Chapter 96
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Translator: MadScientist
Chapter: 96
Chapter Title: Revived Memories
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As those who had set foot on the earth stood speechless before the majestic spectacle...
The gods seated in the heavens were equally at a loss for words.
“...”
“Puhahaha! Yes! That's it! One solid hit right there... Ouch, that hurts!”
“Exactly! Follow up with a punch from above...! Blocked! As expected of our lord!!”
...To be precise, it wasn't so much that they couldn't close their mouths as they were too thrilled to even try.
Thus, the God of War and the Goddess of Strife had long since thrown themselves into fervent cheering from atop the clouds, reveling in what was surely a clash of blood and fury without equal in recent times.
“Heracles, the great hero of Zeus, locked in battle...”
Could Eris have finally let her temper get the better of her and caused trouble in the Forest of Heroes?
Nemesis pondered drawing her Sword of Judgment, but in the end, Eris had merely fulfilled her divine duty.
The blade of impartial retribution remained silent.
“What in the world am I supposed to say to Zeus and Lady Hera...”
Nemesis alone clutched her forehead, utterly at a loss for how to handle the situation.
“Come on, Sister Nemesis. Stop ruining that pretty face of yours and join us already. You think brawls this raw and proper happen between humans anymore these days?”
“Ares is right, sis~! It's a fight like no other. And with Lord Styx's vow on the line, seeing guys like that go all-out to kill each other isn't something you see every day!”
At the sight of the two scamps who had even brought Dionysus's wine and Dianes's corn snacks to munch on while spectating, Nemesis once more called upon her Sword of Judgment.
But the blade, which seemed to twitch for a moment, ultimately decided now was not the time and stayed silent.
“Chaos, Gaia, Nyx... merciful heavens...”
With even her trusted Sword of Judgment silent, Nemesis invoked the names of the Protogenoi as her vision darkened, wishing only to collapse.
-Crunch crunch!
“Grrrrawr! Go for it! Boom's turn! Stab, punch, kick!”
Where was her dignity as a goddess? Eris stuffed her mouth full of corn snacks and screamed.
“As expected of the son Father bragged about so much! Heh! Wielding that thunderous might just like his old man!
Simple, brutal, and clean—right up my alley! This booze hits different!”
The God of War, Ares, already flushed red from drink, gulped down an entire jug while offering his commentary.
What good was it for her to guide humans toward justice no matter how diligently she tried?
When the heralds of strife and war were such reckless fight junkies.
Nemesis began to feel a pang of regret, wondering if it wasn't time for her, like Hemera and Aether, to set aside her divine duty and fade away.
She doted endlessly on her youngest sister, but as one born to embody stern justice and fairness, this chaotic mess troubled her to no end.
“What in the world is that power...”
The hero wielding lightning that could overturn seas, and the demon cloaked in the Abyss with three heads and six arms.
Just like Chiron watching in stunned awe from below, Nemesis's mind flashed to the distant past—to the War of the Giants, the Titanomachy.
As a child of Nyx, she had been beseeched by both Zeus and Cronus to lend her power to their cause.
Cronus had even proposed marriage, claiming that with justice and retribution at his side, he would truly rule the world, begging her to betray Rhea and become his bride.
In the end, her divine duty demanded utter impartiality, unbound to any side, and she had sternly refused them all.
And that colossal war she had observed from one step back, at her mother's command, was an event no god could ever forget.
“Man, that means there's at least one more human out there swinging power like that, huh?
Like those old geezers from Grandpa's clan.”
Ares chuckled with inexplicable pride, merrily tilting his cup.
“Kuh... this booze just goes down smooth.”
“Ares, aren't you troubled at all? That clash from the Titanomachy... the one that left you gravely wounded...”
Ares met the irritated gaze Nemesis shot his way, looking more delighted than ever for some reason.
“Quiet, Sister Nemesis, and just watch.”
Your brother—the son of the newly born Protogenos.
“See what this foreign new god, whom even mighty Zeus cherishes yet fears, has brought forth.”
-Kuhahaha!!
Where Ares pointed with his sloshing cup, the black demon unleashed a roar that sounded like laughter or an earthquake's rumble.
“See that? Does that make any sense?
Those inheriting divine blood, the children of spirits, even heroes blessed by the Fates themselves.
Just plain humans, born superior, forging their history. It's making even us gods recall the Titans and the elder gods.”
“Ares, what are you...”
“Why can't you, wiser and older than I, see it?”
Nemesis found herself speechless at the serene gaze in Ares's eyes.
Eyes deep and calm, impossible to believe belonged to the god known for his belligerence and brutish simplicity.
The eyes of Hera, who had walked the Abyss with her and learned ancient sorceries, now stared back.
“That era I glimpsed amid human blood and screams. The foretold future Father dreaded.
It's flickering before us again. Why can't you see it?”
Truly puzzled, the youthful man resembling Hera tilted his head and turned back to the fight.
“Πολεμιστές! Θεοί! Αιμορραγήστε και απολαύστε! Οι ουράνιοι θεοί σε επαινούν!”
Warriors! Gods! Bleed and revel!
For the heavenly gods praise you!
With those words, Ares hurled his cup toward them.
His figure embodied the martial god acclaiming warriors and the prince worthy of Olympus's throne.
A fact many forgot amid his rough nature.
That the God of War was the most legitimate prince among Olympus's deities—a truth Nemesis and Eris now recalled anew.
“...He didn't jump in mid-fight for once.”
“Whoa, new respect for Ares? He's not just a rabid boar after all?”
“Kuhahaha! If it were just Nyx's daughters, I'd have smacked you both.”
Amid the petty banter typical of ancient gods...
Beneath the blessing of the belligerent war god who bore the blood of the king of gods, the battle grew even fiercer, as if they had overheard.
The two heroes, already half ascended to divinity, rampaged all the more wildly, gradually abandoning defense for total mayhem.
“That's it!”
-Boom!
The lightning hammer that could shatter mountains struck the black demon's head dead-on.
-Kwaang!
The black Abyss that devoured all forms hammered the thunder king's chest.
Maces, swords, spears, bows, greatswords, polearms, crossbows.
Powers of every shape flashed in an instant, and the two heroes—no, demigods—took them all on the body, splattering blood across the earth.
And as Eris muttered at the sight of her brother laughing madly with three heads and wielding twelve powers in twelve arms...
“Narak. It's like Tartarus, where Mother resides, rising up. Smaller, though.”
A form dyed pitch-black, as if devouring all light in the world.
It was no longer the minor hero Dianes, nor an unnamed god—but a manifestation of power so alien and vicious even to divine eyes.
Its eyes blazed like hellfire, repelling the great hero's lightning.
Its maw spat crimson flames with every breath, devouring the swarming thunderbolts whole.
“...Brother.”
As Nemesis's eyes widened slightly at the savage, inhuman form...
The two demigods began preparing something.
“We've burned a lot of strength.”
“Going for the one-shot finisher now? I love that stuff!”
Heracles planted his feet on the earth and began gathering Zeus's mighty lightning.
The black demon, gazing down from the sky with satisfaction, spread its twelve arms like wings.
Fierce grins, mirror images of each other, spread across their faces.
“Zeuuuus!!”
“Kuhahahaha!!”
And in the instant their smiles crossed...
Heracles rocketed upward in a blaze of lightning, while the Abyss-clad demon plummeted down.
“Ooooh!”
“Here it comes? The big one!?”
The gods' excitement peaked at the ominous aura radiating from the pair.
-!!
Light and darkness.
Heaven and underworld.
God and demon.
A colossal force evoking Chaos's primordial explosion shook the earth once more.
The surrounding tidal wave and Abyss were caught in the blast and vanished in an instant.
The prior clash of sea and Abyss seemed trivial by comparison.
Without Chiron and Karyklo's spells bolstering Olympus's barrier, the Forest of Heroes would surely have been swept away.
“Brother!!”
“Whoaaa! So cool!!”
“See!? I told you, Eris! Those aren't just arms!”
Nemesis screamed at the spectacle too vast and dizzying for mere demigods...
But beside her, Strife and War's thrill soared endlessly toward the heavens.
What heroes revered and gods acclaimed.
The reenactment of a myth too soon come.
That majestic war had reached its end.