Extra's Death: I Am the Son of Hades

"What's wrong with being called Divine Ruler?"

"It sounds like a name a narcissistic tyrant would give himself."

Neo didn't know whether to laugh or cry.

He had used the title to find Jack.

And he was being mistaken as narcissistic because of it.

Emma was about to return to the city when she sensed monsters approaching them.

"It's Anomaly #79," Neo muttered.

He left to take care of the monsters.

Emma was frozen stiff.

She doubted her ears.

"Anomaly #79...?"

A few minutes later, Neo was fighting monsters when Apollo rushed out of the city.

He looked like a star flying in the night sky, his body wrapped in golden light.

Before Apollo could join Neo, a giant wall of darkness erupted from Emma and stopped Apollo.

Apollo frowned.

"What are you doing?"

He landed next to her.

"Why did you stop me? We—"

"Neo Hargraves is fighting Anomaly #79."

"…!?"

Apollo's eyes constricted to the size of needles.

"Are you sure he has been marked by Anomaly #79?"

"He said it himself, and you should be able to sense him fighting multiple similar-looking monsters."

Apollo nodded with furrowed brows.

The two of them waited for Neo to return.

He came back after a few dozen minutes,

his clothes covered in dust and blood.

He noticed the heavy atmosphere around Apollo and Emma.

"…?"

"Was that Anomaly #79?" Apollo asked, hoping Neo would say otherwise.

"Yes."

"…"

Apollo closed his eyes, covering his face with both hands, and sighed.

"Dammit."

"What's wrong?" Neo asked as he used water created by the Water element to clean his body of blood and dust.

"Before that, are you the only one who has been marked by Anomaly #79?"

"No," Neo said. "There is one more."

"Who?"

"Kane. The old man who carries the katana."

Apollo became silent.

When Neo thought he wouldn't speak, Emma opened her mouth.

"Kane will have to come with us.

"Since both of you have been marked by Anomaly #79, you need to come to the Awakener Association's headquarters,

"Or else you both will be killed by the Anomaly #79."

"The way both of you are acting…" Neo pursed his lips. "Has someone been killed by Anomaly #79?"

Emma nodded.

"The reason our association doesn't patrol the north of Africa much is due to Anomaly #79.

"It is one of the oldest Anomalies," she explained.

"The risk rating of Anomaly #79 is still unmeasurable.

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"If you see its face, the Anomaly #79 will kill you. There is no defeating it or running from it.

"We've tried everything for the past fifty years, but we've always failed.

"The only way out is prevention.

"Do not look at Anomaly #79's face."

Her tone became somber as she added,

"Benjamin—True Name 'Uranus'—the first and the strongest S-ranker, went on an expedition with other high-ranking members of the Association.

"The expedition's goal was to eliminate Anomaly #79.

"Do you know what happened to the expedition?" she asked.

Her tone and expression answered plenty.

Neo's lips parted.

"They were defeated?"

"Annihilated. Our association lost its leader—Uranus—and 30% of its high-ranking members."

'I could tell Anomaly #79 was trouble, but this is far worse than I predicted,' Neo thought.

"Is there no way to defeat Anomaly #79?" he asked.

"No," Apollo suddenly spoke up. "We can only avoid being marked. The Association has recently found a few ways to save the ones who have been marked, but…

"Those methods are less than ideal. I'm sure no one would want to use them unless it's their last choice."

Apollo's gaze was listless.

The methods Apollo talked about came at the sacrifice of the expedition.

Uranus and others gave up their lives to make sure the association could get a way to save anyone else who was marked by Anomaly #79 after them.

"I see…"

Neo nodded.

"Let's return to the city for now. We can talk about Anomaly #79 later."

"Are you crazy…? Did you understand what I told you? You are going to die!"

"I heard you already."

Apollo stared at Neo, confused.

He couldn't understand why Neo was nonchalant.

The trio returned to the city.

On the way, Emma walked next to him and spoke in a whisper,

"How long has it been since you were marked by Anomaly #79?"

"Over 7 months."

"…" She stared at him in the eye before turning her head towards the city walls. "You don't have much time left.

"For the first eight months, Anomaly #79's number grows by 1 and its strength grows by 1% every day."

She continued,

"After eight months, its numbers and strength will grow exponentially."

"There is no data for the ninth month?" Neo asked.

"No one survived the ninth month. We couldn't get proper statistics.

"All we know is that Anomaly #79's strength will see explosive changes in the ninth month."

Neo nodded, listening to her.

'Yeah, I'm fucked,' he thought.

After entering the city, he explained everything to Kane.

Kane was worried, but he was more happy he could follow Neo to the Association.

A huge feast took place in Arzew for the next three days.

Apollo and Emma were surprised to see how much the city loved Neo.

The group – Neo, Kane, Emma, Apollo, and Athena – left the city after the celebration ended and they said their farewells.

They traveled towards Morocco.

Their plan was to move directly to Morocco's edge and cross the strait connecting the Atlantic Ocean and Mediterranean Sea.

The journey was far more difficult than Neo had imagined.

Despite the party consisting of four Myths and one Pseudo-Myth, they had to change their path multiple times to avoid facing powerful monsters.

Fighting monsters was dangerous as they risked attracting more of them if the battles became too eye-catching or loud.

Even their party would become helpless if they had to fight dozens of A-rank monsters.

It was night when they stepped into Morocco.

Neo blinked and suddenly it was day.

'…!?'

Neo and Kane became alert.

The sudden appearance of the sun and disappearance of the moon was alarming.

"You can relax. It's Anomaly #55: Sunshine," Apollo spoke up and pointed at the sun in the sky. "It's a timeless sun.

"All the areas infected by Anomaly #55 will always have the sun shining above them."

"How does that work?" Kane was surprised. "We took one step into the border of Morocco and it was suddenly daylight.

"Is the area infected by Anomaly #55 spatially separated?"

"Yes and no. The area is spatially separated but there is no barrier between the spaces."

Kane nodded and stared at the sun.

It burned fiercely, casting a powerful radiance on the earth below.

"How much area has been infected by Anomaly #55?" Kane questioned.

"Quite a bit." Apollo answered. "The exact measurements are hidden by the Association."

"Huh? This sounds like…"

"Association is 'friends' with Anomaly #55. We have a contract with it. It helps us and we help it."

"You have a contract with a monster!?"

"Don't shout," Apollo said.

Despite his tone being nonchalant, there was a sense of smugness behind it.

"Anomaly #55 is a [Spirit], not a monster.

"Before you ask why it is called Anomaly, it's because any entity we – or other awakeners – aren't capable of defeating are titled as Anomalies."