Orpheus looked down at his thin arms, then up at the War God's muscular physique in front of him, and wisely chose not to charge forward with his lyre.
He plucked the strings, still hoping to move the two stone-hearted deities in front of him with his music, but Ares, just as he opened his mouth and before he could utter the first note, threatened:
"If you dare to sing again, I will seal your mouth forever."
Orpheus closed his mouth, sighed with some reluctance, and turned to leave. However, after a moment, he walked back and asked Ares and Hades:
"War God, Hades, can I enter now?"
Ares and Hades looked at him and found that a white light, characteristic of the undead, had already appeared on his body. Ares walked two steps past him and then found Orpheus's dead body beside a stone mound in the wilderness outside the Hell Gate. This fellow had actually hidden there and committed suicide with a dagger.
"You're quite something."
Ares walked back, tossing a drachma he picked up from the corpse to Orpheus, and praised him:
"The young man gave up quite decisively."
Orpheus took the coin. At this moment, Hades turned around again and made a loud sniffling sound. After a long while, the stern-faced Hades turned back and said to Orpheus:
"You may enter. Eurydice is in Elysium. If it's you, you will surely enter this paradise."
"Thank you, Hades!"
Orpheus looked at Hades with tears of gratitude, then stealthily glanced at the calm-faced Ares, and quickly ran into the Hell Gate.
Cerberus, the gatekeeper, did not stop him. Orpheus was now a dead son of a god, and a member of the undead sequence, so he quickly passed through the Hell Gate and ran excitedly to Charon's ferry, soon taking the ferry to the other side.
"If he had known this, he might as well have died earlier for an easier time."
Ares curled his lips.
Because he carried memories and concepts from his previous life, after becoming a main god, he was relatively indifferent to the love between Orpheus and Eurydice. In his opinion, Eurydice's Death was not Death in the true sense, and Orpheus and she would eventually reunite.
In Ares's view, dying and going to the Underworld in Greece was not true Death. He even believed that after learning magic, even soul dispersion was not complete Death.
True Death should be the erasure of all traces of an existence in this world; no one remembers him, no one misses him, and he no longer has any consciousness, sinking into endless darkness, never to return.
However, Hades patted Ares's shoulder and thanked him:
"Thank you, that was a great help, Ares. I'm actually not very good at handling these kinds of situations."
"Your act truly surprised me."
Ares looked at Hades and said:
"Actually, if you 'inadvertently' showed this side of yourself on Olympus, I believe many goddesses might actively pursue you."
"That's impossible. After all, I am Hades, and Hades cannot be a melancholic man."
Hades shook his head:
"Actually, when we drew lots back then, I knew that Zeus and Poseidon would most likely make me draw the Underworld. I am not a suitable person to be Hades. However, considering that Zeus and Poseidon's personalities are even less suitable to be Hades, I took over this position."
"Haha, what a coincidence."
Ares replied with a smile:
"I think my teacher Hecate is a very suitable deity to become Hades. After all, she has no feelings for outsiders' emotions and is indifferent to external matters."
"Indeed, I once intended to train Hecate and wanted her to take over my position, but..."
At this point, Hades's tone paused slightly.
He looked at Ares and said meaningfully:
"Ares, you know, the duty of Hades is to maintain the absolute order of life and Death, not to overturn life and Death for someone, causing great chaos in the three realms."
"You're right, but I believe that not just Hades, but as deities, we should exist to maintain the absolute nature of the concepts and order we represent, not to be swayed by any personal feelings, nor to use power arbitrarily for any selfish reasons."
Ares agreed:
"In this regard, I believe all deities in the current world are unqualified."
"Perhaps so." Hades was noncommittal about this: "But I can't control other deities. At least my own domain, I must manage well. Any existence that tries to disrupt the order of life and Death is my enemy, Hades, you understand, right, Ares?"
"I know." Ares replied: "But order will be born from chaos. There is great chaos before great order. To change the existing order, everything must be reshuffled and started anew, isn't that right?"
"Then anyone who dares to bring chaos to the Underworld is my enemy."
Hades patted Ares's shoulder:
"Alright, that's enough talk. I believe you already understand my meaning. I'm going to Olympus to talk to Zeus now, so I won't delay here. I'll take my leave first."
With that, Hades left the Hell Gate without looking back, disappearing behind a certain passage connecting the Underworld to the mortal world, while Ares gazed silently in the direction Hades had vanished.
"Hades?"
After a long while, he whispered to Hades's retreating back:
"Hades, although you are the best deity, in my opinion, you still don't fit the definition of a 'deity'."
...
Not long after Hades disappeared from the Underworld, Ares's avatars in the human world and on Olympus received news about him.
Hades, the Hades, reappeared in the mortal world, entered the God Kings Hall on Olympus, and had a three-day heart-to-heart talk with his brother Zeus. Three days later, Zeus, the God King, unleashed thunder, striking down Asclepius, an Argo Hero who was at the front lines preparing medicine for the Heroes.
For this, Apollo, the God of Light, was furious and directly drew his bow, shooting down Perseus, Son of Zeus, who was dedicated to Olympus on the front lines. He then left in a huff, causing great disarray in the Olympus army.
However, Athena, the Goddess of Wisdom, quickly stepped forward to control the situation. She announced that out of gratitude for their benevolence, the two Heroes who died in this accident, Asclepius and Perseus, had been elevated to deities by Zeus. Asclepius became the God of Medicine of Olympus, and Perseus became the constellation Perseus in the sky, on par with the deities. Perseus's wife Andromeda and her parents would also become Andromeda, Cepheus, and Cassiopeia after their Deaths, respectively.
At the same time, to express his apology for causing this misunderstanding, Hades, would also remain on Olympus to help the gods and humans defeat the hateful Snake-Foot Giants.
Thus, the Heroes of Olympus were greatly re-energized, especially when they saw Asclepius and Perseus, who had recently become deities and constellations, appearing before them in an even higher form of existence. These Heroes declared that they would dedicate themselves to Olympus and fight to the Death.
Another seven years passed. During these seven years, the three forces—Olympus, Ares's army, and the Snake-Foot Giants—engaged in a tug-of-war across the world. In the ocean, Sea King Poseidon lurked, eyeing the land covetously. But during these seven years, a pair of brothers quietly grew up in an orphanage in Sparta, nurtured by Atalanta.