He could’ve regressed.
There was more than enough energy for that.
But Neo wouldn’t be himself if he did not fight until the last inch.
Red lightning began to flicker around his body. He shut down his healing abilities and redirected all energy toward creating Death.
Giant bolts of red lightning came into existence.
Nyxtharion #56 realized he was about to do something again.
It increased the crushing force and turned Neo into a meatball.
However, the red lightning remained, to its surprise. The lightning began to condense into the shape of a bead.
Neo currently had too much energy from devouring fourteen Nyxtharion.
It would dissipate if he left it as it is, since it was far more than what he could store inside himself.
He converted all that energy into Death and condensed it into a black bead.
A single bolt of red lightning seemed to be moving inside the bead.
Alarms rang in Nyxtharion #56’s mind, and its instincts told it to stop the bead from exploding or run away.
A proud dragon like you won’t run away, will it?
“You! Will you not show respect to your opponent until the end—”
Neo let the bead explode before the dragon could complete its sentence, denying it the satisfaction of finishing its words.
An absolute cataclysmic explosion shook the place.
Everything that touched the shockwaves was erased. The only thing left standing was the invisible barrier—the dimensional wall separating Zone 1 and Zone 2.
Neo felt the lifeforce of Nyxtharion #56 weakening.
He wanted to see the result of the attack and the injuries it left on Nyxtharion #56.
Changing his plans, he revived himself. Energy was no problem.
The first thing he noticed was the amount of Death in the surroundings. The high concentration was harming him too.
Air crackled with red lightning.
Everything had been pulverized into nonexistence.
‘Now that I think about it, I never made a suicide bombing technique despite being Immortal.’
‘That should’ve been the first technique I made.’
Neo walked up to Nyxtharion #56.
Half of its face had melted. Its body was fine since it had sacrificed its wings to protect itself, but the red lightning was invading its body through the wounds, and weakening it’s life force.
“You…!”
The dragon spat with hatred and anger.
“You will pay!”
The dragon’s Core cracked. It collapsed into itself, and a beat later, it exploded. Everything happened too fast. Neo had no time to react.
“You crazy fuck. Why are you doing a suicide bombing—”
Neo’s consciousness blanked.
For a moment, he felt his consciousness leave his body, and he heared Percival’s voice.
“Neo! I found the Pillars of—”
The voice disappeared, and Neo regained consciousness.
He sucked in a sharp breath of air. Hot white pain drilled into his head.
His bones were visible, and his melted skin was not able to regenerate.
He looked around.
“Fucking nutjob. Bitch took himself out to stop me from devouring him.”
The worst part was the explosion technique. It was a crude technique similar to what Neo had used moments ago.
In fact, Neo was sure the dragon got the idea from him.
‘He used Void in the explosion, and it’s hindering my regeneration.’
“Fuck.”
Since the dragons had a hivemind, now all of them knew the explosion technique, and they would kill themselves as soon as they were about to be defeated. Neo would not be able to devour them.
“God fucking dammit.”
Neo turned back time.
He burned an exorbitant amount of energy and tried to go far back into the past, hoping to meet Tartarus in Tyr’s Nightmare World.
But he opened his eyes in the cavern.
His Time Perception told him he had returned to the moment where his earlier regressions started.
“I’m here again. I suppose Time and Fate wouldn’t let me go past this point.”
He waited for thirty seconds.
The Nyxtharion did not come. As expected, if he devoured something with True Darkness and returned to the past, those things would disappear from the past too.
“Beelzebub, devour the chaotic Time Elementals.”
He moved swiftly.
His mind’s connection with Nyxtharion remained even after he regressed.
They would quickly realize some of the Nyxtharion were missing, and a foreign being—him—had gained access to the hivemind.
Then, they would bombard his mind with mental attacks.
Neo tore straight through the walls and moved toward the dimensional barrier separating Zone 1 and Zone 2.
As expected, a giant presence started chasing him when he went near the dimensional barrier.
‘Here it comes, a wall guardian Nyxtharion.’
A powerful roar tore through the world.
It paralyzed Neo, followed by Space warping around him. He became immobile.
From the direction of the roar, purple flames flew out in the shape of a beam.
Neo was forced to tank the attack with his bare body.
The flames, stronger than the flames of smaller Nyxtharion, burned him mercilessly, and the mental attacks targeting his consciousness returned.
Neo tried to summon Darkness and devour the flames.
But he was smashed against the dimensional barrier, and his focus shattered, leaving him unable to manipulate Darkness.
The dragon manipulated Space and smashed him against the dimensional wall whenever he tried to use any technique. The mental bombardment didn’t help.
The flames slowly melted his skin and bones.
[Space Lock (Rank: Stage 2, Mastery: Savant) +0.4%]
The dragon had Neo in a perfect checkmate.
It walked through the walls and finally revealed its majestic figure.
“You are regressing, aren’t you?” Nyxtharion #56 questioned. “Some of I have memories of the previous timelines.
“Until now, I did not think of you as a regressor, as you were not followed by chaotic Time Elementals.”
[Space Lock (Rank: Stage 2, Mastery: Savant) +0.2%]
“But now that I know, I will not allow you to regress.”
The force made Neo’s spine snap.
The moment he tried to heal himself or turn back time, he was smashed against the dimensional barrier.
His focus broke, and his techniques were canceled.
[Space Lock (Rank: Stage 2, Mastery: Savant) +0.2%]
[Space Lock (Rank: Stage 2, Mastery: Savant) +0.1%]