"You are a good person, Zeus. Better than anyone I have met."

Zeus turned to Ajax with a surprised look on his face, as he had never expected to hear that from the king himself.

"Expect my wife and daughter, of course," Ajax added.

Zeus scoffed and moved his hand under his clothes.

Ajax's gaze followed Zeus' hand and asked, "Is it done?"

"It is done." Zeus took out a scroll sealed with a stamp and handed it to Ajax.

Ajax removed the seal and read the scroll. As soon as he finished reading it, a smile appeared on his face.

"How did you do it? How did you convince my one and only rival of this continent?"

"Calling him a rival would be too exaggerated. He was merely a king of some lands, and you could easily crush him if you wanted to," Zeus replied.

"That wasn't the answer I was hoping for."

Zeus sighed and said, "I just had to bride him a little and tell him the benefits of joining you and your alliance. And he agreed to form a truce and submit his kingdom to you."

"So that means…"

"Yeah. Now this entire continent belongs to you, and you are the supreme Sovereign of every land in this continent." 

Ajax placed the scroll on the side and stood up. He walked down the pedestal and walked to Zeus.

"I expected to be more happy about this, but I don't feel anything. Maybe it is because I already knew it was going to happen sooner or later?" Ajax wondered.

"Or maybe you just want more now?"

"No. No, no. That's not the case. I do feel satisfied, but I am not happy."

"Satisfaction means happiness, and if you don't feel happy, that must mean you aren't satisfied. Just admit that you want more," Zeus shrugged.

"I can prove you wrong."

"Oh! How?" Zeus exclaimed.

"By making you the king," Ajax replied with honesty.

Zeus was confused and couldn't comprehend what he just heard.

"What did you say?" Zeus asked to make sure what he heard was true.

"I want to make you the king. I want you to be my successor."

"Uhh... Are you joking?"

"Look at my face and tell me; Does it look like I am joking?"

Zeus glanced at Ajax only to see him making a poker face.

"Your poker face looks funny as hell— in a good way, by the way," Zeus joked.

"Anyway, back to the topic." Ajax turned to Zeus and repeated, "I want you to become the next king after me."

"You must be out of your mind, Ajax. You can't possibly think of making a hybrid demon like me, a king of this entire continent."

"I am a part-demon too," Ajax replied.

"Yes! But you are only 'part' demon. The demon blood in you is almost non-existent. And it doesn't matter. Besides, no one knows you are a part-demon," Zeus retorted.

"About that. I am planning to make it public," Ajax asserted.

"What?!" Zeus shouted in both shock and surprise, "Are you out of your mind, Ajax? If the word gets out that you have demon blood in your blood, the very citizens and the continent you are trying to protect will turn against you and try to kill you."

"Maybe. If that's my fate, then I shall accept it gladly. But Zeus, I don't want to deceive my citizens like this. They have a right to know everything about me."

"But why?" Zeus groaned. "Why do you want to do such a thing? Everything is going perfectly— just as you wanted. This entire continent belongs to you, and you want to ruin everything?"

"A king must always put his citizens before himself and protect them with all his might. That is what it means to be a true king, and I am trying to be a good king."

Zeus sighed and shook his head in frustration.

Ajax walked further and continued, "It is for the greater good. Sooner or later, someone great, someone better, will appear and overtake this throne. So why not just be honest and ask for forgiveness?" 

"And who knows. Maybe I will be forgiven, and everything will be back to normal?" Ajax wondered.

Zeus shook his head again and sighed, "I won't let you do this."

Ajax turned to Zeus and looked him into the eyes, "You are scared."

"I am not!" Zeus yelled.

"Yes, you are. Zeus, you are the strongest and the most formidable person I have ever met. With your power, you can easily rule over not only this continent but the entire world. Yet, you still choose to be humble. Why?"

Zeus' mother's face flashed before Zeus' eyes as he covered his face with his hand and said, "I have no interest in such petty things. I just wanted to be strong enough to protect my loved ones, nothing else."

"But I didn't know I would grow this strong that I would be afraid of my own powers," he added.

Ajax tittered and smiled at Zeus, "Now you are talking honestly. And that was my point."

"What do you mean?" Zeus asked with a confused look on his face.

"The powers. Just as you are afraid of your powers, I am afraid of my powers."

"Oh, come on. You are not even 1/100th strong as I am," Nero remarked.

Ajax raised his brows and frowned his face as he stared at Zeus.

"No offense intended," Zeus added.

"Offense is taken, and now I will give you a punishment."

"Oh?" Zeus had a curious look on his face.

"And that punishment is…."

"Is?"

"You will have to inherit my throne."

"Argh! You had me there!" Zeus clenched his fists. "For god's sake. Why do you want me to inherit your throne? "

"I believe I already stated my answer," Ajax replied.

"First, you state how you want to make your demon-y public, and then you talk about making me— who is clearly more demonic here— inherit your throne."

"Why is it that you must always disagree with what I say or ask to you?" Ajax questioned in a surprising tone.

"Why is it that you must always want me to do something for you?" Zeus questioned back.

SIGH~!

Both Ajax and Zeus sighed together and stared at each other.

After a brief silence, Ajax turned to Zeus and said, "You are afraid of your power. And I am afraid of my… demon."