[Author’s Note: In the last chapter, it should’ve been Sea of All Consciousness, not Sea of Consciousness.]
…
Neo nodded.
Another question popped into his head. How was Percival able to see his Fate when no one could?
He ignored the thought. It was not important at the moment.
“Are you sure I’m revived?” he asked Percival.
“Yes, I was able to momentarily pull your soul here since the barrier between the Layers was weakened after the ‘illusion’ with you died.
“Your consciousness will soon be pulled back to your body,” Percival explained.
A plan started to form in Neo’s mind.
Each Layer had a ‘Pillar’ that supported the existence of Tartarus’ Nightmare.
They would need to eliminate all Pillars to end the Nightmare.
Neo told Percival about their current situation on Layer 5. They had encountered Hades, or someone who was Hades.
“I see…”
Percival seemed to have lost all hope.
“You said in Layer 5, multiple paths were created by Goddess Artemis’ Blessing when you tried to locate the World Core.
“You followed one of the paths, and there you found Hades. Doesn’t that mean…”
“Yeah, that’s the confusing part. If the one we met is Hades, does it mean other subconscious minds’ Nightmare have Hades too?”
By now, Neo was sure the ‘Hades’ they met was one of the Pillars of Layer 5.
“If that his true….” Percival forced the words out of his mouth. “We can’t defeat even a single Hades. Even if you could somehow manage that, you will still need to defeat the other Pillars – Hades – on Layer 5.
“After that, you need to eliminate Pillars on other Layers too. The Pillars on other Layers might not be Hades, but they will be someone powerful.
“There is no way you can defeat so many enemies.
“It’s impossible to destroy this Nightmare.” Percival stared at the sky with an empty gaze. “Tartarus is impossible to destroy.”
He had lost all hope.
Neo did not blame him.
They were crushed by Hades, one of the Pillars of Layer 5. Layer 5 still had more Pillars. So did other Layers.
“Hey, can you guarantee that the Great Disasters are with Tartarus?” Neo suddenly asked.
“I am,” Percival nodded. “Great Disasters got their name due to their violent actions that killed many in Tartarus.
“All actions of the Great Disasters led to the loss of great military power that could’ve been used to empower the Grand Expedition.
“Judging by the intel I collected while I was in the world of Fate threads, the Great Disasters are Tartarus’ knights.”
Percival explained in more detail,
“Tartarus created a complex Nightmare world. In return, it can’t interfere directly.
“Even if the world is so complex that it’s impossible to destroy, there was still a chance someone could pose a danger to Tartarus.
“That’s why it must’ve joined hands with the Great Disasters. Tartarus can order them to move and attack potential threats. This way, Tartarus gets a direct way to interfere with the Nightmare World.”
Neo could feel the pull towards his physical body.
He decided to explain his plan to Percival quickly before he was forced to return.
“I will handle Layer 2, Layer 3, Layer 4, and Layer 5. You take care of Layer 1.”
“Huh?”
“I said I will defeat the Pillars that support Layer 2 to Layer 5. But I can’t come to the real world, so you need to take care of Layer 1 yourself.”
His words were so baffling that Percival had no reply.
He was defeated by a single Pillar.
And now he was saying he would defeat all of them.
“You can’t defeat them all.”
“Now, don’t be so pessimistic.” Neo smiled faintly. “Besides, since when did the great Percival become a coward like this? I thought he could do everything he put his mind to.”
“This isn’t the time for jokes, Neo. We can’t… There is no way we can defeat Tartarus.”
“Don’t worry. I have a plan.”
“Really?”
“Yeah.” Neo nodded. “The plan is to beat the shit out of them, and win.”
Percival heard Sunshine chuckle. The worst part was Percival himself smiled at that stupid joke.
“Do you really have a plan?”
“I would like to say yes, but you know as much as I do about the Pillars.
“Since we have zero information, I can only improvise along the way.”
The sheer absurdity of Neo’s statement gave Percival a chuckle.
However, there was something about Neo that instilled calmness and confidence in Percival.
The way he spoke, the way he carried himself.
It told Percival he could trust Neo to do what he had said.
“I….”
Percival opened his mouth but stopped.
‘I would deal with Layer 1 Pillar.’
He could not speak his thoughts out loud.
What if he failed after saying he could do that?
The burden of millions of lives was crushing Percival.
“If it’s too much for you, then it’s fine. You don’t need to get caught up in this. You are in Layer 1.
“Since that Layer is in the real world, it’s highly possible Tartarus cannot stop you from leaving anymore.
“You can just leave us behind and go back,” Neo said.
Percival froze when he heard his words.
He bit his lips.
“Dammit.”
He suddenly punched the tree’s bark hard enough that his hands bled.
The pain brought much-needed clarity to him.
“I’m not leaving you guys behind. If you fail, then we all fail together.”
Neo could see Percival was still afraid. However, he didn’t point it out.
He smiled faintly and nodded.
“Fine.”
Neo’s body started to disappear.
Just as his consciousness had completely left Layer 1, he heard Percival speak,
“I will try to guide you. I won’t promise that it will be of much help, but it should be a lot better. Expect some good luck to follow you soon.”
“Got it.”
Neo’s consciousness blanked for an instant.
His eyes snapped open. A quick glance of his surroundings told him he was back in Tyr’s subconscious mind Nightmare.
Vera was holding the corpse of Ava.
Hades was frowning as he stared at the corpse.
Elizabeth was breathing heavily and covered in sweat.
Neo apologized in his mind before he grabbed Elizabeth’s hand without permission and peered into her mind.
He checked her memories to see what had happened after he died.
Elizabeth did not resist, which allowed him to see the memories easily.
After Neo died, Elizabeth turned back time multiple times.
This was not the first time Neo’s consciousness came back. It was just that he could not recall previous timelines since time was turned back multiple times.
Every time Elizabeth rewound time, Hades killed Neo and took his blessings.
In this timeline, Ava sacrificed herself to save Neo.
But…
“This was a miscalculation,” Hades said. “I suppose another retry would not hurt.”
Time elementals flared around Hades. He was about to turn back time when suddenly Elizabeth tapped into her Avatar state.
She took titanic amounts of World Energy from Neo.
Her presence swelled, and space started to crack around her.
She used her Concept of Water, Tyrant, and took hold of the River of Time Hades was about to use.
Hades looked more impressed than shocked.
The River of Time could be controlled by Water Users. It was a result of Elemental Clash. The one with higher mastery and rank would win.
However, winning against Hades in an Elemental Clash was nigh impossible.
He was amused Elizabeth could do it, even if only for a few moments.
“Hurry!” she said, gritting her teeth. “I can’t stop him for long. Do whatever you can, but make him divert his attention from his River of Time.”
Zera wasted no time and deployed her World.
Void Elementals started to burst forth into existence.
“Beelzebub, stop Ava’s time,” Neo shouted as he stored the corpse in his Shadow Space.
While Ava was a Pillar of Layer 2, she had not known about that. She lived her life as Kane’s daughter and sacrificed herself to protect Neo.
It was how the Nightmare was created. No ‘illusion’ knew they were fake.
Neo used Pseudo-Gap and appeared behind Hades in an instant.
He grabbed Hades’ neck. Hades did not resist.
“Whatever you are doing is not going to work.”
“We will see about that.”
Neo used the Tyrant Concept he copied during his weeks-long training with Elizabeth.
His Concept mastery was still low, which was why he needed physical contact with the target.
The Concept Tyrant allowed him to interact with Hades’ River of Time.
“Are you going to help the woman to stop me from going back in time?” Hades said, amused.
He did not stop Neo or Zera, who was preparing a gargantuan Spell.
“Don’t worry, this will make you unable to use River of Time altogether.”
Neo used Aqua Nihil, his own Concept of Water.
It erased the River of Time that was under Hades’ control, and for the first time, Hades was surprised.