Demeter's Garden
"So, who is he?" the frown that Persephone showed as she questioned her mother showed her displeasure.
"He, he is my boyfriend, Marcus, I already told you," Demeter responded
"I know that..."
"If you know why are you still asking me?" Demeter retorted
"You know very well that that's not what I'm asking. Who is he? Where does he come from? When did your relationship start? That's what I want to know," Persephone asked
"You have not given me one good answer since your unknown boyfriend started to live here, with us!"
"I kind of like him!" Hestia said putting away some of the corn she was eating while looking at the fight between mother and daughter
"You like everyone!" Persephone snapped
"Urg, he is my boyfriend, it's natural that he lives with me right,"
"Right, then why are you so against me living with my husband!?"
"Because his realm is toxic! I already told you, from all my brother he is the best, but his realm is poison, you can't stay there to long, look what it is doing to him, it will do the same to you, you don't have the divine powers to change that place."
"I think you are wrong, my powers of nature allowed me ti influence the underworld,"
"It just mean that you are been assimilated by it,"
The dispute between the two continued for a while before returning to the issue of Maeron,, ,or Marcus in his identity here,
"So why do you not want me to vet him,"
"I am the mother here, I don't need my child to "vet" my man for me!" Demeter said firmly, but in her mind she said
'Because he will manipulate you and make you his, like he did with me, damn it, i need to do something before he corrupt them like he is doing to me!' she thought her mind flashing how he played with her since he arrived.
"If you don't want us to interact with him with did you bring him here?"
Her daughter asked a genuinely good question
'Because he wanted to come and i have no power to resist him!'
"I-I will think about something!" With that Demeter got up
"are you leaving right now?" Persephone asked
"No! not at all, I just remembered that a letter from the underworld arrived,"
"What!?"
Under her daughter shout Demeter disappeared in a room of the mansion before coming back with a letter in hand.
"Here, new from your husband? it arrived yesterday," Persephone said
"It arrived a week ago," Hestia corrected
The gaze of Persephone hardened even more hearing that
"A week ago and you give it to me now!"
"I-I didn't know what to do with it, he doesn't even want you come, it's too dangerous there,"
"So not only did it arrive a week ago but you read it too. You are fucking incredible" This time there was genuine anger in Persephone's voice
"It-it wasn't addressed to you only, it was addressed to "us". This is basically a recap of the situation in the underworld, he doesn't want you to come because the situation is very precarious there, like him, I was afraid that you would decide to go back, read it, and you will see that I am not lying, it's in there."
Demeter defended herself
After a few seconds of awkward silence, she started to read the letter sent by her husbamd the king of the underworld.
After a few minutes where she read and reread the letter Persephone's expression turned grave.
"He can't win!" she finally said
"What!?"
The expression of Demeter and Hestia turned grave as they heard Persephone's sentence, after all Hades was their brother, and even though they had their differences, they loved him, so hearing that shook them
"What do you mean by he can't win, we read the letter already, he didn't say anything like that,"
"Does he need reinforcement? How do you know he can't win? There is nothing in the letter on that!"
"I am his wife," she said, and it was enough of an explanation, husband and wife have secrets that they share with only each other, the glow in her eyes confirmed it.
"Damn it, I should have given it to you sooner! Is there something we can do, we can still bring reinforcement,"
Seeing her mother's anxious look Persephone let out a sigh.
"It is... Unnecessary," she said "So this is what I was feeling since earlier, I must have taken a lot of time and effort to accomplish, and managing to find all the hidden rifts,"
"What are you talking about? Are you going to explain instead of babbling by yourself," the petite Hestia said pushing her chest as she looked at her niece.
"Ah, sorry aunty... He wants to cut of the rot." Persephone said
Nearly at the instant she said that a sharp tearing sound sounded all over the world.
The ground started to shake as an earthquake spread throughout the world.
Castles were destroyed, houses fell, people screamed and fell, some were crushed by debris their gates unknown.
All over the world massive holes and fissures appeared, and even mountains crumbled.
In their garden Demeter, Hestia, and Persephone slowly walked outside, they looked at their trembling garden, their people were screaming in fear as they fell on the ground in terror.
"My poor garden!" Demeter said said looking at the falling trees, she was sad about her forest
"My poor people," Hestia heard as caring as usual was worried about the people, her powers rolled out from her body engulfing and protecting every mortal present.
"What is happening here?" Marcus asked getting out to come stand beside Demeter
"Good question?" Demeter said, her eyes turned once again toward her daughter
"What did you mean by cutting the rot?!"
"... He is going to....!"
"..."
"So this is what it is?" Maeron said, his gaze looking at the shaking ground.
His gaze was so piercing that he could see deep in the underworld, particularly because he still had his portals there.
A fleeting smile appeared on his face.
Deep in the sea
"What is it this time?" Poseidon king of the sea floating in the sea with his trident in hand asked no one
He was looking at the fissures appearing deep in his water where lava poured out.
After a few seconds, things stops like nothing happened.
"Is it over?" He mumbled
Unfortunately, it wasn't. Like if to respond to his questions.
Boom
A massive explosion occured and the lava in the ground shot out like a geyser.
But it wasn't just lava that poured out
"Kriiiii,"
"Finally free, hahaha,"
Poseidon and his sons' expressions changed drastically.
"What the hell? Hades?!!"
Not too far away Oceanus was also observing the same phenomenon in his realm. Soon, a spatial dome surrounded his realm isolating it from any damage.
"What a thoughtful grandson." He thought about examining the destruction happening outside his realm.
In Olympus
The gods of Olympus had all left their sanctuary, a sanctuary that was shaking like leaves
The ground was shaking, fissures and cracks were slowly appearing on the surface of Olympus.
Boulders were rolling from the top before crashing into the ground.
"What the fuck is that?"
"What is happening?"
"Why is the ground shaking?"
"It is an earthquake! How can an earthquake reach Olympus?"
"This isn't a natural earthquake?"
Bang
Not far away a part of Olympus sank into the ground.
Soon, Zeus, Artemis, Apollo, Hera, and all the other gods appeared at the edge of Olympus.
Something that only happens on extremely rare occasions
"What kind of earthquake is it?" Apolo asked
Everyone's eyes turned toward Zeus whose eyes were fixed on the ground, but it was Hera who answered
"It's not an earthquake, it's not just the ground that is shaking, it's the space too, it is a realm tearing itself apart
"A realm torn apart!"
"What realm?"
"It comes from the underworld," Zeus said looking at the ground and space fracturing itself
"It's the cataclysm all over again,"
" It must be Maeron's doing, what did he do this time?"
"Brother! What is happening?!" Zeus mumbled a complicated glint in his eyes.
For gods like them, this destruction was not something they couldn't resist particularly when they are in their own realm surrounded by their own.
But for humans and other creatures in the world, it was a new calamity.
"Argus was directing his people toward safety,"
All around the world caused by the earthquake, plains, mountains cracked while lava shot out from the ground followed by hordes of ghosts, specters, skeletons, decayed corpses, and monsters of all types that had escaped from the underworld came screaming out ready to destroy and devour everything in their path.
Without much change on her face, Hera turned to her subordinates, Anastasia, Evangeline, Maya, and the other goddesses of the council and started to give orders to protect their human territories.
"Use our defensive measures to protect our territories, protect the food, and ensure the safety of your respective sector," she said solemnly
"In the human kingdom, with the arrangements of the authority people quickly sought refuge within the temples of their respective temples and sanctuaries.
At the same time all over those territories, the statues of the gods started to become active.
Using their individual abilities they created a protective zone all over their kingdoms protecting them from destruction and stabilizing the situation.
Elsewhere Ares, Athena, and their armies found themselves facing new enemies coming from the underworld.
Hermes, who was isolated outside found himself hunted by ghosts and zombies.
"Damn it, I need to go back," Hermes said, he quickly realized he could be in danger, quickly crushing many monsters he took the road toward Olympus once again.
In the underworld, the architect of all that chaos Hades the god of the underworld was seated on his obsidian throne,.His pale face was now ashen.
In a few months, he had lost a lot of weight, he was now skin and bones and he looked like one of the corpses of his realm.
But, even though he looked weak his gaze was extremely sharp and deadly, even more so than ever before.
One said that injured animals are the most dangerous, the same could be said about godsz even more so for the gods of the underworld.
In the realm where the invasion started and the most affected Hades had been fighting forced to fight against enraged titans and monsters without help for months.
After realizing that the fight was hopeless and that the surface didn't really care about his fate, like a surgeon he resolutely cut away the cancerous part of his realm and threw it to the surface.
Of course, cutting away that cancerous part of his realm wasn't a clean afair, Hades was no surgeon, he was a warrior, so those cuts were more clean, but bloody and painful, a pain that he could feel in his very being.
"Zeus, Maeron, Typhon, Eden..." He recited the name of those he considered responsible of his pain
"You are going to pay for this , I am not gonna let it go,"
Hades said his power shouting out of his frame like an eruption.
An injured God was no easy opponent, even on the surface, the power and rage of the king of the underworld could be felt.
Feeling that energy some gods started to shake in terror, it was the effect of the killing intent of the king of the underworld.
Some who had dismissed that cataclism like something that would be easily overcome once more realized that they had unknowingly been protected of the worst of the invasion by someone they had forgotten and now that protector was ready to turn on them.