"Then follow me," Hades said softly.
She turned and began walking through the palace corridors, followed hesitantly by Saruto. Silence enveloped the place, broken only by the echo of their footsteps on the palace floor. Hades finally stopped in a vast, completely empty hall—no columns, no carvings, just utter emptiness. Saruto looked around in surprise. "Will…will I train here?" he asked.
"No," Hades replied with a faint smile, then raised a finger and pointed upwards. "We'll train up there."
Saruto confusion deepened, and before he could ask what she meant, he felt the ground beneath him shake. In an instant, the entire hall began to rise with tremendous speed. A terrible pressure crushed Saruto body, and he collapsed to the ground, unable to stand, while Hades stood perfectly still. After a few moments, she said calmly, "Get up, Saruto…we've arrived."
He struggled to his feet, and as soon as he raised his head, his eyes widened in astonishment. Before him stretched a vast, endless white world, its ground made of clouds, its sky without sun or moon, yet illuminated by a mysterious light. "This…is like the Time Room in my family's palace," Saruto murmured.
"I know," Hades replied calmly.
He turned to her quickly, surprised. "How do you know about the Time Room?"
"Because I gave the method for creating it to my disciple," Hades said.
Saruto froze. "Your disciple? But…the original founder built it!"
"Yes," Hades smiled slightly. "And my disciple…is Ethan."
Saruto heart trembled, and memories flooded his mind, especially that terrifying skill Ethan used as the Grim Reaper. "So…that explains everything," he said in a low voice.
"We don't have time for meditation," Hades interrupted sternly. "Let's begin your training."
"What kind of training?" Saruto asked. She replied, "You've released 75% of your latent dark energy. There's still 25% you haven't released. That's why I'm going to put you through special training to awaken it."
Saruto smiled confidently and said, "All right… let's begin."
But before he could finish his sentence, Hades lunged at him with lightning speed, grabbing his face with one hand. She released her energy directly into his body, and Saruto cried out in pain, feeling as if electric shocks were tearing his soul apart from within.
Hades suddenly withdrew her hand, and a dark entity, Void, emerged from Saruto body, taking on the form of a hybrid. Saruto recoiled in astonishment: "How… how did you separate us?!"
Even Void himself seemed shocked. Hades said, "I will train each of you separately. You, Saruto, have released 75% of your dark energy, while Void has only reached 45%."
"Even dragons that possess the power of darkness... have a lineage system?" Saruto asked in surprise.
"Yes," she replied. "Everyone who possesses the power of darkness is subject to this system. Didn't the First Founder tell you this when he handed it over to you, Void?"
Saruto shook his head. Hades put a hand to her head and said irritably, "He's useless... How could he have overlooked something like this?"
Then she snapped her fingers, and two dark portals appeared. "Enter," she said. "You won't be able to leave until the training is over."
"What kind of training is this?" Saruto and Void asked together.
"When you go in... you'll find out," Hades replied.
With the force of her power, she pushed them through the portals, and they closed behind them. In one of the worlds, Saruto woke up startled in his bed. "What was that awful dream...?"
He got up and stood in front of the mirror. His body was that of a five-year-old child. He left his room, ate his meal, and lived a normal day until he overheard some doctors whispering about his mother. He froze, then ran as fast as he could. He entered his mother's room and saw her lying on the bed. "I'm fine, my son… just an illness," she said with a weak smile.
But Saruto said, weeping, "I heard everything, Mother."
She was surprised, then held him close, trying to comfort him even though she knew the truth. Outside the illusion, Hades watched everything through a giant crystal ball. "This training aims to bring the energy of darkness to 100%," she said in a low voice. "And the only way to achieve this… is through profound emotional shocks."
Then she added, "I have placed Saruto and Void in illusions that relive the saddest and most painful moments of their lives. And if that isn't enough, I can create scenes for them that have never happened before, erasing their memories of each scene so they don't realize they are trapped in an illusion."
The sphere showed Saruto clutching his mother's hand after her death, screaming in despair as dark energy erupted from his body. Hades said, "77%."
She moved her hand, and the scene shifted to Void, watching his brother and friend Saruto die before his eyes, unable to save him. She said quietly, "55%."
She sighed and added, "This will take… a long time."