In the dimension beyond time, Ananke sleeps upon a cloud of pure potential. Her eyes snap open as she feels two forbidden powers tearing at the fabric of reality. She waves a hand, and the scene at Mount Orthys unfolds Hades using Life Harvest, Cronus unleashing Paradoxum Temporis. Her lips tighten into a thin line. "The father and son would break the world to settle their score."
She stands and disappears, reappearing above Mount Orthys where Hectate watches the battle in horror. The air grows heavy as Gaea, Nyx, Erebus, and other Primordials manifest in flashes of cosmic light. They bow in unison. "Lady Ananke."
Ananke does not acknowledge the greeting. Her burning gaze is fixed on the cataclysm below, her judgment already settling over the scene like a shroud.
Ananke's gaze sweeps over the destruction before settling on Hectate . "Tell me, Hectate," she says, her voice dripping with sarcasm. "Is this how your family maintain world order? Or perhaps you've started a new tradition of unraveling forbidden secrets for entertainment?"
Hectate 's blood runs cold. "You miss understand lady Ananke, they love this world—"
"Do they?" Ananke interrupts, her voice a soft whip-crack. "From here, it appears as they are using 'Life Harvest' and 'Paradoxum Temporis' to dismantle it."
Before Hectate can answer, Gaea steps forward. "Lady Ananke, the prophecy already warned us! That Hades will become the world's worst nightmare. Look!" She gestures 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 moves to speak "But—", but Ananke raises a hand, cutting her off. "I've heard enough of prophecies." Yet her eyes remain fixed on the battle, considering Gaea's words.
Nyx and Hectate exchange a glance, both glaring at Gaea's smirk of satisfaction.
"Very well," Ananke declares, her voice final. "The judgment is made. Execution for Cronus and Ha—"
"WAIT!" Hectate 's voice cuts through the cosmic judgment.
The Primordials stare in shock. Nyx grabs Hectate's arm, whispering urgently, "Hectate, don't!"
But Ananke's eyes narrow with interest. "Speak," she commands, granting permission.
Hectate takes a step forward, her voice trembling but determined. "I call upon the favor you granted me."
A subtle smile touches Ananke's lips. "So you play that card now? When the world itself hangs in the balance?"
Nyx seizes 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 scoffs. "The world is at stake! We cannot gamble on—"
"Enough!" Ananke's voice silences all argument. Her eyes bore into Hectate . "That calamity inside him is devouring reality. Its own host cannot control it. What makes you believe you can?"
Hectate meets 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 Hectate speaks, a memory surfaces 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 softens. "You stake everything on belief," she says quietly. Then, louder: "Very well. The favour is granted. You have your chance to bring him back. But if you fail..." She doesn't need to finish the threat.
Hectate bows deeply, then vanishes to begin her desperate mission.
---
Near Mount Orthys, Zeus and Poseidon rest on a giant rock in the middle of the ocean. Hectate materializes before them. "You must join the battle," she insists.
Silence presses down for a heartbeat before they both exclaim, "What!?"
Zeus's brows narrow into a sneer. "Are you mad? That's a death sentence."
"You will not die," Hectate asserts, the authority of one who has 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."
Hectate releases 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 spell undone."
"Fine," Poseidon said, his voice flat. "But why should we help you? What's in it for us?"
Hectate'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. Hectate'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.
Hectate 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 was 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 swings his scythe vertically downward. Hades meets it with Helkarion's shaft, parrying the blow while simultaneously slicing horizontally at Cronus's face by sharp tail of Helkarion. Cronus also feint and made a deep cut at his stomach. Both combatants stagger back, their wounds healing instantly.
Helkarion's blade flares with void-like energy. 'Extinction Slash.'
Cronus's scythe glows with dark blue light. 'Final Temporal Rend.'
They charge. Hades slashes upward, Cronus move aside but can't able to dodge. Hades slash carving a deep black wound across Cronus's chest. As Cronus counterattacks, his hand wavers. A wave of temporal dissonance striking him. The scythe only grazes Hades's chest, leaving a shallow cut that refuses to heal.
They stumble apart. Cronus clutches his head in agony. Hades touches his fresh wound, then grips Helkarion tighter, preparing to strike.
Suddenly, a colossal wave wreathed in lightning strikes between them, throwing both combatants backward.
'Velkarion Bind—Hades!'
Velkarion erupt from nowhere, wrapping around the struggling Hades. Hectate manifests before him, ignoring his thrashing limbs and sharp wings. She wraps her arms around him and falls backward through a portal with him.
With Hades gone, the Life Harvest ceases. The black ocean returns to normal, the demonic beasts calm, and the world's corruption halts.
Poseidon looks at the devastated landscape. "This was once paradise," he murmurs. "Now it's a barren wasteland."
He raises his trident as Zeus summons his lightning. Across from them, Cronus cracks his neck, his scythe gleaming as the Paradoxum Temporis fades. The island regains its color but remains barren.
The final battle for the old era begins.
---
A portal opens above the River Eridanos. Hectate and Hades plunge into its calming waters. At the river's dark bottom, glowing orbs create a starry landscape in the abyssal darkness.
Hectate drinks the mysterious potion Hades once gave her. Raw, ancient power floods her veins, and her eyes glow with ethereal purple light. She activates their bond, and a ghostly red thread flares into existence between their wrists.
Holding his thrashing form tight, she begins reciting an ancient tongue of binding. 'àÀçgœôûïkxæ...'
Strange symbols manifest around them, glowing with mysterious purple radiance. Hades's claws rake across her back. His wings, sharp as obsidian, slice into her arms. She gasps as golden ichor clouds the water around them, but her voice never wavers, her embrace never loosens.
The chanting reaches its climax. The symbols flash with blinding light.
When Hectate opens her eyes, she stands in a strange world. Above, a sky of burning twilight flame. Below, a floor of cold, metallic silver. Hectate murmer "So, this how inside Underworld divinity look."
BOOOM!!! BANG!!!
A thunderous explosion echoes through the non-space. Hectate runs toward the sound, and the sight that greets her steals her breath.
Two Hades clash 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 are determined to destroy each other.