According to Hathaway, the "divine artifact" in Hercules's hand was actually just a poor shell. The real power of the divine artifact came from its core, which was far from the power of mortals.
"It is a scepter, and I think you have seen the description of the scepter elsewhere." Hathaway stood in front of the window and spoke of the ancient secrets in a calm tone. "But in fact, the scepter itself is nothing. It is just a frame used to bind the real core of the divine artifact. The Olympians got a powerful core from somewhere. The core is the essence of the universe and has the power to subvert the whole world. But Zeus and Athena did not know how to control this power. So they used the stupidest method, which was to combine the ruby crystal and the enchanted metal to make a weapon."
Hao Ren did not expect that the core would suddenly pop up. He could not help but ask curiously, "What does the core look like?"
"I have not seen it," Hathaway said, shaking her head. "It is said that whoever sees it will be haunted by misfortune. The thing is sealed inside the crystal of the scepter. Since the scepter was cast, no one has seen what it looks like. Hercules once described it as a piece of pure darkness, but he just heard it from others. "
Lily then asked, "Did Hercules suffer from the backlash of the divine artifact because you guys fought it too hard and caused it to go out of control?"
Hathaway nodded gently. "Yes, but not entirely. Since the fall of Olympus, Hercules escaped with the divine artifact. He had encountered countless crises, mostly from the demon hunters. Each time, he could only rely on the power of the divine artifact to avert danger, which led him to rely more and more on the scepter. However, the energy of the scepter was limited. Too much power from the scepter finally led to changes in the core. In our last battle with him, the crystal on the scepter broke, and various forces burst out from it. Some of them were positive, which dispelled the curse of hostility between us. Some of them were negative, which damaged Hercules' mind. "
Hathaway paused for a moment before continuing. "In the beginning, the backlash was not serious. But as time went on, the power leaking from the divine artifact seemed to have found an invisible channel, constantly eroding Hercules' body and spirit. After we signed the armistice, we studied the erosion together and found that it did not belong to any magic known to the world. After a period of meaningless attempts and research, we reached an agreement with Hercules: he would hide his identity and find a place to live in seclusion, trying to fight the shadows in the spiritual world, while we would travel around the world to find clues about the evil force. "
Hesperides asked, "Have you found it?"
Hathaway shook her head. "Nothing."
"Why not just throw away the artifact?" Lily scratched her head. "Didn't you say that the energy leaking from the artifact has been drilling into Hercules' body? Won't it work if I throw it further away? "
"We have tried, but it doesn't work. Some kind of connection across time and space connects Hercules to the core of the divine artifact. No matter where we throw the divine artifact, its power will appear in Hercules' nightmare. Instead of that, it was better to keep it with him, so that he could at least use it as a weapon for self-defense and monitor the changes of the artifact. "
Vivian mumbled in a low voice, "Cursed things are basically like this."
Hao Ren had figured out the ins and outs of the matter. "So things got worse and worse, and your efforts were in vain. One day, Hercules sent a message to you, saying that the situation was too serious to handle, and you came to this place. I know what happened next. It seems that although you have not found a way to lift the curse, you have a certain understanding of the core. "
"Yes," Hathaway said. "As the power in the artifact became more and more out of control, the essence of the core was gradually revealed, and our research became much easier. Sivir is one of our researchers. She finally found that the thing is actually a door leading to a dark and horrible world. The world is hidden in the depths of the real world's nightmare, the dark side of the universe. The reason why the artifact has such great power is that it is the outlet of the power of such a world. No matter how great the power of the mortal world is, it is impossible to compete with a world. "
At that moment, Hao Ren thought of the Plane of Dreams.
However, it was clear that the Plane of Dreams was not as terrible as Hathaway described. Except for a hidden mastermind and a group of crazy guardians, the Plane of Dreams was just a normal universe. How could it leak such evil and horrible power?
Could it be that the crack in the core of the artifact led to another place? A really dark and chaotic universe? Or maybe Hathaway and her fellow demon hunters were wrong. They did not understand the concept of the universe and the World Barrier, and the 'dark side of the universe' they described was actually just a slightly larger twisted dimension?
"What's in the 'dark side of the universe'?" Vivian frowned slightly and said in a serious tone. "Other than the primitive energy."
"There is also a frenzied and noisy will, an evil force that cannot be described by the real world, without any reason, trying to devour the whole world." Hathaway could not help but tremble when she said these words. Her undead body showed waves of fluctuations. Obviously, these things had a huge impact on her. Even though she had experienced life and death, even though she had guarded this place for 200 years, she could not calm down. "That thing is undefeatable! Even just knowing its existence will make people lose their minds. Sivir, she studied too deeply and was fascinated by the darkness on the other side of the border. She opened a passage to send herself to the border, but in the end, she killed herself. She also let the monster in the dark sense the existence of the real world, and step by step opened the border gate — "
Hao Ren interrupted before Hathaway became too emotional. "So you finally built this prison?"
"Yes, we built this place." Hathaway was in a trance for a moment. She raised her finger and pointed out the window. "Ironically, we built this place with the power of the divine artifact. That thing can tear the barrier and reshape the space. We used this to divide the real world into two. In this parallel universe, we built a huge cage around Hercules, isolating him and the divine artifact from any contact with the real world, so that the boundary could not continue to expand outward. We also built a monitoring place here to monitor the situation in the cage for a long time. For all this, Hercules became the sealing table in the cage, and nine of our companions sacrificed themselves to start the ritual. After that, Master Mohabben and I became the guards of this house. For 200 years, Master Mohabben sat in this place, watching the inside of the cage for a long time, and I, watching the outside. "
Hathaway's eyes fell on the old man in front of the window. The demon hunter was still alive, but he looked like a dead man. Hathaway stood next to him. She still looked the same, but in fact, she had died a long time ago.
"You built a prison in the parallel universe, but the real world outside was still affected," Hesperides said. "The village …"
"I know," Hathaway nodded gently. "Manpower is limited, and the seal is not perfect. Some of that thing still spread from the boundary. At the end of the ritual, we almost failed. The negative energy from the dark side drove some of the companions who presided over the ritual crazy. Reinhardt even burned down the ritual site in the real world. At that time, Master Mohabben and I had already entered this parallel universe and could not do anything about it in the real world. In the end, we could only make some sacrifices. The two of us forcibly completed the last part of the ritual here. The price was obvious: I died and became a ghost, and Master Mohabben aged overnight. The negative energy from the dark side lingered in the real world and turned the village into a cursed place. "
That was the truth of the whole thing.
At this moment, a sudden sound from his pocket interrupted Hao Ren's thoughts. "Ghsss!"
Hathaway looked curiously at Hao Ren's pocket. "What did you bring?"
Hao Ren took the can out of his pocket, only to see the little Malevolence was madly bumping into the pocket, screaming and waving its claws. "Ahh! Pa! Ahh! Ahh! Ahh! "
The little thing seemed to be desperately trying to convey something, or she was simply in a state of excitement. Considering that she had no mind, the first possibility was not high.
Hao Ren still remembered that the last time this little thing stirred up trouble was when they fell into the alien dimension. So this time, he instantly raised his guard.
Almost at the same time, a low roar suddenly came from the direction of the village!
You've already exceeded your reading limit for today. If you want to read more, please log in.
Login
Select text and click 'Report' to let us know about any bad translation.
