"That makes sense."
With the biggest puzzle piece finally in place, Zeus couldn't hide his relief. His eyes gleamed with a colder light as he moved straight into the real discussion.
"Then all we have to do is destroy that Star Ship… or sink Atlantis outright. If the Alien vanguard can't regenerate, we finally have a chance to win!"
Sink… Atlantis?
Damn. So the legend about Zeus's divine punishment sinking that mythical continent beneath the sea… was it because of this?
Samael's mouth twitched, his thoughts briefly tangled.
Fate really did love looping back to the start.
As he was still turning it over, that probing gaze landed on him.
"I recall you possess spatial Authority… and temporal Authority."
From his throne, Zeus looked at him with unmistakable expectation.
Samael understood immediately, and just as mercilessly cut it off with a shake of his head.
"Don't even think about it. If it were that easy, I'd have done it already. Between Atlantis and the Storm Sea there's a spatial corridor. I can't lock onto its position at all."
"I knew it! That thing lured me into splitting my divine authority, building a spatial corridor and a Titan Ocean. It never meant well!"
Poseidon cursed furiously at the Alien vanguard's scheming. Zeus and Samael took one look at him and, knowing he couldn't undo the corridor's defenses either, couldn't be bothered engaging.
"Then what if we gather all of Greece's strength right now," Zeus said, brow furrowing as he thought aloud, "and force our way into the Eye of the Tidal Sea, break through the spatial corridor, and destroy the Star Ship?"
"We can barely hold even with the Alien vanguard's giant army as it is," Samael said, flat and decisive. "The damage we deal doesn't even outpace how fast they recover. Trying to smash through layer after layer of blockade while they're on alert? That's not happening."
It was rational, and brutal.
Three Phase Four units. As things stood, he and Zeus could at best contain two. And even ignoring the third, there was still an ocean of giants behind them.
And judging by the Alien vanguard's pattern, the stronger the resistance, the more seriously they took it. With their advantage already thinning, once they got pinned down, there'd be no breaking away.
"Then we retreat to Olympus," Hera suggested, eyes flickering as she offered what sounded like a clever compromise. "Let the Alien vanguard come ashore, then find a way to slip into the Storm Sea and destroy that core."
Samael turned, looking past the camp toward the sea and sky where the iridescent glow was growing thicker by the minute. Between the constellations, that tear-shaped celestial body was faintly visible…and somehow brighter, more pronounced than before.
"To drill through Greece's Age of Gods, the Tear Star Velber has already sent three Alien vanguard in succession," Samael said coldly. "It's crushing us because it wants this place as a bridgehead to target all of Earth's civilization. It doesn't have much patience. If we stall any longer, Velber may descend in person. We don't have time."
"Not 'may.' It already is."
Athena snorted, arms crossed, the knot between her brows tightening.
"Don't you think their advancement is far too fast? If the Alien vanguard's violent mutations are tied to that Tear Star, then there's only one explanation: that celestial body is getting closer to Greece's Age of Gods.
The three Alien vanguard are the wedge driven into Greece. The Star Ship constantly transmitting signals is the anchor that maintains the link. So everything they're doing isn't just to clear Greece out of the way. They're building a star-route, a cosmic channel, for the Tear Star itself.
If we drag this out, what we'll face won't be Phase Four or Phase Five Alien vanguard. It'll be Velber's main body."
Athena lifted a hand and pointed skyward, her expression heavy. She put the worst-case outcome on the table without flinching, snuffing out the last trace of luck the gods had been clinging to.
"No matter what, we have to break through this dead sea packed with giants before the Alien vanguard evolves to Phase Five as a group, while we still have enough chips on the table. We punch straight into the Interstellar Mountainous City, destroy that special Star Ship… This single day may be our last chance!"
The gods exchanged looks, lips pressed tight, and fell into silence. The air was suffocating, and the reality was even worse than they'd imagined.
They were already at the edge of the cliff.
"Wait, Athena… you just said… break through…"
All at once, Samael's pupils snapped tight. He reached out and gripped the Goddess of Wisdom by the shoulder, his gaze burning.
"Break through… break through this dead sea and drive straight at the Interstellar Mountainous City?"
"Yes! That's it. A dead-sea breakthrough!"
Samael couldn't hold it in. He hammered his fist down through the air, his eyes flashing.
"You've found a way to break the deadlock?"
Zeus, who'd been tearing his hair out moments ago, surged to his feet and stared at his old rival, who looked like he'd just caught lightning in his hands.
"Exactly. We've been stuck in the wrong frame. Reaching the Interstellar Mountainous City, smashing the Star Ship, cutting that 'line'… it doesn't have to mean a head-on assault. We just need to slip in quietly and get it done!"
"But the three Alien vanguard are planted in the Storm Sea. They don't move an inch. How do you 'slip in'?"
"Draw them off. The gods lure Sefar and the others out and hold them!"
Poseidon frowned and shook his head, cutting in without mercy.
"Without the gods' power, it's even less possible.
From the Peloponnesus to Oceanus, from the Storm Sea to the Eye of the Tidal Sea, from the spatial corridor to the Titan Ocean, the whole route is stuffed with giants. It's a dead end. And once you reach Atlantis, who's getting through those outer defensive layers?"
"Someone can. And if it goes well, it'll be smooth sailing."
Samael's answer was crisp. Then he looked straight at Poseidon, the reminder in his eyes sharp.
"Sea King, the way into Atlantis isn't limited to those iron warships."
Poseidon's pupils shrank. Realization hit, and a name that had been left in the corner of everyone's mind slipped out before he could stop it.
"You mean… the Argo."
"Exactly. It's the only special existence that was granted a transit code through Atlantis's defensive layers. And its wooden hull, plus the Gift of the gods on it, means Sefar can't corrupt or dominate it."
Samael immediately summarized the Argo expedition, that chain of accidents and coincidences that had led to this point.
"So we gather everything we have," Zeus said after a moment, grave as he restated the heart of it, "and throw our full strength into the Oceanus to pin down the giant army, creating an opening for the Argo to break through that dead sea and sail into the Eye of the Tidal Sea?"
"Yes. And we don't need a 'strong' force to destroy the Star Ship above the Great Altar," Samael replied, nodding as he pressed the advantage. "With how the Alien vanguard operate, the weaker the power the Argo carries, the less attention it draws. That makes it easier to slip in."
"Good. Go do it. The Alien vanguard could move at any time," Zeus said, giving a terse nod. His eyes flicked to the sea, where the Ether currents were growing more violent by the minute. "I'll lead the gods of Olympus and go relieve the forbidden Old Gods on the line."
He rose and began calling the Olympians to move.
"Wait. I have two things you'll need."
Just as Poseidon started to step out, he remembered. He opened a Magecraft array and solemnly placed two items into Samael's hands.
"These are…?"
"One is my interpretations and research on the Star Ship, accumulated over countless ages. The other is a full structural record of the spatial corridor, Atlantis, and the Interstellar Mountainous City."
"Alright. I'll take them."
But the instant Samael accepted them, Poseidon's hand locked around his wrist.
"Use them as an exchange. If you can… have them bring my son back…"
Poseidon's lips tightened, and the grief he'd kept buried for far too long surged up all at once.
"Even if it's only his body…"
Samael fell silent for a beat, then nodded heavily. He turned and left, leaving Poseidon behind, hunched and alone, his silhouette bleak.
If you were going to end up like this… why start in the first place?
Moving at a fast clip, the Ancient Serpent glanced back once toward the Olympians' camp and gave a faint shake of his head. He tightened his grip on the two items, then looked out at the red-black Ether storm gathering over the sea, his thoughts twisting into a quiet sigh.
Sealing the End… Oceanus… the Titan Ocean of the Age of Gods… Atlantis… the Interstellar Mountainous City… Olympus…
The Argo… the dead-sea breakthrough…
If his memory wasn't betraying him, then in those vague, hard-to-grasp fragments of the Titan War, the turning point that decided the final victory had been… the seemingly frail humans, playing an irreplaceable role.
And that was why so many heroes, Heracles included, had later been granted the honor of being "Olympians."
After all this circling, Greece's future seemed to have looped right back to destiny's starting line.
...