Ascension (4)
Lightning ceaselessly erupted from Zeus's crown, gripped tightly in the hand of the Life Goddess. It flashed like it was demanding to be returned to its former master, struggling to escape her grasp. But the goddess seemed utterly unconcerned. No, she even wore a faint smile, as if daring it to do its worst.
After a short while, the lightning pouring from Zeus's crown began to subside. It was like a wild stallion rampaging wildly before being tamed and exhausted by its rider. The golden crown fell silent, as if it no longer had the energy to unleash more bolts.
"Hmm. What a useless trinket. Even if I suppress and control its power, it can't even output a tenth of its original strength like this. Tsk. I suppose I'll have to crack the shell."
The Life Goddess muttered as much, then clenched her fist around Zeus's crown. It crumpled like paper. The golden coronet wrinkled and split, gradually revealing the form hidden beneath.
Trapped under the golden shell, a laurel wreath of pure lightning regained its true shape. It was the symbol of the king of the gods—the authority and embodiment of power he wielded.
"Now that's more like it."
The Life Goddess gazed at the lightning laurel wreath with a satisfied smile.
"Well then..."
Rather than donning the lightning laurel wreath, she placed it into a box that suddenly appeared and tucked it into her bosom—as if she had no intention of wearing it herself.
"What should I do with wretches like you, who try to force godhood on the unwilling and sacrifice even your own faithful followers?"
The Life Goddess surveyed the surrounding gods with a sweet smile and snapped her fingers lightly. The gods, who had been frozen stiff, could now move their mouths. Voices erupted from them in a cacophony.
"P-Please spare us, Life Goddess!"
"I-I... my head was clearly shattered. When did it regenerate...?"
"U-Ugh... It was Zeus who insisted! Zeus!!! He forced us with his authority! We didn't want to!!!"
The gods barked excuses in disarray, scrambling to dodge the crisis before them, denying responsibility. Even Poseidon, bewildered by his head regenerating in an instant, joined the fray. Gone was any trace of their greatness; they were merely frail beings begging for their lives.
"Have mercy upon us, Life Goddess! Are you not the most merciful of all gods?"
"Merciful? Me?"
The Life Goddess let out a scoff at one god's cry.
"Where on earth did you hear such nonsense?"
"Is it not common knowledge among all living things that the Life Goddess is merciful? Even now, countless souls pray to you, and you answer by healing their illnesses and pains!"
"That's just because the poor things are crying out in agony, so I lend a hand. It's not like I'm helping out of mercy."
The world might call it mercy, but the Life Goddess saw such aid as a matter of course.
"And if I were truly merciful... I would have ensured no wars ever plagued this world. I allow such horrors because they're 'necessary,' so I'm hardly merciful."
Her expression turned faintly bitter as she spoke.
"If I were truly merciful, I would have eradicated half-baked gods like you before you could even emerge properly. Or is leaving you alive to breathe itself a form of mercy? If helping one causes suffering to others, is that mercy?"
The Life Goddess tilted her head, murmuring to herself. She seemed genuinely puzzled by the very concept of mercy.
"Well, pondering 'what is mercy?' can wait. Just because I extend a little aid to other lives doesn't mean I'll do the same for you. Or more accurately, I already did—but you kicked it away."
"What do you...?"
As the gods' faces twisted in confusion, the Life Goddess cut in sharply.
"Baal. The king of the gods. The sky god upon whom I bestowed a crown to manage you arrogant, willful lot. If you'd accepted his rule and acknowledged his authority... none of this would have happened."
"B-But..."
"But? You rejected his rule, didn't you? That's the same as defying my will. Isn't further mercy a luxury you don't deserve?"
The gods fell silent before her words. It was true—they had rejected and resisted Baal. Rebelled against his reign. As a result, Baal fragmented into pieces, and a severed soul fragment became an independent god, rising as Olympus's leader.
That leader of Olympus...
"G-Guhhh..."
Having lost the crown containing his power and authority, he was withering away rapidly. His shining golden hair faded to white, his robust, muscular frame shriveling bit by bit. Like time itself accelerated, Zeus aged before their eyes.
"Hmm? Deflating like a balloon. Were you sustaining that body with Baal's power? What a wasteful use. Pathetic."
The Life Goddess sneered at the sight.
Zeus wanted to say something to her, but only feeble groans escaped his lips. He was simply an aged god now.
"So, what should I do with you? End you cleanly? Or plunge you into despair? What do you desire, Zeus?"
"Grk... Urgh... Give it... back..."
"Oh? What was that?"
"My... Give it back...! My crown, my power, my authority...!"
Zeus rasped with labored breaths.
"Ha! Since when was it yours? Didn't you steal it from Baal? Such a greedy bastard."
The Life Goddess snorted derisively.
"No wonder—a wretch like you could brazenly steal and use Baal's power. Utterly irredeemable."
"Grraaah..."
Zeus groaned in agony. The Life Goddess addressed him.
"Killing you is easy, but the pain is fleeting. I could torment your soul further after death, but a soul stripped of memories is hardly the same being as before. Hmm... Yes."
She seized the head of the now ancient Zeus, who could barely stand, and hoisted him up.
"Zeus. Do you know what punishment Odin suffered?"
"O-Odin?"
"Yes. Odin's fate after his pathetic defeat at Ragnarok. You must have heard through Hermes."
At her words, Zeus's eyes quivered. As if he knew what awaited him. They shook endlessly.
"Good, that makes this easier. But simply living as a human would be no fun."
She gripped his throat tighter. Zeus choked, gasping for air.
"Even humanity would be too good for you. A maggot suits you better."
"M-Maggot...?"
"Indeed. And I've even thought of a fitting name."
With those words, changes wracked Zeus's body in her grasp. His wrinkled skin cracked. Like bark peeling from a withered tree, like gravel crumbling to dust, his flesh broke into tiny fragments and scattered.
After a brief moment, all that remained of Zeus was the head and neck clutched in the Life Goddess's hand.
"You will no longer be a god. No one will worship you. You will become the lowliest of existences. And yet, you won't suppress your greed."
Her verdict twisted Zeus's face. With all his remaining strength, the neck cried out.
"Life Goddess...! Goddess!!! Be cursed!!! You shall be cursed!!! The Life Goddess will never set foot in a world of the living again!! She will never approach those precious lives of hers! Life Goddess! Be cursed!!"
With his final scream, fine cracks spiderwebbed across even his remaining head and neck.
"Such a curse. Laughable."
The Life Goddess mocked him, tightening her grip. What had been Zeus's body shattered into pieces and dispersed.
"To you, who were a fragment of Baal, I grant the new name Beelzebub... No, that would slight Baal, so a slight change: Belzebul. King of flies, driven only by greed to devour rotting corpses and filth."
Once Zeus's fragments had all fallen away, a single fly the size of a child's fist remained in her palm. The remnant of a god stripped of everything but its avarice.
