“There are less than twenty minutes until that sword drops and pierces Anpiel”Epona said, still keeping the unconscious malakim resting across her lap.

  She stared at the blade floating above them, her face tight with worry.

  Tania, meanwhile, was breathing harshly, her body burning with feverish heat. Even though she had recovered her legs thanks to the drop of ambrosia Montu had given her, it hadn’t been enough to restore the damage throughout her body. Her organs had been severely frozen, and blood kept pouring from her wounds.

  “Without ambrosia—and trapped here—we can’t do anything” Maahes said as he tried to help the goddess recover, placing cold wet cloths on her forehead. He had created the water himself, since he was a Moon.

  “How could she push herself this far if she knew there’d be no medicine to recover afterward?” Montu said, frustrated.

  Epona bit her lip until blood welled.

  She gently laid Anpiel onto the ground and tried to stand. A brutal wave of dizziness struck her; she dropped to her knees, breathing heavily. She had lost far too much blood, and her ichor was no longer recovering.

  “Don’t get up, Epona! You lost too much blood!” Mithras shouted, rushing to the dying goddess.

  “My wounds are nothing compared to hers” Epona said, forcing herself upward, fresh blood spilling from her mouth as she moved.

  “Stop, Epona!” the Persian god grabbed her arm, but she kept trying to drag herself forward.

  “She needs an ichor transfusion. I’ll give it to her” Epona insisted. Her body felt hotter by the second, and her vision blurred.

  “You’ve got a terrible fever, Epona! Don’t keep going!” Mithras said, still holding her arm.

  “You don’t even know how to do that—and you don’t even know if you’re the same blood type!” Mithras continued, trying to stop her. But she kept pushing anyway, tears of frustration streaming down her face.

  “I’m weak. I’m a crybaby. I’m just a peasant… She’s the one who has to live, no matter what” Epona said, continuing to crawl toward Tania, who lay unconscious and still agonizing.

  Sol had also passed out from his wounds and lay on the ground, using Mithras’s cloak as a pillow.

  Elsewhere on Mars, Ana remained unconscious after her fight with Ishtar. The Mesopotamian goddess sat beside her, soaked in blood and badly injured.

  At that moment, Ninshubur flew in.

  “Damn it, Nin—you took forever—Ishtar snapped, annoyed.

  “I’m sorry, milady, but I truly lost sight of you. And when your energies went out, I feared the worst and didn’t know how to find you” her attendant answered.

  “Doesn’t matter. Do you have the contraband?” Ishtar asked.

  “Yes, milady. I still have it. I’ll treat you right now” Ninshubur said.

  “Wait” Ishtar said, raising her palm to stop her. “Leave me one, and go to the Areopagus immediately.

  “But milady, you” Ninshubur began, but Ishtar cut her off.

  “We’re going to support those kids now, dear Ninshubur” Ishtar said with a smile as she stroked Ana’s head where she lay on the ground.

  Ninshubur pulled a vial of ambrosia from inside her dress and tossed it to her mistress. Ishtar caught it, opened it, and began pouring it into Ana’s mouth.

  “That vial wasn’t for her, my lady! I only have two!” Ninshubur shouted, angry.

  “Why are you still here, Nin?! Go to the Areopagus now!” Ishtar barked.

  “Yes, milady. At once” Ninshubur said, and white wings burst from her back as she flew away.

  “I’m putting my faith and my hopes in you kids. Don’t disappoint me” Ishtar murmured, continuing to feed Ana ambrosia.

  At the same time, inside the labyrinth of the palace in the Areopagus, Athena kept walking. Then she saw a light at the end of the corridor.

  “Finally, I found you, you idiot brother. You can’t lock me in a labyrinth forever—I’ve perfectly memorized every possible route and followed the most statistically probable path”she muttered, and sprinted toward the light.

  Ensure your favorite authors get the support they deserve. Read this novel on Royal Road.

  When she entered the room, she found everything destroyed: cracked walls, statues strewn across the floor, toppled columns.

  But her biggest shock was seeing her brother Ares sitting on his throne with a defiant posture—and in front of him, on the ground, trembling in fear: Horus.

  “Oh, elder sister, so you found the exit after all. Though you’re a bit late—your friend Horus has already sworn loyalty to me” Ares said, laughing.

  “What the hell did you do to Horus, you bastard?!” Athena screamed.

  “It’s the natural order of things. The weak obey the strong. It’s been that way since life began as simple bacteria” Ares replied, amused.

  “Horus would never bow to you, coward!” Athena shouted.

  “Then what, exactly, are you looking at?” Ares said, planting his right foot on the Egyptian god’s back.

  Athena, furious, made her spear Erichthonius appear in her hand.

  “Oh, so now you’ll use your precious spear, little sister? I thought you were ashamed of your bastard son—so you hid him as a weapon” Ares mocked with a grin.

  “If you don’t free Horus from your spell right now, that spear will be the last thing you ever see” Athena snarled.

  Ares laughed, then kicked Horus hard. The hawk god fell onto his back.

  “Die, you damned son of a bitch!” Athena screamed.

  She swung her spear in a crescent arc, firing a wave of energy at Ares.

  But just before it struck him, Horus sprang up and took the attack in his back.

  “Horus!” Athena cried, stunned.

  Horus dropped to his knees, gasping, vomiting blood.

  “No, Athena… we must not fight Ares” he said.

  “Coward! You’re using Horus as a shield?!” Athena roared, eyes bloodshot, her hands crushing the spear’s shaft.

  Ares only laughed.

  “Athena… Lord Ares is the most magnificent and terrible god in the cosmos. His mere presence makes my heart tremble with fear. We can only serve him to protect our miserable lives” Horus said through tears, still kneeling.

  “You heard him, Athena. Now it’s your turn to kneel before me and hold up my left foot” Ares said mockingly.

  Athena started walking toward Ares with a murderous glare.

  “You are—and always have been—a coward, aren’t you? This is your son Phobos’s work, isn’t it?” she asked.

  “Oh, I’m impressed by your sharpness, elder sister” Ares said, smiling.

  He raised his sword for her to see: a blade with a dark edge and a red-and-gold hilt.

  “This is my son Phobos. Just like your beloved Erichthonius, my son Phobos gave his life to become a weapon—one that embodies his native power: fear” Ares said.

  “It doesn’t surprise me that you’d use even your own children like that, no matter how vile they were” Athena spat.

  “Says the one who did the same with her serpent son. Tell me—what did it feel like when that cripple Hephaestus raped you?” Ares laughed.

  Athena inhaled slowly, eyes blazing with challenge.

  “That wasn’t the same!” she shouted. “I didn’t murder him to make him a weapon. I’m not a monster like you!

  “Say what you want. All it took was a tiny scratch on his body for your friend’s mind to shatter in terror—now he kneels before me. Do you understand the power of my son Phobos?” Ares asked.

  “When gods die, their energy can be turned into an idol—like your sword or my spear—but their divine attributes remain. So I assume you killed your children and forged them into weapons to make them more useful” Athena said coldly.

  “Very well, elder sister. Since you guessed right, let me show you the other one too” Ares said, and with his right arm he pulled a massive dark-and-red spear from his back.

  Athena ground her teeth.

  “This is my son Deimos. Unlike Phobos, who merely makes enemies weak and cowardly, Deimos will destroy your nervous system. You’ll lose consciousness and fall into a nightmare of terror you will never escape” Ares said, laughing.

  “Your vileness has no limits” Athena replied, slipping back into a combat stance.

  But to her surprise, Horus stepped in front of Ares with his arms spread wide.

  “No, Athena, don’t fight. Let’s resolve this diplomatically. Let us surrender to great Ares and build an idyllic world” Horus pleaded.

  “Wake up, Horus! Have you forgotten your dream? Free the Land of Manu and avenge your friends! Have you forgotten?!” Athena cried, desperate.

  “Great Ares will build a new Land of Manu where we will be happy and blessed” Horus said, weeping with joy.

  “You heard him, Athena. Horus is willing to die for me—and if you want to face me, you’ll have to kill him first” Ares laughed.

  “Please, Athena! Surrender to great Ares!” Horus begged, tears of joy spilling.

  Athena closed her eyes and exhaled.

  “It’s obvious you still don’t know me at all, brother” she said bitterly. “Yes, what you’re doing is cowardly… but”

  She gripped her spear with both hands and shouted:

  “Xenychtis (Nocturne Owl)!

  The vivid image of a green owl made of energy burst from the spear, its bright blue eyes blazing. The bird shot forward at full speed and slammed into Horus, who made no attempt to defend himself. The impact destroyed his armor and helmet. Horus stayed standing for a heartbeat—then lost consciousness and collapsed face-first.

  “I have no remorse about fighting my allies if they stand in my way” Athena said, pointing her spear at Ares, whose expression had finally turned serious.

  The war god slightly opened the hand holding his Phobos sword and began to laugh. The sphere he had kept there was finally starting to glow.

  Ares remembered the moment the goddess Anat had ordered one of her malakim to deliver that sphere to him.

  “That is called Hikaptha, an artifact crafted by El’s personal smith. It will absorb the wounds of those near you, and once it is full, you may use it to increase your strength. Do not attempt assimilation before that, understood?”

  “Yes, Lady Anat” Ares had answered, kneeling.

  Now, grinning at the sphere’s power, Ares watched Athena rush him with Erichthonius poised to pierce him.

  Ares clenched the sphere with all his strength. It shattered into hundreds of pieces, which became orbs of light and sank into the war god’s body.

  He began to shine like a star, light blasting out in every direction. Athena halted abruptly, shocked.

  The entire palace started to quake. The mountain’s crater began to belch smoke. All of Mars darkened, and a terrible tremor spread across the planet.

  “Don’t worry, sister. I’m not finished yet” Ares said.

  He brought both his sword and his spear in front of him… and in the next instant, drove both straight through his own chest.

  Fifteen minutes remained until Anpiel’s execution.