“If you are strong enough to do so, then do as you wish, but only if Mars allows you to, and under no circumstances are you allowed to manipulate Mars into doing that.”
Surtur frowned.
“Why are you setting me free? The people of this world sealed me here to use me to fight in Holy War.”
“I’ll handle the Holy War. You should instead tell me if you accept my offer or not.”
“Can I have some time to think?”
“Sure.”
Neo used Nightmare Element on Surtur.
Inside the Nightmare, the creator of Nightmare could control the relative time to some degree.
Surtur was able to think through this decision for five days when in reality only five seconds had passed.
Neo closed the Nightmare, allowing Surtur to think properly again.
“I’ll accept your offer.”
“Got it.”
Before setting Surtur free, he put his Intent inside Surtur’s body along with a single bolt of Death Element.
The Intent was filled with the ‘contract details’. Now the moment Surtur tried something he wasn’t supposed to, the Intent would know.
It would set the bolt of Neo’s Death Element free, and kill Surtur.
Neo used True Darkness to devour Surtur before he returned to reality.
Once outside, he created a body with the ability to turn invisible like a ghost. It was as strong as a peak Stage 2 and looked like a human butler.
He stuffed Surtur’s Consciousness in it.
Few moments passed and Surtur blinked. He looked around, then bowed to Neo.
“Thank you.”
“Don’t mind it.”
Neo disappeared from the terrace of the academy building. He appeared near his house.
Inside, he could see his brother, and his parents.
He stood still for a few moments until he noticed the life inside his mother’s belly.
“It’s a girl, huh?”
Neo decided to leave a guardian for his little sister. “Nullhour Firmament.”
The invisible force of energy came out of the Cosmos. It floated around Neo, waiting for his next words.
“You’ll stay here, and guard her. If something dangerous happens, use World Energy to contact me.”
With the help of World Energy, Neo could send reinforcements right away.
The wisps of energy moved towards his house.
Henry reacted. He stared at the location where Nullhour Firmament was supposed to be.
A frown appeared on his face.
“Did you detect someone there?”
No, I don’t sense anyone, the voice inside Henry’s head answered.
After meeting them, Neo went to the academy’s hospital.
He could see Elizabeth’s corpse lying on the hospital bed. Amelia was crying loudly while Charlotte – the principal – stood silently behind her.
Seeing Amelia break down like that made him realize once again that Elizabeth had died.
Elizabeth should still be connected to Neo.
It meant, if she grew stronger even a bit, Neo would gain strength thanks to Crowness King connecting them.
But that didn’t happen.
‘The only explanation is that she hasn’t reincarnated in the present.’
Cosmos itself was infinitely large, but Neo would have to scour through the past and future to search for Elizabeth.
‘Since I’m already strong enough to go back into past and future by several days, it should be possible to travel past and future freely too if I reach higher ranks and gain stronger techniques.’
He created an Intent of memory. It was filled with his memory of when Elizabeth and he had spent his time together in Tartarus.
‘If I ever die, I hope Amelia can use me as a motivation or goal to grow stronger instead of being weighed down by me.’
He gave those memories to Amelia. The Intent would slowly fuse into her and show her the memories through the dream.
Soon, he left the place.
‘I want to leave something behind for Leonora, Barbatos and others in the Underworld too, but let’s not.’
‘Bael is Stage-5 and all Grand Dukes and Grand Duchesses are Stage-4, so they don’t really need my protection.’
Underworld was a lot more stable than normal subdimensions, and it had a powerful barrier.
Neo couldn’t enter it with his Pseudo-Gap or All-Shadow (since his Spatial Senses couldn’t reach there).
He could use the normal entrance but that would mean showing himself directly, which wasn’t what he wanted.
Yaleth clicked his tongue when he saw Neo had no intentions of meeting anyone or saying goodbye to them.
But this was the descision Neo made.
This wasn’t a goodbye.
He would return.
Saying goodbye right now would be no different from saying he doubted he could win against Eternals, and that he accepted they or he would be erased.
Finally, he turned to Yaleth.
“What’s the shortest way to go to your home world?”
“They.”
Yaleth pointed at the sky above.
“You mean the Outer Gods who are outside the planet?”
“Yes, they must have interplanetary teleporters. We can use them. Though, you have to beat them first.”
Neo looked above.
Currently, ‘Sky Barrier’ was protecting the world from the invasion of Outer Gods.
But it would soon fall, and the end would arrive.
The prophecy of the end had said that a Holy War would happen, and that the inhabitants of the earth would lose.
They would be crushed by the invaders from beyond.
“Well, I guess the prophecy didn’t include my interference since my Fate is hard to detect.”
Neo confirmed he was prepared for the battle. He checked if all Firmaments were in perfect condition, and if his energy reserves were full.
He moved towards the Sky Barrier and tried to move to the other side.
Suddenly, he felt a pull from the Sky Barrier itself.
It was trying to take him to the subdimension that was built inside the barrier.
Neo frowned but didn’t resist the pull.
He appeared in another land.
The dark sky had countless stars.
The floor was made from cracked marbles, and giant broken white pillars lay in all directions.
Far ahead, Neo could see a temple made from white marbles.
The subdimension wanted Neo to visit the temple.
“Someone put Intent into a subdimension? It’s not hard to do, but that’s a rather novel idea.”
Neo entered the temple.
In the center, he saw the unmoving projection of Kronos surrounded by broken marble pillars.
The projection suddenly turned its head and looked at Neo.
“Finally, you are here.”