I sat upon my throne with the hood sown into my Captain outfit thrown over my head as I stared at the floor considering my options for when Zeus decided to come knocking on the door.
For my personal power, I was strong, very strong in fact as I had little doubt with my magical-based abilities that I could kill this local version of Superman and even dance with the local Darkseid and not be overwhelmed by the tyrant.
But that was the true cosmic Hera. And thus, I would face the True Zeus that gave power to all the other Zeus in the DC Multiverse as well as the Captain Marvels.
Was I the equal to someone who could throw down with the Specter and withstand the displeasure of the Presence/God?
'Somehow I doubt that.' I thought wryly but even as I dredged up every little cheat I could like going after Larfreeze's Orange Lantern Ring and Lantern, I realized no auxiliary item would give me the power to simply overtake the core Zeus of the DC Universe. No, it was merely going to be a pure battle between the two of us and I wasn't going to account for Hera doing anything.
Disregarding items like the Longinus that was lost, other items of great power were also protected from fate and other forms of Scrying so people couldn't just peek into a two-bit magic mirror to find it.
"Are you ok Jake?" I heard someone speak and I grimaced as I was so absorbed in my thoughts that I didn't even notice someone approach me.
"Irisveil... How are you?" I asked looking up and in response to me looking up to her, she smiled as she skipped over to me.
"I am just wonderful! But nothing about me mister, what's going on Jake, maybe I can share some advice with you?" She said caringly... And honestly shamelessly as she just hopped into my lap as I was sitting on my throne making my eye twitch as this was my first interaction with another woman on my throne besides Astrid sitting on my shoulder sometimes.
I remained silent for a second as I wondered if I should even say anything but then Irisviel began poking my cheek making me leer at her which in turn made her giggle at my disgruntled expression.
"Fine..." I groused before I began speaking. "The God, Zeus plans to bring war upon my realm, stealing it away and absorbing it into Olympus which will lead me to a terrible death if he doesn't just destroy my soul entirely to begin with during the battle to come," I explained before going silent as I pushed Irisviel's head into my chest so I could relax my chin on her head.
"You are uncertain of the outcome of the battle to come?" She asked and I huffed.
"Yeah... Hera said she would help but gods know how useful that will be. Not only that but just in terms of pure power I am not confident in a pure one versus one between me and Zeus..." I sighed as I hugged the homunculus who had clearly come to comfort me. "But beyond Zeus, with it being an interplane war, he will call upon the gods of the Greek Pantheon and may even release Titans and countless monsters as well to augment his forces."
"I see... Fighting just Zeus is one thing my adorable master but all of the Greek Pantheon is a completely different thing." Irisviel said and her voice changed making me freeze then she turned to look into my eyes, and I noticed past her large curtain of creamy white hair that her clothes had changed into a mix of demonic and holy clothes that bared her stomach and chest with only the robes covering her actual breasts.
"But what if you didn't fight them alone? What if you called upon all the disgruntled heroes of the Greek Pantheon and more to strike back at their divine masters?" Irisviel whispered to me as she fully sat upon my lap but facing me with her forehead pressed against my own, so our eyes were locked into a staring contest.
"The Holy Grail is still within-" I began but she held a finger to my lips as her eyes radiating some kind of terrible combination of Holy and Demonic roiled within her vying for dominance.
"No, my darling." She whispered and I could feel the malevolent grin she was wearing merely in the eye contact we were sharing. "I am the Holy Grail! Order me and I shall happily become a gateway in which the greatest heroes in the world's history shall march to battle against monsters and gods alike to save this 'world'." She said breathlessly and I realized what she was going to do.
She was going to trick Alaya into thinking that this Plane/Earth was under attack by gods and monsters escaping from the Reverse Side of the World in Nasuverse terms. Thus, the Heroic Spirits would pour into the world to combat such threats and although the Fate universe was typically much weaker, their conceptual magic could even prove dangerous to Zeus to say nothing an anti-world/reality Noble Phantasm like EA being used on him.