Meanwhile, inside the palace of Areopagus, Athena leapt aside, narrowly avoiding several red spears that flew toward her.

  Suddenly, a shadow appeared beside her, and the goddess shouted, “Aegis aspida, prostatepste me (Escudo Aegis, ?Protégeme!)!”

  Her aegis instantly transformed into a shield, blocking the shadow’s attack. Even so, the impact was powerful enough to hurl Athena against a wall and shatter it.

  “Athena, you are no longer a match for me,” the shadow said as Athena slowly rose from the impact, blood running down her forehead while she coughed heavily.

  When the shadowy figure became clear, it was Ares himself—but his armor had changed into something sinister, black with crimson accents. His helmet now resembled the head of a boar with intensely glowing red eyes. Black wings adorned his back, and his hands had transformed into metallic, spear-like claws. His weapons had vanished.

  “At this moment, I am the amalgamation of my two sons and myself. In my right hand rests the power of Deimos, and in my left, that of Phobos. To wound you with even one of them will be enough to end you, sister,” the evil god said in a monstrous voice.

  “So that was your plan? Assimilation with your own children?” Athena asked.

  “Indeed. My power was too low to achieve it on my own; that is why the great goddess Anat gave me a Hikaptha sphere. It absorbed all the damage suffered by my Keres—and finally that of your friend Horus—granting me the power I needed to withstand this transformation,” Ares replied, laughing.

  “So you used your own men solely for your selfish goal?” Athena asked.

  “Selfish? Their lives served to give me a place once more in Lel and to create the most powerful being in the universe,” the god of war continued.

  Athena began to laugh.

  “What is so funny, you damn bitch?” Ares snarled.

  “The strongest in the universe? Don’t make me laugh. Your power would barely be an inconvenience to hundreds of people I know,” Athena replied defiantly.

  Ares formed a red sphere in his left hand and hurled it at Athena. She raised her shield instantly, blocking the attack, though the impact sent her flying once again.

  “I am no longer Ares. My full name is Ares Enyalius, God of Destruction!” Ares roared as he created more red spheres and flung them at Athena, who deflected every one with her aegis-shield.

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  “Well then, ‘God of Destruction,’ you can’t even destroy me. And you dare claim such a title?” Athena said, laughing as she rose once more.

  Ares howled in fury and lunged again, attempting to impale the goddess with his claws, but her shield remained impenetrable.

  Athena charged her spear with energy and struck at Ares, yet the blow had no effect. He endured it effortlessly and swiftly seized her spear.

  “Is that the power you boast about so proudly, elder sister?” Ares mocked.

  He slammed her into the ground, creating a massive crater on impact. Then he began stomping her relentlessly, but Athena formed her aegis on her back, blocking the assault.

  “That damn shield is a real nuisance!” Ares shouted in rage.

  Athena leapt out of the crater where she had been buried.

  “In Samarkand, men played a game called chess. And right now, neither you nor I can win. They called this situation a ‘stalemate,’” Athena said, breathing heavily.

  “Do you not remember that the very reason you all came here will die in just a few more minutes if this fight continues?” Ares said with a smile.

  “I never said I would surrender,” Athena replied.

  “Then how about we change the battlefield, sister?” Ares asked.

  “What do you mean?” Athena replied.

  Ares began to radiate a red aura across his entire body.

  Seeing this, Athena shouted, “Shit!” and immediately protected herself with her aegis in shield form.

  A deafening, atomic-like explosion erupted from Ares’s body, completely obliterating the palace of Areopagus and collapsing the mountain upon which it stood.

  The blast was so devastating that it split the planet Mars in half, leaving only a cluster of asteroids drifting between the two shattered remnants of the world.

  “That explosion almost hit us!” Epona shouted in shock as they stared at the remains of the planet.

  She, along with Tania, Anpiel, and the rest of the gods and malakim, had narrowly escaped the impact in time. All of them stared in disbelief at the sheer magnitude of Ares’s power.

  Athena herself had endured the blast using her shield as protection, while carrying Horus under one arm, still unconscious. The goddess was panting heavily; withstanding attacks of such magnitude consumed a portion of her ichor.

  “Excellent. I see you are all here to witness the birth of the new emperor of the universe—Enyalius, God of Destruction,” Ares said, laughing as he raised his arms toward the sky.

  Ares then created several black birds formed from the feathers of his wings and declared, “Stymfalídes órnithes (Stymphalian Birds).”

  The birds—resembling dark metallic vultures with glowing red eyes—shot toward everyone at incredible speed, leaving little time to react.

  Seeing this, Athena released Horus and dashed toward Tania, Epona, Anpiel, and the others at full speed. Using her aegis as a shield, she struck several birds, destroying them—but at that very moment, Ares appeared behind the Greek goddess.

  “Let us see if your aegis can withstand so many attacks at once, little sister,” Ares’s voice echoed.

  With a single motion, the god of war drove his right claw through Athena’s abdomen, tearing it open completely.

  The Greek goddess’s eyes went dark as horror spread across the faces of everyone present.

  Less than five minutes remain until Anpiel’s execution.

  Stymphalian Birds were monstrous, man-eating birds from Greek mythology, known for bronze beaks, metallic feathers they shot as projectiles, and poisonous dung, terrorizing Lake Stymphalia until Heracles drove them away as his sixth labor, using Athena's rattle to scare them into the open.