Zagreus urgently lifted his head to scan his surroundings.

Death accompanied darkness, and Zagreus was a god who wandered that darkness, so this pitch-black situation held no fear for him.

Though it was said nothing could be seen, his eyes that could penetrate darkness saw through everything hidden within it.

If his eyes couldn’t see anything, it meant there truly was nothing there.

“…Livia.”

Zagreus spread his wings and flew up, following Livia’s voice. Her voice, which came through as vividly as if whispering in his ear, urged him on.

“Hic, hic… huuk!”

“Livia…!”

The sound of crying that seemed to choke on breath echoed throughout. Since this was Livia’s dream, this urgent crying meant something must have happened to her.

Zagreus, his heart racing, frantically flapped his wings as he flew toward the source of the sound.

It seems to be coming from around here…. Where exactly is she? Why is she crying like that? Surely that bastard who took Livia hadn’t done something cruel to her out of anger…

“Hic, ugh… ah, nng…! Aah!”

At that moment, Zagreus’s frantically flapping wings stopped.

In his frozen ears, Livia’s moans mixed with crying became increasingly clear.

“Ahh, huu… T-Triton…! Haah! Good, yes, good… Ah!”

Unrestrained panting, sensual moans, and a voice that seemed to secretly urge on came together with the sound of surging waves.

Incredibly, at some point, the black sea beneath his feet was crashing with explicit and erotic intent.

The meaning of this was all too clear.

Though Zagreus had stayed only in the underworld and had almost no contact with the opposite s*x, he wasn’t so foolish as to not understand these kinds of sounds.

Not tears of sorrow, but tears of pleasure.

‘…Ha. So this was it.’

Zagreus glared into the empty air while gritting his teeth.

No wonder he felt it was too easy to enter the dream – this had been the plan.

‘That cunning bastard didn’t fail to block me. He deliberately didn’t block my entry.’

A hollow laugh escaped through his twisted lips. Though he glared into the empty air with a pale face, he couldn’t be shocked by just this.

After all, that weak flesh was a product of the living world. There was nothing wrong with mixing bodies for pleasure. What Zagreus despised was forcing oneself upon another and forcibly planting seed within, not the act itself.

“Filthy bastard.”

Zagreus criticized him harshly, his throat vibrating. Then came the sound of surging seawater, followed by Triton’s laughter.

The feeling that he was mocking Zagreus’s situation made his anger surge even more, but he endured it while gritting his teeth.

‘Fine. It’s enough that I’ve confirmed Livia is safe.’

Another chance would come later, so it would be wiser to wait for that time. Just as Zagreus was suppressing his rising anger and trying to leave the dream.

“Hold me, Triton…”

While until now it had been just moans, this time it was a whisper in a voice hoarse and mixed with metal.

Clear desire lingered in the sobbing voice…

Livia’s voice buzzing in his ears felt like it was scraping Zagreus’s insides.

‘Ah, Livia…. Have you truly taken him into your heart.’

Zagreus closed his eyes with a pale face, sighing. He felt irritation rising at the fact that he had completely lost her before he could even begin anything.

Beyond the burning anger and rage in his heart lay a complete sense of defeat toward the man who had humiliated him.

Nevertheless, he could barely maintain his reason because he believed that death was ultimately the destination of all life.

So you, Livia, must eventually abandon him and come to me.

Unless one became a god, all humans – everything living – was destined to come to death anyway.

“My god.”

However, his composure shattered at Livia’s next words. His wings frozen in mid-air, he asked back with a frozen face before he knew it.

“What…? What did you just…”

As if responding to his question, Livia’s voice, drenched in strange excitement, followed.

“My, only, god…”

In an instant, Zagreus’s mind went white.

Livia’s voice, acknowledging only one being, clawed at something inside Zagreus. Probably his pride. Or hope, or something of that sort.

Though his mood had become as messy and thrown into mud, it didn’t matter anymore.

He who had been frozen like ice gritted his teeth. Thick veins rose above his hardened jawline.

Finally, unable to contain his anger, Zagreus raised his hand high into the empty air. Black clouds gathered in the sky that had been only darkness, and instantly, massive lightning bolts struck down toward the black sea.

Crackle! Rumble! Rumble!

The power of lightning tingled as it flowed through his fingertips. The entire sea churned in the raging storm. Zagreus struck dozens of lightning bolts toward where he sensed their presence.

Golden currents seeped into the surging sea. Though most dissipated, he struck hundreds of lightning bolts without pause, making the sea’s surface flash with electricity.

“Hah, hah, haah….”

This was the first time he had used so much power in another’s domain. As a result, he failed to keep his promise not to draw attention due to poor power control, but he had no regrets. His hands tingled as if they were burning up. But he still wasn’t satisfied. Because beyond the violently surging waves, he could still hear that damned sea god’s laughter.

Just then, as he glared across the sea with blazing eyes, a giant shark leaped toward Zagreus from the electricity-flashing waters.

“…!”

It was closer to a mountain than a mere beast. Hundreds of teeth protruding like thorns in its wide-open mouth approached Zagreus relentlessly.

Zagreus, who had been dazed, only came to his senses when the giant shark, undoubtedly Triton’s avatar, came close, and hurriedly backed away. At that moment, a sudden strong wind broke Zagreus’s wings.

“Kuhp…!”

“You’re not the only one who can control storms above the sea.”

As the staggering Zagreus fell downward, once again the shark leaped out of the water and bit his wings. However, Zagreus, who had been prepared, wasn’t going down without a fight.

Slash!

The tiger claws he had ready scraped across the shark’s cheek. Though the skin was too thick to penetrate deeply, he could leave a long line of blood.

“…Not bad.”

But what came back was only a voice that seemed to find it laughable. Zagreus tried to charge at the shark again, bringing out wing upon wing, but a whirlwind sweeping across the sea pushed him back.

“Your business is done, so get lost”

The entire sea churned as the sky split, and strong winds began to drive Zagreus away from that place.

Even though he had entered through Morpheus’s powder, there was a difference in the influence that could be wielded compared to one who had been formally allocated the dream domain by its owner.

Moreover, if they continued to disturb this ownerless dream like this, there was a high risk of negatively affecting Livia’s mind, who was the actual owner of this domain. That’s why he was trying to drive Zagreus out at this point.

“It would be better if you never crawl into Livia’s dreams again. That is, if you don’t want your underworld turned into a water hell.”

The sharp voice clawed at Zagreus’s ears, but he had already been completely pushed out of the dream and had no chance to retort. His body, instantly sucked back to its place, was once again trapped in the underground darkness of Tartarus.

…Damn it, damn it, damn it!

Zagreus, breathing heavily, struck the ground and roared like an enraged beast.

“Uwaaaaagh!!!”

The bottom of hell boiled at his thunderous roar.

“Huk! W-what’s this! Did the underworld explode?! Is it war?!”

Morpheus, who had been sleeping soundly in the darkness, suddenly raised his head in shock from within his wings, but there was only one enraged beast with a broken wing.