chapter 16

Going down on his carriage, Hephaestus was on his way towards the home of the enforcers, the titans that had Allied themselves with Zeus and the Olympians during the Titanomachy and were among Zeus's most trusted allies. Hephaestus doesn't have any kind of relationship with the enforcers and has only ever saw their abode once, a couple of years ago when Athena and Artemis were training under Nike the Titan Goddess of victory.

The carriage that he was on was being pulled by his two pets, Asími and Chrysós, normally they'd be humongous creatures but that's only when they're on guard duty but now that they're pulling his carriage their size was reduced to be more manageable. His mortal past self would be quite ecstatic to ride a carriage being pulled by a golden Dog and a silver lion but now that he was Hephaestus it was pretty standard and unexciting however he was quite impressed by how grand the mountain range beneath Olympus was.

His carriage eventually made it to his destination as it lands on the vibrant green grass beside a clear blue lake, as he landed his figure was scrutinized by the people he came to visit. Stepping out the carriage and touching the grass with his shoes he greeted the enforcers.

"Good afternoon to you all, Lady Nike and Bia, lord Kratos and lord Zelus"

He said with a bow, shaking their hands would take too long. If he recalled correctly each of these individuals was a force to be reckoned with. Nike the personification of victory, Kratos the personification of Strength, Bia the personification of force and Zelus the personification of Zeal/faith. The domains they preside over are quite strong infact one could even describe them as Hacks, especially so for Nike and Bia.

"You look different son of Zeus"

Kratos was the first to speak addressing the matter regarding his looks, he understood honestly, he wasn't exactly known for his handsomeness in the past.

"Yeah, I had to do some changes a little"

"Now your looks are truly befitting of a God, I approve of these changes you made"

"I thank you lady Bia, lord Kratos I've come to ask for your help"

Deciding to disregard the rudeness of the statement said by Bia he got right to the reason why he is here. As the one who rules over the concept of strength, Kratos was the most apt God for him to test his own strength and see his limits. Aside from the fact that he knew of no one else to help him since Athena wasn't there he also wanted to humble himself a bit, he didn't want to defeat an Olympian God and then get arrogant  just because he defeated one God out of many, he needed to see how he measured up against the truly strong he can then be arrogant afterwards.

"With what?"

"I wish for you to spar with me to test my strength".

"what!! no don't ask him, if you want a spar then I'm the better choice."

Nike immediately Volunteered herself, to which Hephaestus grimaced slightly. He had nothing against Nike herself it's just that he plans to come for a spar regularly and if he spars with her, he will never win in any type or form and he'll never be able to track his progress, at least with Kratos he can just consider landing a punch a win but with Nike that punch would be impossible to land.

'Wait a minute…'

"I'm sorry lady Nike maybe tomorrow? I do plan on coming back regularly"

He expressed, something had occurred within his mind and made him accept her offer. Befriending Nike and having a good relationship with her should allow him to be able to create Excalibur, he can try and see if she can detect someone else trying to use her concept of victory and maybe with her permission he could make an Excalibur imbued with her concept.

"Excellent, Tomorrow it is then."

"With that settled, what do you say."

"Please take your spar else where, I don't need the noise"

Bia interjected and caused  a sigh to be released from Kratos, it would be troublesome to have her complain so he decided it was fine to  go into the small forest nearby. He has already decided to help Hephaestus not because he asked but because he was curious about how strong he was, Hephaestus was no Ares or Athena, He was not a God particularly built for combat, or maybe he was good in weapon's combat Since he is a God of crafting and forging. Kratos was interested in seeing what he can do

"fine, we'll take the spar in the forest, follow me Hephaestus"

He motioned the young God to follow him before he sprouted wings from his Back and took off forcing Hephaestus to follow after him, Kratos was fast when it comes to flight just likes his siblings, Hephaestus left his two beasts Asími and Chrysós who simply started to nap and wait for him to return, they understood where he had gone and there was no need for them to follow so instead they napped.

"I'm going to follow"

Nike said without notice and took off, leaving the two. Zelus went back to his alter and began worship Zeus again, leaving Bia to herself.

"Well it seems like everyone has something to do except for me, guess I'll go prepare for Lord Zeus's arrival  even if he won't be coming today I still need to be ready"

.....

There she was again laying on her own bed with her back thinking to herself, It's always been the same thing over and over again. He comes over she denies him but he uses his sliver tongue and wears her down until she gives in, she can never refuse him no matter how much she wants to she just can't. How can Themis Resist him? Yet she can't, is she really so weak when it comes to will power? Or maybe she loves him?.

'No that can't be the case'

This was simply Him Relieving his own boundless lust on to her not only  that but  she  herself isn't blameless  after all saying The word "no"  shouldn't be hard. Perhaps she likes it, the Desire in his eyes was  probably why she cannot say no, she liked it.

"Sorry Hera"

She whispered to herself, a silent apology to the God queen. The two of them are not friends and she doubts they'll ever be after all Hera tried to kill her Children but then again she is also at fault, How can  she callously disregard the law  of marriage all just because she liked the way he looked at her.  She recognized just how meaningless that  apology was, if she was really sorry and wanted to respect the law of marriage she would have refused him countless times but she didn't. Was she really  that desperate ? It's not like there was a shortage of Gods she could take to her bed infact as one of the 12 Olympians it should be easy to get  a God, yet for some reason Zeus is the one she always ends in bed with.

"Did you say something, Leto?"

He asked, she had thought he was a sleep  but it seems he heard her or at the very least heard that she spoke but not the words she spoke.

"leave"

"Yes, of course"

She said and Zeus held no complaints, The was no resistance, he did not feel hurt nor did he feel happy this was routine after all, something that has been happening for while now all most as if it's on permanent repeat. Zeus got what he needed from her and there's no need to  stay, he'll come again when he needs it and she'll give it to him just like always.

Zeus immediately got up from the bed, stretched his arms and Yawned and the proceeded to put on his toga.

"I'll be visiting the enforcers today so if anyone asks tell I'm in their Residence"

"You aren't even going to go to your palace and explain where you were to Hera?"

"She understands"

"She understands what? That—"

"Anyway  I'll be seeing you"

In but a flash of lightning Zeus was gone leaving Leto to sigh in defeat and place her hand on her forehead, honestly how can he disregard Hera like that? He claims to love her yet he acts like he doesn't.

"How uncaring"

She uttered before sitting up right and scratched her head, it was the afternoon meaning they've been asleep for a few hours since they stopped at dawn. Thinking back on it now she realized how easy it could have been to say no but she didn't.

"wonder what Artemis is doing?"

.....

"Do go easy on me please lord Kratos"

Hephaestus expressed whilst facing against Kratos who stood a few meters away from him, this was going to be a spar to test his strength as such he needed to Start slow and work his way up this means he needs Kratos to slowly increase his strength up to the point where Hephaestus can no longer keep up.

"Enough with the lord title, call me by my name, don't worry, I know you are a God of forging so this spar won't strain you too much."

After having explained Kratos moves his line of sight towards the sky and spotted Nike who he figured was here to watch, he decided not to say anything and returned his gaze to Hephaestus who seemed ready as he already took a fighting stance. Once Hephaestus's stance was taken.

"Alright then come at me"

The titan of strength voiced and his opponent sprung forth in a burst of speed and arrived before him with swing of his right fist aiming for his jaw. Kratos quickly parried the attack, slapping the fist to the side leaving Hephaestus's face open and Kratos swung his left hand to land a hit on Hephaestus's face however Hephaestus's quickly halted his movement and then pulled back his face dodging the punch to his by an inch he then jumped back dodging a kick from Kratos and opening the distance between them once again.

Kratos did not give him a chance as he took the offense arriving before Hephaestus and landed a straight punch to the chest sending the God of forging sending him back by another couple of meters, crash onto trees as he flew back.

'Should have seen that coming I—"

He thought and unfortunately his thoughts were cut short as Kratos was once again before him and landed another blow this time to the jaw causing Hephaestus to Stagger back before he felt another punch, to the face and another one to the stomach, Kratos was on him not giving anytime to think or react, his onslaught went on for a full five minutes, however during those five minutes Hephaestus felt like some thing wasn't  right. Kratos then let Hephaestus catch a breather and jumped back to his previous position, He stared at his fists  before looking back at Hephaestus and speaking.

"Your pretty tough I'll  give you that, during the gigantomachy I heard you Defeated a Giant, Was it a named Giant?"

Kratos asked, The gigantomachy was the second war that was fought by the Olympians rights after their war with the Titans, The war with the giants start because Zeus did not keep his promises  to Gaia about letting her children free from Tartarus, I mean he did free them but he then sent them back. Incidentally the reason why Uranus was also dethrone was because of how he treated his and Gaia's  children.

"Yes, Mimas was the one I Defeated"

"Hmm good, now I can increase the amount of strength I can use, I noticed that you're pretty durable, you hardly felt those punches did you?"

Of course it was a given that one cannot fight a being  as strong as a Giant especially a named Giant without good durability and strength, named Giants were among the 12 most powerful giants during the gigantomachy and defeating one was a feat worthy of praise. With that information Kratos now knew how to properly spar with Hephaestus.

Hephaestus scratched the side of his cheeks as He heard him speak, it was true that he hardly felt those punches but that wasn't the problem, the problem was that he couldn't react to Kratos's speed the  moment he wasn't allowed to think properly his body couldn't react, It also didn't help that he didn't have any battle oriented skills to help him. Frankly speaking the Giant his past self defeated was the weakest of the 12 and he didn't exactly defeat it in a bare knuckle brawl, so Kratos probably has the wrong impression of how strong he truly is but that's fine.

.......

A/N: just so you know Kratos is Hella op, hax Even, all the enforcers are.

Also in different versions of the myths Zelus is either the personification of Glory or faith or Zeal but since faith and Zeal are kinda similar in my head I omitted the part of him being Glory

Please comment your thoughts and offer a suggestion of any kind