Chapter Summaries

Heracles left the alchemical ship and entered the Sea Eye, where Ande used his Divine Office to open a path through the currents. Heracles reached the bound Prometheus, who recognized him as the son of Zeus.

• Heracles and Oileus left the failing alchemical ship’s safety and entered the isolation chamber as it filled with seawater.
• Heracles leaped into the Sea Eye, where the currents overwhelmed his ability to control his direction.
• Ande told Heracles that Oileus had survived and explained how divine power could contend with nature’s forces.
• Ande used his Divine Office to open a spatial passage and guided Heracles toward Prometheus.
• Heracles found Prometheus bound and wounded, and Prometheus greeted him as the son of Zeus.

Heracles reached Prometheus in the Sea Abyss, learned that someone had foretold his arrival, and tried to free him from Zeus’s divine iron. Prometheus escaped his chains by leaving behind a body of divine power, while Ande asked whether the ancient god remembered him and then sought answers about the depths of the spirit world.

• Heracles asked Prometheus whether Evan had sent him to the Sea Abyss, but Prometheus said he did not know Evan and offered to explain who had foretold Heracles’s arrival.
• Heracles told Prometheus he believed in his character and tried to pull the Iron Nail from his chest, but Prometheus explained that Zeus’s power, not the nail itself, kept him imprisoned.
• Prometheus used his power to separate his true body from the divine iron and leave a body of divine power behind, astonishing Heracles and Ande.
• Ande asked Prometheus whether he remembered an Ande from among the Bronze Humans, and Prometheus recalled the kind, humble, and upright creation who had died because of those qualities.
• Ande said they had come to learn secrets about the depths of the spirit world.

Prometheus gave Heracles the Purgatory Book and warned him that its power demanded a price, while Heracles promised to save him. Oileus then revealed his original mission and sacrificed himself to take Prometheus’s place, urging Heracles to leave and continue his adventure.

• Prometheus gave Heracles the Purgatory Book, explained its dark knowledge and costs, and warned him to consider whether each outcome was truly what he wanted.
• Prometheus grew weak and asked Heracles to leave with Oileus, and Heracles vowed that he would one day save him.
• Oileus woke, pushed Prometheus beyond the prison’s boundary, and trapped himself inside in his place.
• Oileus revealed that he had been sent to discredit Prometheus and the Creator’s legends, but chose to sacrifice himself instead.
• Prometheus told Oileus that self-sacrifice showed the greatness of intelligent life, and Oileus urged Heracles to leave and finish his adventure.

Heracles left the Sea Eye with Prometheus and used the Purgatory Book to learn how to reach reincarnation through the Underworld. He discovered he needed a potion made with a Golden Apple’s power, learned where to find a substitute, and asked Prometheus about Zephyrus as he began his return journey.

• Heracles carried the weakened Prometheus out of the Sea Eye and resolved to gain enough power to break its barrier, while Prometheus explained that Oileus would remain alive and suffer no pain in the prison.
• Heracles opened the Purgatory Book and learned that the Sprague Mirror could track souls and that reaching reincarnation would reveal the answer he sought.
• Prometheus warned Heracles that the book could answer only one question within a short time, so Heracles chose the route through the Underworld and upstream along the River of Forgetfulness.
• The book revealed a potion that could protect Heracles from the River of Forgetfulness, and Prometheus told him that Hera’s orchard on an island in the Western Sea bore fruit that could serve as its Golden Apple ingredient.
• Heracles asked Prometheus about Zephyrus, while Zephyrus sneezed near Silver Moon City and wondered whether his recent examinations had weakened him.

Zephyrus remained trapped in Silver Moon City after failing its written examination and a blood test that could not reconcile his disguised bird body with his divine blood. As he studied to pass, he received another score of 997 and opened a lesson on trisecting an angle, while the High Tower’s core repeated his words in sync.

• Zephyrus complained about Silver Moon City but admitted its bird snacks were delicious.
• After his blood test triggered an error, Zephyrus chose studying and retaking the written examination over waiting for an indefinite analysis.
• Zephyrus reflected that Silver Moon City’s lessons had improved his ability to use divine arts, though he remained frustrated by his exam scores.
• Zephyrus read his latest result of 997 out of the 1,800-point test, still just short of the required 1,000.
• Zephyrus opened study material on trisecting an arbitrary angle, and the core of the High Tower repeated his words at the same moment.

Medea recalled how she had escaped Corinth’s destruction and become a powerful Spellcaster in Silver Moon City, then defended her decision to keep investigating an uninvited god whose Fate baffled the city’s Wizards. She agreed to keep watching him and proposed finding Heracles to take him away, leaving the Wizards to consider her plan.

• Medea remembered her childhood as Aeetes’s daughter, her survival of Typhon’s Calamity, and Circe’s bringing her to Silver Moon City.
• A middle-aged Wizard demanded Medea’s findings about the intruding god’s divine blood, but she expelled him with a teleportation spell.
• Medea explained that Prophecy had revealed the god’s Fate had been altered long ago, making the Wizards wary and uncertain how to act.
• During a meeting with the Wizards, Medea said the god was not much of a threat and suggested finding Heracles to bring him into the city and take the god away.
• Medea agreed to continue watching the god and planned to make contact with him herself.

As Heracles sailed back toward land, Poseidon brooded over his stagnant power and growing resentment toward Zeus. Meanwhile, Nereus and Okeanos agreed to work together toward oceanic supremacy, targeting Poseidon and investigating clues linked to a disturbance in Tartarus.

• Heracles continued his voyage and learned history, writing, and the truth about the gods from Prometheus.
• Poseidon returned to his underwater palace, complained that the seas would not obey him, and resolved to continue improving marine bloodlines.
• Nereus met Okeanos and proposed joining forces to gather the power of the ocean and water into a unique domain.
• Nereus identified Poseidon as an obstacle and suggested exploiting loopholes in the sea territory he had once granted him.
• Nereus told Okeanos that he had found clues connecting people in the mortal world to a disturbance deep within Abyss Tartarus.
• Okeanos agreed to lend the Ocean God Faction's influence to Nereus's investigation, warning him not to fail.

As Athena faced unrest in the eastern sea, Nereus visited Ryan and revealed that the Ancient Sea Gods planned to oppose Zeus with Erebus’s support. Ryan agreed to investigate personally and directed Nereus to seek the Abyss’s answer in three days.

• Unrest in Athena’s eastern maritime territory forced Andrea to divide her attention while Ryan awaited the second Goddess of Fate.
• Nereus visited Ryan, apologized for investigating him, and identified him as an Abyssal being connected to the existence that had fought Zeus.
• Ryan questioned why the sea gods had changed their stance toward Zeus, and Nereus revealed that they had gained a new supporter after the ceremony for Darkness on Olympus.
• Ryan realized Nereus was using him to complicate Erebus’s plans and to gain more freedom for himself and the Ocean God faction.
• Nereus proposed targeting Poseidon and delivering him to Tartarus, while Ryan told Nereus to recite the Ring Garden Snake’s name during a God Worshiping Ritual in three days for an answer.

Ryan prepared to confront Poseidon at sea, suspecting the maritime conflict was a trap designed to draw the Sea Emperor away from his temple. After secretly obtaining a deadly poison and other Foreign Domain materials, he finished preparing to leave for Athens and await Nereus’s next move.

• Nereus quietly left the city through a stream, and Ryan told Andrea he would handle the danger in the eastern sea.
• Ryan suspected the sea conflict was meant to lure Poseidon away so Zeus could take the Sea Emperor’s power, but kept his theory to himself.
• Andrea warned Ryan to retreat to Athens if the situation turned dangerous, and Ryan agreed before leaving to prepare.
• Ryan activated a teleportation Array Inscription in an abandoned warehouse and summoned a crystal bottle of refined poison and a sealed wooden box.
• Ryan packed the poison and three Foreign Domain leaves, erased his traces, and set out for Athens.

Zeus used his authority to locate Paris for Lachesis, who hurried to the mortal world to pursue her missing sister. Meanwhile, Paris arrived near Sparta and began crossing the Eurotas River, where the River God confronted him.

• Zeus welcomed Lachesis to Olympus, and she warned him that she could no longer come into contact with him.
• Lachesis asked Zeus to find Paris, and he used the Tri-Color Scepter to locate him near Sparta’s royal city.
• Lachesis declined Zeus’s offer to bring Paris to Olympus and left to handle the matter herself.
• Paris arrived on the eastern bank of the Eurotas River, recalled his imagined future with Helen, and used the Elder Wand to build a bridge.
• Eurotas confronted Paris and demanded that he destroy the bridge, citing his agreement with Sparta.

Paris used the Elder Wand to overpower and bury Eurotas, then flew toward the Spartan palace to find Helen. Lachesis revealed herself to be the woman who had witnessed Paris’s actions and took Helen’s place, delaying Fate’s backlash as she prepared to meet him.

• Paris rejected Eurotas’s rules, strengthened his Stone Bridge, and challenged the River God when he tried to destroy it.
• Paris bound Eurotas with the Elder Wand, buried him beneath the riverbank, and cursed Lachesis to spread his version of events.
• Paris flew toward the Spartan palace, while Lachesis apologized to the buried Eurotas and examined the power left in the bridge.
• Lachesis followed Paris to the palace, entered Helen’s bedroom, and transformed herself into Helen.
• Lachesis delayed the Backlash of Fate and waited for Paris to arrive.

Paris tried to convince Helen to elope by giving her the Elder Wand, but Lachesis struck him down with Fate’s backlash. Using the wand, Lachesis traced the cause of events to an Athenian and sent word to her sister.

• Paris visited Helen and urged her to leave Sparta with him, but she worried that the escape would be dangerous.
• Paris handed Helen the Elder Wand and told her to try its power, then suddenly collapsed after Lachesis wounded him from behind.
• Lachesis explained that Paris had suffered Fate’s response and noted that his death had again come because of Helen.
• Lachesis used the Elder Wand to trace the culprit behind the events and discovered an Athenian.
• Lachesis sent a message north to her sister and resolved to proceed cautiously.

Helen awoke with a mysterious wand that restored her strength, while Lachesis watched over her before flying east. Meanwhile, Ryan took command of Athens’ fleet and ordered it to follow his seemingly reckless course to draw out Poseidon.

• Helen woke after a long, strange dream and found a knobby wooden wand beside her bed.
• Helen used the wand to cure her weakness and claimed it as her own.
• Lachesis watched Helen awaken, concluded that this part of fate had ended, and flew east.
• Ryan rejected the Athenian general’s detailed naval plans and ordered the fleet to follow the straight course he had drawn.
• The general objected that Ryan’s plan was suicidal, but Ryan showed Andrea’s token and asserted his authority.
• Ryan ordered the Athenian ships to sail east along his course without deviating.

Ryan led the Athenian fleet on an untested direct route toward Pylos and prepared an unusually detailed system of orders for the coming battle. As the fleet neared the planned waters, Kemon followed Ryan’s commands despite his doubts, while Nereus guaranteed Athens’s victory.

• Kemon told Ryan he had not spread rumors about him and apologized for doubting his route, while warning that the fleet would expose itself without knowing where the enemy was.
• Ryan told Kemon the enemy’s main force would appear at their destination and gave him revised communications orders assigning numbers to every warship and specifying detailed maneuvers.
• Kemon left with the orders despite his anger, and Ryan asked Nereus to guarantee success; Nereus promised Athens would win the sea war.
• Ryan set the fleet’s arrival at the waters outside Pylos for dusk three days later, intending to draw Poseidon out by striking near the city.
• The fleet rehearsed Ryan’s new orders until every ship could obey them, and Kemon and the sailors prayed as they approached the battlefield.

Antilochus gathered the maritime kingdoms’ fleet to threaten Athens and acquire its wealth and knowledge, but Athens arrived unexpectedly through the dangerous waters. As the sea-born fleet raised fog and waves to counter them, Ryan calmly prepared to issue his deployment orders.

• Antilochus told the allied commanders that their expedition should threaten Athens and secure wealth and knowledge rather than seize land.
• Antilochus spotted the Athenian fleet approaching from the northwest and ordered his ships to form ranks and protect the priests.
• Antilochus rallied the fleet’s Sea God bloodlines to summon dense fog and rough seas, confident that the Athenians would be unable to aim or maneuver.
• General Kemon led his fleet safely through the ancient divine-war waters and found the Allied Forces waiting amid spreading fog.
• Ryan reassured Kemon that everything was under control and raised his hand to give his deployment orders.

In dense supernatural fog near Pylos, Ryan directed the Athenian fleet’s gunners to fire coordinated volleys despite their inability to see the enemy. The first strike devastated more than a dozen enemy warships, and Ryan prepared the next attack while suspecting the prince of Pylos would survive.

• Duriotios received Ryan’s precise firing orders and reluctantly adjusted his Magic Crystal Cannon to shoot into the fog.
• Ryan divided the fleet into seventeen combat sectors and arranged coordinated cannon fire while Kemon questioned how he could direct the battle without seeing through the fog.
• Ryan counted down, and more than a hundred elemental shots pierced the fog, destroying over a dozen enemy warships.
• Kemon called Ryan’s actions the true art of war, while Ryan kept Nereus’s involvement secret and prepared another attack.
• Ryan ordered Kemon to record the next orders and suspected the prince of Pylos would survive the battle.

Antilochus ordered Pylos’s fleet to retreat after the Athenians devastated their formation, intending to blame the defeat on the attack and seek divine intervention. Nereus informed Poseidon of the failed sacrifice and the Athenian assault, and Poseidon set out to deal with it himself.

• Antilochus awoke aboard the ruined flagship after surviving the Athenians’ concentrated Crystal Cannon attack.
• Antilochus told his adjutant to retreat and report that the Athenians had made the fleet unable to protect the ritual site.
• Antilochus chose to head south despite the rumored Sea Emperor’s palace being that way.
• Nereus visited Poseidon and told him that Athenians had interrupted the sacrifice and defeated his followers at sea.
• Poseidon summoned his trident and flew out to confront the mortals.

Poseidon set out toward the waters near Pylos but fell asleep on the way, allowing Hypnos to approach and use a mysterious poison against him. Meanwhile, Zeus watched for conflicts among the gods and other powers, hoping to exploit them and confront the Great Divine Powers on favorable terms.

• Poseidon headed northeast toward the sea near the Kingdom of Pylos, but decided to nap after growing drowsy from wine.
• Hypnos arrived above the sleeping Poseidon and used his sleep power to keep him unconscious while he released a mysterious poison from a bottle.
• Hypnos planned to take Poseidon to Hell after the Sea God’s desperate struggle ended, knowing Zeus would respond if Poseidon unleashed his power.
• Zeus questioned Iris’s handling of the Goddess of Fate’s movements and reflected that he still wanted to find a way to overcome Fate.
• Zeus waited for Silver Moon City, Athens, the Sea God faction, or other powers to provoke a conflict that would let him intervene with the world’s laws supporting him.

Hypnos attacked Poseidon with a poison that corroded his body, forcing the Sea Emperor to awaken and unleash his full divine power. Hypnos destroyed Poseidon’s Divine Body and seized his existence, but Poseidon’s Trident escaped toward its intended destination as the God King’s power approached.

• In Poseidon’s dream, a White Dragon appeared in a painting and took the dream before vanishing, while Hypnos sensed her familiar power through Poseidon.
• Hypnos’s poisonous mist entered the sleeping Poseidon and began corroding his body until the pain woke him.
• Poseidon, blinded and badly decayed, unleashed his divine power and hurled his Trident at Hypnos.
• A shadow emerged from shattered space and destroyed Poseidon’s Divine Body, while the world’s laws shifted their attention toward the greater threat.
• As the God King’s voice reached them, Hypnos seized Poseidon’s existence, but Poseidon’s Trident flew toward its intended destination.

Hypnos sent Poseidon through a rift to Hell and escaped toward the Underworld as Zeus arrived to confront the Ancient Snake. At the Underworld gates, Styx stopped Hypnos with Kerberos and questioned him about a Devil Contract, leaving him poised to gamble on one last move.

• Hypnos sent Poseidon’s existence through the Midgard Serpent’s rift to the Nine Hells, then fled through the seabed toward the Underworld.
• Zeus arrived over the sea, accused the Ancient Snake of harming Poseidon, and declared that he would kill it.
• Hypnos reached the Underworld gates, where Kerberos had awakened and Styx revealed that she had roused the three-headed guardian.
• Styx showed Hypnos a sheet of Devil Contract paper and asked where it came from; Hypnos refused to answer what she truly wanted to know.
• Kerberos opened its three mouths as Hypnos prepared to gamble on his last move, while a Pylos fleet led by Antilochus sailed across the Eastern Sea.