Marvel: Neo Journey

Adrian's eyes widened as he stared at the massive wound on the skeleton's chest.

He had barely scratched it, yet this kid—who looked almost half his age—had managed to deal that kind of damage without even moving much.

Neo, however, looked at the skeleton with a complex expression, his gaze fixed on a message before him.

[SECONDARY MISSION: WHAT IS A GRADE 1 COMPARED TO THE KING?][ELIMINATE THE GRADE 1 CURSE WITHIN 5 MINUTES, WITHOUT TAKING DAMAGE.][REWARD: 10% CHARACTER FUSION, TECHNOLOGY SPIN.]

Seeing this, Neo felt a wave of concern. Defeating a Grade 1 curse was already difficult at his level—but doing it in under five minutes without a scratch?

Understanding the challenge ahead, Neo turned to Hades (Adrian).

Neo: "You better leave. You'll only get in the way."

Hades wanted to help, but he knew it was impossible. He couldn't even touch the skeleton, let alone fight it.

Realizing he had no choice but to retreat, he turned and ran—only to be interrupted by Neo, who shouted while tossing something toward him.

Neo: "If you've got nowhere to go, head to this address!"

Adrian snatched the paper mid-stride and sprinted away without looking back.

With his attention now fully on the skeleton, Neo began strategizing. The biggest issue was the monster's monstrous regeneration.

The wound he had just inflicted was already closing, which meant this curse wasn't just strong—it was durable and self-healing. This was going to be a pain.

Ignoring the frustration, Neo leaped toward the skeleton, which reacted immediately, raising its hand to intercept him.

Unfortunately for the creature, that was exactly what Neo wanted—to force it to defend.

In the next instant, the skeleton's hand was cleaved in half. Neo kept moving, aiming straight for its skull.

But just as he was about to strike, the skeleton twisted unnaturally, using its other arm to swat him mid-air.

Neo crashed against a wall, pain shooting through his back. He almost lost focus—but the looming danger snapped him back.

Kicking off the wall for extra speed, he lunged forward once more.

As he closed the distance, he unleashed a flurry of cuts, forcing the skeleton to react. It groaned, then opened its jaw, preparing to fire a blast of putrid energy.

Neo, recognizing the threat, swung a massive slash toward its mouth in an attempt to stop it.

But the skeleton sacrificed its own hand—letting Neo's attack land—just to land a devastating blow on Neo mid-air.

Neo slammed into the wall again, half of his body already rotting from the cursed energy.

Gritting his teeth, he forced himself to stand. He had one last option left—something that would drain the last of his cursed energy.

Still on the ground, watching as the skeleton approached, Neo brought his hands together. Slowly, he pulled them apart, revealing an impossibly hot flame.

Then, as if drawing a bowstring, he took aim and spoke.

Neo: "Open, Fuuga."

Então, em sua mão, uma flecha de fogo condensado começa a voar em direção ao esqueleto, que, percebendo a quantidade absurda de energia amaldiçoada, tenta se esquivar. Mas a flecha de fogo é rápida demais e, antes mesmo que o esqueleto possa reagir…

BOOM!!!

Uma explosão de chamas gigantes engoliu metade da arena subterrânea, criando até um pequeno pilar de chamas que subiu aos céus, destruindo o telhado.

Quando o pilar de chamas apaga, Neo olha para a bagunça que seu "FUUGA" causou e fala:

Neo: "Now that's what I call a Divine Arrow."

Sem nem ver os rastros do esqueleto, Neo começa a sair dos restos da arena mancando devido ao dano da batalha.

Mas o problema real disso tudo foi o gasto de energia. Só neste ataque, 50% de toda a energia de Neo se esgotou.

Atualmente, Neo só tem cerca de 25% da energia amaldiçoada que tinha antes de entrar neste lugar.

Ele agora está com escassez de energia, e está um pouco frágil demais nesta situação. Mas pelo menos ele conseguiu acabar com a luta rápido, senão estaria ferrado.

Sabendo que agora conseguiu vencer essa luta, ele vai chegar em casa para—

Shnk!

Ouvindo o barulho estranho e um certo esquentar no peito, ele vê que, quase perfurando seu coração, uma adaga branca está ali.

Percebendo seu erro, Neo rapidamente se vira com velocidade, para ver um esqueleto humanoide, do tamanho normal, saindo dos escombros com um braço a menos e metade do seu crânio derretido.

O esqueleto está claramente irritado, e então ele levanta a mão para cima. O mesmo tipo de energia pútrida que saia de sua boca como um raio agora sai como várias pequenas caveiras cinzas e azuis, que se movem até os corpos mortos ao redor.

Neo percebe rapidamente o que o esqueleto planeja, então, sem dar muito tempo de ação, ele lança uma enxurrada de cortes no esqueleto.

Mas infelizmente era tarde demais, e quando os ataques acertam o esqueleto, não são o suficiente para fazê-lo perder a concentração.

E então, todos os corpos da arena começam a se levantar e perder toda a sua carne, virando esqueletos.

Vendo isso, Neo só pensou em uma coisa.

Neo: "Man, this is gonna be fun."

Seeing the sea of skeletons approaching with ferocity, Neo creates a net of slashes to try and stop the monstrous advance of the hundreds of skeletons.

Fortunately, the net killed most of the skeletons, but a few managed to stay alive, and they began to close in on Neo.

Neo then started punching and kicking the skeletons frantically, destroying them easily, until suddenly, feeling an immediate danger, he jumped to the right, narrowly dodging a putrid lightning bolt.

But as he was surrounded by skeletons, he was bitten by one of the skeletons behind him, and was forced to use a slash to kill it.

Spending his already scarce cursed energy, Neo realized that the biggest problem was the grade 1 curse, so he started ignoring the skeletons he could handle to chase after the curse.

Knowing this, the curse began launching all kinds of attacks it could at Neo, from bone daggers, other skeletons, and putrid lightning bolts, while distancing itself from him.

Realizing that continuing like this was foolish, Neo charged at the curse, but instead of fully dodging the curse's complete attack, he only dodged enough to make the blow non-lethal.

Seeing this, the skeleton became terrified and tried to run, but it was too late. The moment the skeleton's dagger struck Neo's shoulder, he still advanced, and before the skeleton could flee, he grabbed its skull and began cutting it into thousands of pieces.

The moment the pieces hit the ground, the remaining skeletons dissolved into dust.

Neo collapsed on the ground, exhausted and in pain.

Then, the confirmation of the curse's death appeared.

[CONGRATULATIONS TO THE HOST FOR COMPLETING THE SECONDARY MISSION][YOUR REWARD HAS BEEN DELIVERED]

At this moment, already tired, Neo felt a torrent of information rushing into his mind. Upon seeing what the information was related to, Neo started to smile before getting up.

He then finally managed to leave that cursed arena and saw the arena's owner in front of him, speaking.

Francis: Mr. Sukuna, we've already deposited the agreed amount for your work. We hope for more job opportunities with you.

Neo smiled faintly, glanced at his injuries, and noticed the amount of cursed energy he had left.

Neo: Yeah, it was nice doing this last job for you.

Francis noticed the word "last," indicating they would never meet again, and spoke.

Francis: Yes, sir, unfortunately, it is the last job.

Slash!

Francis was about to turn around when he suddenly fell to the hard ground. When he looked to see what he tripped on, he saw his legs fallen behind him.

When he raised his gaze to Neo, all he saw was a smile, mocking him like an idiot.

Then Francis realized something: he hadn't said "last job" because he didn't intend to help him, but because they... WOULD DIE.

Realizing the mistake he made, Francis turned to shout for his guards to kill Neo, but what he saw were two headless bodies standing.

Neo approached the terrified Francis and spoke.

Neo: Francis, you know… you're one of the types of people I hate the most in this world...

Neo raised a finger and pointed to the sky, finishing his sentence.

Neo: A slave owner. And when I see one... do you know what I do with them?

Francis, paralyzed by fear, didn't dare to breathe in Neo's presence.

Neo: I decapitate them.

Neo's raised finger bent.

Slash!

Francis's head rolled across the floor as his blood poured from his fallen body in the alley.

Neo was about to leave when...

wee-woo wee-woo.

Hearing this, Neo was about to run, but his legs failed due to exhaustion, and he fell to the ground.

Feeling trapped in this situation, Neo started to leave the alley and sat in a corner with less trash, beginning to rest.

After a few seconds, the police and ambulances arrived.

Neo watched this while trying to hide to avoid being found.

But unfortunately for him, a police officer found him and started calling for the paramedics from the ambulances.

In the ambulance, the paramedics began treating Neo's injuries, but he had lost too much blood.

Since they feared he might die, they took him to the hospital.

Since Neo hadn't used up all his protein for regeneration during the fight, he passed out in the ambulance.

____________________________________________

After some time, Neo woke up again with a terrible headache.

When he started looking around, he saw a police officer who, upon noticing he had woken up, spoke worriedly.

Officer: Take it easy, kid, it's okay, no one's going to hurt you.

Neo looked around and realized he passed out because he couldn't regenerate. Even though he was injured, he began removing the equipment from his body and tried to get up.

Unfortunately, he still didn't have the strength to stand.

So, when he placed his foot on the ground, trying to find support, he simply collapsed.

Seeing this, the officer became concerned and rushed to him, speaking.

Officer: Calm down, kid, it's okay, you don't need to run away like this.

But ignoring the officer, Neo began trying to go toward the door, failing miserably.

Giving up on trying to leave, he accepted the officer's help and sat back on the bed.

The officer, seeing this, finally calmed down a bit and moved closer to Neo.

Officer: So, kid, what's your name?

Seeing that Neo didn't want to answer, the officer, thinking it might be due to trauma from some horrific event, spoke.

George: My name is George Stacy. Now, normally, you'd introduce yourself.

At this moment, hearing that name, Neo connected it to another name he knew very well: Gwen Stacy.

So, the man in front of him wasn't just any officer; he was the deputy chief. Upon discovering the man's name and rank, Neo wondered:

"What is the deputy chief doing here?"

But knowing the importance of this man in this world, and with no options but to stay here, Neo responds.

Neo: My name is Neo.

Seeing that he got such a direct response, George feels pleased and then tries a less direct approach.

George: You know, Neo, I have a daughter your age. She's going into high school now. What year are you in?

Hearing this, Neo lets out a faint, mocking laugh and then says.

Neo: I never went to school.

Hearing that, George's calm and warm smile turns into an angry expression, and he asks.

George: Why?

George already knew the answer but preferred to hear it from the boy in front of him.

Neo gives a sad smile, remembering everything he saw and went through, and says.

Neo: Because a guinea pig doesn't have the right to that.

Neo says this remembering Leo.

George, noticing the boy's expression, someone who appeared to be the same age as his daughter, felt a deep anger rise from the core of his being and says.

George: Don't worry, they will never come after you again.

Neo looks at George and gives a smile, seeing the kind-hearted man in front of him, and retorts.

Neo: Not anymore.

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Hey guys, as always, if you're enjoying my story, please send over some power stones.

Hey everyone, I'm starting to experiment with a slightly different writing style. I hope it's easier to understand my story now, but if there's anything you're not liking, or if you have any doubts or tips, just send them over. I always read them, and I'll even reply.