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

Hermes fled.

The moment he fully understood Promise's intentions, and saw Apollo and Artemis protecting the boy, Hermes immediately fled.

However, despite realizing he had been outmaneuvered by Promise, he wasn't angry.

On the contrary, a smile crept up on his face.

"Athena, Athena, now I understand why you fought Hera for him. I must admit, he's truly... fascinating!"

As he spoke, Hermes ran through the sky, his feet seemingly sprouting wings as he glanced back at Promise, who was chasing him on Pegasus.

Pegasus was running desperately, visibly frightened.

After all, it didn't want to end up in Promise's little black book of grudges!

Though Hermes appeared composed, in reality...

*Whoosh*—an arrow whizzed past Hermes' ear, the sound so piercing it made his ears ache and his back break out in cold sweat.

"Hermes, be careful!" Apollo, running on the ground, flicked his golden hair and squinted, with a radiant smile on his handsome face. "After all, we have a full three days for this game!"

"Hahaha, very well!"
Hermes suddenly burst into laughter.

Looking at him, Apollo, Hera, and the others were momentarily puzzled, wondering if Hermes had lost his mind.

The game had just begun; was he really that fragile?

"Three days, huh? A game, right? Promise, I accept your game. Come and catch me if you can—catch me, the messenger of the gods... Hermes!"

With those words, Hermes pressed his hat down and dove toward the ground.

By the time Promise and the others landed, he had already disappeared into the ancient forest.

Hermes hid in the dense forest.

Saying the boldest words while doing the most cowardly actions!

As Apollo frowned and Artemis prepared to search the forest, Promise called them back and calmly retrieved another painting from the sky.

From that painting emerged Demeter, the nurturing goddess of agriculture.

Once she understood the situation, she couldn't help but laugh, covering her mouth.

Reaching out, Demeter communicated with all the creatures of the forest.

Soon, a massive vine shot up from the ground, capturing the evasive Hermes and flinging him into the sky.

The moment Hermes reappeared, Apollo immediately loosed an arrow.

The arrow split into a rain of light, making Hermes flee in disarray.

Forced to run again with his winged sandals, he darted through the sky, escaping the area.

As Promise prepared to pursue, Demeter climbed onto Pegasus, gently wrapping her arms around his waist.

Seeing this, all the gods, including Artemis and Hera, were momentarily stunned before becoming annoyed.

They had forgotten this detail!

Realizing their mistake, Apollo and Artemis intensified their efforts to catch Hermes, who was feeling the pressure.

After a while, the sky darkened.

The goddess of night, Nyx, could not wait to run out of the underworld and drove away the confused sun god Helios.

But what made her angry was that Hermes didn't play according to the rules!

Relying on his power as the messenger of the gods and being able to go anywhere,

He found that he was unable to get rid of Apollo, Artemis, Demeter and others, so the moment the goddess of night Nyx appeared, Hermes ran into the underworld.

As Apollo and the other Gids hesitated at the underworld's threshold, Promise calmly retrieved another painting from the sky.

Then Hades, the god of the underworld, walked out from the darkness and was stunned when he saw the team of gods gathered in front of him.

And then, after learning Promise's request, even though he was usually serious, he looked at the boy strangely.

"Wait here," Hades said before disappearing back into the underworld.

Everyone waited for a while, and after about two hours, a large magic circle suddenly appeared in everyone's sight.

A moment later, one of the three massive heads of Cerberus, the hound of Hades, appeared, tossing a very disheveled Hermes out of its mouth.

"Hades, you've gone too far this time!"
Angered, Hermes was just about to shout when arrows made of moonlight rained down like a relentless storm.

The arrows pelted him, making the god cry out in pain as he scrambled to dodge them.

Knowing that he could not stay underground, he made a break for the sky!

Later, when daylight broke, a thoroughly exhausted and disheveled Hermes finally made it back to Mount Olympus and into his temple.

Covered in dust and under the puzzled gazes of his nymphs and attendants, he barely had time to catch his breath and sip some ambrosia before—

Boom!

A bolt of lightning streaked across the sky, striking him dead center, leaving him shocked and his hair standing on end.

Looking up, he saw Hera, the Queen of the Gods, smiling at him from above.

"Come on, can't I at least get a break?!" Hermes cried out in despair.

Hera didn't reply, merely raising her hand again to summon another lightning bolt in the sky.

Seeing this, what else could Hermes do but run?

Lightning cracked down, and the gods of Olympus came out one by one to watch the spectacle.

At first, they thought it was Zeus, but upon seeing it was Hera, they became even more curious.

What's going on?

Why is Hermes getting zapped?

"Hera, you really are fortunate," When Hermes ran away and Hera, who had completed her mission, returned to the human world from the Holy Mountain, Demeter came over and said sourly.

Hearing this, Hera subconsciously glanced at the boy in the distance.

This whole hunt wasn't just for his friends and teacher—it was also to help Hera vent her frustration over the theft of the golden apple.

It was to make sure her goddess could release some of her pent-up anger!

Soon enough, word began to spread, and just as Hestia had hoped from the very beginning, the situation really did escalate!

After all, this was a hunt for Hermes, a hunt for a major god, and the ones hunting were the Gods like Hera, Artemis, and Apollo.

They chased Hermes from the underworld, through Mount Olympus, and beyond.

How can it not be lively!

So Hermes ran in front and the gods chased behind, and the number of people chasing became increasingly larger, and the situation gradually evolved into this.

"Queen of Heaven, Queen of Heaven, honorable Queen of Heaven, he is here, I see him!"

"Great Lord Apollo, I see Hermes transformed into a rabbit over there!"

"Beautiful goddess Artemis, he's hiding in the river over there! Let me help you fish him out!"

And so, three days passed.

Hermes was utterly exhausted.

Most of his clothes were torn, he had been struck by lightning, soaked in seawater, and now looked more like a wild man than a god.

But the gods, on the other hand, became more and more excited as they chased.

With Chiron's help, Hercules witnessed the entire ordeal.

From his initial shock to his current numbness, only one question remained in his heart.

It wasn't about why Promise knew so many gods, or why the gods were so willing to help him, even with something as outrageous as hunting Hermes.

What he really wanted to know was:

"Respected Teacher Chiron, may I ask... have I ever done anything to make Promise angry?" Heracles asked seriously.

"Promise has a little notebook where he's written down every grudge he holds, including the times you guys left him behind on the mountain and teased him..."

Chiron looked at Hercules with pity, whose face changed drastically after hearing this.

In the end, he patted Hercules on the shoulder, and added, "And he's also mentioned more than once that he plans to go after each and every one of you once he leaves the mountain, so... good luck surviving, Hercules!"

…

Three days later, in the afternoon,

"Hahaha, found you, Hermes!" The sea raised huge waves, rolled up Hermes who was hiding in the sea, out of the water and threw him onto the shore.

"Poseidon, I'll remember this!" Hermes shouted.

He had tried escaping by sky, sea, and land, but nothing worked.

By now, he was truly on the verge of breaking down.

"You'd better not remember him." On the shore, Apollo and Artemis, who had been waiting for a long time, drew their bows at the same time and aimed at him..

"Remember us instead!" they said, releasing another barrage of arrows at the same time.

This time, however, Hermes, having learned from experience, dashed away at lightning speed.

Even the massive vine net woven by Demeter couldn't catch him.

However, Hermes, who had run far away this time, did not leave immediately.

Instead, he turned around and looked at Promise who was sitting on the Pegasus, and laughed, "Hahaha, Promise, you have no tricks, right? Today is the third day. As long as I can hold on until the sun sets, I win!"

After saying that, Hermes once again took off running.

Upon hearing this, Apollo and the other gods couldn't help but frown slightly but soon relaxed.

Because from what he just said, they could tell that Hermes really wanted to win the game... or to be more precise, he wanted to win against Promise.

However, they knew he wasn't foolish and that he would eventually let Promise catch him.

After enduring so much, how could things possibly be resolved without Hermes being caught? The golden apple and Hercules' situation needed closure.

In truth, Hermes' earlier words were a reminder to Promise: if night fell and he still hadn't been caught, even if Hermes later returned to let Promise catch him, it would still count as a loss for Promise.

It was clear that after these three grueling days, Hermes' competitive spirit had been truly ignited.

"I must admit, that guy… he really is fast," Apollo couldn't help but say, even as the god of light.

The gods nodded in agreement, and every one felt that this affair was about to reach its conclusion.

But then, Promise calmly pulled out one final painting.

As Hera widened her eyes in shock, freezing in place, Hephaestus appeared, sitting in his wheelchair, accompanied by his attendants, stepping out of the painting.

"Lady Goddess, may I borrow something from you?" Promise leaned in closer to Hephaestus, saying, "I'd like to borrow the chains that once bound me."

Hearing this, Hephaestus took out the chain without hesitation.

And seeing them, Hera, who was traumatized, was so frightened that she almost fled from here.

But that wasn't all.

Even though Promise didn't have her painting, he silently called out in his mind, and soon the goddess of fate, Clotho, appeared before him.

As the goddess of fate came into view and Promise held the chains that could bind even gods, everyone present—both mortals and gods—understood what was to come for Hermes.

Without a doubt, Promise had the power to end this game from the very beginning.

But he had said three days, and so it would be three days…

Witnessing everything, Hestia blinked and then said to Hera, "Hera, I suddenly feel like I might… get along really well with this child."

Hera didn't respond to her words.

On any other day, she might have given Hestia an exasperated look, but with Hephaestus now present, she didn't have the bandwidth to deal with Hestia's thoughts at all.

And how should we put it…well.. she was used to it!

Hephaestus, for her part, sensed the presence of her mother, Hera, the queen of the gods, but she wasn't interested in engaging with her.

Her focus was entirely on Promise.

So, when the goddess Clotho unhesitatingly revealed the future to Promise, and he set up an ambush, the moment Hermes appeared, the chains emerged from the ground, binding the god and stripping him of his divine power.

The game was over.

Promise dismounted from Pegasus and walked up to the now-bound Hermes, who was immobilized by the chains and spoke with a bright smile, "Hermes, you've lost. And… happy gaming, Hermes!"

.
.

.