“It has been a pleasure to meet you, Mortal King; Solomon,” Athena smiled gracefully. Her beauty at this very moment suddenly trounces every woman he had met –Though he would never say it out loud. But still, as expected of one of the three well known Virgin Goddesses of Olympus, her charm was almost irresistible.

"Say no more, there are things that happened while I had forgotten my nature as [ Solomon ]. And right now, I’m just a small part of him. I’m neither Solomon nor the Demon Prince Dante, just Allen.” Allen said while smiling faintly.

“So, just call me Allen. I don’t deserve the name Solomon anymore…”

Athena’s eyes widened a bit. She was shocked to hear Allen’s words.

After a few moments of silence, Athena started, “In any case, no matter who you are, you are still a friend of mine.”

“… …” Allen stared at Athena who was smiling at him. Even Asmodeus felt danger from her. She suddenly had an impulse to grab Allen and take him away from her as further as she can!

!? Allen coughs awkwardly and then spoke as if trying to change the topic. “There’s something I want to know…”

“Pray tell,” Athena smiled unmeant at Allen’s expression. However, Allen’s next words caused her smile to stiffen instantly.

“Do you remember what we had talked in our last meeting? Are you the one responsible for reincarnating people in the mortal world?” Allen’s expression turned serious. “… Such as me…?”

“… …” Athena turned solemn. Although she had expected this already since she never underestimated Allen’s intellect but being asked directly really makes one didn’t know how to answer.

After a few minutes of contemplation, Athena finally answered, “That’s right.”

“… …” Allen nodded. “Did you do this in order to win the Demon war?”

Athena nodded.

“Even still, did you really believe mortals would have such significance? If it was Zeus, I bet he would have already trash that idea,” Allen chuckled in amusement.

Athena giggled. “Yeah, he would have scolded me for even thinking such a thing. However, I have no choice. Desperate times require desperate measures. Godkins and High humans alone wasn’t enough to defeat the Demons. I believe we needed a Hero to rise up and lead us to victory in this warring state…”

“Is that so?” Allen smiled faintly. “However, don’t you think it’s a bit too much to rely on mortals? If you managed to rally the God Clans and High humans, then you will then have more chances of victory rather than wait for mortals to rise up in power…”

“You might be right. But, that is if we can rally all the God Clans together…”

??

“Do you think there’s even one Clan that was satisfied to be a subordinate? To be inferior to other Clans? There’s no such thing as everybody is the leader…”Athena mused. “In every group, there is only one leader. If there were several leaders in a group, a conflict will then arise. Ideas will clash and chaos will start.”

“And the God Clans can’t do that. No matter how dangerous the situation becomes, every Clan would never forsake their pride and ego to step back and listen to other Clans!”

“… …”

“... There were not as flexible as mortals, you see. One can be said that they are more human than mortals in terms of keeping their pride.” Athena said lightly. A hurtful expression appeared on her face.

Allen’s tone is lazy: “That’s nothing new…” He then lightly leans back and stares at her. “However, I certainly have to thank you though. If you didn’t do it, I might have been dead and turned useless… unable to change anything and save even a single damn person.”

"... Sorry for troubling you and thank you very much." Allen spoke. His voice solemn and full of sincerity.

On the other hand, Athena was stunned due to his sudden words. After a few moment, she smiled: "Your gratitude is not needed. We are just doing what we thought was necessary. Though, you, Solomon to be one of them were certainly a pleasant surprise even for me…”

“However, messing with time must have been a difficult matter. I haven’t heard anything about this before…”

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“Of course. Even though we used Chronus Heart, the Heart of Time, we still couldn’t endure the backlash of the spell causing several Gods to die during the operation. Apollo, Demeter, Hathor, Thoth, and much more died from the Spell backlash. While, Hecate, Hestia, Nephthys, and some other were gravely injured. Who knows where they are now…”

Athena smiled faintly. “Of course, most of those who unluckily died was already injured by the enemies beforehand…”

“Including you, isn’t it?” Allen narrows his eyes. A familiar oppressive feeling descends on Athena.

Athena was surprised. She was silent for a while then nods determinedly:: “Yeah,” She confirmed. “It caused me to be unable to return to my real form as of the moment. I can’t even use half of my power…”

“… …”

“However, it wasn’t important for me. After all, I had Aegis… no attack would be able to pass through it…” Athena shrugs. “I’m confident enough in protecting myself.”

Allen raises his eyebrows. “Although I am not in the position to say this but, losing those Gods, I don’t think it’s worth it… how would you know Mortals would be able to stand up and rise to meet your expectations?”

“That is why this was a Gamble. A gamble for the mortal’s infinite possibility… and that gamble had given you to us! I think that you are the one we had been waiting for…” Athena smiled happily.

“That was nothing but a coincidence. If I wasn’t there, what would you do? In my opinion, there’s only a very small chance of a mortal reaching my stage in just a one or two years… it can even be said to be, nigh impossible! This Gamble was certainly foolish! Don’t you think so?” Allen's tone turned harsh. But it was just because Allen can't think of any reason to justify this huge risk gamble.

However, Athena wasn't fazed at all. She chuckled. “My Friend, you should really stop talking like a little kid. What do you think you can get without sacrifices?”

“… …”

There is no such thing as gaining something without sacrificing something first.

Sacrifices are necessary.

“… That’s what great causes are like. We ignore the sacrifice of the few and only look forward and hope that it will give the majority hope they had needed.”

“There’s no such thing as a happy future without any sacrifices…” Athena showed a gentle but calm expression.

Allen was struck dumb and could only stare at Athena's confident expression as if she was saying, 'All according to my plan. There's no possibility of losing,' Her confident demeanor has never changed even once in this hundreds and thousands of years.

*** ***

In the west region, inside a grand architectural sight that can be said to be almost a magnificent landmark, Allen and Asmodeus were staying due to Athena’s stubborn insisting.

His room was a very clean and tidy room, with a cloakroom as well as a study–like room. There is also a large balcony outside with a white sofa, which looks very inviting to lie down.

This room has a classic and graceful feeling to it. In the middle of the room were some tables and chairs; a tea set and some fruit were on the table. Interesting antiques such as swords, shields, armor, and painting hung on the wall, for decorative purposes. Though, they were still genuine!

Allen sits down on the sofa. He then looks at his surrounding, and his heart suddenly feels a little relax.

As expected of Mt. Olympus, the entire place was like a paradise!

Huge magnificent waterfalls can be seen around the mountain, covered by dense and thick fog.

No, it is not fog.

Cloud is a better term.

It was a fluffy white cloud, covering the entire mountain peak. It gives a breathtaking flavor of the entire place. In addition, the state of the art, architectural buildings, and landmarks.

… And most of all, beautiful and well-endowed women walking from here and there, giggling and laughing together without any sort of malice showing on their faces.

Allen closed his eyes and took a deep breath.

The night wind feels good. It’s not chilly or hot.

The purity of the air here was certainly beyond that of Earth.

Allen can see the stars clearly and hear the relaxing chirping sounds of insects.

Still, the experiences he had experienced made a Superhuman like him that did not know exhaustion feel somewhat tired. The exhaustion was not physical but mental.

Too many scenes flashed across his mind. The Apocalypse, the Demons, the Celestial Realm, the God Clans, Athena and the returnees just like him.

Too many things happened in just a single year. Too many emotions in him left him finding it impossible to forget…

"Master…"

Suddenly, a gentle and alluring voice sounded in his ear. A pair of snow-white arms wrapped around Allen’s waist, hugging him gently from behind.

"Hm?"

Allen lightly answered. He did not need to turn back for simply listening to the person’s voice and catching a whiff of the scent wafting in the air was enough for him to know that the person that suddenly appeared and hugged him was the Demon who extremely loyal to him. Even after who knows how many years had passed, his loyalty and devotion were firm and unbending!

“You should really stay as a ‘girl’ often…” Allen said wryly as he noticed Asmodeus’ aura changed into that of a woman. Although he was mostly staying at the border, but he was actually someone who had already throw the matter of gender into somewhere.

He can turn a woman or a man in his will –that was probably one of the powers he had as the Demon Prince of Lust.

In fact, this was also the reason why Asmodeus had become King Solomon’s favorite –if not; there would surely be something wrong with the wise king’s sexual orientation.

“If you desire it,”

At that moment, the silence was better than any sound.

As Allen was enjoying the tranquility and serenity that calm his mind when he suddenly felt something creeping inside his shirt and into his pants. Allen’s closed eyes couldn’t help but open. His gaze flashed with various complicated expression as he slowly turned around.

Asmodeus gently raised her head and bit her lower lip. She smiled, “Master, I missed you so much,” She said her expression was bright and clear with a hint of bashfulness.

“Is that so… I also did." Allen smiled faintly. "However, although I want all of us, including the 72 Pillars to be together always but I don’t think Virgil would give his permission. He will still try to absorb me. I don’t even know what the other Pillars are doing right now or whether they would still side with me rather than Virgil.” A pained and hurtful expression flashing across his eyes.