Chapter 766: Fallout
Palace of Hades
Apex Planet Khthonia
Nexarion Galaxy;
Underworld Cluster
Olympus Universe
January ??
Year 731
Seated at a desk in one of the many offices within his palace, the King of Olympus’ Underworld quietly dealt with the cosmic bane of rulers, even one who governed entire Galactic Clusters.
Paperwork.
Well, calling it paperwork wasn’t entirely accurate anymore. Most of it had been digitized, and Hades’ hands moved across the screens of floating tablets.
But the nature of the task remained the same.
After stamping a document on one of the tablets and swiping it aside, the office door slid open, and in walked a familiar face—or rather, a familiar set of faces.
"Sup, man in black."
At the nickname, Hades rolled his eyes and raised his head, about to retort, only to freeze as his eyes met those of the goddess who’d entered.
Seeing him frozen in silence, she tilted her head, a confused expression crossing her faces as she asked,
"What’s wrong?"
"..."
Silence reigned for a moment before Hades sighed and said,
"Please, switch back to just one."
There was no context in his words, but the goddess immediately understood what he was talking about.
"Oh. I forgot."
With that, the goddess’ three heads merged back into one. Her straight black hair settled into a blunt cut with bangs, her sclera shifted from amber to white, and her pupils dilated slightly.
"Fine with you now?"
The formerly three-headed, now single-headed, goddess asked with a raised brow, and Hades nodded.
"Yes. That’s much less disconcerting."
Pushing the tablet in front of him aside, he turned his full attention to her.
"So? Why are you here, Hecate?"
The eyes of the goddess of magic and witchcraft lit up as she hopped onto his desk, materializing a tablet in her hand.
"You gotta see this."
Hades took the tablet from her and began skimming through its contents, his expression growing darker with each line he read.
"Again? And this time it’s Romersk?"
He glanced up at Hecate with a skeptical look and asked, "Is this real?"
"Yep. 1000%"
Her instant affirmative response only made Hades’ expression worsen.
"This is the third one..." he muttered.
Indeed, this was the third time he’d received news like this.
News that his brother, Zeus’ relationships with powerful figures from other universes were falling apart.
What Hecate had brought him was a detailed report on Zeus’ fallout with Jupiter, the god-king of Romersk.
What’s more, the situation had escalated to the point where they actually fought.
Romersk and Olympus were two universes with strikingly similar histories, almost as if someone had intentionally designed them in parallel. They had the same number of Main Entities, each governing the same aspects.
Zeus and Jupiter had been friends for over a hundred thousand years. Very close friends, in fact.
That friendship was a major reason for the strong alliance between Olympus and Romersk, with Olympus even aiding them in wars.
Of course, no friendship, especially one that had lasted for a hundred millennia, was free of conflict.
They’d had disagreements many times before, but those disagreements had always stayed out of the public eye.
For them to have a falling-out so intense that it turned into a fight, one destructive enough to draw attention from beings in other universes...
"Just what the hell is that bastard up to?" Hades muttered.
Hecate had the sudden urge to remind Hades that calling Zeus a bastard was technically calling himself one too, since they were brothers, but she decided to keep that to herself and respond instead.
"Who knows what’s going on in that guy’s head?"
She leaned in slightly, lowering her voice like she was sharing a secret.
"I talked to Ares, and apparently, it all started about a decade ago when Zeus went to Asgard for something and ended up in an argument with Odin.
Things got so heated that Thor actually grabbed Mjolnir."
"?!"
Hades’ eyes widened in shock when he heard Hecate’s words. Not because he didn’t know Zeus had gone to Asgard, but because Thor actually grabbed Mjolnir.
Mjolnir was one of the most powerful weapons across the nine universes of the Nine Realms Cluster, second only to Gungnir, Odin’s spear.
The god who owned it, Thor, always had it with him, hanging from his belt, but rarely lifted it. Most of the time, he relied on his fists and lightning powers to settle fights.
So for Thor to reach for Mjolnir...
That was just as big a deal as Jupiter and Zeus throwing hands.
It meant Thor had been furious—furious enough to want to kill Zeus!
"But..." Hecate broke Hades out of his sea of thoughts with a mischievous grin, asking,
"Who do you think would win if they actually fought?"
Hades gave her a flat look, the kind that practically screamed ’Are you serious right now?’
"What?" Hecate said with faux innocence, shrugging. "I’m curious. I haven’t seen that mea—ahem, Thor in thousands of years, so I’ve got no clue if he’s gotten stronger or not."
Hades casually ignored her almost calling Thor a ’meathead’ and gave a noncommittal shrug.
"I don’t know. It could go either way."
Zeus was a god King, while Thor, though immensely powerful, was only a Main Entity of his Universe.
At first glance, what Hades said might have sounded ridiculous, like saying Ares could beat Zeus. But when one actually thought about it, it wasn’t so far-fetched.
"Zeus would likely underestimate Thor because of their difference in status. Being a god King comes with a significant power advantage, after all.
Besides, Astrape isn’t any weaker than Mjolnir," Hades added, offering a fair and objective assessment.
Hearing this, Hecate rubbed her chin thoughtfully.
"I get why you’d say that.
Setting Zeus’ arrogance aside, Thor definitely has better battle instincts. He is an Aesir, after all."
Though the gods of Olympus and Asgard were both part of the ’god race’, they were fundamentally different in breed, like the difference between standard Devils and Leviathan Devils.
Olympians were mostly Pure-breed gods, with a few Titan gods sprinkled in.
The Asgardians, however, were Aesir—a battle-optimized breed with a very different constitution.
They also differed from Pure-breeds in terms of lifespan. For one, the Olympians were functionally immortal, while the Aesir were not.
But that wasn’t really the point.
Hades quickly pushed those thoughts aside and refocused on Zeus.
’He’s up to something, and he’s dragging his allies into it too, but...’
"...It’s not going well."
"What’s not going well?" Hecate asked, tilting her head.
"Zeus’ plans, whatever they are.
If it began with Asgard, then now it’s four Universes. Asgard, Humenia, Erin, and Romersk.
Four of his major allies are clashing with him over whatever scheme he’s pursuing."
Of course, Hades conveniently overlooked the fact that he was partly responsible for the tension between Humenia and Olympus. He had indirectly caused the death of one of their Main Entities, after all.
Remembering what Poseidon had told him about Zeus meeting with the Chief of the Nine Divines of Oblivion, Alkosh, Hades tapped the table and said,
"Look into relations with Oblivion. Specifically, Alkosh."
At this, Hecate’s expression darkened for the first time, her sclera glowing amber as she replied,
"Oblivion’s pretty far out, isn’t it? Besides, that bastard Alkosh’s existence is suspicious as hell. And it’s not just because I find their Cycles weird."
Every universe was unique, no matter how similar, but Oblivion took that uniqueness to another level.
As far as Hecate knew, it was the only Universe where the Main Entities were shuffled at regular intervals.
No, to put it bluntly, it was almost like the Divines reincarnated into one another every cycle.
"Just look into him. I have a feeling whatever Zeus is planning is connected to him."
Hecate sighed, her eyes returning to normal as she jumped down from Hades’ desk and answered, "Fine."
At her response, Hades rose from his chair, an illusory obsidian crown manifesting above his head as he did.
Seeing this manifestation of his Authority over the Underworld, Hecate asked,
"You heading to Tartarus?"
"Yes. I don’t know the exact reason, but that thing has slowed down. I need to monitor it closely."
Space began to distort before him, shaping into a portal that led out of the Underworld Cluster. But just before stepping through, he turned to Hecate and said,
"Send a message to Hestia for me. Tell her to check on our grandmother and make sure she’s still asleep."
Hecate nodded silently, and Hades stepped into the portal, disappearing into the darkness beyond.
After the portal closed, Hecate, left behind, glanced at the floating tablets on Hades’ desk.
Shaking her head, she muttered to herself.
"Welp, time to get to work."
Then she turned and walked out of the office.
