Mount Othrys
Zeus didn't wait for Cronus to recover. He turned to Rhea, voice sharp and clear like thunder echoing through a canyon.
"Get them out of here. Now."
Rhea snapped out of her frozen state, eyes darting to the five gods lying sprawled across the marble like fallen stars. Hestia stirred faintly, golden flame flickering on her fingertips. Demeter moaned softly, vines crawling weakly around her hand. Hades and Poseidon were still, chests rising slowly. Hera twitched, lightning crackling faintly over her brow.
Rhea dropped beside them without hesitation, her divine aura flaring with urgency. With a sweep of her hand, wind gathered under her children, lifting them gently but firmly from the ground.
"I'm not leaving without you—" she started, her voice cracking.
Zeus cut her off, not unkindly.
"You raised me for this." His tone was steady, sure. "Now let me do what you couldn't."
Behind them, Cronus staggered to his feet, body shaking like the sky was trying to tear itself apart. A river of divine bile ran from his mouth, glowing with cosmic filth, staining the throne steps. His golden robes were torn, black smoke rising from his skin.
"YOU FILTHY WHELP—" he roared, voice layered with cosmic tremors. "YOU DEFY ME UNDER MY OWN ROOF?!"
Zeus turned back to face him, his cloak burning off in a flash of white-blue lightning.
No more hiding.
The robes fell in tatters.
He stood in full power now—Skybreaker Gauntlets on his arms, crackling with divine charge, Aegis Scale Armor wrapped around his chest, faintly glowing with pulsing gold. His eyes were storms. His breath was wind. The room bent around him.
"You ruled through fear, Father."
His hands tightened, lightning snapping in arcs from fingertip to fingertip.
"I'm ending that reign right here."
Cronus's eyes widened—not with fear, but rage.
"YOU ARE NOTHING!" he bellowed.
He reached to his side—and summoned his Titan's sickle, the same curved weapon that had once castrated Ouranos, carved from celestial ore, black and red and howling with old pain.
"YOU ARE A MISTAKE!"
The blade swung.
Zeus moved.
He vanished in a blur of electricity—Aether Step activated—and appeared directly above Cronus, arm cocked back.
"Thunder Shout!!"
His voice erupted like a cannon.
A soundwave exploded downward, smashing into Cronus's chest and cracking the obsidian beneath them. The impact sent waves through the entire court—columns buckled, stone split, air ripped open.
Cronus stumbled, roaring, but didn't fall.
He brought the sickle up with a growl and slashed horizontally, a dark red arc of pure time-energy trailing behind the swing.
Zeus jumped high—higher than any mortal could see.
Then he brought down his fist.
"Smite!!"
A bolt the size of a mountain cracked from the sky, slamming directly into Cronus's chest. The blast blew back half the throne room, vaporizing Titan banners and war relics in an instant.
Outside, storms gathered around the peak of Mount Othrys. Wind howled, clouds churned. The skies screamed as the sky god clashed with the King of Time.
Inside, Rhea moved like the storm wasn't there.
She guided her five children through a side path—an escape route carved into the foundation of the palace centuries ago. Her hands weaved protective spells, light barriers flickering behind her. Hestia whispered weakly, "What… happened?" but Rhea only said:
"Your brother. He's come back for you."
The siblings didn't speak, their bodies still too weak, but they felt it. Through the walls. Through the ground.
Zeus was fighting. And the mountain was listening.
Back in the throne room—
Cronus stood tall, the skin over his ribs scorched black from Smite, parts of his robe reduced to ash. But his body healed—time reversed itself over his wounds in front of Zeus's eyes.
"I AM TIME ITSELF, BOY!" Cronus screamed.
He raised both arms, and with a flash, the entire room warped—reversing. Chunks of shattered stone flew back into place. The sickle glowed brighter.
Zeus clenched his fists.
"Then I'll just break you faster than you can rewind."
He vanished again.
Aether Step.
Reappeared behind Cronus.
"Stormcaller's Wrath!"
From every corner of the sky, clouds twisted violently into a massive localized tempest. Wind slammed through the cracks of the walls, and dozens of lightning strikes—smaller, faster—began barraging Cronus like rapid divine gunfire.
Cronus grunted, raising his sickle to block. Sparks and light exploded around him. He staggered again, his power fighting to keep up.
He roared and swung—once, twice—ripping time open like fabric, and trying to trap Zeus in loops of frozen moments.
Zeus dodged each one, flipping and twisting midair, using the energy of the storm to keep moving.
Then he stopped. Mid-air. Hands out.
The storm around him went quiet.
Cronus squinted.
"…What are you—"
And then Zeus brought his hands together.
"Lightning Flicker—Full Chain Mode."
Cronus's eyes widened.
BOOM.
One bolt struck his arm.
CRACK.
Another hit his side.
Then three.
Then seven.
The final bolt came down from above and drilled Cronus into the ground, creating a massive crater at the foot of his throne.
Dust. Fire. Cracked marble. The runes in the hall flickered.
The Titan King had been knocked down.
Zeus dropped beside him, gauntlets sparking, breath heavy but steady.
"You're not a god."
He looked down at Cronus—bloodied, bruised, wheezing.
"You're a relic. A page I just turned."
Cronus struggled, one hand clawing at the sickle.
Zeus kicked it away.
Then—he looked at the ceiling. He could feel it: Rhea and his siblings were clear.
He looked back down.
"This isn't over." Cronus growled through blood.
Zeus smirked.
"I know. That's the fun part."
He raised his hand.
Lightning spun into a spear of pure energy.
But before he struck—he paused.
Not yet.
Not here.
He turned instead, stepped into the center of the court, and looked around.
"I am Zeus," he said, voice ringing like a war bell.
"And the gods have returned."
Then—he vanished into a flash of light.
The throne room echoed with broken silence.
And Cronus—on his knees, burned and humiliated—felt something he hadn't in ages.
Fear.