Antihero In the Hero Academy: I Can Connect the Past Heroes
Chapter 230: Rage Of Epioles

Chapter 230: Rage Of Epioles

[We’re sorry, Atlas. We just want you to be prepared and learn,] read the message from Gaia.

When Atlas saw this message, it was clear that he was visibly upset. No one expected him to react this way.

"If you want me to learn, please speak. If Lady Artemis hadn’t been there, Azazel could have escaped. If that had happened, I might have died before Lady Juliet returned... I owe my life to Lady Artemis," Atlas said suddenly.

Upon hearing this, everyone watching him from the sacred land fell silent.

"By the way, if you find Master Epiales, do not harm him... I think he may have helped us in a way we never even considered," Atlas said suddenly.

These words made no sense to anyone. Epiales had already been found and forced to kneel before Nyx and the others.

Still, the precious Oneiroi remained silent. It was as if Epiales knew that even if he spoke, no one would believe him. So he chose to accept the blame and the punishment that would be given to him.

Nevertheless, when Atlas spoke these words, the first person to be surprised was Epiales himself. The Oneiroi, who had refused to defend himself, was so moved that his eyes filled with tears.

[What are you trying to say?] Nyx asked with great curiosity. Nyx had been forced into a position where she could punish her child, and to be honest, she certainly did not want to do so.

What mother would want to punish her child with a punishment that would drag them to that point, even if it did not mean death?

"I thought about it. I thought deeply while fighting. Everything started to make sense." Atlas said suddenly.

"Think about it, my lady. When there is nothing, the possibility of a demon being released is given. This possibility... or rather, the offer comes from someone who cannot be refused, directly from a god, a god in spirit form. The demon is very dangerous, but it is released at a time when it can cause the least harm..." he added to his own words.

"So in this case, Epioles is not a traitor. He just... chose to keep everything secret... What I don’t understand is this. If my thoughts are correct, there is nothing else I can do but try to understand why he did it..." he added to his own words again.

Meanwhile, every eye in the sacred palace turned to Epioles, and Nyx herself looked at her son and asked, "Why didn’t you try to defend yourself?"

It was clear that even Nyx was upset.

Despite all this, Epioles did not utter a sound. He just looked at his mother, Nyx, with teary eyes and remained silent.

As if he had been forced to his knees and chained, Epioles slowly got up when he was released and tried to leave the room as if nothing had happened.

Nyx held him in place with her power, and Epioles simply waited without resisting.

"Answer me," Nyx said. It was not a command, but a request from a mother to her child.

With Nyx’s words, Epioles finally opened his mouth. When the ancient Oneiroi’s gaze locked onto his mother’s eyes, the only words that came out of his mouth were:

"You are all very foolish. Every one of you. You, from my mother to the lowest-ranking god, every one of you is foolish. Your selfishness knows no bounds. You keep talking about balance and watching the deaths of mortals living in the world. Am I not the nightmare? Can’t I see every living creature that sees nightmares, every soul that falls into despair?"

At Epioles’ words, Nyx’s mouth fell open, and her gaze shifted from curious to sad.

"Just as Artemis said. Your foolish thoughts, your old ways... Each of them leads to the destruction of the world. You refuse to help anyone just because Chaos commanded it. None of you is good. None of you think rationally, and you choose to obey the commands of a creator who no longer cares about the world! Damn all of you. From beginning to end, from my father to my mother, from my mother to my siblings, and to every god and goddess who has ever existed!" Epioles shouted.

"I see every one of you. Every second of every day, as I watch you, the veils before my eyes reveal only nightmares, cries for help, and the scenes of mortals’ pleas. Millions of them... billions of them every day," he added to his own words.

"Each of you could have people who would worship you forever with just a snap of your fingers. You could do anything to make the world stronger, to allow mortals to truly live, but what are you doing?!"

When Epioles uttered these words and paused for a few seconds, his voice echoed throughout the Hall of Olympus and even reached the foothills of Mount Olympus.

Every god and goddess who heard her words simply stared at him.

"All my life, Mother... Just as you created me... From the moment you made me a nightmare, everything I saw... it was a miracle that I didn’t lose my mind. The most powerful goddess... The daughter of the Creator, is that right? The woman I saw was none other than the one who never descended from her throne in the Olympus Hall, the one who ignored the suffering of every mortal on earth, past and future." Epioles had said suddenly. There was no trace of anger left on his face.

Only the disappointment he felt towards everyone was clearly visible.

"I have come to the point where I am ashamed to call you my mother. The woman who had good feelings in her eyes when she created me, the woman who watched the world with happiness and beautiful thoughts, the woman who could be said to have thousands of children like me every day, has changed. And this change was not for the better," Epioles said in a calm tone of voice.

"Atlas was almost killed! This has happened many times, but all you did was watch, Goddess of the Night!" Epioles suddenly shouted.

"How can a woman throw someone she sees as her son into danger with her own hands and refuse to help that child just because someone else ordered her to?" he questioned.

Every word Epioles spoke, every thought he shared, angered his siblings even more and saddened Nyx even more. Erebus had no words to say.

All the gods and goddesses around them remained silent.

"Only Selene, Artemis, Hermes, and I are helping Atlas out of concern for him. Among millions of gods and goddesses, there are only four sacred beings who are protecting a hero striving to save the world, unconditionally, without asking anything in return, and striving to give him strength. Shame on yourselves, every one of you!"

"Since the moment I saw Atlas’s memories, I prepared every stage of the plan. For days, for months, I thought only about this matter. I thought about who could harm him the most, which demon could inflict the worst damage, and I swayed his mind. I ensured that as few people as possible were harmed. The one who destroyed the lost continent was not Xezbeth; I have no idea what it was. My actions only caused harm to 96 people. Yours, however, have harmed millions, billions, throughout history." Epioles had said. It was clear that he had done everything with Atlas in mind.

When Epioles finally fell silent, he was truly out of breath. Moros and the others were angry and ready to speak at any moment, but Nyx stopped them in an instant and said to Epioles, "You are right. You may go."

Epioles left the Olympus Hall without looking back, and Nyx ordered every remaining god and goddess to leave, leaving only the Chaos-Born behind.

"Father, are you watching?" Nyx said suddenly, amid the astonishment of each Chaos-Born, each Oneiroi, each Hesperides, and each child born into existence, as well as Erebus himself, who remained in the highest hall of Olympus.

With Nyx’s words, the entire hall was instantly engulfed in darkness, and two eyes emerged from within the darkness.

Those enormous eyes had shrunk in a matter of seconds and appeared in the main hall of the ancient Chaos Olympus. In that high hall, in the very centre of the home of the gods and goddesses, he stood as the creator.

"What are you thinking about...everything?" Nyx asked, clearly questioning whether her child was as cowardly and terrible a goddess as he had said.

"I had already entrusted the world and the destinies of mortals to the quartet I had appointed long ago, even before you expressed your desire to give birth to and create children, my dear daughter," the ancient Chaos had said suddenly.

"That is why, when I created the world—even before you told me about your children—I thought... It made sense to establish rules, including the rule that sacred beings could not physically descend into the world." Chaos added to his own words, and just as Moros was about to speak, the entire hall shone brightly, and the starry, galaxy-filled region formed from darkness vanished, and Chaos appeared in human form this time.

When Chaos stopped Moros from speaking, he said the following: