Myth: The Ruler of Spirituality

"Then if I devour you, I shall become the new Demon King!"

No, not just the Demon Lord, but the Hundred-headed Dragon King!

He shall surely summon all the demons of the Four Seas, and eventually march onto the earth, along the ridge of Mount Olympus, finally slaughtering the entire Deity Race!

Whoosh—

With its wings spread wide, no longer bound by the Power of the God-King, Ladon soared skyward.

It is a dragon that flies, not a guard dog.

Now the entire Four Seas are its domain, where it can unleash even greater strength.

Boom—

Using the lion skin to block the flames, and a bronze staff to dispel the dark clouds.

Seeing the ferocious Hundred-headed Dragon, Heracles felt a profound calm within his heart.

Even though it was only a few brief exchanges, he had already determined that Ladon was not his match. With the help of the Sky Titan, he now possessed divine power that surpassed Ladon's.

"So from now on, you will be nothing more than my sharpening stone."

With a flourish of his staff, the pressure of the sky caused the space to sink slightly.

Taking a step forward, the Great Hero did not speak, only smashing head after head of the Hundred-headed Dragon.

······

The sun rose and set, the moon set and rose.

Unlike previous battles, this time, though Heracles' struggle with the demon did not shake the earth, it was enough to churn the ocean.

The sun rises and the moon sets, the moon sets and the sun rises.

Ladon's battle prowess was extraordinary; he was the strongest among Typhon's children in terms of sheer power, especially after breaking free from the constraints of the Law.

A head was shattered, and shortly thereafter, a new one would grow.

A neck was broken, and the fallen dragon head would transform into a new giant dragon, continuing to fight the enemy across the Four Seas.

Thus, the ocean trembled and the currents altered their course.

Under the impact of the 'sky,' the influence of the 'sea,' and the tremors of the 'earth,' hailstorms, hurricanes, tsunamis, and earthquakes.

Disasters occurred constantly, both above and below the sea.

No one was surprised, as this seemed to be the expected outcome of the Heavenly Pillar shaking the ocean.

But no one noticed the force quietly fanning the flames amidst these natural disasters.

...

The East Sea, within the ancient Sea God's old Divine Palace.

The turmoil outside seemed to have no effect here, and the tides naturally ceased in all directions.

For this was the origin of water, the source of the sea.

The concave surface of the earth was its original state, and even after millennia, the initial intent of 'sea' from the Chaos World remained here, held in the hands of the ancient Sea God Pontus.

This is an eternal authority, even if he has long been in slumber.

Even if the Ocean God could breach this place, he could never wrest control over it from Pontus.

For although these ancient gods born in the First Era are not as eternally tethered to the world as the Primordial Gods, some of them are still different from the deities of later generations.

Just like the unbreakable link between the Sun and Hyperion, as long as the Sun exists, no matter how the Mother Tree invades or the godhood divides, its concept remains inseparably connected to its original master.

If Gaia, no matter how many mistakes she makes, will never be stripped of her last shred of nobility by the current Laws, they will never lose their identities as True Gods despite the world's changes.

This is the difference between them and later gods, a blessing from the dawn of creation... Of course, this is also why the symbolic entity of the ocean cannot come into being without Pontus.

Oceanus had long felt that the ocean's magnitude was sufficient for a great birth, and recently, it had been growing at a rapid pace.

As the ruler of over seventy percent of the ocean, theoretically, he could advance further.

But lacking the initial intent of the ocean, the symbol of Ocean and Water could not be completed.

He understood this, and so did Nereus.

Opening the door and exiting the palace, Pontus's eldest son, Thalassa, politely closed the doors behind him.

Standing before the palace, watching the increasingly turbulent sea and restless currents in the distance, a smile crept onto his face.

For a moment, this Sea God, who often appeared in the guise of an old man, seemed kindly and amiable, like a neighborly elder or a respectable teacher.

"Heh, a divine battle, is it..."

Smiling and shaking his head, it didn't matter if those fighting were gods or not; their power rivaled that of true deities, and Nereus had no quarrel with labels.

He could feel that both Ladon and Heracles possessed enough strength to make even a True God like himself avoid them.

However, his appearance here was not due to their strength.

He knew that even a battle between two powerful divine forces could not shake the East Sea from the Western Sea. This was beyond what a True God could do.

The current Chaos was not what it used to be. Only Great Divine Power could affect one end of the world from the other, unless it involved divine authority... and relevant to the Sea God's authority.

So, the question is, could the symbol of 'sea' on the Heavenly Pillar achieve this?

Others could not be sure, not even Zeus could be certain.

Because between the authorities of gods, it's like a different world. The Divine King would not dare to make judgments regarding the domain of the ocean, but Nereus dared to say it could not.

Stirring the Western Sea's storms was already its limit; extending that to the eastern part of the earth was impossible.

Yet now it had, even affecting the water around the Ancient Sea God Palace.

This ability was beyond what a punished Heavenly Pillar or even Poseidon himself could achieve... but Nereus knew there was a condition under which a deity's authority could exert havoc beyond their own presence.

"That is to imprison him in the Abyss, severing his authority from the mortal realm, without another with similar power to take over the responsibility."

"If this situation persists for hundreds or thousands of years, the Law corresponding to his authority might revolt."

"But Poseidon has only recently disappeared, it shouldn't be possible for these Laws to have already shown such signs."

"So the only explanation is that someone used something closely associated with Poseidon to 'stimulate' the unruly rules forcibly."

Softly muttering, Nereus did not know who did this.

However, he knew that the medium for all this was likely the unlucky Triton. The mastermind chose this time to act to avoid divine scrutiny.

With humans and Ladon's battle, everyone would think the oceanic disasters were normal, and would have no proof even if they suspected something.

The person taking this step was still not familiar enough with Sea God matters, so Nereus noticed a clue.

And if he wished, he could use his Thalassa power to soothe the agitated Law, nipping the plot in the bud.

But...

"But you don't need to do that."

The sea trembled, and the ocean currents surged.

Treading on the fierce currents, the ancient Titan, the Ocean God, had left the Circumterrestrial River to appear in his old rival's domain.

With his appearance, the commotion affecting the entire Four Seas grew even more intense in far and wide realms.

Even many Sea Gods' palaces built beneath the ocean swayed in the waves.

"Ha ha... Lord Oceanus, it's been a long time."

"But you shouldn't say that, as the future Principal God of the Olympian Pantheon, I cannot ignore this calamity."

"For the Divine Court"