Xingyue, is Xiaokai also considered Kai?

Crazy: I want to advise you to change for the better, to do better, and not be so bad.

Iris: Zeus's wife did not send you here to exercise restraint. Hera wants to stain him with new blood, to kill his children, to harden your heart mercilessly, to drive this man mad, to maden him to kill his own children, to drive him to rage, to provoke him, to make him raise the sails of slaughter.

After he personally slaughtered those beautiful children and sent them on their way to Charon, he realized how angry Hera was with him and that I opposed him; if he was not punished, the gods would be worthless and mortals would think themselves great.

Although madness ultimately failed to persuade either of them, Alcides felt that Francesca, as Arte in human form, was someone he could somewhat trust... moreover, she shared his hatred of the world.

Moreover, in the Avengers' view, he was just doing what he was supposed to do.

Since the malice of the Olympian gods had taken everything from him—

Loved one and children.

Even if the soul could be materialized, time would not flow backward.

That is the realm of other magic, far beyond the third.

Alcides then began his revenge.

"This is but a trivial matter compared to the great matter of avenging the tyrants of Olympus, even if it were my life to be sacrificed."

Then, Alcides, emanating a red and black magical power, turned toward the Holy Grail and uttered words of resentment toward the Greek gods.

"After all, they didn't even offer souls as sacrifices... they used the lives of their own people as firewood in the stove out of jealousy."

The moment the hand reached out and touched the Holy Grail, an unknown thunderous roar born from it disrupted the boundary between reality and fantasy.

Then, everything that appeared before the Avengers suddenly seemed so distant.

Just like the slight intoxication that comes after drinking alcohol, a faint sense of disorientation and absent-mindedness makes everything before my eyes feel light and unfamiliar, like a bubble, revealing a kind of illusory beauty.

Illusion?

No, I am rational and clear-headed, my self-awareness is unshaken, there is no mental abnormality, and reality is not distorted in any way.

It wasn't a terrifying illusion, just a purely natural change.

Only the surging, almost hallucinatory sound of the tide grew ever closer.

A stirring from the depths of the soul calls for the Avengers.

That is--

Mount Olympus, summoned by Novia to appear before the Avenger Alcides.

189: Greece and Rome, Surface and Substance (6k5)

Mount Olympus

It is the highest mountain in Greece, located on the northern shore of the Gulf of Selmay in the Aegean Sea. The name "Olympus" originally means "the place of light." In Greek mythology, it holds a position equivalent to Heaven in the Bible, where gods, demigods, and their servants reside.

The ancient Greeks believed that Mount Olympus was located in the center of Greece, and since Greece was located in the center of the planet, Mount Olympus was also the center of the planet.

Therefore, the gods who rule the world and dominate mankind reside on this high mountain.

However, what appeared before the Avengers was not the present-day Mount Olympus, but the very Mount of the Gods from the time when the Age of Gods still existed.

Perhaps the light will never fall from the sky again; that's just that it won't be visible. Light can't truly disappear, just as the gods won't disappear either.

"Hercules, I have decided to give you my child, Hebe, the goddess of youth."

The Avengers knew this was Mount Sacred.

For a fleeting moment, he felt that he should, truly, burn brightly in this world of the past, continuing the glory and brilliance of 'Hercules'.

Even so, he still gently closed his eyes in the sunlight, unable to help but recall his anger.

"I am no longer your lackey..."

A silent stream of crimson and black magic emanated from his mouth and nose, beginning to permeate Mount Olympus from his feet.

That's right, glory and brilliance are long gone; my only purpose now is revenge.

The goddess who once dragged heroes into misfortune resided at the top of the mountain. She took away the heroes' happy era and then sadly headed towards the boundless sea.

Whether the hero liked it or not, his subsequent experiences gradually transformed him into a different person, and another wave from afar carried him to a new sea.

"Hera!"

He smiled, his expression brimming with ecstasy and murderous intent, roaring with such excitement.

At this moment, from the lowest point of Olympus, the Avenger, holding the red and black 'mud', charged up like a shining star.

“Cousin, no, I should call you Alcádez now. Hmm, when I used to be called that, my grandfather told me not to be disrespectful.”

When Alcides came to his senses again after walking for only a short while, he saw the gaunt figure from his memory in front of him.

This made him freeze in his tracks.

Before that, the Avengers pressed their sharp, iron-like killing intent against the throats, hearts, backs, limbs, and every vital part of the bodies of those who stood in their way, their killing intent and curses seemingly intent on annihilating everything.

However, upon realizing the identity of the newcomer, the murderous intent subsided considerably, turning into inexplicable confusion and bewilderment.

Theseus.

Theseus, one of the Greek heroes and King of Athens, was a cousin of Heracles. His wife was a member of the Amazons who were massacred by Heracles and was also a crew member of the Argonauts.

After Hercules killed his wife and children, he became despondent and wanted to commit suicide. Theseus happened to arrive at Hercules' house at that time, persuaded him to live, and took him to Athens to stay with him.

"Are you here to stop me too?"

Although he didn't understand why he was on Mount Olympus, for the Avenger, no one could stop him, not even his former friends.

As most people who witnessed Hercules' glory, they would logically condemn some of Alcides' actions.

Although men are indeed ruthless in battle, even plundering in the streets of enemy countries, they will not hesitate to use any means to assassinate others in order to achieve their goals.

But if these actions are all for the purpose of achieving grand ambitions, they are not enough to shake the name of a hero. Even if the opponent is a cursed child who will bring disaster to the world, as long as he is a child, a man will never point an arrow at him.

But Theseus was different. When he learned of Heracles's fate, it was the only time in his life that he cursed the gods.

"As heroes, they can't only do noble things; they can also have dirty deeds and ugly emotions. Then, they abandon their honor and lose everything, just to vent their own dissatisfaction. Perhaps people will think they are monsters, but—"

Theseus shook his head, then smiled.

"In my opinion, it's not a monster, but a person, and I've always trusted you in that regard."

So, whatever the proof of sin or whatever, whatever the ultimate depravity or whatever—”

And so, the figure of the King of Athens slowly disappeared into Mount Olympus, until he was never seen again.

Only the Avenger's hand remained suspended in mid-air.

He stared blankly in the direction the junior had left.

He instinctively reached out, wanting to grab him, but couldn't find him anywhere.

Only the lightest yarn seeped into his body from the air.

The glory that Poseidon bestowed upon Theseus reappeared from the yarn, a conceptual defense, and also an absolute defense accompanied by immortality.

Ultimately, Theseus was simply lamenting his cousin's choice and understanding it.

It's actually meaningless, and since it's meaningless, there's no need to be bothered by it.

Even so, even so, at the very last moment, Theseus, suppressing the painful emotions that seemed to evoke his own grief, spoke with a touch of loneliness:

"Go do what you want to do."

This time, the Avengers were free of the restless mud and the violence of the past; only the tranquil and distant sound of the ocean waves reached their ears.

So distant.

The Avenger's face froze for a moment, but he coldly withdrew his gaze and stopped looking.

He heard footsteps nearby, which stopped beside him; they were the crew members from the Argo.

“Theseus has been dragging his feet for too long, but since he has already bestowed Poseidon’s blessing upon you, then as the guardian of the seas, I must also bestow my blessing upon you.”

"...Although that's what I say, I really like Hercules in the way he is right now."

"Pollux!"

"Lord Hercules has shrunk, but he looks terrifying..."

"You frightened little Medea, but I've never seen you like this before. Even the Moon Goddess would be quite surprised."

"Ha, that guy kept calling out Hercules, Hercules, but when he saw you like this, he was so scared that he only came at the very last minute?"

"...When did you arrive?"

"The god of medicine," Asclepius thought for a moment, then said seriously:

"Just now, I was summoned by a very familiar power. Perhaps it was the power that was given away almost two thousand years ago. Although all the gods, including Zeus, could descend, I thought it unnecessary to cause too much trouble, so only Hera and the Argonauts came."

"......Yeah."

The avenger instinctively raised the bow in his hand, demonstrating his determination to seek revenge.

Novia must have paid a huge price to achieve this.

But he no longer had time to ponder the key points, and blurted out instinctively:

"I don't want to kill you."

"Hahaha, you're quite confident, Hercules, but the human world should just continue to perish like this—"

"No, we can't let it be destroyed. Didn't Novia already stop it once?"

"Hmm, hmm, that's true, but how dare a mere human call him a saint..."

"You may say that, but you actually like it a lot, don't you?"

"Pollux!"

Asclepius looked at his Gemini brother and sister, then sighed, a rare occurrence for the Avengers:

"Your body is no longer attractive. If I were to persuade you to take on more difficult challenges and suffer more unheard-of injuries, and then have me diagnose you, I doubt you would agree now. In that case, I won't bother diagnosing you."

As the healer passed over the Avenger's body, he continued:

"If I hadn't dedicated myself entirely to medicine, I would have ended up like you... Come to think of it, my shadow is also in this Holy Grail War."

"Although not everything is beautiful, as long as you don't hate the Moon Goddess and the child, I won't stop you."

Atalanta answered frankly, and it was easy to imagine her persistence just by looking at her expression.

"Well, I still think that although the originally tall Hercules was frightening, he was very reliable, and he should still be reliable now."

The little witch forced herself to calm down, then cheered excitedly.

"It doesn't matter. In fact, you're fine the way you are now. I never wanted you, with your 300-plus kilogram muscle mass, to get close to me in the first place. Now that you've shrunk down, I still don't like you getting close to me."

The betraying witch revealed an indifferent smile.

Slowly, the sky above Mount Olympus, tinged with dark red, appeared before the Avengers' eyes.

Dusk, evening—that's how people refer to the boundary between day and night.

The elongated shadows cast on the road create a distorted atmosphere, a hazy moment that doesn't belong to day or night, perhaps having the effect of awakening the unease dormant in people's hearts.

At normal times, during this period, many people are propelled by the red light, heading towards their way home.

In the silence, the Avenger reached out to the gradually dissipating crew members and gently shook their hands amidst the dust.

Then, he withdrew the murky, dark magic of red and black that he had spread.

He looked down at the captain, who had arrived at the last minute.

"Hercules! Isn't this Hercules! Hahaha, even though you've changed into this form, you still look so worried, but that's actually reassuring! Alright, I've entrusted you with so many things before, now leave them to me, hahaha, I'll definitely be just like you, quick and decisive and get it done as soon as possible."

Jason, the blond man characterized by his arrogant attitude, is the captain of the Argo.

He once said this to the man who had just boarded the ship:

"I see, how wonderful! I'm so envious! You really are the monster the rumors say you are! But don't worry, I will treat you well while I'm using you."

"When you're with me... you won't be a monster anymore, but rather—"

The clouds in the sky completely disappeared, and the moonlight dyed the earth a fantastical silver.

At that moment, the blond man suddenly laughed, and grasped the man's hand as if trying to catch a shining star.

"A great hero who protected the future king."