Neo clicked his tongue.
"Stop projecting your brother onto . I’m not him."
He secretly shot Bael a sharp glare.
’Why did you let him find out about my identity? Do you understand this could create a paradox? [The One] never knew Neo Hargraves would enter Voraka Site.’
’I didn’t tell him anything,’ Bael replied through telepathy, and shrugged, implying it wasn’t his problem how Zagreus found it.
Zagreus, unaware of the telepathic exchange, stepped closer.
"Neo... just stop acting like this."
His hands clenched into fists. There was no killing intent anymore.
Instead, frustration and grief hung in the air around him.
He had promised he would kill Naless Death even if he was Neo, but standing in front of him now, confirming it was actually Neo, he couldn’t think of harming his brother at all.
"You already defeated Berserker. What’s the point of pretending you’re not—"
"Okay. That’s enough," Neo said, cutting him off.
His attention turned toward the sky.
The cracks had spread across the entire sky.
Only a few monts were left before the Independent Space shattered completely.
Neo raised his palm.
A green seed ford above it, glowing softly.
[World Seed]
It was a concept he had learned from the Second Heaven.
The seed could revive a dead world.
He pushed it into the soil.
The mont it touched the ground, it began to fuse with the existence of the Voraka Site.
Neo poured his own World Energy into it, nourishing the seed.
Then sothing incredible happened.
The barren, dying planet began to change.
The World Seed took root and sprouted.
A giant tree began to grow from the soil, its branches extending toward the skies.
Energy flowed through the ground, and the once lifeless terrain began to pulse with life.
Grass grew. Trees blood. Water flowed again. Life returned.
The Voraka Site, once barely kept alive by Berserker’s sheer will, was now completely rejuvenated.
The dead world of Voraka was alive again.
’This planet was ’alive’ — even if in na only — due to the existence of Ashes, and when I took them away, it had died.’
’But now....’
Reviving a planet was sothing no one dared dream of.
Even Stage 6 gods feared the death of their worlds, because once a world died, their foundation collapsed with it.
Everything they had could be wiped away.
And yet, Neo had just turned that impossibility into reality.
As the giant tree continued to rise from the core of the Voraka Site, life returned to a planet long believed to be unsalvageable.
The miracle marked the completing of the Shadow Trial.
A glowing portal suddenly ford behind Zagreus.
He had passed. He had succeeded. And the path back was now open.
"Leave," Neo said.
"I’m not leaving until you tell why you’re still hiding your identity."
Neo’s expression shifted, but before he could answer, a sound echoed through the sky.
Crack.
The Independent Space was shattering.
Neo’s instincts reacted faster than thought.
His mind lit up with danger alarms.
Without hesitation, he summoned Obitus.
A ripple passed through the atmosphere, and the mont the black sword appeared in his hand, a black-haired, red-eyed woman materialized before him.
Before Neo could say a word, she had already launched herself into his embrace.
He raised his hand and ford a small spatial sphere around them, cutting off sound from the outside world.
Zagreus couldn’t hear their conversation.
Neo’s na couldn’t be confird or else a paradox would be triggered.
It would turn all of their hard work aningless.
He nodded at Bael at the sa ti.
Bael understood his intentions.
Without a word, the Grim Reaper moved.
In one clean motion, he grabbed a stunned Zagreus and tossed him into the glowing portal behind him.
Before Zagreus could even protest, he was gone.
The portal closed.
Next, Bael turned toward Barbatos, who was still weak and slowly reviving nearby.
The Grim Reaper didn’t wait.
With one wave of his hand, he sent Barbatos back to the Underworld.
Now, it was just Neo and Obitus, and Bael.
The sword spirit sobbed quietly into Neo’s chest.
Her voice was broken and muffled.
Neo had expected she might yell or say his na, so he’d created the silence sphere, but she didn’t speak any coherent words.
Her voice was a ss of emotions, trembling too hard to form sentences.
Neo held her tighter.
"Co on, I thought my Obitus was supposed to be the mature one? Why is she crying like a child?" he joked with a gentle tone.
She embraced him tighter.
His hand moved in slow circles on her back as she cried.
He didn’t understand the exact words she was saying, but he caught enough—"missed you," "worried," "happy to et again."
She had planned to say a lot.
She wanted to scold him for leaving her behind.
She wanted to smile and pretend everything was fine.
She wanted to apologize for being too weak back then.
She wanted to thank him for returning safely.
But none of that ca out.
All she could do was cry.
It had been too long.
The mont they reunited, the weight she had carried for so long broke apart.
Neo said nothing else.
He just let her cry.
They didn’t need to talk to understand each other.
Their souls were bonded.
They had been separated only because Neo had forced it, for reasons he thought were necessary.
But now they were together again.
And the bond was restoring itself.
After a few minutes, Neo finally spoke up, "Obitus."
She looked up at him, her eyes red and swollen.
"I... I understand," she said softly.
She knew what had to happen next.
Without needing another word, she released her physical form and disappeared back into the blade.
They had t after countless centuries, but this wasn’t the ti for a reunion.
Neo still had a battle to fight.
He looked over at Bael.
"Go back."
Bael tilted his head, gave a casual shrug, and pointed upward.
"Too late for that," he said.
Neo turned his gaze to the sky.
The cracks had spread across the planet.
Then—
Everything shattered.
The Independent Space collapsed.
The very air warped. Colors inverted.
For a single mont, everything was silent.
Then ca the sound.
The sounds of the steps.
The man landed in front of Neo and Bael.
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