She stepped forward swiftly. The scene before her froze her in place.
Empty alcohol bottles littered the floor. The pungent smell of alcohol filled the air.
Neo was collapsed on the ground.
He was drenched in sweat, and his chest rose and fell in ragged breaths.
More alarming, cracks covered his entire body, as if he were breaking apart.
She knelt beside him, reaching out, only for him to suddenly pull her into a tight embrace.
"What are you doing—"
"I'm sorry." His voice trembled. "I couldn't protect you."
She could feel the faint tremors in his limbs.
'He's regressed,' she realized. 'But why is he ? He has almost no energy in his body… Did he come back to the past without fully recovering? What forced him to be in so much hurry.'
Instead, she let him hold her.
"It's okay," she said, trying to sound gentle, but not being used to the tone, she was quite awkward. "You're back. We can solve everything now."
Neo suddenly stiffened.
A powerful shift in the ambient energy sent sharp vibrations through the air, which he sensed through his new improved senses.
Something was coming.
A spear shot through the wall like a meteor.
Neo moved on instinct, pulling Elizabeth aside.
The spear twisted mid-air, and shot straight through her skull.
Elizabeth's body went limp in his arms.
Blood sprayed across his face, hot and thick.
"Neo! Are you okay?!"
Two voices burst into the room—Ava and Elizabeth.
Neo turned, still in shock.
They froze at the sight before them.
The headache returned with full force. Embracing Elizabeth had helped him calm down, but not anymore.
He no longer tried to calm the twisted, warped instincts of the tens of thousands of spider monsters he had consumed.
He let them become one with him.
His voice was quiet, but the command carried through the air like a thunderclap.
A voice responded, smooth yet devoid of warmth.
A moment later, Ava's body exploded.
Blood and viscera splattered across the room.
Then, the shadows in the room shifted unnaturally.
They twisted and coalesced into a form—Tartarus.
His gaze lingered on Ava's remains for a brief moment before he shook his head.
"She shouldn't have tried to go back if she wanted to live."
Despite the uncontrolled rage burning within him, and the soul splitting headache threatning to make him go insane, his expression remained cold, indifferent.
He made no indication that he was going to attack.
"Why did you kill her?" Neo asked, his voice eerily detached. "She was one of the Pillars."
"Punishing you is more important."
Tartarus' gaze shifted to Elizabeth's lifeless corpse in Neo's arms. A slow smirk curled his lips.
"And I just found the perfect way to do so."
Neo's grip on Elizabeth tightened.
"I see," he muttered. "How are you able to remember the past timeline? I am the one who turned back—"
"I'm not obliged to answer your questions."
Tartarus interrupted him, then snapped his fingers.
The world twisted, and Time reversed.
"It's okay," Elizabeth said. "You're back. We can solve everything now."
Neo's arms were still wrapped around her.
The blood from her corpse that had stained his hands mere seconds ago was gone.
'He turned back time by a few minutes? But why?'
Before Neo could finish processing what had happened, a spear ripped through the air, piercing straight through Elizabeth's skull.
Blood splattered across his face, and fragments of bone and brain matter dripped onto his shoulder.
The warmth in his arms was replaced with cold.
"It's okay," Elizabeth said again, looking up at him with soft eyes, unaware that she had just died, unaware of what was about to happen.
Neo's fingers twitched.
His mind was sharp, hyper-aware, and the memories of both instances overlapped within him.
Tartarus was watching. He had not moved, but Neo knew he was looking at him.
"How many times are you going to do this?" Neo asked flatly.
"As many as it takes it takes to make you realize your mistake."
Neo watched again as the spear once again came hurtling through the air.
With a flicker of motion, he twisted his body, and yanked Elizabeth out of the way.
The spear missed her head by a mere fraction, but just then, another spear shot down from the ceiling and killed her
Neo was covered in her blood—
"It's okay," Elizabeth said.
Neo clenched his jaw.
Tartarus was toying with him, forcing him to relive the same moment over and over.
He looked down at Elizabeth, still alive, still warm.
The moment the spear came into his senses, he let go of Elizabeth and turned.
His hand lashed out like lightning, fingers crackling with mimicked Earth Elementals to increase his strength.
He caught the spear mid-flight.
The force of the impact sent tremors through his arm, but he didn't let go.
Tartarus raised a brow, intrigued.
"Oh? You managed to resist? But you really think this is the end?"
The force of the explosion was far from enough to kill Neo, who had Eternal, and countless more defense increasing abilities.
But Elizabeth was not so lucky.
Her body was burned beyond recognition
"It's okay," Elizabeth said again.
Neo clenched his jaw, his breath ragged.
A whistle of an object tearing through the air.
Another lifeless body.
Neo's vision blurred as Elizabeth died in his arms over and over.
Her blood soaked him anew with every cycle.
No matter what he did, how fast he moved, how desperately he tried—she died.
And Tartarus watched.
"What are you trying to achieve by doing this?"