Strax looked at the point Persephone had indicated, at that depth that did not even appear on the conventional maps of Tartarus, and showed no intention of turning it into a prolonged discussion. If Hades’s soul was in the Bottom, then he would go to the Bottom.
Simple as that.
Maybe there were seals, ancient creatures, laws of the Underworld, or some other crap left behind by the former King of the Dead to keep intruders from reaching his essence, but Strax was already tired of hearing about places he supposedly should not enter. He looked back at Thanatos, who still kept one hand near her neck after being grabbed by him, and spoke with complete naturalness.
"Then I’m going down there to get Hades’s soul."
Thanatos stared at him as though that were exactly the idiotic answer she had expected to hear.
"It won’t be that simple. The Bottom isn’t a room where Hades stored a box and decided to hide the key. It is a region older than much of Tartarus’s current structure. There are paths that change, souls that were stripped even of the right to return to the cycle, and things that do not recognize ordinary divine authority. Even I cannot simply—"
She never finished.
Strax stepped forward, grabbed the front of her black robe, and lifted her by the collar. Before Thanatos understood what he intended to do, she was already being dragged through the cemetery like a particularly angry sack of potatoes.
"You’re coming with me," Strax said, completely ignoring her protests as he began opening a passage through the Soul Corridor. "You made this mess, protected his soul, know where it is, and just said the path is complicated. So you’re taking me there."
"I did not do this! Hades decided on his own where to put his soul!" Thanatos tried to recover some dignity by pulling at her robe so the fabric would not practically strangle her, but Strax kept dragging her without slowing down. "And let go of me! I can walk!"
Behind them, Lithara and Albedo exchanged a look. They had been brought to Tartarus with the implicit promise of mass extermination, and within only a few minutes Strax was already about to disappear while dragging a goddess by her clothes.
Lithara spread her arms, clearly annoyed.
"And us?"
Strax stopped in front of the dark rupture beginning to form. The murmurs of thousands of souls crossed the space, accompanied by a current of air so cold that even the black flowers of the cemetery bent beneath it. He looked over his shoulder at the two of them.
"Help Persephone with whatever she wants. I’ll be right back."
"Right back," Albedo repeated, not believing that estimate in the slightest.
Strax crossed the corridor, dragging Thanatos behind him. The opening closed soon after, leaving Persephone, Lithara, and Albedo standing before Hades’s gravestone in an almost uncomfortable silence.
Lithara watched the spot where her husband had disappeared, released a disappointed sigh, and began playing with one of the red strands of her hair.
"And here I thought I was going to spend a little time with my husband."
Albedo sighed as well. The magic keeping her clothes more discreet slowly disappeared, replaced by the white dress she usually wore, while the large pale horns returned to her head. She looked around, chose two relatively flat stones near one of the ancient gravestones, and pointed toward them.
"We’re going to sit over there. Pretend we helped you, alright?"
Persephone stared at the two of them.
Lithara was already walking toward the stones.
Albedo followed.
The new regent of Tartarus took several seconds to believe this was actually happening.
"Hey. He told you to help me."
Both women looked at her almost at the same time. Lithara sat first, placing her hands behind her body while Albedo took the stone beside her with the calm of someone who had just found a bench in a garden.
"Help you with what, woman?" Albedo asked. "You’re just as idle as we are right now."
Persephone narrowed her eyes.
Lithara raised one finger as though seriously contributing to the discussion.
"You said yourself that the Titans are sealed, the Primordials haven’t received any orders yet, and the monsters are still in the lower regions. Our only responsibility at this exact moment is to wait for Strax to return so we can find out what he wants to massacre first."
"I am the regent of Tartarus."
"Congratulations," Albedo replied. "Sit."
Persephone opened her mouth, closed it again, and stared at the two women with a growing mixture of disbelief and irritation. After ages dealing with gods, spirits, the dead, and creatures that bowed to the authority of the Underworld, very little had prepared Persephone to handle people who simply did not give a damn about ceremony.
Lithara even patted a third empty stone beside them.
"There’s room."
"I’m not sitting."
"Then stand," Lithara replied. "But you’ll get tired."
Persephone decided that killing the two of them would probably complicate her newly formed alliance with Strax, so she limited herself to taking a deep breath.
[...]
The Soul Corridor spat Strax and Thanatos onto a stone platform surrounded by complete darkness. The air there was heavier, and there was no natural light or spiritual flame to indicate where the surrounding space ended. Only a narrow path continued ahead, built over what appeared to be an infinite void.
Strax released Thanatos’s collar and let her drop to the ground without any care.
The Goddess of Death hit the stone with one knee and immediately turned toward him, furious.
"I should not be treated this way. I am Thanatos. I am Death."
Strax looked at her for several seconds, then toward the abyss beside them.
"You don’t seem to have much love for life."
Thanatos stood, adjusting her black robe with irritated movements.
"I don’t care about life. I’m already dead anyway."
Strax tilted his head slightly.
That was interesting.
Not exactly the part about being dead. In Tartarus, that condition seemed far less definitive than it should have been. What was interesting was Thanatos herself. A goddess directly tied to death, capable of manipulating souls, crossing regions of the Underworld that not even other gods knew, and apparently existing without depending entirely on the normal rules of life and matter.
He began walking behind her when Thanatos took the lead along the narrow path. Her enormous scythe remained broken, but the goddess had reconstructed an incomplete version of the blade using dark energy. Even so, she maintained a careful distance from Strax.
She had learned quite a lot from the first attack.
Strax watched her back and began to think.
Having a Goddess of Death at his side would be extremely useful.
Not only during the war against Olympus. If he truly intended to elevate his existence into something close to a Demonic Dragon God, he would have to deal more deeply with souls, death, resurrection, and concepts he had so far handled mainly through brute force and authority. Thanatos could fill a massive gap in his circle.
Besides, there was a much more personal consideration.
If Strax ever died someday, having Death herself on his side would be quite convenient.
He smiled.
Thanatos stopped.
Without even fully turning around, she spoke.
"No."
Strax raised an eyebrow. "No what?"
She turned her face just enough to look at him from the corner of her eyes.
"I’m not for sale."
"I didn’t say anything."
"You’re making that smile."
"What smile?"
"The ’I’m going to buy this for myself’ smile."
Strax remained silent for a few seconds.
Thanatos pointed a finger at him.
"Stop."
"Can you read minds?"
"No."
"Then you’re assuming."
"I’ve watched gods, demons, and kings make that exact face for ages. Hades did it whenever he found some relic he wanted to put in his treasury. Zeus does it whenever he sees something he thinks he has the right to possess. You just looked at me exactly the same way."
Strax crossed his arms.
"I was thinking you would be useful."
"That does not make it better."
"I also thought it would be convenient to have the Goddess of Death on my side in case I died."
Thanatos stared at him for several seconds.
"That is even worse."
"It’s quite logical."
"I am not funeral insurance."
Strax released a short laugh.
"Not yet."
Thanatos immediately started walking again.
"I hate you."
"We’ve known each other for less than an hour."
"That was enough."
The answer made Strax smile again, but this time he decided not to provoke her further. There was something deeply satisfying about dealing with someone who did not show fear after understanding the difference in strength between them.
Irritation, contempt, and hostility were perfectly acceptable.
Fear made conversations boring.
The path began descending. The stone beneath them slowly changed from black to an almost translucent gray, and voices began emerging from far below the platform. They were not the ordinary murmurs of dead souls. Some spoke languages Strax did not recognize; others seemed to produce sounds older than language itself.
Thanatos grew more serious as they continued, and Strax realized they were finally leaving the regions she considered safe.
"From here on," she said, "do not touch anything that says your name."
"That is very specific."
"Because it will happen."
Strax kept walking.
"Great."
Thanatos sighed.
...
...
...
[In Asgard]
Monica remained seated on the enclosed veranda of her private office, holding a small cup of tea while reviewing documents related to the military budget. Frieren occupied the chair in front of her, also holding a cup, though she seemed to have forgotten to drink from it several minutes ago.
Between them were diagrams of the underground laboratory, biological records, and a detailed list of the artificial bodies currently under development.
"So Albedo worked?" Monica asked.
"Better than I expected."
Frieren turned one of the pages. The diagram showed an artificial core connected to several energy channels, now accompanied by a second demonic layer that had not existed in the previous models.
"Her essence stabilized the formation of the cores. Before, I could produce bodies capable of storing demonic energy, but they treated that energy as something external. After using a sample of Albedo’s structure, the bodies began recognizing demonic energy as a natural part of their own metabolism."
Monica drank some tea.
"She cooperated without complaining?"
"She complained."
"So she cooperated normally."
Frieren nodded.
"She also provided useful information about regeneration, natural impulses, and energy circulation between horns, core, and nervous system. Lithara would have more theoretical knowledge, but Albedo possesses an extremely stable structure. That made the results easier to reproduce."
Monica looked over the table.
"How many bodies are functional?"
"Thirty-six completely formed. The other twelve will need a few more days. Physically, the first ones could awaken now."
"But they still do not have souls."
"That remains the only real problem."
Frieren finally drank her tea.
"Now that Strax has gone to Tartarus, perhaps we have a better opportunity to solve it. If he manages to establish greater cooperation with Persephone, we may be able to access compatible souls without depending on fragments found randomly."
Monica set down her cup.
"I do not want an army made from dead criminals simply because they are easy to obtain."
"Neither do I. We need volunteers or souls whose identities can be reconstructed without producing instability. Personality can vary. Absolute obedience is not necessary as long as there is functional loyalty and the ability to understand orders."
Monica looked back at the diagrams.
"So when Strax returns..."
"We only need the souls."
Frieren gathered the reports into a single stack.
"After that, the army can become fully operational."
Monica remained looking at the numbers for several seconds. Forty-eight bodies did not constitute an army by Asgard’s standards, but this was only the first batch. If the process could truly be repeated, the problem would stop being quantity and become one of time, resources, and soul selection.
"What would their combat capacity be?" she asked.
Frieren answered without hesitation.
"The weakest model should surpass elite human soldiers. The specialized ones may reach high-ranking adventurers as soon as they learn to use their own abilities. After that, it will depend on training and growth."
Monica briefly closed her eyes.
"Strax asked for soldiers capable of killing any kind of being."
"I know."
"And you really intend to deliver that to him."
Frieren looked through the window, toward Asgard growing around the towers, rails, and walls.
"If he is going to fight gods, giving him ordinary soldiers would be useless."
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