way here. How long has it been? If it doesn't have a purpose, how did it enter this place?

Can I eat it?

Do you think that's possible, you idiot? It went past the gatekeeper.

The Sage allowed it to pass. Unless you want to be torn apart, you better stay still.

Sage? Argh. Did he allow it to come in? Wait, did he have such a name? Huh?

It's a name that 'I' will call myself someday. Anyway.

Let's see what it does.

After chattering and bickering amongst themselves, the Demonisms suddenly dispersed as they moved to the left and right of Rhea.

Rhea, who was contemplating on how to break through the Demonisms' encirclement and find her son, was surprised by the sudden unexpected situation. And when she raised her head, she found what she had come to find.

Rhea had found her son's soul. Although he seemed to have forgotten all the memories of his previous life and looked so weak that it would not be strange to crumble and disappear at any moment, it was Cha Jeong-woo's soul! But Rhea did not move hastily towards Jeong-woo's soul.

Do you want your son back?

A Demonism with a much smaller size than the other Demonisms spoke with a deep, resonating voice as it looked upon Rhea. It was Sage.