There is a lot to be said about the two generals and the king.
Argos is a well-trained and highly experienced fighter. He relies heavily on his physical strength and control, that he has likely used to great effect in countless battles. But these battles, along with time, paid a heavy toll on his health and strength, which is a large weakener for those who rely on physical prowess. He was 30 (made up number) years past his prime when we fought him, and his now long career made him weak enough that we could fight and slay him. If we had fought him earlier, there is no doubt we would have lost.
Calvus is just the obvious. He was trained in a wide variety of combat styles since his was a child since the Order wanted him to become a High Lord. He gained access to the Lost Aether magic, had the best equipment, and the best training, but he was missing two very important factors. Firstly, he was missing experience. It is unlikely he saw real combat in his time since he took the thron, and in terms of fighting, you could consider him to be like a newborn babe, unaccustomed to it. His second major weakness is his lack of mastery. While he has practiced with many different fighting, he doesn’t have a specialty. It is often said that you shouldn’t fear the man who has practices 10,000 kicks 1 time, but rather the man who has practiced one kick 10,000 times. Calvus doesn’t have mastery of any of his abilities, which makes him weaker overall. For Calvus to have true mastery, it may take him 30 (made up number part 2) years. This is why we were able to fight him. If we had fought a Calvus who had found his method for combat and mastered it, we would have stood no chance.
This means that Argos and Calvus both have what the other acts. Argos has the expertise and experience that Calvus would need to be proficient, while Calvus has the youth and age-defying magic that could have benefited Argos greatly. In this way we see that you could consider them foils, or mirrors of each other.
Julian is the best of both worlds. He has the eternal youth that his Sea Curse grants him, and he has the decades of experience to garner skills and mastery of his Curse. This is why we never stood a chance against Julian, even if he hadn’t ambushed us and it was a fair fight.
As for our character, there is no denying that we have gained strength at an alarming rate. As other people have mentioned, we likely have some of Zeus’s ichor flowing through our veins, which likely makes us learn and grow much faster than other people. This is what the Order of Aesir and what Poseidon saw in us. At the point we fougth Calvus, we may have already had more experience in actual life or death fighting when we saw him, but it is impossible to know for certain. We also have what Argos lacked, being youth and growth. Julian is just too strong. Morden; however, has both factors as well as a Sea Curse, and a powerful one at that. This is how he managed to fend off General Julian, but it would be hard to say if either really won. Vetex has gone on record to say that Julian is not dead, and Julian is heavily injured, and that we will likely see him again. We will learn more at that time, presumably.
