Neo could only breathe properly after Elizabeth finally pulled herself back.

A thin string of saliva stretched between their lips before breaking.

Elizabeth looked at him with an expression that was both infinitely loving and openly hungry, without the slightest hint of embarrassment.

It was the kind of gaze that made Neo's instincts scream at him to run, even though his body refused to move.

Seeing that look, Neo knew he had to think of a way out. Quickly.

"Wa–wait! This is a crime! I'm only sixteen!"

Honestly, Neo wasn't worried about having a child.

That part barely crossed his mind.

He had already burned a portion of his Life Flame and altered his biology.

As things stood, he couldn't have children anymore unless he deliberately changed himself again.

That wasn't the problem.

The problem was Elizabeth.

Looking into her eyes now, Neo was reminded far too vividly of the time they had spent "together" in Tartarus.

The memory alone made his scalp tingle.

'If we do it like back then, I will die,' he thought grimly.

Right now, he had the body of a mortal.

No matter how absurdly strong his mind and Consciousness were, this body still had limits.

He would genuinely die from exhaustion.

He shivered, imagining such an embarrassing cause of death.

That absolutely had to be avoided.

"I'm sixteen! Sixteen! You ca–can't touch me. It's a crime!"

"But those are the rules of Earth, aren't they?" Elizabeth asked. She tilted her head slightly, smiling as if she were humoring a child throwing a tantrum.

"We are from Earth! We should follow the customs of our world!"

"You're cute when you struggle like that," Elizabeth muttered, almost to herself.

Neo froze.

That sentence told him a wrong flip had been switched in Elizabeth.

"E–Elizabeth, you should listen to me—"

Before he could finish, Elizabeth pressed her palm against his bare chest.

A soft, pale glow spread from her hand, seeping into his skin.

Neo's breath caught.

He could feel it instantly.

His physical body was changing.

Growing older.

'A Technique Spirit that affects Time?' Neo realized, his mind snapping into clarity even as panic rose.

Technique Spirits related to space, time, or fate were notoriously difficult to create.

To give an example, creating even the weakest Technique Spirit granted their creator the qualification to leave the True Blessed Land.

And yet, out of everyone who entered this place, only about one percent ever managed to leave.

That alone spoke volumes about how difficult creating a Technique Spirit was.

And a Time-related Technique Spirit?

Neo had personally seen fewer than five people who possessed one.

So how did Elizabeth already have something like this?

His thoughts raced.

'No… if I think about it carefully, she has several Technique Spirits.'

One allowed her to teleport, which had helped them return to the Sect. Another let her control ice with terrifying precision. And now this, something that manipulated the flow of time itself.

Where even gods and elite awakeners struggled to obtain a single Technique Spirit, she already had three.

A chill ran down his spine.

What kind of talent was this?

"Neo…" Elizabeth said softly. "What are you thinking about?"

Her fingers curled slightly against his chest, forcing him to focus on her again.

When she noticed that his gaze had been fixed on empty air for too long, a faint displeasure surfaced in her eyes. Beneath it, something sharper stirred.

She was right in front of him, in this state, and he was thinking about something else?

"Wa–wait… Elizabeth, I wasn't ignoring—mmph!"

His words were cut off.

…

Vivi POV

Vivi sat on the edge of a rooftop, her legs dangling over the side as she stared at Elizabeth's residence from a distance.

Her expression was stiff, her lips pressed into a thin line.

She didn't need to see inside to know what was probably happening right now. Just thinking about it made her chest tighten.

Still, she forced herself to stay calm.

"I led everything to this moment. I just need to be a little more patient, and everything will play out the way I want."

Her plan to separate Elizabeth and Neo had been simple from the start.

Use the overcontrolling nature of witches.

Witches in love were infamous for it.

They had no real concept of personal space, moderation, or restraint. Once they wanted something, they wanted all of it, and they wanted it exclusively.

To most witches, that level of possessiveness wasn't considered abnormal.

Vivi recalled a well-known example.

The Witch of Starlight had loved fanol coffee beans.

She loved them so much that she created a personal dimension and filled it entirely with fanol coffee beans, then lived there happily.

If it had stopped there, it would've been strange but still within reason, at least by some standards.

But it hadn't stopped there.

The Witch of Starlight had erased the existence of fanol coffee beans from the entire Cosmos. After that, they could only exist inside her personal dimension.

She wanted to be the only one who could have them.

That kind of extreme possessiveness was common among witches.

"She will definitely try to imprison dad. When he realizes she's not normal and tries to break up with her, I'll help him escape," Vivi said under her breath.

Her fingers clenched tightly around the edge of the roof.

She flinched as memories of her last confrontation with Elizabeth surfaced.

Elizabeth's cold smile. Her overwhelming pressure. The way Vivi had felt like a cornered animal the entire time.

"N–No," Vivi said, forcing herself to breathe. "If it's just escaping and running away, I can do it."

She had to.

After arriving in the True Blessed Land, Elizabeth had discovered the inheritance left behind by the previous Witch of Pride.

That witch had been regarded as the strongest among their kind.

The former Witch of Pride had left behind vast resources, knowledge, and sealed powers, all for her successor.

Her only wish had been for her successor to kill the Witch of Gluttony and avenge her.

With that inheritance, Elizabeth's growth had accelerated rapidly.

She gained Technique Spirits. She refined her control. She accumulated power at a frightening pace.

Things only changed after Neo arrived in the True Blessed Land.

Through Paul, Elizabeth learned what had been happening outside.

The wars. The manipulations. The sacrifices.

When she heard about it, Vivi remembered clearly how Elizabeth had gone silent.

Too silent.

Beneath that calm, cold wrath had been brewing.

After that, Elizabeth began to move in earnest. She claimed more of the Witch of Pride's inheritance in record time and used her newfound strength to wipe out the Ancient Dragons that had been hiding within the True Blessed Land.

Dragons that others wouldn't even dare provoke.

"She should be… Stage Nine in combat strength by now," Vivi muttered.

Her voice wavered slightly.

"Can I really escape her with dad?"

She stared at the residence again, her heart pounding.

"…No. I must do it," Vivi said, shaking her head.

Elizabeth was only Stage Six in terms of existence.

That fact alone would normally mean a clear gap. But reality wasn't that simple. Thanks to the absurd number of Technique Spirits Elizabeth possessed, she could fight beings at Stage Nine without falling behind.

After all, Martial Artists (Extreme Arts) Path was stronger than Elemental Path that Gods and Supremes followed.

So, the gap of Existence between different Stages, which mattered a lot for Elemental and Divinity Gods following the Elemental Path, did not matter as much for Realm Divinity Gods as they followed a Dao that was not as dependent on the Stage Existence like Elemental Path.

Of course, Realm Divinity Gods could not go beyond Third Realm, but a powerful Third Realm God was strong enough to easily crush even Stage 9 Existences of Elemental Path.

Vivi knew this better than anyone.

That was exactly why she was certain Elizabeth would eventually try to imprison her dad.

Neo was currently weaker than Elizabeth.

There was no way around that truth. No matter how terrifying his potential was, right now, he was still behind her in raw power and immediate threat.

And Elizabeth… a witch like her could not easily hold herself back.

There was no way she would be able to control her impulses forever.

Still, there was a problem with Vivi's plan.

Elizabeth had been behaving strangely.

For an entire month after bringing Neo to the sect, she had ignored him.

If it had been any other witch, Neo would've already been locked away somewhere. His memories of previous lover would've been tampered with, twisted, or erased entirely. Witches were infamous for that kind of thing.

But Elizabeth hadn't done any of it.

She had been grumpy, irritable, and cold at times.

But she had also kept her distance.

That didn't make sense.

"She just ignored him. That's not normal."

It almost looked like restraint.

"No," Vivi said quickly, shaking her head. "It can't be self-control. Witches don't have that."

She exhaled slowly, forcing herself to calm down.

Whatever the reason was, she hoped no unexpected variables would appear and ruin everything she had planned.

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