Chapter 272 The Second Arrow and a Different Abyss

"Bang——"

Inside the great temple in the north of Eleusis, the door was pushed open.

The cold air outside the temple immediately rushed into the interior, forming convection with the warm interior. Demeter staggered into the temple, her eyes somewhat dull.

The gap in the ceiling had been urgently repaired, and the bloodstains around the temple had long been wiped clean. At this moment, only a few mortal maids were still here, waiting for the return of the master of the temple.

"Your Highness, do you have any instructions?"

Bending their knees slightly, they were refreshed when they heard the movement at the door. Since the goddess had returned, the leading maid lowered her head and greeted her. But in front of her, Demeter seemed not to see her, but just stumbled forward.

Seeing this, the maid did not disturb her again. There was only the sound of footsteps in the empty hall, and she caught a glimpse of the goddess passing in front of her. However, the next moment, the somewhat tattered hem suddenly stopped in front of her.

"Your Highness——"

"Why don't you look up at me?"

The voice was hoarse, not like the voice she usually spoke. Demeter looked at the girl in front of her, the girl who seemed to be very respectful to her.

The other party was her believer, or rather, many people in this city were. When standing here face to face, the goddess of agriculture could clearly feel her faith.

But none of this affected her sensitive heart now.

"Your Highness, you are a god——"

"No, you are laughing at me."

The goddess of agriculture interrupted softly and continued to question in that hoarse voice.

She would rather look at the ground than at herself...Yes, this mortal dared to laugh at herself!

"Your Highness, I am not——"

Hastefully explaining, the young girl raised her head, but what caught her eyes was the somewhat haggard face and slightly damaged clothes of the goddess of agriculture.

The look of doubt flashed across her, and then she returned to her normal expression. But this fleeting emotion was still seen by Demeter who was staring at her, and the goddess of agriculture felt offended again when she saw this flashing emotion.

Although this judgment is not logical at all... but this world is not always logical. So Demeter said coldly, word by word:

"You dare to laugh at me!"

Nameless anger suddenly rose from her heart, and the power was released between thoughts. Life was taken away from the girl, and her expression of wanting to defend herself solidified on her face, and then she turned into a stone statue bit by bit.

In a breath, everything was over, just like this generation of human beings was born from soil and stone, she returned to her original life.

The power was still spreading, and the goddess's anger did not stop. Soon, the remaining mortal maids followed suit. Not long after, Demeter was the only one left in the whole hall, and there were several stone sculptures with different expressions standing on the ground.

Demeter continued to walk slowly with a blank expression. It was not until her palm touched her chair that she collapsed on it as if she had lost all her strength.

"Huh——"

She let out a long breath, as if she had unloaded all her strength. Looking at everything around her at this moment, the goddess of agriculture, who had just been "showing her power", looked a little dazed again.

The anger that had risen in an instant was vented, and Demeter's heart was no longer so confused. When she calmed down a little, she actually knew very well that the maids just now could not have meant to laugh at her, because facing the gods directly, their piety was clearly visible.

They were even more pious than the king...but the goddess still killed them. So now, just like a wronged girl smashing things in her room, and then looking at the mess on the floor and regretting it, Demeter also had some similar emotions rising in her heart.

But what can we do about it? Everything is the fault of this world. He gave him the status of a god, but did not give him the power to match it, so Poseidon would not be hurt at all because he killed two believers in anger. On the contrary, he should be very proud now.

Because he not only got what he wanted, but also successfully made Demeter pregnant with a child. At this moment, the breath of life was gestating in the body of the goddess of agriculture, reminding her of what had just happened.

"Bang!"

The goddess's expression was distorted again, and she gasped violently. Her chest was up and down, and it was not until a long time later that she finally recovered.

"Poseidon... Zeus... Hades..."

"You all deserve to die...!"

Silently reciting these names, the low curse echoed in the temple.

She could not do anything now, and she could only vent her anger in her own place. However, the next moment, the face of the goddess of agriculture suddenly changed.

"Who?"

She looked up suddenly and looked in the direction of the gate. There, two barely detectable breaths were approaching.

Perhaps because their whereabouts were exposed, the two auras immediately became more obvious. Soon, accompanied by a laugh, Eros and Volos walked into the temple one after another.

"Tsk, the incompetent and furious old woman is exactly the same as the other one."

Just like Poseidon's temple, being in his own temple, every blade of grass and every tree around him has long been infected by the power of the goddess of agriculture.

This change in the environment can even penetrate the surface of the spirit world, and has "color" in that gray-white world, so with their abilities, it is impossible to completely cover up their whereabouts for the time being.

However, the twins did not want to cover up anything. They walked into the inner hall and looked at the vigilant Demeter. Eros smiled and said:

"Demeter, right? How did you feel about the arrow before? Although Poseidon was the one who was hit, your feeling should be more obvious."

"——Is it you?"

Boom——

With a sharp shout, Demeter stood up suddenly.

She did feel a strange power on Poseidon before, and the other party seemed to be so crazy about her because of this power.

Poseidon in the first half of the day was completely different from the later one, which could still be sensed by the goddess of agriculture. But it was also thanks to this power that it did not last too long, otherwise she would have been taken back to the sea and would not have the opportunity to come back here.

She said that Poseidon would be so bold, and it turned out that all this was done secretly by someone. Even now, the culprit ran in front of her to show off his power.

"Well, even if it's us, then... what are you going to do?"

Looking a little careless, like an evil witch playing with people's hearts in a high tower, Eros said without any care at all when looking at the angry goddess of agriculture.

"A golden arrow makes the person who is shot fall madly in love with the person marked by the arrow, - just like what you saw."

"But we have more than one arrow, this time we just let you see its power first. Now you have seen it... or do you want to try to see if you can keep us?"

"You!"

Demeter was shocked by Eros's arrogance. These two gods who came from nowhere were so domineering. They didn't know each other at all, but they took action secretly and even came to threaten her openly.

During the conversation, the other party didn't take her seriously at all. This silent contempt made the goddess of agriculture feel insulted again, but she had no way to think about it.

In the mortal world, she could not accurately measure the power of the twins, but since they could shoot the "arrows" that affected the mind of the main god, although she had not seen it in person, she thought that they should not be too weak.

Demeter did not have the confidence to easily suppress them in the mortal world, and Poseidon's performance had already proved its power.

"...What are you going to do?"

She forced herself to hold back her anger. Compared with her "grandmother", Demeter had never been "rich", so naturally she did not have such a strong desire to resist.

When facing equally powerful gods, she seemed to have nothing she could not tolerate. The only time she broke out was against the taciturn Hades.

"Well, since you can recognize the current situation, it's great."

Nodding with satisfaction, Eros did not continue. She turned around in place, then took a step back slightly, and gave her place to the real owner of the golden arrow, Voros.

The latter looked at the goddess of agriculture in front of her and made her request without hesitation.

"I want your scepter, the [Golden Scepter of Maidian] that was born with you."

"You want my companion artifact?"

The expression changed, and the artifact was still inserted in Olympus's own throne, always emitting the ability to influence the world's climate. Demeter didn't expect that the other party's goal was the artifact, but she sneered and said:

"Don't you know that as an artifact born with me, as long as it leaves me, its power will gradually fall asleep and eventually return to ordinary?"

"I know, so I only need it for a while. When the cold winter is over, it will still be yours."

With a calm expression, Volos said lightly.

"So...you are actually here for those mortals on the earth?"

Demeter seemed to understand something.

Even though they had never known each other, they plotted against her. This must be a contradiction between the two sides. And now it seems that the source is actually this cold winter that has spread all over the earth.

"Although the result is a little biased... but you can understand it this way."

Nodding, Volos continued:

"So what is your answer?"

"... I refuse."

To the surprise of the twins, Demeter did not agree to their request.

"Let Hades return Persephone, otherwise you will not get what you want. At worst, I will stay with Hestia from now on, and you can't threaten me!"

The voice was fierce, and they flatly rejected their request. But the next moment, Demeter's tone softened again.

Looking at the twins in front of her, many thoughts flashed through the mind of the goddess of agriculture. But in the end, an idea that suddenly popped up still overwhelmed everything.

This natural disaster will eventually end, and Zeus will not allow her to continue like this. Of course, Hades will be under greater pressure than her.

So...

"This matter is not impossible to discuss, unless you can swear not to use this ability to harm me again, and in the future, you must shoot an arrow for me."

At this moment, Demeter figured it out.

She can't take revenge on anyone...but in this world, there are still people who can deal with their brothers.

······

The underworld, the portal to Tartarus.

In the chaotic space-time overlapping with the underworld, some stable rules appeared at some point. However, their existence made this place even more dangerous, because these rules were constantly breaking up and reorganizing, releasing a force that frightened all things.

Of course, for Helios, these things could not hurt him. He had never been here before, so naturally he had no feeling about the changes here. He was just here to find the Earth Mother, and he did not find any trace of Gaia here.

Before, the Sun God had been to the Garden of Truth, and there, he successfully met Hades and Persephone, who had been missing for a long time. But contrary to his expectations, the bride who was forcibly taken away did not seem to be excited or happy when she saw him, and even on the contrary.

During the whole conversation, Helios always felt that the other party was a little...disgusted? But no matter what, the Sun God still completed half of his mission.

He conveyed the opinions of the gods in the court of gods and the euphemistic advice of the king of gods. Zeus had no intention of convicting Hades for this, but this matter did affect the interests of all gods.

As for this matter, Hades was once again unexpected to Helios, and he was very easy to talk to.

Although Zeus agreed to his conditions first, and now he came to "mediate the conflict" with great righteousness, Hades still said very happily that Persephone was here to be the Queen of the Underworld, not a prisoner, so if the other party was willing to leave, he would naturally not stop her.

But the next moment, Hades told another truth. Because Zeus and Hera's marriage was a "model for the gods" and his "object of learning", he also shared the divine power with his Queen of the Underworld. But as a god on earth, the price of Persephone's acceptance of authority is that her origin will be linked to the underworld from now on.

So no matter what, she will have to stay in the underworld half of the time from now on, which is a rule that even the original gods cannot violate. Whether Demeter accepts it or not, this cannot be changed.

‘A model of marriage’… Helios didn’t know whether the matter about power was true when he was listening to Hades’ story, but he did hear the irony in it. After all, in the legend, the marriage between the god king Zeus and Hera was also very ‘twisty’.

It is said that at the beginning, Hera was unwilling to accept Zeus’s courtship. She had been avoiding his pursuit until one day, the god king turned into a wounded bird in the rain, which aroused the goddess’ infinite sympathy.

Hera held the bird in her arms and soothed its injured wings, but the next moment Zeus turned back to his original form. The goddess who had nowhere to hide finally fell into the hands of the god king and had to agree to his proposal.

“Huh - but I have to say that Hera and Persephone are really lucky to be able to share part of their power.”

“In comparison, Amphitrite, the queen of the sea, is far inferior to them.”

Shaking his head slightly, since the task was already half completed, Helios was not in a hurry to bring the news to the goddess of agriculture.

Compared to ending the disaster that affected the earth, he still wanted to end the disaster that was about to befall him. So looking at the entrance of the abyss, after hesitating for a while, the sun god still walked into it.

Whether the earth mother went in or not, he had to look for it first, and this action could also cause some trouble for Apollo.

After all, the short-term entry and exit of the abyss may not cause too violent turbulence in the sun, but there is definitely a little irritability and the most important thing is that all this is very "natural".

The uncontrollable and active interference caused by the disconnection of authority are completely different. As long as there is no "human factor" in it, Helios can go back and say that this is the sun's own rejection of Apollo. Although this may not dispel some of the ideas of the king of gods, it should be able to delay some time.

"I hope everything goes well..."

Whispering to himself, taking a step forward, Helios' figure immediately disappeared in the distorted time and space.

No one saw this scene, and another god entered Tartarus... with only one exception. That was Gaia, who suddenly felt something because the sun god mentioned himself.

…

Time and space change, light and shadow are distorted. In just a trance, everything in front of him changed drastically.

Entering the abyss, Helios thought he would see endless chaotic time and space, and the oncoming interface repulsion, but to his surprise, there was nothing of both.

Layers of interfaces overlap and separate, and matter is arranged and distributed in them. The power of suppression is quite weak, as if it was temporarily transferred to another place... Looking at the interior of Tartarus in front of him, the sun god was really a little surprised.

"Is this the abyss? It seems that rumors are really not to be believed."

The legendary abyss is not so friendly. Shaking his head, Helios did not stay there for long.

Whether Gaia is here or not, it is impossible to be at the door. He still has to go deep inside to find traces of the possible existence of the Earth Mother.