Chapter 23: Lord of the Underworld

Chapter 23: Lord of the Underworld (23章　決戦! ハデス 23-Shō Kessen! Hadesu, "Chapter 23: Decisive Battle! Hades") is the twenty-third chapter in the storyline of Kid Icarus: Uprising.

Having recovered from his injuries, Pit's goal is to face off against Hades—however, his plan comes to a halt when the mission takes a particularly unexpected turn.

Air Battle
Equipped with the Three Sacred Treasures once again, Pit is sent soaring through Underworld skies, raring to finally challenge Hades. Palutena reminds Pit of Hades's wrongdoings as she sends the angel down a ravine, where he questions the location of Hades's castle. The goddess informs him that he lacks one, instead residing anywhere he pleases within his realm.

The lord of the Underworld suddenly appears before Pit, striking at him as he announces his anticipation over the encounter. The two then exchange the same battle cry before initiating the battle.

Hades
During the first portion of this fight, Pit will be unable to harm Hades himself, though he can still attack the hoards of Underworld troops nearby. After a short period of time, Hades will fire a massive blast at Pit, which obliterates the Three Sacred Treasures with ease. The battle then continues, in which Hades's strategy consists of two attacks: a flurry of punches and a vertical or horizontal swipe of his claws.

After dealing enough damage, Hades reels for a moment before declaring an improvised plan: to consume Pit. He summons a vortex over his mouth, and though Palutena desperately tries to pull him out, Pit is inevitably sucked in.

Land Battle
Winding up in a dimension known as Hades's Belly, Pit rises to his feet, immediately encountering grotesque cellular versions of Underworld troops. The angel attempts to communicate with Palutena to no avail, and Hades expresses surprise at Pit's survival of the event. Pit asks about his current whereabouts, to which Hades informs his adversary that he currently resides within his stomach. The god threatens to expel Pit naturally, causing him to panic—however, this effort fails, and Pit begins traveling upwards in search of an exit.

Along the way, Pit must traverse through gelatinous structures while Hades pokes fun at his dependence on the goddess of light. He urges the angel to explain why he wishes to fight him, to which Pit answers with a long speech about Hades disrupting the balance of the universe, bearing many similarities to the speech Palutena gave Pit earlier.

Hades begins eating Underworld troops and a random assortment of structures, giving Pit more opponents to battle. The angel orders him to stop eating souls and explains that doing so will erase them without allowing them to move on or reincarnate. Hades counters that removing souls from existence is essentially the same as reincarnation, as reincarnating entails the soul experiencing an entirely different life than the one it lived prior. Hades goes on to explain that what he's doing isn't wrong, as living things must survive through the consumption of other living things. Pit attempts to reason with him by stating that, as a god, he should be above this natural cycle, but Hades admits that he doesn't actually care about those beneath him. Realizing that Hades has absolutely no regard for the living, Pit becomes more determined than ever to defeat the lord of the Underworld.

As Pit presses on, he sees footage of Forces of Nature troops displayed on the walls, indicating that Viridi has launched an attack on Hades from the outside. The god decides to tend to Viridi instead, leaving Pit to enter the boss chamber alone.

Intensity Gate
A level 8.0 Intensity Gate can be found near the beginning of the Land Battle, located to the top left of the green platforms that can be lowered. Inside is a small hallway with a single Treasure Box.

Zodiac Chamber
In the area with various grind rails, players should hop back onto the second grind rail they disembarked in order to access a new path, where they can obtain the Aquarius Blade.

Boss Battle
Upon entering the boss chamber, Pit stumbles across a massive, round creature standing in the center of the room. He questions if the monster is Hades's Heart, to which the creature jumps and runs off, initiating the battle.

Hades's Heart's main strategy is to run around wildly, using the many walls of the battlefield to allude Pit. Upon receiving a certain amount of damage, the heart will become surrounded by a red aura and storm through the stage, trampling over Pit in the process. During its rampage, it is extremely difficult to avoid and gains momentary invincibility, meaning the player should wait for it to calm down before striking again.

At random, Hades's Heart will produce a copy of itself which is identified by its yellow aura. The player must steer clear of the copy, as it will eventually explode with a blast radius that engulfs all halls that are directly connected to its location. Additionally, Hades's Heart will occasionally drop disk-shaped mines on the ground that gravitate toward Pit; however, they are relatively easy to avoid, as they are slow-moving with a small blast radius.

Epilogue
Once Hades's Heart has been defeated, the creature explodes and sends Pit flying. Dark Pit suddenly zips by in the Lightning Chariot, grabbing him out of the air and using the vehicle to burst out of Hades's chest. The dark angel tells his lookalike that the explosion alerted him to his location, causing Pit to express his relief while Palutena welcomes him back. Hades reaches out and attempts to capture the chariot in his hand, but the goddess of light quickly extracts them from the realm. Now alone, Hades remarks that the experience was painful for him, but optimistically notes that he survived the ordeal.

Weapons
The following is a list of weapons most commonly obtained in this chapter.


 * Black Club
 * Beam Claws
 * Somewhat Staff
 * Aquarius Blade

Trivia

 * The climax of the air battle is slightly different depending on whether the Three Sacred Treasures are equipped or not: if equipped, the treasures are destroyed in Hades's blast; if unequipped, Pit will instead comment on Hades's breath being bad.