Inside Athens, in Medusa's former residence, Athena, the beautiful ruler and guardian deity of Athens, stood at the doorway, looking up at the sky.
Notos, God of the South Wind, who had previously been captured by Heracles, had been released back into the sky by her. He was now faithfully carrying out his rain-bringing duties. As for why he specifically chose to bring rain to Athens, it was likely his way of expressing dissatisfaction with Athena.
He had been tricked by Athena into blocking Heracles' path. During the persuasion process, Athena had promised him many benefits, such as interceding for him before Zeus and trying to exempt him from eternal servitude.
However, Notus was ambushed by Ares and Heracles. Even Athena had not expected Heracles, trained by Ares, to be so audacious as to brutalize Notus, who was clearly a deity, and tie him up like a slave. One must remember that this was the Age of Gods; in this era, reverence for the gods was the most universal value in the Greek World. Heracles' actions were beyond even the description of "heretical."
By now, Notus had been beaten for nothing. Athena, in an attempt to mend her relationship with Heracles, had directly forgiven Heracles, and she hadn't given Notus many of the benefits she had promised him. At most, she paid for Notus's medical expenses through Apollo, which caused Notos, God of the South Wind, to completely lose trust in Athena.
Athena estimated that Notos, God of the South Wind, was probably thinking something along the lines of, "Did Athena trick me from the start to boost that demigod's achievements?"
However, she didn't care. When she initially sought out Notos, God of the South Wind, she never intended to include him in her next divine court. Notus was indeed right about one thing: in Athena's eyes, he was merely a tool, and not a very effective one at that.
Athena continued to gaze outside the door. Although it was raining heavily, there were still many people on the streets of Athens. They were the city-state slaves maintained by Athens, primarily responsible for providing public services to the entire city-state.
A few days ago, during the daytime, Poseidon and Heracles had a fierce fight, and Ares directly smashed her temple and statue. The aftershocks caused by the earthquake then collapsed several houses. On the evening of the same day, the demonized Medusa, while escaping, also broke a gap in the city wall. These places needed these slaves to work overtime to repair them; otherwise, by nightfall, the citizens of Athens could be threatened by the monsters outside the city.
Several days had passed since Medusa's escape. That night, a fierce supernatural battle took place outside Athens. Various fires, flashes, and explosions rose from the olive grove outside the city, and a large area of the garden was turned into stone by some strange magic. No one knew exactly what happened, but on the morning of the next day, the soldiers of Athens finally found the demigod hero Perseus, severely wounded by Ares, outside the city.
Athena silently calculated the time. At Ares's speed, Medusa had probably already been taken by him to Invisible Island and settled with her sisters, and Athena had also timely released the news of Medusa's demonization into a Gorgon, just as Ares had intended.
Although they were enemies, there was an unspoken understanding between the two. After all, before their mutual conquests, their primary goal was to escape The Fates who were trying to manipulate everything from behind the scenes.
While she was deep in thought, a general wearing a feathered helmet suddenly arrived outside Athena's house. He knelt before Athena, bowing deeply in the wind and rain, and reported:
"Goddess, that person has been kneeling in front of the temple ruins for an entire day."
"Hmm." Athena's gaze shifted towards her temple. The stone walls did not obstruct her vision, and she clearly saw the figure kneeling in front of the pouring rain-soaked temple ruins.
The demigod hero, her half-brother Perseus.
After watching for a while, Athena withdrew her gaze and then asked softly:
"Have his injuries healed?"
"They are completely healed." When this topic came up, a hint of surprise flashed in the Athenian general's eyes. He replied, "The demigod hero's physical constitution exceeded the doctors' imaginations. By yesterday, his injuries had already healed as good as new."
"He healed and came straight to kneel?" Athena murmured softly, then instructed the general, "You've worked hard. For now, leave him be. Go and continue supervising the repair work."
"Yes."
After the general left, Athena waited a while longer. Then, from the void within the house, the figure of Lachesis, one of The Fates, slowly emerged from the air, transitioning from ethereal to solid, and appeared behind Athena.
"How is it?"
Upon hearing Lachesis's footsteps, Athena asked without turning her head:
"Is there anything wrong with this 'Perseus'?"
"Cannot confirm, due to the distortion of the fate line, the first half of his life is already vastly different from his original destiny."
Lachesis shook her head gently and replied:
"However, it can be confirmed that his fate line indeed has no intersection with Ares."
Athena lowered her head in thought for a moment, then said:
"Then let him stew for a while longer. We'll test his loyalty a bit. Ares has that great goddess backing him, and even if their fate lines don't intersect, it doesn't mean they can't control Perseus."
"Alright." Lachesis also looked in Perseus's direction: "Then shouldn't you tell him to get up now?"
"Let him kneel for a while longer," Athena said. "This is for me, and it is for him."
...
In the Underworld, within Hecate's Garden, Ares glanced at Perseus kneeling on the light screen before him, then immediately shifted his attention to his other avatars.
To the Athenians, this was a heroic and moving ode to the loyalty of the demigod hero Perseus. But for Ares, the account holder, it was merely him operating Perseus's physical body, striking a "kneeling posture" in front of Athena's Temple, and then going offline.
"Your operation is really convenient," Hecate couldn't help but remark, watching the Athenians coming and going in the light screen, casting respectful and sympathetic glances at Perseus:
"If this continues, even if Athena herself doesn't trust you, she will choose to use you due to the pressure of public opinion among the Athenians, won't she?"
"Of course." Ares snorted and said, "Other gods might not care about mortals' attitudes, but Athena cannot. After all, she harbors grand ambitions and cannot ignore the thoughts of any race in this world."
"What if she genuinely doesn't want to use you?" Hecate asked.
"That's simple," Ares said with a laugh, pointing at the light screen. "Anyway, I don't lose anything. If she doesn't use me, I'll just go idle until she's willing to use me."