Hades was completely drained body aching, mind heavy, energy scraped down to nothing. His armour hung on him like lead.
He took a deep breath, tightened his grip on the spear, and stepped through the door.
The air was stale, heavy with dust. A half-collapsed temple hall stretched out before him, its ceiling cracked open to the grey sky. In the centre stood a crumbling statue of some forgotten god, its face worn smooth by centuries.
Hades faced it directly.
"Miramor. I know you're behind that statue. Come out."
For a moment, nothing.
Then, from behind the shattered stone, a half-transparent figure drifted forward no face, no fixed shape, just a swirling cloud of pale mist, like a ghost that had forgotten its own form.
It laughed high-pitched, childish, and wrong.
"Ahh! You found me! You're good at this!"
The voice didn't come from the air it came from inside his head.
Hades stood firm. "I am Hades, King of the Underworld. As a merciful king, I give you one chance. Submit… or die."
Truthfully, he didn't have the strength for a direct fight. His aim is to buy some time, enough to breathe, to gather the faintest scrap of divine energy.
Miramor's laugh sharpened.
"King? You? Another little mutt barking in a graveyard!"
It struck without warning.
A hundred spears of ghostlight erupted in every direction some shimmering with lethal divine energy, others nothing but illusions.
Hades spun his spear in tight arcs, striking, cutting, deflecting. Real or fake, he smashed them all. In return, he fired a burst of black, arcane bullets only for them to dissolve against a transparent barrier.
Then came the roar.
A ripple of invisible force exploded from Miramor, ripping through the air like a shockwave.
It hit before Hades could react. In a heartbeat, his connection to every divinity was gone. Darkness, sin, secrets, dreams, death all snuffed out at once. His wings dimmed, their metallic lustre fading.
No… this is worse. Before, my powers were only restrained. Now they're gone entirely.
Above, Miramor tilted his head.
"Oh? What's wrong, God-King? Someone pull the plug on your fancy tricks?"
Hades clenched his jaw.
I'm nothing but a mortal now… but I'm not finished. As long as I breathe, there's still a chance.
Another barrage came this time from every angle. Spears slid out of the walls, stabbed up from the floor, rained down from above. Without divine sight, he couldn't tell illusion from reality. His world became flashing steel and splitting pain.
Then "shhk!"
A white-hot stab tore through his side. An invisible spear punched through armour and flesh.
Hades dropped to one knee, his grip on the spear tightening until his knuckles turned white. Blood poured down his robes.
Miramor floated higher, giggling.
"Aww… you're breaking already? No fun at all."
Hades yanked the spear out with a guttural cry. His vision blurred, but he forced himself upright. Without divinity, there was no magic, no shield. Only muscle, reflex, and stubbornness will.
Wave after wave slammed into him. Some blows he deflected. Others he dodged. Many landed leaving deep cuts, holes, and bruises across his body. Each wound slowed him, dragged him closer to collapse.
He was down to one knee again, using the spear like a crutch. Breath ragged. Limbs trembling.
Then
A ripple of killing intent brushed his skin. He moved without thinking, twisting away from the next strike, deflecting another, then another. His instincts were sharpening, reading faint traces in the air.
Still… this wasn't enough. He was surviving, not winning.
"With this strength," Miramor mocked, "you dream of being king, mutt?"
The words stung not because they were cruel, but because they lit a spark.
King…
Hades' teeth ground together.
I am the Lord of the Underworld. One of the apex divinities. And a half-formed ghost dares to nullify me? Ridiculous.
He raised his voice not to the air, but to the depths of his soul.
"What are you afraid of? You were born to rival the Primordials yet you cower before this worthless phantom? Come out. Answer your king's call!"
Deep inside, his divinities trembled.
Another spear wave came faster, sharper, lethal.
This time, Hades didn't move.
If my divinities will not answer me now, I have no right to call myself king.
The moment the spears touched him
BOOM!
A shockwave ripped out from his body, obliterating the incoming spears midair. Miramor's nullification shattered like glass.
Hades' wounds sealed. His wings burned black with a metallic glow. Dark haze spilt from him, drowning the ruins in night.
Above his head, a crown of violet divine energy shimmered into existence, heavy and terrible.
His spear ignited with netherfire, burning so hot the air screamed.
He had stepped into the realm of High-Level Chief Gods.
And now… Miramor is the one who trembled.