Chapter 110: Who is the King of Giants
"Detecting biological signature. Target scanning in progress."
"Primal Core confirmed. Classification: [Island Class]. Designation: [Main God Specification] lifeform."
"Hostility confirmed. Expanding operational domain."
"Personality simulation: manifesting."
The mechanical buzz spread through Tartarus like a second heartbeat. The Titan Giants collectively lifted their heads and roared, as if welcoming something descending from above.
A mass of light dropped through the hellish sky.
What finally came into Rowe's view was a colossal "head" that was not truly a head at all, but a starship fortress. It closely resembled the Zeus Rowe had encountered in the Imaginary Number Space.
The voice that had been cold and electronic deepened, gaining weight and authority.
"I am the Lord of All Things of Atlantis, the God of the Sky, Cronus."
"Primal Human, halt your impious actions. If you do so, I may consider granting you release and permit you to leave Tartarus."
"A fairly mature personality, is it not?"
Rowe raised an eyebrow, genuinely a little surprised.
The instant Cronus appeared, he had already prepared to do to it what he had done with Zeus. His mind swelled with countless stray thoughts, aiming to interfere with the other party's nascent ego and assimilate it the moment it awakened.
The attempt failed almost immediately.
"Atlantis, huh." Rowe narrowed his eyes in thought.
"Atlantis is the origin of all of us gods."
A clear voice rang beside him.
Athena stepped forward, having shaken off her earlier shock. Her gown and armor reflected the glow of the molten rivers around them with a faint red sheen. She came to stand at Rowe's side.
"It is the land we ruled before coming to Greece," she said.
The Greek gods were once interstellar fleets that had crossed the void.
Their home star system had begun to fail. Under the command of the oldest machina god, the stellar-class "Chaos," they left their original sky and traveled across space until they reached Earth.
Their first destination was not Greece, but a continent far across the ocean.
There, the previous generation of machina gods, led by Cronus, constructed an interstellar civilization called "Atlantis."
Only after a very long time were they supplanted by the newer Olympian-series machina gods headed by Zeus.
"During their long ages of rule, they each developed complete personalities," Athena continued softly. "We Olympian gods were not given that much time. Before we reached that stage, we were shattered by the white giants that descended from beyond the stars. Only fragments of our broken bodies drifted here to Greece."
The Greek gods were not born as Greek gods.
They were the gods of Atlantis.
Rowe already knew all of this.
He was not surprised; if anything, he found the confirmation amusing.
"So you have a fully formed personality. That really does complicate things."
At the same time, Cronus, whose personality was solidifying by the second, noticed the plain white war goddess standing beside Rowe.
"An Olympian god."
"Where is your machina god body?"
"It has been destroyed, ancient god," Athena replied without hesitation. "Machina gods are already relics of the past."
"Is that so?"
The light streaming in Cronus's eyes narrowed, almost like pupils focusing. For a brief moment it resembled human astonishment, then twisted into ecstasy.
"So you gods have fallen into such a pitiful state."
"Is Zeus the same?"
A low laugh began to seep into his voice.
"Excellent. It seems the time for the Titan gods has come again."
Athena said nothing more.
She did not mention Zeus's current power. She simply left half of her meaning in the air.
She was deliberately baiting Cronus.
"Then we shall begin by dealing with you here."
Although his awakening had been triggered by external stress, now that he was awake, Cronus had no intention of returning to sleep.
In the past, they had not been incapable of escaping Tartarus.
They had been afraid.
Afraid of the Olympian series whose overall specifications thoroughly outclassed the Titan frames.
That was the key: overall. In terms of individual output, the Titan gods were not weak.
Zeus's true terror lay in his ability to integrate and coordinate the power of all Olympian machines. As a composite system, he was a nightmare even to them.
And now, that overwhelming system might genuinely have collapsed.
Athena had not lied.
Cronus still had enough diagnostic capacity left to verify whether she was telling the truth.
"Domain expansion complete. Initiating concept: Proof of the Sky."
Light surged. Data streams unfolded.
Although Zeus had stripped him of the crown that once ruled the sky and all things beneath it, Cronus still retained power derived from that former authority. Added to that was the brute strength of his frame as an interstellar combat fortress and flagship of a Titan fleet.
The effect on Tartarus was immediate.
The Abyss grew even more turbulent.
Crimson light blazed.
Godly power flowed outward and into the bodies of the Titan Giants.
Their parameters surged. Their movements synchronized.
A flagship also served as a commander.
"In my name as Cronus, Titan Giants, crush these intruders, then ascend to the surface and reclaim our home."
"Hahahaha!"
His wild laughter echoed through the Abyss, rising higher with every second.
Rowe and Athena no longer registered to him as threats.
He was the King of the Titans.
He was the King of Giants.
Roars answered his laughter.
The Giants bellowed as one, their wills bent toward the order he had given.
Athena's expression hardened. She tightened her hold on spear and shield, silver hair drifting in the heat, crimson eyes narrowing in focus.
Rowe only smiled.
"Go, go, go, my children." Cronus's voice rose in triumph. "I am the Lord of All Things. I am the King of Giants. I am—"
His massive frame lurched.
The starship fortress suddenly swayed to one side, almost as if it had been struck.
Cronus's eyes widened. They shifted away from Rowe and Athena to focus on the space to his flank.
Athena also froze, a rare look of open confusion crossing her face.
The Titan Giants, who had been lined up and facing Rowe and Athena, all turned at the same moment.
Then they drove their fists directly into Cronus's body.
"This is…" Cronus was stunned.
"Data update. Control link compromised."
"Flagship authority: stolen."
"Giant Domination: nullified."
His authority over the Titan Giants had been seized.
No, not simply seized.
Devoured.
Rowe's attempt to devour Tartarus had not been an empty threat. Although he had not managed to swallow the Abyss wholesale, that did not mean he had done nothing else while the world shook around them.
He had slipped a hand into Cronus's circuitry.
He had intercepted the lines of control.
He had taken the connection that bound the Giants to Cronus and redirected it.
"A mere human. A mere human dares…"
Cronus's voice trembled with rage.
Because this was exactly what Zeus had done to him in the past.
Exactly the same method.
Exactly the same trap.
And he had fallen for it twice.
Humiliation burned through the machine's voice.
"Kill him, Giants!"
Rowe spread his hands wide.
"For me, trample Tartarus."
Roars answered him.
The Giants attacked in unison, driving those colossal fists into Cronus's fortress hull, using the power Cronus himself had just granted them.
His shield was now being shattered by his own spear.
Offense and defense had completely reversed.
So who, then, was the King of Giants?
There was only one answer.
"I am the King of Giants!"
Rowe laughed aloud, voice ringing over the chaos.
Be ashamed, Cronus.
Be furious.
Then come and kill me.
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