Mythology: Spiritual Ruler

Mount Olympus, Golden Palace.

The singing and dancing in the hall continued, and Hera sat aside with an expressionless expression.

Ares pushed away Hebe, the goddess of youth, who was pouring wine, and stood beside the god king chattering. He was complaining to Zeus about Athena, telling her how much she had gone too far.

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

With an ugly face, Ares knew that his experience was not a secret. On the contrary, he had already become a laughing stock among the gods.

The cause of the matter is very simple. It happened many years ago. One of the most famous adventures of Theseus, then king of Athens, as a young man was winning the heart of Hippolyta, Queen of the Amazons.

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

Hippolyta was furious and personally led the Amazons across the sea to attack Athens. And the result is obvious. They were defeated in front of the city in the east of the earth. As a result, the power of the God of War began to be widely questioned by mortals in the world.

As the Queen of the Amazons favored by the God of War and Beauty, not only did she fail to show her extraordinary charm, making the King of Athens his subordinate, she was instead attracted to him. And when Hippolyta resorted to force, she was still defeated. The impact of these two events was quite profound.

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 believers of Athena and Aphrodite respectively. At this point, the love and hatred between Hippolyta and Theseus undoubtedly adds a strong evidence to the former.

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

Athena and Ares were the two gods who received the most sacrifices when the war broke out on earth. But when the God of War was defeated by Athens in the human kingdom, the faith of the God of War was naturally shaken.

"...Maybe 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.

At this point, Zeus and his good sister had had arguments more than once. Although there was no result in the end, speaking out about the matter could still significantly arouse the dissatisfaction of the God King.

When the words came out of his mouth, Ares expected Zeus to say something. According to what Aphrodite told him, even if the God King didn't want to care about this matter, he would feel a little more dissatisfied with Athena because of it... However, he waited until many gods faintly cast their gaze upwards. First, he didn't hear anything.

With Ares's character, it was already embarrassing for him to come and complain, not to mention having to be watched.

Brutal emotions surged from his heart. Under the influence of the priesthood, Ares's eyes turned a little red for a moment...

"what's on your mind?"

Waking up from his meditation, 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, we'll talk about your business later. I have to do something."

Waving his hands slightly, the God King didn't want to talk to his son who didn't like him very much. Thinking of the familiar scent that woke him up just now, Zeus stood up from his seat.

The banquets of the gods are not always required to be present at all times, and there are more than one or two gods who leave or join in the middle. Therefore, Zeus's behavior was not eye-catching. 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 to heart at all. Phew - I am obviously the God of War, but why didn't you give me the power to be invincible!"

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

With his priesthood, fighting was something he could rarely do, but there were still many people he couldn't defeat... Holding back the violent emotions in his heart, the God of War looked at Hera, the Queen of Heaven.

If it hadn't been for Afu's reminder, he wouldn't have even noticed that the Mother Goddess seemed to have been injured some time ago. Maybe he should go and express condolences.

Regardless, Hera was on his side in many ways.

‘Afu is such a good wife. ’

Secretly sighing, he had never observed it carefully. Ares feels that at least at this point, fate is still favoring him.

There were rumors among the gods before that Afu was also having sex with other male gods...but how is this possible? She is obviously her favorite.

'snort. ’

Just like the cripple who overestimated his abilities, Ares never took him seriously.

…

On the mountainside of Mount Olympus, there is a dangerous cliff.

The turbulence of the world's power becomes more and more obvious, just like digging a hole in the river embankment. It is only a small amount of tilt at the beginning, but as time goes by, the water volume will become more and more majestic.

However, the gods on the sacred mountain did not feel it at this time, and they could not detect the fluctuations at that level. Perhaps some beings who have reached the pinnacle of the realm of true gods and are beginning to think of ways to go further will be a little wary, but they will definitely not be as clear as the original gods.

But the God-King is exceptional, even special. At this point, Zeus's induction is much clearer than that of Erebus.

As the chosen god king in this world, he has actually noticed the abnormal fluctuations in the power of the world for nearly a thousand years. Although he didn't 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 skyrocket at an abnormal speed, and even faintly produced a chain reaction, that the God King finally realized that something was wrong.

It's not because of any internal factors, but external factors... Zeus was thinking about this just now. However, Gui Gui noticed that the God King could not actually do anything. [Royal Power] Although it can be regarded as its home court in all places it rules and can exert stronger power, it will also be weakened more deeply in all places that do not belong to it. Therefore, even if he knew about the existence of foreign lands, Zeus could only enrich his knowledge with this.

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

His heart moved slightly. Standing on the cliff, Zeus 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 I last saw you. You look just as you did before - I still remember the gift you gave me last time."

"It's just a small reminder, but seeing how unexpected and embarrassed you were when facing Typhon, you didn't pay attention to my reminder."

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

He looked at the majestic sacred mountain, swept through the gods with bright or dark auras, and then locked his eyes on the depths of time and space.

"Is that the 'Kingdom of God' you opened up after the spiritual world?"

"Yes - but His Highness Erebus Typhon is in the past, and its failure is well known to everyone. As for the Asgard Divine Realm, if you are interested, you can take a look with me."

"No need, I came here on this trip to have something serious to say. As for your divine realm, it's just a toy."

Waving his hand slightly, Erebus expressed that he was not interested in this kind of kingdom, especially the kingdom of Olympus, and he was too lazy to take a look.

Mortals don't know it clearly, but he still sees it clearly. This so-called kingdom of gods with gods is just half a scam, and even its construction itself does not rely on Zeus's own power.

It is not completely false. The destruction of one of the nine realms gave it the cornerstone. The knowledge learned from the Hall of Valor filled the skeleton. The ubiquitous magic network can extend its power... so the souls of devout believers after death It will indeed be gathered in, and even mortals can 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 his descendants in the mortal world. The souls of those common people generally do not stay long before being released into reincarnation. Only the ancestors of the strong and nobles can live here forever.

In this case, it is natural to live forever in the Kingdom of God after death, and the spiritual world has not reacted to this. After all, more than 99% of souls will still return to reincarnation, but it will be a little later. . And those mortals who have witnessed the souls of the deceased return to the world in the form of the Holy Spirit will naturally believe in the church's propaganda.

"But that's just because you don't have a choice, isn't it? In fact, if possible, you don't want to go to such trouble."

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

"If you can make it real, who would want to make it fake? What's more, believers in the spiritual world wantonly claim that Olympus is a false god, and you imply that the human kingdom that attacks them has failed repeatedly. You clearly know that there are mortals there who are denouncing You, laugh at you, but you can’t do anything as a god king.”

"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's words were sharp, yet so true.

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

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

He leaked the secrets discussed by the gods during the banquet to the mortal world. He stole the wine and food from the sacred mountain and shared them with his mortal friends. He even stole the sacrifices offered by mortals to Zeus - up to this point, the God King could still tolerate his behavior. After all, as his own son, since he failed to become a natural god, there was nothing wrong with enjoying the wantonness of mortals. good.

Until that day, Tantalus invited the gods to his home. 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 Pelops and cooked it. Make a dish to entertain the gods.

Of course the gods discovered this, but it was a family matter of the God King, so no one took the lead to point it out, and just stayed away from the dish. Only the absent-minded agricultural goddess accidentally ate a piece - that is, she ate her grandnephew's. Shoulder bone.

Zeus was furious about this. Cannibalism has always been the biggest taboo of the God King lineage. 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 a God King, I will not violate the iron law of the world. Even if you want to take action in the world, I have to stop you. This is the responsibility given to me by the world, and it will not deviate because of my personal preferences."

Zeus's expression flickered slightly, and he didn't know what the Lord of Darkness was going to do by saying this.

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

This does not need to be provoked, because he is 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 closely. It will not be different because I hate someone more - if everyone takes action, then I will target everyone."

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

Erebus asked with a smile, not paying attention to Zeus' words.

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

"...What do you want to do?"

"What you want to do."

Shaking his head slightly, Erebus said slowly.

"You have to deal with those 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 starts, the conflicts caused by the human world, so naturally they must start in the human world."