Divine Realm
"Thor! You damned drunken braggart, have you finally lost your mind and decided to taste my lightning?! Then stop being a coward and come at me!"
"I'll show you the difference between the sound of lightning and the true power behind it!" Zeus roared at the top of his lungs amidst the raging storm clouds. His chest was puffed with fury, and in his hand, he gripped his master Lightning with Herculean strength.
"Have I lost my mind? Of course not! Only a senile old fool like you would—and did! The years turned you into a mad tyrant!"
"Did you truly believe I wouldn't notice what you've done to the lower realms?! That none of us would notice?!" Thor summoned his own mass of dark clouds. His voice boomed even louder than Zeus's, yet his thunder spoke more eloquently than any words he could utter.
Thor wasn't merely angry.
He was utterly consumed by wrath.
"You speak ill of him, yet you're not much different — none of you are! You're a disgrace to the gods!" Another god of thunder and lightning arrived, clad in bronze armor, with lightning crackling from each of his four muscular hands.
"You're all insane—and today I'm settling the score with each of you!" Unsurprisingly, yet another god of lightning emerged, and then another, and another after that, gathering from the depths of the clouds.
They all shared the same violent, explosive, and above all, tyrannical temperaments.
All of them had had their domains invaded, their temples desecrated, their people enslaved, even their children and descendants whom they loved deeply killed without any mercy across the many worlds where they once ruled as supreme sovereigns.
They had all been challenged without any respect and now, they would strike back with all their power.
Even if this meant destroying everything.
Even if it means the end of the highest world and the entire cosmos.
"So that's how it is, then…" Zeus muttered through narrowed eyes, glancing to either side just as Thor and the others did. "I thought it would take at least a few more millennia for this day to come. But you're right. I was far too complacent. This was always the nature of lightning… It's time to settle this once and for all."
"Whoever survives today, the last one left standing, will not merely be the god of lightning. He will be the god of gods, the one true sovereign who rules over the highest heaven of the highest world, reigning supreme above all creation. He will be... the True God of Lightning…" Zeus snorted as he declared it.
"A title none of you deserve! you miserable fools!" The air thickened with tension, electricity coiling and slithering like starving serpents through the clouds, their tendrils lashing down upon the earth, incinerating entire forests in mere seconds.
The almighty divine beasts, now could do nothing but weep, utterly powerless to resist.
Dragons, hydras, and every noble, once-mighty creature were reduced to ash without ever even being the intended target of the furious assault.
Thousands of kilometers vanished from the world in the blink of an eye. The earth itself could only cry out in desperation, pleading for calm.
For that was all it could do.
The weak could only sob and pray not to be struck down by accident.
"So it has finally begun." Hera spoke without emotion, within her divine palace far from the battlefield. yet she saw everything as though standing there among them. To a true god, distances greater than entire worlds were mere trivialities.
Her spirit still reached that place and through it she saw everything.
Likewise, the entire divine realm watched the event unfold, each with their own reactions. Some gleeful, others grieving, but all were shocked. No one had expected such a confrontation so soon.
"To whom should we gods even pray in times like this?" Hera asked one of her attendants.
This woman, whose beauty was unmatched. A being who would be considered the most desirable woman in many worlds, capable of stirring desire even in other women and men who loved men. Still paled in comparison beside Hera.
She could only be grateful that Aphrodite wasn't standing next to her, or else she would've been considered downright ugly among the gods.
"I haven't the faintest idea, my lady, but at the very least, we can be thankful." Hera raised a brow in suspicion.
"And why, exactly, should we be thankful?" She asked with mild irritation. Her displeasure made the beauty shudder, fearing for her life.
To anger a goddess of such stature, especially Zeus's wife, was the height of folly.
"Sorry my lady, I didn't mean to provoke you. what I meant was that the Divine Lightning is the ultimate weapon, and as such, it demands a wielder of immense power and resistance. Therefore—" Hera raised her hand, clearly tired of the explanation.
"Young and their arrogance, don't ever again insult my intelligence, girl! I know perfectly well what that implies! I am the one who wrote the books you learned it from! All of them can withstand the might of the lightning, which means the battle won't end swiftly. It will likely take centuries if not millennia for them to determine the victor."
"But so what? This only means more destruction! As usual, like any other conflict between gods, only the gods will be alive afterward to tell the story and teach the young. Just to be disrespected once again." Hera sighed heavily and waved her off.
She then focused on the battlefield.
"Never had this happened, such a powerful place full of divine lightning couldn't have been born naturally, only now. This is the best stage for a new god of lightning to be born, an even more powerful one... maybe, this could be a plot, to create a new opposer to Zeus." She chuckled softly at her own thoughts, amused for just a moment.
"Not that someone would have the guts." It would be madness for anyone to try! No one would ever dare to get involved in a battle between the mightiest gods!
No one would dare!
No one…
Not a single one…
Except him, but he was missing and highly likely dead.
Even so, He wouldn't dare.
No, everyone knew he would.
But he could?
…
Many gods tried to comprehend how things escalated into such a devastating conflict. Most of them were still in disbelief over the entire situation. It wasn't exactly normal for gods to suddenly start brawling like drunkards in a tavern.
They wondered — even if only for a fleeting moment — could someone have orchestrated this? Could it be the scheme of another deity? A conspiracy? Someone was trying to become one with lightning?
But the thought alone made them burst into laughter. The mere idea of something so foolish was enough to amuse them.
Courage wasn't enough.
He had to be insane.
Only him would be that insane…
but he couldn't.
They, who considered themselves the wisest beings in all existence, didn't even entertain the possibility. No one would be insane enough to try and deceive a god of lightning — a god among gods!
Those bastards had reduced lesser deities to nothing but ashes for far less!
And everyone is a lesser deity compared to them.
Even immortals suffered under their hands. Prometheus was still being tortured to this day for defying the will of Zeus!
No bastard would dare to do such a thing!
No wretch would have the courage!
Everyone loved life too much—and feared them even more.
…
However…
On the distant fringe of the battlefield, where the divine lightning was weaker, a small black bird observed the chaos with sharp, unwavering eyes.
Nothing that transpired there escaped its senses—not even a fraction of a second went unnoticed.
He wasn't god.
Yet he wished to become one…