Hades, lost in thought, quietly vanished from the obsidian throne, and the next moment he appeared on the earth, filled with the smoke of gunpowder and the sounds of killing.
He hovered in the sky, indifferently looking down.
The wars of the Bronze Age were at their peak: city-states clashed, armies collided like rivers of steel.
The piercing sound of clashing swords, the wails of the dying, the roars of the victors, the weeping of mourners, the smiles, the fear of cowards... Countless negative emotions born of murder, hatred, despair, and greed, like a turbid miasma, rose from every battlefield and every corner, filling the air and permeating the mountains and rivers.
In Hades's view, these excessively strong, chaotic, and inefficient negative energies, although they provided nourishment for the Underworld, their disorderly spread across the earth itself hindered the 'breathing' of the world and reduced the overall efficiency of the world's energy system.
"Chaotic dissipation is a waste of resources and a disruption to the world's structure." Hades's decision.
He raised his hand—no incantations, no rituals, just an extension of his will.
The invisible yet heavy and sticky negative aura permeating the entire world, as if summoned by an absolute monarch, began to frantically converge from all directions, like hundreds of rivers returning to the sea, towards the place where Hades stood.
The killing intent of war condensed into a bloody vortex, the fear of death transformed into a gray mist, the resentment of betrayal was like dark silk threads, and the endless greed shone with a repugnant, shimmering gleam... This torrent of power, enough to plunge any sane god into madness or extreme instability, flowed unimpeded towards Hades.
And Hades stood motionless at the center of this energy storm.
Because of Metis's curse, 'never fall in love with anyone', he had completely lost the ability to generate negative emotions.
Anger, hatred, fear, sorrow, jealousy... These emotions were incomprehensible concepts to him.
Therefore, these surging negative forces struck his divine body, but could not cause a single ripple in his heart.
No disgust, no resistance, not even any 'feeling'.
In his eyes, it was just chaotic 'matter' to be processed, 'raw materials' urgently needing to be converted into orderly energy.
"Direct contact is the most efficient way to handle it."
Hades rendered his judgment.
He did not intend to protect or filter, allowing the energy flow, which gathered the negative emotions of hundreds of millions of living beings in the world, to directly penetrate his body.
His divine body seemed to transform into a living, efficient transformation furnace. The filthy blood—gray, dark, colorful... All the negative colors, the moment they touched his body, were decomposed and purified by his divine power, as deep as eternal night.
Chaotic thoughts were erased, violent energy was tamed, and finally transformed into a pure, dark divine stream of power, like a docile current, pouring into his boundless sea of power, and then nourishing it back into this energy-starved new world through his deep connection with the Underworld.
Throughout the entire process, Hades's face did not change at all, and his eyes remained an eternally frozen lake.
No painful distortion from the energy impact, no pleasure from the growth of power.
He was like the most perfect machine, performing the task of cleaning and transforming energy, calm to the point of near cruelty.
However, this too-abnormal phenomenon did not escape the perception of some beings.
Atop Mount Olympus, the ambitious Zeus suddenly felt a palpitation.
His sharp gaze pierced through the clouds, instantly locking onto a figure on Earth—one that hung silently, yet absorbed all the negative atmosphere of the world like a black hole.
"Hades?!" Zeus's pupils suddenly constricted.
He clearly 'saw' that the filthy forces that caused him extreme disgust were being drawn into Hades's body without hindrance, and his brother did not even frown.
This absolute calm sent a chill down Zeus's spine.
This was by no means the performance of an ordinary god! What had happened to Hades? To what extent had his power become strange?
At the same time—in the Underworld.
Metis, secretly monitoring Hades's movements, saw this scene through the mirror.
Wisdom allowed her to better understand the logic of Hades's behavior—ultimate efficiency.
But with understanding, the inexplicable emptiness and coldness in her heart grew deeper and deeper.
Her fingertips trembled slightly, and a mixture of fear, pity, and deep despair spread through her heart.
The proof of 'love' she was trying to find seemed increasingly unattainable before Hades's cold and extremely rational behavior.
And on Earth, Hades absorbed the last trace of negative energy into his body.
The surrounding sky and earth were clear, and even the air seemed a little cleaner. Although the war below continued and new negative emotions were still being born, at least the 'backlog' at that moment had been cleared.
He felt the efficiency of transforming the immense negative force within his body.
"Conversion efficiency is acceptable," he evaluated indifferently.
After dealing with the negative energy permeating the battlefield, Hades did not immediately return to Hades.
Like an invisible ghost, he continued to wander aimlessly across the earth, trying to understand the unsettling feelings caused by Metis's anomalous behavior.
Just as he passed through a desolate valley full of huge boulders, his attention was drawn by an extremely loud cry, one that even made the rocks tremble.
The cry was full of daze, grievance, and a panic disproportionate to its volume.
Hades followed the sound and saw an extremely tall giantess sitting on a mountain, holding her head in her hands and weeping so violently that the mountains shook.
She had a clear cyclopean lineage, with a huge single eye in the center of her forehead, tightly shut, and tears constantly streaming from it at this moment.
Her aura was ancient and thick, obviously a continuation of Gaia's bloodline, but her power level was not at the highest level.
Hades's figure silently appeared before her, his cold voice cutting through the deafening cries: "Why are you crying?"
The giantess was startled by this sudden sound, lifted her tear-streaked, huge face, and shrank back even more upon seeing that the visitor was Hades, radiating a pulsating aura of the Underworld.
But the grievance in her heart overcame her fear of Hades. She sobbed and replied in a voice like thunder:
"Waaah... Great Hades... I, I don't know... I was just having a comfortable sleep on Mother Gaia's body... When I woke up, I found... I found out I was pregnant! Waaah... I haven't been in contact with anyone, not with giants, not with gods! How is this possible! Am I sick? Or is it a curse?"
Her single eye was full of pure confusion and fear, which was extremely unusual for a descendant of the Cyclopes, known for their strength and fortitude.
A faint flicker appeared in Hades's violet eyes.
Anomalous conception? In the Greek realm, this was not unprecedented, but it was usually accompanied by divine intervention or specific events.
It was indeed strange for a giantess to inexplicably become pregnant during sleep.