The Sea Emperor had his undersea temple in the sea realm, the Underworld King had the Underworld along with the Eight Prisons and Elysium, and even Odin had Asgard in the far north. As the god of war, how could Ares possibly not have territory of his own in the human world?
First, Ares's two strongholds near the Sanctuary, Thebes and Thrace, suffered retaliatory annihilation at the hands of the Sanctuary.
The Berserkers left to garrison those two bases, along with the War God Temples there, were all completely destroyed.
You had to ask whether the war god was brain‑dead: knowing full well that Athena's Sanctuary was near the Greek city‑states, yet insisting on building his own temples right next to the Sanctuary, and even liking to stir up trouble whenever he had nothing better to do.
In the previous Holy Wars, Ares had played a very minor role. Each time he had launched open, frontal assaults on the Sanctuary, never like this time, starting with the Sanctuary's various branches all over the world. So in the end, after Ares was defeated by Athena, she had not gone out of her way to eradicate his War God Temples.
This time, since Ares's actions were so vile, he could not blame Athena for returning with overwhelming vengeance. Ares was cutting off and burying the very foundations of Athena's existence in this world; it was hard to imagine that the always brainless, charge‑in‑headfirst Ares would come up with such an idea.
Ares had three strongholds in the human world, two of which were near the Sanctuary and had now been torn out root and branch by the Sanctuary.
The last one, the headquarters, was in the legendary Sparta. Although it was not all that far from the Sanctuary, that was indeed the main War God Temple of Ares.
The Sanctuary had not lightly launched an attack on Sparta because it was the Berserkers' main base. Without absolute confidence in victory, the Sanctuary would not rashly start an all‑out offensive.
Right now, that Ares who filled everyone in the Sanctuary with hatred was in his temple in Sparta.
Draining the fine wine in the bronze goblet in his hand in one gulp, his right arm wrapped around Aphrodite's slender, curvaceous waist, the handsome Ares gazed obsessively at Aphrodite's peerless face and said, "My sister Athena, huh. After all these years, this is the first time she's ever taken the initiative to declare war on me. This is truly something worth celebrating. I think she must have finally understood the beauty of war. Battle—what a wonderful word. Blood... the enemy's blood, so sweet and delicious."
As he spoke, he even started humming a tune to himself, though the lyrics were creepy and his singing was awful. This war maniac...
What he got in response was only a pouty eye‑roll from Aphrodite. "What exactly is there to celebrate? Aren't you the least bit angry? You know Athena has already destroyed two of your temples, and she's already moving accurately against this last Sparta temple of yours."
Aphrodite not only possessed a face of absolute beauty, her figure was also explosively attractive. In Ares's eyes, even her eye‑roll carried a special kind of allure. Her slightly angry expression was enough to make even Ares stare straight.
"No rush, no rush..." Ares did not really listen to what Aphrodite was saying, and instead slid his hand into Aphrodite's embrace.
Ares felt a ball of fire burning in his lower body. A certain ugly big worm also began to swell and rise.
"You're awful. I'm talking to you seriously—stop fooling around." Although Aphrodite said that, her body obediently twisted in Ares's arms.
Teasing and arousing Ares's nerves, Ares's breathing gradually grew faster and faster.
"Let Athena bring her Saints over if she wants. This lord is the mighty god of war—if she wants war, then war it is." As he said this, Ares's image suddenly seemed to grow tall and imposing.
"Let her see what the true power of the god of war really is." Speaking as if it were all true, Ares, with confidence from who knew where, declared with a face full of self‑assurance.
"I just love a man like you, who holds up heaven and earth." Looking at the sturdy, handsome man in front of her, a blush bloomed across Aphrodite's face, and she gazed at Ares with infatuation.
What on earth were these two even talking about...
"And besides, don't I still have the help of a little enchantress like you who drives people wild... Come on, let this lord have some fun." With a sudden change of tone, Ares's image instantly shifted from tall and handsome to rather lewd.
"You're awful. Don't be so impatient."
"Goddess, ahead of us is Sparta. Ares's temple is within." Accompanied by several Gold Saints and Meruem, Saori led her army of Saints to the outskirts of Sparta, where the War God Temple was located.
Even before they stepped into Sparta, the Saints all felt the frenzied Cosmos unique to the Berserkers around them.
"Who goes there? How dare you intrude upon Lord Ares's Sparta. Are you not afraid of divine punishment?" Countless Berserkers in red and purple armor, madness flickering in their eyes, appeared before the Saints of the Sanctuary.
"Goddess, leave these small fry to me, Zhaka, and the Silver Saints." Clad in a pale purple Silver Cloth, Zhaka strode to the front of Saori and requested permission.
Saori nodded, granting Zhaka's request. Although the surrounding Berserkers had decent Cosmos, they were still somewhat inferior to Zhaka.
Zhaka and the Silver Saints under his command then charged forward to meet the Berserkers.
"Ares, do you dare come out and fight me!" Reaching a high peak overlooking Sparta, Saori's clear shout rang out as she slammed the scepter in her hand hard against a rock face. Rings of divine power spread out in circles from the base of the scepter in all directions.
Waves of power filled with divine might surged through Sparta, circling back and forth. No matter where Ares was within Sparta, as long as he was there, he would definitely sense it.
"Damn it! It's only been two minutes!" Not long after Saori had done all this, angry shouts from Ares, mixed with Aphrodite's dissatisfaction, echoed from within the War God Temple.
"Ares Legion, hear my command! Mobilize in full force and wipe out those Sanctuary scum!"
"I already guessed that blockheaded fool Ares couldn't have come up with such a nasty scheme. The Beauty Warriors belonging to Aphrodite... So that woman Aphrodite has descended to the human world as well." Saori looked calmly at the group blocking her way—Beauty Warriors, each a scantily clad handsome man or beautiful woman—and spoke coolly.
Yet when she mentioned what sort of woman Aphrodite was, a faint blush flashed across Saori's face. Unlike that slutty Aphrodite who had slept with most of the Olympian gods, Athena was a proper member of the three great virgin goddesses.
As a side note, Aphrodite also had warriors of her own. Beauty Warriors was the name of these fighters, but compared to Berserkers, Mariners, and Saints, their combat strength was hardly worth mentioning.
Perhaps they could compete with the earliest group of Dark Saints from Death Queen Island.
After all, Aphrodite had only one requirement for her Beauty Warriors: that they be good‑looking.
______
(≧◡≦) ♡ Support me and read 20 chapters ahead – patreon.com/Mutter
For every 50 Power Stones, one extra chapter will be released on Saturday.