I Am Hades, Lord of the Underworld!

Hades stood in front of the Wall of Sighs, quietly sensing the entire underworld. He could feel that the underworld and the World Tree were one and the same, as if they were breathing together.

With each breath, the underworld was growing—this growth was infinite and endless, continuing over time without ever stopping, until the World Tree fully matured into a mythical world.

Of course, this would take an immensely long time, calculated in incomprehensible eons, so vast that words could hardly describe it.

Hades paused slightly at the Wall of Sighs. The underworld was only partially forged and far from complete.

Then, Hades continued his journey. With a step forward, he left the Wall of Sighs. Behind this wall lay the void-filled passage known as the Path of the Gods, through which only deities and humans recognized by Hades could pass.

As Hades continued along the Path of the Gods, stars began to appear one after another. Each star bore a magnificent palace.

These palaces, akin to the twelve zodiac temples in Athena's Sanctuary, guarded the goddess's hall. In contrast, Hades had created the Palaces of Stars to defend and protect the Path of the Gods.

The First Palace: Palace of Mercury.

The Second Palace: Palace of Venus.

The Third Palace: Palace of Earth.

The Fourth Palace: Palace of Mars.

The Fifth Palace: Palace of Jupiter.

The Sixth Palace: Palace of Saturn.

The Seventh Palace: Palace of Uranus.

The Eighth Palace: Palace of Neptune.

The Ninth Palace: Palace of Pluto.

After traversing the Palaces of Stars, Hades stepped into a land filled with the songs of birds and the fragrance of flowers. Here, one could imagine all forms of beauty and tranquility, and all the loveliest words could describe this place.

It seemed like the paradise of human dreams. When you felt it closely, you realized it was indefinable. Whatever was most beautiful in your heart appeared before you here.

In this Elysian land stood a statue of faith, infused with divine power by Hades, reflecting his own visage. Behind the statue, there was a colossal temple—a vast and magnificent edifice.

The Elysian Fields!!!

This was the final part of the underworld's creation.

If divided by the Wall of Sighs, everything before the wall belonged to the domain of the underworld, responsible for the duties of the underworld and the cycle of life and death, which were inherently Hades' responsibilities.

But beyond the Wall of Sighs, from the Path of the Gods to the Palaces of Stars to the Elysian Fields, lay Hades' own domain, clearly separating his work area from his living area.

"The underworld..." Hades murmured softly, "is more or less complete."

Hades had almost single-handedly constructed the entire underworld, though it was still in its infancy and far from truly complete. Many aspects still required further refinement, especially as the World Tree continued to grow and the underworld would evolve with it.

Simultaneously,

Hades extended his hand, and Mephisto's Hell of Contracts was drawn into the domain of the World Tree, becoming a part of the underworld while remaining a separate, small inferno.

"Hmm?!"

Mephisto, dwelling in the Hell of Contracts, was marveling at the grandeur of his lord's creation of the underworld and the fearsome World Tree. Suddenly, he felt as if the Hell of Contracts had come to life.

"Lord Hades!" Mephisto's face lit up with excitement. He knelt down and bowed with utmost reverence.

No joke—this was an unimaginable boon for Mephisto. For a god, the most despairing thing wasn't fate, as most ordinary gods were oblivious to their own destinies.

For most gods, their greatest despair was their limits. Every god had a ceiling. The phrase "my fate is in my hands, not the heavens" didn't apply; divine limits were starkly apparent.

Hades' limit was that of a God-King unless he broke through to the level of an Ancient God. For Mephisto, his limit was a Chief God of the Titans, forever unable to become a God-King.

Now, however, Hades had given Mephisto hope by connecting the Hell of Contracts to the World Tree. This meant that as the World Tree grew, so too would the Hell of Contracts.

When that time came,

Mephisto could also grow, signifying hope! Gods were unafraid of hardship, time, or even death—they feared a lack of hope above all.

To Mephisto, this was the hope of stepping into the realm of a God-King. Though this meant being irrevocably tied to Lord Hades, who cared?

"Who cares about that?"

"I don't care about that!"

From now on, Mephisto would be Hades' most loyal servant. Anyone who dared to criticize Lord Hades would face his wrath.

Mephisto's reaction was not exaggerated. For a god, the prospect of advancing further was irresistibly attractive. They would sacrifice everything for it. Dignity? How much was that worth?

Hades merely instructed Mephisto to rise, then let the matter rest. After all, Mephisto was his first and only subordinate god, whose divine heart was held in Hades' grasp. Giving Mephisto a chance to advance was perfectly natural.

"What is this..." Hades paused in his actions, sensing something.

Then, Hades vanished from the Elysian Fields and reappeared at the crown of the World Tree, quietly observing the scene before him.

A beautiful, galaxy-like wheel emerged, radiant and magnificent—the Wheel of Reincarnation, representing the Greek pantheon's mythical world's cycle of rebirth.

"The Wheel of Reincarnation," Hades murmured, watching the wheel turn slowly. "It appears just as the underworld is established, saving me some trouble."

The Wheel of Reincarnation, as its name implies, represents the divine artifact overseeing the rebirth of all souls, under the dominion of the God of the Underworld. In this era, humans of the Golden Age did not die, and the souls of the Titans were utterly obliterated upon death.

As a result, with the supreme Titan God-King uninterested in these matters, the Wheel of Reincarnation had become an ornament.

Yet, with the underworld barely formed, the Wheel of Reincarnation returned like a forlorn child.

However,

Hades, after observing the Wheel of Reincarnation for a while, turned his attention to a nearby fissure, a passage connecting to the void world.

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