'It's over. It's Hera!'
Seeing that notorious destroyer of mistresses and terminator of illegitimate children appear before her, the panic-stricken Alcmene turned pale as ash and stumbled backward in fright.
'Trying to run?'
Hera let out a quiet cold hum, leapt down from the top of the high wall, and swept her right hand, which gathered a ball of lightning, toward the fleeing mother and child.
Watching Alcmene and the child almost perish under that sinister godly pressure, a figure stepped forward to intercept.
BOOM!
Golden flame-colored light and harsh lightning collided, producing a dull explosion over the wilderness.
The formed ether storm blew in all directions, peeled up layer after layer of nearby grass, and left behind a scene of total devastation.
Tap tap tap!
Under the savage force of the impact, Lorne stumbled back three steps before barely steadying himself.
Churning qi and blood filled his throat with a sweet metallic taste, and a thread of bright red spilled from the corner of his mouth.
Seeing this, Hera's gaze flickered briefly, then she gritted her teeth and let out a cold hum.
"This is none of your business. Get out of the way!"
So saying, she raised her hand again, condensed a spear of light in her palm, and her eyes turned cold as she looked toward the mother and the child collapsed on the ground.
"Enough, Hera!"
An outraged shout cut off the Queen of Heaven's intent to deliver the killing blow to her love rival and illegitimate child once more.
And catching her clearly hesitating motion in his line of sight,
Lorne steeled himself and spoke with gravity.
"How long are you going to keep going down this path?"
Hera's brows shot upward in fury as her chest heaved with rage.
"You dare lecture me?"
"I say this because it pains my heart for you!"
Lorne raised his head and squared his shoulders without the slightest fear.
He condensed water vapor into a mirror in his hand, reflected Hera's current image, and sent forth a question that cut to the very soul.
"Look at yourself right now. Is there any trace of who you once were?"
"The you of the past could not bear to hurt even the birds in the sky. When they got caught in the rain, you even let them shelter in your arms."
"And now? Living people can be killed at will. Children can be slaughtered without a thought. Even an entire city, an entire nation's lives, can be reduced to ash and smoke because you want to vent your anger."
"As the protector of women and children, these are precisely the ones you are supposed to protect!"
"The merciful goddess I once knew. The kind-hearted Queen of Heaven. Where exactly did she go?"
Hearing that question delivered word by piercing word, Hera instinctively raised her hand and touched her own cheek.
She looked at herself in the mirror's reflection, her features twisted and ferocious like a demon from the depths of hell, and her heart shook violently.
'Yes. Where did "she" go?'
'In the past, she was still the gentle and mild goddess in everyone's memory, and she held goodwill toward many forms of life.'
'But at some point she did not quite know, jealousy and resentment transformed her beyond recognition.'
Thinking back to where it all started, tears shimmered in Hera's eyes, and she accused through grief and fury.
"It is his fault! He is the one who betrayed me!"
"Then go after the one responsible!"
Lorne immediately countered, and pointed toward the shivering mother and child on the ground, asking with heartfelt gravity.
"One of them is a frail mortal.
The other is an innocent child.
Neither has any power to resist the violence directed at them from above. They are victims themselves.
Beyond that, what exactly did they do wrong?"
To speak of it, Alcmene in this entire affair of infidelity could only be described with the word "innocent."
She and her husband Amphitryon were a deeply devoted couple.
But bound by an oath, she needed to wait until her husband campaigned against Pterelaus and the Taphians and avenged her fallen brothers before they could properly come together.
Amphitryon, to win her heart, willingly took his forces on the long, arduous campaign and fulfilled his promise.
However, during the period when her husband was on the verge of returning victorious, the god king Zeus in the heavens seized the opportunity, disguised himself as Amphitryon, and came to her chamber.
Through honeyed words, he obtained the love that her own husband long desired but never got.
When her husband hurried home and learned the truth, he did not take his anger out on her.
He simply and quietly accepted this reality and agreed to let her give birth to the child.
The result was that this God-given bloodline brought her no blessing whatsoever, but instead brought down Hera's revenge upon her.
At this moment, facing Lorne's questioning, Hera, speechless, decided to throw caution to the wind.
"I don't care! Since they won't let me have any peace, then none of them will get any peace either!"
"But you took revenge on so many mistresses and killed so many illegitimate children.
Did that God king show the slightest restraint? Did you actually feel happy?"
"..."
Hera fell instantly silent, unable to answer.
Yes. She eliminated one rival after another, one illegitimate child after another.
She became hysterical in the process, changed completely beyond recognition, and gradually turned into a fearsome shrew that everyone dreaded.
And the result was that Zeus's straying and sowing never once stopped.
'So what exactly did all of this mean? And what did any of it achieve?'
Seeing Hera's lost and shattered expression, Lorne's tone softened somewhat, and he let out a quiet sigh.
"Can't you see it yet? In that God king's eyes, they are nothing more than tools for pleasure and for achieving his goals.
Lose one and he finds the next.
No matter how many you eliminate, you cannot cut out the problem at its root."
"If things continue like this, I cannot say whether His Majesty Zeus will show any restraint. But you will drive yourself mad first!"
After a sincere analysis, Lorne concluded with a heartfelt word of advice.
"So please. Let them go. And let yourself go too..."
Hera was silent for a long while as her hollow gaze fell to the earth beneath her feet.
Seeing this, Lorne made a subtle gesture toward the mother and child behind him, his lips moving soundlessly.
'Get out of here now!'
The collapsed Alcmene immediately understood, summoned her courage, stood up, took her child in her arms, and trembled her way away from this stretch of high walls.
As the mother and child's figures disappeared from his field of view, Lorne let out a long breath of relief.
'This dead-end situation finally came back to life.'
However, before he caught his breath, Hera came back to herself, raised her head, and looked at a certain someone, speaking quietly.
"You let them go?"
"I simply felt it was unfair!"
Lorne straightened up and spoke with righteous resolve.
"Why should the one who commits the violence get to live so happily, while the victims have to suffer so much?"
In a daze, Hera seemed to think of something. Her body gave a slight tremor and she nodded, murmuring to herself.
"Yes. Why did he fill his mouth with lies, while I gave my whole heart in sincerity?"
"Why should he be able to philander freely while I have to uphold the covenant of marriage?"
"Exactly right. I feel the same way!" Lorne instinctively nodded along repeatedly, cheering on this stepmother of his as per usual, his heart blooming with private delight.
'That's the spirit. Think of it that way. Whoever wrongs you, go after them!
Ideally really do turn that stallion up on Olympus into a late husband!'
BANG!
However, just as Lorne got lost in this pleasant fantasy, a powerful force abruptly sent him flipping to the ground.
Hera suddenly made her move.
She pressed down on Lorne's chest and fixed a strange gaze on the handsome young man beneath her, speaking quietly.
"Since you feel the same way, then you can be the one to help me work off this anger."
"?"
"Riiip!"
Just as Lorne stood there in a daze of confusion, a sudden chill hit his chest.
His entire upper garment tore open with brute force.
Immediately after, the clothing on his lower half also fell to enemy hands.
Concealing patterns of light spread and closed around them.
Lorne watched the loose gauze dress slide from those silky smooth, broad shoulders.
The pale-armed Queen of Heaven advanced languidly, watching the cold sweat break out on his forehead and his body's instinctive retreat.
"Wasn't it you who said I should get revenge in a fair way? Then why are you running?"
Accompanied by a sinister cold laugh, Hera extended a slender arm, grabbed the prey by the ankle, dragged him back to his original spot with brute force, then ruthlessly and resolutely pressed herself down, and began to savor every bit of the prey's flesh and grind through his every inch of bone.
The lamb pinned beneath the mother beast's claws let out a pitiable cry of anguish.
Wait a minute, this isn't what I expected!
(End of Chapter)