#630chatAI Model: gemini-2.5-flash
Chapter 628 Conversation
The outskirts of the Underworld.
Around the time Heracles encountered Hebe and the Styx underwent a change,
Ender, holding his lyre, returned to the place where he had previously parted ways.
He had shaken off the Silent Crown's clone using a simpler method.
That was to directly take the item, which contained the aura of the Land of Eternal Night, through the Underworld portal and back to the border where Land of Eternal Night and Nether Moon were separated.
Thus, Hellhound Cerberus, who had just woken from his sleep and discovered he had lost the God King's mark, directly collided with the Ancient Evil's clone.
A great battle immediately ensued, and Ender withdrew.
However, when he returned here, the puppet, naturally, saw no trace of Heracles.
Mobilizing his Authority, Ender tried to glimpse the shadows of the past.
Although there were many obstacles, using the ritual he had left on the Great Hero as an anchor, he still saw something.
For instance, Heracles entered the Spirit World from here, and now he should be in the Human Realm.
His head tilted slightly, emitting a faint wooden friction sound.
Ender could vaguely sense the direction of the ritual, which should be near Mount Othrys, but quite a distance from where the Goddess of the Magic Web once resided.
He nodded silently, as if he had received an answer.
The puppet was about to leave when, unexpectedly, the Styx beside him suddenly trembled slightly.
Water churned, and bubbles rose from it.
A trace of surprise flashed in Ender's eyes as he observed the River of Forgetfulness's changes.
Among the three most important rivers in the Underworld, Styx was undoubtedly the first, while Acheron was originally nothing special, but in recent years, it had become increasingly powerful.
He didn't expect the River of Forgetfulness to also undergo some change today, not continuing to widen the gap with the former.
"River of Forgetfulness... it has nothing to do with me."
His figure gradually blurred, and Ender prepared to leave again.
However, at the next moment, he stopped once more and turned to look at the gray plain beside him.
"King of the Underworld, what a rare guest."
"You've got it backward, esteemed Your Highness."
The gray earth rose, and sand swirled, then transformed into a human figure.
Hades shook his head slightly, correcting Ender's statement.
"As the God of the Underworld, and as the embodiment of the Underworld, you are a guest on my body."
"In fact, if it weren't for the existence of that human, I would have come over as soon as I sensed your aura."
"But it's not too late now..."
After a moment of contemplation, Hades invited:
"May I ask if you would be willing to join the Underworld?"
"Hmm?"
Ender was startled by the appearance of Hades, for whom he had made many conjectures.
After all, when he displayed his power in the Underworld, he didn't expect to conceal it from the deity who ruled the Underworld.
However, just as Hades said, he was not very willing to interact with Heracles and Dionysus.
It was not surprising that King of the Underworld disliked the God King's Son.
But the fact that he would finally appear before him and invite him was truly a bit unexpected.
... King of the Underworld, are you mistaken?
Ender, kindly reminding him, revealed a bit of the essence of his power.
"I am not an innate deity, but a deity born of faith."
"In the words of the Olympus Gods, I am a so-called 'Evil God' or 'Malevolent God'."
"As a member of the God Court, is it really appropriate for you to invite me to join?"
"There's nothing inappropriate about it."
Shaking his head, Hades explained:
"After all, if you were a normal innate deity, you probably wouldn't be willing to join the Underworld system either."
"It is precisely because you are a deity of faith that I believe there is room for cooperation between us."
"You crave faith, while I crave the overall growth of the realm, and these two should not be contradictory."
"How about it? Would you like to consider it?"
"I see that your state is not like that of a normal deity, so you probably wouldn't care about the environment of the Underworld, right?"
"You should also be able to see that in the near future, Zeus's control over the Human Realm will become stronger and stronger. Sooner or later, there will be no place for you there."
"Leaving early is also a fated choice."
"..."
Silent, listening to Hades's words, Ender had to admit that what he said seemed to make some sense.
Indeed, if he were an ordinary deity of faith, he would probably be alarmed by the steadily rising prestige of the Olympus God King.
In such a situation, if the secluded Hades offered an invitation, it might not be a bad place to go.
"But the Underworld has also begun to fall under the God King's control, hasn't it? Let alone a deity of faith, even you yourself are in danger."
Ender questioned, but Hades was unconcerned.
"Regarding this, I naturally have preparations."
"If you are willing to join the Underworld, you will know later."
"However, before that, please forgive me for not being able to tell you."
"Hmm... I understand."
Nodding slightly, Ender did not ask further but decisively refused.
"I regret to say, King of the Underworld, I have no intention of joining the Underworld at this time."
"After all, even setting aside everything else, as a 'Spreader of Drama,' 'First Puppeteer,' and one of the 'Origins of Bards,' I possess a continuous flow of faith, enough to support power at or above DivinityLevel Six—this is an internal ranking among us deities of faith."
"In this situation, even if the Human Realm is entirely occupied by the God King, I can hide in my Divine Kingdom without fearing his Authority."
"So, if there's nothing else, please allow me to take my leave here."
His voice was calm; facing Hades, whose power was far greater than his own, Ender showed no fear.
And before him, Hades, though frowning at the refusal, made no other moves.
"Divinity Level Six... Weak Divine Power?"
"Alright, in that case, please proceed as you wish."
With a bang, Hades's body exploded, turning back into a sky full of sand.
Hades understood the concept of so-called Divinity.
It was something similar to a True God's Divinity, and also the foundation of a deity of faith. Or perhaps, what was called Divinity was originally another 'Divinity' originating from the world.
It was a bit regrettable that he couldn't recruit the deity before him, who possessed at least the level of Medium Divine Power and was among the best of those evil gods.
However, he was different from Zeus; his purpose in coming here was genuinely just to try and recruit him.
So, if it wasn't successful, then it wasn't successful.
"Thank you, King of the Underworld."
Seeing this, Ender breathed a slight sigh of relief. Honestly, he didn't want to fight King of the Underworld, who was one of the strongest below Great Divine Power.
He wasn't afraid because he already knew that his puppet body had many special qualities.
Its concealment made it difficult to detect, its natural affinity for history and space, its compatibility with the Magic Net, and its resistance and immunity to most powers, even some Authorities...
Moreover, as its creator grew stronger, even his past creations, this artifact that witnessed the genesis of the deities of faith, became increasingly wondrous.
But this did not mean Ender could act recklessly, for just like the God King, who had many tricks up his sleeve.
As his brother, no one could guarantee that Hades didn't have a few unique trump cards of his own.
"Hades... if there's a chance in the future, I can try to make contact."
He pondered silently, but these were matters for later.
The virtualization, which had been halted, continued, and this time, Ender's departure was not interrupted.
Soon, the banks of the Styx, which had recently undergone a great battle, returned to peace...
...Huh? Where are they?
A long while later, a streak of light flew from afar.
Having temporarily re-sealed a small section of the Flesh Corridor's body using the trump card left by Zeus, Dionysus quickly returned here.
A complete Thousand-Faced Soul Eater was no joke; he was almost certain that if Heracles had faced the Thousand-Faced Soul Eater when it was first born and hadn't been blasted apart multiple times, the chances of him failing would have been significant.
However, when Dionysus rushed back, what left him dumbfounded was that there was no one in sight.
"Where are they?"
"Where did everyone go?"
Completely speechless, Dionysus searched for a long time on the banks of the Styx but found nothing.
There were many traces of battle and mixed auras of different powers, but not a single living person could be found.
After half a day, he sat on the bank of the River of Forgetfulness.
Since he couldn't find anyone, he could only wait here...
"Look what I found!"
Her tone excited, Eros, who had just finished examining the changes at the source of the River of Forgetfulness, discovered Dionysus here.
"A lone deity without a Divinity, and the son of God King Zeus!"
"Hmm... too bad for you."
"Come on, go stand with the skeletons!"
She shot an arrow casually. Although it lacked the hatred bonus of a deity, the arrow's power was actually ordinary, but Dionysus was indeed weak enough.
Thus, with hardly any resistance, he was shot through the chest.
However, something unexpected happened to Eros. Although Dionysuswas indeed affected by the golden arrow, he did nothing for a moment.
It was as if one of him had been shot, and another had not.
Eros's brow furrowed, and just as she was about to go forward to see what had happened, at the next moment, Dionysus resumed his actions.
"?"
"How strange. Is this what it means to be a deity without a Divinity?"
Shaking her head in confusion, Eros didn't pay attention to this small matter.
Her small wings on her back flapped slightly, and she continued flying along the riverbed of the Styx.
At least she had to do something serious while out... like catching the scattered souls from the evil creature and throwing them back into the River of Forgetfulness.
...
Human Realm, West Sea.
From where one descends, so too shall one return.
For ordinary people, this was not an easy task.
For the space-time of the Underworld's entrance was so peculiar that it was difficult to distinguish between arrival and departure points.
However, Ender was clearly not among them, so it didn't take long for him to emerge from a cave not far from the coast, returning to the Human Realm.
He released his senses and searched around.
On a reef near the sea, Ender found that slender figure.
Prometheus, he was quietly gazing at the sea from the shore.
Howling storms and giant waves over a thousand feet high crashed past, and water droplets fell upon him.
On his journey through the Human Realm, the Titan, who had been imprisoned for thousands of years, once again traversed this land.
However, he spoke very little along the way, mostly just silently accompanying.
"You're back... But where's Heracles?"
"Of course he went where he was supposed to go."
Ender spoke faintly, his voice calm.
"I don't believe you didn't guess, otherwise you wouldn't be waiting here."
"...Indeed."
Sighing, the First Awakener, the wise man, slowly said:
"Actually, Heracles himself probably guessed it too."
"The book of purgatory, a book from the Nine Hells."
"It records countless mysteries and can answer most of the world's confusions, but it cannot change its essence."
"This is a book from the devils' homeland, and the devils' gifts are never meant to fulfill your own wishes."
"So when this clever path reaches its end, he might get an answer, but it will definitely not be the outcome he desires."
The sea breeze blew, carrying a hint of salty smell.
However, having stayed in the Ocean Eye long enough, Prometheus had already grown accustomed to these things.
Floating in the air, the puppet came to his side.
Ender could not agree more with the First Awakener's words.
"Indeed, devils... are truly not easy to deal with. Their presence was felt at the end of the Bronze Age."
"However, while I don't think he'll succeed either, it's not for these reasons."
"I simply don't believe that sneaking in has any meaning, which is why I didn't go with him."
"And the final result also proved my conjecture."
The puppet's neck rotated once, and its voice paused slightly.
Looking at the slender figure beside him, he asked the question in his heart.
"Prometheus, I've actually been curious about one thing for a long time."
"On this adventure with Heracles, each of us had our own different goals."
"I'm not sure about Amon, but he's dead... at least he looks dead. Dionysus was sent by Zeus; he served his father."
"I, on the other hand, hoped to enter the Spirit World with Heracles to seek an answer I needed to find—what about you?"
"Did you embark on this path merely to repay him for saving you?"
He had never doubted Prometheus, because a deity who truly remembered every one of his creations was not worthy of suspicion.
Ender was just very confused.
"I really want to know... have you truly let go of everything from the Bronze Age?"
Prometheus said he had let go, but Ender didn't think so.
For thousands of years, the fire-stealer had never submitted to the God King, and it should be the same now.
It was just that he had become smarter, more rational, so he learned to use methods that could truly achieve his goals to solve problems...
And the root of this problem, besides the God King, who else could it be?
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