Pfft!
Little Eros didn't expect this mortal to dare refuse his "gift," and even throw his "gift" back like a piece of poop. Thus, caught off guard, he was directly hit by his own golden arrow.
The divine office of Love is actually very powerful. The deity who originally held the divine office of Love was actually a primordial god who existed at the beginning of the planet's birth. Another Eros, this primordial God of Love, was revered by the Greek Pantheon as a primordial god of equal status to Chaos, Gaia the Goddess of Earth, and Tartarus the God of the Underworld. His power was far beyond what Zeus, the current God King, could compare to, and his divine core and spiritual foundation were naturally planetary level.
Later, Eros was destroyed and died due to an extraterrestrial visitor, and his divine office scattered into fragments, which were inherited by some later gods. Even a fragment of a primordial god's divine office is enough to serve as a main god in a segmented and independent divine system world like the Greek World.
But little Eros was not a main god; his divine power was far inferior to gods like Ares, yet he had obtained the divine office of Love. This led to a fact—even though the Golden Arrow of Love was a divine artifact birthed from his own divine office, it could still affect him.
Therefore, the moment the golden arrow pierced his chest, he had already caught a glimpse from the corner of his eye that the abominable witch, who had blasphemed against the gods, had already raised her crescent-shaped staff at him.
Buzz!
After the opponent uttered a short incantation with divine words, little Eros immediately felt himself surrounded by purple light. The surrounding space and time shifted; he had clearly been pulled into a teleportation magic by this witch.
Medea herself couldn't cast such a powerful divine-era magic as spatial teleportation with just one-engineering of incantation, but behind her was Hecate, who presided over almost all mysteries in the Greek World. This magic was actually released by Hecate on her behalf; all chanting and casting had been replaced by Hecate, and Medea only needed to perform one-engineering of action or incantation as a key to activate this magic.
Amidst a dizzying spin, little Eros, enveloped in purple spiritual light, found himself in an unfamiliar place. Wild grass grew profusely all around, long unvisited by worshippers, and ancient stone pillars, some toppled, some still standing, surrounded him. Above, a stone roof provided shelter from wind and rain.
This was clearly an abandoned temple, though it was unknown which deity it was dedicated to.
Within the divine era, abandoned temples were a rare phenomenon. Such occurrences were mostly the former temples of indigenous gods conquered by the gods of Olympus. After these gods were conquered and joined the Olympus Pantheon, their status was generally not high. Moreover, judging by the layout of this temple, it was clearly a temple dedicated to a goddess. Therefore, little Eros boldly surveyed the temple.
At worst, after he fell in love with the goddess enshrined here, he would go back and beg his mother to make the decision to bestow this indigenous god upon him as a wife.
Hmm, this temple looks quite ancient; perhaps it has been abandoned for even longer than I've been alive.
It's all that damned witch's fault. I must find a way to punish her later. I can't believe I have to find an older sister to be my wife, but if she's as gentle and beautiful as Mother, it might not be so bad...
Little Eros thought to himself, casually looking around, but just then, he noticed the statue enshrined in the temple.
She was a gentle and benevolent goddess, dressed in a long gown, with a graceful figure. Although he hadn't seen her face yet, little Eros was already deeply drawn to this goddess. However, he also felt a slight strangeness; even though this temple had been abandoned for many years, it felt as if someone had been maintaining it.
Could it be that there are still remnants of this indigenous god's original followers? Then I'll have to deal with them too...
While maintaining this thought, little Eros saw the goddess's face.
She was a goddess with an exquisite and beautiful face, no less than his mother Aphrodite. Her eyes were also full of gentleness, but what was astonishing was that even though this was just a statue, the statue's eyes felt very bright and full of wisdom.
Upon seeing this statue, little Eros had already searched through his memories but found no recollection related to this goddess. However, this did not hinder his heart's yearning for love; under the influence of the Golden Arrow of Love, he had already fallen deeply in love with this goddess.
However, what little Eros didn't notice was that there was actually information about this deity on the statue. Hidden beneath the pedestal, under the wild grass, was a line of words carved as if by axe, recording the true name of this goddess:
Goddess of Wisdom, Metis.
...
In the southern Laconia Plain, the Sparta city-state, usually sunny and pleasant, was today shrouded in a cloud and thunderstorm.
Athena stood above the clouds, watching with satisfaction as the beautiful maiden, defiled by Zeus, stumbled into the Sparta city-state under her guidance, fainted on the street there, and was then taken by the Sparta citizens who found her to the medical hall of the Sparta city-state.
Before this, Athena had thoroughly understood this city, protected by her abominable brother, and found that the various systems within this city-state were indeed many years ahead of other city-states in the Greek World.
Here, the maiden carrying Zeus's seed within her will receive full care. The child in her womb will naturally be raised as a member of Sparta. He will grow up here, learn Sparta's most exquisite combat techniques, become the most powerful warrior, and then one day, he will plunge his weapon into the belly of his god.
I truly look forward to that day, dear Ares.
Gazing at the city-state below, a look of satisfaction flashed in Athena's bright eyes.
I must admit, you are my greatest obstacle. The day you die is the day I embark on my path to enthronement and coronation!
However, just as the Goddess of Wisdom was gazing at her masterpiece with satisfaction, suddenly, a string in her mind was sharply plucked.
It was as if her exclusive possession had been secretly touched by someone else.
Athena's expression changed, and a place came to her mind.
That was the only soft spot in her stern heart, the belief that supported her to this day, and her only forbidden zone, a place absolutely no existence, including Zeus and the inhibitory force, was allowed to violate.
Thinking of that place, cold sweat even appeared on Athena's forehead. She could only hurriedly turn her head to glance at the maiden's direction, then directly turned and disappeared from the territory of Sparta.