Smoke drifted across the throne room of Mount Oryx, the air humming with fractured divine energy. The cage of light still shimmered, imprisoning Nyx, Medusa, and a bloodied Leonidas—who watched in silence, breath ragged, as the ground trembled beneath them.
Across from him stood Hyperion, radiating raw celestial fire, and beside him, the blur of motion that was Editan, the Titan of Speed. Before them lay Megumi Valentine, unmoving—until his fingers twitched.
Then he stood.
No effort. No groan. Only purpose.
His head slowly lifted, and golden eyes—deep, ancient, burning—locked onto Hyperion's with unsettling calm.
"When you came," Megumi said quietly, "did you think I wouldn't be prepared for everything?"
In that instant, his aura exploded—a swirling hurricane of gold, black, and white, crackling with red lightning, bending space itself around him. The ground splintered. The throne behind him quaked.
Then, he began to vibrate.
Not just his body—but his presence, his energy, his very being rippled in and out of phase, like a god unchained from time and space.
Hyperion flinched.
Editan moved.
A blur—a line of silver light and lethal speed as Editan lunged with enough force to punch through mountains.
But Megumi caught him—by the throat.
Mid-air. Effortless.
Editan's eyes widened in horror. "W–what?!"
CRACK!
Megumi kicked his knee inward, shattering the Titan's leg with a divine snap, and hurled him across the throne room like a ragdoll. Editan smashed into the marble wall, cratering it with a deafening boom.
Hyperion growled and charged, fists glowing white-hot. But before he even raised his arm—
BOOM.
Megumi vanished—and reappeared in front of him.
A single punch.
It connected with such catastrophic force, the entire peak of Mount Oryx shuddered. Birds fled from miles away. Clouds were vaporized. Hyperion flew backward, his armor shattering as he crashed into the far wall and left a burning crater.
He groaned, coughing golden ichor, struggling to rise.
Then he saw it.
Megumi was sitting on Cronos's throne.
Like he belonged there.
Hyperion roared in rage, his body beginning to shimmer with internal fire, preparing to unleash his full might.
But he never got the chance.
There was no movement.
Only sudden stillness—and a wet sound like the snapping of vines.
Hyperion froze.
His eyes dropped to his chest.
A hand. A black-and-gold hand pierced through his ribs—clutching his still-beating heart.
Megumi stood behind him—expression calm, eyes glowing.
Hyperion collapsed to his knees, breath fading. And then—darkness.
The Titan's body fell limp.
Editan watched, shaking. "How… how did you…?"
Megumi stepped forward again, rising from the throne as if the very concept of mortality didn't apply to him.
"I can be in two places at once," Megumi said coldly.
"Hell—" he tilted his head, red lightning surging across his arms,
"—I can do things you could only dream of."
Suddenly, the second Megumi—still standing at the throne—vibrated, warping with crackling speed, before phasing back into the main body.
He knelt in front of Editan, his aura dimming just slightly—enough to speak without destroying the room.
"They sent you to test me," he said, voice low, heavy with wrath.
"That was a grave mistake."
In one swift motion, his hand sliced through the air.
SHUNK.
Editan's head rolled to the floor.
⸻
The throne room fell into utter silence.
Megumi rose to his feet, staring at the still-burning cage.
The war wasn't just coming anymore.
It had begun.