“That’s a rather unique world view of Water,” he said.
A wave of force burst out from his body. It struck Neo and flung him back.
Before Hades could recreate the River of Time, Zera was upon him.
She had fully transformed into her Void Dragon form.
The Void Elementals corrupted Hades’ River of Time.
A slight annoyance appeared on Hades’ face.
He could not rewind Time with Zera’s Void and Elizabeth’s Tyrant actively attacking him. Even if he found a moment to do so, Neo would disturb him.
“Fine. I will deal with you lot first.”
A wave of pure death exploded from Hades’ outstretched hand.
The energy surged forward and consumed everything in its path.
Neo retaliated. He used NullHour, and erased the red lightning of Hades before it could reach Elizabeth and Zera.
But Hades was already on the move.
Wips of shadows writhed beneath him, propelling him forward at terrifying speed.
A lance of Death condensed into physical form materialized in his grasp. His figure blurred as he dodged Zera’s attacks and aimed at Elizabeth.
Elizabeth stepped back and summoned a miniature black hole in Hades’ path.
Gravity folded inward, warping space.
Hades stepped through the Blackhole. His robe tore the attack apart as if it was made of paper.
The lance shot towards her heart.
But Elizabeth’s retaliation had brought enough time.
Neo’s sword flashed. It zipped across space, and intercepted Hades’ lance with an earth-shattering explosion.
The sheer force of the clash sent tremors through the ground, splitting the battlefield apart.
“Haah, you have lived for tens of thousands of years, and this meageer strength is what you have to show for it? It pains my heart to see my son being such a disappointment.”
Hades’ aura exploded. Neo’s sword was pushed back, and Hades seized the opportunity.
His lance tore a hole open in Elizabeth’s neck—
And then time reversed.
Elizabeth gasped. The pain was gone.
She had rewound time by three seconds.
With the help of Tyrant supporting her River of Time, she could turn back Time instantly unlike Hades, but she felt the strain.
Thirty-three regressions to save Neo, and another one now.
Even if she was a genius, she couldn’t do this too many times.
Her Time Elementals were beginninng to turn too chaotic to control.
Zera seized the opportunity.
Her Void Element World surged forward. It corrupted the Death and Darkness itself.
Hades staggered for the first time as the red lightning turned chaotic and he lost control over it.
The corrupted Death, now Chaos, attacked him.
He summoned a wall of Darkness to block the attack.
Zera transformed.
Her body expanded, twisting into a form that defied logic.
A True Void Dragon, a cosmic horror of impossible shapes and angles, a figure far more terrifying that what she had shown Neo and Elizabeth before.
Her presence warped reality, making it difficult to perceive where she truly was.
She lunged, her claws rending through space itself, aiming straight for Hades.
“Is this the best you have?”
He raised his hand. Shadow Chains lashed out, and anchored Zera mid-air.
With a single motion, he devoured the corruption away from his Death and Darkness, negating her power.
Then he threw her to the ground with a force that cracked the Nightmare World.
Zera roared in pain, her eldritch form trembling as she struggled to rise.
“Your Void is strong,” Hades said, walking toward her, his Death Aura condensing further. “But it’s tame. That is not how Void is supposed to be. It isn’t friendly, or controllable. Let it consume everything.”
Elizabeth lunged from above.
Her Blood Element condensed into a spear. Hades turned—
And Neo appeared behind him like a ghost.
Divine Swordsmanship Modified Seveth Form: Tenraizen Kuroshi
Neo’s sword slashed down, combining Seventh Forth with Death Essence.
Hades barely dodged, but the tip of the sword grazed his shoulder.
And.
Hades bled.
His expression twisted into something unreadable. Then, with an explosion of dark energy, he banished all light from the battlefield.
Sanctuary of Darkness
A subdimension of pure darkness engulfed everything. Sound vanished. Sight failed.
Neo’s Intent Senses stopped working.
He suddenly felt a Death Spear slice past his ribs. His body acted on reflex and barely dodged in time.
Divine Swordsmanship Modified Eight Form: Kamishin Shigami
He struck back with modified form, created by combining the Eight Form with Death Essence, but his blade met nothing.
Elizabeth’s spear holding hand was blown away before she could turn back Time to when Hades had to deploy his Sanctuary.
She swiftly retaliated with a emotionless face.
Blood Element empowered her hand. Her uppercut struck true. The feedback told her she had hit Hades’ chin.
“You… do you not fear death?”
The voice was followed with splashing of blood.
Hades’ aura of Death grew. However, Elizabeth seemed unaffected.
Even she was surprised. The Death God’s aura was not weak, then why was she unaffected? Why—
Before her thoughts completed, Neo used NullHour to erase a portion of the Sanctuary of Darkness.
“Hey, you fucking asshole!”
Hades froze.
He turned back to Neo, not even trying to repair the Sanctuary.
“What did you say just now?”
“I said drop the act you motherfucking bitch.”
Death Essence flared around Neo’s sword. He glanced at injured Elizabeth, and Zera before staring back at Hades.
“Little shit, I really thought dad had gone senile,” Neo gritted his teeth. “Fuck, I feel stupid for even thinking you were dad.”
“…Are you using crass words against your father?”
“Father my ass. You are not even a God, bitch. If you are one, go ahead and deploy your World. I’m waiting for it.”
“…”
Neo pointed at Elizabeth.
“Your attack damage on her is reduced. That’s because she is my Avatar, and I have dad’s bloodline, the bloodline of your God, you fucking Tartarus fraud bitch ass.”
“…”
“Anyway, why the fuck do you have dad’s Intent? Shit almost made me think you were dad.”
While Neo was trashtalking, he brought enough time for Elizabeth to heal herself.
Hades—or rather, Tartarus—did not look happy.
He stared at Neo expressionlessly, but the fury burning behind his gaze was all too clear to Neo.
He moved without warning.
Darkness coalesced into a jagged spear in his grip, pulsating with concentrated Death.
He lunged, his form blurring like a shadow twisting through space.
However, Neo saw the move before it happened.
His Foresight’s suddenly activated for the first time.
He saw Tartarus’ spear thrusting forward, piercing his heart. A moment later, reality caught up with the vision. The same attack came.
Neo’s body was already moving before his mind fully registered it.
The spear grazed his ribs.
Before he could recover, Tartarus was attacked him again.
Shadows writhed like vipers beneath him.
They formed chains that shot toward Neo’s limbs.
Neo’s Foresight activated again, and he saw his arms bound, the spear impaling his throat.
He reacted.
His blade flashed.
The Death Essence carved through the oncoming chains.
He ducked low, rolling to the side, but Tartarus adjusted mid-strike, shifting the trajectory of his spear.
The tip grazed Neo’s cheek, leaving behind a burning trail of Death.
Tartarus’ spear attacks connected from one move to another. It was like a dance of an enraged death god.
Neo felt his bones trembles, and his muscles snap each time he blocked.
He clashed hundreds of times with Tartarus in a split second, too fast for Elizabeth to interefere in their battle.
His sword wove intricate arcs.
Zera finally managed to break her chains.
She tried to intervene, but a wall of Darkness erupted around her and Elizabeth, pushing them back.
The wall of Darkness formed a dome, and began to devour them.
Neo’s mind raced.
Future Sight was helping wonders. But it had a limit. Besides, the skill activated randomly. It was a luck based gacha.
In other words, Percival was supporting Neo and giving him good fortune, which was activating the Foresight.
‘I doubt Percival can keep giving me endless luck.’
‘He probably gave it at important moments where he saw me die.’
[Sigh, need my help?]
Neo’s eyes eyes widened.
He recognized the voice.
‘Sphinx? What are you doing–’
[I’m not Sphinx. I’m Sphinx’s Blessing. By now you should know a Blessing carriers its user’s Intent, which can talk to you.]
‘How can you help?’ Neo did not waste time on asking why Sphinx was helping him, or what did it want in return.
[Remember how Artemis overclocked her Blessing to strengthen it?]
[I can do the same.]
[You will be able to see multiple future possibilities instead of just one.]
‘That’s useless–’
Neo stopped speaking.
He realized how incredibly powerful would the Blessing become if it was strengthened.
[There is a problem though.]
[Seeing multiple future is impossible since multiple futures do not exist. So I will need to use my own Trait to use base present Timeline, and combine it with my Trait to predict–]
‘English.’
[What I’m doing is creating timelines – short timelines that will end after a few seconds – and I will use them to predict future.]
[Creating literal timeline need titanic amount of energy.]
[You might not even be able to sustain it with your current energy reserves.]
‘Do it.’
Neo cancelled all of his Blessing.
He diverted his World Energy, energy from his Core, and Infinite Mana towards Sphinx’s Blessing.
He felt weak and nauseous.
But this was fine.
Right now, he needed a trump card, even if it made him a glass cannon.
“Talked enough?” Tartarus said. “Use this chance to realize that you can plan everything, try everything, but you will lose.”