Before the tenants could react to their sudden aggressive approach, the fabric of the Spirit Realm quivered for a few moments, and then, countless portals began to manifest everywhere!
They tore through the serene landscape, each portal resembled a divine gateway to paradise. They floated in the air, emerging from the ground, and materializing within the ghostly mists that veiled the realm.
No place was spared!
"You dare!!"
Lord Hades bellowed furiously immediately after noticing the nearest spirits, who had been drifting peacefully, were now caught in the gravitational pull of the portals!
Their ethereal forms were drawn towards the vortices, unable to resist the powerful force.
Whispers of distress and confusion resounded in Lord Hades' mind alone as the spirits kept getting sucked into the portals, disappearing from the realm.
The Second Ruler uttered coldly, "This is necessary for the greater good."
"Bastards!"
Hades' eyes were filled with untapped fury as he raised his hands, channeling the powers of his laws, and then, he started to close the portals and teleport the spirits away from them!
He knew that he could do nothing to the three rulers since they were attacking him from their dimensional pocket. It was like he was fighting an invisible enemy, forcing him to be on the defense.
"It's meaningless."
Alas, as soon as one portal closed, another two opened. Although he was the guardian of spirits and souls, he was still going against three rulers at once.
The three rulers seemed to heavily invest plenty of celestial energy into this as those portals kept popping up akin to mushrooms in a forest.
Hades gritted his teeth as he called out loud, "By the ancient laws and my sovereign will, I command you to close!!"
His voice thundered through the realm, commanding the Spirit Realm to aid him. The realm responded and aided him seal most of the portals at once, listening to his will akin to a divine decree!
"He did it..."
Before the tenants could react, double the number of portals emerged, some much bigger than the previous ones!
Whoosh! Whoosh!...
The realm echoed with the cries of the spirits as they continued to pour through those portals, heading to an unknown fate...
"I thought Lord Hades can't be touched in his realm," Candace murmured.
"The three rulers aren't attacking him." Felix frowned, "They are attacking his realm without getting near it. This makes it difficult for him to do anything."
Lord Hades knew that he was fighting a losing battle as the three rulers could always create spiritual portals and steal his spirits anytime they wanted.
While they had to sacrifice some celestial energy in the process, it didn't seem to bother them that much.
Realizing that he could never protect his spirits and carry his duties like this, Lord Hades was pushed to make a desperate decision.
"By the authority invested in me, I command the closure of the Spirit Realm's connection to the Eternal Kingdom." He ordered with a cold stare pointed at the skies.
Immediately after, a spiritual tablet manifested in front of him with a bunch of letters from a language he didn't recognize...But, Felix and the others identified it immediately.
"The stone of reality's celestial language!" Loki exclaimed in surprise, his reaction shared by the rest.
Felix didn't think much of it as he already knew that the fabric of the universe was also made by his celestial language.
After all, universal, runic, and divine languages were mere tools to communicate with laws in specific ways, unlike his language which was considered an actual cornerstone of the universe's foundation.
Meanwhile, Lord Hades viewed as those letters glowed on the tablet brightly before similar matters appeared on the fabric of the Spirit Realm dimension. Each letter was bigger than a black hole and was as radiant as a star!
"Hmmm?"
The three rulers could only watch in intrigue as those letters shifted in straight lines, crisscrossing the sky and tracing intricate patterns that wove through the very fabric of the Spirit Realm.
As the first of these luminous letters passed through a portal, they were closed with a thunderous clap, sealing shut as if they had never existed!
Lord Hades watched in awe and relief as the letters continued their journey across the realm. However, before he could enjoy the sight long, countless celestial chains appeared out of nowhere and pierced through his skin!
"Argh!"
He grunted in pain, but his eyes never left the letters continuing their march, threading a protective web across the realm.
In no time, the entire realm was cleaned out of those portals and no more were created again.
The bright letters turned dimmer until they disappeared completely, but Lord Hades could still feel their existence.
Although he was in immense agonizing pain, he felt a wave of relief wash over him, knowing that as long as this seal stood between his realm and the Eternal Kingdom, his spirits would always be safe.
Cling Cling Cling...
His punishment for pulling this off? More than a thousand chains tightening around his skin akin to a divine prisoner.
With one last fading gaze at the spiritual tablet, Lord Hades' fell into a deep slumber...
The spiritual mirror was turned off, making Felix, Apollo, and Eris stare silently at Lord Hades.
"Do you understand now?" Lord Hades asked coldly.
"Yes." Felix sighed in frustration.
He discovered that Lord Hades considered the unigins traitors not just because they joined the rulers in founding the Eternal Kingdom, but also because none of them came to his aid when they attacked his realm.
Before the Eternal Kingdom was founded, the unigins might have their own differences, but they had one thing in common...Their union against the three celestials ensured that none of them got bullied or treated horribly.
"This was the first time unigins stood by and viewed as one of them got attacked by the three rulers." Lord Hades remarked expressionlessly, "I don't care what excuses you are about to say, in my eyes, you have betrayed your own."
Lord Hades' view of life was simple and rigid.
Thus, the moment he hadn't received any support from his own people, he forsook them as well and considered them as traitors of their race.
But, his foresight was far more fearsome.
"This was nothing but the first domino piece in the fall of our union as unigins." He added.
"You got that right." Apollo chuckled in self-ridicule while glancing at Felix.
"The kingdom and its rules have changed all unigins one way or another." Eris shook her head, "We became more competitive with each other, to the point, we take joy in the others' downfall."
While his name wasn't brought up, Felix understood that they were mostly talking about him and how he brought down the majority of the unigins on his own.
The only way he managed to pull it off was because the unigins lacked the union they used to have. If there were no rulers or the kingdom's rules involved and he dared to attack one of them, the moment they discovered that he was a threat, they wouldn't hesitate to team up to eradicate him.
However, most of them were changed to prioritize chasing after celestial energy, divinities, territories, and whatnot...To the point, they wouldn't move unless there was something of value for them even when they knew that their peers were harmed.
"Is this why the prophecy tablet desired to establish the eternal kingdom?" Felix murmured to himself.
Eris heard him and couldn't help but knit her eyebrows thoughtfully, "There is a high possibility. Without the establishment of the Eternal Kingdom, the unigins might not be gathered in one place, but they will always have each other's backs."
"Indeed, it will be near impossible to kill one and get away with it." Apollo agreed.
"It's like the tablet was preparing the unigins on a silver plate for you."
"The prophecy tablet..."
"The more we discover, the more I come to the realization that the tablet must have been created by the universe's consciousness." Thor uttered with a stern tone, "There is no doubt about it."