The Outer Gods understood that waiting would do nothing.
Instead, it would allow Neo to study their Divinities through their Angels.
They had to attack him. Now.
Velgrath, the Weaver of Void-Silk, stretched out his hand.
A black thread, thin yet endless, spun out from his palm, weaving itself into an intricate tapestry that hung in the void.
His Divinity — Weaving of the Abyss — allowed him to bind anything, be it energy, matter, or concepts.
Myzrul, the Shepherd of Stars, lifted his staff toward the sun.
His Divinity — Herding of Celestial Flames — gave him control over stars, and now, he called upon the burning fury of the solar core.
The sun trembled, then exploded outward, its surface ripping apart into a colossal wave of destruction heading straight for Neo.
Without hesitation, Neo raised his sword.
In one clean, vicious motion, he cut the tidal explosion in half.
The wave parted, splitting the space itself as it raced by harmlessly on either side.
Neo’s body blurred. He dashed toward the Outer Gods.
But Lurial, the Clockwork Bloom, was already waiting.
Her Divinity — Bloom of Time’s Machine — activated.
The world sped up — No, the world didn’t speed up.
Neo realized in a fraction of a second that it was him who was slowing down.
His every step became heavier. His swing felt like dragging a mountain through mud.
“Neo Hargraves! Increase your energy output!” Yaleth shouted from behind in a strained voice.
Neo gritted his teeth and poured more power into his body.
Immediately, the effect of Lurial’s Divinity weakened. The drag on his limbs lessened, and his vision cleared slightly.
But Lurial wasn’t idle. She snarled, pushing more energy into her chronomancy.
The gears of invisible time machines twisted again, slowing Neo once more.
Neo’s expression darkened.
He stopped holding back and began tapping directly into the World Energy he had stored inside his cosmos.
An overwhelming surge flooded through him, shaking the surrounding space.
Chronomancy depended on relative energy.
The larger the difference between the caster and the target, the stronger the effect. But Neo’s ridiculous reserves of energy turned the tide.
Lurial’s mechanical petals trembled.
She faltered for a brief second, staring in disbelief.
A Stage-2 God having so much energy was ludicrous!
Vaedrex, the Maw of Silence, moved.
His Divinity of Erasure manifested. It was a swallowing darkness that consumed energy and matter indiscriminately.
Along with it, the Deep Silence Divinity awoke.
The closer he got to the battlefield, the more the surrounding sound collapsed into suffocating stillness, as if they were submerged underwater.
Velgrath’s void-silk threads lashed out, trying to bind Neo, while Myzrul manipulated distant stars, forging them into lances that burned across the heavens.
Neo fought with Yaleth by his side.
Yaleth’s Divinity was his own energy, and he was able to regain it quickly.
His Divinity focused on psionic curses, created ripples of mind attacks that disrupted the Outer Gods’ concentration.
They were minor wounds, but in a battle like this, every breath counted.
“Death Sword Firmament,” Neo muttered.
His blade, wrapped in dark lightning, split through the starlight, through the threads of void-silk, through the very waves of silence.
Every swing of his sword cleaved reality itself.
Planets shattered in the background. Jupiter was the first to be obliterated, followed soon by Saturn, and Neptune.
The solar system crumbled as the shockwaves of the battle raged outward, engulfing even the armies that the Outer Gods had deployed.
The Outer Gods didn’t even turn their heads. They turned a blind eye to their armies slaughter.
They were fully focused on Neo.
Neo frowned.
Damage was piling up. His body was regenerating, but slower than expected. Eternal, his invincible Trait, wasn’t working perfectly.
Yaleth, who had been informed of Neo’s abilities beforehand, sent him a sharp mental transmission.
“Your Trait isn’t a Divinity yet. It’s backed by your Stage-2 existence. And the Divinities of Outer Gods are backed by their peak Stage-3 existence. You’re weaker in essence, Neo.”
Neo’s brows creased.
He had guessed as much. It was like pressing an indestructible shield against a sword that cut everything.
Whoever had the superior rank would triumph.
Right now, the Outer Gods had that advantage.
His Eternal Trait could cancel fifty percent of any kind of damage, but it wasn’t absolute against Divinities specialized in damaging their targets.
Suddenly, Velgrath and Myzrul launched an overwhelming assault.
Black threads and burning starfire rained down together, forcing Neo onto the defensive.
It was then that Vaedrex, who had been lurking, made his move.
In an instant, Neo’s Eternal Trait was ‘silenced’ by his Deep Silence Divinity.
Neo’s trait, which was not even a Divinity, could not resist at all.
And since Divinities were unique to individuals, Neo did not have resistance to them like he had against elements.
In other words, the Divinity hit him with full force. Eternal stopped working.
A shudder ran through his body.
For the first time in a long while, the full brunt of an attack slammed into him without resistance.
Lurial didn’t hesitate. An opportunity!
Her mechanical petals spun faster than ever before. She pushed all her energy forward, targeting the very flow of time surrounding Neo.
Chronomancy wasn’t just about slowing or speeding up anymore.
She could destroy someone’s time by making their time go berserk.
And that was what she did with Neo.
Neo’s body buckled. His soul screamed. His Seed of Existence — the very core of his being — cracked under the assault.
A terrible silence fell over the battlefield. Even the shattered remnants of planets seemed to halt in their orbits for a brief moment.
Yaleth shouted his name, but his voice was drowned out by the crushing energy of the Outer Gods bearing down.
Neo’s body, soul, and Seed of Existence were erased.
Velgrath sneered. Myzrul’s burning form twisted into a massive sun-headed beast. Vaedrex floated above, his mouth — the Maw of Silence — wide open as if ready to devour even the aftermath.
And Lurial, petals gleaming with cruel mechanical light, turned to her companions.
“It’s over,” she said coldly.
Yet, in the very next breath, something shifted in the void.
The fragments of Neo’s existence, his soul, and body had been erased.
But his Consciousness remained, flickering.
And…