Speculations of the Gods in Tartarus

"Yubis, play the other recording but start at the point when the barrier gets attacked and starts to crumble." Horus did not answer Sefie's question directly but instead ordered Yubis.

"Did you see something?" Yubis asked. He understood that there were multiple angles on the recordings especially since they are paying attention to the event.

"Wait! Was there a second angle?" Sefie immediately inquired. She was surprised that there was a second recording of the same event and got curious. Normally, they only use one recording for their investigations on mortal activities.

"Yeah, but just play the recording that was focused on Ryuji and play the two side by side." Horus shrugged the multiple questions as he continued typing on his laptop. However, the answer to Yubis' question would likely show on the second angle.

Yubis looked back to his screen and moved the recording at the projector. Then Horus also moved another window on the same projector. "What are you doing?" Yubis was surprised.

"Try to play them all together at the same time." Horus replied as if asking Yubis to hurry up. This is a simple feature in the systems installed in Tartarus. They don't have much use of it unless it is needed for investigations on situations similar to this.

The video started playing again. It shows currently on three windows, the first video contains the first angle that was played earlier. The second video is focused more on Ryuji. Then the third window shows the logs on the Echo of the World, the Zariyan system. When it went to the time marker where the golden man disappeared, Ryuji's body disappeared abruptly from the scene at the same time.

"Huh?" Yubis suddenly stood up. He heard something. A loud singular sound similar to a drumbeat. A very big drum that was beaten

"You saw it?" Horus grinned. He was excited, he knew Yubis could see some small details and often this is important. Yubis has been that way ever since he transferred the management of Underworld to Osiris.

"No." Yubis answered flatly.

"What?!" The Falcon God's eyes grew wide in frustration when he heard the jackal god's answer. How did he miss it?

"But I heard something…" Yubis mumbled as if trying to gather his thoughts and contemplating on details of what he had. He was preoccupied not minding everyone.

"Saw what, Horus?" Hades steered the conversation to Horus as he glanced at Yubis who seemed to be in his own little world right now. He went first with the discovery of the falcon god. He would ask Yubis who seemed to have discovered a new thing just now later on. It is better to not disturb the jackal for now.

"Here Sir, look at these logs from echo." Horus waved his hand to something on the screen. He had the videos stopped on the moment when the man disappeared and the appearance of another body and matched the time stamps according to the logs. Everyone watched the series of logs and tried to understand them.

Everyone in the room looked at the logs. Horus used his hands and waved them in the air as if circling the logs pertaining to Ryuji.

"It reported corruption, then did a restore, then that body appeared." Horus said. "And that body is our boy Ryuji."

"So… he evolved." Hades mumbled. He was in deep thought, they never meddled much with the evolution of monsters as they only guide their devotees and as much as possible. Though there have been some existences that they needed to control or destroy as being out of control by offering either a fragment of divinity or seal them for good. This led to some historical existences of some demon lords and saints that would eventually become demigods.

"Aha! It's a drumbeat!!!" Yubis suddenly yelled in excitement which made the rest of the gods look in his direction. "Now who are gods associated with drums..."

Everyone looked at Yubis with his eureka moment. Morticia gave a sigh. Her teacher really fits to be in the knowledge pantheon because of these urges. They are used to seeing these sudden bursts from Yubis but it is embarrassing nonetheless. On a positive note, whenever the jackal god is on to something, he seems to become obsessive with it similar to a trance or as if he is possessed until he finds a satisfactory answer.

"Yubis. What did you find out?" Hades spoke. It was more of a command to Yubis to report whatever he had found.

"What? Uhm let's see…" Yubis was at a loss for words after suddenly being asked. "Something tells me that the drumbeat is something else." His ears twitched several times.

"Drumbeat?" Horus tilts his head.

"Yes, this one." Yubis then played the sound. It was an inconspicuous sound, but if taken into consideration of the situation that they are replaying, that particular sound is kind of out of place. "Also, if you notice that the drumbeat or whatever that sound is, that's the time when this guy disappeared along with Ryuji and then reappeared with a new body."

"A coincidence perhaps?" Sefie asked.

"I don't think so, sis-in-law…." Yubis mumbled. Coincidences are things perceived by mortals but for gods, coincidences are hard to come by because they usually use events to steer to a certain goal. Most of the time, they have a hand on these 'coincidences' which makes situations like this look like an accident but in truth it's not, it's a carefully weaved series of actions. Like the appearance of princess Elyara at the Spring of Origins. While Yubis and Hades convince Ryuji, Sefie convinces the princess and her group to arrive as reinforcements. But the sudden disappearance of Ryuji and the man possessed by the golden apple's power seemed to hasten some event which made the design of the situation as unique and baffling.

"What do you have in mind then?" Hades asked in a calm manner. Despite its calmness, he was calculating the odds of letting Ryuji stay on Zariya or having someone subjugate him. Anything that could control him to not ruin this world as he realized that Ryuji was threatening him sometime ago may be a reality if he did not agree to him. He is still the main administrator of Zariya at the end of the day and his decisions will weigh heavily on preserving this world as his role.

"Well, I am not sure. But…" Yubis mumbled again. He hesitates because he is unsure about the ideas that he has in mind. He still weighs if this would be good news or bad news in dealing with Ryuji in the future.

"But what?" Horus asked impatiently. This jackal had more discoveries than he had which made him frustrated but at the same time curious.

"I have a theory." The jackal god mumbled as if he was talking to himself not minding the others in the room but nonetheless, everyone heard his words.

"What theory?" Horus badgered the jackal god with another question immediately. He wanted to strangle Yubis in these kinds of situations. As if he talks to himself but he talks so loudly that they could all hear it. This would often pique the curiosity of the individuals who heard it.

Morticia worriedly looked at Yubis. She dreaded what may happen next. She knew this was the start when her mentor would start to speak and that sometimes it would take hours or so. The problem with Yubis is whenever he goes into this state, he would talk in circles like a mad man. However, their boss, Hades, did not say anything to stop him from blabbering. One could say that their boss may have allowed him to speak such ideas this time.

"Ryuji is someone we suspect of being a demigod. Right?" Yubis asked. He asked the question to affirm the logic of the suspicion of everyone in the room.

"Yes." Hades curtly answered.

"Given our suspicion of his identity, he has the <Devour> skill. This ability allows our suspect to learn something through absorbing with a 20% chance. I would be guessing that he probably ate this man." Yubis pointed out the man with the golden hair on the screen. "However, he didn't seem human, which would explain the data corruption… however the question remains on how he did it in a snap of a finger?"

Morticia knew that this would happen, Yubis arrived at another question. However, the boss couple are rather immersed with the explanation. Horus was looking at the screen again then looked at Yubis. The falcon god felt cheated with his discovery, but he can't deny that the explanation that Yubis gave makes some sense.

"That is indeed one way to look at it..." Sefie sighed and she crossed her arms.

"I have another theory about Ryuji. It is somewhat weird, but I personally think that it is kinda plausible." Yubis mumbled.

Everyone in the room paused and looked at Yubis anticipating what he would say.

"He is probably a God of time." Vreta said as she closed the door.