“If you can’t understand that by yourself, then you need to think more.”
The snapping continued.
Time flowed backwards.
Again and again.
He watched Elizabeth die.
No matter what he did, he could not protect her.
Each time she died, he felt his heart being crushed.
Again.
He had to watch someone close to him die repeatedly.
The memories of the hundreds of loops he spent in Shadow Trial came back hauntingly. His emotions were in turmoil.
Sadness, grief, loss.
That was the moment Neo finally realized why he hated his loved ones dying.
He used to believe he saw life as nothing but a path towards death.
But it was wrong.
In reality, he saw Life as a synonym of Happiness.
The moments he spent with them, the memories of their time together, the future he had envisioned. They were all sources of Happiness.
And he lost that happiness when they died.
Holding Elizabeth’s cold corpse, the moments he used to look back endearingly became a source of constant pain for him.
The memories he used to cherish were now a constant reminder of his failures.
Of his weakness.
Of how he could not protect his happiness.
“It’s okay,” Elizabeth said once again. “You’re back. We can solve everything now.”
Neo cupped her hand with his own.
Words wouldn’t leave his mouth.
He started to be thankful to the madness of True Darkness. The pain, and the insanity was tearing his mind apart, but it gave him something to focus on other than the painful reality in front of him.
“You seem quite dull.”
The shadows in the room shifted before transforming into Tartarus.
“I suppose I need to spell it out for you. Accept that your choice was a mistake. Accept that you were wrong when you gave up your authority of the Judge.”
Neo remained silent.
His focus was only on Elizabeth.
Tartarus didn’t seem to mind as he continued,
“If you accept your mistake, you will not have to suffer this punishment, though you will still be punished.”
“I-“
“No.” Elizabeth swiftly cut off his words.
Neo had been expressionless, but perhaps thanks to their Bond she could sense his grief.
He was breaking apart. Not just physically, but also from within.
“Your choice was not wrong. You are you, Neo. Your identity is not just being the son of the god of death. You are more than that. Much more.”
“Shut up, foolish woman!” Tartarus snapped. “How dare you compare the Undeath Hades to mere Gods. He is one of the Eternals! Others would do everything to have a chance of becoming his brethren, and yet you say ‘just being the son of god of death’?
“It must be you who have led Neo astray.”
Elizabeth ignored his outburst.
She caressed Neo’s hair.
“He is using me as a hostage isn’t he?” she spoke gently. “I can sense the Time elementals in chaos. He must have killed me dozens of times and rewound time after that.”
“How dare you ignore me-“
“But it’s fine. You don’t need to change your ideals because of me. I don’t want to be your shackles.
“So let me die.”
She interlocked her fingers with him.
“I will reincarnate, and when I do, I will come back to you. That’s why, it’s fine.
“You can let go of me.”
Elizabeth’s body exploded by Tartarus’ attack.
Neo looked at his hands which were holding hers until a few moments ago. Now, the only thing left was the lingering warmth, and the blood.
“Filthy woman. Bitches like her should-“
Neo used Hydraulic Movement along with Pseudo Gap to instantly appear before Tartarus.
His aura flared to a high degree.
Tartarus felt a huge sense of danger.
He took a step back unconsciously, and summoned a Spear of Death before stabbing it towards Neo’s heart.
To his surprise, Neo didn’t dodge, block, or counter.
He let the spear move unhindered.
Suddenly, a future vision appeared in Neo’s mind.
In it, Neo was killed.
‘Although I haven’t talked with Percival in this timeline, he should still be giving me good luck to help me survive.’
Despite the madness tearing his mind apart, a part of Neo continued to analyze the situation calmly.
The loss of his happiness left him numb, and had allowed him to ignore the madness.
‘Sphinx, do your job.’
The Blessing of Sphinx flared at his command. Neo gave it what was left of his energy.
Two more ‘artificial’ future visions appeared.
In one, he managed to save his life, but was almost cut in half.
In the other, his heart was cut, but in exchange, he cut Tartarus’ arm.
Those futures would never happen. They were only a ‘what if’. A possibility that could’ve been if some unknown circumstances were met.
Neo used All-Shadow to enter the second artificial future vision.
Entering that timeline made it real. It forced Time to merge the ‘artificial timeline’ into the main Timeline.
The surroundings changed.
Tartarus was staring at his missing arm while Neo was breathing heavily, with a spear stabbed through his heart.
Instead of being surprised, Tartarus looked at him with a frown.
“That power again. Do you realize you are breaking apart because of it?”
He pointed at the cracks on Neo’s body with his chin.
“Those injuries are a result of Time Erosion. For now, your sky-high regeneration is barely keeping you alive. If not for it, Time would’ve eroded you by now.
“But that is only a stopgap method. You are slowly being erased. Those cracks are proof of it.
“All of this is inside this place, my world, where there are barely any natural Time Elementals. If you somehow manage to escape, you will be swarmed by countless Time Elementals and be erased.”
“So what?”
“It’s clear you should stay here, and repent for your mistakes.”
Neo did not answer.
He jumped back and devoured the hand he had cut from Tartarus.
[Knowledge about Shadow Core +13]
[One-tenth Tartarus Shadow Core +1]