Chapter 921: Ch 920: Athena Exclamation!

The light from the dawn of creation dissolved everything.

Time and space, sky and earth, everything with form and everything without it was fused together into one jumbled mass, with no boundaries between any of it, as though it had been that way from the very start.

Under that light, the whole of 3345 Outer Gate dissolved into exactly that state.

The gods called it Chaos.

Turning everything it touched into nothing was the power of Chaos, the first primordial deity of Greece.

It was also the strongest attack the Another Cosmology Theogony could produce in the lower layers, one of the few methods able to briefly exceed the limits the Little Garden center placed on lower-layer power.

Power this undifferentiated could halt even the most elaborate Gift Game in an instant, forcibly end the match, and wreck a contest that was supposed to be kept fair by its rules, dragging everything back to the raw, basic fight to the death.

But that only worked when the opponent didn't have an Another Cosmology of their own.

In the formless, shapeless chaos, a hazy glow slowly surfaced and grew brighter, until a sun rose out of the chaos itself!

Under that grand, blinding light of creation, Zeus's split body squinted its two eyes against the glare. His voice was low. "You're saying I failed because I didn't guess what your Another Cosmology really looks like?"

He stared at the small but strangely towering figure inside the sun, at the dazzling divine armor on its body. Only after a long moment did he let out a heavy breath.

"You're right. I really didn't see it coming."

"Your trump card. The Another Cosmology my most beautiful daughter poured her heart into. I never imagined it would take this form."

He looked at the figure standing in the chaos without a scratch on it, and a bitter smile crossed his face.

"A suit of divine armor. Another Cosmology built purely for defense, one that even the concept of Chaos can't break through."

"Heh. That's so like Athena, with her careful nature. Of all the gifts a fourth-generation god king could receive, she picked the safest one, the one that can't lose."

The moment he saw that armor, Zeus knew he had lost.

The defining trait of Theogony was summoning the gods on its bloodline and either lending their power to the wielder or just calling them out directly to fight.

That summoning didn't care about the target. So even though Chaos didn't exist in Little Garden, Zeus could still call it up through Theogony and attack with it.

An attack like that was terrifyingly strong. It could even push past Little Garden's restrictions to some degree and let a true three-digit's power show up in the lower layers.

But none of the power meant a thing in front of that armor.

Having seen the Zodiac Saint Cloth, Zeus had no trouble reading its surface concept.

"A battle suit born from chaos, made from the material of the universe. An absolute defense that nothing can pierce unless it has the power to destroy the universe itself! Well done, Ryo Yagami. Well done, Athena!"

Zeus clapped and laughed, grinding his teeth the whole time.

"This round goes to you. I'll take the loss."

As he spoke, dark green blood finally began to seep from his two severed halves.

Having seen the Cloth, Zeus understood that he had no way of touching Ryo, and wisely gave up on every plan against him.

There was no point anymore.

As long as Ryo wore it and stayed in the lower layers, he was truly invincible there.

As long as Little Garden Center Core still stood, even a two-digit acting in person couldn't hurt Ryo's body while he wore it. That was invincibility at the most basic level, because nobody in the lower layers could ever break through the limit of his defense.

Splash~

Zeus's body quickly melted away, turning into drops of foul-smelling dark green sludge that fell toward the ground, which was only now separating from the chaos.

Somewhere in the unseen, a spark of spirit light rose from Zeus's remains, flew up into the sky, and entered the upper layers, vanishing into the palace on its summit.

In that palace, Zeus sat on his oak throne. He silently watched Ryo, now clad in an armor, for a long while, then sighed.

It was obvious. Knowing the situation was hopeless, Zeus had decided to give up on any further action.

That was when Ryo finally spoke. "You don't seriously think you're getting out of this in one piece, do you?"

The phantom on the oak throne narrowed his eyes and looked hard at the figure down in the lower layers.

At last, Zeus said in a low voice, "I'll admit you have what it takes to become the fourth-generation god king."

His eyes turned cold. "But if you think you can drag me off my throne right now, then come yourself! Come to Olympus and cut off my head with your own hands!"

Boom!

Purple lightning roared across Mount Olympus.

Under the crashing bolts, Zeus bellowed, "I am Zeus, King of the Gods, Lord of Olympus, Sky-Father, Cloud-Gatherer, Wielder of the Thunderbolt! And the one who always did what no other dared."

Hearing Zeus's declaration, Ryo couldn't help but snort. He looked coldly at the figure in the palace in the sky. One step carried him through layer after layer of space, straight onto Mount Olympus, into Zeus's temple, into the upper layers.

He stood calmly below Zeus's throne and tilted his head up just slightly, but his gaze felt like he was looking down on the god. "I came myself. Now what are you going to do?"

Zeus shot to his feet. A thick black book, like a dictionary, appeared in his hand.

Radiant glimmers of authority bloomed across its pages. All sorts of concepts gathered on it like points of starlight, making the book look like a universe of its own.

Standing before his throne, Zeus looked down at Ryo and couldn't help but sneer. "Reckless, green, even stupid! Wasn't being king in the lower layers good enough for you?"

Within the book in his hands, one brilliant divine light after another began to stir awake.

Chaos, who governs chaos. Gaia, mother of the earth. Uranus, master of the sky. Tartarus, god of the abyss. Nyx, goddess of the night. Erebus, god of darkness.

One by one, the ancient gods who had been sleeping slowly opened their eyes.

One cold, merciless gaze after another fixed on Ryo, and waves of vast divine power poured into Zeus's body, sending his strength soaring without limit.

Facing the gaze of six great beings, Ryo curled his lips. "I think I said this before. I like having the numbers on my side."

His smile grew wider and colder, and he even flashed a mocking grin at the six primordial gods. "Though that only counts when they're alive."

The mermaid-harpy Dodekatos appeared at Ryo's left and changed into a girl with golden hair and blue eyes.

The Lion of Gold, Leo Pemptos, let out a roar, and then it also became a young girl in armor with a golden ponytail.

They stood on either side of Ryo and raised their hands.

"Maybe this is the best move to use against the gods."

Ryo, in his Cloth, bent his knees, stretched out both arms, and spread the fingers of both hands wide.

Hmmmm...!

Golden Cosmo, solid enough to touch, blazed around the three of them. A power beyond words linked them together and swelled, and in that instant even time and space froze.

Sensing that something was wrong, Zeus moved to use Theogony.

But it was already too late.

"...Athena Exclamation!"

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Trivia: (Athena Exclamation is the ultimate forbidden technique where three Gold Saints bring together and infuse their Cosmo, unleashing a power that is equal to that of the Big Bang.)