There, he met Tartarus, and made a deal with him.
Nyxtharion would help Tartarus maintain the nightmare world – the hell for evil – and when Tartarus would die, he would give Nyxtharion the blood of Hades he had.
Since Hades himself was an ancient dragon, it would help Nyxtharion possibly evolve from Elder Dragon to Ancient Dragon.
The next events were history. Nyxtharion became a Great Disaster, was defeated by Ezra Williams, and now he was nearly erased by Thanatos.
For someone whose past was an epic in itself, Nyxtharion’s end was pitiful.
He died pitifully, no longer remembering his goals and ambitions.
All he was now was a broken puppet.
[Modification for question ‘How do I increase my World Energy Generation rate with least amount of effort?’ has been completed.]
Thanatos looked at the empty area where Nyxtharion #1 had been until a few moments ago.
Power surged through him, and countless notifications appeared before his eyes.
“What a damn fool you were, O Fallen Dragon.”
Thanatos turned around, leaving the cave.
For a Necromancer, Nyxtharion cared too much about his undeads.
He remembered the name of each undead. Their likes, dislikes. He remade their torn clothes after every battle.
Nyxtharion wanted to become a Supreme. To make Necromancy an element. So that his undead could truly be alive, even if as spirits.
So that death would be no longer a separation.
So that maybe, he might meet his parents and friends who had departed early, leaving him behind. If not him, at least others would not suffer the same pain as he had once did.
Thanatos approached the area where Beelzebub was fighting.
The wall guardians had been crushed brutally.
Some of them missing limbs. Their wings were torn. Blood and pus flowed out of their injuries, and they were barely alive.
“Neo Hargraves!” Nyxtharion #4 roared. “How dare you betray our trust! The Great I will kill you even if it cost the Great I his life!”
Thanatos’ Aura, strengthened after devouring Nyxtharion #1, exploded.
It pressed down on the wall guardians and forcefully made them lower their heads to the ground.
Thanatos walked up to Nyxtharion #4.
“I’ve defeated Nyxtharion #1 and devoured him.”
“So what?! Are you telling the Great I to give up because we are weaker? No! The Great I would fight! Even if the Great I have to die, the Great I would never do anything to ashame I!”
“I see.”
Thanatos pressed his hand on Nyxtharion #4’s forehead, and transferred the memories of Nyxtharion #1 to them.
The wall guardian stopped struggling as the memories spread throughout the hivemind.
“I doubt you need to stand by Tartarus’ side anymore. You will be erased if you do that. So…”
Thanatos looked at him.
“Join my side, and I won’t kill you.”
Thanatos was being honest, but…
“You think I trust those memories after being tricked by! And even if you are right, the Great I would never betray Tartarus!
“I gave Tartarus I’s word to never betray him! A dragon never goes back on their words!”
“That condition was on the condition that you believed this world was a just one. Do you think that is true even after the memories I showed you?”
Nyxtharion did not listen to him.
The wall guardians tried to attack Neo.
A sigh of melancholy escaped Neo’s lips and True Darkness surged out of him.
[Objective 1: Eliminate or subdue all pieces of Nyxtharion singlehandedly.]
[Status: Completed]
[Reward: Information about Pillars.]
[Layer 4 had 9 Pillars. Each Protector is a Pillar.]
…
Zone 8, Layer 4
Neo lifted his hand and pulled Nicolas and Tyr into his Shadow Space. Or so it looked.
In truth, they were already inside his Cosmos.
He looked up.
Vlad hovered in the air above the crimson field with a relaxed expression.
“I moved them to my Shadow Space,” Neo said, his tone even. “They won’t interfere, or escape. You shouldn’t have any problem with that.”
“Yes. I can just kill them after I kill you.”
There was no dramatic build-up. No war cries.
Just the two of them standing still for one heartbeat longer than necessary.
Then they clashed.
Neo’s blade—his Death Sword—sliced upward from the shadows like a rising fang.
Vlad blocked with a twisted blade of blood.
The two weapons grinded with a scream that split the clouds.
The shockwave shattered the sky above them.
Blood rained from the open heavens, seeping into the land.
Vlad swept his hand. The Blood Sea surged beneath them, forming a massive hand that clawed up toward Neo.
Divine Swordmanship Seventh Stance: Tenraizen
Neo spun midair and slashed down.
The blinding arc of light cut through the blood, severing the hand.
But even before the pieces could fall, the Blood Sea swallowed them back and regenerated the structure in the form of twisted beasts of red and bone.
They howled and lunged.
Neo let them come.
He dashed forward, tearing through the monsters one by one.
The ground shook as each strike connected.
One beast exploded in a mess of crimson vapor, but the sea pulled it back in, birthing another from the same blood.
Vlad was there in the next instant.
A hammerfist coated in hardened blood slammed into Neo’s jaw, sending him flying across the ruined terrain.
Neo landed hard.
Dust and gore scattered as his feet dug into the ground.
A second later, Vlad appeared again, this time above him, twin lances of blood skewering downward.
Neo used Eyes of Echoe and All-Shadow.
Time shuddered.
The last five seconds were turned back.
The blood lances retracted. The hammerfist never struck. The beasts screamed, frozen in motion, then rewound into the Blood Sea like smoke drawn backward into a jar.
Only Neo was exempt from the rewind of time, as if he was disconnected from the world.
Neo now stood above Vlad.
He used Hydraulic Motion Technique and Pseudo-Gap.
Vlad twisted his body, narrowly evading the strike.
The edge of the Death Sword clipped his arm, severing bone and muscle. Blood sprayed, but then it stopped.
The wound did not bleed.
Vlad smiled.
“You cannot injure me. The Blood Sea supports me. It nourishes me. I won’t die as long as the Blood Sea is there.”