In the deepest part of Hades, within the sleeping chamber shrouded by the dual powers of eternal eros and the 'Chains of Resolve', Metis stood silently.
She could not bear separation from Hades, even if it was merely physical distance, especially when she sensed an approaching invisible threat.
Hades's body, entangled in the dark gray chains and seemingly in eternal slumber, carried by her divine power gently yet irresistibly, like a vast and silent guardian statue, accompanied her into a realm where even time was blurred—the temple of Nyx.
The temple was still, like frozen night sky, and the nebulae flowing through the porch seemed to slow down for this unusual guest.
The triple-aspect goddess Nyx manifested from the darkness at the core. Her gaze glided over the bound Hades and finally fell upon Metis—without joy or sorrow.
"Queen of the Underworld, your persistence is sometimes stronger than the threads of fate." Nyx's voice sounded in triplicate, with eternal indifference.
Metis spoke no pleasantries. She immediately threw out the question that had long been brewing in her heart, her voice slightly tense from nervousness and a certain premonition: "Goddess of Night, your partner, Erebus, the god of darkness... He has been silent for too long. Even for primordial gods, such silence is unusual. Where has he gone?"
This question was bold and transgressive, directly pointing to the most intimate secrets among the primordial gods.
Nyx's eyes, containing the life and death of stars, seemed to waver for a moment, but her response remained calm: "Darkness belongs to darkness; thus it exists."
The moment Nyx's voice fell—
a sudden change!
Metis, standing motionless, flashed with a sharp expression, and her seemingly weak hand, hanging at her side, suddenly rose!
The 'Chains of Resolve' entwining Hades were like a snake come to life, emitting a sharp sound of tearing through air—no longer a tool to bind Hades, but transformed into a gray light, piercing the darkness and suddenly coiling around Nyx at the center of the temple with incredible speed and angle!
"Imprisonment!"
Metis cried out sharply. The [Wisdom] divinity within her body ran wildly, calculating all possibilities, and the wisp of 'Primordial Night' power from Nyx herself was also fully activated by her—not to hide, but to intervene and assimilate, attempting to temporarily offset Nyx's absolute control over the power of night!
Everything happened too fast, too unexpectedly! Who would have thought the Queen of Hades would dare to act against one of the most ancient primordial gods?
However, just as the chains were about to touch the body of the goddess Nyx—
Hades's body, which had always been like a sleeping statue, suddenly opened its eyes!
In his violet eyes, there was no confusion, no chaos of awakening, only a cold and piercing sharpness and resolve that seemed to have been brewing forever!
The immense divine power of Hades, which had been suppressed and 'silenced', erupted with a roar like a volcano accumulated over hundreds of millions of years!
This was no longer the silent state that had been sealed before, but an even more powerful force in full bloom!
The power of the entire Underworld seemed to resonate with him, frantically pouring into his body through some deep connection!
He had not been completely sealed at all! He had been disguising himself, waiting for this moment!
Under the guidance of his will, the 'Chains of Resolve' soared in power, and the runes signifying 'Silence', 'Isolation', 'End', and 'Resolve' ignited as if burning!
This was not merely an artifact, but at this moment, it became an extension of Hades's will and the embodiment of the suppression of primordial night by the laws of the Underworld!
Buzz——!
The chains coiled around Nyx's divine body, and the gray light violently clashed with the all-consuming darkness surrounding Nyx, emitting a crushing sound of law distortion!
Under Hades's leadership, the absolute sovereign authority of the Underworld forcibly opened an 'underworld' within this temple belonging to Nyx, through the chains, creating unprecedented suppression of Nyx's dark authority!
For the first time, a clear vibration appeared on Nyx's eternal face!
Her triple-aspect face flickered violently in the darkness, the trajectory of stars became chaotic, and the threads of fate emitted a clear sound of tearing!
She tried to mobilize the boundless divine power of night, but found that the 'night' power of her origin was desperately disrupted by Metis, and Hades's suppression, backed by the entire Underworld, was like the heaviest shackles, making it difficult for her to break free for a time!
Hades stepped forward, his entire body burning with dark fire, and the obsidian divine armor of Hades covered his form; he looked at Nyx, temporarily suppressed, and the corner of his mouth tightened into a cold, unsmiling line.
"I said," his voice was low, but clearly echoed in the dead temple, each word carrying immense power.
"I will always trust in my queen."
His gaze turned to Metis, who was gasping from the full exertion, her eyes mixed with madness and a slight hint of delirium and a faint drop after completing the mission, and he nodded slightly.
Then he looked again at the struggling Nyx, his voice carrying a controlling mockery and coldness:
"This grand drama, to lure you out and make you 'stop' for a while... Was it splendid?"
No.
The moment his words fell, at the entrance of the temple, light and shadow were disturbed.
Little Catia, with a torch in her hand and a serious face, and Perses, ready to leave with an aura of destruction all over his body, were horrified, and as if forcibly brought, Mnemosyne quietly appeared.
Catia's silver eyes calmly glided over the chained Nyx, then looked at Hades's body, full of power, like the embodiment of the Underworld, and finally met Hades's eyes in the air.
Words were unnecessary; their wills were already connected.
The hunt had begun. And the prey was the primordial ancient god who governed night and fate.
Nyx, temporarily suppressed by the 'Chains of Resolve' and the sovereign authority of the Underworld, did not last long after the shock on her triple-aspect face.
First, she was caught off guard; the light of the trajectory of the birth and death of hundreds of millions of stars in her eyes gradually transformed into a bottomless calm, mixed with infinite weariness and eternal sorrow.
She did not try to break free from the chains, and the echo of the triple voice became low and slow, as if each word carried the weight of countless reincarnations.
"You think I created this cage of despair?"
Nyx's voice no longer sounded in triple echo, but transformed into a low, hoarse monologue, filled with infinite bitterness.
"No, my dear children... I am merely... a coward who saw the end but could not bear it, and in the end, made a huge mistake."
Her gaze became distant and fearful.
"In the initial 'constant', the intertwined trajectory of fate was straight and clear, and its endpoint was... the 'end of Chaos', the twilight of the gods, the absolute void where everything returns to ruin, and even the concept itself would be destroyed. No being is exempt, not even us, the so-called primordial gods."
"I saw it. As one who oversees fate, I 'see' the absolute deathly stillness more clearly than any existence. I could not accept it... For the sake of existence itself, for the countless stars and the creation of night I nurtured, and for... my newborn children."
She took a deep breath, and the sound of that breath seemed to drain all the light from the temple.
"So I made the biggest and most regrettable decision of my life—I tried to distort the 'constant'."
Hades's pupils constricted simultaneously with Metis's.
Distorting the constant? That was something even primordial gods theoretically could not do!
"Yes, distorting the constant." Nyx smiled self-deprecatingly, a smile more heartbreaking than tears.
"It was impossible. The spinning threads of fate are indestructible and point to a single end. But..."
for the first time, her gaze fell upon Catia, the shell of the young god carrying Hades's will.
"...However, the soul from 'beyond' brought 'opportunity'."
"A variable not belonging to this world, like a stone cast into stagnant water, causing ripples that even fate cannot fully predict. It cannot change the ending by itself, but it creates a hint of... a gap."
"Hehe," Nyx laughed softly, full of self-mockery and despair, "that 'opportunity' which drives this constant mad."
"I seized upon this gap, this thread of madness. I cannot stop the end, but I can... postpone it. I poured all my power into promoting the birth of this mechanism of 'reincarnation'. And you, Hades, are precisely that opportunity."
Her gaze returned to Hades.
"[Underworld], [Secrecy], [Soul]... The authority I prepared for you is the perfect cornerstone of a world that can be constantly 'reset' without collapsing in an instant. I guided you, supported you, and hoped that you would build and expand this cycle, until the entire world is drawn into it, so that time becomes a connection that resets again and again before the end, to avoid the final judgment."
She had succeeded. The world was locked again and again in reincarnation.
But at what cost?