Marcus looked at the army in front of him. It was twice as large as his. Athena has mustered around 4000 Athenian soldiers.
Her core has around 400 Picket Hoplites. The elites of Ancient Athens, another 800 regular Heavy Hoplites as well as 200 Phalanx heavy Armoured Hoplites. Followed by 200 Citizen Cavalry, 200 Tarantine Cavalry which is the javelin throwing horseback units.
While the rest were grunts like slingers, cheap archers and light peltast…
Simply put she has around 2 thousand soldiers to annoy his ones.
And she is smart knowing that Marcus will most likely plays how Ares plays…
And that is heavy units. And she is not wrong. Most of his army are Heavy Armoured Hoplites the elites of the Ancient Greek world.
The Spartan elites. Not only do they have heavy armour and tons of skill they can slaughter their way through the battlefield. That's why Marcus has twice as less soldiers.
Sparta only uses spears as the main weapon and secondary as a sword. That's why they only have spearmen and nothing more for close-range combat. For auxiliary and ranged units they use slaves which are named helot. However, Marcus didn't bring any helots for this. Instead, he went with perioikoi Peltasts. The only ranged unit where Spartan's themselves would fight.
The reason for this is that slaves have pathetic morale and Realitus did its thing. Which is realism. So his army is full and proper Spartan!
With 500 Elite Spartans, nearly 800 Regular Heavy Spartan Hoplites, followed 500 Perioikoi Peltasts and 200 Citizen Cavalry.
Thus an army of 2000 versus an army of 4000 thousand.
Odds are not in Marcus favour. However, half of Athena's soldiers are farmers with weapons… and where is the black-haired teen's army? It's a fully professional army, full of war-obsessed zealots…
"My King. Athenians are approaching what are your orders?" One of the elite's asked with a respectful and a battle-hungry tone.
"Where they have the numbers half of them are farmers. Our goal is to smash through them and destroy the core of the army. Once it's gone the rest will scatter." Marcus said with crossed arms, he started to think how to get this done.
"Form a shield wall! Peltasts behind them while the third line is the elites! Cavalry to protect our flanks!" The teen quickly orders the Spartan soldiers.
"By your command!" The elite quickly nodded at his leader then looked at the flag bearer.
"Sound the horn!" And quickly started issuing the commands.
Moments later all the Spartans like well-oiled machines started to move and get into positions.
"Form Shield Wall!" The elite roared the command. The Hoplites in the front roared back and all at the same time moved their right leg back while positioning the shield which was on their left hand forward.
Moments later the entire hoplite line formed into the infamous phalanx while it was not the Sarissa of the Macedonian it's not needed here. The fighting style is slightly different.
After them, it was the Perioikoi Peltasts followed the Spartan Elites.
Once everyone were positioned Marcus started to think how to get the edge in this.
'Well, for this… let's get into the role of Spartan King… as I said before… YOLO! You live only once! Let's get the most of this!'
"Soldiers of Sparta! Tell me what do you see in front of us!? Do you know what I see!? Peasants and Farmers! How many of them Is a Soldier!? Out of those 4 thousand in front of us, only a handful even know how to hold a spear!!!" There was some snickering coming from the elites when they heard the last words of the sentence.
"I say let's teach them a lesson! Let's show them the might of our armies! Let's show them the might of Sparta!" Marcus roared himself he got quite good into the role mid-sentence.
He was not quite done, he remembered what Artemis said not long ago.
"Let's show them that we are favoured by Ares himself!!! Forward!!!"
That was what was needed! The moment Marcus mentioned Ares… The floodgates opened and everyone released a warcry which most likely could be heard kilometres away.
"For Sparta! For Ares!!!"
"For Sparta! For Ares!!!"
"For Sparta! For Ares!!!"
The two thousand Spartans released a warcry as they started to move in a perfect formation.
~~~~~~Olympus~~~~~~
Quite confused Ares for a second felt 2 thousand...pseudo followers? Appear out of nowhere…
It was strange…
As he was quite bored he focused on this new source of energy and was only able to see glimpses of things…
All he saw was…
Nostalgia, pure nostalgia. His Spartans… about to face the old Athenians from the old days.
Instantly reminding him of the age-old conflict between his followers and Athena's 'free' people...
While he saw only images and glimpses because of massive interference, he was able to discern what was going on…
"It would seem… Athena is having fun…" Ares said dully. But there was an undertone in his voice. He was...jealous…
"Athena? Fun? Those words don't mix. Where did you even pull that out from?" A blonde Goddess with an incredible body and supernatural sex appeal said with an amused tone.
Her purple eyes were shining with curiosity, where did Ares hear that!? Wasn't Athena on a diplomatic mission of some sort?
"They do when it involves war tactics and coordination of armies…"
"Hmm? She is leading armies? Where? How? Why?" The blonde Goddess was baffled even...jealous! Seeing guys killing each other and sweating and doing crazy feats of martial arts! She miss those good old times.
"She is… in that land where that inventor comes from… my guess is… She is allowed to test something?" The God of War said with a shrug. He doesn't care what the Goddess of Wisdom does. What he cares about is that she is leading a mortal army! Something even he didn't do! And he is God of War!
Sure… he might used to fight in some supernatural wars, but those are not as beautiful as mundane human wars from old times. No superpowers, no hidden energies, only pure martial prowess and weapons crafted from a fellow mundane blacksmith. The good old times.
And now, the Goddess of Wisdom is enjoying that to the fullest, he is jealous!
"Fascinating… I do wonder what he has stashed in his workshop if he can pull out something like that." The blonde Goddess curiously asked she is wondering what Athena will do? The Goddess of love divinity can't reach there and she can't see what the Goddess of Warfare is thinking or feeling!
Pity!
"We are on the same page here Aphrodite. I wish to visit this human and bless him with my blessing!" The God War said with a bloodthirsty grin.
"Heh? The last one you blessed was that muscle head from Sparta…" She looked at the ceiling trying to remember his name.
"Leo...Leopold?" She said one of the names which came to her mind.
"Leonidas…" Ares said that while massaging his forehead. Why this blonde has to be like a bimbo sometimes? While from time to time she is smarter than most of the Olympians!
"Right! Him! You haven't blessed anyone in centuries!"
"Because I think he is worthy! Not only did he make Artemis become a maid!!"
Aphrodite giggle hearing that! It's hilarious! And she most likely will laugh from this for many years to come!
"He made Mandalorians into reality! He is even leading Spartans into victory as we speak! This guy is more than worthy of my blessing!" Ares said with a heated tone, the Goddess of Love could feel how his passion is flowing from his words. It was touching… if not silly...
The blonde Goddess just rolled her eyes. She just realised that her lover just wants some fun and lead some humans into a war…
~~~~~~Back to the Realitus Simulation~~~~~~
"Goddess… The Spartans are...going nuts…" One of the Picket Hoplites said with some concern.
Athena took off her glasses and massaged her forehead. She wanted to bang her head into a wall.
The beauty forgot about morale and the human element!
She can already see her front lines getting nervous as the armies are getting close to each other.
"Sound the horn! Everyone get into positions!" The Goddess quickly started ordering her men.
Her soldiers quickly got ready to engage.
"The missile units are good to engage!" The Picket Hoplite said to the Goddess.
"Open fire!" She quickly ordered, and the order was relayed. Soon enough the archers, peltast, Slingers started shooting at the incoming wall of shields.
"Order them to shoot higher!" Athena quickly ordered, seeing the incompetence of these missile units!
She quickly realised that she should have gotten some more experienced units!
For a moment she thought about using her Tarantine cavalry but they are needed to take care of Marcus cavalry and the flanks…
But it was too late as the shield wall opened and Hoplites rushed forward starting to slaughter the missile units! One Hoplite like a machine started cutting them! It was one side butchering! The archers quickly switched to their knives but it was pointless… Against heavily armed Spartan Hoplite…
"Send the hoplites! And start flanking!" Athena said with a pissed off tone. This was bad! These peasants should have been harassing and tiring the Spartans! Instead, they were making them warm up!
Horns soon sounded and the Goddess of Warfare hoplites started rushing forward but then javelins started flying from behind lines of Spartans! And they're quite a bit of them!
Most of all...they were quite accurate and deadly!
"Defensive positions!" Athena quickly ordered with hiss. This was much different from what she has envisioned! The Spartans fighting with much more heat than she has expected!
And her flanking is quite pointless as Marcus Citizen Cavalry was engaging her Tarantine Cavalry… While her Citizen Cavalry was engaging… the Spartan Elites… it was one-sided slaughter…
The elites don't even spare the horses… with a quick thrust of the spears they were down before the soldier can stand up they were rattled by the shields and with another quick thrust from the spear the cavalrymen were killed off…
Before long her cavalry was dead and Spartan elites started flanking her units… the numerical advantage she had at the beginning was gone in just a few moments!
It was absurd!
Only a few moments into this her core units were only left!
Only her elite Picket Hoplites had some chance to fight off the mad Spartan elites which were similar number to her elites.
The problem was there were over 400 more of Spartan regular Hoplites left and Marcus still had his cavalry and peltasts.
It was a riot on her side as her soldiers started running away…
Whatever could, as they were encircled…
"Well, it would seem it was my victory," Marcus said to her as encirclement opened and the teen inventor walked towards her.
Athena was the only one left in the corpse of blue and white Athenian soldiers.
"Yes… I misjudged several factors…" The Goddess said with a sigh. She forgot about morale, this was not pure hard logic! And numbers on paper!
Marcus abused the Spartan morale, put them in a frenzy and then let the floodgates deal with the rest with minimal commands.
The key to his success was that quick charge from the shield wall to her front liners. Her front line purpose was harassment. Athena forgot that these people were peasants. She was operating on budget after all.
"That's why I request a rematch!" She said this with a pout.
The teen just shook his head at her. He got her hooked on this little game.
"While I would love to fight you again in this game. It's already four in the morning and I should be waking up soon." As he said that the Realitus started to get cancelled. The rainbow coloured snow started to be seen again.
Athena realised that she didn't even leave the small area she was before…
Before long the snowing stopped leaving only him in front of her. There was no more grassy plains or the Spartans…
"I see… I do hope we can play this game again. Otherwise, I will haunt you after showing something incredible as this! and then not allowing me to use it again!" She said that quite seriously.
Marcus just snorted amusingly. He has no intention of not allowing this not to be used. Especially if he can spend time with this beauty. Honestly, he learned a few tricks in tactics from her in progress.
"Don't worry, we will play again. With a much more realistic system in my home." The teen said with a smile, before deciding to return to his sleeping.
"Anyway, I will see you in a couple of hours, yes?" He asked her.
"Yes."
"Good, see you soon."
After that, he turned into purple energy and burst like a bubble.
Leaving the Goddess of Wisdom to stare at the distance for a bit. She then moved her hand on her face and removed her glasses then massaged her forehead with her other hand.
There was a blush on her cheeks. The beauty is trying to control her raging emotions.
~~~~~~Next Morning~~~~~~
I slowly opened my eyes. A yawn escaped from my mouth. Realitus can mess with one's perception quite a bit.
If my understanding is right I spend several days in a span of several hours, and on top of that, I only spend several hours sleeping.
Now, I am having an internal battle… should I use my adaptive powers to fix my sleepiness or I should go with coffee?
*Yawn*
Hearing such a cute yawn I looked to my side. It was Atalanta whose tail was moving lazily from one side to another. She was awake...partially… as her eyes were half-opened.
She stretched out like a proper cat. Dressed in my t-shirt and simple shorts she looked like a proper cute girl…. No one even believed that she is a huntress for a very long time and has countless ways to murder someone…
Nope. All there was from her is a cute lion girl who likes cuddling now.
As the moment she stretched out she returned to her snuggling.
Her head was just below my chin her right hand was hugging my neck. The beauty was laying on top of me. And there was no indication that she wants to move any time soon.
"How is my beautiful girl feeling?" Marcus asked her while his hand moved on her back starting to stroke it.
"...lazy… you turned me into a lazy person…" She said with a slightly annoyed sigh.
"Hmm...not quite… the right word should be not a morning person." I clarified it for her. I haven't seen any genes which make her a lazy person. The only thing which comes to my mind is that she got some influence from the lion side.
"Hnnn… I see… well...it doesn't matter since you like this kind of thing anyway…" She said while rubbing her cheek into my nape.
This beautiful cat girl surely learns quick how-to snuggle.
"Indeed. However… this day is going to be a long one, meeting with Athena and such…"
I said that with a sigh. A burst of purple energy manifested not far from me. A copy of me appeared dressed in my school uniform.
My soul senses were telling me that Athena was already in the town on the other side. With my Diamond Core Heart connection, I found her not far from the largest Supermarket.
From the looks of it, she just arrived there as the largest bus station is there.
It's quite amusing seeing her do it. But, from her facial expression, she doesn't care that she used a bus to come here.
From the looks of it, she was in her world and the bus travelling just was a convenient way to get her where she wants while thinking about some things.
"Hmm...yes, I completely forgot about it. Do you want us to come along too?" She asked softly, there is a certain amount of amusement in her tone. Atalanta wants to be there.
My bet is she wants to see the reaction of the Goddess of Wisdom when she see the Maid Goddess.
"Sure thing."
~~~
The first reaction of the Moon Goddess when she saw Atalanta was sheer disbelief.
The beautiful silver head didn't care that the huntress got a massive power boost. She didn't care that the blonde was much more cat-like…
All she noticed was the assets becoming much larger of this lion girl.
"You asked Master to make your boobs bigger?" Hippolyta asked with disbelief. How absurd is this? THE huntress asking for bigger assets? Since when? How? Why?
Did the blonde have some sort of realisation and now she wants bigger 'weapons'?
"No. I didn't, it was part of genetic alterations." Atalanta simply answered back.
Honestly, it was hard to believe. Both Hippolyta and Artemis were especially conflicted. Both of them saw the lion girl behaving alot out of character… and now her boobs are bigger.
This is fishy beyond belief. While Jeanne and Le Fay didn't even believe. From the very beginning, they thought Atalanta asked for bigger assets…
If it was the old Huntress she would be annoyed that no one believes her. However, the current one honestly doesn't mind. She doesn't care. All she wants is to snuggle and be pampered by her Master.
A cat-like behaviour? Most likely. She is becoming...much more selfish? The blonde only thought about it for a bit before returning to eating her apple-based stuff.
The lion girl nonchalant behaviour was noted by the Goddess of Hunt and the Amazon Queen.
They wondering if Marcus did something to her. To make her behave like that…
"Did you do something to her? This is not like her at all!" Artemis asked the teen. There was some concern for one of her oldest huntresses.
"I smoothed her DNA, altered her soul to fit with her body. And this is the result." He simply explained to Artemis while his hand gently rubbed the lion girl's hair.
This made Atalanta close her eyes and enjoy the attention she was receiving. Her behaviour didn't go unnoticed by the rest.
The blonde huntress became easily affected by their Master's attention…
The Silver-haired Goddess slowly nodded, this was… unexpected. Very unexpected. The whole board just got shuffled with this simple change.
Now Atalanta out of nowhere became closer to Marcus than some of the older girls… simply because she was behaving like a proper pet.
Well… the Goddess of Hunt could only wait for her time to strike again…
~~~~~~Later~~~~~~
The Goddess of Wisdom finally found the town where Marcus Goldman should be living.
Now, however, she needs to find him. Thankfully this town wasn't as big as the one she was before. This place could be even considered rural!
There are only 7 bus routes here!
That alone tell her how many people are in this place!
However, she doesn't need to look far for the right directions.
With her glasses, she saw where she needs to go. Because even if the magic emitted is neutral she could see torrents of magic flowing into the air. It was like a river of magic spreading like a tree in all directions...
This means she found the place where the barrier centre is, and it was enormous…
It only proves to her that Marcus Goldman knows how to make perpetual energy. To run such a barrier system… one would need alot, alot of power. If it was a different colour and it would be visible then it would look like a miniature Yggdrasil in sheer size…
That's why it's so… insane that she only saw the tree-like barrier energy only when she arrived here. Why? because of the neutral energy it blends with the surroundings.
If it was much weaker in power then it wouldn't be even visible. However, Marcus went with more power and dismissed the whole idea of disguising this.
With this revelation, she simply went towards that location. Crossing the only bridge in the town towards a much more residential area of the town. According to what learned about this town is that this area was constructed in recent history over the past 100 or so years. To house people who were working in the concrete slab factory just a few streets away. Apart from that, there is nothing there…
It is so rural that even the supernatural would find this place boring… Unless they want to live regular lives…
However, soon enough she arrived there rainbow snow started falling again. However this time instead of affecting her, Athena saw that it was affecting the people of this town.
Simply put Marcus Goldman is making sure they are not disturbed…
And of course, testing this on a group of people as well.
After looking around the Goddess of Wisdom finally saw him standing on the other side of the road. Moments later the green signal for her glowed on the traffic lights.
The brown-haired Goddess was amused that he is doing such a thing… even then it shows that he is the one who is controlling the traffic or its the reality morphing simulation he just deployed? Well, it doesn't matter, she just crossed over to his side.
By this point, she has dismissed her armour and instead wearing much more casual clothes.
She won't be telling him that she spend quite a bit of time in the morning sorting through whatever shops she found in the previous town!
Looking at him for a bit she finally saw three maids behind him… they were dressed quite… provocative… especially seeing Artemis… in such clothes…
Honestly… she has no idea...should she laugh? Or be…
…
…
Jealous? Unlike her, The Goddess of Moon and Hunt is with him all the time…
While she? She, won't be able to stay long here. The Goddess of Wisdom has no idea when she will be able to come back here after doing her 'recon' and making some sort of alliance or non-aggression pact…
"Marcus Goldman. It's a pleasure seeing you in person." The brown-haired Goddess respectfully greeted him.
Earned several baffled looks and a little bit of confusion from the trio of maids behind him.
Even Atalanta looked confused. She was expecting the Patron Goddess of Athens to be annoyed. Instead, Athena was… extremely happy to see him. It's like meeting a family member in the airport after not seeing him for years.
"Likewise Goddess Athena."
"Please, call me by my name. After having so much fun yesterday, I already see you as a true friend." She said with quite a bit of blush on her cheeks.
Seeing how Goddess of Wisdom is behaving around Marcus, instantly started sending warning bells to Hippolyta and Artemis!
This Goddess is smitten by their Master! And unlike the rest of the maids, this brown-haired beauty can keep up with Marcus in intellectual level and is a Goddess… a pure and single Goddess. Making her a perfect target for the title of… 'wife'.
"Very well, then you can call me by my name as well. There is no need for titles." Marcus easily accepted her request. Making Artemis grimace internally. Does this mean Athena is already higher in the hierarchy than she is when it comes to her Master?
"My thanks. This way it feels that there is no obstructions in place and we can talk properly." The Goddess of Warfare said with a pleasant smile.
Her words had multiple layers of meanings, or at least that's what Artemis and Hippolyta thought.
The pair of women thought that Athena just stabbed them and told them that they already are below her!
None of his maids ever call him by his name. Orders of the Head Maid. So even Artemis has to make sure to call him by his title.
That of course can be easily solved if Marcus tells them to call him by his name, and honestly, he doesn't care. There is a certain amount of satisfaction when they call him by a title like 'Master'.
Most likely Solomon's influence rubbed off when he summoned his devils and was called Master for a few years by them.
"Right, now that pleasantries are done why don't we find a place to talk?" Marcus motioned for the beauty to follow him as he offered his elbow.
Athena eyes instantly shined with satisfying glee. She quickly accepted his offer and linked his hand with hers.
Now they looked like a couple of intellectuals as Marcus dressed properly this time…
Which quite baffled his maids. They even wanted to contact Quinella and ask the meaning of his behaviour because they can't understand him anymore.
Is he preparing to go on date? Does he even do such things?
The reason is quite simple… he wanted to do something like this with a Goddess. Especially intellectual Goddess.
At first, he was thinking with Artemis...but… he quickly threw that out of the window when he hear what she was planning to do to him. So, he decided just to keep her as a maid. Maybe when he forgets about her original plans he will allow her to move up on the 'ladder'.
Instead, he will go on a 'date' with Athena and see what she has to say to him.
"Of course, lead the way." The brown-haired beauty said with a smile. Hugging his hand even more, Marcus could feel her assets even more with this.
The teen inventor just smiled at her behaviour. He can safely say that he has this beauty interested in him.
~~~
Marcus took her on a small trip, around 10 minutes of walk. While there is nothing to look at. The Goddess do know that there is a specific destination to their walk.
Eventually, they arrived at something similar to a small marketplace, with several kiosks and stalls.
"Over there my parents used to buy potatoes. When the harvest used to be bad in the countryside." The teen pointed at the several stalls.
"Funny how my father used to complain about the prices, even when he used to hate the idea of working in fields. Unlike my mother and sister.
Do you know what he preferred to do?" Marcus asked the brown-haired Goddess who was listening to him attentively regardless...how mundane it sounded. She knows that he is getting at something.
"Some sort of different craft?" She asked with uncertainty.
"Indeed…" He simply nodded at her continued to walk forward.
He didn't say anything instead they arrived at some sort of squire.
It was quite a simple square made of stone tiles, in the middle of it, there was a statue…
Of a girl and a wolf.
"That statue over there, my grandfather was one of the 20 who worked on it back in 1960. While he had no interest in engineering or machinery in general, he preferred carpeting, brickwork and other things related to architecture.
The most absurd thing is that he is the one who build our house. Most of it he build alone, excluding electrical stuff he did everything himself, from windows, doors, floors with his bare hands." As Marcus said with a nostalgic look as he looked at the statue.
The girls simply listened to what he said, they finally realised where his talent for building crazy stuff is coming from!
"And unlike my grandfather, my father on the other hand prefers machines… lots of machines… he joined the army with open arms so that he could drive tanks, trucks, or heavy armoured cars and run maintenance for them. Before he was even twenty.
Once the Soviet Union fell he left the army because my birth country military sucks. Instead, he joined the first auto service shop he could and continued to work there.
Funny thing… he on free time decided to fix a totalled trunk." The black-haired teen said with a smirk.
An amused snort escaped from Atalanta who finally knows where his absurd fascination with cars appeared from. While Artemis just rolled her eyes at this.
"Even to this day, that trunk is carrying metal junk for smelting. More than ten years passed since he fixed it." For a second he remembered a blue Mercedes truck with a shitty gearbox on which his father has released his whole vocabulary of swearing words…
"So... it's a family thing? I have heard of similar things back in the day… blacksmithing families, or any artisan ones…" Athena said that with realised look. One of the mysteries have been partially solved about Marcus.
"Indeed. However, where they liked their work… I, on other hand… was obsessed with this ever since I could remember.
When I was 5, there was one of those times when there was no one who could watch over me. Mother was at work, my sister… well, she did her thing what teenager girls do. Far too complex for me…"
The female rolled her eyes at him…
"Grandfather was in the capital doing something related to his craft, leaving me with my father. At that time he was still working on his truck. As you can imagine he gave me some things to do.
Some wooden toys my grandfather made…. Funny how I never touched those and instead went to nag my father to the point that he allowed me to assist him. Do you think I remember anything from that time? Nope. Nothing. Only that my father said that I was mesmerised when things...just come together.
Ever since then I was partially living in the garage. I would always smell of oil or metal, tinkering with things.
That, lasted till I was eleven…" Marcus told his tale while looking at the statue. Remember what his gramps used to tell about this statue and how it came to be.
"After, eleventh birthday things... changed. I learned of the supernatural. It awed me, it truly did. Where ones are afraid of the unknown… I was not. I only thought about things I could make with this knowledge.
This is what it leads us to today." The teen stopped looking at the statue and instead turned towards the listening Goddess.
"Let me show you what I crafted, your arrival is...perfect for reveal of something." He grinned at her as he is itching to launch something… extraordinary...to space.