Neo had a deadpan expression upon seeing the whole fiasco.
‘This bitch….’
He had to give it to Jack. Neo had decided to not meet anyone, but now he was raring to go down and beat the shit out of Jack.
Suddenly, he noticed Yaleth looking at him.
“Your preferences… is that why you gave me a gender-neutral body? I’m sorry but I will have to reject your advances if that is true.”
Neo looked at Yaleth, then at Jack.
Instead of responding to Yaleth, he spoke to Nyxtharion #2.
‘Jack might refuse your tutelage. If he does that, just blackmail him by saying you will tell everyone about him doing his deed with his ancestor.’
‘He did what… I meant to say, understood, Godfather.’
‘Actually, reveal that to his close friends one by one whenever you get the chance.’
Neo used Intent to transfer his thoughts to Nyxtharion #2, and read Nyxtharion #2’s thoughts.
At his current strength, he could do it over the distance, and didn’t need direct bodily contact for it.
‘As you wish, prince.’ Nyxtharion #2 nodded, and flew down.
The dragon couldn’t help but think twice about choosing Jack as his protégé after hearing what he had done.
‘Hehe, you think you can smear my name with dirt and be safe? Let’s see how much your image is going to get fucked.’ Neo thought to himself.
Honestly, Neo felt a bit cheated.
He thought of Jack as his friend. And this was how Jack was talking behind his back?
The guy was a damn bastard.
Shaking his head, he focused on creating a clone of Yaleth’s original body and placed it below the continent.
This way, Arthur and others would encounter someone when they travel down the continent’s land to extract the bones.
It would act as a good training session for them.
Next, Neo called out to Beelzebub.
“Stop time for a bit.”
The caterpillar gave him an unamused look.
Neo, noticing his expression, spoke,
“Stop acting like I’ve been making you work 24/7 for months, and do your job.”
Beelzebub seemed exasperated at his comment. He huffed, and turned around to sleep.
Neo was about to grab the caterpillar when he suddenly used Neo’s World Energy and entered his Cosmos.
“Did this little shit just…”
Neo took him out of the Cosmos. The caterpillar went inside it again.
Neo brought him out. He returned to it again.
Neo’s eyebrow twitched.
“Just wait until you come out crawling for something to eat.”
He clicked his tongue, and focused on the continent below.
Since he couldn’t stop time, he had only one way left.
He appeared behind Mars, who was sitting on the rooftop, and knocked him out.
Then, he made Mars lie down properly.
“Mind Invasion should be enough to meet the God sealed inside him.”
“Why aren’t you meeting your friends normally?” Yaleth asked as he appeared next to him.
“You should know why.”
“Eternals is it?” Yaleth asked. “Then you have all the more reason to give them a proper goodbye before we leave.”
The Outer God looked at him.
“This might be the last time you are meeting them. No, think of it the other way, this might be their last chance of meeting you.
“Fighting Eternals is not simple, Neo Hargraves. You might get erased suddenly, or it might be your friends. So don’t push them away. Or you will regret it later.”
Neo didn’t reply instantly.
A sigh escaped his lips.
He didn’t answer Yaleth.
He used Mind Invasion, and appeared inside Mars’ soul.
There, he saw a burning giant wrapped in chains. The sheer heat from the giant was burning Mars’ soul, and mind.
He – a God – was the reason why Mars’ true potential was never revealed.
“Who… is… there…” the God roused from his sleep. His deep, tired voice echoed. “I’ve… told you… I have no intention to fight in anybody’s… war…”
Neo read through the Existence Intent of the God and read his memories. Since the God was far weaker than Neo, it was an easy task.
Stage 2 God. Surtr. Was captured when he landed on Luminera several decades ago by mistake.
Then kept imprisoned to use him in the coming ‘Holy War’.
Years later, the God Clans came up with a new plan.
Project [Godseed].
The plan was to seal Wandering Gods inside talented children.
Those children would then be able to comprehend elementals at a high speed by watching the elementals of Gods so closely at all times.
There were a lot more complicated details behind the procedure, but the basic idea of it was simple.
The first batch of test subjects were resounding failures.
Among them, only Mars managed to stay alive, but he lost all hopes of advancing any further.
His body was too weak to handle the evolution of his trait after Awakened rank, and he could never reach beyond Expert Mastery in his only element anymore.
The high concentration of Surtr’s elemental flames and Concept inside Mars made it impossible for Mars to be able to focus on his own Concept, and progress it.
Honestly, it was a miracle Mars could create a Concept.
He shouldn’t have been able to do that, technically.
But the genius wouldn’t be called a genius if he couldn’t break through the norms of society.
Nevertheless, Expert was his limit.
Anymore and his body would break. He couldn’t even exert the full power of his Concept due to his weakened body.
His only hope was mastering a Spell beyond Supreme.
But that turned out to be more difficult than becoming a God.
Neo, having read both Surtur’s and Mars’ memory, exhaled.
“Hey, wake up.”
He used his healing ability on Surtur.
The fire giant coughed, and raised his head to take a good look at Neo.
“Who are you? And why did you heal me?”
“I’m a friend of the guy whose body you are using,” Neo said. “Since I’m in a hurry, I’ll give you two options. Choose quickly.
“I will break your seal, and I will give you a strong, new body. In return, you will act as Mars’ guardian and teacher, at least until he surpasses you.
“Or I will erase you right now,” Neo said.
Surtur didn’t reply immediately. He stared at Neo and felt the sheer weight of unimaginable power radiating off him.
“You… are you working with those who sealed me here? My answer will depend on that.”
“No, I’m not with the God Clans.”
“Then, can I take my revenge on them?”