Chapter 34: Ultimate Chaos
There is an imposter among us.
-Hypnos to Primordials and Archangels.
——————
Mars, the red planet, had gone completely dark as a storm of darkness swept through its thin atmosphere, blanketing the planet in a hail of shadows. In the midst of it all, the God of the Dead and the Titan of Endurance clashed, fully revealing their divine forms.
Their battle raged on, tearing the surface of Mars apart, but neither gained an advantage over the other—they only stopped for a brief moment when Krios ironically fell under the might of the stars, but even that despairing news didn't deter Altas, who returned to punching Hades unceremoniously around Mars, his heart solely focused on victory.
Altas, like Hades, had grown exponentially stronger in the previous year, to the point where his raw power could affect immaterial things like darkness and shadows, negating most of Hades' advantages. He was literally like an impassable mountain that could never be surpassed, which would be appropriate words given that he was the Titan of Endurance.
"You children never learn! You have no chance in Tartarus of defeating me. It's time for me to crush your silly dreams." The Titan of Endurance declared, plunging his hand into the dusty ground, unleashing all of his might deep beneath the surface of Mars, and immediately, cracks began to spread from the impact point to the entire red planet, and inactive volcanoes erupted in a massive inferno, illuminating all of darkness in brilliant light as the surging power of the Titan of Endurance finally impacted the core.
And Mars began to rupture, its lands collapsing on themselves like dominoes, and Altas separated and teleported himself around the collapsing planet in a fraction of a second, clutching many of the largest shattering dominoes—each the size of British islands—and hurling it all towards Hades with a great roar.
ROAR!
Endless isles fell from all directions through the splitting dark clouds, tongues of flame splashing across their cracked surface, surrounding the God of Darkness. Atlas also kept his sole focus on Hades; if he chose to shadow-teleport away like a coward, he prepared himself to thwart the foolish kid all the way to the collapsing core of Mars, destroying both him and Mars.
However, before Hades could even respond, a swarm of scarlet slashes appeared out of nowhere, hacking the endless isles, which crumbled into scarlet ashes and fell into the collapsing planet like bloody rain.
Under their startled gaze, a divine woman appeared in the catastrophic sky. She had two enormous butterfly wings, and her wooded hand held a scarlet scythe that gleamed with scant power, telling them the obvious truth.
"Demeter." Hades blinked.
"Brother," Demeter said, teleporting herself in front of her brother. "I'm sorry," she said sincerely. "I am so—"
"Although I appreciate it," Hades hastily said, looking behind her. "But now really isn't the time."
Altas teleported in front of them, his eyes narrowing in rage at Demeter. "You actually broke the agreement."
"Oh, please," Demeter said as she turned to face Altas. "Not this again," she said dismissively, waving her hand. "Are all Titans so oblivious to the existence of loopholes?"
"You will pay!" Altas bellowed and punched at Demeter, who merely smiled exasperatedly at the foolishness of the Titan of Endurance.
"Sister—" Hades instinctively moved in front of his sister, attempting to protect her.
Suddenly, Demeter's smile froze. "No," she said, finally noticing something wrong with this situation.
But it was too late: a black scythe symbol blazed on the Altas chiton, emitting an eternal aura of time:
Everything on a rupturing Mars froze instantly, from erupting volcanoes to crumbling mountains, from the collapsing core to the fragmenting surface—even the gods themselves were bound by chains of Time.
Only Atlas was exempt from chains; his plan worked—he knew he should have no chance against the scarlet Demeter, and so he didn't hesitate to activate the time mark.
Kronos bestowed the time mark upon his most prized subjects—Atlas, Koios, Iapetus, and Hyperion. It was imbued with the Titan King's essence, and when activated, the cosmic force of time would erupt, freezing everything except them for only a good minute, providing them with enough opportunity to end the battle in their favor.
Altas prepared himself to destroy the foolish children who were frozen in time without wasting this precious opportunity. There was another factor that compelled him to act right away: Demeter was actually withering the chains of time on her with her power of rot.
However, before he could act, the essence of his lord that surrounded the planet rumbled in a weak, strained voice. "My brethren, the gods had infiltrated the throne room..."
Altas immediately changed his plan, as if he had been preparing for this moment for a long time; instead of attacking Demeter and Hades, he grasped both, though he was careful not to touch the crimson Demeter, only telekinetically seizing her with his tendril of raw titanic force.
The Titan of Endurance then leapt into the scarlet sky, dragging the gods with him, and all of the essence of the Titan Lord that covered the planet converged on him, forming a protective layer around them as they teleported away to Earth.
————
Europa, Earth.
The two mighty armies of Gods and Titans collided in the lands of Greece, particularly under towering Mount Othrys, led by Poseidon and Menoetius. And the battleground exploded with blasts of volatile power, rocking Europe to its foundations and releasing tsunamis on all of the waters of the world.
Poseidon confronted Menoetius with the Hundred-Handed Ones, who continued to throw large boulders at the Titan of Anger and also at his forces.
And soon, Kratos appeared on the battlefield, summoned by Metis, charging with a mighty roar into the face of his adversary, Menoetius, while Poseidon fought another Titan on the battlefield, Perses, the Titan of Destruction.
Meanwhile, as the war devolved into chaos, Hecate, Mnesmosyne, and Themis successfully broke into Mount Othrys, treading towards the throne room amidst rising stairs and swirling corridors. There were evidently a few obstacles in their way, but nothing they couldn't overcome, so they approached the royal room with caution.
But, as they had expected, they were not alone; Iapetus, the Piercer, stood guard to the throne room, wielding his terrifying spear of mortality, which had filled many gods and titans with dread throughout Titanomachy battles.
Iapetus was a tricky opponent; his mortality divinity gave him the power to restrain the gods themselves by attacking their very immortal nature.
Although Hecate, Mnesmosyne, and Themis were more than up for a battle, they still had an important task to complete, so Hecate informed Metis of the situation while Themis and Mnesmosyne distracted Iapetus for the time being.
Metis alerted Selene, who was on standby, and the Titaness of the Moon descended on the throne room, dragging the moon from the sky and bypassing the formidable wards that covered Mount Othrys with a combination of her own power and the cosmic magic of Hecate.
As prudent as she was, the Titaness of Wisdom also alerted Hera—who had just won their first triumph for their side—and directed her to the throne room as well, just in case any unforeseen development occurred.
And her prudence paid off: as Hera descended, she noticed Iapetus activating what appeared to be a mark filled with cosmic power. She swiftly prevented its activation and accurately destroyed it, and then Selene took over, dragging a battered Iapetus away from the throne room.
"Begin," the Goddess of Stars finally thundered, floating above the Titanesses in all her cosmic glory. "I will protect you."
Without further ado, Hecate, Mnesmosyne, and Themis gathered in the center of the room, raising their weapons, pointing to a single point, and then allowing their wells of power to flow out of their weapons and congregate at the said point.
They were dead set on the epochal mission, their minds clear of any distracting thoughts. Absolute concentration was required for what was about to happen next, and there could be no mistakes or interruptions throughout the process since they couldn't afford it.
Their powers began to fuse together, slowly forming a very complex cosmic structure, making even Hera raise her brows, but she quickly refocused herself on monitoring the surroundings thoroughly with her power.
She could, after all, try to destroy the divine thrones rather than protect Titanesses. That thought crossed her mind several times, but she suppressed it because she knew she couldn't destroy her father's throne in a single blow; he was a cosmic god like her. Then there was the fact that she was on Earth, not in space, so she had to be careful with her cosmic power. Considering all of this, she chose to trust the plans of her allies for the time being.
Hecate, Mnesmosyne, and Themis clutched their weapons with trembling hands, immense strain visible on their faces, but they held on, willing the last of their power to connect together as one.
The parts of the complex structure finally fused together in perfect harmony, emitting an aura of nihility with a thrum of reality.
Yes, the Titanesses intended to draw power from the cosmic concept of nothingness itself to destroy all of the thrones at once; even the Titan King's near-indestructible throne shouldn't be able to withstand this attack.
The magic of Hecate served as the foundation, the words of Mnemosyne acted as the pillar, and the order of Themis performed as the framework—all working together with the same intent of annihilation—which served as a cosmic anchor, drawing power from nothingness itself. Everything finally came together to reveal what appeared to be a rune.
A rune that represented "Oblivion."
A collective sigh echoed through the royal room, as Hecate, Mnesmosyne, and Themis gripped their weapons even harder, their eyes brighter in anticipation of seeing their creation come to life.
But as the saying goes, the gods make plans, and the creator laughs:
Hecate suddenly felt a tinge in the wards she had placed around the throne room—someone was teleporting here, destroying some of her protective wards through the power of time—but she didn't dare panic at the news. Instead, she took a risk and diverted some of her attention to Hera, who seemed to have already noticed the impending intrusion and was already preparing to deal with it, and so she sighed inwardly, returning her focus to the rune.
The Goddess of Stars floated to the left side of the Titanesses, her power-filled hand pointing up at the shimmering space, and out of it fell Altas, Hades, Demeter, Hyperion, Helios, and Demeter—all of them in their divine forms—causing chaos with their mere descent, especially the Goddess of Harvest.
Even though Hera was taken aback by them, that didn't slow down her actions at all—she readily unleashed some of her cosmic power on them, which immediately formed a barrier around them, containing their chaos. But she was forced to keep sending an influx of power to maintain the cosmic barrier since Demeter was actually destabilizing it with her crimson power.
Meanwhile, Hecate, Mnesmosyne, and Themis focused all of their attention on the rune in order to finally activate it.
But then, seemingly from nowhere, Kronos and Zeus appeared, tangled together, their ichor spilling and burning through space, descending towards Earth.
Hera immediately jerked her other hand toward her brother and father, releasing another surge of power there to form a second barrier around her father and brother, but it couldn't hold them in, breaking apart into pieces as they burst out, unleashing a wave of raw cosmic power on the throne chamber.
"No!" Mnesmosyne cried out as the wave shattered their formation and sent them flying backwards to Hera; their weapons dashed out of their hands.
The rune of oblivion quickly shattered into fragments, all of its power returning to its source rather than firing outward wildly and destroying the solar system and beyond, owing to a failsafe mechanism Hecate had set just in case.
"Someone stop them!" Demeter hollered, finally free from the constraints of time. She was punching away Altas and Hyperion, who had audaciously tried to push her onto the starry barrier in an attempt to hasten its collapse. "Earth won't bear their descent!"
But it was too late: Hera had only enough time to erect another barrier to protect all of her kin and allies before the Titan King and God of Lightning collided with cataclysmic momentum on the ground.
There was a flash of light that seemed to consume everything, followed by a ruinous roar. And the world all around them immediately ruptured on itself.
—————
If you wish to support me and want to read advanced chapters: p@treon.com/Eren_fraser
Weekly Power Status
-- Power
Ranking 
-- Power
stone