Elizabeth listened to him patiently. She did not blame him even though everything was his fault.
Through the closeness of their skin, Neo could feel her heartbeats. The thought that she would soon die dreaded him.
Again, he would lose his happiness.
Time kept ticking.
Neo ignored the increasing erosion.
He ignored the shattering world.
He embraced Elizabeth and listened to her heartbeats.
And when the time was close, Elizabeth pulled back and looked at him.
Her hands pulled his cheeks up.
“I won’t be able to see you for a long time. So, I would rather remember our last moment where you had a smile than where you look sad.”
Neo tried to smile.
Elizabeth smiled back at him.
And finally, her heart stopped beating.
There was no injury, no work of Elementals. Nothing.
Her body suddenly went limp.
Her Consciousness disappeared.
Death Elementals surged in the surroundings.
They embraced him.
That is the Witch’s Curse.
They will always reincarnate, true.
But when they die, it’s impossible to save them.
The only thing you can do is search for their reincarnation.
Neo did not speak or move for several moments.
Then, he sent Elizabeth’s corpse into his Cosmos, and stood up.
“Thank you for telling me why she died,” Neo told to Death.
Don’t mind it. I just told you because I felt like it. Don’t expect me to help you again though.
Neo smiled at Death’s familiar attitude.
He could see other Elementals too.
Space remained silent.
Void observed him with interest.
Air had left already to look through the palace.
Water was comforting him with Life.
Holy seemed to not like being in the area since the Layer 5 had too many Nightmare Elementals.
Darkness remained close to him, but they did not know what to do to comfort him.
Hope, Weapon, Nightmare, Destruction, Shadow, and countless more Elementals surrounded Neo.
“I’m alright,” Neo told them, then turned to Time. “I’m sorry about this Time, and don’t worry, I’ll go back to where I came from soon.”
Neo left the room, and encountered Kane outside.
“Did you meet Ava?”
“I saw her, but meeting her…”
Kane shook his head.
After Neo came back, Kane was able to know what happened thanks to Time Elementals.
Then, he forced the Dragon Clan Leaders outside to break his seal when the world began to crack, and he came to meet Ava, since she was still alive right now.
“I’m going to return to the future where I came from. If I do that, Ava won’t be alive anymore. So why aren’t you trying to stop me?”
Neo had currently come from future to the past.
The past was now his ‘present’ and the future was his ‘past’.
If he used Eyes of Echo, he could return to his ‘past’ which was technically the future.
Right now, every person had been doubled. All of them were inside Neo’s Cosmos, and in Nightmare World.
This paradox was why Time was strengthening the erosion to erase Neo.
If Neo returned to future, the paradox would be solved and Time’s erosion would return to how it was before.
“It’s fine,” Kane said, his tone filled with melancholy. “Sometimes, it’s better to just let go. I’ve learned it the hard way.”
He had come to Layer 5 to see Ava one last time.
Now that he did that, it was fine.
“Besides, I don’t think I’m strong enough to stop you,” Kane chuckled.
Neo used Eyes of Echo, and a burning pain shot through his eyes.
‘Okay, rule number 3. Travelling back also costs energy.’
In simple terms, if he went from 2:30 to 2:15 then returned to 2:30, that would mean he had burned energy equivalent to 30 minutes.
He used All-Shadow.
The time erosion slowed.
Neo appeared in the sky of the Layer 3.
After he returned to Layer 2, he saw Kane.
For a moment, no one spoke, then Kane patted his back.
“It’s alright. As I said, I let go of her of my own volition. I don’t blame you for Ava’s death.”
Neo nodded.
He created another Intent Clone and ordered him to bring out the people of Nightmare World from the Cosmos.
In the meantime, he went to meet Tartarus.
The tree man snorted when he saw Neo.
“I did not expect you could talk with Elementals so freely. It saddens me how I cannot watch you beg me to explain to you why she died.”
Neo remained silent.
He did not respond to Tartarus’ taunt.
“Why aren’t you saying anything? Cat got your tongue?”
Tartarus kept insulting Neo.
Neo, on the other hand, watched him in silence.
After a few minutes, Neo finally spoke,
“You know, I already hate you enough. So, you can stop. I know you are trying to make me hate you so that when I kill you, I don’t feel bad about destroying this world, and killing those ‘fake people’.”
“What are you talking about, Neo Hargraves? Have you finally lost your mind?”
Neo did not explain himself.
Silence stretched between them.
Tartarus watched him for a few moment, and sighed.
“Since I had lost, I planned to fall with grace by helping the son of my God, but you… to think you would deprive me of even that, was that woman really so important to you?”
“Yes.”
Tartarus sighed.
“What are you going to do now? Devour me?”
“No.”
Neo turned around to leave.
His words confused Tartarus.
However, Tartarus could see Neo had some other plans.
Since this might be their last meeting, Tartarus decided to speak his thoughts,
“I don’t remember.”
“What?”
Neo stopped, and turned around.
“My memories of my life before I build this world have long since disappeared.”
“…?”
“Do what you will with that information.”
Neo frowned.
He couldn’t understand why Tartarus told him that.
Although confused, the answer wouldn’t come to him by himself, and Tartarus clearly did not plan on explaining more, so Neo decided to leave.
He appeared above the sky of Layer 2.
Below, he saw billions of inhabitants of Tartarus and the Dragon Clan Leaders.