As I stepped into the acidic pond, its scorching touch welcomed me like an old enemy.
At first, I felt nothing; my divine energy protected me from the acid. But as I went deeper, the intensity increased, and I began to feel a burning pain, as if it were searing across my skin.
The deeper I descended, the more the agony intensified.
My flesh burned, even with divine protection.
My wings, usually a symbol of pride and strength, felt as if they were being torn apart, one feather at a time.
The deeper I went, the more it felt like the acid was trying not just to injure me,
but to dissolve me into nothing.
Finally, I reached the bottom and stepped onto the slippery flesh floor. Here, there was no light, no sound—only a strange and immense pressure.
Even my divine energy was suppressed to nothing. I barely maintained myself; I felt that if I let my guard down for even a moment… if I allowed fatigue or pain to overwhelm me… this place would erase me forever.
I sat cross-legged, enduring the pain. I gritted my teeth and fully channeled my divine energy and divinity, trying to push back against the corrosion and the unknown restraining effect.
It became a game of tug-of-war between me and the acid. Sometimes I pushed back against it; sometimes its corrosion overpowered me and burned my flesh, blood, and bones.
Sometimes I even lost hope, but when I remembered my siblings' faces and my father's cruel actions,
I steeled my will. Even when I was cornered by corrosion and the acid ate away at me, I remained there and used whatever strength I had left.
I began my training regimen with push-ups against the acidic floor, each movement tearing muscle and rebuilding it stronger.
I meditated amidst the burning, forcing my mind to stabilize my divine core while it was constantly under assault.
I had no time to rest, eat food, or even show mercy to myself.
The cycle was endless: pain, discipline, a flicker of growth, followed by more pain. I lost all sense of time.
Was it a year? A decade? I did not know. The only constants were the burn and the pain.
Even now, as my skin burned and my aura cracked under the pressure, I whispered inwardly,
I will endure this hell… so I can rule the hell next.
---
An unknown amount of time passed.
Finally, after endless cycles of suffering, training, and honing my will in that acid abyss, I broke through.
My divine energy surged like a rising tide breaking through a dam.
The crushing suppression that once threatened to erase me now bent beneath my presence.
I had ascended to the rank of a High-Level God.
My power skyrocketed. My divine presence deepened, not just in intensity but in authority. I could now command the very essence of my domains with ease. The darkness around me no longer burned—it obeyed.
I understood something critical: this was not the end of the path. It was a new beginning.
From this point forward, it wasn't just about raw power, but about profound comprehension.
Advancement would now require a deep, layered understanding of each godhood I held.
And I held many.
During this long, grueling time in isolation, the divine thread I had left with Hestia kept me tethered to the world above. Through it, I sensed subtle changes—new arrivals in Cronus's prison.
Another presence had come: Hera, my second sister, who had been swallowed. She was quite arrogant and bossy.
Soon after, a younger divine presence arrived, fierce like a storm: Poseidon, my younger brother.
Both had arrived… and yet, I did not return to greet them.
Not out of neglect, but purpose.
In the burning silence of the abyss, I had caught a glimpse of a faint pull in the deepest layer of my soul. A resonance of a new godhood, one I hadn't yet touched, but one that felt almost as if it had been watching me all along.
The domain of Imprisonment.
Not just confinement of body, but of will, of freedom, of divine law and chains.
The very force that now bound my siblings… was calling to me. And strangely, it was compatible with my other divinities like Death, Secrets, Darkness, and even with the Underworld itself.
So I stayed, observed, and studied this new divinity. I immersed myself in the essence of confinement.
And finally, after years of inner struggle and contemplation,
I conquered it.
The godhood of Imprisonment became mine.
But with it came a price.
It didn't just add another orb to my collection—it added weight.
The more godhoods I held, the more paths I had to understand, and the more time and effort it took.
To ascend beyond this rank—to reach the domain of Chief God, God-King, or even beyond—I would have to bring each of these godhoods to its peak understanding.
Each one was now both a power and a test.