"It was you!"
The battered Kratos understood. Although Athena often transformed into a Giant Eagle to help him, not every Giant Eagle was Athena in disguise.
Previously, an eagle had stolen his divine power, making the bald God of War mistakenly believe that she had betrayed him. But it had been Zeus!
"That's right. I had no choice but to deal with this mess personally." Zeus smugly picked up the massive sword embedded in the ground, savoring the God of War's full power returning to him. "Athena refused to take responsibility for her mistakes, but if you want to create a heroic myth, you need someone like you."
Su Ming, secretly watching from afar while eating chips, nodded. It seemed that the Olympian Pantheon in different universes all handled faith in much the same way: support a mortal hero, let him accomplish a series of great deeds, and eventually earn supreme glory in the eyes of others.
That way, more and more mortals would imitate that success story and offer a constant stream of faith to the pantheon.
"Why? Why are you targeting me?!" Kratos's heart had turned to ashes. His weakened mortal body made him cough up blood.
Lightning flashed in Zeus's eyes as his white hair drifted in the wind. He slapped his chest and retorted, "No! You betrayed me first! Your existence threatened Olympus. I can no longer stand by and do nothing. Your hands are stained with the blood of gods. I will not repeat Ares's mistake!"
Previously, the former God of War, Ares, had grown too powerful and threatened Zeus's position. That was why the All-Father and the others had secretly supported Kratos, using him to eliminate the God of War.
Kratos was not entirely mortal either. His mother had once been a Spartan princess,