GUARDIAN OF THE END

Jason, who was currently in a frozen state, felt something warm spreading throughout his body.

Feeling that he could move his body again, the silver-haired boy immediately glanced down at his little brother.

Though the chances of anything happening to it were less, Jason felt that it was necessary for him to check his lower half.

'The warmth didn't come from that region.' Jason mentally sighed in relief.

[ Why did you even get to that conclusion in the first place?! ]

'Cause it felt like the most natural thing to do.'

Jason eyes focused on the people present in the hut. He could feel the warmth enveloping him, sending him a wave of newfound confidence.

"Why do you attack me? Though what you said is true, why do I have to be the one to take this burden? If I do something, I will be the one people will expect things from. If I don't do something, people will look at me with disgust?" Jason questioned aloud.

The three men standing beside the faceless women suddenly vanished. Though no expressions were visible on the faces of the women, they felt shocked judging from their body language.

Either that or they were silently laughing, sending vibrations throughout their bodies.

"I will ask again… why must I be the one to carry this burden. For the sake of Erebus's bar, I don't care about some things. Just let me do what I want!" Jason shouted in reply.

One by one, the children started vanishing. This continued to happen until only the two women remained in the room.

"You shouldn't be able to get over this fear so easily!" one of the women hissed.

Both of them stood up at the same time, their bodies merging together. Jason closed his eyes, not wanting to see the horrifying process that might have taken place in front of his eyes.

[ You can look now, host. ] The system, who had seen the entire process, said after a few minutes.

Jason opened his eyes to come face to face with a red succubus like demon.

The woman was near six feet tall. Her eyes were a mischievous shade of pink while her skin looked as though she it had been sunburnt.

Despite that, it looked silky smooth. Her hair, the same shade of red, were tied in a braid. A long black tail, coming out from her behind, flickered from one side to other.

Two tiny horns were protruding from the top of her head, making her look like a cosplayer.

"Who helped you there?" the beautiful succubus like demon hissed.

Jason's heart started pounding again, not due to the demon's beauty, but because of her aura and powers.

Seven black orbs rotated around her body, each of them showcasing a disaster or a fear worse than the previous one.

Her aura was so horrible that Jason felt like puking.

The silver-haired boy didn't know that the golden ring was the only thing preventing him from falling on the ground and puking his insides out due to fear.

Suddenly, a small red window opened in front of Jason's eyes. It only contained a few words but those words were enough to send chills down his spine.

---

< Phobos >

- The goddess of fear born to Ares and Aphrodite.

- Phobos knows every single fear that a person might have. Not even gods can save themselves from Phobos's powers. If she wishes to destroy someone, Phobos can trap that person inside a loop which will continuously show them their worst fears with no way out.

- To safeguard the world, Phobos's soul was bound to a black cube which could be used to test one's own fears. Inside this cube, Phobos's powers are restricted.

---

"…" Jason felt as though his vocal cords had just went on a vacation after reading the details of the beautiful succubus standing in front of him.

? "Oh? You know who I am? Interesting…" Phobos smiled.

With her powers, she could peer deep into anyone's soul and extract their fears. If she tried hard enough, she could also obtain their thoughts and other things.

Phobos plunged deep into Jason's soul, without the latter realizing it. However, the silver-haired boy wasn't alone.

[ Host, brace yourself. Your soul is about to be penetrated. ] The system warned in a grim tone.

'Penetrated by what?' Jason asked with a frown. Before he could get a reply, an invisible punch was suddenly delivered to his gut.

Jason coughed while clutching his stomach. It was as though someone had him in the guts with full force.

Phobos looked at this with a smile on her face. While obtaining things from one's soul, the goddess of fear would be inflicting some damage to the person.

Playing with souls was no trivial matter, even for gods and goddesses like Phobos.

"So you have the divinity of Erebus…" Phobos muttered in a dazed tone. "How did he manage to get followers after the curse placed on him?"

"I don't know…" Jason replied in a muffled tone. His abdomen was hurting like hell but after the mention of Erebus, the pain had toned done a bit.

"Oooo, you have Sancus's divinity as well. It doesn't seem like he is your patron god. The divinity is still not activated." Phobos pushed deeper inside Jason's soul while trying to decrease his pain.

However, all of a sudden, her body froze. There were two presences inside his soul that the goddess of fear knew well.

One of them was Hestia, Jason's guardian, who was forced out of her slumber due to Phobos's activities.

The second belonged to the goddess who had given Jason the golden ring. Both of their presences shook Phobos greatly.

Even a goddess of fear like herself didn't want to mess with two other goddesses of that caliber.

However, a smile soon appeared on Phobos's lips.

"You know well that a goddess of your level can't interfere in a trial being held by another goddess unless you are this kid's patron. Doing so is breaking the sacred law." Phobos said aloud while staring at the ceiling.

In front of Jason's eyes, the ceiling vanished and was replaced by the starless sky.

[ Host, please close your eyes and ears! ] the system suddenly shouted inside his head.

Jason didn't ask any questions and did as told. A bright flash of light went off in front of his face, blinding his vision despite having his eyes closed.

'Thank you for the warning.'

[ It was Erebus who asked me to do that for you. ]

'Can you tell what is happening right now?' Jason asked silently.

[ Nope, I am in a similar state as you. We only have to wait for a few seconds to see how things are proceeding. ]

It turned out that the system was wrong. Minutes passed by before Jason could finally see things.

When he opened his eyes, he saw Phobos grinning. The goddess looked as though someone had just given her a way to terrorize hundreds of kids with a single fear.

"Looks like I owe you one, kid." Phobos said while maintaining her grin. "Looks like you are the reason I am going to be free."

"Free?" Jason asked in a confused tone.

"Yes, I am going to be free. Its about damn time the fear reigned supreme in the world of mortals. By the way, you have successfully cleared the trial. Congratulations!" the goddess pushed her hand in his direction.

Before Jason could ask anything, he vanished from the place.

The silver-haired boy had no idea what had happened. All he knew was that according to Phobos, 'Fear will reign supreme' in the world of mortals.

***

AN: Phobos is originally a god of fear alongside Deimos(dread). I decided to tweak the myth a bit.

Also, this volume will be coming to an end in about three to five chapters. I know this is quite a short volume but you can consider it as a set up for the upcoming events. I foreshadowed a few things in the previous and current chapter.

Hope you have fun reading ^^