Hades was the ’slave’ of Yami for a long, long time. Never was he respected or appreciated. Undead didn’t really have the concept of honor and comraderie.
Whenever they did show emotions, it was to deal with the living. A mask on their skinless face.
As a fellow Undead, Yami treated him without any filters. And she never thought of giving him even a mini-sliver of death, despite it being very helpful for his ascension.
With his talent, Hades could’ve also reached high rank 2 long ago if he was bestowed the mini-sliver.
He even requested it multiple times. In the end, he begged her for temporary usage. She still denied it.
’You are not qualified, slave. The sliver of death is wielded by the ruler of undead. You are no king.’
And yet—
"Why?!"
The sky turned red, as it’s the bleeding Hades’ heart.
The flames in Hades’ eyes flared up, turning pitch black, as they stared at Varian with vengence bottled up for millions of years.
Undead didn’t have emotions in the normal sense. But some ’sensations’ were still allowed. These are what allowed them to function.
Like their incessant desire to conver the living. Like bloodthirst. Like hatred.
"Why? Why? Why?"
The region of life was brimming with plants, animals and rivers. It’s a holy paradise for any living creature.
Just breathing the air cleared the mind. Living here would ensure any species would live to its fullest lifespan.
Any time of the year, there wouldn’t be a better picnic spot for nature lovers.
Now, this paradise was a living hell.
A red aura emerged with Hades as the center, enveloping all of the region.
The lush plants wilted, the lively animals whimpered and struggled before turning into skin and bones. The perennial rivers turned murky and even the sky had a scent of death.
"Why did she give you the sliver?" Hades’ aura reached its strongest ever. "You’re not qualified!"
With a clench of his fist, he affected the flow of vitality in Varian’s body.
’It’s not enough.’
Standing far in the air, Varian’s face paled as the red aura restricted his vitality. His hair turned white and his skin grew wrinkles in a blink.
He hadn’t recovered enough to face a high rank 2. As of now, despite his multiple powers, he’s still a mid rank 2. Maybe a moderately strong mid rank 2, but still a mid rank 2.
If not for the region suppression Hades’ power, this single attack would’ve killed him.
Even with suppression, it wasn’t far off.
"Break it!"
Varian directed Samsara along with Logos and the corresponding divine paths.
Chaos disrupted the smooth operation of death power while Varian’s own death power fought back against the invading death force. Meanwhile, his life force tried to cancel out Hades’ aura.
The power of Order restricted the hostile force and boosted the allies.
With space and time, he kept dodging the attacks that kept coming.
"Die! Die! Die!"
One after another, full blown attacks of a high rank 2 rained down on Varian. He wasn’t in a position to take one freely and survive.
He desperately hoped to grow stronger in battle to match Hades and win, like he usually did against stronger enemies.
It’s just not happening.
Even though there was improvement in his paths, he was too weakened to actually capitalize on it.
’All my strength isn’t enough. I need something else.’
Varian tapped into his own origin and activated the synergy link.
’Sarah, there isn’t a lot of time. Follow the plan, do your part, leave the rest to me.’ He shared the knowledge of the advanced formations he studied in Heaven tribe.
’They’re too complicated. Even with synergy, I can’t even do 30%.’ Sarah replied a moment later.
’Do whatever you can. I need a prototype.’
’But the materials...can we trust Asherah to get them from the palace? After what she did to Aurora?’
’There is no other choice. The alternative is everyone turning into an Undead.’
’We’ll be quick. Hold on!’ She cut off the line.
Hoping his plan would work, Varian turned to the offense.
Boom! Boom! Boom!
The space-time fabric around Hades was torn apart, eating up an arm and limb. But he easily regenerated.
He tried to plant space bombs inside Hades and blast him apart. But the death aura overpowered them.
Varian couldn’t use the power of life or death against Hades. It was futile.
Chaos and Order worked...somewhat.
"Ahhh!"
Hades dodged a space-time explosion when a new crack appeared, eating away half of his shoulder.
Through it, the power of chaos and order drilled into his body.
Chaos wrecked everything while Order restricted Hades’ aura from fighting back.
"You are not qualified ruler of Undead!" Hades yelled. "I am! I will turn the whole of Eden into Undead. It’s my deepest wish and greatest ambition!"
The power of chaos and order were forcibly expelled from his body. And using them as a link, he built a channel with Varian.
’Sh*t’
Varian hurriedly cut off the link but a red snake, made of death, reached him before he teleported away.
Despite half of its body cut off in the space crack, it gnawed onto his shoulder and injected the power of death into his body.
Varian’s face paled greatly and his vision grew heavy. He kept teleporting as more snakes kept coming while he tried to destroy the attacking half-snake.
Hades, certain of victory, waited for Varian to drop dead.
"After you die, I will take over the forbidden region of life and death. This is where the rule of Undead shall begin.
Unlike the imperfect living, Undead don’t rebel against the superiors, they follow all the rules set, and they have no discrimination, thus no internal wars.
Eden will finally become the true paradise it’s always meant to be."
Varian gritted his teeth and clenched his fist around the snake, forcibly pulling it off. As he did, it dragged away a tenth of his whole vitality, making him dizzy.
With a punch on the head using the power of space-time, the snake was blasted out of the region.
Clenching his injured shoulder, Varian glared. "You retard! Undead don’t reproduce. The ones that seem to do are using death essence, which only comes from the living.
Undead do not exist independently. They cannot.
If living are gone, Undead will soon go extinct. All of Eden will be lifeless."
Hades was shook for a moment before the flames in his eyes turned darker and burned brighter. "No. With the slivers, I will find a way. So, just die already!"
He joined his hands towards the sky and a red vortex appeared.
A powerful suction force pulled.
It wasn’t sucking aways the materials. It was sucking away the vitality.
Varian kept teleporting, as he resisted the pull. But it was everywhere. Slowly but surely, he was growing weaker.
"There is no way. Undead are just tearing a piece of soul from each parent and fusing it to be a child. It’s not a child. It’s a mutated clone! Stop this nonsense."
Hades fell silent at the truth. Yes, Undead reproduction never created new souls, unlike the living.
But Varian’s words didn’t change his goal.
"Then I’ll keep all living enslaved. Use them for reproduction. While the Undead rule for eternity!"
"As if I’d allow that!" Varian narrowed his eyes.
"What can you do?" Hades said, watching Varian’s figure that kept moving from one place to another.
"Your injuries are heavy, your aura is weak, your vitality is dropping. You will soon fall. It is over."
"No." Varian smiled.
They did it.
"It has just begun."