Saori understood the stakes better than anyone. If Zeus truly succeeded, she would never have another chance to save her mother. More importantly, she would lose all her value. In other words...
"..." Saori fell silent for a moment, her cold voice sounding slightly raspy as she asked, "Yu, what can you bring to the table? And what do you require me to pay?"
"My name is Riku, actually... forget it." Riku wanted to correct her, but after a thought, he decided against explaining. He was used to it. Who told his Great Witch to pull such a strange stunt?
But what could he do? Since she was his Great Witch, he could only spoil her. Fortunately, Saori did not seem to care about the name.
Riku paused as if in thought, then said, "I want many things, and it is hard to explain them all at once. To put it simply, what you will gain is this: I can help you save your mother. Beyond that, you can go a step further... not just one step, but even become an Absolute God."
"..." Saori was a calm deity.
Or rather, irritability, madness, and tyranny were merely the outward colors that gods exposed to the world. Even for someone like Ares, the God of War, who was known for having the worst temper... was he truly a fellow so enraged that he lacked all reason? To say someone who had lived for an untold amount of time had no brains? That would be a complete joke.
Schemes, intrigues, and power plays... just because they could not outplay those at a higher level did not mean they did not understand them. Those were two entirely different things.
However, at this moment, Saori felt her heart pounding violently. She had never expected Riku to make such a promise. As for whether it could be fulfilled? In Saori's eyes, the man before her seemed to have no reason to lie to her.
"I am not just making empty promises, there is no point in that. Our gains are mutually dependent. The more you gain, the more I will receive in return," Riku said, not hiding anything.
There was no need to play messy games, laying everything out in the open was the most appropriate approach. Especially for Saori. Did she even have another choice? No.
Saori's elegant brows furrowed slightly, and she pursed her lips. "Then, what is it that you want? What can you gain?"
"Hmm..." Riku snapped his fingers. A faint glimmer of light emerged, and a phantom image began to take shape... it was a sandbox.
"Saori, in your eyes, what does the King in a sandbox game lack most? Military strength? Or perhaps..." Riku asked.
Saori answered directly, "Talent. Only with enough talent can one win this game."
"Correct." Riku smiled. "To me, you are the most important talent. Well, not entirely. There are other suitable candidates. In my view, besides you, Apollo and Artemis are secondary choices. However, I do not care for Apollo, and he would not care for me. As for Artemis? She likely feels the same."
Riku did not hesitate in his choice. His first choice was naturally Saori. As for the other two? One could only say they each had their own shortcomings and were not quite right for his purposes.
"Apollo, Artemis..." Saori murmured the two names. After a brief silence, she whispered, "The Stars. The former represents the Sun, the latter represents the Moon. To master The Stars... it is just..."
"Correct. But just because you cannot do it does not mean I cannot help you achieve it." Riku interrupted Saori's trailing thought.
He had no intention of hiding his goals. Just because Saori could not do it did not mean he could not. Similarly, with Saori's intellect, she could naturally guess what he intended to do.
"How about it?" Riku held up one hand, and a bright light flickered in his palm. Shimmering within that light was a brilliant [Authority].
"The Stars..."
"How is this possible?"
"No!" Saori's beautiful eyes constricted violently just by looking at that speck of light. Her first instinct was to deny it, but she reacted instantly. She stared directly into Riku's eyes and whispered, "You come from..."
"Indeed." Riku nodded with a smile. "So! Do you want to try? I have studied it. The Authority of The Stars was fragmented because the gods would never allow it to exist as one. That is a Divine Status equal to a Primordial God... no, it transcends the Primordial Gods, it is a position akin to a Creator God. Just as the Divine Status of the Underworld King was also fragmented."
Absolute God! They also went by another name: Chaos Gods.
One could say that every Absolute God founded a mythology. So, could one achieve the status of an Absolute God later in life? Yes.
The God King. The Underworld King. The Stars. All of these possessed that potential. Especially the God King; theoretically, as long as one could master more than eighty percent of the God King's position within a mythology, they could become an Absolute God. The Underworld King was the same; the position of the Underworld King who mastered life, death, and reincarnation also had a high enough ceiling.
However, these positions had been cut and divided too severely.
The power of Uranus and Cronus had already made the Primordial Gods very dissatisfied. By the time of Zeus's era, the Supreme God status of the God King was split into three parts. Most critically, even starting from Uranus, the status of the Supreme God was never complete.
The Earth! The authority of The Earth had always been held in the hands of that slumbering Goddess of the Earth.
So, how exactly did Zeus obtain the Authority of the Earth? No one knew. Zeus simply handed that Authority to Saori, pushing her to the front lines to begin that game known as the Holy War, which had lasted for who knows how long.
Similarly, the status of The Stars was also fragmented.
Setting aside the various constellations and star mansions, and where those fragments went... just looking at what was visible now: Apollo and Artemis divided the Sun and Moon. Saori governed the 88 Constellations. Hades governed the 108 Heavenly and Earthly Demon Stars.
It had already been divided too much.
But looking at it in reverse... if Saori mastered the 'Authority of Stars,' it meant she could step-by-step reclaim everything. Moving forward was indeed too difficult, but if one already possessed the end result, working backward to figure out the process became much easier.
It was undeniable. Riku had only presented a small gift, but Saori already saw his sincerity, and her heart pounded even more violently.
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Bonus chapters every 50 Power stones