Watching Menoetius still struggling, Zeus casually loosed a bolt of golden thunder.
Menoetius, who was still laboring to reconstitute himself within the pure water, went utterly motionless beneath that thunderclap.
All his divinity and vitality were completely bound by it.
Oceanus said nothing. He dropped to one knee before the hall and bowed his noble head, heart collapsing with helpless regret.
He knew Menoetius was a fool, but he had never imagined he could be this foolish!
He had kept such a close watch on him, and nothing had happened. Yet in this tiny sliver of opportunity, he had stirred up a calamity of this magnitude!
He truly regretted it!
He regretted ever pleading for Menoetius before the God-King!
His only remaining hope was this: Atlas—please!—must not be involved too!
Otherwise he would truly break down completely.
Clymene and Pleione, and those five rain nymphs who attend Zeus, as well as the seven Pleiades—Atlas's daughters—were so frightened they were nearly fainting.
They could not understand how their uncle Menoetius could do something so stupid!
How could there be a god this stupid in the world?!!!
The only slight comfort for Pleione and her children was that they did not see Atlas's figure. They prayed frantically in their hearts that Atlas (their father) would not also do something foolish!
They hurried to kneel behind Oceanus as well.
Some, gentle of temperament, were already sobbing softly, unable to help themselves.
Even Prometheus, who had been serving at Zeus's right hand, stood stunned, unable to recover for a long while.
He wracked his brains and still could not fathom how his second brother could have done something so stupid!
"Are we really born of the same parents?"
Though this matter had no direct connection to him, he too felt boundless dread.
He hesitated a moment, then quietly ran to his mother Clymene's side and knelt along with the rest.
Tethys was soothing the badly frightened Amalthea in a soft voice, while using her divine power to comb the ocean, which had grown violent from the battle, swiftly restoring it to calm.
Amalthea, upon seeing Tethys, had already calmed down for the most part.
As a daughter of the Ocean now, she naturally knew how powerful her father and mother were.
And even across so great a spatial rift, she could clearly feel that aura which made her incomparably at ease—that of Zeus.
Only Zeus could so easily break space.
She knew Zeus was watching here, and so she was no longer afraid.
In fact, once they truly started fighting, she quickly became much less frightened.
It was only when they fought that she realized this Titan, so fearsome in legend, did not seem… all that formidable after all.
Still, she had a touch of lingering fear.
Holding Amalthea, Tethys crossed back through the rift into the great hall.
Then she let Amalthea go and, without a word, came to her husband's side and knelt on one knee with him.
As for Amalthea, she had intended to rush straight into Zeus's arms.
But seeing the grand and solemn scene before her, she grew nervous and shy again.
She looked left and right, wanting to run to Zeus, yet in the end did not dare.
So she imitated her household gods, and obediently knelt behind Oceanus as well.
Expressionless, Zeus looked down upon the kneeling Oceanus couple and said nothing.
An oppressive atmosphere, enough to choke even gods, spread like an unseen tide through the hall, submerging everything.
All the gods within felt a prickling unease from the depths of their divinity, as if jabbed by needles.
One by one, they grew careful and cautious—some even stopped breathing without realizing it, not daring to make the slightest sound.
Even those giants who had been arrogant and rude not long ago now stood heads bowed, eyes to nose and nose to heart, abashed and utterly meek.
The Mother of All Things, seated at Zeus's right, felt the same collapse as Oceanus.
The universe is certainly not lacking in fools, but this was the first time she had seen a fool this foolish!
Now the universe was in a season of vigorous growth, the God-King's order advancing steadily, the brand-new sacred Divine Order newly woven.
Everything was swiftly developing for the better in a stable way.
By the look of things, after some years—once the new order was familiar to all the beings of the universe, and once Zeus's God-Kingship was thoroughly consolidated—then, with the right approach, asking Zeus to release her children might not have been impossible.
But now everything had been utterly ruined by this fool!
If the remnants of the old God-King, after the God-King's generous clemency, still refused to obey the God-King—
Then would the more brutal and more obstinate old God-King resign himself to submit to the new God-King?
Since one knew they would rebel if released, could Zeus possibly release them?
The Mother of All's heart was full of collapse and speechlessness.
She sat upright, taut as a drawn bow, setting the mountains trembling, and parted her red lips to speak—yet could not think what she could say now.
In the end, she could only close her beautiful eyes in weary helplessness and let out a long sigh, slumping against her throne.
She truly had had enough!
Expressionless, Zeus stared at the Oceanus family kneeling in the hall. With a slight motion of his fingertip, he sent a thread of gentle thunder that landed precisely upon Amalthea, making her lift her head by reflex.
Startled by the sudden "assault," the simple goddess jerked her head up blankly and looked at Zeus upon the throne.
That dopey look of pure innocence and confusion almost broke the cold stern mask Zeus had been deliberately holding.
He forced down his smile and beckoned lightly to her, indicating she should come to his side.
Don't just kneel there in a daze—this had nothing to do with her.
Amalthea hesitated, sneaked a glance at her father and mother before her, then rose and, with those long legs, quickly ran to Zeus's side.
Zeus gently took her hands and drew her before him, carefully admiring the reborn, sweetly silly goddess.
He was most satisfied. Oceanus had indeed given his utmost.
She had been reborn well: the laws were precious and powerful, the authorities practical and broad, her divinity renewed. Compared to the little goat-goddess she had been, the increase was beyond measure.
As for divine body and power, they were utterly remade—night-and-day from before.
Only that silly, dopey air had not changed much; it was just that the pure breath of her divinity had grown even more immaculate.
She wore a blue-and-white gauze dress, tall and slender of form, with a small, charming face of purest beauty.
Mm…
Her newly fashioned legs were impossibly long, and those dainty jade feet were… beyond words!
The Oceanus couple had truly attended to every detail.
Amalthea's hair and brows were, as before, a radiant pure gold; even her eyes were golden.
This differed greatly from the usual ocean-daughters' bright hair hues—blue, green, teal, violet, pink, red, and the like.
Even the pair of horns upon her head had been greatly refined—no longer very goat-like, exquisitely shaped, and, to the eye, truly brilliant and colorful.
By rights, a great goddess like her should be born with elegance, noble and grand.
Clearly she had not followed the rule.
In those noble golden pupils shone only innocence and girlish charm.
Zeus, however, liked her all the more for it.
At his side, this silly, pure nymph would never need to think too much.
After admiring her, Zeus gave her a look, indicating she should wait behind him.
She understood that look.
She hesitated, sending Zeus a pitiful, pleading look.
Seeing Zeus return a "don't worry" look, she hurried obediently behind him, shrinking as carefully as ever.
The gods in the hall did not dare look directly at the God-King, yet they could sense clearly enough how deeply he doted on this goddess.
For a god to dare lay hands on a deity this important—truly reckless beyond measure!
Many gods stole glances at that cloud of particles called Menoetius, inwardly awestruck at his stupidity.
Only then did Zeus slowly speak, in a cold and majestic tone devoid of any emotion: "Goddess of Memory, tell us the causes and consequences of this matter."
The all-knowing goddess Mnemosyne rose and bowed to the God-King.
She pondered a moment, and those eyes that see all swept, as if without intention, over Poseidon sitting not far away.
The guilty Sea King's divinity shuddered violently the instant he felt that gaze.
Fortunately, the all-knowing goddess only glanced at him once before turning her eyes back to Zeus upon the throne.
She arranged her words and spoke slowly in a calm, clear tone: "Your Majesty, this criminal god, having lost his former honor, has long borne resentment toward the sacred order you established. The rancor accumulated to this day and broke forth beyond restraint."
"After drinking, he conceived treasonous intent—to seize your beloved goddess, the Ocean's daughter Amalthea, and by this extort you to release his father Iapetus, and to restore their honor."
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