I Am a Prophet in Greece: Section 15

He was about to become the true King of the Gods—the undisputed ruler, far surpassing all other divine races.

Over the past thousand years, Kronos had been less a valiant King of the Gods than a diligent laborer. Every day, he sought ways to perfect this world and earn a little more of its recognition.

Compared to his father, Uranus, the first King of the Gods and god of the sky, Kronos had virtually no majesty as king. Many third-generation gods even believed that Kronos was less worthy of reverence than Oceanus, the god of the great ocean.

Oceanus simply had too many children. His descendants alone nearly outnumbered all the gods in the world—excluding the mountain gods and the stellar lineage, who were equally prolific.

The more children one had, the more people listened to them, and the greater their influence. If the age of paternal rule had not already passed, Oceanus would likely have been the undisputed King of the Gods.

Under such circumstances, Oceanus had very limited respect for Kronos as King of the Gods. At most, he maintained appearances.

The other Titans were much the same. They ruled over their respective domains, and some of them even directly ignored Kronos's orders.

Kronos had no way to deal with them. He could only silently continue his work, though he was not without his own thoughts.

He was merely waiting—for the day this world fully acknowledged him, for the day he possessed the world-creating power of the King of the Gods. When that day came, it would naturally be time to settle accounts.

And now, that day seemed very close.

Kronos had a premonition. Once he helped Themis complete the laws, he would gain the complete recognition of the Chaos World and become a true King of the Gods.

At this thought, Kronos's gaze grew fervent. He eagerly provided Themis with assistance, resolving practically every difficulty she encountered.

This earned him considerable goodwill from Themis. After some thought, she still offered a reminder. "Great King of the Gods, perhaps you should not be too lenient."

"The gods cannot submit to a ruler without temper, but temper does not mean cruelty. Mercy remains a virtue."

She was subtly reminding Kronos of his current situation. His title as King of the Gods was nearly nominal, but Themis also did not wish for him to become a tyrant like Uranus, so she added that final sentence.

Kronos smiled and replied without much concern, "Thank you for the reminder. I will keep it in mind."

Themis nodded. She put away her code of law and prepared to travel across the land, establishing order. Before leaving, she curiously asked about her younger sister, Rhea, the current Queen of the Gods and goddess of time.

"Has Lady Rhea been well recently? I have not seen her in several hundred years," Themis asked.

"She is well," Kronos said with a smile.

"That is good." Only then did Themis relax. "Then I shall go establish laws and order."

Kronos nodded and said sincerely, "May justice be with us."

After saying this, he personally saw off the goddess who symbolized justice. He then returned to the divine mountain and made his way to Rhea's temple.

At that moment, Rhea looked haggard. She had aged considerably and seemed to be in poor spirits. She was no longer the radiant, beautiful maiden she had once been. This represented damage to her origin.

When she saw Kronos arrive, there was not a trace of the love she had once felt for him in her eyes. Only fear-laced anger remained. She cautiously protected her swollen belly, her gaze full of vigilance.

Yet Kronos did not care in the slightest. He still approached warmly, utterly ignoring Rhea's struggles and resistance as he forcibly pulled her into his embrace and told her about what had just happened.

As he did so, he considered when Themis's laws and order, symbols of justice, would appear, for that concerned when he would be fully acknowledged by the world.

At the same time, he gently stroked Rhea's swollen belly. That concerned when he could "have an extra meal" and obtain another new law.

Under Kronos's immense power, Rhea could not struggle at all. She only found the scene incomparably ironic.

Kronos constantly spoke of justice and order, yet what he did was the most unjust and disorder-destroying thing of all.

How tragic... and laughable!

Themis walked across the land, sensing the world's guidance and the laws by which the cosmos operated. She established law after law, while the code in her hands grew ever more complete.

Roughly another five hundred years passed before a complete set of laws for the present world was finally finished.

Ever since she began establishing laws, many gods had cast their eyes upon her. Most were merely curious, wanting to see what this so-called order and fairness truly were.

But after watching for several years and finding it uninteresting, they withdrew their attention one after another.

Only when the laws were completed, the world reacted and changed, and Themis's strength rapidly rose—from one of the weaker Titans to one of the most powerful—did they turn their surprised gazes toward her once more.

At the same time, a gaze from the endless void at the edge of the world watched her as well. Unlike the other gods, Theron had observed every action Themis took, from beginning to end.

"Not bad."

Feeling the increase in divine power within him, Theron withdrew his gaze with great satisfaction. Though he had not been the one to drive Themis's establishment of laws, as long as the world advanced and became more complete, Theron would benefit as well. He simply received less than he would have if he had pushed it himself.

This was understandable. One had participated, while the other had not. Rewards were distributed according to contribution. It was perfectly fair.

Prometheus, who had been coming to visit him at every turn over the past few centuries, smiled only after seeing Theron finally withdraw his gaze. "Honored Lord Theron, for something to hold your attention for so long, it must be an enormously significant matter."

"You should have sensed it as well. This is a very good thing," Theron replied with a smile. "Only with laws and fairness can this world distinguish right from wrong and develop better."

Prometheus nodded in deep agreement. As the god of foresight and a branch of destiny, he likewise hoped that the world would improve more and more.

"This is indeed something worth celebrating, but now is not the time for celebration. Something else, something more important, is happening."

Theron said, "Perhaps very soon, an unexpected guest will arrive here."

Prometheus was somewhat puzzled. He did not know who this unexpected guest was, nor did he know what could be more important than establishing laws. But seeing that Theron had no intention of explaining, he suppressed his curiosity.

What he did not know was that, while many Titans, including Kronos, rushed to celebrate Themis's successful establishment of laws, a haggard figure quietly left the divine mountain.

It was Rhea, the Queen of the Gods, who had long been trapped upon the divine mountain by Kronos.

Because Kronos had always kept watch over her, she only dared to secretly leave while he went to offer his congratulations.

The goddess of time no longer bore the vigor of youth. She looked utterly exhausted. Concealing her actions from everyone, she quietly came to the palace of Gaia, Mother Earth.

Gaia was greatly surprised by Rhea's arrival, and even more astonished by her current appearance. Unable to help herself, she asked, "Rhea, my child, why have you become so weak? What happened?"

"Merciful Mother Goddess, great Mother Earth, please protect me. Please help me..." Upon hearing this, Rhea immediately shed tears of anguish and let out a despairing cry. "That brutal King of the Gods, Kronos—he ate our children!"

"What?!"

Gaia's voice rang out with furious outrage. Her face was filled with disbelief, as though she could not accept what she had heard.

Gaia clearly remembered that Kronos had once come to her and asked her to withdraw the child in Rhea's womb, only to be harshly rebuked by Gaia.

Gaia had told him then that not only would she not withdraw the child, she would bless it as well. Therefore, Rhea's child would certainly be born.

Those words had also been a warning—a warning for Kronos to stop entertaining such absurd thoughts. Some things were destined to be impossible to prevent, such as a child's birth and the changing of divine authority.

Now, a thousand years had passed. Kronos had never come to speak to her of such matters again, and there had been no disturbance on the divine mountain. Gaia had thought that Kronos had accepted her advice and stopped making such meaningless attempts.

Yet she had never expected that, upon discovering he could not prevent the child's birth, he would choose to eat the child!

What an absurd act. It was simply horrifying!

"For all these years, from Hestia to Demeter, Hera, Hades, and finally Poseidon, he has already eaten five of my children!"

Rhea choked up, nearly unable to speak. "I wanted to stop him, but I could not. He was too powerful. I did not even have the strength to struggle..."

Thinking of her children being devoured alive while she could only watch helplessly, unable to stop it, Rhea was in such agony that she nearly fainted. Tears streamed down her face, and immense grief and sorrow nearly drowned her.

Gaia looked at Rhea, who had been tormented beyond recognition, at her pitiful daughter, and felt anguish in her heart as well.

Gaia had once suffered something similar, so she understood all too well how desperate and painful it was.

At the same time, the merciful Mother Earth felt incomparable fury. She held authority over childbirth, and Kronos's actions were no less than a provocation—indeed, they were even worse.

"Kronos has completely forgotten the responsibilities of the King of the Gods. He has become exactly like his brutal father, Uranus! Perhaps we should make that curse come true!"

"What curse?" Rhea asked blankly. She still knew nothing.

Because Theron had interrupted it back then, apart from Kronos, who had personally gone to ask Theron, and Gaia, whom Kronos had informed, no other gods knew the contents of that curse. They did not even know that it still continued.

Gaia told the still-uninformed Rhea about the curse. Only then did Rhea understand, choking back sobs as she murmured, "No wonder... no wonder..."

"So he feared being overthrown by his own children. That is why he devoured our children again and again."

"He has changed. He is no longer the brave and fearless Kronos I loved. He has become cowardly and weak, brutal and vicious!"

As Rhea spoke, she suddenly thought of something. Her expression abruptly became terrified. Pressing a hand against her still-flat lower abdomen, she begged in panic, "Mother Goddess, save me! Save this child! Kronos will certainly not spare this child either!"

Only then did Gaia notice a faint presence within Rhea's belly. Perhaps because the child had only just begun to form, its presence was so weak that Gaia had not noticed it immediately.

The merciful Mother Earth's expression became extremely complicated. She softened her voice and gently comforted Rhea. "Rhea, my daughter, do not be afraid. Do not be sad. Rest assured, I will help you."

She began considering what to do.

Though Gaia was a great primordial god, she was not skilled in battle. Rhea, goddess of time, was the same.

The two of them alone had no way of confronting Kronos, who had occupied the throne of the King of the Gods for a thousand years and had gained the world's complete recognition.

The scene felt so familiar that Gaia was almost dazed. Back then, she had faced the same predicament, except the King of the Gods she had needed to resist was Uranus.

Uranus had been just as powerful then, even more invincible than Kronos was now. Yet Gaia had still won, because of that one's guidance.

At that thought, Gaia's expression grew even more complicated. She looked at Rhea and spoke with utmost seriousness.

"Perhaps we should ask destiny."

Stirring Up Trouble

For Kronos, the King of the Gods, eating his own children was something that happened either zero times or countless times.

After all, doing so could both resist the curse and increase his strength.

As long as the children were not born, he had no descendants. Naturally, there was no possibility of being overthrown by his own children.

And after he devoured the laws newly conceived along with the children's births, he could use those laws as well, making himself even stronger.

It was simply killing two birds with one stone.

Thus, after discovering this method, he no longer resisted being intimate with Rhea. If a new god was born, he would simply eat it on the spot.

But the agony of losing child after child had nearly driven Rhea to collapse.

After learning the contents of the curse from Gaia, Rhea finally understood everything. She was utterly disappointed in Kronos and believed that he had become as brutal as Uranus, the first King of the Gods.

At the same time, she became even more determined to protect the new life growing within her womb. Under Gaia's guidance, she came alone to that endless void.

Yet she felt somewhat uneasy.

Her impression of Theron remained fixed on the moment he had stepped forward and interrupted Uranus's curse. She found this ancient god far too mysterious and did not dare to learn much about him. She always felt that he was dangerous and had to be approached with caution.

When Hestia had been born, she had invited Theron purely out of respect. She had never expected him to actually attend the feast.

Thinking about it now, perhaps Lord Theron had already sensed something at the time. That was why he had left the void, which he had not departed from in hundreds of years, and personally come to visit her and Hestia.

Unfortunately, I was too foolish then to notice the abnormality hidden within it.

With that thought, Rhea let out a deep sigh. Looking at the vast space of nothingness before her, she finally made up her mind and stepped inside.

At that very moment, Theron was not the least bit surprised by Rhea's arrival, for he had already been waiting for a long time.