Chapter 224: A Place for Everyone

Chapter 224: Chapter 224: A Place for Everyone

A month had passed since Damon freed Typhon and held the meeting with his family, also marking two and a half months since Amaterasu had told him about her pregnancy. During that time, Typhon and Echidna had not wasted a moment. The two had begun contacting various Greek creatures around the world, starting, as expected, with several of their most important descendants.

The results had been better than Damon expected, although they were far from perfect.

Many of these monsters had died more than once throughout the millennia, only to reform over time, allowing the names of ancient legends to endure long after the deaths of the heroes who had once defeated them. Some had changed over the centuries, while others remained practically the same as they had always been.

Among the first that Typhon and Echidna managed to contact was the Sphinx, who ended up being one of the easiest to convince. With the body of an enormous lion, large feather-covered wings, and the face of a woman, she was difficult to mistake once someone knew what they were looking for. In ancient times, she had become especially famous in Thebes, where she stopped travelers and challenged them with riddles. Those unable to answer correctly ended up dead, often devoured by her, until Oedipus managed to solve one of her riddles and brought that Chapter of her history to an end.

Despite that past, the Sphinx was intelligent enough to fully understand what Olympus was offering. After so many centuries, she also had little interest in continuing to hunt demigods merely to relieve her boredom. In addition, she had always maintained a good relationship with Echidna and Typhon, making her much more willing to listen to what the two had to say.

The Chimera, on the other hand, had been a completely different and far less pleasant case. Her long history of violence stretched back to Lycia and her defeat at the hands of Bellerophon, and Echidna had been forced to spend much more time trying to convince her that giving up the hunt for demigods did not mean submitting to Olympus.

In the end, it had all been for nothing. The Chimera rejected the agreement and made it quite clear that she had no intention of giving up hunting demigods either. The problem had not only been her refusal, but the fact that she had wasted hours of their time before announcing that she intended to continue exactly as she had until now.

Typhon had not taken that particularly well, and by the time Echidna could intervene, little remained of the Chimera besides a pile of ashes scattered across the ground. It would not be permanent, of course, but she would have plenty of time to reconsider her answer before reforming again.

Ladon had been completely different and had required practically no negotiation. A few mentions of Damon and Hera had been more than enough, especially after the dragon had personally witnessed the death of the Titan Atlas.

The enormous hundred-headed dragon was not exactly a sociable creature either. He had never shown much interest in roaming the world in search of children of the gods to devour and preferred remaining within his own territory, which was why, in Hera’s opinion, he had always been the perfect guardian for her garden.

In short, Ladon had not hesitated much before agreeing to help. As long as he could continue fulfilling his duty and no one attempted to touch what he protected, he had no reason to oppose the new rules of Olympus. After all, he had never truly been an enemy of the pantheon in the first place.

Cerberus had been even easier. The enormous three-headed dog had spent millennia serving Hades and, of all the children of Typhon and Echidna, was probably the one who needed reform the least. His loyalty toward the God of the Underworld had never truly been in question, and that, in turn, translated into a certain degree of loyalty toward Damon because of the deep trust Hades had placed in his brother.

Orthrus had been a different case, although not because he had refused to cooperate. They simply had not been able to find him.

The two-headed dog had always been the far less well-known brother of Cerberus. Even when they were both young, Cerberus’s strength, size, and reputation had ended up overshadowing him almost completely. Echidna had not spent much time with Orthrus during those early years either, so his disappearance had not caused her much concern.

After several unsuccessful attempts, she and Typhon had decided to leave him aside for the time being. Orthrus had never possessed enough influence among the monsters to justify wasting entire days searching for him, and there were far more important matters that required their attention.

And finally, there were creatures like the Hydra and the Nemean Lion, cases where a long conversation accomplished very little. The enormous lion remained an extremely territorial beast whose hide was practically impossible to penetrate and, like the Hydra, acted primarily on instinct. Reasoning with either of them had proven nearly impossible and, although Typhon could impose her will through force, both women preferred to avoid the risk of having creatures like them anywhere near the demigods.

With all that said, Damon was genuinely surprised by Typhon and Echidna’s efficiency. They were still far from being able to call any of this peace for several reasons, but it was already considerably more than the pantheon had accomplished during thousands of years of trying to solve practically every problem by the sword.

Damon blinked and returned to the present, where two untouched cups of tea and two women sitting across from him were waiting. The private sitting room was small, the kind Hestia used to receive visitors without any formalities involved. There was only a small wooden table, three chairs, and an enchanted teapot that refilled itself whenever it began to run low.

"Forgive me," Damon said as he settled back into his seat. "I was thinking about something else."

Gabriel nodded without giving it much importance. Beside her, Asia held her back so straight that she looked uncomfortable, both hands wrapped around her cup. Damon studied her for a moment. The girl certainly looked like the type who would be frightened by almost anything, something the redhead found almost endearing. "Asia, before you say anything, I want to ask you a question. And I want the real answer, not the one you think I want to hear."

"Y-Yes, Lord Damon," the blonde girl replied, straightening even further.

"Do you regret healing him?" Damon asked bluntly.

Asia blinked, having expected almost anything except that question, but her answer did not take long to come. "No. He was injured and dying in front of me. I couldn’t let him suffer just because he was a Devil."

"Would you do it again, even knowing how everything turned out?"

"Yes," the blonde replied firmly, without the slightest hesitation.

Damon could not stop a small smile from appearing at the girl’s innocence. It was something quite rare to find in that world. He nodded before continuing. "What did they tell you when they excommunicated you?"

The young girl lowered her eyes toward her cup. "That I had tainted a sacred gift. That Devils were enemies of God and that healing one had been... a betrayal." Her fingers tightened slightly around the porcelain, making it quite clear that the memory still weighed heavily on her.

Gabriel, who had remained listening to the conversation from the side, said nothing, but her hands also tightened around her cup. When Damon had suggested that she meet Asia, she had not expected to encounter something like this. Damon noticed the Seraph’s internal conflict and could not help feeling pleased.

If he had told her Asia’s story himself, it would have sounded like an accusation. A god belonging to another pantheon criticizing the Church could quickly turn into a conflict even if every word he said was true. Gabriel would have listened, probably with all the politeness in the world, but part of her would have been analyzing what Damon hoped to accomplish by giving her that information.

Now, however, sitting in front of her was a seventeen-year-old girl who had dedicated a large part of her life to her faith and who, after losing practically everything for using a healing power to save someone, remained devoted to God. It was difficult for Gabriel to ignore or deny what the girl herself was telling her.

"Miss Gabriel..." Asia spoke with some uncertainty and leaned slightly toward her, pulling the Seraph from her thoughts. "You belong to Heaven, right? You’re one of the Seraphs."

"Yes," Gabriel replied gently. "I am."

Asia hesitated before asking her next question. "Did I... do something wrong?"

Gabriel did not answer right away. Her blue eyes remained on the young girl as she seemed to carefully arrange her thoughts, something Damon decided not to interrupt.

"No," she answered at last. "Healing someone who was suffering was not wrong. If someone told you that showing compassion that way was a betrayal, then they have no idea what our faith truly represents."

Asia remained silent, processing the answer, while Gabriel shifted her attention toward Damon. "Lord Damon, the Church acts in the name of our faith. What they did to this girl..."

"Gabriel, you don’t need to explain anything to me," Damon interrupted without any harshness. "I have nothing to do with Heaven or with the responsibility it has over its own subordinates."

"Then you... what exactly are you trying to tell me with all of this?" the Seraph asked with some uncertainty.

"That any institution can end up protecting itself before the principles it was created to uphold." Damon leaned back slightly in his seat. "At some point, someone decided that maintaining a certain idea of control within the Church was more important than stopping to ask why they were punishing a girl for using a healing power to save a life. That can happen to any faction or group in the world, even yours, which prides itself on representing justice and goodness. As you can see, believing yourself above making those kinds of mistakes only makes it easier to end up making them."

Gabriel lowered her eyes toward her cup but did not argue. She understood better than most the difficulties that had plagued Heaven’s system since the death of its creator. It was not as though she was proud of everything that had been done since then either, but she was not the one who ruled Heaven, and there were limits to how much she could change on her own.

Damon allowed Gabriel to process his words and turned his attention back toward Asia. "Thank you for being honest with me, Asia. Now let’s talk about you. Your Sacred Gear, Twilight Healing, is quite interesting."

At his words, Asia seemed to tense up slightly, something Damon noticed easily.

"Don’t misunderstand me. I have no intention of hurting you or taking your power away from you. It belongs entirely to you, not to the Church and not to me either."

Asia raised her head with obvious surprise, but Damon continued before she could respond. "I only wanted to tell you that Olympus could make very good use of someone capable of healing like you. I’m not going to lie to you and pretend otherwise. But no one is going to force you to heal soldiers, work for Olympus, or spend your days at Camp Half-Blood if you don’t want to. You can continue praying to your God, keep your faith, and decide for yourself what you want to do with your power. If you choose to help others, you’ll have a safe place from which to do it and protection for as long as you remain within my territory. That’s all."

"It... it doesn’t have to be an exchange, Lord Damon?"

"Hospitality isn’t a contract to me," the god replied with a reassuring smile.

Asia did not even know what to say. Her shoulders trembled slightly, moved by the kindness she was receiving from someone she barely knew. She took a deep breath to regain her composure before murmuring a quiet, "Thank you."

Gabriel reached out and covered Asia’s fingers where they rested around the cup. "You were brave. Not everyone manages to hold on to their compassion once they discover how costly doing so can be. For that, you have my respect and my blessing."

Asia stared at her as though she needed to make sure she had truly heard those words. Her eyes began to fill with tears and, before Gabriel could say anything else, the young girl rose from her seat and wrapped her arms tightly around her.

The movement caught the Seraph completely by surprise. "Thank you..." Asia murmured against her, her voice beginning to break. "Thank you so much."

Gabriel’s expression softened at once. Her heart tightened as she felt the girl cling to her that way, and after the initial surprise, she wrapped one arm around Asia’s back while her other hand began gently stroking her blonde hair.

"You don’t have to thank me for that," Gabriel replied quietly. "You didn’t do anything wrong, Asia."

Those words seemed to be enough to break what little composure the girl still had left. Asia buried her face a little deeper against Gabriel as a few tears finally escaped, although the Seraph made no attempt to pull away. She simply continued stroking her hair patiently until the girl’s breathing began to calm.

After a moment, Asia seemed to realize what she was doing and quickly pulled away, wiping her eyes with obvious embarrassment. "I-I’m sorry..."

Gabriel let out a small laugh and shook her head. "You have nothing to apologize for."

Damon allowed them both to regain their composure before standing and gesturing toward the door. "Someone is waiting for you outside. They’ll show you the temple, the gardens, and the place where you’ll be staying. No one is going to bother you for the rest of the day."

Asia stood as well, although before leaving, she stopped beside the door. "Can I pray here?"

Damon looked at her as though the answer were rather obvious. "You can pray wherever you want, Asia. No one on Olympus is going to stop you from doing it. You can even pray to Athena and ask her for wisdom if you want; I’m sure she’d love that," the god added with some humor.

Asia let out a small laugh through her tears, and some of the tension still lingering in her shoulders eased.

"Thank you, Lord Damon."

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What’s up, boys and Girls? Lol, hope y’all are doing great ?? I’ve actually been wondering about this for a while now... What have you enjoyed the most about the story so far?

Damon actually fighting / major battles ??

Greek mythology & Olympus politics/worldbuilding ???

Damon’s relationships and character interactions aka p@rn ??

Crossovers and interactions with other pantheons ??

Or are you just here to see where this goes lol ???