Extra's Death: I Am the Son of Hades

Cole's expression turned serious.

The faint tiredness in his eyes sharpened into something wrath.

"To defeat the Daos."

They didn't speak after that for a while.

Ahead of them stood a temple.

The structure looked old, worn down by time rather than battle.

The stone steps were cracked, and the pillars leaned slightly, as if they were holding themselves upright out of habit rather than strength.

Cole walked forward first.

Neo followed.

As they entered the temple, Neo's thoughts drifted back to everything he had seen since stepping into the True World and his own Elemental Cosmos.

The corpses he had seen in the True Blessed Lands.

The Supremes.

All of it felt deliberate now.

Like Celestial Worthy had been peeling back layers of truth, one step at a time, preparing him without ever saying it outright.

In the Elemental Cosmos, reaching Stage 7 meant merging with a Supreme.

It was already dangerous there.

In the True World, it was worse.

Reaching the Fourth Step was enough for the Dao to take control.

Once that happened, the cultivator would disappear and die. Their body would no longer be theirs.

Neo finally understood.

Supremes hadn't been created as a reward.

They were a warning.

A ceiling placed there to make people stop chasing strength blindly.

At the center of the temple sat an old man.

He was seated cross-legged, back straight, hands resting on his knees.

His breathing was shallow but steady.

His face was calm, yet deeply lined, as if years of exhaustion had been carved directly into his skin.

He looked like Mu De.

Or rather, like the version of Mu De Neo had met in the True Blessed Lands, only far older.

"That's Celestial Worthy. You've already met him. He was the only one who survived my rampage."

Neo looked at the old man more closely.

Cole continued, "I recovered my sanity before I killed him too. After that, I helped him grow stronger. He reached the peak of the Third Realm, so we could find a way to kill the Daos. He also lost his parents to Dao."

Neo nodded.

Celestial Worthy's Path was sealed.

He could sense it clearly.

The seal was powerful, and it carried Cole's Intent. It was meant to prevent him from advancing further.

To prevent the Dao from taking his body.

Still, even with that protection, Celestial Worthy's condition was bad.

He looked worn out, and fragile. As if a strong wind could knock him over.

"Why does he look so haggard?" Neo asked.

The old man answered before Cole could.

"This world has almost no Qi," Celestial Worthy said, his eyes still closed. "And what little remains has turned malevolent due to all the death and despair."

His voice was calm, but Neo could hear the strain beneath it.

"My Heart Demons attack constantly. If I don't remain in meditation, I'll lose my mind and die."

Celestial Worthy didn't open his eyes.

Neo could sense it now. His consciousness wasn't fully present. Part of him was asleep, locked in an internal battle.

He was fighting something in his dreams.

"Heart Demons?" Neo asked.

"Yes," Celestial Worthy replied. "They are born from one's impure thoughts. You don't have them. Your Dao Heart (Willpower) is too strong. They're destroyed the moment they form."

Neo nodded slowly.

"And I didn't add them in the True Blessed Lands, because if they appeared there, they could've affected me as well."

Neo nodded.

Then, he turned to Cole.

"So what is this really about? Killing the Daos. Can't you just do it yourself?"

Cole shook his head.

"I can't. Because they're already dead."

"…what?"

"The Dao Emperors died at an extremely high rank. Because of that, their Daos remained. Those Daos cannot be erased."

"Dao Emperors?" Neo asked.

"It's what you become when you reach Nirvana as a Heavenbreaker or Cultivator. At that level, you create a new Dao."

Cole let out a quiet sigh, a faint, bitter smile appearing on his face.

"If they were standing in front of me, I could've killed them easily. But they're gone. What's left behind are their Daos. And Daos can't be killed."

Cole looked at Neo.

His jaw tightened.

For the first time since Neo had met him, guilt surfaced openly on his face.

"That's why we need to send someone to the past. Someone who can kill the Dao Emperors before they create their Daos."

Neo listened carefully.

"I can't do it myself," Cole continued. "I'm from another True World. Even if I turn back time as far as I can, I'll return to my own True World first. By the time I make it here again, everything will already be over. And…"

"And?" Neo asked.

"Travel between True Worlds isn't simple. Even for me. I came across this world randomly. If I turn back time to when I was still in my own True World, I can't guarantee I'll ever find this one again."

Neo exhaled slowly.

"So that's why you need someone from this True World. Someone who stays here even if time turns back. Someone who can deal with the Dao Emperors directly."

"Yes," Cole said.

Neo didn't ask why Celestial Worthy wasn't being sent instead.

If Cole had been waiting here for so long, slowly withering away, there had to be a reason.

Cole seemed to notice Neo's unspoken question.

"I've checked the past as far as I could. That's when I realized something important," Cole said.

He looked up, his gaze piercing through the ceiling, as if he were staring beyond the sky itself.

"The Daos exist because they want to kill the Heavens. Their—Heaven, Earth, and Man's—[Fate] are entangled."

Neo frowned slightly.

"Heaven is the Father. Earth is the Mother. And Man is their child. Man (Dao) wants to destroy their Father (Heaven)."

Neo was silent for a moment.

"Killing Daos has something to do with their [Fate] being bound together with Heaen, doesn't it?" he asked.

"Yes. As long as their [Fate] remain tightly linked, Man (Dao) can't truly die unless Heavens are defeated first. Their hatred for Heaven is too strong, and had warped their [Fate]," Cole replied.

He clenched his fist slowly.

"That's why Daos keeps taking over bodies. That's why it keeps forcing everyone to cultivate. They will not rest until they have defeated Heavens yet."

"So we need to defeat Heavens first before we can defeat the Dao Emperors?"

"Yes. And it won't be easy," Cole said, a rueful smile crossing his face.

He looked directly at Neo.

"The Dao you've seen so far is only a fraction of the true power of Dao Emperors. And even all Thirty-two Dao Emperors working together couldn't defeat the final Dao."

"The final — or the first — Dao. The Dao of Martial Arts (Extreme Heavens)," Neo said quietly.

Cole nodded.

"It was created by Heavens himself."

The temple fell silent.

Cole clenched his fist tighter.

"If you want to refuse, now is your chance."

His voice was steady, but Neo could hear the hesitation behind it.

He didn't want Neo to refuse.

But he wouldn't force him.

Neo remained silent.

Cole let out a bitter smile.

He understood.

This was who Neo was.

Someone who would never back down.

Cole spoke again, his voice steady but carrying the weight of a long-held failure.

"Originally, our aim was Hades. He carried the [Fate] of Hell. He was the one most suited to confront Heaven.

"With his intervention, he could've broken the entangled [Fate] of Heaven, Earth, and Man, and replaced it with the entangled [Fate] of Heaven and Hell.

"That would've made it possible to defeat Heaven first, and then the Dao Emperors. But…"

"But Hades couldn't gain the [Fate] of Cruelty, so his [Fate] of Hell could not be put to use," Mu De said, finishing Cole's words.

Cole nodded.

"Yes."

He let out a slow breath.

"Honestly, you were a miscalculation," Cole admitted. "Your fate was only being the son of Hades. And because the circumstances surrounding your rebirth were abnormal, and a dark age appeared at that time, predicting your future was impossible. We assumed you'd live an ordinary life. That's why we had nearly given up when Hades stepped down."

He glanced at Neo.

"But somehow, you overturned everything. You gained the [Fate] of [Endless Hell]. And the [Fate] of Cruelty."

Cole shook his head faintly.

"That wasn't something we accounted for."

"So I was just an extra, whose only notable trait was being the son of Hades?"

Cole laughed softly, his tired face changing for a moment.

He understood Neo was referring to the time when he had believed he was living inside a novel as an extra who was son of Hades.

"I suppose you were. At least at first," Cole said.

Neo didn't dwell on it.

"I'll help you," he said, nodding.

Cole's expression shifted subtly.

Relief flickered across his face.

Neo bent down and handed Jack's unconscious body over to Celestial Worthy.

"Send him back to the Elemental Cosmos," Neo said.

Celestial Worthy accepted Jack without opening his eyes.

Before Cole could move on, Neo spoke again.

"There's one thing I need to know. If I go back to the past and make major changes… what happens to everyone in the Elemental Cosmos?"

"They'll still be reborn," Cole replied without hesitation. "Regression works differently in True Worlds."

He looked at Neo carefully.

"Do you remember the Temporal Strands?"

Neo nodded.

Temporal Strands were the entirety of a person's existence.

Their past, present, and future.

Their Fate, achievements, memories, and potential.

Everything that made them who they were.

When Neo had fought "I," he had taken countless Temporal Strands from his universe and placed them into his Cosmos to protect them.

"Temporal Strands contain everything. They are the accumulation of one's entire being."

Cole began to explain patiently, as if making sure Neo missed nothing.

"It is a budding world. Cultivators strengthen their existence, which reinforces their Temporal Strands and eventually leads to the birth of a Cosmos.

"Martial Artists refine their bodies and techniques. Their existence becomes a weapon. This transforms their Temporal Strands into Realms.

"A Temporal Strand is the foundation of all Paths.

"And when regression happens at the level of a True World, no Temporal Strand is destroyed.

"Time turns back, but the temporal strands remain intact. As time flows forward again, they are reborn and play as they did previously."

There was a brief pause.

"However," Cole added, "this also means that even if you return to the past, changing it is nearly impossible. Temporal Strands tend to flow along their original course."

Neo understood what that meant.

Fate resisted interference.

It happed in Elemental Cosmos too.

But the resistance he would face in True World would be far worse.

"Still, if by some miracle you defeat Heaven and the Dao Emperors, you don't need to worry. The Temporal Strands of everyone you've met will be reborn. But…."

He hesitated, then added quietly,

"They won't remember you."

"That's fine. I can give them the memories I carry when I meet them again."

Cole stared at him.

For a moment, he couldn't tell whether Neo truly understood what he was saying, or if he was deliberately avoiding the implication.

"You carry the [Fate] of Endless Hell. There's a high real chance you'll be trapped in endless battles. You may never be able to reunite with your fam—"

"I'll meet them again when they're reborn," Neo interrupted.

There was no hesitation in his voice.

Cole fell silent.

He could see it.

Neo truly believed his words.

He was determined to see them to the end.

'Your willpower really has no equal,' Cole thought.

He shook his head slightly.

That was why Celestial Worthy had warned Neo about his [Fate].

They wanted to give him a choice.

Neo had already fought more than most beings would in several lifetimes.

He had suffered losses that would have broken others.

If he refused now, it would be understandable.

"He" had sealed the Paths of Progress. As long as no one reached the Fourth Step, Dao wouldn't take over anyone's body.

And even if someone did approach that threshold, Neo could intervene.

No one would blame Neo for stopping here.

No one would judge him for choosing to live peacefully with his family.

Cole and Celestial Worthy both believed this.

However—

'My Path is Eternal Transcendence.'

The thought was clear in Neo's mind.

'I cannot stop. That isn't who I am.'

Another followed immediately after.

'All the beings born within my Cosmos… they're like my children.'

He remembered the countless lives that depended on him, knowingly or not.

'As their creator, it's my responsibility to give them a truly safe path.'

Not one threatened by Dao.

Not one where their bodies could be stolen.

Not one where calamities waited at every turning point.

Neo thought of Elizabeth.

Of Moraine.

Of the promises he had made.

He closed his eyes.

'I'm sorry.'

'I can't keep my promise right now.'

His chest tightened slightly, but his resolve didn't waver.

'When you're reborn… I'll fulfill it.'

'So forgive me.'

When he opened his eyes, Cole had raised his palm.

The air around it trembled faintly.

Neo stared at the raised hand.

He understood.

This was his final chance.

Step forward, and accept an end that might lead into an endless hell.

Or turn back, and live peacefully with his family, knowing that someday, somewhere, a genius might be born who could break the seal placed by "him", and invite the calamity.

Neo didn't hesitate anymore.

He reached out and grabbed Cole's hand.

Cole's fingers tightened around his.

"I'll purge the Daos from your body, and I'll also remove the seal placed by ■ (Apollyon). Without the Daos, progressing will become harder for you. Your Path will be unstable. But if I don't do this, the Daos will return to the past with you."

Neo nodded.

Cole closed his eyes.

Power flowed.

Neo felt it immediately. It was invasive, precise, and cold. Multiple ancient presences were being torn out of him, something that had been coiled around his existence for far too long.

And then, unknown to Neo—

Cole frowned.

'What is she doing here?'

The purging slowed.

'I see.'

'So you were the one acting as a roadblock all this time.'

'You were the reason everything was failing.'

'And now you want his help?'

Cole was about to erase it as well.

Then he stopped.

'Forget it. Neo will decide for himself what to do with you.'

The Daos were torn out, one after another. Neo felt hollow, lighter, and heavier at the same time.

Then the seal placed on him shattered, breaking apart like glass under pressure.

Cole stepped back slightly.

"Once again, changing the past will be nearly impossible. Temporal Strands resist change even when time itself is reversed.

"Heaven is dangerous.

"I don't know how far into the past I can send you, but it will be before the Dao Emperors became Dao Emperors. After that, everything depends on you.

"Locating Dao Emperors, fighting Heavens—"

"It's fine."

Neo smiled, seeing Cole retelling him everything like a mother sending her child to the first day of school.

"I'll take care of everything."