Darius shook his head and stopped thinking about them. Now that these Dem-Gods were in his hands, everything was settled.
While many of them had backers in Elysium, it meant nothing to Darius in particular.
Once he was done with the Insects, he would be returning to Fallon. The Fake Lords/Gods could come and search Pokterr as much as they liked, all they would find would be the changes he made here.
However, such an outcome would hamper his plans, and was a bit too careless for Darius' taste. As such, he would have to make some amendments, or at least, reach a situation where the Gods would not come to Elysium anytime soon.
From the Library of Krona's database, Darius had all the information about Divine Odysseys and how they worked. Many were done over the span of years, and most did not require the Demi-Gods or humans to report back.
However, the lineup for this one was too grand. Not counting Medea, who could safely be assumed to be largely expandable, there was the favored son of Zeus; Hercules, the favored son of Poseidon; Theseus, the much-beloved ex-Goddess; Pyrrha and the Invincible Hero who was favored by Ares; Achilles.
The web of interests was too thick with them, so if they remained silent for more than a year, their backers would surely get anxious.
What Darius needed to do now was to find out what exactly their mission here had entailed, the time given and any form of communication items the quintet had been given that allowed them to report back.
Luckily, Theseus had not used the item as he had initially felt that there would be a way out for the group since they were all taken alive.
However, just like Darius had known Theseus would be a problem, the Demi-God had recognized that all his plans had been ruined the moment he had seen Vena's Agent.
Right now, Theseus sat in a room that was separated from the other four. It was well-decorated and lavish, making it seem less like a prison cell and more like a guest room, but the glowing runes inside neutralized Divine Energy making the room's purpose apparent.
Naturally, it had also prevented him from using any of the communication items given him, leaving a bitter taste in his mouth.
Being penalized by the Gods for the summoning would be far better than this uncertain fate.
Unlike Darius who had a wealth of knowledge thanks to absorbing the entirety of the Great Library of Krona, as well as his knowledge from Earth's myths, Theseus only had very little to go on.
The biggest question in his mind right now was why a person like Darius would help the Insects?
Naturally, more than a few answers came to mind.
#1 Darius planned to raise them to take over the world.
#2 Darius planned to use them to kill the Gods.
#3 Darius planned to ruin the world out of some angsty emotion.
However, Theseus could not latch onto any of these, for they didn't make sense. Their brief interaction left no doubt in the Great Hero's mind that their captor was a scheming mastermind and not an idiot.
As such, he was running with the assumption that Darius was just as rational as Theseus himself was. By that logic, the other had to have also come to the conclusion that using the Insects might help him achieve such a grand ambition, but ultimately would backfire greatly.
Was Darius someone ignorant of history? Was Darius perhaps ignorant of the true nature of the Insects? Was he somehow under their control? Or under some sort of threat?
Or most importantly…
Did Darius have some way to deal with the Insects that no one knew of?
Too many questions, too few answers.
Theseus sighed and sat down, adopting the position of pondering he had been trapped in on that rock in the underworld for millennia upon millennia.
He had spent almost all of that time thinking and enhancing his rational capabilities, so it had become a habit to adopt it whenever he would enter deep thought.
It was just like this that Darius found Theseus, coming to perform an early interrogation with someone intelligent. Theseus, who had just settled in to think, was startled by the sudden appearance of Darius but he quickly regained his calm and greeted him.
"Greetings, Captor. How may I help you?"
Darius simply smiled widely for a while before uttering one word.
"Ariadne."
Immediately, Theseus' calm disappeared as waves of hatred billowed out from his body, shaking the entire room and making the ground tremble.
What do you think would happen if someone carried a great amount of negativity for hundred of millennia, unable to ignore it as it compounded on itself right before his eyes?
Theseus had suppressed it on the daily, but it had exploded many times and those in Elysium, even the Gods, knew better than to mention this name before him.
It was why Theseus and Dionysus were never allowed to be near each other, much to the Wine God's chagrin.
However, Theseus was too important to the Gods, his wisdom and acumen were unparalleled, and he had never failed them when they had needed him.
To the top Gods like Zeus and Odin, Theseus had a higher value than Dionysus who couldn't even fight and was almost always drunk.
They would have loved to sacrifice Dionysus to appease Theseus, but it would set a terrible precedent and shake the pecking order of Elysium, so the aforementioned was the solution they had chosen instead.
This caused Theseus much resentment, but like his hatred, all of it had been bottled within.
Darius knew this, not only from Earth's history but Faust's too.
He could personally sympathize with Theseus, for if he had discovered that the God that was in charge of Deia had defiled her in any way, he would go to any length to destroy the entirety of Faust, killing everyone who had a hand in disturbing her slumber after death, from the God in question right up to Vena.
"Theseus, it's time you understood what this world truly is," Darius spoke calmly as he tossed him a HoloBrace.
Theseus gazed at the piece of tech with a suspicious glance. Darius instructed him to wear it on any of his wrists, as his prisoner the Demi-God complied because he knew he had no real choice in the end.
The moment he wore it, he marveled at how it quickly connected with his body and mind. Feeling the power and depth of the AI network, Theseus was mind blown and a boyish excitement was kindled in him for discovering something new after such a long time.
Just as he was about to ask Darius for more details, his captor raised his hand up to silence him.
The Itemancer then folded his hands behind his back and spoke to Miranda. "Educate him on the true history of Faust, who his masters are, and who the real master here is."
Miranda pooped up above both their HoloBraces and saluted, much to the shock of Theseus. "Okay, Daddy-O!"
Immediately, any questions or worries Theseus had were silenced as his eyes glazed over, his mind receiving torrents of information rapidly that would explode the heard of a mortal.
But as Theseus had almost 800 points of Intellect, which was almost twice that of Darius, he was able to handle this infusion quickly. Not to mention that amount wasn't from the entire Library, just the key things Theseus needed to know about the true nature of Faust.
Soon, the knowledge infusion came to an end and Theseus simply stood there, an expression of confusion on his face that grew more and more warped by the second the more his mind comprehended what it had just been taught.
Soon, his whole body began to tremble as his eyes became bloodshot. He then roared and punched the wall of the room, which dented very slightly thanks to his high Strength.
"ARE YOU FUCKING KIDDING ME?! YEARS OF SLAUGHTER, OF OBEDIENCE, OF WORK, ALL FOR A BUNCH OF MORONS WHO AREN'T EVEN THE REAL DEAL?!" He roared with a cacophony of emotions in his voice.
Darius only watched on silently, not involving himself in the Demi-Gods outburst.
Theseus kept punching the wall with all his strength until his knuckles cracked and began to bleed. After all, he was hitting the Indestructible Holy Silver that was infused with Source Energy without any Divine Energy available to him.
"HOW MANY RACES HAVE WE GENOCIDED? HOW MANY TREASURES DID WE STEAL? ALL OF THIS, RIGHT BENEATH THE NOSES OF THOSE WITH THE REAL POWER, AS THEY WATCHED US DANCE LIKE… LIKE COURT JESTERS!!!"
Theseus then began banging his head on the wall as if he wanted to kill himself, yet Darius still did not stop him. He let the man vent out thousands of years of lies and deception from his heart until he was eventually exhausted four days later.
In this time, Hercules and Achilles had woken up, Medea who had been weaker was still unconscious. Darius did not visit the others, rather watching Theseus day and night with a solemn expression, witnessing an event few would ever get to know about.
It wasn't out of respect for the man's feelings or anything, but because he wanted to witness how someone who lived for so long would handle their very belief and mindset crumbling.
Humans who lived short lives would surely go crazy from this, killing themselves, killing others, or wanting to destroy everything.
However, how would someone whose lifespan was practically unending react?
