“….fine.”
“How much time do we have until we can save the Child of Mana?” Ares asked.
“I don’t know.”
A lengthy discussion took place.
Jack remained silent unless Neo spoke to him to support his claims.
He was trying to recover from the shock of having their identity revealed.
Never in his wildest dreams had he thought Neo would reveal they were from the future.
‘Wouldn’t this mess up the future?’ Jack thought, worriedly.
As the meeting progressed, Ares asked the question everyone had been thinking of.
“Neo Hargraves, you said we have no choice but to rescue the Child of Mana,”
“I did.”
“But if we try to rescue the Child of Mana, we would wake up Typhaon,” Ares said. “Last time we did something similar, the Father of Anomalies almost woke up. We can’t take such risks again.”
The time Ares talked about was when they had tried to seal the Savage Expanse – the forest where Typhaon lived – into a separate dimension.
Back then, Typhaon destroyed everyone who came to seal him and nearly woke up.
“Neo Hargraves, we aren’t capable of defeating Typhaon if he wakes up today.
“If you want us to follow your plan, tell me, do you have a method of slaying Typhaon?”
Ares continued.
“Can you say with certainty that you would stop Typhaon before he razes the world to the ground?”
“I can.”
Neo’s words made Ares stiffen.
“My Death. It’s on the verge of reaching the next stage. I can deal with Typhaon after that.”
“Pffft!”
Rhea, the Titan of Nature, couldn’t hold back her laughter.
More people chuckled.
“If you can reach the next stage? When will that happen? Today? Tomorrow? A year later? A decade later?
“There are dozens of Awakeners who can never reach the next stage despite being on the verge of a breakthrough. How are you sure you are different?”
Rhea stopped laughing and spat thorny words.
“Even if you break through successfully, what guarantee do you have that you can defeat Typhaon? Or are you asking us to gamble on you?”
Her sharp glare bore holes into Neo.
“The entire world fears Typhaon. It’s not without reason. Stop acting like you are better than us when you have done nothing to prove your claims.”
“Iapetus can confirm I’m not lying.”
“And I can confirm you are delusional.”
Before Neo could retort, Emma opened her mouth.
“Neo, can you use Death now?”
“….no.”
“Hahaha, look at this,” Rhea spoke up. “He can’t use his Death element, and he is saying he will defeat Typhaon with it—”
Jack slammed his hand onto the table, cutting off Rhea mid-sentence.
He stared at Rhea and spoke in a cold tone.
“It’s a common occurrence for demigods to lose their elemental affinity mastery when they refuse the Concepts imbued in their bloodline.
“The elemental mastery returns later when the demigod successfully builds their own Concept. Neo is going through the same occurrence,” he explained.
“First time I’m hearing about it,” Rhea said.
“Not my fault that monkeys aren’t taught to wipe their butts.”
“What….!?”
Rhea’s face became beet red.
Iapteus couldn’t hold back and let out a chuckle.
Rhea, being a hologram, couldn’t hurt Jack, and directed her anger to Iapteus.
“Is this funny to you!?”
“No, it’s no- pfft.”
Rhea seemed ready to pounce on Iapteus and swallow him whole.
Peses, the Titan of Destruction, had to intervene to stop them from fighting.
He was almost punched by Rhea too and had his injuries re-opened.
“You are dead when we meet,” Rhea glared at Jack.
Francis smiled bitterly when Rhea left while stomping her foot.
He turned to Neo.
“While I do agree she was harsh, Rhea’s words were correct.
“For all we know, you could be under hypnosis of a monster or an enemy awakener.
“The words you’ve spoken could be lies that you believe to be truth.
“Even if they are not, we can’t put all of our chips into you, believing you can defeat Typhaon.”
Francis locked his fingers and leaned forward.
“Neo Hargraves, I want to believe you. I truly do.
“However, you have zero credibility.”
Neo almost revealed his past life identity as Francis’s friend.
However, he stopped.
‘If I reveal my identity, I’m sure Francis will help me, but what about the Awakener Association?’
‘They might still think I’m under a monster or an enemy awakener’s control and that I’m trying to manipulate Francis.’
‘It would worsen the relationship between Titans and Awakeners.’
Titans and the Awakener Association were on friendly terms.
But they would wage war against each other in the future.
Why would two organizations, who wanted to protect the world, nearly destroy the world due to their battles?
‘What if everything happened because of today?’
Titans who supported Neo in fighting Typhaon.
Awakener Association who were against waking up Typhaon.
The discord between the two organizations would be major if Neo tried to ask for Francis’s help.
‘Let’s not do that.’
‘I’ll handle Typhaon myself.’
‘I did ask for their help, but it was only to make my path easier.’
While Neo was drowning in his thoughts, Francis’s mind was churning at a high speed too.
He opened his mouth.
“I’ve said my piece. However, I do think we should be prepared in case Neo Hargraves’ words are true,” Francis said. “I will leave the final decision to you, Ares. After all, Neo is a member of your Association.”
Ares drummed his fingers on the table, deep in thought.
“We won’t rescue the Child of Mana.”
“But the world will end if you don’t!” Jack shouted.
“The world ended when the apocalypse hit,” Emma answered him.
Her words made everything clear to Jack.
‘They won’t fight Typhaon. They are too afraid of it.’
‘Just the thought of failure is enough to stop them from taking the gamble.’
“I can’t believe losers like you became Gods,” Jack spat and left the meeting hall.
***
Trivia:
Anomalies are numbered in a first-found, first-named basis. Their numbers are not related to their age or strength.
