On Olympus, at the Gods' banquet, Ares's divine power avatar, as usual, held a wine glass and sat alone in a corner, exuding an aura that kept others away.
But in reality, his spirit had already delved deep into the Heroic Spirit Throne outside the world, beginning to try out the audacious operations he had thought of before, such as contacting the Root directly from the Heroic Spirit Throne to achieve magic on the level of the Five Great Laws.
Just then, a quarrel suddenly erupted at the Gods' banquet. Hearing the commotion, Ares turned his head to look, and discovered that the two parties quarreling were Sea King Poseidon and the hunting goddess Artemis.
This was a very rare situation. It was common for Poseidon to argue with other main Gods, as this Sea King had an insatiable greed that could swallow the heavens, often trying to challenge his younger brother's authority and frequently encroaching upon the domains of other main Gods. However, Artemis had always been a very quiet and marginalized main God.
In Ares's memory, this white-haired sister, besides quietly hunting in her own forest with her Nymph attendants, almost never concerned herself with worldly affairs, and mortal city-states rarely worshipped her as a patron deity. However, because Artemis managed hunting, and hunting was still an important food source for humans with underdeveloped productivity, Artemis's faith as a main God was never lacking.
She was in the forest, Poseidon was in the sea, and Artemis essentially had no territory that the Sea King could invade, so it was truly rare for her to quarrel with Poseidon.
Seeing this, Ares also felt a hint of curiosity. He reined in his thoughts, focused a part of his mind on this divine power avatar, and then, holding his wine glass, walked towards where the dispute was happening.
By the time he walked over, the two Gods seemed to have finished their argument. With Zeus intervening, the dispute between the two Gods was forcibly terminated. Ares saw Poseidon continuing to hold his wine glass with an unconcerned expression, enjoying the banquet, while Artemis angrily walked to a corner of the banquet and sat down, being comforted by her mother, Leto.
Apollo also seemed to have noticed his sister's quarrel with Poseidon. Ares saw that this sister-complex God seemed to have been ready to fight Poseidon just now, but then Zeus intervened, and he gave up.
Even so, while dealing with a group of goddesses, he was quietly paying attention to his sister out of the corner of his eye.
Ares took all of this in, and then he walked directly towards Artemis. Coming before the two goddesses, he raised his wine glass, offered a respectful toast to them, and then directly asked Artemis, getting straight to the point:
"Artemis, why did you quarrel with Poseidon?"
"It's nothing, it's all over." Goddess Leto patted her daughter's back, soothing her emotions, and smiled at Ares, "It's nothing major, Ares, thank you for your concern."
"Don't be afraid," Ares said, looking at Goddess Leto's expression, "We three main Gods, Artemis, Apollo, and I, why should we be afraid of Poseidon? Goddess Leto, if he dares to do anything to you, the three of us will go and beat him up."
Goddess Leto had just opened her mouth to speak when she heard Artemis angrily say to Ares:
"Listen to me, Ares! That old lecher Poseidon is truly inhumane, and his son is inhumane too! They dare to lay hands on and possess anyone they want!"
Then, Artemis told Ares the entire cause and process of the dispute between the two Gods.
It turned out that, as a virgin goddess, Artemis's leadership policy was different from Athena's. Because Athena was forced to swear an oath of chastity with Ares, but in order to expand her sphere of influence, she certainly could not prevent those who believed in her, as well as her subordinate Gods and followers, from falling in love, marrying, and procreating. But Artemis was different; she willingly became a virgin goddess, and thus, under Artemis, there was a group of devout believers who also followed her in maintaining their chastity.
Among these believers were many princesses and priestesses who were tired of male pursuits. They were all extremely beautiful, and thus became objects of desire for many in heaven and on earth. However, ordinary people feared Artemis's divine power and dared not lay hands on her believers.
However, just because ordinary people dared not, it didn't mean there was no one in this world who dared. After all, Olympus's leader, Zeus, was a man of immense lust. So, not long ago, a certain son of Sea God Poseidon directly violated one of Artemis's priestesses, and even killed her.
The wronged soul of this priestess lingered in the mortal world, unwilling to go to the underworld with Thanatos. She prayed to the goddess before Artemis's statue, telling Artemis of her grievances, and because she had been staying within Artemis's divine domain, Thanatos found it difficult to act, so he simply let her stay there.
And after learning the details of the matter from her worshipper, Artemis demanded that Poseidon hand over this son of his for her to judge, to appease her priestess, but Sea King Poseidon naturally refused.
Whether he loved this son of his was debatable, but at the very least, Sea King Poseidon could not lose face in front of his niece and the Gods of Olympus.
Therefore, he resolutely refused Artemis, which led to the recent quarrel. Artemis herself almost fought her second uncle on the spot.
"Do you know the name of this son of the Sea King you're talking about?"
Ares asked, a little curious.
Because in mythology, the only man closely associated with Artemis, Orion the hunter, was actually a demigod hero born from Poseidon's promiscuity.
Fortunately, Artemis angrily blurted out another name:
"Of course I know, his name is Halirrhothius. I've looked into it; this fellow has been a wicked lecher for a long time! But Zeus won't punish him, and even told me there's no need to get angry with another God over a human…"
"Halirrhothius? Halirrhothius…" Hearing this name, Ares fell into contemplation: "Why do I feel like I've heard that name somewhere before."
He held his wine glass, thinking carefully, watching the golden liquid in the glass slowly sway. Ares gradually recalled the role this character played in the original myth.
[Damn it! Isn't this scoundrel the one who raped Ares's daughter in the myths—]
Now this was good. New grievances added to old hatreds, and Ares had recently been contemplating how to devour the influence of other main Gods and how to hinder Athena from establishing Athens. At this juncture, Halirrhothius was simply the perfect sacrifice delivered to him.
So Ares directly drained the contents of his glass, then stood up and fiercely said to Artemis, "Artemis, don't be afraid. If Zeus won't avenge you, your brother will!"