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She moved straight towards her father.

‘You! Didn’t I banish you and tear down your temples?’ he said.

‘I am the plague you cannot cure, father,’ said Bellona. ‘I am the famine you cannot survive. I am the pestilence you will never be rid of. I am the war you created me for.’

Roaring, she joined the mass that now attacked Jupiter, as her aerial army commandeered a number of his chariots.

His spirits renewed, Mars withdrew the white flag and launched into a second attempt at overthrowing his father, which only added to the confusion of the conflict, but he too was surrounded by harpies and furies.

A black chariot flew up to block him, and, for a moment, Claudia feared that it was Pluto come to defend his brother. But then she saw Proserpina, wearing Pluto’s keys on her belt and carrying her husband’s black staff, as winged Invidia flew beside her. She waved enthusiastically at Claudia as they passed over, her sullen pout replaced with a toothy smile.

‘You know her?’ said Gia, in awe.

‘That would be my dear friend Vidi,’ said Claudia, grandly. ‘We met when I traversed the underworld. Long story.’

Proserpina faced off against Jupiter, though he was enormous and she was human in size.

‘Where is my brother?’ he said. ‘Bring him to me.’

‘Pluto is dead. I killed him with his own weapon,’ said Proserpina, with a ferocity that existed in spite of her cherubic maiden face. ‘I made sure he was really gone.’

‘You should’ve seen it,’ said Invidia. ‘Vengeance is sweet.’

‘But chaos is sweeter,’ said Discordia, launching herself at a group of Jupiter’s soldiers.

‘You’ll pay for this,’ raged Jupiter, struggling to fight off the winged warriors. ‘All of you will be punished.’

‘You’re not my father,’ said Discordia.

He broke free, charging towards the Dread Princess of the Dead as she drove her chariot in circles around him.

‘You owe me your existence,’ said Jupiter. ‘You owe me your power. You owe me your freedom.’

‘What do I owe to you, but nothing?’ said Proserpina. ‘You did nothing when your brother stole me away and raped me. You did nothing when he made me his bride and kept me prisoner. I owe you nothing, as you have given me nothing. The underworld no longer serves you.’

As if heralding her announcement, another bone-shaking horn blared. Minerva herself floated gracefully out of the abyss, flanked by Diana, Venus, Fortuna and an assembled army of goddesses, including Proserpina’s mother, Ceres, who launched herself towards her daughter, embracing her tightly. Each of them wore the most spectacular armour Claudia had ever seen, all of it forged with the symbol of Vesta.

She was, it seemed, the pantheon’s new armourer.

Jupiter shrank, floating down to the ground to greet them.

‘I knew you would be behind this,’ he said.

‘As did I,’ said Minerva. ‘This is the destiny that awaited me from the moment I burst free from your mind. You know as well as I that I was born to kill you.’

‘Of all of my children, you are the most deceitful, the most devious, the greatest disappointment,’ said Jupiter.

‘It is my honour,’ said Minerva, bowing slowly.

Discordia popped into being, hanging in the air beside Mars’s chariot as she waved at him.

‘Look out,’ she said, tossing one of her famous golden apples.

BOOM!

The apple of discord exploded, shattering the chariot into a thousand pieces as Mars fled away on one of his flying horses. An army of chubby cupids followed in pursuit of Mars, firing arrows as Venus directed from her own white chariot.

‘It is over between us, by the way,’ Venus yelled at Mars with a surprising amount of venom.