Chapter 14 The Bastard

'You! First-class divine power? How is that possible?"

Hebe couldn't be bothered to argue with her. If you knew, then it wouldn't be a trump card, would it?

'Domain of Ice and Snow!"

The power of ice and snow surged forth, and in an instant, heavy snow began to fall, covering the lush trees. An extreme drop in temperature engulfed the entire forest, and the frost and blizzards derived from the divine power of ice and snow undoubtedly dealt the greatest blow to Artemis's forest divinity.

The howling winds and blinding snow caused the originally green leaves to wither and fall. In the domain of ice and snow, the vitality of the forest was stripped away, plunging it into an endless slumber.

Artemis felt her connection to the forest severed. Her expression darkened as she struggled to break free from Hebe's grip.

'Your Highness, now that you've shown yourself, it won't be so easy to leave."

In her mature form, Hebe was half a head taller than Artemis, looking down at her. From the moment Artemis revealed the Veil of Night, Hebe had never intended to force her to show herself. The Veil of Night was a divine artifact of the highest order; back in the day, Leto had used it to evade even Hera's pursuit. As a first-class goddess, Hebe could only pretend to be subdued, luring Artemis into voluntarily revealing herself.

The divine power of ice and snow flowed into Artemis's body. Even a goddess could not withstand such extreme cold. Artemis felt as if her divine blood was about to freeze.

She tried to break free but gradually felt powerless. The frost spread over her, and Artemis felt her eyelids growing heavier, an endless fatigue washing over her. Before long, the proud goddess of the forest, filled with regret, fell into darkness.

A deep slumber induced by the divine power of ice and snow.

Hebe laid Artemis flat on the ground; the outcome of this divine confrontation had been decided, and there was no need to continue.

She had gone too far; Apollo and Leto might retaliate against her.

She glanced at the king of the gods among the clouds, waiting for his judgment on the outcome of the duel.

'Hahahahaha! I declare that the winner of this divine confrontation is the goddess of youth and ice and snow, Hebe!" Zeus was clearly in a good mood, as one of his children had emerged as a powerful first-class goddess, providing him with significant support.

He waved his hand to bring them back to Mount Olympus. Apollo hurried forward to check on his sister.

Using his hands, he channeled light, and the warm divine power dispelled the frost from Artemis's body.

As the frost receded, Artemis slowly awakened.

Upon waking, Artemis's expression was grim. She looked at Hebe standing in the hall, gritted her teeth, and raised her hand to remove the divine office of midwifery. The pain of severing the divine power left her pale, and she flung the divine office toward Hebe.

Hebe raised a hand and caught the divine office of midwifery steadily.

'You did well." Apollo picked up his sister, casting a heavy glance at Hebe before turning to leave.

Hebe raised an eyebrow, realizing that she had completely established an enmity with this brother-sister pair of gods.

The goddess of youth, Hebe, had changed!

This divine confrontation had completely reshaped Hebe's reputation among the gods. No longer would any deity dare to compare her to a fragile, easily bullied vase goddess or underestimate her.

The farce on Mount Olympus came to a temporary close with Hebe's victory.

Everything seemed to remain unchanged. Hebe had initially worried about whether Apollo and his sister would take any retaliatory action, only to find that the siblings were quite honest and straightforward.

Apollo continued to promote his light faith among mortals, attempting to undermine Helios's solar authority. Meanwhile, Artemis went to the mortal realm to reflect on her past actions as agreed.

Hebe observed for a while, confirming that there would be no immediate actions from the others, and she temporarily felt at ease. She seamlessly merged the divine office of midwifery and returned to the temple to continue her seclusion.

On one hand, her control over her divine power was not yet complete; on the other hand, ever since Hebe had revealed her fully mature appearance before the gods, her beauty had drawn the attention of many male deities. Especially since she was a powerful goddess with first-class divine power, the prospect of uniting with her to bear a divine offspring was highly appealing!

The goddess of youth—no, now she should be called the goddess of youth and ice and snow, Lady Hebe—had become quite the catch on Mount Olympus. Every time she stepped out, she encountered no fewer than ten different forms of flirting and chance encounters, and there were even some headstrong male gods who intended to abduct her for marriage.

Of course, those headstrong suitors were quickly turned into ice sculptures and tossed off the mountain.

Fed up with the constant harassment from the male gods, Hebe chose to remain indoors to avoid their advances.

Time held no meaning for a goddess of eternal youth; it passed like a fleeting moment. Decades rushed by, and during this time, aside from Artemis returning to the mountain, there was another matter that the gods found particularly entertaining: our great king of the gods, Zeus, had yet again strayed from his marital vows.

But this time, it was not Hera catching him in the act; instead, it was the illegitimate son who had snuck into the mountain himself!

Hermes, the illegitimate son of Zeus and the rain goddess Maia—two deities of the natural realm—had been born a god of culture. Hermes was inherently endowed with divine roles related to commerce, travel, thievery, and herding. While these divine roles did not grant him immense combat power, they endowed him with cunning and cleverness beyond that of ordinary beings.

Just three days after his birth, he was able to sneak into Mount Olympus, following Zeus's aura, and even managed to steal a herd of Apollo's divine cattle. When confronted by Apollo, this young god used his silver tongue and a lyre to charm Apollo, who was overjoyed to see him and declared he felt like he had found a long-lost brother.

This left the other gods utterly astonished; after all, given the pride of this light god, there were very few deities who could catch his eye. Not to mention, this young lad managed to charm Apollo into bestowing upon him two divine artifacts: the winged sandals and the caduceus, even replacing the rainbow goddess Iris as the divine messenger and becoming his spokesperson.

Hera was furious about this development, but of course, it couldn't change the decisions of our lord of the gods.

In the end, Hermes settled on Mount Olympus, becoming a member of the pantheon of gods.

In the Temple of Youth, the beautiful blonde goddess kept her eyes tightly shut, striving to comprehend the rules and primal forces within her divine power.

Hebe's current divine power was dominated by the ice and snow divinity, the most potent of combat powers, resembling a translucent blue crystal that exuded an endless cold aura. Yet at the center of this blue crystal, there was a hint of green—warm, pure, and brimming with boundless vitality.

These are the sources of Hebe's current strength. She has two potential paths for the future: one is to develop her divine powers related to youth, midwifery, purification, and healing as her main focus, eventually ascending to become a major deity of life. The other option is to cultivate her ice and snow divinity, allowing her to become a natural deity who controls ice and snow.

Regardless of which path she chooses, her future looks bright. However, Hebe has no intention of pursuing either the life or natural paths. She is solely focused on continuously analyzing the power of these laws and enhancing her divine power.

In truth, she has already begun to formulate a plan for her future. Having experienced an era of information explosion, Hebe has many unconventional ideas in mind. While these ideas carry certain risks when implemented, if they succeed, she will have the opportunity to stand above millions in the future!

Having crossed over, Hebe's starting point can be considered quite low. If she had arrived as a primordial god, she wouldn't have to think too much; being born in Rome, she could simply relax and enjoy her retirement.

But she wasn't that lucky. The conventional paths for advancement were too slow, leaving her feeling insecure. It would be better to take a gamble; after all, there's only a thin line between genius and madness.

Hebe suppressed her thoughts, realizing that it was too early to contemplate these matters. She immersed herself once again in her cultivation.

The endless vitality of heaven and earth surged into her body, growing her strength at an imperceptible pace as she deepened her understanding of her divine power.

'Lady Hebe, a divine messenger is waiting outside, claiming to have a decree from His Majesty the King of the Gods."