Long ago, to be precise, when Zephyrus returned to Olympus.
From his mouth, Zeus had already learned the secret that was enough to shock the Gods.
The ancient son of the Original Titan, the Titan God Astraeus, had long since fallen from the stars and came to the human world during the Typhon Disaster.
However, until he received this news, even Zeus himself had not expected that those faithless ones who played with witchcraft would be so crazy and presumptuous.
There had been humans who imprisoned Gods in the past.
But mortals who treated Gods like livestock, even looking back through ancient history, Zeus had never seen such a thing.
The moment he learned of this news, the God King's first reaction was to hack this human to pieces and rescue the God of Stars from his hands.
But just a moment later, a calm Zeus hesitated.
As a God, even out of the thought of 'pity for one's own kind', he should immediately resolve this problem.
But as a God King, although he had a greater obligation to solve this problem, how to solve it and how to deal with it was another matter entirely.
It must be known that for the royal authority order personally shaped by Zeus, any existence within his order must abide by his rules.
This could bring him power and further establish his home-field advantage.
But conversely, if he himself violated his own order, then this advantage would also be lost.
Therefore, royal authority had no home field, or it could be a home field everywhere.
And in this situation, even if he wanted to unify the present world, he needed a reason for War that conformed to his own order.
This reason could be Achilles, or Chiron who was rescued, but compared to the former two, a God treated like this by a wizard was undoubtedly a better reason.
After all, no matter what, the enemy he had to face was a genuine Original God.
Facing such an existence, no one would think they had too much preparation.
"Ares, remember to mention in those rumors."
"The reason those wizards are so reckless is precisely because they have their own reliance."
"Besides sacrificing the Life of a city and summoning the ancestor of evil creatures, they have done even more blasphemous things."
"As for what it is… let's leave a guess for now."
"Secrets are always more attractive before they are revealed, aren't they?"
Zeus spoke faintly, looking at the submissive Ares, silently shaking his head in his heart.
For that catacomb, which was a veritable mass grave, Zephyrus had already used divine power images to replicate what he had seen.
When Ares's War ends, it will be his, God King Zeus's time to stand on the moral high ground and formally declare War… It's just that on that day, who knows if the Lord of the Spirit Realm will still be able to sit peacefully and ignore the human world as he does today?
Hmm… there should be no problem.
Confirming his plan, Zeus waved his hand, signaling Ares to leave.
Commanding the God of War was just an incidental matter; his presence here today was more because he was supposed to be here anyway.
A great War was about to begin in the human world, and as one of its protagonists, how could he be absent?
…
Outside Condernia City, on an unnamed hill.
Sunlight fell, but it subtly twisted as it passed through a certain spot.
At this moment, an invisible barrier enveloped this place.
It concealed from external prying eyes but did not prevent those inside from looking out.
Within the barrier, several figures shrouded in hoods gathered here.
If one observed carefully, one might discover that those standing here were none other than the wizards who had just recently signed the devil's contract.
However, unlike their previous satisfaction and composure, at this moment, the surrounding atmosphere was noticeably gloomy.
"Lately… have you discovered anything?"
At a certain moment, someone spoke first.
His voice held a hint of subtle impatience, along with some dissatisfaction and anger.
It was strange, however, that when his words fell, the few people present did not react.
Frowning, the speaker looked at the nearby individuals from beneath his hood.
He didn't believe they hadn't felt it; the previously signed contract had clearly developed a problem.
According to the previous agreement, they would buy time and attract attention here, while that old immortal fellow would personally take action and capture an immortal God using some means.
The God of Stars Astraeus, an old God not accepted by the mainstream God Court.
It had to be said, the old fellow's choice was very clever; even if this God disappeared, it should not attract much attention.
And to show his determination and sincerity, the other party even explicitly wrote in the contract that if his capture plan failed, he would share all his research on Gods with them.
Such terms could not be better, so after confirming that the contract was fine, several people successively signed their names and then individually cast a forbidden contact spell on it.
They did not want the existence of this contract to be known to outsiders, especially the Church.
However, not long ago, the spell on that contract was triggered.
Someone touched it, that was beyond doubt.
Annoyed, the speaker once again scanned his surroundings with his gaze.
He didn't believe they hadn't felt this touch, but everyone present seemed to have no reaction to it.
After a long silence, he could only ask directly:
"The contract has been touched, you all should have felt it…"
"Someone not belonging to the contract signatories has seen it. Aren't you even a little nervous?"
"If the contract is exposed, the Church will definitely expel us from Silvermoon City, and the Olympus Gods might even personally hunt us down—if you don't plan to discuss how to deal with this, then why are we gathered here today?"
"…Of course, it's to determine a secure contact method, what else could it be?"
After a moment of silence, someone said faintly.
"Could it be that we are considering investigating the cause of the matter, or who touched that contract? Don't be ridiculous."
"Although if I had any choice, I wouldn't want to embrace the embrace of the undead… but if I'm cornered, a phylactery isn't out of the question."
"Speaking of which, regarding contact methods, do you have any suggestions?"
"?"
"What do you mean?"
With a face full of shock, listening to the other party's words, the first wizard to speak seemed to suddenly realize something.
He looked at his former colleagues beside him, feeling as if he had already been abandoned by them.
"What, have you already prepared to run away, just because of a contract touched by who knows who? What if it was an accidental touch?"
"Heh heh, it's all the same… and you're overthinking it, we're not preparing to run either."
The old woman chuckled and shook her head slightly.
"We are all people who have not found a path forward, and we are unwilling to rely on devils or any other forces."
"Therefore, we accepted that old fellow's invitation… But is he trustworthy?"
"War still needs to be fought, and attention still needs to be attracted, but going back to check the contract is unnecessary."
"If it was an accidental touch, then there's nothing to worry about; if it fell into the Church's hands, going back now would only add the charge of 'desertion in the face of battle'."
"But fighting is fighting, and having no path forward is having no path forward."
"You can have no direction to advance, but you should at least find a retreat, right?"
"Whether it's a phylactery or something else. At this point, we can only take it one step at a time."
Her staff tapped the ground, no longer paying attention to the wizard with the ugly expression.
The old woman slowly scanned everyone present and offered a relatively reliable suggestion.
"If there are no surprises, then everything is easy to say."
"If the War in a few days truly has an unexpected turn… then everyone will have to rely on their own abilities."
"Whether it's the Olympus Gods or the Archbishop who wields the power of Death, none of them are easy to provoke."
"By then, no matter how many people manage to escape successfully, we'll just contact each other through that kid, Chiron."
"Anyway, he wants to transform into a devil… let's just count it as contributing to his achievements."
"Of course," the old woman finally said, "this is just the worst-case scenario."
"If everything goes smoothly in the end, then that would naturally be for the best."
…
Human World
Southern border of Athens.
The strings of the magic net gently vibrated, and divine spells transformed into a portal, opening a passage to the opposite side.
Pushing open the portal, Ryan stepped out.
He surveyed his surroundings.
This was the peak of a tall mountain; if one had good enough eyesight, they could faintly see a river tens of thousands of miles away from here.
Condernia City was there, which was Silvermoon City's closest border to the various nations.
Soon, Ares's army would probably also reach there.
A bloody and tragic slaughter was about to erupt there—of course, it could also be a one-sided massacre.
But no matter what, this did not affect Ryan's presence here now.
Because strictly speaking, even from a human perspective, he should rightfully have a part in this.
After all, Athens was also one of the participants in this War, although their method of participation was somewhat not truly engaging in battle.
But in some areas, this might be far more headache-inducing for a certain God King than actually participating in the War.
"…If nothing unexpected happens, Zeus should try to make a move."
"Even if not with full power, he will make a move. After all, if I were in his shoes, I would also have some doubts."
It's not strange for an Original God to not appear in the human world for an era, after all, Nyx is like that.
But an Original God having followers and subordinate Gods in the human world, even His subordinate Gods coming to the human world every now and then, and even truly ruling a starry sky.
Yet such an existence still hasn't manifested in the human world, which is very strange.
Zeus had met Ryan once.
He should be very clear that the Lord of the Spirit Realm was not a God who loved reclusion, nor an existence completely uninterested in the human world.
So in this situation, suspicion was almost bound to arise.
He would want to test whether the Spirit Realm was still as it used to be, or if a certain Original God had just fallen into slumber and was unable to attend to the changes in the human world?
And for such a test, Ryan was clearly unavoidable and could not delay.
After all, in the end, Zeus's actions were never done for one specific reason.
If he wanted to test at this time, then whether or not the wizards' incident occurred, he would choose to act; if he didn't want to test at this time, even if the dissected God wasn't the God of Stars, but simply one of his own descendants, Zeus would only denounce the wizards' sins and state that it had nothing to do with the Original God.
For the God King, the truth was not important; the truth he desired was important.
But coincidentally, Ryan was also like that.
How the truth was didn't matter; what he thought the truth was, that truly mattered.
"But then again, I came here for this impending War."
"It is destined to be recorded in history, proclaiming the last glory of an era."
"And you, this unfamiliar Highness?"
"Why did you come here?"
"For this symphony of fate, or to witness its afterglow?"
Ryan spoke faintly, not turning around.
But he knew that shortly after he arrived, a little tail that had been following him for some time had followed right behind.
She thought she was hiding well—or perhaps she wasn't hiding at all, just pretending to be hidden.
But by now, Ryan should ask her purpose.
After all, judging from the previous situation, her two sisters didn't seem to come with good intentions.
One of them wanted to kill him, and the other also wanted to kill him—as if killing him would actually be useful.
"Hmm… neither."
Behind Ryan, carrying a loom and a spindle taller than herself, Clothohesitantly asked:
"Sir, I wanted to ask… can I kill you?"
"…"
Indeed.
Shaking his head helplessly, in the silent air, Ryan was a bit speechless.
Now, that previous sentence needed to be changed.
Changed to three jujube trees… three sisters, one wanted to kill him, another also wanted to kill him, and the third still wanted to kill him.
"As if killing me would actually be useful."
Slowly turning around, Ryan regretfully refused;
"No, I can't die yet, because I still have a great undertaking to complete."
"A great undertaking?" Clotho retorted, "But what kind of undertaking is greater than the stability of all living beings' fate?"
"Naturally, there is."
Ryan said casually, giving an example.
"Like saving the world, saving the world, and saving the world."
He wasn't joking, although this 'world' might not be the one the other party understood.
However, to his surprise, Clotho actually nodded.
This youngest Goddess of Fate seemed to believe his words; she showed a relieved expression, then placed the huge loom and spindle on the ground.
Thud—
"In that case, I'm relieved…"
Gently raising her hand, Clotho looked at the faint black mist swirling around her fingertips, and she spread her arms.
"Kill me."
"As a Goddess of Fate, this is all I can do."