CHAPTER 146: ANOTHER THREAT

The underworld trembled like it was alive, stone ribs splitting as Ymir’s frost spread unchecked and Pangu’s axe carved through reality itself. Yet in the center of the ruin, two figures still stood. Night draped around one, death’s fire around the other.

Nyx moved first. Her robe of stars ripped open above her, constellations spilling down like blades. They cut through the frost, each shard of light spearing into Ymir’s chest, forcing the giant back a step. He roared, swinging blind with his massive arm, but she folded into shadow, reappearing behind him. Silver arcs carved across his spine, tearing frozen flesh into splinters.

Pangu’s eyes narrowed. He shifted, his axe lifting high, and the air bent under the weight of it. Creation itself tried to reset around him. The swing came down, enough force to split a realm in half. But Hades stepped forward.

His bident flared, black fire pouring from its tips. He caught the blow head-on, sparks screaming where corpse-flame met primal creation. His legs buckled, cracks spiderwebbing through the stone beneath him, but he didn’t fall. Instead, he twisted, dragging the axe wide, forcing its momentum into the cavern wall. The strike split an entire mountain behind him, but the underworld itself was spared.

Nyx pressed the advantage. She clapped her hands, and the dome of night collapsed inward. Stars screamed, streaking into Ymir’s wound at his throat, exploding from the inside out. The frost giant bellowed in pain, his entire torso cracking, rivers of frozen ichor gushing out.

But the Primordial did not fall. Ymir slammed his fist into the ground, and ice erupted upward in jagged spikes. A forest of glaciers shot toward Nyx, faster than arrows. She blurred into shadow, but some struck her veil, tearing holes in her robe, silver light spilling through the rents.

Before she staggered, Hades was there. His cloak of night-fire swept wide, burning the glaciers into ash before they could reach her. His face was cold, his wounds still fresh, but his presence pressed heavier than it had before.

He lunged. His bident spun, its prongs trailing rivers of pale flame. He hurled it through the cavern, and it tore through Ymir’s knee, severing flesh and bone in one stroke. The giant buckled, his massive body smashing into the ground, the quake sending shockwaves across the underworld.

Pangu moved again, calm and deliberate. His axe swung in a wide arc, this time low, cutting toward both Nyx and Hades at once. Nyx folded back into shadow, but Hades didn’t retreat. He caught the blade again, corpse-flame flooding from his hands. His fire crawled along the weapon, eating into it, forcing Pangu to recoil for the first time.

The giant of creation’s eyes narrowed. He pulled back, his expression no longer calm but edged with something sharper. Respect.

Ymir staggered to his feet, one eye bleeding, his throat cracked, his knee shattered. Even wounded, his presence froze rivers and mountains. Yet his gaze burned hotter now—not just with fury, but wariness.

Nyx and Hades stood side by side, battered but unbroken. Night swirled around her, silver stars glinting like blades. Fire wrapped around him, the underworld itself feeding his strikes. Together, they pressed forward.

Hades surged first. His cloak spread wide, devouring the screams of the dead, twisting them into a storm of spectral blades. They rained against Pangu’s axe, each one detonating into bursts of pale fire that forced the Primordial back step by step.

Nyx flanked him, her robe splitting open into rivers of starlight. She flung them across the battlefield, each river swallowing Ymir’s frost, bending it into nothing. She leapt, her hand raised, and the stars lanced downward into his skull. The giant’s roar broke mountains, but his head cracked open in a spray of frozen light.

The two Primordials regrouped, standing together now. Pangu’s axe dripped with creation’s power, Ymir’s body seething with frost and fury. Their presence crushed the underworld like a mountain pressing against brittle stone.

And still, Nyx and Hades did not break.

Hades raised his bident high, corpse-flame exploding upward, shaping into a pillar that reached the ceiling of the cavern. The underworld shook, rivers of Styx roaring louder as if his realm itself rose in answer. He drew that power in, his aura swelling until even the Primordials hesitated.

Nyx’s veil folded tighter, her stars growing sharper, brighter. She wove her darkness around his fire, binding it, sharpening it. Shadow and flame became one storm, pouring outward in a wave that swallowed the battlefield whole.

Ymir tried to block, but his ice shattered the moment it touched the storm. Pangu raised his axe, but even creation itself slowed under the combined weight of night and death. The blast hammered them both backward, forcing the Primordials to dig their heels into the stone to remain standing.

The cavern glowed, fractured, burning. Souls wailed in the storm’s wake.

Ymir’s single eye narrowed, frost dripping from his wounds. Pangu lowered his axe, his calm gaze flickering for the first time. Together, they had stood against countless wars. Together, they had slain gods and shattered realms.

But together, they now faced something new—night and death wielded with fury sharp enough to make even the first ones hesitate.

Nyx’s voice cut through the silence, low and steady. "We are not prey."

Hades’s fire flared, his grip on his bident unshaken. His tone was colder, sharper, final. "And the underworld does not bow."

For the first time since stepping into the underworld, Pangu’s eyes narrowed with caution. For the first time, Ymir shifted back, frost cracking beneath his feet.

They saw it now. After Zeus, there was another.

Hades, lord of death, no longer just a keeper of souls.

He was a threat.

The underworld quaked like it could collapse at any breath. Frost spread in rivers, mountains cracked, the cries of the dead twisted into storms. Ymir’s bulk loomed, chest split, blood frozen, yet his power still pressed like glaciers grinding worlds to dust. Pangu stood beside him, axe in hand, its edge dripping with the weight of creation.

Nyx and Hades stood against them, battered but refusing to bend. Her robe of stars bled light, silver constellations cutting across the dark. His bident flared, corpse-fire crawling along the ground like rivers of molten night. Together they clashed again, the cavern tearing itself apart under their fury.

Then the sky broke.

A roar of thunder tore through the underworld’s ceiling. Lightning split the darkness, rivers of white and blue crashing down. The air itself screamed as a storm flooded the cavern, pushing aside frost, burning through shadows.

Zeus arrived.

He did not descend—he struck. His body dropped like a thunderbolt, fists blazing, storm exploding around him. The ground shattered when he landed, rivers of Styx bursting upward in boiling spray. The shockwave hurled even Ymir backward, his massive frame smashing into a mountain of black stone.

Before the frost giant could rise, Zeus was already moving. Lightning coiled around his arms, and he drove his fist into Ymir’s chest. The blow detonated, carving a hole through the giant’s ribs, sparks bursting out the other side in a storm that lit the cavern brighter than day. Ymir howled, his roar cracking mountains, his frozen blood scattering like shards of glass.

Pangu swung instantly. His axe cut downward, splitting the cavern into two halves, creation itself resetting the stone it touched. Zeus blurred into light, vanishing from the path. He reappeared at Pangu’s side, storm wrapping his body. His elbow smashed into the Primordial’s jaw, thunder exploding with the strike. The calm titan staggered, his grip on the axe trembling as cracks spiderwebbed across his skin.

Hades surged in behind. His bident speared upward, dragging rivers of fire into the wound Zeus opened. The corpse-flame crawled along Pangu’s body, eating into him like rot, forcing the titan back step by step.

Nyx swept her hands outward. Her stars fell in sheets, lances of silver stabbing into Ymir’s torn body. Each impact froze him from the inside, then shattered that frost with light, leaving him convulsing under her night.

The battlefield raged.

Ymir rose again, bellowing, frost storms pouring from his mouth. The blizzard tore through the cavern, freezing rivers, sealing mountains in white crystal. Zeus lifted his hands, storm meeting storm. Lightning rivers cascaded down, splitting the ice before it reached Nyx and Hades. Sparks turned glaciers into vapor, thunder smashing the storm apart.

Pangu recovered, his axe lifting. He swung again, horizontal, a cut wide enough to erase all in its path. Hades met him. His bident clashed against the blade, corpse-fire flaring higher. The underworld screamed as the weapons locked, creation against death. Hades snarled, pushing back, his cloak flaring wider, pulling strength from every screaming soul that poured through the realm.

Zeus appeared at Pangu’s flank, his fist hammering into the Primordial’s ribs. The blow exploded, hurling Pangu sideways into the cavern wall, his axe embedding deep in stone. The entire underworld shook with the impact.

Nyx took the opening. She spread her arms, stars bursting from her robe in a wave. They spiraled into Ymir, piercing through his chest and stomach, exploding into geysers of light. The frost giant stumbled, half his body glowing with cracks, his ichor spilling frozen rivers across the battlefield.

But even wounded, the Primordials fought back.

Ymir slammed both fists into the ground. Ice erupted in towers, glaciers rising higher than mountains, filling the cavern with a forest of jagged frost. Pangu tore his axe free and swung again, splitting that same forest into a rain of shards sharp enough to carve mountains into sand. The shards rained down in waves, blotting out the battlefield.

Zeus surged upward. His storm exploded into a dome of lightning, arcs snapping across the air. Every shard that touched it shattered into dust, every glacier that reached it melted into rivers. He broke the storm apart, his roar carrying across the cavern.

Hades rushed through the storm, his cloak twisting into a swarm of blades. Each one carried the screams of the dead, each strike detonating against Pangu’s chest and arms. The titan blocked with his axe, but the blades cut deeper, leaving burning lines across his form.

Nyx folded through shadow, appearing behind Ymir. Her hands pressed forward, silver fire bursting from her palms. It speared into the giant’s back, carving through flesh and bone. He staggered, turning to smash her with his fist. But Zeus was already there.

He caught Ymir’s hand with both palms, lightning flooding from his grip. The frost melted under his touch, cracks spreading across the giant’s arm. With a roar, Zeus ripped the limb free, tearing it from Ymir’s body in a blast that drowned the cavern in sparks and steam.

The giant screamed, falling to one knee, his blood freezing into rivers that carved new valleys into the underworld.

Pangu stepped forward, fury flashing across his face. His axe rose once more, creation screaming in its arc. Hades lunged to meet him, their weapons locking again. Nyx bent the night around them, her stars pressing against the axe, slowing it, twisting it. Zeus struck at the same moment, his fist smashing into the blade, his storm detonating across it.

The axe shattered.

The sound echoed across the underworld, louder than thunder. Fragments of creation scattered, each one exploding into bursts of raw power. The cavern itself wailed, mountains collapsing, rivers boiling. Pangu staggered back, his weapon broken, his chest cracked with fractures that spilled light.

Ymir tried to rise again, but Hades’s bident was already there. It plunged through his skull, corpse-fire bursting out his eye, devouring his brain in black flame. The giant fell, his body smashing into the ground with a quake that split the underworld for miles.

Pangu roared, his body flickering as creation itself bled from him. Zeus struck one final time, both fists hammering into the titan’s chest. The storm exploded outward, ripping through Pangu’s body in rivers of light. His form split apart, fragments dissolving into nothing.

The battlefield fell silent.

Only Nyx’s robe of stars glowed, faint and steady. Hades leaned on his bident, his chest heaving, blood dripping from his wounds. Zeus stood above them both, sparks crawling across his body, his storm humming low.

The underworld was cracked, bleeding rivers, its halls broken and reshaped. But it stood.

Night, death, and storm had held the line.

And the Primordials had fallen.