The Darkness spared nothing.
The corpse of the Protector, the forest, the river, the sky, the monsters who had been hiding from dragons and Neo.
Everything was eaten.
And, the madness began to sing.
The chorus of insanity started from a low whisper and it soon turned into an otherworldly cacophony.
Neo’s will, strengthened by the opening of his Cosmos, gave him masterful control of Intent.
He used it tirelessly to disentangle the Intent making the madness.
But he could only calm a small part of the madness.
The rest?
He faced the madness with sheer willpower.
He withstood it—
No.
He did not just withstand it.
He embraced it.
He let the Madness Intents drown him in their rage. He lent an ear to their stories. He learned about their lives.
The moment of joy, the years of sustenance, the decades of ignorance.
Everything had a story to tell. Be it a strip of grass, a grain of dirt, or the kings of the world themselves.
In Neo’s mind, a tale of a world began to be woven into existence.
The Jungle World. Verdonia.
A wild, lush world where plants were intelligent, beasts divine, and everyone lived in harmony.
A utopia.
A world ruled by Queen Azariel of the Rootborn.
The Queen’s parasitic vines dug into the neighboring worlds, used them as nutrition, and sucked them dry, leaving them to rot.
The people who were unaware of the Queen’s actions used the ‘nutrients’ gained from the lives of otherworlds.
The society on Verdonia flourished. Plants sung songs of happiness, beasts bowed to their Queen.
Their demands, their requests. All were fulfilled by the generous Queen.
A child had been born with a fatal disease? A beast was dying of old age, unable to see his son grow into an adult?
The Queen healed the child. She blessed the beast, allowing him to witness the life of his son.
All that the Queen gave came from the otherworlds, and from countless heaps of lives.
She was evil, and so were the people who benefited from her, even if they did so due to their ignorance, judged Tartarus.
“Neo Hargraves?”
The dragon’s voice snapped Neo out of his thoughts.
Neo shook his head, calming himself.
The Madness Intent was drilling insanity into his mind. Its effect increased when he embraced the madness.
He had done it knowingly.
He wanted to learn of the world, to know of its history, and its people. He did so he could answer Nyxtharion #2.
Had they really served justice by punishing these ‘evil’ worlds?
‘One done. Eight more to go.’
Neo used Happiness to calm himself, and the Madness Intent. Adding that to the effect of his recently strengthened Consciousness, and his actions of continuously disentangling the Madness Intent, he was able to withstand the madness.
Countless notifications flashed before his eyes.
Techniques, stats, masteries, elemental affinities, Concepts.
He gained a lot of it.
Yet, Neo remained melancholic.
His mind continued to replay the memories he had gained.
The child who was healed by the Queen and thanked her with genuine joy, hurled curses at her when he found the truth.
The man who was blessed by the Queen, threw stones at her when Tartarus dragged him into the prison.
And the Queen?
She had cried.
She was unable to understand what she had done wrong. She killed, true, but it was for her people.
The law of jungle taught her that the strong could do everything.
She used her strength to take from the outsiders, and gave it to the weak in her world. She did so that no one would take from her people even if they were weak.
“Neo Hargraves?” Nyxtharion #4 called again.
“It’s nothing.” Neo shook his head. “Let’s go.”
The dragon nodded. He could feel the unfathomable power radiating from Neo.
‘He is sane after devouring an entire world. What kind of willpower does he have to maintain sanity like that?’
A grin broke out on the dragon’s visage.
‘If we can feed Neo Hargraves more, he would be able to defeat Jack Hanma!’
The dragons were following Neo towards the center of Zone 3 when suddenly two presences teleported into Zone 3.
They were powerful, and slightly familiar.
No, there were three presences.
Two were dragons, probably Stage 3, and one was a weak Void entity.
“Dragon Clan Leader Tyrkael, the Tongue of Truth, and Dragon Clan Leader Celestara, Matron of the Dawnborn Flame, have entered Zone 3!” Nyxtharion #69 roared. “This is our chance. They have come without their armies!
“Capture them—”
“Beelzebub.”
The caterpillar, already out of Neo’s pocket, transformed into a giant bug. He screeched loudly, and began to suck the time of the dragons.
The dragons froze.
“We were almost caught,” Neo muttered. “Thanks Beelzebub. If you hadn’t acted on time, things would have turned messy.”
The dragon clan leaders would think Neo was an enemy after seeing him together with the Nyxtharions.
Moreover, the Nyxtharions might find out from the dragon clan leaders that Kane had not taken in any disciple.
Even if the truth did not get out, Neo might have to make a move to save the dragon clan leaders.
That would mean Nyxtharion found out he was an enemy.
And Nyxtharion #1 would come to fight him.
‘Nyxtharion #1 would kill Nyxtharion #2 when he realizes Nyxtharion #2 betrayed them.’
‘I can’t fight them unless I’m sure I’m strong enough to fight while protecting Nyxtharion #2.’
It was easier said than done.
Nyxtharion #2 ~ #537 were revived by Nyxtharion #1.
If Nyxtharion #1, the main necromancer, died, all other elder dragon pieces would die too.
Neo reached the location where Tyr (Tyrkael), Celestia (Celestara) and Velkaria had appeared.
“We should search for Neo while being careful about the elder dragon—”
Tyr stopped speaking when a powerful aura enveloped the area.
His back was drenched in sweat, and his heart began to beat loudly. Celestara was no different.
For a moment, they forgot to breathe.
The sounds of footsteps reached their ears.
Their hearts lurched.