Chapter 48: Ashes, 1193 BCE

A/N: lol people are salty that I 'nerfed' him, some made good arguments while others are just mad because I took away their power fantasy. honestly, it's not really a nerf, it's just a means of time-skip, I'll explain at the end of the chapter.

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As Pluto and Helen stood in front of the stairs that brought them to the palace, they saw a rather peculiar sight.

They saw the Greeks kneeling before Pluto, they were soaked in blood and ash, yet they didn't dare to look at Pluto.

"Pluto… What have you done?" questioned Helen as Pluto saw her face getting pale. "You burned the city… just to save me?"

"They were getting in the way," said Pluto coldly. "Come on, let's go."

Both of them then walked down the stairs as the Greeks didn't move whatsoever. Pluto was secretly nervous, he could fight some of the men, and his bident still had some cosmic energy left to kill a couple hundred at once, but he's not confident to fight them off decisively.

Once they finished walking down the stairs, two men quickly walked up to them, kneeling again. It was Agamemnon and his brother, Menelaus.

"O' the Unseen one. The city is ours." said Menelaus solemnly, but secretly, he's afraid of his wrath, because Helen knew that he had been talking behind Pluto's back.

Pluto narrowed his gaze. "Let me pass. I will take Helen, it seems that you are not worthy of being his groom."

"F-Forgive me O' Unseen one… I assumed that-"

"Enough." spoke Pluto sternly. "Enough. Let us pass. You can do whatever you want with this place, burn it, sack it, I do not care."

"V-Very well…"

The two let Pluto and Helen pass, they had walked a couple of feet from Menelaus, but then, Pluto stopped.

"I'll be seeing you soon, Menelaus." spoke Pluto, making Menelaus flinched. The god of the underworld said that he would meet him, that means that he's going to…

Pluto and Helen kept walking, none dared to look at Pluto, they didn't know that he had lost his 'powers', and was still scared of him.

They had soon arrived at the broken gates of Troy. There, he saw the eternals, except Thena, was waiting for him.

As Ajak saw him, she smiled sadly. She walked towards him, and gave him a warm hug.

Pluto hugged her back, patting Ajak. "I know the consequences Ajak, but it was worth it."

Ajak broke away from the hug and said. "We'll visit you often."

Pluto smiled. "I'll be near Athens for the next few decades."

Ajak nodded, and she stepped away for Pluto to talk to the others. Pluto faced the other Eternals awkwardly and said. "How are your wounds?"

Ikaris scoffed. "Not my worst." he lied, it's his worst one so far.

Gil just shook his head in amusement. "We know about your punishment… Arishem spoke directly to our heads. First time I ever heard his voice…"

"You know I could beat you up now right?" smirked Kingo, teasing about it.

Pluto laughed. "You can try, I'll put up a fight."

Kingo just smiled in amusement and went for a hug. "I'm going to miss you man…"

"Me too Kingo… me too…" murmured Pluto.

Pluto then went to Gil, and he went for a hug too. "Take care man… enjoy your vacation."

Pluto laughed. "That's one way to put it."

Makkari also went for a hug, Pluto apologises to her, but she says that it was nothing, she says that even though he went too far with his act, she could understand his action.

When he went to Druig, he tried to shake hands with him. Druig just stared at him, but then he broke a smile, he grabbed his hand, and turn it into a hug. "When you can join us again, let's travel together, I'm the only guy who hasn't travelled with you."

"Sure man, sure." patted Pluto.

After that, it was Sersi and Ikaris.

"You guys alright?" questioned Pluto softly.

"I'm not, thanks to you." said Ikaris.

Sersi nudged Ikaris, telling him to act nicely. "I don't really agree with you starting a war like this… but seeing you attached to a human is quite satisfying." smiled Sersi as she hugged him.

As she released the hug, Pluto came to Ikaris. He offered his hand for a shake, and spoke. "You know Ikaris, I know we rarely see eye to eye… but your devotion towards Arishem is admirable… unhealthy, but admirable."

Ikaris eyed Pluto for a while before giving him a handshake. "Your rebelliousness is also admirable, you like to do whatever you want, and sometimes, I envy you a bit."

"Oh, now you're admitting that you envied me." teased Pluto.

Ikaris scowled. "Alright, get out of here before I punch you."

Pluto laughed again and patted Ikaris's shoulder. He went towards Helen again, and said his goodbyes to the others for the last time.

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As Pluto and Helen were travelling towards the direction of Athens, they saw Thena and Hermione, waiting for them at the edge of the road.

"Mother!" shouted Hermione as she saw her mother. She ran towards her, and hugged her tightly.

"Hermione! I'm sorry that I left you…" murmured Helen as she cried, hugging her daughter.

Meanwhile, Pluto only smiled at Thena, she walked up to him, and gave him a hug. "You made a good choice."

"I lost my power because of it." said Pluto softly.

"Is it worth it?"

Pluto nodded, smiling at her. "Yeah."

"Then it is the right choice."

The two then separated as they took a break. They made a campfire near the road, and the two sat as they watch Helen and Hermione catching up with each other, bonding as a pair of mother and daughter.

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A/N: alright, only two more chapters before the bronze age volume finished. after this shit, there would be three or four long ass chapters explaining what he's doing during his thousand year journey, after that, Punic wars starts. now you might be wondering how can I 'absorb' Helen, well, he could just go back to her grave a thousand years later...

after punic wars would be gupta, then it would be three kingdoms(not sure yet in this one), then it would be Arthurian britian, then it would be vikings and the frost giants war, then it would be Americas, and boom, the split. we should get to the modern age at around chapter 100.... if I don't drop the story mind you.