Chapter 20: Clash of the gods (REWRITTEN)

Hades teleported them to an area that was similar to a solar system, except that instead of planets, it had asteroids.

The area was abundant with the essence of the law of gravity, this could be seen from how over 15 planet-sized asteroids were orbiting around a giant star-sized asteroid.

'The absurdities one sees in the universal sea, huh?'

Hades heaved a sigh as he moved to dodge the floating orbs of pure magic power that were occasionally shooting out beams of pure light from them.

**BOOOMMMM!!!

The asteroid he was on was consigned to oblivion as his assailants who had recomposed themselves, attacked simultaneously.

Hades knew he did not have the leeway to be worried about his artifact's charges and placed it back in his subspace before blocking the scythe filled with death attributed divinity that came slicing down from above with one of his swords.

**SWISH!!

**CLANG!!

As he was not going all out for various reasons, Hades knew he was going to have quite a hard time dealing with these gods.

Sighing once more, he rose his empty hand that was previously holding the orb and fired basic dark magic; dark bullet spells, towards Gollmiran.

Even if the magic was basic, the one casting it was definitely not. A single bullet that managed to hit Gollmiran, nearly severed his wrist from the rest of his arm.

"Guh!"

He grunted in pain as he retreated, giving way for the god of space to carry out his attacks. Snapping his fingers, the space god sent all of Hades' dark bullets back to him, causing them to hit him right in the face with no time to dodge.

Another god who excelled in close combat sneaked into Hades' reach and sent a punch filled with magic power to his chest.

**BAM!!

**BOOM!!

An omnidirectional shockwave was released as Hades was sent flying towards another at a speed that dwarfed that of sound.

|Authority of Flames: Flame Gospel|

As those words were spoken, a tornado of flames, enhanced by divinity appeared and slammed into Hades.

**BOOMM!!!

The spinning tornado acted as if it was some kind of propeller and increased the speed of his fall, causing him to crash down on another asteroid, destroying more than half of it in the process.

|Hahahahahahaha!!!!!|

A boisterous laugh resounded as Hades got up from the broken asteroid's debris, almost unscathed. His injured were all superficial and they all healed while he was laughing.

|Good! You should be able to do at least this much or it would not be useful fighting you!|

His body size suddenly increased after he spoke, growing to over two meters tall. He then mimicked the magic god and summoned orbs of darkness that floated around him while firing beams of dark light at all the other gods except Gollmiran.

|Young god of death, you wanted to prove yourself, right? Come at me then.|

Gollmiran bellowed in rage as he turned into a streak of light, crossing the distance in less than half a second with his body also increasing in size to match Hades.

He brandished his scythe and swing it towards Hades who was thinking about how weightless the giant scythe seemed.

'Well, he is a superior stage high-tier deity, the weight is probably nothing to him.'

Pivoting on his foot, Hades rose his first sword in an attempt to parry the attack and have the orbs of darkness fire a few beans of light to his unguarded body, however, just as the scythe came into contact with the sword, it glowed slightly before phasing through the first sword with ease.

Hades had already expected something like this to happen, after all, the weapon of a god would definitely not be ordinary.

It was bound to have a few strange abilities and although encountering one with a refraction ability was rare, he had already prepared for it as his second sword moved towards the scythe.

**CLANG!!!

Shocked by the unexpectedly high recoil, Hades gritted his teeth and redirected the scythe as much as he could.

**BOOM

With enough force to shatter the remaining half of the asteroid they were on, the scythe crashed onto the ground. The impact made Hades lose his footing but a being on his level was well-versed in the art of flying, he just commanded the orbs of darkness to fire as his body naturally floated in space.

'Oh...fuck.'

Hades cursed internally as he looked at Gollmiran's body, only to see that the beams of dark light he fired barely did anything to his actual body despite penetrating his armour.

Gollmiran grinned and reached out for Hades' head. Obviously, Hades was not going to let him have his way easily so he instantly increased the distance between them, inadvertently giving Gollmiran's followers, who could not attack earlier due to fear of friendly fire, a wonderful chance they could not miss.

[Authority of Ice]

The magic god called out as chains of ice manifested and bound Hades' body in place. The chains then latched onto a nearby asteroid as the god who was on that asteroid, ran up the chains with a sword in hand, intending on delivering a fatal blow to Hades.

|Tsk...|

The sword-wielding god clicked his tongue as he jumped off the chain, just in time to escape the burst of black flames that hades released from his body.

Surprisingly, the ice did not melt immediately as Hades had expected.

|Surprised? Do you want to know why?|

The magic god asked as he clenched his fist, causing the ice-freezing Hades' body to increase. Another god then created a giant palm made of pure light magic and slapped Hades' body towards another asteroid.

***KABOOOOOOMMMMM!!!!

**BOOOOMM!!

Hades smashed through the first and shattered it to pieces before crashing on another and breaking a quarter of it off. More chains of ice and metal burst out of the ground and wrapped around him, keeping him on the ground long enough for another god to attack.

Even if he regenerated the damage he took from the ice and smashing through the asteroids, it was fine for them because they could attack again, after all, they were ten and he was one.

They had the advantage in numbers and were using it well seeing as two others were charging up powerful long-range attacks.

A god with a cloning ability landed on the asteroid Hades was chained to and dashed towards him alongside his clones, with weapons in hand before slashing down on him at light speed.

[Authority of Flames]

Black fire burst out of Hades' body, melting the ice and metal instantly as he snapped his head in the direction of the real body out of the numerous clones.

|Fool, Did you think I would be tricked by mere clones?|

His calm voice rang out as he kicked off the ground and blitzed towards the true body. Understanding that the plan they had was a bust, another god summoned a boy and nocked multiple arrows before firing them towards Hades.

**SWOOOSH!!!!! SWOOSHHHH!!! SWOOOOOSSSHHH!!!!

The arrows all flew towards Hades' vitals but his body flickered away as he dodged them with ease. He then reappeared behind the clone god and slashed towards his neck, only to have his sword blocked by a scythe that dropped down from above.

[Authority of Shadows]

Gollmiran activated an authority but Hades flicked his fingers and a dome of darkness suddenly surrounded the duo.

Multiple magic and divinity-based attacks were instantly launched towards the dome, breaking it almost immediately but Hades was nowhere to be found after it broke.

Gollmiran narrowed his eyes as he turned towards the direction of the close combat god and shouted.

|Your left!|

Understanding what Gollmiran meant, he instantly turned and threw an ether-filled punch towards his left as the bow god nocked multiple arrows to fire in that direction too.

Hades' body flickered into view as he threw his sword towards the bow god and used his now empty hand to catch the fist aimed at his face.

**BOOMMM!!

A small shockwave was generated from the clash as they were both pushed back a few meters. Gollmiran appeared at Hades' back and slashed multiple times with his scythe which glowed in an ominous red aura.

|That doesn't look good.|

Hades spoke as he released a burst of divinity to disperse the aura before turning around and using his sword to block each slash one by one.

He rose up his second hand and motioned for his second sword to return, however, the space god who had been strangely silent, snapped his fingers and the sword was teleported elsewhere.

[Authority of Space: Void Hole]

[Authority of Slaughter: Slaughter's sword]

Two authorities were activated by both the space god and another of his companions as a blood-red aura suddenly wrapped around the three gods surrounding Hades.

Their attacks became twice as destructive as before and each one dealt a significant portion of soul damage.

The close combat god punched forward, sending a fistful of red and gold divinity towards Hades, the bow god fired multiple arrows filled with both green ether and a tinge of red while Gollmiran's scythe released slashes that threatened to lop off Hades' head.

Since Hades was withholding most of his strength, it was taking his all just to deal with the three of them, as such, he could not dodge when a wormhole suddenly appeared behind him and sucked him, alongside the three attacks from the gods surrounding him.

***PLOP!!!

Another wormhole appeared a short distance away and Hades' body was spat out from within. His illusory armour was cracked all over and golden blood flowed from the various wounds on his body.

The space god flicked his fingers once more as all ten gods appeared around Hades and launched attacks simultaneously.

'Just a little more, I'm getting the hang of it.'

[Authority of Darkness]

Hades finally used his main authority as darkness poured out of his body and formed a dome around him that protected him.

Multicoloured strands of energy entered his body as his wounds began healing visibly. He ran a hand through his hair and wiped the blood off his face before pouring this multicoloured energy into his sword.

'Let's go boys.'

The dark dome shattered at the same time the asteroid could not bear the weight of the gods' simultaneous attacks and five blades appeared midair and floated around him.

This was the result of his sword's ability, it would have five blades appear before contact ad attack the enemy five times with his base strength. For each successful hit, a part of the enemy's power would be converted into magic and used to heal his wounds.

A small shield of darkness hovered around Hades as he sent out three sword slashes from each blade in his hands.

Three unlucky gods were hit by these slashes, alongside the five others that the swords' ability provided. Gollmiran then appeared in front of Hades and used his scythes refraction to phase through Hades' mobile shield of darkness.

His attack almost hit but Hades turned around and blocked it with his sword, the resulting clash generated large shockwaves that pushed the other gods around them back by a few thousand meters.

[Authority of Death: Withering]

With Gollmiran activating his authority that allowed him to suck out the life force of his target, causing them to shrivel and die, Hades' swords began to crack slightly.

It did not affect Hades as a coat of ambient multicoloured energy that could not be perceived by Gollmiran surrounded his body and protected him from the effects.

'Tsk...Despite his attitude, he's still a genuine god of death huh? My authority of death isn't as strong as his so I'd counter with my main.'

|Corrosion|

With that command word, the already active authority of darkness siphoned Hades' energy as it began corroding any and everything around him.

From Gollmiran's scythe to Gollmiran's hands holding it and to the space around them.

Gollmiran sensed the danger and backed away instantly, causing Hades to let out a small laugh as he conjured various barriers of darkness to block the array of flames, ice, and lightning that came from behind.

'Let's start rounding up.'

Hades thought that as he filled his sword with enough divinity to reduce the entire asteroid belt they were into nothing before releasing waves of corrosion.

One unfortunate god was not fast enough to dodge and his entire lower half was caught by the corroding darkness.

Hades was not one to let that opportunity go so he blitzed towards the god at a speed that made light seem slow.

Before the space god could teleport him to safety, his head had already rolled off his neck.

Hades' sword met no resistance as if it were a knife being used to cut butter, except in this case, the butter was the neck of a god in the superior stage of the mid-tier deity realm.

Before the life went out of the eyes of the god he just beheaded, Hades did something he normally would not.

[Authority of Death: Soul Invitation]

This was an ability used by gods of death to retrieve souls who were escaping judgement, trying to break out of the system of reincarnation or those who tried to return to life through improper means.

However, in battle, it could also be used to retrieve the souls of incapacitated enemies.

Gollmiran was very familiar with this and he felt nothing but pure rage after seeing it used on one of his followers. He knew the pain of having one's soul ripped out of their body was enormous, even more so for a god with a great amount of life force.

Even if he was beheaded, he would still have a chance of survival if the protective Layers on his soul were still present but Hades cut that lifeline by using soul preservation.

After all, soul preservation took out the actual soul, after destroying the layers of divinity protecting it.

|GAAAAAAAAAAAA!!!!!!!!!||

The screams of the god rang out in the ears of the remaining nine, causing them to lose all restraint.

|You damned!!!|

***HUMMMMMMM!!!!

***CRACKLE!!!!

***SWOOSHHHH!!!!

Stellar-scale magic and divinity-based attacks, empowered by authorities of many kinds, flew out at speeds incomparable to before. Hades retrieved the soul and moved away quickly, even still, he was hit by multiple attacks.

|All of you, Zone combination. Now!|

Gollmiran ordered and they all obeyed, deploying a mobile version of their holy territory; their Zones.

They were supposed to use this at the start but they felt Hades would not require them to go to such lengths. The death of one of them, however, changed their minds.

In a god's zone, all enemies entrapped within had their power reduced greatly as the owner of the Zone experienced the opposite. Combining Zones increased the weakening and strengthening effects depending on how many gods did this.

'Fuck!'

Entrapping Hades in their combined zones weakened him as he cursed inwardly while trying to dodge the attacks coming towards him.

|Spatial Lock|

His movements suddenly halted and he didn't need to be an Einstein to figure out the reason why. The space god had locked the space Hades was in, preventing him or anything in it from moving.

This would normally not hold him in place for long but the Zone's weakening effect caused it to hold him in place long enough for the giant meter-long arrows of divinity to crash into his body.

****BOOOOOMMMMMM!!!!!!!!!!

Hades released a burst of divinity as he escaped from the locked space. He felt a great deal of heat behind him, only to turn around and see a giant flaming meteor heading towards him at breakneck speed.

Darkness poured out of his body to form multiple shields but the gods would not let that happen so easily.

Two gods in their true forms slashed and punched at him simultaneously, drawing golden blood from him as the force of their combined attacks sent his body propelling towards the meteor.

[Authority of Proliferation]

***KKKKKAAAAAAAAABBBBBBBOOOOOOOOOOOMMMMMMM!!!!!!

The entire asteroid belt was destroyed due to the resulting, amplified explosion that lit up the slightly dark space, save the giant asteroid in the centre that acted like a star.

Gollmiran flew into the explosion as he fired multiple magic missiles imbued with the authority of death's withering.

Hades was hit by these missiles as his body was sent flying into the giant star-sized asteroid.

'Got it.'

Right before he crashed into it, his face revealed a wry smile as his body trembled slightly.

**BOOOM!!!!

The gods wanted to finish him off but Hades had already decided to stop playing around as he would be in mortal danger if he held back any longer.

****SWOOOOOOSSSHHHHHH!!!!!

A burst of aura was released from Hades' body as his divinity levels increased exponentially. Enormous amounts of energy swirled around him as his body rose from the ground.

***CCCRACKKKKKK!!!

To the gods' shock, their combined zone was shattered as they felt backlash and spat out blood while grunting in pain.

Gollmiran was shocked as he felt his strength leave his body, he did not care about the loss of power but instead about the reason the zone was broken.

One of the few reasons for such a thing happening, was if the god encountered a higher levelled existence than themselves.

Gollmiran looked up to see a five-meter-tall man wrapped in an armour of pure darkness with a jet-black great sword in his hands, atop his head rested the legendary artifact created by the three cyclops brothers; the 'Helm of Darkness: Kynee.'

At this point, Gollmiran knew, he had encountered that situation.

||Domain Declaration: Underworld||