Robbery

Seth was about to unlock his divinity when a small sapling rose beside him, attracting both his and Thanatos’s attention.

“This is not your fight yet, Seat of destruction.”

Seth heaved a sigh of relief and turned around, looking at the man slowly taking form behind him.

“I was wondering when you would show up, Atlas.” Said Seth with a chuckle: “Does Augur know?”

“Haha, is there anything he doesn’t know?” said Atlas walking forward, his eyes locked on Thanatos. “Been a while, traitor.”

Thanatos smiled despite Atlas’s words and nodded: “Atlas.”

Atlas turned towards Seth: “Walk away. Tell Cana she must take away the treasure. That’s Augur’s order. I’ll hold him off.”

“She said it would crumble if she moved it.” Said Seth with a shake of his head.

Atlas frowned and continued walking forward, “Then let it crumble. Augur ordered that hope must not fall into their hands.”

Seth also frowned, and a message appeared in his vision.

<If he fights Thanatos, there’s no chance for Atlas to survive.>

‘What if I help?’

<Same result. The only chance to injure Thanatos is if host fights using destruction divinity, which will most likely attract Kronos.>

Sighing, Seth asked Atlas: “Is no one else coming?”

Atlas shook his head: “They can’t. Augur and I are the only ones without responsibilities, and since Augur’s vision is muddled these days, he doesn’t want to leave the others alone.”

Once his words finished, his limbs turned into vines that charged toward Thanatos. An aura of destruction covered Thanatos’s body, and he slowly started walking toward Augur.

Any piece of his vines that even came into contact with Thanatos kept slowly getting destroyed before it could even pass the destruction aura. All they did was force Thanatos to stop and focus on protecting himself.

“Seat of destruction, what are you doing? Go and take care of the treasure.” Said Atlas in annoyance when he noticed Seth was not leaving.

Seth ignored his words and kept watching the fight. ‘Thanatos is too calm. Are there any other enemies around?’

<The death armies, but Thanatos had left them behind when he rushed here. It will take at least two days for them to arrive.>

Seth frowned and couldn’t stop a bad feeling from rising in his chest. ‘We’re missing something. Check everything. Find out what it is. He wants to take hope for himself, not let it die, so why is he only using his destruction energy?’

< There’s nothing unusual going on. The ascended armies are far away. Atlas’s attacks pin Thanatos, but due to Noth supplying him with energy, Atlas will eventually run out of energy. The treasure is deep underneath, and Cana is sitting next to it. All other left horrors are also accounted for.>

Seth’s frown deepened as he read the system’s report. Suddenly, he understood where the bad feeling was coming from, and his eyes turned sharp.

“Atlas. Buy as much time as you can.”

After Atlas nodded, Seth teleported again. Not away, but deep underground, right at the edge of where the hope treasure was buried.

Cana was sitting in her human form, holding a tiny seed in her hand, covered in a small bubble of water. When she felt Seth’s arrival, she turned towards him and asked: “What are you doing here?”

“Why?” asked Seth, slowly walking towards her.

“Why what?” asked Cana with a confused expression, letting the seed drift back and standing up.

“Why have you betrayed the Council?”

Cana shook her head. “I have no idea what you’re speaking about, seat of destruction, and if you don’t leave now, I’ll throw you out again.”

“You don’t? Thanatos and Atlas are fighting right above, and you’re sitting here, caressing the treasure like it’s your lover? The enemy is in sight, so why are you not helping your teammate? You know that if Atlas fails, you’ll be next.”

“What if others sneak in here and steal it from under our noses?”

“Shut up, Cana. We both know no other horrors are moving about. You’re sitting here guarding the seed of hope for Thanatos. That’s why you refused to leave, not because it is too weak. When and why have you betrayed the Council?”

Cana’s smile faded, and she waved her hand toward Seth. A wave left her hand, rushing straight towards him.

Seth teleported out of her attack range and asked again: “Why Cana? Why did you betray the council?”

Sana’s betrayal bothered Seth because something like this didn’t happen in his past timeline. She had kept guard of the seed of hope until her entire lifespan had disappeared. Both she and the treasure were eventually lost.

Cana shrugged, and slowly her human body turned into pure and clear water, mixing with the water around the cave.

“Because of you, Seat of destruction. The war you had orchestrated wiped away the hope of billions of people. It also allowed Thanatos’s influence to spread even here to Hope. I didn’t lie when I said he was dying; that’s why I made a deal with Thanatos.”

“As long as Thanatos keeps him alive, I don’t care if he’s converted to the horrors side. I don’t care about the human race or the Council. I only care that he gets to live.”

“You dumb, idiotic woman…” muttered Seth with a frown, destruction energy covering his body.

Cana charged right at him the next moment, waters rising from all corners of the cave, rushing at Seth along with her. Seth kept teleporting out of the way, pushing his destruction source to the maximum as he appeared above Cana’s water body and sent a wave of destruction straight down.

The wave cut a hole through Cana’s body, but the water continued rushing towards him from all sides.

<Thanatos had started fighting using the treasure. Atlas won’t last long.>

‘Find me a way to win this. She’s weak, but there’s no way I can win against a water demigod.’ Said Seth as he kept using his destruction energy to push back her attacks, but the difference in the amount of energy at their disposal was too far big. He knew he would be the first one to fall.

<She’s moving the fight away from the seed. Focus on destroying it first.>

Seth looked to the side and noticed the seed floating into a thin water bubble.

‘She’s protecting it. This idiot really fell for a collective will.’ Smiling, Seth teleported right next to the seed, and his eyes flashed deep red.

He pointed his hand towards the seed floating in the water bubble and said: “STOP.”

All the water around stopped instantly, and Cana’s voice resounded again. “You’re bluffing.”

“Am I? We both know my divinity will still pierce through even if you reinforce this shield. The seed is better dead than in Thanatos’s hands, so you tell me if I’m bluffing.”

Cana rematerialized and looked at Seth with hatred-filled eyes. “What do you want? If you take it away, it will die. If you attack, I’ll detonate my core and bury you here with me. Even if you somehow survive, Thanatos will finish you off. “

Seth looked at the seed and the crazy look in Cana’s eyes before saying: “Then I guess we’ll have to see.”

“NO!” yelled Cana, dropping to her knees. All the water around turned into energy and entered her body. “I BEG YOU, STAY YOUR HAND. I LOVE HIM.”

Seth stopped his attack and looked between Cana and the tiny seed floating in the water bubble.

“Even if I pity you and what your loneliness did to you, I can’t let it fall into Thanatos’s hands. If you don’t have a way, I can take it out of here; it’s getting destroyed.” Said Seth.

Cana raised her teary eyes, looking into Seth’s as she said:" Can’t you please let us be happy? What if Thanatos takes over the hope of the human race?"

“Have you gone mad, Cana? Have you forgotten what happened when the last treasure was corrupted?”

“So what? Did the humans become less when they lost their immortality? They gain a purpose in seeking it again through ascension. It only made them stronger.”

“Are you out of your mind? Their immortality has given birth to the strongest horror there is. The only horror that still walks this continent. They were also left with a small lifespan, but if their hope turns into hopelessness… can you imagine what that would do to them? It will crumble the entire race.”

“At least if a treasure is destroyed, all that will giving it form returns to them, but if it’s corrupted, the entire human race will become hopeless. Even their souls might leave them. Can you even hear what you’re speaking?”

Seeing Cana open her mouth again, Seth’s eyes turned dark red. Noticing this, Cana said: “Wait. There’s a way to keep it alive.”

Seth stopped again and said: “Speak.”

“If I seal it away. My power should be able to keep him alive for a while longer, but you still need to find a host…”

“Then do it.” Said Seth while looking upwards. “We don’t have that much time left.”

Cana bit her lip and slowly walked towards the seed. Seth observed her, taking a step back in case she suddenly attacked. Cana stopped right before the seed, gently grabbing it in her hand.

She didn’t say a single word and just brought the tiny seed to her lips, kissing it gently as her entire body slowly disappeared from the feet up. A small blue sphere formed around the seed of hope when her body was completely gone.

‘Is she dead?’

<Affirmative.>

Seth nodded and grabbed the frozen sphere.

“She gave her life for it. What a crazy woman…” muttered Seth before not wasting a moment more and teleporting outside.

The entire city was gone, consumed by an eerie dark green light pushing against a wall of transparent vines extending as high as the eyes could see. Space was crumbling and mending on repeat around the two energies.

Even if it looked impressive, the vines wall was slowly getting consumed by the ever-extending dark green light.

“Been a while since I saw two demigods going all out. Thank you for your sacrifice.” Muttered Seth, looking away from the fight and focusing on running as far as possible.

‘How far do I need to get to be safe?’

<The corrupted treasure has lost a great deal of its strength. He might still be able to reach the border with Loss, but even that will burden it greatly.>

“The border with Loss? I killed too many people in this war….’

<Host doesn’t have to worry. This fight with Atlas has sapped much of that energy, and this conclusion is still better in the long run.>

‘I know, but two more Council members were lost.’

Seth kept traveling, pushing his space source to exhaustion. Once out of space energy, he drank an energy vial to recover as he watched a giant dark-green skull moving towards him from the back.

<Thanatos is killing humans on the way and using their death to support his advance.>

“Haha, at least I made him quite mad. This will further strain his treasure.”

<Affirmative, but after failing, he will probably mobilize the ascended inside his domain to move on Endora.>

‘You’re wrong. That would be stupid. With Noth injured and him wasting all the power he gained from the war, doing that will only further his losses. He’ll retreat. He knows that if Tarquin lost to me, the others stand no chance.’

<According to my simulations, the chance of him retreating is under 40%>

“You’re wrong. I know Thanatos well enough to understand how he thinks. He will never take such a huge risk.”