The first thing Hades saw was a vast mouth, covering the heavens, and the cruel king-god Cronus swallowed him whole.
This... where did it start? The moment he was devoured by Cronus? ... The beginning of reincarnation?
Infinite rage, despair, and a feeling of being deceived instantly flooded his mind.
Had he done everything, even ending himself, only to exchange for another reset? Only to have the 'axis' of reincarnation switched back to the original piece on the chessboard?
No.
A completely different perception, like a spark flashing in the darkness, suddenly ignited in the depths of his soul.
He looked at the terrifying scene that could swallow the God-King and destroy everything, and in his eyes there was no fear, no struggle, only a coldness carved by countless ages and... weariness.
He slightly raised his hand, without even using explicit divine power, but simply waved it casually towards the scene of destruction, as if brushing away dust before him.
No earth-shattering explosions, no roar of colliding laws.
The giant mouth devouring everything, the fierce storm of time and space, and the monstrous divine power belonging to Cronus were quietly and completely extinguished, like a pencil erased by an eraser under his casual wave.
Before him was no longer Cronus's dark belly, nor any known time and space.
It was absolute 'void'—a void transcending the definition of the world of Chaos.
Only a figure stood silently before him, its back turned to him.
The man had long blond hair, like frozen moonlight, and a form identical to Hades's own.
Hades looked at the back, not surprised, only a slight calm settling and a faint hint of indescribable complex emotion.
He spoke slowly, his voice clearly echoing in the void:
"See you again, 'Moebius'."
He paused, his voice indifferent, as if it were everything.
"Or 'myself'."
The white-haired figure stirred slightly and slowly turned around.
The face was exactly the same as Hades's, like a reflection in a mirror.
Only those eyes were no longer Hades's deep violet, but like two pink vortices, eternally spinning and consuming everything, reflecting the birth and death of countless worlds, countless threads of fate, and countless... reincarnations.
He looked at Hades, in his pink swirling eyes there was no emotion, only an extreme indifference that had seen all vicissitudes and the ruins of everything.
His lips did not move, and his voice was so calm it echoed directly in this void, and also in the depths of Hades's soul:
"Yes, 33,550,336 times."
Hades (the variable of the present) quietly looked at Moebius (the variable of the past) and felt the desperate solidification behind that enormous number.
In over 33 million completed reincarnations, every event, every choice, and even every seemingly random flash of inspiration had long been recorded, calculated, and destined.
In this 'reincarnation system' composed of Moebius, any action of the gods—whether resistance, obedience, conspiracy, or love—was nothing more than code already written, running in order.
Even what Hades had discovered, thought, and even the act of stabbing himself was an inevitable part of reincarnation.
Becoming Moebius himself was the greatest certainty. A fate from which there was no escape, one that inevitably turned into a cycle.
It should be so...
Hades felt the light within his body, completely different from the immense constant before him—pulsing, full of uncertainty—this was opportunity.
He was Hades, but even more so, he was a variable.
It was the Hades of the past—that is, the Moebius before him—who, in countless reincarnations, at the moment before he was completely assimilated by the constant, split off his next 'self'.
He forcibly separated and preserved his 'opportunity'.
He entrusted this flame, this single variable, to his 'next' 'self'.
Again and again.
Every time reincarnation occurred, when 'Hades' was about to fully become 'Moebius', he would introduce this 'opportunity', accumulated over a lifetime, into the body of 'Hades' in the next cycle, like a torch.
This opportunity, in the seemingly repeating reincarnation, quietly accumulated, like trickles merging into a river.
It recorded the details of each reincarnation, carried the will to fight each time, and embodied the desire to transcend fate.
1 time, 10 times, 100 times, 10,000 times... Until the 33,550,336th time.
The Hades before him was the final product of these 33,550,336 accumulations! The collection of all 'opportunities'!
Moebius's (the variable of the past) red swirling eyes calmly looked at Hades (the variable of the present), as if admiring his own complex yet unexpected creation.
He did not deny Hades's conclusion about the accumulation of 'opportunities'; the sheer number of reincarnations itself was the best proof.
He spoke slowly, his indifferent voice carrying a slight 'interest', like a program discovering anomalous data:
"The one named 'Hades'... In the past, you made many 'errors'. In these endless loops, there was always some dissonant noise, some redundancy that deviated from the optimal solution, trying to awaken you... Tell me, this time,"
—his gaze seemed to pierce through all the memories accumulated in the depths of Hades's soul—
"how many did you find?"
Hades's expression did not change at all, as if he had pondered these questions thousands of times.
He spoke directly, as if stating an accomplished fact:
"Many."
He raised his fingers, and each time he spoke, his fingertip seemed to crack a 'contradiction' in the void:
"First, Nyx's 'triple aspect'."
She claimed to have distorted the constant and should no longer be the goddess of constancy—Ananke. But if the Ananke aspect had truly disappeared or separated because of this, why, when I first saw her, was she still a complete triple-aspect goddess—night, fate, and the third side that should belong to Ananke and symbolize 'inevitability'? Her divinity never truly disappeared. Her 'confession' was more like a well-staged... role-play."
"Second, Oceanus's 'despair' and 'resistance'."
He retained his memory and endured the torment of losing his children countless times. If he were truly desperate and numb, each reincarnation would only deepen it. How could he easily ignite the heart of resistance because of a few words from my 'new variable'? Unless... His 'despair' itself was a performance. Or his resistance was a 'conspiracy' you agreed to or even directed in a certain version of reincarnation, to enhance the 'drama' or test a certain 'opportunity'."
"Third, Metis's mutation."
"Her transformation was too abrupt. From a wise and calm ally to a paranoid and mad Queen of the Underworld, solely because of Nyx's 'gift' and fear of historical precedents? No. This is more like a forcibly introduced 'setting'. It seems that at some point, to force me to focus on the main line of 'fighting reincarnation', you deliberately simplified or even distorted her emotional logic, turning her from a complex variable into... a 'tool' to stimulate the protagonist."
"Fourth, Cronus's 'clarity'."
"He was tormented by your reincarnation for countless years, his mind long blurred by madness and the storms of time and space. With just a few 'fragments of truth' and the 'persuasion' of the giants I sent, could he regain such clarity from complete chaos, and even be eloquent and direct to the core? This is illogical. Unless... His 'clarity' was a power you temporarily 'unlocked' to provide 'key assistance' in this reincarnation."
"Fifth, the 'ignorance' of death and sleep."
"Hypnos, the master of dreams, his power could touch the deepest subconscious and memory fragments of living beings, and even gods. Thanatos, with death, senses the destination of the soul and the weight of life's course. The Underworld is the gathering place of souls and the place where memories are finally placed. Reincarnation is a huge 'event' that has enveloped the entire world and lasted over 33 million times."
"As the main gods dwelling in the Underworld, whose authority is connected to consciousness and destination, how could they be unaware of the anomalies of reincarnation, the 'feeling of obsolescence' of the world's foundation, and the depletion of new forces for such a long time? The only explanation is that they are 'set' to be unaware. Or they are aware, but their reaction patterns are extremely limited, and they can only act according to the role of 'loyal to Hades', unable to turn perceived anomalies into effective questions or actions."
"A god who can freely weave dreams and spy on the subconscious, a god who can sense the essence and end of life, yet does not understand the ultimate fate that envelops them and lasts forever—this is a logical loophole surpassing any contradiction in power."