Brolios watched with wonder as Athena weaved the Mist with her divinity, painting a picture that truly stunned the elder Olympian.
"-This way, if things don't go our way, we can still terminate the project and then retry again. All in all, I think this is the best option for circumventing the problem of siring demigods....Uncle? Did you hear what I said?"
Brolios nodded mutely as he watched the illustration that his niece made to show what she was researching.
Parthenogenesis. The process where a primordial gives birth to offspring without the need for a partner.
It is a process that is well known in the Greek lands and has been used many times by the primordial deities, with Nyx being the most famous one to make frequent use of this process.
However, it was a gift that was denied to their generation, until now.
"....Athena? Tell me the truth. What put you on this path?"
The God of Destruction, Nature, the Lost, and the newly gained domain of Freedom, turned to his niece.
His domain of Nature was already screaming within him to stop this 'abomination'. This violation against the natural order of things.
Yet, his heart was filled with awe and pride as he saw Athena achieve, at least theoretically, what the others had been trying to do for centuries by this point.
However, he also felt trepidation. Because Athena rarely did anything without her actions serving multiple purposes at once.
The Goddess of Wisdom puffed up her chest as she caught the pride in her uncle's eyes, yet she deflated again as he asked her for her reasoning.
"Uncle, you remember what the Fates said during the last meeting?"
Brolios's face darkened at the mere mention of those three, yet he nodded in acknowledgement, letting go of his anger.
Since the three have stuck to their mother's oath and have stopped messing with their family, he would let them be for now. That did not mean he would forgive them, however.
Because the loss of Metis's physical form and the trauma caused to his family were still on their heads, and he will never let them forget it, nor will he forget it himself, no matter the cost.
Shaking his head to get rid of those thoughts, he sat down in his throne across Athena, who sat in her own throne.
"You mean that warning about Mother Earth's potential retaliation against Olympus? I thought we all agreed that it was just those three rambling again? Especially since Gaia has no reason to try and fight us since we have been doing our duties without fault so far."
Athena nodded her head.
"Yes. I am of the same opinion. However, I cannot stop thinking about the other side of the argument. What if they are right? What if she does create beings specifically designed to counter us? Counter you?"
Brolios laughed in amusement at those words.
"Athena. I may not look all that competent, and I would agree with you if you said I was barely handling my duties, but if there is one thing about me that is beyond doubt, it is my strength to obliterate Gaia should she really do something like that. Granted, it might also mean the end of our realms as we know them, but the point still stands."
Then, he leaned back in his seat and sighed.
"However, I do see the point you are trying to make. I assume this project of yours is a way for us to fight against Gaia's forces without resorting to such an extreme act, should the need ever arise?"
Athena nodded.
"Yes, Uncle. I have concluded after examining the problem from all angles that we need new gods with new domains, as well as halflings that could aid us, as the fates said. However, by now, everyone on Olympus has already gotten used to your rule of not cheating on their partners without consent from said partners, which means that Father and Uncle Poseidon are out of the question."
"Damn right they are."
Brolios growled at her words, making the goddess give him a look caught between exasperation and fondness.
After what happened last time, Brolios had unilaterally passed a rule in Olympus that forbade any of the Olympians from cheating on their spouse, no matter the circumstances, unless they got permission from their spouse, in which case Brolios would not interfere. It was an oath that he forced them to take, yet he did not force them to take it on the name of Styx, knowing that it would mean nothing.
No, he made them swear on the condition that, should they break it, he would personally remove their domains, their divinity, their immortality, and their fertility, reducing them to barren mortals with a limited lifespan, after which, they would go to Hades just like any other mortal and spend eternity in the afterlife according to their crimes during their life as a mortal.
Simply put, he threatened them with complete eradication of their identities as gods.
This was enough to force even someone as eager to explore as Zeus into line. And, over the years, they simply got used to being loyal to their partners, even coming to enjoy it. So much so that, now, it is simply unthinkable for them to cheat on their partners.
Hera, of course, was over the moon with this.
Shaking her head to get rid of the needless thoughts, she concentrated back on the present.
"As I was saying, with Father and Uncle Poseidon out of the equation and Uncle Hades being loyal from the very beginning, it just leaves Aunt Demeter, Ares, Hephaestus, and Apollo to sire halflings, or get married to another goddess or titan and produce full gods. I did not include myself, Artemis, and Aunt Hestia in this list because we do not plan on getting married and are considering becoming eternal virgins."
Brolios nodded at her words, not objecting to their choice, respecting their decision as always.
'No wonder he is so popular. Too bad he is so dense that nothing short of a direct confession will make him understand things. Even then, he might misinterpret it as something else entirely.'
Putting aside her Uncle's regrettably abysmally low EQ, Athena continued speaking about her idea.
"Given our limited options, I believe this method of creating life is the best way for us on Olympus to give birth to new, powerful gods and halflings."
Brolios leaned back and closed his eyes, ruminating on her idea before nodding.
"Your idea is sound, Niece. But, there is one thing I am worried about."
"Hm?"
"The freedom of choice. By using this method, we are basically ensuring that those born of it are essentially born as weapons for us to use. That is something that I cannot condone. What if they chose not to fight for us? What if they chose that a life of being a weapon is not for them? What if they chose something that is not in line with our plans? What will you do then?"
Athena did not even think before answering that question on instinct.
"Of course, we will give them that choice. Should those born of this process choose not to fight? Should they choose to live their own lives their own way, we will let them do it. You were the one who taught us that such freedom is the right of every living thing, yes?"
The look of pride in his eyes was answer enough for her.
"Good. It seems all those years I spent teaching you kids were not a waste of time. Now, come here. There are several faults in your design that I think you can improve upon."
Athena walked over to the projection as Brolios manipulated it, zooming in on the genome of the projected halfling design's cellular structure.
"You see here? This helical structure is called DNA. I know that you had some fancy name for it, but I think this is a better one. Anyways, as you can see, divine essence is mutating it constantly and is leading to cancerous growth as the subject ages. I estimate that a halfling born this way won't last beyond twenty years. To fix this, we can create a buffer. An innate boundary that keeps both the divine and the mortal from mixing too much. This way, they will be stronger than regular mortals from birth and will have limited access to their divine essence donors' abilities, but not to the point that their own body starts fighting itself and kills them."
".... Interesting. While I did foresee this, I did not think it would be that much of a problem, given that the Bronze Race's people rarely live past twenty because of their warlike nature. That being said, I see the point that this method is not sustainable in the long run. What other suggestions do you have? Uncle?"
Brolios smiled and started modifying the designs with his knowledge of advanced biology that every Saiyan is taught while they are still in their pods, so that they can fight better and know which parts of their enemy are edible and which ones are not.
As for Athena, she was ecstatic to learn things that she never knew about, things that are mostly overlooked, as the divinity of a god makes such detailed knowledge redundant due to its nature of operating on pure intent and potency.
And so, the Uncle and the Niece spent the entire night working on this project. One that would change the face of Olympus soon enough.
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