The garden had been tended carefully, the flowers blooming despite the eerie atmosphere of the forest.
A small table was set, and Paimon herself poured the tea.
The three of them sat.
For a while, the conversation was light.
They made small talk about the passing of years, changes in the underworld, fragments of memories shared like old friends catching up.
For the Grim Reapers, time flowed differently.
Thousands of years apart was nothing to them.
Their voices carried no bitterness over the separation, only calm acceptance.
Neo lifted his cup, inhaling the faintly bitter yet comforting scent of the tea before drinking.
Then he set it down and shifted his gaze to Barbatos.
"Barbatos," he said quietly, "I want to apologize for my actions during my brother’s shadow trial. I also want to thank you for helping him back then."
Barbatos straightened, shaking his head. His voice was steady, and respectful. "There is no need for you to apologize, Prince."
Neo smiled faintly. He did not add anything else.
The apology had been spoken, and that was enough.
Paimon carried on as if they were simply old friends catching up.
She didn’t press him with questions about where he had been or what he had been doing all these years.
Even though Barbatos had probably told her everything, she didn’t ask why Neo had acted the way he did during Zagreus’ Shadow Trial.
She accepted his choices without complaint, without hesitation, as though it was only natural.
Neo sat in silence for a while, drinking the last of the tea.
Their loyalty stirred strange feelings in his chest.
In the memories he had seen, Hades treated him like he didn’t exist, ignoring him as though he were nothing more than a shadow.
Yet he could not deny the truth in front of him.
The Grim Reapers cared about him as if he was their own son, or sibling.
Eventually, Neo rose from his seat.
"I’ll come back later," he said.
Paimon and Barbatos stood as well.
"We’ll be waiting," Paimon replied softly.
Neo nodded, turned, and left the mansion behind.
A while later, Neo arrived in a secluded part of the underworld.
The quiet air carried no voices, or lingering presences.
He looked around once to make sure he was alone, then exhaled slowly.
"I want to ask Nyx about Zeus," he muttered to himself. "But this isn’t the right time. She is with Jack. I should just check the Akashic Record. It should have information I want."
He opened his palm.
A cube of shifting light appeared above it, its surface constantly rearranging itself as though it were rewriting reality every second.
The Akashic Record of Earth.
It was still under Ilyana’s protection after the recent fiasco, but strangely, she wasn’t stopping him from summoning it now.
Maybe Jack had said something to her.
Whatever the reason, the Record hovered calmly over his hand.
"Hmm?"
Neo could feel her presence.
Ilyana’s awareness pierced into the underworld the moment the Record appeared.
It seemed that although she let him take the Akashic Record, she would be keeping an eye on him to make sure he did not tamper with it.
At that exact instant, another aura surged.
Barbatos’ power flared from afar, sweeping across the land like a storm.
His intent was clear: any intrusion into the underworld would be treated as a provocation.
"Ilyana, I’m not doing anything dangerous. Don’t worry about it," Neo spoke, before the matter escalated.
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