In the dimension beyond time, Ananke slept upon a cloud of pure potential. Her eyes snapped open as she felt two forbidden powers tearing at the fabric of reality. She waved a hand, and the scene at Mount Othrys unfolded: Hades using Life Harvest, Cronus unleashing Paradoxum Temporis. Her lips tightened into a thin line. "The father and son would break the world to settle their score."
She stood and disappeared, reappearing above Mount Othrys where Hecate watched the battle in horror. The air grew heavy as Gaea, Nyx, Erebus, and other Primordials manifested in flashes of cosmic light. They bowed in unison. "Lady Ananke."
Ananke did not acknowledge the greeting. Her burning gaze was fixed on the cataclysm below, her judgment already settling over the scene like a shroud.
Ananke's gaze swept over the destruction before settling on Hecate. "Tell me, Hecate," she said, her voice dripping with sarcasm. "Is this how your family maintains world order? Or perhaps you've started a new tradition of unraveling forbidden secrets for entertainment?"
Hecate's blood ran cold. "You misunderstand, Lady Ananke. They love this world—"
"Do they?" Ananke interrupted, her voice a soft whip-crack. "From here, it appears they are using 'Life Harvest' and 'Paradoxum Temporis' to dismantle it."
Before Hecate could answer, Gaea stepped forward. "Lady Ananke, the prophecy already warned us! That Hades would become the world's worst nightmare. Look!" She gestured at the devastation below. "He must be stopped before it's too late. I propose execution for both him and Cronus—they've proven themselves threats to all existence."
Nyx moved to speak, "But—", but Ananke raised a hand, cutting her off. "I've heard enough of prophecies." Yet her eyes remained fixed on the battle, considering Gaea's words.
Nyx and Hecate exchanged a glance, both glaring at Gaea's smirk of satisfaction.
"Very well," Ananke declared, her voice final. "The judgment is made. Execution for Cronus and Ha—"
"WAIT!" Hecate's voice cut through the cosmic judgment.
The Primordials stared in shock. Nyx grabbed Hecate's arm, whispering urgently, "Hecate, don't!"
But Ananke's eyes narrowed with interest. "Speak," she commanded, granting permission.
Hecate took a step forward, her voice trembling but determined. "I call upon the favor you granted me."
A subtle smile touched Ananke's lips. "So you play that card now? When the world itself hangs in the balance?"
Nyx seized the moment. "Lady Ananke, there is another prophecy! That Hades will be the world's greatest guardian! And prophecies are just possibilities, not certainties!"
Gaea scoffed. "The world is at stake! We cannot gamble on—"
"Enough!" Ananke's voice silenced all argument. Her eyes bore into Hecate. "That calamity inside him is devouring reality. Its own host cannot control it. What makes you believe you can?"
Hecate met her gaze without flinching. "I don't believe I can control the calamity. But I believe in the man who has spent his entire life building prisons for his own power to protect others. I believe in the king who would rather be hated than risk harming his people. And I believe in the bond we share that is far stronger than any destruction."
As Hecate spoke, a memory surfaced in Ananke's mind: a conversation with Kaos in the void. "Look after him," Kaos had whispered about Hades. "The world will fear him, but he may be its only hope."
Ananke's stern expression softened. "You stake everything on belief," she said quietly. Then, louder: "Very well. The favour is granted. You have your chance to bring him back. But if you fail..." She didn't need to finish the threat.
Hecate bowed deeply, then vanished to begin her desperate mission.
---
Near Mount Othrys, Zeus and Poseidon rested on a giant rock in the middle of the ocean. Hecate materialized before them. "You must join the battle," she insisted.
Silence pressed down for a heartbeat before they both exclaimed, "What!?"
Zeus's brows narrowed into a sneer. "Are you mad? That's a death sentence."
"You will not die," Hecate asserted, the authority of one who had just won a cosmic bargain ringing in her voice. "I will ensure it."
"With what? Words?" Poseidon interjected, his voice a low, dangerous rumble. He took a step forward, the ocean responding to his agitation with a restless swell. "You give us a command, not a plan. Tell us in detail, or the answer is no."
Hecate released a long sigh. "Cronus suffers from temporal dissonance. Whenever he uses superior time magic, it causes severe backlash: extremely painful headaches, life force leakage, and spells coming undone."
"Fine," Poseidon said, his voice flat. "But why should we help you? What's in it for us?"
Hecate's expression hardened. "If you want to be king, you need to defeat Cronus. But if this fight goes on fifteen more minutes, Hades will kill him first. Then he becomes king by right of conquest while you two watch from the sidelines."
The silence stretched, thick and heavy. Hecate's words hung in the air, the image of Hades taking the throne while they stood as powerless spectators burning in their minds.
Zeus's face paled, then flushed with furious humiliation. Poseidon's knuckles turned white around his trident, his jaw a tight line of suppressed rage. The thought of being sidelined was intolerable.
Hecate watched the turmoil play out across their faces: the anger, the fear, the bitter calculation. She let them stew in it for a moment longer before delivering the final piece.
"But I'll make you a deal," she said, her voice cutting through their internal chaos. "When the voting happens for the next Celestial King, Hades won't be a candidate."
The shift was immediate. The paralyzing fear was shoved aside by a surge of sharp, opportunistic focus.
'He'd actually step aside?' Poseidon's mind raced, the strategist in him taking over. 'With Hades out, it's a straight fight. Just me and Zeus. My chances just doubled.'
A slow, grim smile spread across Zeus's face. 'The obstacle is being removed. Cronus is wounded, tired. We can take him. And with Hades out of the running... the throne is finally within reach.'
"Deal," they said in unison.
---
On the battlefield, Cronus swung his scythe vertically downward. Hades met it with Helkarion's shaft, parrying the blow while simultaneously slicing horizontally at Cronus's face with the sharp tail of Helkarion. Cronus also feinted and made a deep cut at his stomach. Both combatants staggered back, their wounds healing instantly.
Helkarion's blade flared with void-like energy. 'Extinction Slash.'
Cronus's scythe glowed with dark blue light. 'Final Temporal Rend.'
They charged. Hades slashed upward, Cronus moved aside but couldn't fully dodge. Hades's slash carved a deep black wound across Cronus's chest. As Cronus counterattacked, his hand wavered. A wave of temporal dissonance struck him. The scythe only grazed Hades's chest, leaving a shallow cut that refused to heal.
They stumbled apart. Cronus clutched his head in agony. Hades touched his fresh wound, then gripped Helkarion tighter, preparing to strike.
Suddenly, a colossal wave wreathed in lightning struck between them, throwing both combatants backward.
'Velkarion Bind—Hades!'
Velkarion erupted from nowhere, wrapping around the struggling Hades. Hecate manifested before him, ignoring his thrashing limbs and sharp wings. She wrapped her arms around him and fell backward through a portal with him.
With Hades gone, the Life Harvest ceased. The black ocean returned to normal, the demonic beasts calmed, and the world's corruption halted.
Poseidon looked at the devastated landscape. "This was once paradise," he murmured. "Now it's a barren wasteland."
He raised his trident as Zeus summoned his lightning. Across from them, Cronus cracked his neck, his scythe gleaming as the Paradoxum Temporis faded. The island regained its color but remained barren.
The final battle for the old era began.
---
A portal opened above the River Eridanos. Hecate and Hades plunged into its calming waters. At the river's dark bottom, glowing orbs created a starry landscape in the abyssal darkness.
Hecate drank the mysterious potion Hades had once given her. Raw, ancient power flooded her veins, and her eyes glowed with ethereal purple light. She activated their bond, and a ghostly red thread flared into existence between their wrists.
Holding his thrashing form tight, she began reciting an ancient tongue of binding. 'àÀçgœôûïkxæ...'
Strange symbols manifested around them, glowing with mysterious purple radiance. Hades's claws raked across her back. His wings, sharp as obsidian, sliced into her arms. She gasped as golden ichor clouded the water around them, but her voice never wavered, her embrace never loosened.
The chanting reached its climax. The symbols flashed with blinding light.
When Hecate opened her eyes, she stood in a strange world. Above, a sky of burning twilight flame. Below, a floor of cold, metallic silver. Hecate murmured, "So, this is how the inside of the Underworld divinity looks."
BOOOM!!! BANG!!!
A thunderous explosion echoed through the non-space. Hecate ran toward the sound, and the sight that greeted her stole her breath.
Two Hades clashed in a maelstrom of power. One, a being of radiant gold with eyes of sunlight and wings of dawn. The other, a creature of corrosive silver with eyes of cold judgment and horns of sharpened moonlight.
And they were determined to destroy each other.