NOVEL NEXT Chapter 680: Hephaestus Offer
"Long ago, during the time you mages called the Era of Gods, there was a powerful king, he is also a mage so formidable that he could enslave 72 demons. He used their power to empower himself. His control over demons was flawless! He was even stronger than most of the gods of that era!" Hephaestus began his tale.
Koyuki didn't interrupt Hephaestus. Instead, she glanced toward Pride, who was searching for an opening to attack Hephaestus and his companion. But she realized there were no openings at all.
Hephaestus's companion seemed to let his guard down, but he did not. His gaze was fixed on both Koyuki and Pride. He never let his guard down, not even when he was carrying someone.
"72 demons? Do you mean King Solomon?" Pride asked, her eyes still searching for an opening but to no avail.
"That's correct, child," Hephaestus nodded in satisfaction before continuing his tale.
"The arrogant human you called King Solomon grew more powerful, but no matter how powerful he was… humans are still mortal. He couldn't overcome the limitations of a mortal lifespan… but with Solomon's brilliance, he extended his life span to over 900 years! Three times the lifespan of an average powerful mage."
"The king grew desperate when he was 400 years old. He left his kingdom and went searching for a way to achieve immortality. He knew about homunculi, but that wasn't the answer he sought. A homunculus body would significantly reduce his power. He needed all of his power to stay with him."
"At 500 years old, he discovered the existence of the Akashic Record, a place with nearly unlimited power that contains all the knowledge of the past, present, and future. And things went downhill from there… He used all the wealth he had accumulated and all the power he could muster to research it, leading to the destruction of his kingdom decades later."
"At 700 years old, he came to a place where the fabric of reality was weakest, aiming to use all of his power and resources to pierce through it and gain access to the Akashic Record. That place was in modern-day Southeast Asia."
"He spent more than 200 years experimenting until he found a safe way to do it. He prepared for everything he hadn't anticipated… the monster on the other side. The moment he successfully pierced the reality fabric, he unleashed the monster that resided there."
"The monster, of course, killed him after a fierce fight, and a massive explosion destroyed most of the Southeast Asian landmass at that time. Then it came toward us… the gods. After the Olympian gods fought the human rebels who sought to end our reign, we also battled that monster. The monster was so powerful that we, the gods, had to gather the gods from other pantheons. It became a war that ended the Era of Gods."
"Most of the Pantheon was wiped out. There are only us Olympian gods and the god from Han remaining. If I remember correctly, he should be the former Heavenly Emperor. He survived but was heavily wounded. As for us, the Olympian gods have been reduced to mere shadows of our former selves." Hephaestus concluded his tale.
"Why do you know so much?" Koyuki asked, her voice tinged with suspicion.
"Because I was there when Solomon pierced through the fabric of reality," replied Hephaestus. He then continued his tale.
"The monster couldn't be killed, so we chose to seal it on the moon. We gods used nearly all of the Earth's mana at that time to perform the sealing. And that… was the beginning of the end of the Era of Gods. With most of the gods dead and nearly all pantheons wiped out, the mana expenditure was too much for the world to sustain us. Without enough mana, we gods grew weaker.
We decided to hide ourselves in pocket realms far smaller than Earth itself. With our absence, people stopped worshipping us. As a result, mana grew more and more scarce over time. Mages became weaker, and so did we. While we gods didn't grow weaker directly, we couldn't grow stronger either. The wounds we suffered during the war with that monster took centuries to heal." Hephaestus continued his tale.
At this point, Koyuki was starting to lose her patience. "So… are you saying you gods want to return to Earth, just like you once did during the Era of Gods? I understand the urge to return home, but… what about rectifying the wrong? What kind of wrong did you gods experience?" she asked bluntly.
"So impatient… child. No wonder you once held the title of the Witch of Wrath," Hephaestus remarked, his voice unhurried.
"Don't waste my time, god of the forge. I'm not interested in playing games with you! Get to the point already!" Koyuki's voice was stern, clearly unimpressed by whatever Hephaestus was trying to pull. She wasn't interested in a history lesson that wouldn't help her save her beloved.
"Aren't you going to continue listening? I bet Teacher Envy wouldn't know about this knowledge either," Pride said, trying to persuade Koyuki to have some patience. Enjoy exclusive content from empire
"Daniel is still missing… When we find him, I'll tell him you'd rather listen to ancient history than help me search for him," Koyuki said with a deadpan expression.
"Right! Danny! We need to help him!" Pride immediately nodded in agreement, not wanting Daniel to hate her because of her curiosity.
"Lord Hephaestus! Get to the point already! We have urgent matters to deal with!" Pride yelled at the god of the forge.
Hephaestus chuckled. "The point is… ruling over mortals is also our duty and privilege by right. Don't worry; we have an offer for you. Since Hightower seems about to be destroyed by you, we... the gods of Olympus have a proposal!" Hephaestus said, raising his hand as if offering a golden opportunity to the two.
"You, the Order of Ember, will work for us, the gods of Olympus. In return, you'll become our priests, our representatives in the mortal world. You and the mages in your organization will enjoy all the privileges of the ruling class while basking in our blessings.
In exchange, we demand respect, submission, loyalty, and obedience from all of you. You will be second only to us gods, and the mana we produce will be yours to benefit from first, granting you strength and power unparalleled in this modern age.
Think about it! You could become the only ones capable of using ancient spells in the modern era!" Hephaestus said, his voice dripping with temptation.
"I'm sorry, but I'm not the leader of the Order of Ember," Koyuki refused. Hephaestus nodded in understanding, but her next sentence made his expression change.
"But… even if Daniel were here, he would have said, 'No thanks, we're better off on our own. You can do whatever you want—find some followers, rule over a country, promote your religion, or whatever. Just don't bother us with your pantheon politics nonsense, and most importantly… don't you dare point your sword at us.'" Koyuki mimicked Daniel's demeanor as she spoke, then returned to her usual tone.
"I think if he were here, he would have said the same," Koyuki concluded.
"I see… what a pity," Hephaestus said with disappointment, but Koyuki could tell he was somewhat angry at the refusal.
Gods don't handle rejection well, especially when it comes from someone they perceive as inferior, such as human. But Hephaestus knew better than to lash out at Koyuki and Pride.
Even with the armor he had created, Hephaestus didn't have full confidence that he could fight these two. He wasn't familiar with Pride's abilities, as he had never seen her in action, but he could sense the massive divine power radiating from Koyuki's body.
And it terrified him.
With this in mind, Hephaestus nodded at the two. "Then… good luck with your endeavor to find your beloved. Excuse me," he said before retreating through a secret door, which closed behind him.
Both Koyuki and Pride heaved a sigh of relief. They weren't afraid of fighting a god, but that didn't mean they wanted to. It wasn't worth their time, and in the long term, it might not be wise to engage with a god without adequate preparation and understanding.
"You need to inform Teacher Envy about this," Pride said to Koyuki, who nodded in agreement.
Koyuki quickly left the basement, while Pride chose to stay behind to decipher the blood magic circle on the ground. She discovered that the part damaged by the beam Hephaestus fired at them needed to be restored; otherwise, she wouldn't have a way to crack it.
"Instead of five or six days… now I'll need about a month to decipher it," Pride sighed. She had her work cut out for her.
—
Outside of the palace, Guan Yu's fight with Lubu has nearly come to a conclusion. As for Vlad, he's already destroyed all of the golems and is sitting on the bench he created from his blood magic while munching on a blood fruit, acting as if he was watching a sport.