Neo sat cross-legged on his bed, the thickly wrapped bundle resting across his lap. The door to his chamber was locked, the curtains drawn. The faint hum of mana lamps made the silence heavier.
Celeste hovered just at the edge of his Soulscape, her usually bright tone replaced with anxious worry.
"Neo… you don't have to do this. That sword is alive. Worse, it's hungry...demons are far worse when they're hungry. It'll try to corrupt you, and once it finds a crack—"
He raised his head, eyes steady but tired, voice calm. "Celeste. I know."
"But—"
"I've got better chances than anyone else in this clan. I have Chaos and Soul—two elements that devour corruption, not bow to it." His tone was cool, unwavering as he smiled lightly trying to relieve her tension. "Besides, I'm supposed to be some kind of hero. If I leave this thing lying around, some poor idiot would eventually pick it up and lose himself, endangering the clan...or worse. I can't risk that."
Celeste fell silent, biting her lip. She knew exactly how dangerous demonic items were.
Neo exhaled slowly, resting his hand on the sheath. The moment he touched it, a pulse of cold ran through him. His Paladin System screamed against the demonic energy, his very soul rejecting the weapon's existence. Whispers, faint moans of lost souls, clawed at his ears.
"...So this is what you really are." he gazed upon the demonic weapon with a cold look.
In one smooth motion, he unsheathed the blade.
The air split with a shriek of raw infernal energy. It flooded into him—pain, despair, blood, fire—visions of burning kingdoms, endless torment, false memories stitched together from countless victims. The weight of it nearly drove him to his knees as the world tilted violently.
"Neo—!" Celeste's voice broke as his face twisted in rage and agony. She shot straight out of the Soulscape, even though she knew she was powerless to anchor or help him in any way.
And then—
Something yanked.
A violent pull on his very soul dragged him under.
---
Neo opened his eyes.
He stood in a vast throne room carved of black stone. Red light flickered from countless statues that lined the walls—knights frozen mid-battle, warriors with faces twisted in agony, victims clutching their chests in terror. All their eyes glowed crimson, all turned toward the seat of dominion. Some seemingly petrified at the moment of death, crawling with arms outstretched towards the throne as if seeking some sort of hope.
On the throne lounged a woman.
She was exquisite and terrible—two curved horns swept back from her forehead, long dark violet hair streaked with crimson, and eyes like slits of burning rubies. A two-piece gown revealed far more than it concealed, draping her in equal parts arrogance and temptation.
Her lips curled into a smirk as she gazed down at him. Possessive. Hungry. Yet indescribably arrogant. "Well, well… so you finally appear, young human."
Neo glanced at himself—his body was no longer the childlike form he carried outside, but the hardened frame of his sixteen-year-old self, caught up with his mental age. His fingers flexed experimentally. Then his gaze rose, steady as a blade.
"You must be Lilura."he said simply, his tone strangely casual.
Her smirk widened into a chuckle. "Yes. I am Lilura of the great Succubus clan. Gravel at my presence, lowly human and rejoice at the honor of being iny presence." Her tone dripped with obsession, as though he were already hers.
Neo just nodded once. "Figures. I heard a lot of cursing on the way here."
"The weak can only curse in their damnation. They are beneath me… and so are you."
Neo's expression didn't change. His voice dropped to an unnerving calm, his eyes narrowing like sharpened blades as a small frown appeared on his face. "You know what I've come to hate recently?"
A flicker of mild unease crossed her face. "…What are you talking about, mort—?"
"It's being yanked into other people's domains."
BOOM!
The throne room shuddered as an oppressive aura exploded outward. Chaos and Soul elements surged around him, glitching reality itself.
In a blur of static and lightning, Neo appeared before the throne, fist cocked back. His arm was wreathed in lightning, chaos, and soul all at once—a lethal convergence that rattled the hall
The punch fell.
CRACK!
The black throne shattered into fragments, the force quaking through the domain.
Lilura gasped, her crimson eyes widening. "How can you be so fast?!"
She twisted away just as the strike split the stone floor, her voice still carrying obsession—but now tinged with unease.
From the dust cloud where the throne had been, a low chuckle echoed.
Neo stepped out, a dark grin on his lips, his eyes glowing predatory red. "It's simple." He raised his hand and shaped a jagged blade of Chaos energy, its edges flickering with unstable static. "I just want to kill you that much."
Lilura's smirk returned, sharper now, her own hand closing around the demonic katana—the blade pulsing eagerly in her grip as though it had always belonged to her. "Perfect. A strong pet is always the most satisfying to break."
"Yeah...good luck with that."
BANG!
He was instantly before her again, his sword reflected in her eyes as it descended with the weight of three elements.
Their eyes locked, predator to predator.
And then, with a roar and a hiss of steel—
They clashed.
The shockwave from the collision decimated the room as large jagged cracks spread outward across the floor from the point of impact, tearing through several pillars and even some of the statues.
The clash of steel rang out in the ruined throne room, sparks scattering like fireflies as Chaos blade met the demonic katana. Neo's movements were precise—fast, efficient, unyielding. Lilura moved like liquid shadow, her blade carving arcs that would have felled armies, her body twisting with an unnatural grace. Yet every time her weapon blurred, Neo was there, intercepting, parrying, striking in a way that completely cancelled out her strikes.
It wasn't flashy. It wasn't perfect. But it pushed her back. No matter what angle she came at him from, no matter how deceptively she feinted, he always saw through it and countered accordingly. Shadow tendrils lashed, crimson blasts of blood and demonic mana shot towards him, she conjured several illusionary clones to surround and confuse him, but he saw through it all.
"Great Succubus clan my ass, struggling with a six year old."he sneered, baiting her.
Her eyes narrowed, crimson slits flashing. "Tch, insignificant worm."
The air shimmered—
Suddenly, Neo was no longer in the throne room. He stood in a burning village, screams filling the air, flames licking at the sky. A woman reached for him, her face familiar—his mother's. "Neo… why did you abandon us? How could you do this!"
Behind her, Adrian's voice rose in a snarl, his figure chained and bloodied. "This is your fault. You let us die."
The illusion was flawless. Perfectly crafted to rip into his heart.
But Neo only sneered. His Chaos blade hummed with static.as he stabbed at a distant point, the focal of the illusion spell, cutting through the illusion as if swatting away a cobweb. The vision shattered instantly, fragments dissolving like broken glass.
Before Lilura could blink, he was in her face, his blade grazing her throat—close enough to nick her.
Her eyes widened in shock. "Impossible—!"
She reeled back, stumbling, only to take a fist full to the face.
CRACK!
The blow sent her flying, her body smashing through one of the crimson-eyed statues, it form exploding into grey dust. She twisted midair, flipping gracefully before her boots skidded across the stone floor. The demonic katana clattered from her grip, skittering away.
Neo's stance remained coiled and sharp, blade raised, his gaze unflinching. "What's the matter? I thought demons were supposed to be strong, but here's a prime example of how weak you all are." His smile was small, calm, but dangerously sharp at the edges.
Lilura froze where she landed, her chest rising and falling with sharp breaths. Then her knees quivered—whether from strain or rage, even she didn't seem sure. Her nails dragged slowly across her lips, smearing blood as her tongue flicked out to taste it.
"Mmm…" She let out a shaky, breathless laugh, head tilting back as the sound warped into manic cackles. "Binding myself to such a weak vessel drains me down to this… an Intermediate rank. This is meant to be a shelter for the sleeping. Hah, I decided to possess this vessel on a whim to see what was so interesting about you." Her gaze snapped to him, glowing with obsession. "Yet you… a boy who awakened yesterday… fight me as if we are equals."
She rose to her full height, her long hair whipping around her like a banner of violet flame. "You're really something, boy. No mortal has ever ignored my illusions. No mortal has ever dared fight me without trembling."
Neo adjusted his grip, his Chaos blade humming like a predator in his hand. "Maybe you've just been picking easy prey." His tone was casual, almost mocking as he shrugged. "Won't surprise me if you got this far on preying on the weak-willed." The calm smile lingered, cold and dangerous.
Lilura's crimson eyes dilated as her lips curled back in a bloodstained grin. "You infuriate me. You defy me. You ignore me." She laughed again, head tilting as she licked the blood clean from her lips. Her voice dropped into a husky purr, sharp with madness.
"And it only makes me want you more."
Neo chuckled darkly, taking a slow step forward, arcs of crimson lightning crawling up his arm, blending with the Chaos blade as he raised it towards her. "Then come and try to take me."
Their eyes locked—her obsession, his defiance—and with a roar, their blades clashed once more, sparks and shadows dancing wildly in the shattered throne room.