In the Sparta palace, Leonidas, the contemporary Sparta king, stood by the window, gazing down at his capital with a deep sense of worry.
The queen walked slowly from behind, embraced her lover's broad waist, and pressed her head deeply against his thick vest, silently offering him support.
Ever since the oracle of the god of war was issued, her husband had been frowning all day long. Although he didn't say anything, she could tell that something big was about to happen, and it might even endanger the entire Sparta.
"Have you found any news about Kratos?"
After a long silence, Leonidas asked in a low voice.
Unlike other political systems, Sparta was based on strength, so women were not prohibited from participating in politics. His queen was his capable assistant, mainly responsible for intelligence gathering.
The divine decree issued by the God of War had made him very uneasy. Although the content of the decree indicated that it was not the final divine war as rumored, he was still very uncertain about working under that brutal God of War.
Over the years, as he ruled Sparta, he gradually discovered some hidden dangers that were silently weakening the entire Sparta.
Initially, Sparta was a powerful warrior race second only to the Titan Clan. However, after they worshipped Ares of war, although the number of warriors increased, the combat strength of the middle and upper ranks was severely weakened, especially the top tier.
In the previous era, only Kratos Ghost of Sparta, appeared, and in this era, not a single one has appeared.
All of this subtly points to the deity they worship, Ares, the god of Ares and one of the twelve Major God of the Olympian Pantheon.
Therefore, he was very uneasy when faced with the divine decree suddenly issued by the God of War.
Not to mention that this oracle required the entire Sparta legion to go into battle, with no room for reservation.
It's important to know that in Sparta, the entire population was a soldier; anyone over ten years old was a legionary warrior.
If the entire army were to be mobilized, it would be equivalent to taking away more than 80% of Sparta's population, leaving behind only the elderly, weak, women, and children who have little fighting power.
If anything were to happen to these legions, the remaining elderly, women, and children would surely die, or at best, become slaves of the kingdom. After all, Sparta's neighbors were not easy to deal with.
"There's no clear news, but based on some clues, I suspect Kratos is likely in Athens."
The Queen spoke in a low voice, revealing her suspicions, though she was very uncertain, as this was the only useful clue she had at the moment.
" Athens! It's Athens again!"
Leonidas's gaze was deep, for the target of this attack, oracles of the god of war, was Athens.
Ares, was notoriously cruel and ruthless, and this cruelty and ruthlessness was not only directed at his enemies, but also at all the forces under his command.
Therefore, upon receiving the divine oracle from Ares, all the forces under his command dared not delay in the slightest, and immediately organized their legions and prepared for battle.
After a year of preparation, Ares, using his Divine Kingdom as a guide, gathered all the legions under his command and headed towards Athens.
There was no way around it; his sphere of influence was simply too far from Athens. Even Chief God Level powerhouse without divine authority would need several hundred years to fly there, let alone the legions of his subordinate forces.
After all, this time he really went all out, squeezing out almost all the useful combat power of his forces, including quite a few ordinary warriors as cannon fodder.
Getting these people to travel to Athens on their own would take forever, so they had to temporarily use their own Divine Kingdom as a troop transport.
Ares acted swiftly. Upon arriving in Athens, he divided his forces into ten groups and attacked each of the weak points in the Athens Sanctuary, intending to encircle and annihilate Athens from all sides, causing it to perish in fear.
Ares, who was stationed in the central army, quickly changed his expression, because he discovered that the legions that had been deployed to the Ten Directions of Athens had mysteriously disappeared and then appeared in front of a colossal city, seemingly through some kind of spatial teleportation.
Unwilling to accept defeat, Ares dispatched his central army to attack from another direction, but they were also teleported to the front of that colossal city.
Even when he himself descended to earth, he could not withstand the bizarre method of spatial teleportation.
Looking solemnly at the array of 108 constellations above Athens, Ares knew that the Battle of Athens was probably not as simple as he had previously thought.
Although he had tried his best to overestimate Athens, he ultimately underestimated it.
However, despite this, he will not give up.
It is important to know that there will only be one victor in the final battle, and that "victor" refers not only to a pantheon, but also to a Major God.
In other words, all the Major God in the current Olympian Pantheon who hold divine positions will become his enemies in the future, including his so-called father.
To survive to the end and achieve final victory, one must possess immense power, but his current power is insufficient, far from sufficient.
However, the Athens Sanctuary might be an opportunity for him. Although the risks are certainly great, if he can obtain the opportunities within, his strength will definitely increase significantly.
This is my only chance to seize this opportunity first; otherwise, if my father finds out what the great opportunity in Athens is, I'll be out of luck.
" Realm-Breaking Spear, you belong to me!"
With burning eyes, Ares gazed intently into the depths of Athens, determined to obtain the Ancestor Divine Artifact within.
Indeed, he had sensed the appearance of the Realm-Breaking Spear in Athens long ago. Years ago, he had obtained the head of an ancient god by chance. The god was killed by the Ancestor God Pandora and died after being pierced through the forehead by the Realm-Breaking Spear.
From the wound inflicted by the Realm-Breaking Spear, he obtained a wisp of the Realm-Breaking Spear's sharpness and integrated it into his own battle sword.
It was precisely because of this sharp edge that he sensed the appearance of the Realm-Breaking Spear, the Ancestor Divine Artifact of the Ancestor God Pandora, in Athens.
Although it's unclear how Athena obtained that Ancestor Divine Artifact, that doesn't matter. What matters is that the Ancestor Divine Artifact is about to become his.
Of course, the prerequisite is that the city in front of us must be flattened first!
"Using Divine Kingdom to weaken?"
Sensing the weakening effect of the Athens Sanctuary on him, Ares grinned maliciously and immediately pulled his own Divine Kingdom over, forcibly crashing into the Athens Sanctuary to resist Athena's Divine Kingdom suppression.
This turn of events shocked many powerful figures who were secretly observing, and the first to fly into a rage were the gods Zeus, who were stationed on Olympus Divine Mountain.
"Damn Ares, how dare Ares!"
Zeus crushed the wine cup in his hand, abruptly stood up, and glared angrily at the Projection of the Athens battle situation before him.
Wars without Divine Kingdom intervention are two completely different concepts. A war without Divine Kingdom intervention, even if all the warriors under one's command are wiped out, is still just an ordinary war.
But once the Divine Kingdom, which is the foundation of the gods, is involved and they clash, then it becomes a war of the gods.
A true war of gods!
Although Great God are preparing for the final war of the gods, none of them are fully prepared and they have all tacitly agreed not to start the war prematurely. However, Ares has now taken the lead in setting the stage for the war.
As Ares's Divine Kingdom clashed with Athena's Divine Kingdom, it seemed to trigger a certain opportunity in the world, and a mysterious and strange power slowly emerged and was rapidly increasing in strength.
" Tribulation Qi!"
Wang Hao, who was in the Temple of Athena, turned his gaze to the sky and was the first to sense the changes in this world.
His starting point in the Power of the End was the Tribulation Qi, so he was naturally familiar with it.
"I never expected that the start of the God War would generate Tribulation Qi. It seems that although the Power of the End in the Forbidden Battlefield was suppressed and did not flow into the Divine Dao Great World, it still has a subtle influence."
Wang Hao seemed to understand something, and roughly realized what was going on.
Tribulation Qi had never appeared before in the Three Realms; it was manifested due to the Power of the End. Clearly, the Tribulation Qi appearing in the Divine Dao Great World is inseparable from the Power of the End.
Of course, Wang Hao only glanced at it and then ignored it. He would rather spend that time with his three beautiful wives to complete their dual cultivation mission for tonight.
It sounds absurd, considering the enemy has already come knocking on his door, and he's still here partying every night.
But in fact, his main purpose in doing this was to enhance the strength of his three wives through the dual cultivation method, and to improve all their shortcomings as much as possible, such as continuously helping Athena to perfect her own divinity.
Although Athena's cultivation level cannot be improved further, other aspects can still be improved, especially those related to external forces.
For example, Athena's Divine Kingdom and the divine offices she controlled.
Because these things existed before the Age Without Dao and were an external force, they were not greatly affected.
In addition, he was also trying to help Bai Suzhen and Xiaoqing regain the power of Nuwa's Dao Fruit from their previous life's Martial Dao Great World, so that they would have some self-protection ability after he went to the Supreme Dao Domain.
The Supreme Dao Domain is extremely dangerous, so he naturally wouldn't take his wife there to risk her life. Therefore, he planned to go alone, and before leaving, he had to make all the necessary arrangements.
As for the war in the Holy City, he really didn't care.
Given the current strength of the Athens Sanctuary, he might take the Olympian Pantheon more seriously, but Ares, alone is far from sufficient.
He didn't even need to lift a finger; Kratos, along with Saga and the others, could easily handle it.
Ares!
Standing atop the holy city, Kratos locked onto Ares the moment he appeared, his chilling killing intent making no attempt to conceal it, his resentment erupting like a volcano.
However, under Wang Hao's occasional guidance and tutelage over the years, Kratos has improved a lot and quickly gained perfect control over his emotions. However, the murderous intent and anger in his heart still remain, but they no longer affect his rationality.
During the battle, he knew all too well how terrible it was to let emotions dominate reason, especially when facing a powerful figure like Ares. Once the opponent controlled his battle rhythm, defeat was inevitable.
Therefore, he needed to maintain absolute calm in the face of extreme anger, which sounds contradictory and difficult, but he did manage to do so under the guidance of that big shot.