When Ares regained consciousness, he was already lying in his own temple.
His sister, the Goddess Hebe, was watching over him. Seeing Ares awaken, she said in pleasant surprise:
"Ares, you're finally awake?"
Ares lay on the bed in the temple, thought for a moment, then asked, "Where is Athena?"
"She's in the God King's Hall. Zeus has ordered Prometheus and his brother Epimetheus to descend and manage the earth in his stead, and Athena has officially completed the handover with Prometheus, taking over his position as God of Wisdom." After Hebe finished speaking, she carefully glanced at him, then softly said, "Ares, don't be angry. Zeus has ruled that Athena won your duel. She has obtained the divine duties of military strategy and victory."
When Ares heard this, he was so happy he wanted to laugh out loud, but on the surface, he had to show a look of indignation in front of his sister.
Seeing Ares's dreadful expression, Hebe feared he might get up and fight Athena again, so she quickly advised, "Don't get excited, Ares! You're not the only Olympus god who lost to her. In fact, after that, Athena competed with Apollo in medicine and music, with Demeter in farming, and with Poseidon in running on the sea. She won against all these main gods, so it's not shameful for you to lose to her, not shameful at all."
"How did she win?" Ares asked upon hearing this.
Hebe then meticulously recounted the process of Athena's competitions with the other gods to Ares.
This Goddess first competed with Demeter. Ares's aunt used her divine authority to directly make crops sprout and grow on a piece of land, caused fruit trees in orchards to bear abundant fruit, and made the wheat in the fields heavy like gold.
However, after observing Demeter's performance, Athena used her wisdom to analyze the patterns of these crops sprouting, the water and fertilizer needed for growth, as well as the suitable climate and soil, and based on this, she created many new farming methods from scratch to increase yield.
Because Demeter's divine authority was merely a manifestation of her divine power, even Demeter could not repeatedly use her divine power to make the gods' orchards and farmlands eternally fruitful, whereas Athena's farming methods could be used by the managers of the gods' orchards and farmlands, helping them to permanently increase output.
Therefore, Zeus ruled that Athena had surpassed Demeter and could share a portion of the agricultural divine duties from this Farm God.
Afterward, Athena successively won in contests against Poseidon and Apollo. She used her wisdom to create chariots and reins, and also invented ships, riding the wind and waves on the sea, defeating Poseidon. In medicine and music, she also convinced Apollo through inventing new medical techniques and musical instruments.
After listening to Hebe's narration, Ares also had his own calculations.
Farm God Demeter and Sea King Poseidon must have truly been inferior in skill. Given the personalities of these two deities, it was impossible for them to willingly submit. Apollo's loss, however, was more subtle. Because he had previously slain the giant Python and saved the Goddess Leto, Ares and Apollo had a good relationship, and Ares often heard the music of this God of Music, which was a level that could not be surpassed by mere wisdom.
This God of Light must have seen something in Zeus's actions, and thus deliberately lost to Athena, choosing not to be the first to stand out.
And after hearing about Athena's glorious achievements, Ares couldn't help but praise her in his heart:
[Excellent, Athena, you are so powerful!]
The more powerful this Goddess was, the better it was for him. He wished that this Goddess's brilliance could overshadow all of them, so that Zeus's wary gaze would only be focused on Athena alone. And under the brilliance of this Goddess, in the shadows of the twelve gods, Ares would be able to act freely and carry out his survival plan.
Thinking of this, Ares felt that the time for the next step was ripe, so he said to his sister:
"Hebe! Help me up!"
"Ah? Ares, but Apollo said your injuries haven't fully healed yet…"
"Don't say so much, just help me up!"
Under Ares's forceful demand, the Goddess Hebe could only obey. She helped her brother's sturdy body up, then supported him, walking step by step to the outside of Zeus's God King's Hall.
Generally, without Zeus's permission, other gods could not enter the God King's Hall to disturb the King of all gods. However, Ares, as one of the twelve main gods of Olympus and Zeus's son, still had this privilege.
Seeing him being supported by the Goddess Hebe, the Olympus guards standing at the entrance of the God King's Hall did not dare to stop him, allowing this battle god, whose face was filled with anger, to walk into the God King's Hall.
Upon entering the God King's Hall, Ares saw that most of the twelve gods were gathered there. Besides them, there were also other important great gods like Leto and Themis. And Athena, the brightest new star among the fourth-generation gods, stood in the position of God of Wisdom, where Prometheus had originally stood.
A group of gods gathered around the star chart in the center of the God King's Hall, which displayed the appearance of the earth. Before Ares arrived, they must have been discussing something important.
However, this had nothing to do with Ares. As soon as he entered, he cast his furious gaze towards the Goddess of Wisdom.
"A—THE—NA!"
He let out an earth-shattering roar, then walked step by step towards Athena, his posture suggesting that he still wanted to fight this Goddess of Wisdom before he would give up.
"Ares!" Seeing him like this, Zeus unhappily slapped the star chart in front of him. He reprimanded, "You have already lost to Athena. A bet is a bet. What do you want to do by coming here now? As my son, can you not even admit your defeat?!"
"I did not!" Ares retorted rudely to his old father, then widened his eyes, looked at Athena, and demanded, "What was that last move you used to defeat me?"
"That." The Goddess of Wisdom smiled somewhat awkwardly and replied, "It was a spell, a type of magic I learned from my mother. Actually, Ares, you are also very strong. I almost lost at the end, really. I only won because I was lucky…"
She seemed to be trying to reconcile with her brother Ares, but Ares had no intention of listening. After Athena had said what he wanted to hear, he waved his hand and said fiercely:
"This time, you win! But… next time I will defeat you!"
Then, he looked at Zeus and shouted, "Father, to defeat Athena, I also want to learn magic!"