As a warrior born among the Amazons, Diana had not understood etiquette at first either. However, after living in human society for more than a hundred years, even the dullest person would have learned something. She wiped the grease from her hands and began counting on her fingers as she tried to think of solutions for Thea.
"I can think of several ways to gain public approval. First—eliminate gender discrimination. I've been working on that for more than ten years. If you took over, the effect wouldn't be much better."
Diana had truly poured her heart into this issue. Thea had no better ideas either and simply nodded. This was a matter of overall social structure, not intelligence.
"Second—end wars, save children, pay attention to vulnerable groups, provide employment opportunities, offer free medical care, and support people below the poverty line…"
It was clear that Diana had long been concerned with these social problems. Unfortunately, her influence was limited, and she had no effective way to truly push these changes forward.
Not only did these issues give Diana headaches, they also made Thea feel helpless. Exaggerating only slightly—if one dug out Moira's old mayoral campaign speech, tens of thousands of words would be devoted to exactly these topics. Every politician promised voters countless things, yet reality always remained unchanged.
Problems that countless altruistic politicians in high positions had failed to solve over thousands of years of human history were not something two demigods could fix either.
Thea thought for a moment. Universal gene-fluid injections were out of the question, but manufacturing a batch of gene-level miracle drugs to cure terminal illnesses and releasing them at low cost might be feasible—at least to test the response.
"I think—hm?!"
Just as she was about to speak, a sudden sense of palpitations interrupted her. Somewhere extremely far away, something had happened.
Diana's level was high, but as a pure warrior her sensitivity to spatial anomalies was still inferior to Thea's. Seeing Thea stop mid-sentence, Diana carefully sensed her surroundings—but felt nothing.
"It feels like… our world just tore open a hole somewhere," Thea said quietly.
She had set up many contingency measures in secret. She didn't know which one had been triggered, but instinct told her this was a major event.
The two women wasted no time speaking further and flew straight out of the atmosphere. Thea gazed into the far distance.
At the same time, in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean, on a small island within the Azores archipelago—
The island, once filled with indigenous-style buildings, was now packed with people. The renowned archaeologist Daniel Evans, having received mysterious financial backing, had stolen Arthur Curry's trident several years ahead of the original timeline. Leading a large group of media reporters, he intended to open the so-called Gate of Atlantis.
What the reporters recorded was not a glorious ancient civilization nor priceless relics.
Instead, the refined middle-aged man opened a passage sealed for tens of thousands of years. From within poured countless colossal beings once jointly sealed away by the Atlanteans and the Greek gods.
Cameras were knocked over. Several reporters standing too close were torn apart on the spot. The rest turned and fled—but this was an island. There was nowhere to run.
The giant beings ignored the stunned Dr. Evans. This was not mercy—it was mockery.
Seeing this scene, Thea silently let out a breath. Fortunately, she had sensed the breach in the barrier between realms. Otherwise, the casualties would have been far worse.
The "mysterious funding" Evans had received was transferred under her orders by the Court of Owls. Her original goal had been to release the Greek hero Heracles, who was trapped beyond the passage, in order to obtain sufficient earth-aspect divine power and complete her magic-circulation system.
Although Evans was the one who stole the trident, and the giant beings were the ones who tempted him into opening the gate, as far as the Scale of Order was concerned, Thea herself was still a major participant. Chaos had gained another heavy weight—bringing the balance dangerously close to even. That alone made her wince.
She signaled Diana to equip herself. Hesitating briefly, Thea also pulled up a hood—this was not yet the time to stand openly before the global media.
The two teleported directly to the island.
From the moment the gate was opened to their arrival, less than thirty seconds had passed. Yet the situation had already deteriorated completely.
The giant beings treated humans like toys, tearing dozens apart at will. The stench of blood filled the air.
"Stop!"
Thea shouted.
Their sudden appearance went unnoticed by most civilians, who were already paralyzed with terror. But the giant beings immediately recognized the threat—two pure demigods were impossible to ignore.
Of course, when the Eldest Miss shouted stop, she had no intention of stopping at all. Charging in without a word felt impolite—she simply wanted to announce herself.
These giant beings embodied Chaos itself. Killing one carried more weight than saving a hundred ordinary humans. At the same time, the Holy Sword surged with intense battle intent.
Thea made her decision instantly—today, she would use these corrupted descendants of giants as the opening act for the Holy Sword's return to glory.
She reverse-gripped the Holy Sword with both hands, leapt over ten meters into the air, and drove the blade—overflowing with seven-colored radiance—straight into a winged, crimson-skinned monster with a massive, fanged maw in the center of its torso.
Confusion still flickered in the eyes embedded in its shoulders:
Didn't you just shout 'stop'?!
Its protest never left its throat. The Holy Sword purified it completely.
Before the remaining enemies could react, Thea cut down two more winged giants. Diana, perfectly in sync after countless battles together, showed no hesitation—she cleaved through a multicolored, semi-invisible creature as easily as cutting vegetables.
"Despicable surface demigods! Kill them!"
The leader of the giants was a female creature with a serpentine lower body, dark green skin, long hair, two wings, and four arms.
Their race had never been numerous. Over a thousand existed when they were sealed ten thousand years ago. Fewer than fifty remained now—and four had already fallen in moments.
Enraged, the serpent woman's blood-red eyes released visible psychic shockwaves. Dr. Evans, standing too close, was sent flying.
"Hmph. Psychic blast."
Thea scoffed. This was a trick she had used countless times herself. Against fodder, it looked impressive—waves of enemies collapsing like harvested wheat. Against opponents of the same level, it was nearly useless.
Both she and Diana possessed extremely high mental resistance. Unless psychic power was focused into a single point, wide-area dispersion barely caused damage.
Realizing the serpent woman lacked real combat experience, Thea veered away instead of engaging her directly and clashed with a purple, vine-like monster whose entire body was covered in mouths. It burrowed through the ground repeatedly, forcing her to spend extra effort.
She cast a soil-hardening spell to halt its movement, then sliced it into three segments with the Holy Sword. Still unsatisfied, she stabbed it twice more—only leaving once it had completely turned to ash.
Then, she moved on to the next target.