Divine Ascension: Reborn as a God of Power-Chapter 68: Theomachy (Part 8)

"You can’t stay here forever, Akhon."

Hesperia’s voice cut through the storm, soft but firm. She’d pushed herself up to sit fully now, hand pressed to her ribs, golden ichor trickling down her side. Her eyes—still sharp despite the pain—locked with his.

"You’ve seen enough. It’s time to move."

Akhon’s gaze remained fixed on the battlefield below, jaw tight. Divine flames still rolled across the flood-slicked courtyards. Pillars cracked and collapsed like toy blocks. And from the far gate, Zeus’s reinforcements had begun to descend in force—lesser gods, spirits of law and order summoned from Olympus’s oldest vaults. Many of them had not walked the world in centuries, their names long forgotten by mortals.

Yet they were still powerful and very loyal.

"I’m not strong enough," Akhon said quietly, fists clenched at his sides. "I’m not a god like them."

Hesperia smirked weakly. "Yes you are, the only difference is that you don’t believe in your abilities but...I do

She gritted her teeth, dragging herself upright. Her legs shook, but she forced them to hold. "You’re powerful Akhon, even if your power is not on the scale of the top dogs you are still powerful."

Akhon hesitated.

Then his interface pulsed, as if in agreement:

> 🔔 [Divine Trigger Detected]

🧿 Divine Name: Akhon

👑 Title: Guardian of Kaeron

💠 Domain: Power (Advanced — 75%)

🔓 Authority Unlocked: Temporary Boost — Judgment Alignment

⚔️ Combat State Initiated: Nemesis Protocol — Phase I

A golden light swirled across his hands.

Hesperia reached out and clasped his arm.

"Go," she said, her voice cracking. "You don’t have to match Zeus. You just have to keep the advantage over Olympus."

Akhon nodded, his eyes hardening. And then he ran.

---

He descended the broken throne dais in a blur, cloak whipping behind him as he crossed the shattered bridge toward the heart of the courtyard. Three of Zeus’s lesser gods—emissaries of oath, judgment, and air—landed before him in formation. They wore ornate armor etched with stars, halos of discipline burning over their heads.

"Halt," one intoned, voice layered with divine command. "This place belongs to Olympus. You will surrender now."

Akhon didn’t stop.

Instead, he raised his hand—and fired a concussive blast of divine light straight into the speaker’s chest.

The god flew backward, smashing through two stone walls before vanishing into smoke.

The other two reacted instantly, blades shimmering with solar edge. One lunged for his throat, the other from above.

Akhon spun, ducked low, and slammed his foot into the earth, channeling power upward.

> ⚔️ [Skill: Seismic Pulse] — Divine Force unleashed from ground impact

The marble shattered. A pillar of golden energy surged up beneath the leaping god, launching him skyward with a scream. Akhon grabbed the third by the wrist mid-swing and drove his elbow into the god’s temple—once, twice—then hurled him over the ledge with a burst of kinetic light.

The three lay stunned or unconscious before they’d even processed what hit them.

Akhon stood still for a moment, his breath sharp and heart pounding.

He had won.

The battle around him paused for only an instant, a ripple of surprise from nearby Nemesis fighters and even a few Olympians.

Akhon raised his hand and called down the sigil of Kaeron, his divine emblem glowing overhead like a sun-flame brand.

"Push forward!" he shouted, voice booming with authority. "Break their line! The throne has no master now!"

Nemesis forces rallied around him.

A squad of Hecate’s mages took formation, firing volleys of purple flame into the advancing line of oath-bound gods. Kaeron’s mortal champions followed suit, blades glowing with Hesperia’s light, cutting through divine shields with tactical precision.

Akhon surged forward again, charging a winged spirit of law whose eyes glowed white-hot with purity. The spirit raised her hammer.

"Your existence is an error!" she screamed.

"And you’re obsolete," Akhon snapped back, diving under her swing and landing an uppercut that cracked her helm in half. His system pulsed with feedback.

> 🎯 [Critical Hit — Divine Focus Disrupted]

The winged god collapsed.

Behind him, two more Olympians landed—one wielding a chain of starlight, the other a mirror that reflected every attack it absorbed.

They lunged as one.

Akhon dodged right, barely avoiding the whip, then fired a burst of divine light at the mirror wielder—only to see the beam rebound straight toward him.

He braced—

But just before it hit, a shield of golden leaves formed in front of him.

Hesperia.

She’d followed, limping but defiant, and cast her protection just in time.

"You thought I’d miss your first real battle?" she grinned through the pain.

Akhon let out a breathless laugh.

And together, they fought.

Through flame and thunder, chains and curses, divine order and divine chaos.

One strike at a time, Akhon carved a path through Olympus’s sacred army—not because he was the strongest...

...but because he believed in what came after.

---

The wind howled through the broken halls of Olympus, carrying smoke, embers, and the screams of gods.

In the heart of the shattered plaza, where the throne’s shadow no longer offered dominion, three figures remained locked in silence—each more than a god, each bearing the weight of eternity.

Hades stood calm and cold, his scythe lowered but pulsing with necrotic power, six judgment seals still spinning slowly behind him like orbiting moons. His armor shimmered with darkness, a silent monument to everything that lay beneath the world.

Athena stood tense, spear still in hand, eyes flickering between her uncle and her father. Her Aegis shield dripped divine ichor, hair tangled and windblown, but her gaze was sharp—unyielding.

And Zeus, bruised and bloodied, had risen again.

Sparks of raw power danced along his shoulders, flickering in and out like dying stars. The cuts across his torso had stopped bleeding. His breathing was no longer labored. But it wasn’t just healing that had changed him.

It was his resolve.

"Athena," Zeus said, voice deeper than thunder. "Step aside."

She blinked once. "You’re barely standing."

"I am standing," he said, taking another step forward, the floor cracking beneath him.

"That doesn’t mean you’re ready to fight."

He turned to face her fully, his storm-blue eyes locking with hers.

"This is my fight," he said. "You bought me time. That was all I needed."

Athena’s jaw tightened. "You’ll die."

Hades said nothing, watching with arms crossed, patient as a judge waiting for two mortals to speak their case before striking the verdict.

Zeus didn’t look away from his daughter.

"If I die," he said softly, "then Olympus falls for good."

"And you think I’ll let that happen?" Athena snapped. "You want me to stand by while you bleed out trying to prove you still can fight?"

Zeus exhaled, then reached forward—slowly—and placed a hand on her shoulder. The contact was gentle but brief. Almost... human.

"I am not proving anything," he said. "I am answering. A war that I—we—should’ve stopped from happening."

Athena looked away, jaw clenched, spear trembling faintly in her hand.

"You said you needed time," she said. "I gave you that."

Zeus nodded. "And now I ask for something harder."

Her lips parted, then closed again. The words didn’t come.

And then, he said her name.

"Athena."

His voice wasn’t commanding now. It wasn’t kingly.

It was fatherly. And that broke something inside her.

"Don’t ask me to leave you," she whispered.

"I have to," he replied. "Because if I die with you beside me, we lose the last hope Olympus has left."

Athena shook her head. "There is no Olympus without you."

"There won’t be anything without you, my daughter."

She stared at him for a long moment. The air shimmered between them. Hades didn’t move.

And then, with a sound like cracking marble, she turned her head—and tossed her spear to the ground.

It clattered, rolling across the stone.

Athena removed her helmet, letting it fall beside the spear. Her shield slipped from her shoulder. All this as a form to say, I step back but you must win.

And without another word, she stepped back.

A final glance toward Zeus—full of anger, grief, and something painfully like respect.

"Then win." She said simply.

And she vanished into another part of Olympus that was probably on conflict.

Hades watched her go, his voice breaking the silence that followed.

"You trained her well," he said. "She’s the only one who can take any of us three."

Zeus cracked his neck.

"She’s also the only one who ever knew when I meant it."

Lightning crackled around him now, not in violent bursts, but in a slow, steady arc across his arms and shoulders while his posture straightened. The bleeding also stopped. And finally his aura swelled, but not with arrogance or rage, but with determination

"Let’s end this." He said.

Hades raised his scythe, letting it drag against the ground with a low screech.

"I agree." The god of the dead replied.

Above them, the heavens darkened. Below, the earth trembled.

And as the gods of thunder and the underworld faced each other again, while Olympus held its breath...again.

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