While he did expect the timeline to be fucked to some extent, he definitely didn't expect this.
"Celina... you're Celina, right?" Neraxis muttered, looking at the figure in front of him.
She was invisible. However, her presence was practically etched into his mind. There was no way she could hide from him.
Yet it was clear that she was slightly different from the Celina he knew. The mana she was giving off was different than usual.
Chaotic, filled with malice. It was clear she had come here not to greet him, but to kill him.
And soon, she came out of her invisibility, revealing haggard black hair that was cut short, and a thin scar across her nose.
"I'm surprised you showed up. You were gone for quite some time, Neraxis," Celina said, twirling her daggers menacingly.
"Before we start, I just want you to know I'm not the Neraxis you're looking for," he said, raising his arms.
"Yeah? And I'm not the Celina you remember either..." she muttered with a grin as she lifted her shirt up, revealing her toned abdomen.
Surprisingly, there was something embedded inside it—a glowing red core—and it was giving off some pretty deadly energy.
"I've asked Aella to give me some modifications, and what do you know? She complied," Celina added.
In the very next moment, a red beam of light shot out of her abdomen, heading straight for Neraxis.
It was incredibly fast. In fact, he wouldn't be surprised if it was as fast as him. However, he had the advantage of seeing slightly into the future, so he had already predicted this.
So, he sidestepped, and then dashed toward Celina.
Midway through, he slashed his wrist. The moment he appeared in front of her, he grabbed her mouth with one hand, parted it open, and stuffed his bloodied wrist inside.
She was startled. However, he simply guided his blood down her throat.
No surprise there, but that's not what I'm going for, Neraxis thought with a smile.
She began healing as her scar disappeared, and the core inside her abdomen began contracting.
"Sorry about this..." Neraxis muttered, and just as she bit into his wrist, he pulled the core out of her body, taking half of her intestines along with it.
Tears streamed down her face in pain, but since she bit down into his wrist, blood began gushing out even more, and not even a few seconds later, the hole in her abdomen closed up.
At the same time, he could feel her internal organs regrow to normal and even strengthen themselves.
After the process was finished, Neraxis took his wrist out of her mouth and gently pushed her away.
Of course, the only reason he pushed her away was because her body began glowing red, and she cast a domain directly on him.
A targeted domain. A bit different than mine, but it has similar properties. Hers just deals increased damage against the target, which is me, Neraxis thought with a smirk.
"What? I only healed you and removed that toxic abomination from your body. Is that any way to say thanks?"
"Thanks?" Celina scoffed in disbelief. "You killed my mother, my grandpa, my best friend, and even my fucking dog!"
That was definitely not a good start. Not at all.
"Celina..." Neraxis sighed. "Whatever grievances you have with the Neraxis of this world, you can take them up with him after I'm gone. I'm not him. I'm a different person from a completely different timeline."
He said that just to see how she would react. And of course, her scornful look was more than enough for him to get the message—she didn't believe him in the slightest.
"And I'm the tooth fairy," Celina said as she raised her dagger, preparing to strike him.
Guess there's no going through to her... Neraxis sighed.
He was more composed than he had expected.
But that was only because he imagined this Celina to not be real. How could she be real when he was in the Astral Tower?
Therefore, he prepared to simply strike her down for the time being.
Yet in the very next moment, Celina smirked before vanishing out of sight.
Neraxis stared straight ahead, puzzled. She was actually gone—teleported away.
However, that was not all, since the moment he looked up, he realized there was a missile literally heading toward him.
Neraxis raised his arm instinctively, and just as he prepared to simply blast it away with his Destruction, an interesting pair of messages popped up.
[Unleashed Pandora's Box has been opened!]
[Usage of Skills and Mana has been Blocked!]
"Wow... You've really outdone yourself," Neraxis muttered, staring at the missile. "Good job, Aella."
He couldn't use his mana or his affinities. His skills were blocked too.
But not his bloodline. It was simply unblockable.
They were just unlucky enough for it to be daytime, so with a single thought, Neraxis reappeared in the sky, right above the missile.
It was definitely several thousand times stronger than a nuke, and it could probably wipe out an entire civilization. However, he was sure Aella had controlled the blast to be concentrated and only used to kill him.
But I'm not going to let that hit me head on, Neraxis thought as he began falling to the ground.
Oh right... no mana, no wings.
He swiftly teleported away to the outskirts of the city as he watched the missile fall.
Instead of an earthquake, the ground simply split apart, sending him falling down into a giant ravine.
Soon, he saw a completely black mushroom cloud rise into the sky.
But that was not all, as the black smoke turned into thousands of javelins, all of which flew straight toward the falling Neraxis.
Meanwhile, he was simply stunned.
And well... a little flattered.
They'd go to such lengths to kill me...? he thought as he focused on a random point in the world and teleported away.
He reappeared on some random beach crowded with people, but instead of focusing on them, he was engrossed in his thoughts.
Just what kind of person was this world's Neraxis?