In the Chaos World, at the foot of an unnamed mountain, a conversation powerful enough to influence the world continued.
Feeling the power of history, Laine faced Mother Earth's questioning and expressed his helplessness.
"I am a god of Prophecy, not a god of Wisdom," Laine said, shaking his head.
"Respected Mother Earth, I can only see the outcome, and that too is only the unfathomable future."
"If you insist on having my advice, then all I can say is that the Divine King cannot be overthrown by power alone."
"The Prophecy shows that the one with the sickle shall shake the Divine King's position. Not defeat him, much less kill him, not only because no one can match the Divine King's power, but also because his kingship comes from the world and not from conquest."
"A throne of godhood not gained by usurpation, naturally cannot be stripped away by sheer force alone."
Hearing this, Mother Earth appeared somewhat perplexed. She did not know what, other than power, could lead Chaos to reclaim the kingship He had bestowed.
"As the Divine King crowned by the world, his authority comes from within himself. He is the first to birth new gods through union, and his paternity rules the world; I am not sure how to shake his kingship either."
"Then there is nothing I can do, respected Mother Earth," Laine said with a smile, shaking his head: "For the sake of your trust last time, I am willing to try and think of a solution. But as I said, I am not the God of Wisdom after all."
"Very well." After a while, Mother Earth brought up several ideas, but Laine negated each one. Finally, feeling Uranus's presence returning from the sea to the earth, Gaia had to leave for the time being.
She had come out while the Heavenly Father was away 'entertaining' his own children. Now, she had to hurry back.
"Prince Laine, I am grateful for your help, no matter what," Mother Earth said in the end: "However, if I do make up my mind in the near future, I hope to receive your Prophecy."
"I will," Laine couldn't have been more willing: "I will do my utmost to foresee the success or failure for you once you are ready."
Nodding in satisfaction, Gaia's green robes vanished before Laine in a fleeting moment. Even with her Vital Essence greatly diminished, Mother Earth's movements were still undetectable by him.
However, Laine did not envy her, for he knew Gaia's power would continue to decline. Even in the distant future, she would become the only Primordial God to completely fall from the peak of her Great Divine Power.
Giving birth to Typhon, the monster-king who once defeated Zeus, would further deplete her Origin; the birth of the Goddess of Agriculture would tear apart her control over plants; the emergence of Hades would take the lands of the Underworld from her; the line of Ourea's Mountain Gods and heirs of the lord of the vast oceans' River Gods would thin her grasp over the earth...
The goddess, born with the most abundant origin, thus became average through successive childbirth and the betrayal of the world. Perhaps she still seemed powerful to mortals, but no generation of Divine Kings ever truly regarded her.
This return to Mount of the Gods might soon be met with another torment.
"Level 7 Divine Power, once I get what I want from Cronus, everything should get back on track."
"The next time we meet, I won't be so easy to talk to."
Looking again at where Gaia had disappeared, Laine knew that although Mother Earth respected him, it was merely superficial.
In terms of power, like other deities, Mother Earth never took Laine seriously. Emotionally, even though Laine had always been on her side, she was still dissatisfied with him.
Being lenient with oneself yet strict with others is no different between mortals and gods.
Laine quietly assessed his own divine power and continued to slumber.
In the time of Uranus, one of the three generations of Divine Kings of Chaos, he was just a witness. The earth, even devoid of animals, was not yet time for Spirituality to manifest power.
It was not until the second generation of Divine Kings arose and the first humans were born, with a new generation of deities descending upon the world, that he would find space to act.
Before that, he could only wait.
...
Mount Othrys, the Divine King's dwelling.
Pleased to have trapped Phoebe at the bottom of the sea, Uranus admired the 'sea of light' for quite a while. The deity of light made the waves shimmer with extraordinary colors, but the lifeless sea soon bored the Divine King.
'They are getting stronger,' the King of All Gods thought upon returning to the peak of the Mount of the Gods.
Two thousand years had passed, and the power of the Titan gods was nearing its peak. Even from the perspective of the ruler of the sky, if the bonuses his position as Divine King provided were disregarded, he had to admit the strength of his descendants.
'Three hundred years, five hundred at most, I must do something.'
Determined, the Divine King rose and walked toward his wife.
In the world today, deities are scarce. If he didn't want to rule this world alone after dealing with his children, he needed to hurry and create more gods.
That's what he had done before, but Gaia's two births had disappointed him. He even began to wonder how the sky and the earth could produce such anomalies.
If it weren't for Tartarus lacking a conscious persona, he might suspect this ancient god, who dwells at the bottom of the world, of having offended the King of All Gods.
"Gaia, my wife, my Queen of Gods," Uranus thought as he approached Mother Earth.
He did not realize Mother Earth had ever left Mount of the Gods. As the personification of the earth, Gaia easily eluded Uranus's senses.
"Your Majesty."
Gaia seemed to understand the Divine King's intentions. Although she knew it would be useless, she still pleaded,
"Continuous childbirth has left me exhausted, and your divine power is even more immense. Perhaps you could grant me more time to rest, which might result in a child that better meets your expectations."
"But isn't this a situation you've caused yourself?" Uranus retorted.
Without any consideration for Gaia's refusal, he pressed her beneath him as usual.
"You know, Gaia, birthing deities and birthing monsters is not the same."
"The power of deities comes more from godhood, the world bestows gifts upon them. Apart from my foolish brother Ourea, who took part of your godhood at birth, the birth of our other children has never left you so exhausted."
With a cold laugh, Uranus became even rougher.
"But giving birth to a monster is different, they are innately powerful, requiring no growth. They hold no godhood, yet they are immortal. All their power comes from the mother, your own essence, and it's their birth that drains you, leaving you weak."
"So, bear a proper deity, Gaia, just as you did in the beginning."
"Let us together strengthen the power of our deity race, rather than providing the Abyss with a few immortal morsels."
Gaia seemed to yield, no longer trying to convince her husband. Under the watchful eyes of the gods of Chaos, the Sky once again descended, becoming level with the summit of Mount of the Gods. They knew it was another union of the Heavenly Father and Mother Earth.
Yet, unseen by the Divine King, the last of Gaia's hesitations faded from her verdant eyes.
Just as he had said, Gaia had no wish to create 'immortal morsels', and so she made up her mind.
'Destiny is on my side,' Gaia thought, 'I will succeed.'
And so, in the next moment, her anger began to burn. Deep beneath the earth, among a mix of metals and stones, the authority of Mother Earth stirred the magma into motion. A sharp essence was extracted, and a special type of stone slowly took shape. It needed no smithing, for it was nurtured by the earth itself. It was curved and sharp, symbolizing Gaia's conflicted emotions and her ultimate resolve.
And like that, three hundred years later, the first sickle of Chaos came into being.