The Cyclopes

The God King drove away his children, making them fulfill their Divine Offices.

In the primordial Khaos world, time was always the least valuable thing.

But unlike the Eastern Eternal Era, where years passed without record, once the Time Sequence and the divisions of Year, Month, and Day appeared, the passage of time was recorded as well.

In the blink of an eye, fifteen hundred years had passed since Ryan made his Prophecy on Divine Mountain.

......On this day, another fierce argument broke out on Divine Mountain.

This was not the first time. Ever since Uranus's three strange-looking children had been born, arguments like this had erupted between the Sky Father and Earth Mother at regular intervals.

"Uranus, they're your children too!"

Gaia's voice rang out, gentle yet tinged with weakness and sorrow.

She had tried countless times to persuade the God King to accept those three children, even if only to have them guard his gates, but Uranus had rejected her again and again.

"Children? No, they aren't. They're merely bastards born from an accident."

His voice was cold. The God King was already sick of this argument.

"Please think about it carefully, my king. It's only their appearance—"

"Enough!"

Fifteen hundred years had passed, and Divine Mountain had grown even taller.

The King of the Gods stood in the place closest to the 'sky' in this world and coldly cut off Gaia's plea.

Before him, three one-eyed monsters glared at him furiously. Although the God King's might had pressed them flat against the ground, they seemed not to know what fear was. They continued to glare at Uranus with their single eyes.

"Look, Gaia. Such twisted lifeforms, yet they dare face my wrath."

After examining the three giants on the ground for a while longer, Uranus seemed to confirm something.

"The Firstborn, but not the eldest. Heh heh, the leader among monsters—isn't he the Firstborn too?!"

"You're insane, Uranus!"

Gaia, who now looked to be in her twenties, called her husband by his name for the first time. She could not understand it. The three creatures merely lacked intelligence and did not know fear, so how could Uranus believe they might become God King?

No God King could be someone who was not even a god.

"I'm insane? Heh heh, perhaps I am. But stop with your ridiculous pleading as well."

Gaia's words finally enraged the God King completely. He glanced indifferently at his once-beloved wife, then reached out and pushed her aside.

Standing atop Divine Mountain, Uranus once again activated the authority of the God King and announced his judgment upon the giants.

"I tolerated you for a very long time. Perhaps a hundred years, perhaps two hundred." Uranus scrutinized the three giants before him, but still failed to see any fear in their eyes.

"But all tolerance has its limit. You filthy, ugly, wretched lifeforms who disgrace my bloodline—I've had enough of your existence!"

"Cyclopes? What a ridiculous title. I will no longer forgive you for Gaia's sake. Instead, I'll send you where you belong."

"Lowly trash, the Bottomless Abyss is your rightful destination. In the name of the King of the Gods, I declare that you have been convicted for your inborn vileness. Your sentence: eternity!"

A vast voice came from the edge of the sky. In a cave, Ryan slowly raised his head.

The sky outside dimmed, and even the sun did its best to restrain its light.

This was caused by the wrath of the Sky Dominator. Although Uranus had ceased to be the sky itself after developing a sense of self, he still possessed absolute influence over it.

"It's a little too far away."

Simple eyesight was not enough for Ryan to see Divine Mountain, so he decisively changed methods, using the moon in the sky to see in his place.

After fifteen hundred years of operation, this artificial celestial body had finally become somewhat more complete. The lunar Divine Office it represented had also slowly risen to Divinity Level 3.

Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh! Through the moon's perspective, Ryan could vaguely see three streaks of light fly out one after another from Divine Mountain at the center of the land. They then fell in the west, piercing straight through the thick layers of earth.

Through that pitch-black cavern, Ryan could sense an incomparably chaotic and powerful aura seeping out.

That was the Abyss, the bottom of the world, the shell of the Primordial God Tartarus.

Unlike the other three Primordial Gods, Tartarus seemed to have abandoned awakening his self and instead remained in this chaotic, disorderly state.

Thus, he was the only being whose power had not fallen because of personification. He remained an ancient god at the level of Great Divine Power.

"The Cyclopes?"

Ryan murmured the names of those three streaks of light, completely unsurprised.

Unlike the Twelve Titans, the Cyclopes were more like monsters possessing powerful strength.

When they were born, no corresponding laws had stirred. Their figures had not even appeared outside Divine Mountain, so Uranus naturally refused to acknowledge their existence.

Even the future Second Generation God King had never acknowledged these 'brothers' of his. Zeus later rescued them, but merely treated them as craftsmen and jailers.

Although the presence of the Earth Mother had made the God King tolerate them for two whole centuries, the Sky Father had never been a broad-minded god. In the end, he could not resist casting them into the Abyss.

Boom! Another roar rang out. This time, Ryan could see it without the moon, because the sky and earth had joined together once more.

It seemed that Gaia's pleading had enraged Uranus. He made the sky and earth press tightly together, just as they had before the Twelve Titans were born.

The sun dodged about in panic, and the weather fled from the land into the sea. Much of the vegetation was destroyed as a result, and the verdant land that had developed over fifteen hundred years returned to desolation. The God King violently released his primordial desires, venting his dissatisfaction.

Ryan hid in a cave and quietly watched the scene.

The God King had ruled the world for fifteen hundred years. His twelve sons had diligently carried out their Divine Offices under oppression, yet Uranus still disliked them.

He often shattered celestial bodies, coldly laughing as he watched the wounded Coeus howl. He also occasionally plucked the sun from the sky and threw it into the sea, watching his children and younger brother suffer as their powers clashed. This was one of his few forms of entertainment.

There was no music, no wine, and hardly any living creatures on the land.

Aside from the other Primordial Gods, Uranus could only vent his excess energy on his own children.

As for Ryan, he had always possessed little presence, while the Prophecy made the God King faintly wary of him. Thus, although the God King knew where Ryan was, he still did not come looking for trouble.

"I wonder how much longer it will be."

"Five hundred years, or perhaps a thousand. The Sky Father's era really is dull. Life under Cronus will be more interesting."

After taking another look at the moon in the sky, Ryan stopped focusing on the outside world.

Most of the scattered, masterless Memories had already been integrated, and the Spirituality Divine Office had risen by one level as a result. It was foreseeable that once the Memory had been completely absorbed, Spirituality could improve again.

Apart from Divine Offices, in terms of the growth of divine power, unlike Spirituality, which currently provided little divine power, the Chronology Divine Office supplied Ryan with a large amount of divine power every second.

Having the same upper limit for a Divine Office did not mean having the same rate of divine power generation. Light and the sun were equally powerful, but the latter accumulated divine power faster than the former.

Although Chronology was not exactly a Divine Office that easily increased divine power, compared with Spirituality, which had not advanced a single level in several thousand years, it seemed outstanding.

Fifteen hundred years had passed, and he had already reached the peak of Weak Divine Power. If nothing went wrong, he would successfully escape this lowest level of divine power before the Hundred-Armed Giants were born.

The commotion outside continued, and Ryan once again entered a deep sleep.

A Divine Office represented the upper limit, while divine power represented what one currently possessed. Until he advanced further, he would not leave this place.