NOVGO.NET Chapter 730: Discussion
Chapter 730: Discussion
“Whether it’s possible for me to defeat him or not is something you need to worry about,” Neo said.
“You’re not doing this alone,” Amelia spoke before he could leave.
Her voice was cold, but there was no mistaking the firmness behind it. “If you go after the Alliance, then they’ll come after Earth whether you like it or not. That means we’re going to be involved, even if you try to keep us out of it.”
“That’s why I’ll keep Earth in my Cosmos,” Neo replied.
The words made the room fall silent.
Placing Earth in his Cosmos wasn’t a decision he could take lightly.
Unless he wanted to rule like a tyrant, he needed the approval of the citizens.
And that… was not going well.
For most of Earth’s population, the situation had turned sour.
They were already angry that the Alliance was targeting them because of Neo, and the thought of being placed in an unfamiliar sub-dimension only made things worse.
Protests had broken out across every continent, with appeals sent to leaders begging them not to allow Neo to move the planet.
“The people might not like it,” Neo said, “but we don’t have a choice. I’ll recreate the same environment as here inside my Cosmos. They won’t even realize they’ve been moved out of this universe.”
“So you’ll just run away from the issue again,” Amelia shot back.
Neo ignored her.
“I’m not going into your Cosmos,” Percival said with a calm smile. “So either let us fight alongside you against the Alliance, or keep wondering if the Alliance will find us and attack when you’re not here.”
Neo’s glare slid across the table and landed on him, but Percival didn’t flinch.
His smile didn’t disappear in the least.
“I’m going to help you,” Moraine said with firmness in her voice.
That seemed to open the floodgates.
“I’ll help too,” Felix said. “My abilities could actually be useful.”
“I’m joining,” Amelia added, her reply short but decisive.
“Just let them come,” Jack said. “You’ve always been there for us. Now it’s our turn.”
“We are—”
Ilyana began, but her words were cut short when Neo’s hand slammed against the table.
The sound cracked through the air like a whip.
“Stop acting like children.”
His expression had gone cold, his tone leaving no room for argument.
“You’re going to help me? With your strength?” His gaze swept over each of them. “You’ll just be a burden. Stay inside my Cosmos quietly.”
“And who are you to decide how we should live?” Amelia snapped back.
“I’m saying this for your sake. The Alliance isn’t some—”
“You’re neither my parent nor my family,” Amelia interrupted. “I don’t see why I should listen to your advice.”
Neo stared at her.
She didn’t look away.
A silent contest began between them, heavy enough that no one else dared to speak.
“Damn it,” Neo muttered finally.
He pinched the bridge of his nose and exhaled slowly, then looked around the table.
His eyes stopped at Ilyana.
He didn’t want to take the side with Forgotten Suns.
But it was clear Amelia and the others would join him whether he wanted or not.
They were set on helping, no matter how he tried to push them aside.
Not only would it put them in danger, it would make it seem Neo was with Forgotten Cosmos.
Should I just tamper with their memories and lock them inside my Cosmos?
The thought came to him unbidden.
That way they wouldn’t know what I did, and they couldn’t interfere or get themselves killed.
Only a split second passed before Neo realized what he was thinking.
…I can’t do that.
His time as overseer of the Nine Heavens was starting to affect him.
He had gotten used to thinking for the people, making decisions for their own good even when they didn’t agree.
It was like with the event with the Cupids.
He had reasoned it was for the best, to help people find love, even if some might never have wanted it.
I need to stop treating people like objects I can rearrange as I please.
“Fine,” Neo muttered at last.
Felix faces lit up and Percival grinned, but before they could speak, Neo raised his hand to silence them.
“I’ll let you help,” he said. “But none of you are coming with me into my war with the Alliance.”
The confused looks around the table didn’t bother him.
He opened his palm, and a large hologram filled the room.
A detailed map of a desolate region appeared, marked with coordinates and symbols.
“This location is called Voraka Site. There are many like it scattered throughout the universe. I want you to go there and search for an object with a specific energy signature.
“It will look like a white flame. I’ll give you a technique to recognize it. But be careful, monsters inhabit that place, and the ’Berserker Elementals’ will try to infect you if they get the chance.”
Amelia’s eyes narrowed. “So you are trying to send us away. Just so we don’t ’disturb’ you.”
Neo met her gaze evenly.
He could see her frustration, and distrust.
It was understandable.
After all, even now he hadn’t told them what exactly had happened during his capture by the Alliance.
They knew he had returned stronger, Stage 5 in a mere fifteen thousand years, but they had no answers about what he endured or who had helped him.
“That white flame in the Site is a fragment of the soul of someone important to me.”
“Whose soul?” Amelia’s suspicion didn’t fade.
“I can’t tell you that,” Neo said. His voice carried no hesitation, but it left no room for further questions either.
“Do you ever actually tell us anything?” Amelia pressed.
Neo didn’t answer.
The truth was something he couldn’t share.
Bael had warned him to keep silent about Hades and his mother’s death.
“Is it her?” Moraine spoke softly, cutting through the tension.
Neo turned his eyes toward her.
Her calm expression said she could guess whose soul fragments Neo wanted to gather.
So she either knows or could guess it easily that it was mother.
He had asked Moraine countless questions about the past over the last year, but she had given him nothing.
It wasn’t that she refused to answer because she wanted to.
He had realized something had been done to her. Something that prevented her from speaking about certain truths.
It wasn’t hard to guess who had done it.
He was almost certain it had been Moraine herself. The Witch of Gluttony had likely done that to her after she cut away Morrigan with Severant.
I just hope I’m wrong, Neo thought.
“Yes,” Neo said aloud.
The word drew sharp looks from around the table.
Amelia’s brow furrowed as she looked between them.
“Alright,” Percival said finally. “Seems like those soul fragments are really important, and he’s not using it as an excuse to send us away. So I’m in.”
One by one the others nodded, expressions ranging from reluctant to determined.
At last Amelia looked at him directly.
Neo could not tell her the truth — that the soul was his mother’s — but he decided honesty would help, even if partial.
“I honestly would’ve wanted to go myself, or at least send my clones to find the soul while I fought the Alliance,” he said. “The soul is as much— no, it’s more important than Alliance to me. So, if you want to help me, help me collect the soul’s fragments.
“Each one of you has a unique ability. That’s why I trust you to retrieve the soul. Besides, those Sites are good training grounds for you all.”