Free Web NovelSu-ho immediately opened up the distance.
Cronos's body floated up slightly, like something in zero gravity, and the black light that had been pouring from the split wound soon turned into black smoke, then drew out a single human silhouette beside the floating Cronos.
The silhouette was female, and more precisely, it was Nyx.
Nyx descended.
At her descent, the entire surrounding area fell into silence, as if someone had splashed cold water over it.
Su-ho paid it no mind and diligently observed Nyx.
Drooping eyes and a languid expression.
Her long black hair and the highly revealing dress somehow even looked like sleepwear.
Her feet were bare as well.
There was not even a single ordinary ornament to be seen on her, and she looked as though she might jump into bed and go to sleep at any moment.
Right after descending, she looked around, then spoke to Su-ho in a voice as languid as her expression.
"An interesting one has shown up?"
"Really? That's strange. I'm not exactly a very humorous person."
At Su-ho's words, she let out a light, lilting laugh.
Then she lightly stretched out a finger toward Su-ho and beckoned him toward herself.
And just like that, Su-ho's body was pulled in front of Nyx as if it were a lie.
"Wow, this is the first time I've ever been pulled in this aggressively."
"Not bad, is it?"
"Honestly?"
"Yeah, honestly."
"Kind of not great. I'm a little shy around strangers."
"Hahaha!"
At Su-ho's joke, Nyx laughed once more.
"You're a Player. And a High-grade one at that."
"First time you've seen one, right? I hear I'm the first among humanity."
"So it seems. I've seen quite a lot °• N 𝑜 v 𝑒 l i g h t •° of Players up till now, but every single one of them was Low-grade."
After the Great Cataclysm occurred and the existence of Transcendents became known, quite a lot of people researched all sorts of methods in order to somehow obtain the power of a Transcendent.
One of them was following a god like a fanatic.
Nyx had been watching those follower Players all along.
Of course, she had never once responded to their appeals.
There wasn't a single one among them she liked.
'Come to think of it, I never did hear about any Player who had Nyx behind them.'
Which meant that, aside from mythological tradition, this was Su-ho's first encounter with Nyx as well.
Nyx continued.
"I heard the story from my nephew. But why are you, who has nothing to do with this, making such a fuss?"
The expression she had been smiling with the whole time cooled.
It meant the joking stopped here.
Su-ho also sensed the changed atmosphere and dropped the jokes.
"I don't have any interest in family disputes either. But I'm a Player, right? I had something I needed, so I came all the way here. As you probably know, I'm the one who threw the Olympian gods in here."
"And what is it you need?"
"A war is about to break out. But it's a little too large in scale for me to handle alone, so I came to borrow some help from those guys."
"By whose permission?"
"Is this something I need someone's permission for?"
"Hahaha! So you're not afraid of me, then?"
"I am."
"You're afraid?"
"Of course I am. I've lived as a Player for quite a long time, in my own way, but there's never been an existence that's handled me like this. So this time, yeah, I'm a little tense."
Su-ho still kept smiling.
But Nyx did not laugh.
And yet. A moment later, Nyx slowly drew up the corners of her mouth.
"Your words and your face don't match. You say you're afraid, but your expression says nothing of the sort."
"Oh, come on. So how about we stop here and talk like civilized people? To begin with, that side started the fight first. We didn't."
It's true that we attacked the Resentment Soldiers, but the ones who actually barged in were the gods on that side.
However, Nyx did not care about who was right or wrong.
Rather, she liked Su-ho's bold attitude and released the energy that had been holding him.
As the force wrapped around his body disappeared, the stifling feeling vanished, and he felt much more at ease.
Cronos was still floating in midair with his body cut open.
Nyx spoke.
"Unfortunately, I don't think your wish can come true. I don't know what kind of war it is, but if you need mercenaries, go look somewhere else."
"Why?"
"Because I have no intention of letting them go."
Them meant the Olympian gods.
Su-ho tilted his head, then asked,
"But why did you join hands with Cronos in the first place? You weren't originally on anyone's side."
"Who says that? Cronos is my nephew. So wouldn't it be natural for an aunt to take her nephew's side?"
"If you put it that way, Zeus is your great-nephew too."
"Which is exactly why that makes it even more unacceptable. What kind of child sends their own father to hell?"
"And a father who devours his children because he's afraid of a prophecy is fine?"
What both of them said was true.
Cronos was Zeus's father, but because he feared the prophecy that he would be defeated by his own child, he swallowed alive all the children he had with his wife.
But Zeus, with his mother's help, avoided being swallowed, and after growing strong enough, made Cronos vomit, rescued all his siblings, and then waged the Titanomachy, imprisoning Cronos and the Titans in Tartarus and opening the age of Olympus.
Nyx knew all of this too.
But her nephew was closer to her than her great-nephew, so she pitied him and lent him her power.
Su-ho had expected that reason as well.
That was why he had no intention of dragging out a long silence like some battle of nerves.
"Instead of that, how about this?"
"How about what?"
"If we start arguing over who's right and who's wrong, there'll be no end to it, so let's just stop here, have both sides take one step back, and have everyone leave Tartarus."
"What? Hahahaha!"
At Su-ho's words, Nyx laughed once again.
"Do you think these children would understand and accept that?"
"Why not? If someone doesn't cut the chain of hatred, the cycle of revenge will just keep happening. If that's the case, wouldn't it be better to stop here and have both sides make one concession each? If you want, you can verify it yourself."
When Su-ho gestured with his chin toward Cronos, the corner of Nyx's mouth curled up.
"Let's do that."
She flicked her finger.
"Hurk...!"
Then focus returned to the eyes of Cronos, who had been on the verge of death, and vitality surged back into him.
Nyx had blocked him from dying to Godslayer.
Then Nyx raised her index finger and twirled it around once, and Cronos and Zeus were pulled over as if being dragged, coming to stand beside Nyx and Su-ho.
This time, Nyx gestured with her chin.
"Explain it one more time."
"Not exactly difficult. I don't know if you heard, but how about the two of you stop here? If the two of you completely settle the bad blood between you here and now, I'll get both sides out of Tartarus."
"What?"
"What did you say?"
At the sudden order to stop, both Cronos and Zeus frowned.
Of course they would hate it.
How could the resentment between parent and child possibly be resolved so simply? That bitterness had been so great they had carried on an apocalyptic war called the Titanomachy for ten whole years!
Maybe that was why Cronos was the first to lose patience and speak. freewёbnoνel.com
"Aunt! Must I really listen to this kind of talk from a Player bastard I've never even met? Please, instead of that, help me! If not now, a chance like this may never come again!"
Zeus was the same.
"This isn't what you said before! You said that in exchange for getting us out, we had to join the war, so what kind of nonsense is this all of a sudden?!"
Both were the heads of their respective groups, the kind with nasty tempers of their own.
But there was one thing the two of them didn't know.
Su-ho had a temper too.
Still, getting angry with them here would only backfire, so Su-ho spoke gently.
"Who said anything about reconciling?"
"What?"
"I said, who told you to reconcile? I have no intention of making you reconcile. Just have each side make one concession, get out of here, and live your lives however you want. Don't show your faces to each other, don't cross lines, don't take any interest in each other, just live like that. You've got years and years of resentment piled up—who am I to suddenly tell you to resolve all of it?"
Su-ho placed a hand on each of their shoulders and spoke in a coaxing tone.
"Let's think of it simply. Forget revenge and all that—ultimately, both sides want to get out of here, don't they? Then both of you leave. I'll get you out. To put it bluntly, other than me, do either of you even have a way out of here?"
They did not.
The entrance to Tartarus was guarded, together with a giant bronze gate, by Hades's subordinates. Cronos's side had been unable to get out because of them, and Zeus's side had been unable to get out because of interference from Cronos's side.
'Hades not being able to rescue them personally is because of Cronos too.'
That was why he had proposed mediation.
There was no need to reconcile.
From now on, they just had to stop fighting, leave this place, and live as though the other did not exist, like a dead person they had forgotten.
No matter what, Tartarus was a loathsome place to both sides alike.
Su-ho's proposal was certainly not a bad one.
In any case, all of them were gods, so neither side could kill the other.
If so, the only thing they could do to each other was keep killing an opponent who would come back to life even after dying, and vent their long-held fury that way.
But even if that continued forever, what meaning would it have?
It might feel satisfying for a while, but someday it would grow tedious, and they would lose interest.
Freedom outside was different.
Rather than living here forever, cursing and taking revenge in a place where not even a handful of vitality could be felt, it was better to ease their hearts now, breathe clear air, and feel the freshness of nature and the warmth of sunlight.
Because the world was that kind of place.
"......"
"......"
In truth, both of them knew that.
And yet neither could answer easily.
Setting resentment aside, it was because of the tiny scrap of pride that still remained.
As the silence stretched on, Su-ho spoke to Cronos.
"How about you let it go now?"
"...Let it go?"
"You swallowed Zeus and the other gods because of the prophecy, right? The prophecy that your child would take your throne. But you've already been defeated by your child and had your throne taken from you, so hasn't the prophecy already come true? There's no prophecy left for you to worry about anymore, is there?"
"That is..."
"In truth, all of this happened because of that prophecy. Isn't that right? If it weren't for that prophecy, you wouldn't have had any reason to tremble with anxiety in the first place. Because of the prophecy, when you looked at your own children, what you felt wasn't joy, but fear."
That was true.
The prophecy.
That damned prophecy.
Because of that prophecy, all of this happened.
"And what meaning is there in tormenting your children here and keeping them trapped any longer? As long as you're in Tartarus, that means nothing. You're a clever god, aren't you? So stop looking at the tree and look at the forest."
As he said that, Su-ho pointed at the other Titans.
"Try looking back at the others now too. They're tied to the same fate as you, aren't they? So stop wasting mental power rooted in anger and hatred, and enjoy freedom and happiness outside. The prophecy is over, and both sides have already driven a huge spike into the other's chest once each, so let's call it even. I'm not telling you to forgive or reconcile. Just call it even, forget each other like you do and don't exist, and live your lives. Wouldn't that be better?"
"......"
A stretch of silence.
Then Cronos raised his head and looked up at the sky.
A pitch-black sky.
There was nothing here.
He did not even know how long it had been since he had been imprisoned here.
Honestly, it would be a lie to say he did not miss the outside.
If anything, he missed it so much that the longing had piled up like interest and turned into anger and a desire for revenge.
But now a way out had appeared.
Lately, together with his brothers, he had unleashed the Resentment Soldiers and tormented the Olympian gods like mad, which had eased some of his pent-up bitterness.
"......"
Cronos lowered his head.
Zeus was standing before him.
Zeus, too, was looking at him.
Then unexpected words came out of Zeus's mouth.
"Let's stop now, Father."
