*Glug Glug Glug Glug!*

Nathan felt like he was drowning. Drowning in what? He did not know himself. Perhaps he was literally drowning, or perhaps it was his own mind—a figment of his own imagination.

Regardless, he felt as if he was going to suffocate if he wasn't pulled out soon. It was already hard enough for him to 'breathe' as it is.

Time went on as he continued drowning. No one was going to save him—Nathan had already realized that. Even then, he was powerless to do anything. He couldn't even twitch his basic muscles, much less do something as strenuous as swimming.

All Nathan could do was lay there and wait for his imminent demise.

Or at least, that was something that would've happened if not for the fact that a golden glow suddenly enveloped Nathan.

The moment the golden light surrounded Nathan, he felt a sudden rush of energy. Nathan did not dwell on this and decided to think about it later as he started swimming up in the murky water that he was previously drowning in.

The swim was difficult—Nathan felt like there was something dragging him down. He decided not to look back and continue swimming forward. He would ignore everything to achieve his goal.

The higher he swam, the heavier the weight on him became. When he was just near the surface of the water, he could feel hands on his legs, futilely trying to pull him down, as he kept moving forward, ignoring everything around him for the sake of his goal.

*Splash!*

Nathan's hands broke through the surface of the murky, swamp-like water, with the rest of his body following soon after. He gasped for air, and when he had inhaled plenty, he looked around at his surroundings, only to find that for however far he could see, there was no land nor animals. There was only the murky sea that spanned throughout the long distance.

Nathan had no time to take in the scenery as the next moment, he saw a whirlpool form right next to him. His rational self told him that he should escape, but his instincts told him that he shouldn't. In the end, he had no time to make the decision as he was forced to follow through with his instincts.

He felt his body being torn apart by the whirlpool, but weirdly enough, there was no pain. Eventually, after a long time of spinning, he arrived at the vortex and was swallowed into it. Nathan's vision turned pitch black before he felt the familiar suffocation sensation. Though this time, it didn't feel like he was drowning. Instead, it felt like he was inside of something.

Nathan then made the decision to push his hands upwards, only to feel something heavy pressing down on him. He increased his strength as he continued pushing, and finally, he succeeded.

*Creak*

Nathan sat up in a coffin as he looked around while feeling lost.

'Didn't I…die?'

Nathan then began to think of the possible causes for his resurrection. He then instantly found the answer. After all, there were not many things that he had with him. Definitely no items possible of resurrection.

'...Kronos?'

There were no answers. Only deafening silence.

Nathan's ears began to ring.

'Kronos?'

He asked once more. When he received no answer, he put his hand over his eyes.

Just as he was about to assume the worst, Kronos' voice popped into his mind.

[I'm not dead. Not just yet.]

Nathan's face instantly lit up. A stark difference from the grim disposition that he was about to assume should Kronos had responded a second later.

'How…How am I alive?'

Now that he had the answer to Kronos' state, Nathan asked the question that was on his mind the entire time throughout his resurrection.

Kronos scoffed, [How else do you think? Yes, it was me. Yours truly, the Titan of Time, the almighty Kronos.]

Nathan didn't feel annoyed at how Kronos incessantly praised himself at all. In fact, he felt relieved as it didn't seem like Kronos had changed.

Nathan then let out a sigh of relief as he then finally took in his surroundings. Something that he didn't have the chance to do just yet due to his earlier focus on Kronos' status.

As he scanned the area, his eyes furrowed as he felt that he had been here before. His eyes then finally lit up in recognition as he looked at the twelve statues of Kronos.

"This is your secret chamber in Greece, no?"

[Indeed it is. Though I wouldn't say that it exists in Greece. The portal is just there.]

Nathan then did the math and gave a crude attempt at a joke.

"Then I'm currently in your bed, or rather, your coffin, no?"

[Indeed you are. I'd prefer it if you got out of my coffin instantly, but that's not the highest priority at the moment.]

"What do you mean?"

[...Look at your body.]

Nathan then glanced down at his body, which was covered by a tunic. He lifted it as his eyes hardened from what he saw.

First, there was an obvious scar from the mysterious grim reaper.

Second, while his body looked natural other than the scar, Nathan could sense a feeling of rejection from some parts of his body. Like his left arm, or his right calf.

His eyes squinted as he asked Kronos, "What's wrong with my body?"

[What do you think? You got caught in an explosion of two mixed energies—something that disintegrated even someone of that grim reaper—Kilgore's caliber. Your body was caught in the blast, and I'll tell you this; your body was not as strong as Kilgore's was, and it's only because of me that you survived the explosion, albeit with missing body parts.]

"So you mean…" Nathan trailed off as he realized why he felt the rejection.

[Yes, I used my flesh to fill up the holes in your body.]

Nathan felt disgusted at the poor wording for a moment, before he ignored it in favor of his gratefulness towards Kronos as he realized the implications behind said Titan's actions.

"Wasn't the flesh supposed to contribute towards your physical body?"

[It was, but there is no point in saving it for the future if I was going to die with you. That might harm me in the long term, but in the end, you can only have a future if you secure the present.]

Nathan felt touched. Kronos, who has been desiring his resurrection for millennia, willingly harmed his chances in order to save Nathan. Even if there was a motive behind it, Nathan was still extremely grateful.

[Don't thank me yet. You can feel the rejection from your own body, yes? That's the problem. My flesh naturally contains my energy, and it's mixing with your own demonic energy now. I'm already putting my full attention towards suppressing them, but I can't hold it for long. At this rate, you'll explode and die when the two energies fully mix and reject each other.]

"...There must be a solution if you decided to do this."

[Indeed there is,] Kronos agreed with Nathan, [Find the other parts of my body and fuse with it. You'll become a Titan, yes, but it's better than exploding on yourself.]

That was not the only solution. Yes, it was the most obvious one, and it also had low risks, but no, it was not the only solution that Nathan could think of.

In fact, from the moment that he asked Kronos for solutions, he had already searched his mind for solutions, and that came in the form of peerages, or rather, someone who he wanted in his peerage.

Valerie Tepes. The wielder of a subspecies Sephiroth Graal. A Longinus-tier Sacred Gear that gave the user control over the principles of life itself. If Nathan recalled correctly, the goblet could be used to heal and resurrect people. Though that was the extent of what Nathan remembers, as his knowledge regarding Longinuses that appeared later on was somewhat lacking.

He decided not to share the solution with Kronos as he had no logical way of explaining where he got it from. Nathan ended up keeping his silence before he exerted strength on his hands to push himself up, only to find that he couldn't.

'Right. My body is in the middle of recovering. But what about my magic?'

[I believe that you can still use it with little repercussions, but be extra careful to not tap into the godly side of your magic, lest you want to alert your fellow Devils and accelerate your own death.]

'So I can still use magic?'

[Yes you can. Feel free to teleport back to Ajuka Beelzebub's lab.]

Nathan hummed as he created a magic circle under him, before teleporting over to Ajuka lab.

Nathan heaved a sigh of relief as he saw that he had landed on top of his bed, preventing him from becoming a mess on the floor.

Nathan then subconsciously moved his hand towards his communication bracelet, before realizing that it was gone. Probably destroyed in the explosion.

"F*ck. He probably knows what happened to it."

Of course, Ajuka did. After all, it wasn't every day that he would abruptly lose connection with his own bracelet.

Nathan looked around his room to find something that could help him talk to Ajuka, before realizing that something was wrong. His room was barren. Too barren. There was dust in the corners and on the floor, and it seemed like his room had not been touched for the last century.

'...Kronos…How long have I been asleep for?'

[...4 years. You have been asleep for 4 years.]