The gods are capricious.
The gods are incomprehensible.
They might turn the world upside down over trivial matters or bless it for equally trivial reasons. Yet, at their core, humans are merely laborers for the gods.
To the gods, humans may be something they protect, but not something they love. Like a shepherd guarding sheep—protected from wolves, but one day slaughtered for a feast. Whether it's a golden age or a collapse, everything depends on their whims, on the fleeting moods that settle in their minds.
Moreover, it's no secret that the gods of the Greek Pantheon have poor morality by human standards. They are mirrors of the darkest desires, magnified by immortal power.
Zeus frequently commits infidelity and rapes women, both mortal and divine, imposing his will on whoever he desires without guilt.
Hera vents her anger not on her guilty husband but on the women and children who fall victim to Zeus's affairs.
Poseidon raped Medusa in Athena's sacred temple, then left the victim to be punished by the goddess whose temple was defiled.
Demeter plunged the world into winter and famine simply because she lost her daughter, making humanity suffer for her own grief.
Athena punished the raped Medusa, turning her into a monster just to preserve the honor of her temple.
Apollo punished those who rejected his love and killed Niobe's children merely because their mother's pride wounded his ego.
Artemis killed humans who unwittingly trespassed her sacred domain, using sanctity as an excuse for merciless slaughter.
Ares reveled in war and massacre, worshiping blood and destruction without regard for the suffering it caused.
Aphrodite toyed with the hearts of humans and gods, plunging them into false love and tragedy for her own satisfaction.
Hephaestus trapped his wife and Ares in a net, humiliating them before all of Olympus as revenge for their betrayal.
Hermes stole, deceived, and tricked both humans and gods for amusement, turning lies into a game.
Dionysus spread madness and chaos, driving humans to lose their sanity in ecstasy and mass hysteria if they refused to worship him.
The gods need no morality, for they cannot be blamed. In their view, evil is merely part of divine will, a fate to be accepted. But for humans, their actions are sins: violence, deceit, and greed that shatter the world's order.
Compared to the immoral and despicable gods of Olympus, Heracles truly deserves to be called the Great Hero.
He once killed his wife and children due to madness sent by Hera. Yet, unlike the gods, Heracles regretted his sins. He did not blame the heavens, though they drove him mad. He did not demand forgiveness but atoned through suffering.
The Twelve Labors he undertook were not merely tests of strength but a path to self-purification.
Heracles understood what the gods could not: that power without control is destruction, and justice without empathy is tyranny.
He saved humanity not because of divine command but out of human compassion. He did what was right not out of fear of punishment but because he knew the weight of guilt.
With that noble character, Heracles was forced by the Abyssal Devourer to become a tool for annihilating humanity. He felt immense guilt and could not forgive himself. He hoped for a hero to defeat him.
Fortunately, his prayers were answered. Heracles faced a young man and was defeated.
Grateful and thankful for being freed from his suffering, Heracles bestowed a gift upon the young man.
"Sky Clear, huh… That name truly embodies its meaning."
Charlie still gazed at the blue sky he had just cleaved. But the feeling of victory was quickly replaced by a strange sensation coursing through his body.
"I wonder what Heracles gave me as a gift—Hm? This feeling? Could it be?!"
The sensation came suddenly, familiar yet long unfelt. A profound weakness spread from his toes through his entire body. His knees trembled, then buckled. His exhausted body finally gave in.
"Onii-chan!"
Seeing her contractor stagger, Est immediately dispelled her sword form. A flash of white light, and the petite silver-haired girl appeared, catching Charlie just before he hit the ground.
"What's happening to you?"
Her usual flat expression was gone, replaced by clear panic and fear on her beautiful face. Est stared at Charlie, whose face was pale, her heart pounding.
"Hah… Hah… Hah… Est…" Charlie's breaths were ragged, his voice weak. "I… I'm dying… Looks like I need to write my will before it's too late…"
"Don't scare me, Onii-chan!" Est protested, tightening her embrace, pressing Charlie's head against her flat chest. "Aishia will be here soon. You'll be fine, I promise!"
But Charlie didn't respond. His body grew limper, his head fully resting in Est's embrace.
"Onii-chan?!"
No response. Est shook him gently, but Charlie remained still.
Est's panic peaked. Her mind raced to the worst possibility: that this was a side effect of using the Sacred Sword, an unexpected curse now claiming its wielder's life.
*WHOOSH!*
A gust of wind marked Aishia's arrival. She landed gracefully, carrying a surviving girl on her back.
"Est, what's wrong with Charlie?"
Seeing Charlie unconscious in Est's lap, Aishia couldn't stay calm.
"Aishia… Save Onii-chan…"
Est looked at her with teary eyes, her voice hoarse with suppressed sobs.
◆━⊰✧⊱━◆
Charlie's battle had just ended, but in the expanse of Giza, Egypt, another fight reached its boiling point.
The Pyramid, the last standing monument of the original Seven Wonders of the Ancient World—compiled by ancient Greek scholars—now followed the fate of the other six, reduced to ruins.
The majestic structure that had endured thousands of years now looked as if it had been bombarded. The apex of the Pyramid of Khufu was gone, its stone layers peeled away, revealing scorched black marks and massive cracks snaking across its surface.
The deafening roar of explosions and destruction echoed around the Pyramid, accompanied by unimaginable devastation. The ground was pockmarked, parts melted, sand swirled in a man-made storm, and giant craters formed everywhere.
The cause of this widespread destruction was an intense battle between Wang Jian and an otherworldly enemy, All for One.
"Spatial Breaker + Kinetic Booster + Impure Beam."
From his palm, cloaked in a strange energy aura, All for One fired a powerful, distorted beam of light toward the hundreds of Shadow Clones surrounding him.
*BOOM!*
The combo attack obliterated the hundreds of Shadow Clones in an instant, leaving behind scorched marks and the acrid smell of ozone in the air.
Undeterred, the real Wang Jian, standing at a distance, calmly formed hand seals.
"Kage Bunshin no Jutsu!"
*POOF!* *POOF!* *POOF!*
Wang Jian created countless Shadow Clones. With his Six Eyes, he had absolute Chakra control, rendering the Chakra cost of Kage Bunshin no Jutsu negligible.
Thousands of new Shadow Clones appeared, filling the ravaged landscape, charging forward, and racing across the debris to replace the ones just destroyed.
"Cheap tricks. No matter how many times you try, the result will be the same!" All for One sneered.
All for One began annihilating the charging Shadow Clones with various stolen and combined Quirks. Some exploded, others were frozen, and some were sliced by wind blades. His power was immense, but he began to show slight frustration.
"…"
Amid the chaos, the real Wang Jian hid behind a massive pyramid stone block flung far from the main structure. His mind raced, analyzing his opponent's every move.
"Ever since All for One breached my Infinity with a space-tearing attack, he's included Spatial Breaker in every strike. This makes close-range combat extremely difficult. My Infinity is no longer an absolute defense."
He sighed softly, gazing at the ruins of past glory around him.
"Indeed, fighting the final boss is never easy."
But behind that calm demeanor, the resolve in his eyes remained unshaken. Wang Jian would not give up. He had to find a gap, a moment when All for One let his guard down.