Zeus stood covered in blood, breathing heavily.
Kronos was hunched over in agony, his face twisted by the violent vomiting, the backlash from the potion, and the recoil of the spell.
Rhea and Metis, meanwhile, were pale from the tremendous amount of divine power they had expended casting the grand spell.
At that moment, all four of them found their eyes drawn to the five young deities before them.
Each possessed a distinct appearance and an extraordinary aura, and despite standing in the middle of such a grim battlefield, they remained remarkably composed.
So this is the situation… Poseidon thought.
Zeus, with the help of Rhea and that red-haired goddess, managed to drug Kronos.
But this blond little brother looks like he’s taken quite a beating.
Is he really destined to become the future God King?
Though he continued bickering with Hades on the surface, Poseidon had already grasped the situation more clearly than anyone else.
Zeus.
Kronos.
The woman who was almost certainly their mother, Rhea.
And her ally.
The lines between friend and foe couldn’t have been clearer.
Just as Poseidon finished organizing his thoughts, Zeus forced himself upright.
Putting on what he believed was his most dignified and charismatic demeanor, he called out to his newly freed siblings.
“Oh, my brothers and sisters of the same blood!
I am your youngest brother, Zeus!
Please lend me your strength.
Let us fight side by side and overthrow the father who devours his own children and rules through tyranny!” Despite his confident words, Zeus was anything but calm.
These older siblings… They were absurdly powerful.
The sheer depth of their divine power and the overwhelming presence they naturally exuded after enduring countless hardships made even Zeus—who had survived numerous trials, awakened his destiny, and mastered many divine arts—feel strangely inferior.
It was as though, standing before them, he was somehow a head shorter.
“What the hell?
What kind of act is this?
Don’t tell me we’ve got another Hades—only an upgraded version.” “Poseidon!
What exactly is that supposed to mean?!
Are you insulting me?!” “If you can’t even understand it, how do you know it’s an insult?
Idiot.” “You bastard!” The moment Zeus began speaking, Poseidon instinctively blurted out his comment, his face full of disdain.
One Hades was already more than enough.
If Zeus turned out to be another chunibyo, only an even worse version, Poseidon thought he might actually lose his mind.
Hades, meanwhile, was genuinely offended by being compared to an “upgraded version” of himself.
The black mist surrounding him instantly churned with murderous intent.
On the other side, Zeus stood there in confusion.
His dignified and majestic manner of speaking had always worked.
Whether before the nymphs who had raised him, the wise Metis, or even the noble Titan Queen Rhea, it had always earned admiration and respect.
Yet now… The blue-haired brother, Poseidon… The black-haired Hades… The breathtaking red-haired Hera… Even the gentle Demeter and Hestia… None of them seemed impressed.
Some looked indifferent.
Some looked helpless.
Others simply frowned.
At that moment, they seemed far more interested in stopping their own brothers from arguing than in dealing with Kronos.
“Uh… well… brothers, sisters… shouldn’t we focus on defeating Father first…?” Zeus’s voice gradually lost its confidence.
This should have been the perfect opportunity to finish Kronos while he was weakened by Gaia’s potion and the violent vomiting.
Yet, for the first time in his life, Zeus found himself completely ignored.
Ever since he was a child, everyone around him—the nymphs, the fairies, Metis, and even Rhea—had treated him as the child of prophecy, the destined savior.
They had always respected and encouraged him.
No one had ever dismissed him so thoroughly.
Seeing Zeus’s dejected expression, Rhea’s heart ached.
Metis could no longer remain silent.
“Brothers!
This is no time to argue over such trivial matters!” Stepping forward, she stood protectively before Zeus, supporting him with one hand as she turned a stern gaze toward Poseidon and the others.
Her voice carried both urgency and unmistakable reproach.
“You must seize this opportunity to overthrow Kronos!
The other Titans may sense the disturbance and arrive at any moment!
Please, join Zeus and defeat Kronos immediately.
Nothing is more important than this!” Because Zeus—the one she had placed all her hopes upon—had been slighted, even Metis, the Goddess of Wisdom, couldn’t keep the frustration from creeping into her voice.
“Heh.
And who exactly are you?” Hera’s voice turned ice-cold.
“What gives you the right to lecture us about our family’s affairs?” The words struck one of Hera’s biggest sore spots.
She had been standing with her arms crossed, watching Poseidon and Hades squabble with open disdain.
But the moment Metis spoke as though she had the authority to command them, Hera’s crimson eyes turned frigid.
The scorching divine power surrounding her suddenly flared, boiling with unmistakable hostility.
As the goddess who had inherited Rhea’s bloodline and the destiny of the Queen of the Gods more perfectly than anyone else, the magical power and divine might Hera had awakened and tempered within Kronos’s stomach had reached a level of purity and intensity that the still-inexperienced Metis could neither imagine nor withstand.
Moreover, Hera’s daily “sparring partner” inside Kronos’s belly had always been Poseidon.
And Poseidon himself had long since forged his body through countless cycles of destruction and rebirth until it rivaled that of the Titan Atlas, who bore the heavens upon his shoulders.
The divine power surging within him had awakened almost completely, far surpassing the Poseidon recorded in the original myths.
He had even developed a technique called Flow Field Propulsion, allowing him to harness the power of the sea to move the very power of the world itself.
He was a true monster who shattered all finesse with overwhelming brute force.
Likewise, unwilling to be outdone by Poseidon—or more accurately, determined to suppress him—Hades had continuously pushed himself as well.
Through their endless rivalry, his authority over darkness and death had grown increasingly profound and terrifying.
As a result, Hera, Demeter, and Hestia, who had trained and grown alongside those two monsters for years, had also long since broken free from the limitations of the original myths, reaching heights that ordinary gods could scarcely comprehend.
The instant Metis felt Hera’s undisguised and terrifying divine pressure descend upon her, her face turned deathly pale.
Even with all her Wisdom, she had never imagined the other party’s reaction would be so fierce—or her power so overwhelmingly beyond reason.
This wasn’t merely a difference in strength.
It was the crushing weight of a will forged through endless darkness and countless brushes with death.
At that critical moment— Bang!
A gentle yet incomparably solid curtain of light appeared before Metis, blocking the invisible pressure radiating from Hera.
Rhea stepped forward.
Though visibly exhausted, the dignity and foundation of the Titan Queen remained unshaken.
“…Whew.
Even though she is my daughter, this power is truly astonishing.
She hasn’t even made a move yet, and her aura alone is already this overwhelming.” Rhea sighed softly, her gaze toward Hera filled with both amazement and guilt.
After all, Rhea had once ruled an entire generation of Titans as their queen.
Though Hera possessed limitless potential, in terms of accumulated divine power and the completeness of her authority, she still could not compare to the former Queen of the Titans.
“I apologize on her behalf.
She spoke out of anxiety, not malice.
We simply wish to end all of this as soon as possible and overthrow Kronos.” Hera looked at Rhea, who had so effortlessly dispersed her pressure.
Her beautiful face grew even colder, her crimson lips pressed into a thin line.
Long ago, while still trapped inside Kronos’s stomach, she, Demeter, Hestia, that “annoying” Poseidon, and her gloomy younger brother Hades had already reached a silent understanding.
None of them intended to acknowledge these so-called parents.
One had swallowed them into eternal darkness and imprisonment.
The other… perhaps she had her reasons, but in the end she had still failed to protect them.
And now, after suddenly appearing before them again, she expected them to help some unfamiliar “little brother” simply because she was their mother.
So even when faced with Rhea’s apology and request, Hera felt nothing.
If anything, her heart resisted even more because of Rhea’s matter-of-fact attitude.
Just then, a warm, powerful hand gently rested atop Hera’s head.
It was Poseidon.
Somehow, he had already ended his childish quarrel with Hades and wandered over beside her.
His sea-blue eyes carried their usual carefree smile as he looked at her.
The gesture made Hera pout slightly.
“Hera, what are you standing here thinking about all by yourself?
You look so serious, it’s like you’re about to declare war on the whole world,” he said with a grin.
“Poseidon?
Finished arguing already?” Hera shot him a sidelong glance, the tension in her expression easing ever so slightly.
“As if.
Arguing with that guy never ends.” Poseidon laughed as he leaned a little closer, catching the faint, warm fragrance drifting from her crimson hair.
“But when I saw my dear Hera standing here with such a troubled face, looking like she was ready to fight the entire world, I couldn’t help coming over.” “Hmph.
You certainly know how to sweet-talk people.
Shame you never act seriously.” Hera snorted and turned her face away, though the tightness around her lips relaxed noticeably.
“Come on, Hera.
You’re overthinking it.
Isn’t our goal simple?
First, we beat the hell out of that old bastard who swallowed us all those years ago—beat him until he regrets ever being born.” Poseidon shrugged, spreading his hands as he addressed everyone.
“As for everything else… if someone wants to stand in our way or tell us what to do, then we’ll just ‘persuade’ them too.
Think too much, and you’ll end up going bald.” “Tsk.
Only someone whose brain is filled with seawater could think everything is that simple.” Hera clicked her tongue softly.
“…Still, you’re right.
It’s time to end this.” She brushed Poseidon’s hand off her head.
Yet after listening to his carefree words, the lingering resentment in her heart had indeed faded considerably.
Yes.
Why overcomplicate things?
They had trained day after day in that endless darkness for one reason alone— To one day take revenge with their own hands.
Without sparing Rhea or Metis another glance, Hera turned toward their youngest brother.
He was undeniably handsome, with the classic appearance of a charming playboy—the very type of man Hera disliked the most.
Still… Since he had at least played a part in freeing them, she was willing to acknowledge that small contribution.
“Hey.
Blondie.” “Eh?
A-Are you talking to me?” Zeus blinked, pointing at himself.
“Who else?
You’re the only blond here.” Hera spoke impatiently.
“Get up already.
We’re about to teach that father of ours, who’s almost recovered, a proper lesson—so he’ll understand the price of swallowing things he never should have swallowed.” Then, in a tone that sounded as though she were granting a great favor, she added, “Since you’re technically our brother—and you’ve made at least a tiny contribution—I’ll allow you to join us.” Zeus listened blankly, nodding almost on instinct.
A moment later, however, he frowned.
Something about this felt completely wrong.
“If we’re going to fight anyway… wouldn’t it have been better to attack while Kronos was completely helpless?
Why wait for him to recover?” The instant those words left his mouth— Hera exploded.
“What… did you just say?” Her crimson eyes widened with fury.
“Are you actually suggesting that I, Hera—and my siblings—” “—would stoop to something as despicable and shameless as attacking an enemy while he’s helpless?!”