The God of Underworld-Chapter 40: Sky, Sea, Magic, and Time

The ruins of the temple trembled as Hecate’s eyes narrowed at Cronus. Dark purple aura flared up from her body, forming into thick mist, as she prepared to launch an attack.

She lifted her hand, and the mist swirled, glowing with immense destructive energy.

Without a word, she unleashed it.

A barrage of destruction magic—raw, unfiltered, and absolute—rained down upon Cronus.

Each blast was powerful enough to erase existence itself, the very fabric of reality screaming as it twisted under the force of her magic.

But Cronus?

He merely waved his scythe.

Time itself unraveled.

Before the attacks could even reach hum, they ceased to exist—as if they had never been cast in the first place.

Cronus exhaled, unimpressed.

"Your power, magic was it? It is indeed formidable, but do you not understand?" His eyes gleamed. "I wield time itself."

Then, he swung his scythe again.

The world froze.

The entire battlefield stilled, everything locked in a single moment of time.

Hecate, was frozen in place.

Cronus stepped forward, studying her.

"It is over." His voice was calm, almost disappointed. "No matter how powerful you are, you are still bound by the laws of time. Even gods cannot move beyond it."

But then...

A crack formed in the stillness.

A faint glow pulsated from Hecate’s body.

And then...

The world shattered.

Time...

Collapsed.

Cronus’ eyes widened in shock as the frozen world around them broke apart like fragile glass.

And there stood Hecate, breathing heavily. Her eyes burned with exhaustion, but she remained standing, her aura still flaring with power.

Cronus was silent for a moment.

Then, he smiled.

"Interesting." He stepped forward, eyes gleaming with curiosity.

"How did you do it?" he asked. "How did you escape my time lock?"

Hecate, still panting, simply glared at him.

She did not answer.

Cronus chuckled. "Ah, I see. A trick you do not wish to share? No matter, I’ll figure it out soon enough."

He lifted his scythe once more.

"Let us continue, Witch of the Crossroads."

As he was about to attack, his eyes narrowed as he felt two oppressive presence arriving.

Then, with a roar of thunder, Zeus came down from the heavens, lightning coiled around his body.

And with a shake of the earth, Poseidon emerged from the ground, bringing forth water that was released from below.

They stood in front of Hecate, who was still showing signs of exhaustion.

They stared straight at Cronus’ eyes.

The sky crackled with lightning, the earth rumbled as if the sea itself was roaring beneath the ground.

"Never thought I’d see the day you’d look so defeated." Zeus joked, chuckling at Hecate.

"Guess Cronus was too much for you huh." Poseidon joined in.

The two of them have been insulted and looked down on by Hecate before. They couldn’t even argue because Hecate was powerful and has never been defeated, but now, they can have a little payback.

"...shut it." Hecate took a deep breath, as her body finally recovered.

Cronus let out an annoyed grunt, rolling his shoulders.

"You two should have stayed where you were," he muttered. "No matter. I’ll end you all at the same time."

He took a step forward, his mere presence distorting time itself.

Then, right before their eyes, he vanished.

With a speed faster than even time, he was already in front of them.

And, with a blur of movement, a deadly arc of his scythe flashing toward them.

Zeus and Poseidon’s instincts screamed as they moved to block.

Hecate also erupted layers upon layers of defensive magic, intending to stop the attack.

But pain erupted across Zeus and Poseidon’s bodies before they could even react.

Golden ichor sprayed into the air.

Zeus clutched his side, Poseidon staggered back, a deep gash running across his chest.

Hecate’s eyes widened in horror.

"Damn it," she cursed, hands glowing with magic as she rushed to heal them.

Cronus smirked.

"Futile." His voice was casual, almost mocking. "That was attack I sent to the past. The act of swinging is merely a formality, I have already cut you down before I even attack you."

Zeus gritted his teeth. "Tch—this bastard...!"

Poseidon wiped the blood from his mouth, eyes cold. "Annoying ability."

Hecate finished healing them, though sweat dripped from her forehead.

"Be careful," she warned. "We don’t know how much control he has over his domain."

Zeus and Poseidon exchanged a glances, and nodded at each other.

A sudden boom of energy erupted as they unleashed their divine weapons.

Zeus’ Lightning Bolt crackled with golden arcs of destruction.

Poseidon’s Trident gleamed with the might of the endless ocean.

Cronus chuckled.

"Come, then." He spread his arms. "Show me your worth."

Zeus struck first.

A pillar of lightning erupted from his hand, tearing through the air like the judgment of the heavens.

At the same time, Poseidon thrust his trident forward, summoning colossal waves that rose like living titans, aiming to swallow Cronus whole.

BOOM!

The battlefield shattered.

Mount Othrys quaked, the very foundations of the Titans’ stronghold trembling beneath the force of the attack.

But Cronus merely smiled.

With a single step, he vanished.

In an instant, he was behind them.

His scythe swung.

Zeus barely twisted in time to raise his lightning bolt, blocking the attack, but the force sent him crashing through mountains.

Poseidon reacted instantly, spinning his trident in a defensive arc, creating a barrier of divine water.

Cronus’ scythe cut through it effortlessly.

A thin line of gold appeared on Poseidon’s cheek before the pain even registered.

Hecate raised her hands, chanting a powerful spell.

Endless streams of shadow hands emerged from the abyss, trying to pull the Titan King into depths of Underworld.

But Cronus merely lifted a finger.

The hands decayed.

Time itself had been reversed, returning them to their unformed state.

Cronus turned to her. "Impressive, but futile."

Hecate did not falter. "We’ll see about that."

Zeus returned with a roar, flying through the air, his entire body wreathed in thunder.

"DIE!"

A titanic lightning bolt descended. The very sky tore apart from the force.

Cronus raised his hand, and caught the lightning bolt with his bare fingers.

Time froze around him, the golden arcs of divine destruction held in place like a painting.

Then, with clench of his fist, he shattered it.

The entire world seemed to crack as Zeus’ attack was unmade.

Poseidon attacked next, using the sea itself as a weapon.

Torrential waves rose from nowhere, forming into serpentine dragons of water, their maws snapping at Cronus with the force of an ocean storm.

But Cronus simply laughed.

With a flick of his scythe, time unraveled the waves—returning them to harmless mist before they even reached him.

Zeus and Poseidon panted, sweat dripping from their foreheads.

This... this was absurd.

Hecate clenched her fists. "Give me some time, I have a spell that might work on him."

Zeus wiped blood from his lips. "Tch—fine. How long do you need?"

"As much as you can give."

Poseidon nodded. "Leave it to us."

Zeus and Poseidon rush towards Cronus.

Zeus summoned the wrath of the heavens, a lightning so intense it could incinerate stars.

Poseidon called forth the roar of the abyss, a tidal force capable of drowning entire realms.

The battlefield exploded.

The sheer force of the attack split the land apart, entire mountains disintegrating from the sheer power unleashed.

For a moment, it seemed like even Cronus could not withstand it.

But then, a slow, deep chuckle echoed through the destruction.

Cronus stepped out of the ruined landscape.

Unscathed.

His smirk widened.

"Not bad."

Then, with a flick of his scythe, the world reversed.

Everything they had just done, the destruction, the attacks.

All of it was undone.

Zeus and Poseidon staggered, eyes widening in horror.

"What...?" Zeus gasped.

Poseidon clenched his fists. "Damn it... He reset everything..."

Cronus let out a slow, amused breath. "Do you understand now? I am, inevitable."

He spun his scythe once, and the sound of it alone made the world itself tremble.

Poseidon and Zeus gritted their teeth, feeling hopelessness and despair.

They can’t think of a way to win against him.

"It is time..."

Just then, Hecate step forward, her eyes gleaming with ancient power as her voice rang out in a chilling incantation.

"Let me show you the beginning. The world before there is."

The air twisted.

The very fabric of existence screamed as an ancient force stirred.

A massive rift tore open before her, revealing something beyond comprehension.

A hellish world—one that had existed before time itself had meaning.

A place of pure destruction and entropy.

A land where the planet had been naught but searing lava, endless oceans of fire, and storms of toxic gas.

Where the atmosphere was so dense and thick with primordial chaos that even gods would perish upon setting foot.

It was the planet’s form before Genesis.

A time before the earth, before the sky—before even the Titans themselves.

And Hecate unleashed it.

A flood of crimson fire, molten storms, and abyssal gases surged forward like the breath of a forgotten god.

The very air ignited, space warped and burned, and the battlefield itself began to erode from existence.

Cronus’ eyes narrowed.

He could feel it.

This was not an attack bound by time.

It was something beyond his domain.

Something from a world where even his authority did not exist.

For the first time, his smirk faltered.

"Hmph..." He gripped his scythe tighter.

The inferno of pre-creation surged toward him, hungry, consuming.

But Cronus did not step back.

Instead, he raised his scythe high, and swung.

A single golden arc of power erupted from the blade, but instead of cutting the flames, instead of undoing the spell, he tried to cut the concept itself.

To sever this hell from reality.

The world trembled.

For a moment, time and space warped violently.

The battlefield erupted into chaos, as if reality itself was trying to decide what should exist.

But, the hell of pre-creation was not so easily cut.

The flames surged, twisting around his attack, pressing closer, threatening to consume even Cronus.

His expression darkened.

"I see... So this is the power of the witch of the crossroads."

With those words,

The hell swallowed him.