The Knife Holder

At the Peak of Divine Mountain, another seven years passed. The union of heaven and earth temporarily came to a halt.

After the great God King had vented his desires, he began wandering aimlessly across the earth again. He soon found himself somewhat bored, because there were no children left to serve as his toys.

With no other choice, Uranus could only use his divine power to bombard everything he saw, finding a little amusement in the destruction.

After he left, Gaia continued lying blankly atop the mountain. She did her best to reduce her consumption, but it was meaningless. Her immortal divine body was visibly beginning to age.

She knew she had to do something. Thus, within her body, in the place where her twelve children resided, the Earth Mother made a request.

"You have seen it yourselves. This is your father, the God King of Khaos. He has hurt me and imprisoned you. If this continues, then when I fall into eternal slumber, you will remain here forever, suspended between life and death."

Hatred lay within the Earth Mother's calm tone. Every minute and every second, she could feel her strength slipping away. Her spirit watched the twelve gods. They were her final hope.

"I need a warrior," Gaia said. "I need one of you to summon the courage to rebel against your father."

"This is also part of the Prophecy. The Sky Father will have his sovereignty shaken by his own offspring. You are destined to succeed."

Silence fell. Amid the stillness, Rhea's hesitant voice rang out.

"Mother, we are willing to share your burden, but 'the Firstborn, yet not the eldest'—none of us fits that condition."

The other Titans thought the same. Thousands of years had passed, yet they still did not understand the meaning of those words.

"No. You do fit it."

Unlike the Titans, the Earth Mother had suddenly understood the true meaning of the Prophecy just before this, when the God King's violence had ended. The Firstborn, yet not the eldest—now was the time for him to appear.

"Whoever agrees to my request will be the first to leave my body. You were conceived anew by the God King's command, so the order of the Firstborn will also be rearranged."

When the Earth Mother's voice fell silent, the gods were somewhat horrified. Only then did they deeply feel the power of Fate.

As early as the banquet two thousand five hundred years ago, everything had already been revealed: they would be conceived anew, and therefore the Firstborn would not be the eldest.

"But we have no weapons."

Hyperion seemed to have an idea, but he was also hesitant.

As the only sun at present, and with his Divine Office not yet divided, he was no weaker than his elder brother or youngest brother. If he could become the god who defeated Uranus, perhaps he might also have a chance to inherit the God King's Throne.

"The Prophesied Knife? It is ready." The Earth Mother continued, "The God King ordered every weapon in the world to be detectable by him, so I used flint to conceive a scythe. It has never appeared in the world before. Its original purpose was to harvest plants, so it is not a weapon."

"It was never forged. It formed naturally, so it has no maker. It is a natural product."

The gods fell silent again. They had never expected that the 'relative' who would assist the rebellion in the Prophecy was actually Gaia. It was not one of their brothers, nor their uncle who had taken the form of mountains and the deep sea, but the mother who had given birth to them.

Indeed, nothing fit the meaning of 'relative' better than a married couple.

"But we swore an oath."

Before Hyperion could speak, Theia pointed out the crucial issue. Among the Twelve Titans, she and Hyperion were the closest. Thus, she did not want to see her brother seduced by the God King's Throne and make the wrong decision.

Faced with the fact Theia had stated, the Earth Mother was also left speechless.

At this time, the guardian of oaths had yet to appear, and the Styx River had not yet been born. The world had not yet delegated the authority to guard oaths. Under such circumstances, breaking an oath was a terrifying matter.

If the Prophecy showed that the one who held the knife was destined to become the next God King, then the Twelve Titans would not hesitate. They would fight for the right to wield it. But since the God King's Throne was not guaranteed, no one was willing to bear the consequences of breaking an oath.

After all, becoming the God King meant that supreme divine authority could make up for damaged Divine Offices. But if the wielder of the knife was merely paving the way for someone else, the gods were unwilling to take that risk.

More importantly, something even the Earth Mother had not mentioned was that 'shaking the throne' did not necessarily mean 'overthrowing the throne.'

If the Seer had not repeatedly spoken of the 'First God King,' the gods might not even have dared to believe that their mighty and awe-inspiring father could possibly fail.

More than a thousand years of fear had long since seeped into their very bones.

"Let me do it." The silence continued. As the Earth Mother waited in growing despair, Cronus spoke.

Unlike before, his voice was now steady and magnetic, without the slightest trace of the shrinking timidity he had shown before the God King.

Before today, he had always been the most timid and least noticeable of the Twelve Titans.

Because of his unique authority, his father had never treated him as a toy. Because he was the youngest child, Uranus did not fear him much either. Although he possessed the strongest divine power among the Titans, he had always been overlooked by his brothers and sisters.

But now, with his voice, the gods finally remembered the oath he had made long ago with ulterior motives.

As the first to swear an oath, he had declared that he was not an accomplice, but he had never said he was not the Knife Holder.

As though he had planned it all along, Cronus would wield the knife only for himself. He would never become a knife in someone else's hand.

"Yes, my youngest brother." Hyperion sneered, as if he were meeting him for the first time. "I never imagined that you were so farsighted."

"Indeed, Cronus. Perhaps when it comes to wisdom, you are no worse than the Seer."

Okeanos spoke as well. He still remembered how wretched he had been when the first half of the Prophecy was revealed.

But Cronus was different. Under his father's oppression, he had even dared to play such a verbal trick. If Uranus had noticed, Cronus should already have been spending his two-thousand-five-hundredth birthday in Tartarus.

"That's enough!" The Earth Mother interrupted coldly, her voice carrying disappointment mixed with a trace of surprise.

"Since none of you is willing to wield the knife for me, then do not mock your brave brother."

"Cronus, my youngest child." After scolding her other two sons, Gaia's voice finally gained a hint of life. "Are you willing to take up the scythe and end this disaster—for me, for your brothers and sisters, and for yourself?"

"Yes, I am willing," Cronus said.

"I am willing to wield the knife, but I need more specific guidance. The Prophecy must contain something even more crucial. A single blade cannot let me stand against the Father God."

"......You are right. I will. I will find the Seer and ask him about the true meaning of the Prophecy for you."

"But he once said that he was merely an observer of Fate." Hyperion suddenly spoke.

"That was only because he had other demands. I am seeing that more clearly now."

The battered Earth Mother seemed to have finally recovered some of her wisdom. Facing her only chance to resist, she calmly recalled every meeting she had had with Ryan.

No one who could glimpse Fate would be able to resist using that power for personal gain. The God of Prophecy certainly knew more, but he had not revealed it. Just as he had sought the Time Sequence from the God King, he must have had his own objective.

"He is in the Netherworld now, between me and Tartarus, waiting for me. He will make a demand of me. I am prepared, but you must prepare yourselves as well."

The Earth Mother spoke calmly, then quietly lay on the ground.

It was not yet time. She had to wait for the right moment. When Uranus found a new toy, that would be the time for her to go to the Netherworld.

For now, she chose to endure the pain.