Myth: The Ruler of Spirituality

The once mighty Demon King died, his rise meteoric and his fall just as abrupt. There's no disputing that beneath this nameless island, Typhon lies in eternal slumber.

When fate denied his existence and the power that made him chose not to sustain him, the mightiest demon of history was doomed to fall, sooner or later.

However, flying above the island, Zeus was also aware that although he had slain Typhon, the power of fate had only targeted the demon known as 'Typhon.' Beyond that, the remnants of Typhon's original essence, which he hadn't absorbed and which fate had judged to be enough to reverse the balance of power between him and his opponent, would not simply vanish into thin air.

They dispersed, in some way that Zeus could not quite comprehend. Beneath the seas, later known as the Thalassan Sea, a continuous stream of power seeped out, becoming an indispensable part of this world.

As the Divine King, Zeus already sensed the will of the law. It did not wish to see this phenomenon continue, and addressing this trouble was Zeus's responsibility.

"... Therefore, a seal is needed here, and someone must oversee it. And it's not only here but on the land as well."

His gaze flickered, perhaps because he had also possessed some of the power originally from Typhon, Zeus glimpsed the direction in which those forces would disperse after his death.

They separated from the deceased demon gods, then gathered towards life still 'alive'... Typhon's limbs, scattered across the world during the great battle, were their targets, and if not contained, the land would once again be plagued with death and disaster.

Though many mortals perished because of Typhon, most were collateral damage, as the King of All Monsters never really focused on humans. But those lives that inherited his power might not be so indifferent. To prevent faith's source from being overly harmed, Zeus felt it was wise to plan ahead.

Conveniently, he had remained here to try and seal Typhon's corpse, giving the gods a chance to prove their relevance.

"The chief evil is dead."

His expression stern, turning his attention away from the island below, Zeus's gaze swept across the gods.

"Then, the next step—"

His words cut off abruptly as Zeus suddenly looked up, and the gods also felt the change in the sky, prompting them to look upward.

The fierce sun still hung in the sky as usual, seemingly no different from any other day... yet, for some reason, when they saw it, the gods felt as if they were looking at a face smiling down at them. Stay updated through empire

"—When did this happen? Where is Helios, where did he go?!"

Such a transformation of the sun was not an overnight occurrence. Zeus even felt that the nature of the sunlight had changed.

There was a certain power in it, subtly influencing any life it shone upon... and Zeus was all too familiar with this power.

"Outer God!"

Taking a step forward, Zeus intended to venture into the starry sky, but the next instant, the peaceful island beneath his feet stopped him in his tracks.

He could tell that if he dared leave now, he might solve the problem with the sun, but the power unleashed after Typhon's death would be completely uncontrolled, contaminating the entire world starting from the Northern Sea.

Turning to look at the gods, now only they could resolve this trouble, but under the gaze of the Divine King, the gods all looked down.

The sun and the God of Sun cannot be conflated, if Helios had changed, they would all dare to do battle with him, but if it was the sun that had changed...

"Zeus, let me go."

"Let me go,"

Two voices rang out almost simultaneously, Hestia and Athena looked at each other.

The Goddess of Hearthfire was somewhat surprised; she had always thought that her nominal niece didn't get along with Zeus, but unexpectedly, she was willing to step forward to share the burden of the Divine King.

"You all should have sensed the nature of the power within the sunlight, I am the Goddess of Wisdom, it cannot influence me, so I am the most suitable candidate," Athena explained with a smile, as Hestia's gaze turned to her.

Standing by, Zeus made an instant decision.

"Then you shall go, Athena. I believe you can solve this problem—at least halt the spread of the sunlight's rays for the time being. But where is Apollo?"

Looking around, the Divine King did not see his son. If the God of Light were here to assist, the task should have been much easier, but Apollo was nowhere to be found. However, with the urgency of the situation, Zeus had no time to search for him, merely snorting coldly before giving the command:

"The prime evil is dead, but its influence persists. Go forth to the earth, eradicate the demons left by Typhon, and once all is ended, I will celebrate your victory atop Mount Olympus."

...

The starry sky, the Zodiac Regions.

What was just a few days for the gods, not even a month for Zeus, had been a long time for the life upon the earth, and even more so for the starry sky.

As the gods returned and Typhon fell, the disordered law that caused the temporal marvel gradually subsided, and the world's chronology slowly returned to normal. At the same time, however, the sun's transformation was finally coming to an end.

Like the last straw on the camel's back, when Typhon died, its power scattered. The part that belonged to Mother Earth gave birth to many rational beings that were non-gods, while the force from the Mother Tree naturally spawned more evil creatures. Among them all, the most powerful was none other than the sun itself, hanging in the sky.

[Ancient Evil: Fallen Corona], it was gradually reviving from an inert object, possessing its own chaotic thoughts and will. And the sapling that grew on the dark side of the celestial body had now become a towering tree, drawing ceaseless power from the void. Despite the sun's nearing capacity, the power it attracted showed no sign of abating.

The excess, which the sun could not absorb, scattered across the world with its light. The earth, the stars, the oceans, and even some small worlds that clung to the material realm.

Most of the realms derived from the fragments of the Nine Realms did not have their own luminaries; they relied on the light of the sun and the moon of the material world for their cycles, and some did not even possess life. Thus now, the power of the Outer Gods invaded them with the sunlight—perhaps it should be called a 'return'.

After all, their precursors were the Nine Realms, and the precursor of the Mother Tree was the divine tree that supported them. They inherently shared an inseparable bond, and now it was merely a return to the past.

At the core of the sun, Helios had long since lost any fixed shape. Wooden thorns extended from his body, pulsating like a heartbeat. If the sun were a person, then he would be its heart, a massive source of power coursing through the God of Sun, then 'processed' by his godhood to meet the requirements of the law.

"Is this failure then... Heh, how ridiculous. If I possessed such great power, how would I have come to this?"

Though situated amid the stars, Typhon's chaos had not escaped the observation of Helios; in fact, most gods in this world could see everything happening.

Typhon's power, Typhon's brutality, its success, and its defeat—Helios could see even more than the other deities.

At least he knew the details of Typhon, and the similarities in their powers.

"If I also had such power... How could I have been imprisoned from birth, how would Cronus dare to pressure me! Monsters remain monsters, with no understanding of timing or situation."

"What meaning is there in all that you have done? No one will understand you, no one will honor you, and even the deeds you've done will be distorted, rewritten. You will become the original sin who sought to destroy the world, your victory will be painted as the cunning of a deceitful trickster, your failure will become a medal to underscore the wisdom and strength of others.

Mortals will celebrate the Divine King for eradicating you from the world, thus contributing to his fame and authority."

"The most important thing is..." With a cold laugh, Helios looked at the divine light flying in from the sea: "You are dead, so everything is settled. Gods are immortal, so they always have the chance to turn the tables, but you don't."

"Just like now... I can't possibly fight the world alone, but so what? As an undying True God, I will always wait for my opportunity—like the next cycle of chronology, when the Divine King is dethroned?"

The deep voice echoed in the sun, and Helios felt that he had said too much. He actually understood that it stemmed from his envy and unwillingness.

Envious of Typhon's far superior beginning, and unwilling to see it end this way. Seeing such a being ultimately unable to escape the fate of failure, Helios felt a mix of pity for its misfortune and anger at its lack of struggle, but then he thought his own emotions were inexplicable. A mere demon, a madman at that.

What it did and what it had to do with him, especially given that even until the moment of death, Typhon's power was still beyond his reach.

"..."

Gathering his thoughts, Helios stopped dwelling on it. His gaze turned to the earth, where, because of Typhon's death, an unknown number of powerful lives had been born.

From its fallen dragon heads were born the hundred-headed dragons, from its broken snakelike body sprouted the nine-headed serpents; there were monsters with a lion's head and a sheep's body, creatures with a lion's body and a human face. They inherited a somewhat more orderly power, and now they were scattering and fleeing, with no thought of avenging Typhon.

At the same time, among the lives born from Typhon's death, many are those who carry the power of the Outer Gods.

Its flesh, which remained in the stars, corrupted an ancient celestial body, and as the power from its death overflowed, that star began to transform into the "Ancient Evil: Star of Death Omens." The number of lives unintentionally killed by Typhon was incalculable; their flesh piled up, agglomerating and distorting under the power of the Demon King, gradually evolving into the "Ancient Evil: Flesh Corridor."

The flame that burned in Typhon's hundred eyes did not extinguish; it transformed into the "Ancient Evil: Immortal Demonic Flames." And the black storm that once swirled around Typhon's body was also activated by the power from the Mother Tree, turning into the "Ancient Evil: World-Burning Wind" ...

They inherited Typhon's power and its undying nature, and unlike those somewhat rational monsters that fled, these Ancient Evil Beings became violent because of Typhon's death, beginning to madly destroy everything around them.

From his place among the stars, Helios could see that, in addition to Athena coming towards him, there were more divine lights flying towards their location, attempting to prevent them from harming their worshippers.

And that was just on the earth. The God of Sun could feel that the changes in the Underworld were even more intense. The reason the deities of the Underworld had been so quiet from beginning to end was that they simply couldn't take care of themselves.

The power of the Mother Tree was being unleashed without restraint there, and although with Typhon's death, Its anchor point to the material world had been temporarily cut off in part, this was clearly only temporary.

As long as Its power spreads through the material world, one day, It will find a way around the shackles placed on the surface of Niflheim, or even descend to this world in person.

"It's truly chaotic."

Shaking his head, Helios withdrew his energy. Athena was getting closer by now, and he was somewhat curious.

In the God of Sun's estimation, he might be sealed by the Divine King, but it would only be the Divine King. But this Goddess of Wisdom, what made her think she could confront a fallen sun?