After leaving the throne room, Hades and Persephone walked through the corridors of the first level of Purgatory. Their footsteps echoed faintly in the gloomy stone halls, accompanied by the heavy pounding of Cerberus following close behind them. His three heads swept through the darkness, his nostrils releasing burning clouds of breath.
Suddenly, the infernal beast froze. His fangs snapped at empty air, and his three throats growled in unison. The oppressive silence of the corridor shattered beneath this roar, echoing like a warning.
Hades frowned. He, who knew his faithful guardian better than anyone, immediately sensed that something was lurking in the shadows. His voice thundered.
- WHO IS THERE?
Silence answered him—nothing but the echo of his own voice bouncing off the dark walls.
Cerberus grew restless, his three throats filling with rumbling growls before erupting into furious barking. He awaited only a command from his master.
- FOR THE LAST TIME… WHO IS THERE?
No response. The air thickened, saturated with a black mist that crept through the corridors like venom.
Hades narrowed his eyes, then issued his order in a sharp tone.
- CERBERUS… ATTACK!
The infernal hound lunged forward, claws tearing into stone, jaws wide open, ready to rip apart whatever hid within the shadows. But the moment he entered the mist, a horrific scream burst forth. Cerberus, the feared guardian of the Underworld, cried out in pain as he never had before.
Hades rushed forward, Persephone close behind him. What they saw froze them in place: Cerberus lay on the ground, writhing in spasms, subdued in an instant.
Then, a silhouette formed within the black fog. It advanced slowly, its heavy footsteps resounding like a challenge. A warrior emerged, clad in Roman armor of obsidian black, the mist coiling around him like a living cloak. His voice rose, deep and relentless.
- Good evening, Hades… Persephone. It has been a long time since we last met.
Hades raised his arm, ready to summon his blade, his voice rumbling like restrained thunder.
- Sisyphus… It has been a long time indeed. But tell me—how did you escape your eternal prison?
A cruel smile stretched across the traitor's lips.
- It was not easy to escape from the deepest level of Purgatory. But you know me… I always find a weakness to exploit.
- You still haven't told me how, Hades insisted.
- And why would I? So you can seal that flaw and send me back to push my rock for all eternity? Forget it, Hades. I will never set foot in that cursed prison again.
- In that case… you leave me no choice.
Sisyphus chuckled, his eyes gleaming with malice.
- Oh, I knew you would say that. That is why I came with a new ally. He is the one who silenced your poor little dog.
At those words, long serpents burst from the mist and lunged at Hades. He barely dodged them and placed one hand on the ground. A crack split the earth, and he drew forth his princely sword, slashing at the reptiles that assailed him.
But no sooner was the first wave repelled than a bestial laugh rolled through the fog like a monstrous echo. Persephone, recognizing the voice, went pale.
- Typhon…
With a swift motion, she snatched Hades' helmet from the ground and placed it upon her head. Her body faded at once—becoming invisible, she stepped back, retreating from her beloved.
Then Typhon finally emerged from the thick smoke, gigantic, his eyes blazing with savage hatred. His deformed maw turned toward the unseen space where Persephone was hiding. His voice rumbled, harsh and terrible.
- Do you truly believe, Persephone, that this helmet will protect you? When I am finished with your beloved… HAHAHAHA!
- Do not speak too quickly, Typhon!
Hades charged, gripping his sword with steady resolve. In the shadows, Persephone discreetly used her power: a dark root burst from the ground and slyly coiled around Sisyphus' ankle. Without realizing it, the root tightened little by little, binding him more with every second.
Typhon roared and spewed a torrent of flames at his foe. Hades raised his free hand, and a wall of stone erupted from the earth, halting the inferno. But Typhon pressed his clawed fingers to the ground; from each sprang black serpents that burrowed beneath the soil, only to resurface around Hades.
Hades slashed the reptiles, but each time one fell, it split in two, multiplying. Soon the ground swarmed with countless hissing creatures.
- Enough! thundered Hades.
He leapt through the waves of serpents and rushed straight at his rival. Typhon met his charge with a monstrous roar, like that of a lion, shaking the earth and summoning a violent storm. All of Purgatory seemed to tremble with his fury.
Despite the chaos, Hades advanced and brought down his blade. The sword cleanly severed Typhon's head, which crashed to the ground. The colossal body collapsed, lifeless.
Wary, Hades approached slowly. But suddenly, with a sickening sound of flesh reforming, the head grew back. Typhon sprang upright and, with a burning grip, seized Hades and slammed him brutally to the ground.
- GRRRAAAH! Typhon howled, his voice making the walls of Purgatory tremble.
The creature's incandescent palms burned the god's flesh. But Hades, with a sudden motion, raised a shell of rock around himself. The impact resounded like an earthquake, and from the mineral armor burst sharp spikes that pierced Typhon's flesh. He howled in pain, his flames and winds scattering in unleashed fury.
Seizing the opening, Hades vanished beneath the earth… then resurfaced behind him. Typhon tried to seize him with his other hand, whose fingers spewed a rain of hissing serpents. Hades narrowly avoided the writhing mass and, with a sharp thrust, drove his sword into the colossal back of his foe, piercing his heart.
Typhon staggered, his knees crashing to the ground with titanic force. His breathing grew ragged, the fire in his throat slowly fading. With his final breath, his blood-stained fangs parted and he murmured, gasping:
- No… this is impossible… No one can defeat me…
Hades tightened his grip on his weapon and sneered.
- Hahaha! You forget that my brother has already struck you down once. If he could do it… then so can I!
He twisted the blade, driving it deeper into Typhon's flesh, tearing from him a bestial scream. Then, in a furious surge, he cleaved the titan's body clean in two. The two halves collapsed, shaking the ground with a final thunderous crash.
Not far away, Sisyphus, who had been watching the scene, tried to slip away discreetly. But the vine summoned by Persephone since the beginning of the battle had grown far too thick for him to break free. With a sharp jerk, it yanked him violently to the ground, catching him off guard. As if that were not enough, the root coiled tighter and tighter around his legs, which became prisoners of its grasp.
A crystalline laugh rang through the air. Persephone removed Hades' helmet, becoming visible once more to the traitor.
- Heeheehee… You disappoint me, Sisyphus. I thought you were the cleverest man in the world… and yet you were trapped by a simple root.
Sisyphus spat a thin stream of blood, but a cruel smile twisted his lips.
- I must admit… you caught me well. But if you think I have spoken my last word… you are mistaken.
Discreetly, he drew a small dagger hidden in his toga. With a brutal effort, he cut through the roots, partially freeing himself and striking Persephone aside with a sharp blow.
But the goddess was already on her guard. She extended her hand, and the ground cracked open at once. New roots burst forth, thick and relentless. They wrapped around his legs, his arms, even his torso, crushing him to the ground. In an instant, his entire body was pinned to the earth, trapped in an indestructible vegetal vise.
The traitor's eyes widened in shock.
- No… this is impossible… How are you doing this?
Persephone burst into a cruel laugh.
- Blah blah blah… always the same refrain. You are surprised to be attacked, yet you never learn. Sisyphus, the more time passes, the more predictable you become… and your recklessness condemns you.
At these words, Persephone tightened her grip, the roots constricting until Sisyphus nearly choked in their vise. Then Hades stepped forward, his sword still gleaming with Typhon's blood. He placed a firm hand on his companion's shoulder and spoke in a low voice, heavy with menace.
- You never cease to amaze me, Persephone… I did not know you could control plants.
- What? Do you truly ignore my mother's true powers?
- I must admit we knew each other far too little, despite our bonds of blood…
A cruel smile curved the goddess's lips as she gently caressed her beloved's chest.
- Then, my prince… what shall we do with him?
Hades lowered his gaze to Sisyphus, groaning, his arms and legs crushed in the roots' embrace. His voice rang out like a death sentence.
- Hard to say… but I have an idea. Free his arms and legs.
Persephone obeyed. The roots slowly withdrew, leaving Sisyphus a flicker of hope. But Hades stepped forward at once and, without hesitation, shattered both his legs with the hilt of his blade. The crack of bone echoed, followed by the traitor's horrific screams. Then, with a swift motion, he severed his hands, letting them fall into the dust of Purgatory.
Hades stared at him, merciless.
- Sisyphus… I do not know how you escaped your prison. But I will make certain you never leave it again. You will return to your rock and push it for eternity. This time, the ground will remain slippery forever. Persephone… take him away.
The goddess nodded, an icy smile on her lips.
- I have a better idea… My plants will carry him straight into the depths of Purgatory. Let him return to his cell… and remain there until the end of time.
At these words, the roots burst forth once more and coiled around Sisyphus' mutilated body. Slowly, inexorably, they dragged him into the ground. His desperate screams echoed for a long while, until his voice vanished with him into the abyss.
Silence returned, broken only by Cerberus' ragged breathing as he slowly regained his strength.
As calm settled once more through the halls of Purgatory, Hades turned away from the ground that had swallowed Sisyphus. Cerberus, panting, had finally risen, his three heads shaking dust from their fangs. Hades briefly laid a hand upon his flank, as if to soothe him, then his gaze hardened again.
- Come, Persephone. We have other matters to attend to.
The goddess nodded. Together, they left the place and descended deeper into the levels of Purgatory. Their footsteps echoed through the gloom, guided by the spectral glow of black flames embedded in the walls.
They reached Typhon's former prison. The place still reeked of burning and ash, a recent reminder of the titan's presence. Deformed silhouettes hung in the shadows, bound by chains forged from ancient metal. Some creatures were still groaning; others, already dead, were nothing more than twisted carcasses.
Hades advanced cautiously, his sword still in hand. His eyes searched every corner of the darkness. Then Cerberus lunged forward, sniffing the air as if he had caught a familiar scent. The hound stopped abruptly before a cell.
Inside, two well-known figures were struggling in vain against their chains. Thanatos and Hypnos.
- Impossible… Persephone murmured, eyes wide.
Hades frowned. His gaze fixed upon the seals engraved all around the metal cage: an eight-pointed star, each branch linked to protective glyphs forming a perfect circle.
- Ancient seals… Sisyphus truly trapped you, he spat with contempt.
He placed a hand upon the ground. The earth trembled, cracked, and Hades' power shattered the symbols carved into the stone. The cell shook violently before the door collapsed with a metallic crash.
Hades stepped inside. Thanatos and Hypnos were bound by black chains, also marked with the cursed stars. With a sharp motion, the god summoned his blade from the earth. Each strike against the resistant chains tore a spark of power from him, as if the metal were feeding on his strength. But at last, the bonds gave way.
Thanatos and Hypnos collapsed to the ground, panting and ashamed. Hades helped them up, his unyielding gaze fixed upon them.
- How did you allow yourselves to be caught?
Thanatos drew a deep breath before answering, humiliated.
- When I entered Typhon's cell, he had already freed himself from his chains. He caught me by surprise and slammed me against the wall. At that very moment, Sisyphus appeared out of nowhere: he seized my hands and bound me with Typhon's chains. When he was finished with me, my brother, who was nearby, tried to help… but he too was captured. Sisyphus tied us both and engraved his symbols on our chains and at the cell's entrance. That is how you found us.
Hades frowned, his gaze drifting to the other cells where the test subjects lay. His voice snapped, sharp and cold.
- Very well… But reassure me: did your research at least make progress? Has any of our subjects managed to master Typhon's famous metamorph technique?
Thanatos shook his head and pointed to a neighboring cell. Behind the bars, a man stared at them intently, his features perfectly identical to those of Sisyphus. His eyes, however, first settled on Persephone with a disturbing intensity.
- Not completely, Thanatos admitted. One of them can imitate what he sees, but he can do nothing more. We are making progress… but too slowly.
At these words, the man in the cell began tearing strips of flesh from his own skin, gradually revealing a new face. The grotesque, sickening transformation drew a grimace from Hades and Persephone — and yet they had already witnessed far worse horrors. But Cerberus reacted at once: his three maws growled with hostility, for the subject was slowly taking on Persephone's exact appearance.
Hades turned away, as did his beloved, feigning indifference. His hand tightened around the hilt of his sword, and his voice fell, icy.
- I would have hoped for a different answer from you. For I have just eliminated Typhon.
Hypnos, silent until now, finally spoke.
- Fortunately, we still have a vial of his blood. And I believe we already know what kind of subject to choose… We should test it on hyenas.
Hades raised an eyebrow.
- Why hyenas?
- Because, Hypnos replied gravely, hyenas and scavengers are creatures of Purgatory. And if the rumor is true… Death gave part of his gene to a carnivore to create the very first hyena.
A heavy silence filled the chamber. Hades remained thoughtful, then replied slowly.
- I see… Then if this rumor is accurate, we have found the ideal subject for Project Ghoul.
Hypnos pressed on, an uneasy glint in his eyes.
- And what of the subject who has already managed to transform into anything he sees?
Hades turned his head toward Persephone. His expression softened slightly, but his words remained cold.
- I leave the decision to you, my dear beloved.
A thin smile formed on the goddess's lips. She pointed toward the cell where the shifting impostor stood.
- Very well, my love. If he can become any individual, he will be invaluable to us as a spy. Take him out of his cell… but first, I would like to speak with him. Or should I rather say… speak with her?
Her eyes gleamed with a strange light as she watched the creature complete its transformation. Before her, her own face was reflected back, like a cruel mirror.
The Polymorph then formed a smile identical to hers… a smile so perfectly identical that she shuddered despite herself.