36 War II - Patrol unit

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It seems my poor cliffhanger was not well received. Fine then ... have another chapter you Hyenas

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"Are you also the goddess of riddles?"

"What? No, why do you ask that?", I was confused. How did he get to such-

"Because you are talking in riddles and for some reason try to hide your intentions. You're probably one of the smartest in the room but why don't you stop with the useless waste of air and speak about what you want?"

...

"I ..."

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(3rd Person POV)

"I see. It seems you saw right through me.", Hecate said with a sad smile. Her ploy to get Hades to do what she wanted had failed. 

"I'm guessing you were trying to get me to offer something or give you something and then it would look good because I would be the one who had offered it to you.

You are smart but I find it appalling that you try to manipulate me in the first talk we have. Quite a foolish gamble on your part. You should have thought about what it meant if it failed. After all first impressions matter."

Hades then walked away. What did he care about her? She was none of his concern. When he heard that she had switched sides before he had joined them, he was suspicious. He thought that she must have seen something with her magic.

She probably had minor clairvoyant abilities through her divinity of magic. So he didn't say anything. And even if she was a spy, sent by Cronos to tell him all their secret plans, he didn't care. 

Zeus' plan was solid and he would get to fight and increase his army, what more could he want? Although he was not overly excited of course. He had been to the Solo Leveling world a few weeks ago and had fought enough there. Still, it was fun to test your 'current limits' against an enemy such as Cronos. 

Although limits were not really something Hades had, he still had a current level of strength and power that he liked to test against strong enemies. All those limits were removed due to his power and he was in a constant growth phase. 

Fighting Cronos would yield some benefits though. Hades had already approached the concept of time, so seeing how Cronos uses it will help Hades immensely. He was interested in upgrading his Limitless technique anyway. 

But we digress. Hecate was uninteresting to Hades. He guessed that she wanted to get close to him in order to have him invite her to the Underworld. But why would he do that? He was not interested in being a king. He was the god of the Underworld and more, his goal was not as shallow as becoming king. 

If it were he would have killed Zeus yesterday and been done with it. Why bother though? Being a king meant that he had responsibilities and becoming a god-king even more so. He might rule the Underworld and there might even be habitants in the Underworld, but he would have others help him with most of the things. 

If you were a god-king, you were confronted with problems from all sides. That was not what Hades wanted. Especially not when he has something with the Underworld, that will eclipse anything that Olympus could hope to be. 

No no no, Hades would watch Zeus run the entire thing to the ground while he kicks back and enjoys his work and travels to other worlds to collect things or enjoy himself. 

He already had plans for the next travel. There were a few things that he wanted to have access to, such as Haki or Nen but he thought that a butler might be the best thing before those two things. 

But he would get them either way. It might just take longer. But eh, who cares?

.

Everyone was ready now. It was time to go through with the plan. Poseidon was already on his way to the sea to flank the Titans on Mount Othrys. And while he had help from some children of Oceanus, he would have to carry most of the load. 

Hades was already walking towards Mount Othrys from the north. He would get to fight today and that was all that counts. His mind was not in the game though. He was thinking about the Underworld and some of the things he would add. Something this time desperately lacks ... is entertainment. That will be changed. He will create an entertainment district ... or city? Why not an entertainment biome? Yes, go big or go home. 

Apart from entertainment, there was also the opposite, relaxation to think about. Hades had something in mind that was built by humans, in the future. The Hanging Gardens of Babylon. He was going to rebuild it and make it grander. And then he was going to make a big Spa-themed resort out of it. 

Truly, sometimes his genius ... it's almost frightening. 

.

(Hades POV)

Walking through the land that would in the future be known as Greece, I could see how barren it was. The war had not helped the Earth regenerate. It was like a war happened or something, sheesh. 

However good old granny was surely going to take care of that. Not like I cared all that much, I would be in the Underworld most of the time and the rest of the time, visit different worlds. But I still enjoyed the beauty of Mother Earth. 

I made my way slowly and covered some ground before the first patrol spotted me. Due to me never participating in the war, I was unknown and the patrol would surely question me first to find out my motives for coming so close to Mount Othrys.

And that would be their downfall. 

The group consisted of monsters such as Minotaurs, hellhounds and even a chimaera. Cronos wasn't sparing any resources. But the fact that a Hellhound was present here surprised me somewhat. He should have felt the Underworld being claimed and should have gone to have a look. So either he was a weak one who did not feel anything, or Cronos had a very strong grip over all these monsters.

Nevertheless, I was going to reap some lives today. Would this jumpstart an alarm? Eh, whatever.

"Halt. You are stepping on territory belonging to his majesty Lord Cronos. What is your purpose for coming here?", one of the Minotaurs spoke. 

"Look at that, a talking cow. Now I've seen everything."

"... YOU!!!"

"Meeee. Why do so many people say this? I mean it is pretty obvious that it was me, so why say it? Must be the idiots who couldn't come up with an insult."

The Minotaur whom I just insulted attacked me like the animal he was. 

"Oh, you meat. Did no one tell you that the butcher was coming today? Oh well..."

The Minotaur had a big sword in his hand, but the fact that I was insulting him seemed to short-fry his brain and he just attacked me like a bull and tried to pierce me with his horns. 

"Oh my. Such anger over a simple statement."

(3rd Person POV)

Hades tried something that he always wanted to but just recently came up with. He focused slightly on his divinity of boundaries. As the Minotaur approached, Hades swung his arm from top to bottom in front of him.

The bull stormed towards him and before he reached Hades, his body split in two and both sides of the Minotaur's body ran passed him. 

... and then blood gushed out and both halves fell to the ground. It was like the blood in the monster's body had forgotten what it had to do because it was also surprised. 

"Ah, this is a cool way to flex. I should use this more. Maybe I can combine this with Limitless? Food for thought.", Hades said. 

What he did there was simple. He concentrated the power of boundaries on his fingers and then swiped in front of him. He willed the boundary between two particular areas of space in front of him to have no boundary between them, effectively splitting that area in two.

And since the poor Minotaur was inside that space, he got spliced in two as well. 

"I really should go and visit One Piece because I am feeling like Trafalgar D. Water Law right now. Truly I just might after things are taken care of here. And I have finished my project: the Underworld."

Hades was not taking this fight seriously and the other monsters did not take that lightly. Had they been smarter, they would have trusted that what they had seen wasn't something they could handle. And if they were dumber, they would have trusted their instincts more and fled. 

But it seemed they were at the worst spot in the intelligence department. So they attacked together.

"Hm? At least, you all attack together. Otherwise, I would feel like Jackie Chan who fights against a horde of enemies, but they attack him one by one."

Hades swiped the air a few more times and all the monsters split in two and died. 

"No wonder Sukuna enjoys this so much. It is really fun to do."

Hades' clothes weren't blood-stained, thanks to Infinity. He had been keeping it active to stop all that blood from falling on him.

Hades looked at the bodies and then said: 

"Rise and Serve!"

But what Hades had not expected was ... resistance. He felt resistance when he called the souls of the monsters. It seemed that Tartarus felt him taking away his 'children's' souls and didn't like it. 

However, who was Hades? He was the god of Boundaries, death and now also shadows, there was nothing that Tartarus could do here. Hades cut off the connection that Tartarus had to these monsters and then called them again.

"Rise and Serve!"

The shadows began to flicker and the monsters stood in front of him as shadows. 

Those that could, began to kneel and greeted him as their king. 

"Do you feel a connection to Tartarus?", he asked them.

"Not anymore. The moment you freed us from Tartarus' control, you were able to summon us and we could come forth to serve you.", the Minotaur said.

"I see. That's good then. I know what to do in the future. Well then let us continue with our journey to Mount Othrys."

(Hades POV)

Well wasn't that something? I remembered that all monsters spawned in Tartarus, but that he had such control and connection to them ... that wasn't something I was expecting. His interest in me must have risen just now. He might help Gaia in the future to make a Gigante for me. I have no doubt that I would get on Gaia's kill list when I turned Titans into his Shadows. 

That's why I have a plan. I have this theory that good granny Gaia is playing favourites. Otherwise, why would she have given Cronos the scythe and not one of his elder brothers? Exactly, Cronos was her favourite and his divinity of time set him apart. 

This gave me a small chance to do what I wanted though. I was not truly interested in the Titans, there are other strong gods that would interest me more to have as Shadow Soldiers.

I am interested in one of Cronos' elder brothers, Coeus or Koius. He was the Titan of farsight and intelligence. He would make a great addition to the Underworld as someone who manages some biomes for me. If I couldn't have him as a volunteer, I would get him as a Shadow Soldier, it was that easy.

But now I should begin culling the herd, I can already hear the thunder striking. Zeus must have launched their first attack. Together with the Cyclops and Hecantochires, they will cause a lot of damage. Better see that I don't fall behind. 

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So we can see some problems that will surely arise in the future.

Oh and don't worry, betrayal is a no-no for Hades. He would never allow someone to stay in the Underworld if he didn't know they wouldn't betray him.

The entire war is already written. And I am very proud of myself. I'm glad I got to write it. Tomorrow is the next chapter.

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