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‘You’ll be back,’ he called. ‘You always return.’

‘Not this time. I thought you a better man, but I was wrong.’

She fired an arrow at the front of the chariot, causing it to sink down towards the ground.

‘What I really needed was to become a better woman.’

‘Ao! Claudia!’ said Discordia, saluting her, as Gia once again looked to her with curiosity and a shade of jealousy.

‘When did you meet all these flying warrior women?’ she said.

Gia and Claudia ran for cover, as Minerva closed in on Jupiter.

‘This time, there will be no submission,’ said Minerva, as war erupted around them, in the air and on the ground. ‘There will be no stalemate, no armistice. I will be the new ruler of the pantheon. Proserpina will rule the Underworld. You will step aside, to be detained in Tartarus, or you will be destroyed. You will hang in the sky alongside your brothers.’

‘You would kill your own father?’ Jupiter said.

‘I should’ve done it millennia ago.’

At this, Bellona gave a shrieking battle cry that roused her army of winged women, as a menagerie of underworld beasts burst out of the ground, including the three-headed Cerberus.

‘Don’t forget about me, Daddy!’ she cackled.

Aquinas’s remaining men fled for their lives, though they were met by all manner of undead monsters. In the chaos, the general broke through the crowd and advanced towards Claudia, extending his sword.

‘You,’ he raged, gnashing his teeth. ‘You are responsible! You did this! The graveyard of Rome shall bear your name.’

Claudia backed away, raising her palms innocently.

‘I am but a mortal woman,’ she said, meeting eyes with Gia over his shoulder, ‘and this is not the end… but the beginning.’

When the general lunged at her, Gia leaped forwards and slid her sword into his back.

Aquinas made a feeble whimpering noise in shock and shrank into himself, curling up and collapsing to the ground. Spitting up blood, he could only watch as the monstrous canine approached. Cerberus.

The general’s eyes popped as the giant rabid creature tore him to pieces, limb from limb, cracking his skeleton and spitting out his bones.

Claudia found that she could not look away. There was something almost beautiful about such poetic violence.

She startled when Diana sounded a horn, watching as women flocked towards her, their expressions fixed in awe, seizing the weapons and armour of the fallen as they joined the parade behind her.

At last, Minerva met Claudia’s gaze. ‘Empress,’ she said.

Minerva grew enormous to match her father’s great size, laying her hand on the ground. ‘Come.’

Speechless, Claudia climbed into her palm. When Minerva stood up, Claudia was lifted high above the battle below, held in the hand of a colossal living goddess.

As Claudia rose slowly into the sky, she saw many lower their weapons, transfixed by the sight.

‘Call to them,’ said Minerva. ‘You are the Empress of Women. I will make sure you are heard.’

Claudia gazed up at her for encouragement, like a child.

‘This is what you were chosen for,’ said the goddess.

Claudia turned to behold the packed Forum below, still in chaos. It was the moment every ruler longed for and feared, the moment when she was needed, to lead the people to victory at war. Her actions would decide how she would be written in history.

‘Women of Rome,’ she roared, channelling the strength and wisdom of the goddesses, ‘as your empress, I command you to pick up arms and defend your city. Channel the bravery that already exists within you, and become the fearsome warriors you are destined to be.’