Hephaestus dropped to one knee and Zeus wasted no time and quickly appeared before him and kicked him on the chin sending him flying up, he then Grabbed his leg mid air slammed him on to the ground and then kicked him with all his strength sending Hephaestus flying and crashing on to the barrier before dropping face first on to the ground.

"that fool"

Athena commented as she watched the battle, it seemed like Hephaestus had the upper hand at first but the fact that he got close proved otherwise, he seemed confident about the whole thing but now he just practically gave Zeus the upper hand and guaranteed his loss.

"you're the fools for thinking he could win against the king"

Hermes responded to Athena, to him this fight was over before it began, Hephaestus had no hope of ever winning against Zeus, The king only entertained the idea purely for his own amusement nothing less nothing more. 

Following up on Hermès' comment Hades seemed to concur and threw his own words into the room but more directly aiming them at Hera the one he had a wager with.

"looks like Zeus might be winning after all" 

"indeed, He has rendered Hephaestus completely powerless at the moment"

However Demeter responded to his comment, inwardly she was hoping that Hephaestus had begun his assimilation with his concept, while Zeus's lightning bolt paralyzes concept once one assimilates with their concept the effects of the bolt are mitigated making it less effective. When the bolt hits it doesn't just paralyze but instead sort of blocks the power one receives from their concept but once you become a personification all the bolt does is weaken you Rather than paralyze. Hopefully he had assimilated it. 5 days was more than enough time to fully assimilate.

"hopefully he can still somewhat fight otherwise he might just die"

Hera found herself feeling a strange sense of regret, perhaps they shouldn't have pushed their situation into someone else, if they couldn't beat Zeus why did they think Hephaestus could or rather that whole duel was impromptu and only happened because Hephaestus seemed eager to save Athena so Demeter must have thought it was Better to have him fight Zeus , at the very least since he wanted to save Athena he must have been confident in his ability to face Zeus.

"looks like he can still fight, look"

Hearing Themis Hera turned toward the battle and the she saw Hephaestus get up, relatively unharmed, barely any scratches on him, he simply dusted himself off and cracked his neck. 

Nike from high above cracked a smile as she saw what transpired, the fight was about to finally get serious. 

…..

Hephaestus finished dusting himself off and rubbed his chin, either Zeus held back or he punches like a human, well to be fair, Hephaestus has been increasing his durability ever since he stepped foot onto this stadium. He increased his durability while also making sure not to compromise the density of his bones. 

'honestly magic is just bs'

Previously he has been only using his magic blood as a sort of energy that enhances his stats, there were no magic spells involved, sort of like feeding gasoline to fire, by pouring the gasoline the fire increases in size and heat however by using spells he can have an increase in durability without the increased density, this way Zeus he won't feel the change and won't be able to tell if he's inflicting damage or not thus making him and arrogant.

"I had thought my son would be better, how did you even manage to kill Ares, no wait he's an idiot he would have fallen for that trick too. When he gets reborn again I'll have to be hands on, looks like Athena is the only child of mine worth being proud of"

Hephaestus nearly chuckled, it seemed no one was aware that Ares wasn't going to get reborn, a God named Ares will never exist ever again. 

"That's kind of uncalled for don't you think?"

"When you're all such disappointments what am I supposed to say at least Athena is smart, Hera should have just not given birth to you instead of just throwing you away"

Hephaestus found himself feeling a level of rage he had yet to feel, the idea that his own mother threw him away was something he didn't even want to think about as it made Hearing Hera's name feel like nails on a chalk board, he never expected anything from Zeus anyways however those words stung quite a bit,

Seeing his face Zeus smiled, getting a rise out of him was quite easy, although he doesn't need to have Hephaestus angry in order to get an advantage but getting an advantage is always welcomed.

"That's the difference between me and her, I don't need to worry about getting close to you"

Hephaestus took a deep breath and exhaled once that was done he charged in with an extreme level of ferociousness in his eyes closing the distance immediately and threw a wide right hook, there was a bit of surprise on the god king's face but he quickly reacted and dodged the attack by moving his head to the side.

lightning sparked off his body as he moved, his eyes slowly following Hephaestus's moves, Hephaestus pulled his right hand back for a back handed punch and Zeus ducked down and threw his own upper cut, Hephaestus pulled his head back only to receive a blow to his stomach however he took the hit, but before he could do anything Zeus disappeared from his sight, he quickly turned around only to see nothing but thin streaks of lightning that circled the stadium before said streaks also disappeared.

"wh–"

His befuddlement was cut short as he suffered a punch to the side of his jaw that caused his head to spin 360⁰ going all the way round before Zeus delivered another powerful punch that pierced through his stomach and went out his back, Zeus pulled his arm out of Hephaestus's torso and palmed his face before dragging him through the ground at such speed that Hephaestus's skin began to peel off before slamming him on head first on to the barrier cracking the front of his skull and let him go.

"time to finish this, I entertained you long enough"

He said with cold gaze that stared at Hephaestus's bloodied body that was mangled beyond recognition blood leaked from his face as it quickly healed and his head slowly spun back to its original state, the hole in his stomach had already healed.

"You heal fast"

Lightning sparked as his body and vibrated a bit before the scythe appeared on his hand, Hephaestus was dangerous and he needs to end him quickly. He was barely weakened in fact he wasn't weakened at all even after Zeus paralyzed his concept, something that should have rendered him powerless. Most gods receive their strength from the concepts they hold within their souls as such paralyzing their concepts equals powerlessness yet Hephaestus wasn't so much as weakened meaning his concept isn't what gives him power but something else as such Zeus needed to quickly kill him before Hephaestus brings out another surprise that he might not be able to handle. Luckily for Zeus his speed allowed him to be impossible to perceive.

"Don't worry I'll tell Aphrodite you died like a coward, that way I can ravage her like a wild beast and I tell you she'll like it although it won't matter even if she doesn't"

By this point Hephaestus was fully healed and his response to Zeus was something he could not understand. So he took them as his final words.

"Don't drop your guard"

Zeus swung his scythe full force generating a gust of wind and only scratched the side of Hephaestus's cheek. He watched the life fade from his eyes. The Scythe doesn't destroy the body but instead eradicates the soul completely as such unless he completely sliced him to ribbons his body will remain intact.

...….

Zeus was Victorious and the humans cheered, and a few in the crowd mourned the loss of a god they worshipped. 

The first to weep was Hestia, another family member was lost and this time it was forever, regret filled her heart, perhaps she should have intervened when they conflict was just beginning, was it her fault? She could have resolved the issue easily without the death of her Nephews. 

The room was eerily silent as the conclusion to the fight was completely abrupt And left the spectators silent.

"what do you think you're going to do out there?"

Hestia turned her head as she heard Hades, Athena had stood up ready to Attack however Hades' words caused her to halt, she was hardly a match for Zeus while she was having her power boosted and now her power was inaccessible to her she was far weaker than she has ever been and would be absolutely no help. She clenched her fist and ground her teeth as a deep level of sadness settled in her heart.

Seeing that Hephaestus wasn't a match for Zeus, Demeter stood up with a tinge of regret, perhaps she should have thought about this whole idea a bit more, if she had she wouldn't have caused the death someone that was completely uninvolved, She exited the room and disappeared. A new plan was needed and maybe find Aphrodite so that Zeus won't get his and on her. That's the least she could do for Hephaestus.

Seeing Demeter leave, Themis and Hera exchanged glances before Hera looked at Hades and spoke.

"Hades you wouldn't happen to be wanting to be king would you?"

"I already am a king so no and besides this was a clean and fair fight, Zeus won. I have nothing to be disappointed about"

Hestia stood up and floated herself towards the stadium and Zeus turned to face her as soon as she landed on the floor what he missed however was a golden light that shone behind him as he addressed his elder sister who for some reason stopped in her steps and looked at him in shock, her eyes wide open like saucers 

"Hestia, have you come to congratulate me?" 

"No she didn't "

Someone else answered as a spear went through his back piercing his heart and coming out his chest, and for the umpteenth time today Zeus's blood poured onto the floor, he looked down and saw a barbed spear had pierced through his chest, turning his head he looked behind him and saw a smiling Hephaestus.

"I guess this is unexpected isn't it? By the way I'LL KILL YOU"

His eyes glowed a bright golden colour and his words laced with venom as he pulled the spear out and drove it back in again piercing his heart a second time. The words Zeus spoke about Aphrodite are words he'll soon regret. Lightning sparked as Zeus disappeared again and this time appeared a bit too far from Hephaestus, his shock was immeasurable as well as everyone else's. Hestia stood there dumbstruck.

... 

A/N: both of them will be going full power next chapter. I don't want to drag fight scenes but this seems like the type that needs to be more than just 2 chapters

also the reason I'm updating faster is because this is arc is done on patroen and I will be taking a break to work on the second arc.