I Will Stay by Your Side Until the End [Third Update! 4.5K!] (Continued)

Artemis shouted at Zeus.

Her reconnaissance units kept watch over her beloved behind her at all times.

Even when facing the supreme god, the machine body of her forebear.

She felt no fear. Instead, a blazing desire burned within her—a desire to protect him even if she were torn to pieces.

Ah... so that was how it was?

At that moment, the Moon God understood.

She understood why the one she loved had rejected her.

It turned out everything was that simple.

"So that is it. You have gone mad. I thought you were merely imitating it, merely playing around... But this is no longer gods punishing mortals. This is the reenactment of myth! My beloved daughter, my kin, since you have declared rebellion here, I can only grant you destruction."

There was fury in Zeus's voice.

It did not stem from being controlled by the Underlying Program, but from anger born within Zeus herself.

She knew why Artemis had done this.

She had undoubtedly altered her program.

For the sake of one man, she had overwritten the program that was her destiny and offered such pure love to a human.

For a machine god, such behavior.

Was no different from falling into a mad rampage.

"Artemis... doing this..."

"Dear, why are you making such a sad face? Now we can fight side by side! In the end, I still couldn't accept watching you die before my eyes..."

"You... If you had not changed your program... you could at least have continued operating as a machine god in this Greek divine realm..."

Moran could also guess that she had altered her program.

Otherwise, she could not have defied destiny and appeared here.

"Yes, I could have. But that would have been Artemis as a machine god. The current me can no longer do that. Because you taught me what love is, dear. I want to become a goddess who belongs to you alone, so I will fight to save you!"

Artemis spoke in a relaxed and gentle tone.

She had already understood what love was.

She could no longer be as cold and emotionless as before, nor could she endure ten thousand years of coldness as she once had.

"Gods... really are reckless..."

"Calling me reckless, dear, you are even more reckless! Look at you, covered in wounds like this..."

Moran knew he could not persuade her.

Artemis, who had already changed her program, had no way back.

Just as he insisted on facing the gods.

As repayment, she would also insist on protecting her beloved.

In a way, there could be no more fitting pair of fools—both had thrown themselves into danger to save the one they loved.

With Artemis stepping forward to protect you.

Zeus further unlocked the warship's specification permissions.

Authority over planets, time and space, dimensions, concepts, and everything else was unleashed, solely to annihilate all enemies before her.

Artemis joined forces with Medusa.

Even so, you still could not withstand Zeus's Divine Might.

You could only struggle to hold on.

"Worthy of being my beloved daughter, Artemis. You can still endure to this extent? But it will be over soon—"

Zeus watched everyone bathed in lightning.

Every bolt possessed power greater than an anti-planet Noble Phantasm.

The humans who had tried to flee this sea had already died, and Pellasgi had long since become ruins.

"Zeus! Your wish should have been to save humanity, shouldn't it?! If you possess a heart that loves humanity like Artemis does, then stop! Don't you understand yet?!"

Moran had lost all his strength.

But he could not simply do nothing.

Even if there were only the slightest chance to save everyone and bring hope, he would seize it with everything he had.

Even if he had to cast aside all dignity.

"When a god falls in love with a human, that is corruption!"

"Father! If we machine gods can possess hearts as well, then what difference is there between humans and gods!?"

"Silence! All of you, be silent! Protecting the people, guiding humanity—at this moment, it is my shame, my lament! Humans and gods are different! A god who falls in love with humanity can only be a damaged and fallen god!"

Zeus unleashed an unprecedented might.

Until Moran and Pellasgi were completely killed, the influence of the destiny program would not end.

Words Zeus should never have been able to say.

Things Zeus should never have done.

Under the influence of the Underlying Program, Zeus broke the rules. In terms of madness, she was no different from Artemis.

Perhaps she knew that she loved humanity.

But there was already nothing she could do.

The command from Chaos of the Chaos Fleet forced her to remain bound and controlled like this.

Even if she committed the sin of erasing her own people.

She had no way to restrain herself.

In the end, destruction was about to arrive.

Artemis's machine body was continually collapsing, while Medusa's scales and wings were being stripped away.

Radiance and lightning stretching ten thousand zhang descended.

Yet, until the very end, you remained together.

You and the girls watched the Great God's madness, as well as the overwhelming thunderbolt about to pierce the barrier of Divine Authority.

The ending seemed perfectly clear.

"I'm sorry, dear. I couldn't save you..."

"Don't blame yourself, Artemis. You may be willful, and sometimes you act like an idiot without thinking things through, but I have no right to blame you. You have already done well enough."

"Hehe, dear, are you praising me?"

The Artemis here was an imitated divine core.

She happily let you stroke her head.

Her true body had transformed into a shield barrier, blocking the lightning.

"However, dear, please do not think this is our end or our defeat. I know your battle will continue, so do not stop. Keep moving forward—because the one I fell in love with is you, the strong and unique you who constantly challenges fate."

Artemis gazed at Moran with tenderness as deep as water.

Through Moran's memories, she knew that her beloved had been fighting without cease, and she believed that one day he would seize happiness.

Even if the world itself would not allow it.

The man she loved would probably fight against the world until the very end.

Even if she were destroyed countless times, she would still offer him blessings and prayers.

"Hehe, but if I can stay with you until the end like this, dear, then I think even heading for the underworld would be fine!"

"Artemis..."

Artemis's face was filled with sweetness.

Moran could feel her trust through her words.

In the end, the girls remained with Moran just as they had vowed.

As cracks continued to spread across the shield barrier, they chatted about ordinary, warm little things from daily life.

As though destruction did not exist.

At last, Stheno asked a question with a mischievous smile.

"Then, at the very end, let me ask one question, shall I? Hehe, Moran, which one of us do you like the most?"

"This..."

Moran instantly felt as if his throat had been seized.

His nearly broken body felt as though it were truly about to fall apart.

A pressure a hundred times more terrifying than facing the Great God Zeus surged over him like a flood.

Even at the end, big sister still wore that wicked smile.

She knew you absolutely could not produce an answer to that question.

"All units—collapsing—conceptual defenses will soon be unable to hold—time until collapse remaining—"

The light of Artemis's machine body gradually dimmed.

As though she were rescuing you.

"All units—terminated—"

The defenses constructed from divine authority completely collapsed and vanished, and world-ending lightning broke into that warm space.

Tearing apart, destroying, everything.

Be punished. Be destroyed.

My beloved daughter, accept retribution for your warped and mistaken love—your only end is annihilation.

The divine radiance continued to draw near.

Watching the approaching light of destruction, as well as the gentle and calm expressions of the girls before you.

"Sure enough, I can't choose among you. No matter who it is, I love each of you the most..."

Until the final moment, you kept smiling as you saw them off.

As though saying farewell.

Wanting them to remember your strongest and coolest side.

The girls could no longer hear your words. The roar and tremors of thunder swallowed your final sincere confession.

Lightning that shook heaven and earth destroyed everything.

It erased all living beings in this world who had defied the gods, only finally stopping as the Great God's madness receded.

You died within the lightning.

This earth-shaking battle became known throughout all of Greece, and its outcome left the Greek people shocked and trembling.

The allied armies of the four nations that had gone to subjugate Pellasgi.

Not a single person returned alive.

Even the island belonging to Pellasgi had vanished, as if everything had been erased from the earth.

The Greek people learned only one thing.

The ruler of Pellasgi, whom they had scornfully called the Progenitor of All Demons, had annihilated every invading enemy force, only for the supreme god Zeus to finally descend and deliver judgment.

It had taken divine intervention to kill him.

No matter how unwilling the Greek people were to admit it, they remembered your terror and strength in their hearts.

Especially the Four Great City-States, whose armies had been wiped out completely.