Chapter 284 Intermission: The Interference Of An Old Sponsor (2)

The woman caught my blade effortlessly, and as her eyes filled with rage turned right back towards me, a jolt of lightning-like miasma shot into my face.

BAM

I was sent flying back with just a glance of this goddess, but upon feeling that it was but a mere fear-mongering tactic… I couldn't help but smile.

"You can't do shit in Ares' domain… so you can go fuck yourself," I smiled while giving her the middle finger.

Just like that, her malice broke the room around me, and the palace walls began to crumble.

"You insignificant ant… I tried to be nice to you, but you took that for granted… now you shall pay the price," The woman muttered with a spear of light slowly forming in front of my face.

Shit… did I guess wrong?

Although, it wasn't long before Ares appeared in front of me, breaking the spear of light and glaring at Athena.

Their stare-off was so intense that the palace walls continued to crumble, yet at the same time creating their own personal space to duke it out.

"You're weak… you are but a husk of your former self…." Athena muttered, her golden power rapidly expanding, clashing with the blood-stained aura of the God of War.

"That's what I was going for," Ares replied before both of them switched off their auras, allowing the palace around me to rebuild itself.

I don't know what the hell just happened, but Athena soon left peacefully, although it was obvious she would try and come for me again.

"What did she mean that you are but a husk of your former self?" I asked the man who walked beside me.

I was just about to head to bed, but I wanted to make sure what I heard was correct… because I had a guess as to why she said this.

"What do you know about me through mythology or possibly religion from your old world? The past, shall I call it,"

"You are the God of War who dominated battlefields by just your mere presence. By just being there, entire armies would sway with your favor… and you had massive anger issues,"

"The first part can still be correct, but most of my power came from rage. I was so angry all the time for various reasons, and that is what fueled my power, but upon meeting your mother, I feel much better… like my head has been cleared of all worries,"

"So you became weaker… correct?"

"You could say that. I've become weaker on a more mental level… in exchange for mental toughness, I learned to love, be kind, and take care of others… though…."

All of a sudden, a shiver ran down my spine, and when I turned to Ares, all I saw was the silhouette of a man filled to the brim with rage, taking a tangible form.

It wrapped around him mercilessly, almost trying to constrict and suppress itself in order to protect the host and the things around him.

It was absolutely terrifying, and not even a fiber of my muscles twitched.

My bones felt as if they were being ground into dust, and my organs were seemingly on the brink of just imploding.

And then, it was gone in an instant, the eyes of Ares calm as a small puddle of rainwater.

"Though, when I do feel anger… the urge flies out of control, and I nearly destroy everything last thing around me until nothing is left,"

"So what you're saying is, you still have anger issues?" I genuinely asked, but the god took it as a joke and began to chuckle lightly.

"I guess you could say that," He smiled.

…

The next week was the same process repeated over and over, but now, I was slowly beginning to push my stamina to its limits, thus increasing it by a few points every other day.

[HP: 100/100 MP: 75/75 SP: 60/60] - Above Human

I was currently at sixty now when I was previously fifty-five, so I knew my hard work had been paying off.

"Hello,"

Though it still wasn't enough to face the mighty woman who suddenly approached me on the last day of the week at the end of my rest day.

"What do you want?" I calmly asked with my guard up, just in case she pulled something fishy.

"What do you think? Of course, I want to slaughter you, but I've thought about it for a while… and I've come to the conclusion that you could be much more useful to me,"

"Then what is it you truly want?"

"Join me and ditch your father. You hate him as well… that's something we have in common. So I believe in our best ideals, we should join up in order to crush our fated enemy. I'll train you to become my sword and shield while I do all the thinking. Though, you're the perfect candidate since I don't want a puppet who is completely brain dead and needs assistance or orders all the time,"

The number of mind games going into this was insane.

First of all, Ares was watching. I mean, he can watch any place in his domain with just a twitch of his muscle, meaning Athena did this on purpose.

She wanted to provoke Ares, meaning she still knew that he could get angry, and normally, when people are rageful, they'll lose their sense of reasoning.

So, even if I declined, her plans would still proceed… just a single variable would be taken out.

But, I wasn't so stupid as not to negotiate… and even if I did join the woman hand-in-hand, she knew I was already doing it to gather information and use this for my best interests of myself.

Having two gods backing me up wouldn't be so bad, now would it?

"And what's in it for me? I hope you don't think I'll be joining you for free…." I smiled since the goddess' lips slowly hung downwards.