To be honest, they all felt Palamedes had the worst luck imaginable.
He finally got his hands on Achilles's armor, and before it even warmed up, he fell straight into a massive trap.
When Palamedes stepped forward wearing that dazzling star-bright armor, the horse-hair crest trembling terribly on the helmet, that glory known to gods and men alike as singular and without equal made Paris, standing directly across from him, go pale, fear and shock flickering in his eyes.
The latter had the urge to flee without even fighting.
Achilles coming out first was the highest possible opening play.
He never expected Greece to throw out the trump card this early.
Wasn't a powerhouse like Achilles supposed to be saved for last?
"Achilles!!"
Seeing the undefeated warrior king take the field, the soldiers roared his name under Agamemnon's battle cry, the atmosphere electric with the presence of their champion.
On the other side, the Trojan camp's morale visibly deflated.
This Achilles was a fake.
Even though the appearance was deeply intimidating and the armor alone made countless people's nerves fail just from appearing on the field, Hector saw through it immediately.
The commanding fighting spirit that belonged to Achilles was absent.
And thinking of the divine message he received not long ago, the tight line of Hector's brow eased slightly.
A fake Achilles.
Paris was not without a chance to win.
But seeing his younger brother Paris already completely unnerved by just the name Achilles and the sight of that armor, with no awareness of how vast the gap was between this person and the legendary demigod,
It was like how even wearing beggar's clothes could not hide a king's bearing, but putting royal garb on a beggar would never produce that deep-rooted confidence and authority built over years.
Hector felt a quiet disappointment watching Paris, who couldn't even read his opponent's fighting spirit accurately.
But no matter how frightened Paris was, the battle was already underway.
In the sight of the gods, Palamedes remembered what they had discussed.
He needed to end this fast.
He charged out on horseback and thrust his spear directly at Paris.
"Odd. The swift-footed great hero Achilles appears to be using an ordinary spear rather than the beloved weapon he is known for."
The gods noticed something slightly off the moment the fight began.
Very quickly,
Palamedes started pushing Paris back.
The latter, overwhelmed by fear, forgot everything, including his greatest strength, the bow.
He forgot to put distance between himself and the enemy.
A ranged fighter was caught easily in melee range, and without the close-combat skill of those famously dangerous archers, he was left scrambling.
He drew his sword in a panic and tried to hold on, constantly dodging that supposedly terrifying demigod's attacks.
Even though Palamedes's attacks were not especially powerful or frightening, somewhere in Paris's mind he had decided that a single graze from that spear would be enough to wound him critically.
He could not afford to take even one hit.
This caused Palamedes to actually start winning, and with Paris's cooperative performance, even the gods above were momentarily fooled.
Were Achilles's attacks actually that fearsome?
There was no other reason Paris would be fleeing this desperately.
As Paris was steadily driven back, seemingly on the verge of being captured alive, Hector, who knew the truth, grew increasingly grim-faced.
The Greek heroes were electrified, tension climbing into their throats.
But then, Night thought to himself:
'I can't let this go smoothly now, can I?'
His mind stirred slightly, and he reached out to the concept body armor, responding to his call.
Ever since obtaining the divine armor concept set, his control over the armor worked the same way as the sacred cloths in that other world's universe.
A mental call could summon it to fly to him and reassemble at any time.
And since he had attached the concept body back to the actual armor just before Palamedes walked out, what would happen now if Night called the armor back to himself?
Then, the classic scene arrived.
Just as Palamedes was fighting with growing confidence, the initial terror already gone and replaced by a rising thrill at actually getting to play the role of the great demigod Achilles.
Right as his next thrust shot out and Paris, backed into a corner and unseated from his horse, could no longer dodge and instinctively raised his weapon to block,
Thud!!
Paris actually blocked it.
But before he could react, Palamedes was already on the second hit, knocking the weapon spinning from his hand, and then moved to press the spear tip against Paris's throat to take him prisoner.
But then, suddenly,
The armor gave a soft metallic sound. Click click. Like something that had never been properly fastened. Clang.
With Palamedes's forward movement, the armor began to come apart neatly, piece by piece, clattering to the ground one after another.
The star-bright armor, having received a call from its true owner but with the call cancelled halfway, could only drop where it stood.
By this point Palamedes had completely exposed his actual face to the open air.
In nothing but an undergarment, the muscles he had, which looked rather slight compared to the impressively built Greek heroes around him, were on full display.
All he had left in his hands was the spear.
The spear tip was still pressed against Paris's throat, but when Palamedes felt the sudden cold air on his skin, his expression shifted to pure horror and despair in an instant.
Only one thought remained in his mind.
It's over.
"You are not the swift-footed great hero Achilles!! Who are you?!"
When Paris finally got a clear look at Palamedes's face, having once caught a distant glimpse of the real Achilles on the battlefield, he suddenly realized the truth. He had been deceived.
Shame and fury flooded through him all at once.
In his extreme rage he ignored the spear tip pressing against his throat, threw himself sideways, scooped up the sword that had been knocked away, and drove it back.
"Ah!!!!!" Having fallen into despair so completely he had no reaction at all, Palamedes just stood there until the sword drew blood before he started to dodge.
Seeing the fully armed Trojan prince Paris bearing down on him and apparently intent on killing him,
Palamedes temporarily forgot the despair and started scrambling for his life.
At the sight of this, the Greek heroes, knowing the disguise was finished, also rode out to rescue Palamedes.
The battlefield descended into chaos, and it took considerable effort before the heroes managed to haul back a barely breathing Palamedes, hacked nearly to death by Paris.
But at this point, the real disaster was only just beginning.
Boom!!
On the horizon, skies that had been completely clear went dark with storm clouds in an instant.
Deep rumbling, like the heartbeat of the atmosphere itself pounding hard.
A terrible divine presence and the sound of thunder descended together.
Like the world-ending thunder was about to arrive.
The heroes felt it.
It was the wrath of the god-king Zeus.
The fury of the supreme god Zeus, having been deceived.
When that sensation like thunder squeezing around every heart hit every hero at once, even the most arrogant among them, little Ajax included, went utterly silent, a cold jolt running through them.
It's over.
.
.
.
(End of the Chapter)