Mad Neo

Karen had no idea what brand of madman's cigarette Neo had been smoking, but one thing was certain: it had gone straight to his head. He had been right on the verge of signing a master-servant contract with Torisa. Once the contract was sealed, the threat Torisa posed would have vanished completely, leaving Karen in total control of the initiative. And then Neo had just shown up out of nowhere, completely throwing off the entire rhythm. Torisa, who had been kneeling on the ground, slowly rose to his feet. It wasn't Neo's words that struck him deepest; what jolted him most and made him realize he had truly been duped was the way Neo had slung an arm over Karen's shoulder. His eyes began to glow a menacing red as his grip tightened on the Sword of Diamans. Karen asked, "What do you think you're doing?" Neo patted Karen's shoulder casually, utterly indifferent. "All right, all right, this mission's objective is accomplished. Right now, your manservant is probably screaming in agonizing bliss about how 'fulfilling' it feels." "You're hiding something from me." Neo countered, "Does keeping a secret from you to prepare your birthday party count as a crime?" "You're equivocating." "Tsk, you'll understand later." Even as the two were speaking, Torisa charged forward. Neo lunged ahead to meet him. The Sword of Diamans hacked down. Neo brought up all ten claws to parry, locking against the blade, and both figures froze in a deadlock. *Hiss...* After a brief stalemate, Neo was the first to yield ground. He backed away, shaking his hands vigorously. "Damn, this sword packs a punch!" Karen immediately replied, "I already reserved it." "Heh." Torisa's form materialized behind Neo, his blade slashing down once more. Neo's body dissolved into a puff of black mist, making the strike hit empty air. But a peculiar gleam flared in Torisa's eyes; having apparently anticipated Neo's path of evasion, he swept the sword sideways in a fluid arc. *Bang!* Neo, who had only just re-formed, took the blow full-on. He was hurled backward, tumbling continuously across the sand. Karen sensed that Torisa was keeping a portion of his attention trained on him. Even though Torisa knew he had been tricked, he remained visibly wary of Karen. Still, Karen did not intervene. Having hit the ground, Neo slapped one hand against the sand. As Torisa charged toward him, Neo raised his hand sharply. A ripple carrying the aura of Light radiated outward, spreading beneath Torisa's feet in an instant. Immediately following that, the spire of the Tower of Light emerged from the circle of brilliance, enclosing Neo safely within. Torisa thrust the Sword of Diamans into the ground and twisted it. Behind him manifested a roaring black great ape, its body covered in scars and bound in chains. The next instant, as Torisa launched into a charge, the ape behind him bounded forward at full tilt. The sheer momentum made Karen, watching from the sidelines, narrow his eyes. Torisa had mentioned that he once sprouted branches of two different faiths. Although both had intertwined and withered away, a conservative estimate placed his realm far above that of ordinary Bishops. Karen had personally felt the pressure Dolph exerted. He could only say that Dolph was far inferior to Torisa. More importantly, Torisa was not lacking in precious combat experience either. Therefore, Neo's choice to fight him in such a head-on, brute-force manner seemed rather foolish. *Boom!* The greatsword hacked into the flank of the Tower of Light, and the black ape behind him slammed a massive fist down alongside it. In a flash, the Tower of Light fractured, disintegrating into a shower of pure white crystals. Neo, who had been sheltered inside, raised his head. His eyes burned crimson, and blood-red shadows swirled over his body. Like a red bat, he shot upward and collided head-on with Torisa. Torisa showed not the slightest panic. Raising his greatsword high, a protective barrier snapped into place around his body. With a shake of the blade, spears of punishment symbolizing Order materialized all around him. *Hum!* In the blink of an eye, every single spear of punishment came crashing down on Torisa himself—and Neo upon him. *Boom! Boom! Boom!* A rapid succession of explosions rang out. Neo was blasted backward through the air, crashing onto the ground once more. Torisa remained suspended midair, a trickle of blood leaking from the corner of his mouth. But a wound of that degree was negligible—it hardly even counted as an injury, nothing more than the shockwaves of the blast leaving him slightly uncomfortable. Neo, on the other hand, was smoking with black fumes all over as he lay on the ground, looking like a bat that had just been charcoal-grilled. "Fuck! Are you really that strong?!" Neo scrambled up, cursing loudly. In terms of cultivation realm, Torisa surpassed him; In terms of weaponry, Torisa outmatched him; In terms of combat experience, Torisa wasn't inferior to him in the slightest; In terms of bloodline, the black ape behind Torisa clearly carried a family heritage, very similar to Muri's Benda family; Even when it came to having a rebellious streak, Neo still insisted he was a loyal servant of Order, whereas Torisa had betrayed the Church of Order for his own desires three centuries ago. Neo couldn't even beat him at treason. Virtually every critical factor measured in battle was tilted against him. Karen genuinely couldn't fathom what Neo hoped to accomplish by provoking him. Did he just have an itch to get beaten up? Or had Neo's psychological issues suddenly flared up and worsened, driving him on a suicide mission? Karen couldn't make sense of it. He lifted his left palm, and the Key to the Rubik's Cube materialized once again. The deduction that had been interrupted earlier resumed, now supplemented by Neo's bizarre behavior. The battle raged on. Once the initial probing exchanges concluded, the fight devolved into a one-sided beatdown of Neo. Whether in exchanges of spells or brutal close-quarters melee, Torisa held absolute supremacy. Neo was repelled, sent flying, and knocked down again and again. It was only thanks to the high tier of his bloodthirsty aberrant demon lineage that he was able to sustain himself through sheer vitality. Still, Neo's tenacity wasn't entirely fruitless. He was in miserable shape, to be sure, but a few scratches were beginning to appear on Torisa as well. Yet injuries so minor... Karen doubted they would offer him any meaningful advantage even if left for him to exploit. No, the truth was that Neo hadn't asked him to join the fray at all. Had Neo wanted his coordination, he wouldn't even have needed to speak; a simple gesture or signal during the fight providing an opening would have been enough for Karen to jump in. But Neo seemed intent on fighting all on his own. *Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang!* Clad in an armor of Light, Neo was battered so relentlessly by Torisa's assault that he could only scramble to defend, unable to find the slightest opening to counterattack. The sight struck Karen with a sense of déjà vu. Back on Snake Island, Neo had used this exact brand of relentless, overwhelming pressure to nearly shatter Ophelia's spirit. Now, it was Neo's turn to taste that medicine. "Fuck! How the hell am I so weak?!" Neo began bellowing curses. To think he dared to shout catchphrases in the middle of a fight! Sure enough, no sooner had he shouted than his armor of Light was shattered by a strike from Torisa's sword. Followed by a brutal kick, Neo was sent flying far into the distance once more. Habitually, Torisa paused for a fraction of a second—a measure to guard against Karen stepping in. He had assumed all along that Karen would intervene, so throughout his duel with Neo, he kept a substantial amount of his focus reserved on guard against him. That was one of the key reasons Neo, despite being entirely outmatched, had survived this long without being forced into an inescapable death trap. The cautious Torisa refused to expose any flaw to Karen, choosing instead the most conservative method—like wearing down a hawk—to dismantle Neo. Thus, Karen felt that despite not joining the battle, he was providing a far more effective distraction than if he had. *Pah!* Neo spat out a mouthful of sand and tapped his ear. "Karen, I'm still way too weak! This guy's been playing dead here for three hundred years, and I still can't beat him!" With that, Neo clashed with Torisa once more. Having gradually worn him down, Torisa finally found his opening. His sword thrust clean through the left side of Neo's chest. But having vast combat experience, he gave Neo no chance to trade blow for blow. Instead, he summoned fearsome flames of Order to force back the lunging Neo, while backing away slightly himself to reset his stance. Neo looked down at the wound on his chest and couldn't help but laugh. "A losing trade, Karen! Did you see that? A total loss! In the past, I loved playing the trade-off game. I loved watching the sheer disbelief in my enemies' eyes when they thought they were going to kill me, only to get countered and slain instead. "Now, I actively try to trade for a sliver of damage, paying such a high price, and I can't even collect the interest! How did I turn into such a piece of trash?!" Karen began to understand. He called out, "You are a piece of trash. Didn't you know that?" "Is that so? Why didn't you tell me sooner?" "Afraid of hurting your self-esteem." "Haha! Look at you, being so considerate!" "Of course. Look at yourself—background, resources, talent, fortune—which of those can even compare to mine? The only thing you have over me is that you're a few years older." "Damn, you're vicious! Fuck!" The next round of clashes erupted. This time, Neo's injuries were even more gruesome. His left arm took a savage slash from the blade; though not completely severed, only a third of the flesh and bone remained connected. Worst of all, Torisa had clearly imbued a peculiar energy into the blade this time, leaving it lingering in the wound and preventing Neo's aberrant demon bloodline from healing it in the short term. This elite squad captain from three hundred years ago was finally drawing the net closed and unleashing his killing intent. Yet at the start and end of every exchange, he still paused slightly for Karen, as if hinting: *If you don't step in now, your companion is going to die.* Neo swung his temporarily useless arm twice and spat, "You have the nerve to mock me, Karen? Take away your grandfather, and what the hell are you?!" Karen strongly suspected that during the last exchange, Neo's head hadn't been focused on fighting the enemy, but on formulating his sarcastic retort. "If it weren't for your grandfather, you'd be stuck marrying into someone's family as a live-in son-in-law! No, wait—without your grandfather, you wouldn't even have the qualifications to step through their front door! "All day long, it's 'my grandfather this, my grandfather that.' Anyone listening would think you're still an unweaned babe! I feel embarrassed for you!" Karen took a deep breath. Then he looked at Torisa and asked, "What are you waiting for? Kill him already." "Look at that, you're rattled! Hahahahaha!" Another round of fighting ended. This time, Neo took another slash across his chest. The laceration was only a fraction away from cutting him in half at the waist, forcing Neo to hunch forward, not daring to straighten his spine for fear of snapping himself in two. "Say something! What, touched a nerve so you've gone quiet? Can't refute it, can you?!" Karen said coldly, "If not for Miss Elisa, you'd be nothing more than a pile of dry bones chewed clean by rats in some freezing, foul ditch." Neo blinked, his breath visibly hitching. "Without the First Embrace Miss Elisa gave you, you would have died countless times over! "Without that old aberrant demon bastard tearing into that gentleman of Light in your head to split his focus, would you have ever had the chance to reclaim your body and be yourself again? "Without her, you wouldn't even exist right now, and you dare lecture me? "My grandfather is my grandfather after all. The same blood flows through our veins. He supports me, and I rely on him—what's wrong with that? "You, on the other hand—you took so much from someone, you built your entire destiny on a woman, and in the end, you stood by and watched her lose her mind and take her own life! What right does a piece of trash like you have to talk about anyone else?!" Neo began gasping for breath. "If I were you..." "If you were me, what?" "I would live well. I'd cherish the life she gave me, and live out her share of this world alongside my own!" Neo laughed, shouting back, "If I didn't know what a cold-hearted bastard you are, that speech might have actually comforted me! But you're right about one thing. Do you know why I've never let myself commit suicide? "Because she gave me the First Embrace! I am the continuation of her life! If only she had given it to anyone else, I wouldn't be in so much fucking agony!" Torisa's brow furrowed deeply. He was growing thoroughly irritated by these outside distractions. He held absolute supremacy, yet his opponent was treating the duel like an afterthought. As the next clash began, the Key to the Rubik's Cube in Karen's left palm ceased its rotation. Karen hadn't stopped it; the deduction had reached its conclusion. *So... that's how it is.* Karen let out a long breath. When the next exchange concluded, Neo managed to stand once more, but he looked thoroughly depleted. Barring some hidden trump card, he wouldn't survive another round. Torisa paused again for Karen. He sensed that it was finally time for Karen to strike. He had always considered Karen his true opponent in this encounter. Yet Karen remained still. Torisa resolved to dispatch one first. He raised his sword, but just as he prepared to launch his next assault, Karen moved, sprinting straight toward him. Pulling back his sword, turning, and focusing his mind, Torisa aborted his offensive and braced himself fully for Karen's attack. Yet Karen had no intention of striking Torisa. Having bluffed him into defending, Karen swerved sharply, appearing behind Neo and grabbing him by the nape of the neck like a misbehaving chick. The wings of Thousand Phantoms flapped furiously behind him, and Karen carried Neo as he fled toward the perimeter of the sand pool. "Heh, you cannot escape this underground realm." Seeing this, Torisa immediately gave chase, sword in hand. He was exceedingly swift, and carrying dead weight, Karen was clearly no match for his speed. But Karen didn't run far. The moment he crossed beyond the sand pool's boundaries, he halted and dropped Neo onto a flat stretch of rock beneath them. Neo rubbed his neck, complaining, "The way you grabbed me definitely had some personal grudge mixed into it." "Even if you're looking for cheap thrills, you shouldn't play like this." "I had a sudden bout of sentimental melancholy. Couldn't help it. I have to find new motivation to stay alive, and nothing works better than getting thoroughly beaten to a pulp. "Also, for the record, I never thought you were a kid who depended on his grandfather. If you truly relied on him, your days would be far safer and more comfortable than they are now. That's always been why I respect you. "*Cough, cough...*" Those last two coughs were a hint that he had offered a way out of the argument, and Karen ought to return the favor. "I still think you rely on women, though." "Fuck!" Just then, Torisa caught up, stepping out beyond the sand pool. For the first time in three hundred years, he had crossed that line. The curse he bore prevented him from straying too far from this area—a fact he had tested countless times with his consciousness. The furthest he could reach was the cavern entrance, which left him more than enough room for the battle at hand. That was why he had claimed neither Karen nor Neo could escape: his pursuit range was plenty wide. Torisa raised his sword, pointing it at Karen. "I want a proper duel with you. Even now, I still have doubts about your identity. Though I understand you deceived me, there are things I want an explanation for." Karen took a step forward and asked, "And what gives you the right to demand an explanation from me?" "Didn't you see clearly just now? Fine, then I'll let you—what is happening?!" Yellow mist began to billow from Torisa's body. His power was rapidly vanishing, the two withered branches deep within his soul began to disintegrate, and his cultivation realm plummeted at a terrifying pace... He let out a wail of agony. The sword slipped from his fingers and clattered to the ground, and he dropped to his knees. "What is this? What is happening? How is this possible?! My power... my realm... my body..." Neo smirked. Karen said: "Allow me to give you that explanation. From the moment you told me about your shortcut, I was certain that your path was entirely wrong, that it was impossible to yield any results. "So I was always curious: even though your upward momentum stalled, why did your realm and strength genuinely increase by so much? "This sand pool is actually the medium for an illusion. "You killed Compasini, but you also fell under Compasini's dying illusion. He crafted a sweet dream for you. "All your insights and the rapid elevation of your realm weren't because your method worked, but because Compasini was toying with you inside that illusion. He let you advance rapidly, then severed your progress, making you joyful, sorrowful, depressed, and anguished at his whim. "Now, think back carefully. After slaying Compasini, why did you suddenly come up with such a preposterous method to advance yourself? "Did you truly think of it on your own, or did 'someone' plant the suggestion in your mind? "All of this was his revenge. This was Compasini's retribution." Torisa's eyes filled with horror and despair, his body trembling violently. "In his revenge, "Torisa, you imprisoned and slaughtered the companions who trusted and followed you, the very ones who came here alongside you to slay Compasini and the Desert priests. You trapped yourself and them here, enduring three hundred years of hard labor in a living prison, suffering three centuries of torment and agony. "All for the sake of a laughable dream."