Neo teleported out of the ship.
He appeared in the silent void just outside the Sky Barrier.
The massive construct shimred faintly. It was a thin but impenetrable wall of divine energy spanning the Solar System.
To most, it was an unbreakable shield, the final defense keeping outsiders away.
Neo drifted forward slowly.
He didn’t use any technique, or even Energy.
He pressed his hand gently against the invisible surface.
The barrier reacted instantly.
At first it only rippled, like water disturbed by a pebble.
But as he continued pressing forward, the structure itself began to give way.
Cracks spread out from his palm. Thin fractures ford in every direction.
He moved forward steadily while his arm remained extended, and the barrier bent inward as though bowing before him.
A sharp tremor ran through the construct.
Its light flickered violently, and then it shattered at the point of contact.
The soundless collapse reverberated across space. Fragnts dissolved into streams of broken energy.
Neo flew through the gap without slowing.
Then he froze.
She was there, waiting for him near Neptune.
White hair drifted around her in the void. Her crimson eyes glowed faintly with an unyielding aura, and her expression was cold.
Her beauty was undeniable, yet there was sothing heavier about her presence that made his chest tighten the mont he saw her.
She looked too much like her.
’Alia,’ he thought, the na ringing in his head before he could stop it.
"Who are you?" Her voice carried no warmth, unable to recognize him.
Neo said nothing.
Her eyes narrowed slightly.
"This sector is under the protection of the Forgotten Suns. If you don’t want to die, then leave now, rogue God."
Her words pulled him out of the reminiscence he was going through.
He shook his head faintly, forcing himself to see her properly.
’Stage Five?’
He was surprised.
Becoming a God could lift soone’s rank by three stages.
An Exalted Awakener could beco a Stage 5 God.
However, becoming a God at such a high rank required countless years of effort, patience, and extraordinary luck.
That was why becoming Stage 4 in fifteen thousand years had been considered a near-impossible record.
’She reached Stage 5 in the ti I was gone.’
’Stage 5 in only 15,000 years.’
More than surprise, sadness invaded his heart.
What had Earth gone through in the years he had been absent?
What trials could have forced Alia to climb so high, so quickly, against the natural pace of growth?
’I should’ve stayed,’ he thought clenching his fist. ’I should’ve stayed with them.’
Alia, knowing nothing of his thoughts, simply looked at him with the sa cold detachnt.
"If you’re not going to leave, then you will die here, rouge God. Choose."
She lifted her wrist.
At her gesture, the void around them quivered.
Space itself fractured with cracks spiderwebbing outward like glass shattering under pressure.
Through those cracks ca sothing dreadful.
Blood Sea.
It poured out from the tears in reality, not rushing wildly but moving with deliberate control.
Rivers of crimson spread through the void, twisting into shapes.
Spears, blades, arrows.
The weapons ford seamlessly from liquid blood, all aid at him.
"Will you leave, or will you die?"
Neo remained silent.
For a mont it seed she might wait, but then her gaze sharpened further.
She flicked her fingers and spoke in a calm, steady voice.
"The World."
The stars and the planets disappeared.
Light bent and reshaped itself until Neo found himself standing on a vast ocean of blood.
The air, if it could be called that, shimred red beneath a sky that burned like dusk.
The stench of iron and rot filled his senses, and beneath the waves of the ocean he saw movent.
Countless corpses shifted and writhed, trapped forever below the surface.
And behind Alia, sothing else appeared.
A figure lood over her, towering and divine in its proportions.
It was a woman. Sothing about her felt familiar to Neo.
She looked like a goddess.
She held a sword, its blade cracked and corroded, yet it radiated a presence that was still regal and terrifying.
Her flesh was decaying, parts of her face eaten away, but even in ruin she looked every part the deity she had once been.
She had white hairs and hollow red eyes.
Neo’s face hardened.
’She hasn’t forgotten.’
How much had she wept for her mother that her figure appeared in Alia’s World?
...
Felix POv
"Shit! Shit! Shit!"
Felix’s voice echoed down the wide corridor as he moved through the palace with quick, urgent steps.
His chest was tight, his breathing was shallow, and the Dragon mark carved into his arm pulsed like it was alive.
Every throb carried the sa ssage: The invading Stage 5 God was his target. An Ancient Dragon with the family na Hargraves.
Felix clenched his fists as he hurried.
Earth’s forces weren’t ready for this.
They had defenders, yes, and so of their gods were extrely powerful.
But they were not here at the mont.
And even if they were....
Felix doubted they could handle a Stage 5 Ancient Dragon without facing trendous losses.
That was the sort of threat only appeared in legends, defeated only by historical figures.
Most of those historical figures were dead or they had disappeared.
His thoughts spun faster with every step.
After he’d been given the Dragon Mark, his target appeared out of nowhere.
The timing couldn’t be coincidence.
Was this planned from the start?
Had the Ancient Dragon Hargraves tracked his Dragon Mark?
Was Earth about to be destroyed as part of so sche they didn’t even understand?
"If the Ancient Dragons were trying to destroy Earth through this Hargraves, what is their goal?
"What’s the point in burning Earth down?"
There was no answer.
He shoved them open with both hands and entered the council hall.
The vast space was empty compared to usual.
The long table that normally held generals, advisors, and political leaders was bare.
Only one person sat at the far end, frowning as if she’d already guessed the kind of news he was carrying.
"Layla," Felix called, his voice rough. "I have information about the invading God."
She lifted her head. Her red eyes, so much like her family’s, locked on him.
"What is it?"
"He’s an Ancient Dragon. Hargraves. Do you know him?"
She froze for a mont, surprise flickering across her usually controlled expression.
Hargraves.
It was her family na.
She didn’t say anything imdiately, but the silence was enough.
"So he’s not a friend," Felix muttered, reading her reaction.
He stopped a few steps away and crossed his arms.
"Then we need to move quickly. Contact the Underworld. Ask them to buy us so ti. The Forgotten Suns and Percival are on their way back, but we need sothing to hold until then."
Layla nodded swiftly.
Her Death Elent gave her access to Death Elent World.
She could deploy her World and call the Grim Reapers to fight in her World.
She bit her lip, and he could see the worry in her eyes.
She didn’t want the Forgotten Suns to co.
The only way to do that was to deal with the invading God quickly.
She reached for the Grim Reaper disciple badge she carried.
The blackened emblem glowed faintly in her palm as she spoke into it.
"Gremory, I need reinforcents."
There was silence at first. Then a voice answered, but it wasn’t the one she was expecting.
"We won’t be sending reinforcents."
Her eyes widened.
Felix frowned imdiately.
"You are not Gremory," Layla said quietly.
"It’s . Agares."
Rank 3 Grim Reaper, Agares.
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