Hearing the unquestionable resolve in those words, the second princess did not argue and silently nodded, finally accepting her father's arrangement.
The morning of the sixth day.
Boom!
Thousands of purple-white thunderbolts exploded from cloud layer after cloud layer.
In the boundless night sky, they either slithered and roamed or struck vertically, like wrathful dragons descending to the world.
Through the faint glow of the lightning, it was vaguely visible that torrential rain still poured down relentlessly.
The sea level had risen nearly a hundred meters; surging murky floods had completely submerged the outer coastal defenses and half the island.
Even the walls of Knossos city, which had been continuously heightened and reinforced in recent days, were on the verge of being swallowed.
Hurricane after hurricane swept diagonally across the undulating waves, raging and ravaging, piercing heaven and earth, interweaving brilliantly with the dense web of lightning.
In less than half a month, the Minoans had witnessed the complete collapse of the world outside.
"Dong!"
Accompanied by clear bird calls, vigorous striking sounds echoed from the grand temple.
A brilliant halo of light, illuminated by starlight, shone radiantly, projecting a vast star map and celestial outlines across the night sky, faintly numbering as many as eighty-eight.
Golden light patterns, flickering in and out, rippled outward with a peculiar rhythm, eventually spreading beyond Knossos city and cascading down.
Like a beautiful canopy adorned with tassels, covering this fortress city.
The massive rain clouds and storms drifting in from the Oceanus sea were expelled from the area sheltered by this golden starlight, only able to linger and surge dozens of miles away.
Even the flooding waters on the ground were forced to retreat and detour, unable to erode even a fraction into its bounds.
A quarter of an hour later, Athena, clad in full armor, emerged from the grand temple and arrived at the palace, solemnly warning.
"Time is running out, we probably won't last until evening. Have them depart immediately, far from Crete!"
Lorne nodded at once.
Then, under the pretext of "delivering warmth," he dispatched divine-blooded royal guards and priests to deliver jars of warm wine door-to-door to the Minoans still steadfastly remaining in Knossos city.
Since most Minoans had already fled, the remainder instinctively gathered toward Knossos city, which could provide safe shelter.
Thus, apart from this royal capital, the outer city-states and villages were already empty as wilderness.
This, in turn, provided convenient conditions for their concentrated evacuation.
Soon, after a few cups, the drinkers flushed red, bodies burning hot.
Then, overcome by the wine's potency, they drowsily fell asleep.
Lorne immediately summoned his divine-blooded royal guards and the remaining city defense forces to swiftly transport the unconscious Minoans onto the pre-prepared Minoan warships.
It wasn't until near dusk that all available sober hands, working overtime, barely finished moving these drunken Minoans aboard.
And when everything was ready, the twilight old man, holding a bronze spear, stood before the palace hall.
Gazing at the assembled thousands of divine-blooded royal guards and city defense troops, his eyes filled with emotion as he raised his voice in proclamation.
"I am deeply pleased and comforted that you have held on until now.
At the very least, this path is not one I walk alone.
In fact, as early as yesterday,
I personally told you all.
No matter how we struggle, Crete will be destroyed.
This is the unopposable will of the gods, an unshakable fate."
...
The soldiers listened quietly, their expressions unchanged.
King Minos surveyed the silent plaza, solemnly declaring.
"Then, I will reiterate: How you choose to face the end—I will not force you.
You may lay down your weapons and flee now.
You may board the last ferry ships to guard the Minoan seed.
You may revel in drunken dreams until the final moment.
Does anyone still wish to withdraw?"
..
At this moment, swarms of sea beasts had already appeared on the distant sea, along with maritime gods riding storms and raging waves.
Torrential rain, dense as waterfalls, pierced through the gradually tearing golden barrier, striking the soldiers' skin and armor with clear clinking sounds.
Yet the entire plaza remained deathly silent...no one shifted a step, no one uttered a sound.
Their kin and friends had already boarded the ships; their children were right behind them.
Nothing now hindered them from baring their fangs, like a blade freed from its sheath, able to slash forward without restraint.
King Minos nodded slightly, his gaze deep and calm.
"It seems you all choose to fight.
Knowing this outcome, you still decide to resist it.
What foolish behavior, what astonishing courage!
This is likely an ode even the Muses could not compose!
Then, the final elite of the Minoans—hear me now.
Immediately ascend the walls, take up your weapons, and fight for me until the last moment!"
...
The old man in the rain curtain drew a deep breath.
His withered right hand raised the spear high as his gaunt chest unleashed a lion-like roar.
"—We shall, in this moment, defy the gods' decree and wrestle with so-called fate!"
Boom!
The entire island trembled violently.
In the distance, mudflows mixed with shattered rock, trees, and animal carcasses surged forward in layers, raising waves a hundred meters high.
The Cretan city-states in their path were like building blocks under a giant's palm.
As if the gods raged and fate howled.
But the soldiers in the plaza proudly thrust out their chests, unmoved and unafraid.
Their spears struck the ground in unison as thunderous shouts erupted from their mouths.
"War! War! War!"
Then, the remaining few thousand tacitly ascended the city walls.
Cooperating with the priests who voluntarily stayed behind, they activated the magic arrays, igniting the final light on Crete to meet the onslaught from the sea.
At the same time, in the leeward harbor.
On the eve of departure, High Priestess Ariadne finally couldn't hold back and asked, her eyes full of confusion.
"Lady Goddess, where should we go?"
Athena had long planned for this; and the answer she had brewed for ages escaped her lips.
"Athens. The king there will take you in. I once bestowed snake divinity upon their ancestor and aided him in founding the state."
Hearing this, Lorne fell into thought.
In legend, Athens's first king, Cecrops, had a human body and a serpent's tail.
During Cecrops's rule, both Athena and Poseidon vied to become Athens's patron god and agreed to each give the Athenians a gift, letting Cecrops choose the preferred one.
Poseidon struck the Acropolis rock with his trident, producing a spring, but the water was salty, deemed of little use.
Athena pierced the rock with her spear of victory, causing an olive tree to grow.
Cecrops judged the olive tree the better gift, for it provided wood, oil, and food.
Thus, he accepted Athena as the local patron, and the city was named Athens after her.
Additionally, Athens's fourth king, Erichthonius...said to be the child of Hephaestus and the earth, was carefully raised and taught by Athena.
Afterward, the fifth king Pandion, sixth king Aegeus, and seventh king Theseus all received Athena's help and guidance to varying degrees.
Among them, Theseus was the one who sacrificed the Cretan bull to Athena and brought High Priestess Ariadne to Athens.
It was said that the prosperity of Mycenaean and Athenian civilizations stemmed from Minoan refugees fleeing catastrophe, bringing the seeds of civilization.
From these clues, it was clear Athena had long foreseen Crete's decline and prepared in advance.
But she had never been able to decide on the trade-offs.
At this moment, the goddess of wisdom paused, then bit her fingertip, flinging a strand of golden-red blood that merged into the high priestess's forehead as she solemnly instructed.
"From now on, forget your original identities. Henceforth, you are the bloodline of city-builder Pandion!"
Lorne nodded inwardly.
As far as he knew, there was more than one Pandion in Greek myth; the exact number of his branch bloodlines was unverifiable.
So, with the Athenian king's endorsement, this was the easiest identity to assume.
Next, Athena turned to the three Gorgon sisters standing behind Princess Ariadne.
Her gaze finally settled on the bronze snake-emblem badge on Medusa's chest as she took her hand, her fingertip lightly tracing the badge.
The originally simple snake pattern transformed into the image of a snake-haired demoness.
"This shall be your family crest.
She is your ancestor, named Pallas!"
Seeing this scene, Lorne's brain momentarily glitched.
—The widely circulated Gorgon crest in Athens.
—Athena's legendary companion, the ocean-divinity maiden Pallas.
—The two princesses who should have been abducted, now voluntarily going to Athens to cultivate.
All appearances seemed unchanged, yet the core of everything was utterly transformed.
After a brief sigh of a few seconds, Lorne also sent Hestia aboard.
The hearth goddess boarding the deck turned back several times, hesitating to speak.
"You cannot stay. It changes nothing and would only further arouse
His Majesty's wariness. So, just protect them well!"
Lorne gave a rational analysis, advising solemnly.
Though reluctant, Hestia was persuadable, so, she finally nodded obediently, returned to the cabin, and awaited the warship's departure.
The two stood shoulder to shoulder, watching several fully loaded warships close their hatches and sail away from the focal point—Crete.
"Boom! Boom! Boom!"
Thunder roared in the sky; murky floods on the ground surged like ten thousand galloping horses.
At this moment, rain lashed fiercely, winds howled madly!
Twelve hurricanes wrapped in water waves and mudflows swept in, nearly tearing that expanse of heaven and earth asunder.
Pitch-black clouds blotted out the sky, swallowing the last traces of starlight as they pressed down oppressively.
Dense lightning serpents slithered and roamed, continually coiling and exploding toward the ground, causing the earth to churn and quake.
Yet a faintly glowing high wall and slender human figures repeatedly drove back the terrifying hurricanes, sea waves, and frenzied beasts into the deep sea.
"Defying divine will—obstinate and unrepentant!"
A suppressed, chilling growl came from the sea as a massive water-blue trident tore through the surface, forming a gigantic vortex.
One after another, bizarrely shaped black giant ships leaped from the water, linking into a vast dark mass—over a thousand in total.
Nearby, tens of thousands of Atlantean soldiers, some riding dolphins, some giant beasts, guarded the fleet's flanks, forming a vast and mighty military array.
Finally, the old sea god Nereus, sea queen Amphitrite, hundreds upon thousands of ocean nymphs, and numerous ocean male gods stood on the decks of that black fleet, their eyes overflowed with awe toward the sea king at the flagship's center.
Clearly, to easily win this war of vengeance, Poseidon chose to empty his nest and reveal his trump cards.
For he wanted not just an easy victory, but to deter those restless ocean gods.
Even missing one, he remained the solitary king of the Oceanus sea!
At the same time, Lorne and Athena, watching from afar, exchanged a glance and the last stone in their hearts finally settled.
Finally, the fish is hooked!
(End of Chapter)