"Neo?" a familiar, soothing voice called out, one Neo had been expecting. Esme.
Soon after, the trapped students quieted down, or rather, they were all dead.
Neo turned around and straightened himself as he faced the two figures in front of him, then his eyes lazily fell on Esme.
She was confused. "Neo," she spoke calmly. "Why?" she asked.
But before Neo could respond, Paul pulled both attentions towards himself.
"Let me tell you why," Paul sighed and looked around. "This Neo knows about the existence of the Ymir blood drop, but clearly, you also know it's compatible with only frost attributes, so who the hell sent you? We want to know," Paul said.
Neo didn't reply, he quietly kept staring at Esme, more than enough puzzle for Paul to decipher its pieces.
But he was surprised.
"What? You were willing to risk your life just to give her the Ymir blood drop? Isn't that madness? I thought she was the only one obsessed with you, haha," Paul laughed.
"Me?" Esme's lips parted.
Meeting Mr. White, stressing his mental health just to practice the map, risking his life and killing these people...
Was because of her?
Esme found it hard to process it. I could kill for you were only spoken love words, but Neo actually did it.
"You shouldn't exist, you're not Neo, what are you? We know you're not Neo," Paul said.
His words finally made Neo notice him. When Paul initially said we, he didn't mean him and Esme.
In other words, Paul wasn't human if he somehow found out Neo shouldn't exist, at least not this way.
"We?" Neo asked.
"You think we wouldn't find out once you've stepped into our world? We must kill you to keep the balance of our world," Paul continued.
Neo's eyes expanded, having figured who Paul might be. "The origin?" he guessed, but he wasn't entirely correct.
"Just a fragment," Paul smirked.
"Hold on," Esme turned to face Paul. "You want to kill Neo?" she asked.
"Yes, ice princess, now step..."
Slit.
In one swift movement, Esme cut down Paul's head, fast and effective, her long sword barely soaked with blood.
But then, the gay student behind Neo stood up.
It freaked Neo out to the point where he had to leap back.
"Shit, don't cut off my head, you moron," it was Paul, or rather, a fragment of the origin who now possessed the gay senior's body.
Regardless, Esme was going to cut off his head again, or so she thought.
This time, Paul attacked first, he slammed Esme against the left side of the glowing crystal, then the right, and then up against the cave.
When he attempted to crush her against the ground, he saw someone in front of him.
Neo covered the space too quickly and made an attempt to cut Paul's throat with his dagger.
This interrupted the levitation attack as Paul leaped backwards.
"Keep her out of this, wasn't I your target?" Neo gripped the dagger tight.
He was petrified, honestly, he knew he was in big trouble.
The origin seeks out things that shouldn't belong in their world, if Neo was one of those things, then the origin is even more dangerous than the real world.
Even if he managed to escape Paul, there's a bigger possibility that the origin would find another means to find him.
"Shit, this is shit," Neo cursed. "Shit!" he yelled and latched at Paul.
However, the origin was half a demigod, Neo's attacks were a hundred times slower.
Esme on the other hand was bitterly bruised on the floor, she saw how Neo was relentlessly trying hard to push back Paul.
'No, I can't die, Esme must live, Esme must become strong, I'm not going to dieeeeee!!!'
In the end, he was weak, very weak to the point where Paul was even toying with him. "Hahaha, you're seriously the weakest thing I've seen in my life."
Esme didn't know how, but she could read Neo's thoughts.
She tried picking herself up, but she couldn't. Until Neo's arm was cut off. "Rrrghaaaaa!" Neo screamed in agonizing pain.
His face and body covered in blood. His calm poker expression wasn't there...
This boy was scared.
"You seemed happy killing others just now, well this is karma for you," Paul mused.
He had thought Neo died on his knees, so when he squatted beside the bloodied weak boy, Neo bit off his ear.
"Death? You think I'm scared of dying?" Neo stood. "Hell, I died before, hell, I'm going to die again," Neo added.
"Freaking bastard!!!" accompanying his scream, Paul picked Neo by the neck.
This was what Esme could see through her closing eyes. Then all of a sudden, she gripped her blade.
When Paul was strangling Neo in mid air, he felt something or someone pass him.
"Where..." he couldn't complete his words while wondering how Esme wasn't on the floor but rather behind him.
He didn't react quickly before he threw Neo off and turned around...
Slit.
This time, it was the tip of her blade that cut through Paul's neck, the head slowly rolled down and the body collapsed along with it.
Neo tried catching his breath, he was in a mess.
As Esme fell on the floor, he noticed Paul managed to stab her rib with the dagger.
"Esme," Neo quickly rushed towards her but her eyes were beginning to close.
He dragged his feet on the floor while holding his ripped off arm, even though he was in pain, he managed to reach her.
Esme coughed out a little blood beside her lips. "I didn't know you cared about me this much," she sighed.
When she said that, Neo received a notification.
-[Target: Esme Esdeath]-
-[Alert: The target is now available for bonding]-
Loyalty: 100%
Trust: 99%
Affection: 75%
But Neo didn't care much about the interface right now, after all, if Esme dies, then there's no use bonding with her.
"It wasn't supposed to happen like this," Neo muttered.
Adding to his frustration, the origin interface appeared.
-[Quest: Locate The Primordial Sanctuary, eliminate the foes, and complete yourself with a god]-
-[Time Limit Left: 0 hours 20 mins 30 secs]-
-[ALERT: Those who have not been completed shall die]-
The first thought was the Niflheim blood drop, Neo opened the door leading to the chamber and he was welcomed with a complete massacre.
Fresh blood painted the ground and bones splintered around, the statues responsible for this acted innocent where they stood, and again it was dark.
He went back and picked Esme on his shoulder, nearly falling but held his stance with his knee pinning the floor.
As he stepped in further, just like the students, the flames on the wall lit up one at a time.
Neo was scared out of his shit.
But he knew if anything happened, Esme wouldn't die because her bloodline was compatible with Ymir.
Even at that, his life was at risk.
And then the statues moved, all facing one direction that led to one person.
Neo.