Chapter 612 The So-Called Truth
"Mortal methods…is that it?"
Zeus didn't fuss over the other party's disrespect; he never cared about the offense of ants, unless it truly harmed his interests.
For instance, his image in the eyes of other Gods, or his standing in the hearts of his believers.
So, since only he and this ancient God of Creation's Divinity holder were here, the God King didn't mind using her words to check for omissions and make corrections.
After a brief recollection, Zeus's gaze swept across the marketplace.
When he saw some broken mirror shards and reflective windowpanes, a glimmer of realization flickered in his eyes.
So that's it. Although this was a marketplace belonging to the various nations of the continent, Silvermoon City had never let down its guard on these areas bordering both sides.
And in these aspects, those Wizards had done quite well.
With just some mind-bewildering spells and some material rules that didn't involve extraordinary power, the scouts they had arranged beforehand could observe general movements from dozens or even hundreds of miles away.
Once a large number of people gathered or departed, an alarm could be issued in advance.
And today, it clearly belonged to the latter.
Everyone here had left, leaving only him, and Zeus hadn't concealed his appearance…Therefore, the shallow believers who lingered on the border, engaged in smuggling and crime, didn't recognize, or rather, couldn't imagine that this was the God King of Olympus.
But as their enemies, Silvermoon City had instead discovered his trace and finally came directly to his door.
"Good early warning, efficient mechanism."
Zeus praised earnestly, not concealing his admiration in the slightest.
"If all the Gods under me had the same executive ability as that group of Wizards, even if they acted more wantonly, I would still feel genuinely pleased."
"It's just a pity, they don't have this ability."
"And you, too, have gone astray."
Sighing slightly, Zeus looked at the Old Woman before him.
He knew that as the God King of Olympus, it was undoubtedly a form of disrespect, even contempt, that the Spirit World hadn't at least sent an angel to communicate with him.
But the God King wasn't angry, because he liked this disrespect.
Only with more such offenses, more defiance of the common notions of all spirits in the world, would his power receive greater assistance when he finally decided to do something.
"So, ancient God of Creation's Divinity holder."
"As the ruler of Olympus, the legitimate monarch of Chaos, Heaven, and Sea, I originally had no intention of offending the authority of the ancient God of Creation."
"As His sanctuary in the human world, I should have protected it like Delphi once was, allowing no one to profane His glory."
"However, there are always exceptions to everything, just as the esteemed Earth Mother lost her sanity and tried to overthrow the divine mountain that supported heaven and earth. Just recently, I discovered a taboo from Silvermoon City."
"The Gods are indignant about this. Even if the ancient Sky God and Earth God awaken from their slumber, they would absolutely not tolerate such a great sin."
"But I didn't lightly believe their words, because as the God King, justice is my rule… So I came here today, to seek an answer from the ancient God of Creation."
Speaking calmly, as Zeus's voice faded, streaks of light and shadow flickered beside him, as if to corroborate what he said.
And at the end of the light and shadow, the image split into two.
One of them was the withered and corpse-like God of Stars.
The other was a ruin covered with corpses, where headless divine corpses lingered.
"Since the ancient God of Creation still don't wish to see me, then you shall answer my question."
"Did the Wizards of Silvermoon City profane the dignity of the Gods, treating the Gods of the Titan era as livestock, and sacrificing my daughter to evil spirits from beyond this world? Is this true or false?"
"If it's false, please tell me the truth, and I will personally punish the sinner who slandered the ancient God of Creation."
"And if it's true…"
His voice paused slightly, and the God King said indifferently:
"Then I will still punish my own child, punish Ares for his crime of unauthorized troop deployment and stealing my Divinity."
"But at the same time, I will have no choice but to place Silvermoon Cityunder the surveillance of the God Court, just as I once faced the mad Earth Mother, to prevent similar profanations from happening again."
Reasonable and well-founded, without any aggressive demeanor.
Zeus was convinced that at this moment, his performance was that of a saint standing on moral high ground, the most qualified monarch in the hearts of all spirits in Chaos.
And silently awaiting a reply, just as he had said.
For the God King, he didn't necessarily have to destroy Silvermoon City; it would be enough if it accepted his 'management' or 'surveillance'.
After all, the power of royal authority never lay in destruction, but in the collection of obedience.
"Then, ruler of Olympus, are your accusations finished?"
Speaking calmly, to Zeus's surprise.
Facing the God King's interrogation, the Old Woman, as a fanatic, didn't seem to feel angry.
She merely activated the holy power within her, creating an illusion beside her that seemed no different from the image beside Zeus.
"If you're done, then listen to mine."
She sneered. Although it was a bit regrettable that she couldn't eliminate these false Gods, the Old Woman knew she didn't have that power.
Fortunately, this time, that good-natured old man was finally smart for once, and he was still worthy of his position.
"As a believer of the Lord, I also want to ask you."
"Ruler of Olympus, why did you condone your Queen colluding with the enemies of all living beings in the world… even if she ultimately reaped what she sowed, leading to her own daughter being forced to leave the human world?"
The illusion beside her flickered, finally settling on an image from many years ago.
It was a cold stone platform, a hastily erected ritual hall, and a very familiar God statue.
"This is…"
Frowning slightly, Zeus was momentarily puzzled by this scene.
But in the next moment, as if remembering something, the God King's face immediately darkened.
...
"This is a sacrifice."
On an unnamed mountain, Clotho had somehow secretly picked up the 'weapon' that had rolled onto the ground.
With a critical attitude, the noble Goddess of Fate decided to thoroughly use this hollow metal rod.
By utilizing its internal structure, things thousands of miles away appeared as if they were right before her eyes, and it was difficult for anyone to discover them.
After all, she was a God who exercised fate; as long as she didn't get too close, even the God King wouldn't be able to detect her.
"Live human sacrifice, when did this happen? Why do I have no recollection…"
"Eh? Is this the King of Athens when he was young?"
"Such an important figure, yet he was almost sacrificed as an offering. How could fate not have reacted… Ah ah ah! It's an Outer God!"
A continuous string of exclamations, as if she had seen something she shouldn't have while prying into fate.
Fortunately, as the agent of fate, Clotho's safety in certain aspects was surprisingly high.
Hera's eyes had almost shattered into dust from 'seeing' the traces of the flesh mother tree, while she merely cried out for a while.
Clearly, since she didn't intend to do anything to the Mother Tree, the other party couldn't do anything to her either, especially since it was just a thought that had descended in the past.
So, rubbing her head feignedly, Clotho couldn't suppress her curiosity.
"That… Mr. Demon King who wants to save the world, is that big tree also your enemy?"
"…At least not a friend."
After a moment of thought, Ryan replied.
"Is that so… Then do you know what this image is talking about?"
She couldn't read lips, nor did she particularly want to look at the God King's fate.
In the ethereal, Clotho felt that prying into Zeus's fate was a bit dangerous, especially after his avatar went to the Abyss.
Therefore, facing something she didn't know, the Goddess of Fatesimply asked.
"It's nothing major, actually. Strictly speaking, do you remember what I told you before, that Athens also participated in this War, just not in the form of direct War?"
Ryan replied casually, continuing to observe the grand spectacle in the distance.
Three Wizards were killed on the spot; two of them were probably dead for good, the remaining one was unclear, as he wasn't his main body right now.
In short, this story taught the world a lesson: don't be the one who attracts the most hatred for no reason, because until the last moment, you never know what will happen when you push the other party too far.
"This is Athens's 'weapon'. It's the process by which the current King of Athens was kidnapped when he was young by the 'Revival Cult', which actually believed in the Queen of Heaven, and was ultimately sacrificed to that evil progenitor, the flesh mother tree."
"From this, it can be seen that just as the witchcraft of Silvermoon Citydidn't begin researching Gods only today, Queen Hera also didn't start colluding with Outer Gods only recently."
"Adding to that, the hunting target chosen by the Wizards was the Goddess of Youth, Hebe. The God previously imprisoned was Astraeus, the God of Stars, son of Krios, the only Titan God exiled into the Abyss by Zeus. And Hera, who was originally 'colluding' with the Mother Tree, tried to spy on the battlefield on the day the Goddess of Youth was afflicted, but ended up suffering a backlash instead… Thus, a plausible story was born."
"…What story?"
Listening intently, Clotho asked subconsciously.
"Roughly, it's that as early as the Typhon Disaster, Hera had already secretly contacted the former Great Wizard of the White Tower, who was on Silvermoon City's wanted list."
"The Wizard imprisoned the Titan remnant for the Queen of Heaven, making Krios's son suffer the same punishment as his father."
"At the same time, Hera also used Typhon's power to connect with the flesh mother tree—after verification, the Revival Cult seems to have been born around that time, and its fundamental doctrine comes from Hera's 'revival' meaning of bathing in spring water and returning to youth."
"Ultimately, the Wizard, Hera, and the Mother Tree colluded. The former was always responsible for doing some anti-human things, the latter was responsible for taking the blame, and only the Queen of Heaven shone brightly."
"All of this continued for thousands of years, until the Great Wizard of the White Tower wanted to go further and obtain eternal Life. After demanding the Spring of Youth from the Queen of Heaven without success, he simply decided, 'If you don't give it, I'll take it myself'."
"So the outcome of the matter was obvious: the Queen of Heaven was backstabbed by the Wizard. Outer Gods only care about interests and won't care about the so-called previous cooperation."
"The Goddess of Youth became a sacrifice, bearing the cost with her millions of believers for her sinful Mother God… And finally, the Silvermoon City Church, like divine soldiers descending from heaven, intervened to end this disaster of evil beings that erupted within the sphere of influence of the various nations of the continent, showcasing the image of ancient God of Creation believers prioritizing the greater good."
"The only thing that's a bit imperfect is that they failed to rescue the Goddess of Youth from the clutches of evil, although from beginning to end, Olympus didn't react to this, nor did any God come to eliminate the evil beings around Nafplion."
At this point, Ryan paused.
He had to admit, he was quite impressed by the imagination of those believers.
"That's the whole story. How about it, does it sound reasonable?"
"If there hadn't been the initial human sacrifice, perhaps the subsequent reasoning would have seemed far-fetched."
"But with the experience of Athens's new King Andrea, everything isn't so wrong anymore."
"So… so amazing…"
Clotho didn't react immediately, but she couldn't help but praise Queen Hera's schemes and the Wizards' comeback from the brink.
But when she heard Ryan's later words, she belatedly realized something.
"No, this is fake, isn't it? There's actually no such thing?"
"Hmm… Strictly speaking, these things all actually happened, but how to interpret them is up to the individual."
Speaking slowly, Ryan asked back meaningfully:
"Putting everything else aside, Athens didn't invite Hera to kidnap their then-princess, nor did they invite her to perform live human sacrifices."
"And no one invited them to involve an innocent passerby, especially one who had just woken up from a long slumber."
"Passerby?"
Confused, Clotho looked at him beside her.
But Ryan just smiled, not giving her an answer.
Well, that's right, as an innocent passerby, he had never held a grudge over what happened back then.
After all, even as just the humanity of a God, he should have some of the magnanimity of a God, shouldn't he?
It was just shifting the blame, trying to make him take the fall, small matters. Ryan wouldn't return an even bigger burden unchanged.
As for what happened today… it was probably just an accident.
After all, he didn't know what the believers of Silvermoon City thought; he was just following the King's order to deliver the evidence of the Olympus Gods' crimes.
The Goddess of Fate testified for him; from beginning to end, he stayed with the other party, quietly watching this grand spectacle.
"Clotho."
"Hmm?"
"Nothing."
Waving his hand gently, Ryan's actions confused the Goddess of Fate, but he had no intention of explaining.
Regarding this Goddess, just like her two sisters, Ryan didn't plan to make them part of the Spirit World.
The Spirit World might get involved in fate, but certainly not by incorporating the Fate Goddesses.
As the human counterpart of God, he would play his part.