The absent-minded Sea King finally snapped back to himself. Under Zeus's scrutinizing gaze, Poseidon hurriedly raised his trident and swept it toward the distant Oceanus Sea.
As the waves surged, three bronze gates sealing off the Underworld and the sea shimmered with glowing patterns, then rumbled open.
Zeus swung down his thunder scepter, linking the three authorities of sky, sea, and underworld into a single connected flow.
In an instant, pitch-black pillars of smoke erupted above the sea and solidified into three gates bridging the two realms.
Shadows took shape within the smoke, gradually becoming clear. Hades, the Queen of the Underworld, Hecate, the three Death Gods, and other deities of the Underworld appeared, along with Circe, Medea, and a host of human Heroic Spirits from the Elysian Fields.
Seeing this, Hades startled for a moment. After cutting down a few stray enemies in his way, he dispersed into a surge of deathly miasma and swept up onto the city wall to meet Zeus.
Once he grasped what was happening, shame rose on Hades's face, and he looked a little guilty, a little uneasy.
"Zeus, my brother… sorry. I'm late."
"No. You're right on time."
Zeus laughed openly. He didn't mention a word about how the rebellion had begun. Instead, he placed a hand on Hades's shoulder and spoke with solemn certainty.
With Zeus clearly having no intention of pursuing the matter, Hades finally relaxed. Driven by his own remorse, he immediately led the gods of the Underworld forward. As divine radiance surged, they summoned their armaments and advanced toward the battlefield alongside their God King brother.
But just as they were about to step beyond the magecraft barrier, Zeus slowed and glanced back at Poseidon, who was still standing there.
"What are you waiting for, idiot?"
"I…"
Poseidon stared out at the ruined, battered Oceanus Sea, his expression a tangled mix of regret and numb confusion.
"Hmph. One little setback, and you're already this pathetic? Then what right do you have to fight this king over authority? What, did it scare the courage out of you? Even if I handed you the chance, would you dare take it?"
Zeus's voice was dripping with contempt, his face full of disdain.
"What do I have to be afraid of?! A loss is a loss. Do what you want with me. But as long as I'm alive, one day the divine authority of the sea will be pressing down on your head!"
That cold arrogance, that casual scorn, stabbed straight into Poseidon's pride. Blood surged to his head. The fear and disarray in his heart vanished in an instant. He tightened his grip on the trident and slammed it into the ground.
A dull boom rolled out. Veins bulged across Poseidon's forehead. Like a rooster spoiling for a fight, his face flushed red as he bared his teeth and roared. His expression was almost feral, his cheek nearly brushing Zeus's as he glared up at him, eyes full of grievance and fury.
"Good. That's more like it. Come on. It's our turn."
Zeus's tone flipped in an instant, the corner of his mouth lifting in faint satisfaction.
Poseidon, who had been bracing himself for his brother's explosive punishment, froze.
"The mess you made, you clean up yourself. What you lost, you take back with your own hands.
It's just a divine realm. Win this battle, and Oceanus is still yours.
Titans, Typhon, old gods… none of them have ever shaken the glory of Olympus.
If your head's clear now, then move. I'll go with you and take it back."
Poseidon's clenched fist slowly loosened. He hooked his trident in one hand, bent his knees slightly, and looked at his brother with a complicated expression.
As Zeus summoned his chariot and was about to take the reins, a thick hand reached in from the side and casually hooked the bridle.
"Your Majesty, let me drive. No one knows the sea, or these beasts, better than I do."
Poseidon vaulted onto the chariot. The slump from earlier was gone, replaced by an arrogant edge. Without waiting for an answer, he swung his trident and smacked the divine steeds on the rump. Wrapped in the surge of the waves, the chariot shot forward, charging straight into the Storm Sea.
The chariot's path flickered like a comet, erratic and fast. Driven by the raging swells, it cut through the mobs in its way, splitting them apart and flipping them over. The warhorses screamed as they ran across the sea as if it were solid ground, galloping freely until they quickly linked up with the other gods, forming a sharp, forward-pointing wedge that began to push back against the roaming stellar vanguard.
Poseidon was not only the god of the sea, but also the god of horses, the one who had given mankind its first steed. With both authorities layered onto the chariot, it tore through the battlefield as though nothing could stop it.
With the breach opened, three Titan gods including Kronos, three Hecatoncheires led by Briareos, and the host of monsters clustering around Typhon surged forward like a tidal wave. They followed close behind the brothers Zeus, Poseidon, and Hades, plunging into the depths of the giant gods' formation that was guarding the roaming stellar vanguard.
"Laaaa!"
Seeing the enemy forces continuing to break through, Unit 2, Sefar, spread her arms slightly and vibrated her chest, releasing a high, piercing holy chant.
As the sound waves rolled out, the roaming stellar vanguard Unit 3 near the Aegean coast stopped in its tracks, abandoned its original target without hesitation, and turned toward the source of the chant.
Nearby, the dense swarms of grunts withdrew like a receding tide, following their giant-god overlord as they contracted back toward the Storm Sea.
They're pulling back! They're finally pulling back!
The humans and Olympian gods left behind to hold the Athens line couldn't help cheering. The moment their nerves loosened, exhaustion hit them like a hammer.
But with Unit 3 cutting in, the forward momentum of the divine-seal puppets, the Underworld gods, and the elite human forces slowed as well.
Before long, the three giant gods from the stars broke through layers of obstruction and regrouped.
Zeus, Poseidon, and Hades fought together, forcing their way in several times, but their momentum and divine power drained at an alarming pace.
And the damage they managed to deal, bought with blood and effort, still couldn't keep up with those monsters' self-repair.
As time dragged on, more and more mass-produced grunts surfaced around them. The advantage forces that had driven deep into enemy territory were quickly swallowed by encirclement, their precious fighting strength ground down little by little.
Wooo!
As their side began to falter, a bleak, heavy horn sounded from the last defensive line sealing the breach on the Peloponnesus Peninsula.
It was the signal to withdraw…
Zeus frowned and looked back, unwilling to accept it.
In the distance, the one who had sounded the signal was the goddess of wisdom and war. She had pulled forces from Athens and rushed here without stopping to reinforce them.
Zeus's eyes flickered. After a brief moment of thought, he lifted his thunder scepter and slammed it down. Under chaotic arcs of lightning, three giant war machines detonated at once.
"Withdraw!"
He immediately led the army, turning and punching out of the encirclement, pulling back toward the third line of defense.
At the same time, Athena, together with the other twelve Olympian Main Gods who still had fighting strength, gathered nymphs, monsters, and old gods and drove in from the enemy's flank.
A strategist who could read the whole board, she turned command into art. Again and again she avoided the hard points and struck the soft ones, disrupting the roaming stellar vanguard's redeployments and encirclement attempts. With constant maneuvers, splits, and interlocks, she ensured Zeus's withdrawal went off cleanly.
After the battle, losses under Athena were barely over a hundred. On a battlefield like this, it was nothing short of a miracle.
On the wall, Samael had been watching with his nerves stretched tight. When he saw the army retreat behind the third line's magecraft barrier, he finally let out a long breath.
What was even stranger was this. The three roaming stellar vanguards, now regrouped in the Storm Sea, had driven off the gods of Olympus, yet they showed no intention of pressing the attack.
As their bodies repaired, the three moved slowly, their golden-blue star patterns pulsing faintly as if calling to one another. They took up positions in a triangular formation around the outside of the Eye of the Tidal Sea, standing in silence.
Then the seven-colored light swords plunged into the deep sea, and the magecraft barriers rising from the ten Kingdom Islands spread out, covering the entire Storm Sea.
This is… standby?
What were they planning? What was hidden in the Storm Sea that made them go to all this trouble?
On the wall, Samael's brow knotted. He couldn't make sense of it.
But after such a prolonged, brutal fight, both gods and humans were hitting their limits. A chance to breathe was rare, and organizing another charge just to probe the truth was no longer realistic.
So they could only fall back and prepare.
The Ancient Serpent didn't dare relax for even a moment. He headed down from the wall at once and threw himself into urgent preparations.
He had a bad feeling. With the way the roaming stellar vanguards could intelligently match their opponent's strength and upgrade themselves, if they went in next time with only the same handful of cards, they'd be in serious trouble.
...
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