Metis's whisper was like an echo in a valley, shattering deeper waves in the still lake of Hades's heart.
Her entire body was nearly nestled in Hades's arms, her fingertips unconsciously stroking the ring symbolizing their oath.
"I know," Hades's reply was brief and cold, without the slightest surprise.
He had already seen through the inconsistency beneath the passionate accusations of the demigod king.
Alexander's anger and fear might be real, but it was far from the whole story; perhaps it was just a well-rehearsed performance.
"The Greek world has long been united by him, a wise monarch, especially a demigod with such powerful personal strength," Metis continued to analyze, a light of wisdom dancing in her eyes.
"He should know better than anyone that no matter how many mortals there are and how well-trained, before the God-King in charge of thunder, they are nothing more than ants building a sandcastle tower, utterly meaningless. Raising an army against Zeus? That excuse is incredibly clumsy."
Hades's gaze fell upon the world again.
The Macedonian phalanx practiced with spears like a forest and shields reflecting cold light, far more than was needed to maintain the stability of a vast empire.
"All the known fertile lands of the entire Greek world have been trodden under his boots," Metis's voice was playful.
"If he still wants to conquer, what is the goal? It couldn't be the ethereal sea of stars, could it? How can a mortal body touch the stars?"
At this moment, a clear light flashed in Hades's deep eyes.
"What if the goal he seeks to conquer is not in this world?"
Metis straightened up slightly, her eyes shining with excitement, and she understood what Hades meant.
"Outside this world..." she repeated softly.
"He wants to find a path to other worlds? Like the 'Narcissus' avatar you added? How could a demigod know about the existence of world barriers? And how could he break through them?"
Doubts instantly connected.
"Does Zeus know?" Metis asked the key questions.
"Is he in the dark, or... is he happy to see it succeed? Could there even be his push behind it?"
If Zeus knew and agreed, and even secretly supported it, then his goal was even more intriguing.
Did he want to use his son's hand to conquer other worlds and expand Olympus's dominion?
Or was his 'interest' in Alexander himself related to his desire to cross worlds?
At this moment, Hades suddenly remembered an existence almost forgotten by all the gods—the goddess of memory, Mnemosyne.
Why bother unraveling lies at all?
Wasn't it enough to simply look directly into the source of memory?
Ever since Hades created the reincarnation system, the ancient Titan goddess Mnemosyne had been completely settled in her Temple of Memory.
She was almost isolated and indifferent to all the turmoil of the outside world.
How far had this 'homebody' gone?
Even earlier, the moon goddess Catia, wanting to temporarily store Eros's troublesome golden bow and silver arrows, thought the Temple of Memory was secluded enough and casually placed them in a corner;
Later, Ares rudely burst in and snatched the golden bow, causing dust to fly in the temple, and Mnemosyne only slightly opened her eyes, and after confirming he wasn't looking for her, went back to sleep.
Hades's figure appeared the next moment at the gates of the Temple of Memory, built from frozen time and endless memories.
Without announcing himself, he entered directly the ocean of light filled with fragments of memory from a hundred million years.
In the center of the temple, atop a 'mountain' assembled from countless memory vessels, the goddess of memory Mnemosyne slowly raised her head.
Her aged, calm face bore a hint of being disturbed from sleep, but as soon as she saw it was Hades, the displeasure quickly turned into an almost instinctive respect.
She had voluntarily swallowed the pomegranate seeds of the Underworld, and her soul essence was deeply connected to the Underworld. In a sense, Hades was indeed her direct superior, responsible for the foundation of her current 'existence'.
"Your Majesty, King of Hades," her voice was clear and submissive.
"What are your instructions?"
"Alexander, Zeus's demigod son. Retrieve all his significant memories, especially the part concerning his true intentions and core plans,"
Hades commanded without further words.
Mnemosyne asked no more questions. She closed her eyes and clasped her hands before her.
Suddenly, in the ribbon of memory light spreading around, countless fragments related to Alexander appeared—his childhood dreams, battles, interactions with gods, nightly monologues, and...
They quickly gathered, as if summoned, weaving before her a golden river, thicker and more chaotic than an ordinary ring of memory light.
Hades's divine thoughts directly penetrated this river of memories.
The truth was like a venomous snake shedding its disguise, revealing its disgusting fangs.
Alexander's anger and fear were real, but they did not stem from Zeus's twisted 'love', but from a more practical purpose—he wanted to overthrow Zeus and sit on the throne of the Olympian gods!
The memory screen showed that this demigod was no longer content with power over the mortal world.
He knew the source of his bloodline, and also knew the curse of the second-generation God-King.
During the unification war, he not only conquered lands, but also carried out terrible plans:
First, he skillfully took advantage of Ares's prolonged absence from the Greek world.
The countless killings, pain, resentment, and despair caused by the continuous war—these negative energies, which should belong to the realm of the God of War—were collected and managed by him on a large scale and in some secret way.
In the end, at a place where the bones of countless fallen soldiers were buried, amidst the ruins of the cities he had destroyed, he successfully forged a 'Spear of Divine Retribution', radiating an ominous dark red light.
This spear embodied the wails and curses of hundreds of millions of living beings, and its pure meaning of 'ending' was enough to pose a mortal threat to gods, especially God-Kings like Zeus.
Second, as the concept of 'conqueror' took root in people's hearts under his iron hoof, the law began to respond to his great deeds.
The merit of uniting the known human world was enough to support him in completing the leap from demigod to true god.
He only needed the right time, a carefully prepared secret ritual, to instantly ignite the divine spark, condense his divinity, become a true 'god of conquest', and gain the capital to compete directly with the Olympian gods.
Finally, what made Hades feel even more absurd and needed attention was that this ambitious conqueror had even considered Hades in his 'strategy'.
His plan clearly contained a containment plan against Hades: his loyal army of hundreds of millions.
Of course, he knew mortal soldiers could not harm gods, but what if... what if these hundreds of millions of soldiers died simultaneously at a certain moment and in some way?
Imagine the flood of souls instantly surging into Hades, disrupting the order of the Underworld like a tsunami.
The judgment court would be paralyzed, Hell would be overcrowded, and the reincarnation system would face unprecedented pressure.
This was indeed a simple, crude, but extremely effective threat, which could be called the ultimate embodiment of 'swarm tactics'.
Hades withdrew his thoughts. Alexander's plan was mad and bold, but not entirely impossible to succeed.
"How could a mortal know how to collect war resentment? How could such a targeted artifact be made?"
Hades raised the key questions.
Such knowledge was by no means so easy for a heroic demigod to obtain.
Metis, who was leaning against him, had a bright light of wisdom in her eyes, and seemed to have thought of something and whispered thoughtfully: "...Hecate?" She paused and glanced at Hades.
Hades's eyes instantly turned cold.
"It's her again?"
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