Chapter 622: Greek Goddesses.
"Definitely not!" The thunderous and enraged scream of a goddess with long golden hair, golden eyes, and a plump body was heard.
Aphrodite covered her ears with her hands, "Ugh... Demeter, you can't be so selfish about this!"
"Selfish? Selfish…" Demeter's body began to shake with rage, "My daughter is in the fucking underworld fighting Gaia knows what, and I can't help her! You still dare call me Selfish!?"
Aphrodite's eyes softened, "...Okay, I apologize for my choice of words, but you have to understand that you're the goddamn goddess of agriculture. You can't be of any help in this war!"
"Are you calling me useless!? Me!? Demeter!?"
"Yes." Aphrodite was honest; if she learned anything from dealing with Anna, it was brutal honesty.
Veins began popping in Demeter's head, "... You-."
"Before you explode, just tell me, how can you help in this war?"
"... I-."
Aphrodite didn't let her speak and continued, "Do you know anything about tactics? Good, but we have Athena for that. Do you know anything about war? Splendid, but we have Ares for that. Do you have some kind of power to help everyone? No, you don't. Your greatest divinity is agriculture, and what are you going to do, create food for the gods to eat? The gods don't need food!"
"..." Demeter's momentum began to diminish, and her angry glare began to turn into an expression of despair and uselessness.
"... I know about all that... You don't need to tell me. I know I can't help in this war; I know my presence won't do anything... But... But... My daughter ..." Tears began to form on Demeter's face.
Hestia, who remained silent, slowly walked toward her younger sister and gently hugged her.
Demeter didn't refuse the hug and let the tears fall down her face.
"Did you need to speak so harshly with her?" A woman's gentle but stern voice was heard.
Aphrodite looked up to a goddess with long black hair and sapphire blue eyes. Unlike Demeter, who had the air of an older woman who had borne a child and had a curvy body with large breasts…
This woman had a 'nice' body; nothing was too big, but at the same time, not small either. The woman in front of her was Nike, the goddess of victory, strength, and speed.
"Yes, she needs to wake up to reality." Aphrodite's expression became more serious:
"Before, the war was like the Titanomachy all over again, only with the past titans at a disadvantage, I was sure that in due time, Zeus and Mount Olympus would win."
"… But, the moment Typhon woke up, this was no longer a civil war, and the whole situation turned into an extinction event for Mount Olympus. And in that situation, goddesses like me, Hestia, and Demeter are useless. That beast cannot be stopped by my charm, and there is no rationality in its being. All it seeks is destruction."
"He is a beast of the apocalypse for a reason."
"..." Nike was silent. She had no words to refute what Aphrodite said, and she also knew that the goddess of beauty did not speak her name because Aphrodite knew that Nike could fight, but even Nike didn't have the guts to go fight Typhon.
Is she the personification of victory? Yes, she is, but that doesn't mean she's blind to fight a battle she can't win. Just because she's the goddess of victory didn't mean she was ignorant of the fact that when facing an apocalyptic Class being, only defeat can be expected.
What is an apocalyptic-class being? They are beings that have concepts of 'END' in their existence, beings that put a permanent end to something.
Fenrir is something similar. He and his kin are the beginning of Ragnarok in the Norse pantheon, an event said to be the prelude to the destruction of the Norse pantheon.
And Typhon is the same as Fenrir, but much worse because he has no rationality like the wolf. He only exists to destroy the gods.
Gaia truly gave birth to a monster.
Hestia, who was consoling Demeter, didn't say anything about it either. She knew that the situation had just become desperate, and if Typhon appeared, only the original primordials could stop him, and even they risk ceasing to exist.
With a being whose concept encompasses the 'END' aspect, only beings with the concept of 'Beginning' can fight him.
And usually, the beings that have this concept were the regulators of existence, the seven primordial entities that regulate existence, beings that were above even the similarly called beings like Nyx, Gaia, and Tartarus.
For they regulate existence, they are the 'beginning' of everything, and only they can stop Typhon without any damage, especially now since that monster got stronger.
"What a mess…" Hestia felt a terrible headache.
"Right? Now, we have to go!"
"I'm sorry, Aphrodite, but I can't."
"Excuse me?" Aphrodite looked at Hestia with an exasperated look.
"I can't go, not while my family is in danger."
Veins started popping in Aphrodite's head, "Fuck, Hestia, stop pretending to be blind! The only people you can really call family is your mother!"
"Your dear brothers, given a chance, they'll just as well treat you like their sex toy. That's the kind of shit they've become."
Ignoring Hestia's frown, she continued fearlessly, "Even your sisters are something moot right now."
"Hey, we are still her family!" Demeter snarled at Aphrodite.
Aphrodite's eyes visibly flashed in anger, "Demeter, answer me. How long has it been since you've come to visit your older sister? As far as I know, it's been thousands of years since you've spoken to her."
"... I-..." Demeter didn't say anything; she had no excuses or anything to say, after all, Aphrodite was correct.
"She's here now, right? So it doesn't matter."
Aphrodite's eyes softened, "Hestia, you're too good for this family. Are you sure you're not adopted?"
Hestia's eyes narrowed.
Aphrodite ignored the woman's glare and continued in the same irritated tone, "If this damn war hadn't happened, Demeter would be in her flower world doing Gaia knows what. She doesn't care about you!"
"Enough," Hestia spoke with a stern tone as fire flashed in her eyes.
"Tsk, you know I'm correct. Hera is another horrible example; the woman is more concerned with taking care of her husband's trash cheating than visiting her only family."
"Rhea and I are the only ones who visit you."
The fire in Hestia's eyes dimmed a bit. She didn't want to fight her only friend, "...Haha, I know my family has problems."
"No shit."
"But… They are still my family, and I won't give them up."
"..." At that moment, Aphrodite really wanted to pull her own hair out in frustration. Why does this woman have to be so stubborn!?
"If you have such a low opinion of me, why did you invite me here?" Demeter spoke with a hostile tone.
"You are useful." Aphrodite did not sweeten her words "I'm in a faction. And my faction needs someone who has control over agriculture."
"..." Demeter didn't know whether to be annoyed or amused about Aphrodite's brute honesty.
"For me, you could die, and I wouldn't even miss you, but I have to think about my future." Aphrodite shrugged.
Okay, now she was irritated. "This bitch, you have become more unbearable!"
"Meh, deal with it." Aphrodite snorted.
"Did you call me because I'm useful too, Aphrodite?" Nike asked in a neutral tone.
"...No, you, Rhea, and Hestia are the only goddesses I really want to save in this shitty pantheon. The rest can burn, and I wouldn't even shed a tear."
"I see… I wonder why you have so much affection for me. We never talk much." Nike explained.
"You were one of the only goddesses who never judged me right away. Even Hestia did in the past."
"You gave me reason to!" Hestia stomped her foot angrily; she still got irritated when she remembered that event.
"I already apologized, okay?" Aphrodite spoke in an apologetic tone.
"… Oh, that makes sense. I believe I shouldn't believe rumors and only judge someone when interacting in person."Nike continued.
"It was probably a good thing you didn't meet me before. I wasn't very… hmm, sociable before." Aphrodite didn't know what to say, so she made up any word she could think of at the time.
"The correct word is bitch or whore!" Demeter screamed.
Veins appeared on Aphrodite's head, "Shut up, Demeter. Unlike you, I at least have someone who loves me unconditionally and isn't just after your fat body like your brothers who—" Aphrodite trailed off when she realized the next words were low even for her.
"Brothers, who what!? Raped me!? Threatened me!? Used me!?" Demeter snapped.
An expression of pain appeared on Hestia's face. She wanted to defend her family, but some of their acts were horrible, mainly because they were committed in her own family.
An example of this was Demeter herself. It was in these discussions that she fully understood that the scenario that Aphrodite spoke of was 100% realistic. If Hestia displayed weakness in front of her siblings, they would take advantage of her.
"Anyway… Even though I hate this sewer called the Greek Pantheon, and I don't want to do anything to help. I simply want to kidnap Hestia, Rhea, and Nike to save the three of them."
"....." Nike and Hestia didn't know what to say about the goddess of beauty openly declaring that she was going to kidnap the two, and to make matters worse, they knew that the goddess could do it using her charm.
"I would be an idiot not to take this opportunity to not recruit goddesses into my Faction."
"Goddesses of agriculture, medicine, purity, progress, home, life, etc. All those goddesses who don't have combat power but are very useful in a faction, it would be a waste not to save them."
'I wanted some goddesses who can fight like Nike, but they are very few, and most would not abandon the Greek pantheon...'
"... Goddess...? Why are you only specifying women?" Nike asked with narrowed eyes.
"The men of that pantheon can go to Typhon's stomach, and I'd just thank the beast for taking out the trash." Aphrodite snorted.
"And if I bring male gods into my Faction, the probability of my husband or myself killing those gods is too high. I don't want to deal with that problem."
Aphrodite felt a little annoyed now, 'If only I had some way of storing divinity... Something like my husband's progenitor ability, the ability to store souls... Ugh, it's too bad my husband isn't a god. Now, if he were a god, he could store those souls in his own soul.'
She felt it was a waste to have so many deities disappear; she wanted to use everything possible.
The 'divinity' is at the core of a being's soul, and removing this divinity was the equivalent of killing the god. When a god died, that divinity automatically returned to two of the primordial entities, 'Positivity' and 'Negativity'; there were no methods to store this divinity and give it to someone else. Only the two primordial entities can do so.
But with years of research, Aphrodite found a way to do it, and the answer was the progenitor of vampires.
Specifically, a vampire progenitor's unique ability to store souls within their own soul. If that progenitor was strong enough to bear the weight of a god's soul and was proficient enough at manipulating souls...
In theory, the progenitor could 'grant' the 'stolen' divinity to another being.
"You have a husband!?" Demeter screamed.
"I see. You are acting in a way that only benefits you." Nike spoke in a neutral tone.
The two women spoke at the same time, and Aphrodite consciously ignored Demeter and focused on Nike:
"Correct."
"But one thing I don't understand is why are you being so honest about this?"
"No use lying here. You'll find out anyway, and Hestia knows when I lie." Aphrodite grumbled at the end about the goddesses of victory and her ridiculous divinity that made her have 'victory' in any situation.
And when she says any situation, it's literally any situation; even in an argument, nobody wins against Nike.
Only when freaks like Typhon are in play that this divinity does not help at all; victory cannot win against the 'END'.
To be honest, Aphrodite really wanted Nike to come. Having the goddess of victory on your side was like having a cheat code where your faction will always win.
'I also wanted the goddess of luck, Tyche, to help even more.'
Having luck and victory on your side... Your faction would be above the 'mortal' factions and would go straight to a pantheon-level faction.
"Do you have a HUSBAND!?" Demeter screamed.
"Gah!" Aphrodite put her hand to her ear, "Are you sure you're not the goddess of megaphones or something? Why the hell do you have such a loud and booming voice? Are you related to Sakura?"
"Huh? Who is Sakura!?"
"A pink Banshee."
Demeter's face distorted, "Don't compare me with those inferior monsters!"
Aphrodite rolled her eyes and looked at the two of them, "So, are you coming or not?"
Nike and Hestia looked at each other as they seemed to be talking with their eyes. Then, when the two looked at Aphrodite again, they said:
"I-..." They couldn't finish because a roar that evoked primordial fear echoed throughout Mount Olympus.
ROAAAAAAAAR.
The earth began to shake, and the world grew darker as if the sunny weather in heaven was just for decoration. It was as if the end of the world was beginning.
Typhon awoke, and he was hungry... Hungry for destruction.
All the gods could feel an existential danger in their entire being, a primal fear that everyone felt when facing the 'END'.
When the roar of the beast ceased to be heard.
Aphrodite looked at Hestia with a serious expression, slowly her pink divinity started to grow, and her pink hair started to float:
"...Okay, I am not asking permission. You're going with me whether you like it or not, fuck your annoying stubbornness about a family of scum who deserves to be dead rather than alive."
"No need for that, Aphrodite. I'll go with you." Nike spoke.
"... Me too, but before I go, I need to get my mother..." Hestia spoke with great difficulty. This was not the time for her to be stubborn; she needed the 'literal' end of the world for her to understand that.
Aphrodite's godly power began to wane, and she looked up at Demeter, the woman's face was in utter terror, a stark contrast between the faces of Nike and Hestia, who were calm but still afraid.
"I will, but… You have to promise that you will save my daughter." Demeter spoke.
"...." Aphrodite opened her mouth and closed it again. She remembered the feelings of hatred that her husband, Violet, and Agnes had towards Persephone.
"Why aren't you saying anything!?"
"Because your daughter committed an atrocity to my husband, who is the leader of my faction, she cursed a being to death so that that being's soul would be hers forever."
Nike and Hestia gulped, cursed directly by the queen of the underworld? For a mortal, that was literally a direct ticket to hell.
One of the cruelest curses you could bestow upon a mortal.
It was agonizing to live with the knowledge that you would die much sooner than expected because of a 'god' and that god would treat you like their personal toy.
"… You married a mortal? I know you like them like that Adonis case, but isn't that incredible?"
"Shut up. You don't know anything about me or my husband, and for your information, your daughter also fell in love with Adonis, and it was this same Adonis she cursed."
"… I know about that, so you married Adonis?"
"Like I said, it's more complicated than that. Anyway, all you should know is that your daughter isn't very well liked in my faction, and many beings want to kill her." Aphrodite said as she thought of Violet, Agnes, and Hilda.
"If my daughter doesn't go, I won't go!"
"Okay, then stay here and become the beast's food." Aphrodite turned around; she didn't have the patience to deal with this shit.
Demeter felt a shiver run down her spine as she remembered the beast's roar, "W-Wait, I'll go with you! Do not leave me here!" She hugged Aphrodite's legs as she pleaded.
"..." Hestia and Nike just looked at this sight with empty eyes, they were seeing how far one could fall because of the fear of death, and it wasn't just anyone; it was a literal goddess.
"F-Fine, Fine! Stop grabbing me!" Aphrodite managed to get rid of Demeter with great difficulty and spoke while looking at Nike and Hestia:
"Let's get Rhea, and other goddesses, preferably the goddess Tyche as well."
"... The goddess of luck, huh... I see where you're going." Nike said.
Aphrodite flashed a smile that would make Scathach and Victor proud:
"The more hidden cards we have, the more we can survive the other pantheons. When this whole mess is over, the Greek pantheon will probably be one of the weakest pantheons of gods."
"Oh? You don't believe that beast is going to extinguish the Greek pantheon?" Nike asked.
"Gaia may be the biggest bitch in the universe, but... She still likes the Greek Pantheon. She won't let her son get that far. She'll probably stop him when Zeus, Poseidon, and their associates are killed."
"…Will the beast listen to Gaia?" Nike asked in disbelief; for a moment, she thought about trying to sacrifice Zeus. [Nobody would miss him.]
But she figured that plan was unlikely to happen; he wasn't a god-king because he was weak.
"Who knows? I'm betting so, and I've hardly lost a bet before."
"Haah… All this because of my foolish brother who didn't keep his promise to Gaia." Hestia commented with visible pain on her face.
"Gods can be quite spiteful and hold that grudge for millions of years. Gaia has been betrayed twice, once by Kronos and once by Zeus… And this is an opportunity for her to get revenge."
"Anyway, let's go!" Aphrodite spoke.
The goddesses nodded, and soon they were gone in a flash.
.....
