Neo stayed still for a mont, eyes closed, ignoring the voice in front of him.
"Fine. Ignore . But rember this: your daughter, Vivi Hargraves, is in the Shattered Horizon. If you choose to fight , she will suffer at my hands."
Neo finally opened his eyes.
’I’ glared back at him with a fixed, cold expression.
A small sneer appeared on ’I’’s face.
"Don’t forget what happened with your Avatar, Heavenbreaker. Stop being stubborn. Or do you want your daughter to suffer like your Avatar did at the hands of Tartarus because you refused to listen?"
Neo’s expression hardened.
The ntion of Elizabeth—his Avatar and the one he loved—hit him harder than he let show.
"I prepared for you long before this mont," ’I’ continued. "Your daughter is only one part of that preparation.
"Why do you think I guided the events so you’d put people inside your Cosmos? It’s so you can’t regress the universe without destroying the universe itself."
Neo didn’t speak, but ’I’ kept going anyway, his tone calm and confident.
"Once you try to regress the universe, every person will split into two versions. One in your Cosmos. One outside it.
"And this universe is already at its limits. A paradox that forces two versions of the sa Life Fla to exist will shatter it completely."
’I’ stepped closer, voice steady.
"And if you try to remove them from the Cosmos before you regress, I’ll tornt every single one of them. Their suffering will be on you."
He grinned, then added, "And that’s only the beginning. I can distribute techniques across tilines. I can create armies by looping through the past hundreds of tis. I can repeat it until the army is perfect, until it’s enough to destroy you."
He stretched out his hand.
"So don’t be full of yourself. Take my hand while you still can."
Neo inhaled, ready to answer.
But the space around him twisted before he could speak.
Pressure built instantly. The presence of Space Elentals surged like a silent storm.
’I’ stiffened, taken off guard.
The Space Elentals spoke, ignoring him completely. Their collective voice echoed in every direction. "Hargraves, do you truly intend to regress the entire universe?"
"Yes," Neo answered.
"Even if it cripples you? Regressing at your level will drain your energy far beyond recovery. You will not be able to use even a trace of power for millions of years. You will be stuck at your current rank, unable to regain what you lose."
Neo nodded once. "I’m aware of the consequences."
’I’ snapped, "Space! What are you doing!? This isn’t what we agreed on! You can’t—"
Neo snapped his fingers.
The sound cut through the air cleanly.
’I’’s voice vanished, quieted by a simple seal.
The Space Elentals continued as if uninterrupted. "Hargraves, ti is running out. You will soon need your true powers. You must be stronger than anyone in this cosmos. But if you cripple yourself now, you cannot fight in the final battle."
They paused.
"The loss then will be greater than the loss now. Are you still willing to sacrifice everything at this mont?"
"Yes," Neo said without a second thought.
He didn’t need to think.
Sacrifice now to save the future?
Neo had never been that type of guy.
True, he might regret his decision in the future.
But backing down now ant turning away from everything he had ever stood for.
His stubborn resolve, the will to push forward even with the world against him, the refusal to never bow down... that was who he was.
Heavenbreaker wasn’t a title.
It was his will.
"So be it," the Space Elentals said. "Helping you breaks the contract we made with ’I’. But if doing so protects our Loved One, then we will act."
Neo frowned slightly. "What do you an?"
"We will protect your daughter. No harm will co to her. However..."
They didn’t finish the sentence.
Neo understood the rest on his own.
Vivi would be safe.
But the others—everyone else he cared about—would be exposed to tornt if ’I’ pushed the tiline in that direction.
"It is enough. Thank you," Neo said quietly.
He wanted to ask about the contract between Space and ’I’, but the urgency of the mont pushed the thought aside.
The Space Elentals faded. Their presence thinned until everything felt normal again.
Neo released the seal on ’I’ just as the last trace of spatial pressure vanished.
’I’’s voice returned imdiately.
"So that’s your choice, Space? You’re willing to suffer a backlash for a Loved One you made only because you owed his ancestor a favor? If you want to suffer for a pathetic existence like that, be my guest."
His voice cut off as his form dissolved.
’I’ vanished.
Neo felt the shift in ti.
’I’ had jumped into the past.
Neo ignored everything else and sat down. He closed his eyes again and focused only on the flood of Ti Concepts, Ti Worlds, and Ti Laws he possessed.
He needed Beelzebub to grow.
He needed the cocoon to complete its evolution.
He needed power.
ditation didn’t bring peace.
Pain crept in almost imdiately.
Ti rippled. mories forced themselves into his mind.
mories that didn’t exist a mont ago.
His friends dying in brutal ways.
His friends fighting him, screaming accusations as they tried to kill him.
Countless worlds turning against him.
Leaders unleashing everything they had to erase him from existence.
These weren’t illusions.
’I’ was actively rewriting the past.
Each altered tiline sent its mories into Neo’s mind.
In one tiline, Neo died alone and forgotten.
In another, he ate everyone alive he had ever known.
In another, he ruled as a tyrant.
In another, he destroyed the Underworld and mocked the legacy of Hades.
In one, Elizabeth treated him with cold, empty eyes.
In another, the reincarnations of his parents cursed at him and denied he was their son.
The mories piled up.
The pressure grew heavier.
Heavenbreaker’s past selves—the different "Neos" led around by ’I’’s manipulation—were forced into one mind.
All their suffering pressed against him.
’I’ understood his weakness perfectly.
The Heavenbreaker’s strength ca from his willpower.
So did his vulnerability.
’I’ exploited that without hesitation.
He aid to use his emotions against him.
The Heaveny Record offered a solution.
Seal your emotions.
Seal them temporarily.
Survive without feeling.
But the Heavenbreaker refused.
He let his rage simr.
He let the mories strike him again and again.
He stayed still.
He endured.
He waited.
And he waited more.
Ti inside the ditative state didn’t move normally. It stretched and twisted with every new past ’I’ created.
The Heavenbreaker kept going.
The ditation turned into a quiet battle with no movent, no blows, no noise.
Only pain and patience.
Finally, after what felt like an eternity, a crack echoed behind him.
The cocoon trembled.
A soft glow pushed through the surface.
Then another crack.
Then another.
The transformation was reaching its end.
The Heavenbreaker didn’t open his eyes.
He kept his breathing steady.
The cocoon split down the middle.
Light spilled out in a thin line.
The evolved form inside stretched its presence for the first ti.
The air rippled around it.
The shell fell apart piece by piece.
The creature that had once been a caterpillar, then a cocoon, finally erged.
It stretched its wings, sharp and clean, carrying an aura that didn’t exist in this universe before this mont.
Beelzebub’s evolution was complete.
The Heavenbreaker.... No, Neo lifted his head slowly, breathing out once.
The pain of the mories didn’t vanish.
But he embraced them the sa.
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