123: Mutation and Departure

“Let us go.” After a moment’s contemplation, Hades suddenly rose and, seemingly without preamble, addressed Hypnos.

The golden-haired deity was momentarily taken aback, then, as if understanding something, looked up at His Majesty with surprise:

“Lord Hades, do you mean to say...?”

Is it time to leave already? So soon?

Even though Hypnos had long prepared himself to follow His Majesty out of their native world and into an unknown otherworld, the true gravity of Hades’ brief words caught him off guard.

Hades glanced at him coolly. “Bring Danadus along.”

His tone remained indifferent and calm, as if he were merely making a casual announcement to a subordinate, rather than informing them that they were about to depart from the primordial world where they were born and had grown.

Watching his sovereign’s usual composure, Hypnos could only smile wryly and shake his head.

“Yes. I will notify Danadus at once.”

Without hesitation, the golden-haired god of sleep bowed his head in complete reverence and submission to the lord of the underworld standing before him.

Hades inclined his head ever so slightly, expression unchanged.

“I and Kurama will be waiting for you there.”

He raised his hand, pointing toward the sky.

Hypnos instinctively followed the direction indicated by the god of the underworld, gazing up toward the distant heavens—

The sky above the Pure Land of Bliss remained clear and bright, without a trace of shadow. Yet beyond this underworld paradise...

Upon the earth guarded by Athena, the vast painting Lostvas, created by Aaron, stretched across the entire sky, blotting out everything else.

Silently, the god of sleep withdrew his gaze.

“I understand, Lord Hades. Danadus and I will arrive shortly. But before that...”

“Your Majesty, please... enjoy to the fullest the grand spectacle we have jointly orchestrated, the final act about to unfold.”

Crossing his right arm over his chest, Hypnos gave a graceful salute to his sovereign. Then, as the last echoes of his words faded into the still air, the golden-haired deity vanished into the closing spatial rift...

Farewell for now to the latest chapter of the Rebirth of the Demonic Life.

The Pure Land of Bliss.

***

Kurama and Hades left the underworld, soaring directly to the “Final Battlefield” atop the sky.

Along the way, towering life-sized portraits stretched across both ends of the sky, nearly covering the entire expanse.

Each face in the paintings bore a peaceful, serene expression, as if death was not a painful end but the beginning of happiness and tranquility...

“Death is not punishment or torment, but salvation...” Kurama mused, recalling the myth of the Underworld King—the boy Aaron, chosen as a vessel by Hades, who steadfastly upheld his own beliefs until the very end, even deceiving Pandora and the Gemini Gods into thinking the consciousness inhabiting his body was truly Hades and not the human boy. After being forcibly bestowed the title of “Underworld King” and coerced into “killing” several beloved children, the boy arrived at this “truth,” prompting Kurama to chuckle quietly.

“What do you make of his view, Hades?” he asked, turning to the ebony-haired god walking beside him.

Hades glanced sideways, expression detached.

“For him, perhaps,” he said coldly. “Even Danadus dares not lightly define the true meaning of death.”

Much less a mere human boy chosen as a divine vessel.

Hades’ words were not disdainful of humanity but simply matter-of-fact.

This aligned with Kurama’s own thinking.

“For the same thing, people naturally have different interpretations. That is quite normal.”

Yet to wage countless brutal holy wars, wagering the fate of the earth and billions of lives over differing perspectives...

That was uniquely theirs, unmatched elsewhere.

Their conversation brought them to the battlefield’s center, where they gazed distantly at three once inseparable companions who now stood divided, swords drawn against one another. A sudden pang of emotion stirred within Kurama.

But the next moment, the voices carried by the wind from the opposing trio shattered his reverie completely...

“Meet me in soul, Pegasus.”

“This is our final confrontation. If you win, I shall be destroyed, and the world preserved. But if you lose...”

“The world will end the moment Lostvas is complete.”

“So...”

“Use all your strength to destroy me, Pegasus!”

“Before I... kill you...”

—This was Aaron, the so-called “Demon King.”

“What nonsense! I cannot lose either you or the world!” (Wait, did he really say that?)

“I will save both!”

“So you stay put, and when it’s time—when you err—I’ll knock some sense into you with a punch!”

—And this was Pegasus, the “Hero.”

“...”

Kurama couldn’t help but burst out laughing, turning toward Hades with a teasing smile:

“I think... this is no illusion.”

The lord of the underworld maintained a poker face, ignoring him.

Yet, with fox-like sensitivity, how could Kurama not notice the sudden stiffness in His Majesty’s facial muscles—completely unnatural?

The thought that even Hades could feel awkward or uneasy in moments like this was fascinating.

“How did things come to this?” he murmured almost unconsciously.

“Did Hypnos and the others factor this scenario into their ‘script’?”

“...Cough! Cough cough!!!”

—Unfortunately, just before Kurama’s words, Hypnos had arrived with Danadus, coughing uncontrollably.

How could he know that Aaron and Pegasus harbored such complicated feelings for one another?

No wonder Pandora reacted so vehemently and obsessively about Pegasus—any trace of Pegasus in Aaron’s heart drove her to hysterical madness. Perhaps it was a woman’s intuition that noticed this before anyone else?

Exchanging a silent glance with his brother, Hypnos wisely took a step back, choosing to say no more.

Kurama smiled knowingly, shaking his head, and returned his attention to the earth-shattering tale of love and hatred unfolding before him (or so it seemed).

Pegasus’ all-out attack was blocked layer upon layer by countless entities manifested from Lostvas’s portraits, failing to wound Aaron at all.

Protected by Lostvas, Aaron severely injured Pegasus and intended to use his own blood, along with Sasha’s and others’, to complete the final core of Lostvas, bringing about the world’s end.

Wounded and delirious, Pegasus heard voices from Lostvas: all the deceased loved and supported Aaron. Doubt crept into his heart, his faith faltered, and his life’s flame nearly extinguished...

At the critical moment, the Saints who had stayed behind on the ship, forbidden to accompany him to the final battlefield, arrived beside Pegasus and Sasha.

Their calls and steadfast belief converged through their small cosmos, flooding into Pegasus and reigniting his fighting spirit. As expected, Pegasus struck back fiercely, severely wounding Aaron. The vast Lostvas covering the sky shattered into a meteor shower of souls, scattering everywhere...

Everyone sighed in relief.

They thought this long, costly holy war—one that had claimed countless lives—was finally over.

Even Sasha, the goddess, was no exception.

The wounded girl stood quietly, watching Pegasus carry the gravely injured Aaron in a princess embrace, stepping toward her with a gentle, joyful smile blossoming on his face.

Yet the next moment, Aaron urged urgently, “Destroy me quickly, or it will be too late!” Struggling through pain, before Sasha could react, a tremendous pressure suddenly descended upon Aaron...

“What a pleasant dream...”

A black-haired man, whose appearance had completely changed with no trace left of Aaron, spoke softly, his strikingly handsome face impassive like that of a supreme diviner.

What Sasha and the surviving Saints thought, Kurama did not know—but he himself...

“Pfft.”

The fox could not help but chuckle quietly again.

“Hades, would you speak like that?”

Covering his mouth, he looked mischievously at the official lord of the underworld beside him.

The ebony-haired god sighed and glanced at him.

“That was merely a deliberately separated thought-form, meant to deceive.”

Who knew after all these years it would evolve autonomously into this form?

Cold, taciturn, and poker-faced, this idea-split was meant to spar with Athena and distract Zeus.

Judging by the thoroughness of its plan to give the Saints ample preparation time, the split had inherited well two of Hades’ traits—except for middle part...

Watching the thought-form endlessly outline upcoming plans in midair, the lord of the underworld closed his eyes, utterly baffled as to where things had gone wrong.

Meanwhile, the plot continued unfolding elsewhere.

After the ineffectiveness of Dragon’s attack, Shion summoned the golden armors of comrades who had fallen in the holy war.

Twelve golden armors, steeped in sunlight and carrying immense history and radiant energy since mythic times, were gathered together.

Led by Shion, the amassed power was unleashed upon the “Underworld King” as the ultimate strike—

The “Golden Light!”

Within the dazzling golden glow, the figures of the fallen Gold Saints began to appear one by one...

“This is...”

Even in death, their souls returned here to fight for faith and perseverance?

The only two surviving Gold Saints of the Zodiac, Shion and Dragon, exchanged a glance, each seeing a flicker of tears in the other’s eyes.

Empowered by their souls, the “Golden Light” grew even brighter and stronger, and within the radiant golden blaze, the figure of the “Underworld King” seemed on the verge of total dissolution...

“Hmph.”

Suddenly, a faint, cold snort echoed in everyone’s ears simultaneously.

In the next moment, the glow from the golden armors dimmed rapidly, and beside the “Underworld King,” who had not been completely “destroyed,” appeared a black-haired man who looked nearly identical to him—but the aura difference between them was staggering.

“This ends now, Zeus.”

The man, exuding an overwhelming cosmos that almost suffocated those nearby, spoke coldly, his gaze slowly sweeping across some seemingly empty part of the horizon.

Silence fell.

Athena and her Saints were stunned by the sudden anomaly, unable to respond.

The one summoned by the man, it seemed... had no intention of answering.

Seeing this, the black-haired man curled his lips coldly.

“Stealing the souls of the Gold Saints was merely to tamper with the ‘Golden Light’ they emitted at this moment, attempting to damage the source of my soul?”

He spoke softly, tone calm and matter-of-fact.

But those present who understood his meaning all inhaled sharply.

Especially Sasha, the goddess.

The girl’s eyes widened in shock, clearly never expecting that she and her Saints had been used...

“Holy war or the little god of love’s ‘pranks’ back then were nothing but idle pastimes with you.”

Hades paid no mind to Sasha’s reaction and continued on his own.

“But you should never have meddled with the laws of life and death’s cycle.”

“This time, you’ve gone too far.”

Before he finished, Hades raised his hand and pointed toward a distant place in the void...

From afar, a pained, heavy groan seemed to echo.

An icy smile curled at the corner of Hades’ mouth.

“This is but a ‘small’ token of retribution.”

“Furthermore, since you have broken our tacit understanding, from today on, the ‘Holy War’ no longer need continue.”

Lowering his gaze, he slowly swept it over Sasha and the Saints staring up at him, his tone indifferent:

“The so-called ‘Holy War’ was originally a game played out of respect for the Mother Goddess, to keep you, the God King, comfortable. Now that you no longer wish to maintain the facade...”

“There is no need to carry on.”

With a slight flick of his wrist, the ten Gold Saints standing beside their golden armors suddenly stiffened. Then, as if by miracle, their souls began to solidify, their cold bodies warming, breathing gradually returning to normal...

“Though you are Zeus’ daughter,” Hades looked down at Sasha, who wept tears of joy at this “miracle,” expression and tone unchanged, “his deeds have nothing to do with you. Consider this a small compensation.”

“But remember, as long as you are not the God King, you remain subject to the God King.”

“This kind of ‘Holy War’ can never truly end here. If you do not want to see your Saints lose their lives again to others’ ambitions...”

“Goddess of Wisdom and War,”

“You know... what must be done, don’t you?”

“!”

In an instant, Sasha’s pupils contracted sharply.

Yet her reaction was of no concern to Hades.

He reached out a hand to touch the back of the “Underworld King” who had stood obediently behind him since his appearance, forcibly extracting that thought-form, which reverted instantly to the form of the boy Aaron and collapsed softly at his feet.

Casting one last meaningful glance at Sasha, Hades vanished from sight as suddenly as when he had appeared...

Thus, matters here were settled.