Each time Elizabeth made a breakthrough, he sensed the power within him grow.
He had been forcing it down, knowing it was too much.
But the moment Elizabeth reached Grade 1 Paragon, the power became too much for him to handle.
Intense heat surged within him.
His skin turned scorching hot, and his muscles started to twitch wildly.
Neo realized his stats were rising, probably from the [Shared Growth] subskill of the Crownless King Trait. Since Elizabeth had grown from an unawakened to Grade 1 Paragon, he gained a huge amount of stats.
He closed his eyes, focusing.
The rush of stats was threatening to drown him.
His bones cracked, and his skin split. His body had no time to adjust to so much power.
Neo felt he would break.
He had to use his Springbloom blessing and Life and Holy Elements to keep healing himself.
When the rush of energy stopped, Neo was left drenched in sweat, and breathing heavily.
He used his Intent Vision to sense the state of his body and he was surprised pleasantly.
His stats seemed to have been doubled.
"It would be a good time if you could help me now," Zera spoke, seeing Neo's condition had stabilized.
"What is happening?" Neo asked.
Elizabeth had stopped ranking up after reaching Grade 1 Paragon, probably because Neo was only a Paragon too.
However, her Elemental Masteries were rapidly increasing.
They had reached mid Supreme rank and showed no sign of stopping the growth.
Elizabeth was drowning in a huge mass of water.
The gravity around her had grown dozens of times, and Zera's blood moved wildly under the effect of Elizabeth's Blood Affinity.
"Take care of her," Zera said and moved back.
She had been making sure Elizabeth didn't kill herself with her rapidly increasing powers.
Unfortunately, Zera was injured, and forcibly slowing Elizabeth's progress took a toll on her.
"Thanks, I will take it from here."
Neo took the brunt of Elizabeth's Sanctuary.
He felt as if a planet had been placed on his back. The gravity was crushing him. His feet sunk into the ground.
His body refused to move as he lost control over his blood. It moved to a strange tune.
Elizabeth was doing it all unconsciously, but it was enough to affect Neo.
Gravity (Space), Blood, and Water.
Elizabeth's elements were moving in an uncontrolled manner.
They were harming her too, and since she was unconscious, she couldn't control them.
Neo used his Eternal Sleep Concept to calm Elizabeth's blood. It targeted only some parts of her blood and put them to sleep.
It slowed her blood flow to a normal level, putting her out of immediate danger.
Needless to say, Neo's Elemental mastery was lower than Elizabeth's. The only reason his attacks worked was due to his high strength that dwarfed Elizabeth's.
Her body was immensely strong as a Grade 1 Paragon. It could withstand the crushing force of the gravity.
While Neo would've loved to help, he didn't have anything to reduce the gravity's force.
"I'll take care of it," Zera said.
If it was only a single element, she could hold it back without putting too much pressure on herself.
Magic circles appeared around her.
Neo could sense the force field of gravity weakening.
The only element left was Water.
Elizabeth was floating in the center of a large water body. The water was entering her lungs.
She couldn't drown as a mermaid.
But the water could crush her lungs from the inside, especially because the insides were where everyone's defense was the weakest.
Neo used his Aqua Nihil Concept of Water Affinity.
The water around him started to disappear.
His Water Affinity mastery was far weaker than Elizabeth's mastery. Although he should've been able to match her due to having a higher rank, even though his mastery was lower than hers, in the end, his Concept was pushed back.
Since the elements clashing were of the same nature, the elemental mastery mattered more than the difference in personal ranks.
Neo clenched his teeth and used Void.
Beads of sweat rolled down his body as purple bubbles with tiny purple suns within them appeared around him.
Void by itself could do nothing.
But when combined with other elements, it could create wonders.
Corrupting water with Void turned water into an existence that repelled water.
He used his Void affinity to corrupt the giant water body drowning Elizabeth.
The water body started to disappear.
Neo and Zera continued their efforts until Elizabeth's elemental masteries stopped growing.
Thankfully, Neo's water affinity mastery also grew along with Elizabeth's water mastery, although his lagged behind quite a bit. It was how he was able to save her from drowning herself.
He guessed the reason behind his growth was the [Shared Growth] skill that brought him benefits from Elizabeth.
After Elizabeth's energies calmed down, her elementals returned to normal. Zera and Neo stopped, and Elizabeth's body descended at a slow pace.
He created clothes for her using the Shadow Robe Spell and checked her condition with Intent.
'Other than being Grade 1 Paragon, she feels similar to her previous self.'
Normally, awakeners and demigods couldn't surpass the rank of their World.
Elizabeth stopped advancing after reaching peak Paragon, since Neo was only a Paragon. He had a strong suspicion that she would've reached Exalted if he had been an Exalted.
Her eyes fluttered open.
"Miss Guardian Fa…" Her words stopped, and she blinked, staring at Neo. "Neo? What are you doing here? No, where am I?"
She used his support to stand straight and massaged her brows.
A frown was etched on her face as she tried to recall what was happening.
"I was fighting a Void Temple's member, and…"
Her eyes widened slightly, and she snapped her head towards Zera.
Sensing the powerful Void element surrounding her, she grew alert.
She stepped forward, hiding Neo behind her back, and prepared to fight Zera.
"What are you doing?" Zera asked with a smile despite her injuries.
"Who are you?" Elizabeth asked in a cold tone. "And why did you bring Neo here?"
Zera blinked, surprised.
She could tell most of Elizabeth's anger came from the fact that Neo was in danger.
She licked her lips, and smiled.
"I brought here to eat him—"
Elizabeth created a Blood Spear and fired it at Zera before she could complete her words.