Under Setsuna's summoning, the Surplice's light grew stronger and stronger.
Finally, an extremely fine crack, as if connecting to endless space-time turbulence, was torn open before Setsuna.
A soul phantom, pieced together from countless time fragments, was forcibly pulled out from that crack and condensed into form.
It was the soul of Kairos!
Although he had lost most of his divine power and been cast into reincarnation, having experienced hundreds of billions of years of wear, the essence of his soul still carried the 'divinity' that surpassed the mundane.
Kairos's soul phantom gradually became clear. He first looked around in confusion, then his gaze fixed deadly on Setsuna, who was seated cross-legged before him.
When he clearly saw Setsuna's face, especially felt his unfathomable Cosmo, a look of surprise appeared on Kairos's face.
"It's you..." Kairos narrowed his eyes. "The Phoenix Saint from the last Holy War?"
As a god who controlled time, he quickly judged the passage of time.
"I never expected that in just over two hundred years, you would grow to this level?"
His surprise quickly turned into a seductive smile. "Interesting, very interesting. You can actually summon my soul and you're wearing the Heavenly Chief Star Surplice?"
"I could see it back then. You don't even have the proper loyalty to Athena that a Saint should have, let alone to Hades."
"But now you're wearing the Heavenly Chief Star Surplice. It seems you have quite some 'ideas' about the Underworld and Hades, don't you?"
Setsuna smiled slightly. "Perhaps I fear death, so I begged Hades for eternal life?"
Kairos sneered at this. "That joke isn't funny. When you were still a mortal, you could repeatedly thwart me. Now, even I cannot see your limits."
"How could a man as ambitious as you ever submit to a god?"
Setsuna sighed. "How can you call it ambition? It's a magnificent blueprint."
Kairos laughed. "It seems you have summoned me because you want my help, right?"
"Don't worry. Although you caused my plan to fail, as an eternal god, what I have no shortage of is time and patience."
"As long as it can annoy those gods, I am even willing to assist you."
"I can help you replace Hades and become the new Hades. Then, using the Underworld as a base, counterattack Heaven and drag those high and mighty gods down from their thrones!"
Kairos grew excited as he spoke.
This was exactly what he had always wanted to do.
Setsuna chuckled softly. "I do need your help, but not your wisdom."
Setsuna expressed his respect for Kairos's 'extraordinary wisdom' by keeping his distance.
After all, this was a genius who, every time he played with schemes, would end up digging his own grave.
Kairos was stunned. "Not my wisdom? Do you need my power? But my divine power is sealed. I cannot use my strength at all."
Setsuna licked his dry lips. "What I am truly interested in is your soul's origin."
The expression on Kairos's face instantly froze, then turned to shock and anger. "You want to devour my soul? Foolish! Ridiculous!"
"Although Chronos deprived me of my divine power and cast me into reincarnation, having experienced tens of billions of years of erosion..."
"My essence is still that of a 'god'! It is a 'primordial god' that surpasses acquired gods!"
"Even Zeus, Hades, Poseidon, those 'major gods', cannot devour my power!"
"Forcibly devouring it will only cause you to be assimilated by my divinity, until your soul collapses!"
He had this confidence.
The soul essence of a primordial god was part of the universal rules.
However, the smile on Setsuna's face grew even brighter. "What major gods cannot do, I can."
As his words fell, a white bone mask, similar to Omega Shenron's face, appeared on Setsuna's face.
"What is this?" Kairos looked at Setsuna, whose demeanor had greatly changed, feeling an inexplicable fear.
"Hollows need souls to grow. Come and say hello to my 'Hollow'." Setsuna's voice seemed to come from an abyss, carrying multiple eerie echoes.
The next moment, Kairos felt his unshakable divine essence being torn apart.
The other seemed born to be the bane of souls, the natural enemy of all souls.
"Impossible! What kind of monster are you?" Kairos finally felt fear.
Although he had died countless times in his endless reincarnations, he had a premonition.
If he died this way, it would be complete annihilation.
"I am the end of you gods who toy with all beings. I am the Twilight of the Gods!"
As Setsuna spoke, he began to eat heartily.
He tore apart the other's soul right before Kairos's eyes.
"Ah! No… Chronos! Brother!" Kairos let out a desperate wail, recklessly calling out to his elder brother for help.
"Come save me! Do you really want me to completely die here?"
However, his call fell into the void like a stone sinking into the sea.
Setsuna's cold voice sounded. "It's useless. This is within my [Seed of the Universe]. We are no longer in your universe."
"No matter how strong Chronos is, he cannot enter here."
"Another universe?" Kairos completely despaired.
He simply could not fathom how that mortal ant from back then could have grown to this level in just a few hundred years, and even be in control of a nascent universe?
In his despair, Kairos let out his final fury: "Chronos, I hate you! Why did you have to deprive me of my divine power..."
…
Underworld, time flowed as usual.
Only six hours had passed outside, but for Seiya and the other two, it was six months of hellish training.
After countless near-death experiences, Seiya finally pierced through the window paper that had troubled countless Saints, successfully attaining the Eighth Sense.
Even by the end of the trial, he had already walked a considerable distance within the realm of the Eighth Sense.
Although Deathmask and Aphrodite had not been able to break through in one go to the Eighth Sense like Seiya, under such high-intensity life-and-death combat, their strength had also undergone earth-shattering changes.
Now, their strength stood in the ranks of top-tier Gold Saints, and they had even touched the edge of the Eighth Sense.
With this rate of progress, the three, cooperating to use the Athena Exclamation, finally barely managed to beat Titan into slumber.
For Titan, moving around a bit after a meal just used up its energy, allowing it to fall into a deep, contented sleep.
Looking at that behemoth sleeping soundly, Seiya couldn't help but smile bitterly.
'Did this count as winning?'
Fortunately, Setsuna provided the answer with his actions.
The three merely blinked and were once again in the Underworld.
"Have we... passed the test?" Deathmask felt like crying. It had been too hard.
He had truly experienced the meaning of 'being beaten back and forth between life and death'.
In that kind of hellish training, death was instead a release.
Seiya was about to reply when he felt intense Cosmo collisions coming from nearby.