For now, he was using enough energy to see 15 minutes into the past.
Those fifteen minutes were divided into countless moments.
He could see all of those moments overlapping on each other.
It was hard to ‘select’ a single moment from the disorienting ocean of ‘moments’.
Thankfully, Neo was already used to having a splitting headache.
He referred to his memory, and chose the ‘moment’ from ten seconds ago.
Using All-Shadow, he entered the moment.
There was a shift.
Neo could feel the Time Elementals returning, but his World Energy kept them out of his body.
He looked around, and nodded after confirming he had indeed returned to ten seconds in the past.
“Right now, I have enough energy to return to the moment where Tartarus killed Elizabeth.
“But…”
Neo frowned.
“I can see only the past of places in front of me.
“So I will appear here in Zone 4, and then I will need to break out of Layer 4, and enter Tyr’s subconscious Nightmare World in Layer 5 to save Elizabeth, Zera, and Ava.
“Even if I can reach the place on time, I don’t think I can defeat that Shadow Core copy of Tartarus as I am now.”
The simple solution was to train and grow stronger.
But training would take time.
Then, he would need to spend more energy to go back to the moment where Tartarus fought with him, Zera and Elizabeth.
And the energy consumption increased exponentially the farther he looked into past with Eyes of Echoes.
“With the current energy I have, I can train for five hours, and still return to that moment in Layer 5.
“If I use all energy from my Cosmos, I get three days and a few more hours.
“And if I devour the Nyxtharion #1, who was created from heart of Elder Dragon, my World Energy reserves would rise again, at least that was what Primogenitor said.
“So, I can waste roughly 5 days to train before I absolutely have to go back and fight Tartarus.”
Neo himself knew how absurd he sounded.
He wasn’t even strong enough to fight Great Disasters, who were weaker than Tartarus.
And he would defeat Tartarus within five days?
That was the same as saying a mortal would awaken and reach Grade 1 Exalted in five hours.
Still, Neo refused to give up.
He returned to Celestra, Velkaria and the Firmaments.
Death Sword Firmament approached the Eyes of Echo Firmament curiously.
While the two siblings looked at each other, Neo spoke,
“Did you finish your sketch?”
“Yes, thank you for waiting for me.”
“It’s fine,” Neo said. “Now do you want to return to my Cosmos while I devour this Zone, or will you stay here?”
“I will stay here.”
Neo nodded and was about to begin when Velkaria spoke up,
“I’m not saying I want to go inside, but you can ask me too, bastard.”
“You know…” Neo turned to Velkaria and smiled. “I know what you told Tyr and Celestia about me.”
“What did I tell them—”
Velkaria froze recalling how much she had cursed Neo behind his back.
In fact, thanks to Celestra’s open reactions, she was having a blast, and she might’ve said a bit too much.
“Y-you did you read my memories!?”
Neo smiled faintly, and did not say anything.
Velkaria clicked her tongue before going quiet.
Neo summoned the Fabled rank eagle-like shadow summon.
“I know you guys can fly but the emptiness has a powerful turbulence. Just stay on B’ajel.”
The shadow summon did not immediately let them climb itself.
It seemed to think of Velkaria and Celestra as enemy, which was normal since one was Void Entity and other was a dragon, who were the apex predator.
Neo had to pat the shadow summon’s head to calm it down.
After they took off to the sky, Neo’s darkness surged.
Memories appeared inside his head.
Trokota. The World of Eternal Wars.
It was a world where dying the next day was normal. People committed heinous crimes to feed themselves, and did whatever they could do to keep living.
High General Baryon Flamejaw was the cause of the eternal wars. He fueled the wars for power, sacrificed peace talks and deliberately reignited conflicts to stay in power.
But he wasn’t alone. The other kings and emperor were just as bad if not worse.
Crimes were rampant in Trokota. Orphans were raised as living weapons. Being stabbed by a decade-long friend for food was considered normal.
“What kind of shitty place is this?”
Despite his words, Neo did not judge the people or the world.
They did their best using the conditions they were provided with. Even those that killed did so to protect their own lives.
Selfish? Yes. Disgusting? Yes.
But wrong?
Neo did not pass a judgment.
Maybe it was the influence of True Darkness, or maybe it was how he had grown to be, but Neo had long since stopped labelling people as ‘evil’ or ‘just’ for their actions.
Neo had long lost his right to pass the Judgment.
He didn’t have the right to divide people as evil or just.
Not when he had allowed Jack to live after devouring thousands of people. Not when he loved Elizabeth who, even if it was for her country, crushed countless lives.
Not when his own brother would erase the world for him.
“I know this personality of mine is the reason I could get True Darkness. If I divided people, I could never awaken True Darkness which accepts everything. Be it wrong, or right. Strong, or weak. King, or peasant.
“But if I’m not a Judge anymore, then what am I.
“Why am I deciding the request of Nyxtharion #2 to tell him if this hell is just when I don’t have that right anymore?”
Neo shook his head.
The increasing madness and the new memories was making him think about useless things.
He needed to focus on the task at hand.
Floating in the empty space, he summoned the flames of High General Baryon Flamejaw.
“As I thought, these flames are not normal.”