According to Hathaway, the "artifact" in Hercules' hands is actually just a poor shell, and the true power of the artifact comes from its core, and that core is far beyond what an ordinary person can shape.
"It's a scepter, I think you've seen descriptions of that scepter elsewhere," Hathaway stood by the window, talking about these ancient secrets in a calm tone, "but the actual The upper scepter itself is nothing at all, it is just a shelf, used to restrain the real core of the artifact—the Olympus family got an infinitely powerful core from somewhere, that core is the essence of the power of the universe, and has The power to subvert the entire world, but Zeus and Athena didn't know how to control this power, so they used the most stupid way, using a combination of red crystal, enchanted metal and core to make it into a weapon."
Hao Ren didn't expect a "core" to pop up out of nowhere, and couldn't help asking curiously, "What does that core look like?"
"I haven't seen it before," Hathaway shook her head. "It is said that people who look at it will be plagued by disaster. That thing is sealed inside the crystal of the scepter. Since the scepter was cast, no one has seen it. What it looked like, Hercules once described it as a piece of pure darkness... but he only heard what other people said."
Lily followed up and asked: "Heracles suffered backlash from the artifact because you beat it so hard that the thing lost control?"
Hathaway nodded slightly: "Yes, but not all. Since the fall of Olympus, Hercules fled with that artifact, and he has encountered countless crises, most of which were strangled by demon hunters—every time He could only rely on the power of the divine weapon to save himself from danger, which led him to rely more and more on the scepter. However, the energy of the scepter is limited, and drawing too much power from the scepter finally led to changes in the core. During our last battle with him, the crystal on the scepter was broken, and various powers burst out from it, some of them were positive, it dispelled the curse of hostility between us, some of them were negative, It wounded Hercules' mind."
Hathaway paused at this point before continuing: "At the beginning, the backlash was not serious, but as time went by, the power leaked from the artifact seemed to find an invisible channel, constantly eroding The body and mind of Hercules. We studied this erosion together after the signing of the armistice, and finally found that it did not belong to any magical power known in the world. After a period of pointless trying and research, we and Hercules He reached an agreement with Si: He will hide his name from now on, find a place to live in seclusion, try to fight against the shadows in the spiritual world, and we will go to all over the world to find clues related to that evil force."
Hesperis asked: "Have you found it?"
Hathaway shook her head: "Nothing."
"Why don't you just throw the artifact away?" Lily scratched her hair, "Didn't it mean that the power leaked from it has been drilled into Hercules' body? It won't work if you throw it away?"
"We tried, and it didn't work—some kind of connection across time and space connected Hercules to the core of the artifact, and no matter where we threw the artifact, its power would appear in Hercules' nightmares. Rather than doing this, it is better to keep it by his side, so that at least it can be used as a self-defense weapon, and it can also monitor the changes of the divine weapon at any time."
Vivian muttered in a low voice: "The things with curses basically have this style of painting."
Hao Ren has already explained the ins and outs of the matter: "In the end, things got worse and worse, and your efforts were in vain. One day, Hercules sent a message to you, saying that the situation was too serious to be dealt with, so you came to this place... I actually know almost everything about it. It seems that although you haven’t been able to find a way to lift the curse, you still have a certain understanding of the core.”
"That's right," Hathaway said, "As the power in the artifact became more and more out of control, the essence of the core was gradually revealed, and our research became much easier. Sivir is a researcher among us, and she In the end, it was discovered that the thing was actually a door leading to a dark and terrifying world, which was hidden in the depths of the nightmare of the real world, the dark side of the universe... The reason why the artifact has great power is because it is such a The power of the world is vented, and no matter how great the power of the mundane is, it is impossible to compete with a world."
What Hao Ren thought of at this moment was the Dream Plane.
However, it is clear that the Dream Plane is not as scary as Hathaway described. Apart from a lurking mastermind and a group of guardians who have gone mad, the Dream Plane is just a normal universe. How could it leak? With such an evil and terrifying power
Could it be that the crack in the core of the artifact leads to another place? A truly dark chaotic universe? Or maybe Hathaway and her fellow witchers are mistaken, they don't understand the concept of the universe and the world barrier, and the "dark side of the universe" they describe is actually just a slightly larger twisted space
"What's in the 'Dark Side of the Universe'?" Vivienne frowned slightly, her tone serious, "Except for the raw energy."
"There is also a wild and noisy will, an evil force that cannot be described by the real world, without any reason, and tries to swallow the entire world," Hathaway's body couldn't help shaking when she spoke these sentences, and her undead body showed bursts of shock. Obviously, these things cast a huge shadow on her. Even if she experienced life and death, even if she guarded this place for two hundred years, she could not calm down, "That thing is irresistible! Even just knowing its existence will make people lose Mind. Sivir, she studied too deeply, so she was fascinated by the darkness on the other side of the border. She opened a passage privately to send herself to the border, but ended up burying herself, and let the monster in the darkness Aware of the existence of the real world, step by step to open the border gate... "
Hao Ren interrupted before the other party's spirit fluctuated too much: "So you finally built this prison?"
"That's right, we built this place," Hathaway looked dazed for a moment, and pointed out the window, "It's ironic that this place was built with the help of the power of that artifact, which can tear through barriers and re- Plastic space, we use this to divide the real world into two. In this parallel time and space, we built a huge cage around Hercules to isolate him from the artifact, preventing them from being separated from reality. There is no contact with the world, so that it is difficult for the border to continue to expand; we have built a surveillance place here to monitor the situation in the cage for a long time. For all this, Hercules has become the sealing platform in the cage, and we have The nine companions sacrificed themselves to start the ceremony. After that, Master Mojaben and I became the guards in this house. For two hundred years, the Master has sat in this place, staring at the inside of the cage for a long time, while I, looking out .”
Hathaway's eyes fell on the old man in front of the window. The witcher was still alive, but he looked like a dead person; Hathaway was standing beside her, her appearance remained the same, but in fact she had already died.
"You built prisons in parallel time and space, but the real world outside is still affected," Hesperis said, "The village..."
"I know," Hathaway nodded lightly, "manpower is limited, this seal is actually not perfect, and part of that thing still spread out from the border. At the end of the ceremony, we almost fell short, and the escaping from the dark side Negative energy made some of the companions presiding over the ceremony go crazy. Reinhardt even set fire to the ceremony site in the real world. At that time, Master Mojaben and I had entered this parallel time and space, unable to do anything about the real world. .In the end we could only make some sacrifices - the two of us forced the final part of the ritual here. The price was obvious: I died and became an undead, and Master Mojaben aged overnight into this painting The appearance, and the negative aura that escaped a little bit took hold in the real world, turning that village into a cursed place."
That's the truth of the whole thing.
And at this moment, a voice suddenly came from his pocket, interrupting Hao Ren's thinking: "Hiss!!"
Hathaway looked curiously at Hao Ren's pocket: "What did you bring?"
Hao Ren took the canning jar out of his coat pocket, only to see that the little evil spirit was starting to slam into it crazily, screaming with all its teeth and claws as it slammed, "Scary! Clap! Hiss—Wow!!"
This little thing seems to be desperately trying to convey something, or just caught in pure excitement. Considering that she has no mind, the first possibility is not high.
Hao Ren still remembered that the last time this little guy was tossing around was when everyone fell into a different space, so this time he instantly raised his vigilance.
And almost at the same time, a low-pitched bang suddenly came from the direction of the village! (to be continued~^~)