I accepted the invitation and quickly scanned the names of all the party members.

* * *

Party Members: Hades

Demeter

Poseidon

Aphrodite

Artemis

Hephaestus

Ares

Hanuman

Zeus

* * *

I didn’t understand what was happening. Then I felt someone lift me up.

"You're okay, little brother," she said.

I turned to see my sister standing right next to me, covered in some kind of black substance, and Aphrodite was behind her casting her buffs on me anew.

"How?" I asked.

"No time for that now," Demeter replied hastily. "We need to finish this, and only you can end him."

I nodded, trying my best to keep tears of joy from taking over. I looked at Cronus. The place where I’d last slashed him had opened him up like a torn leather tent and a pool of black ichor was spilling out of him—the same ichor that covered my sister.

His monstrous body was huffing as if barely holding on to life while my favorite people in the world continued to pummel it with their mightiest attacks. Hades was striking the fleshy bulge with his bident faster than the eye could see, occasionally bashing it with his shield. If I disregarded the black ichor dripping off him, his attire was as perfect as it was when I last saw him.

His strikes were perfectly synchronized with those of Poseidon whose trident dug as deep as the base of the three prongs each time he attacked. And he was attacking furiously. His leather armor was completely devoid of any black liquid, and his hair had its usual, freshly wet shine. While Hades was always the first to give father the benefit of the doubt, Poseidon did everything in his power to stay away from him. In fact, his particular liking of the seas and the water element in general was a way to get away from my father and his minions. This time, however, both brothers seemed to agree that Cronus had taken it too far and deserved to die.

Demeter joined the fray with her golden longsword in hand. Each slash of her sword came with a scream of anger and pain. Each slash released decades of abuse.

At the same time, Ares made one attack after the other before pausing in order to cast his own buffs. Artemis and Hephaestus struck at Cronus without mercy, and the now-dying titan could barely keep up with all the strikes.

In that instant I noticed a monkey-faced fighter smashing Cronus with what looked like a heavily embellished golden club. His clothes and way of fighting didn’t seem at all familiar to me, but pretty soon I realized that this must have been the Hindu god that had gone missing all those centuries ago.

* * *

Name: Hanuman

Race: Divine Vanara

Class: Champion of Rama

Level: 55

* * *

It made absolute sense that father would have devoured him as well. After all, nothing can completely disappear, especially a god. But it looked like my father's god-devouring habits were the perfect way to remove someone without any signs of foul play.

"What have you done?" Cronus screamed in anger. "Get back in there!"

"Is he seriously suggesting that?" Poseidon said, letting out half a chuckle despite how angry he was.

"Zeus, stop this madness immediately and I will give you anything you want!" Cronus said, and this time it sounded more like a plea than a command.

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"What could I possibly want that I don't have already?" I said, and took a step forward. "You took everything from me."

"And now I gave it back to you," he replied, cowering closer to his throne. Most of his appendages had stopped moving now. "I hold secrets and power beyond your wildest imagination. They could all be yours."

"You gave nothing back to me. I took it from you. And the only reason you're offering me anything now is because you know you’re weak. Weak enough not to be able to keep the gods you devoured inside you anymore. Weak enough to be afraid of dying. Afraid for the first time in tens of thousands of years."

"What is it you want? The throne?" he said, and climbed up onto it, his awakened form finally losing integrity and shifting back to his humanoid shape. "You can have the throne. All gods and titans are my witnesses when I say that you can be king. I will never interfere with you or anyone else in the Greek realms again."

"We are way beyond the point where I let you go," I said, and took another step closer to the now naked and wounded old man sitting on the throne. "Your tyranny should have ended eons ago, but none of the titans or gods then had the spine to do what needed to be done. It is time to purge the Apocosmos of your disgusting presence. Too long have you sucked the life out of the Greek realms and let them wither under your shadow."

"You think you can just kill me and claim the throne for yourself without any repercussions?" he said, completely changing his tune and turning to threats now that he saw pleading wasn't going to help him. "I am not just your father and king. I am the leader of all titans. If you stop right now, I will make sure that none of them retaliate. Continue and the titans will come down on you harder than you can imagine."

"Are these your last words, old man?" I said, now standing in front of him.

"I am your king and father," he said in a voice that was supposed to inspire fear in me. "I command you to—"

I thrust the spear through his chest and twisted it. "Terrible waste of an opportunity to say something you would be remembered by," I said, and pulled my spear back out.

The light in my father's eyes faded and his limp body fell forward, pulled by the momentum of my weapon. As soon as his head hit the ground, a golden notification flashed into my view along with a deafening series of trumpets.

The last time something like this had happened was when I managed to kill the one hundred-headed king of monsters. But this time, the notification was even brighter and the trumpets lasted a lot longer. It seemed like the world froze, waiting for the notification to dim down to readable levels and the trumpets to quieten down.

* * *

Attention all citizens of the Greek realms. The god of thunder and supreme monster slayer, Zeus, has slain the pantheon king, Cronus.

Zeus is now the king of gods in all the Greek Apocosmos realms.

* * *

"Wait..." Demeter said, sounding confused. "I thought we were going to have to trap him somehow."

"How did you...?" Hades muttered, and I raised my spear high for everyone to see.

I looked up at the orbs that were now completely still and imagined the shock that they were probably all in right now.

"You were all witnesses to the trial of my father," I shouted. "He was guilty of devouring gods. Devouring his own children. Bringing our realms to shame and decay while clinging to his throne. Cronus was found guilty of all the charges and sentenced to death."

"The spear really can kill titans," Poseidon muttered. "We're actually free. Free..."

"You were all witnesses to the execution of my father," I continued, addressing the gods and titans who were watching. "This is a new chapter in our world. The titans no longer rule anyone, and they are not to be feared for they are no longer invincible."

I pointed at the dead titan king with my spear and took a deep breath.

"This is not a declaration of war but know this," I said. "The gods who helped me bring justice and kill Cronus are under my protection. If anyone wants to so much as touch them, they have to go through me. If anyone took offense to Cronus's execution, they have to go through me. Titans and Olympians can live peacefully together as long as I sit on the throne and my people are respected. If anyone dares to cross me, titan or not, I will not rest until they meet the same fate as my father."

Not only was it important to make a strong statement about the new state of the world and how I would run it, but I also wanted to dissuade other titans from attacking us immediately. Specifically, I needed Hyperion to stay away at least until we recovered. Taking over Mount Orthys would be a big project and our own guildhall had a lot of MP to regenerate if it was to survive another attack by a titan and their armies.

Since Hyperion knew why I needed Hephaestus, I doubted it would be too long before he made his move. And he was much smarter and more strategic than my father. He would probably call for other titans to fall in behind him in an effort to avenge his king, like the good brother that he was.

An idea sprung into my mind. I needed to thwart any efforts he might make to take us out preemptively. And this was the best moment to do this with maximum efficiency.

"Aphrodite, Artemis, Ares, and Hephaestus were of the utmost importance in this quest of mine and I will forever be grateful to them," I said, and they all smiled at me, oblivious to what I had in mind. "And of course, I will also be eternally grateful to my uncle Hyperion for releasing the god of the forge to me so we could eventually create a weapon capable of killing titans. The great equalizer of the Greek realms."

A collective gasp echoed from my siblings, while Aphrodite smiled and nodded with approval.

"Now leave in peace!" I shouted at the orbs. "A new day has come. Seize it!"

One by one, the orbs started leaving. Right as the last one left, I received a notification.

* * *

You have received a message from Hyperion.

Do you want to read it?

Yes No

* * *

I mentally chose “Yes” and a single line appeared in front of my eyes.

* * *

Well played, dead king.