Support me and be 30 chapters ahead of webnovel:
patreon.com/Draco_
For every 5 Patreon memberships I receive, I'll release 15 chapters all at once. Your support means a lot to me.
*****
The Fourth Circle of the Underworld, the Eighth Prison: Cocytus.
"How tragic," George sighed as he gazed down at the souls trapped within the frozen hellscape.
Most Saints who had followed Athena into the Holy Wars throughout the ages were cast into Cocytus by Hades upon their deaths to endure eternal torment—souls denied even the mercy of oblivion. Only a select few, like Tenma from the previous Holy War, were forcibly plucked from Hades' grasp by Athena's divine power to be reincarnated.
In this timeline, Saori Kido had ultimately braved the Underworld, using herself as bait to slay Hades. Beyond simply ending the war, her intent had surely been to liberate the souls of the Saints who had once been loyal to her, allowing them to pass into the cycle of rebirth rather than remain imprisoned in ice.
"Reincarnation? That seems like such a waste," George remarked.
He descended onto the surface of the glacier and gave a light tap with his foot. Instantly, the ice began to liquefy. The frozen Saints of eras past stirred, awakening from their crystalline slumber. With a casual wave of his hand, George used his magic to reshape physical vessels for their souls, and sets of Surplices—reforged into the likeness of their original Cloths—materialized upon their bodies.
Having usurped Hades' Authority, George possessed all the powers of the Underworld King. Combined with his own sorcery, it was a simple matter to convert these Saints into a new force of Specters to govern the realm. Furthermore, he was no longer restricted to the traditional count of 108.
"What is happening? We never defected to Hades... why are we wearing Surplices?" the resurrected Saints asked, looking at their hands in confusion.
"Do not be alarmed," George explained as he hovered above the crowd. "Hades has been utterly eradicated by Athena. The Underworld now falls under her jurisdiction. Though you wear the vestments of the Underworld, you remain Saints who uphold peace and justice. I hope you will continue to serve Athena by ensuring the Underworld is managed properly."
With the original Specters dead, the Underworld needed new administrators to prevent total chaos. George had stolen Hades' power, but he had no intention of babysitting the realm of the dead indefinitely. By reviving these Saints, he ensured the Underworld would continue to function as a source of power for him while providing a formidable reserve force for future battles.
After all, there were hundreds of them here—from Gold to Bronze.
Killing Hades was not the end of the story. Such an act of deicide would inevitably enrage the Heavens and provoke Apollo, the current leader of the Olympian gods. Battle with the celestial realm was looming.
This, however, was exactly what George wanted. It was why he had personally finished Hades instead of merely supporting Athena. Only by drawing the ire of the gods could he push Athena to stand firmly on the side of humanity against her kin. Only then could he help her seize control of this world, systematically weakening the other deities until his main body outside could easily devour the reality.
Furthermore, George believed the Underworld was a necessity for Earth. A system where sins are repaid in the afterlife before reincarnation is far more equitable than allowing the wicked to be reborn on equal footing with the righteous. In that regard, he actually agreed with Hades' philosophy. In the worlds he had created or absorbed himself, he always established a similar mechanism.
"Hades is dead? Athena rules the Underworld?"
The ancient Saints looked relieved, though some remained skeptical. They had only George's word to go on.
"I will take you to the Sanctuary to see Athena yourselves," George said. He activated a spatial spell, whisking the hundreds of warriors out of the Underworld and back to the reconstructed Sanctuary in Athens.
"George, what is this?" Saori Kido asked, her eyes widening as she saw the small army of "Specters" appearing before her.
Shion, Dohko, and the others quickly recognized old friends and mentors among the crowd. After a round of explanations, the situation became clear.
"Is this... truly wise?" Saori asked George privately later that day.
While she was impressed by George's ability to stabilize the Underworld and repurpose the fallen Saints, she felt a lingering unease about the fact that they now effectively controlled the Earth, the Seas, and the Underworld.
"Saori-san, it's a necessity," George said with a look of feigned helplessness. "If we could truly live in peace from here on, there would be no need for this. But we killed Hades and the Twin Gods. Based on the records of the Olympian gods, they won't let this go easily. We need every ounce of strength we can gather to protect the mortal realm from the coming storm."
"I suppose you're right," Saori sighed, nodding slowly.
Her awakening memories as Athena confirmed George's fears. The gods viewed humans as mere ants. Hades had intended to wipe them out entirely, and the Olympians had zero tolerance for "blasphemy." The Saints had helped kill a god; they would be punished. George, as the primary architect of Hades' downfall, would likely be marked for execution.
She couldn't accept that. George had been a loyal Pope—well, mostly—and had been the deciding factor in winning the Holy War. She couldn't just sell him out once the danger passed. If the Heavens demanded an accounting and wouldn't settle for peace, then they would fight.
The gods of the Heavens were terrifyingly powerful—especially Apollo, whose strength dwarfed that of Poseidon or Hades. Controlling the Underworld and its legions was a vital strategic move.
While George was preparing for the celestial threat, trouble brewed in a different corner of the world: Asgard.
One morning, Saori found him. "George, Odin appeared to me in a dream last night. He said his younger son, Loki, has entered the mortal realm, intent on seizing control of the Earth. He asked that we show mercy if we encounter him."
"Loki?" George blinked, recalling the events of Soul of Gold.
In the original timeline, while Athena and the Bronze Saints were fighting Hades in Elysium, Loki had possessed the body of the Asgardian physician, Andreas Rise, attempting to conquer the world in the power vacuum. To stop him, Odin and a fragment of Athena's power had resurrected the fallen Gold Saints to defeat him.
"Don't worry, I'll handle it," George said.
Compared to Hades, Loki was a minor player—roughly on the level of the Twin Gods at best. He wasn't particularly difficult to deal with, especially since he hadn't yet used the Gold Cloths to replicate Odin's Gungnir, and his own Divine Robe was still sealed. Odin likely knew Loki stood no chance against the Sanctuary that had just obliterated Hades and was worried his son would end up as a permanent casualty.
George vanished, teleporting directly above the snowy peaks of Northern Europe. It didn't take long for him to locate Loki, who had just taken over Andreas Rise's body.
"Hilda, let's start with you," Loki muttered, using his divine power to weave a debilitating sickness into the priestess's body.
Why should the Norse gods be suppressed by the Greeks? Apollo ruled the Heavens, Athena the Earth, Poseidon the Seas, and Hades the Underworld. The Norse pantheon was relegated to a tiny corner of the world with a handful of followers. Even his father, Odin—who was theoretically on the same level as Zeus—had to defer to the brat Apollo. It was infuriating.
Loki planned to replace Hilda as the representative of Odin, plant the seeds of Yggdrasil, and use the captured Gold Cloths of the Sanctuary to forge a spear of Gungnir for himself. Once he unified the human world, he would prove to Odin that the Norse gods were superior to the Greeks.
"Lady Hilda!" the maidens cried as she suddenly collapsed. The God Warriors, having recently returned from the war with Hades, rushed to her side as streaks of light.
"Quickly! Fetch the physician, Andreas!"
Loki stepped forward, feigning a look of concern as he examined her. "Lady Hilda has been struck by a curse from Athena. The Sanctuary clearly intends to annex Asgard. To save her, we must gather the twelve Gold Cloths; only their power can break this curse..."
"A curse from Athena? The Sanctuary wants to annex us?" The eight God Warriors looked skeptical.
Having seen George's power firsthand during the Holy War, they knew that if the Sanctuary wanted to take over Asgard, George could simply walk in and do it. There was no need for underhanded curses.
"I'll have to cultivate my own God Warriors," Loki thought, noting their hesitation. He made a mental note to eliminate these loyalists and replace them with puppets.
Just as he was about to weave more lies, a light chuckle echoed through the air.
"A curse from Athena? That's news to me. Why haven't I, the Pope, heard of this?"
"Lord Pope!" The God Warriors instinctively bowed as George appeared.
Loki's brow arched. "The Pope of the Sanctuary? It seems you're the one who cast the curse on Lady Hilda!"
He hadn't expected the Pope to show up so soon, but he could work with this. "You must have snuck in to curse her, and now that I've seen through it, you've appeared to cover your tracks. How else do you explain being here at this exact moment?"
"Oh dear," George said, looking amused rather than defensive. "If that's the case, should I kill you now to keep you quiet?"
Loki sneered, thinking George had just walked into a trap. "With the eight God Warriors here, they'll tear you to pieces in seconds!"
Loki assumed the Pope was just a high-level Saint. Even if George could beat one God Warrior, he couldn't beat eight. If some of them died in the process, it would only fuel Asgard's hatred for the Sanctuary. He attributed the victory over Hades entirely to Athena—after all, only a god can kill a god.
"Lord Pope, I believe there has been a misunderstanding!" Siegfried, the leader of the God Warriors, stepped forward quickly.
Tear George to pieces? George could probably wipe all eight of them out with a flick of his finger. Andreas was usually so level-headed; why was he being so mindless today?
"These God Warriors are pathetic," Loki thought, sensing their hesitation.
"It's no misunderstanding," George said, stepping forward. He waved a hand, effortlessly dispelling the sickness within Hilda. Then he turned to Loki with a sharp grin. "It's a deliberate provocation by someone else. Am I right... Loki, God of Lies and Mischief?"
"Loki?!" The God Warriors gasped. Seeing Hilda cured, they immediately shifted into combat stances, facing the physician.
Loki froze for a second, then abandoned his facade, letting out a dark laugh. "Discovered so soon? Well then... I suppose I'll just have to kill you all!"
He used trickery because he enjoyed the intellectual dominance of it, not because he lacked power. As a god, he viewed everyone—save for Athena—as insects. He believed he could crush eight God Warriors and a Pope with a wave of his hand.
A divine Cosmo erupted from Loki's body, instantly making it difficult for the God Warriors to breathe. Because George had ended the previous battle so quickly, they had never truly felt the crushing weight of a god's full presence. Now, they were beginning to understand the terror.
(End of Chapter)