Scythe

At the foot of an unnamed mountain in the Khaos world, a conversation with the power to influence the world continued.

Feeling the weight of history, Ryan faced Earth Mother's question and said there was nothing he could do.

"I am the God of Prophecy, not the God of Wisdom." Ryan shook his head as he spoke.

"Honored Earth Mother, I can only see the outcome—and even that is merely a future difficult to interpret."

"If you insist that I give you some advice, then all I can say is that the God King cannot be overthrown by strength alone."

"Prophecy shows that the Knife Wielder will shake the God King's authority. Not defeat him, and certainly not kill him. This is not only because the God King's power is unmatched, but also because his throne comes from the world rather than conquest."

"A God King's Throne that was not obtained through seizure naturally cannot be stripped away by mere force."

At these words, Earth Mother's expression grew somewhat bewildered. She did not know what besides strength could make Khaos take back the God King's Throne he had bestowed.

"As the God King crowned by the world, his authority comes from his very being. He was the first existence to give birth to new gods through union. The manifestation of Paternal Authority allowed him to rule the world, and I do not know how to shake his throne either."

"Then there is nothing I can do, honored Earth Mother." Ryan smiled and shook his head. "For the sake of your keeping your word last time, I am willing to try to think of a solution. But as I said, I am not the God of Wisdom, after all."

"All right." After a while, Earth Mother proposed several ideas, but Ryan rejected them one by one. In the end, sensing Uranus's aura returning from the ocean to the land, Gaia could only leave for the time being.

Earlier, she had slipped out while Sky Father had gone to seek out his children for "entertainment." Now, she had to hurry back.

"Honored Prince Ryan, regardless of what happens, I am grateful for your help," Earth Mother said at last. "However, if I truly make up my mind in the near future, I hope I can obtain your prophecy."

"I will." Ryan could not have wanted anything more. "I will do everything in my power to foresee whether you will succeed after you are ready."

Gaia nodded in satisfaction, and her green robes vanished before Ryan's eyes in a daze. Even with her vital force severely depleted, Earth Mother's movements were still beyond his ability to perceive.

Ryan was not envious, however. He knew that Gaia's power would continue to weaken. In the distant future, she would even become the only Primordial God to fall completely from Great Divine Power.

Giving birth to Typhon, the King of Monsters who would one day defeat Zeus, would further damage her origin. The birth of the Goddess of Agriculture would tear away her control over plants. The appearance of the King of the Underworld would cause the land of the Underworld to leave her. The Mountain God descendants of Urea and the River God descendants of the Lord of the Ocean would divide her control over the earth among themselves. Thus, this goddess, whose innate origin had once been the most abundant, would become ordinary through repeated births and betrayals by the world. Perhaps she would still seem powerful in the eyes of ordinary people, but none of the God Kings throughout the ages had ever truly regarded her highly.

Upon returning to the Divine Mountain this time, she would probably face another ordeal before long.

"Seven levels of divine power. Once I obtain what I want from Cronus, everything should get back on track."

"Next time we meet, I won't be so easygoing."

After taking another look at the place where Gaia had vanished, Ryan knew that although Earth Mother treated him with great respect, it was only superficial.

In terms of strength, Earth Mother, like the other gods, had never regarded Ryan highly. Emotionally, although Ryan had always stood on her side, she still harbored some dissatisfaction toward him.

People and gods were no different in this regard: lenient toward themselves, strict toward others.

After silently examining his divine power, Ryan continued to sleep.

Among Khaos's three generations of God Kings, during the age that belonged to Uranus, he was merely a witness. The earth did not even have animals yet, and it was not time for the power of Spirituality to reveal itself.

He would have to wait until the Second Generation God King took the throne, the First Humans were born, and a new generation of gods descended one after another before there would be room for him to act in this world.

Before then, he could only wait.

····· Othrys, the God King's residence.

After happily trapping Phoebe beneath the sea, Uranus admired the "Sea of Light" for a long time. The Goddess of Luminous Bodies made the waves shimmer with wondrous colors, but the lifeless ocean soon bored the God King.

They are growing stronger and stronger. Returning to the peak of the Divine Mountain, the God King thought this.

Two thousand years had passed, and the Titans' power had nearly reached its peak. Even with the eyes of the Sky Dominator, if he set aside the amplification granted by the God King's Throne, he had to acknowledge the strength of his descendants.

Three hundred years, five hundred at most. I have to do something.

Having made up his mind, the God King rose and walked toward his wife.

The world currently had few gods. If he did not want to rule it alone after dealing with several of his children, he had to hurry and create a few more gods.

That was what he had done before, but Gaia's two births had both disappointed him. By now, he even wondered how the sky and earth could create such malformed offspring.

If Tartarus had not lacked a personified consciousness, he would have suspected that this ancient god who had spent years at the bottom of the world had done something to offend the King of the Gods.

"Gaia, my wife, my queen." As he pondered, Uranus had already arrived before Earth Mother.

He did not notice at all that Earth Mother had left the Divine Mountain. As the personification of the earth, Gaia easily concealed her movements from Uranus's perception.

"Your Majesty."

Gaia seemed to have sensed the God King's intentions. Although she knew it would be useless, she still pleaded, "Repeated childbirth has left me utterly exhausted, and your power is truly tremendous. Perhaps you could give me more time to rest. That might allow our next child to better meet your requirements."

"But isn't that something you brought upon yourself?" Uranus countered.

Immediately afterward, he ignored Gaia's refusal and pressed her beneath him as usual.

"You know, Gaia, giving birth to gods is different from giving birth to monsters."

"The power of gods comes mostly from their Divine Offices, and the world will grant them blessings. Aside from my foolish brother Urea, who divided your Divine Office when he was born, the birth of your other children has never made you this exhausted."

With a cold laugh, Uranus became even more violent.

"But giving birth to a monster is different. They are naturally powerful and need no growth. They have no Divine Offices, but they are immortal. All their power comes from the mother. Your origin withers when they are born—that is the reason for your weakness."

"So give birth to a normal god, Gaia, just as you did at the beginning."

"Let us strengthen the divine race together instead of providing the Abyss with several immortal snacks."

Gaia seemed to submit and stopped trying to persuade her husband. Under the gaze of Khaos's gods, the sky descended once again until it was level with the peak of the Divine Mountain. They knew that Sky Father and Earth Mother were uniting once more.

Yet where the God King could not see, the last trace of hesitation vanished from Gaia's emerald eyes.

Just as he had said, Gaia did not want to create "immortal snacks" at all, so she made up her mind.

Fate is on my side, Gaia thought. I will succeed.

In the next moment, her anger began to burn. Beneath the earth, where metal and stone intertwined, Earth Mother's authority set the magma flowing. A sharp aura was extracted, and a special material slowly took shape. It needed no forging, for it had been nurtured by the earth. It was curved and sharp, symbolizing Gaia's conflicted emotions and ultimate resolve.

And so, three hundred years later, Khaos's first scythe was born.