Son of the Hero King

Chapter 777: Dream Devouring

Sol’s lips curled into a satisfied smile as the Necromancer King’s message reached his mind—

{I have done my part. I will leave the rest to you. This dream is quite entertaining to mess around with.}

“My father-in-law has... some really peculiar tastes.”

It was only expected. Not just anyone could become the Warden of the Afterlife after all. At the very least, they would need a twisted mindset like his father-in-law’s for such a role.

“I did mention that the other two were just as crazy, didn’t I?” Echidna muttered while trying to wiggle out of Sol’s embrace. It was such a shame that he was stopping her from witnessing the transpiring of events. It was valuable research material for her.

“Stay still. Remember that this is Nuwa’s body.” Sol did not want anything to happen to the poor girl. Nuwa had become a mascot in Sol’s eyes, one that he found endearing, and he would never let any harm get to her with him around.

He focused back on Hypnos. The man had stopped struggling in the chair and was now looking directly at Sol without blinking.

The eyes of the men were far calmer now. The surprise had already passed, and now he was able to assess his situation without letting the boiling anger or the unbearable frustration inside him cloud his mind.

His calm and cool look only served to make Sol smile wryly, bitterness leaking from the crook of his lips. From the very start, his goal had been to completely destabilize Hypnos. As a god who focused on Dreams, the fallen god’s mind was his greatest asset.

Clearly, from what he could see, his eons of experience and wisdom were not for nothing.

“At least I was able to blitz him before he gathered his composure.” That had been the only good news out of this little stunt he had performed against the fallen god.

While he made the whole ordeal seem effortless, it had only been possible because he had made his move when the resurrected god was at his absolutely weakened state.

The three femigods had been paramount in the success of this very impromptu plan.

Echidna devoured the energy sustaining the fallen god’s domain and managed to keep Hypnos’ focus locked solely on her. Ambrosia had burned down the boundaries of the dream realm during her escape, and Anubis had attacked him by manipulating the fallen god’s soul. Even Lilith cutting a part of Elysium with her God Slaying art had been a valuable part of this joint endeavor.

Had even one piece been missing in this complicated puzzle of an event, the short, clipped fight would have taken far longer and would have been way more complicated.

Finally—

“Do you feel no shame? Five of you had to act only to capture an avatar?” A faint smirk formed on Hypnos’ lips as he spitted words of derision at Sol’s efforts.

— They were only facing the fallen god, Hypnos’ avatar. A mere avatar of the being had taken their joint efforts to bind.

“Shame died long ago for me. I am more interested in how you were able to create a second Demigod level avatar so fast after I destroyed the last one.”

Sol tilted his head in an odd blend of both curiosity and frustration. This development was simply maddening for the prince. During the last chapter of the war against Wratharis, Hypnos had intervened in the fight and made all hell break loose. Only after most of his energy was spent fighting Camelia and Ambrosia was Sol able to get the drop on him and devour this infuriating fallen god’s demigod avatar.

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In Sol’s initial plan, the devouring act should have been enough to paralyze Hypnos for a few months. In the best-case scenario, the fallen god would have deemed the necessity to use his true body to confront them, falling into the trap that would be waiting eagerly for the insufferable being.

However, the situation he was facing now was drastically different compared to his expectations.

As for them jumping him?

“Even though only temporarily, you managed to trap three Demigods with just an avatar. I learned my lesson fighting Asura. A 1v1 against you at my current level would be foolish. This time, I prepared several contingency plans. More than you could imagine.”

Sol loved fighting. But he loved winning even more. Trying to fight alone against Asura had been a mistake he would not repeat until he had reached the Demigod realm himself.

“Still, I must admit I am quite baffled that the first plan worked. You seriously thought it was a good idea to imprison those three in your Dreamscape?”

The plan had been beyond stupid in Sol’s mind. No, this was bordering on suicidal levels. Even if he were given nine lives, Sol would never agree to put Anubis, Echidna, and Ambrosia in his dimension during a fight against the Demigod Trio.

The way Sol was looking at him as if he were a pitifully stupid child made Hypnos' blood boil further in anger. The pain trying to crush his soul and sense of self did not help with the situation either. He could literally feel a part of his Insight on the realm of Dreams and his control over it vanishing in real time.

It was truly a small percentage— less than five percent. But, if before he had been the sole contender for the title of God of Dream, now he had someone who could fight for that title right before him.

“If my true body were here...” He whispered, teeth clenched hard, but the prince did not let him finish…

“I know. A shame, right? You must have thought it would be an easy mission. Too bad. It’s already the second time. Perhaps next time, you will learn and come with your true body.” Sol laughed for a few seconds but then abruptly stopped.

“Thank your lucky star for your cowardice. Had you come with your true body today, then you would have died a very atrocious death. I would have made sure of it.”

The atmosphere went cold. Beyond freezing even. Sol’s look was still indifferent, bordering on emotionless, the same one he had sported throughout this meeting. However, deep inside that mask of indifference and apathy, there was a certain anger. A powerful wrath that seemed ready to burn the world.

For a moment, Hypnos wondered if Sol was suffering from a severe case of multiple personality disorder. The way his emotions continuously fluctuated throughout this encounter stroked the curious soul inside the fallen god.

“Well. Any last words?” Sol asked, and Hypnos knew that this was the end for this avatar and even the shard of Dream that he had transferred over to his avatar form.

The one silver lining from this frustrating and horrific debacle was that, this time at least, he was able to send information back to his true body.

This would change many things. They would have to accelerate their plans in the Abyss and bring forth the birth of many new gods faster than they had initially planned.

“I am curious. Just why attack us? For all your plans, there is no denying that this is a precarious situation. Why refuse so adamantly to work with us?”

Sol chuckled softly. “Your previous avatar asked me the same thing. You wondered why I stood against you when your real war was with the goddesses and even offered an alliance with me.”

Hypnos’s glare did not waver through Sol’s recounting. “And what will your answer be this time? You must see it by now. We are inevitable. More True Gods awaken each day while you cling to false ones. Why fight a battle you can’t win?”

Sol walked forward until the god’s reflection warped against the shadows around them. Hypnos was bound to the throne of bones, his divinity thrumming like a caged storm, and Sol looked down on him with that faint, amused smile.

“It’s simple,” he started speaking. “In the happy end I am envisioning, you guys are beneath me. Not above.” Sol felt no need to share the whole breadth of his plans with his enemy.

“You’re delusional,” Hypnos hissed, unable to contain his anger any longer. “You think you can defy the gods?”

Sol exploded in a mocking fit of full-belly laughter. “Don’t you see how profoundly amusing those words you spout are while you sit trapped and helpless in a place of your own making? How pitiful.”

“What I think doesn’t matter,” Sol added. “What matters is that no matter how the tale ends, I win, and you lose. Fate bends to my will. And soon, so will you.”

Hypnos sneered. He decided that speaking more with this mad creature was a waste of time.

“Done trying to self-destruct, huh?” Sol pointed out at that very moment, catching the fallen god in the act.

“You knew all along?”

“I know many things and soon I shall know everything there is, was, and will be.”

Hypnos had indeed been buying time to destroy the clone. Unfortunately, the control Anubis had on him was more powerful than he had anticipated.

Sol raised his hand and placed it above Hypnos’s head. The shadows came alive, shivering and twisting, until a massive maw formed beneath Sol’s feet, widening and stretching out to hover behind the prince, looming ominously as its grotesque, uneven teeth glistened in the dark.

They had already devoured nearly everything in Elysium, and yet it was not enough, for they could never be satiated.

“Tell your siblings this,” Sol said in a quiet, somber tone. “I am the One Above All. The All-Seeing-Radiant Lord, and this will be the last mercy I shall offer you all.”

His silver hair shimmered quietly. His rainbow-hued eyes glowed, “This world belongs to me. Submit or perish.”

The mouth of eldritch hunger lunged right at that moment.

The last thing Hypnos saw was pure, endless darkness closing in.