In the Sky Divine Domain, Cronus knelt in terror, his hands spread open and his forehead pressed to the ground, holding himself in the most abject posture.
"You're back?" Uranus's voice came from the throne, carrying a trace of surprise. "I thought you would run a little longer."
"I..." Cronus's heart clenched sharply. He pressed himself even lower, his voice trembling. "I lost my head to fear and ran for a while. But I soon thought it through. I should not have fled. Your punishment was right, Father, and I should accept it."
Silence. A long silence.
Then Uranus recalled the scene of him seeking out Nairmis earlier and chuckled. "At least you know better than the others. Go. Return to where you belong."
Cronus did not raise his head. Still kneeling, his body began to tip backward, as though some invisible force were pulling him down from the sky, guiding him back into the depths of the earth.
At the last moment, Cronus cast his gaze into the distance. Toward Proeon, toward where that third-class god was.
"You had better really have a way."
He silently finished that last sentence, and then darkness swallowed him. He was stuffed back into the belly of the earth, crammed together with his eleven other siblings.
At the foot of Mount Proeon, Nairmis dismissed the Nymphs, watched them disappear into the depths of the woods, then withdrew his gaze and took a deep breath.
That presence was already approaching. He had sensed it for some time, ever since Uranus had finished dealing with the last Titan. A despair-inducing pressure had begun descending from the sky, slowly enveloping the whole Proeon region.
Birds fell from the sky, beasts dropped to their forelegs, plants bent toward the ground, and the streams almost stopped flowing beneath its pressure.
It was the indiscriminate, utterly unreasonable pressure of a supreme being, unleashed without restraint, like someone shaking dust from his robes in an open doorway and crushing all the ants at the entrance in passing.
Nairmis did not prostrate himself. His knees trembled, and his body screamed at him to kneel.
But he gritted his teeth and summoned the divine power of his Emotion Divinity to resist that physiological fear. He could feel sweat seeping from his forehead, sliding down the bridge of his nose, and falling at his feet with a patter.
But he stood there and waited, holding two paintings.
At last, the golden light in the sky condensed to its utmost, then split open into a fissure.
Golden light poured from the fissure, bathing Mount Proeon's summit, slopes, and foot. Every inch of land was dyed gold by that light.
Then he appeared. Uranus stepped out of the fissure, and there was no tremor when he landed.
No dust rose, no rocks shattered, and even the grass beneath his feet remained unbent. His soles hovered half an inch above the ground.
His pressure poured out without restraint. The contours of his bare upper-body muscles glimmered with pale golden light, while the robes covering his lower body drifted gently without wind. His features held an innate majesty, with the breadth and depth of the sky.
Nairmis's throat tightened. This was the first time he had seen His Majesty the God King clearly from so close. Only now, standing face-to-face with him, did he understand what it meant to be so powerful that it inspired despair.
Nairmis lowered his head, bent at the waist, and bowed, his posture humble and respectful.
"Great Lord of the Sky, His Majesty Uranus, God King who rules the world, sole sovereign above the firmament. Your light shines upon all things, your will is law, and your existence allows heaven and earth to turn in order. All things bow wherever your gaze falls. Before you, all beings seem insignificant, and all splendor becomes dust."
"Nairmis, God of Emotions and Craft, who presides over the path of wisdom and prophecy, pays his respects. May your reign be as eternal as the sky. May all things keep their proper places beneath your majesty, taking pride in you and finding their home in you."
After speaking, he raised his chin slightly and met Uranus's gaze.
This time, he finally saw those eyes clearly. Nairmis felt as though the sky itself were watching him, and that pressure made his back tense.
But he did not look away. Uranus looked down at him, and then the corners of the God King's mouth curved slightly upward.
"You're rather good. So weak, yet you dare look me in the eye. Aren't you afraid of death?"
Nairmis smiled as well. His heart raced, but his tone remained composed as he said, "To be killed by Your Majesty's own hand would be my honor."
"Before His Majesty the great God King, we are all as insignificant as ants. But even beings as small as us should possess the courage to face the mighty. If we dare not look up at the sky, how can we know its height? If we dare not face the God King, how can we comprehend his majesty?"
He finished speaking. There was a moment of silence, and then the laws trembled.
The laws of the world were responding to and acknowledging his words. A new lesser divinity was born within him: the Courage Divinity.
The divine power of courage spread outward from his body in a wave. As it brushed over the creatures prostrate on the ground around him, the birds' wings trembled slightly, the beasts' ears pricked up, and the Nymphs curled beneath the distant trees relaxed their bodies a little.
Nairmis lowered his head to glance at the Courage Divinity within him, then looked up to meet Uranus's gaze again. A hint of awkwardness crept into the smile on his lips.
He had only wanted to put on a little act, using that calm, fearless bearing to make the God King see him in a slightly better light, so he might take a couple fewer blows when the beating came. Instead, the laws had directly handed him a Courage Divinity.
After the God King had unleashed his pressure to suppress the entire mountain, he, a third-class god, had advanced to become the God of Courage on the spot, pulling the surrounding creatures a little way out of their fear. However one looked at it, the scene seemed like a slap to Uranus's face.
Nairmis's smile froze on his lips as he rapidly considered whether to kneel and explain at once. But before he could open his mouth, Uranus suddenly turned his head.
Then he raised his right hand in an utterly casual motion, but a white figure was dragged out of the depths of the woods by an invisible hand, stumbling and falling onto the grass at Nairmis's feet.
Hemera's face plunged into the dirt and fallen leaves. Grass clippings clung to her white dress, and her hair had come loose.
Nairmis looked down at the goddess who had suddenly appeared at his feet, his face blank with bewilderment. The aura of a second-class god. Who was she? What was a second-class god like her doing hiding there, and when had she started hiding?
Uranus frowned slightly. "The daughter of Night."
Hemera scrambled up, her fingers swiftly brushing grass and dirt from her hair, her face bright red. She had been hiding in the shadows of the trees, watching everything: Nairmis confronting the God King, the birth of the Courage Divinity, and that composed smile on Nairmis's face.
She had been so absorbed and entranced that she had completely failed to notice Uranus's gaze had already locked onto her hiding place.
The moment she was dragged out and thrown to the ground, only one thought filled her mind: I've made such a fool of myself in front of my dear Nairmis.
But the one standing before her was Uranus, the brutal God King who had just stuffed the Twelve Titans back into the earth. Hemera dared not be negligent. She quickly stood and bowed. After all, she had grown up at Nyx's side and was accustomed to grand occasions, so she immediately regained her composure.
"His Majesty Uranus, peerless God King of the Sky, Hemera, daughter of Night and Goddess of Day, pays her respects. May your light forever envelop all things, and may your majesty never wane."
"What are you doing here?"
Uranus looked down at her. Thinking of that married couple, Darkness and Night, he did not strike immediately.