Two days and two nights later.
The first light of dawn filtered through the window lattice and fell into a thoroughly disheveled bridal chamber.
Lorne stood by the bed, gently pulled over the silk blanket, and draped it over Thetis.
His violet eyes looked at that pretty face with its lightly bitten lips and tightly knit brows, and a trace of teasing amusement rose in his gaze.
Hm...the courage to try squeezing him dry was admirable, however, this combat strength was rather worrying.
And indeed, without holding on until the agreed time, his newlywed wife, unable to withstand the ordeal, had passed out three times in a row and in the end simply curled up in the corner, impossible to rouse no matter how she was called.
Although she performed better than some chaste goddess, it was far from enough to drain him dry.
Looking at the graceful figure half-concealed beneath the thin blanket and that sleeping beauty expression like a begonia in spring slumber, Lorne crooked his index finger and playfully tapped
Thetis's fair nose, then put on his outer robe, lightened his footsteps, and quietly left the residence.
And as the sound of the door closing reached her, the "unconscious" bride's eyelashes gave a faint tremor, and her lips let out a long breath of relief.
'Finally. A proper sleep...'
In a soundless murmur,
Thetis's tense body gradually relaxed.
The furrow between her brows smoothed out. Like a mermaid returning to the sea.
Lorne, walking out to the courtyard, seemed to sense something and stopped in his tracks, looking back at the tightly shut bridal chamber door as a teasing wicked smile could not help showing on his face.
'It seemed there was room for more?'
But in the end he did not follow through on the mischief and let his beautiful Nymph rest, while he set off down the mountain path of the War God Mountain on a walking tour.
In the dense forest, several restless Harpies chattered and argued over numbers.
A pot-bellied Teumessian fox lay on a tree stump dozing.
At the steps, the marble-paved surface showed several chipped gaps from impacts, and a sphinx statue placed at the bend lowered its head to contemplate life's wisdom and the universe's mysteries.
On the other side of the mountain slope, the Chimera, king of three-headed beasts, and the invulnerable Nemean Lion lay on their sides on the shaded green grass, letting out several satisfied belches in succession.
The grass turned up beneath their bodies showed patches of dark red.
Under the calm lake surface, the nine-headed Hydra coiled her swollen-by-a-size body and slept soundly in the mud...
Lorne walked on, stopping here and there, taking in all the changes along the way, shaking his head with amused teasing.
'There were quite a few visitors coming to call these past two days.
All of them got overfed.
At this rate, the food bill should be saving quite a bit.'
"You are up this early?"
A clear quiet question came from ahead as a beautiful woman with a fair complexion and fine scales on either side of her face came winding out of the misty forest on the lower half of her serpentine body.
It was the mother of this group of Typhon's descendants, Mother of Monsters Echidna.
"Good morning."
Echidna, coming before Lorne, raised her arm to her chest, gave a slight bow of greeting in respect.
Although given her status and the relationship between the Gorgon sisters and Lorne, there was no need for such formality.
But because Lorne had previously reforged her body and taken in and sheltered a large number of Typhon's descendants,
Echidna naturally felt deeply grateful to this newly ascended chief God of the War God Mountain and was willing to position herself as a subordinate.
Of course, the divine natures of both sides were also quite compatible.
Echidna had once been a protective God of primordial viticulture.
However, with the changes of the age and the corruption of Typhon's demonic nature, she was slain by the Olympian Gods.
Now in mutual resonance with the authority of the God of Wine, that light-filled faith power was continuously washing away the demonic nature of the divine monster in her and reshaping her original God domain.
"Good morning, Mother of Monsters."
Lorne offered a friendly greeting, then smiled as he looked at the two figures who followed from behind Echidna.
"Oh. Stheno. Euryale. You are here too?"
"Tsk tsk. Only two days and you are already out?"
"Are you perhaps not up to it..."
The moment they saw him, the two gorgons started nudging each other and instinctively activated sarcasm mode.
"BANG! BANG!"
However, before they could finish their words, Echidna's expression darkened as she directly raised her hand and knocked both daughters on the head, then turned to offer Lorne an apology.
"I am sorry. I spoiled them."
The latter smiled and waved his hand, generously indicating his understanding.
Because during that war between the gods, he successfully took over from the slumbering Hestia and entered the ranks of chief Gods.
The authority of the Hearthfire Goddess lineage on the War God Mountain had in effect come under his name.
So the three Charites, the nine Muse Goddesses, and Mother of Monsters Echidna had gradually become his attendant Gods.
With this mother of Typhon's descendants presiding over things, whether the problem children running loose in the mountains or the two little things before him, they all had to behave themselves in front of Lorne.
They thought that with that crazy woman Hestia lying down, they would not have to take beatings anymore, and old grudges could be settled one by one.
Who could have imagined that their own mother would end up working for this fellow...
Stheno and Euryale looked at the scene before them with aggrieved eyes, rubbing their bumped heads with their hands full of gloom as they crouched on the ground drawing circles.
At the same time they ground their silver teeth in fury, swearing privately in their hearts.
'What is there to be smug about? You couldn't even last two days, could you? Sooner or later we will make you unable to get up!'
The two gorgons secretly exchanged looks full of malicious intent, settling on the most vicious humiliation target imaginable for a male God.
However, the two adults obviously paid no attention to the rich inner drama of these two kids.
"Look, these are what the intruders left behind."
Echidna said and waved her hand to open the magical formation diagram as a miscellaneous pile of things poured out and nearly formed a small mountain on the open ground.
Among them were damaged swords and shields, broken armor fragments, rings that lost their luster, and even skin tissue with half an imprint remaining...
From the tooth marks and remaining saliva on them, they were most likely wrenched out of Typhon's descendants' mouths while still warm.
Lorne casually picked up several of the cleaner metal instruments, weighed them in his hand, and looked at those vaguely familiar patterns and styles, a trace of playful interest passing through his eyes.
Mostly forged from orichalcum, with inscriptions carved into them and divinity injected, enabling the user to push past their own limits and wield a portion of God authority.
Used properly, even a demigod could potentially display combat power approaching that of a God.
'Well. Were these not just inferior-quality saint cloths?'
'Counterfeits appeared this quickly? They had not even paid him and Athena the licensing fee.'
Lorne let out a teasing smile, then applied a little force and crushed several remaining armor fragments one by one, sensed the different energies contained within them, and his gaze gradually grew more meaningful.
Ocean divinity from the Ocean of Oceanos and the primordial birth sea.
The death energy of the Underworld from the Dream Realm and Tartarus.
The old God will from Elysium...
Giant limb fragments.
Monster fur and hide. Weapon fragments bearing primordial alchemical symbols...
'So quite a few people had their eyes on this place.
No wonder the War God Mountain was so lively these past two days.'
'Just as expected. The moment Olympus representing divine destiny broke up, every sort of demon and monster started jumping out.'
Lorne shook his head with a scoffing laugh, casually put these pieces of evidence into the magical formation diagram, raised his head to look at the quietly waiting Echidna, and instructed with a smile.
"The visitors coming up the mountain lost so many hands these past two days without even reaching the main gate.
They should re-evaluate the danger level of the War God Mountain's defense system. Things should quiet down for a while.
You have all worked hard as well.
Let the little ones take a break and relax properly."
"Mm. As you say."
Echidna gave a nod in response, then bid farewell to Lorne and took Stheno and Euryale to continue patrolling.
Watching Echidna and the two Gorgon sisters gradually move off into the distance, Lorne looked at the War God Mountain beneath its hazy mist, his gaze flickering quietly.
'This side's matters are resolved. Time to go check on that one...'
---
...
The sanctuary.
A series of cries somewhere between laughing and weeping drifted from the dim cave.
"You... wuhahaha... so itchy... go away! Go away! Wuwu... just wait until I get out of here. I will stew every last one of you!"
A captive who clearly had been subjected to some manner of torment gasped and keened quietly, cursing and threatening the monsters before her.
However, the executioners flanking her on both sides, with demon horns, disheveled fur, bizarrely rectangular pupils, and grey-white eyeballs glowing faintly in the darkness, remained completely undaunted.
"Mehhhh..."
Accompanied by a pleased long bleat, they buried their heads and licked even more enthusiastically...
At this moment, Hecate bound to the stone pillar, feeling the unbearable tickling on the soles of her feet, shook like a branch in the wind and made a grief-stricken accusation toward a certain disloyal grandstudent.
"Lorne, you heartless bastard.
You actually use this kind of method to torment me. Despicable, base, shameless!"
"So this is how you see me?"
A figure came walking from the passageway as Violet eyes turned an aggrieved look toward the Hecate undergoing punishment bound to the stone pillar, as though he was the one who had been toyed with and abandoned.
The moment she saw that grandstudent appear,
Hecate felt a flash of joy, then her gaze fell on the jar of honey in the other party's arms and her expression immediately darkened.
"I contributed no small effort to ending that divine war. You are burning bridges this fast. Are you not afraid of being struck by lightning?"
Hearing Hecate's grief-stricken accusation, Lorne spread both hands, his face completely innocent.
"It has nothing to do with me. I am only responsible for delivering a gift to you."
"A gift?"
"Oh. I forgot to mention.
All of this was brought by Melinoe to show respect to you."
"..."
After a moment of silence, Hecate ground her teeth with a face full of bitter regret.
"Wretched disciple!"
"All thanks to your excellent teaching."
Lorne as the grandstudent stood to one side adding insult to injury with a teasing laugh, then set down the honey jar in his hand and produced a brand-new brush.
"Do not, do not come near me!"
Seeing this, Hecate's beautiful face went pale with alarm and she lowered her head in humiliation, pleading repeatedly.
"Let's talk this through. Let's talk this through."
"Actually, it is nothing much. I simply have some questions I wanted to ask your guidance on."
Lorne closed the lid of the honey jar and spoke with an embarrassed expression.
Hearing this, Hecate almost burst into tears. "Then just ask!"
Three days!
Three days of being locked up with this herd of goat-headed demons!
Every time that purple-haired rectangular-pupiled serpent-haired demoness came, she would apply a fresh layer of honey to the soles of her feet without saying a single word, then turn and leave, leaving her alone in the cave to be tormented by this herd of goat heads.
Originally Hecate thought she had gotten herself into some serious trouble that made Lorne hold a deep grudge against her.
It turned out that three days and three nights of torment was just for a few words?
If you had said so earlier, would she not have cooperated?
Watching the aggrieved and indignant expression on his grand-teacher's face, Lorne hurriedly pulled away the two goats that seemed to still not have had their fill of honey and explained with a dry laugh.
"These past few days I have been busy, and temporarily forgot you were here."
"Busy? The divine war is over. What could you possibly be busy with?"
Hearing the obvious brush-off, Hecate ground her teeth once more.
"Naturally busy receiving guests who came calling of their own accord."
Lorne answered with a beaming smile, and immediately a playful note rose in his tone.
"By the look of things, you are even more popular than I expected."
Hearing this, Hecate's expression darkened as she furrowed her brows.
"What? That many people want to get their hands on my divinity?"
"After all, what you carry is the [Chance] that can break through the shackles of [Destiny]. Who could resist?"
Lorne answered at an unhurried pace, his tone deeply meaningful.
Hecate shot a glance at the grandstudent standing before her and let out an impatient cold hum.
"As if you do not have the same thing on your body."
"But they cannot beat me in the mortal world and they would not dare touch me."
"..."
Hecate found nothing to say, her expression seemingly darkening further.
'Right. I have become the soft persimmon.'
"But please do not worry. I will absolutely guarantee your safety.
As long as I am here for even one day, I will not allow any outsider to harm you!"
Hearing Lorne's earnest and solemn guarantee, Hecate's mouth twitched.
"Should I perhaps thank you then?"
"No need to thank me. It is what I should do!"
Lorne showed not the slightest trace of claiming credit, his face full of sincere reverence for his elders.
Hecate. "..."
Lorne continued to add, a faint trace of helplessness and regret showing on his face.
"Of course, compared to the endless flow of divine destiny, human power has its limits.
Although I very much wish to keep you safe forever, there will likely come a moment when I am powerless to do so."
"You want to ask how to strip away Zeus's divine destiny, do you not?"
Hecate cut straight through the real intent of this good grandstudent, the look in her eyes toward him full of contempt.
Two black-hearted creatures of the same kind, and yet he was performing the white lotus act with her?
Lorne gave a sheepish smile, dropped the pretense, and pressed forward with his question.
"So then. Do you have any workable method?"
Hecate did not answer directly. Instead she threw out a question.
"In your view, what is [Divine Destiny]?"
Lorne thought seriously for a moment, then answered tentatively.
"The inevitable law by which all things operate?"
Hecate gave a satisfied nod and continued pressing.
"Then why did Olympus and Zeus obtain the protection of divine destiny and become the masters of this world?"
Lorne narrowed his eyes in quiet contemplation.
"Because the Titan bloodlines are incarnations of the rules and can fill the world's gaps, maintaining the operation of all things!"
"Correct."
Hecate gave a slight nod, a deep and unfathomable color showing in her eyes.
"The reason Zeus could become God king and receive divine destiny was not only because he broke his own fate, but also because he sent the old Gods into Elysium, established the new order of Olympus, perfected the laws of the world, and through continuously uniting with various forms of life, produced new divine descendants and drove the turning of destiny's wheel."
Lorne furrowed his brows deeply upon hearing this. "If that is the case, then he is an indispensable part of destiny. Does that not mean the God king's position cannot be shaken?"
"But is the world composed of only the God king? Only the Gods?"
Hearing that meaningful musing, a light flashed in Lorne's eyes as he contemplated.
"You are saying... all things have their own respective [Destiny]?"
Hecate gave a nod, approval showing in her eyes.
"As you think.
All things have their own share of destiny. Only compared to the Gods who are nearly eternal and immortal, most lives and things are insignificant as blades of grass, minute as specks of dust.
Their destiny is far too slight.
They cannot even leave a ripple in the river of time, much less influence the overall fate of the world. They pass through their lives generally in silence."
Lorne caught the hidden meaning in those words as clarity dawned in his eyes.
"But there are always exceptions?"
"Correct. Every age has its own protagonists. Some of these lives are heroes who are an army unto themselves. Some are farsighted sages. Some are rulers who expand their territory. Some are war Gods who conquer all they face.
Because they received destiny's favor, they generally play important roles in the trajectory destiny writes and greatly determine the direction of the future.
If these [Destiny's Chosen] are gathered in your hands, made to follow your orders and carry out your will, you can equally grasp a portion of divine destiny."
Hecate mused quietly, slowly gathering all five fingers together before Lorne's eyes, a smile full of deep meaning spreading across her face.
"Sand grains can build a tower. Feathers accumulated can sink a boat. As long as the share of [Destiny] you hold is great enough, you can tip the scales of [Fate] toward your own side."
Lorne listened to Hecate's guidance as clarity burst through his mind.
'So that was it!'
Divine destiny was not forever unchanging. It could bend with the current.
Divine destiny was not the Gods' exclusive possession either.
The hearts of the age and the people could also be condensed into it!
Then a flash of brilliant light sparkled in Lorne's eyes as a pleased smile rose on his face.
He seemed to understand what method he should use to contend with that God king for [Divine Destiny].
'Then next. Time to start collecting?'
(End of Chapter)