Pandemonium

VI

Arjuna

12 hours before Great Red’s imprisonment

4 hours after the Academy’s lockdown

The moment they came near the Greek base, Arjuna had a foreboding feeling as if someone was standing just outside his vision. He was never the type to dismiss his intuition, no matter how absurd it might sound to others.

His first assumption was that either they were assassins or scouts from the Greek; of course, they could be from other unknown parties. And since every time they used any type of spell to scan the surroundings, this feeling would disappear completely. Arjuna concluded that whoever was trying to tailgate them wasn’t powerful enough to intercept their team.

He was also aware of the possibility that other Big Ones from the Greek faction may enter Grigori’s territories since Ares had already done so.

He and everyone else were aware that they were carrying out an extremely dangerous mission on a highly alerted enemy base. And it wasn’t a mere scouting mission.

That was why, they created a small team packed with the strongest heavy hitters.

That was why, they took one and a half hours to just scout the base and every territory around it.

That was why, all of them went all out right from the start to finish this mission as quickly as possible.

And yet, they were caught by someone they shouldn’t face.

Hades, the God of the Realm of the Dead, one of the Big Three of the Greeks, and the only one of the Greek faction who still retained his power and position even after the fall of Olympus until to this day.

The moment he appeared in front of them, in his Godly form without holding back, Arjuna felt a primal fear distorting his every sense. All of his willpower was being used just to breathe and stand. He noticed that Tobio, who immediately came out from the base at the first sign of trouble, and Lavinia were already on their knees and Vali was frozen on his spot.

The only reason Arjuna was slightly in better condition was because the blood of Indra, the King of the Gods and Lord of Heaven, flowed through his veins.

Yes, he was the Son of Indra and had met multiple Gods and Individuals who were much stronger than Hades, but never in their Godly form. After all, standing before certain Gods in their full power would have crippled him permanently even though he was a Demi-God.

And since Hades decided to enter the battlefield in his Godly form, it meant he wasn’t here for small talks.

Then, without uttering a single word, Hades waved his staff.

There was no grandeur motion, no over-the-top spell casting, no flexing of Divinity… Hades waved his staff as if he was flicking off some bugs. But the power behind that motion…

All colors were erased from the world. And from the dark and desolate, they started to pour out. Skeletons and shades screaming and devouring everything in their path. And the fear that gripped Arjuna before intensified to the point where he could just stand and watch.

It lasted barely for a moment as something resonated within him, releasing an untold amount of Divinity and destroying the fear that paralyzed him.

Arjuna took a deep breath as the colors returned to the world. And he realized what happened.

“Vasavi Shakti,” The spear of Light that was granted to him by his father. When the Divine Weapon realized that Arjuna’s life was in dire danger, it sprung to action; empowering Arjuna’s Divinity which removed the ‘Fear’ caused by Hades’ True Form and covered him with its own Divine power to shield him from the incoming attack.

But the shield wasn’t needed.

Arjuna looked in front of him.

Vali used his enormous body and his raw draconic energy to shield Arjuna and the others from Hades’ attack. While none of them were hurt, he took the full brunt of the attack. It seemed that Vali wasn’t affected by Hades’ True Form.

Two things happened at the same time in the next second.

Vali’s huge Juggernaut form went down on his knees and Hades started to move his staff again, the same motion as the last time.

But this time, Arjuna was ready.

He shattered the shield granted to him by ‘Vasavi Shakti’ and used that energy to give ‘Divine Protection’ to Tobio and Lavinia from Hades’ influence.

At the same time, he readied his bow ‘Agni Gandiva’ and took out all the Divine arrows that he received as gifts from his father. Then he compressed them into one single arrow all the while running forward and then climbing on top of Vali’s Juggernaut form.

He steadied his form and then took aim as Hades had already fired his next attack.

The single Divine arrow released from his bow exploded like fireworks the moment it contacted Hades’ attack. The enormous amount of Divine Energy released from Arjuna’s attack completely halted Hades’ one, but not the massive shockwave caused by their collision.

Multiple layers of thick walls made of ice emerged in front of them and at the same time tendrils of shadows wrapped around Arjuna and Vali and pulled them back, away from the danger zone.

“Thank you.”

Arjuna was the one who wanted to say it but Lavinia beat him to it. So, he just nodded back.

“Any plans?”

Tobio’s question made Arjuna smile as he glanced toward his free hand. And the crushed flute he was holding, the one given to him by Lord Vishnu.

The flute was meant to be played when he needed reinforcements from the Hindu faction. But there was another hidden feature. If he was in a dire situation, where he could die in any given second, he was to destroy the flute. Basically sending the message ‘I am in deep trouble and I don’t have time to play the flute’.

Hades raised his arm which made everyone step forward, even Vali tried to stand up.

But instead of attacking, Hades looked up.

Then Arjuna and the rest felt it. They were able to breathe freely, move without restrictions, and look at Hades’ Godly form without the urge to kneel down. It was as if nature itself came to their side and was fighting against the God of the Dead’s influence.

And then, they saw it.

Right above Hades, a simple-looking steel pillar of a titanic scale was falling down. While the attack looked majestic, unfortunately, it was too slow. The God of the Dead waited for a few seconds as if trying to figure out something, before teleporting away from the attack.

Even Arjuna and the rest had enough time to move away from the strike zone. But just before the pillar was able to hit the ground, it disappeared, creating so much smoke that it covered the entire area.

“Well, well~ I thought you will be deep in shit, but you have the entire undead horde biting your ass.”

Arjuna smiled and looked back.

“Lord Sun Wukong.”

There he was. The legendary Monkey Youkai, covered in golden fur, and with his atrocious sense of fashion.

“Ouch!” Arjuna grabbed his head. He didn’t even see him moving his famous staff.

“Brat, don’t diss my clothes,” He then faced Tobio, Lavinia, and Vali before adding, “I am the backup for you unfortunate lot,” Seeing the rest sighing in relief, he looked in a particular direction, “Now. I am not going to ask how or why, just – what is your intention? Face or flee?”

Feeling Vali’s power spiking, Arjuna sighed. He had given his word, he couldn’t back out now, “The Greek faction has attacked Grigori Unprovoked. And during the chaos, Ares has killed Azazel.”

The way Sun Wukong’s body stiffened told Arjuna how shocked the Monkey King was hearing the news, “Azazel… fell?”

Arjuna simply nodded his head.

Sun Wukong shook his head, “A Tragedy, truly. But it has nothing to do with the Hindu faction.”

“True,” Arjuna took a deep breath before adding, “But I believe the Greek faction is involved in our… current mess.”

Sun Wukong turned around and looked at Arjuna. For a second, his expression remained neutral before he took a puff from his pipe, “Now and then. Still, the same parasite,” These words felt like they were meant for Sun Wukong, not them.

An explosion occurred, not too far away from their position, which broke their concentration.

“Regardless, your reasoning is not solid enough,” Sun Wukong’s words made them freeze up.

“Why?”

“First, you do not have concrete proof of your accusation. Don’t lie,” Sun Wukong stopped Arjuna before he could even add a word of protest, “Second, the fight itself. Strength-wise, I fall just a bit short of Hades. But,” He waved his staff pointing at the area, “Look around. This is the Underworld. A place that gives him the upper hand. Unless we have a definite method to bring him down, engaging Hades will be a downhill battle.”

Fortunately, Arjuna had a counter, “Vasavi Shakti.”

Sun Wukong looked at him sharply and he felt the Monkey King was trying to sense the weapon inside him. And, he allowed him.

For a few seconds, none spoke before the silence was broken by another explosion.

“This will do,” Sun Wukong’s telepathic voice surprised everyone, “From now on, just listen. Obey my command if you want to see tomorrow.”

Another explosion, the largest one so far, and the shockwave from it removed all the smoke around them.

“Cover’s up.”

When the smoke cleared, Arjuna and the rest had to do a double-take at what they saw.

Hades was surrounded by clones of Sun Wukong. And unlike before, the God of the Dead was actually fighting back – Summoning skeleton soldiers, casting dark arts, and constantly using ‘Teleportation’.

And then, he looked at them… and disappeared.

An explosion, very close to their side, forced them to move away from their original position and enter their battle stances.

What they saw was that Hades was being blocked by the original Sun Wukong. It seemed they were not fast enough to dodge Hades but luckily they had the Monkey King.

And he was also battle-ready.

Unlike his laidback appearance, he was now almost 1.5 meters tall. Gone with the flashy clothes and accessories, he was wearing a simple Shaolin monk’s cassock and his signature golden headband around his forehead.

He pushed back Hades before stabbing the ground with his Ruyi Jingu Bang.

A clone appeared beside Arjuna, smiled, and then poked him. It was so fast that Arjuna couldn’t even react properly. Then, he noticed. He was healed… no, he was completely rejuvenated.

And he wasn’t the only one. Others received the same treatment.

“Halfling. Come with me. Ice, Shadow, and the brat will support us while keeping a distance. And brat, Do not bring out ‘Vasavi Shakti’ yet.”

Sun Wukong was already duking it out with Hades when he gave the first command telepathically. When Arjuna, Lavinia, and Tobio needed a second or two to digest that, Vali was already beside the Monkey King.

Lavinia summoned her ice puppet once more. Previously, it was forced to dispel because of Hades’ unfiltered pressure.

As for Tobio, a large black dog materialized beside him, wielding a black blade.

Arjuna, on the other hand, was already attacking using his ‘Agni Gandiva’ and covering Sun Wukong and Vali.

But not a second passed by before Hades was in front of them again… his staff covered in a sickly purple flame.

And he was blocked by Sun Wukong again… whose entire body was covered in a semi-transparent golden flame.

They understood what was happening. Hades was abusing his ‘Teleportation’ ability and was trying to take them out while Sun Wukong was catching up to him using pure speed.

The Greek God of the Underworld was forcing the Monkey King to act as a shield. The support team was a burden in the fight and Hades was using this gap while looking for an opening to strike at Sun Wukong.

This angered Arjuna.

“Why…”

Before he could even ask why he wasn’t allowed to summon ‘Vasavi Shakti’, the Monkey King answered, “One shot. That’s all we have. We miss, it’s over. And the moment you bring it out, Hades will know our plan. Until we can create an absolute opening, it stays hidden inside you.”

“I can defend the backline,” Tobio interrupted, “But I need a few seconds.”

“Halfling, go and protect them. Come back after the Shadow is done,” Sun Wukong barked telepathically, and even though Vali growled back when he heard the order, he still listened.

All four of them immediately jumped into action.

Arjuna and Lavinia closed the gap between Tobio to create a protective circle around him while Vali was covering from above.

As for Tobio, he kneeled down and started chanting, the massive black dog merging with his shadow,

“Behowlest the slaying of thousands of mortals and principles,

Besingest the slaying of tens of thousand of goblins and evil omens.”

Arjuna frowned. From what he learned, activating Balance Breaker didn’t require chanting.

“Mine name, which reacheth unto the farthest abyss, tis the Imitation God beguiling the Polar Night and the Midnight Sun,

Thou shalt be exterminated by our own jet black demonic blade,

Thou art merely ephemeral, oh paranormal Creator God.”

During the chanting so far, Hades tried to land a hit on them four times. Sun Wukong blocked three of them while Vali was able to counter the last one.

“Perfectus Tenebrae Lykaon et Fortis Densus Laelaps.”

The instant the last word left Tobio’s lips, his human form started to convulse and twist as the shadow beneath him started to crawl upward. His skin merged with the shadow creating an abyssal hue while radiating shadowy smokes and dark tendrils.

When the transformation was complete, Tobio stood up menacingly wearing the skin of a formidable beast of darkness.

Then he howled.

Instantly hundreds of pitch-black blades surrounded them, facing outwards, creating a dome of blades.

Vali didn’t wait for a second and immediately joined Sun Wukong.

“You three in the back come up with a plan, and you, halfling,” Sun Wukong was forced to pause since he had to dodge multiple purple beams coming at him in zigzag. After dodging, he immediately extended his legendary staff toward Hades who blocked it by summoning a large skeleton hand which shattered when collided with the staff.

Hades followed up by summoning thousands of skeletons consisting of knights, soldiers, and mages. Sun Wukong countered the skeleton army by creating hundreds of clones.

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As the two armies clashed, Sun Wukong resumed, “Halfling, don’t try to catch Hades, slow him down. Make your every move count. I can tell that you’re running out of gas.”

Now that got Arjuna, Lavinia, and Tobio’s attention.

“How about we distort Hades’ senses?” Lavinia suggested, “I can use my ‘Balance Breaker’ to cover the area with a blizzard and if Lord Sun Wukong can create the smoke from earlier, we can buy Arjuna some time.”

“Good but not enough. Hades will notice when the kid summons the weapon. It will release so much Divine energy that even a blind devil will be able to pinpoint its location.”

Sun Wukong’s feedback made them frown. Then it hit Arjuna, “How about we use this plan to restrain Hades and then I come in?”

Before he could explain further, an enormous skeleton, only the upper body, emerged in front of them making all of them jump into action.

Tobio howled once more and a pack of jet-black hounds came to life. They were immediately on top of the skeleton, attacking him from shadows using the blades in their mouths. He also put more power into the ‘Dome of Blades’ and made sure that there were no gaps.

Lavinia commanded the doll and created gigantic chains made of ice that wrapped around the skeleton and restricted its movement.

And Arjuna positioned himself in the middle of the dome and kept firing arrows created using his Divine energy. His aim was the empty sockets of the skeleton.

Just like that, within five seconds, the skeleton was down. But as they expected, it was a decoy.

Hundreds of deformed arms made of that sickly, purple-shaded flame emerged all around the dome. But they couldn’t bypass the blades or Tobio’s vicious counterattack.

Arjuna had to admit that Tobio’s proficiency with his Longinus and the scythes he was wielding was at a ‘Master’ level.

“So… the plan?”

Sun Wukong’s telepathic voice snapped Arjuna out of his thoughts. He looked at the Monkey King and sighed.

Sun Wukong was fighting Hades head-on-head while directing Vali to his side. At the same time, he was maintaining the telepathic network, manipulating nature to protect them against Hades’ influence, and keeping a protective eye on them.

Arjuna crushed the feeling of frustration bubbling inside him before responding, “Lady Lavinia and Lord Sun Wukong will create a smokescreen to impede Hades’ senses. Immediately after, Vali will need to use his ‘Half Dimension’ to restrict his movement.”

“I can assist him with my shadows,” Tobio added, his voice deep and hoarse.

“Hampering the senses to restrict the movements and finally landing the blow,” the Monkey King chuckled, “A wonderful plan. Now, get to it!”

The bark made them scramble to their position. Lavinia stood in the middle, flanked by Arjuna and Tobio.

“Balance Breaker…”

Unfortunately, their plan crashed in the next second.

Empowering his staff on one hand and gathering cursed flame on the other, Hades teleported toward them. But the moment Sun Wukong positioned himself in front of them to intercept him, the Greek God released an enormous amount of undead energy while throwing the staff.

It was a feint.

His target wasn’t them.

Vali screamed as the empowered staff crashed into his chest, shattering the armor. But he wasn’t given a moment of respite as Hades teleported before him before hitting Vali’s wound with his cursed flame.

“Vali!”

Lavinia screamed; even Arjuna and Tobio lost their concentration.

“Focus!”

Sun Wukong’s roar gave them the clarity they needed.

And the Monkey King wasn’t done.

He raised his free hand and the sky above them cleared. It was bursting with a golden aura as if they were looking at an ocean filled with liquid gold. And from that golden ocean came a transparent hand, palm facing Hades. The translucent hand was so titanic in scale that the shadow cast from it covered the entire region.

In response, Hades raised his staff.

The ground shook and the shadows gathered. And from the endless sea of darkness rose a skeleton hand, almost as large as its opponent, wielding a sword. But unlike its previous counterparts, this bony arm was filled with treasures and artifacts each of which was emitting a sickly divine energy. Even the sword looked as if hundreds of precious artifacts were smashed together to create this lump of a weapon.

Just before these two colossal attacks clashed, in that split second, Arjuna and Tobio jumped to action.

Unfortunately, Lavinia, shielded by her ice puppet, was on her knees and barely conscious because of the output of such massive Divine Energy. If she had her ‘Balance Breaker’ activated the outcome might have been different.

Tobio extended his arms forward. As if a silent command was given, the ebony swords disappeared and a pitch-black horizontal line appeared on the ground in front of them.

Arjuna retracted his bow ‘Agni Gandiva’ and touched the left side of his chest with his right hand. And the Divine weapon within him hummed in response.

Finally, the two attacks clashed.

The first fraction of a second, the world around them lost its color. In the next fraction, even the shapes of their disappeared. And in the last part of the second, only white remained.

For a split moment, Arjuna thought he saw his father. But his vision returned when, in that white empty space, an enormous black sword, reflecting nothing but the eternal darkness, emerged in front of them and shielded them from harm.

Tobio had done his part. It was his turn.

The spear he took out was of simple design; no intricated sacred symbols, no legendary shimmering ornaments, no radiance of grand divinity. From any angle, it looked like an ordinary worn-out steel spear. But,

“Let this the first and final strike,

Let this be the end of everything,

Vasavi… Shakti!”

The moment his chanting was done, as if a veil had been lifted, the spear shone with graceful light and ethereal Divinity.

And just for a split moment, the white void in front of him cracked and through it, Arjuna saw his target.

With all his might, he threw the spear.

The spear vanished. And a second later, the white void was bathed in gold.

Slowly, the color started to return.

The first thing Arjuna noticed was the members of his group. Tobio was on his knees and panting hard, his formidable beast form gone. Arjuna could sense that his energy had depleted to a dangerous level.

Just behind him was Vali who was also in his human form. During the clash of the two titanic attacks, Tobio had sent his hounds to search and retreat Vali through shadows. While he was safely removed from harm, his initial injuries given to him by Hades were still there.

Out of everyone in their group, Lavinia was in the best condition. She was just knocked out.

And then, there was him. Physically he was well. But he was no better than Tobio. Just throwing ‘Vasavi Shakti’ took everything out of him. After all, this Divine weapon was meant to be wielded by Gods.

While no one on their team was in any life-threatening situation, they would be soon if they didn’t receive any proper care.

Finally, the entire area revealed itself.

The outpost, the trees, the hills… everything disappeared. As far as Arjuna could see, there was nothing but cracked dry land as if the life from this place had evaporated.

Maybe it did.

And in the middle of it all, stood those two monsters.

Sun Wukong stood tall, there was no gap in his stance and no mischievousness in his expression. While no injuries could be seen on the Monkey King, Arjuna could tell that his energy was low, not to an extreme level but would be reaching soon.

And then, there was their enemy.

Hades was alive but not completely unharmed. His left arm was missing and a chunk of his skull, the left side, now had cracks. Yet he stood still, menacing as ever.

Arjuna understood then and there. They would be losing the battle.

Pure skill-wise, Sun Wukong was a few steps ahead of Hades. And both were almost at the same level when it came to Divinity. But concerning raw power, Hades had an edge. Unfortunately, right now, they were in the Underworld and a part of this realm fell under the domain of the Greek God.

And this had tipped the scale in Hades’ favor.

A second later, both Godly beings clashed once more.

Arjuna knew what Sun Wukong was doing… buying time for them.

“Quite in a pinch here, aren’t we?”

Even moving the head to look at Solomon felt tiresome to Arjuna, “Is this what you wished for?”

“What? Your team standing on their last feet? Definitely not,” He pointed at Hades duking it out with Sun Wukong, “Facing Hades in the underworld? Also a no,” Then he smiled at Arjuna, serene yet terrifying, “You at your lowest? Absolutely~”

And once again the colors in Arjuna’s world disappeared.

“Give me a break.”

But unlike before, the world now was not a shapeless void.

White sky, cloudless and spotless, stretched until it touched the edges of the serene water he was standing on. And within seconds, he noticed the blurry shapes of castles and towers deep within the watery and reflective floor below him; and he was quite familiar with those castles and towers.

“Yes, we are just outside of your mindscape.”

Arjuna shifted his body to face the voice while trying to summon ‘Agni Gandiva’ but failing to do so.

“Let’s not do that, shall we,” Solomon took half a step back while lowering his hands just a bit, “Time is ticking so let’s just dive for the main course.”

Arjuna did nothing other than observe Solomon. His skin was now unnaturally white whereas his eyes were vibrating with power.

“Let me answer two questions that you have been dying to ask. First, who am I?” He pointed upward.

Arjuna glanced at the sky but what he saw made him blink twice.

One by one, intricately designed magical circles were appearing. Unlike the flat magic circles he used to see, each stroke of a single one here contained language of a forgotten era, illustrations of unknown origin. And then, he noticed it… the patterns and the numbers.

These were 72 magical circles belonging solely to the devil clans.

“Allow me to reintroduce myself,” Solomon bowed, an exaggerated one, his skin started cracking with the motion, “My name is Rishuma Avuda. Pretty sure you know what it means.”

“Lost Record,” Arjuna kept his expression neutral.

“Knowledge, lost and forbidden, used to turn mindless daemons into the cultured devils you see today,” Rishuma chuckled at himself, most skins started peeling off, “Knowledge, true and absolute, used to bring magic to the then barren world.”

“All the Longinus provide the wielders with abilities, extremely unique and mind-blowingly powerful, no questions on that… but that’s all there is to it. Of course, ‘True Longinus’ and ‘Zenith Tempest’ are an exception to that. Well, on the surface they may look the same but if a wielder can dive deeper, they will see what those two Longinus are truly capable of,” Then he shrugged, “Fat chance of that happening anytime soon.”

“And you are one of those exceptions,” Arjuna finally decided to speak up.

Rishuma met Arjuna’s gaze who held himself from frowning. Risuma’s eyes now looked as if they were made out of white marble.

“Yes and no since I was created after the death of the Biblical God.”

Now this got a reaction out of Arjuna. But before he could ask any further questions on that subject Rishuma tapped his wrist indicating that they were on borrowed time here.

“Now, onto the second cliché question. Will I harm any of your friends or families,” Rishuma shrugged once more, “You will be the one pointing the power. If anyone dies because of it, I will not take responsibility for it. That’s on you. But,” Rishuma let out a wide smile and Arjuna noticed that he didn’t have any teeth now, “You are fair game. I mean if you don’t live up to my expectations, I will pack up and leave. Quite sure you know the outcome of it.”

Arjuna could feel the world breaking apart even though visually it looked fine. So, even though a lot more questions came to his mind, he decided to go with the most important one, “Why me?”

Rishuma opened his mouth before closing it. Three seconds later, he finally decided to answer, “I am the last test for you.”

Arjuna’s eyes widened.

The calm water below him started to shake violently and the sky above started to crack.

“So, what will it be?”

Arjuna gritted his teeth before raising his arm toward Rishuma, “You will answer all of my questions later.”

Rishuma smiled, his body started to crumble, “If you are worthy enough.”

His body completely shattered and, a second later, the broken pieces merged once more. And there stood Rishuma in his true form. A seven-foot-tall faceless statue wearing a crown made of glowing letters. And the only thing that stood out was a single large eye on his chest, crimson with pitch-black rings.

It was so mesmerizing that Arjuna lost focus for a few seconds. But when he gathered his mind, he noticed the barely visible chains, made of the same letters as Rishuma’s crown, were wrapped around his hand.

He understood what he was required to do. Arjuna opened his mindscape while shouting, “Rishuma Avuda!”

Then he saw it. Titanic waves of endless darkness crashed onto the towering Divine castles in his mindscape. Forget his mind, even his soul felt that clash.

Fortunately, it was the only one. As the water settled down, the visualization of his new mindscape made him smile wryly.

A black ocean, endless and enchanting, and his castles, merged as one, stood on top of it like a lighthouse.

Quite a frightening image.

Unfortunately, his time was out as the world around him shattered once more and he was thrown back to the real world.

When his mind stabilized, which took less than a second, he noticed the changes.

His new transformation left him with ash-colored skin and long ebony hair. His usual attire was nowhere to be seen, replaced by golden bracelets and leg guards as well as a small blue cape with an intricated design. Behind him, two objects, similar to long inverted shields, were flowing while emitting a formidable aura.

His eyes… Pitch-black pupils and crimson irises, and just outside of the irises there was another red ring.

However, what truly astonished him was not the enormous power boost he received because of this change, but the clarity it brought. Although he had believed himself to have mastered most of his techniques, this transformation revealed countless unexplored possibilities for improvement. His divine abilities had also taken a significant leap forward. While he welcomed this upgrade, it was hard to ignore the ominous undercurrent of darkness that accompanied this upgrade, making him wary of this power boost rather than excited.

Still, his gaze landed on the now-paused fight, he had a job to do.

Both Sun Wukong and Hades were looking at him cautiously, one more so than the other.

Before Arjuna could raise his right arm or even utter a word, a harsh voice echoed in his mind, “Don’t. Name gives an ability purpose and intent. Your entire system, in power and mind, had been flooded with knowledge as ancient as the Gods themselves. Hence your ‘Named Abilities’ will not work as intended.”

“Then what do you expect me to do?”

“I will reorganize the knowledge, shouldn’t take long before I can come up with a technique to down Hades,” This statement made Arjuna raise an eyebrow but he kept quiet since Rishuma was not done, “In the meantime, throw some random bullshit power blast at Hades and keep him occupied.”

Arjuna took a fighting stance, alerting both the Monkey King and the Greek God, “Give me a moderate power boost, I will need to keep Hades occupied alone since Sun Wukong is needed to heal my teammates.”

A second later, Arjuna felt a rush of power filling his body.

“Done.”

Not wasting another moment, Arjuna flew toward Hades while sending a silent coded message by manipulating air and informing Sun Wukong of his plan.

The Monkey created a few clones which started following him while the original disappeared in smoke.

As for Hades, fortunately for Arjuna, he received the Greek God’s undivided attention.

A single swipe and a thousand burning skulls rushed toward him, filling his entire vision with this nightmarish spell. But his new powers revealed multiple new paths hidden under the three-dimensional space seen by normal eyes.

And he could see one of those concealed paths began to illuminate brighter than the others. At first, he didn’t understand the hidden meaning behind this abnormal behavior but then the information came pouring in.

He was seeing the space used by Hades for his teleportation spell. What was more surprising, he could even see the silhouette of the Greek God moving through the said space.

Most teleportation was supposed to be instantaneous and yet… Shaking his head, Arjuna focused.

He felt the objects floating behind his back already sending counterattack to Hades’ initial spell. Since that was out of the way, Arjuna decided to experiment. He moved forward and tried to touch the unseen space.

A flash of white and then the next he knew, he was on the ground.

“What the…?”

But he wasn’t the only one.

Hades was standing on the floor, around twenty meters away from him.

It was hard to decipher emotions from an opponent who had a skull for a face. But even so, Hades, the Greek God of the Underworld, looked visibly shocked.

And then, he teleported again.

This time Arjuna pulled in more power before thrusting his hand toward the veiled trail once more.

A shockwave occurred after which Hades was forced to drop from his teleportation.

Arjuna repositioned himself so that the Greek God wouldn’t be able to see his shaking burned hand which started to recover swiftly. Disrupting Hades’ teleportation seemed easy but unfortunately, his body couldn’t handle the backlash. However, he didn’t want Hades to know that. Since the Greek God was abusing this particular spell too much.

And it seemed Hades fell for the feint.

The horns from his staff started to extend and so did the bony handle. And within a fraction of a second, the staff transformed into a bident.

“Great, he is going melee.”

Despite Arjuna’s primary weapon being a bow, he mastered various other weapons. But they were not at a level that could be used against the God in front of him.

Multiple orbs of various colors appeared near his hands, surprising Arjuna. But luckily, he was able to keep his expression neutral.

“Use these magic balls to play with Hades. I am almost done.”

Arjuna really needed to talk to the Longinus about his language. An issue for later since he had a bigger problem to worry about.

Hades was the first to make the move. The Greek God lost one arm and he had been fighting nonstop for so long; yet his movements were swift and precise, so much so that Arjuna was being pushed back even though he was in top shape now.

As he was fighting, another issue came to his attention. He was having a rough time organizing the knowledge his mind was receiving and then sending it to his body.

The flow of Hades’ Divinity, the origin of his spells, records of Hades’ past battles, the reaction of nature around them… Arjuna’s mind was constantly being bombarded with a huge amount of information. Coming up with a way to fight back based on the data and moving the body accordingly was stressful. And with each passing second, his inexperience was becoming evident.

Luckily the magic orbs were moving in a semi-auto-piloted mode making it easier for Arjuna. Unfortunately, it was only a temporary solution since Hades was gaining ground on him quickly.

“Done.”

Before Arjuna could even utter a word, he heard Rishuma clicking his tongue, “Why are you being pushed back?”

The two objects from his back rushed toward Hades who tried to swat them away, instead, his bident bounced back.

Initially, Hades took a few steps back but was forced to move further when the orbs tried to circle him.

“There, this should do the trick. Now, Arjuna, forget your surroundings and all the distractions around you. Focus only on your desire and it should be simple and single.”

Reluctantly, Arjuna followed his words.

Composing his mind to him was as easy as breathing, regardless of the situation. As for his desire right now, he needed to defeat Hades.

He felt his mouth moving on its own and uttering words not known to him.

“Mahāpralaya.”

A few things happened at once.

Arjuna’s body started to float upwards while his left arm was being raised high. His posture and actions felt as if he was in a trance.

His vision changed once more. He could still see the shape of nature in the area but it was colorless. But the world wasn’t. Countless threads made of various hues danced all around him, endless and bright. It was a sight that mesmerized him. And he knew that each thread contained knowledge that he wasn’t ready to comprehend.

Lastly, the two objects positioned above him before starting to merge into one. From the side pointing upward, a translucent azure beam came out, with no end in sight. A second later Arjuna realized what it was.

An enormous sword.

Then, his left arm, which was raised high, came down. And the sword followed his movement.

In his new vision, Hades’ body was filled with gold, green, and gray splashes of colors. And when the sword went through Hades, the colors became still.

And the world exploded with colors once more.

With his vision being assaulted so many times today, Arjuna felt the need to see a specialist.

When the world became normal, Arjuna felt his eyebrows vanishing in his hairline.

After all, there was a cut in the Underworld’s sky and through it, he could see the world above. With his initial surprise gone, his gaze landed on Hades.

The Greek God was on his knees, breathing harshly, and his weapon was nowhere in sight. It took him a second to notice it.

A single vertical wound, shallow but covered Hades’ entire body. Physically, the Greek God looked fine, but…

“Did we just…”

“Cut his Divinity, magical core, and the connection to his domain? Yes. He will not live for long, so better use the time.”

Arjuna took a deep breath, shaking all the unnecessary thoughts away, and approached Hades with caution. True that his enemy was down but he might have enough strength to perform one last act of defiance.

But the Greek God of the Underworld did no such thing.

Warily, Arjuna asked, “Why did the Greek faction invade Grigori?”

Hades pointed at the city, “Beyond that place, there is a hidden portal. One that leads to our home.”

The straight answer surprised Arjuna, “What?”

“Power,” Sun Wukong landed beside Arjuna who shifted his position but didn’t take his eyes away from Hades, “It seems the Greeks still believe that they will regain their lost Divinity if they can reclaim their original home.”

Hades nodded his head in agreement.

“Will they?”

Sun Wukong didn’t answer Arjuna but gave Hades a pointed look who just chuckled, “Who knows? Not my headache anymore.”

The Monkey King signaled Arjuna silently who finally asked the big question, “Why did you attack the Hindu faction?”

Hades tilted his head, “We did no such thing.”

This caught Arjuna off-guard. He was sure that… Arjuna frowned, “Is there a possibility that the Hero faction could have acted on their own?”

“Athena has them on a leash, you will have to ask her.”

Arjuna clicked her tongue.

“A suggestion, if I may,” Hades pointed at the sky. It was then Arjuna noticed that Hades’ body was slowly crumbling away, “Repair the damage up there. Otherwise, it will attract unwanted attention.”

Sun Wukong took a step forward, “Good advice. But why help us?”

Hades looked at Arjuna. The fire in his eyes was dimming, the cracks in his skull were expanding, and the clothes he wore were losing their vibrance. Yet, somehow Hades looked content, “Since the young one here granted my wish.”

“And what would that be?”

A smile formed on Hades’ face, serene and satisfied, “Eternity in solitude is nothing but a glorious punishment.”

He leaned back, his empty eyes looking above, “Finally, I am free of the shackles, of all the hollow responsibilities…”

Hades laughed, small and childish, “I am coming.”

And then his body crumbled away in golden dust.

“My Persephone.”

His last words echoed throughout the barren battlefield.

Pressing his palms together, Arjuna bowed. A silent prayer for Hades, the Greek God of the Underworld, and a lonely God who was not evil.

When he was done, his gaze landed on the Monkey King. A quick silent communication passed between them before Sun Wukong flew toward the crack in the sky, intending to fix it.

“Even Hades, the Big Three of the Greek faction, did not know anything about the assassination.”

“Follow the current path and you will find your answer. After all, you are a part of this.”

Rishuma’s statement surprised Arjuna, “What do you mean?”

In response, he heard a chuckle, light but terrifying.

“You will see, Arjuna.”