Hades, beat him

The night concealed all traces.

And so, the group arrived at the foot of Mount Olympus.

After arriving there, as soon as Promise dismounted from Pegasus—

"Just stand still, I need to bless you first."

After she finished speaking, before the boy could even react to her words, the black-haired, red-eyed goddess in a black dress gave him a hard kick in the butt.

As he turned to glare at her, Hecate raised her chin defiantly and said, "What are you looking at? Without a blessing, how do you expect your puny mortal body to survive in the divine realm?"

"I feel like you're taking revenge..." Promise muttered.

"You don't need to feel it—I am!"

Promise sighed in frustration, looking at the goddess in front of him, who had completely abandoned her dignified demeanor.

At this moment, she did not look like a goddess at all.

Not only had she given up all pretense, but Hecate was now fully embracing her laid-back attitude.

And to think she's supposed to be a great goddess!

"Promise, what should we do next?" Thetis, the gentle sea goddess, watched the two of them staring at each other, in amusement before askimg with a smile.

Her soft voice also broke the tension.

But before Promise could answer—

"Let's go! I'll lead the charge! I'm going to beat Athena into the ground!" Ares, the God of War, clad in his battle armor, stepped forward, brimming with excitement.

Though he had no idea what was going on, he knew one thing: it was time for carnage!

Ares truly didn't know the full story—when Aphrodite, the Goddess of Love, found him following the instructions of the three Fates, she didn't even bother explaining.

At that time, she simply told him he could fight Poseidon, the god of the sea, Apollo, the god of light, Hera, the Queen of heaven and Athena... especially Athena, the goddess of wisdom.

The moment he heard that he could fight that goddess, Ares immediately became excited and rushed over without stopping

Seeing this, the other gods, who also came with him, instinctively distanced themselves from Ares, as if afraid that they would he effected and his breath or even presence would lower their IQs.

Seeing his enthusiasm, Promise blinked, thinking for a moment, then said with a smile. "Don't worry, honorable Lord Ares. I promise you'll get the chance to have a good, proper fight with Goddess Athena!"

The moment Promise said this, Ares immediately felt that the young man in front of him was extremely pleasing to the eye.

Originally, at the beginning, the God of War hadn't cared much about Promise, who seemed as weak as a newborn.

But now, with the promise of a battle, Ares was all in.

Laughing loudly, he strode over to Promise, clapping him on the shoulder with enthusiasm. "Hahaha, good kid! You must be Chiron's student, Promise, right?

Very good. From today onward, I will protect you. If you ever need to fight, just call me!"

As he spoke, Ares patted Promise' shoulder excitedly.

But who was he?

The god of war.

How could he know how to hold back?

With one powerful slap on the shoulder, Promise—despite Hecate's earlier blessing—was nearly flattened.

Had it not been for the blessing, he might've blacked out and found himself in the Underworld... or more accurately, back in the modern world!

Even with the blessing, Ares' slap on the shoulder directly buried Promise face-first into the ground.

"Wow, you little kid, why are you so fragile..."

Before the surprised Ares could even finish his words, his body instantly tensed.

Because, in that moment, he became the absolute focal point of everyone present.

Everyone looked at him with hostile eyes, and Moon goddess Artemis even had her bow drawn, aiming directly at his head!

For once, even the fearless Ares felt a bit flustered at this time.

Fortunately, Thetis quickly pulled Promise out of the dirt, while Hecate stood nearby, laughing loudly and without restraint—until Nyx, the Goddess of Night, gave her a good-natured smack on the head.

When Promise finally regained his senses, he did not look at the god, who slapped him to the ground with any resentment or whatever, instead, he looked at Hecate in amazement.

After all, he, who was as frail as a flower was only kicked by her and given him a simple blessing, but he actually survived a slap from the God of War just now!

As expected, Hecate, the reluctant "employee," was quite reliable, Promise thought with a sense of appreciation.

Hecate, who had been laughing just moments ago, abruptly stopped.

Though she didn't know exactly what Promise was thinking, a sudden chill ran down her spine, and she shot him a deathly glare.

As for what happened next...well, it doesn't need to be said anymore.

Soon, the majestic Pegasus unfurled its silver wings once again, carrying Promise high into the sky, flying toward the realm of the gods, the peak of Mount Olympus...

At that moment, it felt just like one of the ancient myths.

In the original myth, Bellerophon, the hero who tamed Pegasus, became arrogant and prideful, believing he deserved to live among the gods, deserving the same treatment as them.

So, he commanded Pegasus to take him to the realm of the gods, only to be thrown off, falling to his doom and losing everything.

Promise, too, was now riding atop Pegasus, heading toward the domain of the gods.

But unlike Bellerophon, he wasn't driven by arrogance or pride...

Ah, although, leading a group of Olympian gods to storm their own domain might seem far more outrageous by comparison, but believe him..he had no other motives.

Sitting behind him, was Goddess Hecate, with a look of despair on her face.

She couldn't help but recall how just moments ago, the moon goddess Artemis, Persephone, and Demeter had all been vying for the seat behind Promise. And how she, who had been merely watching the show, was suddenly grabbed by the goddess of night and forced to sit here.

The hostile looks from the other goddesses that followed...

Hecate now had half a mind to strangle Promise.

Are you catnip for goddesses or something?!

Sure, I'm not afraid of them, and if I've provoked them, so be it.

But this is so annoying, okay!

However, despite the clear look of displeasure on their faces, none of the goddesses could argue against Hecate taking that seat.

After all, what lay ahead was a civil battle between the Olympian gods, with Athena and Poseidon among the strongest forces.

Once the fighting started, even the smallest shockwaves could easily send Promise straight to the Underworld.

So, apart from Hecate, no one else could be confident to protect Promise in the chaos that was about to unfold.

"Goddess Hecate..."

As Pegasus soared toward the divine realm, Promise suddenly called out to Hecate.

However the latter completely ignored him, merely looking up at the sky.

Promise didn't care and continued his questioning with curiosity, "By the way, if you were to fully empower Lord Ares, would he stand a chance against Goddess Athena?"

In the Holy Grail War of Fuyuki City, Hecate's student Medea had once enhanced an ordinary schoolteacher to the point where he could fight Heroic Spirits head-on.

And judging by that slap from Ares earlier, it was clear that while this goddess might be unreliable in personality, her power was undeniable.

"No chance," Hecate replied without even turning her head. "Even with a boost, he'd still lose. Though he might last longer before getting beaten."

In ancient Greek mythology, there was an infamous account from the Trojan War.

During the conflict, the god of war Ares once fought with Athena because he couldn't stand losing.

The outcome? Athena kicked Ares to the ground and proceeded to pummel him, pinning his face to the earth.

Just as Promise was nodding, wearing a look of unsurprised realization, Hecate suddenly seemed to remember something.

She finally shifted her gaze toward him, narrowing her red eyes slightly.

"I just recalled something... Ares wasn't part of your original plan, was he? It was the three goddesses of fate who guessed what you were going to do and brought him to you. And earlier, you said I was the only one who could do it—that I was the key to defeating Athena."

Her eyes gleamed with suspicion as she asked, "So, kid tell me, were you planning to use me as a punching bag from the very start?"

...Why does a goddess have to be so smart? Being too smart makes it hard for people to like you!

Promise didn't answer, but Hecate smiled. In that moment, her smile was breathtakingly beautiful.

Then, without warning, she reached out and clamped her hand around his neck.

"Ahhh! I can't take it anymore! Promise, why don't you just hurry up and die already? Just die, die, die! If you don't, I swear I'll go insane! If you push me any further, I'll destroy the whole world!"

*Cough, cough,* Promise wheezed, trying to loosen her grip. "Easy, easy! If you squeeze any harder, I really will die... And wow, Goddess Hecate, you must really like me. You're willing to destroy the entire world just because of me. I'm so touched~~"

Pegasus, head down, continued running steadfastly, acting as if nothing was happening on its back, completely oblivious to the antics of the bickering human and goddess.

The most he did was sigh inwardly.

'Its really not easy.'

'Finally, there's a goddess who sincerely wants the young master to die. It's been a long time coming.'

As Hecate sat behind the boy, not wanting to care about him and seriously contemplating the possibility of severing her master-student relationship with Medea, Pegasus finally took them both to the highest point of the sacred Mount Olympus..

With ease, they passed through the barrier separating the mortal world from the divine realm.

Upon entering the divine realm, what greeted Promise wasn't a grand, majestic sight.

Instead, what stretched out before him was a vast ocean that covered everything.

Poseidon, wielding his trident, had flooded the entire domain of Olympus.

At this very moment, Hades, the god of the underworld, Persephone, Demeter, and other gods stood before him.

"Hades..." Poseidon's face was twisted in fury as he said. "I never imagined you would leave the Underworld and come here to help Zeus!"

Hearing Poseidon's words, Hades remained silent, not bothering to explain that he was not here because of Zeus and his presence here was solely due to Promise.

After all, Hades had never been one for many words.

On the other hand, Demeter's anger flared the moment she laid eyes on Poseidon.

She recalled her original fate Hera had once revealed to her after Hades' wedding—the grim memory of how, in her grief over losing Persephone, she had wandered the mortal realm, only to be captured by Poseidon, who had been spying on her for a long time.

In the end, even after transforming into a mare, she couldn't escape.

"Hades, you want to take Persephone? Fine, I'll allow it!" Demeter, seething with rage, didn't waste time on pleasantries. "If you can beat Poseidon to the ground, I will give you my daughter!"