What's going on?

The tension between Ares and The Ruler was palpable.

"Like I said, what do you want!" Ares was full of anger and had no patience

The Ruler didn't look slighted at all, it was the complete opposite. "HAHAHAHA!" The Ruler randomly started laughing uncontrollably.

"What's so funny?" (I had to keep my calm coming here, but after seeing the person who dragged me out of my home forever, I can't just sit around and do nothing. )

The Ruler noticed this as well and began laughing again, " HAHAHAHAHAHAHA. I advise you don't try anything stupid before you regret it."

Ares wasn't very alarmed by The Rulers remark, '' I don't need you to worry for me.''

'' Please don't misinterpret me, I wouldn't care if you dropped dead right now." The Ruler said

Ares looked The Ruler up and down, " I don't care about what you think. The only thing I care about is why you brought me here...back to the place that kicked me out, back to the people who despised me after someone accused me of betraying them. all I want to know is why?"

"..."

"..."

Ares was getting tired of the silence and said " What is-"

"The demons began attacking us again." The Ruler's tone immediately switched.

"What!!!" Ares was extremely shocked, " I thought they would've learned their lesson after being defeated so many times."

There was still a lot of animosity between Ares and The Ruler, Ares's was now more focused on the subject at hand.

"I don't know what's going on either, but they have already raided some of our towns. The state of things isn't great...and that's where you come in."

"What do you mean?"

"You're gonna be the one to take care of it." The Ruler said casually

"..."

"HAHA, that's funny. Me, take care of it, HAHA. You don't make any sense, why would you want a traitor to handle matters so serious?" Ares did not take The Ruler's answer seriously at all.

" I don't recall giving you a choice. You're going to do it whether you agree or not." Ares felt disrespected by what The Ruler said and responded.

"What makes you think you could order me around!"

"Haha, you know, the funny part, I can." As soon as he said that, Ares fell to the ground.

"Huh." ( What's going on, why can't I move. )

The Ruler got up from his large throne and started walking towards the paralyzed Ares. " I assume you don't know what's going on, so I'll tell you.''

***

" 300 years ago when you foolishly tried to fight back against me, you should've known how it was going to play out." Ares struggled to breathe as he was being pressed against the ground, but he still managed to utter something out, " I...had...to try, GRHHH, I...couldn't just sit back and do...nothing."

"What...does...that have to do with...what's happening?" Ares said

"I'm glad you asked! After you tried to fight back against Heaven, you were badly injured, Mystic brought you back to the Palace in her arms. She went up to me weeping and pleaded that I would help you."

"..."

''..."

The Ruler broke the silence by saying, " I didn't want to help you at first...but I love my daughter more than anything so in the end, I helped you, for her. But I never told her how I helped you." The Ruler was smirking at Ares and continued. " I took you away from her and started to perform the operation on you"

"Grh!" Ares tried to speak, but it hurt too much when he did, so all he could do was listen to what The Ruler was saying.

"I understand that you may have a few questions for me, but before that, I've got a question for you." Ares was still in pain but was curious about what The Ruler wanted to ask.

" When you got exiled to earth, did you ever feel weaker than in Heaven?" The Ruler said, smiling mysteriously.

( Weaker? Have I ever felt weaker? ) Ares instantly thought of many times when he was weaker than his time in Heaven. ( How haven't I noticed? When I first arrived on Earth, I felt weaker than I ever did before. At first, I thought it was the aftermath of me using too much of my power over an extended period and that it would recover as time went on. After living on Earth for a few years, I gradually stopped noticing that I wasn't getting any stronger. It could've been because I was around humans for so long, or it could've been because the strongest human compared to me when I was at my weakest. It made me believe I was still powerful. Even so, what's he getting at? )