Chapter 1 The Secret of the Scepter

If it hadn't been for encountering Hercules, the secret of the scepter's true owner would probably have been buried in the depths of history forever.

Because the person who personally crafted the scepter had already lost the memories of that time, ninety percent of those who knew about it had died in the Demon Hunters' encirclement and suppression, and all the written records about the scepter had been destroyed in the flames of war—Hercules was the only one who knew the truth.

However, what exactly happened before and after Vivian crafted that scepter? What did she know back then? And what was her intention in crafting the scepter? All of this was shrouded in layers of mystery. From Hercules' description, Vivian was clearly in a state of madness on the eve of her slumber, but she still barely maintained her sanity. She must have sensed something when the scepter's core fell into Zeus's hands, which was why she stubbornly went to Mount Olympus and made such a scene. Each of Vivian's slumbers would take away a large amount of her power and knowledge. Conversely, each time before she slumbered, she was more powerful and knowledgeable, which meant that she once knew the true face of the scepter's core.

She even knew what should be done with that thing.

A slight, crisp sound like glass shattering came from who knows where. Then, unstable winds swept through heaven and earth. The weeds in the wilderness swayed in the wind. At the end of the horizon, the towering Mount Olympus gradually became blurred.

"It's almost time," Hercules looked up at the sky, with an expression of relief on his face. "I can finally take a break."

Hao Ren's pupils shrank. He knew what Hercules meant by "almost time."

However, he quickly realized that there was no way he could save the ancient hero before him: Hercules' body had been completely twisted by the evil power in the artifact. His flesh was already dead. Even his soul was riddled with holes. From spirit to entity, Hercules was already a dead man. He was now just a vessel for the power of the scepter—in this case, any medical means were meaningless.

But he still held onto the last glimmer of hope: "Is there any way to save your soul?"

"There's no need," Hercules just slowly shook his head. "Even if you really had a way, I wouldn't need it. I've walked too far, experienced too much. More than half of my life didn't belong to me. Gods and men… I've been fighting for them, but now, I've decided to stop. I want to rest."

Hao Ren looked at the hero. He actually had a lot of words of persuasion he wanted to say, but after seeing the other party's eyes, he swallowed all the words back. This was a person who didn't need persuasion. He wasn't desperate, nor did he have any regrets. He had no unfinished wishes or attachment to the world. He wasn't curious about the future, nor did he reminisce about the past. He simply wanted a long rest.

This was a unique way of dying for a long-lived species: life was long enough, and it had already lost its color. He had lived enough, that was all.

"Before you leave, I want to ask you for one last thing." Hercules suddenly turned his head and looked into Hao Ren's eyes.

"What is it?" Hao Ren subconsciously responded.

"Help me thank Hesperides," Hercules smiled. "Thank her for her care back then."

After Hao Ren nodded, Hercules seemed to have finally completed the last thing in his life. He breathed a long sigh of relief, and his figure rapidly dimmed and became transparent at a speed visible to the naked eye. Behind him, the sky began to shatter like broken glass.

At this time, Hao Ren suddenly thought of something. He immediately took a step forward, looked into Hercules' eyes, and silently recited the name with the most powerful force in this universe in his heart, and, according to the handbook, connected this name with the soul in front of him. Finally, he opened his hands to Hercules: "Rest in peace, may the Goddess bless you."

Hercules looked at Hao Ren in confusion, then slowly closed his eyes.

Some imperceptible wisps of black smoke floated out of his increasingly thin figure. Then, his entire body turned into light and gradually dissipated.

Behind him, the Mount Olympus in his memory shattered along with the sky, turning into streamers of light and falling into the endless darkness at the edge of the spirit world.

The whole world shook violently.

At the same moment, in the outside reality, Hercules' huge body began to crack inch by inch.

"Bat, Bat, what do we do now?!" Lily, who had returned to her human form and was covered in dust and dirt, anxiously looked at the expanding black rift beside the giant. Now that the artifact scepter had been sealed and Hercules, as the host, was also disintegrating, the evil power that had escaped from the "boundary" would not simply disappear into thin air. These remaining external forces were making a last-ditch counterattack, as if they could also realize that defeat was inevitable. This evil force began its last wave of eruption with the momentum of dragging everyone down with it: that despairing black tide was reappearing.

Perhaps that negative power that had lost its source would soon be completely exhausted, but before that, this other dimension would probably collapse even earlier.

What was even more deadly was that Hao Ren had lost consciousness just now—Vivian turned her head to look at the man lying behind her. He had fallen headfirst from Hercules's body the moment he sealed the scepter. It was Lily who quickly jumped up and caught her landlord, so that the latter did not fall into the tide of monsters: the husky girl's heroic act must have been the result of practicing catching Frisbees.

And Lily's embarrassed appearance now was also a byproduct of this brave action.

"He's still in deep link state," the data terminal circled Hao Ren's head a few times. "Strange, strange, Hercules is already dead... Who is he connecting with now?!"

"Is he in danger?" Vivian immediately asked.

"No danger, this unit is soul-bound to him and can confirm that his mental world is safe."

Vivian breathed a sigh of relief, but Hesperides looked worriedly at the black tide that was constantly spreading: "In short, it's good as long as he's alive. Now the most important thing is these things in front of us... We must solve them before the situation completely gets out of control."

Lily became more and more anxious. Her eyes kept shifting between the black tide and Hao Ren. The current situation made her feel an unprecedented crisis. She now realized more than ever that Hao Ren had always been the backbone of the team. Any crisis and challenge seemed so insignificant when he was leading, and now that this man had lost consciousness for unknown reasons, she was completely at a loss.

Vivian looked up into the distance. The dark shadow continued to spread out, showing no signs of waning.

Nolan was starting up her artillery system, but now that everyone was trapped in this other dimension, and with Hao Ren unconscious, the spaceship didn't dare to fire its cannons casually due to the lack of protection from the shield array. What's more, this space-time could hardly withstand a second bombardment.

Lily licked Hao Ren's hand and found that he didn't respond. She raised her head again, but saw Vivian slowly floating into the air, and bursts of blood-colored whirlwinds were spreading from around her.

Lily was stunned: "Bat, Bat, what are you doing?"

Vivian didn't answer. She was just earnestly mobilizing this power that she hadn't used for a long time, recalling its control techniques little by little from the depths of her memory. Her long hair danced wildly without wind under the drive of magic, and every strand of hair was soaked with blood-red light.

And with the increasingly strong energy fluctuations, her figure gradually became blurred, as if some force had separated her from the reality of space-time.

A surge of heat spread from her blood vessels. Vivian almost felt that she had a beating heart: she felt that the energy in her body was throbbing, which gave her the illusion of a heartbeat, and this energy quickly became stronger, and soon became a huge burden—she frowned and began to grit her teeth to persevere.

Hesperides was stunned for a while, and finally remembered what this energy fluctuation meant from the depths of her memory. Her face changed drastically: "You're going to..."

"Do not look up at the sky, do not look directly at the moonlight."

Vivian's voice came from the air, and then a red beam of light that pierced the sky fell from the sky. Her figure was completely bathed in this original power so powerful that it could distort reality, as if she was wearing a blood-colored dress.

A red moon slowly rose.

This was a scene that was difficult to describe in words. Although Vivian had tried to summon the red moon once three years ago, her summon that time only lasted for a short time before being interrupted, and she also failed to use her full strength in that hasty summon. But this time, the real red moon was already in the air.

This summoned moon rose to the zenith and gradually expanded. This scene was as frightening as a celestial body falling to the earth, and the vague patterns and lines on the surface of the moon gradually became clear as the lunar surface expanded. These lines, filled with great power, were full of energy. When they shone, the entire heaven and earth were instantly filled with a distant and mysterious echo, like a bell.

The first chime rang, and the moonlight shone on the earth.

The second chime rang, and all the servants of darkness couldn't help but look up at the sky. In the moonlight, they quickly dissipated like phantoms.

The third chime rang, and everything in heaven and earth returned to balance and order.