After Prometheus departed, Poseidon had barely settled down before the tension between Hera and Hades finally erupted.
“Oh my!
Poseidon, look over there.
Are Hera and Hades really about to get serious?” Demeter lightly poked Poseidon’s sturdy arm with a fingertip.
Following the direction she indicated, Poseidon looked toward the center of the encampment.
There, the divine powers of Hera, Hades, and Zeus collided violently, surging against one another without pause.
Hera’s crimson hair billowed without wind, resembling a crown of blazing flames.
A scorching, dangerous aura of magic enveloped her as her ruby-red eyes remained fixed on Zeus, making no attempt to conceal the contempt and provocation within them.
Slightly behind her, Hades stood half-shrouded in shadow.
Dense black divine power flowed around him like a living tide, radiating an icy chill that stood in eerie contrast to Hera’s blazing heat.
Together, their oppressive auras bore down upon Zeus.
Standing at the heart of the storm, Zeus wore a tense expression, the confidence that had once filled his handsome face now completely gone.
His short golden hair stood on end as arcs of lightning crackled uncontrollably between the strands.
Clenching his fists, he desperately circulated the still-unrefined authority of the King of Gods within him, joining forces with Metis to barely withstand the overwhelming pressure exerted by his older siblings.
At Zeus’s side stood Metis, the graceful, red-haired goddess, supporting him wholeheartedly.
Her beautiful face was solemn as her slender, pale fingers rapidly traced runes of Wisdom through the air, weaving spells of enhancement and protection to compensate for Zeus’s lack of divine foundation.
Farther away, Rhea watched the scene with growing anxiety.
More than once, she started forward to intervene, only to stop herself, burdened by countless concerns, until all she could do was clench her fists in frustration.
As for the Titans and Zeus’s earliest followers gathered inside the tent… Most of them looked thoroughly entertained.
Helios, the Sun God, folded his arms with an amused smile on his face.
Selene, the Moon Goddess, frowned faintly, seemingly displeased by the increasingly tense atmosphere.
Kratos, the God of Strength, and Bia, the Goddess of Force, wore expressions of open excitement, as though they had been waiting for this spectacle for a very long time.
Many of the other gods watched the sudden outbreak of family conflict with curiosity, anticipation, or complete indifference.
Seeing all this, Poseidon could only shake his head helplessly.
Still, he had no intention of stepping in just yet.
In his view, with a great war looming ahead, the question of leadership did need to be settled.
From both a rational standpoint and the perspective of the original myth, allowing Zeus to become the leader was arguably the most logical outcome.
The problem was Hades’s overwhelming desire to stand at the pinnacle of power, along with Hera’s innate pride.
She would never willingly bow to anyone—least of all a younger brother she barely respected.
Anyone with keen eyes could tell that, at this moment, Hera and Hades held a slight advantage over Zeus, who had only recently emerged from his “newcomer’s protection period.” Whether in terms of the intensity of their divine power or their mastery over their divine authorities, they were both ahead of him.
Of course, when it came to one-on-one combat, Poseidon believed no one present could defeat him.
Still, he didn’t think that was anything worth boasting about.
Nor did it have much practical significance.
After all, it was Rhea who had gathered everyone here, and she had long since decided that Zeus would become the future King of Gods.
Rhea… your favoritism has certainly caused your youngest son quite a bit of trouble.
As Poseidon expected, Rhea herself was filled with conflict and anxiety.
She truly wanted Zeus to become the next King of Gods.
Whether it was Prometheus’s prophecy, the cryptic revelations passed down by the daughters of Oceanus—the river that encircled the world—or the unquestionable will of Mother Earth, Gaia… Every prophecy pointed toward the same future.
The one destined to defeat Kronos and usher in a new era… …was Zeus.
It was a destiny affirmed by countless prophecies.
Yet standing between prophecy and reality now was a variable no prophecy had foreseen.
Poseidon.
An anomaly carrying memories from another life, who had forged himself through unimaginable hardship within Kronos’s stomach, and whose very existence had unknowingly driven the extraordinary growth of all his siblings.
Perhaps… the prophecy itself was never wrong.
It’s simply that my child, Poseidon, has become its greatest variable.
Rhea’s gaze drifted toward the sea-blue figure standing calmly in the distance, seemingly unconcerned by everything unfolding around him.
From the very first moment she laid eyes on Poseidon, both her instincts as the Queen of the Gods and her intuition as a mother had told her one thing.
This child had received the ocean’s greatest blessing.
It wasn’t merely dominion over water and waves.
It was something far more fundamental.
He seemed to embody the ocean itself—its unfathomable depths, its ever-changing tides, its fury, and its serenity.
The affection the primordial sea held for him was so profound and pure that it might even surpass the favor shown to Oceanus himself, the Titan who ruled the primordial seas.
With a child so deeply loved by every sea, one whose nature is as free and unconstrained as the ocean itself… How could the river of destiny remain undisturbed?
The endless seas governed by Oceanus have always been the most unpredictable place in the world—beyond even prophecy’s reach.
Even that clever child, Prometheus, must have sensed the uncertainty surrounding Poseidon.
That must be why he deliberately came to establish goodwill.
As thought after thought flashed through her mind, Rhea grew increasingly uneasy.
Zeus, Hades, and Hera were all her beloved children.
As their mother, she truly could not bring herself to favor one over the others.
Yet for the sake of prophecy, for the greater good, and for the plan she had devised alongside Gaia… Zeus had to become the center of this new era.
But if these three proud children continued confronting one another here, the newly formed alliance against Kronos would inevitably fracture before the war had even begun.
What should I do?
If only Lady Gaia could give me guidance right now… Just as Rhea’s anxiety reached its peak and she was on the verge of intervening regardless of the consequences, the confrontation escalated.
What had begun as a clash of divine power had become a war of words.
From the look of things, an actual fight was only moments away.
Rather than trying to stop them, the surrounding Titans eagerly cleared the area, looking forward to what would happen next.
“Enough!” Zeus’s voice rang out, hoarse with both anger and the strain of resisting their pressure.
“Hera!
Hades!
Do you really intend to turn your weapons against your own brother while our enemy could attack at any moment?” “Heh… brother?” Hera let out a cold laugh.
“A brother who still needs his mother—and a woman—to protect him, yet dreams of standing above us and giving orders?
If you can’t even pass our test, what right do you have to face Kronos… or the Titans waiting to tear us apart?” “What Hera says may be unpleasant to hear, but she has a point.” Hades spoke almost at the same time.
“The position of leader concerns the survival of all gods.
It cannot be decided as though it were a child’s game.” “You still have to prove that you possess the strength to bear that responsibility.”