Olympus, before the Golden Palace.
The Well of Reincarnation was inverted in the sky, and the Codex of Creation sealed the realm.
The phantom of Asgard flickered, and this remnant of the Nine Realms, now controlled by Zeus, was exposed to all beings so directly for the first time.
The Gods and Nymphs on the divine mountain looked at each other, none of them expecting that the God King, who had just displayed immense power, had directly fallen into the divine kingdom realm he had once 'opened'.
And that wasn't even the key; the bigger problem was that the divine artifacts of the spiritual realm and the power drawn from it were constrained, but the Gods themselves were not yet.
Bearing the shadow of the Nether Moon, wings spread behind her.
Vast divine power swept across the sky above the divine mountain, making it impossible for beings below intermediate divine power to even look directly at it.
Liana knew that, logically, her mission for today was complete.
With Zeus trapped here, he would be unable to continue expanding the scope of his royal authority for a short period.
The core of the starry sky, the edge of the earth, Hades's feigned obedience… as long as he didn't act personally, these issues would be enough to delay his progress.
However, Liana was still a bit unwilling to just leave like this.
These Gods of the present world had been too comfortable for too long; the flourishing of living beings allowed them to enjoy adulation far exceeding any previous era.
To gain the favor of the Gods, countless mortals racked their brains, just to praise the glory of the Gods.
As a result, characters like Ares emerged endlessly; they had already forgotten what awe was.
Her gaze shifted, and Liana looked at the Gods on the divine mountain.
There was more than one Greater Divinity remaining here, but as long as she called a few more people, even if they joined forces to respond…
"Hmm?"
Liana slightly raised her eyes, her brows furrowed, and she reached out to press towards the distance.
In that direction, a faint aura, resonating with Zeus's royal authority, was rapidly approaching, heading straight for her.
Lightning surrounded her, and radiant light accompanied her.
Looking at the chaotic Olympus, even without knowing what had happened, Hera could not hide her fury.
Hebe had just been harmed, and in her anger, she went to deal with it, never expecting such a change to occur in Olympus, making it impossible for her to ignore.
"Stop!"
With a sharp shout, Hera invoked the Authority of the Queen of Heaven.
An invisible wave swept in all directions, merging with the lightning lingering around her, and violently crashed into the shadow of the Nether Moon.
Buzz—
Silver-purple intertwined patterns spread through the void, tearing apart the nine layers of clouds above and below the divine mountain.
She withdrew her right hand, although she did not fall into a disadvantage.
Yet, faintly, Liana still felt a slight pain.
When facing the Gods, without the God King's permission, Hera could not suppress them with her divine Authority as Queen of Heaven.
But when facing the enemies of the Olympus God System, this status granted her power second only to Zeus.
However, this was still not enough; as the caretaker of the spiritual realm, Liana could mobilize far more resources than this… yet at this moment, her pupils constricted slightly.
Beside Hera, a figure that should have been sealed slowly emerged.
"This is…"
"—Bluffing!"
After only a moment of hesitation, Liana immediately saw through the truth.
Zeus's main body had indeed been sealed within Asgard; what appeared here now was his previously shattered avatar.
After all, before the God King's main body arrived, there was already a lingering clone of his on Mount Olympus.
Although it could not withstand the power of the Codex of Creation, with the blessings of Asgard and the God Court, he might possess power far exceeding that of a True God on Mount Olympus.
But now, Asgard had been sealed, along with most of Zeus's power.
Even if this avatar could still exist, it no longer possessed that invincible power.
However, weakened or not, Liana knew that with him here now, she probably couldn't do anything to these Gods of the present world anymore.
"Your Majesty!"
"Your Majesty, you're out?"
"God King!"
"…"
Not just Liana, the Gods on the divine mountain also discovered Zeus's presence.
Shouts rose and fell, and confidence seemed to coalesce with them.
"Alright."
With a calm expression, the God King slightly raised his hand, signaling the Gods to quiet down for now.
Looking up at the phantom of the Nether Moon, Zeus did not make a move.
Because he also knew that with just an avatar unsupported by power, he would find it difficult to suppress the opponent.
"This is a beginning, God of the spiritual realm, but this will not be the end."
"Since you chose this path first, I will never give up."
Speaking lightly, Zeus's avatar raised his scepter, giving commands in the name of the God King.
"From today onwards, we are enemies on opposing sides."
"Enemies?"
Meeting the God King's gaze, Liana said coldly.
"We already were."
In the depths of the spiritual realm, a stone tablet with a missing corner gently swayed, casting its power towards the human world.
Holding the reflection of the stone tablet, although she knew she couldn't win, Liana still intended to try.
Zeus wanted to unify the present world, and the realms outside the present world did not want him to succeed; this was a conflict that had existed for a long time.
As for today, it was merely the point of eruption.
…
Starry sky.
Standing at the edge of the Zodiac Star Field, Aether's divine power surged.
Various colorful and unpredictable auroras surrounded him, illuminating the dark and silent starry sky.
At first glance, it seemed as if this ancient God finally couldn't help but make a move, to participate in the distant battle… or rather, the one-sided beating.
But in reality, the God of Heavenly Light had been posing for a long time.
And from beginning to end, he had no intention of making a move.
"Do you know,"
With a somewhat strange expression, Aether said to his Goddess of Day.
"Although I generally don't think much of Phoebe, and even the entire Heavenly Father and Earth Mother line of Titans, in my eyes, they are a bit too warlike."
"But just now, I did think that perhaps she had some powerful trump card, holding some killer weapon I didn't know about."
"Or perhaps some other ability that could help her seize the Hall of Heroes."
"But I really didn't expect that she not only had none of these preparations, but even her combat skills were so limited."
"I remember in the Second Era, didn't she once fight Hyperion and his wife? Isn't this difference a bit too great?"
"…Perhaps."
Silently, Hemera stepped on the starry sky, forming her own realm.
The scenes of day transformed unpredictably, dispelling the coldness and desolation of the entire starry sky.
"Although I want to say that tens of thousands of years have passed since then, and it's normal for her to forget how to fight."
"But you're right, even so, her performance still fell below my lowest expectation."
A God of Greater Divinity, even if she leveraged the power of faith, her divine power was real.
Yet in a real clash, she was brutally beaten by another God's weapon… well, of course, both of them could see it.
Although it was called a brutal beating, Light Body Goddess Fu Bai was actually not in much danger.
Despite getting minor injuries from time to time, her expression was flustered and helpless, shouting for their help, and constantly threatening her enemy with words.
However, looking at her current situation, even if she continued to be beaten like this for another year, she wouldn't be in much danger.
After all, as her opponent, Nike was also experiencing controlling such powerful strength alone for the first time.
Even though the Divinity of Victory allowed her to constantly accumulate experience, often making unexpected moves, to say that she could do anything significant to Phoebe was purely overthinking.
"No choice, I advised her, but she wouldn't listen."
"It wouldn't have mattered if she didn't listen, just wait for the God King to arrive."
"But now, it seems Zeus probably can't come."
Aether spread his hands, then became somewhat puzzled.
Because in his perception, although the God King was locked in Asgard, his royal authority had not stopped assimilating and organizing new star fields, though it was much slower than before.
Judging by this situation, the God King still had a connection to the outside world… so why didn't he come out?
"Perhaps it's because of those legends."
Seeing the God of Heavenly Light's confusion, Hemera couldn't help but joke:
"Isn't there a legend that the bottom of the Well of Reincarnation hides the secrets of the spiritual realm?"
"Maybe that 'prison' theory is true, and there really are terrifying beings imprisoned inside, so much so that the God King is entangled by them, unable to break through."
"In any case, these matters have nothing to do with us; we just need to stay here."
Nodding, Aether fully agreed with Hemera's statement.
Aether thought the same; they just needed to stay here.
Turning his head to glance at the deep and vast starry sky, the God of Heavenly Light showed a friendly smile.
He received no response, but he didn't care.
Coeus, he still came, was he worried about his wife?
Logically, it seemed plausible, but from a male God's intuition, Aetherfelt it might not be that simple.
The dark side of Chaos World's power was stronger than its light side, and this God of Dark Celestial Bodies benefited from it, reaching the peak of True Godhood at some unknown time.
But even with such power, he never took the lead.
From this perspective, he was either content with the world and didn't want to cause trouble; or he saw through the current situation, knowing that the current world offered no opportunities for him, and only patience was true.
If it was the former, then so be it. If it was the latter, then Phoebe's repeated actions had likely touched his bottom line.
After all, no matter how low-key Coeus was, it couldn't change the fact that he and Phoebe were husband and wife.
When others saw the Goddess of Light, their first thought would be of him; this was an inevitable result, and an unavoidable reality.
"So, to solve this problem… what will you do?"
Slightly shaking his head, Aether stopped thinking further.
If Coeus still had a slim chance of ascending to greatness, the God of Heavenly Light's chance was basically zero.
No hope, no disappointment.
So, sitting firmly on the fishing platform, watching the utterly defenseless Phoebe, Aether wanted to see how long it would take this Titan God to understand that no one would go up to help her.
…
Human world, southeast of the earth.
Before a passage leading to the Underworld.
His face was pale, his aura weak, like a dying old man, or a patient with a terminal illness.
On the bronze chariot, Ares's expression was grim, with a hint of uncontrollable panic in his eyes.
Not long ago, believing he had gained Zeus's support and favor, he had just wielded the Thunderbolt Arrow, attempting to complete the task the God King had assigned him.
Unexpectedly, in just a moment, in the very place where he had once suffered mortal humiliation and deceit,
Zeus suddenly erupted with power, forcefully tearing through the void and leaving.
And shortly after, the divine artifact in his hand also broke through the air and left, to follow its true owner.
Suddenly, with the divine artifact gone, millions of his troops suffered heavy casualties.
Although the elites among them were still alive, relying on them to break through Silvermoon City was simply a pipe dream.
Ares was momentarily at a loss, but he did not despair.
Because in his opinion, Zeus still supported him; the other party had just promised him that he would shield him from the suppression of the present world's laws.
Although the God of War had never known before that the God King actually possessed such Authority, he did not doubt it.
Because the Primordial God could use divine power, and Zeus could too.
Since they could, there was no reason why there wasn't a way for him to as well.
This unfounded confidence lasted for a considerable period, and Areseven wanted to use divine power again to crush the city blocking his way.
However, before he could act, the delayed punishment fell upon him with double force.
In an instant, an invisible power descended, causing Ares's divine power to shatter like an avalanche.
A vast suction force came, attempting to drag the God of War into the abyss.
But perhaps he left in too much of a hurry, without time to personally send Ares into the abyss.
As a result, although the God King had already written this punishment into the order he had delayed, Ares still found a glimmer of hope.
He used the Authority of War to link the remaining elite allied forces, making the rules treat them as a single entity.
Gathering strength from the many, this was one of the uses of War, only now it was used to dilute the punishment.
Thus, at the cost of tens of thousands of lives, the God of War finally got a moment to breathe… He fled all the way, reaching an unnamed mountain a few thousand miles away.
At the foot of this mountain, there was a passage leading to the Underworld, and only by reaching there might the increasingly strong abyssal suction be slowed down again.
But at this moment, although he had barely escaped, Ares's heart was filled only with confusion.
"Damn it, damn it—Father God, why did you deceive me?!"
His face was distorted, combined with his pale complexion, like a demon that had crawled out of purgatory.
But when he came to his senses, the world was vast, and the God of War felt he had nowhere to go.
By personally attacking Silvermoon City, he had already offended the spiritual realm; Zeus punished him by sending him into the abyss, so he couldn't return to the God Court; Hades wouldn't shelter him, and he didn't have the ability to either. As for other places, he couldn't escape the pursuit of the law even more.
He cracked his whip, unable to think of a solution, but he couldn't stop either.
So Ares could only whip his warhorses, making his chariot speed up.
But as he galloped, at one point, the bronze chariot suddenly jolted violently.
It was as if it had hit something, causing the already suffering God of War to cry out in pain.
"Ah—"
"Ouch—"
At the foot of the unnamed mountain, two voices sounded almost simultaneously.
The person who was hit fell to the ground, angrily looking at the panicked chariot and God.