Chapter 374 Persistent Persephone
Persephone wasn't quite sure of the reason why, but for some reason she felt like the air within the throne room was a lot more intense than it was a second ago.
Evidently Camazotz seemed to have sensed it too, as it gradually started to shrink away from the six women seated on the thrones in front of him.
"C-Camazotz gave this one your letter, b-but she remained stubborn and demanded that I bring her here..! I-I do not believe that I should not be spared because of her-"
"Stop talking."
Seated on a throne that was closest to Abaddon's empty one, there was a woman with healthy brown skin and silky raven hair.
Her eyes were a shining golden color, yet despite their lively vibrancy they were abhorrently unnerving.
Almost like a dragon's, yet less oppressive and more… calculating.
Like a great and terrible serpent that analyzes it's prey meticulously before it pumps them full of poison.
Though Camazotz could feel that she was significantly weaker than he was, her presence was several times more dominating than his had ever been.
She was a true emperess in every sense of the word.
Lailah dragged her cold gaze over the body of the Mayan god before she turned her focus onto the goddess who he'd brought here.
"How are you here? The third level of Sheol is closed off to the living entirely. You should not be standing here."
Persephone held up her hand and allowed everyone to watch as she briefly became incorporeal.
"It's… a bit of a trick I have picked up from my own time within a land of dead. I can temporarily separate my soul from my body and function as a normal ghost would."
Lillian raised a brow at this as she sat up in her throne.
"Something like that possess a grave risk. You have left most of your power within your physical body and kept only the faintest bit in order to keep your soul in tact."
"We could kill you just by sneezing." Valerie realized.
"There's no way that you would truly come here that defenseless without some sort of additional cards up your sleeve, so spare us this false act of weakness, hm?"
Though Seras' tone was friendly, the intense light in her eyes and occasional flashes of her pointed teeth were anything but.
Persephone swallowed the small amount of intimidation she felt and tried to appear even more sincere.
"There are no hidden cards for me to play, I assure you… I come here today with nothing hidden, no ill intentions, and only wishing to barter for peace."
"You… are either very brave or very stupid." Lailah muttered. "Why would you come here in such a state of vulnerability?"
"Because if I can not meet with Abaddon today to broker for a few innocent lives before it is too late, then you will kill all of us when you learn what Zeus has planned with the others… I do this so that he will know that some of us were not apart of this."
The ears of the girls pricked up visibly, and they all leaned forward as if they were finally interested in hearing more.
"And what exactly does this… 'Zeus' have planned?" Audrina asked pointedly.
Now, Persephone was beginning to sweat a little bit.
This was the part of her plan where things could go horribly wrong in a heartbeat.
But no matter what, she absolutely had to stand firm even if the reactions of the girls were terrible.
"The thing is… I will not volunteer any of the information at my disposal, unless Abaddon personally meets with me to discuss a few terms of mine first…"
Persephone expected the reactions of the girls to be negative, and boy o boy was she correct in her assumptions.
Mere nano seconds after the words left her lips, the pressure within the throne room increased 1,000 fold.
The wrath of four goddesses at the supreme level was truly nothing to sneeze at, causing both Camazotz and Persephone to break out in cold sweats as their eyes bulged from their heads.
Because Valerie was the one with the worst temper in the group, she was the one to react first.
Opening up her hand, the spiritual Persephone came flying neck first into her grasp.
Her illustrious red eyes burned with so much hate that the goddess in her grasp could not meet her gaze.
"Haaa... I thought you were a bitch but you've got a real fucking pair on you, don't you? This is the problem with all of you fucking gods.
You all have the nerve to demand things in the homes of others as if you just expect everyone you meet to role over and kiss your asses."
"I... understand how this comes off, but I have no choice..! If I don't do this now then I won't be able to protect my life and those that I care about...!" Persephone yelled through choked breaths.
"Then how bout you tell us what you know first, then we'll decide if it's worth your miserable lives, yea?"
"I...I can't..!"
"You fucking bitch..."
Valerie's grip only became tighter and tighter, while small golden cracks formed on the throat of Persephone.
Camazotz did not make any move to defend her, even though still desperately wanted the goddess to be kept alive.
She hadn't rewarded him for this job yet!
The blood of 1,000 virgin humans was the only reason he had come to these accursed lands for the second time in two days!
If he didn't get his treat, he was going to curse that damned goddess all the way to the afterlife!
Persephone's being started to flicker in and out of existence, and the goddess became filled with the fear that this was all a terribly wasteful endeavor.
"Easy now, my love. I want to hear what this one has to say."
A voice reverberated across the walls of the throne room, and the anger of all six women came to a screeching halt.
"Darling...You are supposed to be resting, not spying on us with your divine sense." Audrina pouted.
"In my defense, how can I not peek just a little bit when I feel you all becoming so upset?"
""""""...We're sorry for waking you, husband.""""""
"Think nothing of it, my loves. I'll be there in a moment."
The girls let out small sighs like maidens in love.
Valerie finally tossed Persephone away and she rolled to a stop right in front of Camazotz.
Despite the rough treatment, her mind was still trying to process what exactly had just happened.
'They were all so scary a second ago but now they're... different?'
Persephone briefly thought that these women may have had split personality disorder, given how they changed from blood thirsty marauders to soft and caring women.
Even Camazotz was giving her a look like 'What the hell just happened?'
In the next second, a man appeared in a flash of golden light.
Persephone had already seen Abaddon a few times just like the rest of the gods.
But she would be the first to learn that the brief images she saw just didn't quite do him justice.
His brown skin looked softer than hers, and a mellow but extremely pleasant scent wafted off of his long burgundy hair.
Contrary to how he seemed before, his current demeanor was rather... unassuming?
He had clearly just woken up, as his outfit consisted solely of a pair of dark sleeping pants with untied strings.
The hair his wives were so proud of wasn't even tied up, and he sleepily rubbed his eyes as if he were trying to focus.
His amethyst eyes stared down at Valerie with a mix of love and drowsiness, causing her fiery heart to melt instantly.
"My wife is upset, hm? I could feel your anger before I felt everyone else's."
"...I couldn't help it... She makes me fucking mad.." Valerie muttered shyly.
'Why are you suddenly so meek and ladylike?!'
Persephone felt like the woman who had just choked her out a few seconds ago and this one had to be totally different people.
They were just too different!
"Yes, I know, dear. " Abaddon said with a smile.
He easily lifted Valerie from her throne and carried her to his before he pulled her into his lap.
Her wings fluttered just a bit from happiness as she rested her head on his shoulder; her earlier anger already a thing of the past.
'What... the fuck..?' Persephone no longer had any idea of what was going on with these women anymore.
"Well? I am here." Abaddon said with a yawn."What are the rest of these terms of yours, little goddess?"
Persephone shook off her stupor as she tried to remember why exactly she had come here.
"I... would ask for you to spare myself and my mother Demeter... In exchange, I will bring you information on the plans of the gods and e-even act as a double agent if you wish..! I can do anything if you will only spare us from your wrath."
Abaddon tried to remember what he knew about the goddess Demeter.
She wasn't particularly someone who he studied a lot, but he did recall the stories that spoke of her unfortunate run-ins with Zeus and Poseidon, as well as the wrath that she displayed when her daughter Persephone was harmed in any sort of way.
From what he recalled, she wasn't the kind of person who he was absolutely against sparing.
But he still had one question.
"And your husband Hades? Are you not here to bargain for his life?"
"Definitely not. You're free to do whatever you like with him." Persephone's response was immediate and lacking any traces of warmth or civility.
While harsh, it was not unwarranted.
Abaddon ran his hands through his hair and let out a tired sigh.
"If whatever you are about to tell me is worth the lives of you and your mother, then you have my word that no one will touch you.
But if you are here to bring me nonsensical information, then I will see to it that your soul is shattered to pieces before you can even make it back to the arms of your unwilling husband."
"N-Noted..." Persephone was having a significantly harder time being upset when threats were coming from what was easily the most attractive man she had ever seen.
"Well? Spit it out so that I can go back to sleep."
"R-Right... Zeus and Thor... they are leading the rest of the gods in a crusade against you.
As of now, their plan is to find the original weapon that killed you, or seal you away after forcing you into a state of subservience."
Abaddon admittedly raised a brow at this, as he had no knowledge of a physical weapon being responsible for his death.
But then again, he didn't have the full memories and ego from his first life yet.
"Interesting... And how are you lot planning on 'forcing' me to be subservient?" Abaddon asked.
"A-Again, I'm not apart of-"
"Please, just get to it, Persephone."
"R-Right.."
Persephone started to fidget a bit as if she was uncomfortable voicing these words out loud.
"Hades... he gave Zeus the souls of your grandfather, grandmothers, and uncle and they are planning to hold their lives against you-"
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