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“Your Majesty, I’ve heard that besides the Goddess of the Nether Moon, there’s also a Goddess of the Magic Net who possesses a similar power. Perhaps, wouldn’t it be possible for you to switch your ally?”

As a Naiad brought down from the earth by Hades, Minta had heard of Hecate. The light of the Nether Moon contains unclaimed magical power, which can give rise to wraiths in the Underworld and further awaken wisdom in a few of them. Hence, changing to the Goddess of the Magic Net might also be feasible.

“I’ve actually considered it, but…”

Hades didn’t voice his thoughts, but he felt that the Goddess of the Magic Net might not be any easier to deal with than the owner of the Nether Moon.

Moreover, the Nether Moon itself hangs over the Underworld, and he couldn’t avoid her one way or another—it was just a matter of sooner or later.

“…Forget it, let’s try again. I’ll pay her a visit myself.”

Hades sighed, feeling somewhat helpless.

In any matter, the side that takes the initiative is already at a loss before they’ve even started. He had hoped to attract the attention of the Goddess of the Nether Moon by gathering the wraiths, but it seemed to be ineffective.

The faith of mortals, although the Divine King proclaimed that it would be shared with all deities, Hades knew his brother well. Zeus would surely find a way to claim the largest portion. And over the land which Zeus already ruled, Hades had little recourse.

But it was different underground. As long as he sorted things out with the Goddess of the Nether Moon, in the absence of the Primordial Gods, the vast Underworld would be within his command. He could establish an empire belonging to the wraiths, and he would be the supreme ruler.

“The ruler of the Underworld… naturally, I can’t have only a few deities following my orders.”

“Zeus has humans, I should have my own ‘humans’.”

Muttering to himself, once, faced with his father’s admonitions before leaving, Hades had replied ‘rather than coveting what others have, it’s better to strengthen oneself.’ That was his mindset, and his approach.

He wasn’t truly indifferent to fame and fortune, he just saw himself more clearly compared to his foolish brother.

Let the gods of the earth vie for favor among humans in the future. Once he accrued enough power beneath the earth, then he could consider the matters of the future.

Whether to let the wraiths march from the gates of the Underworld onto the earth, declaring his existence to mortals and further harvesting their awe, or to go a step further, all lay within his will.

And all this was predicated on sorting things out with the incarnation of the Nether Moon, persuading her to join his side, or at least enhancing the power of moonlight, to facilitate the widespread emergence of wraiths with wisdom.

Hades leaped into the air and headed for the Nether Moon hanging in the sky. He planned to first negotiate increasing the moonlight’s intensity and see what conditions the goddess would propose. If they were reasonable, he’d agree to them.

As for the end, he intended to try to invite her to ‘co-rule’ the Underworld with him.

Hades thought that even if she didn’t agree to the latter, she would merely express her refusal verbally and perhaps scoff a few times at most, and it was unlikely to lead to any more drastic reactions.

At least, that’s what he thought at the moment.

…

Hades had already been waiting before the Nether Moon for a while.

Different from the moon of the earth, the body that orbits through the core of the White Path Star Region is a colossal celestial body, only slightly smaller than the Sun. Even as the Chaos World expands, the sun and moon have risen in height, swelling, and becoming more magnificent.

As for the Nether Moon in front of him, it was a virtual light body several hundreds of meters in diameter. What’s more, although the terrain of the Underworld in the Mythic World is flat, theoretically, the view of the Nether Moon from its center should differ from its edge, but in reality, they appear the same size visually.

This was a manifestation of spatial manipulation, and Hades was gradually becoming aware of it. After all, when his attempts to release power bore no fruit, he wanted to directly contact the Nether Moon’s body, but no matter how close he got, it was as if there was a barrier.

This annoyed him and also confused him. After all, he hadn’t heard that the Nether Moon possessed the power of space and time.

However, rumors suggested that the Goddess of the Nether Moon was similar to the Primordial Deities, possibly nurtured by the Spirit Realm itself, endowed with a portion of spatial-temporal power, which also seemed understandable.

“Hmm? Is that you, Princess Liana?”

Suddenly, the void in front of him trembled, and Hades’s spirit perked up. Having been in the Underworld for nearly a century, he was finally about to meet the deity who stands in contrast to the Underworld from a distance.

Just as he had surmised, the next moment a slender figure slowly emerged.

“Are you Hades?”

In a cool tone, wearing a deep purple gown, Liana took a step out, and the fluctuating spacetime around her began to calm.

In the face of these external gods, aside from the Goddess of Law with whom she had dealt when she was newly born, Liana always seemed aloof.

“Yes, I am.”

Hades nodded, having anticipated Liana’s coolness. From her prior demeanor, she didn’t seem like an easy-going deity.

Fortunately, he was prepared. As long as he could achieve his goal, the King of the Underworld didn’t mind her attitude.

“Princess Liana, I apologize for intruding,” Hades began with a smile, “As your neighbor—”

“Get to the point.”

She cut him off flatly, showing no interest in his preamble.

“…Then I’ll be direct.”

The King of the Underworld paused for a moment, then continued:

“It’s like this, I don’t know if you’ve noticed, but the wraiths on the great land of the Underworld—I believe you know they worship the Nether Moon?”

“I do.”

Liana nodded, unconcerned as she might be, she was still aware of their existence.