Exactly!
Hearing that loud and fervent agreement, the golden figure in mid-air immediately felt a surge of "why didn't we meet sooner" and turned toward the sound.
At the same time, Lorne, who had struck a righteous pose and rushed to help, was secretly sizing up the golden sucker in front of him.
To be fair, this was a very dazzling goddess.
Her features were strikingly three-dimensional and full of heroic spirit.
Golden hair cascaded loosely down her back like a dense waterfall.
The blue-and-white long dress accentuated her proud figure, and the deep snow-white scar across her chest was especially tempting.
Yet the starlight floating around her brought a mysterious and majestic beauty that instinctively inspired awe.
Then Lorne's gaze swept over the golden-and-gem scales in the golden-haired goddess's left hand, representing [Justice], and the sharp sword in her right hand with the blade pointing downward, representing [Judgment] as he asked tentatively.
"Are you the goddess who upholds justice?"
"Correct!"
The golden-haired Goddess of Justice nodded proudly, radiating an upright and honorable aura.
It really is her!
Lorne's heart settled at once and he immediately launched into a generous speech, beginning the kind of fire-stirring he was best at.
"In this atrocity, justice may be late, but it has not been absent! We have finally waited for you.
Please, you must stand up for these innocent victims on the sea!"
While this shameless scoundrel was voicing indignation on behalf of the ocean gods, he also used his own ocean divinity, together with the accompanying ocean goddess Thetis, to disguise their side as one of the victims, standing on the moral high ground and loudly accusing the other party.
"To enhance the authorities of discord and vengeance, they have gone so far as to act without restraint.
Such evil deeds are simply outrageous!"
Then, having transformed into the accuser, Lorne finished dumping the blame and pointed furiously at the rapidly approaching scarlet storm opposite them, declaring righteously.
"Evil must stop, discord must fail!
The impartial scales of justice will weigh upon the hearts of all living beings, and the olive branch of peace will spread across the heavens.
To restore a blue and pure world to Okeanos, though I am not strong enough, I am willing to fight side by side with you!"
"Good!"
Hearing the impassioned and generous speech, the golden-haired Goddess of Justice felt her blood boil as she gripped the Sword of Judgment, turned the Scales of Justice, and solemnly chanted.
"Light of good, heavy of sin; light of punishment, heavy of evil. Evildoers, this is the moment of judgment. Watch how I punish your atrocities!"
Under the chant, brilliant stars appeared in the sky, scattering ancient light of justice that turned into golden swords stabbing into the scarlet blood mist ahead, burning and churning it, powerfully suppressing the divinities of vengeance and discord within.
Immediately, the blood aura thinned. The three Furies, now exposed, grabbed their viper whips.
Eris summoned a pair of scarlet twin swords.
All four looked at the interloper with unfriendly expressions, gritting their teeth and opening their mouths to speak.
However, the scheming Lorne gave them no chance to argue and immediately "reminded" loudly.
"Don't let them activate divine speech! Attack together!"
In an instant, the golden-haired Goddess of Justice understood as she grabbed the Sword of Judgment in her other hand and turned into a golden meteor, charging at the four evildoers ahead.
Lorne summoned the [Spear of Nation Founding] and followed closely behind.
Of course, as was his habit, he deliberately lagged a few steps, yielding the main carry position and firmly protecting the Goddess of Justice in front of him.
As for himself, he naturally chose the best viewing angle to seriously admire this Goddess of Justice slaughtering in all directions and practicing justice in her heroic posture.
However, a quarter of an hour later.
"Bang! Bang!"
Two figures flew backward in a sorry state, crashing into the sea below and raising waves dozens of meters high.
Looking at the three Furies ahead, whip in hand and wings flapping as they charged, and at Eris, whose whole body surged with blood aura and wore a ferocious grin, Lorne, who was starting to lose his composure, hurriedly grabbed the Justice Goddess by the shoulders, shaking her wildly while ranting wildly.
"Lady Themis, you are the Goddess of Justice, the bane of evil! One of the twelve Titans! There's no reason you can't handle them! Stand up straight!"
"I... I am indeed the Goddess of Justice, but... but my name is not Themis..."
The golden-haired goddess, shaken until she saw stars, answered in a daze.
Immediately, a bad premonition rose in Lorne's heart.
His face stiffened, and he asked in a trembling voice.
"Then your name is..."
The golden-haired, blue-eyed Goddess of Justice looked at the three Furies closing in from all sides and at the Goddess of Discord Eris watching covetously from above.
She swallowed hard and tried hard to maintain her righteous bearing.
"Astraea!"
Wow, instead of meeting Li Kui, he met Li Gui.
Isn't it simply looking for Adidas and then selecting Abibas, just coz of low budget?
Damn it,
We're screwed...
Lorne looked at the three Furies and Eris forming an encirclement and felt his intestines turn green with regret.
He secretly blamed himself for acting on impulse.
In fact, two Goddesses of Justice had appeared in the Greek divine generations.
The Themis Lorne mentioned was one of the twelve Titans, ruling over the laws of the earth and nature, primordial law, assemblies, etc.
She was the creator and guardian of order.
Legend had it that Themis played a crucial role in the establishment of Olympus's rule.
But because Zeus feared the Titans' curse and swallowed his first wife, the primordial goddess of wisdom, Metis, Themis was deeply disgusted.
And therefore created the laws of marriage, invented the concept of family, defined the obligations between men and women to restrain Zeus, and thereafter left Olympus and vanished.
As a result, the Queen of Heaven Hera, who benefited from this and became a firm defender of monogamy, respectfully addressed this Goddess of Justice as "Lady Themis" to distinguish her from other goddesses.
Therefore, both from her ability to restrain the God-King Zeus and from Hera's respect, it was clear how powerful Themis was.
If the one standing before Lorne right now had truly been the primordial Goddess of Justice Themis, he would indeed have had hope of lying back and winning.
Unfortunately, he had run into the second one.
Astraea, daughter of the star god Astraeus and the dawn goddess Eos, a new-generation Titan of the same generation as Ares and the others, the goddess who ruled over justice, the stars, and purity, and the prototype of the constellation Virgo.
Records about her were not many.
The most detailed description of her probably appeared in the Golden Age at the beginning of humanity.
In the earliest times, the climate was warm, the land was bountiful, there was no need for housing or clothing, and even without farming, there was still a harvest.
The earth was a peaceful paradise where people knew no quarrels.
But later, the four seasons of cold and heat arrived, magical beasts invaded, and the gods interfered.
People had to build houses, offer sacrifices, weave clothes, and till the fields.
The phenomenon of the strong oppressing the weak, [injustice], gradually appeared.
Thus, the goddess representing [Justice] and [Fairness], Astraea, descended from among the stars.
She believed in humanity and enthusiastically taught the way of justice on earth, ushering in the "Silver Age" and bringing a period of prosperity.
Of course, complete laws had not yet been established then.
Her so-called way of justice was probably to use her own power to promote good, eliminate evil, and practice righteousness.
However, after several divine extinctions and heavy blows, humanity evolved into the "Bronze Age," began to lie, use violence, and engage in bloody fights even among relatives, fathers and sons, and brothers.
With only Astraea's solitary effort as a single god, she could not control the spread of evil.
Thus, in utter helplessness, she wrapped her pure body in white gauze and left the mortal world to return to the stars and the sea.
Her departure symbolized that the simple sense of justice from the human heart could not solve all the problems humanity faced, and the mortal world thereafter had no more absolute purity and fairness.
From the above description, one could roughly guess the difference between the two Goddesses of Justice.
Themis's divine authority was [Natural Law] born from the laws of the earth and primordial law.
Astraea's divine authority was [Justice of the Human Heart], born from the basic logic of human society and simple notions of right and wrong.
The difference in strength between the two authorities was not small at all.
That was why Themis could restrain Zeus, while Astraea, even teaming up with him, could still get beaten when facing the combination of Eris plus the three Furies.
Moreover, from a series of observations, Lorne had roughly understood Astraea's character.
She was not some brain-loving judge with astonishing wisdom, but a righteous person who, upon seeing injustice, would dare to draw her sword and help with a chest full of hot blood.
Looking at the four evil women around him, cracking little whips and twirling sword flowers, approaching with ill intent, Lorne showed deep resentment toward Astraea beside him and felt like crying without tears.
'Big sister, if you can't beat the four of them, why did you shout so loudly?
This pockmark isn't a pockmark, it's a trap!
If I had known this would be the result, why did I turn back? I should have just run away.'
Wait, run away?
Where is Thetis?
Lorne looked toward his original position and was shocked to discover that the ocean goddess had already vanished without a trace.
His face instantly darkened.
We agreed to share the same boat, didn't we?
'You saw the bad signs but didn't even warn me, just slipped away first.'
No loyalty!
Just as Lorne was inwardly denouncing Thetis, a familiar roar came from the waters below through vibration.
"Get in the car!"
At the same time, two divine warhorses with bright coats leaped out from the magic array reflected on the sea surface.
The missing ocean goddess Thetis was pulling the reins, struggling to control the bronze chariot.
Loyal enough!
Lorne, who had been complaining just moments ago, instantly beamed.
He grabbed the still-dazed Astraea, jumped onto his beloved bronze chariot, seized the reins, and extended the authorities of [Goat] and [Whale] forward.
"Xanthos, Balios! Go!"
Immediately, the two immortal warhorses, under the protection of the authorities, had their muscles bulge and veins bulge.
They neighed, plunged into the water, pulled the bronze chariot, and used the ocean's blessing and the goat's extreme speed to flee far away from the battlefield via the waterway.
"Don't even think of running!"
Seeing the duck they had finally cornered, almost cooked, yet it could still sprout wings and fly away, the three Furies and Eris were furious.
They all circulated their divine authorities and focused fire on the bronze chariot.
For a time, blood-aura swords and venomous snakes bred in firelight shot forward like a meteor shower.
"You just drive the chariot.
Leave the rear to me!"
At this moment, Astraea, who had reacted a beat late, immediately stood up.
The Sword of Judgment in her hand was raised high toward the sky, and at the same time, she turned the now-shrunken golden scales hanging on both sides of the sword guard.
"Evil has arrived. Court is now in session! Justice will not be absent. This is the moment of judgment. Listen to the voice of the stars!"
In an instant, a beam of brilliant starlight shot from the Sword of Judgment, soaring into the sky and lighting up the stars in the firmament.
Then meteors formed from concepts, trailing long fiery tails, fell from the sky, crushing the blood swords and venomous snakes along their path one after another and blocking the pursuers behind.
Astraea's original name meant "daughter of the stars," so in addition to the authority of justice, she also possessed the divinity to manipulate star power.
Sensing that the danger behind had been successfully resolved,
Lorne breathed a slight sigh of relief.
Fortunately, he still had a little conscience and had not chosen to sell out Astraea and run first.
The second-generation Goddess of Justice had also actively identified him as a teammate and very consciously blocked the attacks from behind for him.
Otherwise, he would now be considering jumping out of the chariot while holding Thetis.
"Mm..."
Just as Lorne was secretly rejoicing, Thetis, beside him, let out a pained moan and collapsed softly to the floor.
Lorne had no time to think.
He immediately reached out to support Thetis's waist and asked concernedly.
"What's wrong?"
However, the ocean goddess had already fainted from the intense pain and could not answer.
At the same time, the burning-iron-like heat of Thetis's skin and the sticky feeling in his palm made Lorne freeze. He subconsciously pulled aside the ocean goddess's shoulder strap.
A ferocious, bloody gash had appeared on her originally smooth back.
A piece of tender flesh had been gouged out.
Hiss~ It was the position of the vengeance brand!
Lorne saw the scene before him and felt a twinge of pain.
He instantly understood how Thetis had previously cut off the three Furies' tracking and appeared on the battlefield without warning.
But this method was clearly only treating the symptoms, not the root.
As the flesh on Thetis's back writhed and grew, the vengeance brand regenerated.
Moreover, its area was larger. The three intertwined venomous snakes looked lifelike, as if they were living creatures tearing at the host's flesh and gnawing at her divinity.
The cluster of vengeance fire in the center burned fiercely, as if scorching the host's soul.
At this moment, Astraea, who had just worked hard to block a new wave of attacks, noticed the movement behind her.
She looked at the unconscious Thetis, and the pattern on her back, and a trace of surprise flashed in her eyes.
"Vengeance brand? How is it this thing? And from the look of it, it has been there for quite a while and is already on the verge of activating."
Legend had it that sinners branded by the three Furies would day and night endure the pain of venomous snakes gnawing at the heart and raging fire burning the body, gradually becoming mentally dazed and their minds collapsing under such torment.
The brand on Thetis, after continuous torment, looked as if it was about to activate.
Hearing this rather professional assessment, the helpless Lorne's eyes lit up as if he had grabbed a life-saving straw.
"Do you have a way to deal with this thing?"
In theory, the [punishment] of [vengeance] required going through the [trial] of [justice].
Perhaps...
However, Astraea regretfully shook her head, shattering Lorne's fantasy.
"It's been too long. I can't do it."
But before Lorne could lose heart, the Goddess of Justice changed the subject, looked up at a certain stretch of vast sea, and added leisurely.
"However, my teacher should be able to."
"Teacher?"
"Oh, the previous Goddess of Justice, Themis."
"Why didn't you say that earlier!"
Hearing Astraea's casual answer, Lorne felt as if the road had opened up again and the willows were green and the flowers bright.
He could not help rejoicing once more at his wise decision not to sell out Astraea on the spot.
"She doesn't like seeing outsiders..."
Astraea answered helplessly, however, looking at the pained Thetis, ultimately, gritted her silver teeth, and spoke solemnly.
"Never mind. Saving people is the priority. I'll take you to see her right now!"
A certain goddess who harbored a simple sense of justice had made up her mind.
She clenched her fist and secretly swore.
No matter what, she could not let a warrior who fought against injustice and atrocity shed both blood and tears!
(End of this chapter)