His flesh was amorphous and shifted as if it was more liquid than solid, and his eyes were focused on Aphrodite, who was now trapped underneath a stone pillar. Ares and Artemis seemed to be unconscious, so Hephaestus was the only one still fighting, smashing the titan's meaty appendages with his war hammer and trying to stop it from trapping him.

I quickly cast Lightning Smite at the core of the titan's body, but even though this was a divine skill with incredible strength, it wasn't enough to deal him any significant damage. It wasn't even enough to pull his focus from Aphrodite to try to figure out where I was standing.

Instead he pressed what looked like a foot onto of the boulder crushing Aphrodite's body, and she let out a scream of pain.

"Your life is forfeit," he said, pushing even harder.

I wasn't about to let Aphrodite fall, so I used Thunder Switch with her again and instantly found myself trapped under the boulder. The semblance of a face on Cronus looked slightly surprised, especially since I was still invisible, but soon realized what must have happened.

"Such a noble fool," he growled at me. "Invisible, but a fool. Let's see if your invisibility will help you in the afterlife."

The last thing I felt was the air being completely driven out of my lungs.

When I opened my eyes again, I was in the air, Cronus holding me up high and laughing at the orbs above him. I was visible again, but he didn’t seem to have realized that Aphrodite's skill had kicked in and I was already back to full health with all of my buffs intact.

"You now see what happens to anyone who dares to defy my absolute dominance!" he shouted at the spectators.

Aphrodite had wasted no time and was waking up Ares and Artemis, though Hephaestus looked like he was losing the battle against the fleshy appendages of Cronus, which seemed to have a mind of their own. Wanting to make sure that I could use this situation to my advantage as much as I could, I rolled to the side and started falling toward the center of his body.

I charged my spear with as much electricity as I could and simultaneously triggered Hundred-Fold Lightning Smite. The fact that I had unlocked the Smite Everywhere passive skill meant that I could smite indoors—though I didn't particularly need to anymore since the roof was now mostly missing.

This skill had been enough to strike dead Typhon, the king of monsters, and I could only hope it would just be enough to do the same to Cronus. My spear cut a long line across the titan's bulbous body and the lightning strikes fell from the sky, punishing Cronus for all the cruelties he had exacted upon me and my siblings.

With only three divinity points left, I certainly hoped this was going to be the last of the titan, but I couldn’t afford to stop attacking until I knew it. Ares, who couldn’t reach the titan's torso, instead went to help Hephaestus, hacking and slashing at the enemy while trying to free him from the tentacles that had gotten hold of him.

Artemis timed her arrows so that they wouldn't be incinerated before they hit their target, while Aphrodite healed anyone whose HP was running low. Her own MP, however, was rapidly falling. Soon she would need to find a place to rest, as hard as that might be for her.

The lightning strikes eventually stopped and so then did my father's screams of agony, replaced by the sound of blades slashing and piercing flesh along with Cronus's heavy, ragged breathing. Then, he let out otherworldly maniacal laughter.

"You thought this would be enough to bring me down?" One of his appendages took hold of a large rock and he used it to shield himself from Artemis's arrows. "I am the king of titans! You are puny lower deities."

He struck me with his sword, which was now being held by two long fleshy tentacles. His strength was significantly diminished and I was able to stop the strike by blocking it with my spear, even though it forced me to skid several feet backward.

"What is this heresy of a weapon?" he said, his voice shrill. For the first time, there was a hint of fear in it. "It will never fulfill its purpose, you insolent fool!"

I struck with my most powerful skills, one after the other. His wounds finally seemed to be taking a toll on him, but his damage output against me was still far greater. I managed to land a few more hits thanks to Aphrodite's healing, but pretty soon she had to run away and take cover to refill her MP pool.

I channeled another couple of Lightning Smite divine skills at Cronus, leaving me with one final DP, and I waited for my HP to drop low enough to use my trump card divine skill.

* * *

Name: Thunder Strikes Twice

Level: 1

Type: Active

HP Consumed: 0

MP Consumed: 25

DP Consumed: All available (Minimum 1)

Power: 0

Range: Self

Precondition: Only usable when HP is lower than 10%.

Description: The sheer power and determination of the thunder god is enough to bring him back from the verge of dying. The total amount of available divinity points are consumed as the lightning strikes new power through his body, restoring his HP completely.

* * *

The skill was amazing on its own but the way it consumed DP meant that it would be single-use only. Since I didn’t want to waste the rest of my DP, I needed to use all of them save for one before activating it. Once my HP had fallen below the ten-percent threshold, the divine skill, which had previously been grayed out, became available to me and I activated it.

A thick, straight bolt of lightning hit me from above and I felt my senses heighten as I was completely rejuvenated by it. All of my wounds were healed, and I’d gained some more time to strike at Cronus and bring him closer to death, while I still had my buffs.

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Artemis, tired of hitting the stone shield Cronus was now using, emptied her divine skill strikes on him. Each of her arrows flashed with brilliance as they flew through the stone and struck his body before exploding. I had rarely seen Artemis use this divine skill of hers, yet I knew it was one of her most powerful. Her single strongest divine skill would not have worked on a titan the same way she had used it during our siege, so this was the best choice she had.

Ares too, seeing the way the battle was progressing, triggered his rain of swords divine skill right above Cronus. The skill was extremely effective against armies of enemies, especially if he spaced out the blades and threw them at an angle. In this instance, the swords were so close they were almost touching each other and fell like rain from above. Cronus's body wasn’t large enough to host the thousands of blades falling on him, but when Artemis's arrows exploded, they blew away some of the swords, making new space for more to pierce him again.

Hephaestus' divine skills were all centered on crafting, so unfortunately there wasn’t a lot he could do during the battle, and the same was true for Aphrodite, whose most powerful skills were focused on non-fighting abilities. The two of them had already done the most important work in this battle, however, with Hephaestus having crafted the weapon that would end it all and Aphrodite’s plethora of buffs.

"Enough!" Cronus shouted as we all ran out of DP and Aphrodite funneled all of her MP into healing me and Hephaestus again.

His clothes were all torn and his body looked more like a gigantic monolith of moving flesh than an actual humanoid. Dirt, blood, and puss covered his flesh. In the center of it all was his gaping mouth, which looked like it led to a different dimension. One of complete and utter oblivion.

I barely had time to react before he struck me in my groin with one of his tentacles and then cut my back deeply with his sword. He looked extremely hurt but so were we, and our bag of tricks was almost empty.

The first of us to fall was Hephaestus, who finally gave in under the pressure of the tentacles. I screamed as I watched his HP fall to zero but wasn't able to do anything as Cronus hacked at my chest, making it harder for me to even breathe. The next in line was Ares, who Cronus picked up by the feet and pummeled against the remaining walls until his body fell limp on the ground.

Artemis was still up and running, shooting one arrow after the other at him, but it would only be a matter of time before he was able to snatch her too. And Aphrodite would surely not be difficult to find, no matter how well she was covered. Things were looking extremely grim, and I suddenly regretted my decision to use all of my DP on the offensive. If I had left some, I could have used them to cast the Instant Divine Teleport skill that would have taken us all back to the top of Mount Olympus.

I raised my spear to strike him again, unleashing one of my last offensive skills since I was running out of MP myself. The spear found its target but at the same time, I felt pressure in my stomach. I looked down to see his sword protruding from it, and once again, dropped to the ground dead.

The first thing I did once I opened my eyes again, resurrected by the effect of our sacred Mount Olympus ambrosia, was to take another portion from my inventory and quickly shove it my mouth.

* * *

Item: Ambrosia

Type: Consumable

Durability: 1/1

Grade: A Grade

Weight: 20st.

Description: The food of immortality. Ambrosia can only be created in places of power that have been claimed by a god. A mortal or god who eats ambrosia will gain one instance of immortality. This means that if a person who has consumed it dies, they are returned back to life with full HP/MP and without losing any XP. Each individual can only consume one unit of ambrosia per day.

* * *

Having now used the effect of the ambrosia we had eaten so many months ago, we could each eat one more today but this would be it. This was our very last trump card. We had one more resurrection and then we would die for real.

Ares immediately started casting his own buffs and we all prepared ourselves with our self-buffs again, ready for another part of this seemingly endless battle.

I quickly glanced at a flashing notification in the corner of my view.

* * *

Hephaestus has left the party.

* * *

"Why don't you just die, insects?" Cronus shouted in anger.

I looked around me and realized that Hephaestus was nowhere to be seen. Glancing at the party view, I saw that his name had even disappeared from there.

Then I realized what had actually happened to him.

The gaping maw of Cronus was now upon the goddess of love too, and just as she cast another healing spell on me, she was consumed whole.

* * *

Aphrodite has left the party.

* * *

"No, you bastard!" I cried in disbelief.

After all this time, training, recruiting, and becoming stronger, not only could I not get my revenge but I’d also managed to bring the same fate my siblings suffered to two of my compatriots as well. Aphrodite and Hephaestus had been lost to me forever.

"I will destroy you!" I screamed, and began landing one critical hit after another.

My attacks were hurting him a lot and it was obvious that he didn’t have much life left in him, but I was the hardest of the remaining targets and it looked like he had other plans for me. Using his sword to drive me back, his maw shifted on his body and turned to Ares who was on the brink of death.

With very little effort, Cronus managed to swallow him whole and then he focused all of his appendages on capturing Artemis.

* * *

Ares has left the party.

* * *

The goddess of the hunt focused her strikes on the tentacles following her and was able to thwart four of them while running around. The attacks kept coming, however, and eventually Cronus managed to grab her.

At that point, the shock had hit me so hard that I didn't even have the power to shout anymore. I kept striking him as hard as I could, hoping that I would at least avenge them and get the chance to grieve afterward.

Artemis didn’t stop fighting for a single moment, even as she was thrust into the maw of oblivion. And she never cried in pain or fear. She only screamed in anger as she triggered one skill after the other until the very end.

* * *

Artemis has left the party.

The party has dispersed.

* * *

"I can devour four individuals per day, Zeus. And I used all the slots so you could see your loved ones consumed because of your own foolishness." Cronus shouted in triumph as he shifted his attention to me. "Do you see the folly of your actions now, son?"

"You'll pay for this," I said through my teeth.

"Do you see the hubris of defying me, world?" he shouted even louder, this time looking up at the orbs above.

This wasn't just about me. He wasn't just trying to hurt me. His firm grasp on the throne of the Greek pantheon was based on fear and violence. That was why he’d put on such a show. He wanted to make it look like he was playing with me. It was all a spectacle for him to re-establish his dominance.

"Die!" I screamed and charged everything I had into my spear, slashing his shifting body that was already filled with hundreds of wounds.

"No, you die!" he shouted in return, and brought down his sword one last time.

I’d managed a deep slash on him, deeper than ever before, and I was sure I heard him moan in pain. I smiled knowing that I’d caused him agony one last time as my light faded yet again.

My final resurrection found me face down and barely able to move my body. I could still hear the echoes of battle, but my vision was blurry and my body ached too much for me to even stand. The effects of multiple resurrections had taken their toll on me.

Even breathing hurt, but eventually I was able to focus my senses. I was laying on the ground where Cronus had struck me dead but I realized it wasn't just echoes of battle I thought I was hearing. There was still a battle taking place.

I opened my eyes wide when I saw a flashing notification in front of me.

* * *

Demeter has invited you to a party.

Party Members: 8/9

Party Leader: Hades

Do you accept the invitation?

Yes No

* * *

How is this possible? Am I dead?