Chapter 9: The Primordial Sky

The addition of the Cyclops and the Hundred-Ones on their forces causes massive increase on their morale.

The Olympians and their allies threw a party to celebrate.

Although, Hades wasn't interested in participating.

Instead, he appeared on the other side of the island of Crete, where he stood face to face with Gaia, who was standing on a cliff, watching the sunset.

"I've done my part of the deal," Hades took a step forward. "It's time for you to do yours. Give me my domain."

Domain. It is what Gaia had promised to give him if he managed to release the Cyclops and Hecatoncheires from their imprisonment in Tartarus.

Now, just what is domain and is it different from authority?

Yes. It is completely different from authority.

Authority is like having a torch—you can control the fire, but you need fuel to keep it burning. You can wield it skillfully, but others with stronger fire or different elements can extinguish or manipulate it.

Domain is like being the perpetual sun that only needs itself to sustain itself—your fire burns because it is the natural law, and no external factor outside of other domain can take it away.

In short, authority is influence, but domain is law. Authority allows a god to borrow power, while domain makes them the source of power itself.

Hades himself already has a domain, which is the domain of darkness. But he needed something more. A more fundamental force that make up the world in a form of a great domain.

Unlike normal domains, a great domain is a fundamental source of world's existence. Without any of them, the world would cease to function properly and could lead to its destruction.

"Don't worry. I'll give it to you." Gaia turned around and faced him, "Although, I wonder if you are willing to do what is necessary to take it."

Hades frowned, "Of course I am. I need that domain to ascend to a higher level."

Gaia nodded, levitating towards him until her face was only a feet away from his, "There are three methods to obtain a domain. First is to take a domain that is currently ownerless. Second is by devouring the god who owns a domain. And third is to transfer it through a ritual."

"Are you going to give me an information about an ownerless domain?" Hades narrowed his eyes, "Because that is completely not what you said."

Gaia shook her head, "Far from it. I am giving it directly to you. Of course, devouring me is out of question. You'd die if you try."

"So a ritual then," Hades sighed, "Let just get this over wit—why are you taking off your clothes?"

Indeed. Gaia is currently half naked, having taken off her top, exposing her perky and firm chest.

Gaia smiled, "Unlike the ritual done if both are the same gender, gods who are of different gender must undergo a tantric ritual to share or give away domain."

"What kind of nonsense is that?" Hades looked at her in annoyance.

Tantric ritual is pretty much a ritual that uses sexual activity in a ritual or yogic activity.

"It isn't nonsense." Gaia stated, her face completely serious.

Hades has no words to say. He can only clenched his fist and look away in frustration.

"Just... Just tell me how can I get other domains... "

"So do you not find me appealing?"

"I do. But I ain't laying with my family."

Gaia tilted her head, "How strange. We are both a man and a woman. I don't get why being a family is a factor here."

"It just does." Hades scratched his head, letting out a frustrated sigh.

Gaia nodded as she put on her clothes, causing Hades to sigh in relief. "Very well. Though, know that the offer still stands."

She opened her palm, and a projection of the "world" appeared, "Before I tell you, I am curious about one thing. Why are you in such a hurry to acquire a great domain? Once you win the war, the domains of the defeated titans are all yours for the taking."

"I need power."

Gaia nodded. She didn't ask why. After all, power is something that almost every creature desires.

"You are already powerful." She neared her face to his, "You deserve to be more arrogant and prideful with your strength than your brothers."

Indeed. Zeus and Poseidon have such a great pride bordering extreme arrogance despite their power being far inferior to his.

Yet Hades, despite having strength to completely trample his brothers at the same time, remain quite humble.

"No," Hades shook his head, "My strength is still too feeble for me to get arrogant."

He clenched his fist, staring at Gaia with burning desire for power, "That's why I need strength. Strength so superior that I can be arrogant."

Gaia stared at him for a few moments. Then, she let out a smile. "I have created many things, but I think out of all my creations, I like you the most, Hades."

She dematerialized the map, and instead took out golden insignia, a circle with an arrow and a dot on the middle.

"I wasn't planning on giving it to anyone, since I might use it if I want to revive Uranus...but I think I'm willing to part with it now."

"That is..." Hades' eyes widened for a moment.

"Uranus' domain, the Primordial Sky." Gaia extended her hand, "Unlike your brother whose domain of sky is limited to the aspects of weather, this domain can command the skies and cosmos with heavenly influence, including all the aspects of the astrological, divine, elemental, mythical and cosmic powers."

She handed it to him, and Hades carefully observed the symbol.

Hades stared at the golden insignia, feeling the sheer weight of the power it represented.

The moment his fingers grazed its surface, an overwhelming force surged through him—vast, boundless, and eternal. It was as if the entire sky, the heavens themselves, were watching him, waiting to judge his worth.

He gritted his teeth as the energy coiled around him, pressing into his very soul. This was different from his domain of darkness—where shadows obeyed his will, bending and warping at his command.

No, this was the sky, the cosmos, the celestial order itself. It was wild, untamed, and unrestricted. It was infinite.

Gaia watched him intently, her expression unreadable. "Do you feel it? This is the domain of the Primordial Sky. It is not just power—it is the foundation of the heavens, the force that governs all celestial existence. It is beyond the authority of gods; it is a cosmic truth."

Hades clenched his fist around the insignia, feeling his body shake under the pressure of the primordial force. "It's… immense."

"That is why you cannot take it on your own," Gaia said, stepping closer. "Uranus was a primordial being, his power was almost unrivaled. Even in death, his domain remains untamed. You are strong, Hades, but if you try to absorb this force recklessly, it will rip your existence apart."

Hades looked up at her. "Then what do you propose?"

Gaia lifted her hands, and in an instant, the very air around them shifted. The land beneath their feet trembled as an unseen force began to weave a barrier around them.

A golden light surged from her palms, forming intricate, swirling patterns in the air, enclosing them in an ethereal cocoon of energy.

"I will guide you," Gaia said, her voice steady and filled with an ancient authority. "I will bind this domain so that it does not destroy you upon contact. But the rest is up to you. You must assert your dominance over it."

The barrier thickened, isolating them from the outside world. Winds howled within their enclosed space, golden streaks of lightning crackling in the air as the insignia pulsed with life.

The weight of the cosmos bore down upon Hades, threatening to crush him where he stood.

He exhaled slowly, steeling himself. "Then let's begin."

Gaia nodded, and with a flick of her hand, the insignia shattered into countless fragments of light, each piece carrying the essence of the Primordial Sky.

The pieces swirled around Hades, embedding themselves into his body, searing into his very being.

A roar of agony tore from his throat as the power flooded him. His veins ignited with celestial energy, his vision consumed by the endless expanse of the cosmos.

Stars flickered in his mind's eye, constellations forming and dissolving in an eternal cycle. He felt the pull of gravity, the swirling vortex of celestial storms, the infinite stretch of the sky that had existed since the dawn of time.

"Do not resist it," Gaia instructed, her voice calm amidst the chaos. "You must bend it to your will. Make it yours."

Hades clenched his fists, forcing himself to stand firm against the unrelenting force.

He focused, reaching deep into himself, into the core of his being where his domain of darkness resided.

The void within him expanded, stretching outward, seeking to entwine itself with this new power.

But the sky rejected him, repelling his presence like a foreign invader.

Gaia narrowed her eyes. "You cannot treat it as you do darkness. Darkness is absence, submission, concealment. The sky is vast, unyielding, ever-expanding. You must claim it as your own, not consume it."

Hades gritted his teeth. He had always been a ruler of shadows, commanding the unseen. But this… this was different. He had to change. He had to become something greater.

Drawing a deep breath, he extended his will—not to control, but to become. He envisioned himself not as a mere god wielding power, but as the very embodiment of the sky's dominion.

He let go of the instinct to suppress and instead allowed himself to rise, to ascend beyond mortal and divine constraints.

And then, something clicked.

The resistance faded, and the fragments of the Primordial Sky surged into him, not as a foreign force, but as a missing piece of his being.

His body radiated with newfound divinity, his very presence shifting as if reality itself acknowledged his transformation.

Gaia smiled as she sensed the change. "You have done it."

Hades opened his eyes, and for the first time, they gleamed not just with the abyss of darkness, but with the endless expanse of the heavens.

He flexed his fingers, feeling the boundless reach of his new power.

He had ascended.

He was no longer just the master of darkness.

Now, he was also the master of the sky.