On the sacred mountain Olympus, in the temple of Ares, the abode of the God of War, the thunderous noises of combat rang out ceaselessly.
The powerful younger god dodged another punch aimed at his throat by twisting his body, allowing the powerful blow to move past him by a few centimeters, before using the twist's momentum to deliver his own punch to the older god's face.
However, Brolios Asterion would not be beaten by an art that he taught to Ares.
Just a split second before the blow would land on his face, Brolios bent backwards, planting his two hands on the ground and then swinging his legs in a powerful kick.
The moment his leg touched Ares's chin, the devastating force sent the God of War flying.
Then, a single second after Ares was launched into the air, a roundhouse kick landed on his side, sending him crashing into the wall of the temple, making it rumble with the sheer power behind the blow.
Ares, however, did not care.
A mad grin spread across his face as he rushed his opponent, ready for another round.
However, Brolios raised his hand, stopping the young god in his tracks.
"Enough, Ares. You are losing control again."
That jolted the God of War out of his bloodlust, forcing him to take deep breaths and forcefully supress the primal parts of his domain.
With a few seconds, the young god regained his composure and sighed with a shake of his head.
"Sorry, Uncle. I guess my domain really is getting to me these days."
Brolios smiled and shook his head.
"It is not your fault, Nephew. You were born with that domain already condensed, so you never knew what it feels like to not have a domain, which means you don't know how to properly control it, unlike my siblings and I, who were born with affinities but no domains of our own until the war."
Then, his gaze turned a bit sullen as he gazed out from the temple to the realms below.
"It also doesn't help that this version of humans has also failed us, just like their predecessors, and only know how to fight their own kind using the gifts of sapience, intelligence, and the arts that we, the Olympians, gifted them. Which has directly led to many of our domains either being strengthened beyond reason or weakened beyond repair."
Ares did not think there was anything wrong with war and did not understand why his family was so averse to it, especially his father and uncles, who should be reveling in the bloodbath with their sheer power dominating everything.
But, he kept these thoughts to himself, knowing that it was his domain that was influencing these thoughts, not his real self.
'That being said, Uncle Brolios is right in that this Bronze Race has truly failed us.'
He remembered when his father approved the project that Brolios and Prometheus came up with to replace the destroyed Silver Race. A project where they fashioned mortals from the conceptual power of the Ash Trees as the base with the help of the Meliai, the ash tree nymphs.
He remembered how Prometheus gave them the gift of sapience and fire. How his brother, Hephaestus, gave them the knowledge of bronze smithing. How his Uncle Brolios gifted them the knowledge of martial arts so that they may protect themselves from the monsters in the wild. A reason that Ares himself shared when he gave them access to his domain of war. So that they may learn to organize in large-scale formations and protect their lands.
Yet, none of them ever thought that these new humans, named as the Bronze Race due to their overreliance on Bronze, would be just as defective, if not worse, than the Silver Race.
For they did not farm nor did they earn their bread. They did not learn and adapt to become their own, glorious civilization living with the guidance of the gods as they were intended to be. They did not even follow the ancient traditions taught to them by Prometheus based on the few good ways of the Silver Race.
No. All they knew was conquest and war. To fight and kill their fellow man and steal what others have with force.
The elder Olympians wanted to blast them into oblivion the first chance they got after they saw the cruel nature of these humans, but they stayed their hand when Prometheus pleaded on their behalf, promising that he would teach them to be better.
A promise that the titan has so far failed to fulfill.
The only good that came out of this mess was that Ares finally grasped the true strength and meaning of his domain and the finer aspects of combat. Finally learning to adapt from his spars with his uncle. Becoming stronger with each bout with the God of Destruction and each war that the humans fought.
"You know, you could use your new domain to try and control their actions. It would be much easier to use that method to stop them if you really want their nature to change. Prometheus's preaching and teaching will not change their nature. I know this because I have seen it personally."
Brolios groaned at Ares's words with his face in his hands.
"Don't remind me and that issue. I never asked for another domain to condense within me. Do you even know how swamped I was with my existing domains before that one condesed out of nowhere?"
Ares smirked at Brolios's complaints.
"Well, you reap what you sow, as Aunt Demeter says."
"Don't you get sassy with me, boy. I can still beat your ass into the next week, remember?"
"True. But you know that I will simply adapt to it and come out stronger, right?"
Brolios shared Ares's vicious smirk, knowing that his nephew was right and, on some level, looking forward to seeing the God of War attain the same level as himself so that he could have a proper opponent for serious sparring.
"I knew you would be with this muscle head out here."
The annoyed tone broke the two gods steeped in battlelust out of their fantasies, making them turn in unison to face the famed Goddess of Wisdom herself.
Athena gave annoyed looks at her stepbrother and uncle as she crossed her arms in indignation.
Brolios gave his niece a surprised look while Ares rolled his eyes at the goddess's glare.
"Athena? What happened?"
"What happened, Uncle Brolios, is that you promised me you would join me today for my research into the flux. Yet, you never showed up, even after I waited the whole morning for you. And where do I find you instead? Sparring with this fool. Again."
"Hey!! If your memory is failing you, just say it! You and I both know that I was the one who asked him for a spar first. Before you were consumed with your jealousy and chose this exact same day to forcefully extract a promise from Brolios by shamelessly using your pitiful expressions to force him!"
"Shut up! You brute! I did no such thing-!"
Brolios helplessly shook his head as he beheld the familiar arguments and clapped his hands loudly, drawing the attention of both second-generation Olympians.
"Alright, you two. That's enough. Ares, since I've already sparred with you, it is only right that I fulfill my promise to little Athena."
Athena resolutely refused to acknowledge the 'little' title and only looked smugly at her brother, who huffed and looked away, only for Brolios to ruffle his hair, much to the god's annoyance.
"That being said, I am very much satisfied with your progress so far. So, I think we can up your training. From now on, we will spar at least three times a week, and if you become even stronger, then we will increase the intensity."
Ares's eyes went red with bloodlust and anticipation before he once again suppressed that feeling and nodded happily, watching Athena's jealous glare with a proud look.
Only for Athena to mouth the names of the twins and grin smugly as Ares's expressions collapsed, knowing that the twins would definitely throw a tantrum if they knew that Athena and Ares were monopolizing the limited time that Brolios had away from his duties.
And so, another ordinary day on Olympus concluded.
Not knowing that a great storm was now on the horizon.
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