After making a promise to Hespera, Hades' raven ignited with a ghostly Fire, which danced and directly coiled around Hespera.
Teth-Adam subtly stepped back; the Fire felt very dangerous to him.
Of course it was dangerous; this was Fire from the Underworld, one of the most feared types of Fire by all sentient beings.
It should be noted here that Hades' position in the Olympian Gods Pantheon is very special.
Although he is generally considered a member of the Olympian Gods, he does not actually reside in the World of Light, nor on Mount Olympus.
When the Gods feast on Mount Olympus, he does not appear unless invited.
The relationship between Zeus and his two brothers is subtly complex; although Poseidon, the God of the Sea, is nominally the God who rules the ocean, the ocean is also an extension of the continental authority.
Because land and sea are under the same sky, and wherever the sky covers, it is the territory ruled by Zeus.
Therefore, Poseidon and Zeus are not equal in status; in truth, he is merely a vassal of Zeus.
Back then, Poseidon's coveting of the ocean territory, which covers seventy percent of Earth's surface, was actually a trick by Zeus; at that time, there were no people in the ocean, and no people meant no faith, just a vast empty domain.
If it weren't for a group of fishermen who fished by the sea and people from long-distance merchant fleets who believed in him, he would have fought Zeus on the spot.
But because of this, for a long time, Poseidon's relationship with Zeus was very tense.
To improve their relationship, Zeus finally agreed with Poseidon that he would send him a group of devout followers.
I believe everyone can guess that the Atlantean Empire was the group of followers they agreed upon.
Before King Atlan's technological inventions led to the Empire's sinking, Poseidon had countless opportunities to warn him, but he did not.
He watched Atlantis sink, and soon after Atlantis sank, he granted them the ability to survive underwater.
All of this seemed to have been arranged in advance.
But even so, Poseidon's faith was still insufficient to contend with Zeus, because the Atlanteans had low fertility.
It's obvious that this must be related to Zeus.
His wife, Queen Hera, is in charge of marriage and fertility; adjusting the Atlanteans' fertility rate would be a piece of cake for her, wouldn't it?
However, all of Zeus's schemes went awry when it came to Hades.
Because the Underworld is not within the Mortal and Divine Realms; it is another dimension completely independent of the God Realm and the Mortal Realm.
When Zeus thought he had exiled him to an uninhabited World, he realized that his power could not control Hades' Underworld at all.
His authority over the sky also could not encompass the Underworld.
So, this actually made Hades the sole God of the Underworld; his power in the Underworld is almost equivalent to the supreme chief God in a monotheistic religion.
Since Hades became the Master of the Underworld, Zeus has not dared to step into that land, because there, he could not possibly be Hades' opponent.
Of course, in the God Realm or the Mortal Realm, the situation would be reversed.
Hades' power would be greatly suppressed in the present World.
Zeus went to great lengths to divide Hades' divine authority back then.
First, he had Cupid accidentally shoot Hades with a golden arrow, making him crave love.
Then, he tacitly allowed Gaia to give Persephone to Hades, thus making her the Lady of the Underworld, successfully dividing the power of the Underworld.
However, Persephone was uncooperative; she did not like the Underworld and, therefore, rarely took the initiative to contend with Hades for control of the Underworld.
This allowed Hades, who had awakened from the love trap, to quickly regain full power, but it also created a feud between him and Zeus.
Although he promised Zeus at the Council of Gods that he would never get involved in anything related to Shazam, he immediately went back on his word once he returned to the Underworld.
After all, the sky is high and the emperor is far away; Zeus, who is in the New God Realm, cannot control him, who is in the Underworld, so even if he causes trouble, what can Zeus do to him?
In fact, Dane had guessed one thing wrong earlier: Zod and others were not freed because of Krypton's explosion, but because Hades intentionally released them.
Neither Dane nor the Kryptonians had imagined that the so-called Phantom Zone was actually the Underworld; it was just that the portal opened by the Kryptonians was not within the jurisdiction of the civilized World, but merely an uninhabited area within the Underworld.
And Hades discovered this secret.
For tens of thousands of years, the Kryptonians had been exiling criminals to the Phantom Zone, unaware that many of those criminals had been taken in by Hades.
Over time, Hades' Underworld already had a large Army of Kryptonians.
However, there is no Sun in the Underworld, so they cannot yet unleash the full power of the Kryptonians.
Zod and the others were experimental subjects specifically thrown out by Hades; he wanted to know whether the existence of someone like Superman was an anomaly or a common phenomenon.
Even during the heyday of Kryptonian civilization, powerful individuals like Superman rarely appeared.
But Zod's performance greatly surprised him; this indicated that for all Kryptonians, the Sun could grant them equivalent superpowers.
Hades held an entire Kryptonian Army, and after tens of thousands of years of brainwashing, they had also become Hades' loyal followers.
And now, he had given Hespera the authority to command and summon a portion of the Kryptonians.
Shazam might be able to easily defeat one Kryptonian, or two or three, but how many could he defeat?
Hespera quickly learned this news from the power Hades bestowed upon her, and she was overjoyed.
"This time, I will definitely defeat Shazam..!"
"He is not alone," Teth-Adam reminded her.
Hespera merely smiled, "It doesn't matter how many helpers he has; Hades has granted me an invincible Army!"
Teth-Adam raised an eyebrow and said nothing; those Demon Lords back then thought the same thing.
"So, what now…?"
Hespera activated the divine power Hades had given her, and a ghostly blue Fire ignited around her; when the Fire light dissipated, ten warriors, completely enveloped in black armor, appeared in the temple.
They said nothing, only saluted Hespera with their gaze; although their eyes were not visible, Hespera knew they were looking at her.
But she didn't care about these things.
"I need you to help me deal with someone, but before that, I want to see your abilities!"
...Dream World.
Under the Sun, Dane was sparring with a Kryptonian.
Each of Faora's strikes stirred up countless sandstorms, and each attack caused massive tremors.
The wind from her fists could create immense air pressure; those with weaker physiques would even be blown away by the aftershocks.
These small fists contained immense power capable of shattering mountains and rivers with a single blow.
However, her opponent was Dane; despite her every attack being as perfect as possible, she still couldn't make him move a single step.
Faora's attacks left only the small patch of ground beneath his feet, yet that spot where his two feet stood seemed more indestructible than anything else in the World.
Faora's eyes emitted a strong red light, and immense heat shot towards Dane.
Dane extended his hand, catching the heat vision from her eyes in his palm; it felt warm and quite pleasant.
Faora flew forward, attempting to seize the opportunity to attack Dane.
But he merely pushed his palm forward, and, pushing through the heat vision, grabbed Faora's head.
His large hand made Faora's face appear smaller than his palm, and then Dane pushed hard, sending Faora flying headfirst into the distance.
With a "boom," she smashed into a distant hill.
A few seconds later, Faora flew out from the shattered rocks of the mountain, but she did not continue her attack.
"Not fighting anymore?" Dane tilted his head, a smile on his face.
"I am not your opponent," Faora conceded very straightforwardly.
"So, what exactly do you mean? You neither kill me nor release me, just playing with me every day?"
This was not the first time Dane had come here to fight her, but each time he would leave after she was exhausted.
After some time, when Faora felt she could win, he would come again to deliver a heavy blow, as if deliberately amusing himself with her.
"I want to recruit you to be my Legion Commander," Dane finally stated his purpose.
He believed Faora's strength was already sufficient.
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