Chapter 175: Hades

Hades looked at Nero, who was smirking with the Void Blade resting on his shoulder.

He lowered his gaze and glanced at Nero for one more time. Then, he slowly moved his hand at Nero as though he was trying to pay him on the head.

"I must be a terrible Godfather," Hades uttered with a bitter smile on his face.

Hades moved his hand further ahead to touch Nero's head, but Nero turned around and walked away with the Void Blade.

After walking to the middle of the chamber, Nero stopped and titled his head to look back at Hades: "I don't need you; Go away."

SIGH!

Hades sighed and lowered his hand but kept staring at Nero. He swiped his hand on his face, and the mask was restored.

"Retrieve your heart, Zeus," Hades uttered and disappeared into nothingness.

Nero consumed the Void Blade and murmured, "I don't need the heart to live." 

He raised his brows after looking at Pavel, who was still sitting in the corner with his eyes closed.

"Yo, Pavel, are you alive?"

Pavel opened his eyes and answered, "It seems so."

"Good."

"Why did you let that man go?" Pavel asked with a puzzled look on his face.

"I was only fighting to get my weapon back." After a brief pause, he added, "Besides, I wasn't fighting seriously."

Pavel glanced around the chamber and looked down at the big hold on the ground in the middle of the chamber; then looked at the broken ceiling.

'This looks pretty serious to me, though,' Pavel thought to himself, but didn't dare to say it out loud.

"Now then…" Nero clapped and said, "This labyrinth serves no purpose now; let's destroy it."

"But—"

"No buts," Nero interrupted.

"No, seriously," Pavel argued. You fought with that man for like 3 hours. Aren't you getting late to get back to the inn? Don't forget it will still take us a minimum of 12 hours to get out of here."

"You mean 10 hours, right?"

Pavel gulped down in fear and nodded: "Right."

"To be honest," Nero glanced around at the destruction and asserted, "I think we can reach there in some minutes."

"That's impossible!" Pavel refuted. "Even if you destroy everything on the way, it's going to take at least 5 hours to raze everything."

"Pavel, do you doubt my powers?"

"No, but I am confident about the infrastructure I have created." After a brief pause, Pavel turned to Nero and asked: "Zeus, do you doubt my powers?" 

"Hell yeah," Nero answered bluntly.

Pavel furrowed his brows and uttered, "Alright then, if you manage to destroy this entire labyrinth in minutes— as you claimed. I will do anything you say; I will be your slave or whatever."

"I would be happy to hear the same offer if it was from a cute girl," Nero groaned.

"Fine then, I will be a cute girl," Pavel affirmed.

"What?" Nero asked with a puzzled and disgusted look on his face.

"I am a formless creature, remember? I can change my form into anything. An animal, bird, tree, fish, as well as a cute girl." Pavel squinted his eyes at Nero and continued, "If you manage to destroy this labyrinth in a few minutes, I will change my form into a cute girl, and you can even do anything you want with me."

"Pavel…" Nero placed his hand on Pavel's shoulder and uttered in a solemn voice: "Up until now, there have been many moments where I was honestly scared of you— in a disgusting way, by the way."

"But today…" Nero sighed and shook his head: "I am freaked out."

Pavel shrugged Nero's hand from his shoulder and said, "At first, I thought you were going to say something decent and serious to me, but you left me utterly disappointed."

"Aww~ Someone is disappointed," Nero teased.

"I will make you eat your words when you fail to destroy this labyrinth," Pavel sneered.

"Wait." Nero knitted his brows and asked, "What do I need to do if you win?"

"You mean what would I make you do if you lose, eh?"

"Don't get cocky, Paveli." Nero already gave Pavel a girly name.

"If that thought passed your mind, then that means you have already lost."

Nero's face twitched as he hurriedly walked to the door of the chamber.

He raised his hands and conjured Harpe in his right hand and the trident in his left hand.

Pavel's smirk vanished as soon as he saw Harpe in Nero's hand, but his face turned pale when his gaze fell on the trident.

"Time to cook a labyrinth," Nero asserted.

He hovered above the ground and began using his weapons to destroy the labyrinth.

He was using Harpe to control the soil and rock with air and gather them into one place. Then, he was turning them into ashes using the lightning from the trident.

Pavel kept his distance from Nero, thinking he might get caught in Nero's attacks.

'At this rate, I think I will have to say goodbye to my little brother down there.' 

Pavel always had a habit to exaggerate things and promise things he was sure he would be able to fulfill.

'I wanted to at least do it with Rhea one last time…'

The monsters from the labyrinth started running in fear, although they couldn't survive Nero's attacks.

He continued destroying the labyrinth, but it took more time than he expected.

"It took me two hours," Nero groaned in annoyance.

PHEW!

Pavel sighed in relief and patted his little brother.

"Eww! Don't touch your shit in front of me."

"But I was truly scared! I honestly thought I would have to say bye-bye to my manhood."

"Then don't make empty promises."

Nero could have destroyed the labyrinth in a few minutes if he wanted, but he held back.

The labyrinth was located beneath the town, and if Nero had destroyed it entirely without thinking anything, the entire town would have collapsed under it.

The reason Nero used Harpe and the trident was to control his powers from going berserk.

He couldn't destroy the labyrinth because he was too powerful; which in a logical way, made no sense.

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Extra Chapter For Reaching Power Stones Goal