Myth: The Ruler of Spirituality

Late at night, Athens.

Almost instantaneously as the Goddess of Beauty’s divine power burst forth above Eryxis, the sacred image in the temple shimmered with twilight; in a high tower outside the City of Athens, the previously closed-eyed, solemn Hermes opened his eyes.

Before him, twelve crystal-clear, dazzling crystal stones were arranged in a mysterious trajectory, floating up and down in the air.

The next moment, the crystal stones flickered twice and then the luster dimmed.

"It’s still lacking a bit."

A trace of regret flitted across his eyes, the attempt had failed again, but this time, success seemed not as far away as before, at the least, he could see some glimmers of dawn.

However, these were matters to be considered later. Gathering the crystal stones, Hermes gazed toward the northwestern sky.

The tower’s facade before him seemed as nothing, thousands of miles away in the sky, the spreading aura of divine power was so clear, and the intangible pressure seemed to weigh on his heart.

In the eyes of mortals, what brings pressure was the awe of divine power. But in the eyes of someone like Hermes, it was the chains of the Law that pressured him.

Since the upheaval instigated by Typhon, the Law’s repulsion of divine power had intensified. Even the mere presence of this degree of aura would only bring relentless suppression.

"It’s Aphrodite... has she lost her mind? No, that’s not right, she isn’t the one controlling it."

Easily recognizing the master of the divine power, a hint of confusion rose and dissipated in Hermes’s heart.

Having been in this ’real’ world for so long, he had become increasingly clear about the harsh restrictions on divine power in the Mortal Realm.

No deity wants to use divine power in the Mortal Realm, not even a deity from the Underworld who was once deceived by mortals.

Hermes remembered very clearly, although this ’real’ History lacked Thanatos, the arrogant mortal Sisyphus still harbored thoughts against the deities.

As his life ebbed away day by day, this once also wise and martial King couldn’t avoid the fear of Death, so he used his schemes to imprison the true form of an Underworld deity.

He attempted to extract the secret of eternal life from him, but the outcome goes without saying.

Once the matter was exposed, Sisyphus was punished by the enraged deity to push a massive boulder up a mountain day and night, only for the rock to roll back down, repeating endlessly.

To let the mortal who prided himself on his Wisdom do the most mundane, and never-ending task forever—this is the punishment of the deities. They knew how to torment a prisoner psychologically.

Sisyphus’s behavior since then became a topic of conversation over tea for All Gods... yet in his story, the reaction of the unnamed True God of the Underworld vividly showed the current gods’ fear of the Law.

He would rather be imprisoned by mortals for decades, losing all dignity, than to burst forth with divine power and leave. It’s clear that in the deity’s heart, the latter was simply more unbearable than the former. @@novelbin@@

"Even so, such an incident still occurred today..."

Sighing softly, Hermes walked to the window sill of the high tower.

"But no matter the reason, I should fulfill my promise now."

"Theseus... I promised you, you do your best to help me, and I, too, will provide the necessary aid to you and your descendants as long as my life is not threatened."

In the distant sky, a streak of light was speeding toward Athens.

Behind it, a dozen powerful auras were rapidly closing in.

Seeing this scene, Hermes couldn’t help but smile a bit. He was once a God, a member of Olympus himself.

But now in this age, he stood on the opposing side.

"There’s no helping it, having once been a god, I can understand a god’s thoughts."

"They will never truly accept me, because now I am also a ’human.’ One should act according to one’s place; if I can no longer be a god, I can’t just wait for death."

With a flicker of thought, the entire tower subtly trembled under the will of Hermes.

At the base of the tower, within a huge cavity stood seventy-two pillars, each carved with patterns.

At the top of each pillar floated a crystal stone, identical to the twelve Hermes had before him, even those twelve were originally part of here.

Only a few pillars at the top were still bare, utterly empty.

Hum—

Intricate patterns surfaced on the floor and the dome of this space, countless runes lit up in sequence. Experience new tales on NovelBin.Côm

Elemental Power continuously drawn from the Magic Net flowed through each pillar, becoming more subtle and profound. It then followed certain channels up within the tower, a process that looked prolonged but was merely momentary.

The dark tower seemed to be illuminated at this moment, as light extended from the base, eventually concentrating within the spike at the tip of the tower, like a lightning rod.

A strong light flashed momentarily then dimmed, as if regathering energy. Standing at the pinnacle of the high tower, Hermes couldn’t help but nod slightly.

What he truly wanted was not this, this was just a byproduct of the research.

But now it seemed, at least in Chaos’s Mortal Realm. this thing was indeed quite useful.

...

Boom—

With a backhanded strike, the bronze armor was inches away, colliding with Theseus’s sword blade, the massive force causing the armor to dent inward.

Yet the descending Ares didn’t care at all, a mere vessel, to die was to die. But the human before him was indeed someone Hera and Aphrodite both wanted dead.