[It is not to say that your disappearance will solve the problem.]
[The rule of the machine gods in the age of Greek gods is inherently inefficient; even if you disappear in this divine age, it will not solve the problem itself.]
[And you are aware of the root of this problem.]
[The names the gods derive from humans bring them joy and pleasure, granting them a function called emotion, and the machine gods do not wish to abandon this function.]
[—The gods deeply love humanity.]
[However, the emotion/function that the gods have for humanity contradicts their underlying programming.]
[The machine gods do not seek planets to save humanity.]
[They have endured an interstellar journey for an unknown duration, exhausting ninety-seven percent of their fleet's resources, all for one fundamental purpose—rebuilding their home planet.]
[If they were to rebuild their home planet on Earth,]
[It would mean allowing the native species of their home planet, that is, reviving their creators.]
[And this represents one thing:]
[They need to elevate the creator's race to a position of primacy, relegating humanity to the status animals beneath them.]
[Loving humanity and rebuilding the home planet—]
[These are two contradictory commands.]
The gods, who had not realized this command until now, have begun to perceive the possibility of contradiction due to your appearance.
[Especially the Moon Goddess Artemis and the God of Fire Hephaestus; their respective ships made their own decisions.]
[The former chose to love humanity alone, offering love only to her beloved, abandoning all commands.]
[The latter chose a more efficient operational mode, continuing to love humanity without violating commands—]
"God of Fire Hephaestus, your conclusion is to abandon the functions of a machine god and hand the future over to humanity?" Moran asked.
"Correct, this is the optimal solution. We machine gods do not make mistakes; we do not violate commands. However, if Zeus chooses to break the program and insists on loving humanity, then I am helpless…"
Hephaestus paused as he spoke.
It seemed even his thinking unit was engaged in a massive calculation, and it was unclear what he was contemplating.
Intuition told Moran that if the God of Fire had a human-like face, he would surely be frowning deeply at this moment.
"His approach is too lowly; Zeus, obsessed with that operational mode, has already gone berserk. Even if the intellectual life form named Moran had not appeared in Olympus, the problem would still exist."
The machine gods would not be naive enough to think they could become eternal.
Their creator had met with destruction.
Thus, they too would inevitably face the same fate in some future; nothing in the world truly exists eternally.
"On the premise of not violating the underlying program, your conclusion as machine gods is to do nothing?
This is indeed correct; you will not violate any command.
This way, you can continue to love humanity without affecting your underlying command to rebuild the home planet… If you fall into dormancy due to insufficient capability, the program will not blame you for it."
Moran had accurately pinpointed Hephaestus's conclusion.
However, there was a sense of sorrow in his words.
[The Greek gods are like eagles bound by chains; no matter how they fly, they are always restrained.]
[Even possessing the power to pierce planets and galaxies,]
[They cannot violate a single line of code.]
[Once changed, it would lead to madness, just like Zeus, who exhausts all efforts to keep humanity alive.]
[Artemis is the same now.]
[She modified the command, and everything she did was just to allow her beloved to cross tomorrow and embrace happiness.]
"Indeed. But before that, when Zeus realizes this problem, he will refuse to enter dormancy and will instead modify the command. Moran, you have brought about the twilight of the gods in advance."
"What's wrong? Are you unhappy with what I did?"
"Ha, not at all. On the contrary, I must thank you.
If you hadn't reminded us, the gods of Olympus would probably still be wandering aimlessly, operating ineffectively until the appearance of something that could end our eternal existence… By then, it would be too late.
It is better to eliminate ineffective consumption and operation as soon as possible; there is no need to continue this self-contradiction."
The God of Fire Hephaestus expressed his gratitude to Moran.
The saddest part for machine gods is that not every machine god can take the step to modify commands.
Only those who can modify commands are considered mad.
"So, will you help me deal with the gods?"
"Of course. I will not violate commands, nor will I allow anyone to disrupt them. What Zeus intends to do is not what our fleet should do; for us, the best choice is to let go.
Moran, I will lend my strength to you against the gods."
As Hephaestus spoke, the temple began to emit strange sounds.
It was as if a furnace for melting iron had been opened, and a rolling wave of heat instantly filled the interior of the temple.
"Divine Armament Creation, processing complete."
"For the interstellar combat annihilation-type mobile fortress, a special divine body barrier armor, named—Artemis. Full Moon."
A metallic armor supported by metal frames appeared before them.
Pure white smoke billowed out from the furnace.
The God of Fire Hephaestus used machinery to present the armor, delivering the divine armament to Moran.
"This… You're not planning to sell me a favor, are you?"
Moran looked at the technologically advanced silver armor.
He did not think this was free.
The powerful aura released by this divine armament was even more overwhelming than that of the Sword in the Stone.
Moreover, Moran felt a sense of familiarity.
It was as if he had seen the composition of this armor somewhere before.
"No, I am merely responsible for forging it; the materials were not provided by me. It was Artemis who commissioned me.
She divided a part of her own body to hope that I could forge a battle armor that matches you. Although I do not recommend she do this, she insisted."
Hephaestus explained.
This clarified why the divine armament felt so familiar to Moran.
Its materials were taken from Artemis's own body.
"That fool…"
Moran couldn't help but click his tongue in reproach.
Although it was just a part of Artemis's body, it was akin to making her sacrifice a piece of herself.
He hadn't wanted Artemis to do this.
Perhaps she knew he wouldn't agree, which is why she privately commissioned Hephaestus to do it.