The Story of the Rebellion
The divine palace of Olympus floated above the clouds, a sacred seat that mortals who revered the gods gazed upon with awe. The same palace that had been half-shattered by Typhon now stood on the brink of crisis once again. Was some outside foe as terrible as the mighty Typhon responsible? Had Cronus, the Gigantes, or the Titan gods launched an invasion?
None of the above.
“Damn it… what the hell are you doing! Uncle!”
“Can’t you see, nephew? It means Zeus’s reign is over.”
“Brother Apollo! Why are you standing with them?”
“My beloved sister, our father chases after mortal women instead of our mother or Lady Hera. He no longer…”
It was a civil war over the throne of the King of the Gods.
While Zeus slept, his thunderbolt had been hidden away and his muscular body bound tight with enchanted leather straps. When he woke in confusion, the tide had already turned. Poseidon, Apollo, and Hera had locked the bound Zeus inside one of Olympus’s halls and summoned the rest of the gods. They meant to banish Zeus and declare a new ruler of the heavens.
“This is ridiculous! I oppose it!”
“Ares, one voice won’t change anything.”
“Mother!”
“Brother Apollo, please, just stop and think this through.”
“Hermes, I’ve already thought it through more than enough.”
“Aren’t you supposed to be the god of reason? Is this really—”
“Must we really turn on each other like this, Poseidon? We still face the threat of the Gigantes—”
“A sky god who still lost to Typhon has no right to stand above me, Hestia.”
The mighty Olympians had split in two. One side sought to crown Poseidon the new king; the other was desperate to free Zeus from his prison.
“What are you all waiting for? We have to fight to save Father!”
The god of war, Ares, looked ready to charge at any second. The others tensed, gathering their divine power and reaching for their weapons. Athena’s spear flashed. Hermes, resolve set, poured strength into his Caduceus.
But…
“Hm. Not bad. Instead of flapping your lips, prove your will with force. I’ll meet you with this Triaina.”
“Ugh…”
“Uncle! You’re really doing this?!”
“Damn it, how are we supposed to beat Lord Poseidon…”
The moment Poseidon lazily thrust his trident forward with that bored expression, everyone froze. Zeus, Poseidon, and Hades—the three chief gods operated on an entirely different level from the rest. They could have taken on every other god in the pantheon at once and still won.
“Uwaaaaaah! We won’t know until we try!!”
Ares, who had been glaring at the Zeus faction while swallowing his rage, roared and charged. Crimson divine power exploded from his body as he swung his sword at Poseidon, but—
Clang!
Kwaaaang!
“Tsk…!”
“How insolent toward the new King of Olympus, nephew.”
Poseidon had swung his Triaina at blinding speed. Blue divine power surged like a tidal wave and smashed straight into the challenger. Ares’ blade snapped against the sharp prongs of the trident, the difference in strength painfully obvious. In the end, the god of war could only stagger back, reeking of defeat.
“Any other gods oppose me taking that seat?!”
Poseidon’s booming voice rang out as he raised his Triaina and pointed at the golden throne—the highest seat among the twelve, the one reserved solely for the King of Olympus.
The Zeus faction fell into miserable silence. A suffocating stillness settled over Olympus.
Seeing the gods had gone quiet, Poseidon stroked his beard with clear satisfaction and declared, “Then we shall now expel Zeus—”
“I oppose it.”
“What…?”
“I didn’t sense any presence at all!”
“The wind carried no sound…”
The sudden voice sent every god in Olympus into an uproar. It had come from empty space, a place where no presence could be detected.
“So you’re interfering with me after all…”
But the veteran gods who had fought in the wars against the Gigantes and Titans immediately recognized the speaker. That perfect stealth, slipping entirely past divine senses, belonged to only one being.
“That’s Kynee…! The Lord of the Underworld!”
“I thought I treated you well enough not to feel neglected…”
“Uncle Hades!”
A black-haired, black-eyed god appeared, wearing an old, battered helmet and holding a two-pronged spear—the Bident. He wore no ornaments and looked almost shabby. His eyes were gloomy and his face carried clear exhaustion, yet no one could dismiss him.
“Hades! Join us even now! I’ll grant you dominion over the seas except the sky itself!”
“You want to give me even more work? I don’t need it, so drop this rebellion already.”
Because he was Hades—one of the three chief gods, equal in standing to Poseidon.
I barely made it in time. Thank goodness I rushed up to Olympus the moment Thetis warned me. Any later and Zeus would have been deposed before I could intervene.
Where is he?
“Lord Hades!”
“…Uncle! Uncle Poseidon has lost his mind!”
The Zeus faction stared at me with pure relief, like people who had just been pulled from the gallows. Ares, why are you covered in dust with your sword shattered…? You really did charge Poseidon and got knocked flat in one hit.
On the other side, Hera and Apollo wore expressions of pure dismay. What, did you think I wouldn’t be able to step in so quickly?
“Hmm…”
“Poseidon, are you going to fight me as well?”
When I leveled my Bident at him, I heard Poseidon let out a low groan. If he could just defeat me, the throne would be within his grasp. But Poseidon wasn’t that foolish. A fight between us outside the sea or the underworld would only end in a stalemate. Even if my Kynee gave me a slight edge, he was still one of the three chief gods.
Yet with only Hera and Apollo, they could never defeat this many gods. In terms of raw numbers, Poseidon’s side was clearly outnumbered. While I kept Poseidon busy, the others could subdue Hera and Apollo, free Zeus, and end the rebellion.
“Looks like Zeus is locked up in that building over there.”
“How did you come all the way from the underworld…”
“Thetis told me.”
Hera, is there some reason I shouldn’t have come to Olympus?
“No… Uncle Hades.”
“What.”
Apollo, get that same pathetic look you wore before Typhon’s severed head was thrown into Tartarus off your face.
The stormy momentum that had surged around Poseidon slowly ebbed. His Triaina gradually lowered toward the ground.
“Damn it… Fine. I’ll withdraw.”
“Poseidon!”
“What else can we do, Hera? We failed to banish Zeus before Hades arrived. This is our loss.”
Poseidon retreated with the expression of a man who had bitten down on a pebble while drinking nectar.
From the situation, the building where Zeus was held was obvious. When I stepped inside, there he was—tightly bound by divine-power-reinforced leather straps. The moment he saw me, his face brightened.
“Brother Hades, have you come to rescue this Zeus?”
“I’m going to die of overwork because of you.”
“If they hadn’t ambushed me while I was asleep—”
The straps fell away under a single slash of my Bident. Zeus recovered his thunderbolt. And just like that, the rebellion in Olympus was over.
“I can understand Poseidon always being full of ambition, but how could you do this, Hera! You too, Apollo!”
“I’m sorry, Father…”
“Silence! You will descend to the mortal world for one year and serve as a slave under a human king! You as well, Poseidon!”
Apollo and Poseidon withdrew from Olympus with pitch-black expressions. Zeus’s eagle would be watching to make sure they actually carried out their sentence.
“And… Hera. For one year you will wear an anvil on your ankle and shackles on your wrists!”
“…As you command.”
The realization that the rebellion against him had nearly succeeded had clearly enraged Zeus. Thunder continued to rumble across the sky. Mortals would probably be trembling again, whispering that Zeus was angry with them. In truth it was simply the god of rape throwing a tantrum because his authority had been threatened.
After huffing and puffing for a long while to calm down, Zeus finally looked my way.
“Haa… Once again, I must thank you, Brother Hades.”
“If you cheated less, Hera probably wouldn’t have resorted to this.”
“That aside, I can never forgive anyone who challenges my position.”
No matter how I looked at it, wasn’t this entirely self-inflicted? It was true that Zeus suited the role of King of the Gods better than Poseidon, but still…
“If even your own son rebels, maybe you should reflect on your usual behavior—”
“Ahem! I never imagined even that Apollo fellow would join them…”
While I spoke with Zeus, the other gods slowly gathered. It seemed they had finished cleaning up the building damaged during the rebellion.
“Uncle Hades! Thank you so much for today!”
“I never thought you would appear in Olympus to help Zeus.”
“If the Lord of the Underworld hadn’t intervened, things could have turned dangerous.”
Countless gods stared at me with sparkling eyes like chicks looking at their mother hen. So you’ve finally overcome your aversion to the underworld, you enlightened lot.
Perfect timing. This was exactly the moment to fulfill Hephaestus’s request. With deep satisfaction I summoned my Bident and showed it to them.
“Ah… that’s the weapon you were holding when you appeared after removing your Kynee…”
“I’ve never seen it before, but it feels extraordinary.”
“Hades, did the three Cyclops brothers forge that for you?”
As expected, they were curious about the origin of my powerful new weapon. Then I would tell them. Unfortunately Hephaestus wasn’t present, but—
“This is the Bident crafted for me by Hephaestus, one of the twelve Olympians and the greatest blacksmith in the world, far surpassing even the three Cyclops brothers. It possesses an excellent function that lets me summon it to my hand at any time no matter the distance. Unlike Ares’ sword that shattered in a single blow, it falls behind Poseidon’s Triaina in no way. After clashing with my proud helmet of invisibility, Kynee, multiple times, the results…”
Seeing everyone, Zeus included, staring at me with dazed faces…!
It looked like they were quite envious of my Bident after all.