"Great! Then I will come to visit your place… this weekend?" Marcus said with a thoughtful look.
"Sweat! I gonna prepare some stuff for this kind of event!" Ares said with a giddy look before returning into a thoughtful one.
"Still, I need to check up on some things! Do you have some sort of means to keep in touch?" The God of War asked the teen.
The black-haired teen thought for a moment before snapping his fingers.
"Hmm. Now that you reminded me…" On his left-hand index finger, a ring appeared. Moments later he pulled out two futuristic-looking phones with hand stroke.
"Is that...a storage ring?" Ares asked with disbelief.
"Oh? Do you know of them?" Marcus asked with a shock.
"Ha! So it is one! Holy shit man! You even turning Xianxia stuff into reality!? Can you make flying swords!?" The God of War asked with a giddy look.
"Hold for a moment! You known of Xianxia?" The teen asked with a baffled look.
"Duh! It's a Chinese fantasy! They have shit ton of martial arts, massive wars and power scaling is wack!" Ares said with an eye roll the last part. Even Gods don't have that kind of firepower those wacky humans write in their novels!
Marcus that moment wanted to facepalm! Of course, Gods are Weebs and Otakus! Serafall is an obvious weeb. So why not divinities of his world?
"Can't you just make your weapons fly on your own? Wait! Can't you just fly on your own?" The teen asked with a confused look. Cant just Gods fly themselves?
*Sigh*
"Marcus… there is a reason why we use chariots to travel large distances. Not only our chariots are much faster but we conserve alot of energy." Athena said with a sigh.
"What my sis said is true. There is a reason why my old man is the Chief God and God-King of Olympus even though he is the youngest of his generation." Ares nodded at his half-sister before explaining more.
"God of the Sky?" Marcus said with raised eyebrow.
"Indeed. Back in the day when Ouranos was still around. According to my old man who heard it from Cronos himself, Ouranos was in the upper echelons of the Top Ten Worlds Strongest beings. Alongside The True Dragon and Dragon God and the Hindu God Shiva."
"Whoa… he had around as much as strength as I have?" Marcus who knows his destructive power could tell just how much power this Primordial had!
"Hmm… most likely… anyway… back to the tale. Authority over the sky is very powerful because it's extremely related to humans beliefs…"
The teen finally understood why Zeus is powerful and Ouranos was a beast! Human beliefs who can fly...especially beings who look like humans… They are powerful beings...like the strongest Gods!
"So when my old man finally could he usurped at that time empty Authority of Sky. And became God of Sky. At that time his power even exceeded Cronos." Ares explained with a casual shrug.
"That's why when Gods fly with their power we consume alot of power. Only my old man has no consumption in his power when he is flying.
We... his children can fly and use less than other Olympians. But someone like my uncles… they use around 5 times as much just to fly.
That's the reason why you will never see my old man in their domains because they will make him waste that much energy to fly there too." Ares snorted with amusement. Zeus never in his life was in Underworld or Atlantis.
"That's why while Divine energy is one of most powerful energies in the world it has its perks and downsides too!" Athena chipped in from the side. She knows quite well that Marcus is studying energies.
Marcus seriously listened to what the War God, and Goddess of Wisdom said to him, he then picked up something… from Ares's words.
"Hmm… wait! I can understand underworld… but...sea?"
"Oh? Right! You guys still believe Atlantis is a myth right?"
The teen nodded at the Olympian.
"Well, it's my uncle's city. Both of my uncles have a seat of power. Atlantis in truth is quite similar to what Aquaman comic series describe." Ares said with a smirk as he saw the reaction of Marcus.
The teen inventor's eyes widened. Unlike Ares, he remembered the movie… it was amazing… if something like that exist… damn… he really should try getting entrance to that place… hell, he should try getting Poseidon's blessing!
Nothing beats feeling as natural as possible underwater! He has no doubt his adaptation could make him feel good underwater maybe even breathe there. But God of Seas Blessing would be better… he has no idea if he out of nowhere will develop gills if he stays underwater for too long!
After all… as they say, life finds its way and with his adaptation, it might going to overwrite the lock he has on his DNA...
"Cool… anyway! Thanks for the explanation. I had my guesses why your… 'old man' is that powerful. But you confirmed it for me."
Marcus took a few steps forward and handed over the phones to Athena and Ares.
"With these, you can keep in touch with me. AND! there are some good games on those."
Both of them inspected the phones.
"Damn… these are fully touch screen! I was planning to steal some of the American army technology since I heard they had something like this in their Area 51. But, I guess I won't need it." The God of War said smugly about his intentions. Which made Athena deadpan at him.
This, however, made Marcus pick up on this…
'Area 51… heh'
"Yeah. Much more than the stuff you heard about in Area 51. According to the current technology level. It's around from 2040 to 2050 in capacities.
This however is with the current projected curve of the technology." Marcus explained to the pair as they were checking out the phones.
"And batteries?" Ares asked him as he saw thaf there is no battery percentage on the screen.
"It runs on perpetual energy… which means that these phones could be even considered from 2100 or even above that! it's true sci-fi!" Athena said sharply. Marcus was underestimating his inventions!
"The energy part is yes, but the capacities… Anyway…I can sense your family is on move… So…" The teen appeared in front of Athena. Neither the pair of Gods could even see him move!
And kissed her on the lips… before disappearing…
The Goddess of Wisdom was blown away by this… her eyes slightly widened… as she realised what just happened! He just stole a kiss from her! and she didn't even see it!
Moments later the Olympians started to teleport one after another around Athena and Ares…
"Who was it!? Athena… you back?" Zeus asked first, then realised his daughter was back!
"It was Athena's boyfriend. And for once I approve!" The God of War said quite smugly.
Making everyone, even Hades look at him as if he was nuts!
"ARES! I AM GOING TO KILL YOU!" Athena roared with a pissed of tone. This bastard! Why he revealed it now!? It's too early!
"WHAT!? WHO!?" Zeus just like Athena roared with a pissed off tone. Showing that Apple doest fall far from the tree…
"Should be obvious old man. It's the same guy who has Artemis as maid."
"THAT BRAT! I WILL KILL HIM!" The God of Thunder summoned his Master Bolt.
"Then you will die. He is at least 30 times more powerful than me." Ares said that simply.
"..."
"..."
"..."
"Impossible," Hades said with disbelief.
"No human has reached such heights of power," Hephaestus said very plainly. He doesn't believe.
"I used my God of War authority to discern his fighting power. As I couldn't sense any type of energy from him. The only thing I could see is his fighting prowess.
As baffling as it sounds he would turn me into minced meat." Ares plainly said as well.
The War God words made everyone try to process what they just heard.
"Is it true… Athena? What did you learn? His power is it what Ares said?" Zeus asked with a sigh. What the world is turning into? Now they have humans more powerful than Gods!?
"What Ares said IS his combat capacities, and on top of that Marcus is building a faction. And it's run on perpetual energy."
"... How? How such a thing is possible?" Hephaestus asked with a baffled look. Perpetual energy is closely associated with the Dyson Sphere. A sci-fi stuff when humans can fully turn their sun into a battery. But that is… Well… pure sci-fi stuff from a novel written around 1960…
"I never had a chance to ask such things. My goal was to discern his threat level and find out the truth about Artemis's situation." Athena explained sharply.
"...And fall in love in process…" Aphrodite said casually from the side. As she can sense what happened with Athena… oh she is very curious and even sort... of jealous? The blonde Goddess has not sensed such love from fellow Gods for quite some time!
The brown-haired Goddess growled at Aphrodite for a second.
"I think Marcus should have accepted that offer, Ares. At least he would have another blond maid and this place would be more peaceful." The Goddess of Wisdom said sharply.
"Hmm? What are you talking about?" The blonde Goddess of love said with a small frown, she doesn't like being out of the loop like this.
"Ares offered you in exchange for an extremely advanced realism entertainment system." Athena very simply explained to her, as if discussing the weather.
Hearing that the blonde snapped at Ares who simply shrugged at her.
War is far more important than her...
"Son. You can't offer fellow Olympian God for the simple entertainment system." Zeus said sagely to his son.
"Even if it gives borderline true realism at it can even boost power for a bit? Athena over here enjoyed a true battle from Peloponnesian War!" The God of War said that with a jealous huff. He is a God of War and he can't play war games? What madness is this!?
"This doesn't sound like a recon mission to me," Aphrodite said with a frown. Now she was jealous. Can this system reenact some of the greatest events in the world? Some of the parties she had no chance to check herself out?
"It was. I learned everything I wanted to learn about him." Athena defended herself. The blonde bimbo is no match in words games when she is not prepared and at the moment the blonde certainly is not.
"Let's discuss this in the throne room." Zeus motioned for them to return to their thrones.
~~~
Everyone was very quiet after hearing the report from Athena. Frontal assault sounds very much suicidal if what the Goddess of Wisdom has described.
Same with getting Artemis back… well this is a pickle they were in.
For one Olympus can't just do nothing… it will make them look weak in front of other pantheons.
But, war is not an option… the man is very much prepared for them. And if what Athena said is true then it's would be a pointless war, they can't win because that man does have one of the most basic things called attrition.
With endless energy, this human inventor could just produce an endless amount of robots to fight for him! Not to mention these Mandalorians and whatever tools he can pull out. Hell, Athena didn't even mention the massive space gun he is building...
"I propose an alliance." Poseidon started talking first.
"He took Artemis as a maid and bound her to himself," Apollo said with a pissed off tone. The twin of Artemis pointed out the obvious!
"As much as I dislike the fact that my niece is a maid, Apollo. She did that to herself. Marcus Goldman was defending himself. Even then she chased him down through the whole of Eastern Europe.
While I understand the need for revenge she should have notified the council before doing anything rash." The God of Seas explained his reasoning.
The God of Sun just snorted and looked away.
"Clarify what kind of alliance you propose?" Zeus asked with a thoughtful look. He doesn't like the idea of negotiating from a weaker point of view. No one does.
"Let Marcus Goldman marry Athena. It will solve the majority of issues." Poseidon said with a casual shrug. The Ruler of Atlantis already saw the infatuation Athena has. This solution will solve alot of issues.
"..."
"..."
"..."
His words made the whole council room silent like a graveyard. Athena was blushing a storm, Ares barely controlling himself not to start laughing. Hera sagely nodded, it was about time the girl is married off! Aphrodite didn't know how to feel about this. This sounds like a marriage she would want for herself.
The rest were… Zeus was baffled, Hades… well... no one could read him… Hephaestus, Demeter were neutral and Dionysus was more interested in his wine. Only for Apollo looked like his uncle was nuts!
"This...is…"
"I agree with Poseidon," Hera said with a nod. It's about time Athena is married off… not only that she sees alot of benefits to this. The boy is incredibly talented. Not every day someone just builds his faction like that and is strong enough not to get destroyed by other supernatural factions!
"B-But...he is a human!" Zeus said with a frown. Hell! His wife is on Poseidon's side for this! This is nuts! She was always on his side!
"Really. Father? Human? If I was a betting man and had to bet between Shiva and Marcus, I would bet on Marcus 10 out of 10 times." Ares said with a smirk. He recalled the reading of the teens fighting prowess. He has never seen such power and ability to adapt… it was beyond supernatural!
While he does not doubt that Shiva has more destructive power at the moment. Marcus could just adapt. That's him not counting the ability the teen has to negate divine power.
*Sigh*
"I am talking about limited lifespan!" Zeus clarified with his issue here!
"...You do realise that he invented perpetual energy which on its own can be considered more difficult than prolonged or eternal life," Athena explained with raised eyebrow. The beauty does not doubt that Marcus is no longer someone who will die just because he gets old…
"I see… well, then… let's vote on this… who is up for Athena to get married to Marcus Goldman raise your hands." As Zeus said that he didn't raise his hand. But…
Ares, Hera, Hermes, Poseidon, Demeter, Hephaestus, Dionysus, Aphrodite, Athena herself… was up…
The ones which were not were...only Hades, Zeus, Apollo…
With Artemis's seat being empty… well… it was overwhelming that Athena is to get married to Marcus… well, at least the council agrees with this...
However… now the difficulty is to approach the teen with this proposal.
"Now we need to discuss how we going to approach him with this," Athena said with a smile. Honestly… no one can remember the Goddess of Wisdom being this happy.
For a second Aphrodite regretted that she vote 'yes' for this! For a second that is… as the blonde already started to think how to seduce this man after he married Athena!
After all, this kind of relationship is much more… forbidden? Steamy?
As Goddess of Love and Sex, she knows it far too well!
.
~~~~~~Marcus~~~~~~
The teen had no clue that Olympians already planning to marry Athena off to him. Simply put such an idea never crossed his mind.
All he ever expected from this is that he will get more visitors and will be able to have couple more dates with the Goddess of Wisdom.
After all, he would never see Zeus legitimately marrying off his daughter to him… that's like...absurd... Then again he never cares about politics…
Instead, he decided to push the issues about the Greek Gods aside for now and focused on things he needs to do.
Once he was back in his base he started to walk quickly to his armoury.
"Aurora, prepare Mark IV…"
[Understood]
Once there he quickly suited up his Final Version of Freedom scale mail.
Walked over to the recently finished Holographic Reflectors. They looked like hexagon mirrors with unique looking dull glass. There was quite a bit of them. Marcus stored them in the storage ring.
With preparations done he quickly left the base and started rushing up..towards the space.
The journey to space wasn't that long. Even locating the place where the core is wasn't long either.
However, this was the first time the teen had been in space which is not a Realitus simulation.
He was quite satisfied that his body had not even reacted to the rapid change of temperature and void of space. Even though the temperature is not existent in space normally speaking. Since there is no atmospheric pressure in the void of space. There was no reaction from his body even in such change.
While the temperature was one of the things he checked out. The teen was more interested in the picturesque look of Earth.
After taking several pictures and taking in the blue world below him as well as looking at the curve of the world as well making sure no one saw him.
"Aurora you can begin taking the readings of the space," Marcus said to the A.I.
[Already on it. This is the first time proper reading has been done. The majority calculation I did before confirm most of the things with a very small percentage being wrong.]
The teen simply nodded at her.
"Obviously. We might predict alot of things but nothing beats real data." Marcus said with an obvious tone. While he likes his technomancy and its calculating abilities. Nothing can replace real stuff collected from field expedition.
After looking around for more he finally decided to move on towards the station's core.
Once inside the area where deflectors are deployed Marcus started placing the new upgraded ones. Since the station's core is quite big on its own. It took him some time to put them all in place.
When he was done with this. He activated the new deflectors and the old ones were turned off. Once that was done Marcus started quickly collecting the old mirrors.
He did this much quicker with his psionic powers. With a burst of his energy, he made them all fly to him.
After collecting them he looked around. Seeing the Aurora bots working rapidly with the first expansion. If his math is right they should be done with this just around November.
He could accelerate the progress by bringing more bots for the completion of the first stage but that is not needed. He is in no hurry to finish the station.
'Right...this is done… and I am in space… let's explore a little bit!' As thought about that he looked at the Moon in distance.
With mere thought, his space ring appeared and he ripped the space itself. Moving several million kilometres with simple motion.
His gaze went to the grey lifeless world below.
'Let's see what is so special about the 'dark' side of the moon.' His scale mail wings glowed as he started flying there.
…
…
…
'Hmm...honestly… I was expecting at least some traces of aliens… or maybe even a Nazi base… ' A sigh escaped from the teen's mouth.
He spend around a half-hour exploring the dark side of the moon. But there is nothing there! It looks the same as the other side!
"Aurora. Did you pick up any residues of unknown energies or anything of value?" Marcus asked with a little bit of hope.
[No. Nothing from the limited range I possess. I doubt the Moon has anything of value on its surface. Otherwise, the largest nations on Earth would have already sent teams to start the extraction of Moon's resources.] The A.I. reasoned with him.
"Indeed… well, we should not mention to Artemis that her symbol of power is worthless." The black-haired teen said that with an amused tone.
[I was programmed to be a sadist sir. I might accidentally mention it one day.] The A.I. without shame said that to Marcus.
The teen inventor just rolled his eyes in amusement. He can feel Quinella's influence in this. While he made the original Aurora sadist it was not to this level… or was it? After all, Quinella now is a proper person.
"Well. I am sure it only can come out when we discuss space and symbols of power? It's quite a specific theme. Anyway… Moon is worthless let's check out Venus." As the black-haired teen said his gaze turned towards Sun.
That moment his helmet reacted and he got more shade to cover his vision. The source of life and the light is insanely bright.
With another hand slash, he warped the distance… however… the distance between Moon and Venus is MUCH larger compared to Earth and Moon.
[Sir… according to my calculations. It's going to take from 5 hours to several months to reach Venus like this.
I have no idea where the planet is and I doubt your senses can find it as well.]
That was enough Marcus to stop in his tracks.
"Damn… even with my power output and understanding of space I still need that much time to travel to Venus?" The teen said with wide eyes, he started to grasp the distance between worlds...
[Sir. While you have a considerable amount of power. But, you still are just a spec of dust when we compare it to the cosmic scale. That's if my understanding of space is accurate.]
Marcus for second grimaced. He just got owned by his A.I… while it is sour. He can understand what she means.
'Well… I suppose I could return to drawing board…'
He took a deep breath. Pushing down his annoyance. Hell, he thought that he finally got his freedom and became unchained from most of the constraints and limitations!
But, that is just him being free on the planet's surface. Now he got reminded what those zeros truly mean when he was reading the distance between planets.
Even now he is millions of kilometres away and he can still easily see his birth world.
After swallowing the bitter pill he slashed the area in front of him with his hand, warping space.
Moments later he was in Earth's atmosphere. From the looks of it… he was above the Pacific Ocean… Even now he got reminded that one could fit the whole of Mars in just this Ocean. That's just how big the biggest Ocean on Earth is…
Before long the teen started to descend into the world below him.
As he was reentering into Earth he remembered something… Since he was in the Pacific… well… why not some more exploration? A single check later on watch he saw that it was just around 19:00 in his country… he has still some time left. And at the moment it's early morning in the Pacific area…
"This reminded me… of that episode where Freedom is launched for the first time and Mc showcases the mech for the first time! Especially the easy ability to enter Earth's atmosphere. Let's reenact that!" Marcus said that as he remembered the setting was quite similar to this! Hell! He even was in the Pacific in a suit based on Freedom!
[Sir, you are off by over 10000 thousand kilometres. If my knowledge of Gundam Seed is right that scene happened in Alaska.]
Marcus groaned hearing that! He was pumping himself up after that sour moment in space and his A.I. Is beating him up again!
"Woman...at least give me some amusement from THIS!"
As the teen said that he slammed into Ocean with speed high enough to cause quite a big tidal wave.
Soon enough he was deep underwater. Yet, he didn't even bother with this and just started descending deeper into the depths of the ocean while moving towards North-West since he was in the southern hemisphere not far from South America.
Once he was deep enough the scale mail wings glowed and Marcus rushed forward at extreme speed. Since he was underwater there was no need to hold back.
With helmet switching into night vision, and other visions for cross-reference to give perfect vision even if he was deep underwater.
Around an hour later he was not far from Japanese territorial waters. More like 8000 kilometres from where he re-entered into Earth.
[Sir. What are you looking for?] Aurora asked him with a curious tone since she noticed Marcus just floating in one area and looking around.
"Enterprise… she sunk somewhere here." The teen said with an excited tone.
[Let me check the GPS coordinates it could help.]
Hearing the request the teen rushed to the surface for a bit. Once he was above the water the A.I. quickly connected to the satellites.
[Scanning… accessing US Government databases… leaving boogies behind…cross-referencing with known location…] The teen smirked hearing that. He is wondering what kind of presents did Aurora left in the Pentagon's servers...
[It should be around 100 kilometres north of this location. Since it's not far from where Yamato sunk as well.]
The A.I. clarified where to go and Marcus once again dived into the water.
A few moments later the teen was diving to the depths of the Ocean. And deployed his powers to use as makeshift sonar.
He did that several times until he got a ping from a metal surface!
'Found you!!!' With a burst of extra speed, he rushed toward the location where he got the ping from!
Seconds later his eyes widened because he saw a massive metal construct laying on its side. He could see multiple holes in its structure. There are several world war 2 planes laying on ocean bedrock not far as well.
"So...this is Enterprise…" The teen floated forward and removed one of his gauntlets and touched the ship. He used his psionic powers to keep the water from flowing in. However, he quickly realised that it was draining him...rapidly…
After all… he was nearly 4 kilometres underwater and the pressure of the water was enormous.
Without wasting much time… he summoned his storage ring and pulled the ship into it…
One moment the shipwreck was there the next moment it was gone. For a short moment, there was a pull forward as a huge object just disappeared and water very quickly filled that place up.
[...]
"..."
A smirk appeared on his face as he realised that… yes, the ring could hold such a size object!
To make sure it was alright he drained all the water from the ship and send it back to the outside world.
[Sir, I think, we should return to the Base. It's nearly 21:00 a clock and your girls are getting worried.] The A.I. reminded him. More like she doesn't want him to do more crazy stuff. They went to the moon already and now they diving with just a scale mail… the A.I. has no idea if anyone saw him, as the teen was quite the high profile with those golden wings…
And flying at enormous speed all over the place!
"Sure. I got what I wanted…" As he said that he quickly rushed to the surface. Blasting out of the water and then rapidly starting to fly mainland Asia and towards Europe.
~~~~~~The Base~~~~~~
The maids and Marcus Pillars were somewhat nervous. Their Master disappeared somewhere… well… they know he went to space… but...Space is a very big place…
Aurora has lost contact with them when Marcus decided to go to Moon.
[I just got a notification that Master just entered the atmosphere in South Pacific.]
"That was quick… I am pretty sure it takes quite a bit of time to travel between Moon and Earth." Latia said with a thoughtful look.
[He used the space ring with his considerable energy reserves he appeared there instantaneously.]
The blonde devil nodded at her. While the rest like Artemis was quite jealous. She never was on Moon before! Sure...she is the Goddess of the Moon. But those two are different things. She more or less holds the conceptual power of the moon.
Nothing like having some sort of power to travel there…
"Did he get something from the moon?" The silver-haired Goddess asked her.
[I don't know. I didn't get much of updates as he submerged himself in the Pacific Ocean. I don't have a direct connection to the Scale mail when it's underwater.]
A groan escaped from Artemis's lips. This is quite an annoying tease!
"At least he is back on Earth!" Jeanne said with a smile. She was simply telling to the Goddess to look at the bright side.
"Isn't Pacific quite big?" Le Fay said with raised eyebrow. One could spend months there!
"Very, almost half of the Earth's surface in the Pacific Ocean. And on top of that, there is barely any islands. Thankfully...he is one of the most powerful beings around. So… we should worry too...much?" Latia said with uncertainty.
The rest could only sigh and wait for his return.
~~~
Around few hours later Marcus finally returned. They didn't expect him to be… depressed sort-ish?
He walked over and took a seat on the couch facing the TV. He quickly pulled Atalanta to his lap and started stroking her long hair.
The girl looked at each other trying to understand what the hell is going on!
"Girls… did you know that we have a concept of time because the sun is fat?" He said that while looking at something, he looked like he was spacing out.
"Fat? How does it… make any sense?"
The Goddess asked with confusion the rest just shrugged at her they didn't know what to say.
"Simply put. Sun's weight it's what allows planets to spin around it. Creating time. For example, one year on Earth is 365 days. While one year on Mars is 687 Earth days. As Mars spins differently around its axis too.
In other words. We are completely and utterly dependent on the big and fat ball of fire in the centre of our Solar system."