The Myth of the Greek Heavenly Demon

Chapter 15 – Even Zeus Closes His Eyes, And Apollo Sighs In Regret…

Who was the Heavenly Demon?
The first person who established the foundation of the Heavenly Demon Cult on the Hundred Thousand Mountains of the Central Plains.
The ruler of the Realm of Desire, the incarnation of the great heavens, the lord of all demons.
The great priest of Asura’s Heaven, the origin of all demons.

In other words.
In this primordial ancient Greece, there was no one who conducted rituals better than me.

‘People, they keep throwing game and crops into the bonfire and offering precious metals persistently.’

Why didn’t they realize that a ritual was a story?

‘If gods have personalities, they would naturally have desires and wishes too. What’s the point of offering the same monotonous things over and over again?’

One day, when I attended a ritual at the Temple of Ares for an event.
I personally composed a few poems, thanks to my Spartan-style training in the art of calligraphy and painting as the Heavenly Demon in my previous life, and offered a fat wild boar I had hunted.
Suddenly, the wild boar and the memorial text I had offered were consumed by flames without leaving any ashes behind.
Seeing this, the warriors and priests of the Temple of Ares paid their respects to me, calling me a child blessed by Ares, and among the orphans of the temple, rumors spread that I was the child of Ares.

Not just that.
Inspired by watching the priests of Poseidon offer sacrifices with spear dances to Poseidon.
Whenever I trained by the seaside, I paid my respects to the sea and performed sword dances or spear dances.
Though it was incomparable to the great trident that shook the earth, whenever I finished training with a prayer that hoped my human martial skills would be humbly received, large tunas or precious relics were often washed ashore by the white waves.
When I brought this to the priests and told them it was a gift from Poseidon, they were all so surprised.
Thanks to that, rumors spread from that day that I was a child of Poseidon.

Wow! I had two fathers now!

“…Was the nectar a bit strong?”

They said it was the drink of the gods, and it must have a high alcohol content.
I must be drunk, spouting all sorts of nonsense.

Anyway, the fact that I was practicing martial arts was already known from Neri to Grandpa Efaros of the Temple of Zeus, and even to the seahorses and dolphins of the sea.
It wasn’t very suitable to use as blackmail material.

“Above all, that’s not how you do blackmail.”

“What?”

I used a bit of my internal energy and sent a wave of aura toward the white man.
Even though I hadn’t fully recovered my martial skills from my previous life, my current level was about mid to upper first-rate martial artist.
It wouldn’t be an exaggeration to say that I possessed a nearly divine body, natural energy throughout my entire body, and the memories of being the Heavenly Demon, reaching the level of a first-rate martial artist before turning fifteen.
Of course, among my masters, who were called the Ten Great Masters or the Three Sovereigns and Five Emperors, I was at a level where I couldn’t even raise my head.
No matter how insane a mad doctor he was, he was still just a kid much younger than me.

‘If it’s enough to make him understand a bit, then…’

-Shaaa!

As the energy unraveled through all my veins, it began to press down on Asclepius along with a gentle breeze.
Sensing that something was amiss, Asclepius tried to say something, but…

“Urk…?!”

In an instant, he broke out in a cold sweat and froze in place, overwhelmed by the energy that constricted his body from doing anything.
Even though it wasn’t the martial prowess of my previous life, the name Heavenly Demon wasn’t for nothing.
In the entire martial world, no one handled energy better than me, and no matter how weak the energy of a first-rate martial artist might be, I could manipulate it freely.
With the feeling of holding and slowly tightening the life out of a small animal, I choked Whitey’s neck and body, whispering softly.

“I really don’t like being put in traps and conducting leading interrogations like this. Got it?”

“Kkeueue…!”

Barely able to move his head, Whitey nodded.
His eyes were filled with shock and fear.

“…Good.”

Feeling like he understood me to some extent, I slowly withdrew my energy.

“Puhah! Huh… huh!! H-how…?”

Then, like someone who had just come out of the water, Asclepius breathed heavily but didn’t stop questioning until the end.

“Persistent, aren’t you? Are you really that curious?”

Come to think of it, whether it was the shamans of healing or the crazy ones from the Tang Clan, they would always rush in like that whenever they discovered a treatment or drug they didn’t know.
Asclepius approached with a determination reminiscent of them and was now disheveled like a ghost and staggering.

“O-of course! The aura flowing through your body is more stable and human-friendly than any other aura in the world. If this could be taught to everyone, not only minor illnesses but even fractures and bruises would be a thing of the past. It could indeed usher in a new era!”

Ah, truly a god of medicine (in training).
It was impressive that his curiosity was not just academic but aimed at treating everyone.
Of course, that’s that, but…

“I can’t teach you.”

“What?! Why not?!”

Good grief, you rascal.
Even if one were a third-rate martial artist, it takes at least five years for a major sect’s martial arts to be taught properly.
It made sense because the mental cultivation method was the beginning of martial arts—the way an ordinary person starts creating a small universe within their body.
Even third-rate cultivation arts were like that, so the secret techniques of the Demon Faction and the arts of the Justice Faction world that I knew were treasures among treasures that martial artists would bow their heads to hear even a single phrase of.
If I leaked even a bit of that, the Twelve Demons who taught me would burst out of the netherworld.

‘…But this crazy white guy won’t be satisfied with just words like that.’

Look at those eyes darting around. If I gave the wrong answer here, tomorrow’s dinner would surely be lavishly topped with poison.
In that case, there was no choice.
At times like this, I had to reveal the past stories of Dionysus that I’d used before.

“Hoo… listen well. Your aspirations are very grand, and because your spirit is high, I’m going to teach you.”

“What are you trying to say…?”

When I whispered softly, pretending to be serious, Asclepius… the white dog, also stiffened his face and listened intently.
Yeah, focus and listen, damn it.
When I opened my mouth, even the people of the Central Plains would almost stop breathing and listen intently.

“I actually… don’t know who my parents are. One day, I came to my senses and found myself on the island of Passos, where the High Priest of the Temple of Zeus took me in.”

“You don’t know who your parents are? No way. Even if they had no choice but to abandon a child, they would leave a small mark, at least a name.”

I wasn’t sure about that either. The name Diones was given to me by the High Priest Efaros, and he also seemed unaware of my origin.
Even when I recently pressed Chiron, he only had guesses of who my parents could be.

“Anyway, I have memories from before I ended up on the island of Passos.”

“Uh, what memory…?”

“Right…”

As Whitey focused all his attention on my words, with bated breath.

-Rustle!

Some noise interrupted.

“Wait, who’s outside that window?”

“What?! Apollo damn it! Which bastard is disrupting?!”

Asclepius, who had been concentrating hard on my words, got enraged as his focus was broken and almost leaped out of his seat and ran outside.

-Bang!

“What kind of bast–”

“Uwaah! Ah, As! Calm down, it’s me!”

“Of course, it’s you again, King Wild Boar! You’re really making me want to slit your throat!!”

Longer than a finger, a sharp gleaming awl, a razor-sharp scalpel, and other various lethal medical tools(?)
In an instant, Asclepius, who had all sorts of deadly medical tools reminiscent of Murim’s Sichuan Tang Family in both hands, was about to repel the intruder.
The intruder, who had been screaming in the grip of the furious Whitey, reached out to me.

“Wait! Wait! Hey friend! Help me out!”

“What? Me? Why would I?”

“What?! You don’t know me!? Son of Alcmene! The one who killed snakes as a baby…”

“Fine, I’ll avenge those snakes today!! Hermes! I shall send forth the punishment to this sinner who insulted you!!”

“Hieeeeeeek!”

Seeing the alarming cries and frantic movements, it seemed he was quite a promising young hero, but unfortunately, today, he would be remembered as the young hero who met his end at the hands of an aspiring God of Medicine.
This Heavenly Demon, who once served as the high priest of Asura, will wish you peace in the afterlife with honor…
Wait.

“Son of Alcmene?”

That alias sounds familiar…?
Where did I hear that before?

“Yes, yes! I am Archimedes, also known as Hercules! So stop this guy!!”

Ah, right, Hercules. His childhood name was Archimedes.
But that guy there who’s making a fuss here… is that man?
The great hero of Greece?

My encounter with Hercules, the great Greek Hero, who would later become the protagonist of many heroic tales and myths, was the worst.

After a while.

“Eueoeoeok… it hurts…”

“You better keep your mouth shut! I barely held back from performing anatomy on you today.”

Hercules had a large hump on his head, like a mushroom growing, and Asclepius was cleaning his bloody hammer.
Zeus also seemed like he was holding his head, wondering what his son did, and Apollo was also seemingly unable to suppress his sighs of regret at the sight. And I just turned my eyes away.
A lunatic who nails a spike into a living person’s head, and another lunatic who takes it with his bare head.
Those guys would become gods of medicine, who could even bring the dead back to life, and the protagonists of the greatest heroic tales in history.

“Is this okay?”

Those kids’ appearances already seem to be a bad sign, don’t they?