*Chapter 206: The Righteous Beatdown (Part 1)*

Atreus's charge was not in vain.

When Ares focused all his attention on him, it gave the two Amazonian warriors an opportunity.

Penthesilea's stealthy assault, where she practically flew close to the ground, was successful.

A short sword, also a low-level divine artifact, viciously plunged into the gaping wound on Ares' chest from his back, with enough force to even give it a harsh twist.

"Ahhh—" Although Ares' retaliation shattered the short sword into a shower of sparks, he still let out a painful roar. Before he could react, Diana’s iron fist came crashing down.

“Boom!” The punch was so powerful, it was like a battering ram slamming into a door.

The forceful punch not only sent Ares flying over a hundred meters before he stabilized himself, but more importantly, it knocked off his bull-horned helmet, known for its incredible defense.

He looked utterly wretched!

Ares no longer had the arrogance he displayed when he first appeared. His fury caused his golden hair to stand on end—this was truly a case of "hair standing on end with rage."

Such serious injuries made him deeply uneasy.

He hadn’t felt this kind of fear, even during the great battle at the end of the mythological era.

Back then, Zeus had already become a pathetic god-king, more interested in thinking with his lower half. Ares hadn't even been injured this severely when facing him.

Not to mention the god-killing power Ares sensed in Diana and Atreus—it was beyond his imagination.

The power of the Godkiller allowed two demigods to inflict damage on him that even the chief gods of Olympus couldn't.

This damage wasn’t just doubled—it was multiplied by ten!

Just one Godkiller was enough to give him a headache, let alone facing two at once.

The absurd part was that Ares couldn’t even sense much of Zeus’ power in Atreus—at least not as the main source. This meant that this mere mortal had used a small seed of power to grow strong enough to hurt him, Ares.

That was the most unacceptable part for Ares.

He was starting to panic.

It naturally reminded him of his past failures during the mythological era.

Even though he was the god of war, for a long time, he wasn’t the strongest fighter.

Ares had been captured three times by the hideous and terrifying Otus and Ephialtes, the giant sons of Poseidon and Iphimedia.

Historically, he had also been outsmarted and bloodied by Athena more than once.

Without an undefeated record, it was hard to maintain the confidence of an invincible god.

But this time, his provocations had truly hit the mark.

“Diana, do you really trust this mortal boy? He took your power seed. He’s just trying to kill me, seize my power and status, and become the new god of war himself. He doesn’t have the bloodline of the Olympian gods—he’s not worthy of your trust.”

Hearing this, even Atreus thought Ares was making a lot of sense.

Damn it! You know too much, Ares. I can’t let you live to see tomorrow! What if Diana actually believes you?

But…

Diana exploded in Atreus, unleashing her fury: "Ares! You despicable, cruel, brutal, and warmongering scoundrel. How dare you compare yourself to him? Before you tried to destroy Themyscira and this world by inciting war, he saved Earth from destruction multiple times. Let me tell you—aside from his lecherousness, he’s ten thousand times better than you in every other way."

That left Atreus utterly mortified.

He craved power because he knew that without it, he’d just end up as cannon fodder, having nothing to do with justice or anything like that. His seemingly righteous actions were only because he sided with Wonder Woman from the beginning. If he had reincarnated as Thanos, he definitely wouldn’t have minded snapping his fingers.

Yet somehow, his flexible moral compass turned into something noble and grand in Wonder Woman’s eyes.

Oh well, his achievements were just too impressive!

Atreus felt embarrassed at first, but then he thought: Dear Diana, if you’re this good at talking, keep going!

Meanwhile, Ares, having failed at sowing discord, realized he couldn’t stall any longer. He raised his right hand, and this time, a barrage of large-caliber shells came flying out of a secret underground chamber deep within the castle.

When the shells rained down on the trio like a storm, it was truly terrifying.

Are you using the superiority of firepower doctrine too?

For a moment, large and small mushroom clouds rose over the ruins, with towering smoke columns reaching over a hundred meters high.

However, according to the well-known “smoke-but-no-damage rule,” artillery of this level wasn’t enough to harm the three demigods.

In the end, Ares was dragged back into close combat by the trio once again.

In terms of divine body strength alone, Ares was absolutely superior to the three.

If you said his normal power level exceeded ten thousand, Atreus would believe it.

Unfortunately, the counterattack from the Aegis shield had inflicted too much damage on Ares. In his severely weakened state, Ares couldn’t even rely on his tremendous base attributes to suppress the three who were besieging him.

The furious assault from three different directions was so overwhelming that even this god, with his vast combat experience, felt uneasy. In all his battles, he had never faced such peril.

But thousands of years of combat experience were not for nothing. Relying on the feedback from his body and divine armor, Ares quickly realized that Penthesilea posed the least threat to him.

She wasn’t a Godkiller.

So, he crudely and simply used his left-hand gauntlet to block the Amazon queen’s attacks, focusing his efforts on Diana.

Among the three demigods, Diana undoubtedly had the highest base attributes, and her explosive strength was equally formidable.

Even without a proper weapon, she could still inflict terrifying blunt force trauma on Ares’ divine body, just with her seemingly dainty fists.

Her fists were like meteors from the heavens!

However, when Ares slapped Diana’s punch away with his right hand, he saw the bald Kratos spin a beautiful flourish with his left-handed blade. Ares’ instincts immediately shifted his attention.

Before he could figure out his opponent’s next move, a sudden sense of danger tingled at his scalp. His battle instincts kicked in, warning him—his opponent seemed recklessly about to charge headfirst into his chest.

Ares’ internal alarms rang loudly, and he instinctively brought his right gauntlet up to protect his throat.

Atreus closed in, and with a sharp clang, there was the sound of metal striking metal. Ares' right hand trembled slightly. On his unprotected wrist and neck, there appeared shallow blood marks.

He was nearly killed!

Yet before Ares could retaliate with a kick, the slippery fellow had already withdrawn from his attack range.

What kind of warrior was this? He’s more like an assassin disguised as a warrior!

Ares was fuming, his teeth grinding in frustration.

But he didn’t have time to be angry.

The earlier wounds were severely affecting his speed. After receiving another series of heavy blows, he could no longer maintain his defense, and his movements noticeably slowed. Diana’s fist landed squarely on the wound in his chest.

With his injuries worsening, Ares realized he had no choice but to go all out.

(End of chapter)