"Tantalus? That bastard made it into Elysium too? That's insane."
Acting on instinct, Sisyphus edged closer to Samael to feel a little safer. But when he saw the grim-looking man clutched in the Ancient Serpent's grasp, his face froze in disbelief.
What the hell? That monster who boiled his own son and served human flesh to mock Zeus gets forgiven and sent to Elysium to enjoy himself? Then why the hell did I have to push a boulder in that cursed place?
Snapping back to his senses, Sisyphus felt a surge of bitter resentment.
Legend had it that Tantalus, driven by arrogance and cruelty, once hosted a banquet of human flesh and thus offended the gods.
When the gods saw through his mockery, they cast him into the depths of punishment, condemning him to endless suffering.
His torment was precise and merciless. He was made to stand in a pool of deep water, the surface rippling just beneath his chin. Yet despite the water so close, he burned with unbearable thirst and could not drink a single drop. Whenever he bent down to sip, the water would recede at once, leaving him standing alone on dry ground, as if some demon had drained the pool away.
At the same time, he was tormented by hunger. Behind him lay the lakeshore, lined with fruit trees heavy with ripened bounty. The branches sagged under the weight of pears dripping with sweetness, bright red apples, blazing pomegranates, fragrant figs, and glossy green olives, all hanging right before his eyes.
The fruits seemed to smile and beckon to him. Yet whenever he stretched up on tiptoe to pluck them, a sudden gust would whip the branches skyward, always just out of reach. Worse still was the constant terror of death. Above his head hung a massive boulder, poised to fall at any moment and crush him to nothing.
And yet, this sinner who deserved eternal torment had somehow been secretly pardoned and allowed to live in Elysium, the resting place of heroic souls. The irony was suffocating.
"That's because he became a dog, while you always wanted to be human."
Sensing Sisyphus's emotional turmoil, Samael turned back and snorted coldly, cutting straight to the point.
His fingers tightened.
With a sharp crack, the shinbone of Tantalus, who had been nailed to the tree while secretly sending word to Hades, snapped in two.
Even so, Tantalus showed no sign of dying. His head lolled to one side as he let out a gloating, rasping laugh.
"Heh… heh… Lord Zeus has granted me… immortality. Lord Hades is already here. Today… all of you rebellious gods will die!"
"Immortality? Is that so?"
Samael deliberately drew out his words as roaring black-gold flames ignited in his palm.
At first, Tantalus didn't take it seriously. But the flames, fine as threads, seeped through his pores and into his mouth and nose, ruthlessly chasing down his soul and consciousness, burning them inch by inch with brutal precision.
Under the scorching fire of fate, Tantalus writhed violently. His skin cracked apart piece by piece, exposing the dark purple rot of decayed flesh and stark white bone beneath. Deathly miasma poured from his mouth, carrying a suffocating stench of decay. Even the eyeballs in his sockets melted away, leaving behind hollow pits filled with eerie soul-fire.
With the blessing of Elysium stripped away, the true nature of his so-called "immortality" was finally laid bare.
He was nothing more than a walking corpse, a soul imprisoned inside its own rotting body. A tail-wagging watchdog like this was something Zeus might use, but never worth investing real effort or resources in.
"Ahhh! How could this happen?! My… immortality… Lord Hades… save—"
Feeling his soul being burned away bit by bit and seeing his true form exposed, Tantalus screamed in sheer terror.
"You've lived long enough."
Samael ripped Tantalus off the tree as casually as dragging away a dead dog. His eyes were icy. The moment his words fell, the dark-gold flames of fate in his hand surged violently.
Buzz!
In an instant, Tantalus was swallowed by the inferno. He didn't even have time to scream. His body twisted, collapsed, and disintegrated like spent firewood, turning piece by piece into drifting ash.
Tantalus, son of Zeus, had been nourished by Elysium for so long that he should have long since reached the level of a god.
And yet, he was erased in a single moment.
Sisyphus swallowed hard, a chill creeping into his expression as he quietly put a bit more distance between himself and the ferocious deity beside him.
At the same time, Hades, stepping out from the pillar of shadowy light, frowned faintly at the scene.
"What you're doing makes it hard for me to just look the other way…"
"But you still chose to stand aside," the Ancient Serpent replied. "So, how about we talk?"
With a trace of distaste, he brushed a few flecks of corpse ash from his body, then turned with a genial smile, clapped his hands, and opened his arms in invitation.
Zeus really had been cautious, planting Tantalus as a hidden watcher inside Elysium.
But after that brief test, Samael was certain that only Hades and the three Underworld Judges had arrived. Zeus himself had not been alerted.
The most likely reason was that the three copper walls at the edge of the Underworld, forged from the combined power of the Olympian gods, along with the triple veil of darkness formed from the authority of Erebos, made it impossible even for the so-called wise God King to easily penetrate, sense, or spy within.
So the news hadn't leaked yet. For now, they were saf—
"Shk!"
Just as Samael's tightly wound nerves eased slightly, a ribbon of black light unfurled before his eyes. Wherever the murky aura of death swept past, flowers and trees were stripped of life in an instant.
Clang!
In the blink of an eye, a sharp cold glint shot forward. The spear surged like a dragon, shredding and scattering the deathly sword aura. Dark fragments splashed across the ground, withering the nearby plants. Yet the immense leylines of Elysium pulsed, and within a few breaths, fresh shoots sprouted as the nursery returned to its original state.
"You seem to be mistaken," Hades said calmly, wiping along the edge of his blade. As he slowly lifted his gaze, a distorted, shadowed gleam flickered in his eyes. His voice was low and merciless.
"I didn't act just now simply because I dislike Tantalus. That doesn't mean I'll stand with you against my brother. Mortal or god, the Underworld only accepts the souls of the dead. So leave your lives here."
Samael let out a regretful sigh and shook his head, eyes flashing as figures stepped forward behind him.
"So there's nothing left to discuss?"
"Attack!"
Heracles, Atalanta, and the others, long accustomed to moving in sync with the Ancient Serpent without needing words, launched themselves forward without hesitation, charging to pin down the three Underworld Judges.
One of the judges, broad-browed, sharp-eyed, and strikingly handsome, met Heracles head-on with stern composure. After just a few exchanges, he screamed as he was blasted backward, collapsing and failing to rise again.
Right, judging by his position, that would be Rhadamanthus, Heracles' stepfather.
The remaining two Judges, though not as blatantly holding back, were still hard-pressed under the combined assault of Perseus, Orion, Atalanta, Circe, and several other top-tier heroes.
After all, even gods possess emotions and attachments, let alone these three Judges who had once been mortal kings.
And Elysium was filled with the souls of fallen Greek heroes.
Each of the three Judges had once ruled human city-states. Among the Heroic Spirits forced into service here, there were surely countless relatives, descendants, and former companions of theirs.
Add to that the fierce-faced dog playing dumb, Hecate who had long stood in opposition to Zeus, and the ambiguous stances of the three brothers—the god of death, the god of sleep, and the ferryman of the Underworld—and it was fair to say that every single one of Hades' "allies" was an inside traitor.
Seeing this, Samael couldn't help but laugh, a thoroughly malicious grin spreading across his face.
...
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