Epic of Caterpillar

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After eating the Gods, I felt pretty refreshed, like I was overflowing with power.

In fact, I had so much power I would literally Rank Up several times.

But I was planning to fuse with the Yggdrasil Sprout…

Well, perhaps I should get done with these trials first.

But something tells me that they will try to take down the tree.

I have to protect it.

But it is so big it will be hard…

Due to that, we need to begin preparations right away.

Most of my family, friends, allies, and subordinates, alongside many of my Spatial Clones, begin preparations right away.

We will create a powerful Spatial Barrier all around the tree.

All the other important places are being protected with these as well.

Divine Trials give a lot of Particles, but they are also deadly.

If I let them wreak havoc inside my precious Divine Realm, a lot of stuff will get destroyed.

And because they are made directly by the World's Will to destroy me, I am fairly sure it might even try to destroy the Yggdrasil Sprout because it knows I can grow stronger from it.

The World's Will knows everything that happens within the world, just like the Clone once told me.

So it is completely possible that it already kind of knows what I did.

The only thing it doesn't know is what happens inside Divine Realms or spaces created separated from the World of Genesis.

So anything I do inside my place cannot be seen by it until it brings Divine Trials here.

The last two Heavenly Tribulations were pretty strong, but I managed to defeat them by going all out.

I might also need to go all out against the ones to come, and they will be more than one because I will Rank Up several times.

Really, these things are both pains in the ass and also amazing ways to get more Attribute Particles.

As I begin the construction of a large barrier around the Yggdrasil Sprout alongside everyone else, I also begin to assess what is going on within the other place, the Lower Realm.

There, I am Zeus, Apollo, and Baltis, and Athena and the other Gods had already arrived through their Teleportation Crystals, asking Baltis where I am…

I guess it is time to lie.

How about we do some melodrama and stuff?

I quickly see through the eyes of Baltis as I am within Apollo's Divine Realm, Zeus is at my left side and Apollo at my right side.

We are sitting over white chairs and we were interrupted from our tea time by Athena and all the other Gods crying.

"FATHER! They're… they're all dead!" cried Athena, hugging me- I mean, hugging Zeus.

Hmm… She smells nice. Like… I could just chomp her here right about now.

But this is not the time yet… patience.

Wait, or is it?

I glance around me, there's Artemis, Athena, Dionysos, Hermes, and Aphrodite.

All of them are inside Apollo's House…

Hm, seeing how I will fight with these clone bodies, I won't be able to use my full strength.

This is why it is bad to fight them altogether unless it is my main body, and my main body is busy.

If I were to fight them with these three clones… I would definitely lose.

I need to separate them first and eat them from the inside out one by one, turning their empty physical bodies into the vessels of my Soul Clones.

But not yet, not yet… Patience is a virtue, and I have it too.

For now, I pretend to be Zeus, Apollo, and Baltis with my excellent acting skills which are boosted thanks to Luxuria.

"Everyone… Athena, what is going on?!" asked Zeus.

"Father… They're all dead… the Gods protecting Yggdrasil… Tereus… everyone… A-And…!" muttered Athena.

"WHAT?! It can't be…! Kireina…! Where's Kireina!?" roared Zeus.

"We don't know! She escaped right before our noses and stole the Yggdrasil Sprout too! She stole it and left an illusion to trick us!" said Artemis.

"What a monster! That damn whore! I am going to tear her apart…! WHERE IS SHE?! WHERE IS SHE?! Nnngh…!"

Zeus roared in anger and frustration, showing his children that he still held a lot of drive to fight, but after roaring, he suddenly feels a strong pain over his body and kneels while panting for air.

"Father, relax, for now, you need to recover!" said Aphrodite, who quickly grabbed her father's large arms.

"Let's carry him back to bed, he's still very weakened…" said Apollo, as he clenched his fists, containing his anger and sorrow, his siblings noticed that he suppressed his feelings and grew a bit fonder of him.

Meanwhile, Hermes and Aphrodite carried the pained Zeus back to bed…

"Ahh… That demon… how much will it take away from me before it can feel satisfying? I am going to… destroy everything it holds dear… Unngh… Hahh…"

Zeus groans angrily, but the pain makes him too tired, and he suddenly falls unconscious. Of course, this was an act.

"Father…" sighed Athena.

"What has happened to brother? I can't sense his bond with us…" said Apollo.

"Ares… died," sighed Hermes.

"Eh?! What?! How?!" asked Apollo.

"We don't know, he teleported somewhere else, after we attacked Kireina and she ran away, we sensed his sudden death…" said Dyonisos.

"This is… How…?! Ares…!" cried Apollo, as he kneeled in the ground and began to cry.

Aphrodite began to pat Apollo as she cried at her side.

"It was so sudden… We should have been able to do something… we are such pathetic gods…" sighed Aphrodite.

"It is all my fault…" cried Artemis.

Ugh, why are you so melodramatic?

"Baltis… please tell us… can you see where's Kireina now?" asked Hermes, as he moved towards Baltis, his eyes filled with the resolve of defeating me… as it will ever happen, buddy.

"I can't… see her yet, she's manipulating fate to block my powers… But I am doing everything I can to get through it… I think I can have something in a few more hours… I apologize," sighed Baltis.

"I see… We'll wait," said Hermes.

"For now, let's… calm down a bit and reassess our strength. We need to prepare for war. Whenever Baltis finds where she's hiding, we'll bring our army against her!" said Athena.

"We'll decimate her!" said Artemis.

"Hold on… Don't get overconfident, we still need to think things through… Can't she teleport? We need to find a way for her to not be able to teleport anymore…" said Apollo.

"You're right… if we truly want to trap her, we need to prepare a Divine Formation," said Dyonisos.

"I… I can help. I won't rest until she's killed… We'll do everything we can!" said Apollo, as he stood up and cleansed his tears, my resolve was so "real" that these idiots all believed it. Luxuria helps here with its charm effect, which is making all of these guys believe me even more easily.

"Now… How can we do that?" asked Athena.

"We simply need to recruit more Gods, we need the help of someone that can manipulate space a bit, even a Living Deity or a group of them might work," said Hermes.

"Indeed… I have been trying to find countermeasures against her spatial magic before, and I have gathered some knowledge I have bought, alongside some more materials… But I would need all of your help to get this done properly… And about helping, Spatial Gods are very rare, and I doubt the ones within the Central Continent would help us without offering them a good fee…" sighed Apollo.

"T-Then we'll pay! Money doesn't matter at this point!" said Athena.

"Although there are no Demigods or Gods of Space currently available in this realm, I think there are a few young Space Attribute Living Deity youngsters… Some of them are past heroes who ascended some dozes of years ago," said Artemis.

"Those would be good enough, can you contact them, Artemis?" asked Apollo.

"Yes, leave it to me…" said Artemis while nodding confidently. What a reliable sister!

"There's a lot to do before we can even start to do things properly. For now, let's assess how things are. I also need to constantly heal father, and more importantly, all of you need to go rest for a bit, we can't work if your minds are clouded with negative thoughts," said Apollo.

"Indeed… You're right," said Athena.

"Yes… I will go rest for a bit…" sighed Dyonisos, who had lost a child in this fight, he felt like he wanted to sleep for an eternity to appease his sorrow.

"I will go contact the Living Deities and then I suppose I will go rest, thanks for your help," said Artemis.

"I am on my way too…" said Hermes.

"I-I want to stay at father's side…" said Aphrodite.

In the end, all the Gods except Aphrodite left Apollo's Divine Realm… Hmm, now it would really be a good opportunity to eat her…

However, before I was to take advantage of it, Athena suddenly ran into the Divine Realm.

"Aphrodite, come over, we need to talk about something…"

"Eh? What is it?" asked Aphrodite, who was drinking tea with me and Baltis.

"It's… important, only for us two, sorry Apollo," said Athena, as she grabbed Aphrodite and left the place…

Hm? This is weird… what is she thinking?

Could my actions have not been completely convincing? Perhaps she is suspecting something.

Well, before she even reaches any conclusion, it will all be over…

Amongst the siblings that came back to Apollo's Divine Realm, Athena was perhaps the only one that has been noticing something weird within Apollo's conduct, and a strange… eerie feeling she can't get out of her mind from him.

There is certainly something she can feel, but outside of that, her brother is still the same… or is he?

She began to realize that it wouldn't be really possible for someone to change their childish and immature nature in so little time, especially a god who had lived for thousands of years.

Although she had been thinking that it was due to him being reprimanded by Zeus and being taught a lesson by that sneak attack from Kireina, even then, this didn't make any sense.

Apollo was being way too mature and composed, and there was a strange aura around him that made her feel slight goosebumps…

Just what was it?

Athena racked her brain trying to find what was it, this strange… feeling.

And not only him, but she also felt something weird with Baltis and even her father, although he went to sleep too fast for her to properly realize this.

She had also stopped having any relation with the puppets of Azuma, as some had this weird presence as well.

What was it? Some kind of Skill? A manifestation of some new power?

As the Goddess of Wisdom, she was constantly developing her senses, knowledge, mind, and perception of everything around her alongside her family, allies, and enemies.

That feeling she had when she saw Kireina in person a few minutes ago… did it get stuck in her head?

After all, Kireina had the power to affect the mind of those that glanced at her, so it was possible that this could be some kind of encroachment of her part to make her think that her family is suspicious or weird, and plant discord within the family.

However, because Apollo knew everything that it was needed to do, his siblings obeyed his ideas and decided to do as he said.

But as this ever happened before?

Only when they tried to heal Zeus…

But it was weird, has Apollo even been such a good leader?

Even by changing a bit and growing mature… he was never such a leader, to begin with.

There was something very odd about this…

She suddenly felt like something could happen to Aphrodite who was left alone with Apollo, Baltis, and Zeus, and she decided to obey her instincts for once, bringing her over to her Divine Realm.

"What is going on with you?" asked Aphrodite rather annoyed.

"There's… something I want to tell you… I think… there's an impostor among us…" said Athena.