Zeus tried to move, but his body remained frozen.

The sheer weight of his existence made the fabric of time groan.

Even his smallest movement sent ripples through the frozen air.

Yet, he couldn't do much.

Right now, it had become a battle of quantity versus quality.

Zeus stood at the peak of Stage 6.

Normally, no Stage 5 God could affect him, no matter how strong their techniques were.

But Neo wasn't using a normal amount of energy.

The amount of energy he poured into his time-stop was enormous, so much that even Zeus was being slowed.

"You think this is enough?" Zeus finally spoke, his tone calm and steady.

His energy began to stir.

A faint pulse shook the frozen field, and cracks appeared in the still air.

Then his energy surged.

Neo's eyes narrowed as he felt the shift.

"You learned my Loan and can already use it? No… you improved the efficiency of the technique."

He wasn't shocked.

In fact, he sounded almost impressed.

He still remembered their first fight during the Age of Gods.

Even back then, Zeus had copied his technique and refined it in the middle of battle.

Now, it was happening again.

To use Loan, a being needed to spend a specific amount of energy to draw energy from the future.

The more they spent, the farther into the future they could reach.

Zeus had found a way to reduce the energy needed to go father in the future.

As Zeus's energy climbed, the air trembled.

He began to move, slowly, one step at a time.

It was like watching a glacier come alive.

He was getting close to breaking Neo's time prison.

But as seconds passed, Neo's control tightened.

The frozen world around Zeus began to strengthen, solidifying like layered crystal.

Zeus frowned. He could feel himself slowing again.

"How?" he asked.

"How you can't break free even though you're using Loan too? It's simple. I'm just using more energy."

Neo's voice was calm, but his eyes glowed faintly.

He wasn't boasting, just stating facts.

His Cosmos was filled with energy, so were his Nine Heavens, and his countless Devil Wombs.

Unless he had to turn back time for the entire Golden Domain, he wouldn't run out of energy.

"Now," Neo said, raising his hand. "Off you go."

He flicked his fingers, and Zeus vanished, thrown into Neo's Shadow Space while staying frozen in time.

"I will deal with you later. I'm busy right now."

Neo exhaled and turned away.

The silence of the void faded as he returned to ship.

Moraine was waiting on the ship.

Its hull had cracked and twisted from the earlier collision.

Neo snapped his fingers, and the ship's surface smoothed over. Within seconds, it was as if nothing had happened.

"Are you sure you want to keep Zeus in your Shadow Space?" Moraine asked. Her tone carried a hint of concern. "You'll need to use a lot of energy to keep his time frozen, and the longer your technique goes, the more exponentially will the energy demand rise."

"Don't worry about it. I have more than enough energy to handle it."

Moraine crossed her arms. "Still, you should be careful. If he wakes up inside your Shadow Space, that's going to be trouble."

Neo chuckled. "I wonder about that."

He paused, his gaze shifting toward her. "By the way, what was that you used against Zeus? You never told me about that summon, and that thing felt—"

"Neo!"

A sharp voice interrupted him.

Neo turned his head immediately.

He recognized that presence.

From the air, a woman appeared.

Her long black hair flowed behind her like a ribbon of ink, and her blue eyes shimmered faintly like deep water under sunlight.

Her skin carried a faint aquatic sheen, as if the sea itself had blessed her.

She wore a dark-blue coat that glowed faintly with runes of water.

"Supreme of Water?" Neo said. "Are you—"

"Yes, this is my Blessed," she said quickly. Her voice was firm, but there was tension in her eyes. "Now move. We need to hurry."

Neo frowned. "What happened?"

"Amelia and the others were attacked by Ancient Dragons," she said in a clipped tone. "They've sealed the clone you sent with them."

Neo's eyes widened slightly.

Two Ancient Dragons had disappeared from their home base not long ago. Now, it seemed like they were all moving.

'They sealed my clone because they didn't want to fight the Deathbounds,' Neo thought.

The retired Grim Reapers would have intervened if the Ancient Dragons openly attacked a Reaper like him.

'Still… to think they're moving so openly.'

He frowned.

'Do they know Hades is dead?'

Neo closed his eyes for a moment, trying to reconnect to his clone, but the connection refused to respond.

He clicked his tongue.

"Alright, I'll—"

"Don't forget your promise with me, Hargraves," a cold voice interrupted.

It came from nowhere and everywhere at once.

The voice of Space Elementals echoed through the air, calm but heavy.

"Space, this isn't the time for that," the Supreme of Water said, frowning.

"For me, it is," the voice replied. "My loved one is just as important to me as yours is to you."

Neo clenched his jaw.

He couldn't deny the truth in those words.

He had made a promise to the Supreme of Space. But if he kept that promise, he would be abandoning Amelia and the others.

He sighed softly.

"I'm sorry, Space," he said.

He turned toward the control panel of the ship and started guiding it toward Amelia's location.

He half-expected Space to argue, and resist his choice. But instead, there was silence.

The silence was worse than anger.

Neo tightened his grip on the controls.

"I'll send my clone to the leader of the Forgotten Suns," he said, trying to fill the silence. "If I take over control of it, it'll be as strong as me. You don't need to worry."

But still, there was no answer.

The Space Elementals didn't speak again. Their presence faded into the background like a cold wind.

Neo exhaled and rubbed his forehead.

On one hand, there was his pride, and the promise he had made.

On the other, the lives of his friends.

The choice wasn't hard, but it still hurt.

He made his decision.

He would save his friends, even if it meant breaking his word.

The Supreme of Water turned to him. "Were you fighting Zeus?"

"Yes."

Her expression shifted slightly. Her voice echoed in his mind, calm but sharp. Why?

Neo didn't answer right away.

She asked again through telepathy, Did Zeus attack you because he thought you were the Devil of Cruelty?

Neo's eyes widened a little.

He hadn't expected her to know that name.

He turned to look at her and gave a small nod.

Strange, her voice whispered again in his mind. Who told Zeus about the Devil of Cruelty, and that you could be him?

Her question made him frown too.

He hadn't thought about that yet.

Someone had to tell Zeus.

But who?

He shook his head, pushing the thought aside.

"Forget that for now," he said quietly. "Tell me about the Ancient Dragons that attacked Amelia and the others."

She nodded.

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