Ares used his Holy Affinity to the maximum.
His eyes grew bloodshot.
The air around him shimmered with golden light, as though the sheer force of his power was warping reality itself.
Emma, on the side, used the Darkness to devour the Death squeezing her heart.
Shadows coiled around her, writhing like living creatures, as the faint scent of decay lingered in the cold, oppressive atmosphere.
Her face was pale and her lips trembled with exertion.
Both of them panted as they successfully defended against the attack.
They survived. Barely.
Their expressions were grim, their bodies battered, when suddenly Neo opened his mouth.
"As expected of you two. You erased my attack completely."
His voice was calm, eerily devoid of any emotion, a stark contrast to the chaos around them.
Ares and Emma felt something amiss.
Neo stood there, unflinching.
"But what about others?" he asked.
Alarms rang in their minds.
They swiftly turned back.
The sight in front of their eyes sank their heart.
Dozens of Awakeners lay sprawled across the battlefield like broken dolls, their strings severed. Their bodies were motionless, eyes wide with lifeless stares.
Sixty-seven awakeners died with a single attack.
The realization alarmed Ares and Emma.
A chilling wind swept through the desolate field, carrying with it an overwhelming silence.
Ares felt a surge of anger in his heart.
He clenched his fists, red flames igniting around him as his fury boiled over.
He glared at Neo, his voice trembling with rage.
"Ares, I'll say it again," Neo interrupted, his voice cutting through the tension like a blade. "Get out of my way or suffer the consequences."
The one-and-a-half rings of Death elementals around Neo's heart began to hum ominously. Red lightning crackled around him, illuminating his cold, indifferent expression.
In response, Emma summoned a giant, slithering snake made of pure Darkness.
Its scales shimmered like liquid night, and its eyes burned with malevolence.
Simultaneously, a red aura flared around Ares, the ground beneath him cracking under the weight of his unleashed power.
Just as it seemed that the clash was inevitable, a weak voice broke through the tension.
Blood trickled down Athena's nose as she staggered forward, her trembling hands clutching the Space-Time Cube.
Her face was pale, her breaths shallow, yet her gaze was fixed on Neo.
"This is enough," she said, her voice barely above a whisper.
"I thought you wanted to keep continuing," Neo replied.
Neo's words confused Ares and Emma.
The two exchanged a brief glance before noticing Neo's gaze directed at the Space-Time Cube in Athena's hands.
The realization dawned on them.
"How many times did you use the Space-Time Cube?" Ares asked, his voice low but tinged with urgency.
He had assumed the blood trickling down her nose was an injury inflicted by Neo's attack.
However, he had been wrong.
"That…" Athena bit her lips, hesitating.
The Space-Time Cube's first ability allowed its user to go back 30 seconds into the past.
"Forty-three times," Athena admitted, her voice trembling.
Her eyes moved toward Neo, who stood motionless, his calm demeanor unshaken.
With his Time affinity, Neo had been aware Athena was using the Space-Time Cube to regress the moment he defeated them.
"We lost forty-three times. Out of those, we defeated him eighteen times, but…"
"In those eighteen loops, no one except you and Emma survived, Ares."
Shock, anger, disbelief—countless emotions surged beneath Ares's gaze.
Hearing Neo killed all the awakeners who were like family to Ares nearly caused Ares to snap.
He swiftly suppressed his raging emotions and, forced himself to focus.
The gears in his mind churned as he stood protectively in front of Athena.
"Be ready to activate the Space-Time Cube and tell me every strategy we used in the previous turns. We will use them to fight him," Ares commanded, his tone resolute.
Despite the despair creeping into the edges of his mind, he stood tall as the leader of the Awakener Association, ready to face Neo again.
However, he failed to notice something.
Neo had not attacked them for a while.
He simply stared at Athena, his gaze heavy with something unreadable.
"I will do it," Athena suddenly said, her voice soft yet determined. "I will help you. So please stop killing everyone."
Ares's eyes widened in shock. He didn't understand what Athena was talking about until—
She activated the Space-Time Cube.
Athena returned to the past.
"Neo Hargraves, I will ask you one last time," Ares said. "Are you sure you want to rescue the Child of Mana?"
"Ares, I will give you two choices instead," Neo replied. "Withdraw from here and let me rescue the Child of Mana, or... face the consequences."
Athena glanced downward, her eyes catching the faint cracks forming on the surface of the Space-Time Cube.
'It is reaching its limit,' she thought, her heart pounding.
Blood trickled down her nose, stark against her pale skin.
Traveling through time without the Time affinity was taking a toll on her.
Before Neo could reveal the strength he had been hiding, Athena made a swift decision.
She activated the second ability of the Space-Time Cube.
Small, silver lights erupted from the cube, dancing like fireflies before darting toward the awakeners surrounding Neo.
Their figures disintegrated in silence, unable to react on time due to Athena's sudden move.
Moments later, only Neo and Athena remained on barren landscape.
"You are going to help me?" Neo asked calmly, his eyes narrowing as he observed her.
He could see the chaotic Time elementals swirling around her restlessly.
It was easy to deduce her plan—she had been going back in time repeatedly to try and take him down.
Yet, after failing numerous times, she had chosen to change her approach and help him instead.
"Can you really defeat Typhon?" she asked, her voice trembling slightly. "Give me a guarantee, or…"
"Or?" Neo interrupted. "You already teleported the awakeners of the Association away. You couldn't defeat me together with them. Do you think you can do it alone?"
"No," Athena admitted as her expression hardened. "But I can make sure both of us go down together."
She didn't elaborate, but the burning intensity in her gaze left no doubt in Neo's mind—she was confident she could carry out her threat.