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Zeus looked at the major god, Kaelos, with a flicker of fear in his eyes, uncertain of what to do next.
His gaze shifted downward toward his brother on the ground.
Poseidon lay in a massive crater, flat on his back, ichor bleeding profusely from his wounds.
Still, Zeus could tell he was conscious—and slowly regenerating.
He wasn't like their brother Aetherion, who could recover almost instantly thanks to his domains.
Poseidon needed time.
Zeus turned his head away, determined to buy that time.
He glanced toward Hades.
Hades, too, had calmed himself.
His eyes were fixed on the battlefield—the fallen bodies of minor and lesser gods scattered across the ground.
There was something clenched in his gaze.
'Don't tell me…'
Zeus thought.
Hades was the god of the dead and the Underworld, yet Zeus had rarely seen him use those powers.
Death had never truly been brought forth in their spar or battle before.
But now, surrounded by destruction and fallen deity's, the battlefield itself felt different.
Hades slowly raised his head and met Zeus's eyes.
They nodded to each other—an unspoken understanding passing between them.
'I need to buy time,'
Zeus thought.
He remembered something Aetherion had once taught him: even when a opponent entered a divine form, your normal form could still prevail.
Divine forms were exstremly powerful, but restrictive—limited to a single domain, only capable of using a tiny amount of ones other domains.
A normal form, while weaker in raw output, allowed flexibility and access to all domains at once.
That was what Zeus would rely on now.
After all, he was the god of the sky, lightning, justice, and honor.
Zeus rose into the air.
As he ascended, he whispered to himself,
[Honor domain: On my honor, I will fight—even if death meets me…]
His divine energy surged.
A golden-blue aura wrapped around his body, dense and focused.
High above, Kaelos watched him with mild curiosity, clearly unconcerned.
He didn't even spare a glance toward Hades or Poseidon below.
Solely focusing and curious on what Zeus would do now.
'Arrogant,'
Zeus thought.
Pride was common among deity's—he himself had it, and so did his brothers—but this was something else entirely.
Zeus didn't hesitate.
He changed to his godly size, becoming 20meter tall.
He drew upon everything.
The sky responded.
Lightning crackled.
Justice aligned.
[Sky + Lightning + Justice: Armor of Heavenly Judgment!!!]
His voice thundered across the battlefield.
Golden light erupted around Zeus, forming a radiant suit of divine armor.
Lightning coursed across its surface, while compressed air and wind created an invisible barrier that repelled attacks before they could even reach him.
In this state, Zeus's abilities surged dramatically.
It wasn't a divine form—but his speed and reaction time were now sufficient to contend with Kaelos.
He didn't need to win yet.
He only needed time.
Zeus loked down and noticed that Kaelos had changed to his godly size too, becoming 17 meters tall.
While Kaelos's looked up, eyes widened slightly—curiosity replacing indifference.
Zeus gave him no chance to speak.
He vanished and reappeared instantly, delivering a kick so powerful that Kaelos was sent skidding through the air without time to react.
Zeus followed immediately.
He compressed atmospheric pressure and vacuum around his fist, striking Kaelos squarely in the stomach.
A sonic shockwave exploded outward as the major god was hurled toward the earth.
Zeus raised his hand.
[Sky Domain: Heaven's Weight.]
The atmosphere pressed downward across the battlefield.
Enemies staggered as the crushing force slowed their movements.
Kaelos rose again.
The pressure affected him—but the intense heat radiating from his body melted the surrounding wind away.
He spat ichor onto the ground and looked up at Zeus, smiling cruelly.
"That was a good hit."
Zeus didn't answer.
Thanks to using the sky domain in full force, he could see everything from te sky view.
Having a full 360 view in his surroundings.
So instead of replying, he formed two spears of lightning in his hands, miniature storms swirling around them.
He intensified the pressure and vacuum within their cores, compressing them to devastating density.
His honor was on the line.
Without hesitation, Zeus hurled them toward Kaelos.
***
A few minutes earlier, Hades had met Zeus's gaze.
'I understand,' he thought in defiance. 'I need to act now!'
He hated to admit it, but this was unfamiliar territory for him.
Hades had learned many things from his brother and from the others on the island, but that place had been peaceful.
There was no death there.
He had never been able to communicate with the dead of the divine while living among them.
Even in the Underworld, where he visited and rested and met Thanatos, he merely observed the dead.
He had never summoned them before—especially not divine beings who had fallen in battle.
He knew that divine beings would eventually revive.
But for now, they were dead.
And while they were dead, they belonged to him.
He hesitated.
Then he forced himself forward.
Hades had never entered or achieved a true divine form.
He had only used the abilities he possessed as a minor god—but he was confident this would be enough.
He looked down at the battlefield.
The fallen bodies of minor gods and lesser gods lay scattered across the ground.
They would return in decades—perhaps centuries—but until then, they were his to command.
As he prepared to act, he felt Zeus's power surge and glanced upward.
A faint smile formed on his lips.
"Tch… that bastard's gotten stronger,"
Hades muttered, pride and competitiveness flickering in his voice.
He had no intention of falling behind.
Raising his hands toward the fallen, he spoke quietly.
[The Dead Domain: Arise of the Fallen.]
A vast wave of divine energy surged outward.
He felt it immediately—his reserves draining as the power flowed into the corpses below.
Still, he smiled.
One by one, the fallen began to stir.
At first, only a few—then dozens.
Eventually, nearly fifty rose, then more.
There hadn't been many casualties among minor gods, but thousands of lesser gods had fallen.
Hades wasn't proficient or strong enough to revive them all—not yet.
Instead, he selected only the strongest, those closest or at the minor-god level.
The resurrected soldiers rose into the air and knelt before him on the air itself, as if it was the earth itself
Silent and obedient, awaiting his command.
Hades smiled.
But he wasn't finished.
[Underworld Domain: Empowerment of casualties.]
he whispered.
The energy of the Underworld responded.
Dark power flowed into his body, enhancing him—not to Zeus's level, but enough.
The strength he gained scaled with the number of dead on the battlefield, feeding on the lingering energy of fallen souls and the blessing of the Underworld itself.
Then Hades body size starting to increase, becoming 20 meters tall.
He turned his attention back to the fight.
Zeus was holding his own.
Though he wasn't dealing decisive damage, he was keeping pace—even as Kaelos's speed continued to rise.
But then Hades noticed something strange.
Kaelos's skin was beginning to peel.
Hades looked confused but then his eyes narrowed.
"Overdrive,"
Hades realized.
That technique pushed Kaelos beyond his limits, forcing his power higher and higher—but at a cost.
It wasn't refined.
It was damaging him the longer he used it.
'He's burning himself alive,'
Hades thought.
"All we have to do," Hades muttered, "is push him further than his body can handle."
He rose into the air.
Turning to the undead soldiers kneeling before him, he spoke calmly.
"Even if you fall a thousand times… keep attacking."
At his command, the undead minor gods surged into the sky, rushing toward Kaelos's battle with Zeus.
Hades summoned a sword of gold and darkness, saturating it with Underworld energy until it devoured the surrounding light—the stars, the flames radiating from Kaelos himself.
He vanished.
Reappearing behind Kaelos mid-clash, Hades slashed downward.
Kaelos sensed it and barely dodged—but Zeus seized the opening, empowering his cloak with lightning and compressed wind, smashing Kaelos downward toward the earth.
Boom!
Kaelos had no time to recover.
The undead descended upon him in a relentless swarm.
He destroyed them—ripping them apart, obliterating heads and limbs—but they kept coming, attacking without fear or hesitation.
Hades smiled.
He struck again, landing several clean blows.
Kaelos's regeneration was noticeably slower in this state—even in his divine form.
'It's imperfect,'Hades thought coldly. 'That technique is killing him.'
He had seen it clearly now.
The ever-increasing heat, the relentless escalation—it would be Kaelos's undoing.
The flame that empowered him… would be the same flame that destroyed him.
——
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