Several months later after Phoibe's passing, Medusa was getting back on track of normalcy of daily life. I cannot say whether my daily presence helped, or not, but as I had a long-term time preference, I considered this a good investment. Especially, should Medusa be grateful for the time I sacrificed for her. This should then prevent unexpected falling out, of our friendly relationship later, should any disturbances occur. During many following centuries, if the rough estimation of my lifespan was anything to go by.
During that time, I was not able to train my troops too much, but they did not seem to be slacking, they trained as hard as they could, or rather as much as I allowed them. Because this batch of numbskulls was all intent on going over the top, for some strange reason. Which I did not understand. Yes, certainly it was good to work harder than usual, especially when was your superior paying attention, to earn an early promotion. But even that had to be balanced by more causal work ethics. After all, good work is only rewarded with more work, and as an active combatant, it was important to keep enough energy reserves for unexpected situations.
Which they did encounter in the form of a centaur. Yes, an actuall centaur. Half-man half-horse. More specifically, a human man's torso, which was attached to the horse's body. Alas, this prime example of what could have been a reasonable monster, much like myself and Medusa, proved himself to be quite unreasonable. Since he was spying on us, respectively on my troops and myself, for several days. Under normal circumstances, I would have applauded his ability for stealth, but as he was spying on my troops during an incredibly incriminating time when they were vulnerable, I could do nothing but condemn his actions.
Although, I suppose I should congratulate my troops for catching him, even if only temporarily. Sneaking up on someone who already mastered the art of stealth, must have been hard, yet they managed to do so. They did look extremely disappointed when the centaur managed to run away.
But that would have to come later, as of now, I was visiting Medusa once again and if nothing changed since yesterday, she should be recovering well. And if that bastard, Being X, was not always putting obstacles in my way, I would even dare to hope that she might fully recover any day now. Alas, with Being X, there was no hope, as was proven many times. The main example was the Brest escape of Republic forces in my past life. Therefore, it was necessary to be always prepared for the worst.
Once again I was proven right to be paranoid. The very moment I entered Medusa's abode, I heard her scream in panic. And then I could hear the other voice! That other voice I despited like nothing in this world or all other worlds I lived in!
"Being X! You bastard!" I screamed, which in hindsight was probably not a good idea as it gave away my presence, alas it was hard to stay rational when that bastard was near.
Running swiftly inside Medusa's home, I must have broken several things while not paying attention to details. The adrenaline of enhancement formulae, already coursing through my veins, my time perception shifted and slight tunnel vision took place. After one last corner, I was there witnessing Being X assaulting Medusa. It was him in person, a tall old man, wearing a toga, that bastard!
Me, stumbling into the room so fast, must have spooked him, as he was not paying attention when one of the Medusa's hair snakes, which I identified as Levi, gorged his throat, gold splashing everywhere! And then it happened like it always happened when dealing with Being X. The time seemed to crawl down to stop! Medusa and her daughters were frozen in a horrific frame of panic. While Being X looked surprised.
He must have forgotten one thing or at least was not paying attention to it. And that was me. Ever since my second life, I was able to move in this time dilation. So my enhanced mind was able to make a split-second decision. Instead of applying protective film first and then charging him. I threw the spear with all my might, striking that bastard right through his black hearth, if he had any.
Though seeing the resulting geyser of golden blood, escaping his chest, there must have been some form of organ that pumped it. And since the blood was gold, his hearth was probably not black either. Yet despite all present physical evidence, I would not say that Being X had a heart of gold.
His eyes wide in panic and pain, the time that was stopped started to slowly flow once again. But that would not change anything, as at that exact moment, I was already upon him. Driving the spear through his whole body. Hearing his ribs and spine crack, under the pressure exerted by me, was oddly satisfying. What was not satisfying, was the fact that he managed to snap away my only remaining frontal spider limb. And then, he was gone. Just like that. Dissapeard out of the existance. If it was not for the new paint job on Medusa's housing, I would not have believed that he was here in the first place, as the pain on my newly missing limb was downed by adrenaline.
"BEING XXXXXXX!" The bastard had run away!
Like the greatest coward, known to the whole world. I was so close to finally finishing him for good! It could have been over! Damn IT! And he even took my spear and leg! Containing the irrational thoughts of anger was incredibly hard at that moment, if not outright impossible. But I could not afford to waste my time with irrationality, so I redirected my mind onto something else. And that was Medusa.
As far as I could say, she was the target of Being X. Whatever were his intentions, did not matter. This was a clear change in his usual modus operandi. Usually, he would use a proxy, trying to convince me to start praying to him. Or in rare cases, he would appear in front of me himself, not shying away from physically assaulting me. Though that was in my past life, not this one. In my third life, Being X has been quiet up until now, only for him to go for a person connected to me, rather than me directly. But without more information, I would not be able to solve this.
"Medusa? Medusa? Are you alright?" I asked the only person who could provide me with more answers.
"What? Why? Was that Zeus?" she stumbled over her words.
Those were quite good questions, in fact. But Medusa was clearly in shock, as such it would be impossible to get any answers out of her now. Or maybe I could try to force it, but risk jeopardizing the relationship I have so painstakingly built over the past year. That was it, wasn't it? Medusa was a target for Being X because I invested time in her. But there was no time to contemplate things right now. This was the first time I ever managed to physically retaliate against Being X, therefore it was unknown what would he do next.
Or it could be that Medusa was right, and the being was not Being X, but rather Zeus, someone from the same family of god-pretenders much like Athena? As much as I hated to admit it, I could not throw away this option. It would make painfully so much sense, if this attacker was god-pretender Zeus, rather than Being X, that would explain his different approach to things.
Either way, this was easy to figure out. If it was Being X, then he would not have problems finding wherever I was and going there directly himself, once he recuperates. And in case, it was indeed a god-pretender Zeus, staying here could prove dangerous. This would also be the case if Being X sent one of his lackeys. Therefore a logical conclusion was to leave this place as soon as possible, in order to, prevent either Being X or Zeus from sending something unreasonable my way.
"Medusa! Listen to me! Grab only things you can carry! We have to leave before he returns," I said.
She nodded in confirmation, even if her look was somewhat distant and clouded. At least some of the instructions managed to get through her shock. In minutes, we left. At least I no longer required the spear, to help me keep balance since both of my missing libs grew back after I got splashed in Being X's or Zeus's blood.
The inconclusive results concluded everything that had been on her mind, ever since she figured out that her lover's child Arachne, was something new, something unknown, therefore something highly interesting. So much so in fact, that she spent almost all of her time, researching what she could be.
She has found that Arachne was something small, like a baby perhaps, that would be the best comparison to the real-world example. So tiny and so small, that it was not even detectable, yet so much bigger than any of the humans surrounding her. But the most surprising thing was, that Arachne did not cause any harm to the humans by her mere presence in their vicinity. That was groundbreaking!
Aphrodite has to learn more about, how Arachne worked and how she came to be since that was still a mystery. But once she figured out her lover's child's secret, she would be finally able to achieve everything she has ever wanted. The one and only thing, that most of her kind ever wanted. That to be able to walk among the humans without harming them by just their mere presence, while not slicing off her powers, becoming less and less of her original self.
That was why she was angered by the disturbance, caused to her tireless research, by no other than Zeus. Such an annoying child he was, always picking the worst possible time, to call for her. Beugrigingly she left her research and went to face another Zeus' stupidity.
"What the mighty king of Olympus, require of me, this time?" asked Aphrodite melodramatically, once she arrived at the throne room of Olympus, facing Zeus.
"The spider monster, that hurt Athena, that is your creation! Why did you make something like that!" said accusingly Zeus.
Now, that was interesting to see. How could have Zeus figured out that she had something to do with Arachne's creation? Even if he was quite mistaken since she took no part in making Arachne a monster.
"I have no idea what you are talking about. Moreover, didn't you already punish Hephaestus for creating it, by the way?" she said coyly, trying not to provoke Zeus too much.
"Don't play dumb with me?! Time dilation and silver blood are not a coincidence! She must be your creation!" the king of gods
How curious? So those were Arachne's powers? Even with so little overall strength, she was able to conjure a limited time-dilation field, to get a good hit on Zeus? Ah, how clever her girl was.
"Now listen boy. You should not speak with your elders in such a tone. I did raise you better than that," Aphrodite said, voice cold, scolding the little king, using the lasts of her authority she had over him.
"So this thing is not of your making?!" the king of Olympus spat venom at the woman as he shared the image of Arachne, provided by Hades.
This was the first time she "officially" saw Arachne as one of the Olympians. Athena was less than useful in reconstructing the image of the "spider-monster", for obvious reasons. And the three king brothers were less than helpful with sharing the images, also for obvious reasons. How disgusting.
"I do recognize her face. Her mother was one of my favored followers. She had a husband that could not provide her with a child. What a sad existence. So, I did help her a little. Parthenogenesis solved that little problem," Aphrodite explained.
"So it IS yours doing?!" sad Zeus, rising from his throne in anger.
"A human child is my doing. Not a monster though, I would not have done such a thing to one of my favorite humans," she said calmly, reasoning why she was not behind turning Arachne into a monster.
"If not you? Then who did it?!" said the king of Olympus stepping into Aphrodite's field of vision.
"And how would I know that? But if you want to find out who used the not-working uplifting formula on her, then you can start by looking at who was in charge of Lydia region three to four hundred years ago, since that was when and where she lived, boy," she said putting some distance between herself and Zeus.
The king of Olympus then turned back towards his throne, slowly walking to his favorite thinking spot, without any more worlds. Aphrodite took that as a suggestion to leave, and so she left. After all, she had more important things to do than to babysit Zeus. The mystery that is Arachne won't solve itself.
As of late, it was becoming not so unusual, for all three of them to meet on the Olympus. Before the mysterious monsters had become, the most discussed topic and the worst thorn in their sides, they barely talked to each other. Mostly meeting every several hundreds of years or so, to discuss their new discoveries, theories and inventions.
Now it was almost like at the time of Titanomachy, when they had to work closely together, to defeat their predecessors, who were going rampant. Defective products, those titans were. And yet now, that they were so often together, it should have been a joyful occasion, but none of them could shrink the dread of something bad happening in the near future. After all, even they might have been seen as "defective" by their own creations.
But needlessly dreading the unknown future, would not solve anything. And that was why all three of them were here, to solve the problem of two unknown monsters, making their way around the Olympian domain.
"Those are grave news, Zeus," said Poseidon.
"Are you certain, without a doubt, that Aphrodite is not behind it?" asked Hades.
"No, Aphrodite did not lie. She might have helped to produce one of the humans, that was turned, but she has nothing to do with them becoming monsters. Of that I'm sure," explained Zeus.
"Then who did it?" asked Hades.
"According to records, it was Ares, who used the prototype uplifting formula, at least on the spider one, since she lived in the Lydia region when he was in charge of it," said Zeus calmly.
"Are you sure?" doubted the king of the underworld, since Ares was not exactly known for his wit.
"I'm sure you are going to have a punishment ready for him once he returns. But Ares aside, how are we going to solve our monster problem, then?" asked the king of seas.
"I would suggest talking to them. Our initial assumption of these two being rather feral than reasonable, seemed to be false. At least the memories, I so far managed to siff through, would suggest," said Hades
"Rejected! The spider-woman is too dangerous. She can dilate time. That is how she got me good," said Zeus revealing a newly formed scar on his chest.
"Well, that's certainly not good. What trick did she use to do so?" asked Poseidon.
"It was no trick. She possesses a silver blood, making her primordial of sorts," explained the king of the Olympus.
"Since Aphrodite has nothing to do with it since it would be impossible for her to share any more of her power. Do you think, brothers, that someone else is encroaching on our domain?" asked the king of the underworld.
"That's what I concluded. Some foreigner must have tricked Ares, in doing so," said Zeus.
"Damn, that boy!" cursed the king of the seas.
"This still leaves us without a solution though," contemplated Hades.
"There is one. The reason I called you here since I need your permission for that," said the king of the Olympus in, once in an eternity, humble voice.
"The only thing you would need our permission is..." started taking Poseion.
"Kronos core," finished the third of the brothers.
"Exactly, Hades. I will install Kronos core into Heracles's new body, and send him to hunt the spider woman," explained Zeus.
"That will kill him. Or rather completely erase him! Are you willing to do that? We won't be able to get another one like Heracles for some time," warned Hades his brother of possible consequences.
"It has to be done!" said the king of Olympus resolutely, leaving no place, for his two brothers, to object.