Chapter 517: Fanning the Flames, the Entertainment Seeker

Late at night, in a bar nestled in a remote frontier town, a handsome man clad in black-and-gold robes stared coldly at the crowd passing around him.

Seeing him alone, a middle-aged blonde woman's eyes flickered with ill intent, then she stepped forward with a smile: "It's so late, handsome—why don't you join me, big brother?"

"Go."

The handsome man glanced at her and spat out a single word.

At this, the blonde woman's expression froze, then twisted into embarrassment.

Yet before she could speak, she suddenly realized the man before her had become a skeleton.

"Ahh!!!"

After watching the blonde woman scream and flee the bar, the handsome man sneered: "Pathetic humans—do you really think I'm like Zeus, who'll swallow anything?"

"Oh my, Hades, it's been ages—you haven't changed a bit."

At that moment, a gentle laugh suddenly reached his ears.

The handsome man named Hades turned toward the voice and saw a beautiful youth with blue-black short hair smiling warmly at him.

Seeing the newcomer, Hades immediately softened his cold expression, his brows and eyes darkening with solemnity: "It's you, Shiva."

"Give me a Mahua, please," the youth said to the dazed bartender as he sat at the counter. "If you don't have it, whiskey will do."

Mahua is a traditional Indian ritual liquor, rarely ordered by anyone.

The bartender mechanically began preparing the cocktail in response to the guest's request.

Seeing this, the youth named Shiva murmured his thanks, then scanned the surroundings: "Where's Indra? Wasn't he the one who organized this gathering?"

"That guy—"

He shook his head slightly, as if lamenting the unreliability of the host.

But Shiva didn't expect an answer from Hades; after taking a small sip of the cocktail the bartender handed him, he spoke casually: "Still, I didn't expect you'd attend such a gathering, Hades. If I recall correctly, you've always despised us, haven't you?"

"."

At this, Hades fell silent, unsure how to refute him.

In past years, his reputation had indeed been one of extreme isolation—he would never normally attend such a party.

Yet his presence here implied hidden motives, ones he could not reveal to the other.

The atmosphere grew still.

Just as tension thickened, a loud voice suddenly broke in: "Hades, Shiva—you two showed up this early?"

Hearing the voice, Hades exhaled inwardly, then replied coldly: "You're late, Indra."

The Greek lord of the Underworld effortlessly sidestepped the previous topic.

Seeing this, Shiva sipped his cocktail, a hint of amusement glinting in his eyes.

This was more interesting than he'd thought—but since the skeleton didn't want to speak, he wouldn't press.

Indra shrugged off Hades' rebuke, then turned to the youth beside him: "Shiva—after the party, fight me?"

Shiva set down his glass and replied calmly, as if stating an obvious fact: "You're not worthy."

Indra's expression stiffened.

After a moment, the towering god of Mount Sumeru burst into laughter: "Hahahaha! Once, you might've contested for the title of strongest in the world—but now, with that one appearing, you can't even make top three, can you?"

In the original DXD world, excluding the Dragon Gods Ophis and the Great Red, the strongest was indeed this 【God of Destruction】, so Indra's words held truth.

His wish was to fight the man face-to-face, and ultimately defeat him.

Yet so far, Indra had found no suitable opportunity to challenge Shiva.

Facing the mockery, Shiva smiled faintly, showing no anger: "So in your mind, I'm on the same level as those three Dragon Gods?"

"That's somewhat unexpected, Indra."

Seeing his provocation failed, Indra smirked dismissively and changed the subject: "Where's Odin? Have either of you seen that old bastard?"

Shiva and Hades both shook their heads slightly, indicating they had no idea.

Oddly enough, Odin had always loved these gatherings—normally, even if he skipped work, he'd show up; he'd never vanish like this.

Thinking of this, Indra frowned, his eyes filled with confusion.

Worse, when he'd tried contacting the god earlier, the reply had been coldly official—nothing like Odin's usual style.

'Could it be Ragnarök?'

With a strange thought, Indra shook his head and decided to drop it: "Forget it. Let him be."

"You've both heard about what happened in the Underworld recently, right? This third Dragon God doesn't seem nearly as docile as his predecessors."

In the past, whether the Great Red or Ophis, neither had ever interfered in mortal affairs.

Even though Ophis had the Evil Faction under her name, all three gods knew the faction merely exploited the Infinite Dragon God.

Especially Indra—he'd once sent his own men to join the Evil Faction.

But recently, they received word that the Four Great Demons of the Underworld had been defeated in broad daylight by the third Dragon God, and one of them even had his sister kidnapped.

That was why Indra had organized this gathering.

After all, this was truly—

Perfect! This was the chaos he'd longed for!

The only regret was that the Dragon God hadn't been harsh enough—if only he'd killed a few demons on the spot.

Hearing his words, Shiva and Hades reacted in starkly different ways.

The beautiful youth with blue-black short hair calmly asked the bartender to refill his glass, as if utterly indifferent to Indra's remarks.

Hades' expression darkened abruptly.

'Infinite Dragon God.'

The fact that she'd been taken away had already tormented him; now, the one who took her had revealed terrifying power.

Such a being was beyond his capacity to oppose alone—he'd need allies to scheme for the Infinite Dragon God's power.

'If only Shiva could be persuaded to act.'

Thinking of this, Hades couldn't help but narrow his eyes slightly, instinctively casting his gaze toward the beautiful youth beside him.

As if sensing his gaze, Shiva slightly raised the wine cup in his hand in a gesture toward him.

Seeing this, the corner of Hades' mouth twisted into a stiff smile, and he likewise raised the wine cup before him.

Just as these two powerful gods were putting on a display of brotherly affection, a flash of displeasure crossed Indra's eyes.

What he wanted to see was everyone beating each other's brains out, not this "all is well between us" harmony.

'Has this Hades guy changed sex?'

Recalling the attitude the other party had always shown before, the chief god of Mount Sumeru couldn't help but feel a twinge of doubt in his heart.

If he'd known earlier that Hades was this good at licking boots, he would have invited Zeus over instead.

After a moment of silence, Indra spoke up to draw the attention of the two before him: "Speaking of which, have you noticed that whether it's demons or angels, their recent behavior has been very strange, as if they're searching for something."

Hearing this, Hades and Shiva couldn't help but be taken aback.

They had indeed noticed the unusual movements of the 【Bible】 faction during these days, but simply hadn't taken it to heart.

After all, after so many years, the 【Bible】 faction—split into three factions—would stir up trouble every now and then; they had long grown accustomed to it.

But for Indra to suddenly bring up this question during the rehearsal—had he discovered something unusual?

Thinking of this, Hades said in a heavy voice: "If you have something to say, say it. Don't keep us in suspense."

Indra did not take the god of the underworld's terrible attitude to heart, and instead said mysteriously: "If I told you—"