Myth: The Ruler of Spirituality

Chapter 458 - 125: The Path to Dismembering the Origin

Under the dim sky, the glow from the flowing river of molten lava brightened half of the sky. On the vast land below, the souls of mortals were faint and sporadic.

This was a scene rarely seen in the reality of the Underworld. As the ruler of the Underworld, Hades had been particularly busy lately because the great war among mortals had brought the underlying conflicts among the Olympian Gods to the surface, and the death toll of humans kept rising, resulting in a massive influx of souls into the Underworld.

However, watching the gods wage war upon the earth while remaining as an onlooker, Hades found some pleasure amidst the busyness, but now, his good mood had come to an end.

Looking at the stranger before him, Hades’s expression grew increasingly somber.

Often, Hades did not care about how outsiders viewed him, so even though there were no temples dedicated to him on the surface, and mortals still widely believed that he trembled at the powers of other deities, he didn’t react too strongly.

Whether it was those prejudices or formalities, if they did not bring him any tangible benefits, Hades did not care much. In this regard, he was more pragmatic than his father.

Cronus might still care about appearances, but to Hades, they were worthless. Therefore, Hades had no intention of provoking this strange deity, unless he had claimed to want to destroy the Underworld.

After all, as the God of the Underworld, he was a part of the Underworld itself, and its destruction would mean his own—indeed, Hades did not take Laine’s words to mean the whole world but thought he was referring to the Underworld only. Though, just as a god cannot commit suicide, even Hades himself did not know how the Underworld could be destroyed.

"Strange deity, I think it would be better for you to take back your words,"

The voice turned cold, seeming to realize the visitor’s ill intent. Silently, the authority over half of the Underworld began to converge upon Hades.

With the power of the realm enhancing him, an intangible pressure enveloped the entire Fields of Truth; however, even so, the power Hades displayed at this moment was actually less than his real self in reality—due to Laine’s vague influences, even though he had been stripped of his authority over souls, the power of the Underworld in reality had not diminished but increased compared to its original path.

Although in myths, mortal souls do exist within the Underworld, they do not truly benefit the place. It was the Titan Iapetus who was originally the god of souls, and the title ’Lord of Shades’ was more often associated with Hecate.

"I don’t know what you intend to do, sir, but destroying the Underworld—I must be blunt, I doubt anyone is capable of doing such a thing,"

Without notice, several streaks of light rose from the Divine Palace of the Underworld. The God of Destruction, the God of Doom, and a number of other deities stood behind Hades, all eyeing Laine warily.

"The Underworld is a part of the world, and not even the King of All Gods can destroy it,"

"State your purpose... or stay here forever. The Fields of Truth may not be Olympus, but it will not tolerate your audacity!"

Power was latent but not displayed, with only a pressure sweeping over like a blanket. Yet, when it reached the deity before him, it seemed to press upon empty space, making Hades even more vigilant.

Hades began to recall if there were any past grudges with this unknown deity—still not taking direct action, since he did not really believe what Laine had said before. Destroying the Underworld was nothing short of fantasical.

On the other side, Laine had to admit that if not for this being a fantastical world, Hades would indeed be correct.

The Underworld could weaken, could break, but could never be destroyed, unless the perpetrator already possessed the power to oppose the entire world or unless the world itself was preoccupied elsewhere, as the world itself would not allow such a thing to happen, much like anyone wishing to destroy one of the seven layers of the Spirit Realm would actually need to have greater power than the entire Spirit Realm itself.

But the current situation was undoubtedly of the latter kind. The faint forces of creation lingering in memory were not substantial; they barely sustained this world’s existence and could not bring about any further influence. In such circumstances, what Laine needed to consider was merely how to truly destroy the Underworld at its source.

"Just as I’ve been pondering, on some future day when the collision between Chaos and the Hemenu World reaches its zenith, how am I to truly obliterate the source of that world?"

Observing the illusory Underworld as if nobody else was present, the reason Laine had not gone directly to Olympus was not merely to see if the Primordial Gods existed—as such would be a matter of mere steps for him. In truth, the real reason was that he too was unclear on how to destroy a world.

Would mere destruction suffice? Probably not, and absorbing the world holistically from a macro perspective was beyond his current capabilities. Under such conditions, the self-contained realm of the Underworld naturally became the most suitable target.

He would use this place for the first experiment, then validate it using the entire illusory world, and the Hemenu World would be when he applied the experimental outcome.

Crackle—

With a light sound, the Black Sword, formed by [Death], was drawn inch by inch from the void. In the absence of any divine artifact specialized in combat, this had become Laine’s preferred method.