Chapter Summaries

Ryan tested whether he could destroy the illusory Netherworld, striking it with a Black Sword while Hades and the other gods tried to stop him. After devastating the realm and seemingly killing Charon, Ryan realized that a god’s origin could provide a direct path to a world’s source.

• Hades confronted Ryan after Ryan declared that he intended to destroy the Netherworld, and the gods of the Underworld gathered to threaten him.
• Ryan drew a Black Sword and struck the Netherworld, erasing Charon’s body and sweeping away the souls and life along the River of Pain.
• Ryan struck the Underworld repeatedly, splitting its land and halting its rivers, while Charon’s consciousness vanished within the damaged River of Pain.
• Hades, with an arm severed, demanded to know Ryan’s purpose and warned that the world would retaliate.
• Ryan interrupted Hades and realized that a god’s origin could lead directly to the source of a world, though the gods lacked the essence of immortality.

Ryan bound Hades and used a sun-bearing stone sword to destabilize the Underworld's source, setting its collapse in motion over seven days. In reality, Hades awoke from a dream of that destruction and dismissed it as impossible, believing his growing Underworld was the truly real world.

• Ryan suppressed Hades's power, bound him with death chains, and pierced the Underworld's source with a stone sword carrying the Great Sun Burning the Body.
• The sun's light and heat reached the Underworld Soil, cracking its core and disrupting the Netherworld's cycle as Ryan held the sword in place.
• Ryan judged that the Underworld would collapse after seven days and that Hades would perish beneath the sun.
• In the real Underworld palace, Persephone tended a scarred baby while Hades slept on his throne.
• Hades awoke in alarm and told Persephone that he had dreamed an outsider dragged the sun into the Underworld and destroyed it over seven days.
• Hades dismissed the dream as absurd and declared that his Underworld was the truly real world.

Athena searched her library for records of the illusory world's past and learned that the mysterious being behind the Divine Artifact called himself the Self-Existent Eternal Being (Yahweh). He explained that he would soon destroy the world and told her to use the artifact and its nonexistent history to bring the Chronicles of Time into being.

• Athena entered her library and put the Nymph Fairy to sleep so she could investigate without interruption.
• Athena searched the library's books but found no complete history of the world, so she considered piecing the past together from conflicting accounts.
• Athena opened the Divine Artifact and asked the mysterious presence behind it for its name.
• The presence identified itself as the Self-Existent Eternal Being (Yahweh) and told Athena it had not expected her memories to change this way.
• Athena asked how she could leave the false world, and Yahweh explained that its original trajectory had been acknowledged by Khaos as true history.
• Yahweh told Athena he would soon destroy the world and instructed her to use the Divine Artifact and the world's nonexistent history to bring the Chronicles of Time into being.

Athena studied records of the gods’ past while Hermes fled Olympus after failing to control the phantom of a new god. Seven days later, the Underworld’s laws invaded the world as Black Rain fell, and Zeus received Hades’s warning that outsiders had arrived to bring destruction.

• Athena examined the records and learned that Hephaestus had tried to court her before Erichthonius was born, so she resolved to keep her distance from him.
• At the gods’ banquet, Hermes flattered Zeus and secured permission to resume his mission in the mortal world.
• Hermes fled Olympus, fearing the uncontrolled new-god phantom, and decided to hide among mortals for a year.
• Seven days later, the earth shook during the banquet, and Zeus recognized that the Underworld’s laws were invading the world.
• Black Rain spread across the world as the Netherworld’s origin began merging with it, and Zeus heard Hades’s final warning that outsiders had arrived to bring destruction.

Zeus learned that Hades was dead and went to investigate the Underworld, where Ryan had spent seven days studying its collapse. After Hades vanished, Ryan confronted Zeus and began destroying the illusory world.

• Zeus summoned Hermes to investigate Hades’s death, but Helios said Hermes had not returned from the mortal world in seven days.
• Zeus took up his thunderbolt and used chains of lightning to pull the earth above the Underworld toward the sky.
• Ryan watched the Underworld shrink as its matter and spiritual essence disintegrated, then spoke with the dying Hades, who called him an outsider and asked why he wanted to destroy the world.
• Hades’s chains broke and his final warning echoed through the world as Ryan gathered the remaining remnants of the Underworld.
• Ryan split the rising earth open, faced Zeus, and crushed the world with an enormous shadow and hand.

As the giant hand destroyed the illusory world, Hermes escaped through a crack toward reality while Athena used the Divine Artifact to absorb the world’s foundations and confronted Zeus. The world collapsed into the artifact, leaving Ryan with a remnant of Creation Power.

• Hermes realized the world was false, burned his power, and escaped through a crack toward reality, where he fell into a long slumber after noticing an emerald ring on the giant hand.
• Athena activated the Divine Artifact to absorb the illusory world’s foundations, and Zeus attacked her for doing so.
• Athena blocked Zeus’s lightning with her shield and confronted him before Mount Olympus while the artifact continued to grow.
• Poseidon raged and pleaded with the giant hand as Prometheus calmly accepted the world’s approaching end.
• The world’s remaining power failed, and its civilization and history collapsed into the Divine Artifact as the giant hand closed around it.
• Ryan examined the completed Chronicles of Time and found a drop of Creation Power where the illusory world had been.

Ryan used the Creation Power left by the vanished illusory world to strengthen the Chronicles of Time, then examined Zeus’s memories and uncovered how Metis’s sacrifice altered the world’s rules and erased Pallas’s Fate. He returned to the Spirit World after deciding to study Zeus’s ritual, carrying a warning from the false Zeus that the real Zeus might receive only in part.

• Ryan caught the remnant of Creation Power, rejected using it to kill a god, and sent it to the Spirit World for future use.
• Ryan recognized that the Chronicles of Time represented what endured eternally, checked its transformation, and returned it to the Spirit World to adapt to its gains.
• Ryan reviewed Zeus’s memories and learned that Khaos had accepted Metis as a sacrifice, which changed the laws of sacrifice and made Pallas’s birth impossible.
• Ryan connected Metis’s sacrifice to Pallas’s dead Fate and set aside the problem of restoring him, then resolved to compare Zeus’s ritual with Odin’s original.
• Ryan prepared to return from Spirit Travel and recalled that the false Zeus had warned another Zeus to beware the Lord of the Spirit World, though the warning had been partially blocked.

Zeus awakened from a vivid dream of the world’s destruction and summoned the gods, telling them he had received a prophecy. Meanwhile, Eros and Voros waited outside Eleusis for Poseidon to confront Demeter, expecting the city to survive their dispute.

• Zeus awoke from a dream in which a vast hand destroyed the world and Athena fought him, and he remembered a warning that an outsider was a threat to the Lord.
• Zeus summoned the gods and told them that he had received a prophecy, though he did not understand its meaning.
• The dream and its destruction had not affected the mortal world, where Demeter’s Cold Winter continued and Eleusis prospered through abundant harvests.
• Eros and Voros arrived outside Eleusis ahead of Poseidon and discussed whether the city would survive his confrontation with Demeter.
• Voros saw Poseidon approaching slowly and remarked that the mortal arrows would probably not hold out much longer.

Poseidon pursued Demeter after the golden arrow filled him with love, leaving her temple in ruins and forcing Triptolemus to manage the casualties and conceal the gods’ role. Meanwhile, Zeus warned the Olympian gods that an outsider might be heralding the destruction of their world, though Hestia doubted his prophecy.

• Poseidon arrived at Demeter’s unfinished temple, injured its craftsmen, and chased her away after declaring his desire for her.
• Kreios left Triptolemus to care for the injured and explain away the disaster while he dealt with Queen Metaneira’s death.
• Triptolemus healed the survivors, comforted the dead, and persuaded the craftsmen that Demeter had protected them from an outsider.
• Eros and Voros realized Poseidon’s desire had continued even after the golden arrow’s influence ended, and decided to seek Demeter when she returned.
• Zeus told the Olympian gods that he had foreseen the world’s destruction, and Hestia questioned the prophecy.
• Zeus cited records of Odin and Ragnarok found among Asgard’s remains and suggested that an outsider was ringing the bells of Dusk.

Zeus ordered Helios to mediate the conflict between Hades and Demeter so the mortal world's worsening famine would end. Helios accepted, then set out to seek Gaia for support, while Voros and Eros prepared to finish their remaining tasks in Eleusis.

• Zeus explained that the mortal world's climate crisis and growing famine needed to end, then appointed Helios to mediate Hades and Demeter's conflict.
• Zeus said Apollo could drive the Sun Chariot while Helios went to the Underworld, and Helios accepted the assignment.
• As he flew away, Helios recalled Prometheus's warning that another god able to drive the Sun Chariot could threaten him, and feared Apollo might replace him.
• Helios ruled out seeking help from Prometheus, the Spirit World, the Ocean God Faction, and other Primordial Gods, then decided to seek Gaia near the Abyss.
• In Eleusis, Voros saw a brown light return toward the city, concluded the other party had returned, and led Eros toward the temple to finish their last two tasks.

Demeter learned that Eros and Voros had used a golden arrow to influence Poseidon, and they demanded her Wheat Point Golden Scepter to end the Cold Winter. Meanwhile, Helios found that Persephone could leave Hades but would remain bound to the Netherworld for half her time, then entered Tartarus to search for Gaia and disrupt Apollo’s plans; he was surprised by how stable the Abyss seemed.

• Demeter returned to her temple in a furious, unsettled state and turned her mortal maidservants into stone before collapsing on her throne.
• Eros and Voros revealed that their golden arrow had affected Poseidon and demanded Demeter’s Wheat Point Golden Scepter until the Cold Winter ended.
• Demeter refused to hand over the scepter unless Hades returned Persephone, then offered to negotiate if the twins promised not to harm her and agreed to shoot an arrow for her later.
• Helios learned from Hades that Persephone could leave if she wished, but sharing Hades’s divine authority had permanently tied her to the Netherworld for half her time.
• Helios chose to enter Tartarus to search for Gaia and cause a natural disturbance that could delay Zeus’s plans for Apollo.
• Helios arrived in the Abyss and found its overlapping layers and matter surprisingly stable, then continued deeper to look for Gaia.

Helios traveled deeper into Tartarus, was burned by a volatile Abyss layer, and followed a strange sound toward the ongoing battle between Moya and the Ring Garden Snake. Moya spotted two hidden figures watching the fight and recognized the man beside a beautiful woman as Ryan.

• Helios entered the deeper Abyss layers, where he observed worlds taking shape and Tartarus’s space-time changing.
• Helios triggered a burst of destructive dark flame in the three-hundred-and-third Abyss Layer, suffered superficial burns, and recovered.
• Helios heard a sound and concealed his aura as he approached the ongoing clash between Moya and the Ring Garden Snake.
• Moya continued fighting the Ring Garden Snake while expecting the Six Demon Gods to break through Hell, and she imagined taking revenge on Ryan.
• Moya sensed hidden figures in a gap between space-time, saw a beautiful woman beside a man, and recognized the man as Ryan.

Mephisto activated a Silver Mirror to summon the Ring Garden Snake as Crios fought the Demon Gods, while Moya discovered Ryan and attacked his apparent double. The Midgard Serpent waited for the right moment to complete his plan, promising to settle the conflict in one blow and prevent the realm rulers from fighting in person again.

• Mephisto discussed the Nine Hells' plan with the Lord of the Nine Hells, who promised to make him lord of the Second Layer if the battle went well.
• Mephisto infused the Silver Mirror with divine power and called upon the Ring Garden Snake to descend.
• Moya used the Abyss's power to recognize Ryan and see through the disguise concealing the woman beside him.
• Moya locked onto the distant Ancient Snake and attacked the figures she believed she had captured with enormous tentacles.
• The Midgard Serpent explained that Moya's distraction was working and told his companion to wait while he prepared to settle the conflict in one blow.

The Ring Garden Snake covertly drew power toward a beacon in the Nine Hells while Tartarus's forces kept Moya occupied, and he sensed an outsider spying through the Abyss. Helios discovered an illusion of Crios being besieged and, as the scene changed, realized the battle might be shifting.

• The Ring Garden Snake explained that Hell needed to redirect the conflict with the Abyss into a contest it could sustain rather than try to end the war at once.
• Asmodeus warned that resisting Tartarus's pressure was difficult, while the Ring Garden Snake continued secretly sending power through space-time toward a beacon in the Nine Hells.
• The Ring Garden Snake sensed an outsider observing through Tartarus's incompletely assimilated power but chose not to investigate.
• Helios stopped in the 303-7th Abyss Layer after sensing a dangerous battle ahead and used the layer to conceal himself.
• Flames reflected a viewpoint of Crios being besieged by powerful, unfamiliar beings, revealing to Helios that life-forms inhabited the Abyss.
• Helios considered retreating, then noticed Crios show surprise as the scene in the illusion changed.

Mephisto and the Ancient Snake unleashed a divine arrow against the Demon Gods, killing some and wounding others while also catching Crios in its path. The arrow pierced a space-time bubble beyond Hell and created a new layer, which the Ancient Snake named the Asura Field.

• Mephisto positioned the growing Silver Mirror near the boundary between Hell's Second and Third Layers and prepared to unleash its power beyond the world.
• Crios fought the Demon Gods until Mephisto's aura signaled that the planned attack was ready, and the divine arrow struck the battlefield, erasing Crios and several enemies.
• The arrow broke through Tartarus's protection and continued upward, killing one of the two sleeping Demon Gods in the First Layer and severing a third of the other's body.
• The divine arrow pierced the space-time bubble where the Ancient Snake's and Moya's powers had repeatedly collided, carrying a Demon God's origin into it.
• The Ancient Snake watched a new layer form within the bubble and named it the Asura Field.

The Ancient Snake and Asmodeus completed the creation of a new interface from Hell and the Abyss, while Moya discovered that her borrowed power could not harm it. As Demon God remains seeded new life in the Abyss, Helios witnessed the birth of a more intelligent second generation and fled.

• The Ancient Snake confirmed that the new interface had been born and that the first clash between Purgatory and the Abyss had ended, while Asmodeus accepted the loss of his Divine Body.
• Moya realized that the being she had captured was a fake and attacked the new interface, but its rules erased the Abyss Force she used against it.
• Demon God essences escaped Hell, and the giant serpent tried to draw them in as Moya made a final attempt to claim something for herself.
• Sun God Helios fled the 303-7th Abyss Layer and saw Demon God remains transform into new life-forms.
• Helios encountered the newly born Earthshaking Worm, sensed its wariness and intelligence, and escaped toward the world he had come from.

As winter deepened and humans blamed Pandora for the disaster, Epimetheus brought her to a sheltered valley and visited his father, Iapetus. After discussing Fate, Epimetheus proposed establishing a church for Pandora and her jar, while Helios returned from the Abyss and was summoned by Gaia.

• Pandora wondered why humans hated her, and Epimetheus told her that time had changed her and that she understood why they blamed her.
• Epimetheus left Pandora at the sheltered valley entrance and visited Iapetus, asking about nearby tribes whose worship gave spirits faith.
• Epimetheus asked Iapetus whether Fate could be controlled, and Iapetus answered that it probably could not be manipulated at will.
• Epimetheus returned to Pandora and proposed that they establish a church for her and her Magic Jar.
• Helios escaped the Abyss after encountering a monstrous being and worried that Gaia might be asleep.
• Gaia contacted Helios through a reddish-brown vortex and told him to come to her and describe what he had encountered in the Abyss.

Helios met Gaia to seek help after Zeus threatened his authority as the Sun Chariot’s driver, but she refused to support him directly. She offered him a way to gain power by letting a branch from her body strengthen the sun, in exchange for helping her offspring attack Olympus and overthrow Zeus.

• Helios entered Gaia’s cavern and told her about the strange life forms and realms he had encountered in the Abyss.
• Helios explained that Zeus had replaced him as the driver of the Sun Chariot and asked Gaia to help him resist the threat.
• Gaia rejected Helios’s offer to serve her, saying she did not need a subordinate with divided loyalties.
• As Helios prepared to leave, Gaia revealed her living chamber and offered him a branch infused with the power of an Outer God.
• Gaia told Helios that planting the branch in his body could give the sun a new concept and let him gain authority equal to Hyperion’s.
• Gaia asked Helios to join her offspring’s attack on Mount Olympus and help make Zeus pay, after which Helios could try to become God King.

After the Cold Winter ended and the Four Seasons began their first cycle, Voros received the Ice Crown while Ryan continued investigating the foundations of divine authority and Zeus's ritual. Ryan ended still unable to determine the purpose of the ritual, Odin's poison, or the Broken Stele.

• Helios mediated between Demeter and the Underworld, and Demeter accepted that Persephone would divide each year between Olympus and the Underworld.
• Gaia drew power from the sealed Land of Mist Niflheim, changing the sun as Apollo struggled to control it.
• Eros used the Wheat Point Golden Scepter to withdraw its influence, and the Goddess of Spring and New Life spread spring across the world to begin the Four Seasons' cycle.
• Eros and Voros completed the Ice Crown's formation, and Voros chose not to fuse it into his body before the twins set off to travel.
• Ryan studied creative power and Zeus's ritual, then concluded the ritual could form a seal but could not identify a use for it.

Ryan discovered that the ruined stone tablet from Odin’s treasury bore an incomplete directional mark, and sent a trace of Spirituality to investigate it while postponing further action. He then turned to the death of Silver Moon City’s Great Seer, whose fate would establish how the Spirit World treated devout mortal believers.

• Ryan used the power of creation to perceive a strange mark on the otherwise ordinary, indestructible stone tablet from Odin’s treasury.
• Ryan infused the mark with a trace of Spirituality and sent it into the void to follow its guidance, then returned the tablet to its palace.
• Ryan considered why Gaia and Tartarus had not yet produced Typhon and decided to keep watching the Lightless Zone and sealed Niflheim.
• Lyanna brought Ryan the case of Silver Moon City’s Great Seer, a devout mortal who had refused immortality and wished to return to the Spirit World.
• Ryan saw Silver Moon City’s residents gather at the Great Divine Temple to mourn the dying Great Seer, whose fate would set a precedent for future believers.