"Lotus! What do you think you're doing?!" Vil cried out as a feeling of anxiety came across his chest, "You can't keep going like this!"
"Lotus!" Rook shouted and tried to reach out to her only to grab empty air.
Suddenly, the familiar black miasma began to fill the area again and the horrible sound of chains hitting one another could be heard below them. However, Peony continued to turn back and towards the crack with a smirk on her face, "Well, since you've made it this far, let me tell you something interesting, then. You may even think of it as a reward for getting this far, even."
Suddenly, the silver chains shot out from the cracks away in a large wave till it filled the horizon! Peony raised a palm and generated a golden fireball, "First, I was pulled to Night Raven College by the Dark Mirror to be protected by their magic as I recover. Unfortunately, my adversary was lucky enough to find a hole in the barrier and still come after me, so it was quite tiring trying to fend them off for a while now. In the end, I finally even finished the ones in all six of the seven dorms, but I'm still not done yet... Second, I am indeed a magician and I'm not a magician."
Suddenly, the temperature in the room began to rise at great speed as she continued to grow her fire unperturbed by the scenery around her with a sneer. As the chains launched themselves at her all at once, the miasma took their chance as well. Standing firmly, her gold fire engulfed her and began to set fire to the miasma before a large gold bird rose to the sky from behind her, "In my birth world, we are not called magicians. We are cultivators!"
With that, her gold bird gave a piercing cry before summoning a large number of golden fireballs that rained down and began setting the chains of fire!
The miasma saw that the chains were no good but still jumped into the fray to launch themselves upon the unsuspecting boys. It was then that a crash of lightning lit up the darkened room and forced the miasma to pull back in bewilderment as Peony raised a hand with her ring and summoned the daimond butterflies she had imbued with her spirit energy, "Crystal, I'm counting on you..."
"Yes, master."
The butterflies began to flutter in a parade creating a barrier around the group as she sighed, "Hades, you are so quick to act... What's wrong? Don't want your true story to be told? Or... Are you scheming something against my back once again?"
"Oh, I wouldn't dare."
A sarcastic voice echoed around them as a mist of the familiar figure appeared before them.
"La vache!" Rook cried out in disbelief at the sight before him, "Could that really be One of the Great Seven?! Everyone, be careful!"
"Hah?!" Idia cried out in bewilderment, "What do you think we can do against him?! He's a god!"
"Ooh! For once, someone actually gets it." Hades clapped his hands and gave a double thumbs up with a wicked smile, "Nice!"
"Greetings." Peony responded with a wide smile, "Are you bored again, milord?"
"Hahaha..." He laughed sarcastically before closing his palm around her hand to stop the fire with an unamused look across his face, "Not funny."
He got up and begin to rant aloud in dismay, "Look, kid. I know I made a bet, but the rules are the rules. People die, they get dragged here and they are not allowed to leave. Got it? Otherwise... One person leaves the underworld and then another wants to leave, and next thing you know it's... anarchy... So, let's talk about this first..."
"Really?" Peony chuckled, "Well, let's talk, then."
"Yeah, I figured that you would choose not to- Wait, what?" Hades paused before realizing what he said and quickly cleared his throat, "Ah, I mean. How kind of you to be so open-minded to this old god! Much appreciated! So, let's talk!"
With that, he produced two stone chairs from mist and sat down on one of them and ignore the others as Peony sat across from him. Then he began in a rather fast pace speech similar to Idia's way of excited talk, "Now, about this deal. Like I said, I can't actually allow the soul to pass through the underworld and go running along outside hip hip hooray sort of thing. Otherwise, not only would the souls try to riot, but my brothers will hold me accountable for this and increase the number of years here. So, if you can just, you know... Forgive me this once and let this go."
"Oh really?" Peony responded as he played with the small butterfly struggling to fly from her palm with their new wings, "What would you give me in response should I agree?"
"Whatever that does not break the rules of this world." Hades responded with a small smile across his face.
"Is that so..." Peony smiled, "Anything?"
"Anything..." Hades confirmed.
"Then, can I decide after speaking with three divine beings?" She questioned.
"Lotus?!" Idia cried out in disbelief upon hearing this.
"It depends." Hades replied with a wide smirk across his face, "After all, I've been stuck here for so long, I can't reach out to anyone to come here and meet with me."
"Very well, then." Peony smiled, "Then, I would like to see three divine beings."
"I'm afraid-"
Peony raised a palm as she continued, "I'm not done yet."
She showed three fingers and responded, "I want to speak to three goddeses."
"Oh, just three goddesses. Then, it should be all right." Hades sighed in relief.
"First, I want to see Goddess Hera. I have heard that she has great wisdom in child-rearing and parenting. Although I'm not a parent myself. Speaking with her will greatly help me in the future." Peony explained, "Second, I wanna see the famed Horkos's companion, Dike, to hear what she has to say about Oaths and Marriage. Finally..."
"I know, I know. Aphrodite." Hades sighed in dismay, "You'd have better luck asking me to convince my nephew's wife than her."
Peony laughed, "It's true that Aphrodite can help me in love. However, I'm still to request her thoughts on it. Actually, the third shouldn't be that hard as Spring has yet to return. I would like to speak with your beautiful wife."
"His wife?!" Their jaws dropped wide open in disbelief upon hearing this.
"My what?!" Hades' eyes widen in disbelief upon hearing this.
"Your wife." Peony repeated with a wide smile, "As the stories goes, Queen Persephone of the Underworld is one of great beauty and warmth, enough to entice the supposedly-cold hearted king of the Underworld. So, I would like to have the blessed chance of conversing with her, myself."
Hearing this, Vil grumbled, "Talking to a man's wife. That shouldn't be a problem, but the exaggeration."
"Well, I don't know about exaggerations..." Idia sighed, "Goddess Hera is the goddess of children daycare and marriages. Dike is the goddess of moral order and fair judgement. Aphrodite is the goddess of love and Persephone is called the goddess of spring as she has the ability to make her mom bring back spring in the world. She is also the queen of the Underworld and is dearly loved by Hades. Enough for them to elope when only his brother gave the blessing. Her mother was so enraged that she took back spring, which started the winter and autumn season. These are all still powerful goddesses, though. However, the King of the Underworld is known for being able to talk with any women for information. With the past into account, giving a little push might be able to bring them over for a talk."
"I see." Hades nodded thoroughly enjoying this fame he has been unintentionally growing over the past hundreds of years, "Very well, then. I'll try my best to get them to come here and speak with you."
"Great!" Peony smiled before the god disappeared briefly and reappeared with beautiful glowing figure with beautiful locks of blond hair, light violet skin, black tunic, and a beautiful black circlet around her head.
"Here you go, darling." Hades responded as he carefully guided her to one of the seats he created out of mist, "I'll go fetch my sister and your cousin, Dike."
"Very well. Be back soon..." The beautiful queen said kindly as she watched her husband disappear quickly without looking back.
Seeing him leave without looking back, the queen sighed in slight sadness before turning to the children before her, "Still for you to still be here with your life still intact... Oh... Oh my..."
Having seen the young boys and now shifting her eyes to Peony, her eyes widen in surprise upon seeing the child who seems younger than them others, "Dear Child, what bring you to our world like this? Your poor soul... It shines too brilliantly to be here and even shows as much signs of life as the others. My name is Persephone. What of you and your dear friends?"
"It is a pleasure meeting you, Lady Persephone." Peony smiled innocently with a bright smile, "These are my friends, Vil, Rook and Idia. There was an overblot accident concerning one of your children and our friends stepped in to save them. However, they both got dragged into the Underworld. I came to save the soul of one of your children as well. However, the rules of the Underworld has forced us to stay behind. Knowing this, I pleaded with your husband to let us leave if your children can successfully remerge his soul."
Their children?!