I AM THE SON OF THE ALMIGHTY FORGOTTEN GOD

This nobody just beat a godspawn!

Facing a beast resembling an eight-foot-tall dire wolf wasn't something Eugene was prepared to handle with a calm, cool head.

Eugene’s entire body shook uncontrollably, his feet glued to the ground, paralyzed while the creature's glowing eyes locked onto him like twin searchlights—cementing Eugene’s absolute, undeniable role in this scenario: *prey*.

“This fear… this utter helplessness… you truly are just a half-breed human.”

‘Fuck, fuck. Where the hell is that boy? Young Master Keaton ...? Is anybody going to save me? Where are the guards? WHY THE HELL ARE THEY LEAVING ME OUT HERE TO DIE!?’

A wave of suffocating despair crashed over Eugene. The beast’s massive jaws parted, pulling back into a grotesque, blood-thirsty grin.

“I hear in the mortal world, your kind sits at the top of the food chain,” the wolf rasped, its voice a low, rumbling growl as its hot, foul breath fanned across Eugene’s face. “But down here? You are nothing more than fresh meat.”

Its jaws snapped wide open, revealing rows of razor-sharp fangs capable of shearing Eugene’s body clean in half. The second the beast lunged forward with terrifying speed, sheer adrenaline violently overrode Eugene’s frozen muscles.

He hurled his body sideways, rolling frantically across the dirt before scrambling back to his feet. He staggered backward, his eyes darting frantically to keep the predatory monster dead in his sights.

Was he actually about to get eaten alive?

“W-why are you hunting me?” Eugene demanded, forcing his voice to stay upright even as terror clawed at his throat.

“Because you’re half-human, and I thoroughly enjoy hunting your pathetic kind.”

“Isn't this supposed to be paradise? The Olympus Realm… how can vile monsters like you even exist here?”

“There is no paradise, little human. Vile things fester everywhere—even in the quietest corners of heaven.”

The beast charged again, forcing Eugene to sprint blindly toward a dense patch of timber, hoping the trees would slow down the massive predator. But instead of dodging, the colossal wolf simply plowed straight through the trunks, splintering wood with violent headbutts.

Eugene ran harder than he ever had in his life, fueled by the grueling stamina workouts he used to endure just to survive the streets. A massive shattered tree branch hurtled through the air, crashing down directly behind him. The shockwave hurled Eugene forward into a rough tumble; miraculously, the heavy timber missed crushing his spine by inches.

“Are you out of your damn mind? Why do you want me dead so badly?!” Eugene shouted over his ragged breathing.

For a fraction of a second, the wolf’s eyes flashed with a blinding, ethereal luminescence—as if it were actively channeling a divine phase.

Eugene braced himself for a lethal blow, convinced his time was up, when a sudden realization slammed into him like a physical blow: He was a demigod, too!

His eyes caught a long, sturdy branch lying amid the debris. He lunged downward, snatching it off the ground with both hands. The wolf didn't slow down out of fear; rather, it slowed its pace with cruel amusement, eager to savor a final, pathetic show before the kill.

“I need a weapon…” Eugene muttered under his breath, his eyes fixed with razor-sharp intensity on the closing beast, while an unfamiliar, surging current rushed violently through his veins straight into his palms. “I need a bow.”

A blazing, reddish-orange glow ignited across both of his hands. The rough wooden branch instantly warped, morphing seamlessly into the exact shape he had commanded. It was undeniable proof—he truly possessed the innate power to transmute raw objects into weapons, exactly as his pen had transformed the day before.

As Eugene whipped the bow upward and drew back the string, a sleek, humming silver arrow materialized out of thin air, locked and ready to fire.

“Hmph. So this is the legendary gift of Hephaestus’s spawn? You actually think you can scratch a high-born Godspawn with that toy?”

Eugene didn't waste breath on a reply. He locked his sight onto the center of the wolf’s massive skull.

“If that weapon ends up just as pathetic as the tools of those worthless Demi-humans, I’ll tear you apart without a shred of—

STAB!

“Urgh… shit!”

Eugene’s frantic shot drifted wide, burying itself deep into the creature’s ear. The beast barely flinched at first, assuming it felt like a mere pinprick—until a second later...

“AAAAAAAARRRGHHH!”

A deafening, earth-shaking howl of pure agony and blinding rage ripped from the creature's throat.

“I’LL KILL YOU, SON OF HEPHAEATUS! I WILL TEAR YOU APART!”

The wounded beast went completely berserk, tearing up the earth and snapping more trees in half as it charged with unrestrained fury. Eugene fought for his life, dodging frantically, but the lingering pain proved his attacks were hitting their mark. Abandoning a straight retreat, Eugene swerved hard to the side, throwing off the creature's momentum.

Drawing his bow repeatedly, silver arrows materialized endlessly in his grip. He fired rapid, desperate volleys. While some missed, every connected strike inflicted agonizing stings that threw the monster into frantic confusion, severely hampering its pursuit. Spotting an opening, Eugene scrambled around to the back of the disoriented beast and locked his aim squarely onto a pair of highly vulnerable, sensitive targets.

“AAAAAAAAARRRGHHHH!”

The shrieking roar rattled the very stones of the surrounding hills. Not long after, they rushed out of the double doors to witness the reason of agonizing scream minute ago. They instantly froze in their tracks.

For a fraction of a second, the entire courtyard fell into a dead, suffocating silence.

"Wait… am I hallucinating?" whispered one of them, his eyes wide with absolute disbelief as he stared at the massive dire wolf whimpering in utter humiliation on the grass between trees debris.

"That’s… that’s Flowscent? THAT FLOWSCENT!?"

"Did he just lose from this boy? Who's this boy anyway? What is he doing here?" another gasped, his voice trembling between sheer horror and pure denial.

The heavy silence instantly shattered into a deafening wave of chaotic, furious whispers.

Witnessed by a crowd of arriving spectators and academy officials, the aftermath left Eugene standing dead center in an open-air stone arena framed by hexagonal, roofless pillars. A stunning goddess with striking, violet-tinted eyes stood right before him—unmistakably Impala, the high administrator in charge of the grounds.

“What is your name?” she asked, her gaze cool and detached.

“Eugene. Eugene Sidernum.”

“I originally intended to put you through a rigorous trial before granting entry. But after witnessing this absolute circus of a mess… I suppose I have no choice left other than to acknowledge you truly are Hephaestus’s son.”

Impala cast a downward glance at the silver bow still clutched in Eugene’s hand, her chin tilted slightly as she looked back up at the boy, who still stood shorter than her.

“So this is your father’s echo.”

Eugene glanced over nervously toward Leonidas standing quietly among the crowd of watching students, before turning his attention back to Impala.

“Echo?”

“Deity echoes are the spiritual resonances passed down by your divine parent. I can see you’ve inherited the craft-god's transmutation affinity exceptionally well.”

“Ah… yeah, I suppose so.”

A low, mortified grunt from nearby made Eugene snap his head around. The massive black dire wolf he had just humiliated was now slumped in the dirt. Gone was the bloodthirsty gleam of a apex predator; instead, its eyes radiated pure, burning mortification as it desperately pressed its hind legs together, trying to cover up the humiliating spot where it had just taken a direct hit.

“What you just defeated was a Godspawn—the offspring born from a god or goddess mingling with other immortal entities. His name is Flowscent, a son of Artemis.”

Eugene glanced briefly back at Flowscent, secretly swallowing hard to mask his overwhelming sense of shock and awe at his own raw power.

“Godspawn possess the most potent cosmic forces among all demigods, making them notoriously difficult to defeat, especially for those just beginning their ascent through the Divine Phases,” Impala explained, studying Eugene closely before tilting her head. “What is your Cosmic Force, Eugene?”

Eugene stared blankly at her, an expression of utter bewilderment freezing his features.

“Cosmic Force… you mean my ability to turn objects into weapons?” Eugene stammered, hesitation bleeding heavily into his tone.

Impala shook her head slowly. “No. Cosmic Force is an innate power born naturally within every individual. It is not something passed down by a deity parent.”

“Oh…”

“Any demigod who successfully masters their Deity Echo eventually learns to wield their Cosmic Force. The two powers are supposed to flow in tandem, perfectly complementing one another.”

Eugene kept his lips tightly sealed, swallowing his answer back down his throat. The heavy, unblinking stares fixed on him from the surrounding crowd made his nerves spike violently—

*“Eugene… don’t tell me you don’t have a Cosmic Force?”*

—because Eugene honestly had nothing left to say.