Livia’s body and soul were completely shattered.

Triton kept her, now turned to sea foam, trapped inside a giant air bubble, refusing to let her go. However, one thing troubled his mind: a few pieces of sea foam that had escaped due to his delayed response… If her soul had been carried in those fragments, complete recovery would likely be difficult.

But that would only matter if he could bring Livia back to life.

“Hecate. I’ve heard there are spells that can resurrect the dead.”

“That’s…”

Hecate, who was holding the baby wrapped in a blanket, shook her head heavily at Triton’s words.

“That’s… impossible. Magic fundamentally bases itself on ‘life.’ If magic could resurrect the dead, wouldn’t Zeus have been the first to resurrect all his deceased lovers? I cannot use such magic on Livia, who has neither body nor soul left.”

“I’ve heard that great magic requires great sacrifices. Zeus never even attempted it because he had no intention of sacrificing himself for mere lovers. But I’m different. I would sacrifice anything to bring Livia back to life.”

His refined voice showed that he fully understood what he was saying. The eyes of the man ready to sacrifice ‘anything’ gazed passionately at Livia, who had turned to sea foam.

Though both her body and soul had shattered beyond recognition, Triton refused to give up. No, he couldn’t give up. Faced with this eerie obsession, Hecate anxiously comforted the baby in her arms, who hadn’t even cried.

“I don’t care what form she takes. Even if she has no legs, or is half-human and half-beast, as long as she’s still Livia, that’s all that matters. If there’s even the slightest possibility of bringing her back… I am prepared to do anything.”

His eyes glowed red as he muttered bleakly. With eyes resembling tears of blood, he gripped his trident and stared at Hecate.

“So if there is a way, please tell me. If a price must be paid, I will pay whatever it takes.”

“…Triton.”

Hecate felt dizzy and at a loss for words. Seeing the god who looked ready to commit some terrible act made her feel suffocated.

Magic works only on living things.

Even Hecate herself cannot touch that which has crossed the boundary of death. That is the domain of those who deal with death.

“You said life is the foundation… Wouldn’t a god’s immortality be a powerful enough source to accomplish anything?”

Triton spoke as he placed the trident he was holding against his own neck. The surprised Hecate stepped forward and cried out.

“Are you saying you’ll kill yourself…!”

“I’m only saying I would give up my immortality, not extinguish my life. What use would it be if I died and Livia lived? Either we both die, or we both live.”

As Triton grimly smiled and was about to swing his trident, a black line appeared in the air, and a snow-white hand with black nails reached out to grab Triton’s wrist.

“Our underworld is no place for a reckless god like you.”

The god of the underworld with black wings stood in Triton’s way.

A cold light flickered in Triton’s eyes at Zagreus’s sudden appearance. He forcefully pushed away Zagreus’s hand that was gripping his wrist and spoke in a voice lowered with anger.

“Go back, Death. You will never take my wife!”

Zagreus looked over Triton’s shoulder and swallowed a sigh of lamentation.

He could see the soul turned to sea foam, trapped in the giant air bubble. The sight of Livia, whose body had melted away and whose soul had turned to foam, painfully clawed at Zagreus’s eyes.

He had been at the ignition point of Echidna’s second spell hidden in her heart, the spell that was completed by her saying she loved Triton.

Even without Zagreus, the spell would have erupted eventually. But he couldn’t say he was entirely blameless for her ending up like this without any preparation.

No, perhaps he was just using his guilt as an excuse to justify his current actions.

“Find your fire, Zagreus.”

Though Livia had never given him even a grain of her heart, her words remained in Zagreus’s mind and awakened him.

His feelings for Livia had been one-sided from beginning to end. Livia had neither the duty nor the responsibility to return the heart Zagreus had given her.

Nevertheless, he didn’t resent or dislike Livia because the experience of pouring his heart into something for the first time had broadened the world of the isolated Zagreus.

“I will protect my child.”

Perhaps Livia had been prepared to sacrifice herself from the moment she uttered those words.

It was truly remarkable determination. The more he thought about it, she was no ordinary woman. It was an extraordinary temperament that had surprised so many gods despite being in a mere human body.

‘I was lukewarm about everything, so perhaps it was only natural that I was captivated by someone like you.’

Zagreus smiled self-deprecatingly and turned back to Triton.

“I have not come here as a guardian of death.”

The blue eyes, filled with wariness, narrowed, seemingly questioning what he meant. Zagreus stood before him, drawing blood from his finger as he spoke.

“You said you would do anything if it could save her, Triton? That any form would be fine?”

“…What are you saying?”

“I will use the unique power possessed only by the ruler of the underworld who governs death. I will restore the broken body and resurrect this soul from death to send it back.”

Hecate drew in a breath at Zagreus’s words. Something impossible even for the goddess of magic, but possible for the king of the underworld who governs death.

‘Resurrection’…!

“However… as my power will be infused, my traces will remain on her body.”

Triton’s gaze wavered momentarily at Zagreus’s words, but only for an instant. If enduring a few traces was all it would take to resurrect Livia, how could such a thing matter?

As Triton nodded, Zagreus’s blood rose into the air.

When the blood covered the glowing red seal of Hades on his forehead, a dark, destructive power stretched out toward Livia, who had turned to sea foam.

“Triton.”

Triton needed to remove the barrier for Zagreus’s power to fully reach inside. Following his signal, Triton released the power that had been containing Livia.

Zagreus’s dark power enveloped the sea foam, which was trying to go to the underworld according to natural law, like a fine-meshed net, and began to gather it into one.

This first and last attempt…

Cold sweat ran down Zagreus’s forehead. Having not yet completed the full succession ceremony, using this power was still too much for him. But that didn’t mean he couldn’t try.

‘Someday, in the distant future, there might be a day when I regret saving you.’

If he left Livia to die now, she would face death as a human and come to the underworld…

But the Livia he would hold then would never be the human woman he had longed for.

Livia, you told me to find my fire.

No, rather, I will become your fire. If I cannot hold you in my hands, I will become an eternal fire mark on your soul, remaining as an indelible trace.

That was the way Zagreus had found to give up Livia and move forward.

Zagreus’s power, which had been rippling darkly, succeeded in restoring Livia’s soul and body into a single form.

Triton’s heart leaped at the sight of her clean and whole form, without a single torn wound anywhere.

“Livia…!”

Livia’s snow-white body, with her bright red hair spread like a blanket, was laid on the floor.

Zagreus passed a piece of soul that he had carefully carried from the underworld into her lips. A faint light seeped through her lips and deep into her throat.

Though her body appeared complete, her pale complexion remained as cold as a corpse, and her breath had not yet returned.

Zagreus carefully caressed her still-cold cheek with the feeling that this was the last time, then slowly stepped back.

Something important still remained. The final step was for Triton, who could do anything for Livia and was what Livia wanted most.

“This body with a completely shattered heart needs a new heart. You… understand what that means, right?”

Though he had completely restored Livia’s body from sea foam, even Zagreus could not do anything about the parts that had disappeared due to Echidna’s spell. The empty heart had to be filled for this body to be complete.

Triton realized what Zagreus’s words meant and his eyes lit up. Without hesitation, he split open his chest and cut half of his vigorously beating heart.

He wanted to give her his entire heart, but Livia’s small body could not possibly handle all of Triton’s heart, which was imbued with immense divine power.

He pushed the cut-out heart deep into Livia’s chest. Fortunately, Livia’s body seemed to accept his heart without difficulty.

Watching this scene, Hecate’s eyes flashed in wonder.

‘Could this be…’

Was this not exactly the prophecy that the goddesses of fate had whispered about!

The red-haired human shall split the heart of the sea!

Their words had come true. How far had fate foreseen all of this? Hecate shuddered, her body covered in goosebumps.

A few seconds that felt like millions of years passed. Even the baby, who should have been crying and whining, kept its mouth tightly shut and watched its surroundings with bright blue eyes…

With a thump, Livia’s body shook.