35 Order

It's called the "Occult Initiative." A project created and approved by the United Nations, though the ones who truly pulled the strings were Lord Dream and his siblings. It involved creating a global, extraordinary organisation dedicated to protecting humanity from the forces of darkness. Some of our best are already part of it.

- Chiron.

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Earlier, the fateful battle between Zeus and Kronos was in full swing between Mars and Jupiter. They were in divine forms, unleashing their cosmic power without restraint, and in retrospect, they managed to somewhat stir the cosmic concepts of time and lightning themselves.

An enormous cosmic storm, filled with catastrophic lightning, covered the entire dark expanse between Mars and Jupiter. In the midst of it all, Kronos and Zeus fought, each wielding their divine weapons. Each of their clashes sent tremors through space, sweeping the entire solar system.

Kronos had enough; he had only been testing the extent of his son's power until now. As he had predicted, his wretched son had grown exponentially stronger, even managing to tap into cosmic power under the tutelage of Lord of Dream, almost to the point of standing equal to him, who had been a cosmic god for millennia.

All of this didn't matter since victory would be his regardless, as war was the ultimate chaos, and in the midst of chaos, there was opportunity, and that was all he needed.

Chaos…

Kronos prepared himself. He quickly deflected a bolt thrown at him by Zeus with the cursed scythe, and in response, he unleashed his temporal powers in the form of omnidirectional waves.

Zeus roared as time waves slammed into him before he could summon his bolts, hurling him into the solar system's depths with his cosmic storm. It was speed; his father far outclassed him in that category.

Taking advantage of this opportunity, Kronos immediately initiated one of his most powerful moves.

Everything around the Titan of Time suddenly brightened with an eternal glow, and he closed his eyes for a moment, but when he opened them again, the glow was gone, and he was back in the chariot, gazing calmly at Zeus, who was riding to him in a golden chariot pulled by nebula horses made of cosmic tempests.

Kronos had effectively rewinded time across their battlefield to the beginning of his confrontation with his son. It was time to truly begin the battle, he thought solemnly, with the majority of the odds in his favor.

Zeus pulled the reins, bringing his chariot to a halt in front of his father, then descended from his chariot with his master-bolt, striding firmly towards the Titan King, "Kronos, your son has returned! I bring the end of Titans."

The God of Lightning suddenly grinned with a clear look in his eyes, sinking the heart of Kronos into the dark pits of Taratus. "Yet again..."

Zeus continued, gleefully smiling. "Why the surprise, Father? You didn't forget, did you? I am a cosmic god as well! Your time reversal is inadequate to completely impact the likes of those wielding cosmic power," he paused with a sneer, "just like your power..."

"So what if you were unaffected?" Kronos bellowed as he descended from his chariot. "It won't change your fate: you'll be cut down by my scythe."

"Oh, father," Zeus said, shaking his head. "You're not deceiving anyone here. I can practically smell your panic in the emptiness of the space."

Kronos merely growled and charged at Zeus.

"It won't make a difference, father." The God of Lightning chastised, an electric aura surrounding him. The blinding golden light he emitted illuminated the entire solar system. The fabric of space itself was bending around Zeus' silhouette. "You can try as much as you want, but the victory will be mine in the end."

A surge of electricity converged in Zeus' palm, brimming with unfathomable power. And he threw his hand at the Titan King, unleashing a blast of cosmic lightning large enough to cover their entire battlefield, which forced him to directly face the golden bolt.

Kronos didn't drop his confident look, planting his feet, and, at the last possible moment, he swung his scythe.

The scythe slashed through the cosmic lightning as if it were a solid object, splitting it in two. Zeus expected this to happen, so he quickly snapped his fingers, causing the parts of his bolt to explode on Kronos.

BOOM!

A brilliant electric explosion flooded the dark emptiness, but before it could spread throughout the solar system, it faded away thanks to the influence of time. Kronos walked out of it, seemingly unharmed. Or did he?

Zeus noticed some strain in his father's eyes and smiled, unsurprised. Time was a cosmic concept that could only be matched by another cosmic concept. That's what happened here: Time battled lightning and won, sort of, since Kronos wasn't completely immune to the effects of his lightning explosions.

And thus, time and lightning collided once again, creating a grand symphony for all the transcendent viewers. "Such a marvelous battle," they thought collectively, intently watching the battle from the comfort of their own realms.

Between their cosmic collisions, Zeus and Kronos raged across the space between Mars and Jupiter, shattering the order that held the fabric of space in place. They left nothing but chaos in their wake, which would have spread throughout the solar system and destroyed it many times if Hypnos and Gaea hadn't upheld order.

The battle between Zeus and Kronos was best described as a contest between concepts. The concepts of lightning and time were literally thrown against each other by the god of lighting and the titan of time.

And Kronos was losing; everyone could clearly see it. Zeus, who was trained by a primordial, was much more versed in understanding the nature of the cosmos, and thus his control of its forces was much more refined, whereas Kronos was completely self-taught on the subject of the cosmos and thus fell short when compared to his son.

This was an unfair battle from the start, but it was what it was; after all, as the old adage goes, there is no fairness in war.

The only advantage that the Titan King had was his speed, but even that was slowly fading as Zeus' reflexes adapted to him, making it much harder for him to take his son by surprise.

Kronos, on the other hand, was unfazed by the developments; his heart was still set on victory. If he can't defeat Zeus in a direct battle, he can defeat him in other ways, in chaotic and disorganized ways. And he needed to hasten the end of this battle since he had sensed traitors entering the throne room and confronting Ipatheus through his own throne.

Kronos pretended to attack Zeus with his scythe and punched him in the face, sending him flying back. But his son managed to surprise him; Zeus, as he flew back, teleported behind him and used his momentum to kick in his chest, hurling him across the space.

He could have easily avoided the attack with his speed, but he had been putting on a show for a long time, purposefully slowing down his speed and weakening his strength in his attack as the battle went on, giving the impression that he was becoming strained and battered over time, which he indeed was, but not to the extent he showed on his surface. All of this was done to make Zeus believe that victory was already his, so that he would become reckless, as he always does, and eventually let down his guard.

Kronos thrust his scythe into space in order to stabilize himself and land on his feet. Then he turned to face his son, who had a triumphant look on his face.

"Father, you must have looked into the future during our battle," Zeus said, striding toward his father. "Tell me, how many did you win?" he asked, smiling.

Kronos simply swung his scythe at him in rage, which Zeus managed to avoid thanks to his adapting reflexes. "None, isn't it?" he raised his master bolt, imbuing it with all of his power in preparation for the final blow. "As I said, this fight was meaningless from the start; victory is mine," he said with finality, pointing at the raging Kronos with his blinding bolt. "Give up, father."

'Now…' Kronos seized the golden opportunity right away. He unleashed all of his power, forming a domain around them, and everything became static within it, from the surprised Zeus to the concepts of the cosmos themselves, all bound by the chains of time.

This was the "absolute freeze," an attack he devised the previous year. For this, he used his divinity of time to tap into the concept of staticity, forming a domain that could technically freeze everything.

Kronos had been successful both then and now. He looked at his frozen son, resisting the urge to slash him with his scythe as the aura of lightning encircled Zeus like impenetrable armor; it appeared his son was not as totally reckless as he thought. He could try to break it, but he knew his domain wouldn't be able to keep Zeus for long, and there were also traitors in the throne room.

And so he initiated his plan for ultimate chaos, sending messages to his valued Titans through the mark he gave them.

Then the Titan King snatched Zeus, who had actually started breaking free from the bonds of time. His son seemed to have completely unleashed his cosmic power to hasten the destruction of chains.

Kronos was attempting to quell Zeus's struggle as they teleported away to Earth, but his son appeared unstoppable, his power breaking through the chains like an erupting supernova, forcing Kronos to use all of his might and focus on Zeus to suppress him while also not allowing him to interrupt their teleportation.

So, when they were inches from the earth, all Kronos could do was erect a protective barrier around his subordinates and the thrones before they collided with the ground of his throne room with all of their cosmic momentum.

There was a flash of light that seemed to consume everything, followed by a devastating roar, but Gaea intervened in time, negating the damage and chaos brought to her domain by their descent, though she let Mount Othrys and nearby battlefields collapse in the aftermath.

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All Themis felt was a whirlwind of chaos—disorder and pandemonium colored every ounce of her senses, but the thrones of the Titans managed to remain intact. She was certain it was Kronos who had somehow managed to keep the thrones protected from the chaos in the last moment.

She realized what the crooked one was up to as she looked around the ruins—Altas and Hyperion attempted to stride towards their king, but Hades, Demeter, and Helios blocked their path. Even Iapetus, Perseus, and Menoetius were present, confronting Poseidon, Kratos, and Selene, while the Titan king himself rose from scorched ground and faced Hera and Zeus—the most powerful combatants of the war had been forced to gather here. All of this seemed to point to the inevitable development of a battle royale between gods and titans, which would only add fuel to the chaos.

Chaos….

The Titan of Time desired chaos; he should have known that his chances of victory were abysmal, so he chose to let the order that everyone worked so hard to build for the war fall into chaos at the crucial moment and fish for opportunities within the ocean of maelstrom.

The Titan of Time would have succeeded—even the hands of the primordials were tied in this situation—but he overlooked something crucial:

A long white sword made of pure light appeared in the ruins of Mount Othrys, catching everyone's attention.

It was the sword of light, granted to Themis by Lord Hypnos. It was meant to amplify her power, but she had tried to tap more into the essence of the sword many times before the final battle because she discovered that the sword could do so much more than just amplify her power. Her attempts at it, though, were always met with failure, to the point where it almost seemed the sword had a conscience and was actively rejecting her.

What she was about to do next was risky, with a high likelihood of failure, but she wasn't going to back down; Order was her duty and responsibility.

So the Titaness of Order arose from the cracked ground, grasped the sword that floated above her, and imbued her will and conviction into the sword, conveying it all with rueful hope.

Her prayers were answered; the white sword shimmered, emitting a brilliant light that swept across her body, and her form changed: her dark hair was dyed white, and her dress was shaded golden. Her eyes were covered in gold cloth, and she clutched the purest blade in one hand and an inverse scale in the other, emitting an authoritative aura.

Light himself had bestowed his blessing on the Titaness of Order, temporarily granting her rudimentary control over the concept of order.

Even though it may have seemed like a long time, only a few seconds had actually passed on the battlefield. And in this interval, those attacks that tried to thwart the ascension of Themis were swiftly deposed by Hecate and Mnemosyne, who had begun to protect her, re-establishing their formation.

Finally, the Titaness of Order thrust the sword of light into the world of chaos. "I will have Order!" she decreed.

And Chaos was no more.

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