"Get your act together.

"

Sam spoke those words and they shook the bear a bit. The bear's mind suddenly cleared out and the aggression went down. It looked at Sam before shaking its head and tearing the head off the wolf.

Sam looked at the other beasts and noticed that their situation is the same.

They are all gaining aggression bit by bit. He had to bring them all back to their senses. But at this moment, he noticed a sense of threat.

The massive humanoid figure of the god has condensed enough. He is not as giant as the first few disasters, but he is not exactly the size of a human-like how Athena did. He picked a size that fits right in the middle.

He threw a spear at Sam which alerted him a bit.

Sam stopped what he was doing and swung his sword at the spear that came at him.

*BOOM*

An explosive clash resulted in a miniature dirt storm. With just a wave of his hand, it cleared and the Sam felt his arm shaking a bit. This is the first time he felt like this. He felt the power and intent behind that throw.

Ares looked at Sam with a taunting expression.

"So, you are the brat that is toying around with my family members. Not too bad. You managed to block that throw.

"

His voice was not loud, but Sam clearly heard it.

He didn't reply. His face is serious for the first time. For the first time he felt like on the same level he might not be able to match someone in pure strength. He felt like he was on backfoot. Last time he felt like this was when he was fighting against Karthikeya.

At that time, he felt like Karthikeya beat him in terms of both strength and technique.

Right now, he had a similar feeling.

Ares zoomed towards Sam instantly.

He looked like a flash of red smoke as he closed the distance. Another spear appeared as he stabbed forward.

Sam dodged it instinctually. But the spear thrust created a force that hit the city's formation that was behind him.

*BOOM*

The formation shook and trembled. The energy fluctuations were more than Sam imagined. Everyone felt a tremor in their hearts. Sam frowned as he looked at Ares who is still grinning like a mad man.

On the other hand, the vultures and the wolves moved towards the spot Ares attacked. That spot on the formations has indeed recovering from the strike. But the spot is indeed weaker at the moment. The creatures crashed against it like their life depended on it.

The blood colored vapor that came out of their bodies started seeping through those minute cracks. Luckily, no one was there within the city, otherwise things would have been very troublesome. The beasts and Sam are barely able to resist the bloodlust.

These normal citizens wouldn't be able to do the same.

Ares looked at Sam as he spun his spear gracefully.

"Athena spoke so highly about you. I don't see it.

"

Sam got ready with his sword. Ares lunged forward with his spear and started with the basic thrusts. Even though it is the most basic move, Sam felt like every thrust is aiming to kill him. If it hit, he would be critically injured.

He is surprised by how strong Ares is. Because from what he knew Ares might be a god of war and violence, but he wasn't the strongest of the bunch. In fact, many gods like Zeus, Poseidon, Athena, Apollo were known to be stronger than him.

At least that is what Sam thought with his limited knowledge. But he never felt this threatened when he was facing the other gods.

Sam blocked the spear strikes with his sword. His goal was to redirect and deflect them as much as possible.

Even though he could feel the threat, he is not restless or clumsy. The only thing that changed is that he is extra vigilant. He couldn't focus on what is happening to the city and the formations.

He had to leave that completely in the hands of the beasts and other formation masters.

After exchanging over a few blows, Sam started attacking. His moves are fluid and precise.

Ares used his shield very skillfully as he tried to block and counter with his spear, but Sam's attacks were a bit weird.

Whenever the sword hit the shield, he wasn't able to hold that shield stably. The shield is being repelled by the force of the sword and Ares' posture was changing. He couldn't even properly aim the first few spear strikes.

Sam took advantage of this and caught a hold of the spear with his free hand and slashed his sword at Ares' arm.

Ares turned around to avoid the slash and used his shield to Slam against Sam's face.

Of course, Sam blocked it directly with his arm and he used the repel style once again. And this time since the area of contact is larger because of using his arm, Ares had to defend against more momentum than before.

He felt like his arm attached to the shield was being pulled away by someone. Ares wasn't able to use this momentum to his advantage because of the close distance between him and Sam. He dropped it and the spear disappeared in a red puff of smoke.

Ares pulled the sword out of his hilt and slashed at Sam.

Sam blocked the sword with his own and in just a second it turned into a fencing battle.

Ares' moves couldn't be more direct and basic. Sam deflected a slash with his sword. Ares' sword moved to the side and that swing caused a huge crate on the ground.

Sam took a deep breath as he looked at the sheer destruction each move is causing. As they exchanged blows, the surroundings are filled with tremors. Both of them are unable to land a clean attack, but each attack is leaving the ground destroyed and distorted.

For every one that witnessed this, this felt like an even battle. But only the two people involved knew that one of them had a clear upper hand. It is Ares.

For some reason, Sam is feeling slightly pressured. He realized that Ares had a slight edge over him since the start and for some reason as the battle progressed, it is increasing bit by bit.

With every move Sam made, he felt like Ares is able to predict the next and as time passed, he is getting a hang of Sam's style.

Sam almost felt like he is fighting himself, but a version of himself that is more ruthless, more technical, more powerful and more precise.

Ares is fighting Sam in his own style, which is usually what Sam did to his own opponents, it felt weird being at the receiving end of this.

And his style is actually being perfected in a different way. Ares is using his shield in conjunction with the sword, making it hard for Sam to get a hit.

After exchanging over a hundred swords, Sam suddenly felt his hair stand on its end. Ares slammed the shield at the stab Sam was about to make. Even the repel style and ripple style that Sam used didn't work.

They were countered and Sam even felt his arm go numb. He lost all the sensation in that arm. Ares then charged forward with the shield and hit Sam on the right side of the torso before stabbing him with the sword from the left.

Sam had to take the hit on the torso just to block the attack and used the sword to block the stab.

But Ares' sword slid against Sam's and the stab turned into a cut across his torso. It wasn't deep, but it is clean and precise. It is almost like Ares was only aiming for a cut of that level.

Sam kicked the ground and distance himself from Ares.

"Come on. Don't tell me, this is all you got.

"

Ares taunted Sam.

Sam sighed as he tried to calm down a bit. He lunged forward with a stab, but in the middle of his lunge, the sword disappeared and was replaced with a spear.

Ares who was prepared for the stab of the sword was stunned for a moment. He was indeed caught off guard. He dove right into the spear. In the last moment, he could barely slide to the side and the spear went through his shoulder.

Sam wanted to pull the spear back, but surprisingly Ares let the spear stay in his shoulder, he even used then and turned forcefully. Sam who was holding the spear was dragged along with it.

He was dumbfounded. Before he could make sense of it, the shield slammed into his back and made him crash to the ground. Followed by a stab of the sword.

Sam didn't hesitate and used his shadow element. All this while he was trying to fight with only his weapons, but Ares is too tough an opponent for him.

Even though he used his shadow element, he wasn't fast enough or it is better to say Ares is too fast.

Sam got stabbed in the back right before he disappeared from there.