After Thanatos heard Ares's words, he tacitly allowed him to take Minos's body, but Ares did not demonstrate how to use the divine body in front of him. Instead, he said to him:
"Alright, alright, everything's settled. You've been a great help this time, Thanatos. Thank you. I won't delay your work any longer."
"It's nothing."
Thanatos nodded and replied,
"You also helped me with the Sisyphus matter. We're even."
Thanatos had once been deceived by Sisyphus, putting on shackles himself and being imprisoned by Sisyphus for three years. This had led to no one dying in the mortal world for three years. Even after mortals were killed on the battlefield, they would turn into emaciated and terrifying ghouls, continuing to wander the world.
Of course, mortal shackles could not bind the god who controlled Death. Although it always sounds like shifting blame, this time it was truly Athena and The Fates behind her who tampered with Thanatos's shackles, leading to Death being locked up.
As for why they did this, it was, of course, to ensure that history developed as fate dictated. Sisyphus's myth was still very famous in later generations.
And in this crisis, the god who finally rescued Thanatos was Ares, the God of War. It was precisely under this opportunity that a good relationship was established between Ares and Thanatos.
However, this was ultimately just an acquaintance. The god Thanatos pledged allegiance to Hades, and he was currently only following Hades's orders, temporarily obeying Hecate's command. If Hades returned to the Underworld, the Twin Gods would certainly follow Hades.
After fulfilling Ares's request, Thanatos returned to the mortal realm, continuing to wander the battlefield, reaping the souls of the war dead. Because he always maintained an ethereal state and only guided the souls of the dead to the Underworld, neither the Olympus Gods nor the Giant Race tacitly moved against this soul reaper.
Meanwhile, Ares took the remaining divine body of Minos and temporarily returned to Hecate's workshop.
He used magic to keep Deimos asleep, then utilized various equipment in Hecate's workshop to begin processing Minos's body according to his plan.
...
When Deimos opened his eyes again, he found himself lying in a dark and dry cave.
As a child of Sparta, he did not panic. Instead, after confirming his own condition, he sat up directly from the hard, cold ground, rubbing his sore muscles, and then looked around vigilantly.
The inside of the cave was dark and deep but not complicated. The place where he was located was already the deepest part of the cave, and there was also a passage leading to the surface.
The interior of the cave was covered with sand-like grit, and buried deep within this grit were various biological skeletons. Deimos even found a section of bone resembling a dragon bone among them.
Although he found an upward passage, he did not simply walk up carelessly. The Spartan military education had instilled calmness in the young Deimos. He searched for a suitable leg bone in the cave's sand to use as his spear, and chose a skull of an unknown non-human creature to serve as a shield, putting it on his other arm.
After making these preparations, Deimos cautiously approached the passage, using the "spear" in his hand as a probing stick, moving step by step upwards.
Unexpectedly, he encountered no obstacles along the way and easily reached the outside of the cave. But the moment he left the cave and saw the scene outside, Deimos froze.
Before him was a circular platform. The platform was not large, feeling similar in size to the plaza where he usually practiced combat with his brother, Kratos. But beyond this circular platform was an endless darkness.
This circular platform seemed to be suspended in the void. Even though there was no one here and he was not bound by any shackles, Deimos did not know how he was supposed to leave this circular platform.
Whoosh.
Suddenly, a slight fluttering sound came from overhead, startling Deimos from his contemplation.
He looked up, surprised to find that a tall figure had suddenly appeared on the previously empty circular platform.
This was a tall young man, dressed in black robes, with black hair and eyes, and a pair of huge black wings on his back. One could say that every part of him was black.
His face was very young, but he always gave outsiders the illusion of being withered. Seeing him, Deimos felt as if he was looking at his own weakened, white-haired self decades later.
Watching this man, Deimos held his breath.
He recalled when he and Kratos had just been taken as disciples by the Sparta High Priest. The High Priest had required them to recite from memory the complete compendium of world deities' incarnations and appearances. Among those divine incarnations and appearances, he had a very deep impression of this man.
Black hair, black robes, black sword, a pair of huge black wings—this man was clearly Thanatos, Death, who, in mythology, would come to guide all beings to the Underworld when their lives reached their end.
So... am I in the Underworld? Am I dead?
Even though he had undergone the rigorous training of a Spartan warrior since childhood, Deimos still froze in place, bewildered, upon suddenly realizing this fact, staring at Thanatos.
At this moment, the man opposite, who was presumably Thanatos, raised his hand towards him. The man did not say a word to Deimos, but Deimos felt a terrifying force act upon him, pushing him backward and sending him flying.
Deimos felt the world spin around him, and his body slammed onto the ground countless times before finally coming to a stop. When he got up, he found himself back in the cave where he had just woken up.
"Death won't let me leave here? Why?"
Deimos slumped to the ground, staring blankly into the darkness before him. He did not choose to charge out recklessly. Sparta advocated courage but not irrational recklessness. As a seven-year-old child, how many drugs would he need to take to escape from the hands of Thanatos, Death?
However, just as Deimos was about to give up hope, a rustling sound suddenly came from a dark corner. Immediately after, Deimos saw an emaciated, zombie-like old man, burdened with heavy shackles, crawling towards him from the dark corner.
Deimos was startled. He picked up a bone nearby, intending to smash it onto the old man's head. But at that moment, the old man suddenly gave him a strange laugh and asked,
"Little friend, are you lost?"