The night was deep.
Candle flames flickered inside the barn.
The Wizards were utterly stunned. Every Wizard froze in place, even their breathing stalled. Their eyes were locked on the figure at the doorway—Silver Armor on her body, an olive branch Crown, eyes deep as the starry sky, a suffocating pressure radiating from her entire being.
Athena.
The Goddess of Wisdom, Athena, had actually descended in person!
"We're… we're screwed…" a young Wizard murmured, trembling, his legs going weak as he almost collapsed to his knees.
"She must be here to settle accounts…" another Old Wizard shut his eyes in despair, his fingers unconsciously clutching the hem of his robe.
The Wizards' faces were ashen; some had already begun rehearsing their own Death in their minds—burned to ash by divine punishment? Turned into stone? Or thrown into Tartarus to suffer forever?
Yet just when everyone thought doomsday had arrived—Athena's gaze passed over them and fell straight on Ian.
Her voice was very soft, yet it clearly reached every ear.
"When the Gods' Twilight comes, all I ask is that you let me live."
As soon as these words fell.
It was no different from a bomb going off.
They had thought that today they would either die at the hands of the Temple Knights, or be struck down by Athena's punishment. Who could have imagined… the Gods were actually negotiating with a Wizard?!
Silence.
Even the sound of breathing vanished inside the barn.
The Wizards stared wide-eyed, almost unable to believe what they'd just heard.
Athena… was seeking a deal from Ian. This was a scene they had never imagined they would see in their entire lives—a true Olympus God appearing at their secret gathering!
And she hadn't unleashed divine punishment, hadn't angrily interrogated them, but was… going to make a deal with Wizards! And a deal where she hoped the other side would help her stay alive!
The Gods… bowing their heads to mortal Wizards?!
"So you're betraying the Gods of Olympus?" Ian raised his brows slightly, his somewhat surprised eyes fixed on Athena, the corner of his mouth slowly curving into a meaningful smile.
He could feel how deeply she feared the Gods' Twilight.
At his words, Athena's expression remained calm, but her fingertips tightened imperceptibly for an instant.
"This is just precaution before the rain—I see farther than you think." she said in a low voice, "The fall of Olympus is inevitable, and I… just want to survive." Her voice was filled with sincerity. She was not here to suppress these Wizards, nor to test his strength.
She was here to stay alive.
The future was set; the Gods would eventually fall.
"You are indeed very wise."
Ian smiled.
Then he nodded, thoughtful. From a certain angle, the Gods of the future had indeed already vanished—or rather, at least in his era, Olympus had long since become dust in myth. If Athena could truly foresee this… then her "wisdom" might be more real than legend.
"I am not clever—it's simply that I have not allowed fear to interfere with my thinking." As she said this, her expression was indifferent, as if she were talking about an approaching storm.
Rather than a choice that could overturn the entire Olympus order.
Just as the Titans had been replaced by the Gods—inevitable—this Goddess of Wisdom clearly had already foreseen a similar ending.
"Many of my brothers and sisters, like my father Zeus, chose evasion and concealment out of fear. They dare not face the reality of the Gods' Twilight."
"Precisely because of that, you have seen our desire for control, seen our fear of Wizards—everything, in truth, stems from Zeus and my brothers and sisters' greedy wish to stop the Gods' Twilight. But I am very clear: twilight will inevitably arrive. When that day comes, I do not wish to become dust in history."
Athena's voice was filled with cool analysis.
Ian nodded in agreement.
Of course he knew what the future looked like. After a brief silence, Ian's gaze swept over the Wizards who were still shocked and tense, then returned to Athena.
"Zeus doesn't like Wizards." he said mildly. "Do you dare defy Zeus?"
Athena let out a soft laugh.
"Zeus can hardly look after himself." Her voice carried a hint of sarcasm, and a touch of weariness. "The Spartans' souls… are about to crawl out."
Whether Zeus had even slept with her or not, who knew. Either way, Athena now not only lacked respect for Zeus, she was practically eager to see him topple as soon as possible.
"You truly deserve the name 'Wisdom'." Ian sighed again, a heartfelt sigh. "At the very least, you're much smarter than those blindly self-confident Gods."
He could feel Athena's honesty.
However.
"That Spartan thinks it was you who betrayed her. Don't you want to stop him from crawling back out?" Ian still remembered Kratos's roar at the sky earlier.
"I was merely under Zeus's control. I reserved a certain margin of error for myself, and I've given the Spartans a way to return. His fury will be unleashed only on Zeus."
Athena spoke like someone whose calculations never failed.
"Can he really come back?"
Ian was somewhat uncertain. According to the stories he knew, for Kratos to return from the Netherworld to the Human World, he needed help from the Titans imprisoned in the Netherworld.
However.
The Titans had already been slaughtered by him; the only remaining Female Titan Claire was a Prophet Titan, and at this point in time she clearly couldn't have been imprisoned by the Gods.
If she had been imprisoned by the Gods.
The Female Titan's mission would be to save her, not to collect Epiphyllum Honey. In response to Ian's curiosity, Athena simply smiled slightly, but did not answer.