The ascent through the Second Layer of Hell was slow.
Not because the path was difficult. Atlas could have crossed the distance in monts if he wished. But the battlefield behind them had left every mber of the group battered, bloodied, and silent in the way soldiers often beca after surviving sothing that should have killed them.
The tunnels were quieter now.
The distant tremors of Atlas and Sekht’s battle had faded into mory, leaving only the deep, ancient hum of the Second Layer’s frozen mana veins.
Pegasus broke the silence first.
He laughed.
It started low, almost disbelieving, before growing louder as they walked across a wide stretch of cracked ice.
Atlas glanced at him.
Pegasus shook his head, still smiling.
"You really did it."
Atlas said nothing.
Pegasus pointed a finger at him as if accusing him of a cri.
"You tricked them all."
The bastard son of Zeus looked genuinely impressed.
"Heaven, Hell, the Ice Monarch, Sekht... everyone."
Atlas continued walking.
"To fool the enemy," he said calmly, "one must first fool their friends."
Pegasus blinked.
Then he laughed again.
"That’s cold."
Atlas didn’t respond.
Pegasus tilted his head.
"So we’re friends now?"
Atlas glanced at him briefly.
A faint smile appeared at the corner of his mouth.
"Maybe."
That answer seed to satisfy Pegasus more than a confirmation would have.
The others walked behind them in a loose formation.
The half-blood demigod was still limping slightly. Iris walked near the rear, her sharp eyes scanning the ice corridors ahead and behind with equal caution.
The dragon daughter walked silently beside Atlas.
She had said very little since the battle.
Eventually the tunnel widened.
The group stepped into a massive chamber carved entirely from ice.
And there it was.
The cage.
Or what remained of it.
The structure had once been enormous, large enough to hold sothing that could challenge entire armies.
But now it was broken.
Collapsed.
Ancient.
Massive chains lay scattered across the floor like fallen serpents, each link the size of a chariot wheel. The ice pillars that had once held the structure upright had cracked and shattered long ago.
The place slled faintly of old divine energy.
Atlas slowed.
His eyes studied the ruins.
"So this is where Michael was kept," Pegasus murmured.
The dragon daughter nodded quietly.
"For centuries."
Atlas stepped closer to the cage.
Fragnts of shattered runes still clung to the broken pillars.
The remnants of suppression magic lingered faintly in the air, like the echo of a prison that had forgotten its purpose.
Atlas rembered the conversation he once had.
Michael’s words.
The fallen angel had claid that the one who freed him had not been the dragon.
Not exactly.
Atlas’s mind turned toward sothing stranger.
The cat.
Or rather, the creature that had inherited both Isabella’s and Atlas’s essence.
Michael had claid that the creature had found him.
Had broken the chains.
Had shattered the prison.
Atlas stared at the broken ice.
"Fate," Michael had called it.
Atlas had never believed in fate.
But the coincidence had always bothered him.
He crouched beside one of the broken chains.
The tal had not been lted.
It had been torn apart.
Sothing imnsely powerful had broken it.
"Not recently," Atlas said.
The half-blood demigod looked around.
"No."
He pointed to several areas on the ground.
Divine energy lingered there.
Small bursts of it.
Faint.
But distinct.
Atlas stood.
"There were demigods here."
Iris walked closer.
She studied the faint energy signatures carefully.
"Yes."
Her voice carried certainty.
"Several."
She gestured to the broken runes.
"The suppression field was destroyed from multiple angles."
Pegasus crossed his arms.
"So Michael didn’t escape alone."
Atlas nodded.
"No."
He looked around the ruined chamber one final ti.
"That works perfectly."
Pegasus raised an eyebrow.
"Why?"
Atlas turned toward the group.
"Because now we have proof."
The half-blood demigod frowned slightly.
"Proof of what?"
Atlas answered calmly.
"That Michael escaped with the help of other demigods."
He gestured toward the scattered divine traces.
"Look."
Everyone examined the faint energy residues again.
Iris smiled.
"That’s... actually brilliant."
Atlas said nothing.
She continued.
"Heaven will believe the escape was organized by other demigods."
Pegasus whistled softly.
"And that divides them."
Iris nodded.
"It makes them suspicious of each other."
The half-blood demigod laughed quietly.
"That’s evil."
Atlas shrugged.
"Effective."
The dragon daughter watched him silently.
For the first ti she spoke.
"You planned this."
Atlas glanced at her.
"No."
Then he paused slightly.
"But I am not against using it."
Pegasus clapped his hands once.
"Well."
He stretched his shoulders.
"Mission accomplished then."
Atlas looked around the ruined prison once more.
Then he nodded.
"The mission is finished."
The words seed to release the tension everyone had been carrying.
Pegasus leaned against one of the shattered pillars.
The half-blood demigod sat on a fallen chain link.
Even Iris relaxed slightly.
Atlas reached into his coat.
His fingers closed around the crystal.
The Amrit.
The drop inside it glowed faintly.
He studied it quietly.
For a long mont he said nothing.
But his thoughts were elsewhere.
Not on Heaven.
Not on Hell.
Not even on the battle with Sekht.
His mind drifted toward soone else.
Loki.
Atlas rembered the state he had seen him in before.
Broken.
Wounded.
Barely alive.
Atlas had crossed eternity inside Hell partly because of him.
But when they searched the mortal world...
Loki had not been there.
Atlas frowned faintly.
Sothing about that bothered him.
"I still don’t understand sothing," he said.
The others looked toward him.
Atlas held the crystal slightly tighter.
"When we searched the mortal world..."
He paused.
"We didn’t find Loki."
Pegasus nodded.
"That was strange."
Atlas turned toward Iris.
"Your sister said sothing before we left."
Iris tilted her head.
"About Loki?"
Atlas nodded.
"She said we would find him in Heaven."
The group fell quiet.
Pegasus looked confused.
"That doesn’t make sense."
The half-blood demigod nodded slowly.
"Yeah."
Atlas studied their reactions carefully.
"You all look like you know sothing."
They exchanged glances.
Finally Iris sighed.
"It’s... complicated."
Atlas waited.
Pegasus scratched the back of his neck.
"Loki isn’t exactly who everyone thought he was."
Atlas’s eyes narrowed slightly.
"Explain."
Iris stepped forward.
"For a long ti, Loki was believed to be the son of the Sun God."
Atlas frowned slightly.
"That was the story."
She nodded.
"But recently that assumption changed."
Atlas’s voice beca quieter.
"How?"
Iris looked toward Pegasus.
Pegasus shrugged.
"Turns out Loki isn’t really connected to the Egyptian pantheon."
Atlas said nothing.
Pegasus continued.
"He’s closer to the Norse side."
Atlas blinked once.
"The Norse pantheon?"
Iris nodded.
"Most records about him are... incomplete."
Pegasus snorted.
"Which is a polite way of saying nobody really knows what the hell Loki actually is."
Atlas’s confusion deepened.
"You’re telling no one knows?"
Iris shook her head slowly.
"Very little."
"His origins are unclear."
"His connections are scattered."
"Even his allegiance is... uncertain."
Pegasus chuckled.
"He’s basically a walking mystery."
Atlas stared at the Amrit crystal in his hand.
He had spent centuries chasing answers.
Fighting.
Surviving.
Enduring Hell itself.
All of it connected to Loki in so way.
And now they were telling him...
No one knew anything.
Atlas slowly tightened his grip around the crystal.
The golden light reflected faintly in his eyes.
"I will find him."
His voice was quiet.
But absolute.
Pegasus looked at him.
"Eventually, yeah."
Atlas shook his head.
"No."
His gaze lifted.
"I will find him myself."
The others watched him silently.
Atlas’s voice hardened slightly.
"I spent eternity in Hell for him."
The cavern seed quieter suddenly.
The frozen ruins of Michael’s prison lood around them.
Atlas looked down at the Amrit crystal again.
The drop of divine essence shimred softly.
"If Loki betrayed ..."
He paused.
The air around him grew colder.
"Then he will pay for it."
No one spoke.
Pegasus watched him carefully.
For once he did not joke.
For once he did not laugh.
Atlas turned toward the tunnel leading upward.
"Let’s go."
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