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“I APOLOGIZE, but you do not have permission to get near the Aether, Lord Ruto.”

Ruto raised an eyebrow at what Rafael, the Vice-captain of the Sky God’s Celestial Knights, said to him. “Why am I not allowed to get near the Aether?”

Right now, the entire plaza was surrounded by Celestial Knights blocking anyone from coming near the Aether.

Moreover, there was also an invisible “barrier” around the tree itself.

Only people on his level could see it, though.

“The Sky God is now responsible for the restoration of the Aether,” Rafael explained. “Hence, no one is allowed near the Aether. Please understand, Lord Ruto.”

“I would, if the Sky God truly wanted to restore the Aether,” Ruto said indifferently. “I can’t see faces normally, but I can clearly see that you’re not restoring the tree– you are doing the opposite.”

The “barrier” was sucking the life out of the Aether, after all.

.....

Rafael quickly moved to draw his sword, but he was already too late. The Celestial Knight was shocked when he realized that he had a huge and deep cut on his torso– from his chest to his waist.

Ruto walked past Rafael, his sword and his clothes dirty with Rafael’s blood.

Yes, he slashed the Celestial Knight and walked past him just like that.

Several Celestial Knights attacked him all at the same time.

Ruto wasn’t a Swordmaster, and he didn’t like using swords in the first place. Hence, this time, he used his Mana that was in the form of a violent wind, to send everyone flying– away from him.

And every time he would use his strength to the maximum, it would affect the weather. Even the weather in the Upper World wasn’t exempted.

However, he could only control half of the sky.

Hence, half of the sky was dark, while the other was bright.

[After all, the Sky God controls the sky.]

Obviously.

“Lord Ruto, if you touch the Aether, you’ll make the Sky God angry,” Rafael, whose voice was coming from behind, warned him in a hoarse voice. “You may be Lord Levi’s divine son, but you do not have the authority to meddle with the Sky God’s job. Don’t forget the rules, milord. Each god has their own jurisdictions.”

He clenched his jaws when he heard the word “rules.”

[All I did in my previous life was follow all those stupid rules. I’ll be damned if I follow the same rules again.]

That was why in this lifetime, he “killed” Commander Yoan Solfrid.

[I’m Ruto now– Neoma’s Ruto.]1

“There’s only one rule that I need to follow in my life: keep Neoma happy and safe,” Ruto said, then he placed a hand on the invisible barrier around the Aether. It stung a bit when he touched it, but that was it. But it was only because it was him. If another person had touched the barrier, then they would have turned into dust on the spot. “If the rules of this damned place threaten Neoma in any way, then I’ll rewrite them one by one until the rules are in her favor.”

He put enough divine power in his hand to blow up the entire barrier.

The explosion causes the ground to shake, and it also harmed the surrounding Celestial Knights who were trying to stop him.

Ruto was unaffected since he protected himself with his own barrier.

[If you really want to stop me from approaching the Aether, then you should have put up a stronger barrier to keep me away from it.]

<“It wasn’t that the barrier was weak– you’re just a monster.”>

He frowned when he heard the creepy, deep voice in his head.

Now that he had begun paying the price of turning back time, the Ancient Devil’s consciousness had also awakened. But since the Ancient Devil didn’t have a physical body yet, his consciousness was stuck in the mark that the Ancient Devil left in his soul.

It was annoying, but it wasn’t that bad.

<“Especially now that you have access to my power.”>

That was right.

Now that the Ancient Devil’s consciousness was “residing” in his soul, his ancient power gave a boost to Ruto’s own power.

The Devil’s power came from the Darkness attribute.

But the Ancient Devil’s power was called the ‘Holy Darkness.’ It was so similar to a god’s divine power that the Light Goddess herself couldn’t purify it. Hence, Ruto was able to borrow the Ancient Devil’s without it clashing with his divine power.

“I don’t need your power,” Ruto said while walking towards the Aether. “Not yet, at least.”

<“Well, of course. You’re already a monster at this age. But your power isn’t enough yet to destroy the Upper World as you did in past.”>

He ignored the Ancient Devil this time.

“I’m sorry, I’m late,” Ruto said to the Aether, then he placed his hands on the huge trunk. As expected, it was weaker than before even after he sent the Aether a huge amount of his divine power earlier. But, thankfully, the Aether would still live a few more years. It would buy him some time. “You’ll live a few more years as long as the filthy gods here don’t touch you. So please forgive me for what I’m about to do.”

He was about to put a barrier around the Aether.

But instead of sucking the life out of the tree, the barrier that he would create would protect the Aether from anyone and everyone that wasn’t him or Neoma. In short, only Ruto and the royal princess would be able to break through the barrier.

“I’m sorry for restricting your movements just to prolong your life, even though I know you already want to rest,” Ruto whispered, then he closed his eyes and pressed his forehead against the trunk. “I will make it up to you by making sure you’ll be the last Aether in this world.”

After completing the impregnable barrier, the sky grumbled as if it was angry.

The sky had turned completely dark. But, this time, it wasn’t because of his power– it was the Sky God.

“Didn’t I say I was going to pay you a visit?” Ruto said while looking up at the angry, dark sky. “But considering the fact that you prevented me from approaching the Aether, I guess it’s safe to say that you don’t have any intention to meet me.”

The sky roared angrily.

“I’m just as angry as you are,” Ruto said, then he summoned his ancient bow and pointed the arrow at the sky. “This will be my last warning: leave Neoma alone.”

He only fired a single arrow.

But as soon as he let go of the string, the arrow split into two. And then the other arrow did the same. The process continued again and again until there were already hundreds of lightning arrows headed to the sky.

Of course, the Sky God tried to block the arrows– but to no avail.

It wasn’t that Ruto was already strong enough to fight a major god. He was simply taking advantage of the fact that the Sky God was weak. Out of all the gods currently active in the Upper World, the Sky God was the one most affected by the pollution in this world.

[Hence, the Sky God mobilized his Celestial Knights instead of facing me head-on.]

In short, he was attacking a sick “person.”

It was neither honorable nor something to be proud of. However, he didn’t care about honor anymore. He would do anything and everything for Neoma’s safety and happiness.

His thoughts were distracted when “red rain” started pouring.

Of course, the “red rain” wasn’t water dyed with red.

It was blood.

To be precise, the sick Sky God’s blood.

[Ah, I’ve done it– I’ve harmed a god who didn’t “technically” commit a crime.]

“Divine Father, your son has become a sinner,” Ruto whispered while talking to Lord Levi. “Good luck cleaning up after my mess, milord.”

***

“AND THAT was what happened.”

Neoma was amused after hearing Ruto’s story as to how he became a “fugitive.”

[You see, if Ruto was born in the modern world, he’d be a strait-laced model student. That’s also the vibes that he gives off until recently.]

That was why she was pleasantly surprised by Ruto’s change.

[My man is a rule breaker now, huh?]

“Thank you for telling me what happened,” Neoma said, then she raised an eyebrow. “But why are you talking to me while standing as far away as possible?”

Ruto’s back already hit the wall behind him.

“I followed Veton’s traces since Veton is still with you, but I didn’t expect you to be alone in the room,” Ruto explained, and it looked like he didn’t have any intention to get near her. “For an unmarried man and woman to be alone in the bedroom is a little…”

“Aish, it’s alright,” she said causally. “You just have to take responsibility when we get older.”

“It’s awkward to hear that from a baby,” he said while scratching his cheek. “I feel like the door would suddenly burst open and the royal knights would arrest me.”

She was suddenly reminded of the “FBI, open up!” meme.

And she completely understood what Ruto meant by that.

“I don’t know how Regina Crowell turned me into a baby,” she explained. “But I have a feeling that this is only temporary.”

“Regina Crowell?” he asked, surprised. “I didn’t know she has that kind of power.”

Oh?

So, Commander Yoan Solfrid didn’t encounter this strange power of Regina Crowell in the first timeline.

[Then how did the old Neoma discover Regina Crowell’s mysterious power?]

.....

“You didn’t get bald even though you’ve turned into a baby this time.”

“Excuse me?” Neoma asked, offended. “I was never bald, okay?”

“You were bald when you were a baby,” he insisted. “But I’m glad that I can see your long hair this time. It’s easier for me to recognize you since your hair color is unique.”

She knitted her eyebrows. “What do you mean by that? Can you no longer see my beautiful face since I’ve grown relatively weak after I lost Tteokbokki and my Spirits?”

“That’s one reason.”

“Is there another reason why you can’t see my beautiful face again?”

Ruto was about to answer, but he stopped and turned to the door.

When Neoma turned to the door, it swung open and revealed Hanna who entered the room quietly and closed the door behind her.

“I apologize for interrupting your conversation,” Hanna said politely, then she turned to Ruto with a strict look on her face. “But Lord Ruto, it’s inappropriate for a young lord to visit the royal princess at this hour. I know that the two of you are talking about something important. But I can’t leave you here alone since if I did, Nero and His Majesty would surely make a big deal out of this incident.”

Ah, Hanna was right.

Nero and Papa Boss would surely overreact if they found out she was alone in the room with Ruto at this hour.

[But we’re talking about something important…]

“Neoma, we have a lot of things to discuss, but both of us need to rest in the meantime,” Ruto said. “Can we have breakfast together later?”

“Later” because it was already past midnight.

“Okay, let’s do that.”

“Can I come closer?”

She smiled at his question. “I thought you’d never ask.”

Ruto just smiled faintly, then he came closer to her until he was standing next to the bed. Then he got down on one knee and extended a hand to her. “May I hold your hand, Neoma? I want to see if I can find the reason why you turned into a baby.”

“Okay,” she said, then she accepted his hand.

[It’s warm.]

She smiled out of relief.

[My man really came back alive.]

But…

“Ruto, your purple hair turned super pale it’s almost white,” she said, frowning. “Now we look like siblings. I don’t want people to think we are relatives.”

“I don’t like it either,” Ruto said. “But that’s the side effect of using my divine power to the maximum. It will return to normal once I calmed down.”

She beamed. “Good.”

“I looked like this during our last fight in the past timeline,” he said. “Don’t you remember?”

She shook her head. “I didn’t pay attention to your appearance back then…”

“Ah, right,” Ruto said teasingly. “My face isn’t your type.”

Argh!

She hated that the most handsome face that she had seen in her life was Rubin Drayton’s face. But she couldn’t lie to herself. This was the downside of her extreme vanity.

However…

“Your face is my most favorite face in the entire world, Ruto,” Neoma said, then she put her other hand on his cheek– the one where his burn mark was before. “And I will never get tired of seeing your face. In fact, I want to see it every day, every night, for the rest of my life.”

That sounded like a proposal, but whatever.

[Ruto and I are endgame anyway.]

“I understand. I’ll do something to reverse your current condition. For now, take some rest,” Ruto said, nodding. Then he smiled at her. He rarely showed her a full-blown smile, but he did– and that made her happy. “And this is late, but I’m home, Neoma.”

“Welcome home, Ruto,” Neoma said, smiling back at him. “Thank you for coming back to me safely.”

***