Penthesilea's expression was quite remarkable.
First, she was shocked, then confused, and finally doubtful but willing to believe.
"You say this is a Greek plot?"
"To be precise, it's Odysseus' plot."
"Where exactly are you from? And why are you so certain?"
Atreus was at a loss for words, unsure of how to explain.
In the end, he simply pointed to the giant, strange wooden horse.
"What if I told you that inside it hides the strongest squad of Greek heroes?"
The horse was enormous, as tall as a seven-story building. The Trojans had exhausted themselves just trying to drag it inside the city gates. Its strange, wooden limbs were carved from a single massive log, and the legs alone reached up four stories high.
What's more, the horse's legs were extraordinarily smooth.
Trusting Atreus, the queen ordered her soldiers to try climbing it, but they all failed without exception.
They couldn't manage to climb up. Even trying to hack into the horse's legs with axes to create footholds was futile.
Feeling the faint divine aura emanating from the horse, Atreus finally realized—this was a plot by the gods!
He gave up trying to explain.
"Penthesilea! Do you trust me?"
The queen nodded firmly.
"Then get ready, we're leaving tonight!"
"So soon?"
"Tonight, Troy will be destroyed!" Atreus declared with absolute certainty.
All the blood drained from the queen's face. "I'll go speak to the king."
As expected, she was met with ruthless ridicule—not from the king, but from several of Troy's generals.
As a foreign guest, her position was always awkward.
When the Greeks were at the gates, the Trojans had no choice but to trust every ally.
But now that the Greeks had retreated? Every Trojan general had their own little schemes.
The glory of killing Achilles had already been claimed by an outsider, leaving little honor for the Trojan generals to seize. How could they allow a foreigner to gain any more credit now?
In truth, it wasn't that the Trojans had been tricked, but rather that they wanted to believe the Greeks had truly left.
Ten long years of siege had been a torment for both sides.
The Trojans had been holed up in their city, surviving on exaggerated food stores.
The Greeks hadn't fared any better. While they had conquered all of Troy's surrounding lands, as long as Troy itself stood, the Trojans hadn't given up their hopes.
And since both sides worshipped the same gods, the Greeks couldn't bring themselves to slaughter the Trojans.
For ten whole years, the Greek army had remained stranded far from home, wasting away beneath the city walls. If not for the support of gods like Athena, the kings alone couldn't have kept the homesick Greek soldiers in line.
But now, in the rush of victory, the Trojans had been swept up in a wave of euphoria.
Watching the Trojans sing and dance around the giant wooden horse, celebrating their victory, Atreus gave up hope entirely. Instead, he began counting his gains.
The best news was that the war chariot formed by the three immortal horses, known as "Troy's Nightmare," could be stored away. With just a thought, Atreus could send it into a divine space, only to summon it when needed.
Another bit of good news was that the king had granted him access to the portal, and he had sensed the spatial coordinates he'd left behind in Gotham City.
The problem was, the space seemed to be sealed off.
Atreus suddenly understood—some god, maybe Athena, had secretly sealed Troy's spatial barriers.
As night fell, Atreus ate his last meal in Troy and declined all invitations, sitting quietly in his room, waiting for the final moment to arrive.
Penthesilea believed him and was equally prepared for battle. However, she had yet to decide whether to abandon the Trojan royal family and leave with him.
After all, this was the world she knew.
If she left Troy, it would only take her two weeks on horseback to return to her Amazon tribe. There was no need to follow Atreus into the unknown through the portal.
Predictably, the unexpected occurred.
At 2 AM, after two days of wild celebrations, the Trojans, exhausted, fell into a deep sleep.
Even the sentries, who usually stood nervously at the walls, had passed out drunk.
Silently, the belly of the giant wooden horse opened, and ropes were lowered. Fully armed, the Greek heroes, including both the Greater and Lesser Ajax, descended.
Then, they encountered Penthesilea and her three-hundred-strong squad.
"Enemy attack!"
"The horse is a Greek trick!"
Without fear, they charged forward.
But in mere moments, they were utterly defeated.
It wasn't a fair fight. Penthesilea, though wounded, faced a squad of over thirty Greek heroes, each with divine blood. The sheer difference in quality made even buying time an impossible luxury.
Though the Amazon queen fought fiercely, she finally understood why Kratos had refused to help her stop the Greek elite emerging from the horse.
Each one of these Greek heroes had more than ten percent divine blood, making them demigods.
All thirty of these Greek heroes were demigods.
No matter how brave Penthesilea was, how could she fight them?
If the Greeks hadn't been in a hurry to open the city gates, she would have perished too.
Their warning cries woke many Trojans, but these drunken men were no match for the elite Greek heroes.
After just ten minutes of fighting, the queen heard the heavy creaking of the city gates.
The gates had fallen!
Pouring in from outside were tens of thousands of fully armed Greek soldiers.
"Kill them all!"
"Slaughter the Trojans!"
"Revenge for Achilles!"
The queen leaped onto a three-story building, and by the firelight, she saw Agamemnon's banner in the distance.
"So it's true! Agamemnon is still alive! Kratos was right."
In a moment of hesitation, the last two Amazon warriors following her were killed.
With no ties left, she turned and sprinted towards the portal.
This city, which had stood firm for ten years under Greek siege, finally fell to the combined treachery of the Greeks and the gods. Everywhere, there was fire, and everywhere, brutal slaughter.
The Greeks vented their ten years of frustration on the Trojans.
They committed almost every crime imaginable...
Of course, this didn't include genocide. Many people forget that the democratic civilization of ancient Greece was built on slavery.
But none of this mattered to Atreus anymore.
As he stood by the portal, he finally saw the familiar figure staggering toward him and smiled.
Just then, he heard a weak voice from another direction, one he recognized.
"Mr. Kratos, mind if I come along?"
(End of Chapter)