"Campione? Ryuga?"
Seeing the shock on sun god Apollo's face, the terror on wine god Dionysus's face, and the momentary relief on Athena's face, Zeus narrowed his eyes, wisdom's light flickering in his pupils.
Although Athena had recovered her trinity state, due to mythological reasons, Zeus still possessed part of Metis's wisdom, so he easily judged the current situation.
"It seems you are the master Athena spoke of?"
His gaze turned to Ryuga, the lightning aura in his hand expanding again.
"Hestia, Artemis, retreat! Don't make me say it twice!"
Sensing the threat from Jibril, Zeus issued a threatening, low voice.
If they didn't follow orders at this time, they'd probably be slain on the spot by the God-King!
Realizing the tension level, Hestia and Artemis exchanged helpless glances and retreated to their original positions.
No one could oppose the current Zeus, not even if all the Olympian gods combined.
"Master..."
Seeing Ryuga appear before her, Athena's heart relaxed.
She immediately stepped forward, wanting to report intelligence about Zeus.
The Heavenly Father Zeus before them far exceeded the gods in power, even stronger than the previous Jibril. She believed Ryuga could handle an existence of this level, but also worried Ryuga might be careless without knowing the intelligence.
However, before she could speak the intelligence, Ryuga saw through Zeus's current state at a glance.
"Fused with the Olympian pantheon's power... you want to walk the path of the Only God?"
Hearing this, all the gods were startled.
Those who could see this at a glance were extremely rare. Even Athena had only just learned of it, yet this human could see through it with one look?
"Correct! Since you know, you should understand you shouldn't have incited Athena to betray. That would only benefit me!"
Zeus sneered coldly.
"Of course, even if you hadn't done so, I would still become the Only God. No matter what happens in this world, it will inevitably benefit me!"
These overly narcissistic words sounded somewhat like raving on the surface.
In reality, however, they contained deep meaning.
"Interesting concept!"
Even Ryuga had to praise it.
At least, compared to Michael who had been waiting for the Lord's return, as a deity, Zeus's attitude was more actively enterprising, making one feel this was truly an independent life.
"Too bad it's too late."
Ryuga shook his head, not optimistic about it.
"——!"
Hearing this, Zeus's face immediately turned iron-blue, clearly having been hit on something.
Seeing the two engage in riddle-like exchanges and Zeus's dramatic change in expression, Athena began to doubt her value as the Goddess of Wisdom.
Otherwise, why couldn't she understand?
After hesitating, she quietly asked:
"Master, why can Zeus become the Only God? With his origins, isn't this impossible?"
She still hadn't figured out this doubt. Not just her—even among the Olympian gods, few understood why Zeus would do this.
But for Ryuga, this wasn't a problem.
"What if the Only God Zeus, being omniscient and omnipotent, arranged the mythology, transcended the dimension of time, manipulated fate's threads, and controlled Cronus to birth himself?"
Whether parents or the Earth Mother Goddess Gaia, everything could be explained with this theory.
Why wasn't the Only God the world-creating Gaia, but rather third-generation god Zeus?
The answer was simple—everything was the will of the Only God Zeus. The mythology was this way because Zeus wanted it this way.
Everything was Zeus's script, so it was reasonable for him to be the Only God.
Human logic cannot understand gods—they can only accept gods.
"Ah?"
Athena was confused by this rogue explanation.
This could work too?
If so, any deity could claim to be the Only God, right? The reason would be simple—the deity's script ordained it.
"Such far-fetched mythology wouldn't be accepted by people, would it?"
She asked, unable to understand.
To this, Ryuga's answer was simple:
"Egyptian mythology and Christian mythology have both done the same thing without problems."
"As long as your method of spreading faith is effective enough, the theoretical foundation can be left to theologians to explain. History has proven this viable."
In Egyptian mythology, the first god born into the world was the primordial waters Nun. The creator god Atum-Ra was hidden within Nun's body before gaining consciousness.
However, although he was the second individual to gain consciousness, he was the creator god himself, because before realizing who he was, he had already given birth to all things and phenomena.
Through this explanation, Egyptian mythology "successfully" resolved the bug of later-born deities being the creator god.
As for Christianity's operations, one need only look at the Trinity concept full of patches and the Holy Spear that slew the Son of God to understand.
No matter what mythology, as long as there were enough patches, it could be self-consistent.
Logical flaws were never the problem.
"Actually, Zeus has already made similar attempts—they just failed."
Ryuga added.
In early Greek mythology, Zeus's divine power wasn't particularly outstanding. Even in the middle-to-late period, when facing Typhon, he had to rely on his lightning staff to match it.
But by the late period, Zeus had already become strong enough in mythology to single-handedly defeat all the Olympian gods.
At that time, his faith was infinitely close to Only God faith. Almost all believers in Greek mythology prayed to Heavenly Father Zeus alone, his status no worse than God's.
If this trend had continued, Zeus might very well have become a true Only God.
Unfortunately, his ambition didn't succeed.
"Greek mythology's gradual transition to Only God monotheism was a historical trend, but this process was completely interrupted by Christianity. Christianity, which had been deeply cultivating monotheism for years, completely defeated the transitioning Greek mythology and seized all faith from the Greek divine realm!"
In Only God theory, Christianity had too many advantages. Combined with Emperor Constantine's promotion, traditional mythologies like Roman, Norse, and Greek were directly swept away, losing all soil for existence...
"Zeus couldn't succeed even then, and it's even more impossible now... The Greek divine realm lacks much soil for change. Even if there were, it's not something you could grasp."
Ryuga spoke truthfully.
Hearing Ryuga say this, Athena and the Olympian gods finally understood the source of Zeus's thinking.
Hearing him assert Zeus couldn't succeed, all the gods turned their gazes to Zeus.
After hearing Ryuga's assessment, Zeus naturally couldn't remain unmoved.
"Worthy of being the Fool's son—truly foolish! You've seen this far yet don't understand I'm only half a step away from that position?"
"I need only resolve the final prophecy and completely absorb the Earth Mother Goddess lineage's power. Then I'll command the entire pantheon's power, control the entire divine realm in the name of Supreme God, then inversely interfere with worldly faith."
"At that time, I'll completely destroy and replace Christianity, becoming the true master ruling myriad worlds!"
Zeus clearly didn't accept Ryuga's view, his words full of confidence.
Considering the fate and time authority gods possessed, reverse causation wasn't impossible for deities.
"Exactly! Father God will inevitably become the supreme god. Then you'll be nothing but evil gods and demons!"
Infected by Zeus's confidence, wine god Dionysus also became confident, stepping forward provocatively.
"Dionysus?"
Looking at the wine god who was rarely this excited, Athena tilted her head, unable to understand.
Usually you're not this close to Zeus!
Seeing her puzzled look, Ryuga casually explained:
"If Zeus can ascend to Only God, Dionysus can take the God's Son position, completing the final piece of mythology and sharing one-third of the divine throne."
All mythologies under heaven copy from each other. Looking at Zeus's operations showed that to ensure his plan to become Supreme God, he would inevitably directly plagiarize Christian mythology.
The mystery cult worshiping wine god Dionysus already existed. Without much effort, just publishing the mystery cult's content would let Dionysus debut as God's Son.
That's why the wine god was anxious. If Zeus failed, he couldn't benefit.
Athena immediately understood.
After clarifying the gods' thoughts, she looked up at Zeus with slightly mocking tone:
"Zeus, you only see half a step, but have you seen the chasm contained within that half step?"
Being half a step away sometimes meant the difference between heaven and earth. Moreover, the age of mythological competition had already passed. After hearing Ryuga's introduction, she also didn't believe Zeus could succeed.
However—
"Chasm? You mean the thing about to be crossed over?"
Zeus sneered dismissively, then looked at Athena and Ryuga.
"So tell me, you who found yourself a new master, what qualification do you have to discuss Earth Mother Goddess glory?"
At these words, Athena's blood pressure instantly spiked.
Before she could explode, Zeus's thunder erupted again.
Power transcending individual deities began filling the lightning.
To be continued...
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