With Zeus

Zeus was sitting on his throne, with Hermes kneeling directly below him.

" Hermes, how many of the Gods answered my call?" 

''Only a few, my king! The rest is unsure or said no.''

''Hmm, tell me the name of all those who said no.''

Hermes then passed the names of the Gods who said no and those in Alliance with Poseidon.

Zeus looked at the list and smiled, " It seems I have a lot of enemies." 

Zeus put the list aside,'' How about the Kratos situation? Any news from Hades?''

Hermes hesitated but said after Zeus stared dagger at him, '' Kratos is no longer in the underworld.''

Silence filled Zeus' domain.

''What did you say?'' Zeus voice was cold.

Hermes trembled at the killing intent Zeus was liberating.

" Hades couldn't find Kratos's soul anywhere. He searched the entire underworld and found nothing. We assume that Kratos escaped." 

''How can someone just leave the underworld?'' Zeus' explosive voice echoed around his domain. 

' He must have help, but from who..?'

After a few moments, Zeus suddenly smiled, " This was a shock, but it won't change what I'm about to do.''

Zeus then got up from his golden throne and went to the edge of Olympus, with Hermes right behind.

Hermes noticed that Zeus was holding his weapons and aiming somewhere, " What are you doing, my King?" 

''I'm planning on giving Kratos a big surprise.'' Zeus stayed quiet after that and continued to aim.

Hermes also noticed that Zeus was doing something important and just observed. 

After a few moments, Zeus launched his attack. 

While Zeus had destroyed Sparta's army earlier, now he aimed at the city. An attack by Zeus was not something Sparta could have survived. 

One attack and Sparta was no more.

''What a beautiful sight, isn't it?'' Zeus asked Hermes 

''Of course, my King!'' Hermes responded while sweating. 

Then Hermes noticed that Zeus was aiming his weapon again,'' What are you doing, my King?'' 

''Oh, this? I plan on destroying every city of those Gods on the list, to set an example of what happens when you betray Zeus.''

Zeus then launched more and more attacks, whipping countless cities and civilizations in the process. 

---

 

With Poseidon

The place where Athena called Poseidon was ... Athens.

Poseidon arrived at the city after traveling down from Olympus. It took him a few seconds to hit the sea and some minutes until he arrived in Athens.

Poseidon was still hurt by the fight, but other than a few bruises here and there, he was fine. ' The fight was good, and Poseidon's Trident was powerful too. I did pretty well for someone who had no previous experience fighting Gods seriously, but I took more damage than I anticipated.'

Athens was a beautiful city, mirroring the Goddesses in which the town was baptized. It held many people, but most of them had worried faces.

' What happened?' Now worried something might have happened with Athena, Poseidon rushed to the meeting point.

Athena was already there talking with her servant around a huge table, and she had a worried face.

'' What happended?'' Poseidon asked.

After sending the servant away, Athena started to talk, '' Zeus' has destroyed Sparta and other cities.''

'' What?'' Poseidon was surprised, ' While Zeus destroying Sparta wasn't surprising, he destroying other cities sure was.'

'' There are no survivors in any of the cities he attacked... we have to advance our plan, otherwise, every mortal around Greece will die in a few days.'' Athena has a map open in the middle of the table, with at least 10 locations marked with an X.

'' Did we at least save some people from those places, to carry on their legacy?''

Athena shook her head, '' We managed to save some of them, but Sparta... only Kratos is left.''

Silence filled the room.

Poseidon went beside Athena, '' We can rebuild later. We will avenge them.''

While the Gods could be considered merciless, some of them had compassion on mortals, and Athena was one of them, so Poseidon knew she was affected deeply.

Athena thanked Poseidon for his support and looked at the table again.

'' How much of each city we got?'' Poseidon asked.

'' 500 from each, the majority are kids with some adults to teach them about everything.''

'' Will it be enough?'' Poseidon was worried.

'' It should be. Those who survive will be tasked to rebuild everything after Zeus dies.''

If Zeus dies, Olympus dies as well. And if Olympus dies, all of Greece will suffer. The plan of Poseidon and Athena is to grab 500 people from each city and safeguard them until the battle with Zeus is over.

Then, after the dust is settled, they would allow those people to procreate and make the population go back to where they were before, and with the same culture.

The other Gods of the Alliance were carrying the mission. They are tasked with choosing 500 mortals and putting them into a safe place.

But they lost Sparta and some more civilizations.

''Did one of our allies get caught in the attack?''

'' None. But after the attack, they managed to complete the mission. Zeus can destroy all cities now, we already got the necessary number.''

Athena then turned her attention to Poseidon, '' How was the fight?''

'' It was a draw.''

Athena could see Poseidon's armor was destroyed, and his face was slightly swollen.

''...''

---

 

With Hephaestus

Hephaestus was making something that Poseidon asked him, in secret from everyone.

' But why a shield of all things?' Hephaestus was confused, as Poseidon seems to be the guy who attack first.

' Oh, right. Poseidon's memories are gone.'

Hephaestus continued to hammer the iron and make the shield.

After an unknown time, the shield was done, '' WOW.''

The design was simple, a circular shield, but the materials were special. Made of the rarest metal around here and a piece of Poseidon's Trident, few weapons out there could put a dent in this shield.

While Hephaestus was admiring his work, a breeze passed by him, '' WHO!?''

'' Relax, its me.'' Iris appared behind him.

Hephaestus relaxed after seeing it was an ally, '' What do you want?'' 

'' I came to take that,'' Iris pointed at the shield, '' And to tell you that Pandora is safe.''

'' How do you know?''

'' Who do you think Poseidon asked to take her away? Just know that she's safe and sound.'' Iris took the shield from Hephaestus and departed just as quick as she entered.

Hephaestus was now more relaxed, knowing that Pandora was safe. 

' Come to think, the only problem in my life now is my relationship with Aphrodite, and for that, I don't have a solution.'

Hephaestus tried to think of a way to help his marriage, but nothing came to mind, ' Forget it. I will do more weapons here and take them to Poseidon later on. Maybe someone has some advice for me regarding my love life...'

Sounds of metal hitting metal continued after a while.

---

 

With Kratos

Kratos was mad. '' Poseidon! Athena! What's the meaning of this!!?''

The reason Kratos was shouting to the Gods is that someone called Iris delivered an unconscious teenager to him just as he was about to the Sisters of Fate domain.

That Iris woman told Kratos that this girl, Pandora, was the key to all.

Now, Kratos was helpless about what to do in this situation.