"No, save me first! I never want to stay in this lightless place again. Let me rest in peace!" On the other side, a guy with his face painted like a ghost—apparently a tribal warrior—swung a spear, driving back half a circle of approaching corpses.
Seeing them form a circle on their own, isolating all enemies outside, Thea was amazed. Why the hell were they running? They should light the candles and retreat!
She grabbed Hera, who was throwing lightning bolts and fireballs everywhere. The goddess's reaction was half a beat slow, but she wasn't stupid. She immediately understood Thea's meaning.
Thea tossed her a candle, while staring unblinkingly at Hera's every subtle movement. "How do we use this thing to get to your Olympus?"
Hera carefully gripped the candle, closing her eyes to sense it. Her integrity turned out to be higher than someone had estimated. She reached out to grab Thea and shouted, "Let's go!—"
The entire small-scale space began compressing. Strange energy flashed, and the two were swept into a spatial passage.
The surrounding warriors waiting for "death" were initially stunned. Actions spoke louder than words—there were quite a few smart people. Immediately, one warrior leaped in. The rest, whether they understood what this meant or not, followed suit. The situation was already rock bottom—it couldn't get any worse.
Even some monsters in the distance who'd regained self-awareness saw the change here. Arachne, the half-woman-half-spider hiding in her pocket dimension, shot countless threads from her body, stuck them to seven or eight death knights jumping into the vortex, and used their momentum to pull herself in as well.
The remaining monsters were either too far away or lacked such methods. At the last moment before the vortex passage closed, a chimera with a lion's head, goat's body, and serpent's tail frantically squeezed through.
The King of the Underworld's candle experienced not the slightest turbulence. Opening on one end, emerging from the other, Thea hadn't yet reacted when she found herself in a place of brilliant stars. Towering peaks stood in the distance, waves of divine might impacting her mind.
Thea had no time for sightseeing. Her super vision let her see plenty. At least she knew it definitely wasn't just her and Hera who'd teleported—there was a long string of hitchhikers behind them.
She yanked aside Hera, whose reactions were always half a beat slow. People came clattering out of the passage—black-armored knights, tribal warriors with messy face paint, and finally Arachne and the chimera tumbling out.
"I'm alive again!"
"Haha, I feel the wind again!"
The undead rejoiced. This outcome was one level better than the eternal sleep they'd expected. After all, a bad life beat a good death.
Many people stripped off their pitch-black armor. The bodies once covered in rotting flesh regained their vitality. Strong, powerful hearts resumed beating. Through sheer coincidence, they'd crossed the gate of life and death, exploited a loophole, and returned to the land of the living.
"Ahhh!—" Mount Olympus, usually a place where birds didn't shit and chickens didn't lay eggs, welcomed unprecedented cheering.
"You—how dare you be so disrespectful..." Hera was furious. This was Mount Olympus. With Zeus away from home year-round, this was her domain. How could she tolerate savages howling here?
Just as she was about to step forward and scold them, Thea stopped her, saying quietly, "Divine Consort, hear me out."
Hera couldn't ignore Thea's opinion now. The holy sword's overwhelming divine might had scared her badly earlier. The goddess hadn't expected this ultimate weapon of the Celtic pantheon to still exist in the world. Plus, they'd fought side by side, and had no fundamental conflicts. She also wanted to hear what Thea had to say.
But Thea didn't discuss this group of resurrected people. Instead, she brought up a more fundamental issue.
"Actually, I think you could inherit the position of God King."
"Are you insane?"
"Of course not. You're Zeus's closest person. Why can't you inherit the God King position? Why should it go to Apollo and the others?"
Thea had been pondering this so-called "God King" position. It was a huge pit Zeus had dug, more devious than the ancient tale of two peaches killing three warriors.
In the original timeline, Diana was isolated and alone. She came up with a method—expand the war, drag Poseidon and Hades into the vortex, and try to fish in troubled waters. Her bait was Hera—Poseidon by day, Hades by night. Diana seemed upright, but when she played dirty, she was actually quite clever...
Now there was no need for such trouble. She didn't know about Poseidon, but Hades was thoroughly offended. To prevent retaliation from that side, Thea's solution was to prop up Hera.
On one hand, resist the huge pit that was the "God King throne." From now on, whatever Apollo, whatever eldest son—that would be Hera's business. Even if Zeus discovered it afterward, he wouldn't object.
On the other hand, if Hera inherited the throne, she'd definitely need supporters. As long as Hippolyta was a political figure, she could certainly sacrifice some dignity to ease their fundamental conflict. With Paradise Island's barrier destroyed and the island's location exposed to the mortal world, the situation really wasn't good. Bringing all the Amazons to Mount Olympus would solve everything.
Hera had prestige; Hippolyta had manpower. The two sides had a complete basis for cooperation.
Hera stared at Thea in shock. "The God King has always been male. I've never thought of overstepping my bounds. Your words are too frightening..."
"That's all in the past. Nowadays, humans have long achieved gender equality. What obstacles do you see for yourself regarding the God King position?" Thea felt there was hope and continued persuading.
What obstacles? Not a single damn obstacle... It was just a chair, and one Hera had looked at for tens of thousands of years. Apollo and the eldest son still faced the problem of fighting their way up Mount Olympus. Hera had no such problem—this was her home!
Ambition exists in any intelligent being's heart. Hera had simply never thought of it before. For ten thousand years, she'd clutched that divine consort throne. She truly hadn't felt she had any hope of becoming God King.
Various thoughts collided rapidly in her mind. "What about the divine consort position?"
Thea looked at her with confusion. "Zeus, of course. He's only missing, not dead. Your marriage still exists."
Hera felt like she'd been struck by lightning. How did this perfectly logical relationship work out—I become God King, and Zeus becomes divine consort?...
"Can't it work that way? Do the divine laws have rules against it?" Thea asked back.
From a rules perspective, the pantheon definitely had no such opposing clause. Never mind the Greek pantheon—even the Egyptian and Celtic pantheons had no such absurd opposing clauses.
"Once you become God King, you can make rules limiting Zeus from philandering. You could even issue a divine decree strictly forbidding him from leaving Mount Olympus!"
Thea didn't care where Zeus was at the moment or whether Hera could control him in the future. She randomly offered various suggestions.