While Ares and Hecate were engrossed in their Electric Current Propulsion excitation experiment, on Olympus, in Zeus's God King's Hall, the remaining eleven Olympian Gods were gathered, holding a meeting among the gods.
After the gods finished their reports on the recent situation, Zeus turned his gaze to the Goddess of Wisdom:
"Athena, how is the work of creating all things progressing?"
Upon hearing this, the Goddess of Wisdom reported: "Yes, Father, the concepts the gods wish to bestow upon all things have almost all been collected. The only one still missing is Ares; he has not yet given me his concept for all things."
"Hmm?" Zeus wondered, hearing this: "Didn't he come to Aphrodite's banquet last time? You didn't ask him for it."
"He kept pulling me aside and talking nonsense," Athena said, her face falling. "I was so angry that I forgot about it."
Zeus initially wanted to scold Athena for her inefficiency, but recalling Ares's actions at the banquet, he swallowed the words that were on the tip of his tongue.
Ares's "Virgin's Great Oath" was too shocking; even now, when Zeus recalled it, he still felt his full-throated voice echoing in his ears, lingering endlessly. Therefore, it was understandable that Athena forgot about it due to his actions at the time.
So he cleared his throat and instructed:
"Our brother Prometheus has been in the lower realm for many years, and they are already prepared. This matter concerns our future rule as gods and cannot be delayed. How about this, Athena, you go directly to the shores of Oceanus to find Ares. Once you find him, have him give you his concept."
"Understood, your will."
Having received Zeus's command, Athena immediately withdrew from the God King's Hall. She turned and returned to her own temple, taking with her the concepts given by the other gods, and then descended Olympus, arriving at the shores of Oceanus, searching along the coastline.
Although Athena was now officially the first among the fourth-generation gods, the Moon Goddess Hecate's magical prowess was still far superior to hers. Therefore, upon arriving here, Athena could not discern where Hecate and Ares were hiding. However, just as she was searching with all her might, a bright bolt of lightning suddenly descended from the distant sky, striking a desolate basin by the sea.
"Zeus's lightning?"
Seeing this lightning, Athena was somewhat surprised:
"No, that's not right. Someone is summoning fragments of Zeus's divine power. Is it Hecate?"
The power of that lightning also made her secretly tremble. Athena, who had always considered her father her greatest imagined enemy, both revered and feared Zeus's divine power. Although the distant lightning could not directly defeat her, it still sent a shiver down the spine of the goddess who had inherited her mother Metis's memories.
But she still composed herself and hurried towards where the lightning had fallen.
As Athena rushed over, the swirling dark clouds in the sky had not dispersed, and several more bolts of lightning fell one after another. By the time Athena reached the desolate basin, she could already observe the interior through the cracked barrier.
This barrier was extremely well-hidden, and ordinarily, she would not have discovered it. But at this moment, the barrier had been cracked open by the very person who set it up. Seeing the crack, Athena's eyes flickered, and she silently apologized for her intrusion. Then, she suppressed her presence and aura and stepped inside.
Inside the barrier was a vibrant, mysterious forest, home to various small fairies. However, at this moment, they had all been scared out of the trees by the lightning descending from the sky, scattering like startled insects.
Athena ignored these small creatures. She continued to advance quietly until she finally heard a familiar, rough voice:
"Come on, Hecate, keep striking! Don't spare me just because I'm Ares!"
As soon as his voice fell, three more bolts of lightning, as thick as buckets, mercilessly fell from the sky, making the ground rumble and tremble.
The moment the lightning exploded, a charred figure, like a human-shaped piece of charcoal, suddenly flew backward, smashing heavily onto the ground not far from Athena.
The Goddess of Wisdom pinched her nose and tiptoed over, then summoned her divine spear and poked the charcoal with the butt of the spear.
"Stop messing around."
The human-shaped charcoal on the ground raised a hand, batting away Athena's extended spear. Then, he seemed to sense that something was amiss, so he raised his head, revealing two silver eyes inherited from Zeus, staring intently at Athena for two seconds before suddenly jumping up.
"Damn it!" he yelled, jumping up and down. "What the hell are you doing here? Hecate, Hecate! Someone's trespassing on your residence!"
"Ares, it is indeed you." Athena ignored the charred ape's clamor in front of her. She casually pushed Ares aside and walked out of the forest, arriving before Hecate's Tree Palace.
On this flower-filled lawn, the Moon Goddess Hecate was there. She maintained the form of a little girl, yet wore the long dress she wore in her maiden form, the straps of the dress loosely draped over her fair shoulders. This goddess, with the appearance of a little girl, was sitting on a wicker chair woven by her own magic. Beside her was a naturally grown tree table, from which a small fruit tree had sprouted, laden with fresh and delicious immortal fruits. Next to it was a flower shaped like a cup, filled with sweet dew, and all of this was the result of Hecate's profound magic.
She was barefoot, one leg tucked onto the chair, and the other foot resting on the demonic hound lying beside her chair, using this fierce monster as a footrest. When Athena saw her, Hecate was still holding a cup-shaped flower filled with dew, clearly, she had just been relaxing in such a leisurely manner, while simultaneously whipping Ares with lightning.
"Uh, Moon Goddess, forgive my intrusion, I came in without notifying you." Seeing the displeased expression on Hecate's face, Athena proactively apologized: "Because I saw the barrier on the coast cracked by lightning, I simply followed it in."
Her attitude was proper, so Hecate couldn't directly lash out at her and asked: "What is Zeus's current favorite, deigning to visit the place of small gods like us?"
"I came to find Ares."
Athena replied, then looked at the small pits and scorch marks left by the lightning around them, and asked again: "May I ask, what were you two just doing?"