Ares had never deliberately shown his magic level in front of Hecate.
When he first started learning magic, he was wary of Hecate, the Goddess of Magic. After all, he was new to this world and sensed imminent danger. At that time, Ares dared not fully trust anyone.
Later, as the two gradually became familiar and slowly built a friendship and trust beyond ordinary teacher-student relationships, Ares, considering Hecate's 'love for showing off,' deliberately feigned weakness in front of her, not fully revealing his strength, to help Hecate maintain her 'teacher's dignity.'
And Hecate never really tried to test Ares' true level, so until now, she thought Ares' magic power had not reached the level of Circe, unable to discern the influence of 'Fate' on individuals.
She herself, of course, knew she had been messed with by Athena and the Three Goddesses, but perhaps not wanting to worry Ares, Hecate also concealed this matter and chose not to tell him.
However, after learning magic until today, Ares' magical attainments can be said to be the first in the Greek World below Hecate. Even Medea's aunt, Circe, known as another 'Goddess of Witchcraft,' is not as skilled as him in terms of magic alone.
He could, of course, see Hecate's state. Not only that, he could also see that almost all heroes close to him, including Heracles, who had completely sided with him, had their threads of fate cut by The Fates.
Moreover, due to varying strengths, not everyone could endure for one or two hundred years after their threads of fate were cut, like him and Hecate.
Atalanta was such a case. After her thread of fate was cut, her physical condition began to deteriorate. This was related to her devoting herself entirely to raising children and neglecting her own training, but it was also closely related to the influence of fate.
Then, to help the Olympus Gods stabilize their defenses and deal with the Snake-Foot Giants, Hades was forced to reveal his trump card, using his long-sealed Plague divine authority. Humanity was also affected, and Atalanta contracted a disease during this Plague.
Because Sparta had been prepared, Atalanta did not actually contract any serious or strange illness; she merely suffered from a common cold. But due to the influence of fate, a heroine who had participated in the Argo expedition lost her life in a not-so-serious cold.
Also, because her illness was so minor, Kratos never suspected any foul play behind it, thinking Atalanta had simply passed away normally.
Fortunately, Ares personally guarded the tomb in the end, confirming that Atalanta's spirit and soul successfully ascended to the Heroic Spirit Throne, becoming a neighbor to his own clones on the Heroic Spirit Throne, allowing them to visit each other at any time without hindrance. Otherwise, he would have made Athena sick to her stomach this time.
Therefore, Ares' primary goal was to research how to free himself from the influence of fate. Even defeating Athena and Zeus had a lower priority than this matter.
Ares estimated that Athena was also very wary of the elusive power of 'Fate.' Therefore, after Kratos' 'God-Slaying Plan' succeeded, she would most likely send Kratos to The Fates' secret palace to eliminate these three representatives of inhibitory forces.
And if things developed smoothly, then after Kratos' 'God-Slaying' succeeded, and the Three Goddesses along with the divine artifacts they used to control the fate of the Greek World were destroyed, Hecate and their crisis would naturally be resolved.
But if things did not go as he expected, Ares' risky plan was the last safeguard. If this plan succeeded, then Hecate, Heracles, and others would at least have hope of escaping their destined demise.
Ares had never thought before that he merely wanted to survive alone, and then, with enough power to protect himself and endless longevity, to experience the vibrant world of the modern or future era. But now, he had to bear the lives of all his allies; whether everyone could escape their fate rested solely on him.
However, Ares never told anyone about these matters, not even Hecate.
With the help of Eros' arrow of love, their relationship had actually broken through that threshold, but precisely because of this, Ares began to consider Hecate more, not wanting the Moon Goddess to bear too many burdens, just as Hecate did for him.
After all, he was also a man; some things, he always had to bear on his own.
"Alas, it's all Gaia's fault."
Standing above Tartarus, gazing at the distant bronze prison, Ares complained:
"She had to force me to do it, otherwise there wouldn't be so many troubles."
Without allowing himself too much time for lament, after lingering in Tartarus for a moment, Ares immediately rushed to his military camp outside the Hell Gate in the Underworld, taking over the work of four adjutants, and began to deploy troops, preparing to deal with the upcoming impact of the Olympus God Army.
A few days later, Athena indeed brought a large army, attempting to attack Ares' legions from various passages leading to the Underworld. However, since most of the passages from the human world to the Underworld were very narrow, even though the Olympus God Army had a numerical advantage over Ares' legions, they still could not penetrate the Underworld and were firmly defended by Ares' legions.
But Ares also dared not let his legions actively attack and go to the human world to engage in a large-scale decisive battle directly with Athena's army. In front of Athena, who had command of all the Olympus God Army, Ares' legions were an elite force, but their numbers were still insufficient.
Therefore, the two sides formed a tug-of-war pattern: Athena could not enter, and Ares could not leave. And the two also tacitly maintained this state. Gradually, the intensity of offense and defense of their subordinate armies slowly decreased. Although there were occasional localized Wars, the overall conflict between the two sides basically developed into a war of words.
This touched upon Ares' area of expertise. He took the time to specially compose some words for his subordinate armies, which infuriated Athena's people.
Thus, the two sides waged a tug-of-war between the Underworld and the human world for about a year, and finally, a special envoy arrived in Ares' War God Legion.