Chapter 23 Curse

"Boom—!"

Another punch, and Iapetus lay on the ground, utterly unable to move.

Although the rising force from the earth shielded him from most of the impact, his divine power was still too weak. Relying solely on his godhood of "Speech," he couldn't even withstand a casual blow from Uranus.

With a Divine Power Level of 7, this was hardly befitting of an ancient Titan god. If not for the gods' immortality, he would have been torn to shreds at the very start of the war.

"Ah—, help..."

"Bang—!"

Without looking, the God of Speech knew that it was his equally weak sister, Mnemosyne, the deity of language and Script.

"Language" and "Speech" were just as feeble. And "Script," the three lines of maxims on the Oracle Stone Tablet, was the true origin of Script.

They were the only two beings on the battlefield with Weak Divine Power, their sole value lying in using their undying divine bodies to take a few more punches for their brothers. As offspring nurtured by the Heavenly Father and Mother Earth, they were born with Weak Divine Power, but due to their insignificant godhoods, both saw little change over thousands of years.

At least Mnemosyne had a target for her hatred, having identified the culprit who stole her godhood of "Memory"—the mysterious ancient god Laine. But Iapetus could only accept his weak status.

"Rip—!"

Struggling to rise, the God of Speech watched as the leg of his former elder brother Oceanus was torn off, the fourth time he'd lost a limb. The Master of the Ocean's divine authority lay in ceaseless regeneration, and the power of the Sky wasn't adept at preventing recovery, so every time a limb was torn off, the Lord of the Great Ocean was able to heal quickly.

But it was meaningless, only subjecting him to more pain. Other than Cronus, who had thrown the Heavenly Father's organ into the sea, Oceanus had drawn the most hatred. Even though his Divine Power was strong, he still couldn't withstand a single blow.

Clearly, the ruler of the Sky had shown him that some deities possess strong Divine Power because they barely qualify, while others achieve it only because that final step is just too difficult to surmount.

The earth split open, and land at the edges crumbled into pieces, strewing across the sea, giving rise to islands.

Celestial bodies fell, lightless ones crashing onto the earth, creating veins of ore, making valleys and hills.

This great war had been ongoing for seven days and nights, and except for the first day when some luminous celestial bodies inexplicably appeared in the sky, the whole world had been in continuous destruction.

But finally, during a certain collision, Oceanus was shocked to discover that although he was sent flying by the Heavenly Father, he seemed not to have sustained more serious damage.

"What?!"

"What!!"

Two cries of surprise rang out simultaneously. The Master of the Ocean was astounded at his own unharmed state, while Uranus was furious at the waning of his own power.

On the side, Cronus, who had been constantly contending with the Heavenly Father by leveraging the power of space and time, finally revealed a smile. With most of his Origin swallowed by the Spirit Realm, even borrowing power from the past with Rhea's help, he was barely able to hold on.

The other Titans suffered only external injuries, but he was running out of his Origin. Without claiming the title of Divine King, the remaining space-time Source Power wouldn't even allow him to maintain an Intermediate Divine Power Level.

To prevent his brothers from harboring ill thoughts, he had even refrained from showing his weakness, detected only by his sister Rhea. But the two were always close among the Titans, so the goddess pretended ignorance.

Fortunately, fate was still on his side, and Cronus had outlasted his father. He had persevered to this very last moment.

"Hahaha..."

"You can't hold on any longer, can you, my brutal Father God!"

Hidden behind time, Cronus's laughter spread across the land. He made no effort to conceal his joy, this being the only good news he had received in a while.

"Is that so?" Uranus retorted with a cold laugh, silent. He looked at his once youngest child, now his eldest. He deeply regretted not realizing his ambitions earlier; alas, it was too late.

"The power of a deity is eternal. Even seven years would not exhaust me, let alone seven days?"

Hearing this, the Titans couldn't help but feel anxious. They didn't question Uranus's words, for the power of deities was indeed eternal. Even though they were continually wounded, they could still fight for several months more. For the Sky Lord, whose Divine Power was far greater than theirs and who had always held an absolute advantage, seven years were not an exaggerated claim.

But could they hold on for seven more years? At that moment, the majesty of the Heavenly Father seemed to regain the upper hand in their hearts, yet the act of betrayal made them too fearful to beg for the Father's mercy.

Given Uranus's character, the rebellious Titans would, under no circumstances, receive his forgiveness.

But at this moment, Cronus spoke, his voice even carried a hint of amusement.

"Under normal circumstances, indeed, as you have said, my father god."

The corners of the god of time and space's mouth curled up in a mocking smile. Seven days had passed, and he had finally realized what that transformative force his father was contending against was.

He couldn't help but thank fate once again. Deities are immortal, and he did not dare to cast his father, the symbol of the sky, into the Abyss. But as long as this power of transformation existed, Uranus would soon fall into eternal slumber.

Unless, in his arrogance, he was even willing to change his gender in order to cling to life.

But that was impossible, Cronus was well aware that his own father would rather die than accept such humiliation.

"You are the original 'Father'," Cronus's laugh grew even more unrestrained: "So you are different from the other gods."

"When the symbol of your masculinity disappears, you cannot use your divine power to recreate it. Because it is not only your organ, but it is also the embodiment of all your masculine energy. Without it, you will no longer have masculine energy within you, is that right, my dear father god? Or should I say, 'my dear mother goddess'? Hahahahaha..."

Amid his laughter, Uranus's face contorted in displeasure for the first time. The rest of the Titans also seemed to understand something and started to look at their father with strange glances.

"Silence! You rebellious..."

"You are the rebel!"

Cronus interrupted his father's reprimand with a cold laugh.

He raised the sickle, eyeing his father. He had once been so powerful, but now he was reduced to nothing but verbal attacks. Cronus felt a tinge of emotion, but then feeling the emptiness within him, he hesitated no more.

"You betrayed the Mother Goddess, you betrayed the will of Chaos, your tyranny deserves punishment long ago."

"I, Cronus, the King of Time and Space, in the name of the future Divine King, decree that the God of the Sky is guilty and shall suffer the punishment of eternal slumber. Sentence, forever."

The next moment, distance seemed nonexistent before him. Though he was miles away from the Heavenly Father, his sickle pierced through the core of Uranus at that very moment. The Sky Lord tried to block it, but this time, his invincible divine power couldn't break through the slow of time. Right before the eyes of all gods, he was impaled by the sickle, his divine blood splattered across the earth.

"I have won, father," Cronus murmured so only the two of them could hear.

"You have won? Heh, perhaps," said Uranus.

Sensing the increasingly turbulent transformation within him, Uranus knew unless he was really willing to let the world twist his gender, his only option would be to resist the transformation by sleeping.

But at the last moment, the proud monarch of the sky still did not bow his head. He looked at his child with cold eyes, his voice was also soft, yet every creature under the sky could hear it loud and clear.

"Cronus, my child, I hope you remember. You may win once, but you cannot keep winning forever."

"Everything that has a beginning has an end; indeed, the Prophecy said so, I was so, and you shall be so too."

Watching Cronus's expression turn to one of shock and rage, the Heavenly Father laughed heartily for one last time.

"I curse you," he said: "You will be overthrown by your own child, just like me."

"The pinnacle of the sky is my destiny. And Tartarus is your future. Cronus, I await you, my... child..."

Clang——

The sickle fell to the ground, but no one cared. Before them, the anthropomorphic form of Uranus disappeared.

He turned into an intangible current of air, ascending along his own origin, all the way up, reaching an unfathomable height.

The sky began to separate from the earth, the two that had once been close would never meet again. From then on, the distance between heaven and earth was immeasurable, and not even deities could fathom its heights.

The reign of the Sky Lord, the first-generation god king of Chaos, ended that day.

"I shall become the new king."

Expressionless, Cronus picked up the dropped sickle and looked towards his brothers.

"Who is in favor, who is against?"