The instant he was bitten by the great serpent, Minos did not panic in the slightest.
After all, panic was useless.
The serpent's mouth was filled with deadly venom—so corrosive that even an Underworld Judge's divine body could not endure it unharmed. Even if he were to resurrect afterward, that corrosive force would still cause lasting damage.
He could already imagine that brat Radamanthys mocking him about this later.
How could he allow that?
He was Minos!
However, in that moment—A warm, gentle force slowly bloomed from within his Cosmos.
As Minos slid deeper into the serpent's maw, drawn toward its vast, world-swallowing abdomen—whose digestion could dissolve even gods—that warmth spread throughout his body.
The pain vanished.
At that instant, Minos seemed to see Lord Hades standing before him.
He wore the familiar black robe of the Underworld, the five-pointed pendant of the Dark Cloth glinting faintly at his chest. On his finger shone a ring—no, something like a ring, though not quite the same.
"Lord Hades…" Minos called out softly.
But the figure before him did not respond.
Was it truly not the Lord himself?
Yet this warmth… this divine Cosmos—how could it belong to anyone else?
In the eyes of Athena's Saints, only the goddess's Cosmos was gentle and full of compassion.
But to the warriors of the Underworld, the Cosmos of Hades was warm as well—solemn, steady, and absolute.
Could this warmth… come from that drop of divine blood His Majesty bestowed upon him?
On the World Tree, Minos had once stood before the five shadowed gods and received from Aaron a single drop of divine blood.
When he absorbed it, he had transcended everything—overwhelming those five Jotun giants as though he himself had become a god.
But divine blood was supposed to be used only once, like Athena's blessing upon her Saints.
And yet now, that energy stirred again within him.
Ah… such warmth!
He could feel his own Cosmos expanding endlessly. His soul seemed to separate from his mortal vessel and rise beyond space and time—into stillness, into eternity.
What was that sound…?
Faint roars echoed above, but Minos could no longer hear them.
Within the serpent's body, Jörmungandr had no idea what was happening inside him—only that he had swallowed his prey, now sliding slowly toward his stomach.
"Minos!!!"
Thor's furious roar split the sky.
Truly enraged, the thunder god's entire being blazed with wrath. Though fate had twisted his path, Thor now saw Minos as a comrade—no, as a friend.
Underworld fighter or not, it didn't matter. Minos intrigued him deeply.
His hatred of Hades remained—the god who had sealed away his father—but that enmity did not extend to Minos himself.
And the All-Father had warned him that another crisis loomed over the Nine Realms—that certain gods of Earth planned to strike while the Underworld was distracted, waging war to seize its domains.
Asgard would take no part in that. Odin himself had decreed it.
But now—That cursed serpent had swallowed his friend!
Blazing with fury, Thor's divine aura erupted, shaking the world.
That power spread beyond Midgard—reaching even Asgard, wrapping it in the dread of annihilation.
Helheim.
Upon her throne sat a goddess—half-living, half-dead.
But now, a strange, dark aura coiled around her.
"He's coming."
Hela rose, her eyes fixed on the sky. She turned to the silver-haired priest beside her.
"Father Thanatos, is this the opportunity you spoke of?"
Thanatos, the death god, nodded calmly, the pentagram on his brow gleaming faintly.
"Queen, the time has come. Unite the gods of all realms—and begin Ragnarök, the final war."
Hela drew her Night-Sky Sword, its black blade aimed toward Asgard.
"The Nine Realms shall hear me—I, Hela, am coming!"
With that, her shadow vanished from the palace, leaving Thanatos alone before the empty throne.
A wicked smile tugged at his lips as a voice echoed within his mind.
"Thanatos… Lord Hades already knows what you've done."
"If He knows, then so be it," Thanatos replied coldly. "Everything I've done was to awaken Him sooner."
"Just don't go too far. This world is not ours."
"Hahaha… Hypnos, are you truly any different from me?"
Thanatos ended the telepathic link, his gaze dark.
"What we do is for the coming of the true Lord Hades. This current human vessel is still… far too gentle."
His shadow dissolved into the darkness, leaving only silence.
Thanatos. Hypnos.
The twin gods of death and sleep—They had awakened.
As Jörmungandr's monstrous power erupted, the seas themselves reversed—rising skyward in towering waves.
The World Serpent lifted its head toward the heavens, its rage consuming all reason.
He would destroy the Earth itself!
Darkness swallowed the sky.
The sun could no longer pierce the clouds.
The end had come.
All laws of nature, all dimensions, began to tremble and shift around the planet.
"The time has come…"
In the flaming depths of Hell, Mephisto turned toward the red glow behind him.
"Kill the Underworld legions. March on Midgard!"
(End of Chapter)
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