Athena accepted the fruit radiating with the sacred brilliance of boundless life force and carefully felt the power contained within. It far surpassed anything she had imagined.
Primordial creative power, combined with a terrifying divine force.
Athena had no doubt that even an ordinary living being could ascend to the level of a God King by consuming this fruit.
The prerequisite, of course, was that one could actually ingest and digest the divine power within it. Otherwise, no matter how wondrous the treasure, it would be wasted.
To absorb the divine power of this fruit, one needed to have reached at least the level of a Primary God.
A flicker of barely suppressed excitement passed through Athena's violet eyes. To break through the shackles of the Primary Gods and step into the domain of the Primordial Gods?
That was a realm virtually every Olympian deity dreamed of reaching. She had never expected to encounter such an opportunity under circumstances like these.
Without hesitation, she placed the Divine Fruit into her mouth. It dissolved instantly, transforming into a warm yet overwhelming torrent of divine power that swept through her divine body, which had been nearly depleted from channeling Axis.
The sensation was like parched earth receiving the primordial rain of creation. Her weakened golden Cosmo ignited like a newborn star, erupting with a radiance beyond anything she had ever produced.
Deep within her, the divine core that governed war and wisdom began a slow but resolute metamorphosis under the nourishment of this power. Threads of a more ancient divinity, something closer to the fundamental origin of the world itself, began to sprout and grow.
A dense golden divine light enveloped her entire body like a massive cocoon of radiance as she underwent a transformation of the utmost importance.
Her evolution from a Primary god toward the supreme rank of Primordial God had begun, and the nature of her divine station was all but determined.
While there were variations in strength among the Primary Gods, Athena's power had never actually been the greatest among them.
After her father Zeus's disappearance, dominion over all of Olympus had been entrusted to the Sun God Apollo, whose divine Cosmo had reached the absolute limit of a Primary god, infinitely close to a Primordial God.
Yet even the Sun God, hailed as the most perfect among them, might never break through to the Primordial level in his entire existence, for the gap was one of fundamental essence.
Unless one existed in that primeval era when heaven and earth were first born and the universe newly forged, reaching the Primordial tier was extraordinarily difficult.
But the fruit of Axis had effortlessly allowed her to break through from Primary to Primordial God.
As the Goddess of War and Wisdom, this was the first time Athena had ever actively sought out a male god.
The male gods she had encountered before had, frankly, never impressed her. They were either roughly equal to her in strength or weaker.
That changed when the unknown deity called Axis appeared. Under normal circumstances, she would never have been this forward. But for reasons she could not fully articulate, she sensed a faint premonition of a crisis looming some ten-odd years in the future. Without finding a way to prepare, she would not survive it.
[A/n: Outside the mainline Omega universe, the Athena of nearly every other universe had perished at the hands of the Absolute God Apsu. The Athena of this universe would have been no exception. Without Axis's arrival, she was destined to die at the hands of the God of Darkness.]
Axis withdrew his gaze and turned his attention inward, feeling the divine Cosmo flowing ceaselessly through his body like the pulse of the universe itself. The time had come to take out the trash.
With his current power, Hades the Lord of the Underworld was utterly beneath him.
His growth this time had been immense. First, his divine body had evolved once again, far surpassing the level of a God of Destruction.
The destructive energy of a God of Destruction, the vastness of divine power, and the infinite potential of ki were now all perfectly unified under the banner of the Cosmo he called "Origin," responding to his will as naturally as his own limbs.
In the DC world, Axis had successfully absorbed Mazahs's power, the ability to steal someone's power after killing them.
With the aid of his divine Cosmo, that power had been converted into his own foundational strength. Now, beyond his Saiyan heritage, his divine power also drew from the DC Universe.
The feeling was nothing short of perfect. Axis could now burn his divine Cosmo freely at will. In his normal state, his divine Cosmo was already an overwhelming force that crushed mortal-level power entirely.
And if the situation called for it, Axis could channel his ki energy, his DC Universe divine power, Dragon Ball divine force, and God of Destruction energy all together, mixing them into his Cosmo and burning them as one.
In terms of raw destructive output alone, Axis was arguably no weaker than an Absolute God.
Of course, actual combat could only be decided by fighting it out. He found himself wondering just how strong the God of Darkness of this universe really was.
Having acquired DC Universe power, Axis now possessed the ability to seize all divine power from any target he killed. He was eager to test this against the God of Darkness, Apsu.
Slaying a being on the level of a Creation God would bring him to the absolute pinnacle of universe tier power, the level where one could create or destroy an entire universe at will.
For now, though, the God of Darkness should still be somewhere beyond the boundaries of the universe, not due to descend upon this world for another decade or so. But it was never too early to begin planning.
Axis took a single step forward, and his figure vanished from the goddess's palace.
He was heading to the battlefield. Axis intended to make himself a grand entrance, and as a god, he felt it was only fitting that he possess a divine raiment of his own.
During his spiritual communion with Athena, Axis had viewed nearly all of her memories, so he naturally understood the methods by which God Cloths were forged.
The materials involved were relatively straightforward. The Surplices worn by Hades's Specters were made from the black gemstones of the Underworld. The Scales of Poseidon, Lord of the Seas, were crafted from Orichalcum.
Athena's Cloths, meanwhile, had been forged using certain technologies from the lost continent of Mu, incorporating Stardust and vast quantities of Orichalcum. The twelve Gold Cloths had additionally absorbed a portion of the sun's power, which was what gave them their brilliant golden gleam.
As a Primordial God who also held some authority over creation, Axis could easily create Orichalcum or even rarer materials using divine power alone.
After manifesting the materials, Axis sculpted an ornate Cloth of extraordinary craftsmanship, one that covered virtually every part of his body and left only his head exposed.
As for a weapon, Axis fashioned himself a greatsword. By Saiyan temperament, he would not normally bother forging a weapon for himself. But every other god carried one, and going without felt like it lacked a certain gravitas.
So he made one casually enough. His technique with a two-handed greatsword was more than serviceable, after all. He had participated in the Great Crusade.
Back during his days as a Space Marine, Axis had been quite adept with a chainsword as well, though its destructive output paled in comparison to what he could deliver with his bare fists, so he had simply never used one.
Now, however, with divine Cosmo infused into the blade, even a casual swing of his sword could bisect an entire star system. A full-power strike could cleave the universe itself in two.
Such was his power now. But having forged only the prototype of the God Cloth, the next step was to elevate it to the level of a true divine war raiment.
The current prototype was merely a perfect "shell." It possessed divine-grade materials but lacked a true "soul" and "life."
In the world of the Saints, materials were secondary. What truly caused a Cloth to undergo a qualitative transformation was the wearer's Cosmo and their blood. Even the blood of an ordinary mortal could grant a Cloth life.
The blood of a god could invoke miracles. Athena's divine blood alone could cause an ordinary Bronze Cloth to evolve to the God Cloth level, far surpassing Gold Cloths. Though the effect lasted only temporarily, it was formidable enough to allow the wearer to instantly defeat a god.
The divine blood of Axis, a Primordial God, would be vastly more potent. It would elevate this God Cloth to a level far beyond the divine raiments of the Twelve Olympian Primary Gods.
[A/n:The armor currently worn by Athena, Hades, and Poseidon was not the original set forged by the God of the Forge. The true raiments of the Twelve Primary Gods had vanished along with Zeus.]
Axis extended his right hand, pressed two fingers together like a blade, and without hesitation drew them across the palm of his left hand.
There was a soft hiss.
No gush of crimson blood followed. What flowed from the wound was not mortal blood at all, but a stream of radiance so brilliant it was impossible to look upon directly. It was a luminous flow of divine blood, swirling with deep purple, gold-red, emerald green, and the shimmering light of chaotic stars.
The flow seemed composed of countless spinning micro-galaxies, nebulae forming and dissolving, and arcs of creation-lightning leaping between them. It radiated a primordial divine pressure that made the soul tremble, along with a boundless vitality and terrifying divine force.
This was the divine blood of the Primordial God Axis. It contained the power of a God of Destruction, divine might, ki, and the foundational power of his own "Origin" Cosmo.
The luminous blood moved as though it possessed a will of its own, flying toward the God Cloth prototype suspended in midair.
The instant the first thread of divine blood made contact with the cold Orichalcum and Stardust Sand, a sound like the first thunderclap of creation split the sky above the Sanctuary.
The entire Sanctuary, the entire planet, shuddered violently. The sky was instantly dyed in the kaleidoscopic hues of primordial chaos, and the phantom images of countless stars never recorded in human astronomy flickered into existence across the heavens.
Mortals had no idea what was happening, but every being of divine rank perceived it clearly: a weapon of incomparable power was being born.
The God Cloth prototype erupted with a radiance billions of times brighter than the sun. Because of his Super Saiyan nature, Axis chose a color scheme of gold, blue, and red for his armor. The weapon, his greatsword, was finished in a deep purple, infused with the power of a God of Destruction.
Wherever the divine blood touched, the Orichalcum drank in the creative force with ravenous hunger. Its structure was utterly reconstructed and sublimated at the quantum level, its hardness and energy conductivity magnified beyond measure.
The divine blood acted as the most masterful runesmith imaginable, automatically inscribing upon the armor's surface patterns of profound mystery that embodied the ultimate principles of the cosmos.
Deep purple runes of destruction crawled across the surface like serpents of annihilation, radiating an aura that could reduce all things to nothing. DC divine power traces wove themselves into an intricate defensive matrix.
The ki of the Dragon Ball world formed a tracery of blue lines. Emerald patterns of life-force formed flexible energy networks at the joints, providing ceaseless regenerative power.
And beneath all the patterns, forming their foundation and core, were the ever-rotating, ever-forming-and-dissolving images of chaotic nebulae, representing the supreme authority of the "Origin" Cosmo.
The God Cloth came fully to life. It was no longer inert matter, but an extension of Axis's divine body, an extension of his very spirit. In some intangible way, Axis and the armor became connected.
This God Cloth was a part of his Cosmo. It disassembled and reassembled on its own like living metal, instantly enveloping Axis's body.
In that moment, Axis stood at the pinnacle of the Sanctuary, clad in a resplendent God Cloth that shimmered with chaotic starlight and coursed with runes of creation and destruction.
The greatsword in his hand, likewise bathed in divine blood, had grown massive and ornate. Purple streams of annihilating force flowed along its blade as though a raging river of stars were sealed within it. The very fabric of space warped subtly along the sword's edge.
Every inch of the God Cloth radiated a primordial divine pressure that dimmed the heavens and the earth. Its overwhelming aura left even those below who had just endured the earlier wave of divine power gasping for breath once more.
Every surviving Gold Cloth across the Twelve Zodiac Temples erupted in an unprecedented chorus of resonant golden light, as though paying homage to this newborn deity and his supreme God Cloth.
With a flash of radiance, Axis appeared in the Temple of Leo, wearing the God Cloth he had just forged.
Ultraman broke into a wide grin. "Ha ha! Now that's something! Cool! Cool! Waaaaay too cool!"
The silence that had fallen over the battlefield deepened as the Specters stared up at the resplendent figure in the sky, endless dread welling up in their hearts.
The Three Judges barely managed to suppress the trembling in their souls. Rhadamanthys clutched his broken arm and snarled viciously, "Damn it all! So what if they have a new god? For Lord Hades, charge! Kill every last one of them! Offer the blasphemer's corpse to the Lord of the Underworld! We are immortal! The great Lord Hades protects us!"
Driven by terror and loyalty in equal measure, the Specters let out ragged war cries and hurled themselves once more against the defensive line formed by the four Bronze Saints and Ultraman.
Axis swept an indifferent gaze across the horde of Specters. The Destruction Sword in his hand tapped lightly, and a ring of purple light rippled outward.
Every Specter the purple ring touched was annihilated. Soul and body alike were destroyed with absolute finality, broken down at the atomic level, obliterated at the level of the soul. Complete and total destruction.
This was the Cosmo augmented by the power of a God of Destruction. The immortality Hades had bestowed upon his Specters was something even Athena could not break. She could only resort to sealing them. But Axis's power of annihilation was different.
Before the power of a God of Destruction, unless one's strength surpassed his own, no form of immortality existed. Everything, without exception, could be destroyed.
A stray impulse crossed Axis's mind: once he returned, perhaps he would challenge the Grand Minister to a one-on-one bout. Or maybe pick a fight with one of the Angels.
The Grand Minister, though... that might be a bit premature. Better to wait until his own strength reached the multiverse level, at least.
"Lord Axis, you've already come out? Then how is the Goddess?" Aiolia looked at Axis, whose aura had changed completely and who now wore a magnificent God Cloth, and could not help but ask.
Had this unknown deity gone to find Lady Athena just to have her help forge a God Cloth? It was not entirely implausible.
The forging method of this God Cloth was identical to those of the Saints, and bore no resemblance to the craftsmanship of the Underworld or the Sea Realm.
"How to put it... The specifics can wait until your Goddess wakes up. To give you the simple version of the current situation: I'm going to help Athena win this war and destroy Hades once and for all." Axis rubbed his chin as he spoke.
To come right out and tell a group of Saints that their goddess was now his consort felt like it might be more than they could handle.
After all, their goddess's established identity was that of a virgin deity.
If the Saints learned that while they had been fighting for their lives out here, some man had been "engaging" with their goddess in there, the psychological blow might be too much to bear.
Even if it had only been a spiritual communion, that was far more intimate than anything physical.
Athena had consumed the Divine Fruit, and it would likely take another night before the fusion was complete and her evolution to Primordial God was finalized.
In the meantime, Axis intended to go and take the head of Hades, Lord of the Underworld.
The assembled Saints were dumbfounded. After Axis's descent, the Gold Saints from the other temples had also gathered here, along with a certain Phoenix.
What was going on? Had something happened to their goddess?
"Lord Axis, the Goddess... has something happened to her?"
"Miss Saori... how is she right now?" The five Bronze Saints were visibly anxious.
"Athena is perfectly fine. In fact, I gave her a gift. She's currently absorbing a new power, and before long she will re-emerge as a Primordial God. In any case, you'll understand once she wakes up." Axis shrugged.
"Understood, Lord Axis. Then we shall await Lady Athena's awakening." In the end, it was Dohko of Libra who spoke, the most senior among the Gold Saints.
A moment ago, the Goddess's Cosmo had indeed been terribly weak. But now it blazed with extraordinary brightness, even to an almost frightening degree, and was still climbing without pause.
He did not know exactly what had transpired, but it appeared to be something positive. Their goddess was evolving.
"Lord Axis, now that you've resolved the matter, might you also address my situation?" Grail turned to Axis and asked.
"Your situation can wait until I get back. I have something to take care of first." Axis replied.
Grail nodded. She was in no position to negotiate terms. All she could do was follow Axis's orders. Fortunately, obedience was something she had been trained in from a young age.
As for how to handle these two... Ultraman was reasonably obedient, if only a bit snarky. Axis planned to use the authority of a Supreme Kai to elevate him to godhood, making him a subordinate deity.
Ultraman's combat ability was quite impressive. Once elevated to divinity, he would be able to awaken his own Cosmo, and his fighting strength would not lag far behind that of a Primary God.
"Hades, Lord of the Underworld... your end has come." With that declaration, Axis set out in his God Cloth, heading straight for the Underworld.
Sorry Lord Hades, but your life was now forfeit. Some heads were lowered.
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ps? also, don't forget to check out the new story!