As soon as the plan was made, there was no hesitation.
Under Catia's stunned and bewildered gaze, and in Eros's curious eyes, mixed with excitement and fear, Hades slowly rose from the obsidian throne.
He looked at Metis, and the Queen of Hades returned his gaze with a resolute and calm look, a calmness that staked both her wisdom and her existence on the line.
The next moment, Hades opened his mouth—not devouring in a physical sense, but a kind of 'assimilation' at the level of law.
The light of Hades distorted, the boundaries of space blurred, and Metis's figure transformed into a stream of infinite wisdom runes and dark blue divine light, like a hundred rivers returning to the sea, merging with Hades's body without hindrance.
There were no cries, no struggle, only a low roar, like the beginning of the universe, as divine power fused.
Hades closed his eyes, his entire being levitating, as the wisdom of the past and present clashed, mixed, and furiously reconstituted within his divine body, the vessel of the world.
At the moment the fusion reached a critical point, the divine power of Eros, which had been consumed earlier and lay dormant within his divine body, suddenly ignited, like an ice crystal thrown into hot oil!
The pink divine power, containing 'union', 'desire', and 'life impulse', did not try to ignite the 'fire of love', but became the most powerful 'catalyst', fiercely awakening the immense source of wisdom and power that had just completed its initial fusion!
It infused the process of 'separation' with the kinetic energy of 'creation'!
The law trembled, as if moving towards the birth of a new god.
The first divine light burst from Hades's body—a silver-gray light, clear as a night sky, yet sharp as a spear's blade.
The light coalesced, and a goddess condensed into form. She held a spindle, and her eyes possessed the calm of strategy and the pursuit of perfect art.
She was the embodiment of wisdom and power, the embodiment of strategy and art—Athena, born from the most important part of the fusion of wisdom: strategy and creation.
Immediately after, a second divine light appeared—cheerful and clear, with the phantom of a dramatic mask.
A goddess appeared with a light posture and a smile that dispelled mist, holding a comedy mask and radiating delightful creativity.
She was the product of the joy of Eros's divine power and the 'creation' governed by Hades—Thalia, the goddess of joy and creativity.
The third divine light was fiery and brutal, like lava erupting from the depths of hell, mixed with the breath of blood and fire.
A figure in dark red armor roared, his eyes holding only the fervor of battle and the desire for destruction.
He was the fierce god created from the fusion of the world's negative emotions and the essence of hell that Hades had long absorbed—Ares, the god of war.
The fourth divine light seemed mysterious and unfathomable, like a snake swimming in the shadows.
The light dispersed, and a young male god appeared with wings and a scepter, his eyes clever and cunning, a smile on his lips.
Born from the pain, struggle, and wisdom accumulated by Metis, he embodied cunning and messenger—Hermes, the god of trickery.
The last divine light was the most nebulous, as if carrying the entanglement and rupture of countless threads of fate.
A vague figure appeared in the light, as if in constant change, playing with dice symbolizing probability and keys symbolizing moves.
He originated from the power of the world's fate, carrying Hades's 'Negation Realm', and was the embodiment of variables and opportunities—Poros, the god of opportunity and turning points.
Five new gods, with different postures and distinct authorities, stood in turn in the main hall of the Underworld.
The process of their birth not only separated wisdom, but was also like a deep analysis and concrete reconstruction of the essence of Hades and Metis.
Hades slowly opened his eyes, and in his violet eyes, the eternal ice seemed not to have melted, but he clearly felt that the shackles of the curse deep in his soul, called 'the wise do not fall in love', were completely separated in the form of 'wisdom' as offspring... crumbling inch by inch into nothingness.
The shackles were lifted.
However, the process was not yet over.
Having merged Metis and separated the Sons of Wisdom, his existence at this moment was still mixed with the essence of the 'Queen of the Underworld'—not wisdom, but as an independent deity, 'Metis'.
He needed to return her and recreate the mistress of Hades.
He gathered his will and began the final separation.
Dark divine power swirled around him, and a ribbon, containing profound wisdom and an ancient breath, was slowly drawn from his body.
The light coalesced before him, gradually outlining the familiar silhouette of Metis's figure.
Catia held her breath, eagerly awaiting the return of the Mother Goddess. Eros also watched curiously.
But when the light became fully stable and the figure completely solidified, all beings present, including the five newly born divine sons, sensed a completely different aura.
There still stood the beautiful face of Metis, dressed in the attire of the Queen of Heaven.
But her eyes were no longer those of the goddess of wisdom, anxious because of the curse and entangled by emotions.
In the depths of these eyes were the bottomless vicissitudes of life, the weariness and clarity of thousands of reincarnations, and an almost inhuman, absolutely calm gleam of wisdom.
The divine power emanating from her entire being, with an ancient and heavy charm, was far deeper and... more perfect than that of the previous Metis.
She slightly raised her hand, as if familiarizing herself with this 'familiar' and 'strange' body.
Then she raised her eyes, her gaze calmly gliding over the surprised Catia, past the five gods with different postures, and finally stopping on Hades.
The corner of her mouth lifted into a faint, yet seemingly reflecting, arc of countless years and calculations.
"Long time no see, my dear."
Her voice still retained Metis's timbre, but her tone and momentum were completely overturned.
It was the tone of one who controlled the overall situation and saw everything.
"Or... I have returned."
Metis.
The one who had accumulated wisdom in endless reincarnations and ultimately initiated the world's Negation Ritual with her own sacrifice, leaving behind the curse 'the wise do not fall in love'—the original and ultimate goddess of wisdom.
A flicker of understanding passed through Hades's violet eyes.
Indeed, that was it.
As he had guessed, how could Metis, who was so paranoid as to want to leave her imprint at any cost, not leave the deepest mark in the sacrifice?
The sacrifice itself—her initial fusion with Hades—completed the 'Negation Realm' and deeply rooted a part of her essence (past wisdom) in Hades, becoming the world's center and the anchor of the curse.
And when the nascent Metis (present wisdom) merged again with Hades and attempted to lift the curse by separating the heirs of wisdom, the process itself activated the last mechanism left by Metis—fusion and re-separation.
The wisdom of the past (Mortis) and the wisdom of the present (Metis) completed their mutual fusion within the vessel of Hades.
When they separated together, it was no longer simply Metis, but... a complete Mortis, uniting all memories of reincarnation, all ancient wisdom, and the experience of new life.
She had used Hades's plan to lift the curse and completed her ultimate return.
"You calculated all of this," Hades stated. There was no joy or anger in his tone, only pure confirmation.
Mortis—or rather, the returned Goddess of Wisdom—nodded slightly, her gaze gliding over the newly born sons of the gods, especially Athena and Hermes, who bore the imprints of her different aspects.
She looked at Hades, and in her deep eyes, something appeared.
"Now, the shackles are lifted. And I can finally stand beside you again in my full form, Hades."
"This world, 'our' world, its future has only just begun."
Silence reigned in the hall of the Underworld.
The new gods felt a completely different sense of oppression from this 'mother'; Catia was bewildered, and Eros trembled.
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