Cronos quietly watched the end of the war and slowly said, "Coeus, go kill Hades, and bring back the core essence of Iapetos and Chu Zhen."
"Yes, Your Majesty!"
Coeus respectfully knelt on one knee before departing to make some preparations.
In Cronos's eyes, a loss was just a loss, nothing significant. Hades, as his eldest son, undeniably possessed extraordinary talent, strength, and capability.
However, these were not enough to defeat Coeus. Even with the Dark Sigil allowing Hades to temporarily reach the level of a God-King, for Coeus, it would merely be a waste of some time.
Coeus, the Seer, and Hyperion, hailed as the strongest, were Cronos's right-hand men. In their eyes, defeating a God-King was not a difficult task.
Hades was unaware of the movements of the Twelve Titan Gods.
Back in the underworld, on the banks of the River Styx, Iapetos was bound by the demonic star chains, his divine power being gradually devoured, absorbed, and extracted, rendering him exceptionally weak.
Iapetos looked at Hades and weakly said, "Hades, you seek the power of Ultimate Power!"
"Not surprising," Hades said quietly. "To defeat our father, aside from resorting to tricks—which may or may not work—the best method is to master the power of Ultimate Power and use its divine strength to defeat him head-on."
Hades continued, "Ordinary methods cannot obtain the Ultimate Power. The best way is to extract it from a god who possesses it."
"I see!"
"I see!"
Iapetos understood, with a tinge of regret, "From the beginning, the outcome of this war was already in your hands, Hades. In the end, it's all meaningless. Hades, the result of this war is already destined. You won't win."
"That doesn't matter," Hades calmly replied. "I will follow my plan step by step. Iapetos, farewell."
The devouring laws of the demonic star chains began to consume Iapetos. As time passed, Iapetos's divine body started to dissipate, his divine power devoured by the demonic star, and vast amounts of dimensional laws were absorbed and converted into pure divine power to enhance the demonic star's essence.
As time went on, the most fundamental strands of divine power were extracted. Hades felt it, the power of Ultimate Power.
Indeed!
Hades's initial goal was Ultimate Power. The rationale was simple: in the impending Titan War, how could he defeat his father? Through the Dirge of the Gods?
Whether the Dirge of the Gods would work was uncertain. Ultimately, it was a minor trick. The best approach was to master Ultimate Power oneself to truly reach his father's level. This was the most important thing.
With one's own strength, everything is easier. Otherwise, everything else is meaningless.
Hades understood this clearly. His own strength was the foundation of everything. How to comprehend Ultimate Power? To be honest, he didn't know. Except for the eight Ancient Gods and his father, the monstrous Titan God-King, no other gods knew the essence of Ultimate Power or how to obtain it.
Ultimately, Hades chose a method.
Since he couldn't understand what it was, he would extract Ultimate Power from other gods who had it and make it his own.
Forget about the eight Ancient Gods; such a thought would get him killed. Moreover, inheriting the godhood and authority of an Ancient God wasn't beneficial.
As for his father? If he could extract his father's Ultimate Power, he wouldn't need to research so much.
Eventually, Hades concluded that the Eleven Titan Gods were his targets. They could temporarily use Ultimate Power by igniting the divine sigil. Whether it was theirs or not, as long as it could be used, theoretically speaking...
The demonic star, with its sealing and devouring laws, could extract Ultimate Power. Would it fail?
Hades now held a palm-sized, transparent diamond-shaped crystal, emitting endless divine power and brilliant light.
This was Ultimate Power, or rather, an external manifestation of it. Hades could tell it wasn't complete, just a part, and a very small part at that.
"Is this one-fifth, one-tenth..." Hades wasn't sure how much of the Ultimate Power it was, but he was sure it wasn't complete.
"And..." Hades sensed the divine power within the crystal, frowning slightly. "This Ultimate Power is not pure. It contains many other divine laws. Absorbing it..."
Hades ultimately put away the crystal of Ultimate Power. From any perspective, there seemed to be many problems. It was better not to absorb it rashly. If it caused issues, it would be quite troublesome.
"Besides," Hades turned his attention to the diamond-shaped core left behind after Iapetos's death, and the seemingly lifeless Chu Zhen scissors.
After a bit of testing and research, Hades realized that the core was the essence of the Twelve Titan Gods.
Simply put, although Iapetos was dead, as a child of the Earth Goddess, his core wouldn't perish as long as the Earth Goddess lived. Over time, the core would eventually revive.
As for Chu Zhen scissors? Forget using them, let alone forging them into a divine weapon. That's unrealistic. The Earth Goddess gave them to her children. Could the Earth Goddess really not use them?
Obviously, that's unrealistic. Therefore, while the Twelve Titan Gods could be defeated and killed, they couldn't be completely eradicated. The same logic applied to Chu Zhen.
Unless the ancient Earth Goddess, a Creator God, could be killed.
___________________
Read Ahead
P@treon.com/Mutter