Chapter 89: Escape from the Underworld

A blinding light fist struck Hades full in the face, but in the next instant Balendain’s entire body was torn apart beyond his control, even his divine armor shattering as though it had been split to pieces, and he crashed heavily to the ground.

Hades’ face, meanwhile, was black with fury.

“Impudence!”

Minos, the Star of Nobility, was the first to react, roaring in anger.

Stardust Puppet Strings!

Invisible threads instantly bound Balendain’s entire body, leaving even his fingers unable to move.

“Balendain, speak. Why did you attempt to assassinate Lord Hades?”

The threads tightened and tightened, until it seemed even his soul could no longer stir. Aside from his mouth, he could no longer force out a single word.

He turned his head to glance at Orpheus, only to see that he had already been reduced to fragments by Eaque, the Star of Skyborne Valor, leaving nothing behind but the Lyra divine armor, fallen to the ground.

At that very moment, a violent explosion suddenly rang out.

Rhadamanthys was blasted straight into the palace, where he lay gravely injured upon the floor.

Minos and Eaque were both startled, and then they heard another thunderous shout.

Galactic Explosion!

Like the shattering of a starfield, a torrent of immense power cascaded down in an instant. Minos and Eaque both cried out and tried to resist, only to be sent flying and then slammed heavily to the ground.

Only then did Balendain struggle free of his bindings. Though his underworld armor had been shattered, he at last had room to breathe.

Feng Zhe thought to himself, “As expected of Saga, who has awakened the Eighth Sense. Even in the Underworld, he can still stand against the three great lords of Hades.”

Yet Hades laughed.

“You are the Gold Saint of Gemini in this age, are you not?”

At that moment, Hades also revealed his true form.

His exquisitely handsome face made Feng Zhe cry out in shock. “You are...”

Hades turned toward Balendain and smiled faintly. “My dear brother, you have certainly made me look for you.”

Indeed, the Hades before them was not the one of this timeline, but the Hades from another line of fate, the brother of Alex, Aaron.

Saga gave Feng Zhe a meaningful look, then said to Hades, “I care not who he is. Today, you will die.”

Galactic Explosion!

A vast host of stars descended in an instant, and once again that colossal mass of power came crashing down. This time, Hades caught the tremendous energy sphere with one hand.

Hades smiled faintly, wearing an indescribable expression as he attempted to push that gigantic force back in the opposite direction.

Then, without warning, a blood-red talisman appeared in Balendain’s hand, and his cosmos erupted to its fullest.

Divine Blood Talisman!

The charm, written with Athena’s blood, struck directly at Hades.

Regrettably, before it could even draw near, it was torn apart by the overwhelming cosmos radiating from Hades’ body.

Balendain’s ambush failed once more, while the contest of wills between Saga and Hades continued.

At that moment, Minos and Eaque rose to their feet together, and in order to prevent being struck down, Balendain also stepped forward.

“Now we must fight with everything we have!”

Feng Zhe moved his finger, and the surrounding air filled with a dense, drifting miasma of death, all of it swirling around him.

Die!

Burial Soul Destruction!

He ignited all of the deathly miasma at once. In the next instant, a violent explosion rang out, flattening the House of the Fourth Circle outright.

The blast mushroomed skyward like a giant cloud, overturning the palace and revealing this shocking sight to every specter in the Underworld.

When the dust finally settled, Hades’ left arm had somehow been blown away, leaving only half a limb. Yet Saga himself stood unscathed.

“As expected of Saga!”

Feng Zhe’s heart leapt with delight, but then he saw Saga’s face turn deathly pale, as if he had just suffered a grievous injury.

Feng Zhe was alarmed and immediately dragged Saga away.

And how could Hades let Saga and Feng Zhe escape? With a single slash of his right hand, a beam of light like a sacred sword came cleaving down.

Just as it was about to fall, Feng Zhe could no longer hide his strength and softly uttered a command.

Time Stop!

Everything around them seemed to freeze before the authority of time.

Then Feng Zhe pulled Saga and fled, but at that moment Hades’ eyes shifted, and his right hand still completed the sword strike.

Feng Zhe rolled and scrambled aside, narrowly dodging it, and looked at Hades in astonishment.

“It is merely a petty law of time. Before me, Hades, it is nothing to see!”

As soon as he finished speaking, the sword strike came down again. Feng Zhe performed repeated instant movements, accumulating many injuries across his body. Under that slashing force, even Balendain’s fleshly body seemed on the verge of collapse.

At that moment, Saga’s eyes also moved, and he unexpectedly recovered his ability to act even within the frozen time.

He swung his fist and shouted.

Another Dimension!

Yet Saga did not direct it at Hades, but at himself and Feng Zhe.

Then, amid Hades’ gritted fury, the two of them escaped directly into the other dimension.

...

When Feng Zhe opened his eyes again, he had returned to the Sanctuary.

He sat down hard on the ground. That had been far too close for comfort.

He had nearly lost his soul for good. Saga, though injured, was in no serious danger.

“Teacher, what do you plan to do next?”

Saga did not hesitate.

“There are still many places in the Underworld that remain unexplored. I hope that one day I can unlock the Cocytus, the Eighth Prison, the Ice Hell, where the graves of countless billions of Saints lie buried.”

Saga was a Saint with true feeling. He wanted to free the souls of all the fallen Saints and bring this war among the gods to a complete end.

“But before that, Teacher, regarding Poseidon...”

Saga glanced at Feng Zhe and said plainly, “That is something you, as Pope, should be worrying about.”

With that, he vanished from the Pope’s Palace, leaving Feng Zhe only to sigh.

Feng Zhe had spent several days in the Underworld, and upon returning he was immediately buried in affairs, unable to free himself at all.

In the north, the forces of the Sanctuary and the Asgardians had already come to blows, while Lady Saori had once again begun to pray. It seemed victory would be decided within these next few days.

As for the situation on the Isle of the Nymphs, three Silver Saints had brought the gravely wounded Albiore of Cepheus back. The Saints stationed on the island, however, had been completely wiped out.

Since he was still recovering from his injuries, Feng Zhe did not summon them.

As for news of Kanon, rumors placed him near the Strait of Swin, but Perseus Algol sent word that traces of him had been found on a rocky island strait in the North Atlantic.

After some thought, Feng Zhe decided to make the journey himself and meet this Sea Saint.

He then disappeared from the Pope’s Palace, and Mu of Aries, who had intended to report to him, could only sigh. “He’s gone again. His Holiness is truly busy.”

On a rocky island somewhere in the North Atlantic, Algol of Perseus had been beaten until he had barely a breath left, his divine armor all but in tatters.

Thinking back on what had happened days earlier, Algol could not help regretting his own folly. Why had he insisted on approaching this island? He should have simply spread the news and waited quietly.

The one who had injured him was none other than Kanon, the Sea Dragon Sea Saint, long absent from the Sanctuary.