Chapter 1063: The Strategy of Deception

While Arthur was having his ’introspection’ in Tartarus, the rest of the Olympus Universe was in complete turmoil.

Hermes, the messenger god and one of the Twelve Olympians, was dead.

Unlike when Hades had attacked Dodekapolis a hundred years ago and extracted the souls of the Olympians he’d killed, this time Hermes’ soul hadn’t merely been extracted.

It had been completely destroyed, leaving no possibility of revival.

Hestia had been holing up in her territory when she sensed Hermes’ death, and she immediately rushed to Dodekapolis to understand exactly what had happened in the war that had claimed his life, arriving to find her siblings wearing extremely dark expressions.

The moment she arrived in the Throne Room of the Twelve Olympians, Zeus immediately looked up at her.

"Hestia, you—"

"Don’t even start, Zeus," Poseidon said, cutting Zeus off before he could finish.

However, Zeus wasn’t about to calm down because of that.

"What the hell are you on about?! It’s her fault! If she hadn’t been holed up in her territory—"

"And whose fault is it that she decided to do that, huh?!" Poseidon asked, cutting Zeus off.

Hestia turned away from the two, glanced at Hera, who had her head lowered with her fingers pressed to her forehead, then looked back at Zeus before asking, "What exactly happened?"

Zeus opened his mouth to answer, but Poseidon raised a hand and spoke first.

"Wait. Let me explain...without shouting."

Clicking his tongue, he looked at Hestia before continuing.

"Diablo finally made a move. He killed 6 Masters, changing the focal point of the war to those universes.

Now the Infernals are gathering their armies, and the other Divine Universes are doing the same to stop whatever it is that Hell is planning."

Hestia’s expression crumpled as she heard that 6 Universal Masters allied with them had died. Even so, she still couldn’t understand what any of that had to do with Hermes’ death.

Seeing the confusion on her face, Poseidon continued.

"We were planning to head to those universes ourselves. However, we couldn’t leave Olympus unattended, so we sent Hermes to you to ask for your cooperation in holding the fort while we were gone."

He paused for a moment before finishing.

"And he died on the way to you."

"He died within Olympus?!"

Hestia’s reaction to hearing where Hermes had been when he died was one of complete incredulity.

"Then why the hell are you all here instead of trying to find out who had the audacity to get in here and kill him?"

She didn’t believe for even a second that Hermes had been killed by one of the Olympians.

However, when she saw Poseidon’s expression after she spoke, a bad feeling immediately rose within her.

"Don’t tell me you think Hades is responsible."

"Well, who else would it be?!" Hera immediately snapped.

At that, Hestia facepalmed before replying, "Hades wouldn’t kill Hermes. Think about it logically for a moment, and you’d realise he simply has no reasonable reason to."

"And you’re saying he was reasonable when he stormed in here and killed Ares?" Hera fired back.

"Yes, he was reasonable!" Hestia replied instantly. "Zeus killed his kid. He wanted revenge against Zeus. That’s a perfectly logical reason, regardless of the emotions involved.

In Hermes’ case, that doesn’t apply. He didn’t kill Hermes a hundred years ago, and he didn’t do anything until 50 years ago, when Hermes snuck into the Underworld on Zeus’s orders."

Hestia turned a glare toward Zeus as she said that before continuing.

"And Hermes didn’t get away without consequences. Hades cursed him. A curse that wasn’t strong enough to kill him, but was enough to make him suffer perpetually, which is exactly what Hades wanted.

Think about everything he’s done since the war started and you’d realise that Hades doesn’t want death. He wants suffering.

"That’s why he took Apollo’s, Ares’, Dionysus’, and Athena’s souls to the Underworld. That’s why he cursed Hermes just enough to make him suffer instead of killing him. That’s why he came up with that ridiculous condition of unsealing the Underworld at regular intervals.

He wants us to suffer, not simply die. He wouldn’t suddenly kill Hermes after five decades.

Someone else did this. Some non-Olympian was involved. And I’m sure you’ve all probably realised that as well. You’re simply trying to pin this on Hades because you don’t like the fact that he isn’t bending to your will."

She clicked her tongue before asking, "Have you at least found out where he was when he died?"

The answer to that question didn’t come from any of the Olympians before her, but from behind her.

"I have."

Hestia turned around just in time to see Athena step into the Hall of the Twelve, and Zeus immediately looked up at her.

"Report."

Without the slightest change in expression, Athena spoke in a cold, emotionless voice.

"I found the galaxy he was in when he died. I questioned the local Galactic Rulers, and they confirmed that he was fighting someone shortly before we sensed his death.

They couldn’t tell us much about the person he was fighting because the individual was wearing a hood and some kind of special mask that concealed their face. However, they did confirm that the person used a variety of weapon Authorities and, most importantly, wielded some kind of murky grey divinity."

At the mention of divinity, Zeus’ eyes widened.

"You’re saying it was a god?"

Athena immediately shook her head.

"I’m not saying it was a god. Other beings can possess the divine factor and wield divinity without actually being gods.

However, the possibility that Hermes was killed by a god is very high. The problem is that we simply don’t know which god, because, as I said earlier, the attacker took every possible measure to conceal their identity."

The moment she finished speaking, Athena added something she knew full well would anger Hera the instant she heard it.

"Regardless of the impact Hermes’ death has had on Olympus, we can’t afford to spend time and resources investigating it right now."

The instant those words echoed through the hall, Hera’s expression contorted with rage. Powerful divinity burst from her body and rushed toward Athena like a tidal wave.

Athena, having already expected a violent reaction, simply waved a hand, dispersing Hera’s divinity.

Immediately, Hera shouted, "You... cold, unfeeling—"

"Hermes’ death saddens me just as much as it saddens you, Hera," Athena said, cutting her off. "His personality may have been irritating, but I never wanted him dead.

However, the timing of his death leaves me with no choice but to believe this is most likely a scheme by the Infernals to create internal friction at the exact moment we’re preparing for the largest offensive we’ve launched in decades. We have to think about the bigger picture. Olympus can’t afford to stay out of this offensive."

"I’m not saying Hermes’ death shouldn’t be investigated at all. I’m saying that we," she said, gesturing toward the gathered Olympians, "can’t be the ones to investigate it because we have to be on our way to the front lines in less than a hundred hours.

Metis is still here, so she can lead the investigation into his death."

She then looked at Hestia and added, "You can stay behind as well and assist her with the investigation. However, I doubt you’ll uncover anything useful. I searched that entire galaxy and didn’t find a single clue that could lead me to the attacker.

My Authority of Knowledge found nothing, so unless I can turn back time, I won’t be able to learn even a hint of what truly happened or who was actually responsible for Hermes’ death."

"Use the Akashic Records," Zeus suddenly said.

At the mention of the Akashic Records, Athena’s eyes narrowed for a moment before she replied, "You want me to use the Akashic Records to identify someone powerful enough to kill Hermes with almost no information other than the fact that they wielded ’weapon Authorities’ and used ’grey divinity’?

Do you want to incapacitate me right before we march into battle?"

She then shrugged casually and added, "I’ll gladly do it if that’s your order. But understand that I won’t be participating in the next offensive in any capacity afterwards because who knows what that thing would demand from me just to identify the one who killed Hermes, assuming it’s even capable of doing so."

"You can’t do that," Poseidon immediately said, before turning towards Zeus.

Zeus didn’t respond to Poseidon’s gaze. He simply clicked his tongue, looked away, then raised his hand and slammed it onto the armrest of his throne, lightning crackling across it on impact.

Just then, Athena sensed someone trying to establish a telepathic connection with her. The connection, however, was being blocked by her mental defences.

She didn’t detect any ’danger’, and although unexpected at this point in time, the source was familiar, so she temporarily lowered her Authority’s mental barrier to allow the connection through.

[Athena, are you available? I need to talk to you about something.]

The moment she heard that voice, Athena lightly raised an eyebrow.

’Persephone? What’s wrong?’

There was silence for a moment before Persephone replied.

[I’m not exactly supposed to do this, but I’ll be blunt. Somebody wants to talk to you, and they’re using me to reach you. They want me to bring you to a certain location. Somewhere Zeus and the others aren’t watching.]

Athena was silent for a few moments after hearing Persephone’s words, surprise filling her.

Persephone could’ve simply asked her to come out without mentioning that someone else wanted to meet her, and she would’ve actually gone.

Instead, she’d explained the entire situation beforehand.

’And why exactly do they want to meet me?’ Athena asked.

[Well, they didn’t tell me much,] Persephone replied. [All they said was that it’s an offer you can’t refuse because it concerns the Akashic Records, which actually makes me curious. What happened with the Akashic Records that they’d think you couldn’t refuse their offer?]

Athena silently clenched her fist, though her expression didn’t change in the slightest.

It wasn’t public knowledge that she’d lost possession of the Olympus Universe’s Akashic Records.

No one, not even the Olympians currently gathered before her, knew they’d been stolen.

Persephone naturally wasn’t aware of it either.

Everything Athena had done moments ago, practically baiting Zeus into ordering her to use the Akashic Records, had actually been a bluff, one based on the logical assumption that Zeus wasn’t foolish enough to incapacitate his strategist right before a major battle.

Now, this unknown individual was using Persephone to reach her and had mentioned the Akashic Records, and considering the timing, Athena couldn’t help but find it extremely suspicious.

’Who is this person, Persephone?’

In response, Persephone said, [I’m afraid I can’t tell you that, Athena. That’s perhaps the only thing I can’t tell you.]

There was a tense silence between them for a few moments before Athena finally asked, ’Where is the location?’