“Zara’tel,” Zeus replied slowly. “I’ve come to retrieve Gimrei.”
Zara’tel’s six eyes narrowed.
His face twisted into something like a frown. A sharp hiss escaped his throat.
When he spoke again, his tone was clipped and venomous.
“Zeus. We have tolerated your defiance long enough. But now you overstep your boundaries. Turn back, and we shall overlook this final trespass. Refuse, and you will face divine judgment. Your legacy will be erased from the heavens.”
Zeus’s expression didn’t change.
His words made it clear negotiations were impossible.
“I gave you a chance,” Zeus said, raising his hand.
Neo’s instincts screamed. He grabbed Yaleth and shoved him into his Cosmos with no hesitation.
Zeus’s voice echoed like thunder breaking through reality.
“What happens next… is the consequence of your arrogance, Zara’tel.”
Neo hurriedly tried to activate all of his defensive techniques as Zeus swung his hand—
Fall
Neo lost consciousness.
He could no longer hear, see, feel, or think.
Time lost its meaning for him as he remained in the suspended state.
Then, after an unknown period of time, he finally felt something.
A piercing, pounding headache.
It was as if the dwarves of Iltanea Empire were hitting his head with their hammer—
Huh?
What’s Iltanea Empire? Why do I know that word?
The pounding headache drowned his thoughts.
Pain dominated Neo’s mind.
It would spike every few seconds like an erratic pulse, leaving him unable to get used to it.
After feeling that pain for hundreds of thousands of times, Neo finally realized what was happening.
He was being killed in body, soul, and seed of existence, and being brought to life by the power of his Consciousness.
Now, using Shadow Core Concept to recreate himself, then breathing life into his body with Springbloom blessing was like second nature to him.
That was why he didn’t realize he was dying and reviving repeatedly.
As soon as he noticed that, he flared all of his defensive Spells after reforging his body, and he summoned True Darkness to absorb the attacks killing him.
The pressure on his body lessened, and he was finally able to revive completely.
Neo fell to his knees. He punched blood. A gut-wrenching pain coursed through his body, and his head felt like it was being split open and sprinkled with salt.
He tried to ignore the pain and looked around.
Death and Devastation.
Those were the words that entered Neo’s mind.
The mountain peaks and gigantic pillars were smashed, if not pulverized. Corpses were present everywhere he turned.
Barely anyone was left alive. All of them seemed to be peak Stage-5 or higher, but even they were barely surviving.
The planets above had fallen. The world was burning in the flames of Destruction while the lightning of Death moved around.
“What… the hell… happened here…?”
Neo repeatedly failed to heal himself.
The strain on his existence and Consciousness had been so immense that he could barely use any technique.
“Where… is Zeus?”
Neo raised his head to look at the hologram in the sky.
There, he saw Zara’tel’s corpse pinned on the peak of the largest mountain peak. A hole had been punched in his gut, and his corpse was charred black and was almost unrecognizable.
There was no sign of Zeus or Loved One of Space.
Slowly, Neo stood back to his feet.
Each movement sent aches across his body and caused his muscles to tear. His soul was under exorbitant pressure, and his seed of existence had faint cracks.
‘It’s going to take time to heal from injuries of this level.’
Zeus had been Stage-6, or perhaps even higher. Neo should be thankful he survived his attack, even if he was hit only by a stray attack.
‘Still…’
‘To think, he invaded the enemy’s base alone, and wreaked havoc there.’
‘He is still batshit crazy.’
Neo had hoped he could meet Zeus and punch the living daylights out of him if he really killed Apollo, Gaia, and others.
He was worried he might not find Zeus, as Zeus might be an insignificant god living in a remote corner of the universe.
Luckily, he had been wrong.
Zeus was very much the same walking calamity he was on Earth.
“Haaah…”
Neo couldn’t understand what sort of atrocious luck he had to get caught in a terrorism attack while he was on a tour.
He sensed a spike of energy in the sky.
It was similar to Space Elementals but different.
A shimmering white portal formed, and a colossal entity with eight wings and six hands stepped through it.
A white halo floated above her head, and she held a different weapon in each hand.
Although she looked similar to a human, she was the size of a planet.
Her purple runic eyes looked over the devastated planet.
From the way her pupils moved and stopped to stare at empty air every few seconds, Neo could tell she was looking at the past.
Finally, her eyes stopped at Neo.
His body jerked, and he was suddenly floating in front of the woman’s face.
“Are you the Spy of Forgotten Sun who helped God Killer disable our defenses?”
“…what?”
“You were preparing a shield as if you knew the God Killer was coming. No security system of ours sensed him before his arrival. So how did you, a mere Stage-3, do that?”
“I…”
Neo stopped himself from saying he was told by Space Elementals.
Because then he would have to say he was asked to save the Loved One of Space, and it would cause a whole another set of trouble.
“If you will not answer, then I shall find it by myself.”
A foreign power invaded Neo’s mind.
He wasn’t able to resist at all.
It began to search through his memories, and suddenly, Neo felt anger rising from the depth of his soul.
“Don’t… you fucking… dare touch my memories!”
Neo’s energy flared.
He used Shadow Core Concept to create the deadliest madness Intent, and let it rampage inside his mind.
The woman suddenly shrieked and jerked her head back, and the foreign power invading Neo’s mind disappeared.
She looked at Neo in surprise.
“You… how much have you devoured…?”
Her shock only increased when she realized Neo wasn’t going insane.
He stared at her with eyes burning with cold anger.
More portals appeared in the sky.
Beings of various shapes and sizes came through them.
All of them began to rescue the ones alive, and repair the damage while the last one turned to the woman, and bowed.
“Your Majesty, we have checked the security system. The Godkiller broke through the defenses with brute force, and he had no help from anyone inside.”
“I see.” The woman nodded. “You can leave.”
Her gaze never left Neo.
Her attendant’s words proved Neo was not a spy.
He must be an unfortunate visitor who was caught up in the attack, and he probably found out about the attack before everyone else due to one of his abilities.
Those abilities were special if they could detect what other Stage-6 beings couldn’t detect.
However, the woman wasn’t interested in those.
“Your mind is exceptionally resilient.” Her eyes narrowed. “Give it to me.”