Antihero In the Hero Academy: I Can Connect the Past Heroes
Chapter 231: Soon Enough

Chapter 231: Soon Enough

’How could a woman throw someone she regarded 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 brothers 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, and Hermes are helping Atlas by thinking of him. And me. Among millions of gods and goddesses, there are only four sacred beings who protect a hero striving to save the world, without asking for anything in return, and who strive to give him strength. Shame on yourselves, every one of you!"

"Since the moment I saw Atlas’ memories, I have prepared every stage of the plan. For days, for months, I thought only about this matter. I considered who could harm him the most, which demon could inflict the worst damage, and I tempted him. I ensured that as few people as possible were harmed; the one who destroyed the vanished continent was not Xezbeth, and 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 instantly and said to Epioles, "You are right. You may go."

Epioles left the Olympus Hall without looking back, and Nyx ordered all the remaining gods and goddesses to leave, leaving only the Chaos-Born in the room.

’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 plunged into darkness, and two eyes appeared in the darkness.

These enormous eyes shrank after a few seconds, and the ancient Chaos appeared in the main hall of Olympus. He stood there as the creator, in the very centre of the hall, the home of the gods and goddesses.

"What are you thinking?" Nyx asked, clearly questioning whether she was as cowardly and terrible a goddess as her child had claimed.

’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.

"Therefore, when I created the world, even before you told me about your children’s existence, I had already foreseen it... 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:

"I did not establish any rules about how to support a mortal, whether to impose conditions on that person, how many people you can support, or how many times you can support them, Nyx."

He said these words not with the sweetness of a father, but with seriousness.

"You are strong, you are ancient, my precious daughter. If your son’s thoughts have troubled you so much, look in the mirror and ask yourself that question again, because I am not responsible for any of your actions. I had only one rule, and that was that no god or goddess could descend to the world. Everything else was done by you. It’s that simple." He added to his own words and fell silent.

After these words, Nyx calmly looked at Chaos. The stars, galaxies, and boundless infinity around her had watched the ancient goddess. After that, she saw something very similar to a round shape made of blue and green between each light source.

’There is much to be done, children... You know what you must do,’ Nyx said suddenly. Epioles’ words were not wrong...

Rules were necessary, but the gods and goddesses, especially those at the top, had become so accustomed to the superficiality of these rules that they had forgotten what they were supposed to do and what they had been doing all along.

As a result, Nyx had not only indirectly caused the loss of many mortal lives like the others but had also lost the trust and love of one of her children.

’I need to apologise,’ Nyx said suddenly, and all the mana in her body, all the sacred realm, and the millions of gods and goddesses within it spread out around her as if they were about to collapse.

Nyx was looking for her son Epioles.

He found Epioles, who had gone to the other end of the realm in a short time, and this time, instead of communicating with them through his mind as he always did, he chose to go directly to them.

Chaos was surprised that his only daughter had left him behind. Even the Creator himself could sense that everything was beginning to change.

After all, Chaos had not said this in vain; Atlas had indeed changed everyone’s fate, behaviour, and actions from top to bottom.

’I’m sorry,’ Nyx said suddenly, standing a few metres away from Epioles and not even daring to approach him.

The area where Epioles stood overlooked several waterfalls. Waterfalls rising towards the sky.

The ancient Oneiroi didn’t even attempt to open his mouth, just continuing to watch the scene before him with a weary expression.

’Won’t you be angry with me?’ Nyx asked, then added, ’I mean, won’t you be more angry with me...’

When Epioles heard this question, he closed his eyes and then held his head in his hands and said, ’Do you know that I see everything? I see the nightmares of every human, elf, dwarf, pixie, demon, angel, and even the Ancient Dragons.’

When Nyx heard these words, she honestly didn’t know what to say. The ancient goddess was aware that her son was suffering, but she didn’t know what to do.

"They’re increasing every day. With every place being destroyed or demons entering through every barrier, hopes for the future are dwindling, and nightmares are increasing... I can see every one of them, I’m about to lose my mind," Epioles repeated.

With Epioles’ words, Nyx gathered her courage and slowly walked over to her son and sat down beside him. Perhaps the ancient goddess was doing something she hadn’t done in billions of years. She rested her head on her son’s shoulder and embraced him.

"I’m sorry. You might not believe me, but I remember every detail about each of my children—when I created them, when I gave birth to them... I know everything. I made mistakes... no, I made choices, too many choices, and I created too many low ones. I created too many deaths and too many nightmares for you. I’m sorry. I’m sorry for everything."

When Nyx spoke these words suddenly, Epioles looked at her and then said, "I’m angry, Mother... You are someone who could destroy me with a single thought, but I hate you more than I fear you... Even though I love you so much. I am disappointed. Even though you are a goddess, the fact that you have played this goddess game too much has angered me. I accept your apology, but... I don’t think my love for you will remain the same... I can’t imagine it."

Nyx was not angry; it was quite easy to see that she was deeply saddened, but Nyx chose not to be angry; she had no right to be.

This reminded the ancient goddess of what her son had said to her a short time ago:

[Just like Artemis said. Your foolish thoughts, your old ways... Each one of them is leading 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’ plan had not merely created chaos; it had suddenly shifted the focus of everything. When Nyx told her other children, "You know what to do," she meant it in the truest sense. Each Chaos-Born would now abandon those games. Perhaps not every human or elf, dwarf or pixie could receive sponsorship like Atlas, but there was no rule saying they couldn’t receive blessings.

Epioles... had opened the door to a new era, a new hope... no, he had shattered that door and offered the light of day directly to the Goddess of Night.