“A witch?” Neo asked.
He noticed another important fact in her words.
Zera said she had powers before Apocalypse came to Earth, and the way she spoke made it clear that it was common to all witches.
“What are witches?”
“I don’t know,” Zera said. “All I know is that we were the only ones with powers until the Apocalypse arrived, and that we can’t die.”
“So the Grim Reapers let you reincarnate as many times as you want?”
“No, we don’t go to the Underworld after death. Witches vanish upon death. Their body, soul, and Seed of Existence are erased. And we later reincarnate.”
Neo found it hard to believe that they could reincarnate after having the Seed of Existence destroyed.
But he had seen Elizabeth revive from the same.
“Before you ask how we are born, and who we are, I don’t know. I just know I’m a witch, and that’s the knowledge I found from some ancient books.
“I have met only one witch in my life, King Morgan, and when I tried to meet her, she blasted me off, saying I should go somewhere else, and she would kill me if I came to meet her again,” Zera explained.
“King Morgan?” Neo asked while keeping his tone even.
Zera wouldn’t know he had met King Morgan, and he didn’t want to reveal that unless he was sure Zera was an ally.
“Yes, she was… hardheaded, not that I don’t understand why she attacked me,” Zera said.
It was Neo’s first time seeing Zera irritated.
Recalling the past didn’t bring much joy to Zera. Back then, she was happy. She had finally found a fellow witch. Someone who could use powers and had lived a long life. Finally, Zera wouldn’t be alone.
But King Morgan nearly pierced her heart with a sword when the two had met.
“Huh?”
Neo was getting more confused by the second.
The King Morgan he remembered was cute and lazy. She was ruthless but only to her enemies. Zera seemed to have done nothing to make King Morgan her enemy.
And why didn’t Neo know about Zera meeting King Morgan?
King Morgan used to share all details of her life with him.
The only reason he could think of was King Morgan purposely hid her meeting with Zera, or Zera was lying.
“We witches have several unique traits,” Zera explained. “Immortality is one of our traits, and so is our twisted love.
“Most witches are extremely possessive of their lovers. Some imprison their lovers to make sure they don’t look at others.
“The books I read said a witch once controlled her husband’s mind and made sure he could think of only her. There was another who fell in love with a child…
“My point is witches are possessive of their love. I think King Morgan had someone like that too, which was why she attacked me.
“She must’ve been worried I might come to love her lover, which I think had happened multiple times in the past—two witches loving a single person and creating a bloodbath.”
Neo had a weird expression on his face.
‘So King Morgan was a witch,’ he thought. ‘But I don’t think she was possessive of me. In fact, she acted pretty normally.’
“I can see that you think witches are not possessive,” Zera said, noticing Neo’s expression. “Well, I’m not possessive either, so I think you are right, but…”
She stopped speaking and contemplated if she should continue.
Finally, she sighed and explained.
“This was what the book had said: The most dangerous witch is the one who isn’t possessive of her love, for that is impossible. Such a witch is cunning. She makes sure her love can’t see her twisted desires, and she shows only a sweet, lovable side to him.”
“You just said you aren’t possessive though, and you are a witch. Doesn’t that prove the book was wrong?” Neo pointed out.
“Maybe it was wrong, but maybe it is me who hasn’t found her true love, and that’s why I think I’m not possessive?” Zera said as if questioning herself, and added, “I once created a clone of myself and made it become the Goddess of Love to see if she would show possessive desires. The results… were mixed.”
“Okay, okay, wait,” Neo raised his hand to stop her. “Goddess of Love on Earth, you mean? That’s Aphrodite. Your clone was Aphrodite?”
“Yes? Why do you look so surprised? It’s not big news compared to me being a witch.”
Neo never knew he could feel confused about how he should react.
Void God, Dragon, Clan Leader in Tartarus, Aphrodite, Witch.
Zera’s roster of identities was impressive.
‘I guess you end up doing a lot of things that make you famous when you live long enough,’ he thought.
After answering Neo, Zera was preparing to start training him when Neo asked one last question.
“What happened during the God-Titan War? Why did it happen?”
“The War? I am not sure. I was long gone from Earth before there were any signs of war. My clone was here, but I didn’t get the chance to get all of the information from it before it was destroyed.”
Zera pondered and added,
“The God-Titan War never happened, from what I know.”
“….?”
“The War did happen, but it wasn’t between Titans and Gods. They were on the same side.”
“Who were they fighting?”
“Zeus,” Zera answered. “He killed everyone. Both Gods and Titans, and left Earth. I don’t know why he did that though.”
Neo had a hard time believing Zera.
While she seemed to be speaking the truth, Zeus wasn’t someone who would attack and kill his own allies. Not without reason.
‘I need to read her mind when her mental defenses are down and see if she is lying or saying the truth,’ he thought.
“Now, let’s start your training. Deploy your True Domains,” Zera told him.
“It’s fine.” Neo shook his head. “I only needed the explanations about the Savant and Supreme Mastery. I can train them myself after this.”
“Just do as I said.”
“I told you—”
Neo’s words got stuck in his throat when he felt an unfathomable pressure crash on him.
The Void Sanctuary around him began to converge on him.
Void Elementals invaded his body. His skin and muscles started to mutate.
Neo flared his World Energy and covered his body with it.
It slowed the corruption, but Zera flicked her wrist and increased her Sanctuary’s output.
He grunted, feeling his flesh twist.
“Neo, fight seriously.”
“Fine.”
Neo started to suffuse his World Energy into the surroundings.
Unlike before, where he converted the Energy into Elemental Energy inside the Core, he transferred the energy into elemental energy outside his body.
Death, Time, and Darkness Elementals started to appear around him.
They bolstered his attack and defense.
He didn’t stop just there and suffused his Concepts into the Elementals around him.
Zera, seeing he was prepared, attacked. Her body blurred, and she appeared just before him. The spear in her hands shot towards his shoulder.
Neo took a step back and commanded Darkness.
He used it to devour the force behind Zera’s attack.
Her eyes widened slightly, surprised to see he could devour phenomena like force. A small but condensed red bolt sparked in the air and hit her wrist.
She felt her hand becoming paralyzed. There was no feeling in the area where the bolt of red lightning had hit.
“Good, you can use your True Domains to increase the power of your Concepts. We can start training seriously.”
“…?”
Neo had no time to question her.
Zera let go of her spear, and her hand transformed into a giant mass of flesh. The force of the punch hit him like a truck, and he flew back.
He used Darkness to devour the momentum throwing him.
His body came to a halt and was about to land when Void Elementals started to corrupt his Darkness.
Neo frowned.
Elemental Clash occurred between his Darkness Elementals and Zera’s Void Elementals.
He could devour, and she could corrupt.
Her high mastery corrupted his Darkness, and the Darkness Elementals began to turn into infinitely small White Holes.
“Crap.” Neo had barely any time to move before the Void Elementals pushed the White Holes towards Neo.
They shot through his body without hindrance, leaving him looking like Swiss cheese.
Zera used the opportunity, and her attacks rained before Neo could heal himself.
Void Elementals surged into the surroundings and invaded his body through the holes in him.
His organs and bones started to mutate, transforming into a deformed mass of flesh.
Neo grunted and tried to use his Death Elementals to put the Void Elementals to sleep. He used it together with Darkness, but it seemed to have no effect.
With no other choice, he called upon his True Domain of Time that he had deployed before.
“Null Hour.”
A wave rippled around Neo.
Null Hour was the full extent of Neo’s manifestation of Time. Beelzebub could slowly devour Time. Null Hour could do the same, but it could do it instantly.
Zera was surprised when her Void Elementals disappeared.
“What was that?” she asked.
“Your attacks were erased from the Timeline.”
She blinked, taking a moment to understand what he said.
Her mouth opened and closed several times. Her shocked expression led to a sigh, and she eventually chuckled.
“What kind of life have you lived to awaken a Concept of Time like that?”
“Nothing too special.”
Zera laughed heartily upon hearing his answer.
A glint appeared in her eyes, and she cranked her Sanctuary to another level.
The Void Elementals started to appear in infinite numbers around Neo. No matter how many he erased, more took their place.
