“I kept reviving the Great I with the power of Necromancy. The Grand Expedition could never eradicate the Great I.
“The cost of power was great. Now, the only original piece, I, Nyxtharion #1, the one born from the heart of Elder Dragon Nyxtharion the Evernight, is left alive. Nyxtharion #1 – I – has become a monster due to using necromancy repeatedly.
“I won’t come out of the cave until the Great I warn him.
“The Great I want you to grow stronger and end I. Please, end the misery of I.”
‘And if possible, the Great I want to know if we were truly correct by labelling worlds as ‘evil’ and imprisoning them in this hell.’
The dragon kept his final thoughts to himself.
Neo, however, understood what he wanted to say.
He nodded.
“I suppose I can’t fight Nyxtharion #1 right now?”
“No, you would be defeated if you tried to fight I. You need to be strong enough to defeat all Protectors until Floor 2 all alone to fight I on equal footing. Though…”
“There is a problem with that?”
“Indeed, the Great I think Tartarus would empower the Protectors of Floor 2 to defeat you. It makes the Protectors dangerous, but it is an opportunity too. If you devour those Protectors, you can snatch strength from Tartarus, and weaken him.
“However, defeating them is going to be difficult. After all, Tartarus is Stage 4. A mere fragment of him can make any being infinitely stronger than the strongest Stage 3 being.”
Nyxtharion #2 explained to Neo about the power structure.
Apparently, there was a huge gap in strength between every three major ranks.
Mortal ranks: Awakened, Mythic, Empyrean
God ranks: Paragon (or Stage 1), Exalted (or Stage 2), Fabled (or Stage 3)
Archon ranks: Eidolon (or Stage 4), Imperium (or Stage 5), Apotheon (or Stage 6)
Overlord ranks: Stage 7, Stage 8, Stage 9
The jump from God (Stage 3) to Archon (Stage 4) was immeasurable.
In other words, Tartarus would be a challenge even if Neo devoured everything inside Layer 4.
“So you mean I need to devour every Protector until Floor 2, which would weaken Tartarus, then defeat Nyxtharion #1 made from the heart of Elder Dragon Nyxtharion the Evernight to fulfill your request.
“After all that, there is still almost zero possibility of me defeating Tartarus?”
“….”
The dragon remained silent.
“It’s fine,” Neo told him. “I’ll think about Tartarus after I fulfill your request. It’s the least I can do for all you’ve done for me.”
Neo said goodbye to the dragon and moved towards Zone 1.
‘The dragon’s request is simple enough.’
‘Find out why he joined hands with Tartarus. Tell him if they were in the right punishing people and trapping them and their worlds in Layer 5 to act as obstacles for Grand Expedition. Defeat Nyxtharion #1.’
Three tasks.
It wouldn’t take long.
Neo encountered several wall guardians on his way.
They, having been lied to by Nyxtharion #2, believed Neo was on their side, and he was planning to devour the Protector of Zone 1, then Zone 3, and so on.
They would help Neo.
Neo reached the center of Zone 1. There he saw several wall guardian dragons reviving the Protector.
Watching the Forest Spirit coming back to life, a thought came to Neo.
‘I believed the people who came to Tartarus were real, and those who were born in Tartarus were fake.’
‘Fakes, or illusions, were people who didn’t give physical stats when I devoured them, since they were an illusion created by Nightmare.’
‘But I was wrong.’
Neo clenched his fist.
‘These illusions have memory, and experiences of their life. They have elemental masteries too. In other words…’
‘They are real, or they were real at least.’
‘They no longer have a body, or soul. This can be proved as I didn’t get those stats from these ‘illusions’, but they have consciousness, which gave me memories and masteries.’
‘Their consciousness is trapped inside the illusionary (fake) body and soul Tartarus created for them.’
Neo frowned.
He gained the incomplete Concept of Shadow Core when he devoured a part of Tartarus, and he copied Shadow Core incompletely with Abys Mirror too.
From what he understood, Shadow Core allowed Tartarus to create bodies or matter with limitations.
‘He must have used Shadow Core to build bodies and souls for these people.’
Neo categorized the prisoners of Tartarus in two categories.
First were true people. They had body, soul, and consciousness. However, their body and soul were being discreetly devoured by the darkness of Tartarus, which had led Percival to wonder if these people were truly alive.
Then there were illusionary people. They had fake bodies and souls, which housed their consciousness.
Neo believed when Tartarus’ Darkness ate the true people, they would be turned into illusionary people, becoming prisoners of Tartarus for eternity.
‘The worst part is that nobody realizes what is happening. This means Tartarus altered their consciousness too.’
‘The true people can at least think for themselves.’
‘However, these illusionary people just act on preprogrammed commands that Tartarus put into them. Their consciousness is being forcefully controlled by Tartarus. They are just… puppets.’
While Neo was drowned in his thoughts, the Protector of Zone 1 was revived.
“Neo Hargraves, sit back! The Great I will defeat it!” Nyxtharion #4 roared.
“All you need to do is keep yourself safe, and devour the defeated monster!” Nyxtharion #69 added. “You should—”
“It’s okay. I will fight this one myself.”
Neo stepped forward.
Death Sword Firmament flowed into his sword, wrapping it in ethereal energy.
“What are you trying to do, Neo Hargraves?”
“I’m just trying out the tricks Nyxtharion #2 taught me.”
“You shall not act without our—”
The Protector of Zone 1 had fallen before the dragon could complete his words.
The dragon froze, unable to comprehend what it had seen.
Neo slashed. A dark arc shot out from his blade. It cut the Forest Spirit, Queen Azariel of the Rootborn, the Protector of Zone 1.
The Protector had a powerful healing ability, but Death Sword Firmament ate into its body and left it unable to heal, killing it within seconds.
“What….”
The dragons were left flabbergasted.
Protectors were powerful. Each of them was stronger than a Grand Expedition.
Grand Expeditions were no joke. They were made by several Dragon Clan Leaders, and a few dozen Fabled, thousands Exalted, tens of thousands of Paragons, and millions of Empyreans.
Despite having such powerful firepower, Grand Expeditions were always weaker than a single Protector.
Yet, Neo defeated a Protector in four seconds?
What the hell did Nyxtharion #2 teach him?
“Don’t gawk, and instead start moving,” Neo said.
“Are you not going to devour the Protector’s corpse before we move to Zone 3?” Nyxtharion #4 questioned.
“You don’t need to worry about that.”
The dragons could only nod and follow Neo’s orders.
Nyxtharion #2, seeing everything through the hivemind, chuckled.
He ordered the dragons to clear a path for Neo.
Neo broke the dimensional barrier separating Zone 1 and Zone 3. He let the dragons enter Zone 3, and himself stopped at the border.
“What are you doing?”
Neo did not answer Nyxtharion #4. Instead, Darkness surged through his shadow.
It swept towards the forest of Zone 2, increasing in size, and slowly turning into a tsunami the size of an ocean.
Nyxtharion #4 was horrified when it realized what was happening.
Neo was devouring the entire Zone 2.