Myth: The Ruler of Spirituality

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In the Underworld, the Fields of Truth.

A streak of grey flashed past, and space trembled as Hades staggered out from the void.

At this moment, his face was extremely weary, etched with the expression of one who had narrowly escaped a calamity.

Just as at the onset of Typhon's disaster, when Helios within the Sun was infected by the branches of the Mother Tree, the Underworld – as the interface closest to the Abyss and Niflheim in terms of the concept of space and time – was directly corroded by the power of the Mother Tree.

An endless stream of force had been flowing through the fissures in space and time since the outset, bypassing the seals to assimilate everything around it.

Some close minor interfaces were altered in an instant, and the Underworld faced great trouble. Almost immediately, Hades chose to fuse with the symbol of his godhood to counter this sudden disaster.

Naturally, Hades was no match for the Mother Tree, but luckily, compared to Helios, who possessed only a fraction of the Sun's power, the deities wielding authority in the Underworld were united, exerting their utmost to block the encroaching power of the Mother Tree.

Moreover, as a cohesive entity, the Underworld inherently possessed a greater volume than the Sun, which enabled Hades to hold on until the moment Typhon fell.

Currently, although many tributaries of the Styx had been silently altered, numerous places within the Underworld, divided by the rivers of fire, had already been entirely assimilated by the power of the Foreign Realm.

Reflected upon the deity himself, Hades' robe was missing many pieces; vast tracks of corruption appeared across the grey plains, countless wraiths were polluted into monsters – yet regardless, the main body of the Underworld ultimately remained intact.

Thus, after toiling for what felt like many years amidst the chaos of space and time, Hades could finally relax a bit. He withdrew from the special state fused with the Underworld, instead entrusting Persephone to run it on his behalf.

Since Typhon's death, the aggressive incursion of the Mother Tree had transformed into a ceaseless trickle, significantly easing the pressure on the Underworld. Even if the Queen of the Underworld's power wasn't as great as his, she could temporarily take over.

At this moment, Hades was immensely relieved and grateful that he had found his own Queen of the Underworld early on; otherwise, he truly would have been unable to stand alone.

"Outer Gods… truly a terrifying disaster."

"Even the ancient Spirit Realm and the territories of the Primordial Deities did not escape. Only Tartarus was an exception – no, perhaps it is simply because the Abyss has no external force extending outwards."

Finally able to catch his breath, Hades looked out over the vast grey plains. His heart ached, yet there was also a touch of horror.

It would be too late to tally the extent of the Underworld's losses, but just by considering the state of some of the Primordial Gods, one could roughly gauge the severity of this sudden calamity.

As the chaos of Typhon unfolded, day and night continued to alternate, such that the powers of the Land of Eternal Night and the Realm of Lightlessness surged or settled like the tide. It was these forces released from their domains that collided with the power of the Outer Gods, giving rise to two terrifying entities.

Ancient Evil: The Crown of Silence, and Ancient Evil: The Twisted Shadow, upon their births, descended upon the lands of the Underworld. One occupied a vast region, transforming it into a forbidden zone; the other rampaged across the Underworld, adding further injury to a realm already suffering under the influence of Outer Gods.

As for the Spirit Realm… The power of the Mother Tree also did not enter the Spirit Realm itself, but one of the branches of the Styx, which is co-managed by the Underworld and the Spirit Realm, namely The River of Oblivion, was not spared from Her venom.

A few tributaries were eroded, and many souls tainted on the surface by the force of the Ancient Evil, which did not disperse, thus gathered there.

Under the power of Primordial Hatred: The Flesh Mother Tree, they amalgamated, leading to some form of qualitative change – mere quantity alone could not normally cross such a boundary, and no matter how many mortal souls there were, they could not sublime into deities. But now, countless souls merged into one, transforming into Ancient Evil: The Thousand-Faced Soul Eater.

This last-born Ancient Evil almost perfectly embodied the chaos and madness of the Outer Gods, 'thousand-faced' being a mere epithet. In reality, innumerable evil spirits were perpetually slaughtering each other within its body, the Evil itself constantly craving to devour outer spiritual bodies.

Within it, every significantly powerful evil spirit could be considered part of the will of the Thousand-Faced Soul Eater, and every spiritual body also had its own will. Thus, outwardly, no one knew how the entity as a whole would react.

It is now ascending along the tributaries of the Styx, attempting to absorb more spiritual bodies, while the wraiths on both shores became part of it amidst the howling evil spirits.

"Heh, it's just as well that both Styx and the Nether Moon have stabilized the situation, otherwise there might have been two more serious troubles to contend with," said Hades, slightly shaking his head.

Compared to the River of Vows or even the Underworld itself, during the whole upheaval, the Nether Moon was the focal point of the Outer Gods' corruption.

Just as She chose the Sun on the surface, the Nether Moon was the only source of light underground. If it were influenced by the Mother Tree, then the moonlight that illuminated the Underworld would spread Her power throughout the entire realm, and even many of the small worlds encircling the present world would hardly escape disaster.

In such a circumstance, Hades personally witnessed the purplish fog loitering around the Nether Moon, along with those scattered crystalline leaves.

Even during the most dangerous moments, the King of the Underworld once noticed that the Nether Moon seemed to briefly come alive, as if a black moon were about to split from it, but it was immediately locked firmly beneath the lunar light by an ancient brass-colored book.

Just like the Ancient Evil Beings, even among the True Gods, there are differences in hierarchy. Hades was certain if the Nether Moon were truly torn in half, the being that would emerge would be much more dreadful than the previous three combined.

"Your Majesty, we have news about the task you commanded," interrupted a thought.

Along the periphery of the Fields of Truth, a figure clad in armor emerged from the distance. His presence bespoke the rarity of a powerful wraith.

"Well done, Evans. Where is the entrance?" asked Hades, his expression visibly brightened.

The king looked at his temple, once more reduced to ruins, and couldn't help but lament its ill-fated history.

"Your Majesty, the 'weakest' entry point, in my perception, is near that 'Realm of Silence.' I have sensed the connection, but have never dared to approach it."

The wraith warrior bowed slightly. The place he mentioned was where an Ancient Evil Being had just been born not long ago.

"There are no anomalies there, but my intuition tells me it is very dangerous, Your Majesty," he said.

"I understand, Evans. I had planned to deal with it last, after the disaster had passed, since it seemed harmless... Never mind, it's all the same," Hades said. Stay tuned for updates on empire

Sprucing up his spirit, Hades had a bit of a headache, but he decisively changed his plan. After all, he knew what he was looking for.

Just as Zeus had discovered Asgard within the belly of Mount Olympus, Hades, as ruler of the Underworld and holder of half the authority, had also sensed something unusual along with the return of Persephone.

Helheim, the Land of the Dead from Scandinavian mythology, domain of the death goddess Hel... Even though Hades didn't know its name or its past, that didn't prevent him from sensing its existence and the potent aura of death contained within that realm.

However, unlike Asgard, where the Deity Race resides, this realm originating from the Nine Realms clearly had a different nature.

Deities from foreign realms can die, and there have been instances when the spirits of deities entered the Land of the Dead after their death, even the sons of Divine King Odin could not escape such a fate. However, the gods of Chaos cannot die, which means, despite knowing of this place's existence and being Hades in name, he could not actually enter it.

Therefore, in order to fully locate Helheim, Hades could only rely on his wraith subordinates.

He did his best to nurture them and then had them sense the entrance to the Land of the Dead in different areas of the Underworld. But the power of mortals can never match that of the gods.

So, up until today, whether due to the current disruption of laws or perhaps because of the invasion by the Flesh-Mother Tree, only now could the wraiths finally pinpoint the location of the Land of the Dead. Although Hades himself might still be unable to enter, at least he could try to send the wraiths inside.

"Good, you stay here. I'll go and have a look over there, and likely, I will need you to make another trip later," Hades said.

With a wave of his hand, Hades looked toward the area swirling with the Ancient Evil Being.

There was no time to lose; no one knew why the Ancient Evil: The Crown of Silence had chosen that place as its domain. Perhaps it too was eroding the realm for an Outer God.

Thus, Hades could wait no longer; he had to kill— or at least seal or expel— that Ancient Evil and then build a fortress there. If the wraiths could explore it, all the better. If not...

"I hear the Goddess of the Magic Net had power rivaling that of True Gods even before acquiring Godhood... Perhaps in the future world of mortals, there will be a chance for such powerful beings to be born?"

Deep in thought, Hades was rather indifferent. Ever since he brought plague, lies, and strife to the mortal realm, he cared little for the faith of mortals. He wouldn't mind if such strong beings were born among them. Even subtly, he was somewhat hopeful.

All mortals must die, and after death, they naturally become wraiths.

"The Outer Gods that corrupt all worlds, minds in utter Chaos... truly the enemy of all intelligent life."

In a flash, restraining the urge to rest for a while, Hades sped off into the distance.

He had no idea what the situation was like on the surface... But for Hades, it was more important to deal with his own troubles.

...

"Truly a being that corrupts everything, the Flesh-Mother Tree, huh? It seems eager to bring everything under its control, to become part of itself... An abominable thing."

In the starry sky, within the Spirit Realm corresponding to the Zodiacal Star Domain, the Goddess of Starlight, Aster, peered through the barrier of space-time, watching the distant Sun.

In the Spirit Realm, the reflection of the Sun was even more 'real.' The trees growing on its back pulsed vigorously, with fruits resembling infants sprouting from the canopy. An ancient visage was concealed under the flowing flames on the surface of the great Sun, with an expression that seemed gentle and kindly, but was filled with pain and struggle.

As if undergoing torture— Aster could understand the pain of the Sun, but she was powerless to do anything. Laine was not in the Spirit Realm, and Liana was fully engaged in combating and expelling the influence of the Underworld, so naturally there was no one to attend to the changes in the Sun.

In fact, even Aster herself didn't really care what happened to the Sun.

However, since the Zodiac Regions were directly in the path of the Sun's journey, if it did become a support point for the Mother Tree in the outer world and its tool for corrupting the heavens, then the Zodiacal Star Domain, being closest to it, would inevitably be affected, and this essence of the starry core would become a forbidden zone.

Aster did not want to see this happen, yet she felt helpless. Even the Eater of Suns might not be able to contend with the vastly transformed Sun at the moment. Frowning with contemplation, the Goddess of Starlight felt somewhat at a loss, until she spotted a streak of light flying up from the Earth.

"Is that... Athena?"

Remembering what Laine had said before leaving, a light sparked in Aster's eyes; she had thought of a way to solve the problem.

Though this might result in the lack of a Sun on the Earth from then on, that was for the Divine King to consider. What happened to the Mortal Realm was of no concern to her.