Zeus looked up at the enemy hovering before them in the sky, gazing down with an indifferent expression.
'We have to attack now—before he enters his divine form,'
Zeus thought.
They truly had to.
In his current state, Zeus believed he could still defeat him.
Perhaps the man wasn't fully proficient in combat—but something about that calm, indifferent gaze unsettled him.
Zeus couldn't explain why, but his instincts screamed a warning.
This was a warrior.
One who knew how to fight.
And just as Zeus prepared to launch his attack, he felt it.
The major god began to transform.
His hair ignited, turning into pure heat and flame that intensified with every passing second.
Across his muscular arms and torso, blazing markings appeared, glowing like molten brands.
His eyes burned crimson, as if the fire contained within him was struggling to escape.
He looked down at them—still indifferent, yet now terrifying.
His aura multiplied in intensity, and the heat surrounding him surged violently.
"I will give you one chance," he said coldly. "I am Kaelos, God of Conflagration and Plants."
His gaze hardened.
"Kneel now. Follow me to Lord Kronos, and I will spare you the pain and torture I would otherwise inflict."
His tone was calm, emotionless—as though every word were an inevitable truth.
Zeus felt it.
So did Hades and Poseidon.
A chill ran down their spines as they stared at the major god above them—someone who now felt far, far superior.
But Zeus stepped forward anyway, a crooked grin spreading across his face.
"We refu—"
Before the words had fully left his mouth, Kaelos vanished.
Danger!
Kaelos reappeared instantly before Zeus, his speed amplified by searing heat, and drove a punch straight toward Zeus's heart.
The strike passed through Zeus's chest—
—but only because Zeus had reacted in time.
His body transformed into living lightning, allowing the attack to phase harmlessly through him.
He reformed several steps back and unleashed a barrage of lightning strikes toward Kaelos.
Kaelos merely waved his hand.
The heat around him melted the lightning into nothing.
Zeus's eyes widened in shock.
'Lightning…melted."
Before he could react, Kaelos leapt into the air and delivered a brutal double kick—one blow striking Hades, the other Poseidon—sending both brothers flying in opposite directions.
"This is bad,"
Zeus muttered.
"You two—get up!"
he shouted toward his brothers.
They needed to fight together.
Zeus used lightning to accelerate his body forward, his speed multiplying several times over as he appeared directly in front of Kaelos and threw a punch—a feint.
In the next instant, he vanished and reappeared behind Kaelos, swinging a strike toward his head.
But Kaelos saw through it.
Tilting his head calmly, he grabbed Zeus's arm mid-attack and hurled him downward toward the outskirts of the battlefield, where minor and lesser gods were still fighting.
Boom!
The impact sent several minor gods flying as Zeus crashed into the ground.
***
Before Kaelos could even pause, water surged around him.
A prison formed.
Poseidon raised his hand, summoning crushing pressure as the water wrapped tightly around Kaelos, mimicking the depths of the deep ocean.
"Now, Hades!"
Poseidon shouted.
Hades acted instantly.
Darkness surged forward, layering over the water and forming a second prison—spikes of darkness erupting inward.
A double barrier of water and darkness closed in as countless sharp spikes stabbed toward Kaelos.
Several strikes landed.
Kaelos bled—for the first time.
Then he smiled.
With a sudden release of divine power, he shattered the prison completely.
Water and darkness were torn apart as heat exploded outward.
Flames ignited across his body, and his speed surged dramatically.
He appeared in front of Poseidon and drove a punch toward his stomach.
Poseidon reacted just in time, forming a trident of compressed water to block the strike.
Steam burst outward as Kaelos's heat collided with the weapon.
The smoke only made Poseidon grin.
Using it as cover, he summoned multiple tridents high above, hidden within the vapor, and sent them raining down.
Kaelos, unaware, punched Poseidon square in the face, sending him flying.
Even as he was launched backward, Poseidon smiled and glanced upward.
Kaelos noticed the expression and looked up—his eyes widening slightly.
Before he could react, darkness coiled around his body.
A crushing fear pierced his mind, momentarily paralyzing him.
The tridents struck.
They pierced into his arms and torso, drawing more ichor.
Kaelos snarled, rage flaring as intense and dominating-like heat veins pulsed across his body.
[Conflagration Domain: Thermal Overdrive.]
Heat detonated outward.
Flames wrapped tightly around his form, controlled yet ferocious.
With every passing second, his power escalated, his body burning brighter and hotter.
A grin spread across his face.
He surged forward again—straight at Poseidon.
Poseidon slammed into the ground, then immediately rose, ready to counter.
[Sea Domain—Ocean Deep.]
Water erupted around them.
In an instant, a colossal sphere of water formed—nearly a kilometer wide—trapping both gods inside, as if they had been dragged into the deepest part of the ocean.
It was Poseidon's refined technique, inspired by Aetherion's parallel expansion—his own perfected domain, one where he reigned supreme.
He attacked immediately.
But something was wrong.
The water began to steam—then smoke.
Kaelos's flames refused to be extinguished.
Still, Poseidon didn't hesitate.
He invoked his storm and lightning together.
[Storm Domain—Lightning Doom!]
The ocean sphere filled with violent lightning, bolts crashing relentlessly into Kaelos.
Yet none of it slowed him.
Kaelos vanished.
He reappeared directly in front of Poseidon and punched him squarely in the face, blasting him out of the water sphere.
He didn't stop.
Kaelos followed instantly—kicking Poseidon high into the sky—then finished with a devastating kick infused with divine energy and conflagration, driving Poseidon straight into the ground.
Boom!
The explosion shook the battlefield.
Kaelos turned slowly.
Kaelos turned his gaze toward the two remaining brothers—Zeus and Hades—studying them one at a time.
Zeus, witnessing what had just happened to Poseidon, stood stunned, fully grasping the reality of the situation.
'This… this is insane,'
he thought.
Hades was little better.
His grip on his spear tightened noticeably, and the usually indifferent, stoic expression on his face grew tense as he took in the sight of his fallen brother.
Both of them could feel it—the heat radiating from Kaelos continued to intensify, growing more oppressive with every passing moment.
Kaelos looked at them both and finally spoke.
"Which of you is next?"
——
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