The Myth of the Greek Heavenly Demon

The meditation ended with the leaf splitting in half exactly along the veins of the leaf and with the sword dance coming to an end.

Passos Island, Northern Aegean Sea, Greece.
I was no longer the Heavenly Demon of the Heavenly Demon’s Cult or a student from Korea taking a high school exam, but just an orphan called Dianes from the Zeus Temple.

“Hu…”

Even after being reincarnated again, I woke up every morning when my qi turned thicker and practiced the Demonic Arts.
First, I was a warrior who once dominated the Central Plains martial arts world, and above all, if this was the world of the Greek and Roman Mythology, that I remembered, there was no harm in me developing my strength.

“Whenever I think about it, it really does feel like an eventful life.”

My hands, which were once overflowing with demonic qi and commanded 100,000 demons with a single gesture, were now so small and white that they couldn’t be compared.
And my body?
These days, I had been eating well and gaining some weight, but my body was still so frail that it was hard to believe it was the same body that the people of the Central Plains revered as the Heavenly Demon, making me let out a sigh.
The only redeeming feature might be the face I have now.
Reflected in the moonlit stream, my new body, the face of Dianes, was so outstanding that it would be astonishing by the standards of the Murim world of my previous life and the Earth from my life before that.

“Wow, if I were in Korea, I could have made a fortune streaming with this face.”

Even though I knew it was a silly thought, I couldn’t help but chuckle, but that was how convincingly beautiful Dianes’s face was.
Whether due to the influence of my soul or genetics, my long hair resembling the night sky and my contrasting white face naturally invoked the image of a nobleman.
To top it off, my black eyes, which sparkled like stars in the night sky, made me think I was truly handsome.

“I have seen the most handsome men among Earth’s celebrities and those annoying Five Great Warriors brats…”

Even compared to them, objectively, Dianes’s face was really handsome.
Should I say he was a pretty boy?
And it wasn’t just me who thought this; the high priest Efaros of the Nerina Zeus Temple
was so afraid that this boy I was in might be kidnapped by Apollo or Zeus that he made the child wear a hood or mask when going out in the city.

“In reality, it was probably to prevent human trafficking or kidnapping.”

But you never know.
This is ancient Greece.
The background of stories that were so overused in Earth’s literature and various media that they almost dissolved into oblivion.
Of course, if you were from Earth like me, you would snort and dismiss the idea of monsters and gods as absurd tales.

In my previous life, as the Heavenly Demon who unified the Central Plains, there were also immortals and demons in the martial world.
But in ancient Greece, one couldn’t say there were no gods or monsters.

Moreover, I already knew one being that was not human.

“Dianes! Here you are!”

A girl wearing a fluttering celestial garment like a feathered robe came running over the low beach hill.
Her silver-blue hair, rippling like the waves of the dawn sea, and her delicate fairy-like features were enough to elicit inward admiration, even though she was just a child.
This girl’s name was Nesneria.
Though she appeared to be an innocent young girl, she was actually a sea spirit—a Nereid, to be exact—and had been my longest childhood friend in Passos.

“Neri, I said I wanted to be alone.”

“It’s almost morning. Aren’t you hungry?”

With a bright smile, I lowered the wooden sword I was holding in front of the nymph’s sparkling eyes.
However, suddenly feeling a sense of emptiness, my face crumpled.

“…It feels empty.”

“What does?”

What else could possibly feel empty?
These flimsy scraps of cloth I’m wearing.
Except for the tunic, which was just a simple piece of cloth, there was nothing like pants. It was basically just a one-piece with holes for the arms and neck, held together at the waist with a leather belt.
And I walked around wearing this as clothing
Fifteen years have passed since I reincarnated into this world, but throughout my long life in my previous two lives, pants were just the everyday norm. This outfit felt quite awkward.

“Sigh, what can I do? I guess I just have to accept it as it is.”

“Sometimes, Dianes, you speak like that old man Efaros. Like an old person.”

“Yeah. Yeah. Let’s go. I’m hungry”

-Swoosh…

The beautiful island of Passos in the northern Aegean Sea, where the bright sunlight and white waves break.
Born on this peaceful island, spending my days leisurely, was the black-haired Dianes.
This was my third life.

At the center of Passos Island, the Temple of Zeus.
After completing the dawn offering and changing clothes, the high priest, Efaros, was approached by someone who greeted him.

“High Priest Efaros.”

“What is it, Melsius?”

The man’s name was Melsius.
He was a sub-priest who assisted Efaros and managed the Temple of Zeus on Passos Island, as well as overseeing the temple’s orphanage.

“It is about Dianes… Is he alright?”

“…What about that child?”

When Dianes’s name came out of Melsius’s mouth, Efaros’s face stiffened as if tense, and he lowered his voice.

“It would be better to speak in a quiet place.”

“…Alright.”

Dianes.
It was five years ago that the child was entrusted to the Temple of Zeus in Passos.
On a particularly tumultuous dark night, Efaros was preparing for the upcoming Seeding Festival, and Nyx had even obscured Artemis’s chariot.
In the midst of busily organizing tasks by the light of a small candle, the candle that had been burning brightly without a trace of wind suddenly went out.
Thinking it was strange, he struck the flint he had beside him and relit the fire, but at the same moment, the fire went out with a whoosh.
Having lived his entire life as the high priest of the Temple of Zeus, Efaros instinctively knew that this was neither a coincidence nor a nymph’s prank, but some kind of revelation.

Rejecting the fire that illuminated the darkness. An invisible presence that gently discouraged even the attempt to rekindle it.

Could it be that a messenger from the underworld ha come to take him directly?
Thinking that, Efaros closed his eyes.
As if his prediction were correct, the being that extinguished the light gently guided him outside.
How could a mere human body defy the will of a god?
He was only slightly worried about the sub-priests and orphans who would be bewildered by his sudden disappearance.

However, the hand leading him did not stop at the dock by the Styx River.
Instead, it was a small hill near Passos Island, where nymphs would gather and sing by the stream at night.

And on the rock by the stream where the nymphs would sit in a circle, a child lay quietly.

A small boy who appeared to be less than ten years old.
Yet, with that noble aura and inexplicable dignity, the old Efaros thought that this child must be the son of some god.
Thinking that some god had guided the child to him because they couldn’t take care of their own son, he believed it was the will of the gods and took the child in.
As he had expected, the child who introduced himself as Dianes was more mature and thoughtful than his peers, and he handled tasks that even Efaros and the sub-priests struggled with effortlessly.
Moreover, his innate martial skills and deep wisdom allowed him to catch the wild boar that ruined the crops at the age of fifteen and offer it as a sacrifice to the Temple of Ares.
Since Dianes came, the Temple of Zeus on Passos Island, which Efaros was in charge of, had been overflowing with offerings from numerous pilgrims.
The fields and orchards attached to the temple always yielded bountiful harvests.

Efaros became even more convinced that Dianes was a descendant of the supreme god or a great being associated with them.

However, as Dianes grew up with him, his worries also grew.
It was precisely because of Dianes’s future.

A child led and blessed by the gods.
A man with innate strength and intelligence, captivating many and even charming the river nymphs.
This was surely a sign of someone who would be called a hero.

Already troubled about what to do with this divine descendant, when Melsius, who was in charge of the child, mentioned Dianes, Efaros felt his heart sink.

“Speak up. What is it?”

“Well, when I was called to the Temple of Apollo not long ago…”

Melsius, speaking to Efaros, also seemed to find it hard to believe what he had seen, as he ran his hand over his face and began to recount the story.
It was when he had recently taken a ship to Delphi for some temple business.
When he was about to finish all his work and head back to Passos, messengers from the Temple of Delphi suddenly came to find him.

“They suddenly barged in, saying it was urgent, and took me to the Temple of Delphi.
Then, upon entering the temple, a gigantic voice suddenly said to me this…”

[The seed that you dug from Gaia’s embrace and placed in a jar for sowing. You will plant that seed in the shade of the greatest mountain. Soon, a farmer will come to the temple to obtain the seed for sowing. You must prepare the seed quickly!]

Melsius shook his head, saying that it was truly incomprehensible, as one would expect from an oracle of the Temple of Delphi. However, Efaros immediately understood what the oracle meant.

‘A seed refers to a child who has not yet sprouted. The jar containing it symbolizes this temple. A seed dug from Gaia’s embrace means a child rescued from the ground where no light reaches, or, in other words, from the darkness. Planting it under the shadow of the greatest mountain means it will be raised as a representative of Olympus, a hero of the gods. And the farmer to sow the seed….?’

“Haha! This is… this is!”

When his thoughts reached that point, Efaros felt a thirst as if his throat were burning and poured wine from the bottle on the desk and drank it.

“…Priest?”

Puzzled by Efaros’s sudden behavior, Melsius cautiously called him, but Efaros kept his mouth shut and just stared at the papyrus on the desk.

“The Seeding Festival is coming soon.”

“Right… ah! Could it be that God Apollo told us that if we prepare well for this crop, we will be blessed?”

Efaros sighed at the young priest, who interpreted the prophecy with an understanding of his own.

“Phew… It seems like an important guest will be coming to our temple soon. Please clean up the VIP room in the temple and prepare the children for it.”

“Sorry?”

“Do as I say!”

“Y-yes!”

When Efaros, who had collapsed on the chair as if exhausted, gave the order to welcome the guest, Melsius sensed that something was amiss and was about to walk out…

“Ah, right!”

“Yes?! Is there something else you wish to say?”

“Clean up the bed in the VIP room and place a large pile of well-dried rice straw there. Use the best rice straw without any bugs or moisture.”

“…Rice straw?”

The priest tilted his head at the unintelligible order from the high priest, but Efaros was no longer looking at him.
The sky was as empty of stars as it was on that day.
He was simply lost in deep thought as he looked at the sky.