The Great War Begins (Please Leave a First Subscription)

Metis gently shook her head at him, undisguised worry in her beautiful eyes.

Zeus came to his senses at once. He reached out and patted Metis's hand to show her he was fine, then broke into a hearty smile and rose to greet him. "Great Prince Theron, your presence alone brings Mount Olympus its greatest glory!"

"I'm more convinced than ever that victory will be ours!"

His enthusiasm was infectious. Everyone grew excited, each of them utterly certain they would succeed. In high spirits, they began to indulge in fine wine, looking forward to a brighter tomorrow.

When King of Gods Kronos discovered that Theron had left, an overwhelming fury swept over him. And it wasn't just him—the Six Giants felt the same rage at being made fools of.

They felt they had been toyed with.

Once they learned that Theron was with Zeus and that the two sides had joined forces, even the Six Giants could no longer sit still.

After all, the Three Fates had made it clear that Theron would threaten the Titans' divine authority.

Now Theron and Zeus were on the same side. Didn't that mean Zeus's new order would threaten the great authority of the Titans?

This was no longer just a family matter for the King of Gods!

The Six Giants barely hesitated before following Kronos to Mount Olympus. They intended to crush these rebels once and for all, and seal them away forever along with that detestable God of Fate!

Only then could they protect the glory and power of the great Titans!

But they never could have imagined that, in such a short time, the rebels had already gained plenty of allies—including some of their own kin!

There was no need to mention Rhea; she had started this rebellion. But besides her, several other members of the Twelve Titans had joined them as well!

Oceanus, the god of the great ocean, appeared with his wife Tethys. The moment Theron showed up at the Divine Banquet, they dropped all pretenses and threw the entire Oceanus Lineage behind Zeus.

Besides the two of them, Themis, goddess of justice and law, had also appeared among Zeus's ranks.

Now, with the exception of Mnemosyne, goddess of memory, every Titan had shown up.

There was no need to dwell on the Oceanus Lineage couple; they had made their leanings obvious from the start. But Themis's appearance still caught the gods off guard.

She was the goddess Rhea had visited when Zeus led his followers into the Void and first clashed with the King of Gods.

Themis embodied justice and order, yet the world had grown ever more chaotic under Kronos's rule. She had long been dissatisfied with it.

After Zeus revealed his power, Themis joined his side at Rhea's urging.

Now, apart from Kronos himself, six Titans stood with the King of Gods, while four stood with Zeus.

Although Zeus had fewer Titans, he had far more powerful Third Generation Gods, such as Poseidon. At least for the moment, neither side seemed to have a significant advantage.

Neither side held an overwhelming edge.

Seeing this, Kronos was consumed with rage. He shouted at them, "Oceanus, Tethys, Themis! Do you intend to betray the glory of our Titan race?"

"That is your glory, not ours."

Oceanus, god of the great ocean, retorted without hesitation. He had long held a grudge against Kronos and had no intention of backing down.

Themis said nothing, but the scales of justice in her hands had already tipped. They signified that the order of the age had fallen into chaos—and that was why she had come.

"Enough talk, greedy King of Gods. Everything that's happened today is simply the price you're paying for your greed!"

Zeus's hearty voice rang across Mount Olympus. As he appeared, Kronos's reason was further consumed by rage.

It was all because of that damned rebel!

Everything happening today was because of that damned rebel!

Rage consumed him. Kronos attacked in a fury, and the Six Giants charged forward with him.

Zeus's side was just as unyielding. The two sides quickly clashed.

They revealed their colossal forms and forced their laws to collide, sending shockwave after shockwave through the air.

The mighty Titans seized enormous mountains and hurled them at Zeus. Zeus and the others retaliated by lifting and throwing massive boulders. They could even wield flames and rivers as weapons. Their battle left the whole world trembling on the brink of collapse.

Vegetation that had grown for thousands upon thousands of years was wiped out. Countless weak creatures died without a sound, caught in the battle's aftershocks. The lesser gods who had no place in the fighting shuddered in fear, afraid of being caught in the crossfire.

Yet no matter how fiercely they fought, neither side could completely destroy the other.

For gods could not be killed.

Before long, the battle had continued for ten full years.

They fought every day. When they grew tired, they returned to drink, feast, and rest. Once recovered, they resumed the fighting. Neither side suffered any real losses, and not a single god fell.

To the gods, whose lives stretched over countless ages, ten years was no more than the time it took to drink a cup of tea. But for the world, it was a tremendous disaster.

The entire world had been battered and broken by the fierce fighting. The heavens collapsed, and the earth split apart.

The one who felt this most directly was Gaia, Mother Earth.

During another brief lull in the fighting, Gaia could no longer endure the endless din. She came to Mount Olympus and said to Zeus, "It's been ten whole years, Zeus!"

"The earth's ceaseless trembling has driven me to distraction. End this farce at once! Make Kronos, who violated the laws of procreation, suffer the punishment he deserves. Let the curse on that generation of Kings of Gods come true as soon as possible—and give my ears some peace!"

Zeus didn't dare slight Mother Earth. He hurried forward to welcome her. "Great Mother Earth, as you can see, we can neither kill our opponents nor overpower them."

"Though I'm anxious too, the truth is that this battle could go on forever."

Gaia's beautiful face was full of irritation. "I hate endless wars!"

"Zeus, do you know that back then, Sky God Uranus sent my six Giant children back into my body through the abyss of Tartarus? I barely managed to soothe them, but now your foolish war has woken them!"

"Their cries in my mind, along with the noise of your fighting, are more despairing than the abyss itself! Zeus, if you can't end this battle quickly, then stop fighting!"

Zeus could only look helpless at her words. There was nothing he could do except try to placate the irritated Mother Earth.

Just then, a quiet voice spoke up. "In that case, Prince Zeus, why not go to the abyss of Tartarus and free the Six Giants?"

At those words, Zeus and Gaia both froze. They looked toward the white-robed figure approaching them, and Theron smiled at them as well.

"Great Mother Earth, it's been a long time. You're as radiant as ever."

Theron greeted Gaia warmly, but she had no mind to respond. All she could think of was the suggestion to free the Six Giants.

Her irritation, built up over ten years of noise, suddenly eased. Looking at Zeus, Mother Earth agreed, "Yes, Zeus. Why not free the Six Giants?"

"With their help, you're sure to succeed, and at last I'll have some peace!"

Zeus hesitated.

Chapter 63: The Great War Begins (Please Leave a First Subscription)

It wasn't that Zeus had never considered freeing the Six Giants. They were simply too powerful—even stronger than the Twelve Titans.

Zeus worried that they would be too difficult to control, so he had held back.

But now Theron had brought it up, and Gaia was strongly in favor. Zeus had to give it serious thought; refusing could have unpleasant consequences.

At the very least, he couldn't afford to offend Theron and Gaia.

Under the gaze of these two powerful beings, Zeus soon nodded. He decided to summon Poseidon and Hades and head to the abyss to free the Six Giants.

Almost the moment he agreed, Theron felt his power grow once more. He knew the battle was finally nearing its end.

He hadn't taken part in the fighting over the past ten years and had barely shown his face. Yet he had been the one quietly driving events forward from behind the scenes, secretly accumulating power as he waited for the final moment.

And now it was time to reap the harvest.

The Chaos World rewarded contribution. The more one contributed to the world, the greater the reward.

When Kronos, despite being King of Gods, stopped working for the world's development and even made it more chaotic, overthrowing his rule and the old order became something the Chaos World encouraged.

That was why Theron had willingly taken on the task of opposing Kronos.

Zeus might have thought he had used Theron, and that he had gotten the better deal by leaving the Final War against Kronos to him. Little did he know that he had given away the richest rewards.

Theron had undoubtedly contributed far more than Zeus to Kronos's overthrow. He was eager to find out what he would receive when the rewards were finally handed out.

It was a certainty that Zeus would become King of Gods. But what would Theron get?

The thought was certainly exciting.

Meanwhile, the three brothers—Zeus, Poseidon, and Hades—soon arrived in the abyss, where they first encountered the Three Cyclopes.

The Cyclopes were hideously ugly, but Zeus showed no sign of disgust. Instead, he promised to take them to live on the surface.

The Cyclopes had been trapped for nearly ten thousand years. At his words, they grew immensely excited. Simple-minded as they were, they didn't understand all the twists and turns of the situation. They simply decided that Zeus, who had freed them, was a good person.

To show their gratitude, they decided to give Zeus and the others some gifts.

Zeus's eyes lit up at once. He knew that the Sickle in King of Gods Kronos's hands had been forged by these very Giants. The Cyclopes possessed the finest smithing skills in the world, and the weapons they forged were all divine artifacts.

And what Zeus lacked most right now was power.

Poseidon and Hades were delighted, too. Since each of the three Giants would forge one item, there would be one for each of them.

While they waited for the Cyclopes to forge their divine weapons and hoped to increase their strength, King of Gods Kronos was busy as well.

He summoned the gods and their children and returned to the temple of the Three Fates.

The war had gone on for too long, and Kronos was growing anxious. He no longer wanted to test the waters; he wanted to end the battle at once.

But he had no idea how. After ten years of fighting, Zeus and the others had grown incredibly powerful. Kronos couldn't defeat them, so he had come to seek the Three Fates' help.

But the Three Fates could offer no suitable solution either. They could only see vague outlines of what was to come.

The only thing that reassured Kronos was that the Three Fates always gave him encouraging answers whenever he asked.

For example, in front of all the gods, Kronos once again asked the question he had posed so many times before. "Respected goddesses, I want to know: will we lose this battle?"

"You will not lose. You will be immortal forever."

Clotho, Lachesis, and Atropos answered in unison. Their voices echoed through the temple, ethereal and distant.

At their words, the Titans, who had been worried by the stalemate, all breathed a sigh of relief. It was as though they had been given a shot in the arm, and smiles returned to their faces.

"Immortality belongs to us Titans!" Hyperion declared with a proud laugh. The other Titans felt just as proud.

Seeing that his words had lifted everyone's spirits, Kronos pressed on. "Then how should we win this battle?"

The Three Fates shook their heads and said quietly, "Great King of Gods, forgive our ignorance. We do not know."

This wasn't the first time Kronos had heard that answer. He was disappointed, but not surprised. He could only turn to Prometheus.

This far-seeing God of Foresight was full of wisdom. Throughout the past ten years of battle, he had consistently picked up accurate information and offered plenty of valuable ideas, earning the complete trust of the King of Gods and the other Titans.

Now, before the Titans went into battle, the first thing they did was ask Prometheus for his opinion. Then they asked the Three Fates whether danger awaited them. Only after receiving reassurance from both would they set out.