The baby’s cry powerfully echoed throughout the golden palace, which had been sinking in heavy silence. A faint smile appeared on Livia’s face as she gasped, her face covered in sweat and blood.

‘Ah, my baby… You’re alive… You’re alive…’

Her body, now relaxed from the tension, began to collapse. Triton, with a face full of despair, firmly embraced Livia’s body as it was about to fall backward.

“No, no, no, no. Livia. No!!!”

Livia forced her closing eyes open to look at Triton. She could see the distorted face of the man who loved her and whom she loved.

Ah… how sorry she was.

She felt only sorrow and guilt for having to leave him like this, just when they had finally come to love each other.

My poor god…

“Tri… ton.”

“Livia! D*mn it! Live, Livia! I said live! You dare leave me? You’re going to leave me again like this? No, absolutely not. I won’t allow it!”

Triton desperately shouted, the veins in his neck bulging, as he held Livia’s body that grew colder by the moment.

Livia raised her wet hand to Triton’s cheek. Her powerless fingertips left a red trail on his pale white cheek.

“Listen… Triton. My… death is not… because of the child.”

“Even in this state, you still…!”

“Love, love… the child. As much as… I’m gone… Please… don’t make… the child… abandoned… like me.”

Livia knew Triton. She could see how this cold-blooded god would treat the child they had barely saved if she died like this. That couldn’t happen. It was our child… Your child…

“…This baby… is the only… trace I leave behind… So don’t… abandon it. Never.”

That was all she could say.

Livia, despite her self-deprecation, could no longer hold on. She felt too cold and sleepy. It seemed strange that her body wasn’t shivering despite the intense cold.

“Love… you…”

“Livia! No, Livia! Nooo!!!”

Her eyelids, which had appeared tired, slowly closed, seemingly unable to bear life any longer. The light faded from the brilliant green eyes that had seemed like they would shine forever behind those eyelids. The light of her soul had disappeared.

Triton’s screams grew more intense. Still holding Livia, he urgently cried out.

“I will give you a sixth trial, Livia Horn! Please don’t die. I command you to survive!”

Despite Triton’s desperate cry, Livia’s sixth task ended in failure.

Her body, from which the soul had begun to depart, slowly turned into sea foam starting from her feet. The black spell rooted in Livia’s heart also completely oxidized and scattered as her heart shattered, proving her death.

When a few bubbles of sea foam floated up before Triton’s eyes, his gaze also changed.

‘No, Livia!’

The first tears gathered in the bloodshot eyes of the god. Those tears that formed on the blue eyes swept by a tsunami of despair soon poured down his angry face.

He couldn’t let Livia go like this. He had barely held onto her, and now she was leaving his side again like this? In the agony of his heart being torn apart while still alive, Triton wailed.

You’re k*lling me while I’m still alive, Livia!

He absolutely couldn’t let her go like this. Even if it meant burning himself completely, Triton couldn’t lose Livia this way.

Triton’s unrefined power encircled Livia, who had begun turning into sea foam. It soon became a large barrier, containing Livia’s soul that tried to rise to the sky after breaking into foam.

He didn’t know how long he could hold out, but it didn’t matter.

“…No, Livia. I will never let you go.”

Until all his power oxidized, Triton would never permit this death.

***

Countless gods clung to the dim sky of the underworld. Many mobilized to firmly seal the gaps in the sky and ravines of the underworld that had connected to the sea.

Zagreus also took charge of repairing one of the damaged gaps. Though no one had ordered him to do so, he had voluntarily joined the restoration work.

Hades said nothing to Zagreus.

No anger, no reproach, no comfort.

Zagreus seemed to hear more from his silence than from words. It gave him much to think about. At the same time, it also made his heart feel lighter.

Though born in the underworld and raised here all his life, he had always felt that he didn’t belong anywhere. Despised by his mother for his unholy birth, and always sensing an inevitable wall with his father.

But now he thought that perhaps all of that had been his own misconception.

“……”

Zagreus gazed in the direction of Hades’ palace and Persephone’s garden at its center.

When he had volunteered to escort Persephone to Demeter’s feast, Persephone had looked at him with mysterious eyes before allowing him to accompany her without saying much.

Even when commotion broke out at the feast, she had protected him. From Triton, and from Hera’s eyes.

What about Hades?

Zagreus looked down at the small pomegranate seed he clutched tightly in his hand. Despite knowing what would happen, Hades had given this to him. It seemed that he alone had felt a wall between them.

Perhaps… I was more important to them than I thought.

At that moment, something like a lukewarm flame sparked within Zagreus.

“Find your fire, Zagreus,”

Just as he raised his head, thinking he had heard Livia’s voice, he sensed someone urgently approaching. The moment he instinctively turned his head toward the sound.

Woof, woof!

A massive beast rushed toward him.

“You are…?”

The fully grown Cerberus urgently lowered its body before Zagreus and showed a sign of surrender. It indicated that it had no intention to attack.

Zagreus recognized this dog at once. It was the very Cerberus that had fearlessly charged at him to save Livia.

‘Why would Livia’s dog come to me…?’

As he glared at Cerberus with suspicious eyes, the beast, seemingly pressed for time, crawled to him on its knees and grabbed his clothes with its teeth, pulling urgently.

Even though it should have been afraid after being severely scolded during their first encounter, it pulled at his clothes without seeming to care at all, which concerned him.

“…Could something have happened already?”

It hadn’t even been half a day since Triton had taken Livia away. Then suddenly, he remembered how serious Livia’s condition had been just before he handed her over to Triton.

Could it be… that it was too late to treat Livia’s condition?

With this chilling thought, Zagreus raised Cerberus to its feet.

“If something has happened, guide me there immediately.”

The intelligent beast jumped up and instantly bounded away, pawing at the ground. Zagreus followed closely behind.

After the scenery changed several times, they finally reached the pathway where souls entered the underworld.

The beast led him to the gatekeepers guarding the entrance to the underworld. The sentinels recognized him and immediately knelt down in prostration.

“This Cerberus has led me here. Is there a soul it has been watching?”

At Zagreus’ words, the sentinels looked at each other and whispered among themselves before bringing one soul from among the tens of thousands lined up at the entrance to the underworld.

“Actually, this Cerberus kept barking at this soul, so we thought it strange and set it aside. In fact, we’ve never seen such an incomplete soul before…”

Zagreus looked at the soul they had brought.

No, could this even be called a soul?

From head to toe, everything appeared hazy and faint. At most, only one small foot was recognizable, and the rest was barely visible as outlines. However, the moment that leg moved, Zagreus couldn’t help but be startled.

Clank.

The clear sound of chains. And belatedly, the chains marking “One who harmed a god” that formed above the ankle.

“…Livia?”

Perhaps thanks to the chains, the form of the soul, of which only the ankle had been visible, became somewhat clearer.

Until crossing the gates of the underworld, souls retain the appearance they had just before death. And the moment they cross the gates of the underworld, souls recover their complete appearance from when they were alive.

So… this appearance now was this soul’s appearance “just before death.”

“Why, why in such a state…?”

The chest, stabbed and slashed with a knife, looked horrific. The appearance of having had the flesh torn out and the belly split open was not just hideous but pitiful—a sight that would make anyone frown.

The moment the surprised Zagreus touched the shoulder of the blurry soul, the soul’s memories transferred to him.

“…!”

The scene of death unfolded before his eyes. As the king of the dead and the future ruler of the underworld who governed souls, reading their memories came as easily as breathing for Zagreus.

After reading the entire process, Zagreus’ expression sank coldly. He turned the soul of Livia, whose form was barely visible, into a small orb in the palm of his hand and placed it in his chest.

“I will take care of this soul.”

Zagreus gave a brief command. The underworld sentinels were momentarily confused as this went against the rules, but soon they saw the bright red seal shining on Zagreus’ forehead and bowed their heads without protest.

The seal of the future ruler of the underworld, Hades’ successor, shone bright red, and now no one in the underworld could stop him.