Chapter 185: Spar with Hades (1)

(Unknown POV) 

Hmmm… finally, somebody has a divine mark on this plane. I was hoping the one I blessed would get one earlier, but compared to this monstrosity… she doesn't compare in the slightest. 

It even has a divinity trait that seems to overflow with potential… Forbidden Magic, huh? Interesting… If I could nourish this being, I could create a new spirit that rules over another attribute instead of creating another replacement for one of the existing attributes… 

Hmmm… but it's too weak as of now, not in terms of the individual's strength, but in terms of its influence. I need its following to grow so it can start creating believers who will help with the process of turning this monstrosity into a new great spirit.

Alright, I should probably start gathering some materials to offer for a deal as I can already see this woman is selfish… perfect for an overlord… 

… 

(Normal Story Line - Arpious POV)

"Lick it," 

Alexandra immediately melted in pleasure, but it didn't last long as Aika pulled them out. She then ordered Samantha to come towards her, which she then lifted her by the armpits before setting her down on her lap. 

And just like before, she shoved her fingers into both of her pet's mouths, making them instantly melt in pleasure. 

"Ewww… Mom, what are you doing?" Hades grimaces in disgust after seeing the sight Aika had made. 

"Sweetie, don't mind her. She's doing some weird things," I say, placing my hand on Hades back as I brought him to the center of the room. 

What is Aika seriously doing? That was so unnecessary… 

"Luna, Freya, how about you watch our spar so you can have a headstart when you fight me," I say to my daughters, whose eyes were shielded by their other mother's hands. 

"Mom, why did you cover my eyes?" Luna asks while Kumo slowly released her. 

"Don't look to the right," Kumo says. 

"Why?" 

"Cause I said so, now go to your other mother. I have things to do, okay?" Kumo says before walking off. 

"Freya, I have things to do as well… Arpious, make sure to take care of her," Homura says as she turns away from us. 

"Don't worry," I respond. 

Homura smiles, but before she exited the dirt room, she stopped in her tracks and turned around. A serious presence surrounded her, making the air heavier than normal. 

"Oh yeah, what are we doing next. The real war isn't over as we haven't taken out the kingdom… do you want me to lead an attack in a few days while you train with the children?" Homura asks. 

"I'll come with you, remember there's that sword king… I don't want to start underestimating them until I actually see their status," I respond. 

"Alright, I'll continue working on the prison but make sure you don't take too much time. We need the advantage of surprising them while they're low on troops," 

"I know, I know… But I actually need to train some more with my scythe as it's getting hard to control… I might accidentally wipe out this mountain if I'm not careful," I say, before seeing her nod once and leaving without looking back. 

"Alright… Hades, you are first, so grab your weapon of choice while I grab mine as well. Make sure not to pick a weighted one as this isn't training but a test," I say, grabbing a scythe. 

I created a few shapes within the air as I twirled the scythe within my hand. My daughters and even Hades, who just grabbed a longsword, stopped and looked at my warm-up with glowing eyes.

"Have you changed your mind yet?" 

"N-not yet… just cause you can twirl your weapon doesn't mean you're good… how about we both go all out and we'll see who comes out on top," Hades says with a weary smirk. 

"All out, huh? I think you'd die before you could even blink?" I mutter to myself as we took a few steps forward. 

I didn't activate any of my skills, including my wings and tail, but Hades activated both of his true perfected necromancer body parts. 

Ghostly white wings protruded from his upper back, and a noble white tail whipped out from his lower back. 

"Alright, sweetie, I'll give you the first move," I say with a smile. 

"D-don't underestimate me,"

"Okay~" I respond after seeing a few 4-foot tall skeletons climb out of the ground. 

The clinking of their bones resounded through the dirt arena as I readied my long scythe behind me. 

SHING 

Just one swing of my scythe cut through all of the skeletons, leaving them to crumble and fall to the ground. 

Hades wasn't fazed, though, as he probably expected this before rushing forward with a lower stance than me. 

As he swung his longsword right at my shoulder, I twirled my scythe around my wrist, instantly knocking the side of Hades blade. And once I felt like his grip was loose enough, I spun the scythe within my palm before directing it downward. 

CLANG 

Hades just barely managed to block my weakest swing. 

He's doing pretty good for somebody with such weak physical stats. 

As he slid his longsword against the blade of my scythe, deflecting it away from me, he lifted his knee and sent a sidekick right at my gut. But as his strength stat is too weak, I barely got a bruise as it collided with my ribs. 

My eyes turned cold, sending a shiver down Hades spine as I lifted my scythe once again and faked a swing. 

Hades panicked and obviously fell for my swing as I stopped right before the scythe collided with his longsword. 

Spinning and then jumping up, I had a full view of Hades with multiple openings. I sighed while still in the air and went for the hardest option, which was hitting his arm with the back of my scythe. 

BAM 

Hades gets sent flying as he still didn't have the physical capacity to contest against me. 

Suddenly, the sky goes dark, but it only coated a radius of about 20 meters around Hades. So it was obviously the [Domain of the Necromancer]. 

I smiled slightly as I wondered how this would compare against [Throne World: Necropolis]. 

Suddenly, hundreds of skeletons rose from the ground as my son's turquoise pupils glowed in the dark. He looked like a hunter waiting for his prey to move into a better spot. 

But even though there was an overwhelming amount of skeletons, they were still fragile. 

I had a few hypotheses on why this happened, but the most reasonable was that the skill didn't use actual corpses to create the skeletons. Instead, I believe mana taken by the skill creates these artificial bones which had no original body. 

But, I guess there could be bones down underneath the earth… then maybe the skill takes those and forms them into skeletons… well, who knows? I don't even know how skills work, I don't know why mana is a thing, and I don't even know why this system was created… 

"So many questions," I mutter to myself as I see Hades stumble to his feet while holding his bruised arm. 

As I ready my scythe, I take a deeper stance while the wave of about 150 skeletons charges towards me. 

With just one of my weakest swings, I took out 5 skeletons. That was the benefit of having such a large blade with such a large reach. You could keep your distance while killing more enemies than just a normal-sized weapon. 

But the downside is that it's hard to retaliate against an enemy if it gets in close to you. 

A few skeletons were able to slip past my scythe and immediately took a lower stance and charged me. Their lifeless eyes almost seem to light up as they locked onto me and lunged towards me, boney jaws opening widely. 

Maybe I should try something else… 

I throw my scythe into the air and kick the first skeleton, instantly shattering it into pieces. 

The next skeleton was even closer as it grabbed my leg, but all I had to do was pull in my leg and punch the skeleton's head, causing the skeleton to drop to the ground. 

Finally, two more skeletons closed in on both sides of my body, but instead of doing a split kick that was well within my abilities, I ducked both of their punches and swept my leg. 

They both tripped and fell flat on their face, but as they got up, I punched them in the back of the head, destroying them instantly. 

Letting out a breath of condensation, I grabbed my scythe out of the air as it just started to fall towards me. 

SHING 

Another swing of my scythe took out 5 more skeletons, causing Hades to click his tongue in annoyance. 

"Alright, let's see what you can do next," I say, taunting Hades. 

"I-I'm not done yet!" Hades shouts as the skeletons pick up their pace.