Danmachi Familia from Hell

End of prologue

Hades took a quick step back and crooked his bident in a defensive position, knowing that he had no chance fighting so many enemies at once. He would have to prevent them from surrounding him from every side by constantly giving up ground. If he managed to get between the trees, the dense terrain would force the undead into one-on-one duels.
Unfortunately, the skeletons had no intention of waiting for the god to disappear into the thicket.
Right after destroying their brethren, the closest trio threw themselves at the king of the Underworld. Their swords were aimed at the heart, head, and liver of the golden-eyed man, who felt as if these creatures had many bodies but one mind, which is why they aimed at three different points, so as not to give him the slightest chance of a parry attack.
The first blade heading for his skull got stuck between the twin
spears of Hades' weapon, unfortunately the other two now had a clear path to his internal organs. Just as they were about to pierce the god's skin and spill his blood, their bodies froze in place.
Black-haired man heard a dozen or so blows to the wood behind him, he instinctively looked back and saw the arrows stuck in the trunk. Importantly, only a few centimeters higher than the top of his head, if he had been standing there.
The skeleton who had reached Hades first slowly moved away from him and sheathed his sword. His two co-attackers and the rest of the undead squad followed suit.
Almost all of the undeads returned to their positions and stood motionless like statues carved from marble. Only the one who had tried to shorten Hades' head by a few seconds ago bowed humbly, pressing one hand to his chest and the other pointing to the door leading into the interior of the hill.

- It would be impolite to refuse an invitation - said the golden-eyed with a slight smile on his lips.

So you still need me, Hades thought. Forty-seven long, lonely years in this forgotten wasteland, and you're still waiting for me to change my mind. You're a patient man, Belakher.

- Why? - Landgrave asked, still shaking from the experience of the Underworld king's divine aura. - Why nothing happened to you? - he asked Cora.

To the elf, the black mist seemed to absorb the life energy from every single cell of his body. Meanwhile, the brown-haired woman didn't even bat an eyelid, despite the fact that in a sense she was facing death itself.
She laughed innocently like a little girl, then turned her back on the quest, revealing her falna, which was a skull with coins placed in its eye sockets.

- Because I have my husband's blessing - she replied proudly.

Although all the falnas given by the gods had the same worked in the same way, they still differed slightly from each other. This is not about the fact that members of the families of different deities had other emblems. One drop of ichor was enough to give a mortal the ability to reach for almost divine strength and bind his soul forever with his patron.
Only a given god would be able to update his status and only he would be able to allow him to change his faith. If this deity returned to heaven, his servants would immediately lose all power. In the case of a close bond between a god and a follower, the patron would be the first to learn of the servant's death, even if they were thousands of kilometers apart.
So how could Hades' aura harm Cora, since her soul carried a part of the golden-eyed's essence?
For the same reason, a woman could easily wield her beloved's weapon and summon it to herself. Nevertheless, the bident still recognized the king of the Underworld as its rightful owner, and so his single thought was enough to return the weapon to him, even though Cora would have held on to it with all her might.

- I... - Belakher stammered. - I understand. I guess - he added uncertainly.

The brown-haired woman's words were short and devoid of details, but they still answered Landgrave's question. He needed a moment to process the information, though, as he was still recovering from the god's outburst of rage.