Mythology: Spiritual Ruler

【Thunderbolt Arrow】, the divine weapon transformed from Zeus' authority.

Although this divine weapon that once made great contributions is no longer as useful to the God King as before after breaking through the boundaries of the true gods, it is still a powerful weapon.

As one of the few high-level divine weapons in the world that specializes in combat, Hera, holding thunder, is fully confident to fight against any god. However, at this moment, the angry blow of the Queen of Heaven could not make any progress in front of a small sheepskin shield.

The sharp body could not cut through the leather, and the scattered lightning trembled in front of the eye-like pattern, then solidified into a solid, and turned into small gravel and fell to the ground.

That is the Shield of Aequis, a divine weapon born with Athena.

Its appearance is so ordinary, and in fact it is so. Its power is not strong among the divine weapons.

Even though Aequis was lent to Zeus' son, Perseus, a 'pay-to-win' player, thousands of years ago, and absorbed Medusa's petrification power to strengthen himself during his adventure, the foundation of this artifact is ultimately just a sheepskin that is ordinary to gods.

Therefore, this artifact specializing in defense has hardly ever shown its power. Whether it is Athena's own Spear of Victory or the Sword of Judgment of the goddess of justice Themis, they can cause damage to Aequis.

There is only one exception, that is, when facing thunder, even if the power of the two artifacts is very different, Aequis still firmly blocked the thunder and lightning, preventing it from moving forward.

Bang——

It was said that it was too late, and the sound of the bowstring vibrating sounded in the thunder.

The dark purple thunder was blocked behind the shield, and Artemis, who was bending the bow and arrow, also accurately seized this opportunity.

In the myths of later generations, the king of gods prepared a golden bow and a silver bow for his two children respectively. Apollo got the latter and used it to kill the giant python Python, leaving behind the reputation of the god of long-range shooting; Artemis got the former and was worshipped by hunters as the god of hunting.

Artemis in this world certainly didn't have a golden bow, but she had a 'moon bow'.

A new moon is a crescent moon, and the [Crescent Crown] can also become a [Crescent Bow]. The gift that Keto had sent before turned into an arrow in the hands of the Lord of the Wilderness, and shot straight at Hera in the surge of power.

Whoosh——

The stream of light flashed in the air, and the distance in the hall seemed to be nothing in front of the artifact bow and arrow.

Among the gods of Olympus, only Hestia, who reacted hastily, raised her hand and erected a barrier in front of her, but in just a flick of her finger, the arrow broke through the goddess's defense and pointed directly at the Queen of Heaven's eyebrows.

Chi——

"Ah————!"

With a cry of pain, the action of the goddess of fire was not in vain after all, and Hera still responded.

She turned her head away, trying to avoid the sharp arrow. However, the arrow passed by her cheek, leaving a bright blood mark.

The wound was not big, but it brought a heavy blow to Hera both physically and mentally. Feeling the warmth across her cheek, the Queen of Heaven was furious.

"Athena, how dare you!!"

Anger accumulated in her chest, and even her voice became sharp and piercing. The arrow that passed by turned back to its owner's hand, but at this moment, compared to Artemis, Hera looked directly at Athena with hatred.

Since becoming the Queen of Heaven, Hera has only been hurt by two beings in thousands of years.

One is Typhon, the crazy and powerful king of all monsters who still makes Hera feel fear from the bottom of her heart, and the other is Athena in front of her.

She has never really taken action, but everything is inseparable from her. This was the case with the power of the outer gods that eroded along the sacrificial channel not long ago, and the same is true for Artemis now.

And in fact, in Hera's heart, there have always been some thoughts that are not easy to express.

She was jealous of Metis, jealous of her intelligence, jealous of her being Zeus's first wife; she was also jealous of Athena, strength, wisdom, youth and beauty, and she was like the continuation of Metis, proving that even if that woman was gone, her daughter was better than all of Hera's children.

"Athena, you dead leftover from Metis! How dare you still be here, how dare you offend the Queen of Gods! Athena, do you think you are invincible?!"

Anger blinded reason, Metis's name has always been a taboo for the God King. He never wanted others to mention her, but Hera had obviously forgotten this at the moment.

"Yes, hahahahaha... Well said, well said, Hera, you finally got tough. But it's true, when facing people other than Zeus, you always seem to be tough, hahahahaha..."

Poseidon, who had taken the lead in the attack, strode forward with a loud laugh.

Half a day ago, as the human conference progressed, clouds gathered in the sky and heavy rain was brewing in the city-state. The gods who were interested thought that this was a sign of dissatisfaction from the God King, but in fact, it had nothing to do with Zeus.

He changed the topic himself, so how could he not think of the possible consequences? That was actually Poseidon's anger.

Zeus arranged the wedding of the sea nymph Thetis without his permission, but he tolerated it for the time being. After all, Hestia came to act as a lobbyist, and also hinted that Zeus's behavior was related to the prophecy; as the god who really caused the flood and destroyed the Bronze Age, he still tolerated listening to mortals questioning the justice of the God's court. After all, all the gods in heaven and on earth gathered here, and if he dared to do anything, Zeus would never let him go.

But now, Zeus is no longer here, and no one can use force to subdue Poseidon.

Moreover, the Lord of Storms who shakes the earth will never tolerate the possible rebellion of the ancient sea gods, which is the foundation of his control over the sea. So Poseidon, who claims to be the King of the Sea, raised his trident and pointed at Artemis and Keto who were blocked by the Shield of Aequis.

"Keto, get out of here - and you, my dear niece, you won Athens from me, and let that despicable mortal run rampant on the sea. I have long wanted to see your level, come on, this ridiculous shield can't stop me!"

In a blink of an eye, the former palace of Pontus was almost turned into a battlefield, and the attitudes of Poseidon and Hera were revealed.

And seeing this scene, farther away, Phoebe, who was once only a palm away from the golden apple, had a flickering look in his eyes.

At this point, it was almost impossible for her to compete for the golden apple, but the arrow shot by Artemis just now made her heart move slightly.

As the goddess of light, Phoebe actually has a path that leads directly to the true god. Just like the complete sea, if she can conquer the sun, moon and stars and become the true supreme of the light body, it will be more in line with her divine duty than any "most beautiful goddess".

Before, this was destined to be just a delusion, and the sun alone was a problem she couldn't get around.

But now, Apollo is her grandson, and they have a good relationship. As for the moon... Looking at the crescent crown, Phoebe's heart was a little struggling.

Not only Phoebe, there were many gods who were entangled and hesitant in the field at this time, and the situation changed because of it.

When Poseidon's voice fell, Artemis's bow and arrow were pulled up again, and farther away, Aphrodite covered her face and glared at Keto fiercely.

Ares was overjoyed to see this. This time, he didn't need to hesitate between his wife and the mother goddess. What's more, the enemy was the hated Athena, so he happily drew out his bronze sword and stood with Poseidon.

However, the Sea King looked at him with disdain for approaching, and secretly distanced himself.

He was more reckless, but that was just because he couldn't control his emotions. Most of the time, he knew the consequences, but Ares was different.

He probably didn't want to make the two goddesses angry... But seeing his happy look, Poseidon himself wanted to beat him up.

As the god of war moved, the situation in the hall gradually became clear. Many gods seemed to be divided into three parties, two of which were confronting each other, and one was neutral.

Apollo and Leto stayed aside. Although the sun god himself was more inclined to Athena, he still stayed with the mother goddess. The wind god Zephyrus was loyal to Zeus, and the other three wind gods surrounded him and had no intention of participating. The goddess of life Moanda watched from the sidelines, and the goddess of agriculture wavered. She hated Poseidon, but she didn't like Athens in the human world, so she stood with Hestia and also withdrew from the competition.

Near the main seat of the temple, Nereus was thinking about the situation, but his brother, Phorcys, the Wrath of the Sea, made a choice first and stood decisively beside Keto.

Like Keto in the past, he had an appearance that was incompatible with the gods and was called the "Father of Monsters" by the world.

So he didn't care what Nereus thought at all, and before the eldest son of Pontus had time to reprimand his brother for making a decision on his own, Thaumas, the Miracle of the Sea, made his own choice again.

He came to Hera's side and was willing to fight for her, because his daughter, the rainbow goddess Iris, was a messenger during the Zeus Titan War, and later became Hera's messenger.

For a time, the gods stood in line, and the huge temple seemed to be split into several petals.

And holding Selene's hand, Hecate's smile became brighter and brighter.

She did not join the side where Keto was, and of course, she would not join the other side.

After all, strictly speaking, she and Athena did not have any close contacts, and her relationship with Hera was even weaker. She just watched all this with interest, and felt that her visit today was not in vain.

"Hey, Selene, who do you think will win - or how many do you think Athena can beat?"

The joy in her voice was not concealed, and beside Hecate, the moon goddess couldn't help but puffed her cheeks.

"It's best not to fight, what's the point of fighting."

"Don't say that, this is rare... eh?"

Suddenly, Hecate's eyes were attracted by a short figure.

It was a cripple, a rare disability among the gods. But on his legs, there was a mechanical walking tool.

Slowly moving forward a few steps, under Hera's eyes that were about to spit fire, he stood on the side of Athena.

"That's... Hephaestus? I remember that he was invited to Mount Olympus by Zeus after the Typhon disaster. He seems to be the son of Hera, but he is not happy with her. I didn't expect that he would stand on her side now..."

"What is this, a different kind of courtship? Tsk, but no matter what it is, I'm sure Athena won't be interested in him."

The god of volcanoes and craftsmen, the most low-key, unsociable, and least presentable god in Olympus. Many people say that the only reason he became the main god is because of his mother-son relationship with Hera, but it seems that they are not so harmonious.

But no matter what, this ugly god came to Athena silently, and Athena, who had been sitting in her seat from beginning to end, sighed when she saw this, and a trace of helplessness finally emerged on her girlish appearance.

Don't hit a smiling person. The other party has not done what he did in the virtual world, so Athena can't call for killing him.

"After all, it has come to this point..."

A sigh flashed across her perfect face, and Athena's expression gradually became serious.

As someone who has read the script, she had expected the golden apple, and she could actually see something of Zeus's plan.

If she wanted, today's events would not have developed to this point. She was fully confident that she could persuade Artemis not to participate in Keto's affairs, and she was also confident that she could cleverly get out of the golden apple incident.

As long as Zeus was still playing with her within the rules, she would always have a way not to accept it.

But as the goddess of wisdom, Athena also knew clearly that rules have always been a tool to maintain rule, not an objective thing. Only when the benefits brought by its existence are greater than its non-existence, will the person who created it maintain it.

So what is the greatest benefit for Zeus? Probably to rule everything and improve his strength. To achieve this, it is necessary to unify the various factions in the God's Court, gradually replace the main gods who were established because of no choice before... and then subdue the old gods who are still unwilling to obey the God King.

So after realizing this, Athena let Artemis go and watched the situation develop. Because Zeus's decision was inevitable, she could only choose the best time to take this move.

The only one who can fight against the great power is another great power. She is not sure whether the Lord of the Spirit World cares about the disputes in the human world, but now it seems that there is another existence behind Keto who is very interested in intervening in the human world.

"[Hell]..."

In Athena's perception, Andrea has a similar power - after all, she is her clergyman. When the two stood in the same palace, she immediately recognized each other's identity.

That is her own elect, the princess of the King of Athens, and now it is very likely that she is still the favored one of Hell.

The other party intends to intervene in the human world, perhaps to compete for faith, or perhaps for other reasons. The hell without power in the human world obviously needs opportunities and helpers, so he stirs up disputes and expands his power. Athens may also be one of his targets.

So if you don't make a decision, you will suffer from the chaos.

Athena didn't know if this was the best time, but she knew that this was definitely not the worst, and she should also respond... So she stood up from her seat, and the goddess's eyes swept over the gods one by one.

Since there is no way to avoid it--

"Then come."

Slowly speaking, Athena's skirt turned into armor.

The spear was held in her hand, and the light flickered at the tip of the spear.

She is the goddess of wisdom and the king of victory, so victory will always stand by her side.