CHAPTER 171: “IS THIS OLYMPUS’S TEST? THEN HEAR MY ANSWER!”

The waves had finally settled. Not in peace, but in submission.

Where once stood the proud harbor of Caerthas, only jagged rooftops and broken towers poked through a glittering inland sea. The bell tower that had warned them had vanished beneath the tide, its bronze voice silenced forever. What remained was silence—save for the gentle breathing of the sea.

Poseidon stood on what had once been the highest tier of the docks, now little more than a ridge surrounded by water. His trident rested at his side, its bronze edges dripping with strands of seawater that coiled like serpents before dissolving into foam. His hair, long and damp, gleamed with the faint glow of moonlight, but his eyes—those were the true terror. They glowed with abyssal blue, like twin abysses where no light could ever reach.

Around him, the ocean did not surge or roar. It knelt. It bent itself to his will, rising and falling with the cadence of his breath.

For centuries, mortals had prayed to the sea as if it were distant, merciless, unpredictable. But Poseidon was not distant anymore. He was here, standing in their streets, and his very presence twisted the laws of tide and gravity.

The drowned city was only the beginning.

---

The Whisper of the Abyss

In the quiet aftermath, his mind was not his own. Deep inside his chest, beneath the thunder of his heartbeat, another pulse lingered. A whisper, slow and heavy, like a leviathan’s sigh.

Thalorin.

The abyss-god who had been chained in the Rift now spoke faintly, his voice woven into every drop of seawater.

"You see how easily they fall, don’t you? Mortals crumble like sand. Gods will follow. Let me show you how deep the tide runs—let me carry you to the end of Olympus itself."

Poseidon’s grip on his trident tightened, veins in his arm glowing faintly blue. His jaw locked as he fought against the shadow pressing through his thoughts.

"No," he muttered aloud, voice sharp enough to cut through the night. "I am not your vessel anymore. I am myself."

The water at his feet recoiled briefly, rippling outward as though the sea itself had flinched. Yet the whisper only laughed, the sound like bubbles rising from a sunken grave.

"You can deny me, but every breath you take is salt. Every vein you carry is mine. You drowned them, Poseidon—not out of justice, but hunger. Do not pretend you are not me."

Poseidon lifted his trident and stabbed it into the soaked stone beneath him. The sea surged with the motion, creating a spiral vortex around him that widened across the drowned city.

"I am not you," Poseidon growled. "I am the tide—and the tide obeys me."

---

Survivors of the Flood

From the ruins, faint voices carried. Survivors—mortal scraps clinging to roofs, driftwood, and broken walls. Their cries for help were weak, brittle, but they were there.

Poseidon’s gaze swept toward them, the ocean parting to reveal clusters of humans shivering in terror. They stared at him with wide eyes—some with awe, most with horror.

"God..." one whispered. "The sea walks as a man..."

Poseidon approached slowly, water flattening beneath his steps so that he strode as though upon polished marble. The mortals trembled, bowing their heads, clutching each other.

He stopped a few paces away, looking down at them. Once, he might have dismissed them. Once, their voices were meaningless noise against the roar of the tide.

But now... their fear pressed against him. It fed Thalorin’s whisper, yes, but it also reminded him of something else.

Dominic.

The boy he had been.

A flicker of memory surfaced—his mother’s hand, rough from work, pulling him close; the warm laughter of Elias in the academy courtyard; the stench of hospitals, where he had lain dying before rebirth. Mortal things. Fragile things.

And yet, they still lingered in him.

He lifted a hand. The waters beneath the survivors swirled, lifting them higher, setting them upon a jut of stone safe from the deep currents. Their eyes widened as the god they had feared gave them a path to life.

"Leave this place," Poseidon commanded, voice rolling like thunder through a cavern. "The sea has no home for you anymore."

Some wept. Others bowed until their foreheads touched the wet stone. But none dared argue. They fled as fast as trembling legs could carry them.

The whisper within him hissed.

"Mercy? Wasteful. Fear is stronger when they die."

Poseidon ignored it.

---

The Horizon Trembles

As the survivors scattered inland, Poseidon turned toward the open horizon. The sea stretched endless, dark and calm—but only for a moment.

A ripple disturbed the line where water met sky. Then another. Then a hundred more, racing in patterns too precise to be natural.

He narrowed his eyes.

The gods were moving.

High above, Olympus had stirred. He could feel them—their will pressing down like stormclouds, their eyes fixed upon him. The decree of the Azure Seat had already been passed: Poseidon must die.

But they had forgotten one thing.

You cannot drown the sea.

Poseidon smirked faintly, salt spray curling from his lips. "So. You come at last."

---

Olympus Watches

Far above, unseen by mortal eyes, Olympus leaned closer. From the marble halls of the gods, Hera’s voice carried like a silver blade.

"He grows stronger too quickly. If we wait, he will root himself into the mortal world. His tide will drown every city from here to the horizon."

Ares slammed his war-spear into the marble. "Then let us march now! He stands alone in a drowned ruin. A perfect chance to cut him down."

Zeus himself, seated upon the throne of storm, did not rise. Lightning glowed faintly at his fingertips, but his gaze was narrowed with thought.

"Not yet," he said slowly. "If Poseidon rises, he does not rise alone. Something deeper stirs within him. I will not risk unleashing it too soon. We test him first. We see if he bends—or breaks."

The decree was sent. Not a full assault. A probing strike.

And below, Poseidon felt the sky shift.

---

The Test of the Sky

The first bolt of lightning cracked across the heavens.

It was not storm-born—it was forged. Divine. It slammed into the water beside him, sending up a geyser of steam and foam that hissed like serpents.

Poseidon did not flinch. He lifted his trident, pointing it skyward.

The second bolt came. This time, he caught it.

The bronze shaft of his weapon drank the lightning, coiling it into the swirling patterns carved along its length. Sparks danced up his arm, searing his flesh, but he did not release it.

Instead, he turned the trident and plunged it into the sea.

The lightning scattered into the water, racing outward in veins of fire that lit the ocean for miles. Dozens of fish floated to the surface, scorched. The horizon glowed with eerie light.

Poseidon’s laugh rolled across the waves.

"Is this Olympus’s test? Then hear my answer!"

The sea beneath him rose—not in waves, but in a single column. A tower of water carried him upward until he stood above the drowned city, the ruins spread beneath him like an offering.

His voice thundered:

"I am the tide. I am the abyss. I am Poseidon! And your skies cannot chain me!"

The words rippled outward, carried not just by sound, but by the water within every living thing that heard them. Mortals trembled, gods stiffened, and even Olympus itself felt the weight of the declaration.

---

Beneath the Foam

When the column of water sank back into the sea, Poseidon stood tall, chest heaving, eyes still burning with that abyssal glow.

But deep inside, Thalorin chuckled.

"Bold words, boy. You think yourself free. You think yourself king. But kings sink as easily as sailors. And when you fall, I will wear your name."

Poseidon’s fist tightened on his trident. He did not answer. Not yet.

Because he knew the war had only begun.

And the next strike would not be a test.

It would be Olympus itself.