Chapter 159 A Door to the Dark Side of the Universe

According to Hathaway, the "divine artifact" in Hercules's hand was actually just a crude shell; the true power of the artifact came from its core, and that core was far beyond the power of mortals to shape.

"It's a scepter. I think you've seen descriptions of it elsewhere," Hathaway said, standing by the window and speaking of these ancient secrets in a calm tone. "But in reality, the scepter itself is nothing. It's just a framework used to bind the true core of the divine artifact. The Olympian gods obtained an infinitely powerful core from somewhere. That core is the essence of the universe's power, possessing the strength to subvert the entire world. However, Zeus and Athena didn't know how to control this power, so they used the dumbest method, combining red crystals and enchanted metal with the core to make it into a weapon."

Hao Ren didn't expect another "core" to suddenly pop up, and couldn't help asking curiously, "What does the core look like?"

"I haven't seen it," Hathaway shook her head. "It's said that those who look upon it will be plagued by misfortune. That thing is sealed inside the crystal of the scepter. Since the scepter was forged, no one has seen what it looks like. Hercules once described it as a pure darkness… but even that's just something he heard from others."

Lily followed up with a question: "Did Hercules suffer backlash from the divine artifact because you guys fought so hard that it went out of control?"

Hathaway nodded lightly: "Yes, but not entirely. Since the fall of Olympus, Hercules fled with that divine artifact. He encountered countless crises, mostly from the extermination attempts of demon hunters—each time, he could only rely on the power of the artifact to escape danger. This led him to become increasingly dependent on that scepter. However, the energy of the scepter is limited. Drawing too much power from the scepter eventually led to changes in that core. In our last battle with him, the crystal on the scepter shattered, and all sorts of forces burst out of it. Some were positive, removing our hostile curses from each other, and some were negative, damaging Hercules's mind."

Hathaway paused here before continuing: "In the beginning, this backlash wasn't serious, but as time passed, the power leaked from the divine artifact seemed to find an invisible conduit, constantly eroding Hercules's body and spirit. After a period of meaningless attempts and research, we reached an agreement with Hercules: he would henceforth live in anonymity, find a place to live in seclusion, and try to resist the shadows in his mental world, while we would travel the world to find clues related to that evil force."

Hesperides asked, "Did you find anything?"

Hathaway shook her head: "Nothing at all."

"Why not just throw the divine artifact away?" Lily scratched her head. "Didn't you say that the power leaking from it keeps drilling into Hercules's body? Wouldn't throwing it far away help?"

"We tried it, but it was useless—some kind of space-time connection linked Hercules and the core of the divine artifact. No matter where we threw the artifact, its power would appear in Hercules's nightmares. Rather than that, it's better to keep it by his side, so it can at least be used as a weapon for self-defense, and we can monitor the changes in the artifact at any time."

Vivian muttered in a low voice: "Anything cursed is basically like that."

Hao Ren had already figured out the ins and outs of the matter: "So in the end, things got worse and worse, and your efforts were in vain. One day, Hercules sent you a message, saying that the situation had become too serious to handle, so you came to this place… I actually know almost everything that happened after that. It seems that although you didn't find a way to lift the curse, you still gained some understanding of that core."

"That's right," Hathaway said. "As the power in the divine artifact became more and more out of control, the essence of that core gradually revealed itself, and our research became much easier. Sylvie was our researcher, and she eventually discovered that the thing was actually a door, leading to a dark and terrifying world, a world hidden in the nightmares of the real world, the dark side of the universe… The reason why the divine artifact has such great power is precisely because it is a vent for the power of such a world, and no matter how great the power of mortals, it cannot compete with a world."

At this moment, what Hao Ren thought of was the Dream Plane.

However, it was clear that the Dream Plane wasn't as terrifying as Hathaway described. Apart from a lurking mastermind and a group of guardians who had gone mad, the Dream Plane was just a normal universe. How could it leak such evil and terrifying power?

Could it be that the rift in the core of the divine artifact led to another place? A truly dark and chaotic universe? Or had Hathaway and her demon hunter companions made a mistake? Did they not understand the concept of the universe and the barrier between worlds? Was what they described as the "dark side of the universe" just a slightly larger, distorted alien space?

"'What's in the 'dark side of the universe'?" Vivian frowned slightly, her tone serious. "Besides the raw energy."

"There's also a狂乱喧嚣的意志, a will of狂乱喧嚣 (madness and clamor), an evil force that cannot be described by the real world, devoid of any reason, and trying to devour the entire world," Hathaway said, her body involuntarily trembling as she spoke these sentences. Her undead body showed bursts of fluctuation, obviously these things had cast a huge shadow on her, and even after experiencing life and death, even after guarding this place for two hundred years, she couldn't calm down. "That thing is unstoppable! Even simply knowing its existence can drive people insane. Sylvie, she researched too deeply and became fascinated by the darkness on the other side of the border. She privately opened a通道 (channel) and sent herself to the border, but she ended up burying herself and letting that monster in the darkness perceive the existence of the real world, gradually opening the door to the border…"

Hao Ren interrupted her before her mental state became too agitated: "So you finally built this prison?"

"That's right, we built this place," Hathaway's expression flickered, and she raised her hand to point out the window. "Ironically, building this place was precisely with the help of the power of that divine artifact. That thing can tear through barriers and reshape space. We used this to divide the real world in two. In this parallel space-time, we built a huge cage around Hercules, isolating him and the divine artifact together, preventing them from having any contact with the real world, so that the border would be difficult to continue expanding outward; we also built a place of surveillance here to monitor the situation in the cage for a long time. For all of this, Hercules became the seal platform in the cage, and nine of our companions sacrificed themselves to initiate the ritual. After that, Master Mohabben and I became the guardians of this house. For two hundred years, the master has been sitting in this place, watching the inside of the cage for a long time, while I watch the outside."

Hathaway's gaze fell on the old man in front of the window. This demon hunter was still alive, but he was like a dead man; Hathaway stood beside him, her appearance unchanged, but in fact, she was already dead.

"You built the prison in a parallel space-time, but the outside real world was still affected," Hesperides said, "That village…"

"I know," Hathaway nodded lightly. "Human power is limited, and this seal is not perfect. Some of that thing still spread out from the border. At the end of the ritual, we almost failed. The negative energy that escaped from the dark side drove some of the companions who presided over the ritual mad. Reinhardt even set fire to the ritual site located in the real world, while Master Mohabben and I had already entered this parallel space-time and were powerless to do anything about the real world. In the end, we could only make some sacrifices—the two of us forcibly completed the final part of the ritual here. The price is obvious: I died, becoming an undead, while Master Mohabben aged into this appearance overnight, and those negative auras that escaped slightly took hold in the real world, turning that village into a cursed place."

This was the truth of the whole matter.

And just at this moment, a sudden sound from his pocket interrupted Hao Ren's thoughts: "Hiss ha!!"

Hathaway looked curiously at Hao Ren's pocket: "What did you bring?"

Hao Ren took the canned bottle out of his coat pocket, but saw the little邪灵 (xie ling, evil spirit) starting to撞 (zhuàng, crash) wildly inside, screaming and gesticulating as it撞 (zhuàng, crashed): "Scare! Bang! Hiss—waaa!!"

This little thing seemed to be desperately trying to convey some meaning, or perhaps it was just caught up in pure亢奋 (kàngfèn, excitement). Considering she had no mind, the first possibility was not high.

Hao Ren remembered that the last time this little fellow acted up was when the group fell into the alien space, so this time he instantly became vigilant.

And almost at the same time, a low rumble suddenly came from the direction of the village!