The people of Tartarus were having a feast.
Neo had to look twice to make sure he wasn’t imagining things.
“What are they doing…?”
“Enjoying our victory.”
Celestra, transformed into the giant dragon, flew towards Neo. Velkaria sat at her head.
“Enjoying?” Neo looked at the people below. “I can tell that they know about the true people, puppets, and false people.
“How are… they partying even after knowing that most of them are fake?”
Celestra chuckled.
“You really are weird. You achieve feats no one can do, yet you ask such simple questions,” Celestra said. “Can’t you just read their minds?”
“I would rather not intrude on the privacy of others if I can.”
“That’s very noble of you.”
Celestra shook her head with a bitter smile, not understanding why he felt it was wrong to weild his own power.
“Anyway,” she said. “To answer your question, everyone was a surprised when we found out most of us were just ‘fake’, but that doesn’t change much.”
“…?”
“I can think, talk, and draw when I want. To me, I am real. So why would I care if I am fake according to the definition of Cosmos?”
Neo turned to her.
He watched her for a few moments before his lips parted.
“…Is that how everyone down there thinks?”
“Yes.”
“You people are strong.”
“Hahaha, well, we are that. After all, we can withstand the Darkness only because we had strong wills.”
Celestra transformed into her human-like appearance. She grabbed his hand and pulled him down.
“Since you can defeat Tartarus anytime now, can you wait until we tell you to?”
“Yes?”
“Thanks,” Celestra said, and raised her head to look at the crumbling sky. “Though I guess we don’t have more than a few hours at best.”
“Why do you want me to wait?”
“To party,” Celestra flashed a grin. “We wanted to celebrate our victory against Tartarus.”
Neo detected no malice in her smile.
He was going to kill Tartarus, and it would kill her too, since she was born here. She was one of the ‘fake’.
It was not just her.
Her family, her friends, her acquaintances.
Neo would soon end all of them.
“No need to worry about time. You can celebrate for as long as you want.”
“Huh? But the world would fall apart—”
*Kyu!*
*Kyu! Kyu!*
Celestra blinked in surprise when Beelzebub crawled out of Neo’s pocket.
The caterpillar made noises as if saying: leave it to me.
It opened its mouth, and it began to devour the Time Elementals.
Then, a sight followed that took Celestra’s breath away.
The shattering pieces of sky were frozen in the air. The exploding mountains seemed to have been put on pause.
Beelzebub had stopped the time for the entire world.
“As you can see,” Neo said. “My partner would take care of it. So you can celebrate to your heart’s content.”
Celestra’s wide eye slowly returned to normal.
“Thank you.”
She then pulled him into the midst of the people of Tartarus.
They turned to him, and began to shout out praises and slogans to show their appreciation.
“Hey, pick him up!”
“Neo! Neo! Neo!”
“Put Sir Hero down, idiots! He isn’t a kid!”
“Thank you, Sir Hero!”
They were laughing with genuine joy.
Some cried, thanking him for helping them achieve their revenge.
Not a single soul was sad.
No one was angry at him.
“I guess you are quite surprised?” Kane’s voice flowed into Neo’s ears.
He was sitting inside his home, where his memories of daughter existed, and Neo was on the other side of the land, but distance of that level did not matter to people of their strength.
“Yes.”
“I can see why,” Kane chuckled. “But to these people, death isn’t a curse. It’s what they have been searching for ages.
“So don’t feel too bad about what you’ve done. Instead, take pride in it. If you don’t do that, everyone will keep worrying that they are giving you mental trauma by asking you to kill Tartarus.”
Neo exhaled and nodded.
The people of Tartarus brought him exotic fruits, delicious dishes, and their most prized alcohol.
All of them wanted to show their appreciation.
But seeing that only crushed Neo’s heart. It burned his happiness.
Because.
He could see it.
None of these people had any intention to live.
Not even the true people who wouldn’t die if this world was destroyed, or the puppets who Neo could help be reborn in his Cosmos with their true Consciousness.
All of them planned to die together with the ‘false’ people.
Just like how a fire burned the brightest before it was about to go out, the people were having a feast to celebrate their victory before their end.
“Hey,” Tyr came up to Neo and sat beside him. “The celebration has been going on for two days. Is your caterpillar okay?”
“Yes.”
Beelzebub who heard him, complained in Neo’s mind for being called a caterpillar.
Neo chuckled.
“What happened?”
“He is angry because you called him a caterpillar.”
“Ah… I apologize for that. It wasn’t my intention to make fun of him.”
“It’s fine.”
Silence appeared between the two of them as Tyr hesitated for a few seconds.
Then, he gathered courage and asked,
“How did Zera die?”
“…She died protecting me.”
“Is that so?”
Tyr, much to Neo’s surprise, smiled for the first time.
“I guess I have to give it to her. She really had powerful intuition. She saved you, and in return, you defeated Tartarus for us.”
Watching Tyr’s wistful smile, Neo spoke, “Did you… like Zera?”
“I did. I was rejected though.”
Tyr looked at the frozen sky.
“Although I never confessed my feelings to her, she must’ve known. I was quite open about how I felt. Yet she never responded to my feelings. That was her way of rejecting me.
“Then again, it was clear she had feelings for someone else. So it’s my fault for expecting her to respond to mine,” Tyr said.
“Julie de Beaufort?”
“Yes,” Tyr nodded. “Zera came to this world looking for someone desperately. Her family name ‘Beaufort’ was the same as Julie’s, and she always asked around for clues about Julie’s location.
“So even though she never said it out loud, it was clear that those two were quite close.”
Tyr finally stood up.
“Thank you for answering my question. I won’t take more of your time. Though, please do accept this gift from me.”
“…?”
Neo stared at Tyr’s hand which he raised for a handshake.
Although confused, he did as Tyr wanted and shook hands.
Tyr began to transfer his techniques to Neo.
Neo became enraged. “What are you doing—”
“Please take them,” Tyr’s voice was calm. “These might not be enough for you since you have abilities stronger than them, but I believe at least some of them might help you in the future.
“Even if they don’t, they will be useful when you are creating new techniques.”
The knowledge of Tyr’s [Truth], the combat experience Tyr gained after training until he bled, and everything else Tyr had ever learned flowed into Neo.
“If you still don’t want to accept these techniques, please think of it as doing us a favour.
“We know we are ‘fake’. When Tartarus dies, we will be erased. But if you use our techniques, they will live through you.
“It will be the proof that we had once lived. That even if we are fake, we were ‘real’ to us. That we fought, trained, ate, slept just like how a real person would.
“So, please accept our selfishness, and take them.”
Neo nodded with much difficulty, and accepted everything.
After Tyr, the other Dragon Clan Leaders came.
Neo introduced himself for the first time to the three Dragon Clan Leaders who never joined the Grand Expedition.
They made small talk, and then, they gave him their techniques just like Tyr.
It was clear to Neo how much willpower such a decision would take.
They were giving away the techniques they spent centuries training.
After the three Dragon Clan Leaders, Celestra did the same.
Over the next week, every person came to meet Neo.
Those who were strong gave him their techniques.
Those who had yet to reach a high level of strength gave him their stories.
A person shared his favourite recipe that he learned from his grandmother.
A soldier gifted Neo a sword that his dead wife had forged for him long ago.
For days, he forgo rest, and accepted their ‘gifts’.
When everyone had met Neo, it was time he ended Tartarus.
“Why did you teach them your transfer technique?” Neo spoke to the air.
“Huh? How did you know that technique was mine?” Kane asked, still inside his home.
“…Just answer the question.”
“I transferred the knowledge of the transfer technique to them. Since I had high understanding of the technique, I was able to regain it instantly and I kept sharing it.”
“Why?”
“Why what?” Kane chuckled, then he looked towards the forest with a longing gaze. “They want to leave behind something. A proof that they had once existed. I just helped them do that.
“I mean, I would’ve wanted to do the same if I was in their position,” Kane said.
“Does this mean you are coming back with me?”
“Yes,” Kane said. “It’s time I stop running and face the mess I left behind in my world.”
Neo nodded.
“Come meet me near the south-west coast,” Neo said.
“Okay,” Kane replied.
Kane looked one last time at his house.
He had cleaned everything, folded the clothes, and prepared the lunch.
Normally, he would split the housework with Ava, but on the days he wanted to spoil her, he would do everything by himself.
Then, when she returned from hunting, she would hug him happily.
“Goodbye.”
Kane’s eyes watered. He bit his lips to stop the tears, then he turned around and left to meet Neo at the pre-decided location.
Nicolas was already there.
Neo had informed him that Neo was not able to save Olivia despite being able to travel through time. The man had just nodded.
“Why here?” Kane asked.
“It’s because the barrier here is the weakest. I might be stronger than Tartarus now, but he created this world after spending centuries. It’s not easy to break the barrier.”
Neo stared at beach.
This place was the boundary of Layer 2.
Outside, Percival had managed to weaken the tree on Layer 1 by using his True Soul Weapon’s unique ability, [Weight].
It allowed Percival to increase the weight of the weapon before swinging it. The weight depended on what he used.
It could be responsibilities, memories, or even stats.
Of course, Neo could break the barrier by himself if he wanted.
But since Percival had weakened this place, it was better to use this.
Neo grabbed Obitus, and slashed with Death Sword Firmament.
The air was torn apart, revealing the true outside world. Percival was shocked when he saw them.
Kane and Nicolas stepped to the other side.
Neo turned around to look at the world of Tartarus.
He could sense the people of Tartarus waiting for the end.
He did not ask them again if those that could live, or could be saved, wanted to live.
It would’ve been an insult to their choice.
“Do you want me to do it?” Kane said while he stood on the border of the tear. “I know killing those you know isn’t easy. I can do it for you.”
“It’s fine.” Neo shook his head. “It was my choice to destroy Tartarus. This is my responsibility, and I would see it to the end.”
Even if that meant killing his friends and acquaintances with his own hands.
Neo focused inwards, and began to draw energy from Eternal Death Firmament.
Snakes made from flickering red lightning materialized in the air.
He withdrew all energy from his body and Cosmos to and gave it to Eternal Death Firmament to increase the amount of Death he could generate.
Even if Eternal Death Firmament was asleep, Neo could use it just like other Firmaments.
The red lightning snakes grew giant.
They slithered around the world.
Whatever they touched was put into an eternal sleep.
The gap of strength of this world, and Neo allowed him to put everyone in an eternal slumber.
The snakes grew larger than planets. After moving through all layers, they gathered together, and began to eat each other.
Their bodies shrunk as they ate voraciously.
In the end, only one snake was left. It began to eat its tail, and it continued to eat.
And finally, what was left was a tiny red marble.
Neo took one last look at the world, and left.
Small cracks appeared on the red marble floating in Layer 3, then it shattered, and a blinding red explosion engulfed all layers.
Neo, Nicolas, Percival, and Kane watched in silence.
They could see the world inside the tree ending.
But much to Percival, Nicolas, and Kane’s surprise, the tree began to disappear.
“What is happening?” Kane asked.
“Eternal Sleep…” Neo answered. “It doesn’t spare Elementals either. Since Space and Time Elementals have also been forced to sleep, Tartarus is now locked in a location that is detached from time and space.”
The tree finally disappeared, leaving behind Neo and others on the small island.
“Now, no one can disturb their eternal slumber.”