The first to be surprised by Athena stepping forward was not Zeus, but Hera.
"How could this be? Your actions shouldn't be like this…!" Hera bit her finger, an unbelievable tempest raging in her heart.
In every future she had foreseen, the principal god who truly attempted to reshape this world was the very Athena before her. She had had enough of this defiled world and wanted to return it to the great Golden Age.
However, but, yet—why?!
—The one stepping forward now, facing the God King's wrath, was her!
The gazes of the Olympian gods, like invisible spotlights, converged sharply on Athena. She tightly gripped the scepter symbolizing wisdom and judgment, her steps firm, each one seemingly shattering an invisible barrier as she walked straight to the front of the God King's throne. Her cold and resolute face, under the light and shadows of the Thunder Temple, was like a jade statue about to be thrown into a bloody battle.
"Could it truly be you, my beloved princess? It seems the mortal world has polluted your noble soul. I thought it would be Hera who would come to challenge the supreme authority of the God King that I command."
His gaze, sharp as an arrow, instantly pierced Hera. The venerable Queen of Heaven's face was devoid of sorrow or joy, like a pool of stagnant water, unfathomably deep.
The gods were well aware of Hera's ambition to covet the God King's authority; this was already an open secret on Olympus. From the twelve principal gods to the ghosts of the Underworld, from the Titan prisoners in the abyss of Tartarus to the unborn embryos of life, who could resist the temptation of that supreme authority that ruled over all creation?
Still, to be exposed by the God King in a single sentence before she had even made her move was indeed a pitiable sight. However, the protagonist on the stage had already changed.
Zeus's gaze, which held a brewing thunderstorm, locked firmly onto Athena at the other end, his voice suddenly rising like thousands of thunderbolts exploding at once: "Athena! Do you understand what it means to stand in opposition to the King of the Gods at this moment?!"
The sky instantly responded to his fury. Dark clouds roiled like ink, electric serpents danced wildly within their depths, and a deadly pressure crushed down as if it were tangible. Giving Athena no chance to explain, the God King's sentence had already been passed:
"That is—to fall eternally into Tartarus! Athena!"
"If you think I, Athena, would fear you because of your tyranny, you sorely underestimate me!" Athena's voice was clear and powerful, piercing through the roar of thunder. "To protect the myriad living beings on the Earth, this is the destiny for which Athena was born into this world! Manifest, Aegis—the shield of protection bestowed by Father Zeus!"
With a hum, an immense, square shield suddenly appeared above Athena's head. Its surface was covered with ancient goatskin, radiating an indestructible, divine light. It was so large that it could completely shelter the goddess's petite form. This was the renowned Aegis shield from Greek mythology, its very existence a symbol of sacred authority.
Beneath the great shield floating in the air, Athena's attire suddenly changed. "O Winged Staff, O Gorgon's Stone, come to my side as well! Offer the fruit of victory to Athena, she who commands wisdom and war."
Bright-eyed Athena donned her battle attire—
Over her white robes, fitting for a goddess, she wore a silver-white cape. The Gorgon's Stone hanging from her neck was made of bronze, its surface carved with the image of Medusa—the gorgon with countless snakes for hair.
A golden scepter appeared in her right hand, its tip sprouting the wings of a bird.
Divine tools complete, Authority complete, fighting spirit complete, Athena transformed into a stream of light weaving through the Thunder Temple, evading the lightning strikes from above.
However, the gods did not simply stand by and watch. Once the war drums challenging the God King's authority were sounded, it was the time for all gods to declare their stance!
"How could I, Thor the Thunder God, miss such a grand event!" A hearty laugh thundered, as Thor was the first to respond, his giant hand gripping Mjolnir, the thunder hammer. "I am Thor, the God of Thunder! For the glory of Asgard! My sacred beasts, incarnations of thunder—Tanngrisnir and Tanngnjóstr! Become the lightning of destruction!"
Two bolts of incomparably violent divine lightning, like giant spears tearing through the firmament, crashed down upon Athena's evasive path! However, where the attack missed, countless white feathers materialized from thin air, instantly reassembling into Athena's owl form. This nocturnal owl form was swifter and more agile, weaving lightly through the web of lightning woven by Thor and Zeus, narrowly avoiding the fatal blow.
"Here and now, we pray to Mother Gaia and Themis, the Goddess of Divine Law…" The cold, monotonous chant of the Moirai, the three goddesses of fate, echoed eerily.
This true word contained the power of rules, having an effect similar to a God-Slaying Authority, and in an instant, it sealed Athena's current owl form, temporarily preventing her from using that power again.
This fatal opening was immediately seized by the Goddess of the Hunt!
"Oh—Paean! Oh, Paean!" Artemis's clear and murderous voice rang out as she drew her bow to a full moon, its silver arc gathering the cold, deadly light of the moon. "When I draw this silver moon bow, all creation shall fall silent! They say: 'Lord of the Bow and Hunt, shoot your arrow of light to that rebellious distance!' When it falls upon the desecrated land, the masses all cry out: 'Oh, oh, Paean, the hunter who shot the Ceryneian Hind…'!"
"Twang!" The bowstring vibrated!
A silver arrow, A silver arrow imbued with the power of the moon goddess, like a poisoned dart locked onto its prey, tore through the air, heading straight for the restrained Athena! Following close behind was the bewitching music played by the Muses, its decadent sounds seeping in from all directions, attempting to disrupt Athena's mind and fighting will!
But all of this was blocked by the Aegis shield above Athena's head. Like a bird crossing space, she leaped toward the prison-like palace of thunder, the scepter in her hand bursting with light as it fell toward the god on the highest throne. At this moment, the God King Zeus finally lowered his gaze and let out a scornful laugh.
"A god who sides with humans is lowlier than any human. Lightning, become her lonely grave."
—The divine power locked on, inescapable!
The terrifying thunderstorm, almost incinerating her organs, forced even Athena to let out a low cry of pain. The goddess's figure was sent flying backward like an arrow released from a bow, continuously piercing through the palace complexes behind her.
She crossed the sea of clouds, pierced through Hera's Golden Hall, and then plowed a furrow across the land like a fallen star. Finally, she crashed into her Workshop of Wisdom.
Precious books were incinerated, and fragments of shattered looms rained down upon her. Athena looked up at the tilted astrolabe; the divine instrument that once guided her was now completely destroyed.
"To think, that I…!" Athena pushed herself up to her feet. Had she been brought to such a state before even forcing Zeus into his form as the God of the End?
She knew she couldn't hold on any longer; this endeavor had always exceeded the limits of a single principal god. The gods of the Divine Realm were fundamentally different from the Heretic Gods manifested on Earth.
The difference in their status was like a chasm, and the God King was on a completely different level from the other deities. She looked at her lost left hand; even the Aegis shield she trusted most had been reclaimed by Zeus.
But this was not uncommon. In the constantly reshaping Divine Realm, with each cycle, new gods challenged Zeus's authority—
—sometimes the frenzied God of Wine, sometimes a great demigod hero, sometimes Queen Hera. It just happened to be her turn this time.
But no matter who it was, none had escaped the fate of defeat. Perhaps the prophecy of fate was absolutely correct: Zeus could only be defeated by his own youngest son.
As if sensing something, Athena raised her head. Within the hole she had pierced through, the phantom of a Pegasus appeared before her.
"Pegasus." Athena turned and looked back.
The Pegasus phantom in the opening dissipated, and the true Pegasus, the Saint Seiya, was now acting as a human cushion, standing behind her to take the heaviest blow for her.
"I'm here." Seiya supported Athena's body from behind.
"My heart follows wisdom, seeking knowledge from arrogance and ignorance. With much knowledge comes much sorrow. Perhaps I should never have taken that first step." Athena gave a wry smile.
"But you did it anyway. That's the goddess I know." Seiya took Athena's hand from behind, pressing his cheek against hers. His Cosmo now connected with Athena's. "Don't worry. It's only Zeus. I'll kill him for you."
A subordinate god cannot challenge the God King, but a Godslayer, a warrior who defies fate, can.
"I want to fight with you, Pegasus."
Feeling the cosmic power filling her body, Athena's eyelids fluttered slightly, as if falling asleep, yet also as if gaining rebirth in the instant she opened her eyes. The supreme divine raiment of the God of Combat resonated with Athena's Workshop of Wisdom, and under the command of her will, it transformed into a golden longbow as tall as herself.
In the Thunder Temple, the gods abruptly looked in one direction.
Following their gaze, they could see a straight line stretching for hundreds of miles, extending endlessly to the horizon. But from that direction, a heaven-shaking and earth-shattering aura swept over them.
"Are you ready, Lady Athena?" Seiya held Athena's hand, drawing the bowstring taut.
As the bow was drawn like a full moon, a tremendous power that made the gods tremble was born between the two. A golden brilliance shook the heavens and the earth, and the surging fighting spirit completely enveloped the entire Workshop of Wisdom.
"—Yes!" Athena shouted.
At the same moment, they both released the string. Within the light, a god-slaying golden arrow was born, transcending sound, transcending space, reaching the realm of light.
Wherever the arrow passed, space shattered like fragile glass! Thousands of swirling clouds were forcefully swept up in its wake, forming a massive trail of light that spanned the heavens, carrying a world-destroying power as it shot straight toward the Thunder Temple, suspended high above the clouds, a symbol of absolute power!
"Blindness has long been your nature, and it will be your future's undoing. My blade shall be my eye, Pegasus. It will help me cleave through the darkness of heaven and earth!"
Only a very few gods with foresight could perceive this beam of light. Most gods only heard the explosive sound after the pain had already reached their bleeding ears.
The ruins of the Thunder Temple, illuminated by the starlight leaking from beyond the heavens, looked like shattered star fragments. All of Olympus was filled with this sacred golden light.
The arrow shattered all of creation, terrifyingly and beautifully, destroying everything in its path with an unstoppable momentum and exquisite grace. The palaces of the gods were torn apart in this torrent, disintegrating and collapsing.
In this dance of destruction, the gods screamed in terror, fled, and sought cover. Their magnificent palaces disintegrated like sandcastles in the golden tide, turning to dust!
Even amidst the raging winds and the lightning that tore the sky asunder, a figure stood upon the shattered firmament. Behind him were burning constellations, his colossal shadow moving across the entire Mount Olympus as the flames rose.
Who can stop it? Who else can block this rebellious, god-slaying arrow?!"
"Hear the echo of this radiant bow. The silver bow, releasing an outstanding echo! O Earth, please answer the son of the goddess Leto, Apollo who walks in the land of the dead!" Apollo, who held an old grudge against Seiya, was the first to chant his strongest incantation, the Authority—Arrow of Inevitable Death.
"When I wield my silver bow, you all cheer, saying: 'Lord of the bow and cypress, swiftly shoot your light arrow afar. When it sprinkles upon the land of my swift cavalry, all the people shout together: Oh, slayer of the golden-horned antelope,' they say, 'Paean!' Glory to those who sacrifice to Artemis." The moon goddess Artemis followed suit. Authority—The Form of Supplication.
"Even in this cursed world, there is light." The sun god Helios transformed himself into a great sun.
"O Night, become my sharp blade," declared Nyx, the goddess of the night.
"It is also I, born in darkness, hidden in shadow. It is also I, the child of darkness sent by heaven, who brought disaster. It is also I who killed the sinful beast and offered the animal to heaven. It is also I, as the child of fire and light sent by heaven, who shines with radiance. It is also I who, as the invincible hero, wields power and obtains victory—"
This was perhaps the most exaggerated scene in history. Although Seiya had not yet arrived, a terrifying aura already permeated the space between heaven and earth.
And in the face of this combined attack from the gods, Seiya simply pressed his thumb and forefinger together, forming the Immovable Wisdom King mudra.
The Eighth Sense reawakened. From the eyes of the Pegasus Saint, the reflections of all heavens emerged.
An aura more terrifying than that of the gods emanated from him, spreading in all directions—up, down, left, right, southeast, northwest. In every direction, sacred scenes were reflected—
—Beneath a giant Bodhi tree, the Buddha smiled while holding a flower.
—In the Great Leiyin Temple of the West, Amitabha Buddha preached the scriptures.
—In the Eastern Heavenly Court, Sun Wukong wielded his golden-banded staff, turning heaven and earth upside down.
—In the pure white Heaven, Jehovah revealed his form among the multitude of angels.
Whether it was the Twenty-Four Heavens of the East, West, or India, all manifested around Seiya. The attacks of the gods passed through these visions without hindrance, but just as they neared Seiya, the Cosmo erupting from his hand distorted space, enveloping all the gods within it.
—Eighth Sense, Combat Technique, Tenma Kofuku!
The ultimate technique of Virgo, burning the Cosmo in one's hand and exploding it outward. When the move is executed, visions of all the heavens appear around the Saint, and this was also the strongest area-of-effect combat technique that Seiya had mastered.
The mortal Divine Realm of Troy had not yet been destroyed by the gods, but their own home, Olympus, had reached the brink of collapse. Within this shattered space, the phantom of a god that overshadowed all creation stood, spanning heaven and earth.
"Zeus, you have finally returned to your form as the God of the End." Hera sighed softly.
_____
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