Chapter 641: A New Ruler Born.
“Ahhhhhh!” Persephone opened her eyes and looked around in a panic; her lifeless and desperate eyes were analyzing everything around her, hoping this was not another test of those beings.
“… You woke up.”
The moment the Queen of The Underworld saw Nyx, anger flashed in her eyes.
“Did you know about that!?”
“Yes, I knew.”
The instant neutral response only made Persephone’s anger amplify even more. She gritted her teeth and glared at Nyx in utter disgust.
Her body started to shake, the rage that could burn Hell bubbling up in her heart, and in the blink of an eye, her atmosphere changed, followed by her words:
“…I knew I shouldn’t have trusted a whore like you! I should have chosen fucking death!” An overwhelming surge of power followed Persephone’s scream.
Now, who stood before Nyx was not just a Queen with an empty Title but a True Queen with a Power that could support such a position.
Nyx was now looking at a Ruler of Hell.
Far from being irritated by Persephone’s insults, Nyx smiled coldly:
“Trust? There wasn’t something like that in us from the beginning.”
“The Underworld needed to be controlled so that foreigners wouldn’t make this place their playground, and you were the most likely candidate to succe-.”
“Stop lying to me!” Again, Persephone screamed, this time with hatred shining in her eyes.
Slowly, her nightgown began to be replaced by black armor that seemed to be a mixture of armor and a black dress. Then, a helmet resembling the Helm of Hades appeared on her face, and in the next moment, when the helmet appeared, it morphed into a dark crown with a red jewel in the center.
The entire Underworld trembled before the new Ruler’s Power, and that Power alerted every being in the Underworld currently.
They felt the presence of the New King of Hell.
“Lady Persephone?” Thanatos, who was standing guard at the gate of the mansion, quickly entered the mansion towards Persephone’s room, but he was surprised when he saw the barrier constructed of Darkness similar to the cloudless night sky.
‘Mother!?’
“Thanatos, what is-… Mother!?” Hypnos immediately understood what had happened; their mother must have done something again.
“What should we do!? We cannot cross that barrier.” Hypnos spoke.
“… Exactly. We can’t, and Lady Persephone shouldn’t either, but… That doesn’t seem to be the case anymore.”
“…” Hypnos opened his eyes wide as he also realized that fact.
‘What did you do, Mother?’ Thanatos asked himself.
“We can’t just stand here like fools; we must do something!”
“Do what? Only our father can cross this barrier.”
“… I don’t know! But we cannot stand still!” Hypnos screamed.
“…” Thanatos was silent. He agreed with Hypnos’ words but didn’t know what to do.
“Rally all troops, and keep the Castle secure. Tell the Furies to keep an eye on Lady Persephone’s children and ask Hecate to see the future of-.”
“Our mother can hide from that kind of sight too, Brother. She has the Title of Mother of Concealment for a reason.” Hypnos reminded his brother.
“… Ugh, just execute the first two orders; I’ll take care of the rest.”
“Okay, I will do that; keep me updated!”
“I will.”
Inside the room, Nyx was looking at Persephone in shock.
‘…She got past my barrier?’ It would be an understatement to say how incredulous Nyx was.
Nyx was The Mother of Concealment; she could make any place inaccessible with her Authority. If she wished to hide or hide something, no one would find it, but during that burst of Power, Persephone only broke the barrier for a few seconds, a feat that only a Primordial God should be able to do.
“You knew this all along! You knew about the test! You knew what I was supposed to do, what kind of… Atrocities, I was supposed to do!” Persephone ground her teeth in rage.
“You chose me. You only chose me because I had the most to ‘lose’. In this test, those who have the most to lose are the ones most likely to gain Power. You think I don’t know that!?”
When she passed the test after deciding countless times about the life and death of her loved ones, Persephone received a whole set of memories that represented the Ruler’s work, what the Ruler’s existence was, and how they were chosen…
And those memories were proof enough that Nyx was sacrificing her for a reason she didn’t know.
“…” Nyx was silent as she looked neutrally at Persephone.
‘This is bad… I miscalculated. She gained more Power than I anticipated… I would never have expected her to surpass Hades in Divine Power.’
Was Nyx scared? The answer was no. She wasn’t. But… She was anxious, and the reason for that was mentioned.
The other reason was that the Ruler had the same Authority as a God King in the Underworld, like Zeus on Olympus. That Authority came with the benefit that Hell itself would support the Ruler’s existence.
‘If the Power gain were at least at the level of a High-Level God, the situation would be perfect; after all, I predicted that she would have this Power.’
Before the test, Persephone was just a Low-Level Goddess. Despite having many Concepts for Divinities, she wasn’t proficient in them. She was just a decoration Queen; the one who held the real power was Hades.
Because of this, Nyx thought she would merely gain the Power of a High-Level God, but that’s not what happened.
Persephone, who was now in the realm of a God-King and backed by all Greek Hell, was an existence even Nyx had to be wary of.
This wariness was because Nyx could no longer control Persephone as she would like and not because Persephone was a threat to her.
“From the beginning, I was just a pawn!” The Underworld Goddess roared.
“…Interesting, you say it as if it wasn’t obvious before.” Nyx rolled her eyes.
Persephone’s eyes narrowed even further, and a dark Scythe appeared in her hand.
“Don’t play the victim, Persephone,” Nyx commented naturally without worrying about the Scythe in the new Ruler’s hand. Why? The Death of the Greek Pantheon could not kill the Original Primordial Gods of the same Pantheon, not to mention that the owner of that Scythe belonged to Thanatos, the son of Nyx.
Thanatos would never harm his own mother, and even if he wanted to, he couldn’t. Only beings with the Concept of ‘The END’, the Primordial Entities that regulate Existence, or Primordial Gods from another Pantheon could harm Nyx.
“You knew the whole situation, and yet you accepted it. You had no choice but to accept it; your anger is irrational.”
“….” Persephone’s gaze intensified; she gritted her teeth angrily. She wanted to refute what Nyx had said, but she couldn’t, but someone angry hardly followed rationality.
Proof of this was Persephone’s following action. The Ruler swung the Scythe towards Nyx, who was unconcerned. She had 100% confidence that nothing would happen to her.
And that trust was easily betrayed.
FUSHHH.
“… Huh?”
Nyx looked down at her left arm flying away from her body in utter shock.
‘… Just what happened? Did my son’s Scythe cut me…?’ She looked at the Scythe in Persephone’s hand and widened her eyes with a changed look: ‘That’s not my son’s Scythe… Is that her Divine Weapon? Did she receive that too? How?’
Nyx was very confused right now. She couldn’t understand the events that were happening in front of her; after all, this wasn’t how she’d imagined things would happen.
The more significant Power gain than she’d expected, and now even unknown Divine Artifacts?
“… You are correct. I knew what I was getting into. I knew that no Primordial God could be trusted. You are all trash who believe they are superior and like to play with everyone, as well as your ‘descendants’.” Persephone commented with the same hateful tone, this time directed at herself and all the other Gods.
The Scythe she was holding was covered in a dark Power, and the next moment, it completely disappeared as if it didn’t exist.
When Nyx saw this Power, her eyes widened once more.
‘… The Helm of Hades… She turned the Helm into a weapon!? Huh!?’ The Primordial Goddess reached out her hand, telekinetically pulled her severed arm towards her, and reattached it. However, her eyes never left the Scythe’s last location. She knew that the Scythe had not disappeared; it was still there in Persephone’s hands, only invisible.
‘I thought The Helm of Hades became the Crown that’s on her head now… She tricked me…?’ A feeling of anger began to rise in Nyx’s heart.
She didn’t care about her arm being cut off; it needed much more than that to harm her. During this attack, she felt nothing; she was just surprised that the Scythe had managed to cut her.
She understood all of that, but… She hated being deceived. She was the only one who could deceive others. No one should be able to deceive her; after all, she was The Mother of The Night. Everything about the Darkness of Night was her Domain. She knew everything, and nothing could be hidden from her.
Persephone turned with grace and nobility and sat in her chair: “Like any God, you took advantage of my state. You knew I couldn’t refuse and used me.” Slowly her hateful tone changed to something cold and emotionless. Persephone’s lifeless eyes looked at Nyx with indifference; then, it was her turn to release her pressure that began to ease as if it had never existed in the first place.
“Something any God would do the same if they were looking for something.”
“Hilarious,” Persephone spoke dismissively.
“Calling our kind Gods is an insult to True Gods like Hestia, who is kind to everyone. We are just another species of opportunistic, greedy, lustful, and naively prideful Demons.”
This abrupt change in Persephone’s personality caught Nyx even more off guard. She didn’t mind Persephone’s rambling one bit; she was calmly analyzing everything.
‘Just what happened in that Trial for such an abrupt change? This doesn’t make any sense. Not even Hades changed that much after the test. Is this all because she had more to lose? Or was it because The Three Primordial Entities that regulate Souls held a special test for her?’ Nyx thought this was entirely possible.
Knowing that she should keep the conversation going to learn more about Persephone’s change, she spoke:
“How rude… Aren’t you a God too? Are you calling yourself a Hellish creature?” She spoke as she opened and closed the hand that was cut off.
“A God…?” An emotionless smile appeared on Persephone’s face, her skin began to become paler, and her hair took on darker shades of black.
“I am not a God… Not anymore.”
“I am a Ruler; I am the one who judges all Souls, including the Souls of Gods. I am above a God.”
“…” Nyx just received that statement with surprise, a surprise that didn’t show on her neutral face. Persephone’s statement spoke volumes about her personality right now.
‘She doesn’t see herself as a God anymore. Just what kind of brainwashing has she suffered?’
There was a reason why Hades was so feared by the Greek Gods on Mount Olympus, and that was simply due to the fact that he was stronger than Zeus.
Not only in strength but also in wealth. The Treasures of Mount Olympus could not be compared with those of The Underworld.
And now, that fear would be given a new name.
Persephone, the Queen of The Underworld, the one with Power greater than Hades.
‘What a mistake… This was all a mistake; I just gave power to an enemy who now hates being in my presence, an enemy I can’t control.’ Nyx thought.
“And that judgment includes you too, Nyx.”
“… Huh?” Nyx couldn’t contain her confusion: “What kind of nonsense are you talking about? You cannot judge me; I am a Primordial God.” She spoke in disdain.
“Even Primordial Gods will die one day, regardless of the reason for that death. I only know that on that day, I guarantee you, my judgment of your Soul will be impartial.” Persephone’s empty smile grew:
“I’ll enjoy every second of this possible scenario when the time comes, but until then…”
“You are banished from The Underworld.” Like the declaration of a Higher Being, Nyx was cast out of The Underworld and found herself staring at the open doors of the Underworld.
“Thank you for your services and for making me stronger. Your intentions may have been nefarious, and you may have been trying to control me, but it is a fact that without you, I could not have gained this Power, and this is the only thanks I can give.”
BAAM.
The doors to The Underworld were closed.
Nyx didn’t even try to reenter. She knew it was impossible. The Underworld was the new Ruler’s territory, and when the new Ruler declared something, it was Law. The King of Hell had that privilege.
The only way to return to The Underworld now was by ‘dying’, or through Persephone’s permission.
Nyx gritted her teeth in rage; she’d failed spectacularly today.
‘If I’d known she was going to gain so much power, I would have acted friendlier.’ Nyx thought in disgust.
The Primordial Goddess of The Night turned around, her face as neutral as ever, but inside, she was in chaos.
‘What should I do? I can’t control the Ruler, but I achieved the goal of strengthening Olympus… Thanks to that, foreigners won’t make this place their playground… But can I settle for that?’
‘… Of course not…’ Nyx’s eyes gleamed slightly, and she faded out of existence and appeared above Mount Olympus. She stood there amid several Gods, but no one could see her. That was the Authority of The Mother of Concealment:
‘I must be able to use something or someone to achieve the desired result.’
Looking around, she saw several Gods. When her eyes fell upon Zeus, her eyes widened when she realized something:
‘That fool! He closed Mount Olympus! He basically declared death to all the Gods present!’ Nyx felt this situation had become even more troublesome; she looked at the monster who was the son of Tartarus and Gaia.
The monster was still in Tartarus, but soon, it would reach The Underworld and would come to Mount Olympus. Nyx was sure that Persephone would not do anything against the monster; she believed that for two reasons.
No matter how strong Persephone had become, she had no hope of fighting against the Concept of ‘END’.
And the last reason was that it wasn’t her job. Her job was to keep the system running, and that system started working the moment Persephone inherited the position of Ruler. The only thing that mattered to her was the functioning of the Underworld and her family now.
‘Tsk, Mount Olympus will not fall. Gaia is not so foolish as to let that happen. She knows the consequences of this act, but because of her foolish revenge, she will let all these Gods die due to her grandson’s mistake, who used his Authority, and prevented these Gods from leaving Olympus.’
“We have a problem, Artemis, Athena.”
‘Hmm?’ Nyx looked at Hera, the Queen of The Gods and Official Wife of Zeus, [aka the woman with a green hat the size of a galaxy.]
“More problems? Was Aphrodite not enough? That whore took quite a bit of treasure.” Artemis spoke.
“What happened?” Athena asked with a serious look when she saw Hera’s gaze.
“The Amazons are in danger, the Asuras are attacking them, and they have summoned the ancient pact,” Hera announced.
‘Oh?’ Nyx took an interest in the conversation and decided to listen.
…..
