After completing the first Trial, Neo woke up and found himself in a room, surrounded by his mom and two guards.
However...
That was last night. Right now, this morning, Neo sat on a chair adjacent to Esme, who lay on a sickbed in the hospital.
When he woke up, it was only a few hours before morning, and Esme hadn't woken up since then.
Because of this, Hera wondered if her son had turned out to be the obsessor, as Neo was worried sick about her.
"Neo," she called him, calmly placing her hands on his shoulder.
Hera kept quiet for a few moments while staring at Esme, a smile parting her lips as she confidently announced that Esme was dead.
One reason was that she hadn't woken up from the origin, and the other was that she hadn't been breathing the entire time.
"She isn't," Neo responded.
Only he knew what happened in the Ymir chamber.
When the statues of the gods reached Neo, he expected them to slash him down.
However, they knelt, surrounding him, and spoke in unison.
"O child of Ymir."
The statue that had sat on the throne, replacing Zeus, Ymir, stood up. Each step it took forward shook the foundation of the chamber.
When it reached Neo, even though it squatted, the statue was still bigger than anything he had ever seen.
Neo, who had felt petrified earlier, began to calm down. However, he still felt the enormous pain Paul had dealt to him.
Then the origin interface blinked in front of his vision.
-[Congratulations! You have located the Ymir Sanctuary]-
But Neo knew that wasn't meant for him, but for the dying girl on his shoulder.
"Do something," he finally said.
"That which you seek can only be found when you don't seek it."
"You would rather let your child die than give me a drop of the Niflheim that can save her?"
Silence.
After a brief moment, the altar ahead of him creaked, and Neo saw a floating potion bottle with only one drop of blood inside it.
He carefully laid Esme on the floor and groaned in pain. Neo managed to collect the relic and walked back to her.
Before giving her the blood, he looked at the Ymir statue.
He was about to ask for a bond with Esme, then figured the blood of a primordial god of frost was more than enough to complete an incomplete.
After Neo gave her the blood, when he raised his head, the statues were gone, having disappeared into thin air.
Probably because there was nothing in the chamber that needed guidance anymore.
"System, bond with target, Esme."
-[Condition: Once the target dies, you lose the ability]-
-[Accept?]- [Decline]-
That was the real reason Neo wanted to bond with her right now, to know if she was dead.
Because Esme wasn't breathing.
-[Target: Esme Esdeath
Loyalty: 100%
Trust: 99%
Affection: 75%
Bloodline: Ymir
Ability: Frost Monarch
Main Ability: Aeternyx Glacia: Allows the user to freeze space and time itself, creating a reality where only she can move for 30 seconds. [Cooldown: 10 seconds]
Neo blinked. The main ability had to be something he couldn't select.
But now he understood how Esme suddenly appeared behind Loki and Paul. Aeternyx Glacia was impressive.
Not as much as Hera's trump card, but still.
Sets: Cryo Curse, primordial ice manipulation, Chrono Frost Domain, Frozen Touch.
-[System Notification: You have yet to select one of the target's ability sets]-
Neo sighed. He needed something that felt like her trump card. Still, he tried again.
"I choose Aeternyx Glacia," he said, and as usual, the system didn't allow the selection of the target's trump card.
Chrono Frost Domain, nearly similar to her trump card, nearly.
Inside the Chrono Frost Domain, enemies' movements become sluggish due to the immense cold they feel.
And their attacks are delayed, only hitting a second later.
That was Neo's choice.
-[Process... 10%...40%...67%...90%...100%]-
-[Ding]
-[Congratulations: You have obtained the ability: Chrono Frost Domain (Active) Cooldown: 2 hrs]-
-[Ding]
-[Congratulations: You have gained access to the target's future]-
-[Talent: The Unseen Eye]-
Exactly what Neo wanted. This would be the first time he used the Unseen Eye.
Neo closed his eyes and thought about one person, Esme.
Like a movie, he saw her life playing inside his head, up to the point where she drank the blood and beyond.
He saw her with Hera this time, both destroying Atlantis and Nether Academy together.
Which meant Neo had just changed the future by giving her that blood.
Originally, she wasn't with Hera.
But still, the future of him dying hadn't changed, or else Hera and Esme wouldn't have done that.
Then he saw something different. Even though in the original novel, Esme remained loyal to Neo, she kept her boundaries as a bodyguard.
But now, Neo was seeing something else. When he opened his eyes, he blinked.
"I don't understand. Why is she obsessed with me? 75% affection shouldn't be enough for an obsession, right?" he asked himself.
Then the origin interface hovered in front of him.
-[Quest: Locate the Primordial Sanctuary, eliminate the foes, and complete yourself with a god]-
-[Alert: Those who have not been completed shall die]-
-[Quest has ended]-
-[Name: Incomplete Neo]-
-[Remark: You cannot be completed; even the weakest god bonding with you will kill you]-
[You'll now be transported back to your world and await your next trial in 5 days]
Neo had already figured the origin wouldn't blame him if he didn't bond with any god.
The part that worried him was the fact that the academy would now run an awakening test to see the bloodlines the students had awakened.
And when they realized he hadn't awakened anything, Neo sighed.
"I'm feeling sleepy already," he said weakly. "So why hasn't she woken up?"
---
Pulling him out of his thoughts was the slightest twitch of Esme's finger.
"She moved," he said.
But Hera didn't believe him. Then they both heard Esme's first word. "Neo," she called weakly.
Seeing how Neo walked to her made Hera's blood boil.
The guard standing outside came in with a call for Hera. "Madam, it's the Queen of Atlantis. She has called back," said the guard.
Hera walked outside majestically and ordered the guard to stay inside with Neo.
"Hello, darling. Long time. Ran into some pirate issues. I heard you were saying something about an engagement?" the Queen of Atlantis said.
"Yes," Hera sighed. "A strong alliance with the surface is what you've always wanted," she said as she walked outside the hospital.
Her black car was waiting for her to get in. "I'll be heading to Atlantis with my son to discuss his engagement with your daughter, Ivy."
"Pardon, which of your sons exactly?"
"Neo," Hera said.
Silence.
"Neo? You mean the weakest one? Pardon, but I can't allow that."
Hera chuckled. "Do you want me to burn down Atlantis?"
Silence again...
"They'll make a great match then, tatatah."
"Good."
Her plan was simple, Neo must not belong to Esme.