The halls of Leonidas's stronghold were quiet, the air still from the calm after chaos. Megumi stood alone in the grand chamber of stone and flame, surrounded by relics of ancient wars. His body remained silent, but his aura pulsed—gold, black, and white weaving together with violent red arcs of electricity.
A shadow flickered behind him.
Megumi didn't turn.
"I felt you the moment you crossed into this plane," he said, voice steady.
Out of the shimmer of golden light, Cronos emerged—head bowed, cloak dragging behind him, no longer the proud and cold king he had once been.
The ancient Titan knelt.
Not out of trickery. Not out of strategy.
Out of something far more dangerous for an immortal: guilt.
"Megumi Valentine," he said. "I have come not as your enemy… but as a father."
Megumi's golden eyes narrowed.
"You're too late."
Cronos remained still, the weight of millennia in his voice.
"I saw what you did to my sons. I saw what you have become. You are beyond what we feared. You are beyond what we deserve."
He raised his head slowly. His gaze was worn, hollowed by loss.
"I beg you… not for my sake… but for theirs." His voice cracked. "Show mercy to the Olympians. Take me instead."
For a long moment, the chamber was silent—until a deep breath filled it.
Megumi turned, expression unreadable.
His wings—one angelic, one dark—unfurled slightly, casting an enormous shadow behind him. His aura flickered more violently now, red bolts snapping like divine whips in the air.
"Mercy?" he echoed, the word a blade in his mouth.
He took a step forward.
"I should thank you," Megumi said. "You gave me clarity today."
Cronos looked up, eyes shining.
"But don't mistake clarity for compassion."
Megumi's gaze sharpened—gold like burning suns.
"You were a tyrant, Cronos. You ruled with fear. You devoured your own children. But…" Megumi's voice dropped. "You loved your people. You fought for them. Protected them when it mattered."
His jaw clenched.
"The same cannot be said for your sons."
He turned away again, walking toward the burning brazier at the center of the room.
"They sit on Olympus," Megumi said, his voice echoing with divine wrath. "They drink. They laugh. They celebrate while the real world bleeds."
He turned sharply, and his voice roared with the weight of the heavens and the underworld.
"THEY CELEBRATED WHILE MY WIFE AND UNBORN CHILD WERE MURDERED!"
The chamber shook. Flames burst higher. The skies above rumbled with celestial fear.
"Because one of your sons—one of your precious gods—believed my child was the Fallen King," Megumi snarled. "And they were wrong."
He stared down at Cronos, towering with power.
"Do you understand what that means?"
Cronos swallowed.
"There is no mercy for them," Megumi said with thunder in his chest. "Not from me."
His wings spread fully, casting light and shadow across the room.
"They killed my family for a prophecy they couldn't even get right," he continued. "Now I'll give them something to believe in."
He stepped forward.
"They'll believe in fear. In judgment. In divine punishment."
He looked skyward, toward the distant heavens.
"And when I'm done… Tartarus will be empty."
He raised his hand, fingers glowing with power.
"Because no gods will be imprisoned…"
"They will be eradicated."