A dead end?

"Athena, what is going on?"

Zeus's roar rang out across the entire sea, and countless creatures trembled as they watched this terrifying scene.

As expected, fate is not something wisdom can fully comprehend. Athena sighed, then said, "O Zeus, do you still remember Grandfather Cronus's curse? Now, the person born in response to that curse has come into the world. I could not bear to see father and son kill each other on great Mount Olympus, and hoped to redeem this person cursed by fate."

Then Athena took one last look at Bai Mo, composed herself, and spoke as though resigned to her fate. "Bai Ermo's heart is as hard as rock. Prometheus has already bewitched him beyond the point of return. Someone like him will never give up. O Zeus, I have answered your question."

After Athena finished speaking, the world seemed to fall silent.

Jason's eyes nearly popped out of his head. His hands trembled, and his mouth gaped wide enough to swallow a roast chicken. Although Medea had just brought word from Bai Mo telling them to return immediately, he had been unable to put his unease aside and had stayed. He had never imagined he would hear something this explosive.

The same went for the fleet of Colchis. Unease and terror flickered in everyone's eyes. This was not something people like them could get involved in. Fear filled all their hearts, their legs shook, and their minds kept ordering them to leave this place. Yet, for reasons they did not understand, they all stayed.

Fuck, seeing something like this would make even dying worth the price of admission.

Aeëtes kept taking deep breaths. He repeatedly thanked his luck that Circe was not here, that he had not brought her along on the way. Otherwise, he might lose another daughter.

On Mount Olympus, Zeus abruptly vanished. All the gods stared fixedly at the tiny figure confronting Poseidon.

"What the fuck have you done?!"

The voice that had been absent for so long finally rang out. This time, Bai Mo was genuinely surprised. "System, so you were here."

"So you do remember I'm here! You should have just figured out how to gather enough energy and get out of here. Why did you have to make things turn out like this?! We're done for. He must have noticed by now."

Yet Bai Mo seemed utterly calm, making the system anxious once again.

"Where the fuck does this confidence come from? You're at electric current push right now. Electric current push, understand? These gods might not be beings capable of influencing the world's dimensions and laws like the ones in your world's myths, but they're more than enough to kill you as you are now!"

"So they aren't? I did think Poseidon seemed a little too weak. He still hasn't taken me down."

"No, do you even understand the situation you're in? I can't help you!"

"That's fine. I never counted on your help. I made this happen, so I'll deal with it myself."

"That's why I'm asking where your confidence comes from! Forget it. Listen to me and throw away that blade blank, now. The farther the better!"

"Heh, looks like there's still a lot I don't know. It's fine. Trust me."

"For the love of... you... what exactly are you trying to do?!"

In an instant, countless sharp spears shot out of the sea, whistling through the air as they converged on Bai Mo like a spiderweb. Bai Mo countered each attack as it came, swinging the huge, heavy blade blank around himself like a barrier that blocked every strike.

Avici Hell Blade-Shrouding Heaven and Blotting Out the Sun!

Bai Mo looked at everything in the sky and found it an immense headache. Zeus... still not making a move?

Someone did move, but it was not Zeus. It was... Hades.

Countless chains surged out of the sea, pinning Bai Mo like steel spikes. Not only that, his mind suddenly shook violently. He felt as though something inside his body had been torn apart.

Hades was actually joining Poseidon in using such ruthless force against a human? What was going on?

Shit, are they dragging me into the Underworld? He closed his eyes and began fighting the chains with all his strength. Seawater sliced through his defenses like blades, and blood flowed continuously, but injuries of this degree were nowhere near as painful as the tearing of his soul.

The system was frantic, but Bai Mo suddenly said something to it in his mind.

"System, you said before that with enough energy, we could leave this place, right?"

"That's true, but I've been watching everything you've done. Where are we supposed to get enough energy?! We might both be finished now!"

Poseidon watched Bai Mo intently. He had to destroy this greatest threat completely. But the next moment, something unexpected happened. Lightning-a massive bolt like a towering tree-coiled across the sky and descended.

Bai Mo looked at the lightning brimming with destruction and smiled.

The energy... is here!

Bai Mo used up the last of the Garment of the Hawk's magic. Like an eagle unafraid of storms, he spread his wings and battled the sky, staking everything on a single throw as he resonated with the heavenly lightning!

The system finally understood Bai Mo's plan. For the first time, it gained an entirely new understanding of him. It saw that Bai Mo, when driven into a corner, would act like this too.

"This process takes time. The instant you touch it, you'll be... wait, you're not going to..."

Bai Mo's gaze was calm as he watched the deadly lightning. This plan was far too bold and fraught with countless dangers. One misstep would kill him on the spot. But life was a gamble to begin with, and his instincts told him it was time to stake his life.

He would use electric current push to buy himself time to survive within Zeus's lightning. As long as he bought enough time, the system could absorb it and take him straight out of this world.

He could only take the gamble. The greatest driving force behind magnetic field rotation was emotion. Now, without the olive branch's influence, he could finally truly feel his own emotions.

That emotion was anger.

Anger at having his fate toyed with, anger at oppression, and the anger he felt as a human seeing humanity worn away under the rule of gods.

The lightning came. Poseidon retreated, and Hades withdrew his chains for fear of being caught in the attack. Even through the curtain of water, everyone saw the lightning that symbolized the god-king's wrath.

He's dead. That was what everyone thought.

In an instant, blood vessels filled Bai Mo's eyes. He desperately drove his power, trying to buy as much time as possible before this force destroyed him.

In an instant, he felt as though a sharp blade had pierced his heart. Bai Mo's pupils abruptly shrank to pinpoints. Absorbing energy nearly thousands of times greater than his own, then temporarily stabilizing it as a driving force, was too difficult, far too difficult. Even with ample preparation, his odds of success would have been less than one in ten thousand.

Bai Mo had failed. His heart could not bear the strain. He had lost the gamble.

Did I fail? Ah, I really can't accept this. What I thought was my only chance to survive this dead end was still a road to death in the end?

Then, in these final moments, where did I go wrong?

Honestly, when did I become a weakling who couldn't even admit defeat? The only reason I lost was that I wasn't strong enough...

Too weak. I'm too weak.

He closed his eyes. Lightning ravaged his body, and amid that endless thunder, the man opened his eyes again.

Crack.

Had something broken? Like a crack appearing in a piece of equipment.

This isn't the sound I want to hear.

Thump! Thump! Thump-thump!

Stop here? No, I haven't given it everything yet. I haven't even attacked my enemy... I still have promises to fulfill, a vision I haven't realized.

Thump-thump! Thump-thump!

I can't accept it... I really can't accept it. Life? I'm about to lose that now, lose what I lost and regained.

Poseidon could not look directly at the lightning connecting sea and sky, but his senses told him the surroundings were changing.

"What is going on?"

It isn't electric current. My trident seems to be slipping out of my control? How is that possible? Is he the center of this change?

Poseidon forced his eyes open. Then he saw something he could scarcely imagine.

Thump-thump-thump!

Yes, that's it. Heart, beat for me one more time!

Open your eyes. Since you're alive, open them now and see your enemy clearly.

Bai Mo's memories seemed to return to the past, to those days when his master trained alongside him. Back then, he had thought his future was bright, that nothing could stop him.

But during his time here, he had gradually come to feel how insignificant he was before the gods.

And now, he was going to die, an insignificant death, becoming dry bones on the seabed.

Since I no longer need so much life, let it burn. No need to think, no need to worry. Empty everything. The only thing to do is slay the enemy before me.

Bai Mo gripped the blade blank. Now he had that familiar feeling again, as though he had found his fearless self once more.

No one can stop me!

Electric current raged. Poseidon watched with wide eyes as the surroundings began to change. Countless invisible lines radiated from Bai Mo's body. At this moment, a power that did not belong to this world truly began to leave its first mark upon it!

Magnetic field lines enveloped everything. Then they seemed to respond, responding to the will of the man at their center.

They began to rotate! They rotated within that body, unleashing terrifying power!

Go blast him-down!

At this moment, that was Bai Mo's only thought.

The Great Blade Martial God's past words rang out:

"Your blade lacks something, so you cannot unleash the Peerless Demon Blade. My blade intent does not suit you. When you find it..."

"The demon blade will leave its sheath."

Death. Death rushed toward him. Even when facing Zeus, Poseidon had never felt such an aura of death. His soul and body screamed and wailed.

Run. Fucking run!

But could he?

Magnetic Field Rotation-250,000 horsepower! Peerless Demon Blade!

Swish. Heaven and earth seemed to fall silent. The whirlpool of seawater had not dispersed, but been cut apart, turning into countless droplets that landed on the faces of everyone nearby. Jason froze. Medea trembled so badly she could not stand. Without exception, everyone in the fleet of Colchis knelt on the ground. They prayed in terror.

For how outrageously bold they had been, to dare fight this man, to dare face a man who could slay a god.

The towering wave of seawater scattered. Golden liquid spilled down, and half a golden trident fell.

Before countless watching eyes, a man with wings on his back swung an unsharpened blade blank and cut the god they worshipped, Poseidon, god of the sea, clean in half at the waist.

"Ah... ah..."

Poseidon froze. He looked at the man before him, whose eyes held nothing but killing intent.

He's still alive. He's coming to kill me.

His mind reached that conclusion immediately. Yes, because he had already seen Bai Mo adjust his stance. The next slash would take his head!

There was only that last option left. Poseidon did not hesitate. With his remaining strength, he used his final resort, throwing back his head and letting out a heart-rending scream.

"Zeus! Save me!"

A god's dignity, the struggle for power-none of it mattered anymore in the face of life and death. Now, only he, only his invincible god-king, could save him.

Before everyone, Poseidon shouted those words.

Zeus immediately summoned all his power. Lightning-lightning that seemed capable of destroying the entire world.

I am the lightning that tears apart the stars.

More than fifty times stronger than the previous strike, an attack like this surely left Bai Mo no chance of survival. Surely it could save Poseidon.

Next time-A god's fall: Selfless Demon Blade