Myth: The Spiritual Dominator

Mount Olympus, Golden Palace.

The singing and dancing continued in the hall, and Hera sat aside with a blank expression.

Ares pushed aside Hebe, the goddess of youth, who was pouring wine, and stood beside the king of gods, chattering non-stop. He was accusing Athena to Zeus, telling her how much she had gone too far.

"...Father, Athena has gone too far. Do you know how the world is judging me now?"

With a grim expression, Ares knew that his experience was no secret. On the contrary, he had already become a laughing stock among the gods.

The story is simple, and it happened many years ago. One of the most famous adventures of Theseus, the King of Athens in his youth, was to win the heart of Hippolyta, the Queen of the Amazons.

At that time, Theseus was so handsome and intelligent that he was not captured by the queen's charm but instead made Hippolyta fall in love with him. Of course, he did not marry her as queen in the end, but later married the daughter of the King of Crete.

Hippolyta was furious and personally led the Amazons across the sea to attack Athens. The result was obvious, they were defeated in front of the city in the east of the earth, and the result was that the power of the god of war began to be widely questioned by mortals on earth.

As the queen of Amazon, favored by the gods of war and beauty, she not only failed to show her extraordinary charm and make the king of Athens a slave, but was attracted to him. And when Hippolyta resorted to force, she was still defeated. The influence of these two events can be said to be quite far-reaching.

Among mortals, there has long been a debate about which is more important, the connotation brought by knowledge or the appearance brought by appearance, which is also supported by the followers of Athena and Aphrodite respectively. In this regard, the love-hate relationship between Hippolyta and Theseus undoubtedly adds a strong evidence for the former.

Of course, considering that appearance is innate and knowledge can be learned, although there is a contradiction between the two, it has not become a zero-sum game of either this or that. However, war is different.

Athena and Ares were the two gods that received the most sacrifices when the war broke out. But when the god of war was defeated by Athens in the human kingdom, the belief in the god of war was naturally shaken.

"...Perhaps you should restrict her, father. As far as I know, Athens has never rejected witchcraft and has even traded with those pagans."

Gritting his teeth, Ares said what Aphrodite had told him in advance.

Zeus and his good sister had argued on this point more than once. Although nothing came of it in the end, speaking about it could still significantly arouse the dissatisfaction of the King of Gods.

Ares thought Zeus would say something after he said that. According to what Aphrodite told him, even if the king of gods didn't want to get involved in this matter, he would still feel a little dissatisfied with Athena... However, he waited and waited until many gods cast their eyes upwards, but he didn't hear anything.

Given Ares's personality, it was already embarrassing for him to come and complain when he couldn't win, not to mention being watched by others.

A violent emotion surged up from his heart. Under the influence of his priesthood, Ares' eyes turned red for a moment...

"What are you thinking?"

Waking up from his reverie, Zeus looked up and saw Ares staring at him with red eyes. Frowning slightly, the God King asked with some dissatisfaction.

"Father God, I..."

"Okay, let's talk about your business later. I have something to do."

Waving his hand slightly, the God King did not want to say more to this son whom he did not like very much. Thinking of the familiar breath that had just woken him up, Zeus stood up from his seat.

The banquet of the gods never required the gods to be present all the time, and more than one or two gods would leave or join in the middle of the banquet. Therefore, Zeus's behavior was not noticeable. He left the Golden Palace directly, leaving Ares who wanted to say something but was interrupted.

"...Damn it, it's like this again, you don't take me seriously at all. Huh - I'm obviously the God of War, but why don't you give me the power to be undefeated!"

Taking a deep breath, this was not the first time Ares had encountered this situation.

With his divine duties, fighting was one of the few things he could do, but there were many people he couldn't defeat... Restraining the violent emotions in his heart, the God of War looked at the Queen Hera beside him.

If Afu hadn't reminded him, he wouldn't have noticed that the Mother Goddess seemed to have been injured some time ago. Maybe he should go and express his condolences.

Regardless, Hera was on his side in many ways.

'Afu is such a good wife.'

Ares secretly sighed that he had never observed carefully. At least in this regard, fate still favored him.

There were rumors among the gods before that Afu was dating other male gods...but how could that be possible? I was obviously her favorite.

'snort. ’

Just like that overconfident cripple, Ares never took him seriously.

……

A dangerous cliff on the side of Mount Olympus.

The turbulence of the world's power is becoming more and more obvious, just like digging a hole in the river bank. At the beginning, it is just a small tilt, but as time goes by, the amount of water will become more and more powerful.

However, the gods on the sacred mountain did not feel anything at this time, nor could they detect fluctuations at that level. Perhaps some beings who had reached the pinnacle of the true god realm and began to think of ways to go further would be slightly alert, but they would certainly not be as clear as the original gods.

But the God King was an exception, even special. In this regard, Zeus's perception was much clearer than Erebus's.

As the chosen king of gods in the present world, he had actually noticed the abnormal fluctuations in the world's power over the past thousand years. Although he did not know the reason at first, it was because it happened just after Typhon, so Zeus attributed it to the influence of the mother tree.

It was not until today, when the fluctuations began to surge at an abnormal rate and even produced a subtle chain reaction, that the King of Gods finally realized that something was wrong.

It was not because of any internal factors, but external factors... Zeus was thinking about this just now. However, even if he noticed it, the God King could not do anything. [Royal Power] can be regarded as the home ground in all places under its rule, and can exert a stronger force, but it will be weakened to a deeper level in all places that do not belong to it. Therefore, even if Zeus knew the existence of foreign lands, he could only use it to enrich his knowledge.

"But it seems that some people don't think so..."

With a slight movement in his heart, Zeus stood on the cliff and looked at a shadow not far away.

If it was a thousand years ago, he might not be able to find the other party, but now he can.

"Your Highness Erebus, it's been a long time since we last met. You look the same as before. I still remember the gift you gave me last time."

"It was just a small reminder, but judging by your surprise and embarrassment when facing Typhon, you didn't take my reminder seriously."

A voice came from the shadows, and Erebus stepped out.

He looked at the towering sacred mountain, glanced at the gods whose auras were bright or dark, and then locked his gaze on the depths of time and space.

"Is that the 'kingdom of God' that you created in imitation of the spirit world?"

"Yes - but Your Highness Erebus, Typhon is a thing of the past, and its failure is well known. As for the Asgard, if you are interested, you can come and take a look with me."

"No need for that. I came here for something serious. As for your divine domain, it's just a toy."

Waving his hand slightly, Erebus expressed no interest in this kind of kingdom of gods, especially the kingdom of Olympus, he was too lazy to even take a look at it.

Although mortals may not understand, he sees it very clearly. This so-called kingdom of God where the gods coexist is only half a scam. Even its construction does not rely on Zeus' own power.

It is not entirely false. The ruins of one of the Nine Realms provided its foundation, the knowledge learned from Valhalla filled its skeleton, and the omnipresent magic network could extend its power... Therefore, the souls of devout believers would indeed be gathered after their death, and even mortals could communicate with the souls of their ancestors after making great contributions to the church. It's just that in other places, the gods' descriptions of this place are somewhat different.

For example, there is no immortality here. How long a soul can stay here often depends on the status of its descendants in the mortal world. The souls of ordinary people usually cannot stay here for long before being released to reincarnate. Only the ancestors of the powerful and noble can live here forever.

In this case, it is natural that one can live forever in the Kingdom of God after death, and the spirit world has not reacted to this. After all, more than 99% of souls will still return to reincarnation, but just a little later. And those mortals who have witnessed the souls of the dead returning to the human world in the form of holy spirits will naturally believe in the propaganda of the church.

"But that's just because you have no choice, right? In fact, if you can help it, you don't want to go through so much trouble."

Pointing at the souls coming and going, Erebus said with a smile.

"Who would want a fake when they can do the real thing? Moreover, the believers in the spirit world wantonly claim that all the gods in Olympus are false gods, and you have repeatedly failed in your attempts to attack their human kingdom. You clearly know that there are mortals there who are denigrating and laughing at you, but as the King of Gods, you can't do anything."

"Despite your constant suppression, there are still some mortals who are full of doubts about your power. Even your descendants question the power of the gods, and even kill their own sons... and then arrogantly test the gods."

Erebus' words were sharp, yet so true.

Zeus knew who he was talking about, Tantalus, his descendant from the mortal world. At first, the king of gods loved the child so much that he allowed him to feast with the gods and travel freely between Olympus and the mortal world.

But gradually, perhaps because of his arrogance, or perhaps he was really influenced by those pagans, as time went by, Tantalus began to test the authority of the gods little by little.

He leaked the secrets discussed by the gods at the banquet to the mortals, stole the fine wine and food from the sacred mountain and shared them with his mortal friends. He even stole the sacrifices offered by mortals to Zeus - until this point, the king of gods could still tolerate his behavior. After all, as his offspring, since he could not become a natural god, there was nothing wrong with enjoying the freedom of mortals.

Until that day, Tantalus invited the gods to his home, and in order to completely deny the power of the gods, he did not hesitate to kill his own son, who was also the grandson of Zeus; he grilled and fried Pelops and made a dish to entertain the gods.

Of course the gods discovered this, but since it was the king's family affair, no one pointed it out first. They just kept their distance from the dish. Only the goddess of agriculture, who was distracted, accidentally ate a piece of it - that is, she ate her nephew's shoulder bone.

Zeus was furious because cannibalism has always been the biggest taboo for the God King. He gave Tantalus eternal punishment for this, but the temptation itself has always been a thorn in the heart of the God King.

"So what do you want to say? As the King of Gods, I will not violate the iron laws of the world. Even if you want to take action in the world, I will have to stop you. This is the responsibility given to me by the world, and it will not deviate because of my personal preferences."

His expression flickered slightly, and Zeus didn't know what the Lord of Darkness meant by saying this.

Provocation? No. He originally thought that the other party came because of the fluctuation of world power and wanted to use him, the God King, to do something, but now it seems that he is trying to stir up his dissatisfaction with the spirit world.

There is no need to stir up this, because I am already very dissatisfied...

"So, you want me to join you in targeting the spirit world?"

Speaking lightly, the God King felt that he had grasped the context of the matter.

"But like I said, any original god who takes action in the world will be targeted by the world, and I will follow suit. It won't matter who I hate more - if everyone takes action, then I will target everyone."

"Perhaps, but Zeus, everything has its priorities, right?"

Erebus asked with a smile, not paying attention to what Zeus said.

"I just want to know - if you are given a chance to eliminate those mortals who spit on you, to strengthen your authority, to increase your power, would you do it?"

"……what do you want to do?"

"It's what you're going to do."

Shaking his head slightly, Erebus spoke slowly.

"You have to deal with the gods who disrupt the order. This is the order of the world and the order of the God King. This is not a problem... But if two gods disrupt this order one after another, you can always choose to deal with the god who attacked first, right? After all, you can't defeat everyone at the same time, so you can naturally arrange a sequence, which is also in line with the rules."

"And this is what I want to say. You want to become a God King who completely dominates the world... I can help you. As for how everything will begin, the conflicts caused by the human world will naturally start in the human world."