Chapter 232

"The sky has its seas, the earth has its prisons - my heels are the wrath of Hades."

The ground beneath everyone's feet roared, and the temple complex in the sanctuary was instantly turned into ruins by the collapsed mountains. Countless gun cages protruded from the ground, and a cold and biting wind blew through the gaps between the gun cages. In the dark night, in front of the commander of the Hades' army, the oldest goddess of the underworld turned the surface of the earth into her own territory.

"Reflect on this."

"The spirit peak steps on the bellows of the underworld "Kur Kigal Irkalla"! "

"Those who enter the underworld must not leave without permission!"

"...I'm laughing so hard that my stomach hurts." Pandora looked at Athena, "You actually think you can defeat us in the underworld?"

"You should look at your feet before you speak." Athena made the shield and spear in her hand turn into blue spirit particles and disappear, while moving closer to Lansemello. "Even if you have the protection of other underworld gods, you are just a vulnerable existence in front of this one - the older mystery can suppress the younger mystery."

After hearing Athena's words, Pandora looked down subconsciously, only to find that her feet, standing on the ground, had already rotted away, with maggots even moving in and out of the rotten flesh. A chilly wind blew, and the rotten flesh fell to the ground, silently turning into part of the soil of the underworld. The parts where the rotten flesh had fallen off revealed white bones.

"Do you need me to introduce you?" Athena was keenly aware of the exchange of consciousness in this body, and asked the consciousness that was now in charge of the body's actions in a more respectful tone, "Or do you want to explain the situation to them yourself?"

"I'll trouble you with this part of the work." At this moment, in order to better control the underworld, Ereshkigal, who had obtained the control of the body that was voluntarily transferred from Lancermello, handed the work of introduction and explanation to Athena. "As long as it is not a being of the level of 'Mother', no one can resist the power of 'Death'."

"She is the goddess who controls the growth and decay of plants, commands snakes and dragons, and can freely control the spirit of Garula, the messenger of the underworld." Athena blinked and introduced Ereshkigal from the records of myths and legends. "She is the oldest god of the underworld, and the only mistress of the underworld who has managed the underworld since her birth - Ereshkigal."

Although death and decay go hand in hand, Ereshkigal's underworld is generally not that aggressive. When the seventh singularity Fujimaru Ritsuka and Merlin went to the underworld, there was no such horrific trend of rapid decay of flesh and body. Now Pandora's flesh and body will decay, purely because Ereshkigal judged Pandora as a hostile existence when she first used the Noble Phantasm, and used the power of the goddess of the underworld to try to drag Pandora into death.

"...As for the changes in the landscape just now." Athena calmly looked at Pandora, who was about to turn into a skeleton if she continued to decay, "That was a replay of the collapse of Mount Ebifu in the past. Although it was Ishtar, the mistress of the sky, who actually destroyed the sacred peak, Ereshkigal, as a goddess with two sides of the same body, also has the power to replay this event."

——The only difference is that Ereshkigal destroyed Mount Ebif by creating a huge earthquake, while Ishtar destroyed Mount Ebif from the sky.

"Who can say that the mountain range where my temples are located is not the 'Sacred Peak' of Mount Ebifu?"

"Although it is possible to reproduce this feat without the sacred peak 'Mount Ebifu', the preparations will be much simpler if the conditions are met." Ereshkigal stood next to a gun cell with his arms folded across his chest. "In this regard, I have to thank your reincarnation for agreeing to let me rebuild the underworld under the Sanctuary - without a foundation, everything will be troublesome, right?"

"Let's go, Pandora." The young man who possessed the power of Hades walked towards the carriage, his eyes passing over Pandora who was slowly recovering from her decayed state. "The Sanctuary can no longer arouse my interest at this moment - Athena, and the pagan gods who have long since disappeared... Listen up! Hades, the god of the underworld, will give this world a painting."

The sky became a canvas, and angels with religious painting styles that were quite familiar to the Chaldean members appeared on this huge canvas. Lancermello and Athena, whose consciousness had resurfaced, exchanged glances, released the support of their Noble Phantasms, and allowed the Pluto's army to escape their attack range.

"Its name is Paradise Lost."

"When this painting is finished, everything in this world will perish."

"All life in this world...will die!?"

"Let them go." Athena said, stopping the Saints who were about to chase them. "I'll explain the details later, but listen to me now - you will also participate, right, the child they care for?"

"Ah, this is my job. Of course I will participate." Lansemello replied to Athena, "I just hope you don't tell my real name to others."

So, after the Pluto's Army completely left the Sanctuary and the Sanctuary was quickly restored to its original state, all the parties involved at the scene were held in the Papal Palace by the Pope for a meeting.

"Before all discussions of this meeting begin, I want to talk about the issue of Paradise Lost." Athena was well aware that she was also being questioned by the members of the Sanctuary, so she decisively put the most important question at the beginning of the explanation, "He is not Hades yet - although his power, divinity and divinity prove that he is Hades, his consciousness is still himself."

"And the underworld god has so many ways to kill humans, but he chose to choose a painting that is most representative of his past. I'll be frank, he's stalling for time."

"I have many ways to kill all of humanity in an instant." Lansemero, who had changed back to the same appearance as Asclepius, silently added, "Although I have only seen these methods - but painting really only means not being able to use one's own power... and Hades is not the kind of guy who pursues art."

"...It would be great if we could mobilize the original body. It would be very convenient to use the original body to fight against gods without affecting humans." Athena sighed.

"This is the only thing that won't work!" Lansemello rejected Athena's proposal on the spot, "This is the only thing that won't work!! This is not Olympus where people can be resurrected after death!!!"

"Have you ever thought about dragging him into your own territory to fight?" Athena looked at Lansemero with heartache, "I'm not a guy like Zeus!!!"

"Ahem." The Pope cleared his throat, drawing everyone's attention away from the conversation between Athena and Lansemero. "Let's put aside the issue of Hades for now, and discuss the internal issues first. You should know your identities... At least here now, you are already in the range of untrustworthiness, right?"

"We are aware of this situation." Athena asked the Pope seriously, "We have many ways to prove our identities, but are you ready to confirm your identities with us?"

——In fact, because they had just let go of the boy with the power of Pluto, Athena and Lancelomero were sure that even if it was proven that Sasha had not disappeared, the Sanctuary would not trust them again; so they chose to solve the trust issue first and then discuss other finer details.

"No, to be honest, I'm not ready to question you." The old man answered Athena's question quite calmly and proposed his own solution. "So, I decided to solve the trust problem between us in another way - first, let's introduce ourselves."

"I am a survivor of the last holy war, the Cancer Gold Saint Sage from the pre-holy war period."

"If you want to ask my name, I can only answer Athena." Athena closed her eyes and responded to Sage's actions, "Because, apart from this, I don't have any other name. But if it's a more fundamental question... Well, nice to meet you. I'm Athena, a combat-type rearguard mecha in the Olympus starship fleet."

"Is it okay to tell it all?" Lanser-Melloi asked her.

"Well, the alchemists are trying to rebuild the true form of the Mecha God." Athena paused, then smiled and told Lansemero the research direction that the Chaldean staff had freely developed. "They said that since they have already created weapons to knock down gods, they will be able to rebuild the gods themselves sooner or later."

"...You have really considered coming directly in person." Lansemello was silent for a moment, and sighed helplessly, "Okay, let me introduce you from now on - although the ancient mysteries can suppress the young mysteries, the young can deconstruct the ancient ones. Based on Athena's attitude towards you, I will introduce myself to you again -"

"I am a fairy born from the paradise 'the abode of gods and non-humans', the core of the paradise - Alice Avalon Le Fay."

"At the same time, he is also the patron of many underground gods."

While everyone in the Papal Hall was silent, Lansemello introduced all the most important contents in one go - and also gave the two of them a precarious disguise.

"To put it bluntly, we have returned to this time from a future where this land has completely turned into Hades. The purpose of our return here is to prevent the future where Hades controls the entire earth." Lansemero reorganized the mission information he got from the world consciousness and told everyone, "Because Hades was suppressed by his original consciousness this time, he chose to give up this holy war and accumulate strength for the next one."

"And the next holy war... Generally speaking, even if Hades has accumulated more power, he may not be able to defeat the Sanctuary - even though every time only a few people are left..." Lansemello smiled and looked at the saints in front of her, and told them about the future she had seen, "But after all, the Sanctuary has never fought such a large-scale civil war in the past, right?"

"Before the Holy War 243 years later, almost half of the Gold Saints, who were the most powerful fighters, died in the civil war. Not to mention the Silver Saints, who died even more... There was even a Saint who assassinated Athena herself." Lansemello flipped through the records with his golden future vision and looked at the people of the Sanctuary with pity. "It's already like this, it's strange that we can win the next time."

"That's about the important part. As for the other more detailed parts... do you have any other questions?"