Scene 1 — Ten
I stared in disbelief at the naive idiot standing in front of me.
Hermes.
Again.
He had used Apollo's staff to find me hidden deep inside Gaia's territory, somehow slipping through enough layers of obscurity to reach my current camp with the dumbest request possible.
I should have sent him back.
I really should have.
Instead, I sighed.
"Sure. I guess."
Hermes's eyes brightened instantly.
"It has been a long time," I said, waving one hand. "So I don't care if they recover their full strength. It will aid you as well. Consider this my gift for you officially joining the battles."
I reached into the core of my domain.
The darkest flame answered first.
It appeared above my palm as a small black gland of fire, dense enough that the surrounding grass immediately began to wither from its presence alone. The air decayed around it. Leaves curled. Insects died mid-flight before falling into the soil as dust.
Hermes took one cautious step back.
"Relax," I said.
I changed its expression.
The deathly edge folded inward, and the flame shifted from black to white. Solar laws rose inside it, no longer expressing Death, but the gentler phase of the Sun that aided life by burning away what poisoned it.
Once it stabilized, I pushed the flame into Hermes's chest.
His body jerked.
For a moment, white fire spread beneath his skin like branching veins before settling around his domain. The connection it created was minor. Controlled. A narrow bridge to one expression of my path, not enough for him to touch my true domain without permission.
"There," I said. "That will do it."
Hermes looked down at his chest with wide eyes.
"Visualize a white flame and touch your gods with it. It should purify my flames from them. Keep this hidden from Apollo. This is the only favor I'm placing on you for such a simple request."
He nodded so fast I thought his neck might snap.
Then he dropped to his knees hard enough to crater the earth beneath his head.
"Thank you, cousin! This is a blessing I've never received before. My mom will be proud once my faction can compete with Ares."
I forced him upright before he could embarrass himself any further.
"You are still in the Low Minor God rank," I said. "Stop trying to crack the ground with your skull."
He grabbed my hand with both of his and grinned.
Then the staff in his grip began to glow. His use of Apollo's weapon was smoother than our first meeting, more natural now that his own path had grown around the borrowed authority. In the next breath, he vanished.
A small pile of apples appeared where he had been standing.
The standard payment we had somehow established for any visit he made to me.
I stared at the apples for a moment.
Then I picked one up.
"Lord Ten."
Ayin stepped forward only after Hermes was gone. She had waited at the edge of the clearing, silent and patient, as if a god barging into my hiding place was no more unusual than a stray bird landing nearby.
"We've finished transporting this tribe," she reported.
Her Fairy Hunter squads had completed the assignment Gaia requested from us. Mortals were being removed from this game before the King War truly began.
Ares had already proven he could overpower the majority of nature gods who had not stepped into the Major rank. Some had decided to cut their losses, choosing to abandon mortal populations rather than give Zeus an excuse to enslave them.
My offer was simple by comparison.
A new home.
A budding planet.
A future outside Zeus's reach.
"Good," I said. "Then we can start bringing out our people."
Ayin bowed her head.
"Zeus will order another strike into these regions," I continued. "You'll take command of the war until Bale returns. Once he does, he will handle the defense, and you'll be free to move with your team however you choose."
I tossed her a High Minor Rank Wind God core.
She caught it with both hands and lowered her head in acceptance.
"As you command, Lord Ten."
"Pass the orders to Eli."
She nodded once, then vanished into the trees, leaving only a faint trail of fairy light behind her.
I took a bite from the apple Hermes left behind and looked toward the deeper parts of Gaia's domain.
The board was finally starting to move.
Scene 2 — Ten
"I can allow you in while I am maintaining control," Gaia said. "But if Earth catches you here, you will be ejected. Possibly cursed."
I nodded without taking my eyes off the Undergrove.
The place below us was alive in a way most divine realms only pretended to be.
Gaia had created it as a training ground for Adamas. A living cavern beneath her domain, thick with Life laws and Titan-ranked organisms grown with enough intent to kill gods who underestimated them. Roots the size of city walls twisted through the earth. Flowers large enough to swallow men opened and closed with slow breaths. Wooden beasts prowled between glowing vines, each one shaped by Gaia's will and armed with enough force to make the training anything but safe.
Her ability to create Titan-ranked lifeforms when she put her mind to it revealed how dangerous the situation had become.
Gaia was preparing for the possibility that the next generation would fail.
Inside the grove, Bale and Adamas fought as a functioning duo.
They wielded hardened wooden weapons Gaia had secretly blessed, striking and moving through the living terrain with the coordination of partners who had spent tens of thousands of years fighting for their lives. Bale moved with the efficiency of Death. His spear sought throats, hearts, joints, and weak points without hesitation.
Adamas was different.
He did not fight like me.
He did not aim for quick executions the way Death-aligned beings naturally preferred. He had taken Juris's future-born martial techniques and turned them into something more suited to Force.
Sometimes he struck with his full domain, smashing higher-ranked opponents as if rank were only a suggestion. Other times he barely used Force at all, coating his insides with it like a hammer striking himself from within.
Tempering his body.
Strengthening organs, bones, muscles, and meridians through controlled violence.
His body alone had already stepped into the Mid Minor ranks while his divinity remained stuck at Low Minor.
That alone proved how dangerous axis owners could become when they were given years to fight without interruption.
Bale had unknowingly stepped into the Major rank after fifty thousand years of training him.
Adamas had become something Ares would not be able to ignore.
The Horseman of War led Juris's demons through the grove as a pressure valve for them both, forcing their training into the shape of real war instead of safe practice. Every clash tipped the inner balance of Gaia's domain further back in her favor.
"That's fine," I said. "I'm only here to retrieve Bale and Adam."
Gaia's eyes shifted toward me.
"It is now or never if you want him to stop Ares from stealing the World Tree," I continued. "That is his mission, and I've already assigned followers to aid him. Apollo is still my dance partner for this war, just as Athena and Artemis are for the Star seat."
I tapped my foot.
My domain opened beneath the weaker gods.
Both Bale and Adamas vanished from the Undergrove, pulled to the surface and deposited into the middle of the battle Ares was leading.
Gaia watched it happen without protest.
"I'll return once the war between my father and uncles starts," I said. "Hera should have already made her move by then, so best of luck, Grandmother."
Her expression softened slightly.
"May you break the shackles of Fate and ascend past this cycle."
I bowed my head.
I understood the weight of those words. Burning one's link to the cycle was not a small thing. It was necessary if the world wanted its natural queen to rise and steer it without Fate or Earth devouring every future.
My domain remained manifested just enough for Gaia to draw on the white flames of purification.
"Thank you, grandson," Gaia said. "You may not realize it, but the Primals are pleased you have remained neutral on this board. You are offering everyone the same chances without deviating. This is the most I can do, but it will aid you more than you understand in this cycle and beyond."
She opened her hand.
A jade-green gem took shape above her palm.
The rawest form of her authority.
A crown fragment.
She placed it in my hands.
The moment it touched my skin, my Death laws shifted.
Not weakened.
Balanced.
The crystal dissolved into light and slammed into my forehead, adding a jade centerpiece beneath the Dark Sun birthmark, inside the Band of All Things Evil.
Life opened to me.
Not as a borrowed healing art.
Not as a mercy I barely understood.
A direct axis.
Earth Father.
A balance to my Lord of Stars and Endings domains.
I nodded to Gaia.
Before I could speak, my father's authority wrapped around me and pulled me back toward the underworld.
The next phase of the Dark Sun development had begun.
Scene 3 — Bale
"Who the hell are you?"
I caught the crudely made sword of a Wind God against Gaia's spear.
The weapon in my hand was not the scythe Lord Thanatos had given me when I became his first mortal Reaper. That weapon was too important to risk in this test.
This spear had been gifted to me by Lady Gaia to train Adam. Over the years, I had nourished it with my divinity until it started becoming a proper symbol of my power.
A wooden spear.
Simple in appearance.
Far more durable than the fool attacking me understood.
I shifted my grip with one hand.
The Wind God leaned too far forward.
I slapped him.
Not with much force.
Just enough to correct the mistake of trying to overpower a stronger god.
He hit the ground and rolled twice before stopping.
"Come on, you too," I said, waving to the second god. "Quit wasting time."
The Storm God's face twisted with rage.
Their senses kept passing over me, searching for a rank they could understand. Each attempt failed. They still operated under the assumption that I was a Demi-God, perhaps a strange servant of Gaia, not a Major God on the cusp of forming my domain within the Dark Sun's sphere of influence.
Silent Hunter.
That was the title Lord Hades had given me for the methods I used to teach Tenebris how to hunt when he was younger.
Over time, the title had begun turning into something more.
A domain.
A pressure that naturally frightened gods who had never known what it meant to be prey.
I extended my spear.
The shaft tapped the Wind God's foot.
He flipped backward and crashed into a tree.
A Blood God tried to attack from behind.
Without turning, I let the spear flow from the Wind God's ankle to the Blood God's face, the wood bending like a whip before snapping straight again.
Bone cracked.
Blood scattered.
I glanced toward Adamas.
My effort over the last fifty thousand years had not been wasted.
Ares had already been forced to call for support from his followers, and even then, they failed to tame the raging boy. Adamas used his spear more like a club against anything weaker than him, tearing apart gods who would have to spend years recovering divine forms after coming into contact with his absurd body.
He had taken the wrong personality from our training sessions.
Or perhaps the right one.
Years of constantly losing had taught him that anything weaker than him deserved no hesitation.
Even I would not willingly take a direct hit from his strikes, reinforced or not.
"I will give you a choice," I said to the recovering Wind God. "Grab that team and leave, or my people will end this war before it starts."
He opened his mouth.
An arrow landed in front of him.
The battle stopped.
Every god in the clearing looked toward the trees.
Several End-aligned gods, both Minor and Major rank, had quietly surrounded the assault group. Their weapons were drawn. Their domains were restrained. Their silence made the threat worse.
Ayin and Eli stood on the branch of a barren tree.
I waved to my two students.
The Wind God swallowed whatever words he had been foolish enough to prepare.
Scene 4 — Bale
"Ayin. Eli. This is Adamas, my latest student."
The campfire crackled between us while the various gods broke into their own groups, waiting for the next attack to be ordered.
"Adam," I said, gesturing to the two women seated across from us, "these are your senior students. They might be weaker than you in pure combat ability, but they make up for it with creativity and teamwork. They'll also be the ones backing you up during this war with Ares."
I glanced toward the dark line of trees surrounding the camp.
"After all, this was their home too."
Adamas immediately lowered his head.
"Greetings, Lady Ayin and Lady Eli. It will be my pleasure to be under your care."
The battle high was gone.
The overbearing monster who had been crushing Ares's followers had retreated, leaving behind the shy, quiet boy who still stood slightly behind me instead of beside me.
Ayin smiled softly.
Eli studied him with more curiosity.
She had never truly interacted with a young Tenebris, so Adam's weirdness had not become normal for her the way it had for those of us who watched Fateless children grow into disasters.
Ares was the weakest of that group.
A pseudo-Fateless, but not quite in the same realm as a natural concept owner.
War could be useful if shaped correctly. Borderline unfair, even. At its highest level, it could approach the Horsemen. But only if Ares learned to define what war meant instead of mistaking violence for the whole domain.
He and Adam were both stuck at Low Minor rank.
Yet their domains made them dangerous to gods of the same tier, and even to some standing above them. Given the right chance, both could kill those at the peak.
The difference was expression.
Juris and Ten constantly searched for new expansions and expressions of their domains. Adam had begun doing the same with Force.
Ares had not.
That was why I placed so much hope in the tattoo of the World Tree Gaia promised me.
My personal request.
A reward for fully embodying Ten's domain in my own way.
To become a conduit for the passage of the Dead into the hands of the Living.
It had blocked my advancement for now. I could not go further until I balanced the Life laws I lacked at the Mid Major God rank. Once both sides reached balance, I suspected an evolution would occur.
A proper one.
Not a shortcut.
Not devouring.
A path.
I stood.
"I'll leave you three to it while I handle the rear."
Adam looked up.
"Adam," I said, "do not forget this is your side of the board to maintain. Your natural partner in war will need this place intact when she takes over her domain as Earth Mother."
He nodded seriously.
That was enough.
I allowed myself to fall into Lord Thanatos's domain.
Before requesting Lord Hades's aid, I needed the approval of the one who had first accepted me as a Reaper.
Only then could the bottom half of the tattoo be finished properly.
Scene 5 — Bale
"Silent Hunter."
I lifted my kneeling head.
Lord Hades sat upon his throne, looking down at me with amusement in his eyes.
"It has been over a hundred thousand years since you last graced my court with your presence," he said. "And now you return carrying a new domain attached to my grandmother. Was this experience so different from training Ten and Juris?"
The court was silent.
Even those who smiled did so quietly.
Lord Hades's rules were simple. Anyone who served his court, even those within the NetherRealm hierarchy, paid respect upward. It was not weakness. It was order.
He had once told me he paid homage to his parents even when they went to war with each other.
At the God-King level, he said, some conflicts were tests of Fate rather than personal hatred.
I still struggled to understand that.
But I obeyed the rule.
"Yes, Lord Hades," I said. "It was different. Lady Gaia rewarded me for my efforts in raising the Earth Protector. His domain naturally allowed her to push back against Earth long enough to readjust her own domain."
Abi stood behind Eris to the left of Lord Hades.
She watched me closely.
"I will pass everything I learned to Abi," I continued. "So her main body can become capable of creating life."
Lord Hades grinned.
Abi nodded in approval.
Only then did I notice Yin was missing from her usual place near her caretaker.
I raised an eyebrow.
Abi shook her head once.
Ignore it for now.
I did.
"Good," Lord Hades said. "Then you deserve a fitting reward, as any who serve my court should."
He beckoned me forward.
"You request my blessing. That is suitable for what you desire, but you have accidentally placed yourself in line with an office Thanatos and Hecate have been crafting for Juris to assign to one of his Satans."
The court shifted slightly at that.
Lord Thanatos watched from his place with a neutral expression.
Lord Hades leaned forward.
"But you will be a better fit. A mortal who became a Death God."
Hecate appeared from the shadows at the edge of the throne room.
"Hecate," Lord Hades said, "take him to your mother. She will handle giving him the domain from the Dark Sun."
Lord Thanatos nodded.
I knelt again.
A mistake.
Before my knee fully touched the floor, Lord Hades lifted me with his divinity. His face soured.
"Quit it, Bale."
The court went still.
"I have told you and Abi several times," he said, irritation plain in his voice, "that you are part of the inner court. Not the outer."
I opened my mouth.
He did not let me argue.
His divinity wrapped around me and sent me away before I could say a word.
Straight to the Sun.
Without waiting for Hecate.
The last thing I felt before the court vanished was Lord Hades's annoyance.
I smiled warmly.
Because I knew he could see it.