SON OF THE HERO KING

Hathor muttered as she observed this place while the others that entered did the same.

The most uncomfortable one among them was, of course, Isis. After all, thanks to her name she was able to fight back the weird intent that was constantly trying to invade her mind, she was not a proper King and that’s why there was only so much she could do. Sooner or later, if she were to continue lingering in this place, she will have to give in.

But she knew for a fact that she didn’t have to stay here for long so she was willing to bear with it. Her place in this plan would be short.

Ambrosia stayed silent, her gaze fixated on the slumbering Lilith cooped up in Sol’s arms.

‘What is that monster?’

She had to give her all to keep her expression neutral and indifferent. The last strike that Lilith launched had completely torn apart the dimensional walls as if they never existed in the first place.

That attack had the might of a demigod even though it did not have the energy necessary to back it up. Ambrosia had a headache just thinking about this illogical reality.

No matter how skilled you were, to reach a certain level of power, a certain amount of energy was still necessary.

It was like a clear and absolute formula. One the witches had been working on for almost a millennia now in order to perfect.

But Lilith, with her dying body and nearly dry mana reserves, launched a strike that went beyond what should be theoretically possible and entered the realms that few beings could ever hope to reach.

‘This could be the next step for humanity as a whole.’

Humans, by definition, were the weakest race. Even strong humans needed the power of a contract to reach their maximum power levels and fully unearth their potential and all those who did were either Blessed or had a relation to the gods.

This was an absolute and unshakeable reality. A clear fact. Even Sol or Lilin did not escape from the confines of this rule. As most of their powers came from their hybrid origin. The same went for the witches or the priests.

But Lilith?

‘Hahaha. From what I was told, the previous king named Neptune said that Lilith was a failure?’

Ambrosia leaked a low hollow laugh, wondering what that man would think if he could see his creation right now.

‘I truly need to save her.’

Ambrosia decided resolutely. Not only to help Sol, nor to simply pay back her debt, but because she was seeing a new possibility— a clear path for all humans to tread.

Even though she doubted that many humans could actually thread the same path as Lilith, if they could obtain even a tenth of her power, things would change drastically.

“Sol, are you alright?”

Medea approached Sol and asked in a quiet tone. They didn’t have much time to speak with each other ever since what happened last time in her world. But none of them were worried about the clash as they knew it would change nothing in their relationship.

“Hah, don’t worry. I should have put an end to this sooner but I was interested in seeing how I would fare against Lilith’s sword intent. The ultimate sword, I wanted to face it.”

He grinned and looked down at his body, “The result is much better than I thought. Given that she did not try to cut my soul, that is.”

Medea was speechless at how Sol could still laugh even though he looked like a tomato that became too ripe with all the blood covering him from head to toe.

Persephone silently approached him from the side and Sol gave Lilith to her to take care of. It was important to stabilize Lilith\'s current state without filling her body with energy. Bringing her to the brink had both been a tired and bloody work. One he did not wish to participate willingly in the near future.

Sol sighed as he brought out the Holy Flames to accelerate his healing factor while chasing away the intent that was gnawing away at his wounds.

It would take a little bit of time for him to fully recover but he simply needed to be in a good state to enact their following plans.

“Do you think we can really fool the goddesses?”

“Oh, no. Not at all. They aren’t stupid. They will definitely ‘know’ that we did something. What matters though is to make sure that Invidia cannot ‘prove’ that we did something against their orders. This will be an open crime per se. After all…

“A crime is only a crime when you are actually caught.” [1]

Sol smiled at the dumbfounded expression the witches were giving him. He knew that he had to explain himself a bit for them to fully understand his approach. After all, any hesitation might prove fatal.

“Honestly, this isn’t some master plan that will blow your minds away. I like to believe that I am smart. But I am not so great that I can somehow fool a group of beings who have lived since the dawn of time.”

Sol knew his limitations very well. This was why the presence of Aurora had been a game-changer for him.

“For starters, there is one thing I noticed after my interactions. The goddesses are not truly monolithic.”

This was normal. As long as it wasn’t some sort of a hive mind, there would always be different opinions in a group of individuals.

“Currently, Luxuria and Castitas are on my side.”

This was an absolute certainty. From the way none of the goddesses even mentioned his goal of conquering the mortal world, he was sure that whatever Luxuria was doing, she was moving behind her sisters’ backs and she had placed all her bets on him.

As for Castitas, he was friendly enough with her, not enough to warrant full support, but still what he had noticed was that in this large group of 14 goddesses, each twin goddesses were obviously closer to each other than they were with their other siblings.

“Superbia will not attack me.”

This also meant that Humilitas, Superbia’s twin, would not oppose him as well.

“I do not know about the others goddesses as I have never met them, but I think the goddesses of the Chimera race won’t be particularly bothered by what I am about to do.”

This would mean that he had between four to six goddesses on his side and hopefully, a few more would take a neutral stance. Sol hadn’t only been silent during his attempt to bargain. The moment he realized things were going in the wrong direction, he simply decided to shut up and observe.

Only by obtaining more information would he have been able to deal with the problem more effectively. In the end, he noticed something clear in the way the goddesses acted.

“They underestimate mortals so most of them won’t move as long as we do not go too far.”

This was a simple reality. Of course, it did not stop here,

The whole reason why Invidia tried to incite him into acting out. The reasons she clearly wished for him to not accept her judgment.

“Invidia will not or can not attack me without enough justification on her side.”

He smiled, “So we will give no obvious proof for her to latch on. As long as I give a reasonable script, then most of them will be happy to turn a blind eye toward our transgression.”

Ambrosia closed her eyes. There was a young boy who awakened only a few months ago, when all things considered, and he was already plotting so much against the goddess.

This was a great plan. But…

“You rely too much on hypothesis. Nothing in your plan is absolutely concrete outside perhaps Luxuria\'s desire to protect you.”

Indeed, this was the greatest hole in Sol\'s plan. But she could see his smile stretch further when she pointed this out.

“I know.”

He obviously knew this more than anyone else. There were so many variables in his plans that he would not be able to finish listing them all. However…

“I have two things that will make sure this plan will not fail.”

“Which are?”

“Firstly, on my side, I have you, Anubis, and Tiamat. Even Lilith herself would join the fray once she is healed. Camelia and perhaps even Gabriel can also be listed. In the end, antagonizing me without proof will only make the situation more complicated for the goddesses.”

He had too many powerful people on his back. The goddesses wouldn’t wish to see him join the Chaos faction with them in tow and while he didn’t plan to ever do that, as he did not adhere to the faction’s ideology, he didn’t need to tell them about that.

But his second and greatest assurance was of course…

“As long as the probability of success exists. I can change this probability into certainty.”

The divine energy he had saved in his body for this moment began to boil and churn as if it were to be woken up from a deep slumber.

“Well then, shall we start?”

The last time he fought Nihil, he had used his power to establish the Rule of Three, biding Nihil so that she would never be able to face him before he was ready.

This time he would use Fate to write a new story.

The story of a woman who after facing hardship after hardship all throughout her life, realized her true self and finally managed to break through to a new level.

The most standard trope in a power fantasy.

Divine power swelled and churned inside his body as it radiated in an overbearing golden aura of absolution. And with that flashy show of power, his realm spiked to that of a bonafide demigod.

He ignored the astounded gazes thrown at him from every single person while adjusting his power and the feeling of his sealed strength.

『 Zone: Deus Ex Machina 』[2]

———

[1]: As a maybe future lawyer if I stop writing, I disapprove strongly of those words *Ahem* I am an upstanding citizen who respects all laws and regulations and will certainly never try to skirt around the law.

[2]: For those who read Lotm, Sol is basically following the Authro Pathway. Man, when Sol officially becomes a demigod I don’t think I will have much to write about. SHK will most likely end by the start of 2024 or mid-2024 or the start of 2025 (If I slow down a little on the release rate. But my goal is early 2024). Let’s make this a memorable year guys.

(AN: Argh. I am tired. Not gonna lie. I wrote 6K for SHK last time, then 2K for MP, and 2K again for MP yesterday, This chapter here is 2K and need at least 1.5K for MP as well again. I am in hell. I want to break my computer and breath fresh air. Even though I do not wish to in reality, CH 400 will have to be big. I don’t want to go past CH 401 for this arc. I want to finish this arc by the end of this week so that I can rest on Monday and Tuesday. Before the start of a new month and a new Volume. I was thinking of writing a third novel for a new competition on WN but I decided to give up. Writing two is already killing me. XD)