The merchant's ship approached the Storm Island after a long journey over the raging sea. The island, distant from the mainland, didn't look much different from any ordinary island, yet it had carried a bad reputation for centuries.
The island had long been notorious for slave trading, attracting merchants eager for quick profit. The ruler, who sat on a golden throne, never ceased amassing wealth from selling humans, and the island itself served as a hub for harsh deals and deception.
Twenty years ago, the island had seemed relatively calm, giving no hint of what would come later. Over time, however, its weather became strange and unpredictable; sometimes sunny, sometimes engulfed in violent storms, with rain falling at random—and thus it earned its name: Storm Island.
The merchant, visiting the island for slave deals, docked his ship at the port. There was no commercial activity or the usual hustle of the island; the place was unnaturally quiet. The merchant and his crew disembarked, surveying the area cautiously.
As they explored further, they began to notice signs of strange destruction: some buildings were ruined, trees broken, debris scattered everywhere. Suddenly, they were shocked to find corpses of the island's inhabitants and slaves lying in every corner. The devastation was total, leaving nothing untouched, as if a mysterious force had swept through the island.
The atmosphere was still and terrifying, the wind whipping through the broken trees, carrying the scent of salt and moisture, as though warning them of something greater. The merchant felt a chill run through his body.
While he and his crew examined the destroyed island, a distant roar suddenly rose on the horizon. Everyone turned—and saw a massive fleet approaching from all directions, each ship flying the flag of the Human Empire.
The merchant's heart trembled, fear coursing through every part of him. He had never expected such a sight. As the fleet drew closer, the ruined island seemed even quieter, as if everything was holding its breath.
It wasn't long before the ships docked at the port, and armored knights disembarked, moving in precise formations with disciplined movements. They began inspecting the island thoroughly, from the port to the destroyed houses, from the trees to the shattered beaches. Every movement exuded authority and silent menace, each step heightening the merchant's anxiety and fear.
After completing their initial inspection, some of the knights approached the merchant, interrogating him about everything they had seen—the island, the inhabitants, the events that had occurred. The merchant, his heart pounding with fear, didn't know what to say or how to respond. Every word seemed wrong, every thought faded in the presence of their imposing authority.
Suddenly, the whole area trembled as a bright light appeared at the port. A woman emerged, clad in gleaming armor, her hair white and her eyes golden. Her walk and stance radiated power and authority. When the guards saw her, they immediately stepped forward and saluted in unison:
"Princess!"
The merchant shuddered, every part of him trembling. He knew who she was—Forn, princess of the Human Empire of Mira, a power no one dared confront easily. He began to sob, speaking in broken words:
"I—I know nothing… I've just arrived at the island…"
Princess Forn felt intense tension. She had come alone to capture Arian, the island's ruler, who had previously wronged dragons, mermaids, and giants, and he now needed to be held accountable. But her main focus was on the dragons' reaction if she failed her mission. Any failure, delay, or escape by Arian could incur their wrath—and this concern weighed more heavily on her mind than anything else.
At the same time, the mermaids and giants waited for news of Arian's capture. Princess Forn paid them little attention, knowing their threat was not immediate, whereas the dragons' wrath could be catastrophic.
She raised her hand and commanded the guards in a stern voice:
"Search the island again… find any evidence of what happened here, and hurry! Any delay could anger the dragons!"
She stepped away from the crowd and turned her attention to the merchant.
"Do you know if there is any nearby island or land?" she asked.
The merchant, still trembling from fear, looked at her with eyes full of terror and replied:
"No… there is no land… the island is far from the continent and the people…"
The guards began their second round of inspection—more thorough and stricter—digging through debris, searching houses, lifting rubble, looking for any trace or evidence. The merchant dared not move a muscle, knowing that a single wrong word or careless action could mean his end.
Princess Forn stood silently, her golden eyes scanning the island, her heart beating rapidly. Every movement on the island, every step taken by the guards, reminded her of the danger of the dragons' reaction if she failed her mission.
A few days earlier, in the old ruler's palace on Storm Island, night approached slowly, the sky covered with thick clouds, and the winds moved irregularly above them.
On the upper floor, inside a large room, sat an old man on a dark wooden chair.
This man was now known as Zeus—the name he had chosen after years of understanding his power in his new body.
His first name, Arian, had become part of a past that existed only in memory.
Wrinkles lined his face, yet his features had not lost their firmness. His ash-gray eyes were steady, lifeless on the surface, exactly as he had learned to appear long ago.
In his right hand, he held a neatly folded letter, the Archduke's seal still clear upon it.
The old man opened the letter once more, though he had memorized its words from the first moment. He read the last line slowly:
"Run… they've discovered what you did."
His hands remained completely still.
No tremor. No emotion.
His expression did not change a single hair's breadth.
He lowered the letter slightly and stared into the empty space before him, as if seeing something that was not in the room.
His voice came low, calm, devoid of any feeling:
"As expected."
It was the voice of a man who had lost the ability to be surprised long ago.
He closed the letter halfway and looked out the open window. The wind entered, rustling the edges of the paper, yet nothing moved within him.
He sat upright, with the rigidity of a man who does not know trembling. Then, slowly—not in hesitation, but in deliberate recollection—his mind drifted back to the past.
Forty years ago:
The hero sat in his large office, his desk overlooking the stormy sea, eyes staring into the void as if every moment of his past life unfolded before him.
He began recalling the past forty years—years of power and loss, years of searching for the means to achieve his ultimate goal: immortality and absolute power.
From the beginning, he knew that absorbing souls would exact a price, and that great power comes with the loss of a part of oneself.
After years of absorbing souls, he noticed something crucial: his emotions were growing numb.
The things that once stirred him—joy, sorrow, fear—gradually lost their color.
Even the power of his spirit, now immense and exceeding the limits of his human body, no longer came with the ability to feel as it once had.
Over the years, his body became a hundred times stronger than any human, but it was not enough.
The human body is limited by its nature; no matter how strong, it cannot fully contain such spiritual power without a cost.
He felt his body beginning to decay from within, and any attempt to confront his spirit's power directly would be lethal.
It was then that he resorted to the Knights' Method, a technique he had learned over his long years:
He gathered the aura around him,
focused it into a small core within his body.
This method worked partially, allowing his body to endure the power for longer periods.
But the result was far from perfect: his human body began to age, weaken, and could not keep pace with the magnitude of the power his spirit carried.
The truth was clear to him: no matter how strong he became, his body was human; no matter how much he strengthened the aura, he would remain limited.
He then considered transferring his spirit into another body to endure more, beginning experiments with his first wife.
At the start of her first pregnancy, he infused the fetus with his spirit to make it stronger than any normal child.
But his wife's human body could not withstand this immense spiritual load; she and the child ultimately died.
He did not care much for her—she had doubted him, and his cold, detached manner had prevented her from understanding the depth of his plans and power.
He realized the solution was not just another human body, but an extremely strong woman capable of giving birth to a perfect child: strong in both body and spirit, akin to the power of dragons, angels, and demons.
This child would be able to sustain the spiritual center that functions as the mind, while the other children would embody consciousness, meaning their lives would be linked to his design.
For this reason, he planned carefully and killed the island's ruler to become the island's new ruler himself, believing he needed absolute authority to pursue the optimal means to produce a powerful child.
After becoming the island's ruler, he knew wealth alone would not suffice for his complex plans.
He needed someone capable of executing them with precision and skill, someone with strength, cunning, and the ability to control multiple forces.
A long search yielded no one worthy—until he found the younger brother of Emperor Carel.
That young man, after losing to his brother in a struggle for power, became an Archduke and led a team of mercenaries.
The team was formidable and terrifying, composed of various races, each possessing exceptional abilities.
The hero smiled quietly, understanding the truth: this team had power rivaling even a young dragon.
With this partner, he could execute his complex plans. He began plotting in silence, focusing his mind on the next step: uniting his strength with the Emperor's brother and his team to ensure success in every move and achieve his ultimate goal without obstacles.
And in the end, he gathered four women of special qualities:
The Giant Prophet from the Land of Giants
This giant was not merely physically strong; she was a prophet who could see the future.
Her spirit's power and extraordinary intelligence gave her the ability to predict upcoming events, making her a key element in the hero's plans.
Without her, the hero could not ensure that his future offspring would be strong enough to withstand the power of his spirit and maintain his control.
But he was unwilling to leave anything to chance.
He spent a massive fortune on the Archduke—an amount unimaginable to most people—to ensure she would be safely brought from the north.
It was no easy task, as the land she came from was the home of the giants, who guarded their priestess with extreme care.
The giants, once they learned of her disappearance, could not believe that anyone could abduct their priestess.
The greatest shock came when the king of the giants discovered she had been kidnapped.
He became furious and began searching for a quick solution, a way to retrieve his priestess.
But time was short, and events moved faster than he could intervene.
He could not find an answer in time, leaving the hero free to execute his plan without direct opposition.
The Royal-Blooded Mermaid
The mermaid was a gift from the merfolk to the dragons. She was of royal blood, which made her extremely valuable. She possessed rare abilities, such as:
Controlling water
Communicating with sea creatures
A beautiful voice that enchanted everyone
But the hero knew time was short. She was far from the merfolk kingdom and distant from the dragons, so he had to act quickly before circumstances changed.
There was no room for hesitation, or he would lose the chance to control her.
He ordered the Archduke to execute the operation in complete secrecy, ensuring no one discovered the true objective.
He instructed that the mission be disguised as a vampire operation, so it appeared as a routine task rather than the kidnapping of a royal mermaid.
The plan was clear: move quickly, capture the royal mermaid, and transport her to a secure location to become part of the hero's grand plan, exploiting her rare abilities to bear exceptional children.
The operation was carried out silently, exactly as the hero had planned.
The Archduke executed the mission covertly, and the mercenaries moved at night…
The royal mermaid vanished without a trace, no witnesses, no evidence linking anyone to the incident.
Yet, despite all precautions, the truth could not remain hidden for long.
On the third day, the news reached the dragons.
In an instant, their fury erupted.
The sky dragons soared above their mountains, roaring a sound that shook the clouds; their anger was unmistakable.
Someone had dared to take something that belonged to them.
And it was not just any object… it was a royal mermaid who was part of an ancient pact between the races.
The news spread rapidly, reaching the merfolk kingdom.
As soon as the royal council of the merfolk learned what had happened, panic overtook them.
They were not only afraid for the royal mermaid…
They also feared the wrath of the dragons—they knew well that dragons never forget and rarely forgive.
The Queen of the Merfolk sent urgent messages and declared before the dragons:
"We will find the culprit… whoever it may be. By our seas, we will return what was stolen."
Fear was evident on their faces.
Not fear of blame… but fear that it might appear they had neglected or failed to protect a daughter of their royal blood.
Seeing the dragons' seriousness, they stopped attacking the borders, yet the dragons' anger did not subside.
At that moment, the hero knew only one thing:
The secret operation had succeeded…
And everyone was now looking in the wrong direction.
The Hidden Angel:
The Archduke informed him of a chance discovery in the lands of the Valira Duchy.
A hidden angel was found there—people had long believed angels extinct.
This discovery made the angel extremely rare and extraordinarily valuable.
The Archduke captured the angel, recognizing its importance, and offered it for sale to the hero at a very high price.
The hero did not hesitate, knowing that this angel—with its unique power and rarity—would complete his plans to produce a special child capable of harnessing his spirit's power.
The deal was quickly finalized, and the angel now fell under the hero's supervision, ready to become part of his plan for the birth of extraordinary children.
The Demoness from the Fallen Islands:
After Mira's sudden attack on one of the Demon Islands, the hero discovered something crucial:
There were still women of demon lineage hiding on the island, yet to be discovered.
He knew that, due to their lineage and powers, these women would play a vital role in his plan to produce exceptional children.
Yet he was aware that any leak could be dangerous—demons were enemies of all races in the Mira continent, and exposure could lead to the death of the hidden women or reveal his plans.
He ordered the Archduke to bring them in complete secrecy, warning him that anyone who discovered this would be in grave danger.
The Archduke hesitated at first, but after being offered a high price, he agreed to the task.
He successfully completed the mission, bringing the hidden demon women safely to the hero without raising suspicion, thanks to his status.
After long efforts, meticulous planning, and spending his entire fortune, the hero finally achieved what he had planned:
He was able to produce extraordinary children, who were…
The child of the prophetic giantess took the longest to be born—twenty full months. The mother faced grave risks because the child absorbed her bodily and spiritual strength so intensely that she nearly died. The hero had to feed both the giantess and the child with his own spirit so that she could safely give birth.
After twenty months, the giantess gave birth, and the child entered the world—but the mother died without seeing him. This was the first child the hero had successfully brought into existence.
He was named Odin, bearing the title "Father of the Rulers." The child had white hair and silver eyes; one might think he was blind if not paying close attention.
The other children each gestated for twelve months. Each child also absorbed the mother's spirit and physical strength greatly, though not as intensely as the first.
During the births, the hero directed the power of his own spirit into the children, feeding them with his essence to balance the child's strength with the mother's physical capacity. This intervention was the difference between life and death, between success and failure.
Thanks to the hero's supervision and careful merging of his spirit with each child, all births succeeded despite the great dangers. Three other children were born:
Hades
, the son of the demoness from the Fallen Islands, named "Ruler of Hell," with black hair and eyes as dark as night.
Poseidon
, the son of the royal-blooded mermaid, named "Ruler of the Oceans," with deep blue hair and eyes like the sea.
Athena
, the daughter of the hidden angel, named "Ruler of War and Wisdom," with golden hair and golden eyes.
And as Arian—now known as Zeus—sat silently in the dark room, he reflected on his four children and the power that was gradually awakening within them.
He remembered how each had absorbed the spirit and bodily strength of their mother, and how he had to feed them with his own spirit to anchor their existence in this world.
Odin… Athena… Poseidon… Hades…
Each of them was a copy of himself; his spirit had taken hold of their bodies. To prevent them from being overwhelmed with a single mind and personality—because the human brain cannot handle such vast information—he granted each child control over their own body and spirit with distinct personalities. This allowed them to experience life, gain new abilities, and awaken their special powers. If his spirit had fully dominated them, their unique abilities would never have emerged. Everything that had happened was part of a forty-year plan of careful design and sacrifice.
As he sank deeper into thought, the silence was broken by a light knock on the door.
Knock… knock…
Zeus slowly lifted his head, his eyes emotionless as always.
From behind the door came a quiet, respectful voice, yet cold and formal:
"My lord… it is time to leave the island."
Zeus stared at the door for a moment without answering, then exhaled deeply and rose calmly.
The time had truly come.