Singer Sailor Merchant Mage - Chapter 12: Defeat is temporary, giving up is permanent

After being torn from the only life she knew, 16-year-old Margo is forced into a new home with strangers who call themselves her parents. Haunted by memories of her past and consumed by feelings of isolation, she struggles to adapt to her unfamiliar surroundings. School offers little relief—until she meets Lucien, a mysterious boy who appears just when she needs a friend the most.Gabriel is everything Margo needs: kind, attentive, and always ready to whisk her away from her troubles. Each night, he invites her to secret places—an abandoned playground, a fog-choked garden, a crumbling train station at the edge of town—each more unsettling than the last. Yet with every chilling rendezvous, Margo feels more alive... more seen.But something isn’t right. Gabriel never comes to school during the day. Her adoptive parents never see him. And when they catch her talking to thin air, their concern deepens into fear. They say Gabriel isn't real—that he’s a figment of her imagination. Margo wants to believe them, but Gabriel feels real. More real than anything else in her life.As the nights grow colder and more twisted, Gabriel’s true nature begins to surface. Shadows move where they shouldn’t. Time warps in his presence. And the places they visit seem to echo with whispers from another world. Margo is forced to ask herself: Who—or what—is Gabriel? Why does he only want her? And what will happen on the final night he asks her to come with him?As the line between reality and delusion begins to crumble, Margo must make an impossible choice: stay in a world where she feels loved, or return to one that barely feels real.But one thing is certain—some friendships never let go.

After waking up in the world of ancient Greek mythology, I became a stunningly beautiful young shepherd boy named Eros.Life was carefree, there was always enough to eat and wear, but it was, well... painfully lonely.Until one day, I met her by the river.A girl whose beauty and personality both struck straight into my heart like lightning.We fell in love instantly, sparks flying between us.Then came the twist.After one steamy encounter, the sky suddenly darkened.A majestic figure appeared before me, none other than the Queen of the Gods, Hera herself.“Who are you?” I asked in shock.But the girl in my arms answered before I could finish.“She is Queen Hera,” she said with a mysterious smile.I was stunned. My mind raced.“Then who are you?” I asked nervously.“Are you Hebe, the Goddess of Youth? Or some other goddess?”She shook her head.“No,” she said softly. Her lips curved into a teasing grin.“I’m Zeus, the King of the Gods. So... wanna be my (XXXX)?”***This is a translation all credits to the author***Book cover not mineNote:Some readers might feel that “genderbending” contradicts the mythological setting, so here’s my explanation:First of all, Zeus has always been fluid in gender representation as were many of the early Greek deities.Also, the protagonist’s name isn’t random.Eros, the original primordial god of love symbolized the raw force of love and desire that brought life into being. Before Eros existed, the gods reproduced asexually, without love or union.So in this story, we’re following a timeline where Eros was never born, and Gaia modeled Uranus on herself instead.This is that alternate world.

In the God Domain, Cultivators were far and few between, but each of them wielded power that would make them known as gods.

How did they come to have such power? They comprehended the laws between heaven and earth and became those very laws.

But something occurred, a youth that hadn’t gained the acknowledgment of the heavens to become a cultivator chance upon Qi. Determined to reverse the bad hand faith had dealt him he started researching it and came to a shocking conclusion. The very laws that the heavens prevented him from comprehending were swirling around in this strange energy!

The youth thought to himself that if he could somehow control it, then he could defy the heavens and become a cultivator. Without any hesitation he began researching more and found out that the only way to control this newfound energy was to absorb it within his body.

After many years of preparations, he did exactly that.

However, he promptly died from the finger size strand he absorbed.

Ten years after his death a cultivator found his research journal and decided to further study this fascinating idea.

Skip forward to an unknown period in the future and a baby was born into a powerful royal family as the second prince. Upon his birth this child had the laws of heaven and earth swirling around him. This immediately sent the royal court into a stir as they thought the heavens themselves had blessed the Emperor’s second son.

But as that was happening, the baby that had just been born saw the midwife use a spell to turn Qi into water to clean him.

Upon seeing this, the baby’s eyes widen into saucers as a voice screamed hysterically in his head, “W-WHO THE FUCK STOLE MY IDEA?!”