"Apollo, I understand your predicament." Hades glanced at Apollo and let out a sympathetic sigh.
It wasn't that he didn't understand what Apollo was thinking. If anything, he understood all too well.
Compared to himself and his sister Hestia, both of whom were powerful God-Kings steadily approaching the Two-Digit realm... Apollo's strength only ranked around the middle of the Greek pantheon. Fifth or sixth, perhaps. Respectable, but hardly overwhelming.
And people like Apollo were always the ones who had it the worst.
Whenever trouble broke out, the first to suffer were those caught in the middle.
It was like a fight between first place and second place. The one most likely to die first was usually the guy in third.
That reality was exactly why someone as carefree as Apollo had finally been forced to act and come here seeking reassurance.
"Uncle..." Apollo wore a troubled expression.
Across from him, Hades looked just as weary, "Stop asking me to take a side. My sister and I... We're tired."
He sighed.
Among the Twelve Olympians, there were only a handful he had ever truly believed in.
Athena, whose ambition never faltered. Apollo, with his gentle temperament. Hephaestus, whose determination was second to none. And Zeus, blessed with extraordinary talent and unmatched cunning.
In Hades' eyes, only those four still had the potential to climb higher, perhaps even reaching the coveted Two-Digit rank one day. Even if they fell short of that, they could at least attain his current level and ensure Greece's continued survival.
The problem was... Apollo was too gentle. He never fought over power.
While that personality allowed him to quietly accumulate strength over time, he simply couldn't match Athena's explosive rate of growth.
Hephaestus, meanwhile, had already gone his own way. He was unlikely to care much about Greece's internal affairs anymore.
As for Zeus... With that personality of his, there was no chance he'd ever put the collective above himself.
Hades knew his younger brother better than anyone. Zeus was nothing more than a selfish ingrate who wanted everything for himself.
You couldn't count on him. If anything, you had to stay on guard so he wouldn't stab you in the back.
Just thinking about it was exhausting.
Looking at it now, Ryo's sudden appearance as the Fourth Generation candidate had actually lifted one of Hades' long-standing worries.
At least he no longer had to wonder whether Greece would have a capable successor in the future.
Still, the matter of the Fourth Generation required careful consideration. For Ryo, the young man Athena had created... Hades felt he needed more time to observe him.
If the boy's character proved worthy, supporting him as the next King while Hades enjoyed his retirement and continued pursuing the Two-Digit realm sounded like an excellent arrangement.
As for the man sitting before him... Hades looked at Apollo's bitter smile and sighed once more. "For now, keep your sister under control. Tell her to be patient."
"As for everything else... I'll have a talk with Athena."
At that moment, Hades quietly gave up on the idea of grooming Apollo as Greece's future.
Apollo simply wasn't ruthless enough. And Artemis was his obvious weakness.
Compared to Athena, the difference was clear.
Apollo raised his wine cup in gratitude, "Thank you, Uncle."
After taking a drink, his expression suddenly stiffened. "Speaking of which... You previously asked my subordinates to search for Ares... Have they found anything?"
Hades frowned.
Now that the Godslayer War had begun, he and Hestia had agreed that all Twelve Olympians should gather together to prevent any unexpected disasters.
Yet at that very moment, Algol attacked Mount Olympus in the lower layers, reducing it to ruins.
Hermes had committed suicide. And Ares had vanished without a trace.
Hermes was one thing. There was a good chance that hadn't even been his true body, and he was probably hiding somewhere, taking it easy.
Ares' disappearance, however, was an entirely different matter.
With so few subordinates under his command, Hades had no choice but to ask Thousand Eyes and Apollo for assistance in tracking him down.
Apollo answered helplessly, "According to the latest reports... Ares appears to have fled to one of the observed universes and is hiding there."
Hades stared blankly for several seconds.
Then he asked in disbelief, "...He ran away?"
"...It seems so." Even Apollo looked embarrassed.
Hades had just promised to protect him. Naturally, Apollo wanted to return the favor.
Yet somehow, he'd ended up bringing back this disastrous news instead.
Though it wasn't entirely his fault. Who could have predicted that the moment Ares learned Ryo might become the Fourth Generation God King, he'd immediately fled?
He hadn't gone so far as to sever his Spirit Rank from Greece's cosmology and leave Little Garden altogether. But hiding in another universe clearly meant he had no intention of returning anytime soon.
"...He actually ran." Hades genuinely felt numb. "So Zeus is an ungrateful bastard, and now Ares too? The man who's served Zeus loyally all these years hears one rumor and immediately bolts? What kind of people are these?"
This was Ares. The Greek God of War and Courage. A battle fanatic acknowledged throughout Little Garden.
And yet... Because he was afraid Ryo might settle accounts with him, he'd actually run away.
"That useless idiot..." Hades clenched his teeth. The wine cup in his hand shattered into pieces under the force of his grip.
He was furious.
"Idiot. Coward." Hades cursed repeatedly before saying with a dark expression, "Go. Keep Artemis in check. Make sure she doesn't go too far."
"As for Ares... Give me the intelligence. I'll bring him back myself."
"...Understood." Apollo lowered his head and quickly left the palace.
After stepping outside, he paused for a moment and glanced back at the Palace of Hades, shrouded in endless darkness.
He instinctively shrank his neck. "Ares... Tsk, tsk... With Uncle personally going after him, that fool's in for a miserable time."
Shaking his head, Apollo immediately prepared to send Artemis a message. At the very least, he had to persuade his foolish little sister to calm down.
There was no point making her conflict with Ryo any worse.
...
..
Arcadia Headquarter—
Ignoring the curious gaze of the Door Spirit, Aman, Ryo stepped into the underground secret chamber.
"Sir," Aman asked, the eye upon the door fixed on him, "how long will you disappear this time? What security level would you like activated?"
"The highest layer," Ryo replied after a moment's thought. "But I don't plan on staying long. An hour at most. Conserve your energy whenever you can."
"Understood, sir." Aman slowly closed its eye.
Moments later, a unique force field spread throughout the underground chamber.
Only after the barrier had fully formed, ensuring that even if a Demon Lord appeared outside and invoked a Forced Gift Game, it wouldn't be able to interfere with him, did Ryo finally relax.
Taking a slow breath, he opened the Dimensional Forum. He intended to conduct an experiment.
.
.
.