John was just a step away from reaching the Demigod tier.
If he could gather the power of all the apostles, breaking through to the Demigod tier would be a breeze.
The problem, however, lay in the Abyss, the apostles' stronghold.
The seals on the three apostles were nearly broken, and their powers had mostly recovered.
If John forcibly broke one apostle's seal, the other two would surely awaken.
This would leave John to face three apostles at once.
His companions, unable to assist due to the underworld's aura, would be at risk of perishing upon entering the Abyss.
Only John, having inherited Hades' Authority, could withstand the underworld's influence.
This was a high-stakes gamble, but John decided to confront the apostles in the Abyss.
It was inevitable that they would clash. Rather than waiting for the apostles to regain full strength, John chose to strike first and catch them off guard.
With this resolve, John bid farewell to his companions and entered the Abyss with Deception.
He quickly realized that the Abyss was vastly different from what he had imagined.
Guided by Deception, John spent three days reaching the location where the three apostles were sealed.
There was no turning back. He first broke the seal of [Rage], causing the other two apostles to forcefully awaken.
As Deception had estimated, the three apostles had recovered about seventy percent of their power.
In a one-on-one battle, John could easily crush any one of them. Even Rage, facing John, could not muster his usual fury.
But therein lay the problem.
John was outnumbered three to one. It was a testament to his strength that he wasn't instantly overwhelmed. The battle was fierce and relentless.
Despite the odds, John held his ground.
His newfound power and the skills he had honed through countless battles allowed him to face the apostles with confidence.
The clash of divine and demigod forces echoed through the Abyss, a testament to the monumental struggle between them.
Under the combined attacks of the three apostles, even the Night Divine Emissary would have struggled to hold on.
After over a hundred exchanges, John was severely wounded.
During this time, Deception had tried to help, but the sheer force of the battle's aftermath made it impossible for him to get close, let alone alleviate the pressure on John.
This grueling battle was undoubtedly the toughest John had ever faced.
He was pushed to the brink of death multiple times.
On one occasion, Rage's fist had pierced his chest, missing his heart by a hair's breadth.
Humanity's pride in their technological weapons was futile against the gods.
Even nuclear weapons, with their immense destructive power, were mere noise to the gods.
As a result, the human world was obliterated in less than three days.
Following this event, Seraphina and her faction of gods deemed Zeus's actions unjust.
Although humanity had committed many sins, their fate shouldn't have been so ruthlessly decided.
Thus, the concept of the End of Olympus was born.
To make Zeus compromise, Seraphina paid with her life, as did many other benevolent gods.
They were either suppressed, stripped of their godhood, or, like Seraphina, killed outright.
As Seraphina's daughter, the Abyss Lord's fate was equally grim.
At first, Phoebe wasn't the Abyss Lord. Influenced by Seraphina, Phoebe faced severe rejection on Mount Olympus.
Many gods saw her as a thorn in their side, and on several occasions, she narrowly escaped death.
With no other option, Phoebe pretended to submit.
With Hades' help, she created the Abyss and found seven apostles, bestowing upon them Authority, thus making them Abyss Apostles.
Naturally, Phoebe became the Abyss Lord, aiding Zeus in advancing his apocalypse plan.
This was the only way for Phoebe to survive.
To this end, she manipulated the Abyss, repeatedly crushing humanity's hopes and becoming the primary culprit in the apocalypse.
According to Seraphina, the Apocalypse of Olympus had occurred multiple times before.
To date, nineteen human worlds had faced the trial of the Apocalypse of Olympus.
Unfortunately, none of these worlds had managed to acquire the power needed to oppose the gods.
Even over a span of centuries, without Authority, breaking through the Demigod tier barrier and becoming a god was impossible.
By the time of the eighteenth human world, Deception's world, Phoebe had grown tired of the endless slaughter.
After the destruction of Deception's world, Phoebe selected seven new apostles and granted them immense power.
Her hope was that one day, if a worthy candidate appeared, she could place all her bets on that person.
Clearly, John was the one Phoebe had chosen.
As the embodiment of Apocalypse, Phoebe secretly transferred a crucial part of her Authority to John.
This enabled John to reverse time and start over, giving him another chance. Phoebe's motive for all this was straightforward-she simply wanted to survive, even if it meant betraying her initial purpose.
However, as she learned from Hades that her mother still had a chance of being resurrected, Phoebe's goal began to shift.