The thirty-two lives he had forgotten were now his own.
The na that had felt alienating to him now felt his own.
’He’ took a deep breath, and exhaled.
’Neo Hargraves.’
He clenched his fists.
’That’s my na.’
His Existence began to rise.
’That’s who I am.’
[Synchronizing with the ??? Cosmos: 1%]
’The man who once believed he had transmigrated into a novel.’
[Synchronizing with the ??? Cosmos: 2%]
’The man who promised to beco the strongest, and overco the ’he’ who had never achieved anything in his previous life.’
[Synchronizing with the ??? Cosmos: 5%]
’I’m...’
[Synchronizing with the ??? Cosmos: 10%]
’Neo Hargraves.’
[Synchronizing with the ??? Cosmos: 20%]
’The son of Hades, and Persephone.’
The Heavenly Records were linking directly to the Core of his Cosmos, and synchronizing with it.
25%.... 30%..... 50%..... 80%....100%.
The numbers climbed without pause.
As soon as it hit 100%, Neo felt his entire being shift.
[Heavenbreaker: First Step (Genesis)]
Genesis. The act of creation.
It signified the beginning of the Heavenbreaker’s Cosmos, including everything within it.
[Heavenbreaker: First Step (Genesis) → First Step (Growth)]
As his rank rose, he understood the significance of them.
Growth was about connection.
The mont where his Path fused with the Cosmos’ Core.
People living in his Cosmos could now grow stronger through that Path.
Neo had expected this rank up.
But there was more he hadn’t expected.
[Heavenbreaker: First Step (Growth) → First Step (Weaving)]
Weaving. The mont when all aspects of the Cosmos began to link together.
A man’s death becoming fertilizer. Fertilizer feeding a tree. That tree releasing oxygen.
It was just one example of how the creations within his Cosmos were connected to each other.
Weaving was a step no Heavenbreaker could complete by themselves.
The Heavenbreakers could only guide their creations and watch for them.
The creations needed to beco interdependent by themselves.
While Neo had been missing, the Firmants had guided the creations within his Cosmos.
And because of that, the Step of Weaving had been reached.
Finally....
[Heavenbreaker: First Step (Weaving) → First Step (Perpetuity)]
Now, his Cosmos functioned on its own.
Creation, growth, weaving.
Everything had entered a self-sustaining cycle.
It didn’t need his direct intervention anymore.
His Cosmos had reached perpetuity.
As Neo stood in silence, flooded with power and mories, Berserker and Bael’s attacks landed.
They were empowered further by Zagreus’ Dragon Speech, carrying the force of destruction ant to crush anything in their path.
But nothing happened.
"Dammit," Zagreus gritted his teeth.
Naless Death hadn’t even flinched.
And his presence was different now.
Zagreus didn’t understand what had changed, but he knew one thing, this wasn’t the sa man.
Neo looked down at the trio.
With them having used their turn, now it was his turn to attack.
He didn’t attack imdiately.
Instead, he raised his head and glanced toward the sky.
’Soone is coming.’
His instincts were warning him a dangerous person was coming.
’Is it Eternal, or soone from Alliance?’
Whoever it was, Neo had no ti to waste.
He took a step forward.
In an instant, he appeared in front of Berserker.
His speed was so fast that neither Berserker nor Zagreus had seen him move.
The madman grinned.
"Finally. You’re strong now. This’ll be fun!"
Neo wrapped Berserker in his World Energy instead of answering him.
Berserker’s grin faded as realization dawned upon him.
"Wait, don’t you dare—"
Before he could finish, Neo sent him into his Cosmos.
With that done, Zagreus and Bael were allowed their turn.
Bael didn’t move right away.
He was watching Neo closely, and frowning.
Zagreus raised his hand, purple flas coiling around his arm, but Neo interrupted him.
"Extra chance."
Zagreus froze.
He tried to move, but couldn’t.
" What did you do now?" he asked, trying to lift his leg, but it wouldn’t budge.
"I got an extra turn," Neo replied.
Zagreus gritted his teeth.
"How sort of absurd Concept—?"
"Later."
In an instant, Neo vanished again.
This ti, he reappeared in multiple locations at once.
Specifically, he appeared in every space-ti prison where Ashes were present.
With a wave of hand, World Energy rolled out from him.
He wrapped the Ashes in the World Energy, and teleported them to his Cosmos.
Suddenly, a tremor rolled through the entire Voraka Site.
The very fabric of reality seed to groan.
Neo stopped what he was doing and looked up again.
Cracks had ford in the sky.
Soone was trying to break into the Independent Space.
’I need to hurry up.’
Extending his senses, he tried to locate the Ash of Barbatos, the Shadow Supre who had once guarded the Sacred Gate.
But there was nothing.
"It’s just like Leonora told .’
’The gatekeeper and the Sacred Gate disappeared a long ti ago.’
It had happened around the ti Neo had joined forces with Berserker and entered the space-ti prison.
"And the ant isn’t here either..."
He paused and frowned.
"But I can guess where it is. That lunatic Berserker probably helped it escape the Voraka Site."
Taking another step forward, he teleported directly in front of Leonora.
"Neo!" she called out, surprised.
"Relax. Everything is under control. Well... more or less," he said, eyes flicking toward the sky where the cracks were growing bigger with every second.
Leonora followed his gaze.
Her expression was tense.
"You should go back to the Underworld."
"But you—"
"I’ll co back later," Neo said with a calm tone to ease her mind.
Leonora shook her head, clearly not convinced.
"What if the Alliance tries to capture you again? I’ll stay. With the Water Supre’s help, I can protect you."
Neo smiled and patted her head gently.
It was rare to see her worked up.
"Co on, don’t worry so much. I can handle the Alliance just fine now. You’ve seen how strong my Path is. And now my Heavenbreaker rank has increased, too. A few Stage 6 opponents aren’t going to be a problem."
He was lying.
But she didn’t need to know that.
’I hope this is enough to convince her to leave.’
If she refused to leave on her own, he would force her to go.
’I’m not going to lose anyone to the Eternals again.’
There was a possibility that the being trying to enter the Independent Space was an Eternal.
It was why Neo was swiftly sending everyone away.
The black cat, Leonora’s spirit companion, jumped onto Neo’s shoulder, licked his face once, then returned to perch on Leonora’s head.
"Stay safe," it said.
Neo nodded silently.
The cat patted Leonora with its paw to calm her down.
Leonora took at Neo and finally relented.
She activated her Grim Reaper disciple badge.
A portal to the Underworld opened behind her.
She hesitated, standing at the edge and looking back at Neo again and again.
He simply nodded and offered a reassuring smile.
At last, she stepped through.
As soon as she vanished, Neo teleported back to Zagreus. The other man hadn’t moved.
"Why didn’t you attack when you had the chance? I thought you would jump at the opportunity," Neo asked, canceling the Turn Based RPG Concept he had previously activated.
Since Neo had made the first move, the rules dictated that his opponents had to attack last.
Zagreus had let go of that chance.
It was why Neo could move after using his chance to send the Ashes to his Cosmos.
Zagreus stared at him.
His expression was unreadable at first. Then the emotions began to show.
"Neo?"
His voice carried weight. Pain, disbelief, anger, and sothing else buried deeper. Recognition.
"I told you, I’m not Neo—"
"There are only two people Bael would never attack. Father and Neo," Zagreus said, cutting him off.
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