I blocked several quick attacks to my face that Libra was trying to land. In response, I moved my foot, bumping into her only supporting foot, causing her to lose her balance. With a sideways movement, while grabbing her arm, I pulled her to the ground.
"Why does she keep hitting me in the face?" I asked, curious.
"Uncle Poseidon said that if I managed to deform my face, he'd give me the blessing to control any non-magical sea creature; that'll help me when I want to go on my own journey. Can you imagine sailing on top of several great white sharks? That would command respect." She started rambling on, lost in her fantasies.
I glanced to the side only to see Poseidon hiding, watching. When he realized I was watching him, he took off, diving into the sea from the island, thousands of meters away.
"It doesn't matter," I told myself, banishing the image of Poseidon falling face-first into the ocean. "You're still too young to be traveling; you're only 8 years old. I'll only let you leave this island when I'm 180 so you can make your own story," I said, just to tease her.
"But, Dad, don't be like that," she started doing the sad kitten technique. It's super effective.
I tried not to look at her, but it was difficult with how adorable she looked.
"If Artemis, Hestia, and Kiss-shot approve, I can let you go on your adventure when you're 15."
"Yessss!" she started celebrating. I just watched her make a fool of herself to remember something.
"Hey, how's archery going?" I asked her. To which she threw a tantrum.
"Mother Arti is getting more and more demanding; she wants me to do things a human can't do. "I'll leave out the fact that she's only half-human. "How am I supposed to hit my target with an arrow from 100,000 meters away?"
I started thinking, and to be honest, maybe Artemis was going a little overboard with Libra's training; she doesn't want to make her a hunter, she wants to turn her into a super-hunter.
"Maybe I have a way to help you," I said.
"Really?" she asked.
"Yes, I have a special ability I was born with, and you may have inherited it, and it's called Haki. " Then I started explaining how Haki worked—Armament Haki, Observation Haki, and Conquest Haki.
She gazed at me with stars in her eyes, fantasizing about how she would use her powers in her own adventure.
"I'll also be able to inherit your abilities of darkness and death," she began excitedly.
"No," I said, crushing her excitement. "My abilities of darkness and death are something I acquired externally, transforming me into what I am today; if you wanted those abilities, you would have to kill me first."
She became agitated at the thought of having to kill me.
"I don't want those abilities anymore then," she said, calming down a bit.
At that moment, I remembered that I had the system and a lot of LP points, as well as a Devil Fruit I had encountered a while ago and whose ability I found incredibly annoying.
"Perhaps you can't have my powers, but you can have others," I said, which piqued her interest. Buying a Devil Fruit and taking it from my inventory along with the cure for her curse, I handed it to her. "Eat this fruit; it will grant you an amazing ability."
She didn't hesitate, taking a bite and immediately wanting to vomit everything in her stomach.
In the end, she managed to swallow the piece of fruit, her eyes watering and her mouth hanging open.
"I think it was rotten," she told me, lying on the ground.
"Maybe," I said, rubbing her back. "That Bull's Eye Fruit, you know it as; with this fruit, you can create a target, and anything you throw will always hit the center, regardless of whether you throw it there or not." I began to explain.
"Incredible," she said, the bad taste of the Devil Fruit already gone from her mouth; I also gave her the medicine to remove the curse of seawater.
"The only problem with this ability is that you have to be looking at your target to create the target; if you lose sight of it, the target disappears," I said, gazing at the horizon. "If you want to complete the goal Artemis gave you, you'll have to use this ability and Observation Haki; that way, you'll never fail a mission."
She nodded.
"Hey, Dad?" I wondered.
"Yes, my princess?" I replied.
"Is it true you have a lover hidden in the human world?" That question left me speechless.
"Where did you hear that?" I asked.
"From Mother Kiss-Shot, who heard it from Mother Dis, who heard it from Mother Athena."
I froze; that can only mean Athena is still secretly spying on me.
(Note: I'm too lazy to make a custom image for Libra, so I'll use one of an existing character; I'd like to ask you, what kind of appearance would you like Libra to have? I'm considering Akame, Yor, Jabami Yumeko, or Rio Tsukatsuki. Just so you know, there will never be incest in this fic).
...
Third-person POV.
Medusa appeared somewhat self-conscious before Kiss-Shot, who stared intently at her. To one side sat Dante, bound and gagged with numerous steel plates on his thighs, forbidden from using Haki or anything similar. Libra watched all of this secretly, fearful of what might happen.
"Let me tell you, my husband, she has good taste." This comment embarrassed Medusa. "I imagine she's the reason you were going to Earth for several days at a time."
"We're not in a relationship yet, nor have we done anything yet; it's just the system deceiving you," Dante began. Kiss-Shot ignored him.
She just stared at Medusa as if analyzing her, as if she were interested in seeing inside her and discovering her intentions.
"At least she's not a Hera or an Aphrodite," she remarked to Dante, who was being punished for doing things with Kiss-Shot's sword.
To understand how Dante's romantic relationships work, we must first focus on his special condition.
This condition makes him more attractive to women than usual. When he's a child, it's not very effective; he'd only be attracted to the kind of deviant women who appear in shota hentai manga.
When he's older, around 16 or 17, it starts to affect any woman, who can be categorized into three groups.
The first group consists of women who are mentally unstable; Aphrodite and Hera currently fall into this category.
Next are women who were already in love with him, who aren't affected by this condition; Persephone is one of them.
And finally, there are normal women, who see Dante as an extremely rare specimen, but nothing more.
From this, we can see Dante's relationships, which can be categorized as either pure or impure.
Among the impure relationships are the women who fell in love with Dante because of his marital status. Aphrodite herself falls into this category, but if you want another example, in One Piece, almost every woman who approached Dante was from an impure relationship, including his own wife.
Dante wasn't interested in this type of relationship; hence, he didn't pursue any of these women or show much interest in them, even if they had children with him.
For Dante, these types of women were indifferent, to the point of discreetly distancing himself from them, and he didn't want to get close to them if possible.
On the other hand, there are the pure relationships, those who fell in love with Dante unaffected by his marital status. Kiss-shot is an example here, but for another example, in One Piece, Balesca and Boa Hancock fall into this category, but due to Dante's marital status, there wasn't much that could be done.
That's why Dante accepted Kiss-shot and allowed himself to be bound to her body and soul, because it was a truly pure love, not something conditional or orchestrated by a third party.
Kiss-shot knew all this, which is why she was trying to figure out if Medusa was really like her or not.
"Well, I don't see anything wrong with her," at least on the surface.
Kiss-shot might not be able to prevent the goddesses from being with Dante, but she could prevent it with other, non-divine women.
"How about you have dinner with us? I also invited Hestia here so we can talk," Kiss-shot invited Medusa. The main reason for this was Hestia's presence, since she had a great ability to see people's true nature.
Medusa, still a little intimidated by Kiss-shot, could only nod, hoping to avoid any trouble for Dante.
...
After three hours of girl talk, Kiss-Shot and Medusa, having learned about the story and everything that was happening on the island with their sisters, initially felt pity but instead developed a bond of sympathy and friendship. Eventually, by a twist of fate, the two became best friends, sharing similar thoughts and tastes.
Medusa also received Hestia's approval of her as a good girl, which led Kiss-Shot to approve of the nymph joining her in her relationship with Dante.
Meanwhile, Dante and Libra were in a corner of the room playing Jenga, oblivious to everything happening around them.
"Oh, that's right. hey, Dante, come here!" Hestia called out to Dante.
He accidentally knocked over the Jenga tower, giving Libra the win even though it wasn't her turn.
Disheartened, Dante walked over to Hestia.
"What's wrong?" he asked.
"There's a situation in the world that might affect you in some way," Hestia told Dante, who found this information very intriguing.
...
Dante's POV
It turned out that the whole situation unfolding on Earth was the beginning of the end of the age of the gods, ushering in the age of humans.
Technically, this had already begun, but the consequences were only now becoming apparent in the Greek region.
Faced with this situation, Apollo consulted the oracle, hoping for some insight into the matter, but instead received something else entirely, and from what I understand, it's connected to me.
"I see, it's more complicated than that; at least nothing bad has happened here," said Daria, who was tallying up the money she had to manage for the coming winter.
Since Crisa became the gateway to Olympus, various gods, merchants, and ordinary citizens had come here. Therefore, the island's simple life had to change. Basically, communism no longer works.
(Note: XD)
"Hmm," I thought to myself; The ether level in the air was the same, but the sensation of it had superficially changed. "Anything you need, you can talk to me; remember you can go upstairs and come back whenever you want, as I'm the current governor of the city."
"Governor imposed by force, and yes, I'll keep that in mind," she said, returning to her accounts.
Seeing how busy Daria was, I left. In case you're wondering, Bemus is still here; only he's training the island's new recruits; he still has a few years left on Earth. I don't plan to kill him but rather send him to the underworld; have him stand guard somewhere like Tartarus or something like that.
As I walked through the city, I passed a statue of Hestia, which she forced me to create long ago. I wondered if it would still be intact in the future. Many people greeted me, knowing my identity as the Grim Reaper, guardian of the afterlife, or the city's former ruler.
While wandering around using some money I had legally earned, I bought some flowers and went to the orphanage.
When I arrived, I saw all the children in the courtyard playing with Kiss-shot. While I was talking to Daria, she had come here to play with the children.
Whistling, I got everyone's attention.
"Forgive me, children, but I think I'll have to steal that woman over there," I said as I walked over to give the flowers to Kiss-shot.
Some of the girls exclaimed that it was very romantic, while the boys didn't understand why I was doing that.
In the end, we stayed at the orphanage for a while and then went to explore the town, just the two of us. Afterward, we went somewhere a little ways away and then home to do married-couple things.
In a way, Kiss-Shot and I aren't married, but we treat each other like husband and wife.
The next day, my back aching from sleeping in an awkward position, I went to the main temple of Olympus, since they were going to discuss the oracle's prophecy; at least, that's what they said on paper.
Once I entered, everyone was there except Hades and Hestia, since neither of them were Olympians.
"I see you've arrived, Dante," Zeus said. "Our relationship has been a bit strange lately. We get along, but he knows about Hera, hence the awkwardness. But as long as neither Hera nor I make a move, everything will be fine." She also mentions that the relationship between the two is worse than before, but they weren't going to separate under any circumstances.
"Yes, I'd heard that the oracle's prophecy mentioned me or something like that," I told him.
"More than just mentioning you, I think the whole prophecy is about you," Zeus said, confusing several of those present, including me. "Before we continue, it's best if everyone listens to the prophecy." With that, he looked at Apollo, who stood up, coughing to clear his voice.
"That being of emptiness brought to this world by Chaos will be responsible for creating division within the great force of Greek mythology, beginning the end of the Olympians," he said, leaving the room in silence. "That's all." And with that, he sat back down.
"So, what do you think?" Zeus asked everyone.
"Being of emptiness—it's pretty obvious he's talking about Dante, but brought by Chaos?" he said, looking at me. This was the first time we'd spoken since my adventure with Medusa.
"Isn't Chaos the primordial being who brought the first machine gods to this world?" Dionysus asked.
"Rather than bringing us, he gave us a mission, which hasn't been fully accomplished; we've focused on other things," Zeus replied, turning his gaze back to me. "But if the prophecy refers to you, you're most likely a creation of Chaos, which explains why your lineage is unknown and why you appeared out of nowhere in Hades."
"That makes sense," Ares added.
"In that sense, you're almost a primordial being, since what you represent is emptiness, total destruction with your abilities, however much you call it darkness," Apollo said.
"I don't think so. Dante isn't divine." Athena shook her head. "Dante is like a concept; he's a human body; on the outside he looks normal, but inside he's a black hole that absorbs and destroys everything in its path; hence the emptiness."
"But that's not important, is it? What we need to talk about is what it says next, the separation and end of the Olympians," Apollo said.
"I don't think we have to worry too much about that. It's a prophecy, which is perfectly unlikely to come true. Besides, there's no one here who dislikes Dante. He's helped us with everything and has always been good to us, despite what we sometimes make him do," Poseidon commented, to which everyone technically agreed.
I noticed how Athena just looked away at that comment.
"Well, putting that aside, the main reason I called you all here is about the issue of land grabbing," Zeus said, which confused everyone again.
"What do you mean, brother?" Demeter asked.
"Because of the shift in the ether on the planet, the planet itself began to change little by little, including certain places on Earth. That's why the forces are moving, and currently the Egyptians are on the verge of invading our pantheon." He gave this information, which nearly drove everyone mad.
"Calm down, they won't do anything for now; besides, these world changes are slow, so there's time to prepare. In fact, they sent some emissaries to talk to us about what's happening," Zeus said. "Come in, gods of the Egyptian pantheon," he ordered.
The temple doors opened, and three gods entered.
I moved from my position, standing next to Hermes, leaving the other three gods where I had been.
"Thank you very much for the invitation. Let me introduce myself. My name is Thoth, god of wisdom. Beside me are Sobek, god of the Nile, and Maat, goddess of justice."
"Welcome. Now let's get to the main topic: what is it you want? Is it our territory?" Zeus asked.
"Well, the changes in the world have affected us rapidly, thanks to the appearance of a demigod in Mesopotamia long ago. That's why we've gradually moved to a place where the ether is stronger."
"Ha, that's surely why, and why people aren't losing faith in you," Ares said mockingly.
"What did you say?" the goddess Maat asked, clearly annoyed.
"Stop it, both of you," Zeus ordered, preventing any conflict.
"Well, that's one of the reasons we're moving. The second is that another god is taking our place." This caught everyone's attention. "It's a powerful god named Yahweh, who commanded angels and has some control over demons."
That caught my attention. I don't believe that the Christian god controls demons, but that he has some influence over them since Satan is his son.
"Then you weaklings have no business here. Just accept death and stop crying," Ares interjected again, respecting only the gods of his own pantheon.
Interestingly, Ares's comment was well-received by everyone, including Zeus himself. It's worth noting that the Egyptian gods were all annoyed.
"If there were any chance to do something to convince them," he tried to reason with Thoth, but without much progress.
"With beings as inferior as yourselves, there's no point in cooperating. Only if you can prove yourself in a fight to the death like a true warrior would we consider your proposal." Why were they letting Ares continue speaking? He was only going to provoke a war between the Egyptians and the Greeks.
"If we did that, would you be willing to cooperate?" Thoth asked Zeus.
"Yes, why not?" he replied indifferently, since perhaps this was the best way to resolve the situation with the least amount of bloodshed.
"Understood, then we'll tell our lord about it; we'll tell him who will fight in three days," said the god of wisdom as he left.
And so the invading gods departed.
"So, who will fight?" Hermes asked.
Instinctively, everyone looked at Ares, and just as he was about to stand and confirm this, Athena spoke.
"I propose Dante to fight." That stopped everything, leaving silence in the air.
"Why do you propose Dante, Athena? He's not even a god," Artemis said, narrowing her eyes.
"He's not a god, but he is a concept born from Chaos itself, so his strength level is not low; in fact, being able to fight Ares to the death proves it. Besides, Dante is our champion, the current protector of Olympus; I believe it's part of his responsibilities to do this." He said, and many agreed with him.
I stared at Athena, only to see her return a wicked and spiteful smile.
"Alright, does everyone agree to this?" Zeus asked, to which everyone nodded except Artemis. "Very well, by majority vote, Dante, son of Chaos, will fight the representative of the Egyptians, regardless of whether his opponent is a monster, a celestial being, a primordial being, or some god; with that, the session is adjourned."
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