Unlimited Power 02 - The Ranger's Domain
Chapter 909 - Preparation

                While Ares knew that Athena's physical strength couldn't compare to his, he knew that she could make up for it by enchanting her sword with elemental magic. While it wasn't exactly her field of expertise, Athena knew a thing or two about magic. She was particularly good at controlling lightning magic. It was probably one of the things she inherited from her father.

                In order not to give her the chance to use that, Ares decided to change his strategy. Instead of relying on brute strength, he decided to rely on speed. While teleporting around, he dashed toward Athena and swung his blade. Her sword still electrocuted him, but only for brief moments. While Athena could keep up with that speed, there wasn't much she could do to counterattack, so her stance was slowly breaking, and the damage on her arms was piling up.

                Athena couldn't help but sigh, she knew that the same trick wouldn't work for long, but it was troublesome that Ares was so quick to replace a way to counter them, despite the fact that he was too hot-blooded. In any case, it was time to change things a little bit… instead of just enchanting her sword, she concentrated the mana on the tip and increased its length. Area frowned while looking at that… why insist on that magic when he already found a weakness? However, when Ares charged again, Athena threw the weapon toward his face at an unbelievable speed. Ares slowed down in the brink of an eye and then moved his head to the side.. Despite that, his left cheek and a good part of his helmet got damaged by the attack. Much to his surprise, the attack didn't end there… Athena suddenly appeared in front of him and smashed her shield on his face.

                Ares was the one who was slammed against the ground now, and since he was caught off-guard, the impact raised a massive dust curtain and opened a crater with him as the epicenter. When Ares got up, he found Athena preparing to throw her sword again, but he was ready to welcome it this time.

                When Athena threw the weapon, Ares swung his sword to repel it. He would rather do that instead of run away or dodge when he had the chance because it was the best way to show who the better warrior was. In the end, they repelled the attack, but not before the electric energy could shock him for a single moment, in which Athena used to slam her shield against his face again.

                Once again, Ares was forced to move, and this time, the attack made him fly to the West for several kilometers, and he only stopped when he hit a yellow-ish mountain. Instead of getting up the normal way, Ares made the mountain explode. Thanks to Rage, he was slowly getting stronger, but he couldn't care less about it. The taste of blood in his mouth was annoying him beyond reason. Athena and her tactics were so effective in making him lose his mind… 

                Despite the fact that she was winning, Athena was worried. Much like Zeus, Ares could also gather energy and then grow in size, which would be reflected in his status. That was why she was worried. The angrier he gets, the stronger he becomes. Although he was an elder god, that power of Ares resembled quite a bit the power of Mephisto, the demon of wrath. 

                Before Athena could think of another way to attack, Ares suddenly dashed at her, and his full swing collided against her shield, making the air of the entire area vibrate and burn all the vegetation around. At the same time, it made Athena spin in the air at a fearsome speed. Unfortunately, Ares didn't give her time to stop and attacked her again and again… until it looked like he was playing tennis alone and Athena was the ball.

                However, suddenly Ares was forced to stop when he suddenly got hit multiple times in the air by something invisible. When it finally stopped, Ares saw himself hurt in the same spots he had attacked Athena, and while his wounds were smaller, he suffered more mental damage since he didn't realize what had happened… it was something Athena never used it before: Vengeful Explosion, a skill that makes the enemy feel the same amount of damage the caster suffered during a period. It was something Athena had learned after seeing Ryan fighting a few times. It was a pretty good way to prevent the enemy from keeping attacking non-stop.

                Athena healed herself a little bit with magic. After all, Ares' attacks weren't something that could be gotten rid of so fast. Before Ares could begin to understand what happened, Athena dashed toward Ares, and when he tried to raise his shield, he noticed it getting heavier… it was gravity magic.

                Ares tried to block the attack with his sword, but the weapon also got suddenly heavy. In the end, he was forced to Teleport away, and that enraged him. Running away from an attack made him so mad that one could see the sweat from his face turning into steam.

"I should have known…" Athena said, and then she increased the output of gravity and then fired some Electric Arrows toward Ares.

                Ares' pride didn't let him run away again, so he used all his might to block them with his shield. Since his anger was increasing, so did his strength. Now that he was three meters tall, he could even afford to take on Athena's full-powered gravity.

                Athena's wisdom and tactics could prevent her from losing the fight. Still, she would need something more definitive to defeat Ares, which was complicated because they never truly stood on different sides of a battle. Instead of letting Ares grow stronger with his anger, Athena decided to assume a defensive stance. She had a fairly good idea of how to defeat Ares, but she will need some time to prepare and wait for the right circumstances to take place.