Chapter 129: The Underworld

Once Percy got to his destination, he maneuvered his bubble down to the edge of the tube, and then he released the bubble and allowed himself to fall through the tube before he opened a Dimensional Door under his feet and fell through!

Percy landed on a rocky mountain, and he looked to his side where a massive ocean of lava was bubbling and boiling with intense heat! This was a world known as Jorgumda, and it was a shortcut that Percy had found that would allow him to reach the depths of the underworld before the other souls that were using the pathway. Percy put his hands behind his back, and he began walking forward while ignoring the massive creatures that he could see floating or swimming through the lava beside him. Percy knew that those creatures were trying to measure his power as well, and he released a steady stream of magic to make them know that attacking him would only end in their death!

Percy walked for nearly two hours before he reached a very specific spot in Jorgumda, and he put his hand out to open a new Dimensional Door! This time, the Dimensional Door was black rather than the regular white, and there were dangerous wisps of magic lashing out from the door! Percy coated his body in magic one more time, and he ignored the dangerous mana flowing off the door and stepped through to the other side.

…

[The Underworld]

[Domain of the Grim Reaper]

The underworld was a place that Percy still did not understand fully. Unlike most other places that had certain links to various other worlds, the underworld was the only single world that was linked to every single world in existence! Percy knew that every soul that was lost in any world would always end up in this place, and there was no other afterlife beyond this! This was the reason why Percy did not pay any attention to things like religion or gods. As far as Percy knew, even the gods themselves would end up here after death, so why pray to a being that would only end up as your neighbour in the afterlife?

Percy stepped onto the black soil of the underworld, and he let out a long breath as he saw the long river of souls flowing on either side of him! There were billions of trillions of souls within these rivers, and they were constantly moving in a straight path down into the distance!

The River of the Afterlife.

PHWOOM~!

"How dare you step into my domain, Verati? Are you that eager to find death?"

Percy finally looked away from the souls, and he looked up to see a black cloud appear in front of him! The cloud grew larger until it was so large that it looked like it would consume Percy, and then from within the cloud emerged a hooded figure! The figure held a long scythe in one hand, and its hands were white and bony like a skeleton! Under that hood was a skeletal face as well, and when the figure looked down at Percy, Percy let out another long breath when he looked into its empty, dark eyes.

"Hello, Death."

Death slammed its scythe into the ground, and the entire domain shook with intensity! Death leaned down and spoke in a grave voice!

"What are you doing here, Verati? You are not dead. You have no business with me."

Death and Percy's relationship spanned way back to more than ten years ago. Back then, Verati had been trying to figure out the limits of his immortality, and he had somehow stumbled upon the Gateway that led down here to the underworld. Death had actually tried to kill Verati when they first met, but after a while, Death realized that he couldn't take Verati's life due to Verati's immortality.

So instead of taking Percy's life, Death had given Percy a task to complete for him, and that was how Percy managed to leave the underworld without dying. Percy spoke up.

"I didn't come here to see you, Death. Although it's nice to see that you're doing so well. Did you do something to your skin?"

Death narrowed its eyes at Percy, and Percy grinned before he finally turned serious again and said.

"I want to cash in my favour."

Death hummed as he heard this! After doing the favour for Death, Percy knew that Death now owed him a favour in return, and Death was mandated to complete this favour due to its creed as a celestial being. Death spoke some incoherent words before it finally asked.

"And what will this favor be?"

"I want a soul. It just died recently. No more than five hours ago. It does not belong here."

Death hummed deeply while tilting its head towards Percy. Usually it would be a great insult for a mere mortal to be asking the ruler of the underworld to give him a soul, but Percy knew that there were a lot of loopholes that he could use to his advantage here. The first loophole was the five-hour rule. In the underworld, a soul takes about five hours to reach the underworld, and most souls could be summoned back to the world of the living if they are resurrected within those five hours.

And the second loophole was Vero himself.

Death spoke up.

"Is she the one whose soul was tied to another's using that disgusting Soul Binding ritual?"

Percy nodded once to say that this was true. The Soul Binding ritual was something that Death did not like at all because it always corrupted the souls that came into his river. So Percy knew that Death would offer to give him Hildegard's soul on one condition…

"Very well. You may take her soul, but only if you separate the two souls and return the soul of Vero to me uncorrupted. That is my offer. And once this deal is set, I will owe you nothing. Do you understand?"

Percy smiled and nodded once.

"Yeah, I understand. Thank you, Death."

Death grumbled as it turned away and began to float away. But before it could leave, Percy asked.

"And what about that matter you were dealing with? The man who refuses to come down here. What did you say his name was again?"

Death turned around slightly, and a wave of anger surrounded his body as he snarled the name.

"You mean Jason Marc?"

Percy snapped his fingers and nodded.

"Yes, that's him. Did you get him yet?"

"You need not concern yourself with such matters, Verati. The battle between Jason Marc, and myself still wages on, but his loss is inevitable. After all, no matter how desperately they fight, all things end with death."

Percy hummed as he heard this, and Percy felt a bit of interest growing inside him. Percy had heard about the illustrious Jason Marc a long time ago when Death had been ranting about a human who dared to make a fool of it multiple times, and Percy had always been curious about what sort of man this Jason Marc was. For him to be able to play with Death's emotions like this, he had to be someone really great.

'I suppose I'll try and pay him a visit sometime later.'