(Greek Mythology) The Abyss
Chapter 43
The battle was interrupted once, but the divine war had to continue as before. The Abyss now had Ai Miye, but the observing gods remained as distracted as ever.
Nyx had recently developed a strange habit of dressing up others, creating a special dressing room filled with her collection of women's and animal costumes. None of her children escaped her clutches, forced to wear those clothes, and even had their images captured by Nyx using a recording stone. Now, Nyx's new target was his own sister, Ai Miye.
"Nicole, just wear this one, and you'll agree." Holding up a fluffy cat costume, Nyx acted very enthusiastically.
"No." Ai Miye refused decisively.
"Nyx." Tartarus gestured for Nyx to tone it down.
"Big brother, you're being unfair." Nix reluctantly took back his clothes, his tone slightly sour. His older brother had never cared about such trivial matters before.
Tartarus, unusually, had put some effort into this newly arrived sister, handling everything himself. Although this handling was limited to verbal instructions, it was still incredibly unusual for Tartarus, who was usually indifferent to everything.
As the former recipient of favoritism, Nix was extremely unhappy.
"Is it because there's finally a god who looks even younger than himself?" Erebus casually remarked, hitting the nail on the head, and unsurprisingly earning a cold glare from Tartarus.
Erebus broke out in a cold sweat, looking quite uneasy. Oh no, he'd stepped on his older brother's sore spot.
"Second brother, what's wrong?" Ai Miye tilted her head slightly, asking with a hint of curiosity.
"No, I'm fine." Tartarus, with his long-standing reputation for power, had long since silenced any mention of his appearance. Erebus had accidentally misspoke and was now regretting it, so he dared not say anything more, thus missing the sly glint in Amy's eyes.
"It's wrong to avoid treatment, Second Brother. Please don't give up." Amy's expression was serious and upright.
Faced with his younger sister's sincere concern (just kidding), Erebus hesitated for a moment before accepting it, though he felt something was off. (Erebus, you're the one who's sick, you know that?)
"Brother, doesn't this sound familiar?" Although she was already married to Aether, Hemera still addressed her as she used to.
Glancing at her wife and sister, Aether replied with a hint of helplessness, "What you said to Prince Eros last time was similar to this."
"...Uh...really? I forgot." Hemera chuckled awkwardly.
"Tsk tsk, Hemera, it seems not only is your intelligence questionable, but now your memory is failing too. Should I treat you?"
"Shut your mouth, I wasn't talking to you." Hemera's words were quite impolite. Of course, she always believed that there was no need for politeness with a god like Charon; it was a complete waste of breath.
"I assume today's topic is watching the good show of infighting within the lineage of the King of Gods." Tartarus was speechless at the gods who could always veer off-topic.
"It's about paying attention to the situation, paying attention to the situation," Nyx repeated to emphasize. "These things are best left unsaid."
"Right, not too direct, at least the wording should be tactful." Amy nodded in agreement with Nyx.
"...Um...Zeus has been in prison for quite some time now, are we really not going to do anything about him?" Having spent so long in a prison that even the gods of the underworld didn't want to stay in, Zeus's condition seemed rather bad, and Hypnos had to interject to remind him. "Then go and release him."
Hypnos looked at the master of the Abyss with a miserable expression, wanting to beg for mercy. He knew that Zeus had stepped into the entrance to the prison because Hypnos had shown him the way, and he now regretted saying that.
"Also, didn't he want to release the Hundred-Handed Giant and the Cyclopes? I agreed. Let him take them away."
"Your Majesty Tartarus, the prison has no exit." Hypnos tried to make a last-ditch effort.
The areas in the Abyss used as prisons were always off-limits; Hypnos himself couldn't get out, let alone bring anyone else out—but that was assuming he wasn't saying that to Tartarus.
"I can grant you that permission today."
What could Hypnos say at this point? He could only reluctantly go to find Zeus.
After a series of exchanges resembling, "You promised me the route to Tartarus, how could you lie to me?" "I didn't lie to you, isn't this the route to Tartarus?" "Whatever, I followed the route you gave me here, so you're responsible for getting me out of here." "Fine, fine, I'll get you out, and you can take the Hundred-Handed Giant and the Cyclopes with you too, okay?", Zeus finally completed his mission and returned.
Things went smoothly. With the addition of the Hundred-Handed Giant and the Cyclopes, Cronus's side failed as planned, except for a slight mishap at the end: Cronus escaped.
Before they could even savor their victory, a bucket of cold water was poured on them. The gods panicked; their king of the gods had run away! What were they waiting for? They had to chase after him!
Unlike the imagined scenario of searching and searching endlessly without success, only to finally find the god with some kind of guidance, their operation actually went very smoothly.
Cronus, found quickly, was unconscious from multiple stab wounds to the chest, afflicted with an unknown curse, and alone as his brothers, the god of death Iapetus and the god of growth Ceres, were missing.
Cronus's defeat can essentially be summarized as: my wife betrayed me, my brothers betrayed me, and my subordinates betrayed me.
How terrible, Your Majesty, just how bad are your reputations?
Iapetus perfectly executed his initial plan: give someone a glimmer of hope, then shatter it. Therefore, Cronus's mental blow at this moment seems... rather significant.
Regardless, the Olympian gods won this divine war. Although two Titan gods went missing, this didn't affect the overall situation. After punishing the defeated god Guantartarus, several years passed, and the celestial realm returned to its former extravagant and decadent lifestyle.
Additional Note: Before imprisoning the second-generation god-king in Tartarus, the second-generation goddess of the gods, Rhea, personally castrated her husband—a truly ruthless act.
Chapter 43