The fear and desperation in her eyes was real. Echidna truly did not want to lose her knew master, but the gaze Adam directed at Echidna did not soften.
"You need not question whether or not I have the ability to carry out what I have planned, you only need to obey!" Adam rebuked.
Echidna looked down.
Adam then felt like he'd been too harsh with her so he added whiles stroking her cheek gently.
"After I return, I will allow you to accompany me always."
Echidna head suddenly jerked up in surprise. Then her gaze brightened, and she smiled like she'd been given the world.
"Yes!"
Her smiled remained as Adam planted a soft kiss on her cheek, then she watched reluctantly as he donned his robes and left the chamber, her gaze full of longing.
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For the first time since he'd arrived, Adam was completely alone and unattended to while he made his way through the palace of Nyx. Lena's cold voice sounded urgently in his in his mind.
"Did you mean what you told Echidna? Do you really plan to confront Perses?"
"Yes Lena. I lie to women before I bed them. I don't lie to them after."
"I see. You understand why that's a terrible idea right? Or do I need to tell you?"
Adam: "…"
"On the surface some of the actions you take may seem rash, but after being with you for so long, I know that you are never without a plan in crisis. But this time, there truly is nothing you can do. What can you accomplish by confronting Perses?"
Adam took a deep breath before answering. "Lena, I know you won't understand this, but, there are times when what I must do is not logically sound or even within the realms of possibility, but I must do it all the same.
Nyx, Asteria, and by extension her entire domain, are precious to me now. And a man must always protect what he deems precious; it is what gives him meaning."
Then Adam's gaze suddenly became cold. "I saw the malice and hunger in Perses's eyes.
He is not just vengeful, but plans do the unspeakable to Nyx.
And in his gaze there was no reason or compassion, he is a creature that exists only for blood and violence. He is, in every sense, an animal and once he is free, I dread the carnage he will unleash."
"But even so, according to Echidna, Perses and Athena have journeyed to the very depths of Tartarus. According to the ancient myths, it is the deepest, vilest part of the underworld. Forgetting the fact that you don't even know which route to take, the journey there will definitely be extremely dangerous. . . How do you plan to make it?" Lena asked worriedly.
"I'll enlist the help of a new friend, one who has been around much longer than we have."
As he spoke Adam finally located the Amphitheatre where he'd fought Echidna's monsters.
'Please still be there.' He prayed while passing through the gated archway and entered the familiar stage.
But the lion sensed his approach before he'd even arrived. A giant golden feline body excitedly leapt towards him and knocked him onto the floor. Adam immediately felt a large wet tongue licking him all over.
"Oh quit it." He laughed as he gently pulled himself up and pushed the lion away. Then he thought to himself. 'No wonder almost everyone I knew had android pets in the future. Who would have thought that even a god killer beast could be so unguarded before its owner?"
Then he affectionately placed a hand through the beast's thick fiery mane and onto its broad neck.
He could feel the intense heat of its skin. And even more than that he could sense its powerful heartbeat; the thrumming in its core whenever hot air tunnelled out of its lungs and it exhaled. He could fell its curious, intelligent gaze on him.
And when he reached out with his telepathically, the deep imprint that he had left in its psyche was still there, as was the new bond between them. The lion sensed his intentions before he'd even spoke and lowered its head for him to climb on. Adam grabbed a handful of its fiery mane and climbed onto its large head.
"I need to get to the depths of Tartarus as fast as possible; can you take me there buddy?"
The lion let out a deep rumbling sound.
"And I suppose you'll need a name as well….uhh….let's see…I've always been bad at this but….. how about "Creed"?"
Creed had to have been happy about his new name because the next moment he excitedly leapt into the air and run around in circles. Adam immediately had the wind knocked out of him as he held on, but then Creed gave him no time to recover as he suddenly leapt over the entire height of the amphitheatre.
From then on it was just pure chaos as the massive seven meter tall flaming lion bounded through the streets of Nyx's palace and alarmed all the gods and spirits in the vicinity.
Creed was running so fast that he left a scorching trail in his wake. Before long they had left the confines of the palace and were heading deeper into the underealm.
Now in the open land, Adam was immediately struck by how incredibly vast the underealm was. In the blink of an eye, Nyx's palace became a mere dot on the horizon and then disappeared altogether as they journeyed further into the dark terrain.
As they journeyed, they passed a great many horrendous creatures, some Adam even recognised from ancient myth: Ghostly wraiths with leathery bat wings, large barbarian giants with only one eye in the center of their heads, frightening demonic hounds with barbed tails and several others he could not name.
But they were all cowed by creed's powerful aura and stayed clear of their path. The journey continued for hours which then became days which in turn became weeks. Or so Adam thought. Down here it was hard for him to mark the passage of time.
Then Creed sped up as they got closer to Tartarus. A powerful wind roared in Adam's ears and a terrifying world appeared before his eyes. Tartarus was by any definition.. a hell!
The air itself was charged with energy and the terrain was constantly shifting, Landmasses kept on breaking apart and reforming chaotically.
As Adam trespassed deeper into these forbidden lands he gradually realised that everything within Tartarus was gravitating towards its depths. Adam could feel the same force that was pulling in everything else tugging at the atoms of his body, causing a dark grimace to appear on his face.
And the landscape only got more twisted and horrifying the further they travelled. There where whole canyons where vile creatures with demonic features tore each other to shreds, geysers that erupted with explosions of molten destruction, and barren fields of crater eternally scorched by dark fire.
Worse than all of these was a cold, ancient, and evil presence the pervaded the air and caused an involuntary shiver to run through Adam's body.. It was as if the land itself was telling him:
"Evil lives here."
At the center of this hell, was strange a strange grey pillar of churning matter. The cyclone seemed to be made out of dust, mist, and smoke all at once as it crept from the ground all the way up to the churning crimson skies. Adam intuitively knew that that was the only place Athena and Perses could have gone.
"Well at least finding them was easy…now for the not so easy part. Lena?"
"Yes my lord?"
"Display status screen please."
Name: Adam
Titles: 'Consort of Nyx' 'Lord of Asteria' 'Master of the Horae' 'Obsession of Eris' 'Beloved of Helen' 'Nemesis of Echidna' 'Divine Lion Tamer'
Power level: 'Superhuman'
Race: Artificial god
Physique: Artificial god body (Fully awakened)
Abilities: Superhuman strength, speed, and agility. Divine charm. Telepathy. Psychic compulsion. Euphoric touch.
Riorta Nanites Cleansed: 100%
God Cell turnover: 88.2%
"Hah." Adam let out a deep sigh. Over the course of their journey, he'd watched as the god cell conversion in his body slowly climbed higher and higher until it finally neared completion. An 88.2% turnover meant that now only about a tenth of his body was still fully human. The rest was becoming . . . something else; A fact that terrified him to his core.
Only, he did not have the luxury of being able to dwell on that right now.
"My lord." Lena called.
"Lena?"
"There is something that I wish to understand?"
"You may ask."
"If you're right, and Athena is indeed working against Perses, why would she bring him here?
After all, Echidna said that this was where his powers would be strongest and where his bonds would fade quickest."
Adam quietly observed the hellscape around him before finally giving his answer.
"Because this also the place where it is easiest to bury him forever."
"You mean?'
"I don't presume to understand everything, but at the very least, I know she must have some kind of plan."
Lena was silent then.
Adam leaned gently against Creed's ear and whispered:
"Let's go boy!"
Creed immediately obeyed, leaping forward with a powerful bound and racing towards the heaven piercing grey cyclone in the distance.
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