Myth: The Spiritual Dominator

The Sea of ​​Pontonoris, in the palace of the original sea god.

The debate in the human world was over, and the illusory images were shattered. When Andrea was speaking in her mind, the gods in the hall were also waiting for her arrival.

At the end of the scene, the God of West Wind invited the winner of the mortal feast.

The ownership of the golden apple was about to be determined, but the atmosphere in the hall was still heavy. The gazes of the gods intertwined, causing the air to distort slightly.

"Zeus, it looks like the 'referee' you found has a lot of complaints about Olympus."

"Even if it was just a temporary stance at a debate, what she said was not something that someone who believes in the gods would say."

Hera's eyes subconsciously swept over the goddess of light, Phoebe, and she clutched the armrest tightly.

Why do the old guys still want to meddle in their affairs? Chaos now belongs to the era of the Olympian gods.

"It's okay, Hera. As the king of the gods, I can always tolerate the existence of those who dissent, as long as they are not as crazy as that rebellious son. As my queen, you should also show your tolerance."

Waving his hand slightly, compared to Hera, Zeus didn't seem to care at all about Andrea's previous remarks.

Lies are harmless, the truth is the sharpest knife, but all this is based on equal status and power.

No one will get angry because of the provocation of ants. Most of the time they will just find it funny. Unless they are in a very bad mood, they will just crush the ants to death.

And Andrea was obviously an ant in Zeus' eyes. Even if he only used the eyes of his believers, as the living king of gods, he still saw some of her details. For example, she was probably a priest, and her true face was hidden, as well as Iapetus, whom he had discovered before.

As Ryan had said before, the disguise made with the power of the Atrium Serpent might indeed have an extremely powerful camouflage effect. It could deceive most gods and make them deceived by the false appearance, but this definitely did not include Zeus who had already completed the initial royal ceremony.

He could see the problem, but just like Ryan thought, although Zeus realized something, he didn't intend to say it at all.

Among the many professions in the world, the clergy are the least valued by the gods, because they can never threaten the gods, and their actions are often instructed by the gods. A clergyman criticized Olympus for destroying the Bronze Age, which obviously did not represent her own opinion.

It was most likely not Athena. Her good daughter would not do such a direct thing. It seemed that without anyone noticing, the Titan god of the old era had already joined her.

And this layer of disguise… Zeus couldn’t see it clearly before because of the layer between them. Now that he saw it with his own eyes, he found a lot of things that were not right.

Athens was suppressed by many kingdoms, but a mortal stabilized the situation. When the gods had all given up their attention to the mortal world, his daughter had already mastered such means. If there was no great ceremony of royal power, Zeus doubted whether he could see through this cover even as the king of gods.

She is indeed a daughter who is "stronger than her mother", and fortunately, she did not give birth to a son who is "stronger than his father". This method of forming cliques and increasing power right under one's nose is really frightening.

He secretly thanked himself for his decisiveness. After so many years, the image of Metis seemed to have become blurred in Zeus' memory.

That was the right choice, and now, he was about to make another right choice.

"coming."

Suddenly, a spirit in the hall spoke in a low voice.

Raising his head slightly, as the door opened and closed, Zeus also noticed the breath of the visitor.

Under the gaze of the gods, the God of Wind walked into the hall first, and behind him, the tall blonde girl followed closely.

Her appearance at this moment was no less stunning than the gods in the temple, but in the eyes of Zeus, when the veil was removed, she was just a mortal who had not yet reached adulthood.

"Letting a woman choose the most beautiful goddess... But this is fair."

At one seat, the god of skylight, Aether, nodded slightly. Beside him, his sister and wife, the goddess of daylight, Hemera, seemed eager to try.

She did not participate in the fight for the golden apple just now, but that was simply because reason overwhelmed desire.

There is no goddess who does not want to receive this honor, and she is no exception. And if this mortal had chosen her in the end instead of fighting for her, I am afraid that no one would be able to say anything.

"Zefros, my friend, thank you for bringing us this wise man from the world. You never let me down."

Zeus laughed and said this. He could clearly see that at this moment in the hall, the goddesses, regardless of whether they had tried to snatch the golden apple before, could not help but perk up.

The possession of the most beautiful goddess can bring power to those who desire power, and honor to those who desire honor. No one does not want it, and facing such a power, even he who caused all this cannot stop it.

However, Zeus did not want to stop it. Sitting on the golden throne, the king of gods took the scepter returned by Zephyrus.

"Thank you for your hard work, my most loyal friend—and the winner of the Human Conference."

Standing up from the golden throne, Zeus behaved extremely politely.

"I listened to your previous debate. It was a brilliant exchange. It's a pity that the goddess of justice is not here. Otherwise, she would definitely be delighted by this debate for justice."

"Okay, I won't say any more. Winner from the human world, I think Zephyrus has already told you what to do on the way here, right? Because of Eris's gift, conflicts are spreading among the gods. But as the king of the gods, I will not allow this to happen."

"I cannot ask the fairest goddess among the gods to make a decision, so you, the most fair and wise person in the world, should make the decision. I promise you that no matter what choice you make, the gods will not make it difficult for you, and your name will be passed down in the world forever."

······

In the human world, at the conference hall the crowd has not yet dispersed.

At the end of the event, the gods came and took away the champion of the conference and invited her to attend the banquet of the gods.

Regardless of which side they supported in the debate or whether they believed in gods or not, people were extremely curious about the outcome.

Unlike the shepherd who was chosen to decide who would own the golden apple in the original myth, although the "most handsome mortal" was also a prince, he was not well-known at the time.

But this time, Andrea's departure caused a huge impact, and people stayed at the venue to know the final outcome of the incident.

"...Such a stunning appearance. Are you moved... No? You are still a child and cannot understand adults' pursuit of appearance. Aphrodite is talking to a cow."

"Do you want the power to rule the kingdom? I don't want it either... Actually, that makes sense. After all, you have always had everything you want. What's the point of having power?"

"Well, and Amphitrite, did she promise you to manipulate the ocean currents and create a tsunami to destroy your enemies? If she knew that you were robbed at sea not long ago, she probably wouldn't have made such a condition."

Staying in the audience, Ryan silently commented on the various temptations Andrea faced.

It's ridiculous. It's for the sake of fairness that mortals are allowed to make choices, but the gods are allowed to impose all kinds of temptations on those who ultimately make the decision.

However, this is also the daily operation of the Chaos gods. They have always been very experienced in creating and breaking rules.

"…So what exactly should I do? Did you ask me to come here just for the beauty pageant? If so, why not choose Her Majesty Athena? The goddess is the most beautiful, no objections!"

The voice came, and there was no doubt that Andrea was accepting the temptation of the gods at this moment.

When Zeus finished speaking, Andrea declined for a while, but finally agreed. After all, she had come here, and she had to make a choice before leaving. And if she had to choose, it would definitely be Athena, even though she had not yet made her own conditions.

"Don't worry. Athena is the last person you should choose. Athens already has enough internal and external troubles. You don't want to find something to do for your country, do you?"

"The best solution at this time is to stir up another conflict... But this idea came to me on the spur of the moment after I heard about the debate in Athens. I don't know if it will work."

As he spoke, Ryan recalled a joke from later generations about the dispute over the Golden Apple.

"If you were to take the place of the shepherd Paris and divide the golden apples, to whom would you give them?"

'Of course, I'll split the golden apple into three parts. I'll give the peel to Aphrodite, making fun of the fact that the only thing that's good about this man is the peel. I'll give the flesh to Hera, saying that the cuckold king has no face, so I'll give you the inside. Finally, I'll give the core to Athena, because since you, the brother of the male god, died in her womb, I'll give you a seed to make up for it.'

'In this way, the three goddesses share the same hatred and the golden apple puzzle is solved, right?'

Well... Anyway, it is unknown where this joke originated from, but it did spread widely, and some people even planned to write a remake of ancient mythology novels based on it. But Ryan certainly couldn't do that, after all, he was here to cool down.

There shouldn't be any problem... Ryan thought about it. His arrangement was a bit impromptu, and he didn't know if there would be any problem. But there was nothing he could do about it. Who knew he would sleep for thousands of years?

"Come, have you seen this God that I have passed on to you?"

As a special message was passed on, an enchanting and charming image appeared in Andrea's heart.

She had never seen this deity before, and there was no statue of her circulating among the people, but she recognized her at a glance because of her recognizable appearance.

"Choose her. She will take all the blame. Remember?"

"……All right."

After hesitating for a while, Andrea agreed.

I just need to make the choice. It would be troublesome if you were to make all the decisions behind the scenes, right? Damn it, why don’t you make the choice?

So in the temple of the ancient sea god, Andrea suddenly stepped forward and picked up the golden apple placed in front of her.

At the same time, the gods who had made promises to her also quieted down.

"...It seems that the words of the gods have not been able to shake your mind after all. Judge from the human world, have you made a decision?"

Zeus asked with a smile on his face as he sat on the golden throne.

"Yes, no matter how the outside world influences us, the truth will not change. And among the gods present, I have already made my choice."

With a slight bow, Andrea turned slightly under the tense and expectant gazes of the gods and the confident gaze of Zeus.

Then the next moment, those millions of gazes seemed to become as sharp as thorns.

"You are the most beautiful goddess in my heart, Your Highness."

wow——

Who is she?

who is she!

With these words, the aura of the gods began to waver, and although Zeus's expression remained unchanged, he was suddenly shocked in his heart.

He looked at the goddess who took the golden apple. She was obviously also a beautiful god, but why didn't he have any impression of her?

Their eyes met, and the God King stared into her eyes, wanting to see something in them, but for some reason, he seemed to see a pair of eyes that were both familiar and unfamiliar.

Who are you?!

······

On the sea, the reversals in the marriage changed again and again, and at the same time, in Tartarus, the ninth level of the nine hells.

Standing alone in the vast sky, Asmodeus smiled slightly.

Thousands of years in the outside world are equivalent to an unknown amount of time in the abyss, which is enough to change many things.

For example, he, who once came to hell with nothing, finally gained his foothold and can look back at the world he once ruled.

"It's a good plan indeed. Let her bear all the consequences. As long as she returns to Hell, the Divine Court will be powerless to do anything about her. It's just a pity that you probably forgot one thing."

"Although we are allies in the face of the abyss, this does not mean that I am your puppet."

"Zeus, this is the first time, but it will not be the last... What has happened will happen again, what has been done will be done again. From this moment on, let the world be filled with blood and fire."