Godslayer's Legend

Chapter 1020: Certainty Disguised as Probability [Monthly Bonus 3]

It wasn’t a straight-line journey from Olympus to Hell, as there were several universes between them, and travelling through them took time.

Within that time, Hades didn’t know what was happening in Olympus, but the drifters, who had an inter-universal network of information, certainly did.

Arthur had come to meet Hades and Cattleya immediately after meeting Larry, the head of those drifters in this region of the Multiverse, and he hadn’t hidden that fact from his parents.

"The confidence in your voice when you mentioned Zeus possibly not being in Olympus was strange," Hades said, pointing out the distinction he’d noticed in Arthur’s tone earlier when he spoke.

The man noticed this discrepancy because Arthur was speaking with certainty disguised as probability.

’The drifters, huh? Cattleya has mentioned before that Arthur is closer to those drifters than she’d prefer, but I suppose that closeness is exactly why he can access this kind of information and speak with such confidence.

But he’s oddly focused only on Zeus. Olympus isn’t a one-man force. Zeus may be the Master, but there are 11 other gods and their subordinates who are major threats to keep in mind, and even if not all of them want Arthur dead, they’d still side with Zeus when it matters.’

Hades sank deeper into his thoughts, going over everything Arthur had said from the beginning and coming to a realisation.

’This was his plan from the start...

He didn’t actually call us to ask for permission. He called us to inform us of a plan he’s already half-designed, and to assign us our roles within it.’

Arthur had arrived with reconnaissance, maps, territorial knowledge, timing estimates, and insertion planning already prepared. He had structured the entire conversation to steer his parents toward accepting involvement in his plan because he knew they would rather supervise him than allow him to act alone, and Hades realised that clearly.

From the way Cattleya was staring at Arthur with narrowed eyes, Hades could tell she’d come to the same conclusion.

’That part about reducing suspicion around me is probably just a cover for something else.’

Thinking back on the question about the neutral territory between the Underworld and the next major domain of Olympus, Hades was quickly able to reach a conclusion.

’Arthur wants freedom of movement inside Olympus before reaching the Underworld. The question now is what he intends to do with that freedom.’

Shaking his head, Hades exhaled softly before speaking.

"Fine. We’ll go with your plan."

"Hades?!" Cattleya exclaimed, surprised by his sudden agreement.

The man turned to her with a half-resigned look and said, "Cattleya, you can tell he’s already planned this out beforehand. It’s better to go along with it than oppose it and have him do something reckless."

Returning his eyes to Arthur, he added, "At least this way, we know what he’s doing."

Arthur shrugged and looked away while whistling as Hades’ gaze fell on him, acting as if he wasn’t even trying to hide that he had other motives.

"But still...!" Cattleya grumbled, clearly still unconvinced, and Arthur chimed in.

"Don’t worry so much, mum. Everything will go according to plan, and we’ll all return safely."

He stood up after speaking, sliding his hands into his pockets as he continued, "Anyway, I’ve gotta go now. I’ve got an appointment with Elaine."

"Elaine?" Hades asked in confusion.

"Hmm? Ah, right. I haven’t introduced you yet. She’s a godslayer I found in Draco Sirus, and I’ve been taking care of her for a while now," Arthur explained. "I’ll introduce you before you leave."

After answering, he conjured a Cosmic Gate using his Spatial Authority and stepped through it, leaving Varona and heading to the Burning Realms Galaxy, straight to planet Noatov, where Larry was based.

Upon arriving on Larry’s planet, he intended to head straight to the man’s office, but he sensed Larry’s presence coming from another part of the planet and teleported there instead, finding him lying on a floating ring hovering above the surface of an ocean, while loud rock music blasted through a floating speaker.

Arthur reached out and flipped the speaker’s off switch, and the sudden silence made Larry raise the shades covering his eyes.

"Why’d you kill my vibe?"

"It’s a very noisy vibe," Arthur replied.

"It’s rock music, not noise," Larry shot back immediately, a hint of displeasure in his voice.

Arthur, however, didn’t seem to care as he simply dropped the topic of music and focused on the reason he came there.

"I’ve gotten the okay from my parents. Send out the first message."

His words made Larry blink in faint surprise, and he removed his shades completely as he asked, "You really got Hades to agree? I pegged him as the more cautious type."

"Oh, he’s cautious, alright. I’m sure he knows I’m up to something, but he doesn’t have enough information to figure out what that something is. He’s only agreeing because mum will be with me when he isn’t."

Arthur replied with a shrug, acting like he wasn’t bothered even if Cattleya was involved in his side plan in Olympus, and Larry stared at him in silence for a moment before shaking his head.

"How time flies. To think the kid who was hiding behind Creusery all those years ago is now plotting schemes that take advantage of High Deities and Monarchs."

His purple eyes sparkled with amusement at the thought, and he snapped his fingers, warping both himself and Arthur from the middle of the ocean to the nearest beach.

"The first message is the one to Oblivion, right?" he asked, using magic to dry his body.

Arthur nodded.

"We’ve been over this, Larry. First message goes to Oblivion now, then a day after I get to Olympus, you head over to the Second Multiverse and deliver the second message to Quinn and Aleksas. I’ve already told them to expect you."

Arthur tapped the Cosmic Teleporter after speaking, generating a cosmic gate before adding, "Don’t you dare mess up the order."

With those words, he stepped into the gate and vanished, leaving Larry behind as he travelled to Aeturn to meet Elaine as planned.

◇　◇　◇

Hades spent a little over a week more in Hell before returning to Olympus on Day 1 of Year 756, with Arthur having Larry use his abilities to expedite the return to Olympus.

Zeus wasn’t going to be away from Olympus forever, so the faster they acted, the better.

Nearly a week after that, on the 7th, Arthur went to the Crystal Realm’s planet Sele, a world that had long ago been used for a training session by Hades and the teenage Arthur.

When Arthur arrived on planet Sele, he headed straight for what was left of the continent that he and Hades had used all those years ago, making his way to the closest and most intact beach.

Then he unfolded a beach chair from his subspace and casually lay down on it, sipping cold drinks while watching the sunset.

It was a completely random series of actions, and no one seeing this would’ve been able to understand why he’d suddenly decided to come all the way to this planet, so far from the Burning Realms Cluster and planet Aeturn, his home planet, just to watch the sunset, unless they were inside his head.

Even his Ego Weapons, who were with him during almost every waking moment, had no idea what exactly he was planning.

And unlike Lostvayne, who preferred to sit back and observe, Celestia didn’t hold back her curiosity.

She manifested her humanoid form, sitting astride Arthur’s legs and staring directly at him as she asked, [Just what the hell are you up to?]

No beating around the bush, straight to the point.

"I’m waiting for a delivery," Arthur replied, a response that answered absolutely none of Celestia’s questions.

[Delivery? Here? Of all places?] she asked with an incredulous expression.

Arthur nodded. "Yep. It’s a rather special delivery, and this is the address I gave them."

Clearly, Arthur had very little intention of explaining the full scope of his actions to her, and that made Celestia frown in displeasure.

Suddenly, she remembered a series of actions Arthur had taken around the 20th of last month, right after he’d spoken with Hades and Cattleya about his plan to head to Olympus, and realisation dawned on her immediately.

[You told that drifter to send a message to Oblivion. Is this related to whatever you discussed with that god of time back in Draco Sirus?]

Celestia hadn’t expected a straight answer from Arthur, but surprisingly, he responded calmly.

"Yeah, it’s related."