Neo felt as if the entity in the sky was chuckling.
The sky seemed to ripple like waves in a midnight sea.
The entity above snapped its fingers, and a doll appeared before Neo.
She bowed.
Her porcelain face was devoid of emotion and her movements were unnaturally smooth.
“I’m E #23, one of the Gatekeepers of the Shadow World,” the doll said, her voice soft but carrying an unsettling echo. “I will be answering you on behalf of the Supreme.”
I thought the Shadow Supreme wouldn’t bother answering me.
“The Shadow Supreme is a generous ruler. He is happy to answer the warriors who show a worthy performance to him,” she said,
Neo clicked his tongue in irritation.
In the end, he was just an entertainer to the Shadow Supreme.
So, what’s the reason? Why didn’t my Shadow appear inside Shadow Windows?
“Because the Supreme stopped your Shadows from appearing inside the Shadow Window.”
Her words made Neo freeze.
The doll continued speaking.
Her unblinking were eyes fixed on him.
“The Supreme wanted to know what had become of the Cursed Bloodline.
“That’s why he stopped your Shadows from leaving.
“He knew you would come to this world to find your Shadows, and it would allow the Shadow Supreme to meet you.”
What…?
Neo’s mind spun.
He didn’t understand why a Supreme would bother with a human from a non-elemental world.
Supremes ruled over Elemental Worlds.
They were existences beyond Gods.
“Your bloodline is unique,” the doll said. “Of course, the Shadow Supreme could meet your Shadow to see what was happening with your Bloodline. But he wanted to meet the original Neo Hargraves, not a Shadow.”
Neo frowned.
‘I need to think calmly. She said a lot of things I don’t understand.’
His thoughts churned.
‘Cursed bloodline? Does this mean something is wrong with my bloodline?’
Before Neo could say anything, the doll opened her mouth, her voice final.
“We’ve answered everything. You can leave now.”
She snapped her fingers, and the world around him twisted.
Neo felt a shift, and suddenly, he was standing next to a giant tree, the Typhaon’s Core.
‘They teleported me out of the Shadow Awakening trial without answering all of my questions.’
Frustration burned in his chest.
Shaking his head, he focused inwards.
The chaotic energy around him pulsed, responding to his intent.
‘I’ve awakened Shadow affinity. Let’s try it.’
The Shadow element allowed the user to mimic other elements.
The level of mimicry depended on the user’s understanding of the mimicked element.
‘I should try to mimic an element that I don’t have an affinity with but have a high understanding of it.’
‘It would be…’
Black light surged from Neo’s palm.
It was faint but stable.
Mimicked Holy element. I can use it.
Being attacked by Holy element too many times had allowed him to gain a little understanding about it.
Needless to say, Neo’s mimicked Holy element was weak.
He had only a little understanding of the Holy element, but it would change after he practiced more.
‘This confirms the Shadow element awakening has completed.’
A smile spread on his face.
He stopped using the mimicked Holy element and activated the Essence Breath Spell.
The mimicked Divine Energy in the surroundings, previously poisonous, now flowed into Neo’s Core.
Thanks to his awakening, the mimicked Divine Energy was no longer harmful to him.
His Core was filling at a swift pace.
Suddenly, Neo felt something change inside him.
[Essence Breath Spell]
[Rank: Tremor]
[Mastery: Apprentice → Adept]
A vortex formed around him, swirling violently as mimicked Divine Energy poured into his body without pause.
The air hummed and the ground beneath him cracked under the sheer force of the pull.
Neo’s ability to drain the Divine Energy from the surroundings had grown multiple times as soon as the Spell’s mastery ranked up.
When his Divine Energy reserves reached a sufficient level, he activated the third stage of his blessing.
Regeneration.
Bones began to materialize within the humanoid figure of lightning that was his body.
The structure formed rapidly—joints snapping into place, ribs aligning perfectly.
Organs followed, glowing faintly as they took shape, then muscles wrapped around the bones like woven cords.
Nerves branched out like veins of light, connecting everything, and finally, skin enveloped it all, restoring Neo’s appearance.
Neo gasped, his chest rising and falling as he took his first breath with a fully regenerated body.
“Holy fuck, that felt terrible,” he muttered.
He moved his limbs experimentally, flexing his fingers and rotating his shoulders.
A frown formed on his face.
“Dammit. It seems like this isn’t counted as a proper resurrection. I’m still dead.”
His heart was beating, and blood flowed through his veins, but it was all sustained by the third stage of his blessing.
Neo could feel that his bodily functions would stop if he were to cut the supply of his blessing.
“Body and soul are usually fused into each other,” he muttered. “But right now, I’m forcing my soul to stay inside my body. They are not fused. Maybe I need to awaken the third stage fully for it.”
Neo clicked his tongue.
He had gambled everything on this attempt and lost.
“Fuck, looks like I’m going into the Underworld.”
The pull of Death grew stronger, like an invisible chain tightening around his soul.
He had been forcing himself to stay alive for almost an hour, but his limits were rapidly approaching.
Then, the world shifted.
The energy vortex collapsed, and his surroundings changed abruptly.
Neo found himself beneath a dark sky, where three giant eyes loomed overhead, each radiating a cold and oppressive gaze.
The air was thick with dark energy, heavy and suffocating.
“This is…”
Neo frowned, scanning his surroundings.
Blackened ground stretched endlessly, broken by jagged spires of obsidian that glowed faintly with crimson cracks.
“I’m in the Underworld.”
It was the Underworld he knew, yet it was somehow different.
A nagging feeling told him he wasn’t in his Underworld he knew.
But the truth before his eyes was different.
“Where am I?” he muttered.
He should have appeared inside the deep hole filled with life energy—the one that had trapped him during his last visit.
As he prepared to move, he felt something shift within his clothes.
“How did these flags get into my pocket?”
The clothes he wore were given to him by the Underworld, starkly different from the ones he had worn in the world of the living.
Yet, the flags were unmistakably familiar.
Barbatos had given them to him, and Neo had…
“These flags should’ve been destroyed when Zeus pulverized my body.”
He paused, and the realization dawned on him.
“I guess they’re bonded to my soul. That’s why they always appear next to me.”
Neo’s hand tightened around the fourth flag.
His heart pounded, and a mix of anxiety and anticipation coursed through him.
He had been planning to ask Barbatos to give him new flag and flag posts, but this was better.
“I hope this works.”
The reason he had been enduring hell and worse was to complete the fourth trial of Barbatos.
Surpass yourself.
That was the fourth trial.
“I’ll be fucking pissed if awakening Shadow element wasn’t the fourth trial,” Neo thought grimly.
He prepared to insert the flag into the post.