During the tremors of the striking master bolt...

In Aeolia, King Aeolus covers the island with clouds that resist the tremors of the sudden strike. Karisa begins to cry even after the tremors stopped.

He holds her close. She tells him something is wrong. And he feels it too. Something tells him to check the artifact room.

His feet halt upon seeing a terrible thing. Sitting on a pedestal is dust. Before, it was the shell of Hermes.

His stomach twists violently as this wasn't the first occurrence. The spear of Ares burnt to ashes. Aphrodite's clam turned to powder. He checked on his pig, Castor. He refused to get up or even eat from the sudden depression. Fortunately, Avgi and the others convince him to eat a morsel to avoid shrinking away any further.

Not long after, Hestia's everlasting torch goes out.

He tells the guards to keep Karisa away from this room. One by one, artifacts start to corrode to his horror. The wood of Eros' spare bow splinters into pieces.

Hera's bouquet of flowers withered out.

With the power of a cloud, Karisa manages to sneak through. "What's wrong?"

He spins to her, trying to shoo her away.

She noticed the smothered torch. "What's wrong with Aunt Hestia?!"

"I-I don't know. But I will pray to Hades to see what I can find."

She clutches her bunny close. "Is Taki okay?"

He lifts her up. "I hope so."

----

The Lord of Sleep stalks towards the trembling King of the Olympians. Through the side of his eye, he notices a beaten Takashi. A semblance of black aura is within him. The borrowed energy of his mother.

With a free hand, he heals his broken hands. His wings wipe away the fresh blood on his face. He doesn't leave his eyes off of Zeus.

"Your nymph friend told me where you were. This bastard kept hopping everywhere. Don't make another step, Zeus."

The King freezes himself in place. The past can repeat itself.

"Can you get up?"

Taki's eyes turn dark from what he had witnessed. Half his mind reminds him that he can bring them back, but the fact he couldn't steal the space ability haunts him. Something only Zeus would know.

His lips open. "Don't attack him from a distance. Steal the space ability."

The only words he could manage to utter. The deity saw it all when he arrived. The gruesome aftermath of his extended family. He double snaps his fingers.

Taki's eyes squeeze shut before reopening. He feels he had gone through 8 hours of sleep within that instant. His divine aura restored as if he didn't face a tumultuous battle. 

"I will make things right. With your help, we can free my mom, Hemera, and my sisters, the Fates."

Taki had no idea about the Fates, but it makes sense. From Penny's notes, they control the aspects of the past, present, and future. Another obstacle to the King of Mt Olympus.

The hopeful words lift him to his feet. His milk chocolate eyes turn brighter from the near reach of nikki (victory). He shakes off the dust in his mind to refocus. With Hypnos, they can turn things around.

Hypnos closes the distance between him and Zeus. The god-king's piercing blues churn in terror. Against his instincts, he throws an electric jab. 

Snap!

A palm strike to his solar plexus wakes him up. Snap! The King of Mt Olympus is tossed back and forth from the waking world to pitch black.

Takashi is amazed and terrified by the unassuming fighter. He prepares himself.

The heel kick on the back of his neck drives Zeus to kiss the ground. Snap!

Hypnos digs his fingers into the deity's temples to find and steal the ability. Zeus doesn't feel a thing as he searches.

He finds the emerald ability hiding deep. Porcelain hands reach out to take it away....it won't budge to his confusion. He pulls with all of his might. Nothing. Like it didn't belong to him.

He calls Takashi over to try again. He instructs him to grab his arm and pull when he has it.

Takashi Watanabe doesn't waste a moment as he now can see it. He forms the green wisps thinking the key of time can unlock it. The portal ability responds.

It lashes out at Takashi like an electric sickle! Hypnos pulls him out of Zeus' mind. An opening.

Zeus pushes Hypnos into the void of darkness. Killing him would only piss off Nyx to try and break the seals place the seals placed on her.

Horror and anger reflect in the demigod for being so close. "Zone. FF3!"

He crosses his arms into a block from Zeus' lightning. With the aid of Daedalus' sleeves, he deflects it away to force Zeus' head to the ground. Whips of dark emerald pin his arms and legs. He lowers Zeus' jaw to blast a wrathful beam inside him.

A portal opens to shoot Jupiter's lightning directly on the back of Takashi! Medea's sessions enable him to fire off the beam.

Fwoom!

Dirt kicks up a cloud. He doesn't want to risk it and charges another beam. A clone of Zeus swats him away into a group that holds him in place. Jupiter opens up with all the voltage shooting down. The gauntlets melt into his arms. Agonizing screams cause the dark sickle to lash out. All the clones are skewered to release him.

The real Zeus puts an index finger on his chest. A small bolt pierces through him, but his wrath keeps him fighting. He hits below the belt which makes the god crouch over. The dark green sickle appears and reaches for his jugular.

Two fingers on his right hand stops it. The left hand forces the mortal out of FF3. Despite the lack of aura, he aims to gouge his eyes out. An electric right palm knocks him down. His eyes roll back before he's slapped awake. Zeus steps on him with the majority of his weight.

Taki tries to move the boulder off of him.

Zeus lets out a long exhale. "The reason why you can't retrieve the space ability is because you're the son of nobodies. A mortal who was dragged into a mess my father created."

Taki grinds his teeth from the supposed lies until something conjures above him. The lamp of Mnemosyne glows along with the hovering mirror of space and time. Together, they reveal a chained being tied to a rock of flowing lava. His white beard travels down to the middle of his chest.

He fights his chains from seeing a familiar figure.

"Hello, father", Zeus tells him.

Taki fights the thoughts in his head as it continues.

"How could you betray me?!"

"You wanted to eat me and my siblings over a stupid prophecy! Maybe you deserve to die."

He quickly shocks him with Kronos trying to resist him. Something slips out of the time and space deity and enters the god-king. The mirror. He sees the bridge connecting his world to another filled entirely with mortals. People in power, the flaws of humanity, and beautiful women of different colors. The enticement to take it over for himself was within reach.

Kronos' arm slips out of the chains to disrupt the connection. With the last of his strength, he sends the time ability to Earth....within the watch of Takashi Watanabe's father. 26 years before his son entered Gaia.

The deity dies with a smile, leaving Zeus the ability over space. The mirror stops working to his dismay. Ever since that day, he concocted with Eris the perfect plan. They pushed Nyx and the Fates into the void of nothingness before taking care of Mnemosyne and Rhea.

His own mother who had saved him was an obstacle in his way to glory. He set up everything while trying to reach out to the power within the mortal's watch. The mirror display goes to a day that confuses Takashi.

It was nothing like what he saw when talking to Mina at Delphi. No floods. Not even a drop of rain on a sunny day. One thing didn't change. His father handed the money and his watch over to a crying Aiko before leaving his family....for a younger woman he met at work.

Taki's breath hitches. He shakes his head to refuse the thoughts from settling in.

Zeus bounces the lamp in his hand like a toy. "What Mina told you wasn't a lie....that she knew of. A slight manipulation with a plausible story was all it took to make-"

"You're lying!"

Zeus' foot presses deeper into his chest. "Why do you keep denying it? Think about it. If you and Hikari were actual demigods, your auras would have protected you both from that monster. Don't you think that's true?"

He tears into his arm to draw blood. Taki grunts from the pain. His pupils shake. Red blood separated from golden iron.

"If either of you donated blood, they would have asked a lot of questions. That divinity is what's left of my smart father. That watch gave you that strange clock to jump onto. His DNA weaved into yours upon the first touch. My old man picked you as a vessel for his revenge."

Taki squeezes his eyes shut to not let the truth sink in any further.

"But I wonder why he chose you over any physically capable person? Self-doubt. Riddled with daddy issues. Scared of lightning. That...what's the phrase? Imposter syndrome!", he smiles with glee. "The one thing that describes you well. You're nothing more than an imposter."

Takashi's eyes open. His milk chocolate eyes darken as the gaslighting settles inside him. Perseus, Chrysaor, Pegasus, Heracles, Orpheus, Artemis, Ares, Apollo, Dionysus, and Hestia. They believed in him as their family member, but it was all a perfect lie. Kronos "helped" him only for his plan to succeed.

Zeus nears his head for a whisper. "If you want to return, just say "reset" twice to break the seals."

The thought of Zeus ruling his world the same way as Gaia clenches his teeth. Innocent lives at the whim of a tyrannical god.

"Don't worry. I wll leave your family and friends out of it. Maybe when your Karisa turns 15-"

Dark emerald aura pushes him off with some passing into the mirror. Narrowed eyes that rattle from the sick threat. He throws a jab!

Crack. His hand breaks on contact with the invulnerable skin. The green wisps fizzle out from the gaslighting Zeus put him through. A flick to the forehead knocks him back down.

"Should I bring Helena here to torture until you submit? Daedalus or Icarus? Medea? Any of the mortals you met?"

Hopelessness becomes his roommate. "I will do it. Just...don't hurt them in the next one."

The pleading makes the god-king's smile wider. "Be specific. Who should I not harm?"

"Leave my nep-"

His body shudders from the truth. "Leave your children and siblings out of this. Don't harm any of the good people I met."

Zeus chuckles. "Since I'm in a generous mood, I will do three more things: the elimination of Eris, Poseidon, and Hera to make it easier for you; not coming after you for one month; and two confessions."

Takashi Watanabe's stomach flips violently from what's to come. His heart and mind don't know if it can handle anymore truths.