A distant ripple shivered through the void.
The Outer Gods stirred.
They could tell something was wrong, but they were not able to sense what it was.
Neo's existence (Seed of Existence) has been erased, let alone his body and soul. There was no way he was alive.
Clearly, they could not sense Consciousness.
But even without direct perception, the titanic energy being generated by his lingering Consciousness gnawed at their instincts.
It was a raw, pure energy they were not accustomed to.
Without a word, he unfurled his divinity.
The concept of erasure, absolute and bottomless, spread out from him like a black tide.
Space, matter, memory—everything was eaten away.
Planets in the far distance flickered out of existence like dying embers.
Vaedrex wanted nothing left. Nothing for Neo to cling to. No piece of him to survive.
The others watched as Vaedrex devoured it all.
When the last traces of energy were swallowed, Vaedrex closed his massive, featureless jaws with a dull snap.
For a moment, the Outer Gods relaxed.
But then Vaedrex's body jerked.
A tremor ran through the Maw of Silence.
His inner mind, vast and hollow, screamed in protest.
Deep inside him, Neo's consciousness, thought to be consumed, flared. It tore through Vaedrex's Consciousness like a wildfire through dry leaves.
"Ghh—!" Vaedrex's massive form twisted.
His mind, a fortress against madness of Darkness for countless eons, began to crack under the assault.
"What is happening?" Velgrath hissed, weaving more threads in agitation.
Myzrul floated backward, hands tightening around his star-lattices. "He should be dead..."
Inside Vaedrex, Neo's consciousness bloomed like a sun.
Blinding white flames erupted from within.
They grew darker, sliding into an attunement with the Shadow element.
Neo's consciousness wove the Shadow Core Concept into himself, using it as a foundation.
Within the raging sea of Vaedrex's mind, he built his Seed of Existence, forged his soul anew, and wrapped it in a growing Body.
The Outer Gods could only watch, horrified, as Neo forced himself back into reality.
Vaedrex let out a deep, guttural roar of pain.
Neo, fully reconstituted, tore through Vaedrex's mind and body and stepped out.
His breathing was steady, but there was a thin line of tension in his shoulders.
'That... was nauseating. Thinking without a body, soul, and Seed of Existence is not something I'd like to experience again.'
The Outer Gods stared at him, frozen in shock.
His eyes swept over the Outer Gods.
"Since my experiment is complete, and I now know I can regenerate from only consciousness... there's no need to entertain you guys anymore. Let's fight seriously."
The calm in his voice hit harder than any roar.
Vaedrex shuddered, but he wasn't dead.
Even a decapitated Stage-3 Outer God had vitality beyond measure. His jaw snapped open in fury, and he deployed his World without hesitation.
Velgrath and Myzrul followed instantly, their instincts screaming danger.
Their Worlds exploded outward, changing the solar system at its core.
The star faraway dimmed. Planets were eaten by writhing void-silk, melted into star-blood, and folded into geometries that defied logic.
The environment warped into a fused eldritch Domain of void, star-death, and silent hunger.
Only Lurial hesitated.
Fear contorted her metallic face. She didn't deploy her World.
Instead, she turned, wrenching open a portal wreathed in clockwork sigils. She didn't want to fight. She wanted to escape.
But Neo, already moving, extended his hand.
The Hell inside his soul cracked open.
Chains, thick and ancient, surged out, each link carved with magic-sealing runes he took from Protector of Zone 6.
They wrapped around the portal's edges, forcing it shut with a resounding clang before Lurial could flee.
Her eyes widened. Desperation crossed her mechanical face.
Left with no other choice, Lurial screamed and deployed her World.
A storm of ticking gears and frozen moments engulfed the battlefield, layering itself atop the others' Domains.
The pressure became unbearable.
Yaleth's voice roared from above. 'Neo! Be careful! Their Worlds are dangerous! You have no resistance to their elements—you'll be attacked from anywhere, and the damage will be magnified inside!'
He didn't hesitate. He deployed his own World, filling the crumbling space with a silvery mist that dampened the Outer Gods' influence slightly.
Still, the sheer oppression of four Outer Gods' Worlds was monstrous.
Neo's body tensed under the pressure.
This was his first time fighting Gods who could use their Worlds.
Moreover, each of them was individually stronger than the weakened Tartarus he had fought.
Tartarus wasn't even a God, yet he had given Neo unimaginable trouble. There was no need to say how dangerous these Outer Gods were.
He had long overgrown his past self who could never win against superior enemies.
The void around his shifted as he summoned the World Energy in titanic amounts.
It roared around him, wrapping his body in thick white flames.
The flames became his shield, a layer of condensed World Energy that burned away the worst effects of the Outer Gods' Worlds before they could touch him directly.
The white fire blazed brighter, pushing against the crushing atmosphere.
He became a beacon of light – a supernova – that stood in the center of the eldritch Worlds' of Gods.
Above him, Vaedrex gathered black holes in his maw, ready to unleash a singularity storm.
To the left, Velgrath summoned threads sharper than conceptual blades, stitching space-time into traps.
On the right, Myzrul's stellar lattice ignited, calling down ancient suns like spears.
Behind, Lurial's gears began to turn reality itself, aiming to lock Neo inside a prison of frozen moments.
Every direction spelled doom.
And yet, Neo didn't falter.
The white flames around him shifted.
He stepped forward once, and the fabric of the Outer Gods' Worlds rippled. It was subtle—but it was there.
The sheer weight of his existence was affecting their Worlds.
"How…." Lurial muttered.
How did a Stage-2 God had an existence that was heavier than the combined existence of four Stage-3 Gods?
It didn't make sense.
What did made sense was the fact that the Earth… they shouldn't have touched that planet.
Their greed for Yaleth's secret weapons had led them here, to this solar system.
They had caused something to be born that never should have existed.
Neo was a monster born from the desparation of survival, and they were the ones who forced him to do that due to their invasion.
Their actions had caused a monster like Neo to appear.
Yaleth gritted his teeth, stepping closer to Neo.
He expanded his silvery World over him like a shield, creating a dome of dampening mist that buffered the worst of the Outer Gods' powers.
"I'll cover you," he said quickly. "Focus on them."
Neo nodded, and raised his sword.
The Outer Gods attacked together.
Black holes ripped open the sky. Void-threads lashed down like guillotines. Suns exploded into spears. Clockwork gears twisted the laws of motion around them.
One swing of his sword sliced apart Velgrath's void-threads before they could wrap around him.
Another step placed him between two descending suns, both detonating behind him harmlessly.
Gears tried to freeze time around him, but the white flames roaring around his body burned through the bindings.
Yaleth's mist thickened, catching some of the damage, but even he was straining under the combined pressure.
Just as Vaedrex lunged forward to swallow Neo whole, something impossible happened.