Her ice-blue, amber-like eyes went round as plates, and she drew in a deep, deep, deep breath of cold air!
Without the slightest hesitation, she whirled and flashed out of the hall as a streak of water-light.
Her usually composed, stately poise was a little ruffled for it.
At once she instructed the goddesses waiting outside the hall that without a personal summons from the God-King, absolutely no one was to go in!
Only after giving her orders did she retreat to one side alone, working hard to calm her unsettled heart.
She truly wished she could erase the scene she had just witnessed from her memory at once.
But as a top-tier great goddess, her divinity was vast without bound. What was once seen would never be forgotten.
And the more she tried not to think of it, the more the image rose and rose before her eyes without cease.
She had, now, a very real understanding of this God-King's "outrageousness."
Elsewhere, the dozen-odd goddesses had arrived early after all.
They knew their God-King far too well by now.
What might be happening inside the hall, they could more or less guess.
For a moment, each had her own thoughts.
They exchanged glances endlessly.
In a very short time a surge of information passed between them at speed.
Within their private god-mind channel, messages piled up to thousands of floors in moments.
Only the newly arrived Iris and Arke had not yet been welcomed into the little Pleiades-and-kin group.
Iris was the most dutiful and well-behaved. She obediently followed Clymene's instructions and waited outside the hall.
Silent as always, Arke was bold beyond the ordinary.
Her bright, obsidian eyes flicked slyly, and while her sisters were all "busy," she slipped off alone somewhere no god stood.
Her body shrank quickly until it was no bigger than a speck of dust.
Then she drifted quietly toward the hall.
She didn't dare go straight in, crouching instead at the doorframe, craning her head to peer inside, eyes full of curiosity.
"Waaah—!"
Her black eyes had only just widened further, and she hadn't even had time to see more, when a tiny bolt of lightning struck her out of thin air, right on target.
An instant later, an invisible divine power spun her around and tossed her out.
She landed right beside Iris.
The little black-winged goddess's black feathers and black hair were standing on end, every one of them singed upright.
She wasn't harmed, but the pins-and-needles were inevitable; she wouldn't be getting up for a while.
Soot-smudged from head to toe, she sat in a cute duck-squat at Iris's side.
Her mouth gaped a little, and a puff of black smoke drifted out.
Only her big eyes still shone.
Her shocked eyes were very big indeed.
Iris knew her sister's bold, rebellious streak intimately.
One look at her in that state and she knew what had happened.
She shook her head helplessly and didn't even bother to pull her up.
His Majesty's lessons—she could do with a few more.
That day, Zeus relived the flavor of childhood.
Still with some little differences, but he was deeply satisfied.
After all, Amalthea's divine body was now more optimized, more perfected and complete.
The essence of an Oceanid, together with the new authority she'd received, had greatly enhanced her authority of "Nursing."
The most direct manifestation was—more delicious, and richer in nourishment.
Not quite enough that a few casual drops would become a glittering milky river like Hera's.
But if a mortal could obtain a single drop, it would be enough to ascend into godhood on the spot.
Only it was Zeus-exclusive, and no being was destined for such fortune.
Any great Mother Goddess is innately endowed with "breasts."
This is the most essential source born of law.
Like the greatest Mother, Hera; or Leto, newly granted the authority of "Nurturing" by Hera; and Zeus's beloved, Amalthea.
Whether they are virgins or not, whether they have borne children or are in any nursing term or not, they will always bear "breasts," unless deliberately suppressed.
The next morning, after eating his fill again, Zeus parted from her with reluctance.
What could he do? Who wouldn't be nostalgic for the feeling of childhood?
Zeus declared: this truly wasn't his fault! He simply kept his first heart unchanged, liking the same from beginning to end!
Such was the God-King—child-heart unspilled, constant from first to last!
Leaving the still languid, limp Amalthea to rest, Zeus went to the council hall.
He summoned the gods of Olympus and solemnly announced: The goddess of Agriculture and Harvest, from this day forth, shall be the great Earth Mother who presides over "Agriculture," "Harvest," "Growth," "Abundance," and "Lushness"!
And at the same time, she shall become his—Zeus's—eternal fourth wife!
On this matter, most of the gods were quite calm in response.
It was entirely as expected; they were used to it.
Only Hyperion and Theia wondered inwardly why their daughter had not become the God-King's wife?!
They had clearly seen it yesterday!
The God-King and their daughter had already conceived three children!
And as cosmic sources, the foundation of the Heavenly Order's operation, they could distinctly feel that in their three newborn granddaughters' authorities…
Much of it felt very familiar…
What truly shocked the gods in their hearts was the new laws added to Demeter today.
They understood very well that those cast into Tartarus—the former God-King and the three primordial Titans—must already have been stripped of all their authorities by His Majesty.
The God-King was truly, utterly invincible now.
Still, most of the gods did not have any special thoughts about it.
However much the God-King increased, they had long since ceased to care.
Punishing guilty gods was only just.
Who would spend the day worrying over those sinners? Would that not be disloyal to His Majesty?!
As for the couple Hyperion and Theia, what they cared about most now was why their daughter had not become the God-King's wife.
As for Kronos? What Kronos? They truly weren't close.
Their daughter had already borne children with His Majesty.
And could receive other siblings' powerful foundational laws besides.
That was worth far more than any long-cooled sibling feelings from ancient days.
Only, unfortunately, after their daughter returned yesterday, she fell straight into slumber.
They didn't know why His Majesty had not announced her as his wife.
By rights, he was not such a cold God-King.
They could only resolve inwardly to ask her when she awoke.
As for Zeus, he let Demeter slip into slumber for a while as well.
So that she might familiarize herself with and fully absorb the powerful laws she now possessed.
There were, after all, too many new laws just merged.
And all of them were the most powerful and vast. She needed time to absorb and fuse them completely.
Had she not been waiting to announce this joyous news today, she would already have succumbed to sleep long before.
Demeter longed to unite with Zeus as soon as possible; she had been craving him desperately for a long while, her swelling love impossible to restrain.
But she obediently heeded Zeus and chose to master every law completely first.
Then she would wholly devour her beloved God-King!
When that time came, the children conceived would surely be the strongest—and most beautiful and adorable—in the universe!
In any case, the title was fixed already, and there was nothing more to worry over.
Of course, even without fully uniting with her beloved God-King, they still had to exchange locks of hair!
The amorous God-King welcomed yet another strand of hair of a new hue; that five-colored state was not far off now…
This great matter upon Olympus spread throughout the universe through the god-net system, posted as a pinned announcement.
Gaia, Mother of All, who was absent, learned of it in her own temple and was thunderstruck. Forcing herself calm, she immediately moved into action.
As for Zeus—after tender parting from Demeter, he hurried at once to his next stop.
To soothe his beloved all-knowing goddess, Mnemosyne.
His mind-channel was on the verge of being bombarded into paralysis by Mnemosyne's messages—full of intellectual wrath.
He truly couldn't delay.
Mnemosyne didn't care about Demeter. In her eyes, Demeter becoming Zeus's wife was always the necessary course of fate. She didn't mind.
But the Night Goddess—never!
That shameless, status-blind old goddess—and Zeus had conceived such fine, powerful children!
Infuriating!
Her beloved God-King had simply forgotten who his own goddess was!
Her only scrap of solace was that the Night Goddess could never become Zeus's wife.
Heh!
Night is not for the light to see!
As for the Moon Goddess—
That didn't count for much. In the end, she was of Olympus after all.
And Selene's aloof, proud, deep-scheming manner meant she would neither naively dream of becoming Zeus's one and only wife, nor foolishly imagine she could keep him to herself.
She would only keep him gently on the string—not a true threat.
So at bottom it was that hateful Night! That greedy Night!
______
(≧◡≦) ♡ Support me and read 20 chapters ahead – patreon.com/Mutter
For every 50 Power Stones, one extra chapter will be released on Saturday.