chapter 17

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.

It was at this moment that the Hogkyouku sensed his desires and once again began to work on achieving those desires, beginning with a skill that would be indispensable to Hephaestus in the  future. He could feel the device begin to work deep within him, responding to his wishes.

"Alright then get ready"

This time Kratos's speed increased nearly disappearing from  sight, Hephaestus was able to sense the danger his instincts warned him but unfortunately he could not react as a punch to  the stomach launched him off the ground however before he could be elevated any further Kratos grabbed him by the leg and slammed him on the ground before  proceeding to try and  stomp Hephaestus on the chest but of course he  quickly rolled out the way and stood on his feet once again.

This  was a spar to test his  strength as such simply letting Kratos pummel him won't get him the necessary results but so far it hasn't been anything he can't handle, he  needs Kratos to  go a step further and in order to do that he needs to have Kratos on the defense so he needs to match his speed and  power

"Alright then"

He began to start using his magicule breeder reactor core and mana surged within him, empowering his body and increasing his strength, he didn't know any magic spells as such he used his mana to augment his body, increased his strength and speed.

Their spar resumed with Hephaestus taking the initiative, Nike floated above the forest watching with a curious expression on her face, He seemed to be doing relatively well though the longer they spar the   more strength Kratos will use, she's curious about when Hephaestus will reach  his limit.

While up in the air she was able to detect 3 presences approaching her,  she  immediately recognized them  so  she quickly turned around and waited for them to arrive, once  the  three people were before her she  took a bow and  greeted her lord.

"good afternoon Lord Zeus"

"Yes, Nike. I heard that my son is here sparring with Kratos"

"Yes, my Lord he came a few minutes ago to ask him for a spar"

She  pointed Below to where the two  were having their battle, by  the looks of  things Hephaestus was holding his  own  against Kratos which caused Zeus to squint his eyes in slight suspicion.

"is  Kratos holding back?"

"Yes,  I can't tell by how much but he  did say he  was going to increase his strength as the battle continues, so  far it's only been a couple of minutes since they started"

Nike explained having anticipated the  questions Zeus would ask if she had answered in one word type answers and it would  be disrespectful.  Hearing Nike's explanation Zeus  kept his eyes on below watching the Spar with some interest.

Hephaestus was keeping up with Kratos with relative ease, each punch he took from the titan was returned  with near equal power, each time Kratos took an attack from Hephaestus he would increase the strength and speed of his next attack and because of this Hephaestus had a difficult time dodging the attacks, his reaction time and speed was always a step behind Kratos regardless of how many times he increased the augmentation of his body.

'Damn it'

He took a hard right hook to his jaw before receiving a jab to the stomach causing him to bend forward and then got a knee kick to the face straightening his posture. He quickly blocked another punch aimed at his face only to receive a knee to his stomach again sending him flying and crashing on to the trees,  they  were in a forest after all.

Kratos then quickly kneeled and  stared up at the figure of Zeus who in turn descended down towards him.

"good afternoon Lord Zeus"

He greeted Zeus as he set foot on the floor, Zeus simply hummed his greeting.

"I see you're  quite hard on my son there"

"of course he is your son after all my lord, anything less would be an insult"

Kratos answered with confidence, even though that Hephaestus was the son of Zeus he  held no princely privileges or anything of the sort, his relation to Zeus gave him no advantages at all and the same could said for his siblings as well  however unlike him they were much more familiar and favored by Zeus to a degree.

While Kratos conversed with Zeus, Hephaestus laid on the floor with a big smile on his face. The Hogkyouku certainly works fast. He has felt it work during his spar but he didn't think it would be so fast, then again he did receive a lot of skills the day it was activated so it Makes sense. A big and wide smile was etched on to his face as he instinctively knew the skill he just received.

[Instinct —> hyper instinct —> ultra instinct]

"what are you smiling about Hephaestus?"

Zeus asked as he stood over him with a curious expression on his face. He extended his arm offering to help him get up and Hephaestus obliged.

"Father"

'Hhm that felt weird'

He certainly didn't think of Zeus as his father, did he ever call the God king father before? He couldn't really recall a moment in which that was the case.

"You certainly look pleasing to the eye now, very  handsome. I never liked how you used to look"

He jokingly commented as he pulled Hephaestus off the ground and Hephaestus chose to ignore that statement, it's not like it wasn't true after all.

"I never liked how I used to look either"

"I personally think, you looked terrifying  an Ugly face intimidates your enemies, makes you look more threatening than you actually are but I suppose  being good looking helps too"

Nike offered her opinion on the matter of his appearance, she certainly had peculiar taste but he felt somewhat good that she didn't insult his former appearance, it's not like he would have  cared if she did but still its nice to know that opinions vary from person to person.

"So Hephaestus, is the any reason why you'd ask Kratos to spar with you? "

Zeus asked and looked at Hephaestus straight in the eyes, why on earth would He suddenly want to increase his strength, after all he has been complacent and has done nothing to improve his strength in the past years, infact none of the gods have tried to strengthen themselves since the end of the Titanomachy a decade ago so it was certainly strange that Hephaestus was suddenly asking Kratos for a sparring match.

"well in light of the news you told us during the meeting, I figured it would be best I prepare incase of war"

"what's this about war and  what news are you talking about?"

Hephaestus turned to look at the enforcers  who  seemed to be dumbfounded and confused by what he said, it  looked like they had no idea about the prophecy.

"You haven't told them??"

.......

Back within the confines of Aphrodite's palace, inside her bed chambers, she sat on her bed while listening to tunes of the harp Hephaestus had made her, it was the same song Hephaestus had played for her during his demonstration, for some reason she couldn't get enough of it, she probably should have asked what he called it.

"my lady you have a guest"

One of her Servants informed her from beyond the door.

"Is it Hephaestus?"

"No its—"

"Then drive them away"

She said without hearing what the nymph would say, it has been about 5 days since Hephaestus promised to make her another gift and she has been impatiently waiting for him to come deliver it himself but it seems it's taking too  long. Her interest in Hephaestus during the past weeks  has skyrocketed and she now looks forward to seeing him, she is also quite excited to see the gift he prepared, Judging by what he gave her last week, she is very excited about what he might gift her next.

"A floating chair maybe?"

She guessed, a chair that floated would certainly be a great gift  but then again taking it with her to show off wouldn't be ideal so she quickly dismissed that guess, she didn't really want to know what he was he was making for her since it's more exciting to be surprised but her  curiosity was getting the better  of  her.

"should I just go to his palace?"

She questioned as the thought of visiting him lingered in her head, however the longer the thought remained the more curious she got, she became curious of other things as well like the expression on his handsome face when he is forging, the look in his eyes when he's concentrating and how his lean muscles must be glisten with sweat due to the heat. The grip on his hammer and the bulge of his biceps as he prepares to strike down on the iron.

It was at this moment that her imagination ran wild, she stuck out her tongue as she imagined herself  licking the sweat off his neck and her hands caressing his torso working their way down to his lower half. While she imagined that she also moved her hands down to he own privates slowly inserting her finger in her nether unfortunately however she was interrupted.

"my lady…"

She jolted in surprise  snapping out of her reverie and quickly removing her hand from her spot and placing on her thigh, the nymph she had just instructed to tell whoever came to visit her to leave came back.

"What???"

"Uhh Lady Hestia says she won't be leaving till you see her"

"wait that was Hestia? Why didn't you tell me??!!"

The nymph suppressed an eye roll at her words, Aphrodite was the one who cut off the nymph before she could finish her sentence.

"I'm sorry my lady"

It was less troublesome to simply apologize Rather than make the Matter an issue that way her job will be easier and less troublesome

"Tell her I'll be ready in a minute, and in the meantime make her some tea"

…

After a few minutes of preparing herself and making sure nothing was out of  the ordinary she exited her room and went to meet Hestia. She was shocked by herself to be honest, it was a ridiculous thing for her to do but she was about to pleasure herself just at the thought of Hephaestus, Why do that when she can have him pleasure her himself. It is true  that she wants to lay in bed with him but she felt strangely subconscious about asking him directly  plus she wanted him to be the one to initiate the act.

"I'll think about this later"

She Said before entering the living area of her palace and was met with the sight of Hestia drinking tea in a faux elegant manner almost as if she was making fun of the commonly accepted way to drink tea, it seems she was amusing herself while she waited for Aphrodite

"Hestia, I didn't expect you to come visit"

Hearing Aphrodite's voice the she quickly set the tea on the table and turned to look at Aphrodite with an awkward smile. With a scratch on her cheek she responded.

"Well… we never talked in detail about the matter of me getting a dress from Hephaestus"

"is that why you came to visit?"

The reason seemed trivial after all she could have just sent an envoy to convey her message. Incidentally Hestia's palace was on the other end of Olympus further away from the center which lay the royal palace and Aphrodite's palace was closer to the center  so their homes are quite far apart and since any form of instantaneous travel is banned within Olympus Hestia had to actually travel the distance.

........

A/N: Oshi no ko opening is stuck in my head and it's been 3 days I can't stop hearing it. it's a banger tho.

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