Hespera and Teth-Adam acted quickly, flying to the Parthenon Temple in Greece, a temple dedicated to Athena.
It was the off-season for tourism, but even so, there were still many visitors drawn by its reputation.
Ever since the identities of Shazam and Wonder Woman were revealed, the entire World believed that "Gods" truly existed and began to re-examine mythological stories.
There have been scattered signs of renewed faith in various places, with the Greek government making the greatest efforts in this regard.
In recent years, the Greek government has organized several temple reconstruction projects, almost all of which have received unanimous approval from the public.
In Dane's original World, the Parthenon Temple was already a dilapidated ruin, with only its outer shell still intact.
However, in this World, Greece has renovated this temple of Athena, restoring some of its ancient grandeur.
This also attracted tourists and believers from all over the World.
"It's not quite what I imagined." Hespera said with some emotion.
She had originally thought that humans had long since completely forgotten them, the Old Gods.
"If you knew they also built a temple for Shazam, you wouldn't think that."
Sloth made a subtle jab, having seen this in Mary's memories; she was really concerned about Shazam's matters.
And it also knew how angry Hespera would be to hear such words.
Sure enough, Hespera immediately became furious upon hearing this: "That shameless thief, how dare he!"
Dane actually didn't dare much; he wasn't thick-skinned enough to openly build a temple for himself, but he couldn't stop the people of Greece from being truly enthusiastic!
People built temples with their own money; he couldn't just fly over and demolish them, could he?
Hespera temporarily suppressed her anger, waiting until she found help to settle this overall score.
So, she and Adam landed in the Parthenon Temple in broad daylight, in full view of everyone.
The surrounding tourists were greatly surprised by their unusual descent, and instead of leaving, they gathered closer.
It was as if they mistook the two for some superheroes, with an innocence untouched by harsh reality.
Seasoned citizens of the United States would have long since fled at this point; only those desperate for fame would stay to live stream.
But Hespera wouldn't indulge them. She waved her hand, and an invisible force field instantly flung all ordinary people inside the temple away.
The lucky ones might only suffer broken limbs, while the unlucky ones died on the spot. Now all the tourists knew what they were dealing with and fled for their lives.
Hespera ignored the fleeing ants. She cast a divine Fire in the center of the temple, and flames rolled and burned. Its smoke rose vertically, reaching beyond sight.
"Oh, great and holy Athena, please listen to my voice."
Hespera's voice, transformed by the ritual, turned into smoke and flew towards the God Realm along with the divine Fire.
After all, she was the eldest daughter of the great God Atlas, and still held some sway on Mount Olympus, so she didn't have to wait long. An owl descended from the sky and landed on a stone pillar in front of the divine Fire.
"Hespera." The owl spoke in a clear, pleasant female voice.
"Athena." Hespera quickly bowed to the owl.
Athena was one of the twelve Olympian Gods, her status even above that of the Titan Atlas, so Hespera naturally dared not be disrespectful.
"Hespera, I thought you had already entered the New God Realm. Are you still lingering in the Human World?"
The owl made a very human-like gesture of looking her up and down: "You have aged to such an extent, why are you still unwilling to give up?"
"Because this is our World! I will never be reconciled to handing it over to humans!"
The owl sighed: "Ares once thought the same, but he ultimately lost to Diana."
Hespera frowned: "Diana... Is this a newly promoted Goddess?"
"It's normal that you don't know. She's a very young girl, the child born from the union of Zeus and the Amazon Queen, a demigoddess."
Hespera's expression became serious. Don't underestimate the demigods of the Olympus pantheon; many are more formidable than actual Gods.
The magnificent epic stories depicted in The Iliad and The Odyssey were mostly created by demigod heroes.
These included the most famous demigod heroes like Hercules and Achilles, who later ascended to become one of the Olympian Gods.
"Great Athena, please lend me your strength. To win this war, my two sisters have already fallen into enemy hands."
The owl ruffled its wings, tilted its head, and thought for a moment.
After all, there was some old friendship, and she couldn't bear to flat-out refuse.
"Who are your enemies?"
Hespera's voice was filled with hatred: "It's Shazam, the successor of those despicable scoundrels from the Council of Eternity!"
These words made Teth-Adam a bit displeased. Strictly speaking, he was also one of the successors, just not acknowledged by the council.
But he didn't speak.
Athena suddenly fell silent, and after a long while, she said: "Hespera, I advise you to stop."
Hespera almost thought she had misheard. She looked at the owl in disbelief. In her impression, Athena was by no means a coward, so why would she shrink back just by hearing a name?
The owl seemed to have noticed her confusion and explained: "This is Zeus's command. He told us not to interfere with that Guardian's affairs."
Athena didn't say more. In fact, Mount Olympus had long received a message from Lucifer, knowing that the Lord of Hell had changed, and that person was the current Shazam.
But the great God Gaia had prophesied that Shazam's fate was unfathomable, and if the Olympian Gods interfered, it would lead to unpredictable consequences.
So Zeus ordered that no God was allowed to meddle with Hell.
Although Hades and Ares were both eager to seize Hell, under Zeus's pressure, they still didn't dare to openly disobey.
But if they knew what Hespera was asking for, it was hard to guarantee that these two wouldn't harbor some ulterior motives.
Athena believed in Gaia's prophecy. Not to mention that most of her prophecies had come true, the fact that such a major event as the change of Hell's master saw other pantheons remain as still as Mount Olympus was very strange.
Perhaps they also had concerns due to other reasons.
Having said all this, Hespera felt that Athena probably didn't want to help, so her face was very unsightly.
But before she could continue to plead, the owl suddenly shrieked as a raven, flying from unknown whereabouts, pecked it.
The owl let out an angry sound: "Hades!"
"Hahaha, my dear niece, what are you doing here?" The raven's black eyes looked at Hespera in the temple.
The divine Fire suddenly turned into an eerie blue underworld Fire. This flame came from the Underworld and was of the same lineage as Ladon's dragon flame, but of a higher level.
Athena's divine power was forcibly cut off by Hades, and the owl was burned to ashes amidst its wails.
In ancient times, Hades was not popular among humans. Of course, this was normal; no one likes Death.
Therefore, his worship was far less than that of the other Olympian Gods; he couldn't even squeeze into the twelve Olympian Gods!
But honestly, Hades should have been the most capable of all his brothers; he was just unlucky during the lot-drawing and ended up with the Underworld.
If he had moved to Egypt, he probably would have had more followers.
After all, Egyptians believed in living towards Death; they would not only not abhor Death but would embrace it.
However, in today's era of declining faith in the Gods, Hades has made a comeback.
Although no living people worship him, everyone must die, and even if they themselves are unwilling, they must submit to Hades's rule.
By now, his Underworld forces had long surpassed Mount Olympus, becoming a new power.
Hades finally felt the joy of ruling the World of Death.
But he was not satisfied; he craved more, wishing his Underworld to grow larger and the number of the dead to increase.
He quickly set his sights on a new target: Hell, a World closely tied to the Mortal Realm, which was the perfect new territory for him.
He absolutely had to obtain it!
"Hespera, pray to me, and I can answer your wish."
Hespera didn't hesitate; she didn't care who the God helping her was, only that she could defeat Shazam.
"I, Hespera, daughter of Atlas, hereby pray to the great Lord of the Underworld, Hades, to grant me the power to kill Shazam!"
"As you wish!"
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