Clang.
The sound of hammer striking red-hot metal quietly echoed inside the temple of Hephaestus, Goddess of Smithing.
In the forging grounds of the divine craftsman, Jason silently swung the hammer.
Molten lava splashed outward from time to time, landing on his body.
Yet the undying flames of the underworld and the holy raiment woven from stars plucked by the Goddess of Wisdom herself protected him completely.
He was forging the God-Slaying Sword with his own hands.
And he would make it his innate divine artifact, belonging to him alone.
The moment he learned the intention of the three goddesses, Jason immediately set to work.
In his grip was the divine hammer lent to him by Teacher Hephaestus, a hammer capable of secretly reading the wielder's heart and forging any shape the mind desired.
Jason hammered divine iron amidst the lava.
The divine iron given by Hephaestus was the very same material once used to forge the lightning bolt of Zeus, King of the Gods, the trident of Poseidon, Lord of the Seas, and the helm of darkness worn by Hades.
Now Hephaestus had thrown nearly twice the amount used for those artifacts straight to Jason.
Thus, with every strike Jason made, an entire month passed.
One month later, inside the forging chamber of the Goddess of Smithing,
When Jason brought down the final hammer blow, the divine iron shuddered. The divine hammer in his hand, unable to withstand the strain any longer, shattered the instant the strike landed.
Jason had no time to grieve or stand stunned. He immediately extended his left hand, tore off the pure white bandage wrapped around his wrist, drew a small golden knife, and slashed deeply.
Fresh red blood laced with threads of gold flowed forth.
It poured over the divine iron.
Soon the pitch-black metal was soaked crimson and swiftly absorbed every drop.
Beside the lava pool, wrapped in undying flames, thirty pieces of divine iron lay neatly arranged.
In truth, with Jason's still-amateur forging skills, a single day was far from enough to fully refine even one piece of divine iron.
But Hephaestus had told him not to worry and to simply hammer away.
If quality fell short, quantity would compensate.
And even if the final product lacked perfection after he was done, Hephaestus could supplement and perfect it later.
After all, she was Hephaestus, Goddess of Smithing.
When the last piece of divine iron finished absorbing his blood, Jason's taut nerves finally relaxed a fraction.
He let out a soft breath. When he stood up, his legs staggered and he nearly fell.
"You've worked hard."
A gentle voice sounded beside his ear. A soft body embraced him, pulling him firmly into her arms.
Hephaestus, seated in her wheelchair, had accompanied him through this entire month.
For as long as Jason hammered, she stayed by his side.
With heartache she rebound the bandage around his left wrist. Seeing it instantly stained crimson again, Hephaestus felt a sharp pang.
"Rest for a while," she could not help saying.
"No, I can't, Teacher Hephaestus."
Jason shook his head resolutely. "This was only the preliminary stage. The truly critical part comes next!"
As he spoke, he lifted his head, gazed into Hephaestus's beautiful amber eyes, and smiled. "Besides, Teacher, I am your student, the disciple of the greatest smithing god in the world.
Right now is the moment your student forges his first divine artifact. Shouldn't you be encouraging me and feeling proud?"
"I feel no pride, only worry," Hephaestus answered directly. "Whether you succeed in forging a divine artifact or embarrass me means nothing. To me, all that matters is that you are safe."
"But it matters to me!" Jason replied earnestly. "So, Teacher, let's continue. Let me forge the first divine artifact that belongs to both me and your student!"
Hearing this, Hephaestus understood his determination.
With a soft sigh she stopped trying to dissuade him. She reached out and took two containers of divine blood that had long been prepared.
One held black-golden blood, the other blinding golden blood.
They were, respectively, the heart-blood of Typhon, Ancestor of All Demons, refined and extracted from the demonic spear, and the heart-blood of Athena, Goddess of Wisdom.
Hephaestus tossed both containers into the molten divine iron.
The instant they entered, the vessels burned away in the undying flames, and the blood flowed toward the iron.
The moment the divine blood touched the iron already soaked in Jason's blood, far away in the endless abyss, Typhon, Ancestor of All Demons, and on the Invisible Island, Athena, both raised their heads at the same time.
They looked toward Hephaestus's temple.
"So... it has finally begun?" Athena whispered.
Then, exactly as Hephaestus expected,
The two portions of divine blood that had refused to merge no matter how much divine power she applied instantly and eagerly fused the moment they touched the iron, or rather, the moment they touched Jason's blood.
With Jason's blood as the medium, Athena's blood and Typhon's blood perfectly combined.
From this point onward, everything became much simpler.
Jason stood, picked up Hephaestus's divine hammer once more, the very hammer that had forged lightning bolts and Poseidon's trident, and struck the divine iron in the lava with all his strength.
Strike after strike caused the fifteen pieces of divine iron to slowly fuse under his blows.
As he hammered, the image that appeared in his mind was the final form of the God-Slaying Sword.
It was the shape of the black sword Hecate had once shown him.
Though one might wonder, which came first? The black sword Hecate revealed to Jason, or the black sword that appeared because Jason had seen it?
Strike after strike sent molten lava spraying.
The divine hammer that could shape anything was already cracked, yet the divine iron still followed the vision in Jason's heart and gradually merged into shape.
Every piece had absorbed Jason's blood and could sense its master's will.
Gradually, amid the rhythmic clang of metal,
Thump, thump...
Jason began to hear a heartbeat.
It was neither his own nor Hephaestus's.
It was the heartbeat of the divine artifact about to be born!
When that heartbeat grew louder and more insistent, Hephaestus knew success was assured!
A faint smile appeared on Jason's lips.
He swung the hammer several more times with all his might, then his consciousness abruptly cut off.
He remembered nothing of what followed.
Hephaestus's divine hammer was never meant to be wielded lightly. Had she not been there forcibly suppressing its backlash, Jason could never have lifted it at all.
"Leave the rest to me."
Hephaestus, fully prepared, caught Jason as he collapsed.
She took the hammer from his hand and looked at the God-Slaying Sword that had already fused completely and begun taking shape under his blows.
Hephaestus swung the divine hammer down with ferocious force.
The instant it struck the God-Slaying Sword, the entire temple trembled lightly.
None can say how much time passed after that.
While Jason's mind was blank, the God-Slaying Sword was completed under Hephaestus's hammering!
And almost the exact moment this pitch-black God-Slaying Sword came into existence,
Deep within the endless abyss, Typhon, Ancestor of All Demons, smiled.
"It is time."
Typhon murmured, "Time to find Father and the second-generation God-King... Hm? Why are they together?
And... why is Cerberus there too?"
When her perception reached them, Typhon froze.
Then she instantly appeared before the trio.
She saw Cerberus trembling and secretly crying while being forced to play both Go and chess at the same time, sandwiched between two terrifying beings who kept urging him on, as well as...
"Stupid Jason, stupid Jason!
I'll bite you to death! Just wait until I get out this time, I'll definitely bite you to death!
Wahhhh..."
Hearing this, Typhon's expression gradually turned strange...
At the same moment, somewhere unknown, Zeus, King of the Gods, who had been secretly peeking at a group of nymphs bathing and frolicking in a pool, drooling and debating when to join them,
Suddenly felt a bone-chilling cold sweep through his entire body.
Zeus immediately looked up, stood from the bushes, lightning flashing in his eyes as he glared at the sky.
A thunderbolt tore across the heavens!
"What... was that just now?!"
Zeus's eyes widened. Recalling the chilling sensation that had pierced him to the marrow, his expression turned stormy and uncertain.
He no longer cared about the nymphs who screamed and scattered at his sudden appearance.
He turned and headed straight for the sacred mountain of Olympus.
At the same time...
"Fates, come to Olympus at once!"
The majestic voice of Zeus rang in the ears of every god.
"He noticed after all?" Hephaestus naturally heard Zeus's voice too. A faint smile touched her lips.
"Too late, unfortunately..." Hephaestus said, looking up through the temple ceiling toward the sky outside.
An invisible magical barrier completely enveloped the temple.
It was magic arranged by Hecate.
At this moment Hecate was floating above the temple, repeatedly inspecting to ensure not a single trace of aura had leaked out. Only then did she breathe a sigh of relief.
"It seems... that weapon has finally been born."
Hecate's expression grew complicated as she looked toward the temple interior.
The scene of utter destruction naturally surfaced in her mind.
The gods dying beneath an endless night.
"I hope... you will not choose that path."
Hecate whispered softly.
Meanwhile, on the Invisible Island, Athena had been pestering Medusa nonstop until Medusa desperately wanted to beat her up (but could not), leaving her extremely frustrated.
Finally, Athena left the island and returned to Olympus.
To ensure nothing went wrong and to keep Zeus and the others calm, Athena naturally had to handle it personally.
...
Shortly after, when Hecate finished her multiple checks and came before Hephaestus,
She found Hephaestus struggling with all her divine power to restrain the God-Slaying Sword.
"What's wrong?"
Hecate was briefly stunned, then hurried forward to help.
"It wants to go to Jason's side, but the final step is not yet complete," Hephaestus explained. "Hecate, what are you waiting for? Hurry and take out that blasted stone!"
Hearing this, Hecate finally reacted.
From her hand she produced the divine stone that had long been prepared.
This was no ordinary divine stone.
This stone had once been Zeus himself...
Remember the old tale about Zeus, King of the Gods?
At Rhea's pleading, Nyx, Goddess of Night, took pity and gave Rhea a stone that not even the God-King could detect as abnormal.
It was used to replace the infant Zeus, and the second-generation God-King swallowed the stone.
Thus Zeus grew up safely. With the help of Metis, the first Goddess of Wisdom, he later forced the second-generation God-King to drink a special potion and vomit up his swallowed siblings: Hera, Poseidon, Hades, and the others.
Naturally, the stone that had concealed Zeus was vomited up as well.
And Queen of Heaven Hera had casually picked it up...
Yes, Hera herself.
Therefore...
"Damn that Hera!" Hephaestus, who almost never got angry, fumed the moment she saw the stone. "Thinking she could trade a useless rock for Jason at my side? As if I'd ever agree!"
Every time she recalled the condition Hera had attached to handing over this stone, Hephaestus boiled with rage.
Back then Hephaestus had gone to the assembly and watched Jason fight the sleepless dragon precisely to meet Hera.
Hera had originally demanded Hephaestus hand Jason over entirely, but after seeing Hephaestus's terrifying smile, she immediately backed down and changed her demand to "do not prevent me from meeting Jason."
For Jason's sake, Hephaestus had grudgingly agreed despite her displeasure.
Later, because the mere sight of the stone infuriated her, it was kept by Hecate instead. Hecate had even brought the stone to meet Nyx.
Upon seeing it, Nyx explained that because the stone had once replaced Zeus, it was now the perfect material for concealing anything from Zeus.
If used to craft a cap of invisibility, anyone in the world, god or mortal, could see the wearer, but Zeus alone would forever be blind to them.
Hecate tossed the stone onto the forging platform.
Hephaestus immediately seized the divine hammer and smashed down with all her fury.
One hammer blow filled with pure rage shattered the stone into dust.
The fragments were instantly refined by divine fire, turning into a thin membrane that adhered to the God-Slaying Sword.
It disguised the pitch-black God-Slaying Sword, transforming it into a pure white, holy-looking divine sword.
Only then did Hephaestus release her restraint.
The next second, the God-Slaying Sword slipped away from the two goddesses, flew to Jason's side, circled him twice, then settled quietly beside him.
"Why did you disguise it as white?" Hecate raised an eyebrow.
"To use Athena as a shield," Hephaestus answered frankly.
Hecate thought for a moment, nodded, and her brow finally relaxed.
"No problems? No aura leaked out?"
Now fully relaxed, Hephaestus asked Hecate.
Hecate nodded, and Hephaestus chuckled lightly. "Then things must be quite lively outside right now."
"You heard him too, didn't you? That voice just now," Hecate replied with a smile. "But who cares? Athena's handling it anyway."
"Exactly," Hephaestus nodded. "Athena's handling it."
The two goddesses were openly mocking her, even naming her directly.
Athena naturally felt it.
The corners of her mouth twitched twice.
"Those two... No way. They make me do all the hard work. I absolutely have to get some benefits out of this!"
Athena clenched her fists and swung them fiercely a couple of times.