"Smelting Furnace—Naberius—Fused…"
"Intelligence Room—Flauros—Terminated…"
"Observatory—Forneus—Closed…"
"Control Tower—Barbatos—Disintegrating…"
"Armory—Halphas—Stopped…"
"Gazing Star—Aamon—Lights out…"
"Chamber of Life—Sabnock—Dying…"
"The Seven Seats… collapsing… rerouting to the Supreme Four Pillars…"
"Supreme Four Pillars… silent…"
In an instant, those noisy, broken murmurs echoed across the barren divine realm. Floating islands shattered one after another, and the sprawling forest of twisted flesh tendrils flailed in madness, as if it had degraded into nothing but instinct-driven, predatory sea-anemone feelers.
Impossible! They found the weak point in the Seventy-Two Demon Pillars' unified formation that fast?!
On the jade throne, Marduk froze, shock flashing across his face.
Hmph. This blood-and-flesh jungle, endlessly regenerating from the Seventy-Two Demon Pillars, really was deceptive.
But the problem for you is… I still remember roughly where the seven Four-Pillar Demon Gods that coordinate the entire line are, and what they look like.
Samael watched the tendrils on the floating islands writhe like they'd lost all mind and nerves, and he sneered inwardly.
Then the ancient serpent's gaze slid back to Zeus, who was driving Typhon straight through the massive marble gate, his eyes flickering darkly.
Faster. Faster!
Roar!
Hundreds of the King of Monsters' heads thrust into the "heaven" beyond the gate, necks arched as they bellowed. Black tongues spat storms of venom, and wherever it passed, flowers and grass rotted, rivers turned foul, and life withered in ways no one could name. Its blazing eyes fired beams of Mana that swept across everything, carving through it like a red-hot blade through butter and reducing it to nothing.
"All things in heaven are mine! All who rule the stars are mine!"
Zeus roared as he swung the Thunderbolt Scepter. Spear after spear of blue-white lightning condensed before him and shot downward, and the seventy-two elegant marble pillars cracked apart and shattered in succession.
Above the abandoned divine realm, the flesh tendrils that had been writhing and regenerating instantly went slack like dead snakes, twisting inward as they withered and began to rot.
"Blasphemy! What blasphemy!"
To watch an ant that had already fallen into his grasp rampage through his own garden was intolerable for the arrogant god. It was like splashing a thick drop of ink across a flawless painting, an offense that perfection-obsessed Marduk couldn't endure.
At last, the King of Kings couldn't sit still. He rose, face dark, arms spreading slightly as a cold, murderous light flooded his eyes.
"Light bands, converge. Divine might, load! You fools who dare provoke this king will be reduced to ash! This is the end reserved for you weeds!"
Hum!
The Sea of Imaginary Numbers shuddered violently. Like a ringed muzzle, the circular bands of light tightened into one and unleashed a force that could carve open heaven and tear worlds apart.
"Ocean, roar!"
"Sky, tear apart!"
At that moment, the phantom of Metis—an earlier Goddess of Wisdom carrying the deep, heavy scent of the sea—appeared above Zeus's head. Resonating with him, she helped him manifest a boundless ocean and an endless sky.
"Earth, disintegrate!"
"Abyss, tremble!"
Typhon shrieked, its divine core vibrating violently as the Authorities of earth and abyss burst out from its flesh-forged divine veins.
"I am the omnipotent god who rules all things from the heavens! Creation is here! Authority is here! The kingdom is here!"
The instant the four great divine authorities fused into one, pale lightning erupted in Zeus's eyes. With a near-feral, all-or-nothing resolve, he slammed the Aegis Shield forward and roared.
Behind the Greek Father of Heaven, projections of the world took shape and rose: the cycling sun and moon, the turning stars, sacred Mount Olympus piercing heaven and earth, the vast Oceanus Sea… as if a divine realm had descended upon the earth.
Boom!
Another terrifying collision of Authorities erupted, shaking the entire Sea of Imaginary Numbers until it churned and boiled.
Sshk!
That incandescent white light band—containing every color and dazzling beyond sight—cut through the Chaos Tide with unstoppable force. Wherever its edge passed, the world's afterimages shattered and scattered.
Hum!
Under that crushing radiance, more than a hundred of Typhon's heads burst one after another. Its body split apart, its divine core cracked.
Crack!
Then even Zeus's famed Aegis Shield shattered beneath the indestructible brilliance, and the terrifying power arrived in the next heartbeat.
Hmph. Run with your tail between your legs like a stray dog. You have no chance in this divine war.
Marduk watched the light band advance like a breaking flood and sneered.
Yet even as the God King of Wisdom managed to check that blazing white band, the figure twisting inside it didn't fall back. It pushed forward instead.
The once-imperious Father of Heaven now had veins bulging at his forehead, lightning arcing in eyes gone stark white. He roared, almost hysterical, and in a blaze of dazzling thunder, he whipped his Thunderbolt Scepter out.
Boom!
In an instant, the surging white light band—rolling forward like a vast river—was split open by that sea-cleaving strike. A chasm stretched endlessly, and boiling Ether floods swept outward on both sides, scouring everything in their path.
In that instant, the Thunderbolt Scepter, and even the Wisdom God King's body, began to crack and melt away inch by inch within the blinding radiance.
"Mother Goddess… take care of Athena and the others. Take care of your new children…
Our… children. The ones we made together…"
Samael turned to the Goddess of Beginning Tiamat, who had returned to human form, and smiled at her, gentle and bright.
Those words, heavy with farewell, made Tiamat's heart seize in panic. She reached out on instinct, but a barrier of time-and-space authority cut between them, making the figure before her impossible to grasp.
Hum!
The moment Zeus had nearly dissolved, an opened spatial fissure swallowed him whole.
Samael tapped his temple and gave a light, almost teasing reminder under the fading white glow, his lips moving without sound.
"Oh, right. About the divine war between Areopagus and Olympus… listen to Athena. And have her put that little gift I left behind to good use. It might come in handy in ways you wouldn't expect…"
"Samael… don't…"
The Goddess of Beginning shook her head, voice breaking, and reached toward the one who had stayed beside her for ten thousand years.
But the Primordial Serpent had already narrowed his slit pupils. He gripped the cross spear with both hands and intoned with solemn clarity:
"Shatter time and space, pierce cause and effect. By the Mandate of Heaven, I curse my own body!"
Samael gave a calm smile, then his expression hardened.
Boom!
His body detonated, turning into streams of divine runes that poured into the cross spear.
Mother Goddess, we owe you a world to live in. We will give you a world to live in…
This time, I'll go first.
The blazing white light band was about to disperse completely. The humming jet-black cross spear dropped into Tiamat's palm. Her cross-shaped Star Eyes flared as she poured her authority into it without restraint, then hurled it forward with all her strength.
Hum!
In the blink of an eye, the exhausted, weakening white light band was pierced clean through. The black edge shot out like a meteor tearing across the zenith.
On the jade throne, Marduk frowned, almost absentmindedly, at his slightly sluggish arms and the dimming light above. He coldly called up his authority, contempt and arrogance spilling from his eyes.
Crown of Ten Sovereignties!
Mandate of Heaven's Decree!
A mere insect clinging to life… how could it possibly—
Pfft!
A colossal impact slammed in. Authority shattered. Flesh tore with a heavy, ugly sound.
How… how is that possible?!
Before Marduk's stunned gaze, the jet-black cross spear that had punched through layer after layer of his defenses drove straight through him and nailed him to the jade throne.
My omnipotence! My majesty! I will not have it stained by some worthless insect!
God roared, humiliation flooding every inch of him.
Impossible! Impossible! I am the only true god! God above gods! King of kings!
The figure on the throne raised a hand, reaching for the cross spear embedded through his chest.
Then, golden motes of light peeled away from the spear and drifted into the air. A sensation both familiar and alien surged through him.
One-third of the Tablet of Destinies… has returned.
But in the next instant, the cross spear rippled with light patterns, twisted, and transformed into a vast, shadowy serpent that hissed and flicked its tongue.
Hum!
The serpent that pierced Marduk's chest coiled tight around him. Its black scales flared outward in layers, and twisted, pitch-black divine patterns surfaced across them.
As the great serpent writhed and contracted, crimson-black markings spread over God's entire body.
His "perfect divinity," reforged from two-thirds of the Tablet of Destinies and monotheistic faith, was breaking apart and collapsing!
Every last fragment of that one-third Tablet of Destinies had been infused with a curse that corrodes divinity!
From the same origin, so there was no way to guard against it.
Complementary, mutually destructive… so there was no way to withstand it.
"I won't lose! I can't lose! Damn you, serpent! Get out of me! Get out!!"
Pinned to the throne, God tore at the black, light-patterned serpent with manic fury, trying to stop the erosion and corruption.
But the serpent was tangled with his flesh and divinity, woven in too deep to rip out or break.
In an instant, the serpent's gaze turned icy. Black scales erupted in waves, and the warped light patterns blazing along them flashed and burned violently.
Burning away one-third of the remaining destiny-flame just to melt down two-thirds of supreme authority… a madman. He's insane!
"No!"
Marduk stared at his perfect body as black-and-white flames burst from every pore, every inch of flesh. Terror screamed through him as he tried to stop it with everything he had.
BOOM!!!
The serpent, coiled in a ring as if biting its own tail, detonated with the God still nailed to the jade throne. Black-and-white radiance exploded outward, whipping the Sea of Imaginary Numbers into a raging Ether maelstrom.
In the next moment, the entire desolate divine realm began to crumble and peel apart, inch by inch, within that black-and-white storm.
In truth, from the moment they stepped out of Greece, both Zeus and Samael understood the obvious.
Even with part of their strength recovered, victory would demand a brutal price.
To win, they were willing to become that price.
The gods as fuel. I as the spark. Only by burning everything to the end can a new heaven be forged.
The black-and-white storm continued. The slumbering Demon Pillars drifted into the void with shattered stone and debris. The Goddess of Beginning, at the very end of her strength, forced herself into one last leap, then closed her eyes and drifted down, swaying toward the broken World Egg of the Greek World.
Hum!
A fractured golden divine core, wrapped in a blazing-white, light-like phantom, shot out of the storm vortex and into the deep void, vanishing in the blink of an eye.
Boundless destructive force rolled outward as turbulent shockwaves, sweeping through chaos and spreading in every direction. The authorities torn free from that clash of light and dark, time, space, creation, destiny, and more, scattered like dust across the dead abyssal layers.
Ssssh…
As the Sea of Imaginary Numbers churned and collapsed, a World Egg that reflected the silhouette of a great tree split open, fine cracks spidering across its surface.
And as the black-and-white storm vortex finally unraveled, a slender phantom with its head and tail linked happened to slip right into that opening, plunging down into the endless sea mist.
"Splash!"
Water burst up, ripples racing across the surface.
"It's just a newborn snake. And His Majesty made such a fuss, had us drag it out of Asgard and exile it to the depths of Midgard's sea. I seriously don't get it…"
"Shut up. His Majesty gave the order himself. Just do your job."
"Yeah, yeah. Since it's done, I'll go report back. This dump doesn't have warm mead or even decent roast meat…"
The complaints and scolding faded away into the distance. Beneath the freezing sea, the slender shape sank only a little before its eyes snapped open, a cross-shaped light pattern flickering faintly in its pupils.
Asgard… Midgard… Seriously? Could it really be that kind of coincidence?
Whatever. I'm alive. I should be grateful.
I'll sleep first. Just… this one might last a little longer…
The slender form curled head to tail. Its presence thinned to nothing as it silently sank into the deep.
...Meanwhile, in the Maya world.
A swift, lithe figure cut through vast stretches of rainforest and arrived at a ruined clearing. Vines were pushed aside, revealing a weathered, square pyramid beneath.
A blonde, green-eyed, powerfully built goddess held an Aztec obsidian weapon as she climbed the steps and reached out to touch the Sun Stone, buried under dust and the scars of time.
All at once, some unseen sense made the tall figure lift her gaze to the night sky, where the stars were flickering in an unusual way.
After watching for a long time, the blonde goddess sat on the steps, intrigued, and picked up a stone tablet. With a hooked finger, she carved Mayan characters that felt familiar, and yet oddly unfamiliar.
"Fourth Sun Age, the Age of Light. Atlantis fell beneath heavenly fire and earthquakes. The catastrophe of the giants has been contained. A new era is beginning…"
Tch. So it really did pry at mythic history, heroic history, human history, and force the world to change.
Kukulkan propped up her chin and smiled as she looked off into the distance. After a moment's thought, she lifted her obsidian weapon and tapped it against the steps, sending a crisp tremor into the jungle.
Under the racket of birds scattering and beasts bolting, a figure in a tiger-striped mascot suit came sprinting up, a beast-claw spear slung over one shoulder. She stopped at the base of the pyramid and asked carefully:
"Kuku, you called for me?"
"Mm-hm. Didn't you say you've been bored since coming back? Come with me somewhere."
The orange-haired, orange-eyed jungle goddess immediately lit up, rubbing her hands together.
"Going out? Love it! So where are we headed?"
"Crystal Valley…"
"Thud!"
Kukulkan blinked at the Jaguar Warrior sprawled on the ground, tail shooting straight up, and frowned.
"What's wrong with you?"
"I… my legs went weak…"
"…"
"Uh, I just remembered! I promised those forest buddies I'd hang out tonight, so maybe—"
"Maybe I'll send them a few jaguar-hide blankets. Warm in winter, cool in summer."
The blonde goddess's lips pulled into a feral curve, her gaze turning cold.
"Or would you prefer I dry you out and make you into a flag to stick right here?"
"Jaguar Express, mission guaranteed!"
The Jaguar Warrior snapped upright, saluted, and swore it with solemn conviction.
Seeing the feline trained so thoroughly, Kukulkan withdrew the obsidian battle-axe she'd had leveled at the Jaguar Warrior's throat. Her genial smile returned, almost springlike.
If I remember right, that cute little troublemaker who "captured" big sister here said he wanted to go to Greece…
Looks like every accident is still inevitability in disguise.
I like capable boys. I'm actually looking forward to the next time we meet.
And it feels like… it'll be soon…
Kukulkan stretched lazily, her smile widening with a hint of something deeper.
The Fifth Era… Emotional Civilization… Humanity's Continuation…
You children still learning how to walk, will you stop at 2012… 2016… 2030… or make it to a more distant future?
Things are getting more and more interesting.