Traversing marble steps, treading upon sun-colored clouds and mist, Seiya felt as if he were suspended in the heavens. The sensation was strange, as if he could fall at any moment.
Seiya felt like a feather, drifting in a space that was both vast and constricting. Gazing into the distance, his vision was blocked by a thick wall of clouds. A sense of boundless void intertwined with the visual confinement, and he vaguely realized—this was a temple.
"Stop looking around. A god should act like one." Someone bumped his shoulder from the side.
Seiya had just looked up when he instinctively clenched his fist, because before him was the very image of Hypnos, the God of Sleep. This twin god under the command of Hades, King of the Underworld, was clad in the dark gold God Cloth of Sleep, with golden hair and golden eyes, a white cape trailing to the ground, walking beside him.
Hypnos's indifferent expression was like a splash of cold water, jolting Seiya awake. He remembered his current identity—Thanatos, the God of Death, whom he had personally slain.
Suppressing the doubts in his heart, Seiya silently followed Hypnos towards the seat belonging to the God of Death.
Ahead, Hades, King of the Underworld, clad in a profound, dark God Cloth with hair reaching his chest, sat enthroned, his position closer to the temple's center than the twin gods.
Seiya's gaze swept around the room. This hall of thrones for the Greek gods was already full.
To the upper right was Eris, the goddess of discord, with long, wavy blue hair, dressed in a deep red gown; Artemis, the moon goddess, with a cold and aloof posture; and a giant god he had never met before, wearing a scarlet cape and exuding a powerful oceanic aura—Poseidon, the Sea Emperor.
When a god in a floor-length white robe with flowing red hair slowly walked in this direction, Seiya instinctively narrowed his eyes.
"Apollo, the God of Light," Hypnos murmured beside him, his tone carrying an imperceptible reverence, "After Abel was sealed, he likely took complete control of the sun deity's duties. His power is unfathomable."
As top-tier beings among the secondary gods, the twin gods instinctively felt an oppressive terror when facing Apollo, who ranked among the absolute strongest even among the twelve Olympian gods.
"Silence. He is here," Hades's deep voice sounded.
—He? Who is He?
At the center, surrounded by the gods, a figure radiating immense light suddenly appeared, instantly becoming the absolute focal point of the entire space.
Zeus, the God King—the greatest being in Greek mythology, the King of all Gods.
He delegated the authority over the sun to Apollo, He placed three thousand water goddesses and three thousand river gods under Poseidon's command, He reordered the heavens and the earth, reassigned the gods, and in the end, only humanity remained.
Until a figure appeared, and the clouds began to churn. Seiya could only see a white robe, with a winged Pegasus accompanying her.
Seiya's eyes shot open in his bed. After a moment of stunned silence, he realized his back was drenched in cold sweat. It seemed he had just woken from a nightmare.
The sun shone brightly outside, but the lingering aftereffects of the nightmare remained in his mind.
His memory stopped at the council of gods; he vaguely recalled the visages of Apollo and Poseidon. But when he tried to remember further, a sharp pain shot through his head.
Faintly, he saw towering flames, wolf packs racing across the plains, an apocalypse of ice and snow, and countless souls of suffering Saints in the final hell of the Underworld.
He felt his back; it was indeed soaked with cold sweat. This meant the terrifying latter half of the dream was real, and not about his other identity as Tenma.
In a Holy War in another parallel universe, he, as Tenma, fought through the Underworld with numerous Saints, ultimately perishing along with Hades Alone using the blood of gold.
But the nightmare wasn't about that Holy War. He tried to recall those incredible experiences—the apocalypse that buried the earth in ice and snow, the world that burned in an illusion, and the strange dream just now. It all seemed connected.
Were these the Holy Wars Tenma experienced in every reincarnation? But Seiya couldn't be sure.
It seemed his mind now held memories that weren't his own. He was certain those events had never happened to him, yet he remembered them vividly.
Fragments of memories not his own churned in his mind, unfamiliar yet real.
He stared blankly at the silhouette of a passing ferry-hawk. How long had it been since he thought of Saori?
He seemed to have fully adapted to his identity as a Demon King—ruler of Fusang, acknowledged as the strongest Godslayer in the hidden world, supreme in his own territory. Yet, just as he was growing accustomed to this daily life far from battle, a nightmare befitting a Saint appeared in his dreams. The dream seemed to be hinting at something.
Seiya remembered the hundreds of billions of suffering, wailing souls of Saints in the frozen hell. If that vision was real, then how many reincarnations had passed, and how many Saints had died?
He fumbled to get up, about to call for a myrtle to bring him a glass of water, when he suddenly noticed something important. The entire Temple of the Love Goddess was empty.
Stella, along with all the myrtles, had vanished.
"Huh? Where'd they go?" Seiya rubbed his head.
Seiya could still sense Stella's location using the Wheel of Friendship and could even forcibly summon her.
What on earth could have compelled her to pack up all her retainers and leave?
Seiya then turned his gaze to a chariot parked on the temple's terrace, driven by a nymph.
With Seiya's appearance, the nymph pulled back the chariot's curtain, revealing the visage of a goddess in a green robe—it was none other than Athena, the Goddess of War.
"Get in. Stella asked me to take you to Olympus," Athena said calmly.
He didn't speak. For some reason, the moment he saw Athena, a smile bloomed from the bottom of Seiya's heart.
Pegasus spread its wings and soared, pulling the chariot through the clouds towards the highest point of the divine realm of Troy—the peak of a steep mountain more majestic than the sea of clouds.
Atop the peak stood a magnificent and holy white-walled palace.
This was the sacred ground immortalized in countless legends, ancient and modern—the dwelling and meeting place of many deities such as Zeus, God of the Sky; Hera, Queen of Heaven; Apollo; Athena; Ares; and others.
—The true city of the gods, Olympus!
Athena's chariot passed unimpeded. Despite being conspicuous, no one stopped it. Gazing at the familiar yet strange scenery of the divine realm rushing past the window, Seiya's eyes fell upon the nymph driving in front.
"You know," Seiya began, his tone tinged with inquiry, "I feel like I've seen you somewhere before."
This opening, almost like a pick-up line, made the nymph chuckle, her voice like a clear spring. "Lord Tenma, it's strange, but I have a feeling of déjà vu as well."
"What's your name?"
"Partita, a dryad of Athens. You may also call me Yeyuan."
Hearing this name, Seiya remembered. She was the figure who had been by Athena's side in his dream.
In another parallel universe, she was Tenma's mother.
Although it felt wrong to say, he couldn't help but quip to himself that he really did seem to have mothers everywhere.
"We're here," Athena said.
An increasingly familiar sight appeared before Seiya's eyes. A magnificent palace seemed to grow out of the sea of clouds, with a brilliant rainbow bridge extending from their feet directly to the sacred complex of buildings.
Giant stone pillars soared into the sky. Around the palace, winged elves and vine-wreathed nymphs played and danced in the air.
As the chariot passed, it stirred up waves of clouds. The closer they got, the more intense the unique and majestic atmosphere emanating from the palace became. At the entrance to the temple, two large, ancient urns were prominently displayed, inscribed with "Good" and "Evil."
"This is Zeus's Hall of Thunder," Athena explained softly, her gaze sweeping over the two urns. "It ranks higher than Hera's Golden Hall; the most important divine councils are held here."
It was crafted for Olympus by Hephaestus, the god of craftsmen, himself. Themis, the goddess of divine law, convenes the gods here, conveys Zeus's decrees, and maintains order.
Zeus's Hall of Thunder was the very building that had appeared in his dream. Of course, Seiya didn't think this palace was the exact one from his dream, but its symbolic meaning was the same.
And upon arriving here, Seiya witnessed one of the most classic scenes in Greek mythology.
Instigated by Eris, the goddess of discord, a young man was holding a golden apple. Opposite him were the incarnations of Hera, Stella, and Athena.
The catalyst for the Trojan War—the Dispute of the Golden Apple! It was a decade-long war in Greek mythology, fought over the beautiful Helen.
The two sides were the Greek coalition, represented by figures like King Agamemnon of Mycenae and King Menelaus of Sparta, and the Trojan alliance, represented by King Priam of Troy and Prince Hector of Troy.
The war ended with the complete destruction of Troy. During the conflict, the gods also intervened, splitting into factions and fighting amongst themselves.
Inside the Hall of Thunder, the gods were gathered, no longer the blurry silhouettes from his dream.
There was Apollo, with brilliant golden hair and slender, slightly melancholic eyes; the two-hundred-meter-tall blue giant Poseidon, whose head nearly touched the ceiling; Hermes, the god of magic, holding a staff and wearing a hat... Leto, goddess of the night; Ares, god of war; Hyperion, the sun god responsible for the stars' movements; Dionysus, god of wine; Demeter, goddess of grain and fertility; the three Fates; Thanatos, god of death; and the Muses, goddesses of poetry and art.
Seiya even saw figures from Norse mythology: Thor, the god of thunder and guardian of Midgard, and Loki...
This is absurd. How did you two get into a Greek pantheon council?
But in fact, compared to his shock, the Greek gods present were even more astonished.
"Why is it a god-slaying beast? And he's wrapped in the aura of having killed one of our own kind."
"It's Pegasus? How interesting...!"
"In my visions, I saw this little fellow's profligate figure. I should have been the first to make him my subordinate."
"I certainly think so," Poseidon nodded crisply.
"Like most goddesses, I am a deity with deep ties to the ocean and the earth. And the humans on the surface today... just how far will they go in polluting the seas and harming the land before they stop?"
"On top of that, their cities are ugly and cold... It's absolutely dreadful."
"It seems most of the gods share a similar opinion to mine."
The brilliant Apollo murmured as if in complete agreement, while Hades and many gods of the Underworld showed similar smiles.
"To cleanse all filth, we must completely destroy the surface world overrun by humans. That is our duty as deities, is it not?"
"Huh?"
Hearing the astounding declaration, many gods were momentarily stunned.
"Did you not just casually say something utterly shocking?" asked Artemis, the moon goddess.
"How can a lesser god like this be allowed to step into Zeus's Hall of Thunder?"
"Kill him! Let's slay our sworn enemy, the god-slaying beast, right here and now!"
Some were surprised, some angry, some incredulous, but a few were delighted.
For example, the brilliant God of Light, Apollo, and Thor, the God of Thunder—ending their fated, entangled wish here might be a good arrangement.
But just then, a strong sense of déjà vu washed over him.
A golden thunderbolt descended from the heavens, striking precisely in the center of the Hall of Thunder. Countless tiny electric arcs flickered through the space, finally converging in the middle to form a majestic figure in a white robe.
Zeus, the God King Zeus.
With Zeus's appearance, the previous clamor ceased.
Since even Zeus tacitly accepted the god-slaying beast's presence, it was not their place to say more. Looking at the scene in the mirror, Zeus withdrew his gaze and began the meeting's main topic.
"King of the Sky, King of us gods, what is the reason for dispatching Themis, the goddess of divine law, to reopen the Hall of Thunder this time?" Poseidon asked.
"Because I sense the stench of filth."
"Oh?" A soft hiss came from the gods in the air.
"The world of humans that now fills the surface... it is noisy, ugly, and foul, to a degree that is unbearably unpleasant. My brother Poseidon, do you not agree?"
"Do you not think so? As the true masters of the world, this is a perfectly natural conclusion that anyone would reach."
Zeus smiled. "Now, I shall exercise my authority as God King and destroy this divine realm along with the world it is linked to. Who is in favor, and who opposes?"
The hall erupted in discussion, the gods whispering amongst themselves, but no one voiced their opposition.
"This was bound to happen eventually. Your arrival has merely moved it up by three hundred years," Athena spoke softly, but her fists clenched involuntarily under the table.
"Zeus is the ruler of the world. When he is in a good mood, the sky is sunny and clear. When he is angry, the sky becomes overcast with clouds, lightning, and thunder. He can destroy worlds he dislikes and create new ones."
"This isn't the first time, is it," Seiya said, knowing Athena was speaking to him.
"No. I can't even remember how many times the world has been destroyed and rebuilt," said Athena. "But this time, perhaps influenced by those memories of yours, I don't want to compromise."
Seiya smiled. From beginning to end, he had not been affected in the slightest by the gods' hostility or Zeus's tyranny.
"Then do it. Don't worry, I'm right here beside you."
And at that very moment, a clear voice rang out within the Hall of Thunder.
"—I object!"
_____
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