Boom!
In just an instant, under the gaze of all present, Bolos was reduced to ashes.
His body exploded, shattered by thunder and flame, incinerated to the point where not even a scrap of flesh remained. He was annihilated in the truest sense.
"That's it?"
While Leto grieved and Artemis and Apollo were heartbroken, Zeus found it rather strange.
He hadn't even struck with full force, and yet the enemy was dead already? That seemed far too weak.
This didn't match the vision the Fates had shown him—the terrifying future that had once filled him with dread.
Where was that sacred power that had made his heart tremble?
Why hadn't Bolos used it?
Puzzled, Zeus swept his gaze across all the seas surrounding the floating island. Whether Divine Beings or sea monsters, none dared meet his eyes, fearing to provoke the wrath of The King of the Gods in his fury.
Let alone The King of the Gods—even an ordinary Divine Being would rage if their lover were taken by another, and their own children called someone else "Father."
Having scoured the seas and found no trace of Bolos, Zeus assumed he was truly dead and finally relaxed. He then looked at his lover and children with what he believed to be the gentlest expression.
"Artemis, Apollo, I am your true father, Zeus. I will take you to Mount Olympus, where you shall become revered Divine Beings."
But both Artemis and Apollo gazed at Zeus with only fear and complexity.
There was no hatred in their eyes. Their "father" had warned them this would happen.
They also knew their real "father" wasn't dead and would come for them someday. They had been prepared for this moment and had even practiced their expressions under his guidance.
Their task now was to follow Zeus to Mount Olympus, grow stronger, and protect their mother.
In fact, until now, aside from Metis and her daughter, no one even knew the name "Bolos."
On the floating island, there was no need for introductions or names.
Leto called him "Lord," while Apollo and Artemis called him "Father." That was all.
In the end, Apollo and Artemis agreed to go with Zeus to Mount Olympus. But Leto refused, claiming she had no desire to be with Hera.
Zeus, aware of Hera's hostility toward Leto, also thought it best not to bring her to Olympus.
Thus, Leto was carried away by her sister—who had become the floating island—none other than the Goddess of Shooting Stars, Astraea, who had protected her for the past half year.
"Astraea, is he really not dead?"
On the way to the Kingdom of Night, Astraea heard the question again and replied helplessly, "Leto, how many times are you going to ask me that?"
"He told you himself—he was prepared. He won't die."
"But it was Zeus. The King of the Gods."
"So what? He's only just become The King of the Gods. His Authority hasn't even fully solidified. There are still plenty of Divine Beings stronger than him."
...
"As expected of Zeus…"
Drifting in a hidden corner of the sea, the Tree of Life began to emit a holy glow, and Bolos's voice faintly echoed from it.
One of the Ten Arts of Fate—Grand Resurrection Art.
Each of these ten Divine Magics held unfathomable powers.
The Grand Annihilation Art Bolos had used before could, at its peak, obliterate all matter, spirit, laws, even karma, fate, and entire worlds.
Meanwhile, the Grand Resurrection Art could revive all forms of life—and even intangible worlds.
With his current strength, Bolos had not fully mastered the Grand Resurrection Art. He couldn't resurrect others, much less bring back dead Divine Beings.
But with the aid of the Tree of Life, it was enough to restore himself.
In fact, so long as the Tree of Life remained intact, he could never truly die.
Even before he transmigrated, he had already bound his life to the Tree of Life, which had once been the Heart of Celestial Tree.
With this partial application of the Grand Resurrection Art, he could rapidly recover without entering a prolonged state of weakness and sleep.
Back when Apollo and Artemis were born, Bolos had thrown the Tree of Life into the sea to drift with the tides.
He hadn't left early because he wanted to see firsthand what kind of power and strength this world's King of the Gods possessed.
Now he had seen it—but it made no difference.
With his current level, he couldn't gauge Zeus's true might at all.
"A world's King of the Gods—Lightning is but a tool in his hand. He is the master of the sky, the ruler of all things in this world."
Zeus's inscrutable depths served as a wake-up call for Bolos. From now on, he would have to act more cautiously in this world.
After all, aside from Zeus, there were other primordial lords: Mother Earth Gaia, Night Nyx, the Abyss Tartarus—and two former Kings of the Gods who had lost their thrones but not their lives.
"Grow slowly. Recruit subordinate gods. Wait for the right moment."
With this thought, Bolos began to reconstruct his divine body.
But before he could reappear, something in the nearby sea startled him.
"What the hell? That's disgusting!"
In this sunlit golden sea, the sunlight created a kind of ethereal beauty.
But all that beauty was ruined by a single object.
Bolos saw a massive rod, as thick as the Sea Stabilizing Needle, floating on the surface—but it was clearly different from that divine object.
The front end was bulbous, tapering to a pointed tip—uncannily resembling a certain male organ.
Around this peculiar "Sea Stabilizing Needle," white, pearl-like foam floated. And within it lay a giant, pure-white shell.
From within the shell, Bolos could sense the presence of a female Divine Being, in the process of being born.
"This scene… feels strangely familiar."
Bolos thought for a moment, then a sly smile crept onto his face.
"So, inside that shell, it must be the future Goddess of Love and Beauty, Aphrodite, right?"
He had studied Greek Myths in his previous life. There were many legends about Aphrodite's birth, but the most widely spread one involved the first King of the Gods—Uranus.
The former King of the Gods, Cronus, had overthrown the "tyrannical" Uranus under the urging of Mother Earth Gaia, alongside his eleven siblings.
During that battle, as Uranus lay in union with Gaia, Cronus used a sickle to sever Uranus's genitals.
The severed organ fell into the sea, still filled with divine essence, and merged with Thalassa, the mysterious sea goddess and wife of the ancient sea god Pontus.
Thus was Aphrodite conceived, and in the age of Zeus—the new King of the Gods—she would emerge from the ocean as the Goddess of Love and Beauty.
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