Mythology: Spiritual Ruler

"We are different."

Standing in the sky of the underworld, not a drop of blood flowed out of Hades' severed arm.

As if that limb had never existed, some terrible force prevented the regeneration of Hades' divine body, preventing him from returning to his original state.

But at this moment, Pluto ignored the physical disability and the pain feedback from the priesthood. He looked at the outsider in front of him and met his eyes under the pressure of mountains and seas.

There was no emotion... From the other party's eyes, Hades did not see the slightest feeling of looking at life. It was as if the other person was not looking at another god, but an object, a dead thing without life.

Not even as good as the way gods view mortals... Pluto doesn't know that even if his own 'divinity' has not reached the point of indifference to all living beings, Ryan cannot have any emotions towards the existence in a false world. He only thinks that this is the other person. A sign of determination.

So at this moment, Hades let go of all his past perceptions. He didn't know why the other party really dared to attack the underworld, and he didn't know what he meant by 'different', but maybe just like what he said, this powerful god who suddenly popped up really had some unknown power. s method.

Perception is warning wildly, which is a warning from the underworld itself... Although according to common sense, no matter how powerful the power is, it can never harm the foundation of the underworld, Hades believes more in the intuition of the innate gods.

If it were in the past, just like when he was fighting for the position of God King at the beginning of the era, Hades might choose to retreat from the earth into the netherworld. But now, with Hades behind him, there is no place for him to retreat. At this moment, Hades actually regretted it.

Unlike him in reality, there were no undead in the underworld in the original trajectory, and Zeus's experience was smoother... This made Hades couldn't help but recall that day. Maybe he shouldn't have given up in the first place... Even if he failed, it would be better than being like this now, even after waiting for half an era, he still doesn't see any possibility of progress.

But the reality is that if you miss it, you miss it. It seemed like a long time passed, but in fact it was only a moment. Looking at Ryan in front of him, Pluto, who had no retreat, couldn't help but take a step forward.

"Come--!"

The underworld, where the earth trembled slightly like a doomsday scene, seemed to feel the will of Hades, and it burst out with unprecedented power.

The gray light in the sky surged like a tide, rising into the sky inch by inch. This is the pinnacle of Hades's power, the instinctive resistance after being hurt in the underworld. The power of the innate god rises steadily under the excitement. It is enough to make any true god in the world retreat. Unfortunately, in the face of it, In front of the enemy, all these struggles are in vain.

Pressing down on the void with his left hand, the rising moment was stopped, causing the underworld to tremble. Throwing the black sword with his right hand, the concentration of [Death] power immediately disintegrated and turned into mist. After wandering in the air, it solidified again and turned into a long chain. Under Ryan's will, it swam through the void and bound directly to Pluto's body.

The mythical god of death, Thanatos, originally had such a chain, but it was an artifact made for him by the god of craftsman Hephaestus. This weak god of death uses this to steal away the souls of mortals - he is still busy in the human world and has not returned to the underworld, nor has he had the opportunity to witness what real [death] is like in even an illusory world.

But like many gods of Chaos, Thanatos's shallow wisdom is far inferior to that of mortals. He was deceived by a king and bound by his own artifact, becoming the first god imprisoned by humans.

Of course, facing the immortal gods, the king's fate was also obvious. After all, humans may be able to defeat gods temporarily, but if they lose once, the price will be eternity.

But now, with the same authority and the same style of chains, the creation of [Death] has locked Hades firmly in mid-air.

Crash--

The vigorous struggle caused the sound of chains clashing, but Pluto's resistance obviously had no effect.

There was no third person in the sky at this moment, and the gods of the underworld who had ascended into the sky with Hades had long gone to who knows where. Moreover, it was still spring in the world at this time, and even Persephone was still with her mother, completely unaware of what was happening here.

So hanging alone in the sky, in front of Hades, Ryan's expression could not help but become solemn.

Reaching into the void again, this time, Ryan pulled out a stone sword. When he held the hilt of the sword, some kind of rule seemed to be triggered. Golden flames suddenly ignited around him, but they did not hurt him at all. Instead, it seemed to add a golden cloak in the sky of the underworld. Hunting sound.

This is [Body Burning by the Sun], a curse that is hard enough for ordinary true gods to bear. It is the legacy of the ancient sun god whose consciousness was separated in the world. It will burn any being who tries to use it, so that the weak cannot hold it, and the strong do not need it.

But at this moment, what Ryan needs is not the strength of its power, but the nature of its authority. If you can't destroy a system from the outside, break it down from the inside. The best way to do this is to insert something incompatible but indestructible into this sophisticated system.

锔——

The stone sword broke through the air and penetrated Hades' chest, but the two sides did not seem to be on the same level of time and space.

There was no sound of a sharp blade piercing flesh, and behind Hades, no sword tip broke out of his body. At this moment, only Ryan knew that this sword was actually pierced deeply into the source sea through some kind of connection, symbolizing the origin of the [Underworld], using Hades's priesthood as a medium.

In the illusory world, there is no protection of the laws of the world, so the [Sun] easily penetrated into the [Underworld]. For a moment, the whole world seemed to be still for a moment, and then followed by endless light and heat radiating from the sky of the underworld.

The gloomy sky was replaced by light, and the shadow of a big sun hung high in the sky, burning the dark gray earth. Wisps of mist rose up, and then dissipated into nothingness in mid-air.

Looking at all this, Ryan finally nodded, because he could clearly see that his attack really worked.

Hades was not the original god, and the land of the underworld was just an external manifestation of the origin of the material world. If the power of [Death] only destroyed the surface of the underworld before, then this stone sword now really reaches the root.

In just a few breaths, tiny cracks have begun to appear in the core of the underworld, and on Hades' body, there are also wisps of water vapor evaporating.

Attacking the outside, only a little will be reflected on the source. But damaging the source will definitely be reflected on the symbol of the outside world. Just like now, Hades suddenly found that waves of heat were rising from his mind and then spreading to his whole body.

Hula la -

"What did you do?!"

The sound of the chains colliding sounded again, and Hades was struggling hard. At this moment, his power was dispersing and retreating, just like a section of tough steel wire inserted into a precision machine, its operation began to slow down, and even the internal "parts" were colliding with each other.

The entire cycle of the underworld was affected, and it gradually had a tendency to collapse. As the lord of the underworld, Hades could clearly perceive this. However, he was tied up in the air and could do nothing.

Of course, as a "foreign object" inserted into the underworld, the stone sword attached to the [Sun] was actually under more terrible pressure, but it was meaningless. Because in the whole process, neither the [Sun] nor the many powers that constitute the underworld were damaged, but as a whole, they were forced to "separate".

For the [Sun], it is the [Sun] whether it is separated or not, but for the many powers that constitute the underworld, when combined together, they are the underworld of their own. After being split, they just have different powers.

Even the divine power with obvious regionality like [Underworld] is far from being like [Evil Fate] and [Lies]. When the overall structure of the underworld is broken down day by day, its status will also be weakened.

"Very good... This is what I want."

Ignoring the questioning of the false gods, Ryan maintained a virtual grip with his right hand. He was wrestling with this illusory underworld to prevent the stone sword attached to the [Sun] from being spontaneously excluded from the source by the cycle of the interface.

Although it is easier to destroy than to build, the structure and cycle of the world have "inertia". Even if this is just an illusory world, it is impossible for it to be completely dismembered in just a few moments.

"Seven days."

Silently making a judgment, Ryan stood in the sky of the underworld with a calm expression.

It was like dragging the underworld to the ground and letting the sun shine directly on the underworld. After seven days, this place will completely collapse, and Hades, the original lord of the underworld, will also turn into smoke and dust under the sun.

······

Reality, the Palace of Hades.

In the tall and magnificent hall, Hades rested his elbows on the armrests and leaned on his throne for a nap.

The newly appointed Queen of the Underworld stood not far away. In front of her was a cradle with a baby with a scar on his face lying in it.

Persephone gently rocked the cradle, singing an unknown tune. A stream of invisible power flowed and sank into the child's shriveled body.

He was being transformed, from above ground to underground, from alive to dead, and of course, from ‘dead’ to ‘alive’. He was favored by the power of the underworld and raised by the Queen of the Underworld, so in a sense, this baby can also be regarded as the child of Hades and Persephone.

Of course, after all, he was not born personally, so he would not become a true god. It’s just that the creatures born in this way, in addition to immortality and authority, probably won’t differ too much in pure power.

Time passed by minute by minute, and I don’t know when, the Queen of the Underworld also sat back in her position.

The transformation of the baby was not a matter of a day or a night, after all, he had been baptized by Hestia’s [Guardian] power. And Persephone’s grasp of the power of the underworld was not so handy, and this delicate operation was also a mentally exhausting thing for her.

Persephone closed her eyes and rested, and she was in a good mood. Life in the underworld is really good. If it can be brighter, it will be even better...

"..."

"--Stop it!"

"Ah..."

Suddenly, a roar broke the tranquility of the temple, and the vast gray earth shook a little, but perhaps it realized something, and as the owner of the voice stopped, everything returned to normal.

In the underworld temple, Hades suddenly woke up from his sleep. He gasped and looked around with sharp eyes, but all he could see were the pillars of the temple and the slender figure of the Queen of the Underworld.

"What's wrong with you? Did you have a nightmare? I didn't expect you to be scared by a nightmare?"

She was startled for a moment, then mocked him. However, Persephone's eyes showed a hint of worry and alertness.

Gods rarely dream, especially dreams with bad contents. After all, no gods who control dreams have been heard of in the world today. So, excluding the interference of external forces, nightmares themselves are likely to be bad omens from fate.

"...Huh, it's okay, probably just a warning."

Hades' heartbeat slowed down, and he slowly returned to normal. He waved his hand, indicating that the other party didn't need to worry, but obviously, the curiosity of the Queen of Hades had been aroused.

"What did you dream about?"

"Were you imprisoned in the abyss, or did someone drive you off the throne of Hades?"

Speaking of two guesses, this is also what Persephone thinks is the most likely thing.

As for the others, I'm afraid it's far from enough to make Hades react so violently.

"...No."

Shaking his head, Hades denied.

"What is that?"

Persephone asked, becoming more and more curious. In front of her, Hades hesitated for a moment and told the truth.

"It was actually an absurd dream... Actually, I dreamed that the underworld was destroyed."

Looking at the questioning eyes of the Queen of the Underworld, Hades signaled her not to speak. He stood up from the throne and looked across the plains outside.

The number of high-level undead souls is growing, and the size of the underworld is also increasing. Everything is developing in a good direction.

"This is the best choice..."

Hades whispered silently, smiled, and then said to Persephone:

"The memory in the dream is very vague, I don't know the cause and effect, and I don't remember the specific process. In short, it seems to be a bad ending."

"Without the dead, without power, I stayed on the throne alone, until one day, a being radiating light came to the underworld. He stood in front of me and declared that he would destroy the whole world."

"Then what?"

"Then he did it."

Sitting back in the chair, Hades held the armrest.

He raised his head slightly, as if he was looking at the moon, and as if he was looking at the mortal world above the earth.

"He pulled the sun to the underworld or dragged the underworld to the human world."

"Light and heat enveloped this world. Under the scorching sun, I was burned by the sun for seven days... There was no rain or breeze. In a place unknown to anyone, I turned into ashes with the underworld."

"This is the end of this dream... It's interesting, isn't it?"

"... What's interesting about it?"

Persephone asked, not quite understanding.

"Well, what I mean is, what happens after he destroys the underworld?"

After laughing, Hades shook his head.

"Forget it, this has nothing to do with me. It's just an absurd dream."

"The laws of the world are so great, and dreams are just dreams after all... In comparison, this underworld that belongs to me is the real world."