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“Is there really no other way?”

“Other way, you say….”

The sage took a moment to choose his words before speaking.

“If we could place the King of the Gods back on the Divine Throne as she wishes, it might quell her anger.”

“The King of the Gods? But Baal is already…”

“Yes. Baal has been shattered into many fragments, and his soul has flowed to the Underworld. However, that doesn’t mean Baal’s existence is completely annihilated.”

With that, the sage tapped the table lightly, and a faintly glowing picture emerged above it.

It was a drawing of a long serpent biting its own tail.

A representation of the cycle of life and death.

“All souls die, are reborn, live again, and die once more. Even the soul of a god is bound by this law.”

“So that means… Baal’s soul too?”

“Yes. The soul of the King of the Gods, Baal, will be reborn as a human in three years. If we can teach and train that soul—who will have forgotten all memories of being a god—leading them down the right path to become a hero and then ascend again as a god…”

“It would mean the soul of Baal, King of the Gods, is returning to where it belongs. We might just appease her anger.”

The sage nodded slightly.

“However, this is merely a possibility. Among the countless futures I see, such an outcome is exceedingly rare. Keep that in mind.”

“A possibility…”

“Yes. A potential future that might come to pass. Also, there’s one more thing we must do in order to delay her wrath.”

At the sage’s words, Hermes leaned in, intrigued.

“Something we must do? What is it?”

“Humans take a long time to be born, grow, and achieve greatness before they become heroes. Yet, the Goddess of Life might judge all the gods at any moment. Therefore, we need to postpone her judgment. If we don’t, the age of gods will end before Baal’s soul, reborn as a human, can become a hero.”

“Postpone the judgment? How?”

The sage tapped the table again, and this time another picture appeared.

A drawing of a large circle divided into four fragments.

“When Baal disappeared, some gods obtained his remnants… the pieces of Baal.”

He pointed at the four fragments with his finger.

“Wisdom of the Sky. Power and Authority of the Sky. Emotion of the Sky. Body of the Sky. Fragments of Baal, who was originally the god of the Sky.”

“Those…”

“You already know that it was the gods who once belonged to Baal’s fragments who obtained these. They were once subservient to Baal, yet they gained a sense of self, resisted him, and through obtaining Baal’s pieces, became separate entities.”

“Wait, the gods are fragments of Baal? That’s a first for me to hear!”

“Oh, did you not know? My apologies. But anyway, it’s something you’ll find out soon enough. Think of it as a little early warning.”

“No, what do you—”

Ignoring Hermes, the sage continued.

“Regardless, you already know that Baal’s pieces are crucial elements that compose each of those gods. By returning at least some of them to the Goddess of Life, we could postpone her anger.”

Hermes hesitated, contemplating the sage’s words.

If what the sage said was true, then the power and authority of the sky would be a part of Zeus, his father and the head of Olympus.

To return such a crucial element… wouldn’t that be like carving out a significant part of Zeus himself?

What would happen to Zeus once such a vital element was cut away… the thought sent shivers down Hermes’ spine.

“Is there really no other way?”

“There is none. This is the only option.”

With the sage’s resolute words, Hermes exhaled deeply.

“Is that so…”

Many absurd things were being thrown around, but one truth stood tall.

The gods were being forced to make a choice.

Sacrifice the major gods to buy time, thereby grasping a future where they could survive.

Or head toward ruin together.

Of course, they should choose the former, but that wouldn’t be an easy feat.

Each major god was comparatively weaker than the Ancient Gods, but they possessed a different level of strength compared to others.

Four of such gods. If they had to be sacrificed…

“Wait. You said that just by returning a fragment of Baal, we could buy time?”

“Yes, that’s correct.”

“How much time could we buy with just one fragment?”

The sage pondered Hermes’ question for a moment before replying.

“It would depend on which fragment it is, but generally speaking, I believe we could buy about ten years.”

“Ten years… Then… does it not matter who the fragment belongs to?”

“Indeed. What matters to her is simply the piece of Baal. Who it belongs to is irrelevant.”

Hermes nodded slightly.

“In that case… have any other factions like the Aesir or the Ennead sent you? I’ve heard that Odin came to visit…”

“Yes. Odin, the chief of the Aesir, came to me directly. I can’t share what we discussed, but also, Thoth from the Ennead came as an envoy.”

“Thoth… that stork-headed—?”

Hermes clicked his tongue for a moment. Every time there was a problem between Olympus and the Ennead, that annoyingly smart stork head appeared to meddle in every little thing.

Hermes had never liked that god.

“Anyone else? Any other gods have come to visit?”

“There were several other gods who came, but they were all just curious about their own futures. It seems they aren’t considering the future of the gods. Aside from Odin and Thoth, none of them addressed this matter.”

Hermes nodded at the sage’s words. Given such circumstances… well, even if Odin and Thoth had heard this story, that alone was already a significant issue.

At least it hadn’t spread to the Lokapala yet.

“Thank you for sharing this. I feel like I’ve gained a hint toward the answer.”

“I understand what you plan to do, but allow me to offer one piece of advice.”

“Advice?”

The sage nodded slightly, then continued.

“Ensure that no innocent lives are lost. Do not provoke the Goddess of Life into anger. Keep that in mind above all.”

“Innocent lives… Right. Thank you for the advice. I almost overlooked something important. Then, I’ll take my leave.”

“Yes. Take care.”

Hermes left that shabby stone house in a hurry, making his way quickly toward the Divine Hall.

He had to prepare for the war of the gods, and he had to do it soon.

— — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — —

Phew. Have I sown all the seeds?

After Hermes left, I disconnected from the remote sage I had been controlling.

The remote-controlled golem carved from rock was the true identity of the sage.

“Did I really have to go through all this hassle?”

“Yeah. It’s a troublesome matter.”

I was helped by Yggdrasil to create the deep forest where the sage resided. And it was Sagarmatha that assisted in making the sage’s golem and house.

Though I had received some help from other kids as well, for now, these two had provided significant assistance.

“The gods… if Mom wanted, she could have handled everything right now.”

“That’s true, but…”

I patted Sagarmatha’s head as it lay on my thigh.

“If she did that, all the gods would rebel in unison and resist, no matter what sacrifices they had to endure.”

They might even hold the believers hostage to resist.

It was a bit troublesome, but to avoid causing harm to other lives, this was the smarter option.

While complete despair could be inflicted, a rat cornered would fight back.

It would be better to push them down a narrow and treacherous path rather than a completely dead-end one to reduce the chance of rebellion.

“So you mean to say ‘kill each other from here on out’?”

“Roughly summarizing, yeah.”

Four gods holding the pieces of Baal: Zeus, Odin, Amun, and Indra.

Of these, Indra… I had met him during my travels. He was the leader of Lokapala who had blessed Asterios.

He would likely accept the end of the age of gods without resistance, so let’s move past him.

Odin had visited the sage in the guise of a shabby old man and listened to everything.

Upon realizing that everything the sage said was a trap meant to destroy the gods, he fully grasped that there was no future left for them.

Though he recognized the trap, he knew the other gods wouldn’t, and returned only to despair with knowledge that he alone bore.

Rumor has it he was holed up in the territory of the Aesir, doing something… Hmm, let’s set that aside for now.

Amun and Zeus… they would likely engage in a ruinous battle against each other.

For the human with the soul of Baal that would be born in three years, we would need around thirty years to raise him into a true hero.

Twenty years would be barely enough just to teach him, let alone the time needed for him to gain fame as a heroic figure—so one of them would probably offer me three pieces of Baal.

Moreover, Olympus and the Ennead were positioned quite close to each other, likely seeing each other as rivals, always snarring.

If there were reasons to fight, they would not hesitate to clash.

“Is it really necessary to go through such convoluted methods to make a human into a god? Mom could just share her divinity, like she did with Sirius.”

“That’s something I could do. It’s not something a typical god would ever consider doing.”

Divinity was vitally important to a god.

To make a rough analogy with a game, faith was like HP, MP, and also XP all rolled into one, along with serving as currency.

For a god to exist, faith was absolutely necessary. To perform miracles and exert power, they consumed faith, and the more faith they gathered, the stronger they could become.

Additionally, it was used more like currency in transactions between gods.

“If it came down to a critical situation, they might slice off part of their own faith to share. But why would they choose to do that if there was another way?”

Unless no other method was available, or if they provided another clue, the gods would never make that choice.

So, let’s wait until the time is right.

Until the moment the selfish degeneration of the gods devours each other.

 

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