Her heart sank at Triton’s question.

“Just feed this to Triton, and make him say he loves you.”

The witch’s voice invaded Livia’s mind.

She should tell him that just days ago, when he was absent, Echidna had slithered into the Golden Palace like a snake. Now would be the perfect time to ask for his help.

If she told him everything the witch had said and begged him to save Lete’s soul…

“What would be faster – him saving your brother, or my poison killing your brother? Hmm? If you don’t care, I don’t mind either. Like you said, he’s already dead, what difference does one more soul make?”

Echidna’s voice spread through Livia’s body like deadly venom.

She could feel Triton’s gentleness toward her. She knew that he, who claimed to hate humans, had loosened his reins only for her. When he called her his female, it seemed he felt some kind of attachment to her.

…But could that mean we’re in this together?

“Or perhaps you heard something about spells when you first made the contract with that woman.”

Was that gentle gaze and touch his true feelings? As the witch said, did he have even a little affection for her?

Triton had unhesitatingly called her mere entertainment. Perhaps even now he was just intoxicated by her body, pretending to be gentle while trying to embrace her generously in his good mood.

Asking him to save Lete carried different weight than begging to be taken to Demeter’s banquet. It was also too dangerous a gamble to risk Lete’s decaying soul.

Even if Triton agreed to help, if Echidna noticed and did something worse to Lete’s soul… then it would truly become irreversible.

Livia swallowed the words that tickled the tip of her tongue. The plea for help hung on her throat like claws before being dragged down.

Livia couldn’t carelessly gamble with her brother’s soul.

That child had already lost his life cruelly to hot flames. She couldn’t kill that poor, kind child twice.

With a heart full of regret for not being able to protect Lete while he was alive, she simply couldn’t do it.

“…No, there’s nothing. This is the first I’ve heard of it.”

…She couldn’t do it.

***

Kyaaaaaah!

Terrible screams erupted one after another in the dark blue forest along the River Styx.

In this place shunned even by crows, the gloomy forest that reeked of something more cruel than death was soaked with the blood of death’s warriors and nymphs.

Even for beings who couldn’t die even in death, for death’s nymphs who would be reborn as part of the underworld even after dying, being pierced and torn apart was an agony they wished to avoid.

Especially when the absolute ruler of the underworld and god of hunting had bared his claws in rage, how could they not be afraid?

They had to escape.

Before this worthless flesh was torn to shreds, just a little further, just a little faster!

“Aagh!”

But Zagreus’s wings were massive, his arrows sharp, and his claws mercilessly accurate in catching the prey’s nape.

“P-please spare…”

The nymph’s head, which had been crawling forward until the end, finally separated from its body. Black blood burst forth like a waterfall, splattering on the dirt and rocks. Above the dying black nymph’s body, a man with eagle’s wings, bear’s claws, and wolf’s legs shook the blood from his hands with an expressionless face.

The great god of hunting and Zeus’s bloodline, Persephone’s disgrace and Hades’s attachment…

A trail of black blood pools followed the footsteps of the man whose very existence was both sin and blessing.

No matter how much he hunted, his anger wouldn’t subside. His violently beating heart felt like it would burst from the heat. Zagreus clenched his teeth and squeezed his eyes shut.

He had lost ‘his’ right before his eyes.

The first warm thing he had ever held in his hands had slipped away into the cold sea. Even though he had marked her with his seal, it had been forcibly carved out. The more he thought about it, the more his rage boiled up, but he couldn’t find a way to calm down. That only amplified Zagreus’s anger.

What should I do? How can I make this anger subside…

Thick veins stood out on his sharp jaw from clenching his teeth so hard. Even sighing irritated him, so he just kept grinding his teeth.

He silently swallowed his curses and looked around the now-quiet forest. A forest where everything that could flee had fled, and everything that could die had died. He glared for a long while at the familiar yet unpleasant silence before turning his steps toward the trickling river.

His whole body was wet from being covered in black blood. He immersed himself in the water that had seeped out from the Styx’s stream and looked toward the rocks where he had once encountered Livia.

The first ‘living thing’ he had ever held in his hands. She who had glared and said she ‘hated gods’ even in the face of death…

With those eyes, after saying she hated gods like that, why did you end up in his grasp, Livia?

No, no. Zagreus immediately shook his head to deny the thought. Thinking about it, it wasn’t that Livia had entered his grasp, but rather that he had grabbed Livia and wouldn’t let go.

When he had whispered for her to come with him, Livia had clearly wavered. If he had just had a moment more, she would have taken his hand.

Zagreus was certain of this.

Dreams were reflections of the unconscious.

When he first met Livia, her dreams were full of green mountains, fields, and flocks of sheep. Into dreams where not even a small stream flowed, suddenly torrential rain poured down and schools of fish appeared. He had forcibly invaded her dreams.

However… in this dream, she was immersed in the sea. Though she was looking up at the sky, she didn’t seem to have any thought of escaping the sea.

Zagreus grew anxious. At this rate, his prey would completely fall into another predator’s hands.

When he closed his eyes, Livia’s image appeared clearly again. Her red hair wet with water, her confused expression before finally looking at him and reaching out her hand…

As the sensation of her barely brushing his palm came alive again, his anger surged once more.

“Damn water beast.”

Just as Zagreus was grinding his teeth and about to strike the water’s surface with his fist in uncontrollable anger, he heard the sound of someone holding their breath behind a rock by the river.

Zagreus’s eyes curved into a smile as he quietly stared at the rock.

“Looks like one little rat is still alive.”

He approached making splashing sounds in the water deliberately to frighten them. He could feel the breathing behind the rock growing more intense.

Just as he reached out to grab the rat’s nape, a black nymph grabbed his hand with both of hers and desperately pleaded.

“Please, spare me, spare me! Don’t kill me! This isn’t hunting, it’s massacre!”

Zagreus quietly observed the nymph holding his hand.

Though her skin was black, her eyes weren’t sewn shut. She seemed to be an illegitimate child between a death nymph and a lesser god.

“I don’t know why you’re so angry, but taking it out on us won’t solve anything! You already know this, don’t you? Find the cause, solve the cause. Please don’t do this, please. Stop…”

Whether she had resigned herself to death or thought she couldn’t avoid death anyway, the woman didn’t hide what she wanted to say despite trembling. She looked just like…

“It’s too horrible to be pushed around like this even after death.”

Like Livia.

Zagreus released his grip on the nymph’s nape. He retracted his claws to avoid hurting her and lifted her up by pure strength alone, carefully examining her appearance.

Though she had black skin, being of mixed blood, it wasn’t completely black. There were dark gleaming pupils in her unsewn eyes.

Though her appearance was slightly different due to her bloodline, she was still just a death nymph.

“P-please spare me. Please, spare my life. I don’t want to die.”

The nymph sobbed while thoroughly begging for mercy.

That weak appearance was unlike Livia and he almost lost interest, but the way she glanced around looking for a chance to escape caught Zagreus’s attention.

“How amusing that a death nymph, who leads countless souls to oblivion, begs not to die herself.”

“T-that’s…”

“You called it massacre? Very well. Then I’ll grant you alone the honor of being prey rather than massacre victim.”

“…!”

“Run away, as far as you can. Or try hiding thoroughly.”

Zagreus released his grip on the nymph. Seeing that Zagreus remained still, the trembling nymph seemed to realize it wasn’t a lie and hurriedly ran away.

Zagreus stood still, quietly looking up at the sky. The nymph’s words weren’t wrong.

He needed to find and solve the cause of this anger. Then he would need to know what the cause of the anger was…

Losing something he intensely wanted for the first time right before his eyes. Absentmindedly letting his marked prey be stolen. Being frustrated that he couldn’t freely leave this underworld without justification…

Then, if he gained the right to come and go from this place freely without justification… wouldn’t that solve some of this frustrating feeling?

Right, right…

Lightning flashed brightly in Zagreus’s eyes.

With a lightened expression, he emerged from the river and walked in the direction the death nymph had disappeared. Even without running, his wolf legs instantly pushed off the ground and moved forward. His sharpened sense of smell accurately tracked the prey’s scent.

When he had gone somewhat deep into the forest, Zagreus drew his bow.

“I’ll show mercy since you helped clear my head.”

He pulled the bowstring while muttering generously.

“I’ll give you a painless death.”

The arrow cut through the wind and flew across the forest without hesitation. Far, farther. The poison arrow struck the small back that was hurriedly running away.

There was a cry of “Ack!” and the sound of a small body collapsing to the ground, but Zagreus walked on without paying attention.

His now-composed gaze was fixed on the palace of Hades, ruler of the underworld.