In Athena's view, this was the most likely scenario. After being driven out of their own universe, an Absolute God would actually fall into a period of weakness. Unless they could return to their own universe, they could not recover.
Back then, the Absolute God had been expelled by the newly born Primordial Gods after creating the universe.
He had already been wounded by the Primordial Gods before being driven out, and now that he had returned once more, who could say how much of his strength remained?
"Thinking about it carefully, it's simply impossible. No matter how powerful the Pegasus constellation may be, it could never kill an Absolute God. Even the Primordial Gods cannot accomplish such a feat. Apsu certainly isn't dead. He has merely fallen into a weakened state, perhaps even a deep slumber." Athena laid out her full conjecture before Axis.
The subtext was clear: Axis could use this opportunity to slay Apsu and seize the power of an Absolute God, the power to create a universe.
Axis nodded. What Athena said did carry a certain logic.
The new generation's Pegasus Kouga had initially been at an absolute disadvantage when facing Apsu. With a mere wave of his hand, Apsu had thrashed Kouga mercilessly.
Yet the situation had reversed in an instant, without any reasoning behind it, supposedly aided only by a little girl possessing a Soul of Light, or rather by Athena's help. Was such a thing truly possible?
"Heh, I'm afraid matters are not so simple as you imagine. Didn't I say it before? The Pegasus constellation possesses the power to slaughter gods. It is not the power of a god, but the bane of all gods, capable of creating miracles.
"Long ago, the Pegasus Saint managed to wound Hades, the Lord of the Underworld, with nothing more than a mortal body. This was not without reason. Called the greatest sinner of the heavens, the god-slaying Pegasus wields the power to create miracles." Kairos spoke from the other side.
"So what you mean is that the Pegasus constellation may very well have truly killed Apsu?" A faint, mysterious smile curved at the corner of Axis's mouth as he asked.
"No, no, no, I never said that. To kill an Absolute God, the god-slaying force of the current Pegasus is not enough. He would have to kill a Primary God, then a Primordial God, then an Absolute God in succession before he could qualify to challenge a Transcendent God. However, the Apsu of this world should have already sunk into some kind of deep slumber, and there's no need for us to provoke him.
"Still, I must admit that the Pegasus constellation of this world is quite formidable. Take a moment to sense it carefully, Athena, Axis. Feel out the gods of this world." Kairos revealed a playful smile as he spoke.
Axis and Athena exchanged a glance, then together released their divine Cosmo senses. Suddenly Athena's brow furrowed, her expression shifting dramatically.
Not a single one of the Olympian gods of this world remained. Apollo, Artemis the Moon Goddess, even Poseidon the Sea Emperor, Ares the God of War, Aphrodite the Goddess of Love, the entire pantheon of Olympus had vanished without a trace.
"What's going on? Why have all the Olympian gods disappeared?" Athena turned to Kairos with the question.
"It's quite simple. They were all killed by the Pegasus constellation. I am, after all, a God of Time, and the moment I arrived in this world, I was already able to peer into its past. I must admit, the Pegasus of this universe has grown the finest, the most perfect of them all.
"Before he even became a Gold Saint, he had already destroyed several gods. Among them were the Goddess of Vengeance, the evil god Lucifer, the Sun God Abel, and Hades the Lord of the Underworld. It is precisely because he slaughtered so many gods that his god-slaying force has grown to its absolute peak." Kairos said.
He truly ought to thank Axis.
Had Axis not found this world and come here, he would never have known that such a perfect Pegasus existed within.
Rather than laboring to cultivate a Pegasus in that world, it would be far better to pluck the ripe fruit already grown. The Pegasus constellation here possessed the strongest god-slaying force of all.
Moreover, through fragmented and blurred glimpses of the future, Kairos had discovered that one of the incarnations of his great elder brother, Saturn, had also come to this world. According to the future Saturn had seen, all the Athenas should have perished.
Yet only this world's Athena and the Athena of his own universe had broken that fate. The difference was that his own universe's Athena had relied entirely on Axis, that exceedingly powerful outside force, while this universe's Athena had done so purely through her own strength, along with the Pegasus constellation.
"Kairos speaks the truth. The Pegasus constellation of this universe has indeed accomplished the feat of slaughtering the Olympian gods." Axis said.
Across countless games, films, and literary works, many had achieved the feat of slaying the Olympian pantheon, but the most famous among them was undoubtedly a certain bald man wielding twin blades. He had carved his way up from mortality and butchered the entire Olympian divine system.
However, the Olympian gods of the Saint Seiya world were considerably more formidable than those of the God of War universe, even more ferocious than the Olympians of the DC world.
According to the Omega chapter's setting, the Heavens Arc had already concluded. Athena and her Saints had accomplished the greatest god-slaying campaign, and the Great Demon King Seiya had officially established his position.
"This is a wonderful thing, Axis. This world has two Pegasus constellations, one of the older generation and one of the younger generation, and both of them carry the god-slaying force within them. If we can find a way to obtain both of them, and then combine them with the Pegasus of our own universe, our plan can succeed. We will certainly be able to kill the Transcendent God Chronos." Kairos spoke with an expression of fierce excitement.
Since the distant mythological age, he had dreamed of defeating his elder brother. In the past, that wish had been so impossibly distant. He had made arrangement after arrangement, but all of it was merely preliminary preparation.
To truly pose a threat to a Transcendent God had been an unreachable dream, but now that dream seemed on the verge of being realized. The purple destructive energy that young Axis commanded, along with the god-slaying force, were divine powers mighty enough to threaten even his elder brother.
Axis nodded without changing his expression.
"Then we shall split up and act separately. Kairos, you and my father-in-law the Emperor will form one team. Athena and I will form the other." Axis said.
Since the Absolute God Apsu had already fallen into slumber, this was a once-in-a-thousand-years opportunity. The final boss of this Holy War was Saturn, the legendary incarnation of the Transcendent God, whose strength far surpassed that of an ordinary Absolute God. Before Axis could deal with him, he had to make thorough preparations.
"Then we shall separate for now. The Twin Gods, Ultraman, and Grail, you will play the role of my Four Heavenly Kings and bring a third faction into this Holy War." Axis said before departing.
While he was occupied with slaying the Absolute God, someone needed to draw the fire. The main factions of this Holy War were Athena and the Saints she led on one side, and Pallas the Goddess of Love with her Pallasites on the other.
But in truth, those Pallasites were all subordinates of Saturn, the God of Time. Among them, the strongest Four Heavenly Kings each wielded the Holy Sword Titan, the Tenchi Destruction Blade, the Bushin Photon Sword, and the Graviton Lightning Blade.
The strength of these Four Heavenly Kings should have reached the Secondory God level, and with the empowerment of their holy swords, these few were invincible below Primary Gods.
Everyone nodded together, and Axis and Athena slipped into the void, heading for the Chaos Realm.
The Emperor was responsible for following Ikaros and helping him restore his divine power, while the remaining Grail, along with the Twin Gods and Ultraman, began carrying out Axis's plan.
Beneath the cover of the Emperor's Cosmo, which contained absolute order and the majesty of the Sun God, Kairos's soul aura was perfectly concealed.
Though this God of Time harbored some complaints about not being able to immediately join in on the "excitement" on Earth, under the Emperor's calm yet brooking-no-argument gaze, he could only set aside his thoughts for the moment and quietly follow the newly ascended Primordial God of Light, hiding at the edge of the star system to watch for developments.
At the same time, he was responsible for monitoring any anomalies that might arise from the Transcendent God's incarnations. He absolutely could not be discovered by the Transcendent God now, for if he were, all his previous efforts would be undone.
Moreover, it just so happened that this Primordial God called the Emperor could provide him with a portion of divine power. If possible, he hoped to raise his own divine power to the level of a Primary God before the final battle.
"Lord Neos, I shall entrust my divine power to you from here on." Kairos said.
"Leave it to me. I will supply you with the most fundamental of primordial divine powers." The Emperor nodded.
As a Supreme Kai, and a Grand Supreme Kai at that, the Emperor never lacked for divine power.
Axis, together with Athena, relied on a Primordial God's profound perception of universal laws to lock their target onto an extraordinarily hidden region deep in the universe, an absolute void where even the light of the stars seemed to be devoured. There, an ancient and silent, vast darkness radiated an aura that made even Axis's heart tremble.
"So that is Apsu's place of slumber?" Axis gazed into that darkness.
The chaotic nebula patterns on his Divine Cloth flowed faintly, adjusting to the weak gravitational pull and distorted laws drifting from within.
"There can be no mistake." Athena's expression was grave beyond measure. The Nike Staff in her hand radiated a gentle golden light, dispelling the cold, deathly silence that sought to erode them from all sides. "This darkness, pure and primordial, far surpasses Hades's power of death. It is the breath of the 'Nothingness' that existed before the birth of the universe. He truly has not perished completely, only fallen into the deepest healing sleep. We must exercise the utmost caution. Even a sleeping Absolute God's instinctive counterattack is no ordinary thing."
"I understand, which is precisely why we must strike while he is ill and take his life. Let's go." A flash of sharp light shone in Axis's eyes, and the power of Mazahs stirred restlessly within him.
Seizing the power of an Absolute God, such temptation was enough to drive any deity mad. This was a once-in-a-thousand-years opportunity.
The two transformed into streams of light, one golden and one chaotic, and silently melted into that absolute darkness from which even light could not escape.
Meanwhile, back on Earth, a new storm had already been stirred up.
Ultraman, Grail, along with Thanatos the God of Death and Hypnos the God of Sleep, who had been temporarily empowered by Axis and raised to a strength approaching the Secondory God level, led an army of Specters that had been "blessed" by Axis's divine power and thereby renewed, their strength vastly increased. They descended abruptly upon the battlefield where the Sanctuary and Pallas's army stood in confrontation.
At this moment, the Holy War had already drawn near its end. With the death of Genbu, the Gold Saint of the Gladiator Academy, Athena had led the Saint army in an all-out assault on the city where Pallas, the Goddess of Love, resided. In this final decisive battle, Saints and Pallasites had erupted into fierce warfare, and Athena led her army pressing forward without pause.
But at that very moment, yet another army descended upon the battlefield.
"Hahaha! The Saints and whatever Pallasites of this world don't look like much at all!" Ultraman hovered in midair, clad in dark red, fearsome armor forged from underworld black gems and Orichalcum fused with his divine power.
He looked down at the two sides below, who had temporarily halted their fighting due to the sudden appearance, and let out an arrogant laugh.
After becoming the God of Strength, his senses had grown even sharper, and he could clearly perceive that most of the warriors below were, in his eyes, of no consequence whatsoever.
Before the power of a god, Saints of the Seventh Sense had no ability to resist, and those who had not yet awakened the Seventh Sense were, in Ultraman's presence, no different from mortals. Before he had become a god himself, before he had mastered the divine Cosmo, warriors of the Seventh Sense had not been able to stand against him in the slightest, let alone now.
Grail surveyed the battlefield coldly. Her new armor bore an intertwined dark red and deep purple coloring, with the Omega symbol faintly visible on her chest, and waves of heart-trembling destruction radiated from her body. Her gaze lingered for a moment on a youth wearing a pink Cloth who was locked in battle with a Pallasite.
Pegasus Kouga, the Pegasus of this world, was one of the warriors Lord Axis had specifically instructed her to handle with care, along with a group of people at his side. These people were not to be harmed.
The God of Death and the God of Sleep maintained the dignity of the Underworld's great powers, but the aura of their Cosmo was far deeper and more unfathomable than in the age of Hades.
Clearly, they had gained no small benefit under Axis's command. With a wave of their hands, the Specters behind them scattered like a black tide, gazing at the prey before them with mocking and cruel eyes.
"Who are you people?" Saori Kido, the current Athena who had been commanding the Saints in battle, felt this sudden, mighty force laden with the aura of death and destruction, and her face changed abruptly.
The nature of these uninvited guests' power was extraordinarily strange, powerful yet unfamiliar. They were not Pallasites, yet neither were they the traditional Hades army.
"This, this is impossible. Thanatos the God of Death, Hypnos the God of Sleep, we should have already defeated them. You, how could you possibly appear again?" Seiya, the Sagittarius Gold Saint following at Athena's side, said.
As a participant in the previous Holy War, he naturally recognized some of the figures before him. No, it was that two of them were familiar, and the Specters too were familiar, but the other two gods he had never seen before.
One of them gave off an overwhelming sense of raw power throughout his entire body, while on the other, Seiya could feel only the power of destruction. Moreover, these Specters who had come along gave off a different impression. The weakest among them possessed the Seventh Sense.
This was the equivalent of more than a hundred Gold Saints. What kind of joke was this?
"Us? We have come to kill you all and bring you to submit beneath the divine power of the God of Strength!" Ultraman sneered, his fists colliding with a sound like clashing metal and stone, and the terrifying waves of power caused ripples to spread through space itself.
Below him, Athena, Saori Kido, furrowed her brow. God of Strength? How had she never heard of such a god before?
"Athena of this world, we are the new Underworld Army under the command of His Majesty Axis! We have come by the order of His Majesty and Queen Athena to take over the Underworld of this world! And while we're at it, to deal with you worthless small fries!" Thanatos the God of Death said.
This was a matter they had carried out countless times before, dealing with Athena's Saints that is.
The only difference this time was that one of their employers also happened to be an Athena.
These words, however, immediately left all the Saints present, and even some of the Pallasites, utterly bewildered. What was going on? Had he just said Queen Athena? Those words carried tremendous weight!
"Damn it, won't you bastards ever give up? Who is this Axis? Is he trying to steal Lady Saori away?" Seiya, the Sagittarius Gold Saint, said.
To try to snatch Athena away and make her his new bride, this was hardly the first god to attempt such a thing.
Poseidon the Sea Emperor, and even Athena's own brother had once harbored such intentions, and Seiya had slain more than a few gods who had harbored such designs.
"You may as well give up. Lady Saori will not be going with you." Shaka, the Virgo Gold Saint, also following at Athena's side, said.
At this moment, Athena also felt rather bewildered. These fellows were clearly the army of the Underworld, but wasn't the Lord of the Underworld Hades? And Hades had been killed by them twenty years ago.
"Who is this Axis? Could it be that he is the new Lord of the Underworld? I'm afraid I have no intention of marrying another god." Saori Kido said.
"Hahaha, make no mistake. Lord Axis is not Hades the Lord of the Underworld, but the one who ended Hades in another reality. Lord Axis defeated Hades and wed the Athena of our reality, and now Lord Axis has come to your world. We shall be the ones to rule here." Hypnos the God of Sleep said.
In any case, the task Lord Axis had assigned them was simply to stir up conflict with Athena. So be it. They would step directly on Athena's bottom line and contest her for dominion over the earth.
"This, how can this be? You, are you saying this is the Athena of another world?" Seiya, the Sagittarius Gold Saint, asked with a face full of disbelief. "Has the Athena of the other world been defeated?"
"How could that be? We are the Saints who guard the earth! There is no way we could lose to the Underworld Army."
"Well said. How could we possibly lose to the running dogs of the Lord of the Underworld?" The Saints below immediately began murmuring among themselves.