Divinity: Against the Godly System

Ryder flew towards the Lord of Time with the Moon Scythe in his hand. At the same time, the Lord of Time shot towards Ryder with the Spear of Time in his hand.

The distance between the Lord of Time and Ryder, which was about ten meters previously, kept decreasing rapidly, and soon it was a few meters only. 

"You died once! Today, you will die again!" The Lord of Time declared as he threw the Spear towards Ryder when Ryder was too close to dodge. 

Unfortunately for him, Ryder had a good battle awareness, and he expected this. He was already prepared for something like this. At the sight of a Spear coming towards him, he dodged mid-way. 

The air seemed like it was already prepared to support the battle of Ryder. It moved as he wished and allowed him to dodge effectively.

The bracelet had given Ryder some abilities of wind, water, Healing, and time. Those abilities came with certain restrictions, but with his Divine Powers, those restrictions didn't apply. 

Not only did he have his old powers, but he also had extra because of being able to use some fragments in the bracelet. 

As the Wind helped Ryder, he was able to dodge to the left as he continued flying towards the Lord of Time. 

Unfortunately for him, the Spear of Time that he had managed to dodge underwent a reversal in time as he appeared in the hands of the Lord of Time again. 

"Useless tricks," Ryder exclaimed as he swung his Moon Scythe towards the neck of Time. 

"I can only use tricks against you, my friend," the Lord of Time exclaimed as he snapped the fingers of his left hand. 

As the sound of snap moved through the realm, time seemed to stop. Even though the stopping of time didn't affect Ryder, it did affect the Scythe, which was in Ryder's hand. 

The Scythe seemed to have become immovable. It didn't move forward, no matter despite the immense strength of Ryder. The Moon Scythe was a miraculous item, but even it couldn't resist the time. 

The Moon Scythe stopped just a few inches away from the Lord of Time's neck, who didn't even move. The Lord of Time watched Ryder and didn't even move. 

Not even a single worry could be seen on his face. 

"I can't affect the time for you. But I can affect it for the weapons you use. Pretty neat, isn't it?" The Lord of Time asked Ryder as he smiled. 

"It's a good trick. I guess I can't use a weapon against you. This is a headache," Ryder muttered as he shook his head. 

Ryder freed the Moon Scythe that was in his hands. He snapped his fingers. The moon scythe also disappeared and went back to where it came from.

"It's fine. Other than my old sword, nothing suits me anyway," Ryder muttered as he shook his head. 

"Too bad for you, My friend. That Sword isn't coming to you ever again," the Lord of Time responded as he shook his head.

"That's what you think. If I want, I can find it even from the depths of hell. But I just can't make too much noise right now. So I'll just use my hands," Ryder alluded to the Lord of Time as he shook his head. 

"You might be strong, but even you aren't strong enough to face me without a weapon when I possess my Divine Weapon of Time," the Lord of Time said as he took a step back. 

"Last time you had that weapon. And you had your full strength. But you have none at the moment. I can already feel that you're weaker. That must be why you used this trick to come back in time, don't you? You weren't confident in being able to kill them all?" he asked Ryder. 

"Previously, you gave me a choice. Now, I'm giving you the same. Surrender, and you'll live. Oppose, and you'll die. Even I don't want to kill you. So don't force me. You have three seconds to think," he further added. 

"Interesting. Using my tricks on me. You're learning," Ryder let out as he gazed at the person who used to be one of his closest friends. 

They had done so many times together. He still couldn't believe that they were against each other even though it was his second time fighting the Lord of Time.

"You're right, though. I don't have my old powers. And I'm losing the ones I have. The trick you used to return my soul to nothingness brought it back to the time I had powers. But my body isn't ready to accept these powers now. It will be destroyed if I use them all," he acknowledged as he sighed. 

"Also, even the little bit of power I can use now won't last for long. The trick you used on my soul brought it back. But the effects won't last long. My soul is a Divine Soul. The only person who can actually affect it is me. You're strong and managed to affect it because it didn't have Divinity. But even still, my Soul resists foreign powers."

"The effects of your powers are running out. My soul will soon return to the way it was. So I don't have long. That's why I decided to come back in time. I could kill you all if this were my permanent state. But I only have a day at best. I can't afford to fight you all even though I hate it," Ryder told the Lord of Time.

"So you actually decided to run. You accept it. You've changed," the Lord of Time said softly. 

"You're wrong. I did this for her. If we all had fought there, she would have died. And you all wouldn't let me change locations. I know the God of War. Is he very..." Ryder muttered, but he didn't complete his sentence. 

"Think of it as delaying the battle to save some people," he said. 

"Her?" The Lord of Time asked. 

"Who is this 'Her' you speak of?" he inquired curiously. 

"You don't need to know," Ryder retorted. 

"That's fine. I have a more important question to ask anyway," the Lord of Time replied. "Why did you tell me about this?"

"Now I know your weakness. All I need to do is drag the battle for a day, and you'll be over. So why... Why did you tell me?" The Lord of Time asked.

"Think of it as me giving myself a handicap. I took the opportunity from you to fight me with the others. The least I can do is give myself a handicap," Ryder replied as the glimpse of a smile appeared on his lips. 

"Moreover, you can't live for more than 2 hours anyway. So it doesn't matter even I tell you about it," he added as the smile again disappeared, only to be replaced by the grim look that suited Ryder's face more. 

He didn't tell one thing, though. Another reason why he told the Lord of Time about this was because that man was his friend. And he was going to kill him. The least he could do was do this. It was his form of making up for what he was about to do. 

The Lord of Time couldn't help but laugh out loud.

"Again, with this confidence. I don't know if I should praise you for your consistency or to blame you for such arrogance. If you didn't have this, maybe the events of the past wouldn't have happened previously," he let out as he reminisced about the pasts and the events that led to the great war amongst the gods. 

"This is the only thing I inherited from my great father. I can die, but I can't lose good confidence of mine," Ryder replied. "Anyway, I'm running out of time. Even though I have a day, I want to finish within a few hours so I could do more things," Ryder said. 

"As for your offer, I don't think I'll be able to accept," he acknowledged. 

"You have twenty-four hours, but you want to kill me within a few hours? Isn't that disrespectful to think you can kill me so soon? That too without a weapon?" The Lord of Time asked again as he tightened the grip on his spear. 

"I only said a few hours because I respect you. What would be embarrassing is to kill you within a few minutes. So don't give me an opportunity," Ryder said as he clenched his fist before he shot out towards the Lord of Time.

"You'll need an eternity to kill me! Time is Immortal?" the Lord of Time roared as he tapped the other end of his Spear on the ground. 

As soon as his spear touched the ground, an illusory clock started taking shape behind him. The Clock seemed to have only one hand, which was pointing straight up towards the sky as if signaling that it was twelve o clock.