This is the most terrible thing.
Where will this world go? No one can give a specific answer.
In this way, they were ready to unify the Greek city-states and rebel against the Byzantine Empire. These gods all found their own oracles in Greece, especially Hermes, who already had Lysander as his oracle. This time, he personally went to Corinth, a city-state with the most merchants, and there he found a resourceful young man as his oracle.
These ones.
Among these city-states in Greece.
Suddenly, five more oracles appeared.
But in fact, apart from Artemis who was captured by Hilde, the only one who was truly looking for the oracle to fight against Hilde was Hera.
Hercules, to some extent, was looking for an oracle just to satisfy his desire to cultivate humans. He was a very simple man, and he did not think that Hilde would pose such a big threat to the world. So this time when he came to the human world, since Hera and Zeus had ordered him to do so, he would naturally obey. However, he did not choose to look for an oracle because of these things, but just to obey the orders.
Needless to say, Ares, the god of war, came to the human world with the biggest purpose of finding Hilde and having a fair and direct battle with him, just to test whether Hilde, who stole Athena's body and held two great artifacts, was stronger, or Ares, the god of war, was stronger. Of course, he said so on the surface, but in his heart, he might be looking for this opportunity to complete his revenge on Athena.
Perhaps this is what Ares really thinks.
Hermes was a relatively active god. He had found Lysander a long time ago and gave him his power. Since then, he had never cared about how Lysander used the power he had given him. The discovery of a new oracle this time would not affect Hermes' attitude.
The god of craftsmen, Hephaestus, was even more Buddhist. He had his doubts about Zeus's affairs, and privately, he was more inclined to Artemis's side. So when he came to the human world, he just found a seemingly honest person as his oracle. As for how much this person could play a role, he didn't care at all.
So in the end it was just Hera.
Nicias, whom Hera found, was the one most likely to influence the entire political situation.
See this situation.
It is indeed extremely difficult to integrate the entire Greek environment.
The Byzantine Empire had established its own intelligence network in various parts of Greece several years ago. The Byzantines themselves were a part of the Greeks and spoke the Ionian dialect. Although they had no way to penetrate into the Sparta region where the Dorians were the main people, there were spies from the Byzantine Empire everywhere in places like Athens and the coastal areas.
These things about the oracle have already spread.
And this information soon came into Hilde's hands.
Hilde was very happy when she heard the news.
The Navy is ready
It can be said that what Hilde is most worried about is that these gods really integrate all the city-states in the Greek region and make them jointly oppose Hilde's rule. But as of now, most of these gods come to the earth just to fish.
Looking at the oracles they found, except for Nicias found by Hera, it is difficult for other oracles to have a big enough impact on the political situation of their city-states to help the gods realize their desire to integrate the power of the city-states. Therefore, the appearance of these oracles will indeed cause troubles for Hilde, but these troubles are not so fatal.
Hilde can breathe a sigh of relief.
then.
Hield has no plans to change his plans.
Hilde has already put the attack on Athens on the agenda.
Hera chose Athens, and Nicias of Athens was a well-known politician and military strategist in Athens, and was the main person who helped Athens and Sparta sign the contract. Therefore, Nicias had the greatest influence on Athens, but Athens was still in a turbulent environment. If Nicias wanted to control the entire Athens by relying on his identity, it would undoubtedly be difficult.
So we must take advantage of this time.
Athens was taken with thunderous force.
Then go and make contact with Sparta.
If the Spartans were more sensible, they would not have chosen to act hostilely against Hilde. If Athens was taken, the only force that could compete with the Byzantine navy in the Aegean Sea would be gone. If the Athenian navy was destroyed by Hilde, the entire Aegean Sea would become the inland sea of the Byzantine Kingdom.
Such a grand plan does require a long time to prepare, but the good thing is that Hilde has a killer figure, and that is Rhodes.
As long as Rhodes is with the oracle called Poseidon, Hilde can rest easy. In the battle on the sea, even if other gods are present in person, they may not be Rhodes' opponents, not to mention that Poseidon's attitude is rather ambiguous now. But it is basically certain that Poseidon and Zeus are not in the same camp.
and so.
The matter of fighting on the sea.
Hilde felt that he could still rely on Rod.
As long as Rhodes helps, the Byzantine navy will surely be able to defeat the enemy.
For this matter, Hilde had already started to prepare early. When the Greek gods began to cultivate their own oracles, many warships had begun to gather from various places in the Byzantine Kingdom to the city of Byzantium. All the warships gathered were the latest new warships built by the Byzantine Kingdom.
All of these brand-new warships were neatly arranged in the spacious port of Byzantium, attracting countless Byzantines, who crowded into the port to watch the powerful fleet belonging to their country. Of course, Hilde and the others also came to the port.
“These warships are so beautiful!”
Sophia said with some excitement.
"How many warships are there here?"
"There are 370 ships in total, and 300 of them are large battleships." Hilde said proudly, pinching her waist. "With a navy like this, only the Athenian army can compete with us in the entire Aegean Sea. However, Athenian warships are mostly relatively old ships, of course, compared with us."
When Hilde thought about it, she felt very moved. When attacking the Crimean Peninsula in the north, Hilde's naval force was not as strong as it is now. The enemy's navy was not very strong at that time, but in the course of a fierce battle, Hilde's ships were also sunk. The reason was that the ships used by the Byzantine Kingdom at that time were relatively old and were provided by Samos.
Therefore, these ships are used in more complicated situations.
There will indeed be great hidden dangers.
Therefore, Hilde made up his mind to vigorously develop the naval power of the Byzantine Kingdom and worked hard to build various new warships. His hard work paid off. At this time, the navy of the Byzantine Kingdom had finally appeared in the eyes of all Byzantines.
These brand new and powerful warships were almost all made of gold. The manufacture of warships depended on the amount of wood and the amount of money spent. Fortunately, the Byzantine Kingdom had no shortage of money or wood. In addition, the Byzantine Kingdom had a large number of skilled workers, so it could spend a lot of time and energy to build these warships.
So it didn't take too much time for the Byzantine Empire's naval fleet to take shape.
"What a spectacular naval fleet! Even the entire Persian fleet combined might not have this many."
Xerxes said from the side.
That thoughtful look.
Hilde knew what Xerxes was hinting at.
"All these fleets are coming to attack Athens. I know you want me to attack Persia, but that matter will have to be postponed for quite a while. I have to deal with these Greek gods first. Otherwise, I will never abandon my rear and take my army to Persia to find you."
Hilde immediately dispelled Xerxes' idea.
But Xerxes was not discouraged.
He hesitated for a moment.
Then he patted Hilde on the shoulder and said, "Come here now. I have something very important to tell you."
"Ok."
Xerxes gently pushed aside the crowd, and then took Hilde to a place where no one else paid much attention. After arriving here, Xerxes looked around and then smiled bitterly.
Xerxes looked very helpless.
But Hilde didn't know what was going on either.
"what happened?"
"I have something very important to tell you."
"... Just tell me."
"Actually, I don't have much time left."
Xerxes stretched out his arm, and from his arm, he could see something like a flame, jumping up and down in his flesh. When Hilde saw this scene, he didn't think it was strange, after all, Xerxes was the oracle of the god of fire.
"What's going on?"
"It's like this... You probably still can't understand why I asked you to attack Persia, right? In fact, I have trained you from the beginning until now, and you have become a person who can threaten Persia. In fact, the ultimate goal is only one, which is to hope that you can be the one to save Persia. And what you need to do is to save Persia from my hands."
The Secret of the Body
"what?"
Hearing Xerxes say this.
Hilde couldn't help but frown.
She had always known that Xerxes always said half of what he said, so Hilde had long been accustomed to this feeling. However, now Hilde felt that something was not right. From now on, Xerxes' words had already expressed her thoughts very directly, and the most important thing was that Xerxes no longer concealed anything, and even said that from the beginning, Xerxes had found Hilde and wanted Hilde to become stronger.
Hilde sensed something was not right.
She took a deep breath.
Then sit up straight.
"Can you tell me everything?"
"Do you want to hear it?"
"certainly……"
Hilde nodded.
"I have always known that you have been hiding a lot of things from me, from a few years ago until now. However, I know you have your reasons for not telling me. If I ask you, you will definitely not tell me, so I have never asked you this question. But now, since you have taken the initiative to bring it up, then I have to ask you what you think. What do you think?"
"..."
Xerxes lowered his head slightly.
It can be seen that Xerxes obviously has not figured out what to say about this matter.
Now, Xerxes is not in a very good mood.
"So, you want to tell me?"
"Yeah, I'll tell you."
Xerxes nodded in confirmation.
"The thing is... You know, I am the oracle of Ahura Mazda, and the divine power in me also comes from this great god."
"right……"
"You also know that my power is increasing day by day. Before, my strength was close to the level of a demigod. Now, even if the gods of Olympus come down to fight me, I will not be afraid, because, with the passage of time and the power of Lord Ahura Mazda, I have gradually gained more powerful abilities. However, these all come at a price."
Xerxes held out his hand.
At this moment, Hilde suddenly saw inside Xerxes' arm.
There is a faint red light.
Hilde reached out her hand and touched it. From inside, there came a surge of scorching heat, as if it could burn everything in the world. Seeing this scene, Hilde took a deep breath. Now, she really couldn't imagine that such a terrible thing was hidden in Xerxes' body. Moreover, combined with what Xerxes said just now, Hilde became even more worried.
"What exactly is going on?"
"This is the price."
Xerxes stroked his arm.
"I have obtained the power of Lord Ahura Mazda, but at the same time, Ahura Mazda's power is also constantly eroding my body. The burning heat that can make the enemy suffer excruciating pain is actually burning me more and more frequently as time goes by. Ah, this feeling of pain is hard for me to describe, but if I just have to endure the pain, there is actually no problem. But the situation now is... my time is really almost up."
"..."
Hilde held Xerxes' shoulders tightly.
"Don't scare me."
"I didn't scare you."
Xerxes said with a smile.
"When the power of Lord Ahura Mazda continues to erode me, it won't be long before my body is taken over by Lord Ahura Mazda, and I will become the carrier of Ahura Mazda's coming to the mortal world. From that time on, it will not be me, Xerxes, who will rule the Persian Empire, but Lord Ahura Mazda who will come to the mortal world and rule the empire personally."
"why?"
Hilde couldn't help but widen her eyes.
“Why do you have to do this!?”
“I can’t help it…”
Xerxes lowered his head and said helplessly:
"I... after my father passed away, the empire fell into a very dangerous state, with internal and external troubles. The whole country was in a state of turmoil. All I could do was kneel in front of the altar, looking at the blazing fire, hoping that Lord Ahura Mazda could help our suffering Persian Empire. And then, he really came, and he gave me his pure fire. I was still young at the time, and suddenly, the flames of the altar enveloped me and burned for a whole day."
"……Then what?"
Hearing this, Hilde's heart seemed to be gripped.
Burned by flames for a day.
This kind of pain is simply unimaginable.
"Then, I endured the pain in the flames for a full hour. At that time, I felt that all the skin on my body was shrinking rapidly under the scorching flames. Then, the flames even penetrated into my flesh, burning my muscles, my bones, and everything I had. Finally, after a day, the flames entered the depths of my soul. From that moment on, a small flame began to burn in my heart."
