The King of Gods' Curse

At that very moment, Zeus had no chance to dodge. He was still helping the Hecatoncheires hold open the exit to the Abyss!

He could only choose to open it now, because the commotion caused by the giants' release was too great to conceal. If he freed them earlier, Kronos and the others would have been prepared.

Just as Zeus prepared to endure the attack with his mighty divine body, a figure appeared.

Theron appeared before Zeus. Facing seven mighty gods, including the King of Gods himself, who had joined in the attack, Theron's expression remained unchanged. He simply smiled and raised a hand.

In an instant, the power of the laws erupted. Countless threads of fate surfaced from every person, then converged into a vast torrent before Theron. Even the entire world trembled in resonance.

Borrowing the world's power and invoking everyone's fate, he endured the blow head-on.

It was as if he had distributed the terrifying attack among every living being in the world—even the attacking Titans themselves.

The move was so earth-shaking and horrifying that the Titan gods froze in place, stunned.

And while they were still dazed, Zeus let out another earth-shaking roar. He swung the Thunder Scepter in his hand with all his might, and a terrifying bolt of lightning struck down. At last, the sealed gate to the Abyss was blasted wide open.

The enormous Hecatoncheires finally crawled out. They roared with excitement, waving their hundred arms as they charged at the Titan gods in the sky. Their immense forms nearly blotted out the heavens as they moved.

At a moment like this, even the stupidest god knew they had to fight for their lives. Things couldn't possibly get any worse!

The six ancient Titan gods finally stopped hesitating and began fighting to the death, hoping to seize one last chance to turn things around.

King of Gods Kronos was also furious and shocked. More than Zeus releasing the Hecatoncheires, what he could hardly believe was that Theron was this powerful!

His heart sank completely, but he knew just as well that he had no choice but to fight for his life. There was no time left to prepare.

Grinding his teeth, he gripped the Sickle tightly and charged at Theron, already prepared for the possibility of defeat.

This was a true last stand: giving everything, holding nothing back.

But what he never expected was that the powerful attack he had imagined never came.

Theron only defended himself, and under Kronos's frenzied assault, he even seemed to struggle to keep up.

Kronos was deeply surprised. From what he could sense, Theron possessed divine power as great as a Titan's, but it still couldn't match the might of the King of Gods. And yet, somehow, Theron dodged every one of his attacks.

Kronos focused his senses and quickly realized something. His eyes widened in disbelief, and he blurted out, "You aren't really that powerful. Your strength comes from stealing?!"

Theron smiled at him. "Oh, you figured it out."

"Too bad you realized it too late."

Kronos had been so cautious. For tens of thousands of years, despite his deep wariness, he had never truly attacked. Even when he tested Theron, it was only with a single strike before he immediately withdrew.

As a result, he had never discovered that the mysterious Theron he had feared was nowhere near as powerful as he had imagined.

But, just as Theron had said, he had realized it too late.

### "You've been deceiving me! You've been lying to me all along!"

Kronos's furious roar echoed throughout the world. As King of Gods, he had never lost control like this.

But it was hard to blame him. Anyone who discovered that the mysterious being they had treated with such caution for tens of thousands of years was just a fraud would probably find it impossible to accept.

In the eyes of Kronos and the other Titans, Theron was ancient and powerful. Even when his outward appearance suggested he had only weak divine power, he could still stand against the mighty Sky God.

Later, he had repeatedly come and gone from the prisons Kronos had set up at will, and could not be confined to Tartarus. All of this had proven Theron's strength.

Under these circumstances, who would have believed that his true power was only what he showed on the surface?

The reason Kronos had been so wary of Theron was that he believed him powerful enough to threaten his position. If he had known Theron wasn't that strong, why would he have cared so much?

And if he hadn't cared so much, how could he have ended up opposing Theron?

At the very beginning, Theron had supported him. He had even defeated the first King of Gods, Uranus, with Theron's help.

Kronos even recalled what Theron had told him when he helped him defeat Uranus: when he was brave and fearless, fate stood on his side.

The unspoken meaning was that when fear and terror drove him to take every precaution, he lost those fine qualities, and fate no longer favored him.

He had been wrong. He should not have devoured his children out of fear, nor should he have targeted Theron out of dread. He had been wrong from the very beginning!

The things he had feared had never been enough to threaten him in the first place!

He could have been bolder and imprisoned Theron for good. If he failed once, he could try again, then a third time. With the power Theron had shown at the time, he couldn't have stolen much support from the world!

But he had been too cautious. Because he lacked confidence and didn't know what Theron was capable of, he had chosen to give up! He had actually chosen to give up!

If only he had known, if only he had known...

At that moment, Kronos finally understood everything. But he had understood far too late.

If the first King of Gods had fallen because of his own arrogance, then Kronos had lost because of his excessive caution.

"I warned you a long time ago," Theron said calmly. "I also told you not to delve into the curse."

"That was your one chance to change your fate, but you rejected me. From that moment on, everything that followed was set in stone."

Kronos stared blankly at the youth before him, at the face that had once terrified him to his core. The world seemed so absurd.

"No, it can't be... The Fates said I wouldn't be defeated. How could I lose?!" Kronos murmured, as if clinging to his last lifeline.

"Of course you won't be defeated. You're the great King of Gods. You'll never be defeated. You simply lost. You lost to yourself."

Theron spoke calmly, as if describing something insignificant.

Kronos slowly lifted his head. He looked at the youth before him, and an indescribable fury suddenly surged within him.

It was all because of him, all because of him!

If it weren't for Theron, things would never have come to this!

Even if he lost, he would make this blustering fraud pay!

He charged at Theron like a madman, but before he could strike, a Hecatoncheir's hundred arms seized him and held him fast.

He turned his head and realized that all his allies had already been captured. The Hecatoncheires' terrifying strength had restrained every Titan god who had still dared to struggle.

And the rebellious son he hated most, Zeus, had also come before him, holding his Thunder Staff high.

Every god had heard the conversation between Kronos and Theron. Though they didn't know what Kronos had meant by "stealing," one thing had clearly come through: Theron had been bluffing, and he wasn't actually that powerful.

Zeus immediately began to think it over, and many things he had found strange suddenly made sense.

He had already been puzzled. If Theron really was as powerful as the Titan gods claimed, able to face the King of Gods' creative might and even surpass him, why would he submit to The Void?

Why would he help Zeus defeat the King of Gods instead of taking him on himself? And why had he never joined the battle during these ten years?

The whole situation had been strange from every angle.

The Twelve Titans had been so deeply impressed by their past experiences that they had overlooked these oddities. Their admiration and trust in Theron had even become blind.

But Zeus was a Third Generation God. He hadn't lived through the time of Uranus or witnessed Theron's feats, so he hadn't felt the shock the Twelve Titans had felt. He had always sensed that something was off.

But now everything made sense.

So... he had just been bluffing.

Zeus immediately felt reassured, and most of his wariness and fear of Theron faded away.

But he had also learned from Kronos's mistake. At a moment like this, he didn't want Theron, who had just withstood the combined attack of seven Titan gods, to have any more chances to steal the spotlight.

He stepped forward and went to face Kronos. Under the gaze of the gods, he spoke with the air of a victor and in a tone dripping with mockery:

"O great devourer of your own children, King of Gods, will you still refuse to admit defeat?"

"Your greed and stupidity brought about your downfall. Everything that happened today is what you deserve. In the name of the new King of Gods, I will imprison you forever. That will be your final fate."

With those words, Zeus forced everyone's attention back onto himself, including Kronos, who hated Theron with all his heart.

Theron knew what Zeus was thinking. But instead of stopping him, he was happy to let it happen, even deliberately making himself less conspicuous.

He simply watched as Kronos's hatred shifted from him to Zeus.

"Zeus, don't get cocky! Once I break free of these hundred arms, I'll whip you until you scream! Don't forget, you can neither hurt me nor kill me!"

Zeus laughed at that. In a tone of utter disdain, he said, "You're right, but I can imprison you forever."

"Listen. Tartarus is rumbling in the depths below, eager to feast on you, its King of Gods."

Then he ignored Kronos, as though he were nothing more than a defeated enemy unworthy of his attention, and turned to the gods. "Victory belongs to us!"

The gods erupted in excited cheers. Amid the jubilant celebration, Zeus came before Theron and said with a smile, "Great Lord Theron, thank you for your noble assistance."

"Now it's time to celebrate our victory. I know you've never liked lively gatherings, so I won't keep you here."

He adopted a somewhat forceful air, showing none of his earlier respect or courtesy. He didn't even mention the conditions he had promised Theron.

Theron smiled, seemingly unconcerned. "It was my honor to help you."

"I really don't enjoy crowds, so I'll be on my way."

With that, Theron turned and left without hesitation. His swift departure even surprised Zeus.

He had assumed Lord Theron would use his contribution to make demands or ask for some reward. But he had simply left?

But at such a critical moment, Zeus had no time to think about it. He still had to deal with Kronos and the other gods.

Besides, there was no reason to worry about a weak god who was all bluff.

To make sure he got all the credit in front of the gods, he even personally imprisoned the six defeated Titans, casting them into Tartarus. Their furious, despairing wails made the whole earth tremble.

At last, when it was Kronos's turn, the former King of Gods stared at Zeus and spoke in a voice full of hatred:

"Zeus, don't get cocky. I curse you: you will be overthrown by your strongest child!"

At the very end, Kronos still chose to curse Zeus, even though not long ago he had hated Theron more.

But no god could accept defeat while someone else kept mocking him. Zeus had indeed stolen the spotlight from Theron, and successfully drawn Kronos's hatred onto himself.

Almost before Kronos had finished speaking, from within the endless Abyss, Iapetus, the Titan of Death and Souls, also spoke in a voice full of fury:

"Zeus, I curse you too! Your own child will rob you of your rights as a god!"

When they had finished uttering their resentful curses, Tartarus finally closed completely.

Hearing the two curses, Zeus froze in place.

At that moment, he clearly felt fate respond. It was the aura of destiny, a power no god of Chaos could resist.

The sensation told him the curses would inevitably come to pass. That was the power of an oath.

Even Zeus, mighty as he was, felt a chill in his heart. He remembered that Kronos had once been cursed in the same way, only for the curse to be interrupted.