“Why are you two standing like statues? Did you get a stomachache?” Velkaria questioned.
She looked at the figure behind them, and spoke,
“Why are these two like that?”
“Maybe it’s because of my aura? Give me a minute. My strength increased too quickly, so I’m having trouble controlling it.”
The sound was familiar.
Yet hearing it only increased the gut-wrenching fear they were feeling.
“There, done.”
The dragon clan leaders fell to their knees, breathing heavily. They felt as if the huge mountain pressing down on them had disappeared.
“Aren’t they overreacting?”
“You are fine because you and I are connected through a bond. If not, you would’ve been in a worse condition than them.”
The dragon clan leaders turned their heads, and noticed Neo.
Clearly, he was the source of the powerful presence.
But how?
Only seventeen months had passed since they entered the Abyss. Before that, Neo was a measly Stage 2.
“Why are all of you here?” Neo asked.
The dragon clan leaders were in no condition to answer.
“We are here because your dumbass created another problem, why else? And what the fuck did you do? The entire Zone 2 disappeared.” She continued to fly around Neo, finally reuniting with him after months, and answered him in a light tone.
Before Neo could say anything Velkaria added,
“Tyr said something about this Abyss being a fake, and that we would find the answer after meeting you.”
“Yes, I did say that,” Tyr stood up after barely getting himself together. “I saw a dream where I was with you, Julie de Beaufort, Zera, and Ava.”
Neo frowned.
Tyr was talking about the time where Tyr in his subconscious world destroyed the Nightmare, only for it to be restored by Tartarus.
But how did he remember that?
That event was erased from the timeline due to multiple regressions.
‘Did the timeline get bugged?’ Neo thought. ‘I knew combining the artificial timeline with main time wouldn’t be safe, but I never thought a major bug like this would appear.’
‘So while I was going through regression, Tyr was living in a timeline where he destroyed the subconscious nightmare world.’
‘The past we went through are different.’
“Neo? Why are you silent?” Velkaria questioned.
“It’s nothing.” Neo shook his head, then faced Tyr. “You were right. Actually….”
Neo explained to them about Pillars – people/objects that contained fragments of Tartarus’ Core – and Layers.
“So you are saying our real bodies are on Layer 3, and this is Layer 4?” Tyr questioned.
“Yes.”
“I see,” Tyr nodded.
He did not waste time on wondering if Neo’s conclusion was correct. The ‘dream’ he had seen was enough.
“What are you going to do now?” Tyr asked.
“I will find the Pillars in Layer 4, and destroy them, then I will do the same for other Layers until I can meet Tartarus’ true self, and defeat him.”
“Do you know who the Pillars are?”
“I don’t know, but I do have a way to find them.”
“I see.”
Tyr thought about Neo’s words. He came to a conclusion within seconds and turned to Celestara.
“Let’s go. The Grand Expedition will pull out of the Abyss and return to Layer 2.”
“We aren’t going to help him destroy the Pillars?”
“No.” Tyr shook his head. “The scale of things is far worse than what he had predicted. The Grand Expedition isn’t equipped to deal with things like this.”
Celestara did not answer immediately.
A beat later, she shook her head.
“I will stay here. You know my Clan. They won’t leave this place. They will keep believing that defeating the last Protector, even if it claims their life, will achieve something, and…”
She turned to Neo.
“If they find out about him, they will get another hope, and they will burn themselves like a moth driven to flame while trying to help him and fight Tartarus.”
Tyr tightened his jaw.
He knew Hope Clan was like that.
They would do anything to achieve their goal. If there was even the slightest chance of defeating Tartarus, they would do everything in their power to seize that chance.
Hope Dragon Clan had always been at the forefront of the people who were against Tartarus.
And Hope Dragon Clan was the one who suffered the highest casualty in each Grand Expedition.
They would always die while fighting the Protectors, or while holding the line so as to help other people of Grand Expedition escape the Abyss after their operation failed.
There had never been a single survivor of Hope Dragon Clan in those who returned after Grand Expedition failed.
“Celestra, you…”
Tyr could not complete his words.
Should he say she should not try to listen to the influence of Hope element?
That was impossible.
Just like how wielder of Death saw Death as nothing wrong, those cradled by Hope could not help but embrace it.
“You should return, Tyrkael. When you reach Zone 8, tell my Clanmates to wait for me. I will return with Neo. If we have him, I can save a lot of my Clanmates from dying a ‘hopeless’ death.”
“Okay…”
Tyr left with begrudging steps. He began to activate the teleportation array to return to Zone 4.
“Are you sure you want to stay here?” Neo faced Celestra.
“Yes.” She nodded with an expressionless face. “I need to make sure you come to the Zone 8, or else my Clanmates will attack the Protector of Zone 9 alone, and die meaninglessly.”
Watching her camaraderie, Neo could only remain silent.
Should he tell her that her Clanmates and she might be an illusion?
Neo had come to a conclusion that real people and illusionary people had a real Consciousness, but there was no guarantee that he was right.
Maybe the people who did not give physical stats to him were just fake illusions. Their memories and masteries were created by Tartarus.
Neo would only find out the truth when he met Tartarus.
“Okay, I’m done.” Tyr stood up. “I will leave now.”
Neo nodded to him.
Tyr vanished, leaving behind Velkaria, Neo and Celestra.
Celestra had stayed back, putting her trust in Neo that he would defeat Protector of Zone 8 and Tartarus.
Tyr, on the other hand, decided to pull back the Grand Expedition as he did not want to risk the life of his people on a gamble.
“I forgot to tell you, but you and Zera had a clone on Zone 8,” Velkaria said. “Do you know where they came from?”