CHAPTER 493: THE FALL OF OLYMPUS 8

Adam clenched his fists as the marks’ power coursed through him like molten starlight. The twelve authorities resonated within his soul, each one a fragment of conquered divinity that transformed him from an ascended wielding divine weapons into something far more dangerous—a god killer who had transcended the need for external tools.

Only now did he feel like a real divinity, the kind that didn’t rely on borrowed power or forged steel. The marks pulsed beneath his skin like second heartbeats, each one mirroring the authorities he had claimed with his own two hands. His body hummed with energies that made the air itself bend around him, reality warping to accommodate the presence of something that had been mortal and chosen to become more.

But Zeus and his brothers were no less threatening. Even now, water, lightning, and darkness surged into tsunamis that crashed against Cottus, Briareus, and Gyges’ hundreds of arms. The three Hecatoncheires—titans whose very existence predated the concept of names—fought with the desperate fury of beings who had waited eons for revenge. Their massive forms weathered the divine assault, each of their hundred hands wielding weapons forged from the bones of primordial chaos, but even their legendary endurance was beginning to show cracks.

Zeus stood at the center of the storm, his form crackling with electricity that put lightning to shame. Each gesture sent bolts of divine wrath that could shatter continents, his power so vast that the very air around him had become a weapon. His eyes blazed with the fury of a god who had never known defeat, who had overthrown his own father and expected the universe to remain grateful for his rule.

To his left, Poseidon commanded the waters with surgical precision. Liquid mountains rose at his command, each drop infused with divine authority that made them cut like razors and strike like hammers. His golden trident pulsed with the accumulated power of every ocean, every sea, every drop of water that had ever existed. His calm blue eyes scanned the battlefield with the methodical precision of a battle master, assessing each possible move before countering it with devastating efficiency.

And in the shadows cast by his brothers’ radiance, Hades wielded darkness itself as a weapon. The underworld’s authority flowed through him like a river of night, each gesture summoning forth the accumulated weight of every soul that had ever died and celebrated his name. His presence was absence given form, a void that consumed light and hope with equal hunger.

They too were real divinities, whose legends predated their names, whose power had shaped the very foundations of existence. But Adam was ready. The marks sang in his blood, twelve authorities harmonising into something greater than their sum. He would kill them today, then turn his attention to the Aesir pantheon that besieged his city in the distance.

He rushed toward the Greek gods, plasma erupting into dark energy blades in both of his palms. The Mark of Sin Ascendant responded to his will, the six sins he had conquered flowing through the weapons like liquid malice. Each blade crackled with the accumulated weight of every transgression, every moment when order had been challenged and found wanting.

His enhanced vision, courtesy of the Mark of Perfect Control, scanned his enemies with predatory focus. Zeus was too dangerous to approach directly—his lightning could level mountains, and his divine authority made him a walking apocalypse. Hades was an unknown variable, his dominion over death potentially catastrophic if he managed to land a decisive blow.

But Poseidon... Poseidon was methodical. Precise. Calculating. The sea god’s water sliced like cutters, pounded like liquid mountains, and shot holes in the Hecatoncheires like divine bullets.

That precision would be his downfall. Adam had learned something fundamental about divine beings during his rampage through their ranks—they were creatures of pattern, of established dominion, of power that flowed through predetermined channels. They had ruled for so long that they had forgotten what it meant to adapt, to evolve, to face something that refused to follow the rules they had written.

Adam would strike him first.

The Mark of Reality Severance activated as he moved, his form becoming something that existed outside the normal flow of space and time. Poseidon’s careful calculations became meaningless when the enemy could ignore the fundamental laws that governed movement and distance. The sea god’s eyes widened as Adam appeared directly in front of him, dark energy blades crackling with chaotic plasma that filled the air with salt water that predated the ocean itself.

"Impossible," Poseidon breathed, his trident snapping up to block the incoming strike. "You’re just a mortal with stolen power—"

"Was," Adam corrected, his blade carving through the water barrier Poseidon had erected. The Mark of Divine Nullification activated, dispelling the sea god’s protective enchantments like morning mist before the sun. "Now I’m something you never planned for."

BANG

The clash between dark energy and divine trident sent shockwaves through the marble beneath their feet. Poseidon’s perfect technique met Adam’s unbending will, and for a moment, it seemed as though the sea god’s eons of experience might prevail.

Poseidon flowed like water itself, his movements impossibly fluid as he spun the golden trident in a defensive arc. The three prongs caught Adam’s blades, redirecting their force while the sea god’s other hand gestured toward the heavens. Water condensed from the air above them, forming crystalline spikes that hardened into ice sharper than any mortal blade.

The hail of spikes descended like a divine rain, each one aimed at Adam’s vital points. Hundreds of frozen projectiles whistled through the air, their points glowing with compressed divine authority that could punch through adamantine.

Adam’s Mark of the Monkey King activated, his form becoming malleable as he twisted between the deadly rain. But Poseidon wasn’t finished—the sea god’s trident swept in a horizontal arc aimed at Adam’s neck, the weapon moving with horrifying precision. The blade whistled through the air, carrying enough force to decapitate a mountain.

Adam ducked under the strike, but Poseidon’s fluid combat style allowed him to redirect the missed swing into a devastating thrust. The trident’s prongs blazed with oceanic power as they sought Adam’s heart, each point trailing streams of liquid force that could carve through divine flesh.

The Mark of Reality Severance activated as Adam sidestepped, his form briefly existing outside normal space to avoid the killing blow. His dark energy blades swept upward, but Poseidon was already flowing away from the attack, his body becoming partially liquid to slip past the strike.

"You fight like the storms," Poseidon observed, his voice carrying the rhythm of crashing waves. "Chaotic, unpredictable. But storms always break against the eternal sea."

The sea god’s trident spun in a complex pattern, each rotation generating more water that hardened into razor-sharp projectiles. Ice spears formed and launched in rapid succession, followed by pressurised water bullets that could divine metal like Uru. Poseidon’s movements were hypnotic, each gesture flowing seamlessly into the next as he created a storm of liquid death.

Adam’s Mark of Divine Nullification flared, dispelling the divine enhancements on the projectiles, but their sheer volume and speed forced him on the defensive. He weaved between strikes, his dark energy blades carving through ice spears while deflecting water bullets that left steaming craters in the marble.

Poseidon pressed his advantage, his trident work becoming a masterpiece of divine combat. The weapon seemed to be everywhere at once—stabbing, slashing, blocking, redirecting. Each strike carried the weight of every ocean, the precision of every tide, the fury of every storm at sea.

The trident’s first prong carved a line across Adam’s ribs, blood spraying as divine metal met hardened flesh. The second prong whistled past his ear, close enough to draw blood. The third prong caught his left shoulder, tearing through muscle and sending him staggering backwards.

"You bleed," Poseidon noted with satisfaction, his fluid movements never ceasing. "We never do."

The sea god’s next combination was breathtaking in its lethality. His trident swept low, forcing Adam to jump, then reversed into an overhead strike that drove him back to the ground. Before Adam could recover, Poseidon’s weapon thrust forward in a triple-strike pattern, each prong seeking a different vital point.

Adam’s Mark of the Demon Blade activated as he parried desperately, his dark energy blade meeting the trident’s shaft. The impact sent shockwaves through both weapons, but Poseidon’s superior technique allowed him to maintain control while Adam was forced to give ground.

Water rose around the sea god like a liquid tornado, each drop under his absolute command. He gestured with his free hand, and the water formed into a dozen tentacles that lashed out at Adam from all angles. Each tentacle ended in a spear point of crystallised brine, their movements synchronised with Poseidon’s trident work to create an impenetrable web of death.

Adam’s Mark of the Monkey King saved him, his form adapting to the assault by becoming more fluid, more unpredictable. But even with his enhanced agility, he couldn’t match Poseidon’s mastery of his chosen element. The sea god was in his element, literally and figuratively, his power growing with each passing moment.

"You’ve fought well," Poseidon acknowledged, his trident spinning in a defensive pattern while his water tentacles continued their assault. "Better than any mortal has a right to. But you’re fighting the ocean itself, and the ocean is infinite."

The sea god’s next attack was his most devastating yet. His trident blazed with the power of tsunamis given form. The weapon struck with the force of a collapsing dam, its impact crater where Adam had been standing.

But Adam wasn’t there anymore. He had blinked away, appearing directly behind Poseidon. His dark energy blades swept down in a killing arc, their edges crackling with his primordial chaotic essence.

Poseidon’s combat instincts, honed by eons of divine warfare, flared. The sea god’s body became pure water for a split second, the blade passing harmlessly through his liquid form. He solidified an instant later, his trident already in motion to counter-attack.

The battle became a blur of motion and fury. Poseidon’s fluid combat style met Adam’s chaotic movements in a dance that shook the foundations of Olympus. Each exchange saw techniques that could level cities, power that could reshape continents, will that could challenge the very concept of defeat.

Adam’s Mark of Perfect Control kept him immune to the corruption of Poseidon’s oceanic authority, while the Mark of the Demon Blade allowed his strikes to bypass the sea god’s divine protections. But Poseidon’s mastery of water combat was absolute—every movement flowed into the next, every attack created opportunities for the next assault.

The turning point came when Adam’s Mark of the Primordial activated. His tenth strike triggered Chaos Genesis, and the battlefield erupted in primordial forces that predated the concept of order. Reality twisted around Poseidon like a wound in existence itself, the sea god’s perfect fluid movements becoming erratic as chaos undermined his control.

Adam pressed his advantage, his dark energy blades carving through the disrupted space around Poseidon. The Mark of Soul Rend ensured that each strike bypassed the sea god’s defenses, cutting directly into the divine essence that made him a god.

Poseidon’s trident snapped up to block, but the chaos storm had disrupted his perfect timing. Adam’s blade slipped past his guard, carving a diagonal line across the sea god’s chest that blazed with infernal fire. Golden ichor sprayed across the marble, each drop hissing as it met the stone.

"You don’t?" Adam asked, his second blade joining the assault. "That’s what mortality tastes like. Every cut I make, every drop of ichor you spill—it’s a reminder that even gods like you can bleed."

One slash, two, three. He swung his arms with vengeful abandon, each strike cleaving a scalding gash in Poseidon’s proud figure.

Poseidon staggered, his movements becoming sluggish as the accumulated wounds took their toll. His trident work began to show gaps that Adam exploited ruthlessly. The Mark of Execution Absolute activated, each strike carrying the weight of true death that could not be healed or undone.

The final exchange was brief but decisive. Poseidon’s trident thrust forward in one last desperate attack, but Adam kicked his arm before it could reach him. His dark energy blade swept across the sea god’s throat, and the True Death Protocol activated fully.

Poseidon’s eyes widened as he felt something no god should ever experience—the absolute certainty of ending. His trident clattered from nerveless fingers as golden ichor poured from the wound that would not heal. The sea god’s perfect form wavered, his dominion over the oceans bleeding away like water through a broken dam.

"Zeus," Poseidon whispered, his voice carrying across the battlefield like a dying tide. "He’s not what we thought. He’s not what anyone thought."

The sea god collapsed, his divine essence scattering like foam on the wind. As his power dissipated, Adam felt the Mark of Godslayer’s Path activate, absorbing five percent of Poseidon’s divine strength. The boost was significant—another fragment of conquered power added to his growing collection.

The King of the Gods turned at his brother’s words, his attention finally focusing on the mortal who had just accomplished the impossible. Lightning gathered around him like a living thing, and when he spoke, his voice carried the weight of an enraged sky.

"Then I’ll have to kill him myself."

Adam smiled, dark energy blades reforming in his palms as twelve authorities sang in perfect harmony. "You’re welcome to try."

The final battle for Olympus was about to begin.