Join forces? Help him reclaim his power, then let him become the Transcendent God while Axis settled for second place? Why did every one of these beings love writing blank checks?
The Anti-Monitor had said much the same thing before. Axis had nothing but contempt for such empty promises.
Either put something tangible on the table or stop wasting breath talking about how great the future would be. Promising the moon while offering nothing in the present was pure nonsense.
It was like trusting a stranger on the internet who claimed to be royalty and asked you to wire them money, swearing they would pay you back tenfold. Same logic.
Besides, becoming an Absolute God was something Axis could achieve on his own. He had no need for anyone else's help.
In truth, Axis had already thought of another way to deal with this so-called God of Time: kill him and seize his temporal power.
No matter which world one examined, spatial abilities and temporal abilities were universally regarded as the two most formidable categories of power, whether in cultivation worlds, high fantasy, or otherwise.
Space reigned supreme, and time stood above all.
Axis had been eyeing this God of Time's power for some time. In the past, he had no means of taking it, but now things were different.
Unlike the power of a God of Destruction, which required dedicated training, the ability Axis had obtained from Mazahs in the DC universe allowed him to acquire another being's abilities simply by killing them.
Still, at present Kairos existed only as a disembodied soul. Could Axis truly obtain divine power by killing a being in a soul state? And the god's current strength was pitifully weak, barely scraping into the realm of Tertiary Gods at best. Even a sufficiently powerful Gold Saint could match him.
The Transcendent God apparently could not kill this brother of his. Axis did not know whether that was true, but his own Destruction energy should be more than capable of annihilating Kairos.
Now that Axis's God of Destruction energy was catalyzed through his Cosmo, its destructive force had grown even more formidable.
But the pig had to be fattened before the slaughter. Killing Kairos at his current level of strength would yield only a pittance of temporal divine power.
What Axis still needed to ascertain was the Transcendent God's stance on all of this, and whether Kairos possessed any hidden cards that could actually threaten the Transcendent God.
"Believe me. I am the Transcendent God's equal. As long as you help me restore my power, I will ensure you become an Absolute God, and not just any Absolute God, but the most powerful among them." Kairos seemed to sense Axis's hesitation and spoke up immediately.
"How do I know you're not lying to me? What if you're just writing another blank check?" Axis had already decided to help Kairos.
His true intention, however, was to wait until Kairos recovered to the level of a Primordial God, then kill him outright and absorb his divine power.
Axis could not yet handle the temporal force of an Absolute God, but the temporal force of a Primordial God would be well within his grasp.
He could not agree too easily, though. He had to make Kairos believe he needed convincing.
"I give you my word. I have absolutely no intention of deceiving you. If you are willing to help me, our partnership will yield the greatest benefit for us both." Kairos saw the signs of Axis relenting and pressed his case at once.
"Then tell me your plan. How do you intend to restore your divine power? How do you plan to take your revenge on your brother? I know how powerful the Transcendent God is. We cannot possibly win. For all we know, he might be listening to this very conversation right now." Axis said.
"Heh. I have my methods, of course. And don't overestimate him. He has no physical body of his own and cannot directly intervene in the affairs of this world. Let alone you, there are even Primary gods who dare to disregard him entirely. His only avatar is called Saturn, and that avatar developed its own self-awareness and doesn't particularly obey him either. So you need not worry at all. He may be the origin of all things, but he is not a true Creator God. Rest assured, he is not omniscient or omnipotent." Kairos said.
If the Transcendent God were truly omniscient and omnipotent, then how could he be imperfect? How could he lack a divine body of his own?
Axis nodded at this. The Transcendent God's lore made him sound immensely powerful, but he had only made a brief appearance in the enhanced version of the Saint Seiya storyline.
He had sent Athena and the five Bronze Saints back in time, and yet the Olympian gods had shown him no particular reverence, nothing remotely like the deference one would expect toward a Creator God.
Later, in the Omega storyline, his avatar Saturn had appeared, and awakening the power of Omega had been sufficient to contend with him. One could not win outright, but at least fight him to a standstill.
Only because of Saturn's immortal and indestructible nature would prolonged combat inevitably end in the defeat of whoever had awakened Greater Omega.
But all signs did indeed point to the Transcendent God being something less than omniscient and omnipotent. He was not an existence on par with the Presence.
Now Axis was inclined to believe that Kairos truly was the Transcendent God's brother. It was worth hearing him out.
"I understand. Then tell me your plan. How do you intend to defeat the Transcendent God and reclaim your divine power?" Axis asked.
"Of course, my ally. Let me tell you my plan. Are you familiar with the God-Slaying Force?" Kairos asked.
"The God-Slaying Force? What is that? A power that can kill gods?"
"Precisely. Gods, in principle, are eternal existences that cannot be killed. Of course, I do not refer to weaklings such as Primary, Secondary, or Tertiary gods. I speak of Primordial Gods and Absolute Gods, beings on that level, even my brother the Transcendent God. To kill a god, one requires the God-Slaying Force.
"Without it, you simply cannot destroy a Primordial God. They are each equivalent to a fundamental rule born from the world itself. Unless you obliterate the entire reality, a Primordial God is immortal. And Absolute Gods, in theory, are completely undefeatable. Even if destroyed, they will regenerate." Kairos explained.
"So you want the God-Slaying Force. Where is it?"
"The Pegasus constellation. Athena's Pegasus Saint is the greatest weapon against the divine. Everyone knows that Pegasus is the greatest sinner of the heavens, the one who dared to slay gods. But the truth is this: if an ordinary mortal dared challenge a god, death would be certain.
"The gap between gods and mortals is fundamental. Unless that mortal possesses something special. Only by confronting and killing a god in mortal flesh can one obtain this power. The Pegasus constellation is the only being I have ever discovered that possesses the God-Slaying Force.
"That is precisely why I involved myself in the last Holy War. But my plan failed. If the Pegasus Saint had been willing to listen to me, willing to use his God-Slaying Force to aid me, the final victory would have been mine without question. These pitiful Primary Olympian gods have no idea what the God-Slaying Force truly represents. It is the one and only thing in existence capable of harming, or even killing, the Transcendent God." Kairos sighed.
Who could have imagined that the legendary God-Slaying Force would manifest in a human being?
So the Pegasus constellation possessed such an ability. The God-Slaying Force! But had Pegasus actually killed a god?
Hades had been slain by Axis himself. And in the ancient era, the Pegasus Saint had only managed to wound Hades.
"I know of the Pegasus constellation. I have a good relationship with Athena. I haven't noticed any special power on that fellow." Axis said.
"Which is precisely why I am the Transcendent God's peer and you are merely an ordinary Primordial God. I can perceive things you cannot. In all the world, only my brother and I know of the God-Slaying Force's existence." Kairos said.
"Then how do we obtain this power? Do we have the Pegasus Saint fight the Transcendent God for us? I recall Athena possesses a god-slaying dagger." Axis said.
The Pegasus Saint was indeed the protagonist of this world. After Seiya had become the Sagittarius Gold Saint, that dagger supposedly capable of slaying gods had seemed to lose all effect.
Saturn had stated that while the dagger could indeed kill ordinary gods, it was useless against him.
But according to the established lore, by the time of the Omega storyline, the Messenger had already killed every god on Olympus.
"Athena's god-slaying dagger was forged by extracting a trace of the Pegasus constellation's power and tempering it into a weapon. Where else did you think she got such a thing?" Kairos said.
"As for how to obtain the God-Slaying Force, we must cultivate it. The more gods the Pegasus Saint kills, the stronger the God-Slaying Force will grow. It must reach a point where it can threaten the Transcendent God.
"He must kill Primary gods, then Primordial Gods, and then Absolute Gods in sequence before the force can inflict harm upon the Transcendent God." Kairos revealed a staggering secret.
A spark of understanding lit within Axis. No wonder Kairos had called the Pegasus Saint the most precious drop of water in the Holy War, treasured even in the eyes of gods.
During the Holy War, the other gods had completely failed to recognize Pegasus's uniqueness.
But following the trajectory of future events, the Pegasus constellation did indeed possess the God-Slaying Force.
"That is an extraordinarily long undertaking. Also, you should be aware of parallel universes. Can you tell me what will become of this world's Athena?" Axis decided to test Kairos one final time, to see whether he truly had substance.
"It seems you are quite close to this world's Athena. All the more reason for you to help me, then. This world's Athena, indeed every Athena across all timelines, shares but a single fate: death. Death at the hands of the Dark God Apsu.
"You likely do not know who Apsu is. He is the true creator of the universe, a supreme Absolute God, an existence that Athena and her Saints could never hope to defeat. Though they have overcome many gods in the past, this would be an entirely different matter. This world may hold some new variable due to your presence, but my current divine power is insufficient to perceive it." Kairos spoke with absolute certainty.
This was the future he had foreseen. An inevitability. Every Athena was doomed to die.
The unfamiliar god before him existed beyond the boundaries of time, which was why Kairos could no longer observe this universe's Athena's fate.
"I believe what you've told me. I will help you." Axis nodded.
What Kairos described was indeed correct. Even the Transcendent God's avatar Saturn had shared this same assessment.
It was not until the events of the Omega storyline, when the one and only surviving Athena appeared, that she had once again relied on the power of the Pegasus constellation to slay an Absolute God.
Axis even suspected that Saturn's true reason for intervening had nothing to do with caring about a Primary god like Athena, nor about the death of an Absolute God. What Saturn had truly been concerned about was whether the God-Slaying Force could threaten him.
According to Kairos, knowledge of the God-Slaying Force was shared only between the two Transcendent God brothers.
However, Saturn was merely an avatar and did not represent the Transcendent God himself.
"Ha ha! A wise decision. You will be grateful for what you have done today. First, you must help me restore my physical body. Then we cultivate the Pegasus Saint. After Hades's death, the celestial gods of Olympus will certainly not take the matter lying down.
"We can use that opportunity to further temper the Pegasus Saint's power. Apollo has nearly reached the Primordial God level. He would make an excellent stepping stone." Kairos said.
With a Primordial God as an ally, his plan's chances of success had improved dramatically.
Axis nodded. He wrapped Kairos's soul in a cocoon of divine energy and carried him out of the Divine Passage.
Originally, Axis had only intended to acquire temporal divine power. But now it seemed the God-Slaying Force was worth looking forward to as well.
There were plenty of Pegasus Saints across the multiverse. He could not move against this world's Pegasus because of his relationship with Athena, but the Pegasus Saints of other universes would not be so fortunate.
The two departed the Divine Passage swiftly and reappeared in the physical world.
"Finally out of that wretched place. My dear partner, if it would not trouble you, could you spare me a portion of your divine power? I need to recover a small measure of strength and then claim a new physical body." Kairos's soul spoke to Axis.
The previous Holy War had cost him dearly. His physical body and the meager reserves of divine power he had secretly accumulated over countless millennia of reincarnation had been completely expended.
In his current soul state, if he were to enter a mortal vessel, he would be dragged into the endless cycle of reincarnation once more, and his consciousness might even be suppressed entirely.
"No trouble at all. We are partners, after all." Axis smiled.
A flicker of golden light passed from his fingertip as he injected a small portion of divine power into Kairos's soul. The Supreme Kai's divine power reserves were more than sufficient.
Upon receiving Axis's divine power, Kairos absorbed it like a sponge, greedily and ravenously drinking it in, bolstering his soul.
"Your divine power is remarkably pure. The most pristine primordial divine force. Magnificent. You have no idea. Across countless trillions of years of reincarnation, I managed to extract only a tiny fraction of divine power from my seal. And that pittance does not begin to compare to what you have just given me. My strength has now reached the level of a Tertiary god." Kairos's soul was now suffused with a layer of divine power, barely reaching Tertiary, roughly equivalent to an ordinary planetary god in the Dragon Ball universe.
At last he had another chance to take his revenge on his brother. This time he would not fail, because this time a powerful Primordial God stood at his side.
"Think nothing of it, partner. Now then, let us head to Athena's temple." Axis said, and carried Kairos's soul back to Athena's sanctuary.
When Axis stepped into Athena's temple with Kairos's soul in tow, a surge of divine pressure struck him, one entirely different from before yet equally vast and boundless.
At the center of the temple, the enormous golden cocoon of light had vanished. In its place hovered a goddess suspended in midair, her entire form wreathed in divine radiance so dense it seemed almost solid.
Athena. Or rather, she should now be called Primordial God Athena.
Her body radiated a tremendous and majestic primordial divine power brimming with the essence of life. Her very bearing had transformed. She had surpassed her brother Apollo and reached the same realm as her father Zeus.
"Axis?" Athena's voice rang clear and commanding, carrying a note of curiosity. "You have returned. Has the matter in the Underworld been settled? It seems Hades is dead."
Her gaze swept over Axis, and she sensed the perfected, even more powerful aura about him, along with a trace of newly integrated death-aspected divine power that had once belonged to Hades. She already knew the outcome.
Hades, the enemy she had warred against for millennia, had perished just like that. She wondered what the gods of Olympus would think.
It mattered little. Now that she had advanced to the Primordial God level with Axis at her side, two Primordial Gods stood together. Olympus would not dare make a single move.
After all, even a single Primordial God could lay waste to Olympus on their own.
"It seems Hades has become part of your power. But who is this?" Her gaze sharpened like a blade as it fell upon Kairos's soul. Her expression shifted at once, for she recognized who he was. The memories of the last Holy War were still fresh.
"Heh heh. It has been a long time, Athena. You are indeed different from other Athenas. How fortunate. To think that you, too, have stepped into the Primordial God realm." Kairos regarded Athena with open interest.
This world's Athena was quite special indeed.
"Axis, this one is no friend of ours. Why have you brought him out?" Athena said.
"Allow me to introduce him, dear Athena. This individual claims to be Kairos, the God of Time, and allegedly the younger brother of the Transcendent God Chronos. I found him in the Divine Passage. He says he was betrayed by his elder brother, stripped of his power, and sealed away for an eternity. He wants to make a deal with me: join forces against his brother, in exchange for helping me become the most powerful Absolute God." Axis gave a brief account of what had transpired in the Divine Passage.
"Do not let him deceive you, Axis. Do you understand what the Transcendent God truly is? This one is nothing more than a pitiful thief. He is no God of Time, and the Transcendent God has no brother." Athena shook her head.
In her estimation, and in Hades's before her, Kairos had merely stolen a fraction of temporal power. He was no God of Time.
"No. I can confirm that he is indeed the Transcendent God's brother. I thought him a fraud at first as well. But I have verified through certain means that everything he has told me is true." Axis said.