The next couple of days were a haze of drunken celebrations and excitement about what was yet to come. After an intimate celebration at home, we continued the rest of the night with Ares and my siblings, throwing a feast like no other. Our people were more than welcoming to the new deities that had joined our table and likewise, they were very happy to join the celebrations.

After that, we tried to pick ourselves up from all the partying and eventually got around to sending people to Mount Orthys to set up our operations there. We started by bringing over anything valuable that was stashed there and even though I hadn’t looked at the inventory yet, Aphrodite had told me there were many wonders among them.

Our primary focus there was to fix the palaces and start building the most basic of the construction projects. Namely, we needed to have the resource–gathering buildings up and running so we wouldn’t need to transfer or purchase materials to grow the place fast.

In the meantime, Dion was almost completely restored to its previous glory and our residential buildings got closer to their maximum level by the day. This, of course, meant that even more people flocked to live in our city, especially since it had now become the new divine capital of all Greek realms.

For all of the progress and the good news and wishes that reached us from every corner of the Apocosmos, the looming threat of the titans was still something that needed to be taken care of. For this reason, I summoned all of our guild members, as well as my siblings, to my place and invited my siblings to join the guild.

* * *

Hades has accepted your guild invitation.

Demeter has accepted your guild invitation.

Poseidon has accepted your guild invitation.

You can view the status of all available guild members through the guild menu.

* * *

"Welcome to the most powerful guild in Greece," I said, and the old guild members took turns in hugging the new ones.

"I'm so glad you agreed to join us," Aphrodite said.

"There was no way we wouldn't," Hades replied.

"But you knew we would, didn't you?" Demeter asked. "This isn't the only reason you summoned us here today."

"Indeed it isn't," I admitted. "I want to talk to you about my plans to make sure that we're not brought down as quickly as we rose to power."

They all seemed uneasy at what this might mean but this wasn’t the time to rest. Our celebrations were well earned, but despite the countless friends our victory had brought us, it had also left us with a lot more enemies than we’d ever had before. I looked at Ares and he stepped closer to the long table we were all standing around.

"Despite the trick that Zeus pulled on Hyperion, the titan is still asking for Hephaestus back as if they’d struck some kind of Dark Energy contract," Ares started. "He can't do anything, of course, as he’s mostly occupied with attacks by fanatics of Cronus."

"Is this about getting stronger than Hyperion and making sure he never attacks us?" Aphrodite asked.

"Hyperion is actually the least of our problems right now," Ares replied. "Our operatives in the Norse pantheon have reported that some of the deities are planning to use our previous altercation with them as a launchpad to meddle with the power vacuum that has been created in our pantheon."

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"But there is no vacuum here," Demeter said. "If anything, the vacuum was there when father was in charge and now Zeus has filled it."

"That's not how the Norse see it but, to be honest, that’s only because they don't want to see it that way. They like fighting and I guess the brains of their pantheon have figured out that fighting Greek gods is better than them all fighting each other."

"How much time do we have before this happens?" Hades asked.

"We don’t need to worry about it for at least a few months," Ares said. "What I'm telling you is coming from fairly high up the Norse ranks. There is some hate that needs to be cultivated and carried down to their believers before any violence is brought upon us. Our most immediate problem is still the titans."

"Apparently, not everyone was convinced that we want peace," I said.

"That is one reason, yes," Ares agreed, "but there is one part of the equation in particular that the titans are not comfortable with."

"The titan-killing spear," Aphrodite deduced.

"Exactly."

"Well they need to suck it up," Demeter said angrily. "We have been living as immortals for centuries but still in the constant fear of our father hunting us down and killing us. They can't live in a world where they know that a weapon which could kill them exists?"

"I can't speak to their motivations but our operatives in their ranks tell us that they are gearing up for an attack," Ares said. "A few are simply tightening their defenses, but we believe that those who are eager to attack us will soon drag them into the fray as well."

"Be that as it may, there is no way to avoid fighting the titans," I said. "The best thing we can do is take the fight to them first."

"Do you propose that we start a Titanomachy?" Hades asked.

I nodded in confirmation. "My old guildmates already have their portfolios and domains. It is now time for you to take on yours. By killing our father, we inherited the world and we need to divide it fairly. Demeter will be the goddess of the land, Poseidon the god of the seas, and Hades the god of the underworld. Which leaves me the skies."

"That sounds fair and all," Demeter said, and my brothers nodded in agreement, "but the domains all overlap with what the titans currently control."

"And that’s why it's imperative to get going immediately," I said. "We need to get you all to level sixty-one so you can get your A-grade mastery and Hephaestus can craft some powerful gear for you. Then we'll take the fight to the titans, starting with the one who has claims to your domain, Hades."

"Coeus? The titan of death?" Hades exclaimed. "We know so little about him and his armies."

"Leave the information gathering to me," Ares said, and bowed slightly.

"Ares will make sure we have a better picture of what to expect from Coeus, while also gathering information about our next target, Oceanus."

"We're going with my domain next?" Poseidon asked.

"By the time we're done with Coeus, the rest of the titans will have mobilized. The only one we'll be able to go up against without them all flanking us is the one at the bottom of the sea."

"I don't know, man," Poseidon said, and shifted his feet, obviously feeling uneasy. "These are big bites you're talking about."

"Not bigger than what I bit off with Cronus," I said. "Besides, I have a plan to strike an alliance with someone who has a bone to pick with the titans."

"Really?" Aphrodite asked, surprised. "There are enemies of the titans who are still alive?"

"The Hecatoncheires," I announced.

"You can't possibly be serious," Demeter said.

"Why not?"

"Who are these Hecatoncheires?" asked Artemis.

"You know how Grandpa Uranus and Grandma Gaia had Cronus and the rest of the titans?" Poseidon asked, and Artemis nodded. "Well, they weren't the only children they had. The Hecatoncheires are three monsters of immense power. They are said to be gigantic in size, with fifty heads and a hundred arms each, and they were the last three of the eighteen offspring of our grandparents. But their siblings—the titans—afraid of their immense power, locked them up and threw away the key."

"So where are they now?" Aphrodite asked.

"We still don’t know exactly, but there was something we found in my father's palace that might indicate where they are imprisoned," I said.

"Even if we somehow find them, what makes you think that they would ever want to join forces with us against the titans?" Demeter asked. "They will want to fight them for sure, especially since they've locked them away in there for eons, but that might cause more problems than it would solve."

"Then I guess I'll need to bind them with a contract strong enough that they will be forced to obey me and our strategy," I said.

"Sounds dangerous," Demeter said, considering it for a moment. "I'm in."

"Let's show them who runs the world now," Poseidon agreed, and a wave of confident smiles spread over the faces of the gods around me.

"We do," I said, looking at each and every one of them. "Time to create a better future."