Two hundred years had passed again.
There was no birth of new deities, no changes brought by the movements of living beings. Apart from the growing vegetation spreading further, there were hardly any changes to the land from two hundred years before.
But on this day, the disaster that Laine had long foreseen, still happened.
Perhaps it had indeed occurred before, or maybe it was just the Divine King's conjecture. In any case, after another round of 'entertainment' with his children, the Heavenly Father declared that he had seen dissatisfaction and resentment in the eyes of his children.
"So you have finally made your decision?" Uranus laughed wildly as he stood by the sea, tossing the last child he had found, Rhea, in front of him.
"You harbor complaints against me deep in your hearts, and now you want to turn your blades against me?"
"We haven't, Father," Hyperion said, "We have all sworn an oath, no one dares to harm you..."
"Yes—" Uranus interrupted his child's defense: "Oaths are a good excuse, but I can think of another one for you."
"For instance, you don't yet have a weapon, do you? To sit upon the throne of the Divine King, you would need at least a long sword."
The twelve Titans remained silent. They knew their defenses were meaningless, so they quietly awaited the judgement of the Divine King.
This sort of occurrence had happened many times in the past. The Divine King would always find some reasonable or unreasonable pretext to mete out punishment freely upon them. The Titans thought that, as in the past, they would experience pain or be subjected to mental humiliation, for which they were prepared. But clearly, the outcome this time would beyond their expectations.
At this moment, the deities did not yet realize the gravity of the situation, for Uranus was serious this time.
After all, Gaia had still not bore him another Divine Child in the five hundred years that had passed.
"Listen to me, Titans. I have thought of many ways to deal with you, such as locking you up in the Abyss as well,"
Turning his back, Uranus's voice suddenly calmed down.
He did not look at the expressions of his children; he knew they would appear frightened, but in truth, they were not. They were different from those monsters; they were truly divine beings.
Abusing authority would be punished by the world. Imprisoning a few monsters without godhood only temporarily weakened his Divine Authority. But if he were to imprison the twelve True Gods, their associated godhoods would become uncontrollable, and the consequences would relentlessly affect him.
This is exactly what happened with Zeus in later generations; after defeating the Titan Deity Race, apart from Crius and Cronus, the other Titans who submitted to him were spared.
Because meteorology can be replaced, and time and space were never fully controlled. But if he dared to lock away the Sun, the consequences would suffice for his elder brother to take his place.
It was not until later, when Zeus's progeny were born and there were deities to replace the day, Moon, and stars, that the Titan gods began to fade from the Divine Court under his oppression.
But Uranus had no substitute at the moment. Over the past thousand years, he was ceaselessly pondering how to deal with these children, until now, when he finally had an idea.
How does one make a deity 'exist and yet not exist'?
It would suffice for them to have been born, but not quite born.
Thus, the Divine King made up his mind, and his supreme Divine Power began to emerge. His two-thousand-five-hundred-year reign as the Divine King had brought him almost completely to that step, and even in terms of strength, he was hardly inferior to the Great Divine Power.
As the twelve Titans looked on in terror, Uranus turned the sky into a sharp blade, concentrating it in his right hand. He looked at the deities before him and, in the name of the King of All Gods, delivered the final judgement.
"You are rebellious, cowardly, imperfect divine beings. You possess power, but you do not match your power. Therefore, as your father, as your king, I mercifully give you another chance."
The Titans were somewhat bewildered.
They did not understand their father's meaning; since a deity had already been born, how could there be talk of 'another chance'?
Not until the Divine King's right arm swept across the earth, not until he seized his eldest son, did the Titan gods finally understand how they were to have 'another chance'.
"Ah—!"
As the sky struck the earth, Gaia's pained voice echoed throughout the world. She, who had been waiting atop Mount of the Gods for her husband's return, suddenly felt immense pain. The earth was being torn asunder, and as the personification of the earth, Mother Earth felt it as her own.
That was the Divine King's power, she was absolutely certain of it. The supreme force was forcibly cutting open her abdomen, and she felt something familiar being stuffed inside.
'Oceanus?'
In her anguished wail, Gaia seemed to recognize the source of the breath.
"Ah———!"
The next moment, an even more intense pain struck her, this time it was Thaesis. Quickly, as one familiar presence after another made themselves known, Gaia lost even the strength to cry out. When Cronus also returned to the womb, she lay back, dazed, at the summit of Mount of the Gods, staring at the sky that had been the same for ten thousand years.
He had once been her beloved, but now he was her foe.
They could not coexist in this world, she was absolutely certain of that.
"Gaia, are you alright?"
She didn't know how much time had passed when Uranus's voice came from afar. The Divine King's tone was filled with joy, for he had finally solved the problem that had been troubling him.
"I no longer have to worry about my children," Uranus said cheerfully. "The prophecy can be delayed, this is feasible. As long as they remain in your womb, they are never truly 'born'."
"But you are defying my instincts."
Gaia's voice was devoid of emotion, she didn't even know how she still managed to speak: "As 'embryos' they will drain my power, but as fully grown deities, they will not gain any strength from it."
"Yes, you are right. So, I must thank you, my Queen of Gods," Uranus's voice suddenly softened, as tender as it was a thousand years ago.
"I will remember what you have done for me."
"Now, let us celebrate this moment."
He embraced Gaia, but Mother Earth was indifferent to it.
But the Divine King did not care. He was the King of All Gods, and all gods should offer everything to him. His children should do so, and so should Gaia.
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"It has begun."
Laine raised his head, watching the chaotic meteorology of the moment.
Heaven and Earth were once again in contact, but everyone who saw this scene felt an inexplicable sense of horror. The primal ocean trembled slightly, as though something terrible was about to happen.
The wheels of fate began to turn, and just as the myths told, the authority of the Divine King was about to change hands.
"The feast is about to begin, yet I am the only spectator."
"Of the four ancient deities that still exist, only Gaia has fully personified, and her fate is the most tragic of all."
"Perhaps this is the beginning of Gaia's transformation, an experience profound enough to be etched in eternity, making her never trust 'Divine Kings' again."
Narrowing his eyes slightly, Laine took the initiative to step out of the cave for the first time.
Between the Earth and the Abyss, there was a place that was still empty at the moment, which would later be known as the Underworld.
Eternal Night and Darkness interwove there, Mother Earth and the Abyss converged there. Though most of Chaos's myths took place upon the land, the Underworld was in fact the most terrifying place.
The conversation to come, Laine wanted to have it there. If nothing unexpected occurred, the Underworld would be his new home in the coming eon.