“That he was. And what’s with that question, I’m strong too. I was your dad’s rivals.”
“So he was a Stage-5 God like you?” Neo probed, narrowing his eyes.
“…he might’ve surpassed me a bit when we were young,” Bael admitted reluctantly, averting his gaze.
“How much is ‘a bit’?”
“….”
“Grand Duke Bael, how much is ‘a bit’?”
“A bit is a bit,” Bael replied gruffly.
Neo gave Bael a deadpan stare.
Bael shifted in his chair and coughed.
He waved a hand dismissively and quickly changed the topic.
“I heard about your Shadow Trial from this insect.”
A sudden movement caught Neo’s attention as Velkaria peeked from behind the furniture.
‘My name is Velkaria.’
“What?” Bael’s glare shot toward her.
‘I apologize for disturbing you. Please continue your talk.’
Velkaria yelped as Bael’s sharp eyes bore into her.
She immediately ducked further behind the furniture.
“What about my Shadow Trial?” Neo asked.
Bael stared at him for a few seconds before standing up.
Without a word, he moved closer to Neo and, much to Neo’s surprise, gently patted his head.
“Good work. I’m proud of you,” Bael said.
Neo’s expression froze in disbelief.
“What are you doing?”
“Praising you. Which is one of my jobs as your guardian,” Bael replied with a smirk, as if his answer was obvious.
“A guardian who I’m meeting for the first time, and who almost killed me a few seconds ago? Did the definition of guardian change while I was away?”
“This little….” Bael’s smirk twitched.
He took a deep breath and sighed, shaking his head in mild frustration.
The tension between them was broken, and the air seemed lighter.
“I couldn’t leave the palace. My job is to protect the World’s Core. Even a single moment of negligence can lead to the destruction of the World Core,” Bael explained.
“Even a single moment?” Neo raised an eyebrow.
“Yes. There are Outer Gods, monsters that lurk in the Underworld, cultists, enemies from other worlds. There’s no telling who might teleport here and when.”
Bael glanced toward the empty expanse outside the window.
“This is why I could never leave the palace.”
“I see….” Neo murmured.
He could sense that Bael didn’t want to dive deeper into this conversation, but there were things Neo needed to know.
“Where are Mom and Dad?”
Bael froze.
He had hoped Neo wouldn’t ask the question.
Turning around, Bael slowly walked to the chair near the far corner of the room.
He sat down, leaning back, his gaze fixed on the ceiling as if searching for answers there.
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Silence.
The moments stretched. Finally, Bael spoke.
“They died a few years ago in the world of the living and have now reincarnated.”
“And why are they reincarnating?”
Bael lowered his head, locking eyes with Neo.
“The cursed blood of your family.” He paused before he added, “Death would never let you four rest.”
“Where are they now?”
“I don’t know.”
Bael shook his head.
His usual smirk was gone, replaced by a solemn expression.
“What’s the curse of my bloodline?” Neo asked. He had no intention of stopping until he found the answers he had been waiting for since ages.
“The original four: your parents and you two brothers will reincarnate every time you die,” Bael said. “Your parents are always together.
“It’s random for you two brothers to be with them though.
“Most of the time, you two will be reincarnated randomly.”
Bael paused, pursing his lips as if considering whether to continue.
Finally, he added,
“The closer relation the reincarnations of you four have, the worse deaths the reincarnations will suffer.”
He glanced at Neo.
“In your current reincarnation, all four of you were a family, which is why….”
Bael’s voice trailed off.
Neo immediately understood what he was implying.
The tragedy of Void Window #8477 happened due to the curse.
The room was suffocatingly quiet as Neo took a few moments to digest Bael’s words.
“Isn’t Dad the God associated with death, afterlife, and the Underworld?
“Why are we cursed like this?” Neo’s asked.
“I don’t know,” Bael answered. “The last time I met Hades was when he left, saying he wanted to go on a short vacation. He disappeared for centuries.
“His reincarnated self returned thousands of years later on the verge of dying.
“He told me about the curse, that I needed to protect the World Core in his place and to hide the news of his curse.
“The rest is history.”
Neo frowned.
He didn’t trust Bael, not after the first impression he made.
“How can I trust your words?”
“If you don’t want to, then don’t. Nobody’s forcing you.”
Neo clicked his tongue in frustration.
“Why—”
“Aren’t you asking me too many questions?” Bael cut him off, standing up and stretching lazily.
Neo glared at him.
“Where are you going?”
“Going to sleep. I’m tired,” Bael answered, yawning loudly as he turned toward the door.
Neo watched as Bael left the room.
Left alone, Neo couldn’t stop his thoughts.
‘Cursed bloodline.’
‘I heard the same words in the Shadow Trial, and now Bael said them again.’
His brows furrowed as he struggled to piece everything together.
‘At least now I know Dad, Mom, and Henry are always reincarnating like me.’
‘Why hide the news, though?’
‘Everyone in the Underworld thinks Dad is resting inside the palace.’
It did not take him long realize the reason behind it.
‘Underworld has countless monsters that are extremely powerful, not to mention souls that want to return to the world of living.’
‘The reason no one acts out of line is because all of them are afraid of Dad.’
‘But the moment they realize Dad is no longer there to stop them, they would go wild.’
Neo lay back on the bed.
His back sunk into the soft mattress as his thoughts churned.
Even on Luminera, Neo knew the Exalted Demigods would enter the Underworld to ‘rescue’ their people if they didn’t fear Hades.
Grim Reapers were there, true.
But there were only 81 Grim Reapers.
Even if they included the predecessors of current Grim Reapers, the number would be around 100 at best.
They weren’t enough to stop the chaos that would start if people found out the God of the Underworld was no longer there.
“Dammit,” Neo muttered, sinking deeper into the bed.
Just then, a screen appeared before his eyes.
[Quest: Family]
[Find the current reincarnations of your parents, and bring them home.]
[Reward: Nightmare Element, Level up {Empathic Bond} x 2]
Neo raised his brows in surprise.
There was no failure condition in the quest.
“A quest named Family is giving Nightmare Element as a reward,” Neo muttered bitterly to himself.
“This is going to be hard.”
Finding the reincarnations wasn’t easy.
People could reincarnate across time too.
This was something Veldora had explained to him while they were on their way to the palace of the Monarch.
Neo could die in the year 1860, and his reincarnation would be born in 1660, or any time in the past or future.
“Why does everything have to be so complicated?”
Neo groaned, massaging his temples.
He stood up and picked Obitus before leaving the room.