Divine Mountain, the familiar Golden Hall. Russell entered with his nose in the air and sidled up beside Athena.
He was not doing it on purpose; that was where he was supposed to stand—the seat of one of the Twelve Olympians, the "God of War," beside Athena.
It was a good spot, originally belonging to Ares. Athena was on his left, Aphrodite on his right, and Artemis a little farther to the right. Standard protagonist treatment, comparable to a window seat in the second-to-last row.
And when he thought about it, Ares's father was the King of Gods, his mother was the Queen of Heaven, and his lover was his sister-in-law. That fit the protagonist archetype even better.
Unfortunately, childhood sweethearts could not beat a newcomer. Once Russell arrived, there was no longer any place for him.
The first two times Russell came here, he had come to duel someone. This time, he was here to watch someone else duel. He was not the protagonist today, and since all the gods knew he was ruthless and blackhearted, although everyone loathed him, no one was willing to provoke him.
Russell held his nose high and swept his gaze around. Seeing that no one stepped forward to make trouble, he was quite satisfied with his deterrent power and quietly stood straight, looking handsome.
There was still some time before the duel. More than half the gods had yet to arrive in the Golden Hall. Among the Twelve Olympians, aside from himself, only Hermes, Athena, and Apollo were present. None of the others had arrived.
Artemis was absent because she had gone directly to the duel site. Correspondingly, Selene from the older generation of gods was not here either.
Among the remaining Twelve Olympians, Zeus and Hera were the big shots and naturally