Mythology: Spiritual Ruler

It was dark.

It was as if he had fallen into the depths of a cold void, his thoughts were frozen, and he felt cold all around. Only in the depths of his soul, some equally extraordinary power radiated heat, dispelling the cold.

The bizarre illusion flashed by in an instant, and then returned to nothingness, but the feeling of "cold" became stronger and stronger. Ryan knew very well that it was probably the residual influence of the world.

The power from the Nine Realms had been erased in the past and the future, and the only thing that really affected this memory was actually the power of Chaos. It instinctively prevented other lives from prying, but it would not take the initiative to make any more obvious reactions, so although its existence made Ryan feel conceptually "cold", it was only there.

So the shuttle continued, and the concept of time became blurred. It seemed like a day, and it seemed like a second. At a certain moment, Ryan seemed to see a ray of color in his eyes...

Swish——

Time and space flowed, and time leaped, as if breaking a barrier and entering an illusory world... When Ryan woke up again, he suddenly found that he was not staying on Mount Olympus or integrating into Asgard in Chaos' world as he imagined.

These two places were the most likely places for Zeus to obtain the strange ritual, and Ryan was even prepared to see Odin in them... But at this moment, the surrounding environment was a little strange, and he was standing on a slightly damaged city wall.

A war seemed to have just ended, and the atmosphere of murder was floating around. Not far away, there were still many mortals walking around. Some of them were injured and groaning in pain, while others were on guard in armor and patrolling the four directions.

In a closer place, there were hundreds of people who looked like slaves. They were carrying heavy stones and seemed to be repairing this damaged city wall.

This is just nearby. In the farther place, inside the city wall, outside the city wall, dense crowds of people gathered around, and their flags were different. And Ryan's current location happened to be a gap in the city wall.

"——Who are you!"

"Raise your hands!"

A sharp shout broke the silence here. In an instant, Ryan's presence attracted the attention of everyone nearby.

Obviously, no matter how he appeared here, the sudden appearance of a stranger directly aroused people's tense nerves after just experiencing a war.

More than 20 soldiers raised their weapons, and looked in Ryan's direction with nervous and murderous eyes, as if they were ready to take action if they disagreed. And in the farther direction, more soldiers were coming after noticing the movement here.

As for the one who just spoke, he looked like the captain of this team of soldiers. He was shouting to Ryan, but opposite him, when the sense of surprise gradually faded, although Ryan heard the warnings of those soldiers, he obviously did not intend to follow them.

He just observed the environment of the place in a deeper level at the first time, then stared at the sky and the earth, and finally felt his own power.

The laws that are very similar to the present world, a kind of power that tries to imprison himself, and... a sense of illusion that seems real but is actually a bit "empty".

However, Ryan can be sure that this kind of "illusion" can never be felt even if it is replaced by other primitive gods.

Because although this world looks a bit fake, the essence of the power that constitutes this "fake" is high enough. Although the number is also rare, the higher the level, the more useless the quantity is in front of the quality. The flesh and blood mother tree only has some higher-level "characteristics", which can still make Erebus helpless. Although Ryan is not clear about the whole story, he obviously has a deeper understanding of the real creation-level power.

As for where this little power comes from, you don't have to think about it. It's probably the world power that remains in the memory.

At this level, there is no difference between information, matter, and energy. Even if it only exists in the form of memory in the mind, its power is real.

"Well... at least I can be sure that Zeus's changes and rituals are indeed related to the world itself. The power lingering in the memory is not because Zeus is the destined god king, but the content of this memory involves the world itself."

"As for the current situation... this is not a parallel time and space, there is no such thing in Chaos world. It is not a travel through the past and future... Such a funny thing will not happen to me. If the future can be truly "reached", then this world will be completely "dead", which proves that He has lost all the unknowns and possibilities, and there is no meaning of existence."

"This feeling is a bit like a "possibility" of fate. It was briefly "realized" under the power of the first level of creation, although it is still difficult to conceal its "falsehood"... and this world, let's call it the world. It seemed to try to limit my power the moment I came in, although it was useless."

"Finally, from the current structure of the world, this is Chaos-but there is no trace of the existence of the spiritual world."

Almost in an instant, Ryan made the above judgment. This shouldn't be a time travel or a time travel. He still remembered the purpose of this trip - he came here to explore the memory of Zeus's secret. So no matter how it changes, this should be that memory.

Just from the current situation, this illusory memory seems to have a little accident. It has changed under the influence of the world's power - and it may also be influenced by some subjective will. It is no longer a place for people to watch, but has become a "cage" for outsiders.

Yes, a cage. If you exclude your own tiny but real high-level nature, Ryan is almost certain that even he will be trapped in this memory and difficult to get out for a long time.

And this is probably the meaning of the existence of this illusory world.

"Is it Zeus? It seems a little bit unlikely, but it can't be completely denied that it is him..."

"But no matter what, this is indeed a big "surprise."

Shaking his head slightly, it must be said that this is the second time Ryan was surprised about Zeus and his ritual.

But there is nothing strange about this. After all, Zeus himself may not be very strong, but as long as he is still the god king recognized by the world, it is normal for something to happen.

Of course, in the final analysis, the reason why Ryan treated this as normal was that no matter who did it, the other party's plan obviously fell into the void.

If this is a cage, then since he is not actually restricted, in this unexpected game, he has already taken the absolute initiative.

What's more... Ryan really wants to know, since that weak world power constitutes this false interface, if he destroys this world, where will this power go?

It won't return to the world itself... After all, as mentioned before, since it exists in this memory in the form of "information", it should naturally change with the ownership of this memory.

If Chaos has consciousness, it will certainly not be so simple. But like every time in the past, He has no reason and thinking.

"Go, take this foreigner!"

A loud shout suddenly sounded, and Ryan's thoughts were pulled back to reality. Around him, perhaps because they had confirmed that they did not know this outsider, the soldiers of this city had begun to move forward with knives.

Their captain rushed towards Ryan first, with determination and murderous intent in his eyes, and the rest of the people came from both sides. At least as a soldier, their actions were still qualified.

But obviously, this was just a way to deal with the same mortals. Even those whose divine blood had gradually become thinner could defeat this small team of dozens of people with absolute power.

Of course, these soldiers actually wanted to delay time more, because this was their city after all. However, as their target, Ryan had no intention of playing with them, so--

"--Stop."

As the voice fell, invisible waves spread, and the next moment, the surrounding soldiers froze on the spot. It was as if the world was still, and they couldn't move even a little.

Among them, there was only one exception, that was the captain who led the way. But it was not that he had the power to resist Ryan, but that he was let go.

"Tell me, soldier, where is this."

Ryan asked calmly.

Showing irresistible power and then asking what you want to know, this should be easy to get the answer. But in front of Ryan, the soldier was not afraid.

"Evil outsider, do you think you can make me surrender? No matter which god you are, you should not interfere in this war!"

"It is meaningless to pretend to be ignorant. What you have done is seen by the gods... You will be punished for it. This is an inevitable result-because the great Zeus wants it so!"

"..."

"...Is that so?"

After a moment of silence, Ryan nodded, indicating that he recognized the other party's belief, and then stretched out his right hand and tapped his forehead.

The next moment, the soul of the leader of this team of soldiers was extracted.

Mortals are not gods. They can't really protect their secrets in front of Ryan. The reason why he chose to ask before was just out of habit. So when he let go of this habit, soon, a memory that could not be said to be true or false appeared in his mind.

"...Is that so."

After learning the result, Ryan observed this strange environment again, and finally understood where his previous sense of familiarity came from.

The walls under my feet contain divine power, which can resist and weaken the destruction of demigods and gods - that is definitely not a creation that ordinary people can create. And in the endless camps outside the city, countless armies gathered.

One after another, the divine power showed its existence in the camps, and the same breath rose in this city. The power of the owners of these breaths is extraordinary, and they can even defeat the gods who came to the world to a certain extent.

And this city is famous in later generations. Because it is the end of the Chaos myth, the symbol of the end of the era of gods and demigods, one side of the ten-year war, the legendary Troy. But now, this war may have just begun.

Because as the soldier just said, Zeus has just made a decision on Mount Olympus to prohibit the gods from intervening in the disputes in the world. Judging from this, the real climax of this war should not have come yet.

"Unfortunately, this is not true."

With a sigh, Ryan felt a little regretful. If this was the real world, he really wanted to stay here for a while and personally witness this epic event that should have happened in the future. Even Hercules, who passed the twelve trials, already existed at this time.

But there are no ifs in reality. What is false is false and cannot be true no matter what. Ryan has not forgotten that he just entered a memory. Even if it is affected by the power of creation, a memory or a destiny is not enough to evolve a real world. Everything that happens here probably has no reference value in this world.

What's more, the false world in which this memory evolved seems to be the 'original destiny'. To be more precise, it is a world without Ryan.

"In that case...go tell your gods and pray to 'Great Zeus'."

"Go and tell him that someone has disobeyed his orders... and will soon witness his divine power on Mount Olympus."

With a gentle wave of his hand, the soldiers who had been imprisoned around him collapsed to the ground. Without looking at them again, Ryan turned around and said in a calm voice.

"I will, and the King of Gods will also see what you have done, and then punish you as he promised!"

He raised his head high and someone shouted back. Just like many people in this era, not everyone knows how to fear an unknown god, from kings to commoners.

And Ryan has no intention of arguing with him. After all, when this illusory world disappears, everything will be shattered.

Now, before starting to destroy this world, there are two other questions that really make him curious. One is whether there is a replica of the original god in this false world - although there is a high probability that there is not, he still wants to go and take a look. As for another question, how is Athena who came in with him now?

Unlike him, this false world seemed to be a replica of the 'destiny without Ryan', so he appeared directly at the most critical place of this fate, on the wall of Troy, but Athena was different. On Mount Olympus in this world, there is an ‘Athena’.

"No rush, go to the underworld first to see if the Eternal Night and the Lightless Realm exist. No matter what the result is, then take action to destroy it."

"Then hit Olympus and see what kind of tricks Zeus is up to - if it really has anything to do with him."

After making his decision, Ryan took one last look at this mortal city. At this moment, the previous regrets have gradually faded away.

With his existence, everything is destined not to happen like this. In the real world, this period of history will only be more magnificent.

"It won't be long."

In the distance, someone seemed to be approaching quickly, but Ryan had no intention of waiting for him.

What’s the point of witnessing in falsehood? Let’s wait until reality to see the true performance of the protagonists in these eras.

······

Early morning, Mount Olympus.

The transformation of time and space, the alternation of reality and reality, seems to have gone through a long time. Like Ryan, but she didn't notice the cold feeling brought by the power of the world. At a certain moment, when everything was over, Athena finally regained her consciousness and slowly opened her eyes.

Then the next moment, she suddenly found that she was in the palace of Shenting, surrounded by some gods that she was familiar with or unfamiliar with. They have changed somewhat from the image in Athena's impression, but they are still generally recognizable. At this moment, they were separated on the left and right, surrounding Zeus.

For the first time, Athena even thought that she had been caught spying on her memory, but then she felt something was wrong. Because no one around her was looking at her. They were all looking at Zeus who was standing at the top, even the original 'self'.

This King of the Gods is also a little different from what Athena remembered. He is more powerful, more casual and unquestionable. At this moment, Zeus was unabashedly releasing his breath. He seemed to be lecturing the gods, and every god present had to listen attentively.

"Listen, all gods and goddesses - I hereby declare my command."

"From today on, if I find any god who dares to disobey my orders and go to the battlefield on earth to help the armies of those city-states, then when he returns to Olympus, my thunder will make him lose face. ”

"Or, I will pick him up and throw him into the bottom of Tartarus, and the distance between him and Hades will be as high as the sky and the earth."

"In this way, maybe you will understand that no one dares to disobey my orders."

Looking around at the gods, the God King said loudly:

"Come, gods of Olympus, I know you are not happy with this, among those warring humans, you have your favorites... but this is my will, if you want to go against mine Authority, you might as well give it a try.”

"Let me lower a golden rope from the sky, and you stand on the other side of the rope. Even if you exhaust all your strength, you cannot shake the supreme king."

"And with just a little force, I can lift you all together, including the earth and the endless ocean!"

The passage at the end of the chapter above is adapted from the content of Book 8 of the Iliad. It doesn’t matter if you haven’t seen it, I’m just pointing out the source.