Published at 24th of September 2023 1:46 am

Chapter 419: Bow Down to the King

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"The World Eaters… are your saviors?"

"Systellions."

"Whatever their name is, they still tried to kill you just moments ago."

"..."

With the only sound that they could hear were each other's voices, each of the words that were coming out of Van's mouth felt like it pierced Apollo's mind to the very core. Apollo had been with the Systellions for more than 50 thousand years now, he almost basically knew all of them.

"...I know," Apollo then quietly said as he shook his head.

"..." Van could not help but blink as he heard Apollo's meek response. Just moments ago he couldn't even convince Apollo no matter what he said to him, but now he just nodded his head. Did it really have something to do with him absorbing his God Soul?

"But still…" Apollo then let out a small but deep sigh, "That doesn't change the fact that I… and the other Olympians are alive because of them."

"Hm."

"There must be a reaso-- Oi!"

And before Apollo could finish his words, he felt his insides almost leaving his body as the scenery in front of him visibly changed; not only his eyes, but his skin fully reflected the purple color of the Portal.

"Can you not do that without any warning?" Apollo then muttered as he fixed his hair.

"I need to check on them," Van just glanced at Apollo before focusing his eyes towards the two spherical ships from the distance.

They were now on the edge of the Portal, with Van careful not to make their presence known-- but even if they somehow knew he literally slipped through the side of the Portal, the ship wouldn't be able to follow him in the first place without the risk of their ship going back inside the Portal.

"Can you tell me what they are doing?" Van then asked.

"..." Apollo, however, seemed to be persistent in keeping his silence.

"They already betrayed you… and you're still not convinced that you should be on my side?" Van then let out a small sigh as he shook his head.

"That… may be the case-- some of the people inside that ship are my friends," Apollo replied with a small and wry chuckle.

"Friends don't shoot--"

"I know," Apollo breathed out loudly, "Is… Athena truly with you?"

"She's on her way here as we speak," Van nodded, "As well as Dionysus."

"That snake is also with you!?"

"...Snake?" Van chuckled, "Quite a fitting name since he had betrayed me a couple of times," he then said as his eyes did not leave the two sun-sized ships. Van was waiting for them to do something since he had already captured Apollo… but did he actually overestimate his importance?

"...And yet he is still on your side?" Apollo then snickered, "And here you are talking to me about allegiance when--"

"I am allowing him to be on my side because I can kill him anytime I want," Van's tone slightly changed as he glanced at Apollo, "That's probably also the only reason why you and the other Olympians are alive-- because they can just squash you any time they want."

"..."

"So… what are they doing?" Van then once again turned his focus on the Systellion ships; which truly did look quite surreal-- like a giant ball of mirror that felt like it could suck in the entire galaxy in a vacuum.

"..." Apollo once again remained quiet as Van asked his question. But after a few more breaths, "I don't know the full detail."

"...You--"

"I am telling the truth," Apollo said as he raised his hand, "Their technology, even after a thousand years of being with them, still eludes me-- but I do know that they are not going to move for a long while; they are trying to acclimatize."

"...You seem to know something for someone who claims to know nothing."

"I'm not stupid, boy-- I hear things," Apollo scoffed, "They're trying to detect the number of sentient and intelligent life forms in the whole universe, detecting energy levels to measure their response--"

"And their response to me… is sending you?"

"...No," Apollo shook his head, "I came out on my own as soon as the ship detected you. In fact, they're probably just trying to eliminate me for abandoning my post-- I'm in their militia, you see."

"...Right," Van squinted.

"They are very meticulous creatures," Apollo followed as he looked at the two ships, "Only moving when they know their success rates to whatever it is they are going to do is at the high 90%...

...and that success rate probably went down by a lot because of you."

"...How strong are they?"

"Strong is not the word I would use," Apollo shook his head, "They are just… different."

"Different how? Are they stronger than you?" Van furrowed his eyebrows.

"A majority of them are not," Apollo chuckled, "There are three, however, that are even stronger than Zeus."

"Zeus… your father?"

"The Father of everyone, really."

"...Stronger than me?"

"..." Apollo then returned Van's stare; looking him directly in the eyes for a couple of seconds before letting out a very long and very deep breath,

"Yes," he then muttered, "You are extremely fast… but as I said, they are different."

"If they are that strong…" Van then furrowed his eyebrows as he once again returned his focus on the two ships, "Why do they need to be this careful? Most of the species here are not as strong as us-- surely, they're not being careful just because of me?"

"Because a majority of them are just normal people."

"...What?" Van could not help but slightly take in a deep breath as he heard Apollo's words, "What do you mean normal people?"

"Just… humans."

"...That's different from what Evangeline said," Van whispered.

"Evangeline?"

"One of the Seraphs… sadly my mother."

"Are you saying Hermes and a Seraph… had a baby?" A mix of expressions crawled on Apollo's face as he slowly backed away, "Hermes… the one who was the most angered from the Seraph destroying--"

"It's a long story," Van waved his hand, "You can ask Athena once she's here. But I am telling you the truth-- I think the reason why they didn't kill you is that your universe was already destroyed when they arrived in the first place…

...and they did try to shoot you down, so--"

"We've moved past that conversation," Apollo cleared his throat, "What are you going to do--"

And before Apollo could even finish his words, Van was gone.

"..." The only thing Apollo could do was once again watch the two ships do… nothing. He was thinking of approaching them, but he reckoned he would be shot down as soon as he got even a million kilometers from it.

The situation… is getting complicated, Apollo thought. Most of his kin were still inside the Ark-- the Systellion's largest ship… as well as their home.

A ship that had a galaxy inside it, where trillions of creatures live and thrived.

But if Athena was really on the boy's side…

"..."

Apollo continued to weigh his options, closing his eyes as multiple reasons raced through his mind. Athena was… is the Goddess of Wisdom, so there must be a reason why he sided with Van.

"..." But at the same time. He had been with the Systellion for thousands of years, he even knew each and every one of them, with some even his friends. Most of them were good people… they could be somewhat totalitarian but--

But they still tried to shoot him down.

And as soon as that thought resurfaced in Apollo's mind, he quickly shook his head. If he tried to return, he would surely be killed-- that was reason enough to believe that they truly were hiding something.

And so, after what seemed like half an hour…

"I found the planet, let's go," Van appeared behind him.

"Wha--" And once again, before he could even say anything, he felt his insides threatening to leave his body as he was once again dragged by Van-- and as soon as his vision cleared, he found himself surrounded by tall buildings and blinding lights, as well as…

...a thousand people pointing guns at them. Guns that were surrounded by some sort of flickering light in the shape of a pentagram.

"..." Apollo was about to open his mouth, but before he could do so, more and more people-- soldiers arrived.

"Can you do something about your clothes before assessing the situation?" Van's whispers then reached his ears.

"Why would I hide my glorious figure to strangers?" Apollo then said as he even widened his stance, "First impressions are important," he said as something dangled between his legs. He was about to say something else, but before he could do so, Van covered him with his wings.

"G… get this disgusting thing off--"

With this sudden movement, the soldiers that were surrounding them tightened their grips on their guns, with some of the floating pentagrams surrounding their weapons lighting up even brighter.

"So… what's your plan? Just kill these mortals?"

"Kill… No," Van shook his head with a sigh, before raising both his hands in surrender, "We come in peace! I am from the Common Council, we should have a representative here that arrived a few months ago!"

"I see you have Hermes's gift of the tongue," Apollo then whispered as he looked at the confused faces of the soldiers.

"You don't?"

"We can learn the language almost instantly, but you know them by instinct."

"Hm…"

With the two intruders casually talking in front of them, the soldiers were at a complete loss. But thankfully, after a few more minutes, their President, as well as some other important-looking figure, arrived in some sort of flying ship.

"K… King Evans, you came yourself!?" One of the people then quickly kneeled as soon as he saw Van's face.

"King?" Apollo then blinked a couple of times, "You were a King?"

The other soldiers too were confused as to why their President was also kneeling on the ground.

"Well…

...It's a long story."

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