Chapter 27

Chapter 27 – Why Is The Sky Always Clear At Such Times?

Ah, in her long rebirth, was there ever a more satisfying moment in history?

From birth to growth, everything had been such an utter disgrace to Hera’s divine duty, prestige, and dignity that it had been trampled into the ground—among Zeus’s detested bastards, this one in particular must be cursed and killed in the most gruesome way from her perspective.

Zeus had even punished her by hanging her at the edge of the world for attempting to harm such a hero...

“How dare you?!”

-Thunk!

She had forgotten that she had secretly come out and was hiding in the clouds from Zeus, but her divine wrath made the plants tremble in fear.

Fortunately, there was no one below to pay attention to this.

“Aaaaah!!”

“Ahhh! It’s coming this way!!”

“Gack!”

“Brother!!”

“Zetes has been struck!!”

“What hit you?”

“I don’t know! It suddenly flew and hit the wall!”

“It’s a shockwave! Never stay in that maniac’s direct line of sight!”

Each time he swung his arm, the shockwaves rippled and dented the stone walls.

Each time his feet stomped on the ground, the entire earth shook as the monster lost its sanity and rampaged.

The slight shaking of the trees was hardly noticeable.

“...Ugh.”

Seeing that, Hera almost doubted whether Zeus might have been right, but she couldn’t just let it go, intending to cast a curse if necessary....

“I guess I don’t need to intervene.”

Hera watched the terrifying spectacle in awe.

In the midst of that ferocious rampage, where no bold hero would dare approach, the child stood.

“Aaaaah!!”

“My ears hurt, you brat!”

-Thwack!

Facing Hercules head-on like a millennium-old tree, yet swaying relentlessly like a reed, was the black-haired hero.

Hermes had mentioned...

“It’s Dianes.”

Dianes of Passos.

She had learned the name by eavesdropping on a private conversation between Zeus and Hermes.

It was a night after yet another council where Zeus boasted endlessly about Hercules.

Normally, Hermes would have diffused the tension with a joke and a smile, but that night, he averted his eyes in quiet fury, the anger and murderous intent evident in his beautiful eyes.

Determined to end it once and for all, Hera was climbing Olympus, seething, when she overheard Zeus and Hermes discussing a piece of poetry.

Recently, the supreme god, who cared for nothing but Hercules and women, was unusually excited over just one piece of poetry.

Listening quietly to the rising question, it turned out that the one who submitted the poem was Dianes of Passos, who was recently praised in unison by her son Ares and Poseidon at the gods’ banquet.

Ares was so innocently pleased that he bragged about it everywhere, making the usually unruly second son seem adorable for once.

And that wasn’t all.

Poseidon, who boasted about his young new follower, caused an earthquake in Olympus by brandishing his divine artifact, the trident Triaina, in the middle of the banquet to demonstrate the spear technique the boy had dedicated to him.

And when Hermes casually handed over Dianes’s poem to her...

Why did Zeus summon Hermes to boast personally?

She then understood why Ares and Poseidon, the two gods known for their ferocity in Olympus, praised that child so highly.

As my entire body honed and my martial arts deepened, I couldn’t help but smile faintly.

Hercules twisted his body greatly and raised his clasped hands high into the sky like a hammer.

“Dieeeeee!!”

“Huh?”

A move from Hercules, putting all his strength into it, ignoring defense.

But even as I watched this, I couldn’t move an inch, as if my whole body were bound.

A golden aura enveloped Hercules’s fist with a monstrous roar.

I had seen that aura before, reminiscent of lightning.

“No, why now?”

Artemis.

The goddess of the crescent moon who marked our first encounter with ill fate.

The aura she emitted when enraged and the power Hercules was displaying were different in nature but clearly of a similar kind.

“Ah..!”

“Uryaaaaaaa!!”

In the moment I hesitated, seeing that unexpected aura once again.

Hercules’s hammer aimed at my head came crashing down.

-!!!

An explosion.

Just an explosion that swallowed everything whole.

The atmosphere itself could not withstand the thunderous roar, and an intense silence engulfed everything as the colossal shockwave shattered even the Colosseum.

A terrifying strike reminiscent of the missile bombardments I had seen on YouTube in my past life.

-Kugugugu....

When the aftermath gradually subsided.

All that remained was the half-destroyed Colosseum slowly collapsing and Hercules, who had lost consciousness and fallen after exhausting all his strength.

And in front of him, only I stood, barely standing, covered in blood.

“....What on earth?”

In the midst of everything around me being half-destroyed and desolate, how was I the only one unscathed?

-Whooong...

It was thanks to the strange sound emanating from the demonic artifact that flickered like a shadow on my arms.

At the moment of crisis, when I was prepared to suffer internal injuries and was about to draw up even my true essence.

Suddenly, the demonic artifact broke free from the flow of the Martial Spirit Cultivation Technique and manifested freely according to my will.

What I envisioned was a sturdy shield to block the hammer of lightning.

The divine artifact manifested on both of my arms transformed into a pitch-black shield, absorbing all the impact like a black hole.

However, I couldn’t block all the aftermath, and I was covered in blood from the shock, but I avoided internal injuries or having my bones shattered.

“This... unexpectedly... was profitable...”

-Whoooo...

The divine artifact slowly faded away with the sound of the air resonating.

Seeing this, I too collapsed to the ground.

It wasn’t only Hercules who had given his all.

“Keh... It was a good, very good fight...”

It had been a long time since I had such an enjoyable fight—no, a struggle.

I also gained something substantial, and above all, I couldn’t help but smile amidst the twisting pain in my chest due to that thrilling sensation still ringing in my brain.

Ah, on days like this, it should rain heavily, but I don’t know why the sky is always so clear at such times.

“Khehekhehehehe...”

With that idle thought as my last, I closed my eyes in satisfaction.