Son of the Hero King

somewhere, in a space filled with unsettling gray fog, a castle floated quietly amid the eerie fog and the silent surroundings.

The castle's interior was desolate, but at the same time imposing and magnificent.

Directly under the towering ceiling of the immaculate white castle lay a golden table with fifteen high-blue chairs on either side in a symmetrical arrangement. 7 on the right, 7 on the left, and 1 on the helm that represented the leading seat of the assortment— the seat of Order.

The back of each chair dazzled and shone faintly with visible golden light, drawing the outlines of abstract constellations that differed from reality yet were somehow very much real.

Sitting around either side of the table were fourteen women whose features were shrouded in veils of darkness.

In the middle of the table, a large chessboard was placed and a game seemed to be ongoing for who knew how long.

A heavy silence shrouded the gathering of women, sky-high tension floating in the air. A few of them gazed between Luxuria and Invidia, not knowing what they should say or do.

As always, Diligentia opened the discussion between the assortment of sisters. She was one of the twin goddesses responsible for the Angels, representing the virtue of Diligence.

“We need to talk.” Diligentia cleared her throat and looked at the chess pieces placed on the board. The pieces represented the current generation of Blessed still alive and active in the Mortal realm and obviously, many changes had transpired to the pieces in an extremely short amount of time, enough to astound the assortment of sisters.

Camelia’s piece broke down and shimmered out of existence in motes of dying light, the same happened to Lupus’ piece. Lastly, Sol’s piece changed appearances and was thus promoted, becoming a full-fledged King.

“We lost one Blessed to the force of Chaos. This has not happened in years. Not since the incident with Michael’s daughter, Dahlia.” Diligentia shook her head in disappointment and sadness, “Ira, what do you have to say about this?”

Ira had a serious expression on her face, far more than her usual nonchalance, “I have nothing to say. I do not even know when he met this man and decided to betray me.”

Ira, as befitting her name, was writhing in anger at the way things panned out. It was a source of immense shame for the goddess of wrath. However, more than anger, she felt a deep sense of fear take over her. Ira had freely admitted to Sol that she was a coward under all her godly exterior, and cowards were always scared of the unknown. Ira had found herself pitted into a situation that went beyond her understanding, and it scared her to her very core.

“From the very moment he started nourishing the divine weapon, I have been keeping an eye on him, and yet I am unable to remember when they made this pact. Worse, I do not even remember when exactly Lupus was able to receive the energy of Chaos.”

This entire situation made no sense to her, and she hated this.

Worried expressions manifested on the other goddesses as well, everyone was perturbed by this scenario. While they were in no way omniscient, their godly powers did give them much freedom. It could have been one thing if the power of chaos was used to obscure their gaze, but even that did not happen and thus everything pointed to a single event.

“This man, Eins, has a power equal to us. No. Since he was able to hide from our gaze, his concept may be superior to ours.” Luxuria spoke, breaking the silence that once again settled between the sisters. She revealed the bitter truth that everyone present had been dreading but did not want to accept.

To be able to hide from their eyes without using the power of a dimension mage would mean that they had mastered a concept that was superior to them in all aspects.

It wasn’t an impossibility per se. History showed them many such instances of something similar, Anubis being the most ideal example of this phenomenon. Few goddesses could say with confidence that they could beat Anubis without relying on their vast stores of godly powers for a battle of attrition.

A new False God was certainly worrying but nothing worth much discussion. Their current predicament however was vastly different for many reasons.

“I was not going crazy, right? You all felt the familiarity in his power, right?” Gula, the goddess of Gluttony asked. Since she had already made a deal with Sol, her eyes were always observing the battlefield. She was immediately drawn to the fight between Eins and Camelia among other things and she could not help but feel something strange.

“Castitas, you were the closest during this fight. What do you think?” Gula addressed Castitas, the goddess of chastity. Since Castitas’ Blessed, Camelia had fought directly against Eins and even used goddess descent to allow Castitas’ powers and perception to flow through her, no one here had a better understanding of the situation than her.

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“I… I am not sure.” Castitas spoke with clear hesitation. It was hard to put what she felt in words but, “What I can say with certainty though is that Camelia’s opponent used a concept very similar to the power of Dreams. The same concept as Hypnos.”

“Ugh…” A few goddesses groaned. Superbia, the goddess of Pride, spoke out loud, “Do you think this is a case of a mortal finding an artifact belonging to them? Like Anubis?”

One of the many, many reasons Anubis was so strong, contending against some goddesses in sheer might, was due to his soul housing the Divine Weapon of Death in its depths. The Book of the Dead was the ultimate treasure of the concept of Death and allowed its wielder nigh-endless authority over death itself. In the same vein, they also knew that Mars Luxuria had managed to find something belonging to Dawn which explained his rapid rise to power.

“My sisters, you are too optimistic. We must always consider the worst-case scenario in this kind of situation.” Invidia, the goddess of envy, stopped the chatter that was definitely going nowhere. It had been a long time since the goddess had spoken to her sisters, however, her siblings did not have the mood to tease her for it.

Invidia stood up and leaned forward as she placed her hands on the table, “This case is different from Anubis. You are all aware of it, right? We should all consider this carefully. Rather than a simple inheritor of Hypnos’ power, what if… what if it was Hypnos himself.”

“…”

“…”

They all gazed at her, unable to speak, the words getting caught in their throat due to the implications her words contained. Many wanted to contest the idea, saying that it was impossible. That there was no way it was the case.

But deep down, they could all feel it. Something was screaming at them that Invidia was right.

“If it’s him … How? And why now?” Caritas, the Goddess of Charity, spoke in a gentle voice and looked up at the vast territory of the Divine realm. There she could see the crumbling divine kingdoms still floating in space. “Father killed him, right? How did he survive?”

Invidia waved her hand dismissively. “For starters, do not call that thing father. He is at most our creator. But that is all. Secondly, the why and the how do not matter at the moment. What we need to ask ourselves is…” She looked at her sisters and raised three fingers. “One— Is he the only one who came back? Two— Does he or do they plan to fight us for control over Heaven? Finally…”

She looked down at the chessboard and pointed at Sol’s piece, “Is he one of them?”

“Invidia…” Luxuria spoke in a tired voice but Invidia raised her hands with her palms outstretched, gesturing her to stop and let her finish.

“Don’t tell me he is not suspicious. You should have all sensed this, right? Even if it was only for an instant… We were unable to see him.”

Invidia grinned, “This happened once, right? All the way back during his ascension to the Duke realm. For a short instant, we felt as if he was equal to us and his Fate became something none of us could observe. What about now?”

All her siblings could feel the jubilation in her words, “This happening once was negligible at best, but a second time in quick succession? What is his realm? Nothing but a mere King!”

She shouted. “A small worthless King rank. A mere mortal who has yet to cast away his shell managed to do such a thing. Do you truly think this is normal? Not even Anubis was such a monster at this level.”

She took a deep breath, “I have been racking my brain. Wondering how this was possible. How can a simple mortal constantly accomplish such miracles again and again? But if he was a reincarnated god all along, it would make perfect sense!”

She placed her hand on the piece representing Sol, “I will make my proposal once again. I suggest a swift and immediate execution or…” She continued “I suggest we apprehend him and imprison him until his identity is proven.”

Invidia was sure of her victory this time around but Gula raised her hand in protest, “I believe we should not act in haste. Your deduction seems sound but you forgot one important fact. What is his concept?”

Invidia showed no surprise when Gula intervened. Indeed, all the gods who died on that day had a specific concept. Even Hypnos could not hide the power related to dreams but as for Sol.

“It’s an entirely new power. Do you truly think if he was a god, he would give up on a power cultivated for eons, all to bet on a new concept that was never threaded upon?” Gula gave a reason few could disprove. Becoming a God was already nearly impossible with the way things are. One would need to be a complete madman to risk it all and thread on a path never walked.

Even if Invidia could argue that it wasn’t impossible since many mortals did the same, she knew that all her arguments would just fall on deaf ears. As things were now, Luxuria had too many goddesses on her side so whatever she said would not be considered.

But it wasn’t as if she hadn’t already anticipated such responses from her siblings. That was the very reason she could afford a smile at this moment.

“You are right. Why don’t we talk about something else then?” Invidia's smile changed into a grin, “You remember the abomination… what was her name again? Lilith, right?”

“Oh…” Gula’s eyes narrowed. She did not like where things were going.

“If I remember well…You girls told me she was an undead, right? That no matter how ridiculous this statement was, I had no way of proving that she wasn’t one. You told me I should just accept my loss.”

The goddesses looked at each other and Temperatia spoke, “That was the final decision we have reached. Do you want to contest it?”

“Oh, not at all. Far from me to contest the wisdom of all my dear sisters.” Her tone was dripping with undisguised sarcasm, “It’s just… Hum. I seem to recall that the Mortal realm had a rule about war. What was it again? Diligentia, could you help me remember?”

Luxuria closed her eyes and Castitas sighed.

Diligentia knew what Invidia was doing but there was not much she could do in the current situation. After all, “Necromancy and the use of any undead is strictly forbidden during a war opposing two kingdoms.” She gave the rule.

“And… What is Lilith Luxuria at the moment?” Invidia asked again.

“… An Undead.”

“Well, dear sisters. It seems like we are at a crossroads.”

Invidia sat down and placed her chin on the palm of her hand,

“Either Lilith is not an undead. In this case, Sol will not face judgment by the angels. But he will be a criminal who defied Divine Laws. Or Lilith is indeed an undead, and he will face Mortal Laws.”

She laughed, “It’s going to be an interesting event, don’t you think dear sisters?”

Invidia knew it was but a small victory for her but a victory was still a victory and she was willing to take it. It didn’t matter how strong Sol was at the moment.

The stronger he was, the better it would be for her. After all, once the angels judged that Sol was too dangerous… the Mortal realm would be at risk of complete annihilation.

So, what will you do for my sister of mine? Will you watch as the world burns or will you give up on your favorite mortal?

The feeling of anticipation was too great.

As for the return of the gods? Invidia was not scared. Those gods may have been stronger than them back then, but things were quite different now.

This world belonged to the Fourteen of them and no one else.

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