Simultaneous Time Travel: What Villain? I'm the Protagonist!

By the time the alarm sounded for the third time, Sheng Ren had already rushed out of the secret vault.

All the lights in the corridor went out. A few emergency lights came on, their red glow flashing and casting erratic shadows on the walls.

He ran to the left; that was the exit.

He ran for twenty meters and then suddenly stopped.

At least twenty people surged in at the end of the corridor. Some were wearing CP uniforms, others wore God's Knights cloaks, all clutching knives. Someone was already shouting, "Over here! Over here!"

Sheng Ren turned and ran back.

He ran past the entrance to the secret vault, past the room where he had just fought with Shamlock, and down that long corridor—

There is a window on the right.

He kicked the window open, revealing a garden outside. Under the moonlight, the flowers were neatly trimmed, and the fountain was still spraying water, the droplets sparkling in the moonlight.

He jumped out.

The moment my foot touched the ground, I heard footsteps coming from the left and then from the right.

At least three groups of people are heading towards the garden.

Sheng Ren stood still.

He looked up.

At the end of the garden stood another building. It was shorter than the previous one, but larger, with lights on in the windows and curtains hanging on the balcony, behind which shadowy figures moved about—the land of the gods, the dwelling place of the Celestial Dragons.

Sheng Ren smiled.

He ran that way.

The first person to see him in the garden was a CP employee, in his early twenties, who was running in the lead.

"stop!"

Sheng Ren lost his footing. He raised his right hand, palm facing the man, and spat out a ball of white fire.

The man flew backward, crashing into three people behind him. The four of them rolled into a heap, their clothes catching fire, and screams erupted.

Sheng Ren didn't stop. He kept running, past the fountain, past the flowerbeds, past a row of shrubs trimmed into animal shapes.

Ahead lies the gate to the land of the gods.

The door was open.

Two guards were standing at the door. When they saw him rushing over, one drew his sword and the other raised his gun.

Sheng Ren did not slow down.

The moment he burst through the door, he grabbed the man with the gun by the neck with his left hand, shoved him aside, and the man slammed against the wall with a cracking sound. At the same time, he raised his right hand and punched the man with the knife in the face. His fist was wreathed in white flames, his face caved in, and the man fell backward, silent.

Sheng Ren rushed in.

The land of the gods is larger inside than it appears from the outside.

A corridor extends to both sides, with a door every few meters, the doors carved with patterns and the doorknobs made of gold.

The second door on the left suddenly opened, and a head popped out.

He was bald, had a fat face, and wore a necklace around his neck with a fist-sized pendant set with a ruby.

He saw Sheng Ren and paused for a moment.

"Who are you?"

Sheng Ren did not answer.

He walked over, raised his right hand, and pressed it against the man's face.

White flames shot out.

The man screamed, fell backward, crashed through the door, and tumbled into the room.

Sheng Ren followed him inside.

There were two other people in the room.

A woman huddled in bed, wrapped in a blanket, trembling all over. A man stood by the window, clutching a knife, the tip pointed at Sheng Ren, his hand shaking.

Sheng Ren glanced at the woman on the bed.

She had injuries on her face, a split lip, one swollen eye, and bruises on her exposed arm.

She shrank further under the covers.

Sheng Ren looked away and turned to the man with the knife.

"Did you hit him?"

The man didn't answer. His hands trembled even more violently, the tip of the knife wobbling wildly.

"I'm asking you," Sheng Ren took a step forward, "did you hit him?"

The man took a step back, his back hitting the window frame.

"Do you...do you know who I am?"

Sheng Ren didn't let him finish speaking.

Raise your right hand and press it against his chest.

White flames shot out.

The man leaned back, smashed through the window, and fell out. His screams came from outside the window, growing fainter and fainter, and then there was a muffled thud, and that was it.

Sheng Ren turned and walked out.

He paused at the doorway.

The woman on the bed huddled under the covers, looking at him with tears, fear, and something else in her eyes.

He didn't say anything and continued walking out.

The corridor is now full of people.

People in pajamas, robes, and barefoot, men, women, old and young, peeked out from behind doors, saw him, and then shrank back in, screams rising and falling.

Sheng Ren ignored them.

He continued walking forward, raising his right hand, and flames shot out from his palm, spraying onto both sides of the corridor.

The curtains caught fire, the carpet caught fire, and the carved wooden doors caught fire.

The fire climbed up the wall, licked the ceiling, and the gold paint on the ceiling began to bubble and drip down onto the floor with a hiss and a puff of white smoke.

Someone rushed out of the room.

A man, in his forties, with a protruding belly, wearing a silk nightgown, was holding a whip in his hand.

He saw Sheng Ren and raised his whip to strike him.

Sheng Ren dodged to the side, grabbed the whip with his left hand, and pulled it back. The man staggered forward, his face close to Sheng Ren's.

Sheng Ren raised his right hand and pressed it against his face.

White flames shot out.

The man fell backward, his face gone, leaving only a charred mess. The whip slipped from his hand, fell to the ground, and rolled twice.

Sheng Ren stepped over him and continued walking forward.

At the end of the corridor, the door to a room was open.

There was crying inside.

It's very thin, like a child holding their breath, afraid to cry loudly.

Sheng Ren walked over and stood at the doorway, looking inside.

The room was bright. Dozens of crystals were set in the chandelier, making the floor reflect light.

Three people were kneeling on the floor.

Two adults and one child.

There was a man and a woman. The man was lying face down, his back covered in bloodstains. The woman was kneeling beside him, her head bowed, her hair falling down to cover her face. The child was a girl, about seven or eight years old, huddled in the woman's arms, her shoulders trembling, her hand covering her mouth, afraid to make a sound.

There was a man standing opposite them.

He was in his early twenties, thin, with a smile on his face, and clutching a leather belt in his hand.

He had his back to the door and didn't see Sheng Ren.

"Cry," he said. "Keep crying. I love to hear people cry."

He raised his belt and whipped the man's back.

Snapped.

The man groaned, his body trembled, and he didn't dare to move.

The child's cries could no longer be contained and leaked out from between his fingers.

The man smiled.

"Yes, that's it," he said, raising the belt to strike again.

Sheng Ren went inside.

The man heard footsteps and turned around.

"Who are you?"

Sheng Ren did not answer.

He walked over, raised his right hand, and pressed it against the man's face.

The man's smile was still on his face, it hadn't had time to fade.

White flames shot out.

The belt fell to the ground, the person fell backward, hit the wall, slid down, leaving a charred mark on the wall.

Sheng Ren glanced down at him.

The face was gone. The chest was still burning; the clothes had burned through, revealing the charred, smoking flesh underneath.

He turned around and looked at the three people.

The man lay on the ground, looked up at him, his eyes bloodshot, his lips moved but he couldn't say a word.

The woman remained kneeling, motionless.

The child nestled in her arms, peeking out with one eye through her fingers as he looked at her.

Sheng Ren didn't say anything.

He took something out of his pocket and threw it over.

It's one of the two Devil Fruits I just grabbed. It's a Zoan-type, looks like a mango, and has patterns on its skin.

"Eat it," he said, "and run."

Then he turned around and continued walking out.

The woman's voice caught up from behind:

"Who—who are you?"

Sheng Ren didn't turn around.

The corridor is now full of fire.

The fire spread from both sides, scorching the road in the middle. The chandelier overhead burned through and crashed down, shattering glass and scattering crystal beads everywhere.

Sheng Ren walked forward, stepping on the broken glass.

There was another sound ahead.

It wasn't screams, it was shouts.

"Over here! Over here!"

The CP members have caught up.

Sheng Ren didn't stop. He continued walking forward, raising his right hand, flames dancing in his palm.

The first person who rushed in had just shown his face when he punched him, sending the man flying backward and knocking over two others behind him.

The second and third rushed in at the same time, one with a knife and the other with a gun.

Sheng Ren dodged the knife by sidestepping, grabbed the man's wrist with his left hand, twisted it to the side, and with a crack, the knife fell to the ground. At the same time, he raised his right hand, aimed at the man holding the gun, and a burst of white sparks shot out—

A shot rang out.

The bullet grazed his ear, struck the wall behind him, and sent sparks flying.

The one holding the gun was hit by the flames, fell backward, threw the gun away, rolled in the fire, and screamed shrilly.

Sheng Ren didn't look at him. He glanced down at the man whose wrist had been broken; the man was curled up on the ground, his face pale, his mouth open but unable to utter a sound.

Sheng Ren stepped past him.

Keep walking forward, and the corridor ends.

There was a door in front of us, two meters high, made of iron, with red light shining through the cracks.

Sheng Ren reached out and pushed the door open.

The door opened.

There is a square outside.

There were at least fifty people standing in the square. Some were from the CP, some from the Knights of God, and some were dressed in white robes; their origins were unknown.

They were all holding weapons.

Sheng Ren stood at the door, not moving.

Behind him, the land of the gods was burning. Flames spewed from the windows, licking the outer walls, causing the stone slabs to blacken, crack, and crumble piece by piece. Screams, cries, and shouts mingled together, pouring from the windows.

The fifty people in the square didn't move either.

They stared at Sheng Ren, at the fire behind him, and one of them trembled with rage:

Do you know what you're doing?

Sheng Ren glanced at him in surprise, then turned to ask the person beside him:

Is he blind?

"You, you," the man's face instantly turned purple, and he pointed at Sheng Ren, unable to utter a coherent word for a long time.

"You're not blind, you just didn't see it," Sheng Ren chuckled.

He raised his right hand, palm facing backward towards the Celestial Dragon.

In the palm of his hand, a white flame flickered, and a scorching heat, enough to incinerate mountains and boil seas, swept across the land of the gods.

"Now you've finally seen it, haven't you?" Sheng Ren shrugged, looking at the furious expressions on everyone's faces.

The man was so angry he wanted to devour Sheng Ren alive, and for a moment he couldn't speak. Fortunately, a man wearing a cloak of the Knights of God stepped forward from behind him, his hand on the hilt of his sword:

"The Five Elders have ordered that he be captured alive."

Captured alive? Sheng Ren instantly broke into a wide smile!

"Capture him alive," he repeated, "did you hear me? Don't kill me."

The man who had been holding the hilt of the knife changed his expression and removed his hand from it.

Sheng Ren lowered his right hand and took a step forward.

All fifty people took a step back at the same time.

Sheng Ren took another step.

The fifty people took another step back.

He walked forward, they retreated, and only the sound of footsteps and the crackling of fire in the distance remained in the square.

Sheng Ren stopped in the center of the square.

The fifty people opposite him also stopped, less than twenty meters away.

"Have you guys ever fought?" Sheng Ren asked.

No one answered.

He pointed to the Celestial Dragon whose face had turned purple.

"You, come here."

The person didn't move.

Sheng Ren took a step forward, and the other person took a step back, tripped, and almost fell.

"You asked me if I dared," Sheng Ren said. "Now I'm telling you, I dare."

He raised his right hand, palm facing the man.

White flames shot out.

It wasn't aimed at the person, but at the person's feet. The flames smashed onto the floor, the stone slabs shattered, and fragments flew up, covering the person's calves with blood spots.

The man screamed, fell backward, and scrambled to avoid the danger.

Sheng Ren didn't look at him; he looked at those wearing capes and uniforms.

"The Five Elders told you to capture me alive," he said, "but they didn't say you couldn't die."

He charged forward, covering twenty meters in three steps.

The first member of the God's Blade clan had just raised his hand when he punched him in the face. His fist was wreathed in white flames, his face caved in, and he was sent flying backward, knocking over two others behind him.

A knife came slashing down from the right. He didn't dodge, but turned to the side so the tip of the knife grazed his ribs, while simultaneously raising his left hand and striking the man's chest with his palm.

A burst of white flame shot out, burning a hole through the man's chest. He fell backward, and the knife fell to the ground with a clatter.

Another knife came slashing from the left. He ducked, and the knife sliced ​​off a tuft of his hair. He clenched his right fist and punched the man in the stomach.

The man groaned and hunched over, shrinking back. Sheng Ren grabbed the back of his neck with his left hand, pressed down, and slammed his knee into the man's face.

His nose bridge shattered, blood gushed out, and he went limp.

Sheng Ren threw him away and looked up.

The fifty men around him had already spread out, surrounding him. But no one dared to make the first move.

He took a breath and looked down at his ribs. The knife he had just slashed had been infused with Armament Haki; it had cut open his flesh, and blood was seeping out, staining half of his clothes red.

pain.

He wiped away the blood and flicked it onto the ground.

"Come on," he said, "next one."

The first one to rush up was a CP employee, in his early thirties, who was very fast with his knife.

Sheng Ren dodged three blows by sidestepping, but he couldn't dodge the fourth one. The tip of the blade grazed his left shoulder, leaving a trail of blood.

He didn't back down. He clenched his right fist and punched the man in the face.

The man leaned back, and Sheng Ren followed, grabbing his wrist holding the knife with his left hand and twisting it downwards. With a crack, the knife fell to the ground.

He delivered another punch with his right hand, this time hitting the man's Adam's apple.

The man clutched his neck and fell forward, making gurgling sounds in his throat, his face turning purple.

Sheng Ren kicked him away and looked up.

The group of people around them moved a little closer.

He looked down at his left shoulder; the wound was quite deep, and he could see the white stuff inside. Blood trickled down his arm, dripping onto the floor, drop by drop.

He raised his right hand towards the group of people.

The white flame flickered in his palm, weaker than before.

The group of people stopped.

Sheng Ren walked forward.

They backed away.

He takes one step, they take one step back. He takes two steps, they take two steps back.

He stopped when he reached the edge of the square.

Ahead lies the path leading outside. It's a long corridor with a door at the end, the door open, allowing light to see in from outside.

He glanced back.

The land of the gods was still burning. The fire had reached the top floor, and the entire building stood like a giant torch in the very center of Mary Geoise. The screams were long gone, replaced only by the crackling of burning wood and the occasional rumble—another floor had collapsed.

The fifty people stood in the square, and no one chased after them.

Sheng Ren turned around and walked towards the corridor.

I walked twenty meters.

There were three people standing in front.

The one in the middle had gray hair, shoulders as broad as a wall, and two scars on his face, one running from his brow bone to his cheekbone, and the other on his chin.

The commander-in-chief is empty.

The one on the left has a long face, prominent cheekbones, eagle-like eyes, and his hand is on the hilt of a knife.

Somaz.

The right hand hung at his side, the sword was still stained with blood, and his face was expressionless.

Shamrock.

Sheng Ren stopped, licked his dry lips, and his heart sank.