Hades's hand hovered firmly in the air. The god-killing scythe, capable of stripping away the origin of divinity, was mere millimeters from Nyx's divine body, but suddenly stopped.
All the hustle and bustle of the Underworld, the fluctuations of divine power, and the breath of the gods seemed to freeze at that moment.
Hades slowly turned his head. In his violet eyes, the former resolve and cold sharpness were gone, replaced by an extreme calmness that pierced through the eternal mist and penetrated the nature of the cycle.
He looked at Nyx, his voice not loud, but exploding like thunder in the depths of each god's divinity:
"Stop, Nyx. Or should I call you... aren't you the sole director in this grand drama?"
Zeus, Poseidon, Metis... All the gods were stunned and looked at Hades in confusion.
On Nyx's face, which had been tired and relieved, a flicker of an extremely subtle, almost imperceptible fluctuation appeared, as if it were an illusion.
She was silent and did not answer.
Hades didn't need her answer. Like the calmest judge, he began to speak the terrifying truth he had deduced:
"Your story is beautiful, Nyx. To avoid the end, you distorted the constant and created this desperate reincarnation... It sounds reasonable, full of sacrifice and helplessness."
"But there are too many loopholes." Hades's tone was cold, mocking.
"First, you are known as the triple-aspect goddess: Ananke, the goddess of necessity; Adrasteia, the goddess of natural law; and Heimarmene, the goddess of cause and effect. When your main body was trapped and differentiated into clones, why was there no fixed number of the goddess Ananke?"
"Second, you claim that Erebus fell silent due to your backlash. But when I suppressed you with the sovereignty of Hades combined with the 'Chains of Resolve', how smoothly and mightily did you mobilize the power of Erebus? That was by no means the power that could be displayed by an ancient god whose will was on the verge of destruction and who only possessed residual strength. It was more like... a kind of synergy, a kind of cooperation that still retained part of its will."
"Third, and the biggest flaw—Moebius." Hades's gaze was sharp as a knife, as if about to cut through Nyx's dark veil.
"When Cronus trusted his madness, he evoked a movement that made even my divinity tremble. You explain that this is the concept of reincarnation itself, an 'error' awaiting a new master. But can an 'error', a 'concept', have such a clear, almost self-aware 'name'?"
"You said that you promoted the birth of reincarnation and expected me to be the new 'Moebius'. But is there a possibility..."
Hades's voice suddenly lowered, with an almost cruel clarity:
"At the moment you tried to change the 'constant', you, Nyx, as Ananke, the 'goddess of constancy', had already failed, or... were replaced."
"The true 'constant' changed hands in this intervention. It is no longer a destruction that leads directly to the end, but becomes an endless cycle, a self-devouring 'ring'—Moebius."
"And this new constant, this god of reincarnation named 'Moebius', needs a core, an axis, a 'cornerstone' that can prevent the cycle from collapsing due to countless resets."
The corner of Hades's mouth curled into a smileless arc. He looked around at the gods waiting for him, and his gaze finally fell upon the god-killing scythe in his hand.
"You thought you chose me? No."
"It was Moebius, this new constant, that had parasitized me from the very beginning. My escape, my rise, my establishment of Hades, my gathering of power... The 'smoothness' of all this was not your careful planning, but the inevitability of Moebius ensuring that its 'vessel', that is, me, could grow smoothly enough to bear and lead the entire cycle of reincarnation!"
"We defeated you? Again and again? Yes, perhaps this scene has been staged in countless reincarnations. Every time we think we have captured the truth, defeated the 'mastermind', then, either actively or passively, under the influence of my 'axis', we begin the next cycle. Your failures, your confessions, and even your 'sacrifices' are merely part of this endless cycle... a bridge already written!"
"We have never truly won. We are simply repeating the fate imposed by Moebius. And you, Nyx, may have been the cause, but now, like me, you are merely a prisoner within this vast cage of reincarnation!"
This shocking conclusion silenced the entire Underworld.
The thunderbolt in Zeus's hand flickered on and off; his face was full of incredible terror.
Poseidon gripped his trident, his knuckles white.
Metis paled, her eyes filled with great fear and pain as she looked at Hades.
Cronus laughed low and clearly, as if confirming Hades's guess.
Nyx could no longer remain silent. She raised her head, the emotions in her dark eyes complex—shocked, bitter, and even a hint of... relief after being seen through?
"You... see further than I thought..." Her voice was hoarse.
Hades no longer looked at her; his eyes were once again fixed on the god-killing scythe.
"So it's meaningless to strip you of your theocratic authority. The root of reincarnation is not in you." His tone was terrifyingly calm.
Then, to the horror of all the gods, Hades suddenly turned the blade of his scythe!
The gray blade, radiating an aura of separation and the end, was aimed not at Nyx, not at an enemy, but... at himself!
"Since fate is within me," Hades's eyes flashed with a hint of resolute madness and clarity transcending reincarnation,
"then there is only one way to end reincarnation—"
"Bring me, along with the 'Moebius' that has parasitized me... to an end!"
Before his words faded, the scythe transformed into a gray lightning bolt—with all of Hades's will and power, with the supreme resistance to the fate of all reincarnation—fiercely... divided into his own divine core!
Metis watched Hades in silent pain.
Zeus and Poseidon were stunned, unable to react in time.
Crack——!
The sharp tearing sound seemed to come from the origin of the world!
Not matter, not the divine body, but... the rules! The concept! The tearing of fate itself!
At the same time, the entire world of Chaos shook violently!
The sky shook, the earth screamed, the ocean boiled, and the River Styx flowed backward!
The axis of reincarnation that sustained the world was being destroyed by its own vessel!
The price was... the vessel itself might also be destroyed.
Hades's figure flickered in the intertwining of the struggling pink phantom and the light of the gray scythe, as if it could dissipate at any moment.
He had staked everything he had to break this eternal shackle.
Could reincarnation be broken?
Could the constant be transcended?
Would the end of the world arrive, or would it... open up a true new life?
Everything hung in the balance at this moment.