Chapter 214: Chapter 58
Underworld.
City of Nox.
The Dead Drunk Bar was packed so tightly that even the air itself seemed to vibrate with noise.
Cups clashed, pitchers overflowed, divine wine spilled across the floors, and the smell of roasted meat mingled with incense smoke.
Every table was alive with chatter, with arguments, with wild laughter.
The rumors had spread like wildfire through Nox, and not even the dim light or the thick haze of smoke could drown out the frenzy caused by one simple fact: Hades had not left Aphrodite’s temple all night.
"Pay up, pay up! Don’t think you can wiggle out of this now!" shouted a burly heroic spirit, slamming a hand on the table piled high with coins, divine stones, and strange artifacts.
His grin was wide as he pulled the winnings toward himself. "I told you, Aphrodite would be the one! You all said Hecate, you all said Hera, but look at who’s laughing now! Remember to clean up those skulls really well!"
"You idiot!" another god shouted from across the room, face flushed red from wine and fury. "They didn’t marry! They didn’t seal it with vows! For all we know, they just... indulged in the pleasure of flesh. That doesn’t mean she wins! I ain’t paying up! You guys! Take back your payments! It ain’t over yet!"
That sparked a round of roaring laughter from another corner, where a group of divine spirits leaned on each other, drunk and giddy.
One of them, a tall spirit with a long golden braid, raised her cup and yelled, "Indulged in pleasure? Hah! You call spending the entire night together indulging? That’s as good as a conquest! Aphrodite has done what no one else dared!"
"Conquest? You think too small," interrupted a calm but sharp-voiced god, sipping from a glass of clear liquor.
He leaned back, eyes glinting. "This is Aphrodite. The goddess of love. Do you think she’ll stop at conquest? No. She’ll dig her claws into him until even the King of the Underworld won’t know where he ends and she begins. That’s not just a conquest or a fling. That’s a war she’s already won."
"Bah! You fools are rushing!" a drunk heroic spirit slammed his cup down, face red and eyes wide. "It’s not over yet! The Harem Ending is still possible!"
The entire table roared in laughter and boos at once, some jeering, some agreeing.
"The harem ending? What are you, a bard writing stories for bored mortals?" sneered a goddess nearby, crossing her arms. "Do you think Lord Hades would tolerate that? The man barely tolerates company at all, and you expect him to entertain three women fighting over him? Ridiculous."
"Not ridiculous!" the heroic spirit countered, slurring his words but raising his hand as though making a divine proclamation. "I put my money down on it, and until I see him wed, until I see him bind his throne with Aphrodite’s, the bet is alive! Alive, I tell you!"
"You’re delusional!" Exclaimed the goddess.
The heroic spirit grinned, "Then let’s make a bet! If King Hades ends up with a harem, you go on a date with me!"
The goddess snorted, "I’d let you fuck me if Lord Hades ends up with a harem."
"Hey let us in on that!"
"That’s right! That’s right!"
The goddess rolled her eyes, "Sorry, I ain’t into orgies."
The bar erupted again in laughter, cups thrown in the air, voices raised in wild cheers.
Some mocked, some celebrated, some drowned themselves in despair at losing their wagers.
Yet, underneath the noise, a quieter table whispered nervously.
"Do you think Hera will stay silent about this?" one divine spirit asked, eyes darting around.
"Or Hecate," another muttered, shuddering. "If either of them makes a move... the Underworld itself might shake. And if both do..."
Their words were drowned by the next wave of shouting.
"To Aphrodite! The Queen of the Underworld!" someone toasted loudly, and the bar exploded in agreement, cups lifted, drinks spilling across the floors as the chant echoed again and again.
"She isn’t the queen yet!"
And in the corner, the quiet ones repeated in hushed tones, "It’s not over. It’s only just begun. The bet was who would end up marrying him."
The chaos inside the Dead Drunk Bar only grew louder with every passing moment.
The stone walls trembled with the pounding of fists on tables, the stomping of boots, the endless laughter and jeering.
Barmaids weaved through the mess carrying trays stacked high with jugs of ambrosia, though half of it spilled onto the floor as drunken spirits reached to grab them mid-step.
A god slammed his palm on the counter so hard that his cup cracked in half. "I want another round! Tonight, we drink for the fall of Underworld’s coldest king to the warmest bed!"
His words sent the entire left wing of the bar into hysterics, some pounding their mugs together until foam splashed across their faces.
At another table, a group of hunters and warriors had formed a small betting pit of their own, shouting numbers over one another.
"I bet two hours of work time that Aphrodite gets him to marry within a decade!" one yelled.
"Decade? You fool, she’ll do it within a year!" another barked back. Coins and tokens clattered as wagers flew.
From the back, a heroic spirit jumped onto the table, wobbling slightly from the drink.
He raised his cup high. "Brothers, sisters, spirits of Nox! This is history! We have witnessed the impossible! Lord Hades, the brooding lord of shadows, the man who rejected every advance, has fallen! Tonight, the world has changed!"
"Fallen? He lasted centuries before Aphrodite finally pinned him down!" someone heckled from the crowd. "What’s so great about that? Took her this long? Ha!"
That sparked another wave of debate.
"Aphrodite is patient!"
"No, she’s just stubborn!"
"Doesn’t matter, she won, pay up!"
The bartender, a broad-shouldered divine spirit with horns curling out of his skull, wiped his counter with a rag, sighing.
"Idiots, all of them. You’d think none of you ever saw a man and woman share a bed before."
"Not this man and woman!" a drunk god shouted, staggering up to the bar.
He slammed down a bag of gold coins, eyes bloodshot but gleaming with triumph. "This is a union that will shake the underworld! Don’t you get it? We’re not just drinking for Aphrodite. We’re drinking for the fall of every the lord of the dead!"
The room roared again, chants of "Aphrodite! Aphrodite!" rising until it was deafening.
Someone grabbed a lute, strumming wildly off-key while others sang a drunken ballad about the "King of Gloom losing to the Queen of Bloom."
In the far corner, the so-called "Harem Ending" believers were refusing to give up.
One slammed his hands on the table, shouting, "Mark my words, Hecate isn’t out! Hera isn’t out! This is only the first battle! The war for the heart of the Underworld King has just begun!"
Half the bar booed them, hurling empty cups and bones in their direction. The other half laughed and cheered them on just for the madness of it.
A divine spirit toppled over from his chair, spilling his drink across the floor, yet still lifted his cup in triumph from the ground.
"To Aphrodite! To love conquering death itself!"
The cheer shook the rafters. Even the ghostly chandeliers rattled, casting flickering lights across the sea of flushed faces.
It was chaos, it was madness, it was celebration that refused to die down.