Chapter Summaries

Prometheus saved a sailboat from the Eye of the Sea and spoke with a black snake that offered him a book of knowledge and freedom. The snake departed after asking him not to obstruct a future human seeking revenge, and Prometheus hoped such a person would come to learn from him.

• Prometheus sensed people falling into the whirlpool and used the ocean's power to carry their sailboat to safety.
• Prometheus explained that Helios had sought his blood to taint a rift in the sea, while Okeanos had asked him to ignore the changes there.
• The black snake gave Prometheus a book containing knowledge, rituals, taboos, and a method to free him, without demanding a price.
• The black snake asked Prometheus not to stop a future human who discovered the truth and sought revenge against the gods.
• Prometheus said he hoped such a human would appear and promised himself he would teach that person everything he knew.

Heracles left Eleusis to continue his trials while planning to seek Prometheus’s help reaching the Ten Thousand Zhang Sea Eye. At the Aigaleo Mountains, Ryan revealed Cecrops’s connection to Pandora and urged Andrea to strike before the western kingdoms formed an allied army.

• Heracles decided to seek Prometheus’s guidance and realized he would need a capable ship and fearless sailors to reach the depths of the Ten Thousand Zhang Sea Eye.
• Heracles left Eleusis for the north to hunt a monstrous beast controlled by the Northern Evil God.
• More than a month later, Ryan met Andrea at the Aigaleo Mountains fortress and discussed the legends surrounding Cecrops and the Earth-Born.
• Ryan revealed that Cecrops was born from a fragment of the stone used to create Pandora, making him connected to both the Earth Mother and Typhon’s demonic blood.
• Ryan warned Andrea that the western kingdoms were preparing an allied army and advised her to attack before they assembled; Andrea agreed.

Odysseus led the armies of Ithaca and Argos toward the Allied Forces’ gathering point, where he hoped to negotiate command of the campaign against Athens. He arrived to find the Mycenaean vanguard routed by an Athenian ambush and realized the coalition’s campaign had already begun badly.

• Mode and Odysseus discussed the coming campaign, the rival heroes, and whether Odysseus would seek command of the Allied Forces.
• Odysseus led the army toward the meeting place beside the Cephissus River and arrived three days later.
• Odysseus found the gathering site flooded and its wounded soldiers scattered, while a group of bloodied knights rode away.
• A Mycenaean commander told Odysseus that the Athenians had dammed the river, used sorcery to flood their camp, and attacked amid the chaos.
• Odysseus moved his army onward and promised that the coalition would avenge the defeat, while Mode mocked Agamemnon’s prospects of leading it.

After Athens routed the Mycenaean army with a flood and cavalry attack, the gods argued over the defeat and Hera assigned Hephaestus and Apollo roles in the coming war. Meanwhile, Zephyrus searched for Heracles after sending him north to hunt a powerful Demonic Lion, but he had lost track of him.

• Ares condemned Athens for breaking customary rules of war, while Hephaestus and Apollo dismissed his complaints and argued with him.
• Hera stopped Ares and Apollo from fighting, then asked Hephaestus to forge indestructible armor and Apollo to aid the mortal army when it faced danger.
• Hera reflected on her complicated history with Heracles and suspected that Zeus was watching him through Zephyrus.
• Zephyrus sent Heracles north to hunt a powerful Demonic Lion after Demeter disappeared, then searched an Ancient Forest after losing track of him.

Heracles met a local elder who revealed that the Nemean Lion had been empowered by Hestia’s divine blood and directed him to its lair. After Heracles set off to hunt it, the elder returned to a hidden city and reported to the faceless Lord Ande that Heracles would come to him after completing the trial.

• Heracles caught a poisoned arrow from two local hunters, and an elder used magic to let them understand one another.
• The elder told Heracles that the Nemean Lion had bathed in Hestia’s blood and advised him to wear its hide after killing it.
• Heracles learned the lion’s location, agreed to visit the tribe afterward, and set out alone to fight it.
• The elder returned to a hidden city, passed its temples and empty smithy, and went to meet the faceless Lord Ande.
• Kolon told Lord Ande that Heracles had accepted the invitation and would come after hunting the lion, and Ande hoped the hero might find an answer for him.

Heracles defeated the Nemean Lion by drowning it after discovering that its thoughts could be overcome even though its body could not be harmed. While he set out to find the nearby tribe, Zephyrus remained lost in the forest, unable to find Heracles or a way out.

• Heracles fought the Nemean Lion for a day, but neither his fists nor the lion’s attacks could injure the other.
• Heracles remembered that monsters could be approached through their minds, forced the lion’s head underwater, and left it unconscious.
• Heracles waited three days for the God of the West Wind to appear, then decided to seek information about the Evil God from a nearby tribe.
• Zephyrus searched for Heracles, failed to find him, and became lost in the forest while trying to reach the Goddess of Fate on Nissa Mountain.

Heracles entered Orora and discovered that its welcoming feast concealed a supernatural trap connected to the Nemean Lion's pelt. As Heracles fought to break free and find the mastermind, Ande watched from afar and waited for him to approach.

• Heracles arrived in Orora and learned from Kolon that the city was ancient, isolated, and supposedly peaceful.
• At a feast honoring him, Heracles noticed there were no women and questioned how the city obtained food despite having no farms, livestock, or nearby settlements.
• Kolon and the gathered people answered in eerie unison, and the Nemean Lion's pelt on Heracles spoke, revealing that the city had ensnared him.
• Ande watched from outside the city as his power, linked to the lion, affected Heracles through the pelt.
• Heracles unleashed powerful Blood Qi and struggled against the supernatural restraints while Ande carved a Wood Carving.
• The disturbance subsided, and heavy footsteps approached Ande.

Ande and Heracles reached a truce after Ande explained how the spirit world might make resurrection possible and offered to help Heracles seek immortality. They signed a contract to travel together, while Zephyrus finally sensed Heracles in the Nameless Forest and flew toward him.

• Heracles struck an Ande puppet, but Ande appeared again and challenged Heracles' reasons for entering his territory.
• Heracles explained that Zephyrus had assigned him a trial and promised to help resurrect the dead, and Ande revealed that the Well of Reincarnation and the Sprague Mirror could help restore a soul.
• Ande offered Heracles a chance to experience immortality and proposed that they become Fellow Travelers seeking answers in the spirit world.
• Heracles agreed to a contract witnessed by the Great Ancient Spirit World Will, and he and Ande signed it before Ande opened a golden box containing a small figure.
• After days of searching the Nameless Forest, Zephyrus sensed Heracles' aura and flew toward it.

Heracles learned from Ande how divine authorities could harm spiritual beings before Zephyrus found him and declared his second trial complete. Zephyrus sent him south to destroy Hydra and gave him a wind-blessed feather to aid him on the journey.

• Heracles asked Ande how to fight beings like him, and Ande explained that authorities such as death, judgment, and strength could harm gods and spirits in ways ordinary power could not.
• Zephyrus found Heracles after the forest’s abnormal laws vanished, recognized the Nemean Lion’s hide, and praised him for completing the second task.
• Zephyrus assigned Heracles a third trial: travel south and kill Hydra, the nine-headed serpent whose poison and regenerative life had ravaged the land for a thousand years.
• Heracles accepted the task and wondered whether he could visit Silver Moon City on his way south.
• Zephyrus gave Heracles a feather blessed by wind, which would answer his call and let Zephyrus track his location.

Zeus decided to send Dionysus into the mortal world to help Heracles and complete the Kingship Rules, offering him the chance to gain a Divine Office and become Zeus’s agent. The chapter left Zeus treating Dionysus as both a gift to his son and a safeguard as he prepared to pursue his rule more aggressively.

• Zeus read Zephyrus’s report praising Heracles’s strength and judged his missions successful so far.
• Zeus considered replacing Atlas, who still supported the sky from Mount Othrys, as his patience with him ran thin.
• Dionysus told Zeus he wanted to visit the mortal world, despite lacking a Divine Office and divine power of his own.
• Zeus offered Dionysus the chance to complete his Kingship Rules and gain authority as his agent and Crown Prince.
• Dionysus agreed to find Heracles and accomplish great deeds with him, while Zeus regarded the arrangement as a safeguard for his plans.

Heracles and Ande reached Contania, where Ande explained the city's history and its ties to Silver Moon City and Olympus. Heracles struggled to find reliable information about Hydra until Meng Yi agreed to guide him to the monster's lair.

• Heracles and Ande arrived near Contania, a prosperous city divided by a river and illuminated by Silver Moon City's Artificial Sun.
• Ande told Heracles about Contania's founding by Connieus and Deo, whose story began with a promise and ended in tragedy.
• Heracles entered Contania and asked its residents for information about Hydra, but nearly followed a false lead before Ande warned him.
• An old man named Meng Yi revealed that Hydra had taken his children and grandson and destroyed his village.
• Heracles agreed to let Meng Yi guide him to Hydra's lair after they rested for a day.

Hydra struggled with the relentless Meng Clan members who kept challenging it, while Heracles traveled with Meng Yi to confront the serpent. The chapter ended as Heracles reached Hydra’s swamp and prepared to fight, unaware that Hydra hoped to question him rather than kill him.

• Hydra killed another Meng Clan challenger and recalled how the family’s endless attacks had filled it with dread.
• Hydra remembered killing Amon after the young man provoked it and asked about the King of Ten Thousand Demons’ bloodline.
• Hydra heard Heracles and Meng Yi approaching and decided to spare the newcomer long enough to ask about the Meng Clan.
• Meng Yi told Heracles that his grandson Amon had disappeared near Hydra’s territory and that the villagers had gone looking for him.
• Heracles reached the swamp, heard Hydra roar, and prepared to face the demon.

Heracles fought Hydra, whose poison and regeneration made it difficult to subdue, until Meng Yi’s death provoked him to use Ande’s method to divide and restrain the monster. Watching the battle, Amon discovered unusual fate connections around Heracles and decided to use the opportunity to investigate Khaos’s divine powers.

• Heracles attacked Hydra, but the serpent’s poison melted his Iron Rod and dissolved his clothes while sparing his lion-hide coat.
• Heracles tore off one of Hydra’s heads, then saw it begin to regenerate as Hydra claimed it could not be killed.
• Hydra tried to persuade Heracles to stop humans from disturbing its peace, but Meng Yi charged in and died when Hydra’s tail pushed him away.
• Angered by Meng Yi’s death, Heracles attacked Hydra again, intending to divide and restrain it using a method Ande had given him.
• Amon watched Heracles battle Hydra and noticed his connections to a god of faith and an Outer God, then resolved to pursue the secrets of Khaos.

Heracles defeated and buried Hydra, then found Amon alive and agreed to let him join the journey to seek resurrection. Ande suspected something was unusual about Amon and told Heracles about the legendary Hypnos's Pen, which Heracles resolved to seek if he had the chance.

• Heracles cut off Hydra's eight heads, buried them apart, and sealed its weakened body beneath a mountain after Hydra warned him about the gods and gave him a Memory fragment linked to Typhon.
• Heracles left the poisonous marsh with the crystal and, on the way back, rescued Amon, whom he had mistakenly believed Hydra had killed.
• Heracles told Amon that Meng Yi and the people of Meng Village had died, and Amon decided to investigate resurrection by traveling with him.
• Amon explained that his family knew secret arts that could help them on the journey, and Heracles agreed to take him along.
• Ande said Amon felt incongruous and described Hypnos's Pen as a Divine Artifact whose imagined creations had become real; Heracles secretly decided to look for it.

Heracles learned that Hypnos’s power might remain in the Underworld’s Eternal Night Land, though Ande warned him that reaching it required the legendary Nyx Trail. Meanwhile, as Agamemnon organized the allied camp near Athens, Achilles arrived alone and challenged the army to fight him.

• Ande told Heracles that Hypnos was an ancient God of Sleep whose power might remain in the Eternal Night Land, and warned him about the dangers and the Nyx Trail.
• Agamemnon arrived with Mycenae’s forces, punished the Vanguard Officer, reorganized the camp, and hosted Odysseus and the Argive commanders.
• Odysseus praised Agamemnon’s military skill but told Mode he suspected the Athenians’ schemes were not over.
• Odysseus and Mode saw the allied camp mobilize as a powerful stranger approached, though no enemy army was in sight.
• Achilles reached the camp and challenged the Allied Forces, demanding to know who dared fight him.

Achilles challenged the Mycenaean army alone, killed several nobles, and fought Agamemnon, whose armor and strength could not overcome Achilles’ Indestructible Body. Just as Achilles prepared to kill the Mycenaean king, a distant god’s arrow failed to pierce him, leaving Achilles frustrated and the golden-haired god astonished.

• Achilles defeated a Mycenaean general and his divine-blooded mount with a single spear strike.
• Agamemnon learned that one warrior had attacked the camp and went out to confront him.
• Achilles declared that he had come to make a name for himself and charged Agamemnon, who met him with his generals.
• Agamemnon struck Achilles with the armor of the God of Craftsmen, but the attack could not pierce Achilles’ body.
• As Achilles prepared to kill Agamemnon, a golden-haired god shot an arrow at him, but it failed to harm him.

Achilles defeated Agamemnon and challenged the gods, but Apollo could not pierce his indestructible body and yielded the fight to Ares. After Achilles declared that he would claim the position of God of War, Ares attacked and swore that only one of them would survive.

• Achilles drove off Agamemnon's soldiers, and Apollo's arrows failed to injure him.
• Apollo recognized Achilles's indestructible body and left him to Ares after the God of War arrived.
• Achilles fought through the battlefield and faced Odysseus, who tried to persuade him that mortals could not rival the gods.
• Achilles argued that strength determined who deserved power and challenged Ares to fight for the title of God of War.
• Ares charged Achilles and vowed that only one of them would remain alive.

Achilles fought Ares to a standstill, relying on his undying body as Ares failed to find a weakness. When Aphrodite tried to help Ares with a sneak attack, Achilles severed her arm and escaped with Ares’s sword, leaving the gods to retreat and reconsider how to deal with him.

• Achilles and Ares discarded their weapons and fought hand to hand on the battlefield.
• Achilles realized that Ares’s strength depended on his confidence in victory, while Ares suspected Achilles’s body was tied to the Styx.
• Aphrodite arrived, judged Ares to be losing, and secretly approached his chariot to take a dagger.
• Achilles sensed Aphrodite and rushed her as she reached for Ares’s weapon.
• Achilles seized the sword, severed Aphrodite’s arm, and escaped with the weapon while taunting both gods.
• Ares chose to stay with Aphrodite and return to the Divine Mountain rather than pursue Achilles.

After Ares failed to defeat a mortal who wounded Aphrodite, he took her to Hephaestus to find a way to capture the immortal-bodied enemy. Hephaestus offered a golden net, but demanded Aphrodite pose for a puppet modeled on her injured form.

• Aphrodite woke aboard Ares's chariot, realized she had lost an arm, and blamed Ares for failing to protect her.
• Ares defended his strength by explaining that his power grew through armies and large-scale wars, while Aphrodite mocked him and decided to seek Hephaestus's help.
• Ares and Aphrodite traveled to Hephaestus's palace on Mount Olympus, where they saw his crafted puppet servants and workshops.
• Hephaestus showed Aphrodite a golden net that could trap an immortal-bodied mortal, but refused to give it to Ares for free.
• Hephaestus asked Aphrodite to model for a life-sized puppet based on her wounded appearance, which he planned to name Aphrodite of the Severed Arm.

Aphrodite and Ares prepared to trap Achilles, while Achilles wrote to Chiron boasting of his battles and requesting help. Ares received a vision of Achilles’s capture and believed war would bring him glory, as wider forces began to stir around the mortal’s actions.

• Aphrodite agreed to Hephaestus’s conditions, obtained the golden net, and ordered Ares to prepare a trap for Achilles.
• Ares recalled that Achilles’s immortality came from Styx and suspected the power would be difficult to overcome, but he agreed to lure Achilles into the trap.
• Achilles weighed his limited strength against the gods, then wrote Chiron a boastful letter describing his exploits and asking for a suitable Divine Artifact.
• Achilles sent the letter and a piece of divine flesh to Chiron using a Three-Eyed Sparrow, then settled down to wait for his teacher.
• Achilles’s actions stirred Fate and other distant powers, while Ares felt his war authority surge and saw a vision of Achilles bound on the Divine Mountain.