The ship spun wildly as alarms blared.
Neo braced himself against the controls while Moraine was thrown against her seat.
Before he could speak, a voice echoed through the space.
"TheWorld."
Zeus’ voice.
The surroundings shifted instantly.
Mountains rose from nothing, towering high into the heavens.
In the center stood a mountain so massive that the others looked small.
Its peak was hidden inside thick clouds.
Golden lightning rumbled across the sky.
Neo froze.
He clenched his jaw.
How did we not sense Zeus coming to us?
It made no sense.
Neo’s senses had reached the level of a Stage 6 God.
Even if he admitted that his sensory abilities were only equal to a Grade 4 Stage 6 at best, there was still Moraine.
Her mastery over Fate was refined.
She should have foreseen danger.
And even if she didn’t, the Elentals should have noticed Zeus.
Wait....
Neo realized he had been thinking in the wrong way.
During battles between the Alliance and the Forgotten Suns, both sides had to hide themselves from the Elentals.
If not, information could be leaked to the enemy through the Elentals.
So, both sides must have way to hide from Elentals.
That thod would be what Zeus used to attack without warning.
Neo completed this thought in the blink of an eye.
He stepped forward and appeared beside Moraine.
"Are you alright?" he asked.
"Yes," she said, pushing herself up. "I was able to get off lightly since the attack wasn’t targeted at ."
"That’s good. Now I’ll send you to my Cosmos so—"
"I will fight with you," she cut in.
Their gazes t.
Neo didn’t argue.
He knew she wouldn’t leave.
And there was no ti to fight over it.
He snapped his fingers.
He used all defensive techniques he could use, and made sure she would remain safe.
White wisps of ford around her.
Then Neo looked up at the man floating in the sky.
Zeus stared down at them, calm and confident.
"You’re being awfully patient for soone who did a surprise attack."
Zeus didn’t answer imdiately.
He stayed silent for a long mont.
Finally, he spoke.
"The combat strength you can pull is Grade 3 Stage 6. If we fight, you have no chance of winning."
"We’ll see about that."
Neo unsheathed his sword.
Zeus’ aura expanded.
The pressure in the air grew heavy, and crushing.
"Neo Hargraves," Zeus said, "you’ve done a lot of good. That is why I will give you a chance."
He eyes looked down on Neo as if he was confident that he could never lose.
"Retreat. Stop causing chaos in the universe and stay on your planet. If you do that, I will not kill you."
"It’s been thousands of years since we t, but it seems you still have a stick up your ass, uncle."
Zeus didn’t take the bait.
He simply stared, waiting for Neo’s answer.
Their eyes locked.
Neo broke the silence first. "There’s sothing I’ve always wanted to know. Why did you kill the Gods on Earth? And why are you attacking now?"
"Will you retreat if I answer you?"
"I’ll give it fair thought. If the reason is reasonable, I might retreat."
He lied without hesitation.
In truth, he didn’t care about reasons.
Zeus had killed his friends.
Neo would kill him for that alone.
But he still wanted to know why. The information was sothing Neo had not been able to find even after repairing he Akashic Record and looking into past, though he had found sothing equally disturbing there.
"Devil of Cruelty," Zeus spoke at last. "A prophecy was revealed. It said the Devil of Cruelty would bring the ultimate end. The first child of a God from the Age of Gods would beco that Devil."
Neo’s hand tightened on his sword.
"So that’s why you killed them?" he asked.
"Yes," Zeus said without emotion.
"Is this a joke...?"
His anger began to rise.
"It’s not."
"We are Gods! We can alter the past and the future! We control Fate, Life, Death, Ti, and Space! Everything is in our hands! Prophecy or not, we can do anything we want!"
Neo exploded, seeing how Zeus had no sha or regret talking about the past.
"You could have tried to stop the prophecy in other ways. Why was killing them the only path you saw!?"
"I don’t expect you to understand my actions."
"Good, because I don’t."
Neo had originally planned to retreat.
Fighting Zeus now was dangerous.
Zeus was near the peak of Stage 6, if not peak Stage 6.
Neo’s combat strength was only Grade 3 Stage 6.
The difference between Grades at Stage 6 was like a chasm.
The gap between Neo and Zeus was too wide.
But Zeus’ answer snapped sothing inside Neo.
His anger drowned out reason.
I’ll kill him, Neo decided.
"So you will not retreat." Zeus’ voice grew colder. "Fine. Son of Hades, you will die today."
Neo raised his sword.
The air grew tense.
Then a whisper reached his ears.
"...Alia," Moraine muttered.
Neo froze.
The words cut through his rage.
Devil of Cruelty.
The prophecy.
A child of a God from the Age of Gods.
Alia.
Daughter of Julie de Beaufort and Poseidon.
Poseidon had never reincarnated.
He was not a Seraph.
Which ant Alia had been born between Julie and Poseidon when Poseidon still lived in the Age of Gods.
Did Julie travel to the past?
If so...
Alia.
She was the Devil of Cruelty.
Everything began to fall into place in Neo’s mind.
Her ability to grow stronger at the sa speed as monsters like Arthur, Percival, and Moraine.
Her being chosen as the Loved One of the Supre of Water.
That bastard Supre of Water. I shouldn’t have thought she was trying to help. All of them are the sa.
Now everything made sense.
Zeus heard the word too.
"Alia?" he muttered, looking at Neo’s shock. "Who is that?"
Neo’s grip on his sword tightened.
His mind raced, but his eyes stayed locked on Zeus.
Zeus’ eyes glowed golden. It seed he was trying to look into who Alia was.
Neo couldn’t let him do that.
"Fall." Neo used Zeus’ Concept.
The sky fell down, falling on Zeus’ shoulder who was in the sky.
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