GOD OF ALL SYSTEMS
Chapter 23 - 23: Athena

|__ In Athena's mind, countless images of different places and people flashed. But suddenly, as if her mind wanted to retain a particular memory, the instant-flashing images stopped at one scene.

The scene showed a woman wearing white luxurious but tattered robes as she bled golden blood while leaning on an altar within an ancient temple.

The woman had long silver and black hair that could reach her waist, she was extremely beautiful, her beauty could be said to be that of a goddess, as one could even see golden essence constantly refreshing her beautiful face and skin even when in a precarious bleeding state.

The temple was very massive, as when compared to the woman-like goddess, she could be sized as an ant. Within the temple were numerous broken-headed or cracked statues of beings who were finely sculpted. It was as if they were statues of gods with different poses.

At the very high altar in the temple was a headless statue twice the size of the rest, this one statue was diamond-made, unlike the rest which was gold-sculpted; but despite being headless, the statue portrayed a being of overwhelming power and might, as one could see two diamond-made bolts of lightning in both hands as if he was about to throw them down.

The extremely beautiful woman leaned below the diamond statue with a relaxed but calculating countenance as her eyes constantly brimmed with golden light, it was as if she was planning something. While the woman indulged in her calculation, her body passively regenerated at a visible rate as the golden blood around her turned into essence and reentered her body.

Her clothes also seemed to be regenerating as the tattered clothes automatically mended themselves to the gracious robe they once were.

"For far too long you have escaped me, sister." Boom!! "But today... Destiny becomes reality!"

Suddenly, a masculine heavy voice sounded in the surroundings as a gigantic being landed in the temple, the arrived being's landing caused many of the statues to break and shatter to crumbles. The being finished his sentence as he waved the crumbling dust away with his right hand, his casual wave instantly erasing half of the temple as everything on the being's right side disintegrated into dust.

The dust cleared away, revealing a twenty-foot-tall giant wearing black godly armor and a spartan-designed helmet containing countless galaxies within. The helmet only showed the man's vortex-like eyes and normal mouth as he stared at the woman a hundred meters away.

On the man's right hand were five rings that shone with different vibrant energies, and on the man's left hand was an eight-foot-long diamond blade that constantly sparked with lightning bolts.

An overwhelming pressure descended the scene as the man's presence brought about the constant shattering of the void and the distortion of reality. The natural White essence in the surroundings was instantly sucked into the man's body, leaving the scene completely devoid of any White energy essence.

Despite the scene falling into chaos, the woman remained unreactive and unaffected as she emotionlessly stared at the giant in the distance. She spoke with an extremely sweet but distant tone.

"I am no sister to a traitor!"

"... Traitor!? I must say, sister, I'm truly disappointed; with all your wisdom and cleverness, you still fail to see the bigger picture."

"Bigger picture? You mean how you have instigated a Cosmic War and planned to erase trillions of septillions of lifeforms just to become a True God?!"

"... You still don't see it, don't you? We are being limited by this... puny Universe our pathetic womanizer of a father created; and he lied to us by making us believe "Realm God" was the pinnacle of existence..."

The godly man spoke with a calm but domineering tone. He steadily began walking toward the woman as his massive gigantic body instantly shrunk to a seven-foot-tall person, the man still kept his domineering appearance and powers, except he was smaller now. He continued as he slowly approached the woman on the altar.

"... But after I traveled in the septillions of Realms, and learned enough knowledge to rival you, the Goddess of Wisdom, I unearthed the secret father has been holding all this while. The Realm God isn't the pinnacle of existence, but rather it is merely a stepping stone to an even greater stage of power."

Hearing the confident and assured words of the man, the woman, labeled as the Goddess of Wisdom, steadily floated from the ground as she hovered in the air. She had completely regenerated and her condition seemed to have been restored to a perfect state. Her eyes, which were still glowing after the man had arrived suddenly dimmed as if completed something.

The woman floated in equal elevation with the seven-foot-tall male god as she spoke.

"You don't know what you are doing! Do you think learning a few things about sticks and stones makes you an expert in violence?!

And speaking of rivals, even if I gave you a hundred trillion God Cycles to accumulate every knowledge in the Universe and even the Multiverse, you still won't be near to what I knew when I was a teenager, so stop calling yourself my rival, it's insulting to my reputation."

".... True, even after conquering trillions of Worlds and Realms, and absorbing every knowledge there is to know, I am still no match for you..."

The godly man spoke as he let go of the eight-foot-long lighting blade that floated next to him while discharging thousands of lightning constantly. The godly man then raised his left hand as a golden eyeball the size of a human male fist appeared on the godly man's palm. He continued as he stared at the eyeball.

"But that was before I obtained the eye of the Three Fate Sisters. You may be Wise in every matter, sister, but you are not omniscient, nor can you predict your fate. But I, with the Fate-Seeing Eye, hold the very fate of the Multiverse in the palm of my hand, as I can glimpse into the Fates and Destinies of every existence in our multiverse- that includes you, sister.

In this Multiverse, I am the All-Powerful!"

The godly male bloated with absolute dominance as he spread his arms wide, arrogant and domineering.

Seeing the golden eyeball in the male god's hands, the female god shook her head in disappointment as she muttered.

"Our Multiverse is already doomed. You dared take a treasure that was granted to the Three Fate Sisters by the Elden Gods, sigh~ You are a disgrace to Existence itself, let alone this family. The Death of the Three Fate Sisters will trigger the wrath of the Elden Gods, by then, what would you do?!

Ascending to a True God isn't worth angering the Elden Gods. Father may forgive your treachery, but his influence is but a drop of water in an ocean when accounting for the other Elden Gods in the Elden Realm. The destruction or total erasure of this Multiverse might not even be enough to compensate for your stupid and moronic actions."

"Elden Gods?! Do you mean those bunch of self-centered bastards who think themselves higher than Existence itself? I could care less about them, once I become a True God, I will be able to leave Father's Multiverse and his restraints, I will become an independent god whose existence can't be controlled by anyone but myself.

Then, I will trigger a War between Multiverses which will last for trillions of trillions of God Cycles, making my Principle infinitely stronger. By then, the Elden Gods would be nothing but insects and dust waiting to be swept away."

Hearing the male god, the female god sighed one more time as she spoke, but this time she separated into two separate selves, one remained at her hovering position, while the other began dissipating into White energy essence.

"I don't have the patience to encourage your stupidity, I would leave you to face the consequences of your actions."

Seeing the female god splitting into two and one slowly dissipating away, the male god's face remained unreactive and unbothered. But his fist was clenched so tightly one could see reality cracking around him.

"You know, you have always underestimated me, even after I annihilated four hundred million gods and became the 'God of War,' you remained unimpressed and disdainful. You thought yourself high and mighty and my achievement unworthy in your eyes. But today... today I will show you why I am the God of War!"

The male god spoke as he raised his right hand in the air, he clenched his palm into a fist as the surrounding reality shattered, causing the female god's dissipating body to be trapped in a red transparent box that was constructed from space barriers.

Without even allowing the female god to react, the male god pulled his right arm as the boxed female god was drawn towards him, but while the boxed female god came to him, the male god stretched his left hand and gripped the eight-foot long lightning blade as he slashed at the female god who was currently restrained in the box.

An overbearing thunderous sound echoed as countless lightning bolts twice the size of the blade rushed at the female god in the box, the lightning bolts slashed through the reforming reality and space as they approached their target in an instant.

Seeing the male god's actions, the other self of the female god assumed an annoyed expression as she spoke with a domineering tone. Her eyes turned completely white as white energy burst from her body, her action bringing White energy to the scene.

"You dare attack my Immortal Soul with Father's God Killer?!"

Simultaneously, the female god raised her left hand as a gigantic mouth containing countless twinkles of universes within materialized from below the male god and aimed to swallow the male god whole.

While the unknown beast mouth's was in the process of swallowing the male god, the female god stretched her right hand as the space-like box restraining her other self shattered and vanished before the tens of thousands of lightning bolts could reach her.

At the same time, the male god, seeing the unknown beast's mouth closing on him, remained unfazed and unbothered.

"Pathetic, using a mere Source Beast to distract me, how low you have fallen, Goddess of Wisdom!" The male god scoffed as he held the lightning blade's hilt with both hands and heavily impaled it into the unknown beast's mouth, the unknown beast wailed in agony, its wail overwhelming enough to shatter the surrounding reality constantly as the countless twinkles of universes in its mouth exploded, causing a supernova to appear in the beast's mouth.

Coherently, a black hole of an unscalable size appeared in the beast's mouth as it sucked everything within the beast's mouth, including the beast, which disappeared from the scene after.

All these events were happening simultaneously, making it almost impossible to measure or analyze time.

The female god retrieved her other energy-like self which was now continuing to dissipate, but simultaneously, two separate selves of the male god materialized behind both of the female god's selves as he impaled both of the female god with the lightning blade.

"....!"

A deathly gasp sounded from both of the female god's bodies as they ceased their action. But without allowing the female god to act, the two separate selves of the male god held the two separate selves of the female god by the neck as he drove the blade deeper into their backs, causing half of the blades to enter the bodies of the female god.

The white eyes of the female gods slowly began to dim as if a dying light bulb.

Seeing this, the male god expressed emotionlessly as he stared at his sister's two selves which were slowly dying. But before he could lament in his victory, the surroundings vibrated intensely as a loud Owl sound reverberated throughout the scene. Suddenly, a golden Owl-like energy emerged from the female god's temple as it flew at a speed not scalable by this Multiverse's measure.

The male god maintained his unreactive expression as he stared at the Owl-like energy blink away from the location the instant it emerged from the female god's temple.

"Lamentable, it seems you are really on your last leg now, sister, seeing as you are using your Principle Spirit to attempt a fruitless cause. But as I said, I now hold the fate of everything in this multiverse, including you or your Principle Spirit... Come!"

The male god scoffed as he stretched his right hand and commanded. And as if the Universe itself was under his control, reality and space trembled upon the male god's command. Simultaneously, the space folded outwards as the Owl which had vanished a while ago re-emerged before the male god, the male god caught the golden Owl as he casually impaled the long lightning blade into the Owl.

A loud last cry of agony resounded the scene as the golden Owl dissipated into White essence which was instantly sucked into the male god's body.

As if he had been refreshed, the male god assumed a refreshed attitude as the black energy around his godly body intensified even more. But as if missed something, the male god quickly reacted as he stared at the location where the goddess was, to his surprise, the female god was hovering in the air with a deathly pale but extremely murderous look.

She stared at the male god with utter contempt as she struggled with her breathing.

"...!"

The male god was about to comment when he noticed a very familiar item in the female god's left hand, seeing this item in the woman's hands caused the male god to cease his action as he stared at the woman with absolute caution. He steadily began clenching his fist, the five multi-colored rings on his right hand all shining with overwhelming power as they caused reality to crack continuously.

The reason the male god was overtly cautious was because the item in the female god's hand was none other than the golden eye, the Fate-Seeing Eye of the Three Fate Sisters, an Elden Treasure.

The male god assumed a self-provoked smile as he bellowed in annoyance.

"Even at the brink of death, you remain an annoyance. To sacrifice your Principle Spirit to obtain the Fate-Seeing Eye, an action no less worthy of the Goddess of Wisdom. You knew the Fate-Seeing Eye couldn't predict its destiny or its owner, rendering me blind to your scheme, so you gave up your Principle Spirit. Truly a courageous move... but what use is there in obtaining the Eye?

You need the energy to control it, and you are as good as dead. So, why don't you save me the trouble and return me my treasure?!'

The male god spoke with a condescending tone as he didn't even take the goddess seriously.

The female god, titled the Goddess of Wisdom, hovered as she listened to the male god. She maintained her hateful gaze as she held the golden eye in her hand. She then spoke, her words filled with overwhelming hate and contempt.

"... I told you, even if I gave you a trillion God Cycles head start, you won't ever be close to my knowledge and Wisdom. Other than the power to glimpse into fates and destinies, the Fate-Seeing Eye holds an even greater power, the power to make one's fate reach its Zenith, granting the wielder an absolute fate and destiny.

Mark my words, traitor, I will be back, and you shall pay for your treachery a trillion folds. Relish in your victory in today's battle, but know that our War has just begun!"

Upon finished speaking, the female god crushed the golden eye with a tight grip. Simultaneously, time halted and reality shattered as the entire scene was brought into a timeless and void-less dimension. The female god and the male god were both frozen in time, both resembling characters paused in a movie.

Suddenly, the golden eye which had been crushed by the female god reattached itself as it slowly rose from the female god's hands and up into the void, then, the golden eyes burst into countless strands of different-colored threads which enveloped the female god. Then, the nearly infinite strands of multi-colored threads began fusing into one another as they began assuming one color, gold.

Not long after, the nearly infinite strands of threads fused into an enormous golden thread which was thicker than the width of a certain blue planet, Earth 101. Compared to the golden thread, the male and female gods could be considered a dot. The enormously thick golden thread suddenly extended as it attached itself to the female god.

Upon attachment, the female god's body trembled with vigor but returned to calm afterwards.

Then, as if nothing had happened, the scene returned to normal, showing a female god whose two selves were getting sucked into a golden void. Her other energy-like self instantly fusing with her main body as they were only a hair strand away from leaving the scene.

Seeing the golden void behind the female god and the sudden disappearance of the Fate-Seeing Eye, the male god moved at an unscalable speed as he activated every power he wielded, while also stretching his hand to stop the female god from vanishing into the golden void.

But the instant the male god touched the last strand of silver hair from the female god, an overbearing force sent him back, causing him to be thrown billions, if not trillions of lightyears away from the scene.

With no further interruption, the golden void finally sucked away the female god as she disappeared from the scene.

Simultaneously, the male god reappeared from the void as if he was already there as he stared at the location where the female god had vanished. He tightly clenched his fists and bellowed with a raging demonic voice.

" ATHENA!!" __|

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