Hephaestus fared much worse compared to Ares; his body was inherently weaker than Ares', and his divine power was also less. Ares also saw one of Hephaestus's legs violently strike a protruding boulder on the mountainside as he rolled down.
Although Ares's body was also badly battered, he was, after all, merely a clone made of materials. If anything truly went wrong, he could simply be 'returned to the factory' for a minor repair.
When Ares walked over and forcefully 'pulled' Hephaestus out of the massive crater he had created, he found that the God of Fire's leg was broken.
"This is utterly unreasonable!"
Ares, while fashioning a splint for the God of Fire's leg from a plank he had cut from a nearby tree, furiously denounced Zeus's actions:
"It was clearly his fault, yet now he wants to beat us brothers. Does this Zeus truly believe that no one under heaven can restrain him?"
Hephaestus silently watched his brother, then, after a long pause, he finally said, "Ares, I don't want to go back to Olympus."
"What?" Ares exclaimed in surprise, "Then where are you planning to go?"
"I want to return to the Ocean, to live with Oceanus," the God of Fire sighed, looking up. "Or go back to the volcano on Crete. In short, I don't want to make anything for Zeus anymore."
"That won't do," Ares quickly interjected. "Now, now is not the time. If you openly refuse to return, our tyrannical old father might imprison you in Tartarus, torturing you while forcing you to create things for him."
"Must I really create tools for such a cruel God-King, just so he can more easily impose his tyranny upon all things in the world?"
Hephaestus retorted.
"Of course not. For this kind of thing, you just need to do this." Ares motioned for Hephaestus to lean closer and then whispered something into his ear.
After listening, the God of Fire asked in surprise, "Do I really have to do that?"
"It doesn't matter. As long as you don't tell anyone, how would Zeus know you deliberately left backdoors in your creations?" Ares replied. "Besides, you don't talk much anyway. If he asks you anything in the future, just nod, shake your head, or ignore him. It's normal for you to react this way after what happened."
He looked up at the sky. The dark clouds were gradually dispersing, and it seemed Zeus's anger had also somewhat dissipated. So Ares took the God of Fire's arm and said to him, "Let's go. I'll take you back to Olympus."
Because the God of Fire had fallen down the mountain and now had a limp, they walked very slowly. By the time they passed through the Golden Gate of Olympus and followed the long corridor back to the sky where the Twelve Temples were located, it was already close to dusk.
Zeus had probably long since gone to the mortal realm to find Europa, the princess of the Phoenician Kingdom. However, when Ares and Hephaestus returned to the mountaintop, the God-King shamelessly approached and ordered the God of Fire:
"Hephaestus, you must make three things for me."
"First, a hound. I want it to loyally guard its master. Second, a javelin. I want it light enough for even a weak human woman to easily throw. Third, a bronze giant. I want it to absolutely protect its master and homeland."
He didn't care whether the God of Fire, whose face was as black as a pot, agreed or not, and simply continued to give his orders:
"Notify me when they are done, and I will come to collect them."
With that, the King of the Gods hummed a tune and turned to leave. Ares even detected a hint of the youthful giddiness of a boy newly in love in his steps, which made the God of War feel utterly disgusted.
Hephaestus turned his head to look at the Watchtower Temple, located at the outermost edge of the circular area of the Twelve Temples. His and Ares's mother, Hera, was still suspended there by Zeus for public display, her dignity and decorum completely lost.
Seeing Zeus's retreating figure, the God of Fire couldn't help but extend his middle finger at him and curse furiously, "Damn it, why don't you just die already!"
"Alright, Hephaestus, there's no use saying these things now." Ares pulled him, gently persuading him, "Come on, I'll help you. Let's try to make that thing's weakness a bit more obvious."
...
Ares's divine power clone silently followed the God of Fire to help create the three Noble Phantasms Zeus wanted to use for his romantic pursuits, while his main body had already followed Hecate to settle in the Underworld.
Nowadays, after receiving Hades's invitation, Hecate no longer stayed at home every day, staying up late to study magic or catch up on sleep. Instead, she went to Hades's palace every day to help the King of the Underworld deal with the phantoms that had accumulated from the great flood of the previous era.
For convenience, Hecate herself had also moved the Tree Palace into the Underworld. Now, her palace was located within a sea of blooming Lycoris radiata in the Underworld. In the Underworld, apart from Hades's own palace, this area should be considered the best place. Originally, by seniority, it wouldn't have been Hecate's turn to live here; it should have been occupied by either Thanatos, the God of Death, or Hypnos, the God of Sleep.
But unfortunately, in the Type-Moon world, a goddess who has mastered the true meaning of magic is stronger than the brothers, the God of Death and the God of Sleep. Even though Hecate's own divine rank is only that of a secondary deity, her combat power is stronger than that of an average main deity, almost reaching the realm of the Three God-Kings. Since she wanted this land, Hades tacitly approved, and the two brothers, the God of Death and the God of Sleep, naturally didn't babble any more.
During Hecate's relocation, Ares's main body also used the art of transformation to turn into a box and was mixed in with Hecate's luggage, secretly brought into the Underworld by her. This was actually better for Ares, as it was Hades's territory, and the King of the Underworld paid great attention to the privacy of his subordinates, basically not being as suspicious and prying everywhere as Zeus. Moreover, the gazes of Poseidon and Zeus could hardly reach this place.
Furthermore, this place was very close to Tartarus, making it more convenient for Ares or Hecate to go and operate the super device located beneath Tartarus.
After Hecate returned, Ares finally couldn't help but complain to Hecate about the situation. After quietly listening to Ares's account, Hecate was not surprised, merely replying:
"Normal, normal. If Zeus wasn't like this, why would Athena and Prometheus rebel against him?"
"Son of a b*tch, I've never seen such an unreasonable god." Ares was genuinely angry this time, a rare occurrence. He furiously kicked a stone on the ground and cursed, "Damn Zeus, your mother! Oh wait, Rhea is a good goddess, it has nothing to do with her..."
Seeing Ares fuming, Hecate also advised him, "What are you raging about uselessly here? Didn't Zeus hit Hera and hang her up? Just wait, the Queen of Heaven is not someone the God-King can bully casually. Zeus's retribution is coming."
"Huh? Retribution?" Upon hearing this, Ares immediately leaned closer and asked, "Teacher, please elaborate."
"Let's put it this way." Hecate thought for a moment, then asked, "Have you heard of Typhon?"