Ares rolled to the side just in time to avoid being crushed by Zeus's lightning-cloaked fist. The impact shattered the marble beneath them, the floor splitting in jagged fractures where the god of war had stood moments earlier.
"Tell me we're not just trying to beat him into submission," Hermes muttered, appearing beside Ares in a flicker of divine speed, his cloak of wind and shadow coiling around him.
"You got a better idea?" Ares growled, spinning his spear to knock away a crackling bolt of raw power that seared the air.
Hermes ducked behind the remains of a broken pillar. "Yeah. Try not fighting a war god like a war god."
"Then what? Ask him to tea?" Ares snapped, his eyes locked on Zeus, who loomed with thunder in his stride and fury in his gaze.
Zeus raised his hand again, a jagged bolt forming in his palm. "Your defiance only proves your weakness. Olympus must not fracture again. I will protect it—even from you."
