Neo quickly chose the Nullhour Concept.
He began to corrupt it with Void.
Diverting his focus towards creating new energy reduced the strength of the World Energy barrier covering him.
He started to lose memories.
Tyr. Celestra. The Dragon Clan Leaders. The child who gave him the recipe of his grandma’s cooking. The man who asked him to hold the sword his late-wife forged for him.
Neo was forgetting their names.
The people who sang songs of his praise. The people who thanked him for killing them.
Neo could no longer remember their faces.
‘No! No! No! No! No! No!’
The daughter of the sword saint who had sneaked into the Abyss of Nightmare. The millions of soldiers who joined Grand Expedition despite knowing they might die on it.
They…
Huh?
Who was Neo thinking about?
He couldn’t remember.
Not their names, not their faces, not their voices.
The emptiness gnawed at his heart. It ate him from inside.
Those people gave him everything they owned. Their only wish was to ‘live’ through Neo’s memories.
And now, Neo had forgotten.
Breathing heavily, Neo was drenched in sweat when he completed creating the new Consciousness with energy.
Finally, Neo’s World Energy was pure enough to stop the tampering of his memories.
But…
It did not matter anymore.
All he now remembered was that he had forgotten about someone. That those people had asked something for their final wish.
What was that wish?
He did not remember.
In his mind, memories replayed with people who had blurry faces, who smiled and shouted but had no voices.
“Neo Hargraves, have you finally calmed down?”
Neo raised his head and focused on Sphinx.
“Can you tell me what happened? Is it related to the ‘Tartarus’ you were talking about?”
Tartarus. That name sparked an idea in Neo’s mind.
He wasn’t the only one who had returned. Maybe the others would remember what transpired in Tartarus.
Ignoring Sphinx, who seemed to have no knowledge of Tartarus, he spread his senses and used Pseudo Gap.
Neo appeared above the sky of Luminera.
He noticed the cracks in the skies, and the eldritch entities who seemed to be trying to invade the world now that the barrier protecting Luminera was nearly destroyed.
With a wave of hand, Neo turned back the time of barrier and restored it.
Right now, he had more important things to do than meet those invaders – the Outer Gods who were the cause of world’s destruction in the novel ‘Son of Zeus’.
Neo appeared before Percival who was inside the office of Student Council in the academy.
“Whoa! Who are you… Wait, Neo Hargraves? Why did you come here suddenly, and why do you look so—”
“Do you remember about our journey in Tartarus?”
Percival blinked, confused.
Neo apologized in his mind and used Intent to read Percival’s entire memory.
‘He doesn’t remember Tartarus.’
Turning his head, Neo ‘looked’ out of the window and focused on the sun in the sky.
“Sunshine, do you remember the previous timeline?”
“Huh…?” Percival froze when he saw Neo move with conviction. “How do you know that the sun is Sunshine?”
“…”
Neo did not answer.
His focus was on the Spirit.
Just when he thought the Spirit would not answer him, it spoke.
‘Thanatos, I do not know what Timeline you are talking about. Can you explain it in detail?’
Neo was able to hear Sunshine thanks to his Empathic Transcendence Trait.
Percival opened his mouth and closed it repeatedly in shock when he realized Neo could hear his Spirit.
“Tartarus,” Neo said, hoping someone remembered. “Do you know that name?”
‘I apologize. But this is my first time hearing that name.’
“It’s fine.”
Neo used Pseudo-Gap to appear in Senator Nicolas’ mansion.
It was fine if Sunshine did not remember it. But Senator Nicolas? He definitely would. His sword was something special, and it had a unique presence.
Neo banked on the sword to remember everything.
‘I can ask them to transfer the memories of the people they have to me.’
The mansion of Senator Nicolas was in upheaval.
Everyone was running to and fro and seemed to be in an emergency.
A quick glance at their Intent told Neo that Senator Nicolas was dead. People were shocked because of it.
“Beelzebub, stop time.”
The tiny caterpillar opened his mouth, and it began to devour the time of the entire Luminera Continent.
Everyone was frozen.
Thanks to it, Neo could check Nicolas’ corpse without being stopped.
“This… his corpse is perfectly normal. His body is there, his soul is there, and so is his Seed of Existence.
“The only thing that disappeared is his Consciousness.”
Neo remembered that Nicolas would soon die because he had given his life force to his sword.
But that should’ve not happened after time was rewound.
“Was his sword something like True Darkness and Abyss Mirror, and it could retain its effect even if time was rewound?”
Neo looked through the mansion for the sword.
But it seemed to have disappeared into thin air.
Biting his lips, Neo was about to call Elementals when suddenly he noticed something with his sharp senses.
Olivia was missing.
She wasn’t in her home.
Neo shouldn’t have been surprised since anyone killed by Blood Sea remained dead even after time was rewound, but there was another reason for his shock.
In Olivia’s home, there was no picture of her. There were no clothes that were of her size.
Even the family portraits had only Leonora and her father.
Something was wrong.
Incredibly so.
Neo noticed something that had slipped past his mind.
Why did Sphinx not remember Tartarus?
She spoke as if… Tartarus didn’t exist.
Neo used Pseudo Gap to cover several hundred thousand meters and entered Olivia’s house.
He told Beelzebub to let the time flow for Jin, the Clan Leader of Poseidon Clan, and husband of Olivia.
The man looked like a child. He sat on a throne.
His expression remained calm when Neo suddenly appeared before him.
He looked around, noticing everyone frozen in time, then he expanded his senses. Much to his bafflement, time had been stopped for as far as he could sense.
“Are you the one whose presence suddenly spiked a few hours ago?” Jin questioned in a calm tone which hid his inner emotions.
“Yes,” Neo said. “I apologize for my rude actions of entering your home without permission.”
“It’s fine. Now, who are you?”
“Neo Hargraves. I am—”
“The classmate of my daughter, and the heir of Death.” Jin’s eyes narrowed. “But Neo Hargraves wasn’t ‘this’ strong. Were you perhaps a reincarnation who recently regained his memories and powers?”
“Something like that,” Neo said.
“Why did you enter my house and why have you stopped the time?”
“I will let the time flow soon, so please pardon my rudeness until then. As for why I entered your house…”
Neo could feel his heart hammering inside his chest.
He hoped – prayed – that the reason Sphinx did not remember Tartarus was something normal, and his worries were needless.
“Can you tell me where your wife Olivia von Villiers is right now?”
“What?” the man blinked, more confused than angered. “Wife? I don’t have a wife.”
The answer made Neo’s mind freeze.
Yet his body moved.
“I’m talking about the mother of Leonora von Villiers. She is an Executioner of Akashic Records, and one of the strongest Demigods on our continent.”
“Leonora is a Spell-born child I created with my blood, Neo Hargraves. She has no mother.” Jin spoke coldly. “I hope that you won’t say such rude words again.”
“…I see.” Neo muttered. “I apologize if my words offended you. It wasn’t my intentions.”
Neo left the clan of Poseidon.
He told Beelzebub to let the time flow.
People of Luminera had no idea that they had been frozen in time for several minutes. The only exception was Jin.
“Tartarus, and Olivia. It’s almost like they don’t exist…”
Neo frowned.
He didn’t understand what was happening.
Time somehow turned back.
He was able to perceive the tampering of time, and even though he knew why he retained partial memories, he couldn’t understand why he retained his strength too.
And worst of all, people seemed to have vanished.
Neo looked all over the Continent, and didn’t find Kane.
“Hey, what is happening?” he asked the elementals.
Air giggled and jumped around him, as if hoping he would beg for answers. Water, Holy, and Light hesitated.
Space was about to speak but Death stopped him.
Darkness seemed to support Death, and it asked Space to not answer Neo.
“I’m asking you guys something. Why was the time turned back and where have Olivia—”
Time wasn’t turned back.
Void Elementals appeared around Neo.
StopdonottellNeostopstop Darkness seemed to lose its temper.
Void, if you speak one more word, then…
Death Elementals’ aura surged.
Void scoffed. It ignored them.
Why are you trying to hide it from him? He has to face them one day. It’s better if he knows it early.
Shut up, Void! We are warning you. If you any harms come to Neo—
I don’t care about your warnings. Attack me and kill me if you can. Void taunted Death.
Death Elementals froze. Anger bubbled in their mind.
Why are you silent now? Void smirked and just as it was about to speak to Neo, Darkness Elementals surged.
The sky darkened and darkness spewed out of the ground.
Stopvoid
This damned bitch. Void Elementals clicked its tongue and flew back. I’m doing this for Neo. Can’t you see how much pain he is in? Or are you going to ‘protect’ him again by withholding things from him?
Darkness Elementals stiffened.
Void saw the opportunity to dig its claw into the wound.
You didn’t let him wield True Darkness and he suffered because of it. And now you are doing the same. If he doesn’t know about ‘them’, he can never prepare for them. Then, just like now, even if his friends were erased from existence, he would not be able to protect them.
Darkness calmed down.
The majority of the Darkness Elementals disappeared, leaving only a few behind.