The "I'm always with you" that Ares spoke of was not a lie other gods used to deceive their followers; in fact, during Heracles's journey, his alternate accounts truly followed him every step of the way.
Sometimes, he was a fish swimming in the river when Heracles drank water; sometimes, he was an insect resting on a leaf beside Heracles as he slept. And when Heracles met his brother Eurystheus and was tormented by this king who inherited the throne of Mycenae, Ares transformed into a bird, watching them from a branch outside the palace.
In the original greek mythology, Eurystheus tormented his brother Heracles because he was a follower of Hera and acted on her orders. However, now that Hera would no longer harm Heracles, Eurystheus became the proxy for Athena and the Three Goddesses among humans.
They appeared to be using Eurystheus to deal with Heracles, but in reality, they were using this mortal king to steer the myth of the Mighty God back onto its original track.
The first task Eurystheus gave was also the same as in the original myth: he told Heracles to deal with the Nemean Lion. This monstrous beast lived in the great forest between Nemea and Cleonae in Argolis, Peloponnese. Its hide was impenetrable, and mortal weapons could not harm it at all.
Later, after Heracles obtained the hide of this giant lion, it even transformed into a Noble Phantasm capable of negating human reason and rejecting all tools from human civilization. The living Nemean Lion also possessed such an ability; in the human world, only its own sharp claws and teeth could pierce its hide.
There are legends that say it was the offspring of Typhon, the Father of All Demons, and the monster Echidna, making it a sibling to monsters like Hydra and Cerberus, who could threaten the gods. Others say it was a moon beast that fell from the moon.
In any case, this was clearly a magical beast that humans could not deal with. Even the demigod Argo Heroes would likely just be serving as food if they went. However, after hearing this, Heracles merely accepted the task silently, then carried the giant bronze club Ares had given him and headed towards the region where the beast lived.
Ares sent one of his clones to follow him, mainly to guard against Athena and the Three Goddesses causing trouble again, and then he shifted his attention back to the Underworld.
His junior sister Medea was no longer in the Underworld. Some time ago, she felt she had learned enough, and her father also began to miss his daughter, hoping she could return to the kingdom to be with the king and her brother. Thus, Hecate sent her back.
After Medea left, Ares still felt quite lonely. It was like a little dog that had been kept for a long time was forced to be sent away. Not seeing the figure of the single-ponytail girl practicing martial arts or magic in the garden made it feel like something was missing. After all, although Medea was nominally a disciple of Hecate, it was Ares, her senior brother, who truly spent most of the time guiding her.
Hecate, as Medea's true teacher, was relatively carefree. After all, she spent most of her time tinkering in her magic workshop, and the one she spent the most time with was Ares. As long as Ares's main body was still in the Underworld, for her, life was no different from before.
Therefore, Ares, feeling bored on one hand and preparing to take the initiative on the other, also left the Underworld, operating his alternate account, Perseus.
Like Medea, before leaving, he specifically went to Hecate to ask for a "going-out gift." Of course, this "going-out gift" was actually a Noble Phantasm he made for himself; it mainly needed Hecate to leave her mark on it so he could identify himself later. Then, he sent his Perseus clone back to the human world.
Upon hearing that Ares was preparing to mess with Athena's mind, Hecate temporarily stopped her work and rushed home to watch the show.
The two watched the live broadcast from Perseus's side in the garden, while Ares, controlling Perseus from a first-person perspective, rushed towards the nearest human city-state.
Seeing his actions, Hecate asked:
"How are you going to disgust Athena?"
"That's simple," Ares chuckled. "Disgusting her, I'm good at it. Perseus was originally Athena's biggest simp in human history, so I'll play a simp who will stop at nothing to simp for her. Watch me simp like crazy, simp until she gets an ahegao face, it'll be so satisfying for her."
"You haven't even been in a relationship, have you? Do you even know how to be a simp?" Hecate asked curiously.
"Why wouldn't I? It's so simple." Ares coughed twice, then looked at Hecate with deep affection and said to her, "Are you there, Hecate? Are you in a bad mood today, ignoring me... Alright, ignoring me is fine too, I won't bother you. You rest well, drink more hot water... What? That little bitch Athena provoked you? Don't be afraid, I'll go beat her up to vent your anger."
"..." Hecate opened her mouth speechlessly and asked, "Where did you learn all this stuff?"
"This is a skill that every man who longs for love but cannot attain it learns instinctively. If one doesn't truly love, who would be willing to be a simp?" Ares stroked his chin, composed his expression, and then asked, "How does it feel?"
"Don't even mention it," Hecate smacked her lips and replied, "Seeing your usually arrogant disciple act so humble, it actually feels quite good."
"Hmph, good is right," Ares said, crossing his arms. "Watch me simp for her while making her an enemy of the world!"
As he spoke, Ares had already brought his Perseus alternate account into a human city-state. Upon asking, he found out that he had coincidentally arrived in the Peloponnese region, where the Nemean Lion and Heracles were nearby. If he remembered correctly, Athens was also close by.
Ares lowered his head and thought for a moment, quickly coming up with a plan.
In the original greek mythology, Perseus's rise to fame was due to his mother, Danaë.
After Danaë was forcibly coupled with Zeus, the fearful King Acrisius of Argos placed her in a chest and cast her into the sea. After a period of drifting, Danaë arrived at the island of Seriphos, which was ruled by two brothers.
After rescuing Danaë, the elder brother, Polydectes, became enamored with this beautiful princess. In his eyes, the young Perseus was a burden. Therefore, to prevent Perseus from spoiling his good fortune with Danaë, Polydectes, at a banquet, proposed to the young Perseus that he desired the head of the Gorgon.
It was also because of this task that Perseus embarked on his journey, received help from the gods, and eventually completed a series of heroic deeds, becoming a famous Hero in greek mythology.
However, now Danaë had been taken in by Ares to Sparta, where she also met her beloved, married, had children, and lived an ordinary and happy life. Polydectes of Seriphos naturally had no connection with them; Danaë had not even been there.
But Ares was not afraid. Judging by the patterns of the Three Goddesses' actions he had observed twice, he believed that as long as he bore the title of "Zeus's son, Perseus," these things would eventually fall upon him.
So he set off, heading towards the nearby city-state of Athens.