"How did you know?" Void’s voice echoed, carrying amusent that filled the space around them.
Neo looked up even though the voice ca from nowhere.
Karax stuttered beside him. "Wh-What? What does this—"
"Shut up," Neo said without looking at him. He kept his eyes on the empty air. "This bastard traveled to the past. I don’t think it was done by the Authority of Ti, which according to him, he sohow lost later. Instead, I believe soone else sent him back."
He paused and let out a breath.
"It can’t be the Eternals. They wouldn’t do sothing this twisted."
He shifted his stance.
"It can’t be the Supres either. They can’t interfere too much with a universe."
Neo narrowed his eyes at the place where he felt the presence the strongest.
"That only leaves the group that stands against the Eternals. Your group. So tell . What was your intention when you did this?"
Void laughed loudly, the sound rolling through the universe.
"Hahaha! I told you this brat would figure it out!" He sounded like he was talking to soone else behind him.
Before Neo could reply, the universe trembled.
A crack ran across the boundary of the universe, opening like fragile glass being pushed from the other side.
Two figures stepped in through the broken edge.
One was a man with wild, mane-like hair and a large build.
The other was a white-haired woman with red eyes, whose face made Neo’s chest tighten.
"Eliz... no," Neo said slowly. "You... are you her twin sister?"
Julie de Beaufort grunted. She looked away and crossed her arms like she didn’t want to be here.
Void waved a hand casually. "Ah, don’t mind her. She’s just angry. Actually, we couldn’t observe too much of what was going on in this universe. If we watched too closely, the Eternals would notice. So we set everything in place the way it was supposed to be and then stepped back."
Neo’s jaw tightened as he listened.
Void continued, his smile far too relaxed. "Because of that, we didn’t know you ssed up all her plans, so now she’s pissed."
Neo’s expression darkened.
If Void was telling the truth, then almost everything that had been happening was arranged by them.
The thought left a hollow feeling in his stomach.
"How can you laugh?" Neo asked quietly.
"Well, looking at your shit eating face is funny," Void replied. "And can you bla ? Julie spent a lot of ti preparing everything for awakening her daughter as the Devil of Cruelty. The mark of Ouroborus, the Void Gods outside Earth, Karax, Soul Weapons, training under Grim Reapers... Alia was supposed to conquer each of them. We prepared everything properly. But then a variable showed up."
Void pointed at Neo with an open grin.
"You. Sothing she didn’t account for. And you put your head into every problem yourself, and took away all of the growth that belonged to Alia. Anyway, don’t bla us for what you faced. You did it by yourself."
Neo clenched his fist.
He turned his gaze to Julie.
He couldn’t understand how she could place so many dangers in her daughter’s path.
Alia was her own child. Yet instead of protecting her, she had created a series of obstacles so deadly they could break anyone.
Karax’s voice broke the mont. "What... is... this?"
He looked completely lost.
He stared at nothing, eyes trembling, realizing everything he thought belonged to him — his choices, his path, his life — had never been his at all.
He opened his mouth but no words ca out.
His face twisted in helpless anger.
Neo stepped forward and spoke before Karax could say anything. "The Void I t in the past. Was it you?"
Void grinned. "Yes. Though, like I said, I’m not the Void you think of. I’m Ultris, the first Heavenbreaker."
Neo’s eyes widened a little.
But the more he thought about it, the more it made sense.
The Void he t had created a ti loop big enough to cover the entire Cosmos.
Only a Heavenbreaker had enough energy to do sothing like that.
And the nature of the Void elent — uncontrolled evolution — matched perfectly with the Path created by Ultris, the Path of Evolution.
Both had evolution at their core.
One wild.
One refined.
"Severant?" Neo asked.
"Yes," Ultris replied, nodding easily. "It was Severant. Your father cut in two pieces because I was being stubborn. One part stayed with him to fight ’him’ and died. That’s the Void Supre. The other part is . Ultris."
Neo nodded slowly.
Then he pointed his sword at Ultris.
"Thanks for the answer. Now I’m going to beat the shit out of you."
Ultris burst out laughing.
At that mont, the Universal Will stirred.
Its voice spoke through the air, steady and ancient. "Don’t do anything stupid."
Neo blinked.
The Universal Will had stayed silent even when it looked like he intended to destroy the universe and then began to regress it.
But now it chose to speak.
"What do you an?" Neo asked.
"Ultris is crazy," the Universal Will said plainly. "I hope he dies in a ditch sowhere. But he isn’t cruel. You’re probably angry because he created so many tragedies to awaken the Devil of Cruelty. But that was the only thod he had. It was the only weapon that gave a real chance of winning against ’him’."
Ultris groaned dramatically. "Boo. Why did you say that already? It was funny watching him act like an angry chick."
The Universal Will ignored him completely.
Neo let out a long breath.
He didn’t know how to feel.
He was still angry.
But if the Universal Will spoke in Ultris’s favor, then the danger they were facing must have been far worse than anything he had imagined.
While everyone focused on each other, no one noticed Karax cracking apart from the inside.
His emotions finally snapped.
He scread and rushed at Ultris and Julie with all the force he had left.
Julie barely looked at him.
"Trash. Can’t even do one thing properly," she muttered.
She snapped her finger.
A sphere of energy ford around Karax instantly and sealed him completely.
He couldn’t move.
He couldn’t even breathe without her allowing it.
Julie turned to Neo with a cold look.
"You can co with us for now. But if you fail to prove you’re worthy of our expectations, I will take the Devil of Cruelty out of your Cosmos."
Neo’s jaw twitched.
Hearing Alia being called the Devil of Cruelty by her mother instead of her na irritated him deeply.
"What if I don’t co with you?" Neo asked.
Julie didn’t blink. "The Eternals will reach this place soon. They will erase you. And you’re coming with us whether you like it or not. Too much is at stake for us to accept a refusal."
Ultris stepped beside her and pointed directly at Neo’s spirit-like form.
"Also," he said, dragging out the word, "you don’t have a body. And without energy, you can’t regenerate or maintain your current state. Six hours. That’s the maximum you can live. Co with , and I’ll teach you how to stay alive."
Neo’s grip tightened on his sword.
"I can just reincarnate."
Ultris shook his head. "You can’t reincarnate in the past outside the universe. Even if you do it inside the universe and go to the past again, the ti in the Forbidden Lands will keep moving forward. ’He’ will wake up soon. So the more ti you waste dying and rebuilding your strength, the worse our odds beco."
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