Leonora nodded with difficulty.
Before Neo could push the Aura of Death into her body, Arthur grabbed his hand.
“What are you doing!? You will kill her!”
“…”
“Stop this! We can still save—”
“Arthur, face the truth already.”
“What truth!? Can’t you see she’s still alive!?”
Arthur grabbed Neo’s collar.
Lucas and Nathan were about to intervene until Neo raised his hand to stop them.
He looked Arthur in the eye.
Arthur lowered his gaze after a few seconds.
“I’m sorry. I overreacted.”
He let go of Neo’s collar.
“This is my fault. Why am I even shouting at you?”
He looked as if he was about to cry.
Neo opened his mouth.
“It’s not your fault. She was not just strong enough.”
“…What?”
Arthur looked at Neo as if he had heard something absurd.
“The Shadow used Invincible, didn’t it?
“That means it forcefully revived itself by fusing with another elemental seed.
“It should’ve been weaker due to it and she died to that—”
Arthur punched Neo in the face before he could say another word.
He would’ve attacked Neo again if not for others holding back.
Neo staggered.
Arthur glared at him.
“What did you just say!? Is that how you talk about your friend who just died!?”
Condensed golden lightning flickered around Arthur.
The lightning disappeared after a brief moment.
‘He is angry after watching his friends die and he is exhausted.’
‘It’s still not enough to break his seal?’
‘That bastard is a sadist to have left such seal on his own child,’ Neo thought as he wiped the blood trickling down his nose.
Neo knew his words were insulting to those who died.
But he had to corner Arthur physically and mentally while the opportunity presented and try to break the seal on his unique skill.
“Did I say something wrong?”
“You…!”
The condensed golden lightning did not return.
After knowing the seal was nowhere close to its breaking point, Neo ignored Arthur and approached Leonora.
She was dead.
“Store her corpse,” he said to Nathan.
Neo turned to Arthur.
“What happened here? I know you guys lost, but how did your Shadow escape?”
Arthur clenched his jaw as he retold everything except Sean’s actions.
Neo could guess it, but he did not say anything for the moment.
“We’ll take a short break before moving again.”
The group sat down.
Lucas drank a healing potion to tend to his injuries.
Harrison was weakened after using Invincible and being almost turned to a shadow monster before being baptized.
His mental state was worse.
Sean sat in the far corner.
He pulled his knees closer and muttered gibberish.
The venomous words Clara’s Shadow spat at him dealt a huge blow to him.
Arthur approached Neo.
He no longer looked like he was about to cry and he stared down at Neo with a hardened expression.
“Did you know already?”
“Know what?”
“About how many among us would die?”
“…”
“You did, right? You have an unusually strong connection to Death. You should be able to see more than normal Death wielders.”
“That’s the domain of Fate affinity.”
“Did you know or not?”
Arthur’s eyes glowed.
‘Looks like I really pissed him off if he using that Spell.’
Lying when Arthur’s eyes were glowing was useless.
Neo had to speak the truth.
“I did my best to make sure no one died.”
Arthur bit his lips after hearing his answer.
His eyes stopped glowing and he looked away.
After the short break, Neo gave the orders.
“Harrison, Nathan, Arthur, and Sean will secure the Corner, and Lucas and I will go rescue Jack.”
Nathan already explained to Arthur that Neo defeated Lucas’s Shadow instead of securing the Corner and so did Lucas explain to Harrison.
It came as a huge shock to them.
But there was no time to question Neo about it.
“You will rescue Jack?” Nathan questioned.
“Yes, he is a Shadow wielder. He should be revived at the end of the Window anytime now.
“I don’t plan to leave him there and escape alone.”
“He is alive…?”
Arthur blinked.
His eyes gained a bit of hope.
Neo turned to Nathan for the explanation.
“Yes, we Shadow wielders need to consume our Shadows to awaken the shadow element.
“That makes us half-Shadows.
“We can revive just like the Shadows. It takes a long time, and there are more restrictions, but we can do it,” Nathan said.
‘So that how it works. It was never explained in the novel properly,’ Neo thought.
He remembered the Shadow element book he took from library.
It didn’t talk about consuming one’s own Shadow to awaken the element.
Either what Nathan said was a secret way of awakening.
Or it happened naturally during the awakening and barely anyone noticed it.
Neo looked at Lucas.
“Arthur’s Shadow will take time to revive and they can’t travel quickly without your Shadow’s help.
“We can rescue Jack and close the Window without fighting against Arthur’s Shadow if we are fast enough.
“That’s why I want your help.
“I’ll understand it if you refuse my request since it’s not part of the mission.”
Lucas’ portals would increase their movement speed by a large margin.
It was why Neo wanted Lucas to enter the Window with them.
‘Besides rescuing Jack, I have the Quest to complete and I need to get that thing from the end of the Window.’
‘I can’t leave without completing all tasks.’
“Can I count on your help?”
“Of course.”
Lucas smiled.
Neo explained how they should secure the Corner.
He left with Lucas after giving a detailed plan for different scenarios to the group.
Lucas created multiple portals to cover the distance quickly.
After entering Depth Level 4, Lucas reduced the usage of portals.
The presence of non-elemental Divine Energy became scarce as the Depth Level increased.
If they continued to use portals, Lucas would’ve exhausted himself before they reached the end of the Window.
“Let’s use portals to avoid monsters. It’s good enough we don’t need waste our time on them,” Neo said.
“Understood.”
While they were moving towards the doorway of Depth Level 5, Neo spoke,
“It might sound rude, but I was surprised when you accepted my request so easily. Thank you.”
“Don’t worry about it. It was an order from my Clan and it’s the reason why I’ve been saving my skill.”