Free Web NovelAmon contemplated the weight of Hyades's revelation.
From the very beginning, he had believed her to be a tyrant — one who hoarded the Mandate of Heaven for her own ambition.
To a certain extent, that was still true. freeweɓnovel.cѳm
She had gripped the Mandate with iron hands, strangled the world's evolution, and reigned as the sole God of an entire dimension.
But, in the end… she had done it for what she believed was right.
Unfortunately, what she believed was right… was going to kill the world anyway.
"I understand where you're coming from, Hyades. I see the sacrifice you've made."
Amon's voice was measured, but firm.
"But that is no reason to hold back the progress of the world."
If Hyades continued down this path, their world would become nothing more than a hunting ground for the Demon Kings who hungered to invade. There would be no resistance... No hope…
"The right way forward is to evolve our world. Build a new Pantheon. Forge an army that can repel the Demons."
"And in the meantime…" Hyades scoffed, her voice laced with bitter amusement. "Who is going to rule Heaven? You?"
"Every God before you believed the same thing. That they would be different. That they would be the messiah who would lead the Pantheon down the righteous path."
Her expression darkened.
"In the end, they were always consumed by it."
Hyades had witnessed that pattern more times than she cared to count. Gods ascending with ideals, only to rot into tyrants. Tyrants who would tear everything apart on a whim.
It was a bitter irony… that the longest-reigning Goddess in history was also the one who despised Gods the most.
"Even if you build your new Pantheon… the same rot will set in. Power will corrupt you, and the world will face ruin once more."
She clenched her fists, her voice dropping to a grim, unyielding warning.
"The only solution is absolute control. By one God. By me. I will hold the throne alone, in sacrifice, for as long as it takes. That is the only way."
"No." Amon shook his head. "If you do that, the Demon Kings will destroy our world."
"Then let them!"
The words tore out of Hyades like a wound splitting open.
"I cannot let the Gods destroy this world again! Never again!"
Silence.
That was when Amon knew. Reason could no longer reach her. She had been sealed in Heaven for so long, enduring an eternity alone… and yet, she was still only human at her core.
The only threads keeping her mind intact through all those countless years were her original purpose… and her hatred of Gods.
She would not surrender either, not for anything he could say.
"Hyades…"
As Amon prepared to make one last attempt, Yue stepped forward from his side.
"Hyades."
Her voice was quiet, but it cut through the air like a blade.
"Do you truly understand the fate you were condemning us to? You were going to let this world fall to ruin. The Demons would have swept over everything. Humanity would have been erased. Every beautiful thing this world holds… destroyed."
"…So what?" Hyades hissed. "When you ascend and your Pantheon takes shape, you will turn on each other. You will ruin all the same."
"And what makes you so certain of that?"
Yue's tone sharpened.
"We are not the Gods of your past. You cannot measure us by the same scale."
"Bold words," Hyades sneered, "from someone who has never known what it means to be a God."
She had ruled this dimension for countless ages. She had held the Mandate of Heaven sealed in her grasp without a single moment of release. When it came to experience, there were few in all of existence who stood where she stood.
She reached again for the throne… desperate, grasping, like a beggar clawing for a single coin.
But no matter how she reached, she could not draw near.
The First Throne was rejecting her. The Will of Heaven was rejecting her. The Mandate of Heaven… had abandoned her.
She was no longer Hyades, the Goddess who had ruled Heaven for millions of years.
She was the Old God, the one cast aside by the very Heaven she had bled for.
"History always repeats itself…" she whispered, her voice hollow. "I must be the one… who upholds the peace…"
"How pitiful."
Amon gazed at her with eyes full of sorrow. He could feel the depths of her pain, could barely fathom the enormity of her sacrifice.
And yet… when a sovereign had lost their mind, it fell to the new King to relieve them of their burden.
"Hyades… I hate you for what you've done."
Yue stepped into her path, voice steady despite the grief in her eyes.
"But I pity you, too."
"Move aside! You have no idea what—!"
"That is precisely why…" Yue's voice softened, "…I want to give you something. A farewell gift. For the Goddess who reigned supreme for so long."
Yue summoned Origin, a boundless, swirling current of primordial energy. And from its depths, she drew forth a single particle of light. One that resonated deeply with Hyades. One that was steeped in her power and her glory. One that belonged to the only soul Hyades had ever trusted enough to call a friend.
Agios Solaris.
The Solaris Saint.
And the one who was closest to Hyades.
"Hyades… I heard everything."
Hyades's breath caught. Her eyes shimmered as that familiar voice reached her across the ages. For all her endless years, she had carried Heaven's burden entirely alone.
But a few centuries ago, she had finally broken beneath the weight of her loneliness… and found a friend. One who had stood shoulder-to-shoulder with her during the First Demon War.
"Hyades…"
Agios's voice was solemn and tender as she stepped forward and drew her old friend into an embrace.
"It's time to rest. You have suffered for long enough."
"Agios… You don't understand. I must hold Heaven—"
"No. You don't."
Agios held her tighter, and something in her presence, something warm and ancient, began to quiet the storm inside the old Goddess.
"Amon, Yue, Leon… They are good people, Hyades. If they inherit Heaven, they will give everything to protect this world. Your world. The world you love."
"Agios…"
For the first time in millions of years, Hyades felt her resolve begin to fracture.
"Hyades. Trust us."
Amon stepped forward, his voice carrying the weight of a vow.
"I will hold the First Throne… but I will not rule as an absolute sovereign."
The words had barely left his lips when the First Throne began to tremble. Alongside the Mandate of Heaven, it shuddered — and then split.
Three thrones rose in its place, each distinct, each unmistakably its own.
One stood resolute as an ancient tree, immovable even if the cosmos itself crumbled around it. Another was adorned with arcane runes that seemed to hold the entire knowledge of the universe within their curves and lines. And at the centre, the most enigmatic of the three, a throne of perfect balance, where the scales of existence rested in careful equilibrium.
"Only when all three are in agreement can Heaven be ruled."
"You mean…" freewebnøvel.coɱ
"I will divide the Mandate of Heaven into three."
Amon's gaze swept to the black-and-white throne.
"One for me — the God of Harmony."
His eyes moved to the steadfast, unyielding throne.
"One for Leon — the God of Protection."
And then, finally, he turned. Yue smiled as she approached the last throne — the one that had been built for her, shaped by her aspect, waiting for her all along.
"And one for me," she said softly. "The God of Records."
Though Yue was the Spirit Goddess, she would also be Heaven's Librarian… the Keeper of All Records. She would preserve the knowledge of ages, and serve as the final guiding light for every living soul, mortal or divine.
"We will be known as the Trinity," Amon declared. "All three of our voices must be in agreement before the Mandate of Heaven can be invoked."
He met Hyades's gaze without flinching.
"You were right, no single person should bear that weight. It must be shared, so the burden never breaks any one of us… and so no single will can shatter the peace of this world."
"We will govern as one. And we will bind ourselves to laws that prevent us from repeating the sins of every Pantheon that came before."
"Because unlike the Gods who ruled before us…"
Amon's voice quieted, but carried all the certainty of someone who had lived through failure and risen from it anyway.
"We are better," he and Yue said together.
Not from arrogance. Not from pride. But from the truth.
Amon had been Number 23 — dragged through the lowest depths life had to offer, building himself back up with every defeat, every scar, every hard-won lesson.
Yue had regressed — carrying the grief and devastation of a destroyed timeline in her chest, long before she ever stepped into this one.
And Leon… Leon was the finest of them all.
A man who would lay down his life without a second thought, hailed as the Hero of the entire world. With all three of them standing at Heaven's helm… this dimension was in good hands.
"Your chapter in history is complete, Hyades."
Amon's voice was gentle.
"You held the sky up when no one else would. Now, let it go."
"Rest." Yue echoed beside him. "Leave the rest to us."
And as their words settled over her like the first silence after a storm, Hyades felt her ancient soul… finally begin to fade.
