Chapter 918: Ch 917: Walked Right Into It

Anyone who held a Sun Authority could call forth a Star Beast, a living embodiment of that Authority's power.

Ryo did exactly that, and two Star Beasts answered his call.

The first was a three-meter giant who stepped forward to block the way. His thick bronze muscles gleamed in the light, and he stood like a tower of iron.

Hovering at his back was the second: a retainer, half mermaid and half bird, cradling a treasure vase in her arms. A terrifying, freezing aura rolled off her, chilling the air around them.

"So it's the Sun Authority of Leo. No wonder you managed to summon him." Zeus looked at Heracles, who towered in front of him like an iron tower, and gave a warm, friendly smile.

A flicker of emotion crossed Heracles's hollow eyes. It was the will of the real Heracles, descending from somewhere far away.

The Star Beast of Leo was the incarnation of Heracles, the price paid for embodying the Leo zodiac.

'What idiot summoned me to fight Zeus?'

Before the thought had even faded, Heracles spotted Ryo standing behind them.

"..."

After a short, awkward silence, Heracles reached out and pulled a huge black axe from thin air.

'Whatever. I owe him a favor. Guess I'm doing this.'

Zeus noticed that Heracles had clearly recognized him and was drawing a weapon anyway. His face darkened with irritation. "Don't tell me you think a brat summoned with a Sun Authority, a beast powered up by the same authority, and two worthless Greek rejects are enough to take us on?"

That was when Saint George's voice cut in, sounding oddly delicate. "Sorry, small correction. I think you're the only one who's surrounded."

George pointed at where he was standing. He was just behind Hermes, and although he faced Ryo across the field, he clearly wasn't inside the ring formed by the four.

It was obvious that only Zeus was being targeted. If Saint George hadn't felt bound by his duty, he could have walked away right now.

Zeus fell silent for a moment, maybe wondering whether he regretted pulling Saint George over to his side earlier.

He sighed and shook his head. "Kids these days. No sense of fair play. All they know is how to bully an old bag of bones like me."

"Poor old me, a god in his twilight years, forced to take on four at once. Honestly, little Hermes is the only cute one here. The rest are a bunch of ugly misfits, and there's even a freakish bird-mermaid hybrid in the mix."

"I'm a god who appreciates natural beauty, you know."

The instant he spoke, the treasure vase in the mermaid's hands trembled.

She was Ryo's twelfth familiar, bound to him as the Fourth Primogenitor: the Bewitching Princess of Azure Ice, Pisces Dodekatos.

Ryo felt her emotions and sighed.

Zeus noticed it too and let out a low chuckle. "Oh, I see. So it has a mind of its own?"

He had worked out Dodekatos' condition, and a cunning smile spread across his face. "Too green, though. From the look of it, it hasn't existed for long. Just a rule-breaker temporarily boosted with Leo's Sun Authority."

Ryo stared at Zeus without a word.

Zeus looked at him with mocking amusement. "You may have the numbers, but only you and Heracles can actually fight at full strength here, right?"

Zeus had figured out part of the truth.

He was right. Only two people on the field could truly unleash Rule-Breaker power.

Hermes and Ares were both run by the machine gods' autonomous AI. They held Authorities and could mimic their originals' fighting styles, giving them combat power equal to a four-digit rule-breaker.

That was fine against most opponents, but against Zeus it was full of openings.

After all, Ares and Hermes were two of his most loyal subordinates in the Greek pantheon, and he naturally had ways to counter them.

As for Dodekatos, who had been boosted by Pisces, Zeus had mistaken it for a Leo boost. A forced enhancement was fine against weaklings, but against Zeus it was a joke.

Zeus grinned, clearly enjoying himself. "This doesn't look much like the human wave tactics you were talking about. Don't tell me you're relying on poison again? If you want my advice this time, try an aphrodisiac. It might be the best experience of your life."

Halfway through that sentence, Heracles moved.

He vanished from sight, turning into nothing but a heavy black stone axe.

The axe hummed. Black lightning ran along its dark blade, splitting space and shattering the air, and it swept along some mysterious trajectory toward Zeus' vulnerable groin.

"Young people are so impulsive. A few words and they go charging in recklessly..." Zeus raised a hand as if to block, and in that split second of attack and defense he sent his voice straight to Ryo's ear, trying to keep stirring up trouble.

But then he caught the brief flash of surprise in Ryo's eyes.

Damn. That brat isn't the one giving the orders. Heracles is acting on his own.

No, wait... Shit, it's a trap!

Zeus abandoned the idea of blocking and flashed backward to retreat, but the terrifying freezing aura behind him locked him in place for an instant.

Heracles gave a savage grin. The muscles in his legs bulged and the gnarled black veins burst out. Bolts of black lightning appeared out of nowhere around his feet and exploded beneath him.

Riding that burst, Heracles's speed shot up another notch. He charged straight at Zeus and swung at his groin in the dirtiest way possible.

At that same moment, Ryo made Hermes reach out a hand.

He knew Zeus would be on guard against Theft, so he didn't try to steal anything that Zeus might evade. Instead, he aimed at himself.

With an amused look, Ryo had Hermes use the Authority of Theft to steal the irritation that "Ryo" had been stewing in the whole time he'd listened to Zeus yap. Then he smiled at Zeus and handed it over as a gift.

All at once, Zeus' head exploded with grievances, and every complaint came flooding up in his chest.

The sight of Heracles in front of him suddenly looked more infuriating than anything he'd ever seen.

For a moment, he felt the urge to take this hit head-on, just to kill Heracles.

'Hermes' Theft?'

By the time that thought surfaced, Zeus had already lost his best chance to dodge.

And at that moment, Heracles's arm, thick as a man's waist, swelled again.

With a roar, he swung the axe in a rising arc, putting everything he had into the strike aimed at Zeus.

.

.

.