Fate: I Heard After Death, You Can Ascend to the Throne of Heroes?

Mount Olympus,

Within the temple.

"What exactly... happened?" The majestic goddess, Queen Hera, looked into the Underworld at the smiling boy who seemed to be part of the painting, her eyes filled with confusion.

At this moment, she actually felt some changes vaguely but didn't understand them.

Even the clever and cunning Hermes was equally puzzled at this time.

On the other hand, Artemis tilted her head, her expression one of surprise, as if she had realized something.

Because she had seen Promise enter the painting before, and at that time, she even rescued her adorable little follower Atalanta, who had accidentally entered the painting.

And Artemis is so far, besides Athena, the second chief god who has received a painting from Promise.

Thus, the only one who completely understood what was happening at this moment was Athena, who naturally smiled. 

Her flawless face at this moment blossomed into a beautifully picturesque smile.

She stood up,

"He did it once again."

As the gods heard her and instinctively looked towards her, she said with emotion, "He has once again performed a miracle that even astonishes me!"

"What exactly is going on, Athena?" Hera, also standing up, couldn't help but ask.

Athena glanced at her, then at the gaze of the gods converging on her, and finally at the silent Fate Goddess standing next to her sister, holding the crystal ball.

Smiling, her golden eyes gazed into the Underworld where Promise, stepping forward again and playing the joyful lyre as she said, "He is painting a picture."

"Painting?" Hera, slightly startled, recalled Promise's recent words.

"Yes, a painting." Athena nodded, remembering the first painting she had received from him.

That was also the first painting Promise had offered to the gods, depicting the truest side of the Goddess of Wisdom.

In the simplest terms, that meant that on that day, he had already completely understood the legendary Goddess of Wisdom.

"Because that child was thinking, if today was truly his finale, the ending he anticipated, then it should not be so mundane, but rather magnificent!"

"So he painted it out, using the falling darkness as the canvas, and himself as the paintbrush, depicting everything centered around him at this moment, a painting dedicated to all who watch and care about him, and also... to himself."

Everything in the Underworld was now displayed on Promise's 'canvas.'

Athena knew this better than anyone else.

Because she still remembered when Promise had painted her years ago, the feeling as if he had seen through everything about her.

As the gods heard this and were momentarily stunned,

"And if this is indeed a painting... then you should understand, right, Artemis?" Athena said, smiling at the Moon Goddess Artemis.

The latter tilted her head, not understanding much, but she knew one thing,

"If, indeed, little Promise is painting, then what follows must surely be very beautiful," Artemis responded.

Using the night sky beneath the stars as the canvas, and the lanterns lit by everyone as the paintbrush.

She had seen two paintings by Promise, and her greatest impression was that they were beautiful.

"Yes," Athena nodded and then said with a smile, "Since it's his painting, then this painting will surely be... very beautiful!"

...

...

At this moment, in the eternally dark Underworld.

On the path of no return in the Underworld.

"Goddess Persephone, could you do me a favor?"

Just as Persephone was still dazed, looking at the Promise and unable to react to everything before her, Promise suddenly spoke up.

He smiled, saying, "Not to help me complete this trial, but I hope, Goddess Persephone, that you could help embellish my painting at this moment."

Hearing his gentle voice, Persephone came back to her senses.

Her beautiful bright eyes stared at the young man before her, who, although still appeared fragile, no longer had the imminent feeling of extinguishing and even now seemed like the light illuminating the eternally dark Underworld, so dazzling and striking.

Before Persephone could recover and respond, Promise took another step forward.

At this moment, everything in the Underworld was displayed on his canvas, thus he naturally walked onto the most correct path.

Persephone instinctively lifted the underworld lamp to follow but was stopped by Pegasus, who had retracted its wings and was crouching beside her.

The Pegasus gently called out to Persephone twice.

After understanding, the goddess looked again at Promise.

He no longer needed the underworld lamp because the light of the god Apollo's seven-string lyre had responded to him at this moment.

Now, Promise's lyre playing was akin to his friend Orpheus.

Whether it was trees, stones, or even the deranged spirits, all reacted to his lyre playing with joy or sorrow, so the noisy spirits halted, listening to his music, shedding tears of the dead, and then turning into underworld light, disappearing on the path of the Underworld.

"Embellish, is that what you meant?" Persephone, witnessing this corner of the painting unfold before her, seemed to understand something.

Then she sat upon Pegasus, who spread its wings, taking her into the skies above the Underworld.

Then Persephone scattered seeds across the entire Underworld.

No underworld god came forward to stop this, and some even helped in secret, because such a spectacle was something that the gods of the Underworld seldom see in their lifetimes.

Goddess Persephone, the daughter of Demeter, the goddess of agriculture, and herself a goddess of seeds, represents the slumber of seeds in the Underworld and their awakening and sprouting in the human world.

Thus, she is also the only goddess in Greek mythology who can make the Underworld bloom.

Under her divine power, diverse flowers blossomed along the path of the Underworld, decorating the eternally dark realm. 

These flowers laid beside Promise, making it seem as if at this moment, he was not walking on the path of the Underworld, but rather in a garden where it is always spring.

The gods watched the boy playing the seven-string lyre, walking along this path,

At this moment, Promise was both the brave hero undergoing a trial and an elegant poet.

By now, they finally understood, understood what he had spoken and painted, what it all meant.

"What he has painted, is this trial..." Demeter, also watching this scene from the temple, spoke.

Yes, what Promise had painted was this very trial centered around himself, and for this reason, everything in the trial appeared on his dark canvas.

And since it is a painting, it naturally has to be beautiful and striking.

That's why he had asked Goddess Persephone to help embellish it.

Then, Pegasus landed once again, bringing her to Promise's side.

Persephone put away the underworld lamp, and alongside Pegasus, who had also retracted its wings, walked beside the boy.

She listened to the lyre's music, looking at the Underworld she had adorned.

"Great Mother Goddess, I know you have always been watching over this place, and I now also understand that the Underworld is indeed not as beautiful as the human world," Persephone looked towards the distant human world, as if gazing at Goddess Demeter from afar, and said, "But I still wish to accompany this child to the presence of Hades, and I am also willing to stay here."

"Because I believe, the Underworld should also have a beautiful place, so that those children who suffered in the human world can find a happy paradise here when they come to the Underworld."

Elysium,

That is the only place in the Greek Underworld where flowers bloom, a place where only pure souls may enter, and it is where the future temple of the Queen of the Underworld, Goddess Persephone, would be.

Demeter, upon hearing this, did not respond; she could not.

At this moment, she could only watch with a complex expression, along with the other gods, as Promise completed his painting.

Promise arrived at the gates of the Underworld.

He smiled and greeted the hellhound guarding the gate, promising that next time he would bring it many, many honey cakes.

He approached the River of Sorrow, the first of the five rivers of the Underworld. 

Crossing all would lead to the palace of Hades. 

The river, named Acheron, had the ferryman Charon already waiting for him for a long time.

His appearance was that of a skeleton, with ghostly flames flickering in the eye sockets of the skull.

As he was about to bring his boat ashore to greet them,

Promise suddenly played his seven-string lyre vigorously, and the underworld fire in Charon's eyes danced wildly. 

Clearly surprised, a path of light formed from the notes on the River Acheron, providing a bridge across.

Since getting the God's help in this trial was forbidden, Promise originally planned to have Pegasus fly them across, but now that was no longer necessary.

Thus, the ferryman Charon could only watch somewhat sullenly as the boy and his companions crossed the river...

"Second time," Charon muttered, then shook his boat, disappearing on the River Acheron.

After crossing the initial river, they arrived at a vast gray plain that connected two realms: one was the endless abyss of Tartarus, where even gods could be imprisoned, and the other was the Temple of Truth where the Underworld judges resided.

In the futures Clotho had seen, Promise had often mistakenly walked toward the abyss of Tartarus.

But now, with everything in the Underworld displayed on the boy'$ painting, he naturally continued sculpting this moment into his painting, crossing the gray plains and the Temple of Truth, arriving at a river of fire, the most dangerous river in the Underworld.

It is an ever-burning fire of the Underworld, consuming not the body but the soul, causing immense pain even to a goddess like Persephone if touched.

Thus, at this moment, even Hades was very anxious, and several times he almost stepped out of his palace.

But what the gods did not anticipate was that this clearly most dangerous obstacle was bypassed effortlessly by Promise, as the river of fire itself diverted around them, revealing a path for them to proceed.

"Maybe we should just give this lyre to Promise permanently; it seems more fitting for him."