Finding Ares wasn't difficult, as the God of War had a divine power avatar that occupied a spot on Olympus twenty-four hours a day.
When Aphrodite found the God of War, he was in the Fire Gods Hall, helping his brother Hephaestus forge a batch of exquisite weapons.
The specifications of these weapons were enormous, clearly not intended for humans, and the materials Hephaestus used were also extremely expensive and rare. To forge them, the God of Fire even chased out the attendant gods and Cyclops servants who served him, leaving only the two brothers in the temple. Ares used his divine power to control the furnace temperature, while Hephaestus held his hammer, carefully striking the weapons on the forging table.
Aphrodite walked into the temple gate with practiced ease; after all, she was the Fire God's ex-wife, so the attendant Giants guarding outside didn't stop her. The Goddess of Beauty, upon entering the temple and seeing these weapons, simply assumed Ares and his brother were forging weapons for the Hecatoncheires guarding the Bronze Palace in Tartarus and didn't pry further.
What she needed to discuss with Ares now was a more important matter.
"Ares, I…"
The Goddess of Beauty approached, just about to speak, when the God of War suddenly turned his head, raised a finger, and said to her:
"Shush—don't speak, I'm busy."
After speaking, he turned his head back, carefully controlling the furnace temperature, cooperating with Hephaestus's actions.
Aphrodite opened her mouth, then looked at the silent God of Fire who was hammering the iron block. She called out tremblingly:
"Hephaestus?"
"Hephaestus!"
She called twice in a row, but the God of Fire showed no reaction. All his energy was focused on the weapon in front of him, and he was deaf to Aphrodite's calls.
Seeing that the God of Fire refused to acknowledge her, Aphrodite had no choice but to use her most powerful weapon as the Goddess of Beauty—crying.
She shed mournful tears, pleading with her ex-husband:
"Hephaestus, please, we were once husband and wife, I beg you, for the sake of that relationship, please ask your brother to let his teacher be lenient and return my poor Eros to my side."
In the mythological world of Greece, there is no such thing as'soul scattered.' All creatures, whether in heaven or on earth, transform into phantoms after death and come to the Underworld governed by Hades, becoming his subjects.
Theoretically, even if Zeus were to accidentally die from a stroke one day, he would become a subject of his elder brother, and the throne of the God-King would be relinquished.
Therefore, although Eros was pierced by Athena's spear and then stripped of all his divine duties and powers by Zeus's lightning, completely destroying his form, his phantom should eventually wander to the Underworld, becoming a member of the Underworld now managed by Hecate.
However, with his divine duties and divinity now taken by Zeus through the God-King's authority, Eros could only exist as an ordinary phantom, like all other phantoms, dutifully taking Charon's ferry across the river, then facing judgment from the three judges in the Fields of Truth, and finally going to Tartarus or Elysium.
In this process, if Hecate, the current regent of the Underworld, wished, it could indeed be manipulated, and Eros could even become a minor god in the Underworld.
However, although Aphrodite's cries were mournful and even used divine power, affecting the attendant Giants outside the temple, her crying did not affect the focused God of Fire. When her divine power-infused cries reached the God of Fire, they were already blocked by another, more powerful divine barrier.
Ares, controlling the furnace temperature, turned his head and said to her indifferently:
"Shut up, or I'll kill you."
Ares's tone was understated, without a hint of killing intent, yet it scared Aphrodite into immediately shutting her mouth and stopping her crying.
Now, she could only sob, looking pitifully at the person who might have indirectly killed her son.
Ares glanced at her, then gently patted the furnace, leaving some of his divine power to control the temperature for him. Then he came before Aphrodite, looking down at her with his height advantage, and asked:
"How does it feel, Aphrodite, to have your son harmed before your eyes, yet be powerless to do anything?"
Aphrodite said nothing, but Ares's words stirred her recent emotions. She lowered her head, filled with endless indignation and sorrow, but she dared not show it to Ares, because Ares might now be her son Eros's only lifeline.
As if seeing through Aphrodite's current feelings, a slight curve appeared at the corner of Ares's mouth. Then, he whispered to the Goddess of Beauty:
"Remember this feeling, Aphrodite. The parents of those whom you and Eros arbitrarily manipulated with love and lust, their hearts felt the same as yours right now."
After speaking, he gave a somewhat self-mocking smile before continuing:
"I can let Eros remain in the Underworld and not go to Tartarus for punishment."
Aphrodite raised her head in surprise, but then Ares added:
"But this is not without a price, Aphrodite. I need you to pay something from yourself."
Then, Ares told her what he wanted. After hearing it, the Goddess of Beauty's eyes widened in surprise, and then she said angrily:
"You're robbing me!"
"Wrong. If I were robbing you, your divinity and divine duties would already be gone," Ares said to the Goddess of Beauty, with one hand behind his back. "For you, which is more important, your own divinity and divine duties, or your beloved son? You choose."
…
A moment later, the Goddess of Beauty lifted her skirt and hurriedly left Olympus, flying towards the earth.
Ares, who had completed his transaction with her, returned to the Fire Gods Hall, came to the furnace, and placed his hand on it, continuing to control the temperature for Hephaestus's forging.
However, at this moment, the God of Fire had also just finished forging a weapon. He placed the greatsword into a nearby pool of water; high and low temperatures met, and a large amount of white steam immediately rose from the pool.
After cooling the weapon, Hephaestus carefully set it aside before slowly speaking, "I know you want to win, but your methods aren't necessarily any cleaner than Athena's, Ares."
"I know," Ares said, lifting the greatsword and stroking its blade. "That's why I'll have you take Hera and leave this troublesome place after you finish this order for me."
Hephaestus was silent for a moment, then agreed, "After I finish forging this batch of weapons for you, I'll take Hera back to Oceanus for a visit."
Ares nodded, and Hephaestus asked again, "Are you really going to give all these weapons to the Giants on the Pallene Peninsula?"
"Of course," Ares retorted when he heard this. "If I don't do that, do you really think I'm joking about defeating Zeus and Athena?"