335 Advise
Pride was left in astonishment by what Heracles revealed.
"Wait… What do you mean? War between gods and humans in the past?" Pride inquired, her confusion evident. This was unfamiliar territory for her.
Based on Pride's knowledge, the Hightower had recovered extensive evidence from the ruins in Greece regarding the Era of God, but there was no indication of a war between gods and humans in the records available to them.
The only god-human conflict they were aware of was the war between Poseidon and Atlantis. However, the details surrounding the war, such as its reasons and outcomes, remained elusive, as the recovered records provided scant information, only revealing that Atlantis had lost and Poseidon had emerged victorious.
"You don't know? Trust me, there was a war between gods and humans in the past," asserted Heracles.
"Then, how did the war end?" Pride inquired.
"I don't know how the war ended. In fact, I don't even know if we won or not. I met my demise before the war concluded. I was killed by Hydra poison after rendering my father, or Zeus, senseless. An arrow was shot into my back while attempting to finish him off. Although the wound was merely a scratch, the Hydra poison seeped into my body. After that, I regained consciousness in Tartarus, becoming one of Hades' prized possessions in his collection of heroic souls," explained Heracles.
"What… What did you say? You became Hades' prisoner?" Pride was startled by this revelation, turning her gaze toward Daniel with a mix of awe and disbelief.
Heracles nodded.
"Then how did you survive that!? I mean… how did you come here? Did you break free from his prison, escape from Tartarus and the underworld?" Pride asked for details.
This was something Pride, as a theology student, wanted to learn about as well. Not because she was devout or anything, but because studying theology could provide her with clues, insights, and perhaps magical knowledge related to the gods. She hoped to replicate the feats of the gods or draw inspiration from them.
"No… there's nothing. I don't know how long I was kept there. Time in Tartarus doesn't work like it does in the mortal realm. Sometimes, I felt like eons had passed, but then when I woke up, I thought it was just yesterday that I died. I asked Hades once why, and he said it was special in our holding cell, the Greek Heroes' holding cell. If he let a sense of time run its course, we would lose ourselves in despair, and we would not be kept in the peak state of our lives," Heracles explained.
"That makes sense… But you still didn't answer my question. How did you escape?" Pride inquired.
"No, noble lady. I didn't escape. I was helped by my lord here. He resurrected me and broke my soul from Hades' grasp," Heracles said with gratitude, looking at Daniel.
"You… You did what!? You stole his soul from Hades!? Are you crazy!?" Pride was alarmed and spoke in horror this time, hitting Daniel repeatedly on his arm.
"What!? Hey! What was that for? Didn't you see I'm holding a tea cup!? That's hot, you know." Daniel protested.
"You deserve it! Don't you know what you have done!? Is your life not exciting enough, so you go out of your way to steal someone's soul from Hades!? And not just anyone's soul! It's Heracles' soul! Heracles, the greatest hero of Greek mythology!" Pride screamed.
"Oiiii! Over there, lower your voice; there are other customers too," Gluttony shouted from behind the sushi bar.
"What's so bad about it? He didn't know that it's me. Besides, this is not the Era of God. It's not like he can come here to put on his complaint," said Daniel.
"But there are a lot of people who still worship those Greek gods too! What do you want to do if someone saw Heracles and prayed to Hades, 'Dear lord and savior, today I met Heracles'?" Pride said, then mimicked the praying pose as if she were a devotee.
"I don't think they know what Heracles looks like, so chill out already," Daniel said with a calm tone, trying to calm Pride down.
"You! You! Gah! Why did you!? Haaaaaaaaaaaaaaa!" Pride was about to say something; she felt frustrated at Daniel's chilling attitude. Didn't he know how close he is from pissing off Hades!? That's not some god or average god that humans can fight! He's a bonafide God of Death!
"Okay, let's return to our topic," Daniel called out, bringing Pride back to the topic they spoke about before.
"Do you think you researched enough on countermeasures against god? Do you have Plan B, Plan C, or any fail-safe? In case all else fails? If it's negotiation, do you know how to approach god? Have you tested your countermeasure yet? Worst-case scenario, did you think about it?" Daniel repeatedly fired questions upon questions at Pride, making her stunned.
But before she had a chance to retort that it's because of him that it has become complicated, Daniel stopped her with his reasoning.
"Even if it's not because of me, do you think you can trust God? You said yourself that there are people still worshiping those Greek gods to this day. Do they have influence in the Hightower? I find it very strange that you find evidence about the things that can be used against god, but not the records about the war of god.
The scale of the war between god and human should be massive enough, and humans survive to this day. Are you sure that no one didn't play you and hide those records from you, only letting you discover something that will give you confidence that you can deal with god but, in truth, it's not?" said Daniel, unleashing his paranoia to the fullest, warning Pride about what he really thought.
"You sure are paranoid, aren't you?" Pride commented.
"You're not the first who told me that, but it's for a good reason. Try working in an office with your colleagues trying to stab you in the back and your boss trying to take credit from you for 1 or 2 years, and you'll be like me," said Daniel.
"Well… I don't think one or two years in that shitty environment will make me this paranoid, Daniel. You are a special case! A paranoid motherf*cker with trust issues, Be proud!" Gluttony shouted, commenting on Daniel's nature.
"Shut up," Daniel shot back, then turned toward Pride, asking, "So, have you prepared about what I asked yet?"
"..." Pride was silent; she didn't answer anything since everything that Daniel asked, they hadn't prepared for it. They only trusted in that magic array they discovered from the ruins in Greece.
Of course, as mages, they did some tests for the public to see and observed that the array worked against divine power on a smaller scale. They also tested it against divine objects, ones they received as donations from some old noble mage family, but it wasn't that useful either. She knew that the divine object was quite weak too.
She just thought that someone would carry on with the project and increase the potency of the array from there. However, how many years had passed since the last public test that showed the array worked? They didn't see any other tests after that.
She thought that it would be Cyrus who would continue this research on countermeasures, considering he was the leader of the Path of Knowledge faction. But now that he's dead, she didn't think that anyone could replace Cyrus either. No, in the first place, did Cyrus plan on carrying on more research, or was he just going to leave it at that and do some public tests when the situation called for it until the mana replenishing plan bore fruit and gods appeared? Only then would they realize that their countermeasure couldn't work against gods at all.
And what's the plan if the Hell gate at Tessia succeeds, and mana around that area is replenished to the same level as the Era of God, and gods appear while the countermeasure isn't prepared? What will happen then?
So many possibilities!
Thinking through all this, Pride's face paled. Are they nearly in trouble because of their own complacency?
"You're making a face like you saw a ghost. Have you thought things through, right? Now listen, if you want to get serious with the world mana and the Era of God thingy business," Daniel started, then continued.
"I advise you to create a close-environment test. In just that close environment, simulate the environment of the Era of God according to the record you have, if you ever have one, then multiply it by 10 just in case that it's beyond your estimation. Then test on something that is nearest to a god that you can find, like a homunculus or some magically enhanced creature that you can fight. Make it as strong as possible, and I'll let Heracles help you identify whether your test subject can be useful or not. Either way, he is still one of the demigods and the people of that Era; I think he can help you," Daniel suggested.
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