The End of Myth (6)
The End of Myth (6)
The first time I locked eyes with Cronus.
I thought I was utterly, hopelessly dead.
Just meeting his gaze filled me with terror, so I threw a Uranus Kick and ran.
The idea of fighting him man-to-man—my pride shattered instantly before that overwhelming power.
And then I fought, and fought, and fought again.
Now, at this moment, I was finally certain of myself.
"I! Am stronger! Than you!!"
Clang, clang, clang!
Every time I swung Astrape, Cronus staggered.
He couldn't even swing his Scythe properly, desperately parrying Astrape with the flat of the blade as he kept stepping backward, trying to create distance.
"Urgh...!"
Before, I was faster, but my power was weaker.
But now, I am stronger and faster.
That's how it is now.
No matter how full the moon hangs in the sky, it eventually wanes.
Suck seed, Father.
It was time for the old king to step aside before the challenge of new, young blood.
"This is vengeance for the suffering of my mother and sisters!"
My revenge was righteous.
Cronus's acts were undeniably evil, and I was carrying out justice.
Ever since I had sex with Themis, when confronting 'evil,' my power grew exponentially stronger.
It wasn't just because I defined Cronus as evil; against Cronus specifically, my power was genuinely becoming overwhelmingly greater.
The same thing happened when I had sex with other women.
-I get stronger the more I have sex.
I had become stronger.
Through sex, I had grown incomparably stronger than I was ten years ago.
Strong enough to seize a clear 'advantage' over Cronus!
Kaaang!!
As I swung Astrape upward from below, the Scythe flew into the sky.
"I'll end this with one strike!!"
Panic-stricken, Cronus lost his grip on the Scythe, and I gripped Astrape with both hands and drove it into Cronus's stomach.
"Fall, Cronus!!"
Crackle!!
Full discharge of lightning.
The electricity gathered at the tip of Astrape exploded against Cronus's abdomen.
Bzzzzt!!!
A massive current arced through his body, searing every nerve, spreading across Cronus's entire frame.
Cronus's eyes rolled back as his body convulsed, and I held the end of Astrape steady.
"Zeus Thunder!"
The name means nothing.
But as I roared it out with all my might, I was simultaneously hurled backward by the massive lightning discharge erupting from Astrape.
Gyaaaah!!!
Cronus shrieked, rooted to the spot by the electricity.
Yet he clearly still had a means to attack me.
Swish!
The Scythe, launched skyward, grazed my head as it fell.
If I'd been a moment slower, its blade would have split my skull.
But I wasn't.
I dodged the Scythe's strike and thrust out one hand—the one still gripping Astrape—and snatched the Scythe tight.
Crackle!!
The Scythe resisted violently.
But Astrape's lightning, channeled through my hand, coursed along the Scythe's shaft and suppressed its rebellion.
Fizzle, crackle.
The electricity subsided, and I landed neatly with both feet together.
"It's over, Cronus."
Holding Astrape in one hand, I raised the Scythe in the other and released power.
Zzzap.
The current transferred from Astrape flowed into the Scythe's blade.
The shaft and the spine of the blade, once tinted violet, slowly bled into gold.
A change of ownership.
Through the battle moments ago, the Scythe had acknowledged it.
The true victor.
The true chief god.
The true ruler of Greece, of this world.
"Behold, Cronus."
I planted Astrape upside down on the ground and laid the Scythe's shaft atop it.
Clank.
The handle of Astrape split open like a sharp awl and pierced the base of the Scythe's shaft.
The Scythe's blade trembled, but the electric shock radiating from Astrape once again halted its resistance.
Crunch, crunch.
Astrape, driven into the Scythe's shaft, successfully fused with it into one.
Astrape serves also as a sealing device the Cyclopes sisters poured their hearts into making, preventing the Scythe from ever returning to Cronus's hand.
That meant Cronus had lost the bulk of his power.
While his physical might was still formidable, the power of the weapon—specifically the divinity it held as 'the thing that severed Uranus's genitals'—had vanished from him.
The proof was the Scythe now dyed gold, dyed in my color.
"...So I have been defeated."
Thud.
His entire body charred black, Cronus collapsed onto his back like a starfish.
"Indeed. I... have lost after all."
"It was fate. Accept it."
"I sought to resist fate... Kugh, in the end, everything flows according to the will of Goddess Gaia."
Cronus staggered to his feet.
"Just... why? How did you become... this strong?"
"Fate made me this way."
Zeus is the greatest Rape Fiend.
Zeus has the destiny of a sex king.
And I obeyed that destiny; thanks to it, I've achieved rapid growth, reaching its very peak.
"Behind me stands the whole of Olympus. Accept it, Cronus. There is no shame in being defeated by the strong."
"You, you bastard... kugh...!"
Cronus vomited blood.
But I couldn't stop my mockery of him.
'If I don't brag now right after winning, when else can I?'
From here on out, it's nothing but stories of Zeus devouring everything, so when would I ever again feel this sense of achievement from overcoming a crisis so magnificently?
"Insolent wretch... kugh."
Cronus slowly turned his body.
I had clearly ensured he could never rise again, yet he dragged his legs behind him, showing us his back as he headed out of the temple.
"Tenacious."
But there is no will to fight left in him.
He had already been defeated deep in his heart.
"Brother, I'll finish him!!"
"No, there's no need."
I stopped Neptune, who was about to rush forward with Triaina.
"It's already over. The rest is a moment for him to make his own resolution."
"Hah... Cruel bastard."
Cronus bled as he walked toward the back of the temple.
I followed slowly after him, still gripping Astrape.
I know what kind of scene he's trying to stage.
I know how he wants to decorate his final moments.
But there's always an 'if,' isn't there?
If he tries some pathetic, lingering act that isn't the ending I envision, I'll immediately launch a Uranus Thunder Kick.
"Ah, the world is so vast. The world I once ruled... is now at its end."
Cronus lifted his head with a hollow voice.
"Farewell to even the blue skies."
"I cannot grant you much time to wallow in sentiment."
"...Right, the defeated has no words. However, let me ask one last thing."
Cronus looked at me directly and asked.
"In your era too... Rhea should be happy."
Cronus smiled with a benevolent face.
At that sight...
"No wonder they call you the god of agriculture. You're producing a bumper crop of bullshit."
I threw a fist-sized potato of a punch.
It might not mean much, but paired with my words, the veins in Cronus's eyes bulged.
"Saying you care for Rhea now means nothing. The deeds you committed are an unforgivable sin. Even if I relay your thoughts, Rhea would never accept them. The happiness of Rhea you imagine isn't Rhea's happiness. It's your happiness."
"..."
"Your defeat is in not knowing a woman's heart."
"And you... you do?"
"I don't. I can only guess, always. But at the very least, I know better than you do."
"Is that so..."
Cronus turned his head toward the area behind the temple, toward the cliff below.
"I see."
Beneath the cliff of Mount Othrys, lava was boiling.
"Let me say one final thing."
Cronus stood at the edge of the cliff.
"Beware of Gaia."
Plop.
Cronus fell off the cliff.
Neptune and Hades rushed forward, but they couldn't stop him.
"Brother, down there...!!"
"Neither dying from a fall off a cliff nor diving into lava can kill a Titan god."
A Titan god's body does not melt even in lava.
But the pain would remain all the same.
Every strand of his hair would burn away in the flames.
"He chose to enter Tartarus himself."
The end of that lava is Purgatory.
Toward the Abyss from which there is no return, Cronus entered on his own.
Without being dragged, of his own free will.
"...He really is incredible, in a way."
Look at the back of the man who once ruled the world.
Who would dare call him a loser upon seeing the back of that man, treading barefoot over the lava, exiting the stage of mythology?
"And... that kinda pisses me off."
Cronus.
He lost to me.
He fought with all his might, and though the fight ended quickly in a swift conclusion, he was never pathetic.
So I liked it.
I have no desire for unnecessary battles.
There is now only one thing left for me.
Nothing but sex, sex, and more sex.
"...Mount Othrys is hereby closed as of today."
To ensure Cronus can never climb this mountain again, I raised the fused Astrape-Scythe toward the sky.
"In the name of the chief god, Zeus."
From the dry sky.
Lightning struck, and the entire Mount Othrys exploded.
* * *
Sizzle.
Cronus walked barefoot over the lava.
With every step, the sound of burning skin spread, yet Cronus advanced without a trace of pain.
His hair, his eyebrows, even his pubic hair burned away; he simply walked endlessly forward.
"You have been defeated, my child."
"...Gaia."
Cronus ground his teeth at the mass of lava taking the form of a woman.
"Have you come to mock me?"
"Of course not. No matter what undutiful acts you committed, you are still my child."
"Ha. Nonsense. If I were a child... sigh, no. The time for such complaints has long passed."
Cronus changed his expression and calmly walked forward.
Ignoring Gaia.
"Do you have nothing to say?"
"It's pointless. And... let me give you one piece of advice."
Cronus sneered at Gaia.
"Zeus, that bastard—does he seem like a puppet who moves according to your will?"
"...What?"
"Zeus is a guy who will eventually try to violate even you. I look forward to that day. The Mother of Life, corrupted by the penis of the descendant she thought of as her hero, leading the world to destruction. I'll be waiting in the Abyss. Uahahaha!!"
With a mad laugh, Cronus threw his body into the lava.
Looking down at the lava waterfall rapidly flowing downward, Gaia twisted the corner of her mouth.
"...Corrupted? Destruction? No."
Gaia turned her head toward the cavern ceiling.
Kaboom!!!
A thunderbolt struck Mount Othrys.
Twisting the corner of her mouth, Gaia clutched her lower abdomen.
"This is destiny. The destiny of being born a woman. Because I am the Mother of Life... it's only natural that I cannot defeat a cock possessing life force stronger than anyone else's, right?"
Gaia just chuckled softly.
"Then... shall I try it 'for real' soon...?"
Lick.