"You don't have to kneel to me, my brother." Ares used his divine power to lift Heracles and then said to him, "Neither by blood nor by status are you inferior to me, so why would you kneel to me? And actually, your other teacher, Chiron, is also a god. He is the son of the former God-King Cronus and Philyra, so gods are not rare."
"No, I don't kneel to you because you are a god," Heracles replied. "I am willing to kneel to you and obey your commands because you are the teacher who taught me how to be a human being."
"That's true," Ares nodded. "Then I order you to sit down… Alright, hurry up and sit down, I have something important to tell you."
At Ares's request, Heracles obediently sat cross-legged on the ground and listened attentively.
"The crystal pendant I gave you before was not something you intentionally abandoned. Both the wild boar that crashed into you and today's tragedy were actually plots premeditated by certain goddesses. They made that pendant move away from you, so it could no longer protect your mind, and then they manipulated your mind."
As Ares spoke, he spread out his palm:
"Take a look at this first."
In his palm was a crystal. When Ares infused his magic into it, Heracles immediately saw the scene that appeared before his eyes.
It was in front of a royal palace late at night, a royal palace he was very familiar with, the Thebes Royal Palace where he grew up and lived during the time Amphitryon was still the King of Thebes. Moreover, he also saw his foster father, much younger than he was now, in the image.
Soon after the scene began, a beautiful goddess silently appeared in front of the royal palace. She wore a long dress, a beautiful helmet, and had golden hair like gold. An owl was circling above her head. It was Athena, the Goddess of Wisdom, one of the most widely worshipped goddesses in Greece today.
After Athena arrived in front of the Thebes Royal Palace, she directly extended her finger and pointed at the royal palace. Immediately, two venomous pythons suddenly darted out from the nearby wilderness and entered the royal palace.
"What is this?" Before Heracles could finish being surprised by this, the scene before him suddenly changed. He saw that after he was struck by the demonic boar in the forest, the crystal pendant seemed to fall into water, directly dropping into the ground beneath his feet. It passed through layers of bizarre imaginary space and finally landed on a fair hand.
The camera shifted, revealing the owner of the fair arm. It was still the beautiful goddess Athena with golden hair and bright eyes, standing there. She smiled and crushed the crystal pendant in her hand, then raised her scepter and gently drew a circle towards Heracles's retreating back.
"So," Heracles asked, suppressing his anger after watching these two video clips, "was it the goddess Athena who plotted against me?"
"And The Fates," Ares said, continuing to tap the recording crystal in his palm. "They did more than just that. There's a latest record here, I'll show it to you."
…
By the Styx River, the newly appointed "Rhadamanthus" was strolling and resting by the river.
Earlier, just as Ares rushed to Heracles's side, Hecate also brought "Rhadamanthus," one of the three judges of the Underworld, to Hades's palace.
When they returned to the palace, they happened to see the other two judges, Aeacus and Minos, waiting anxiously in the palace.
With the assistance of Hecate, the Regent of the Underworld, "Rhadamanthus" successfully integrated into the group of the three judges according to the "Rhadamanthus Behavior Guide" given to him by Ares.
Recalling his recent experience, "Rhadamanthus" grew even more respectful of Ares, the God of War. Both Aeacus's and Minos's actions and questions had been completely predicted by the God of War, and his responses, based on Ares's guide, did not arouse any suspicion from his two colleagues.
After temporarily experiencing the judgment work of the three judges, "Rhadamanthus" also followed Ares's instructions and took advantage of the rest time to stroll along the river of oaths.
As he walked along the river for a while, he suddenly heard a woman's soft laugh. "Rhadamanthus" turned towards the laugh and then saw the goddess by the river, dressed in a long gown, with golden hair and bright eyes, and an owl circling above her head, as well as a woman standing beside her, wearing a white veil and a hooded robe.
"Athena."
"Rhadamanthus" nodded slightly to the goddess as Ares had instructed him:
"Amphitryon is dead."
After speaking, "Rhadamanthus" was also a bit nervous. Although according to Hecate's prediction, both he and Rhadamanthus were already dead, and The Fates no longer held their threads of destiny, even if Ares completely annihilated Rhadamanthus, Hecate could easily conceal it with a bit of trickery. Nevertheless, there was still a risk of being discovered.
Fortunately, Athena and the mysterious woman beside her did not seem to detect "Rhadamanthus'" lie. Upon hearing "Rhadamanthus'" words, Athena nodded in satisfaction: "I already know, Rhadamanthus, you are indeed just and selfless. Amphitryon's thread of destiny has been severed, and I have already reported this to Zeus, who highly praised your actions."
"I'm not interested in such matters," "Rhadamanthus" said coldly, imitating the original Rhadamanthus's tone. "It was merely maintaining the course of destiny."
"Hmm, you did well." The mysterious woman behind Athena also smiled upon hearing this. "It would be great if everyone in the world were as sensible as you. Alcmene is a gift from destiny to you. Enjoy her well, this woman is a beauty who can even charm Zeus."
"I'm not interested in that aspect," "Rhadamanthus" waved his hand. "Leave, this is the Underworld after all, not your domain, and I should go to work."
"Hehe, then I'll be leaving first," Athena said to "Rhadamanthus." "Rhadamanthus, it was a pleasure cooperating with you."
With that, the two goddesses turned and left, their figures gradually disappearing at the edge of the Styx River. After seeing the two goddesses' figures vanish, "Rhadamanthus" also gently raised his hand, tapped his left eye, and softly asked:
"Did you see that, God of War?"