Because of the harsh environment, the Underworld has never been a place favored by living beings. Aside from the souls who must go there after reaching the end of their lives, even the Gods do not wish to come here.
This led to the Underworld being sparsely populated. Most of the regions within the Underworld were empty, and the deep, winding, endless caves were mostly occupied by powerful monsters. Therefore, when Hecate proposed to exchange territory for her pet dog, Hades readily agreed.
Anyway, the position of King of the Underworld is not a good one for the Gods. Instead of being a symbol of status and power, it is more like a shackle and a burden of responsibility. Hades is not worried about any God coveting his position as King of the Underworld. Therefore, he would not watch or bother with whatever Hecate was doing in the Underworld.
So, after acquiring the land, Ares and Hecate immediately and brazenly carried out complex modifications to the large underground cavern in that area, transforming it into what could almost be considered the most formidable magic workshop in the Greek World. Then, the master and disciple began their "God-creation plan" in this underground region.
Since it had been decided to deal with the Gods and the Counter Force, the aftermath of defeating the Gods also had to be considered. The situation of this universe is special; it is unknown whether it is due to the limited capacity of the universe itself or some other reason. Therefore, although there are many parallel worlds, once the development of those worlds deviates too much from the predetermined "fate" trajectory, that parallel world will be "pruned" and become what is known as a "Lostbelt."
A parallel world that has become a Lostbelt will be cut off by the universe, turning into historical residue and being abandoned by the universe.
This matter does not seem to be the doing of the Counter Force, but rather based on the choice of this universe. Therefore, Ares must also avoid this outcome.
If it's just defeating the Gods and the Counter Force, it cannot be considered a victory at all. He wants a complete victory, for this world to be able to continue to exist.
Therefore, the "God-creation plan" was proposed by Ares and affirmed by Hecate. This plan is not only to create a legion for Ares that can contend with the Olympus Gods, but also to create a group of substitutes to replace them and maintain the Greek World after the Olympus Gods are defeated and eliminated.
The reason this plan could be implemented was also thanks to the tissues Ares obtained from Typhon. As the last Titan, Typhon was the culmination of Gaia's creations and technologies after receiving alien spacecraft "Uranus". Although Typhon looks fierce and more like a monster than a God, it is undeniable that he is indeed the most pure Greek God in the current Greek World, even purer than Zeus and Cronus.
By analyzing its body structure, Hecate also figured out the method by which the planetary Counter Force created the Greek Gods. It happens to be the Age of Gods now, and there is no shortage of magic power. Therefore, with ample time, it is entirely possible for the Moon Goddess to replicate a batch of vessels for the Olympus Gods.
This matter was not only to protect her disciple Ares, but also an extremely challenging magical subject for Hecate herself. Putting aside her relationship with Ares, the Moon Goddess herself was full of interest in this aspect. Therefore, after the magic workshop in the Underworld was completed, the Moon Goddess immediately threw all her affairs back to the other Underworld Gods and personally went into the magic workshop, beginning to conceive with Ares's main body how to create God substitutes.
And while the construction of Sparta and the God-creation plan were steadily advancing, Ares's heroic avatar, Cadmus, in Thebes, finally welcomed Athena's contingency plan.
After his avatar had governed Thebes for ten years, transforming Thebes from nothing into a well-ordered city, the Goddess of Wisdom suddenly appeared before him with a young man and said to his avatar:
"Cadmus, your time has come."
"Great Athena."
Cadmus, sitting on the throne, heard Athena's words and quickly rose to greet her. He looked at the child brought by the Goddess of Wisdom, blinked, and then asked:
"Is this the child sent by the Gods to take over my rule of Thebes?"
"Yes." Athena nodded: "His name is Amphitryon. He has just participated in the War that took place in the Kingdom of Mycenae and is a brave man. He needs power and status to marry a loved one, so he prayed to us. I can guarantee his virtue and wisdom; he is absolutely sufficient to serve as the King of Thebes."
"So it's Amphitryon." Ares looked at the young man with sympathy.
How could he not know that Amphitryon was certainly arranged by Athena to seize his power in Thebes? Ares was deeply wary of Athena. Ever since Ares's negotiations with Gaia's spokesperson, Kroto, broke down, he had elevated his vigilance to "combat readiness."
According to Gaia's spokesperson, he now has only two hundred years left to live. When those two hundred years are up, he cannot die of old age, so the Counter Force will naturally find a way to get rid of him.
However, the planetary Counter Force cannot directly interfere with the world. Besides summoning people from the Heroic Spirit Throne, they can also, like Kroto, find their enemies in the current era through signing contracts to deal with themselves.
However, the God King Zeus has now reached the pinnacle of the Greek World, with no other pursuits besides chasing women every day, so the Counter Force cannot instigate him. And if other main Gods were to come after him, they would most likely be counter-killed by him.
Therefore, according to Ares's estimation, the person most likely to be chosen by Gaia to deal with him should be Athena.
But before, during the time Ares was busy establishing Sparta, Athena unexpectedly did not come to trouble him. Ares, in his leisure, took the time to ask other main Gods about Athena's situation, and learned that not only was he establishing a city-state, but Athena also seemed to be busy establishing her own city-state.
Her city-state would naturally be the famous Athens in the future, a city-state named after the Goddess Pallas Athena. It would not only dominate all of Greece for a long time in the future but also be one of the most commendable cities in human history, known as the "cradle of Western civilization." It nurtured a large number of scholars and thinkers who left their names in history, such as Socrates and Plato, leaving extremely valuable cultural heritage for the human world.
Goddess Athena would also become increasingly prominent throughout Greece due to the prosperity of this city-state, becoming the Goddess above all others, second only to the God King Zeus. During her peak, she almost became Zeus's substitute, capable of performing all duties and adjudicating all matters on behalf of the God-King.
However, now, Athena was able to spare time to select someone to go to Thebes to seize power. Ares estimated that her city-building plan should have progressed to a certain stage. Therefore, while he was feigning compliance with Athena here, his divine power avatar on Olympus also went to Apollo to inquire, and received a positive reply.
Athena seems to have chosen the site for building Athens and has begun to gather people, just waiting for her followers to arrive before construction can begin. However, now that Ares has learned of this, he certainly will not allow Athena's city-building plan to proceed as she wishes.