SON OF THE HERO KING

[1st Circle of Hell, Tartarus]

Entering the place and feeling the dreary atmosphere, Anubis chuckled.

“I always said that you guys should work on the atmosphere of these prisons.”

He looked around and watched as the Chaos spawn, mindless beasts that would generally rush at anyone with every bit of semblance of a deranged lunatic, slowly retreat because of his sheer presence.

No matter how mindless those beasts were and no matter how they did not fear death in the slightest, it seemed that they realized that Anubis was an entity that should be avoided at all costs.

Standing behind him, the warden of Tartarus, Kiyohime, simply shrugged as a reply, “You changed the mood of your prison but you still had two important prisoners escape.”

“Touché.”

Anubis could say nothing about that. He had indeed underestimated both the current Nihil and Drei, he had thought they were just helpless weaklings, but in the end, it was clear that he was wrong.

They were still weaklings… Just not helpless ones.

Even though Anubis had stolen authority over a part of the Afterlife realm, and created his own territory here, he was by no means a Dimensional Mage.

He could not move it with him as he pleased.

Those two had used his absence and escaped from their chains. It had to be said that sealing a dimensional mage like Nihil was already quite the difficult task.

Anubis, of course, was too proud to try to find any form of excuse.

A mistake was a mistake.

That was all there was to it in his opinion.

Of course, there was no one who could punish him for the mistakes he committed.

‘Hah, the feeling of abusing power. Such a marvelous feeling.’

Kiyohime took a step back to distance herself from Anubis who was busy chuckling to herself.

Kiyohime, like any other Divine Beast, did not particularly like Necromancers and liked Anubis even less since he was the one who shared the knowledge of the power in this world.

She had no prejudice. She knew that Anubis was not a “bad” person in itself. In fact, he had done much good for the world. One could even say that Anubis was an unsung hero. A man worthy of respect – and she had much respect for him…far more than she was ever willing to admit even… She just didn’t like him.

Giving a glance at Kiyohime's frowning expression, Anubis smiled. He perfectly understood Kiyohime's dilemma.

This was also why, out of all divine beasts, Dragons and Phoenixes were the only ones he was willing to work with.

“Well, we are finally here.”

The two of them stopped in front of a cross where a naked woman was held, almost crucified, with wild hair that looked like the mane of a Lion.

“Leo. Daughter of Echidna. But… I wonder… Which Leo are you?”

Funf, once one of the 12 constellations under the order of Echidna in the mortal world, opened her bloodshot eyes and growled in the direction of Kiyohime, before giving a meek look at Anubis.

“I am…was…part of the G.O.D project. I do not know which generation I am from.”

“Heh… So she is still working on this project.”

G.O.D.

Originally, it should have been G.D.O. Standing for Grand Divine Order. But Anubis found it boring and switched the letter of order a bit.

Yes, that was right. He had once worked with Echidna.

In fact, he hadn’t been the only one to do so.

Anubis, Ambrosia, and Echidna.

The three mortals who, against all odds, reached the level of Demigods.

The first Witch.

The first Necromancer.

The first Chimera.

How could those three never have dealings in the past?

In fact, they had once been comrades and in Echidna and Anubis's case… lovers.

Sadly, Echidna became too obsessed with the G.O.D project even though it was a failure and since Anubis decided to stop sticking his dick in crazy, he simply walked away from her side. He just couldn't associate himself with a lunatic no matter how much affection he held for her.

“The one whose understanding in Mana and Law is above everyone else.

“The one whose understanding of the Physical body is above everyone else.

The one whose understanding of the Soul is above everyone else.”

Leo with dried blood on her cracked lips chuckled with mirth, “Mother likes to talk about how if the three of you had stuck together until the end, G.O.D would have been a success, you would have been able to create the perfect being.”

Anubis scoffed, “Indoctrination is truly a terrifying thing. Perfect this, perfect that. Fuck this shit. This is why I left on the first occasion. Ambrosia also didn’t stick with her.”

The meek look in Leo’s eyes vanished as she growled, “Do not insult mother’s dream!”

“If you aren’t happy then fight me. If you can’t fight me shut up before I make you shut up.”

The growl immediately stopped and a slight whimper escaped her cracked lips. Anubis had not even released his aura but Leo felt like a cold blade was placed under her neck, ready to take off her head at the slightest mistake.

All this while, Kiyohime had stayed silent. She was learning new things and she was quite surprised to know that those three were once companions.

The fact that Anubis and Echidna had once been in relationship simply made her shudder in fright.

“Well, enough discussion. Honestly, I want to just kill you and end it all. But in a way, you are my daughter— A descendant of my daughter? My creation? Hard to give an exact name to our relationship.”

He shrugged, “I won’t ask much. Why did you attack the Dragon Realm? Why do you want those divines weapons? Are they the key to unsealing Ymir?”

Anubis was curious, truly curious. The seal on Ymir was done with the power of the 14 Goddesses, but there were only seven divine weapons.

Those weapons shouldn't be enough to break the seal.

Furthermore, why attack the Dragon Realm? What would they get from it? Was Sol their objective? If so, then why not capture Sol when he was still weak and in Lustburg?

Or perhaps something else?

So many questions…

Anubis was curious. As curious as Sol was even.

Leo stayed silent for a while, “You have Drei with you. Why not ask him?”

“Heh. I would have. But that man is truly someone dedicated. It seems like he completely erased most of his memories the moment he saw me. I guess it was a backup measure he put just in case. Gotta say, loyal people like him are quite rare.”

For a moment, Leo felt a little sad, she might have not liked Drei but he was still someone she shared some companionship with.

Of course, those emotions only lasted for a single instant. When she remembered that capturing Sol and Isis had been one of the main reasons for this mission, she shuddered once more.

“No need to tire yourself, Anubis. Right now, she is still a Duke. There is something Sol wants to try with her. If he fails, then she will be all yours."

"Oh?"

Anubis immediately lost all interest in Leo.

The power of Sol's dimension was perhaps the most intriguing thing he had ever seen in this universe.

Furthermore his exploration of the Universe would be far more interesting if he had someone like Sol helping him.

Anubis already made plans about having Sol help him once the boy became a proper demigod.

There was no doubt in his mind that Sol would accept his proposal.

It wasn't because he was Sol's father-in-law.

Nor because he had skills in negotiating.

But one simple reason.

A truth that all Reincarnators would go crazy for.

———

After leaving Anubis alone in Tartarus, Kiyohime came up and went to the island Sol was recuperating on.

On the way, she passed by many young dragons who were guarding the surroundings.

They all saluted her with reverence and she nodded to them.

Even though the Dragon Realm was still in a period of mourning, she could feel a new vitality emanating from the entirety of the realm.

Those young dragons who had witnessed an inkling of what war truly was would become stronger.

That was a good thing.

The living would thrive by stepping on the remains of their fallen companions.

It was a sad thing but one could not let death stop them from advancing.

When she finally reached the island, Kiyohime let out a sigh as she witnessed the young man moving on the beach with his torso naked.

She could even see droplets of sweat on his finely sculpted muscles.

*Gulp*

Kiyohime flushed weakly at this delightful sight, while memories of the night she spent with him floated in her mind.

She wondered just what had taken over her for her to do such a thing with her nephew.

'Sigh, I must have been crazy.'

She cringed visibly at that recollection.

"Just what kind of training are you doing for you to sweat so much?"

Sol was now a Duke. One with a body not any weaker than even a King-ranked dragon thanks to his most recent evolution through the blood pool.

At this point, the level of physical training necessary to make him sweat would be insane.

"Kiyohime! I would hug you but I am a little bit too sweaty sadly."

'This kind of smile is simply cheating.'

Kiyohime might not know it, but this was the kind of thought all those who were in love with him felt.

She might try to deny it, but she was already deeply ensnared in a trap she could never hope to escape from.

In the first place… Would she even try to escape?

Food for thought…