After Poseidon and Athena respectively displayed their power and gifts to the mortals, the Athenians present slowly began to cast their votes with their actions.
They ignored the magnificent White Horses created by Poseidon and all walked towards the olive grove created by Athena. Seeing this scene, Poseidon's face turned ashen with rage, and he gripped his trident tightly.
The Sea King was such a god—he had the ambition to be a God King, but lacked the wisdom and ability. He had previously clashed with many other main gods, attempting to seize their divine authority in their respective city-states, but all ended in failure.
He blindly believed that his power and might would make these mortals tremble and kneel in submission, but he forgot that these people had been guided by Athena to build their city here; they were all loyal followers of Athena.
If Athena hadn't been there, it might have been different, but with Athena standing by, these mortals would surely choose their protecting Goddess over the Sea King.
"It seems the outcome is clear,"
Zeus, standing on the clouds, stroked his chin, observing the reactions of the Athenians below. However, just as he was about to raise his arm to declare Athena's victory, a huge wave suddenly appeared on the distant ocean.
The sky was covered by dark clouds and torrential rain, and white "high walls" began to appear on the sea. On these walls of waves, the Athenians saw with horror that within them were terrifying armies composed of sea creatures and sea monsters.
"Poseidon's army?"
Seeing these sea monsters and sea creatures, the gods on the clouds were surprised. Apollo chuckled, "Ah, it seems Uncle Second has finally learned his lesson. This bet is going to be interesting."
Hearing his words, the other main gods nodded. They all understood that Poseidon's army was certainly not here to threaten the gods. Although the sea creature army looked terrifying now, if Zeus on the clouds were to hurl his divine lightning into the sea, these sea creatures would instantly become a pile of dead fish.
They were definitely here to boost Poseidon's prestige and threaten the Athenians on the ground.
But Ares jumped up when he saw these armies. His eyes widened, and he looked at the armies with delight, then said,
"Is there going to be War?"
"How could that be?" Demeter disdainfully shook her head. "How could Poseidon dare to fight Athena in front of the gods?"
"What do you know?" Ares retorted, "Sometimes, War is not something leaders can control. His Poseidon's army is already out. What if there's an accidental misfire, and a couple of people die? Do you believe the Athenians would directly fight the sea creatures?"
"You…" Demeter widened her eyes, glaring at her "nephew," but Ares showed no fear, looking at her with a sneer.
Seeing the tension below the clouds and also above, Zeus scratched his head helplessly, raised his hand, and stopped them:
"Alright, Ares, Demeter, stop arguing. Let's just open another bet. We'll bet on whether they'll fight, how about that?"
Ares and Demeter turned to look at each other, then said in unison, "Alright, let's bet."
Ares directly threw out his divine artifact, the Flame Sword, slammed it onto the clouds, and roared, "I'll bet that Poseidon and Athena's people will fight today! Place your bets, Demeter!"
"Betting with a divine artifact? Do you think I don't have one?" Demeter snorted, directly throwing out her staff. This was one of her important treasures, the "Midas Touch Staff." As the name implies, anything touched by this long staff would turn into gold.
"Alright, everyone, be a witness." Zeus collected Ares's Flame Sword and Demeter's Midas Touch Staff, then clapped his hands and said, "Look, someone is coming out of the sea."
The gods looked towards the sea upon hearing this and indeed saw a man, whose face bore an eight-tenths resemblance to Poseidon, rising from the forefront of the waves. Beside him was a young man riding on a large great white shark.
The gods recognized the man in front; he was Triton, Poseidon's eldest son, and the one who governed the Sea King's Golden Palace in his father's stead. The other young man, who seemed a bit frivolous, was also likely Poseidon's son.
"Father!"
As soon as he appeared on the sea, Triton called out to Poseidon:
"We've come to help you!"
Seeing this group of sea creatures, Athena frowned in displeasure. She said, "Poseidon, do you intend to break the agreement?"
"Ah, Goddess Athena misunderstands." Triton leaped from the waves and landed on the ground. The moment he landed, his merman-like legs transformed into human legs. Then, the Sea God's eldest son walked to his father's side and said to him:
"Halirrhothius and I are merely here to cheer on Father."
"Exactly." Poseidon laughed heartily, patting his eldest son's shoulder, and then pulled Halirrhothius, who had just been manipulated ashore by Ares, closer. Then he looked at the Athenians, his gaze revealing ill intent:
"You must vote fairly, mind you. Think carefully, which is better, horses or olives? If you try to fool me, I might just lose my temper."
"Is there even a choice?"
Halirrhothius, controlled by Ares, walked over forcefully to the Athenians. He pushed aside these mortals and then, from who knows where, he produced an axe.
Waving the axe, he approached the olive grove, then laughed at the Athenians:
"You people, you already have horses, why do you need olive trees? Huh? Come on, I'll help you chop them down!"
With that, Halirrhothius immediately rolled up his sleeves, raised his axe, and prepared to chop down the olive grove.
This disrespectful act towards Athena angered the Athenians, and they all looked towards Athena, but to their surprise, the Goddess of Wisdom merely watched him with a calm expression, without stopping him.
Others didn't understand the reason for her calmness, but Ares did.
From Halirrhothius's perspective, these olive groves had long been imbued with exquisite magic by the Goddess of Wisdom. If anyone dared to harm these trees, he would suffer a double backlash.
However, Ares was not afraid. Halirrhothius's value to him lay precisely in this: if the Sea King's son, who was helping the Sea King, died by the Goddess of Wisdom's magic under the watchful eyes of all gods and mortals, both in heaven and on earth, then Poseidon, no matter what he said, would inevitably fight Athena.
"This is probably also part of your plan, Athena."
As he swung the axe, Ares, on the clouds, narrowed his eyes and looked at the Goddess on the ground:
"If Kroto truly entrusted you with the task of dealing with me, you couldn't possibly have failed to anticipate this move of mine. In that case, then take my 'Son's Head Presented' move first."
His thoughts, of course, would not be answered by Athena on the ground, but Halirrhothius's axe had already unhesitatingly struck the olive trees.
The next moment, a slash shot up into the sky. Amidst the divine blood that filled the air, a bewildered human head spun and landed on the grass beside the grove.
"?!—Halirrhothius!"
Outside Athens, Sea King Poseidon's furious roar echoed.