Danmachi- Hell’s Forge

Arrogant Ares

{3rd person pov}

While Alex was in the dungeon far below the streets of Orario the Rakian army under the leadership of Ares had marched to the plains outside the city. Oddly there was little commotion from the city itself from the perspective of one not aware of the situation. In truth none in the city took the threat from Ares seriously as he lacked any members of his familia at level five or higher with the highest being a mere level four. In addition to this the war god annually attempts to take over Orario as the most powerful and important city in the world.-

Thus his armies besiegement of the city was no surprise and if anything the gods here were waiting to see what route Are's would take this time to make his attempt. What few realized was that he had sent spies into the city well in advance to pull off a secret mission in hopes of forcing the cities strongest to allow it's occupation. On this night these spies waited and watched one particular building patiently knowing that their target would become vulnerable in the morning.-

"Lord Ares this plan has a high chance of heavy casualties if that captain of the familia learns of it." The king of Rakia and level four captain of the Ares familia, Martinus Rakia said seriously.

He was a stern faced human with shoulder length blonde hair and brown eyes who appeared to be middle aged. Ares who sat in a chair with a red plate armor on had a youthful appearance and shaggy short blonde hair and red eyes, scoffed.

"I of course took that into consideration and purposefully waited to begin the plan for when he would be deep in the dungeon. Unless he returns early for some unforeseeable reason he is of no threat to us." The god said with a confident smirk.

"As you say my lord. What of the other factions in the city?" Martinus asked curiously.

"That's the genius of this plan, they have their hands tied because of the hostage we'll have taken. Honestly the lot of them are fools for tying themselves to such a weak familia." Ares said disdainfully.

"To be fair sir the familia's captain has shown himself supremely talented and valuable as both a craftsman and warrior, odd personality quirks aside." Martinus said seriously.

"I know, that's one of the reasons I chose that goddess as the target. With the loss of the Crozzo boy our army lacks the firepower needed to destroy those forests and this captain will have no choice but to submit and forge our equipment while we hold his goddess. Several birds with a single stone." Ares said proud of his plan.

Early the morning of the next day after selling the figurines for the day Hestia was ambushed and kidnapped by the spies Ares had planted on her way back to the manor. Within the hour Ares had declared his demands now that he possessed the goddess.-

{Normal pov}

I had just woken up from my sleep and set about making my breakfast as I thought of my odd guest the night before when my coin buzzed letting me know I was being called.

'Rather early for her to get antsy and call me isn't it?' I thought confused as I answered the called

"Hello?" I said and an unexpected voice came from the other end.

"Captain it's horrible! The Ares familia have taken the goddess and are demanding the city surrender and that you turn yourself over within three days!" Cassandra cried through the coin and my expression froze before I felt my blood pressure rise.

"What happened?" I asked trying my best to keep my tone even and my grip on the coin loose.

"They took her on her way back from selling the figurines when none of us were around! They have an entire army around her, What do we do!?" she asked panicked.

"I'm on my way." I said firmly before hanging up the call.

With a violent leap I shot into the air and flames wreathed my form as I shot through the air to the stairs going up to the seventeenth floor.

I didn't care that everyone on the floor saw me flying nor the commotion it caused. I shot into the stairway and up through it rapidly without pause. I passed through the goliaths floor and into the sixteenth floor before blasting up the holes in the ceiling that led to higher floors. I got unlucky with the first hole as it only took me to the fifteenth floor while the second hole sent me up to the thirteenth floor. The air screamed as my figure zipped through the dungeon ignoring all monsters and adventurers. It took me an hour to fly out of the dungeon entrance like a black missile and into the sky high above.-

I landed on the top of babel with heavy panting and took out an undiluted mana potion from my bag and downed it to rapidly restore my cursed energy that I had been burning through to get here in rapid time. The moment I caught my breath and my energy was back to full I kicked off the towers top cracking it slightly before cloaking myself in my flames and violently accelerating forward through the sky towards the Rakian army.-

The arrogant fucks were idling in their camp when they caught sight of my approach and reported it up the chain of command. Ares himself walked out of his command tent with a confident smirk as though he had already won when I smashed down on his army like a meteor and unleashed my power on it. Those with innocent souls were spared but those few were in the minority so my flames spread like a rampant virus infecting and destroying everything it touched.-

"STOP! Do you care not for what happens to your goddess!?" Ares roared angrily as his army was rapidly reduced to nothing under my monstrous flames.

"Return her and leave while i'm feeling generous." I sent back coldly as a field of black flames surrounded me.