บท 18: Chapter 18 So, as the politics of Olympus... What a beautiful playground to experiment with

Two weeks had already gone by, and yet Alex and his men continued to march forward. Alex had already trained his soldiers to march non-stop, and it was thanks to their armor that Alex did some enchantment and placed no tiredness and a fast pace along with the horses reins. With this, he could continue without stopping, and they could eat while marching, so it was a win-win situation.

Alex was growing closer to Olympus, and when Zeus heard the army of Dracaonia closing in on Olympus, he called all the gods.

"Why is Alex marching an army towards Olympus, and why has no one told me even the border has not notified us that he is rebelling against us?" Zues frustrated expression gazes at the gods gathered.

Soon, a god raised his hand and spoke.

"Clearly, brother, he's placing a statement or a petition and wants to have a one-on-one with you," and it was Alvos who suddenly spoke and sat back down.

Soon the gods fiercely debated, and ultimately they decided to mobilize the Olympian army stationed in the capital and prepare the defense, and all the gods personal knights would be gathered.

Next day

Alex arrived with his army, clad in black suits and armor, and marched near Olympia and Zeus. Seeing this from the mountain, he spoke.

"I hope he's not mad."

Then lightning covered his body and appeared at the north wall gate, where the entire army had gathered.

Alex stopped 2 kilometers away from the walls and ordered his army to be ready.

"Zeus, come out now and let's talk!"

Alex waited for a few minutes until the gates opened, and Zeus, with his blue armored regalia and accompanied by 500 golden blue knights.

"Alex, what is the meaning of this? I only requested your presence here for a ceremony."

Alex shook his head.

"Things change. I don't care about the glory I receive in Olympus. I focused on my own works of ruling two nations, and I know Alvos is nearing his end. Thats why I'm ramping up my plans for the empire and my city states to unite, and I have plans for Olympus. So let's make a deal. Give me control over its armed forces. I will invest in its training and let you purchase some weapons at a discounted price."

Zues thought about this for a second and spoke

"Let's talk inside, not in this setting with alvos."

Alex nodded and hand-signed some of his household guards to come with him.

Soon, 500 mounted infantry came out, their rifles slung behind them, and two were holding the war banners. They followed Alex, and when they entered the gates, Alex saw the army behind them. Over 170,000 soldiers were gathered to defend Olympus, but seeing their slightly fearful gaze, Alex paid no mind and followed him to the mountain castle.

2 hours later

Alex sat on the ornate table, which was filled with food and wine. Behind him were two of his soldiers, and after a few minutes, Zeus entered with his regalia and not his battle armor and sat down and spoke.

"So what was our deal again? "

"Okay, the deal is that I want the authority of the forces of Olympus and its recruitment covertly. I don't want other gods to know, and I will personally fund and train the forces of Olympus since we know Alvos is nearing his end."

Zeus begins thinking and knows that the two most influential gods are under Alex, and his own wife has started a faction to stop Alex's influence, but he knows that Alex has the economic edge, like what happened to the Athena and Hades kingdoms, where their economies are dropping like flies.

And after thinking deeply, he decided

"All right, we have a deal, but you know Olympus is large and wide and has a lot of armies? "

Alex just shook his head.

"I have better armor, and yet, look, your armies are nearly equipped but do not have basic training, so in the next two months there will be training grounds during times of peace."

Zeus nodded and spoke.

"So tell me, when Alvos passes away, what will you do? "

Alex just smirked.

"Of course I will flush out the evil nobles and centralize their lands under me. I will be led by a mayor to a governor and to a governor general, and lastly, by me, the emperor, and I will prepare my armies to invade the south, and with that concluded, I will begin wide-scale industrialization and prepare for war against Chrysanthema."

Zeus was at first shocked at Alex's determination to defeat his father, yet he knows he can due to his tactics, weapons, and vehicles, so he doesn't need to do more, and then Alex pulled out a contract and a pen.

"Sign it, Zeus, and know that if you spill the contents of this conversation, I will know and my assassin will come after you."

Zeus first thought that he could deal with a bunch of measly assassins, but remembering an assassin that could rival him, he immediately took a mental note, so he grabbed the pen and signed the contract.

"It seems like our work here is done."

Alex stood up and was about to leave until Zues spoke.

"Were going to have a party in the night; please join us."

Alex thought for a while, nodded, and left the room.

Olympus Grand Hall

Gods and soldiers alike ate, drank, and chatted away, and Alex, with a platter of food and a bottle of wine in both hands, walked towards a nearby table where Alvos was seated.

"So you were able to gain influence in Zeus's court, and right now you can move any army in Olympus," Alvos said with a smirk, and Ares, next to him, just nodded.

"I have a different plan for Olympus. I plan the army stationed outside the walls will be deployed to various fronts of Olympus and stress-test these weapons and know their weaknesses," Alex said, placing a piece of meat in his mouth and drinking away the wine.

Then, Ares spoke up.

"Know that you will be in charge of its finances, right, and its daily operation?"

"Then I place as the vice commander here a booklet. I want you to place it with the armies, and I sense a civil war might happen. I want them to take no sides in that war. Do you understand?"

Ares nodded and read the booklet. His eyes widened in surprise as he continued to read and saw this as the only way, so he planned to call all commanders of various armies stationed around Olympus and reform them tomorrow.

While Ares read the booklet, Alvos and Alex continued to talk.

"So do you plan to continue the sanctions Athena and Hades state?" Alex nodded and responded.

"Tell me, how were they able to gain independence and have powerful states?"

Alvos rubbed his beardless chin and spoke.

"Well, because they're simply too strong. Before you, Athena was the strongest, I'm the second, and Hades is the third, and always Zeus is contending for the second position."

Alex's next words made Ares and Alvos' hearts quiver.

"But I already somewhat met her and beaten her, not in a physical way, but during the battle in the valley, and you know the small earthquake. Well, me and Athena caused that when we battled."

Upon hearing that, they were in shock. Alvos almost dropped his cup, and Ares almost ripped the book in two.

"You faced Athena, not her physical form, but her soul!" Ares shouted, and this caused the other nearby gods to hear, and their curiosity was piqued.

"Yes, but it was a draw, and the field I summoned was turned to dust, her divine shield destroyed by me bare handedly, and her spear bent a little. My sword shattered after grabbing it again."

Ares turned as pale as a ghost, sat back down, and Alvos was in total disbelief, thinking to himself that he couldn't even land a hit on Athena, let alone get close to her.

"If you think I can't land a hit, I only landed a scratch on her, and she landed a hit on me."

Alex smiled bitterly and took another swig, causing chaos among the gods who liked Athena and lost to her.

Soon, rumors would spread about this in Olympus, and those factions wanting to recruit Alex decided not to due to how fearsome he had become.

The next day, Alex set out to return to Draconia with only 500 of his guards, and the rest would be deployed to different fronts of the war in Olympus. The journey was quick, taking only one day because Alex wanted to return to work.

Sigfried Imperial Palace

Alex sat in his office chair, and in front of him was the Minister of War, the Grand Duke.

"Your Majesty, are you sure you want to begin this operation? For months, we've planned this operation to take control of the empire, and now it's time."

"Yes, and Kalvin has been ordered to dispatch the invitations," Duke Dimitri nodded and spoke, "And how many nobles will attend on my side?"

"A lot and im giving you command a platoon of my personal guard to take of them"

Alex sat with Ares and alvos and Alex begin speaking

"Ares, here is a manual and instructions on how to deal with the Olympus soldiers, including what tactics to implement. Make sure these things are fully implemented within a year."

Ares slowly read it and was shocked. He continued to read the manual, and when Alex took one more sip of his wine, Alvos decided to speak.

"Tell me, Alex, what caused a small earthquake in that battle? When we asked Artemis for information, she couldn't provide anything substantial. Why is that?"

Alex took one bite of his meat and spoke, shocking everyone.

"I fought Athena, and it was almost a win for me. But I can say that it was a draw."

Everyone instantly froze upon hearing that declaration. Alvos, on the other hand, raised an eyebrow and spoke.

"Tell me, was it Athena or the Titan commander? To my knowledge, she was stuck in her territory managing the chaos you caused."

"First, I killed the Titan commander, and second, the Athena I fought was a spirit of the past due to my domain. Our battle was entirely realistic, and I crumpled her shield and nearly snapped her spear. In the end, my sword was destroyed, and my mask had only a few scratches, and our armor was somewhat damaged. That's all I can recall."

Alex ended it by gulping down his wine and refilling it. Alvos went silent and recalled the past duels. He had never once been able to land a hit on Athena, and she was able to beat Zeus as well, maintaining the balance among the different factions. Now, when Alex appeared, it became somewhat chaotic as people tried to recruit him, yet he remained neutral and covertly created a faction with the most influential gods under his command.

But then Alvos spoke.

"Oh dear Lord, this will cause some chaos, and the two most powerful factions might be gearing up for a civil war after this war is over."

Alex didn't respond, just smirked, and Alvos, seeing Alex smile, knew that some large plot was already forming within Alex.

"So, as the politics of Olympus... What a beautiful playground to experiment with," Alex thought and spoke about this in his mind, grinning slightly.

Somewhere in the High Duchy of Athens,

Draconian Assassins, also known as Assassin X, numbering ten of them, moved around in alleyways heading to a smuggling den. They had been ordered to investigate and eliminate the perpetrators of smuggling Draconian goods to Athens, and the order came from the city lord.

Now, they wore black robes and tight pants. When they arrived at the warehouse and saw two Silver Knights of Athena standing guard, they realized there might be potential inside. The first of the ten charged at the two knights, brandishing a revolver with a silencer attachment.

As the assassin began chanting, he soon became part of the darkness and, a few seconds later, arrived in front of the two knights. He aimed at the left knight and fired a black bullet, then jumped toward the right, drawing a hidden knife, risking killing both of them instantly.

Minutes later, they began to enter covertly, and upon seeing merchants who were devotees to Athena and realizing the betrayal, they decided to eliminate them as well. They also spotted another Silver Knight shaking hands and guiding the Bronze Knights to carry and load luxury goods and high-class meat onto carts.

The assassin leader signaled them to their positions, and when they were ready, they drew dual shortswords, some throwing knives, and the leader drew a short prototype shotgun, which was still in testing. Alex had allowed his assassin order to use it in non-silent missions.

The battle began; the leader assassin aimed his shotgun muzzle at the merchant group, while the other assassins' shadows appeared behind the Bronze Knights, covering their mouths and knocking them out. The leader of that group was decapitated.

"Put pills in them and bring the goods back, and for this, merchants..." The Leader didn't continue but stares intensely at them and spoke something that made them shiver.

"The lord wants them alive and executed for their crimes." After finishing his speech, the merchants were about to plead but were knocked unconscious, and two assassins dragged them out of the warehouse.

After this operation was over, a similar situation occurred in the Hades Kingdom as they dealt with smuggling merchants. In order for the sanctions to work, Alex ordered his assassins to hunt and track down the merchants who kept smuggling to those two sanctioned states. He even deployed his navy near the trade routes heading towards the waters of the two kingdoms.

Alex just stared off into the distance, and in that direction, there is a portal to an unknown dimension that he's going to enter.

To be continued