I Became a Prophet in Greece 14

Theron had little interest in gods whose fates held no real twists or turns.

But because he had given Prometheus a gift and expended some of his essence, Theron decided he should still make the trip in the end—though not to see Hestia.

He intended to find a way to remind Kronos of the prophecy, using it to advance the course of fate. That would increase his divine power and quickly make up for his losses.

Meanwhile, atop the divine mountain, God King Kronos came to understand exactly what it meant for joy to turn into sorrow.

He had just gained greater recognition from the world and more power for creating the golden humans. Yet upon returning to the divine mountain, he discovered that Rhea had given birth to their child.

She was an exceedingly adorable little girl, shrouded in holy light, with beautiful and delicate features.

Rhea adored the girl, while the other gods who came to offer congratulations showered her with praise and blessings.

As Kronos listened to their praise for Hestia—how she would surely grow wise and brave—he felt a tightness in his chest, an indescribable emotion weighing on his heart.

He could only comfort himself with the thought that she was a goddess. Goddesses had no right of succession and could not threaten his divine throne.

Only then did he feel a little better, barely managing to force a smile as he dealt with the gods.

But what he never expected was that Rhea had invited Theron as well—and that Theron had actually come in person!

When he saw that familiar white figure appear in the divine hall, something seemed to explode in Kronos's mind, and an indescribable terror spread through his heart.

Theron, the God of Fate, had personally come to celebrate Hestia's birth. Could there be something special about this girl?

Kronos could not stop his wild thoughts. He even forgot that Theron had also gone to congratulate Metis, the Goddess of Wisdom, on her birth not long ago.

Only one thought remained in his mind: Hestia was bound to be extraordinary in the future. Otherwise, Theron, the God of Fate, would not have come personally.

And such an exceptional Hestia, even if she was a goddess with no right of succession, might still become a powerful helper to the rebellious son who would one day dare overthrow his divine authority.

Just like Gaia had once done.

He knew perfectly well that without Gaia's help, the twelve Titans alone could never have overthrown Uranus's brutal rule. They had been far too weak.

Because of the terror buried deep in his heart, Kronos could not control his thoughts. As he watched the white figure slowly approach, he felt that his guess was highly likely to be true.

It had to be so. Otherwise, Theron would not have come himself. It had already been hundreds of years, and Theron had barely left that void-like realm!

No. I have to do something. I can't just stand by and watch these traitors grow up, watch them challenge my divine authority.

As Kronos spoke to himself inwardly, he suddenly calmed down. In that instant, all his fear of the unknown became strength that hardened his resolve.

On the other side, Theron had only just entered the divine hall when he felt the divine power within him surge sharply. His expression became quite strange.

In just an instant, the losses he had suffered from giving that gift had already vanished. His power had even increased. He had already achieved the purpose of coming out.

But the problem was...

He had not done anything yet.

Shocking and Horrifying

Theron had no idea what had happened. Feeling the divine power growing within him and looking at the God King, who approached with a polite smile on his lips, he felt strangely unsettled.

Clearly, he had not had time to do anything, yet it somehow felt as though he had already done everything...

Still, since his goal had been accomplished, he could not be bothered to waste time here.

He went to see Queen Rhea and the newly born Hestia, earnestly praised the beautiful girl, went through the motions, and then took his leave.

God King Kronos did not see him off, as there were still many gods he needed to entertain.

At that moment, his face was full of smiles as he chatted and laughed with the gods, generously accepting their blessings for his newborn child. There was no trace of his earlier gloom, as though he had not been driven frantic by fear just moments before.

Seeing this, Rhea's worries eased. She had been concerned because Kronos had seemed strange lately.

The beautiful queen guessed that Kronos had perhaps been in a bad mood because the duties of the God King were too burdensome, and that Hestia's birth had now cheered him up.

Hestia was so obedient and adorable that Rhea felt no parents in the world could refuse a child so perfect.

She grew even fonder of the angelic baby girl.

The divine feast held in celebration lasted a full seven days. Once the gods departed, only Kronos, Rhea, and the newborn Hestia remained atop the vast divine mountain.

Kronos found an excuse to send Rhea away. Since he showed no sign of anything unusual, Rhea noticed nothing and was easily dismissed.

When Kronos stood alone before Hestia, who lay on the bed, he took a deep breath and drew out his sickle without the slightest hesitation.

It was the sickle he had once used to castrate Uranus, the first God King. It was a divine artifact forged by the Cyclopes within Gaia's body, hammered with a thousand years of rage at the command of the Earth Mother.

And now, Kronos pointed that sickle at his own daughter, the infant Hestia.

Hestia lay sleeping soundly on the bed. She was an incomparably delicate and adorable child, with fair skin that seemed soft enough to break at a touch. Her long lashes cast shadows beneath her eyelids, and her rosy lips were slightly pursed, making her look utterly innocent.

As he looked at such a child, Kronos's hand holding the sickle could not help but tremble. He fell into an indescribable struggle.

He tried to persuade himself that goddesses had no right of succession, and Hestia was so obedient that perhaps she would not become the rebel foretold in the prophecy.

But another voice remained deep within his heart. It was Uranus, the first God King, speaking in the most venomous voice possible: "Kronos, I curse you..."

The two utterly different voices seemed to quarrel in his mind. In the end, as a white figure emerged in his thoughts, both voices vanished at once, and the hesitation in his eyes was finally replaced by resolve.

That figure was Theron, who had come to offer congratulations a few days ago.

Theron, the God of Fate, had come to celebrate Hestia's birth.

That was undoubtedly the final straw. Kronos no longer hesitated. He raised the sickle high and swung it down heavily at the baby girl before him with all his divine power.

He wanted to kill Hestia and eliminate all future trouble.

But he failed.

Countless rays of pure holy light enveloped the sleeping baby girl, completely wrapping her tiny body and blocking all harm.

The sickle capable of castrating the first God King felt as though it had struck a pile of cotton. Kronos found that he simply could not bring his strength to bear.

Kronos's eyes flashed with shock and fury. Refusing to believe it, he swung the sickle again, but he still could not harm the baby girl protected by the holy light in the slightest.

The holy light surrounding Hestia was the law and divine authority she embodied, protecting her from destruction.

Gods could not be killed, because each god's birth represented the appearance of another law in the world. Once a law appeared, it could not be erased. Not even the God King could do such a thing.

As Kronos looked at Hestia, who remained completely unaffected, he did not know what to do. Should he imprison her in Tartarus?

But imprisoning her in Tartarus would definitely offend Gaia. The abyss bordered the earth and might even send her into Gaia's body through it, just as it had once held the Hecatoncheires and Cyclopes.

When he had previously asked Gaia to take the child back, Gaia had already been furious. Kronos felt that if he truly threw Hestia into the abyss of Tartarus, Gaia would definitely come after him.

Moreover, when he became God King, Gaia had told him to release the Hecatoncheires and Cyclopes imprisoned in the abyss. But Kronos feared their terrifying power and refused her request.

They had not parted on good terms then, and the Earth Mother had become even more unwilling to visit the divine mountain.

No, I can't imprison her in Tartarus... Kronos took a deep breath, put away the sickle, and forced himself to calm down.

When Rhea returned, she saw Kronos standing before the baby girl in a daze.

"Valiant Your Majesty, what are you thinking about? Why do you look so troubled?" Rhea asked curiously. "Did Hestia cry just now?"

"No. She has been very obedient. She has been sleeping the whole time," Kronos heard himself say.

Rhea seemed to say something else afterward, but Kronos could no longer hear her. His mind was filled only with what to do and how to deal with Hestia.

He could not kill her, could not imprison her, and yet could not guarantee that she would not grow up to help the traitors rebel. This left Kronos deeply uneasy.

He felt the panic of being unable to stop the curse. He thought of Theron's words: fate could not be stopped.

No, there must be another way. There must be another way. Think. Think more carefully...

Kronos kept comforting himself, and his gaze even drifted involuntarily toward Rhea.

He wanted to stuff the child back into Rhea's body. As long as she had not been born, the curse would be ended.

But Gaia's earlier words stopped him. Uranus, the first God King, had been overthrown for that very reason.

If only she had not been born. I can't put her back inside Rhea. If only she had not been born. I can't put her back inside Rhea...

Those two thoughts repeated themselves over and over in Kronos's mind. Finally, his eyes lit up as he came up with a perfect solution.

He could not put her back inside Rhea, so he would put her inside himself. He was the child's father god. He could also contain her law. That way, he would not only devour her power, but the corresponding law would still exist.

At that thought, he nearly burst with joy. He strode forward and grabbed the tiny Hestia.

Under Rhea's horrified gaze, Kronos opened his enormous mouth and swallowed the baby girl whole.

The scene was so horrifying that Rhea, realizing what had happened, let out a terrified, grief-stricken scream.

But Kronos seemed not to hear her at all. Feeling the divine power within him rise, he felt safer than ever before.

Ever since Rhea had become pregnant, Kronos had been unable to sleep. But that night, amid Rhea's anguished cries, he finally slept soundly.

God of Law

Time passed swiftly. Hundreds of years had gone by since Kronos and the gods created the golden humans.

The once-empty earth was now filled with many golden humans. These humans had no worries and did not need to fear for survival. What they did most each day was praise the gods.

The birth of these humans also caused more laws to become complete, the most obvious of which was order.

This had to do with Themis, the Goddess of Law and Justice. As one of the twelve Titans, Themis's divine power had never been particularly outstanding among the Titans.

Especially during the era when Uranus, the first God King, ruled. There was no order in the world at all, only brutality and savagery. The laws embodied by the Goddess of Law and Justice had not been realized, so she was naturally weak.

After Uranus was overthrown and a new age began, there was no longer conflict among the gods, but no one followed the corresponding laws either. Themis still remained inconspicuous.

Until the birth of humanity.

These beings looked like gods, yet did not possess divine might or embody laws. Still, they possessed the same high intelligence as the gods.

Themis observed the patterns by which these humans lived and felt that they were too scattered and lacked restraint. Thus, she wanted to formulate a set of universal laws applicable to both gods and humans.

She had a premonition that if she could accomplish this, her divine power would greatly increase, while the development of the world would be enormously advanced.

But to do all this, she first needed the permission of the ruler of the world, God King Kronos.

Thus, Themis came to the divine mountain and requested an audience with the God King.

In mythology, Themis was depicted wearing white robes and a blindfold, holding scales in one hand and a sword in the other. The blindfold symbolized the removal of sensory interference and judgment based solely on reason—the blindfold of procedural justice.

The scales and sword represented different things: the scales represented fair judgment, while the sword embodied the authority of punishment. Together, they formed the complete symbol of judicial power.

But in her daily life, she did not wear a blindfold or carry scales with her. The sword at her waist, however, remained there, as though to show that she was no weak and helpless goddess.

Kronos was surprised by her visit, but after hearing her request, he agreed without the slightest hesitation.

As long as Kronos approved of something that could make the world more complete, the world would grant him greater recognition, even if he did not actually do anything substantial.

And after nearly a thousand years of effort, he was only one final bit of recognition away.