Zeus had been too exhausted, too desperate then. He had accepted that seemingly reasonable logic and welcomed the Lord of the Void's "help."
Then came a long darkness.
His consciousness was suppressed in its deepest recesses, leaving him only to watch helplessly as his body did one thing after another against his will.
Ordering the development of Consciousness Seeds to forcibly unify everyone's thoughts.
Approving the construction of the Void Anchor Network to erode the foundations of the Multiverse.
Ordering Iota to self-destruct, spreading fear through even tighter control.
Executing members of the Moderate Faction who resisted, their blood staining the floor of the Alliance hall red.
"No... no... none of this is what I wanted..." Zeus's true consciousness struggled in agony.
The Lord of the Void sneered. "But you did it all the same. Your hands are covered in blood, and your name bears countless sins. Even if you regain your freedom, will those you hurt forgive you? Will those who died because of you come back to life?"
"Why not surrender? In the void, you can forget everything. No sin, no guilt, no pain. Isn't that a kind of release?"
Those words ate away at Zeus's will like poison.
He remembered the despair in the eyes of the Moderate Faction Four when they were placed under house arrest, Iota's anguished pleas before self-destructing, and the hollow eyes of the soldiers forced under his control.
"I... do I still deserve to be saved...?"
Gamma's golden light blade was peeling away the Consciousness Seed little by little, each cut bringing a tearing agony. Yet the torment of the soul was even harder to bear than the physical pain.
Zeus began to question the meaning of his existence.
Just then, Alpha's voice pierced the barrier of time and reached Zeus's consciousness