None of the Gold Saints present had expected Axis to march on the Underworld alone. Surely this was something that should wait until Lady Athena awoke, so the two of them could move together?
And as a deity himself, did he not have warriors under his command?
"Lord Axis! The Underworld is perilous. Hades's divine might is unfathomable, and the Twin Gods stand guard at his side. You must exercise caution..." Dohko, the most senior Gold Saint, spoke up.
"That's right, Lord Axis. If you intend to attack the Underworld, you should at least make some preparations first," said Pegasus Seiya.
"Lord Axis, perhaps it would be better to wait for Lady Athena to awaken? We could revive Saga, Shura, and Camus before deciding our next move," suggested Aries Mu.
"Lord Axis, your strength is beyond question, but you have only these two warriors under your command." Leo Aiolia's gaze shifted toward Grail and Ultraman. Both were undeniably powerful, but neither wore a Cloth. The woman did wear a suit of battle armour, but it was no Cloth.
Axis waved a hand, cutting short the warnings from Dohko and the assembled Gold Saints.
His gaze pierced through the fabric of space itself, as though he could see straight into that realm shrouded in the pall of death.
Elysion, the so-called paradise.
"Ha! Caution?" A faint, almost indifferent curve formed at the corner of his mouth, the casual disdain that only absolute power could afford. "Hades is the one who should be cautious."
To put it bluntly, Axis did not think much of a god who merely presided over death. Before, when he had been unable to wield divine power or tap into the energy of a God of Destruction, he might have given Hades a measure of respect.
But now the situation had changed entirely. Under the amplification of his Divine Cosmo, the power he currently wielded surpassed that of a Primordial God, and in terms of raw destructive output it was no weaker than an Absolute God.
Under such circumstances, why would he fear a minor Underworld lord like Hades? Frankly, the Hades of the Saint Seiya universe was not someone Axis had to hold in high regard. The god had fought Athena for thousands of years and never won a single time. Where did he find the nerve?
Well, that was not entirely accurate. In the Lost Canvas side story there had been an Aries Saint who came from the future, from a timeline where Shion had never become Pope and history had been altered.
In that version Athena was not Saori Kido, and the five Bronze protagonists did not exist, so despite having all twelve Gold Saints and a full complement of Bronze and Silver Saints with no betrayal within Sanctuary, they had still lost to Hades and been annihilated.
Athena herself had been beheaded by the Underworld King. But that was merely an erroneous future, a timeline that theoretically did not exist.
Grail studied Axis with a carefully neutral expression. The gods of ancient Greece existed in her universe as well, and the Hades of his world was hardly the mightiest among the pantheon, certainly no match for Zeus or for her own father.
"Boss, let me go with you," said Ultraman.
"No need. Every last Specter has already been destroyed. Hades is nothing more than a commander without an army."
"That is not quite right, Lord Axis," Dohko interjected. "Hades is no commander without troops. He still has three Secondary Gods under him: Thanatos, the God of Death, Hypnos, the God of Sleep, and the vengeance goddess Ker."
In the previous Holy War, Dohko had witnessed the power of the divine firsthand. It was a force that Gold Saints could not hope to match. They had no room to resist against a god. And even if this lord before them was himself a deity, a four-against-one scenario still left him outnumbered.
"There is no cause for concern. Stay here and wait for my good news. I will be back by morning at the latest." Axis smiled as he spoke.
Before the words had even settled, the Sword of the God of Destruction (as it had come to be called, for lack of a better name) swept casually through the air, and the blade tore open a rift in the void.
The sound of space splitting rang out like tearing fabric.
Axis had not even used his full strength. Merely through his Divine Cosmo's absolute command over the laws of space, he had forced open a breach in the dimensional barrier, carving a direct corridor between Sanctuary and the innermost heart of the Underworld: Elysion.
In fairness, the feat was not entirely unprecedented.
The previous generation's Gemini Gold Saint had managed to open the Divine Passage as well. That pathway was supposedly accessible only to gods, and any being who entered it without wearing armour anointed in divine blood, or without being a god themselves, would be torn to pieces.
Axis stepped into the Divine Passage and vanished in an instant.
The rift did not close behind him. A terrible aura spilled out from within, suffocating the Saints below. Every one of them could sense just how horrifying the forces raging inside the passage truly were. Any mortal who entered, even one clad in Gold Cloth, would be shredded.
"Hold this position! Await the return of Lord Axis!" Dohko's voice carried an authority that brooked no argument. For the moment, his word carried the weight of the Pope's command.
All the Gold Saints and every other Saint present obeyed without question. Ultraman and Grail were escorted by the Saints to the Pope's palace to rest.
The Divine Passage resembled a stretch of open cosmos, or perhaps some manner of subspace corridor. It held no concept of time or space, and was flooded with a strange extradimensional energy. To ordinary living things it was a force of absolute destruction, but for a god it posed no concern whatsoever.
Axis quickly locked onto Hades's location.
Elysion.
Its eternal tranquillity was torn apart without ceremony. Axis's silhouette appeared above this land of false beauty wrapped in death like a dark star heralding ruin.
His magnificent divine raiment, coursing with the radiance of chaotic starlight and inscribed with runes encoding the birth and death of universes, along with the colossal purple sword in his hand radiating an aura of annihilation, clashed violently with the scenic splendour of this realm.
He had to admit that Hades possessed refined taste.
This world was alive with birdsong and fragrant flowers, much like a Garden World from the Warhammer universe, or perhaps a Paradise World.
There were many fair-faced faerie spirits here, yet Axis did not spot a single mortal soul among them.
Rather than a paradise that the dead could enter, this place was better described as a private garden for the Lord and Queen of the Underworld and the gods of their domain.
In Hades's eyes, no human being was worthy of setting foot in his Elysion. Though it was proclaimed a heavenly land prepared for the pure and kind-hearted, the place carried an air of ruin. Crumbling temples and broken shrines dotted the landscape, and the faerie spirits did nothing but repeat the same hymns to the gods in an endless loop.
And this was supposed to be paradise? What grand absurdity.
"Who goes there? How dare you trespass upon Lord Hades's domain!" A furious shout rang out, equal parts shock and rage.
Two figures radiating terrifying pressure materialised before Axis in an instant. One wore jet-black Surplice, his features handsome yet marked by an eternal coldness and arrogance: Thanatos, the God of Death.
The other wore deep-yellow butterfly-winged Surplice, his gaze languid yet carrying a quality that made the onlooker drowsy: Hypnos, the God of Sleep.
The Twin Gods, Hades's right and left hand. There was no sign of the Queen of the Underworld, the spring goddess Persephone, nor of the vengeance goddess.
Axis's sudden arrival pressed down on the two Underworld deities with enormous weight. From him, they could sense only something vast and fathomless.
They had felt this kind of presence only from their own mother and father, and the aura radiating from this stranger surpassed even Lord Hades's own.
"My lord, what business brings you to Lord Hades's domain?" Hypnos's tone was considerably more courteous.
One did not offend a deity of this magnitude lightly.
Thanatos had been brusque at first, but after registering the sheer terror of Axis's power, his expression shifted immediately.
The Twin Gods were arrogant to the extreme before mortals, but before a fellow god they did not dare show the slightest disrespect.
"I am Axis. There is no need for pleasantries. I have not come here as a guest. I have come to kill Hades." Axis did not mince words.
"What? Lord Axis, you... surely you jest? You intend to make an enemy of Lord Hades? Has he done something to offend you?" The colour drained from Hypnos's face in an instant.
This made no sense. They did not recognise this foreign deity at all. When had Lord Hades managed to provoke him?
"It does not matter that you do not know me. What matters is that I know you. I have entered an alliance with Athena. In a certain sense, I am now Athena's husband. Your forces just attacked Sanctuary, which amounts to a provocation against me. The dignity of a god will not tolerate provocation.
"I annihilated every last Specter, and now I have come in person to call Hades to account." Axis spoke with brazen righteousness.
How did that reasoning sound? He invited the two of them to evaluate it.
"Kill Hades?" "Athena's husband?" "The dignity of a god will not tolerate provocation?"
Each phrase landed like a sledgehammer on the hearts of Thanatos and Hypnos.
The shock, the bewilderment, the sheer disbelief on their faces ultimately coalesced into a feeling of utter absurdity.
And this came from a being whose power was this terrifying. The two of them could sense that Axis's divine power far exceeded that of a Primary God. He might very well be a Primordial God.
Why would a Primordial God involve himself with Athena? And could a Primordial God truly move freely in this universe, in this era?
"My lord, might there be some misunderstanding here?" said Hypnos.
"There is no misunderstanding. I am here to settle accounts with Hades. Today, Hades dies. I have spoken. No one can save him." Axis let out a cold snort.
"Your Excellency, this... this is tantamount to declaring war on the entire Olympian pantheon. Lord Apollo will not stand by and do nothing." Thanatos clenched his teeth as he spoke.
Their only remaining hope was that this unknown god might be deterred by the name of the Olympian Primary God, Apollo, the God of the Sun.
"If you believe Apollo's name alone can protect Hades's life, you are sorely mistaken. However, I have always been a generous sort. I happen to govern an Underworld of my own, and I am in need of exceptional individuals to manage it. If the two of you are willing, you may serve under me. I can promise you that in time I will elevate you both to the level of Primary Gods."
Axis smiled as he spoke, and at the same moment he released the full apex pressure of a Primordial God.
Alongside it, he let slip a portion of the God of Destruction's power, which in the eyes of the Twin Gods was indistinguishable from the might of an Absolute God.
The revelation struck Thanatos and Hypnos like a physical blow. They had assumed they were dealing with a Primordial God, but this one might have already reached the level of an Absolute God.
And yet, on reflection, perhaps this was a stroke of good fortune. They were retainers, yes, but Hades's temperament left much to be desired. He treated them as little more than hounds. In terms of generational seniority, the Twin Gods were technically Hades's uncles.
And though Hades had granted them their status as the Twin Gods, he refused to communicate with them during each Holy War; everyone simply did their own thing, and as a result they had never won a single campaign.
They had even been sealed away by Athena on multiple occasions. Hades was merely a moderately powerful Primary God, not even the strongest of his rank, since his power still fell short of Apollo's.
The being before them, on the other hand, stood firmly at the apex of Primordial Gods, with one foot already across the threshold into the domain of the Absolute. Here was a deity with the potential to one day rule the entire universe.
And if the work was still managing an Underworld, then a change of employer was not out of the question, was it?
Working for someone was working for someone. Naturally, one chose the stronger master with the better terms.
With a heavy thud, as though crushed into submission by Axis's incomprehensible divine might, both Thanatos and Hypnos dropped to their knees.
"It seems you understand. Now answer me: will you continue to serve as funeral offerings for a Hades whose fall is already certain, or will you choose to follow a mightier sovereign, one who can grant you a future?"
"You are generous beyond measure, Lord Axis. Then permit us one final question. Can you truly elevate us from Secondary Gods gods to Primary Gods?" asked Thanatos.
This was the matter they cared about most.
"I have always been a man of my word. It will take some time, but I will see you both reach the level of a Primary God. Without that kind of power, you would be unable to co-manage that Underworld alongside the one who is already there." Axis spoke plainly.
The Underworld of the Warhammer universe currently had only a single Aeldari death god. Bringing these two across would create a system of checks and balances. Why would he not take the opportunity?
With the divine power of a Supreme Kai at his disposal, strengthening these two to the level of an ordinary Kai was well within reach. And if that proved insufficient, he could always have them consume some fruit from the first-generation Tree of Might.
"Lord Axis, we are more than willing to follow you."
"Please accept our allegiance, Lord Axis. And please allow our sister, Ker, to join us in your service." Thanatos and Hypnos sold out their old master without a moment's hesitation. Following Lord Axis was clearly the path with a future.
Axis nodded with satisfaction. Buy one, get one free. No, buy two, get one free. The Vengeance Goddess was a nice bonus as well.
"INSOLENCE!"
A voice cold, imperious, and brimming with boundless fury and the chill of death rolled out from the pale temple at the deepest reaches of Elysion like a gale from the Nine Hells, engulfing the entire space in an instant.
A tremendous blast of force erupted.
Every flower across Elysion's fields withered and crumbled to ash in the same breath. The sky was swallowed whole by impenetrable clouds of deathly miasma. A vast, frigid dominion, the sovereign authority over countless dead souls, exploded outward and collided head-on with Axis's Primordial divine pressure.
Space groaned under the strain, and invisible shockwaves swept in every direction.
A sliver of amusement touched Axis's lips. Hades's power was respectable for a Primary God, but it was utterly inadequate against him.
Still, given how far the provocations had gone, if Hades had failed to react at all, the Underworld King would only have diminished himself further. So at last, this lord of the dead had reached his limit.
The doors of Hades's temple burst open.
A figure emerged at a measured pace.
He wore Surplice black as the void of night, its form fierce yet resplendent: the armour of the Underworld King. In his hand he carried the Sword of Hades, wreathed in the power of death. His handsome face now blazed with a rage cold enough to freeze the soul.
Hades, King of the Underworld, had finally shown himself.
"Madman from a foreign realm! You think yourself worthy of coveting my dominion? Of defiling Athena's name? Of seducing my vassal gods with your honeyed words?" Hades glared at Axis and roared.
This interloper was beyond shameless. Even if he was a Primordial God, this level of humiliation was intolerable. He was Hades, King of the Underworld.
His gaze swept over the kneeling Thanatos and Hypnos, and his fury blazed hotter still. "Worthless dogs! You dare betray me?"
The Twin Gods exchanged a glance, then rose to their feet with expressions of undisguised contempt and walked to Axis's side.
"Hades, there is a saying in the East that goes: 'The wise recognise the way of the world. A fine bird chooses its tree.' I think the reason these two chose to follow me is a problem of your own making. You ought to do some self-reflection.
"You have been fighting your own niece for millennia and have never once won. How do you still have the face to go on living? Honestly, I am embarrassed on your behalf." An even more crushing wave of divine pressure bore down on Hades as Axis pushed back without an ounce of restraint.
Thanatos and Hypnos both nodded. On that point, he was absolutely right. Thousands of years of war against Athena and not a single victory. It was the eternal shame of the Underworld.
"Your divine might, your fury... in my eyes, they are nothing more than a requiem on the verge of its final note. Are you ready to face your end?"
The instant the words left his lips, Axis moved.
There was no earth-shaking eruption of energy, no grandiose technique name, no theatrics of any kind. He simply swung his sword once in Hades's direction, as casually as if brushing dust from a sleeve.
And with that single stroke, the energy of the God of Destruction obliterated Hades. The Underworld King offered no resistance whatsoever. His divine body and his Underworld King Surplice disintegrated together, collapsing into nothing.
"Killing you required no second strike." Axis sheathed his blade.