Myth: The Ruler of Spirituality

Whirring—

"Zeus, can you only run?"

"Your level as a Divine King seems just so-so."

The chaotic void stirred like a flowing stream under the disruption of power, near the entrance to the Abyss, Asmodeus watched Zeus, who stood with his back against the portal.

It must be said that compared to a thousand years ago, Zeus had indeed grown much stronger. Perhaps the Fruit of One Day played a role, but regardless, the strength was palpably real.

"Hah, run? An existence like you, if you dare to step into the present world, I could suppress you with a flip of my hand—Lord of Hell, you are merely a creature that hides its head but shows its tail!"

From within the Abyss, outside the Myriad Abyss Plains in the void, Zeus responded with a cold laugh.

His colossal true body surrounded by lightning, the huge Celestial Sphere slowly rotating above his head. Big talk was easy to make, although the opponent's power was great, it was far from overwhelming him.

The reason Zeus had retreated here was merely to choose an environment more advantageous to him. At the portal that connected the two realms, the interface's suppression was reduced by more than a notch.

In the recent battle, apart from a slight misstep at the beginning, Zeus, quickly regaining his composure, soon turned part of the disadvantage around.

After all, strictly speaking, what he said was not entirely false. The Abyss was not his home court, and though it seemed not to be the opponent's either, since Zeus could fight evenly with this being who claimed to be the Lord of Hell here, it meant that if the battlefield were the Mortal Realm, the opponent would definitely not be his match.

With his biggest concern alleviated, Zeus felt a mix of relief and gratitude for his own prudence and caution.

Indeed, his strategy of probing little by little was correct.

If there had been no Golden Apple as a buffer, and he had directly shown his hand in intimidating all gods, who knows how many more obstructers would have jumped out.

Now things were much better; he could completely follow the plan, gradually use the expanding conflict to consolidate his authority, enhance his strength, and meanwhile clarify who was his enemy and who could be enlisted as his ally.

This was just the beginning; he needed to find a way to further probe the opponent's foundation and see if there were any subjects that could be rallied. Like now, since this being residing in Tartarus yet shunned by the Abyss showed him hostility, it suggested that perhaps the native life here might be persuaded to his side. Enjoy new chapters from My Virtual Library Empire

It was hard to judge, but there was still a chance. Because some instinct told Zeus that he seemingly should have some connection here… just like the inexplicable affinity he felt towards the Abyss before he became the Divine King.

Looking at it now, that was probably not a delusion.

Hum—

"Counter-suppress? Then try experiencing it first."

Despite pondering in his mind, the clash between the two had not ceased.

Accompanied by the echoes deep within the Abyss, a dark gleaming halo swept over from afar, and deep malevolent thoughts converged on Zeus from all directions.

Looking around, threats were everywhere; the only gap was right behind Zeus.

But could he possibly retreat? Of course not, and there was no need. The opponent couldn't cope with him, but Zeus wasn't necessarily the same. If he were to leave, it would be after defeating the opponent with one move, and the opportunity was right in front of him!

Clang—

"Hahahaha… Indeed, you really don't understand the strength of the Divine King if you dared chase me here."

"Do you really think I am afraid of you? Come, witness my power!"

With the exit right behind him, Lord of the Nine Hells clearly aimed to drive Zeus out of the Abyss in disgrace; however, at this moment, a divine light shone brightly in Zeus's eyes.

The Abyss repels the present world, just as Chaos repels Order, but in fact, there has always been one aspect that ordinary people overlook — the power of the Divine King is ultimately somewhat special.

The Titans could be imprisoned in the Abyss by Uranus, even if it meant diminishing the Heavenly Father's sovereign power, but it was still accomplished. Perhaps because the Divine King's power is granted by the present world, it often exhibits a divine anomaly that doesn't belong to its current layer.

Therefore, Zeus had always known that if he was willing to pay some price, he could indeed summon stronger powers here.

And at the entrance of the Abyss, the price he had to pay was undoubtedly the minimal one.

So, accompanied by laughter, the tricolor scepter of the Divine King appeared in Zeus's hand. At this moment, his power surged tremendously.

Strike with one punch to avoid a hundred. A king does not need the strength to defeat all people joined together, that is the foolish choice of a tyrant like Uranus. For true power, deterrence is the most cost-effective choice.

Whether it's winning over potential allies or deterring that Ancient God who had secretly meddled in the Mortal Realm since the Bronze Age, Zeus needed a genuine victory!

"Open—!"

A fierce shout, and the Celestial Sphere fell, hurtling down towards the spreading Darkness. The Lord of the Nine Hells hadn't expected Zeus to suddenly unleash such strength and involuntarily dodged backward.

However, how could a mere spatial distance flatten the clash of great divine powers, unless it is condensed by a truly great one, symbolizing space-time authority, otherwise such distance is basically null!

"Hahaha... what are you dodging?"

The laughter spread under the force of the Divine King, echoing in the chaotic void, as Zeus intentionally drew more attention.

Only by defeating his opponent in full view and then retreating could he achieve his goal!

"...Sss..."

"Hmm? Who?"

As the battle turned, the situation was upended, and Zeus instantly gained the upper hand, ready to leave his enemy with an indelible lesson.

However, in the next instant, Zeus's expression drastically changed, and Asmodeus, who had just retreated in an attempt to dodge, instead met his attack head-on without hesitation.

In the originally deep and empty darkness, it seemed as if something suddenly surfaced, and Zeus suddenly realized that he had more than one enemy?

Yes, the power on Keto and that human seemed different, but he had thought that was just the difference in authority one person used. Who would have expected that the Abyss, always thought to be a prison, could produce two beings capable of threatening him?

"Zeus like I said, your tricks are too naive."

Confronting directly, the massive falling Celestial Sphere caused the Lord of the Nine Hells' arms to creak audibly, but he charged head-on as if he didn't care.

"Zeus, you can't make it!"

······

Boom...

At the boundary between the Underworld and the Abyss, a rumbling sound, growing deeper, continuously emanated, shaking the Void intermittently.

Mere collisions of substance were not enough to shake the world; this was a manifestation of a conflict of Laws on the material plane.

The continuous turbulence caused the entire Underworld to sway from side to side as if it were a ship in a storm, pitching and heaving.

Of course, no matter what, the Underworld was a relatively intact realm, and wouldn't suffer any real damage; it only posed a great threat to the lives within the Underworld.

Fortunately, after the shaking persisted for a while, when a powerful force of soveregin flowed along the passageway into the Abyss, this trembling was briefly halted.

This was the power from the Divine King, from the Order of the current world, but it equally stabilized the space-time of the Underworld.

After all, although the Underworld, much like the celestial sphere, had regions not covered by the Laws of the current world, its main structure was still part of the Order of Chaos. Under the Divine King's power, those previously unstable Laws immediately returned to normal, as if the earlier shaking had been nothing but an illusion.

The clamor of the world disappeared; the vast expanse of gray soil seemed suddenly to quiet down. Only the river of Fire continued to roll, and the lowly wraiths lingering on the ground continued their aimless wandering.

It seemed as though the disaster had ended, or perhaps it had only just begun. The entire world was as calm as the stillness before a storm.

Thud…

…

A dull sound once again came from the entrance to the Abyss.

The creatures atop the gray soil gazed blankly at the Sky, but clearly, nothing would halt because of them.

Thud…

…

Thud—

…

Thud—!

Following that, another three sounds came consecutively.

The low sounds, each more dull yet more resonant than the last, seemed like some terrifying entity knocking from behind the doors of the Abyss.

But the gates of Tartarus were so sturdy that only after the third knock did this barrier, which isolated the outer Chaos, finally collapse under the relentless assault of this tempest.

An endless blaze of Light emanated from the edge of the Underworld, briefly covering even the Nether Moon. The next moment, a scorching sun seemed to shine upon the Netherworld.

Thud—boom!

Crack!

In an instant, the Celestial Sphere was reversed.

The eternal sky of the Underworld was surrounded by thunder and lightning, and a huge humanoid figure fell out of the gates of the Abyss.

This True God that revealed itself was even more enormous than the Hekatonkheires of old, yet inexplicably, its lower half was entirely missing.

"Hiss—"

"Zeus, you… can't do this!"

Clang—

The Titan fell from the gates, but a vast shadow followed just behind it.

Time seemed to lose its meaning; one second before, the cataclysm had just begun, and the next, it seemed as though a wall as high as the heavens had risen on all sides of the Underworld.

At that moment, only a few deities with authority over the Underworld could see this frightful change from a higher perspective; a Great Serpent impossibly coiled around the Underworld thrice in a blink.

Its body was still unending in the Abyss, but its massive head was already positioned upon the Titan.

"Hiss…"

"Asmodeus was right, you indeed fall far short."

Boom—

The great sound was formless.

In the eyes of the beings of the Underworld, they could not see the Serpent; they could only see that next to the Nether Moon, two luminous bodies had unexpectedly appeared, and the Sky suddenly fell.

The Titan seemed to want to resist; it vainly tried to support the Sky with the last of its arms, but the old strength was exhausted and new strength had yet to arise; at least in that moment, it could only use a tenth or so of its power.

Thus, like a mantis lifting its arms against a wheel or like a mayfly trying to shake the earth, its momentary resistance was futile; under the pressure of the Sky, the Titan collapsed with a crash.

And where it fell…

…

"Zeus! You're such a—"

Almost swearing, Hades flamboyantly waved his sleeve, using the brief moment when the Titan and the 'Sky' were deadlocked to lift everyone in the Fields of Truth, then invoked the authority of the Underworld to vanish from that place.

At that moment, he didn't know whether to consider his luck good or bad. Because both of his previous 'Prophecies' had come true.

"…"

Looking back after fleeing thousands of miles, Hades kept distancing himself while watching the location of the Fields of Truth.

Unsurprisingly, he would have to rebuild.

"Next time, next time I will definitely build a temple connected to the Origin of the Underworld, which even if all the Great Divine Powers of the world were to come here, they wouldn't dare act recklessly to destroy!"

As much as he swore resolution, fleeing was still necessary.

At that moment, Hades's only consolation was that Zeus's legs also seemed to have truly broken.