A Temple made of skulls

"Huh, Promise didn't kill him after all," Hermes remarked with some disappointment as he watched Antaeus get tossed into the sea.

"Do you think everyone is as foolish as you?" Athena retorted sharply.

She had no patience for Hermes, who once conspired with her to steal the golden apples but now shamelessly served as Hera's lackey.

"Artemis, calm down, calm down!" Hestia said with a smile, pretending to hold back the enraged moon goddess.

"Let go of me! How dare he bully little Promise! I'm going to shoot him dead!"

Artemis fumed, her eyes blazing with anger.

"I feel like the one getting bullied here was actually Antaeus..." Hades mumbled quietly to himself, though no one paid attention to the usually overlooked god.

"Poseidon, you saw the whole process. Even though my child chose not to kill him, I don't want to see him appear on land again.

Do you understand?"

Hera commanded, her voice laced with authority as she addressed the sea god.

"No problem."

Poseidon said it didn't matter.

His children were all over the world anyway.

And because Promise did not kill Antaeus, Poseidon not only did not hate the boy because of this, but instead had some good feelings towards him.

The gods witnessed the entire battle.

But even long after the fight had ended, Helen was obviously unable to react and looked at Promise in a daze.

Promise looked at the adorable young girl.

While he wanted to ask her about Theseus and the Dioscuri right away, he knew this wasn't the right place for a conversation.

Nearby, the foul stench from the temple made of human skulls hung heavily in the air.

And with the departure of Antaeus, without his suppression... or more precisely, without the protection of the Mother Earth, the resentment, anger and fear gathered in the Temple of the Skulls began to get out of control little by little.

It was as if something monstrous was being brewed inside.

"A tribute to Poseidon..." Promise murmured.

He then turned to the pegasus that had returned to his side, noticing how it too was staring intently at the temple, its expression visibly tense.

It had clearly sensed it too.

So Promise once again took out the painting he had made earlier.

In the image, the once-proud Antaeus was now depicted sinking into the depths of the ocean.

Above the temple of skulls in the painting, dark clouds had gathered, and a terrifying wraith, born of pure hatred, was starting to take shape, roaring as it manifested.

"...Should I go ask the goddess teacher for an instruction manual?" He once again deeply felt the extraordinary powee of this magic weapon in his hand, and felt a little emotional in his heart.

"Purification?" Promise muttered as he lightly tapped the white feather brush against the painting, trying to cleanse the dark energy within.

The wraith's shadow in the painting flickered momentarily but quickly re-solidified.

As if sensing the threat, crimson clouds began to gather over the temple, and fierce winds started howling across the peninsula, carrying with them the resentment of countless souls who had met tragic ends.

The intense negative emotions converged above the temple, forming a colossal skeletal monster that turned its gaze directly toward Promise and Helen.

Helen, terrified by the sight, instinctively clung closer to Promise.

"Neigh?" Pegasus called out to Promise, asking if they should leave, since this wasn't really their problem to handle.

Promise thought for a moment but ultimately shook his head.

He understood that the gods were likely still watching this place.

However, he couldn't be sure if any of them would bother dealing with the issue if he simply walked away... To be precise, given their personalities, they would most likely be too lazy to move.

Moreover, this was Antaeus's offering to Poseidon, the god of the sea, making it even less likely that anyone would take action.

After considering it for a bit, Promise reached into the sky and retrieved another painting.

This one depicted a beautiful underworld butterfly.

He gently tapped the painting, and a swarm of these butterflies flew out, gathering before him and forming the image of a flawless goddess dressed in a black gown.

The goddess wore a black veil, with hair cascading like the night sky, and her striking red eyes calmly observed the young man before her.

Though she appeared graceful and beautiful, in reality...

Hecate was internally in turmoil.

Ever since Circe's trial ended, Hecate had known things wouldn't go well for her.

Despite all her precautions, she hadn't been able to avoid this.

What she couldn't understand was why Promise would specifically summon her when so many major gods were watching ...

No way,

'There are so many gods watching you,

You can just pull out any one of them to solve this little trouble. Is it necessary for you to call me specifically?'

And despite her telling him not to draw, here he was sneakily sketching another familiar!

Hecate's inner emotions were extremely rich, but not a single trace of them was visible on her face.

In Helen's eyes, this goddess who suddenly appeared was beautiful and mysterious.

Hecate's red eyes glanced gently at the monster formed by the gathering of resentful spirits in the distance, before she pulled out the underworld lantern she had previously given to Promise and Persephone.

In the dim light of the dark lamp, the shadow of an ancient door appeared in the world with the help of the dim light of the dark lamp.

This was the gate of the underworld, representing the boundary between the living and the dead.

As the gate creaked open, a massive three-headed dog, as large as a mountain, lumbered out.

The moment it walked out, the vengeful monster obviously froze, as if it had met its natural enemy, and its whole body began to tremble, causing the entire temple on its head to shake, as if it would collapse at any time.

And indeed, it had every reason to fear, for this was its natural predator—the guardian of the underworld gate—Cerberus!

As Cerberus charged at the wraith, Hecate tossed the underworld lantern into the sky, where it hovered beneath the ominous red clouds.

The dark lantern came to the sky and stopped, and its faint light extinguished the ominous dark clouds in the sky, plunging the area into darkness.

A path appeared beneath Promise, Helen, and Pegasus—an eerie road flanked by white ghostly flowers, leading directly to the underworld.

Ignoring the wailing wraith, Cerberus ferociously attacked the skull-filled temple, pushing it inch by inch onto the spectral path and toward the ancient gate.

Though the wraith howled and struggled, it was utterly powerless against its natural enemy, the guardian of the underworld and in no time, it was dragged down into the abyss.

Hecate finished the work, however, before Promise could even say thank you, she jumped into the gate the next second.

As she left, she didn't forget to swipe the painting of the underworld butterflies from Promise's hand.

*Don't call me again!*—this was Hecate's silent protest.

Promise didn't mind at all, watching her take the painting with a calm expression.

But as soon as she left, Promise simply reached into the sky and pulled the painting back down.

It was as if... No, it was obvious—he had done it on purpose.

Just like when he drew Pegasus in the underworld and later retrieved it, as long as he had painted something once, he would not need to draw it again.

With the divine artifact in his possession, he can summon any of his previous works at will.

As soon as the painting was taken out, Hecate stretched out her hand from the underworld and snatched it back.

She snatched it back and Promise took it out again repeating the process back-and-forth.

After the two of them fought over the painting several times, Hecate stopped moving.

A satisfied smile curled on Promise's lips, knowing he had successfully worn down the goddess.

Pegasus, observing this from the side, was almost speechless at its young master's antics.

He actually wanted to say to the goddess Hecate, You're doing it the wrong way.

Though everyone knew Promise was a bit of a grudge-holder, both Pegasus and the gods saw it as more playful than serious.

Despite his so-called "revenge," his friends and allies did not suffer any retaliation from Promise but often ended up receiving favors and benefits from him instead.

Even Pegasus, initially thinking Promise was just playing games, had a rude awakening after the incident involving Hermes.

That was when everyone realized that this young man wasn't just pretending—he was genuinely petty and would never let go of any grudge!

In this way, the reason why Promise was thinking about Hecate was very simple.

Every time she saw him, she could not hide the disgust on her face.

At first, he didn't think it was a big deal, but as time went by and they met more often, even if it wasn't recorded in the grudge book, it was already in his heart.

With the skull temple dragged into the underworld and the road disappearing alongside the goddess, the once darkened peninsula was bathed in sunlight again.

Promise glanced at the painting of Antaeus sinking into the ocean and the one of the skull temple deep in the abyss.

With a light laugh, he tossed it into the air, where it disintegrated into dust and vanished.

"Sorry for wasting a bit of time," Promise said, finally done with the ordeal, then reached out and gently ruffled Helen's hair, still finding her clinging to him, not yet recovered from shock.

"Let's go. I'll take you home now," he said softly, smiling at her.

And hearing his gentle voice, Helen instinctively looked up at him.

Her enchanting eyes, capable of stealing the hearts of any man, reflected the image of the boy before her.

As the two looked at each other, the little girl was startled to realize that even though they were looking at each other like this, her powers seemed to have no effect on him.

Those beautiful emerald eyes remained as clear and bright as ever.

The reason was simple: the goddess of wisdom had once tied a single strand of her hair around Promise's, protecting him from having his thoughts pried into by any god or goddess and ensuring that he would retain a measure of clarity no matter what the circumstances.

In fact if Promise had felt anything toward Helen, her eyes could have ensnared him, perhaps not making him fall in love instantly but they could have certainly stirred unfamiliar emotions within him.

But right now, Promise had only one thing on his mind: finding Theseus and beating that loli-obsessed idiot to a pulp!

On the battlefield of Troy, when the war had ended, the victorious soldiers and heroes approached Helen.

But their swords and spears, which had cut down countless foes to secure their triumph, could not bear to touch her.

And when Helen walked toward them, every man dropped his weapon without hesitation out of fear of harming her... Such was the power of Helen.

In Greek mythology, she was the most beautiful woman in the world.

Helen watched as the boy in front of her extended his hand toward her, and after a moment of hesitation, she reached out and placed her hand in his.