Kisuke was blasted away by the golden shockwave, sending him far from the city.
But instead of stopping his momentum, Kisuke swung his blade, "Nake, Benihime!"
Sending out a crimson wave of energy, Kisuke was able to stop Ares' charge and he got some more options to move. Using Flash Step, Kisuke reappeared on Ares' flank and slashed at it.
However, Ares was able to easily block him by placing his greatsword in the way. Ares turned his head towards Kisuke who was able to see his blood-red eyes through the slit in his helmet, "You're fast, but you're not strong."
In response, Kisuke only smiled, "Physical strength was never my forte~"
Ares wanted to shake him off but he suddenly felt a disturbance on his other side. Using his Divine Aura, he formed a transparent golden shell around him in an instant before a large explosion occurred that engulfed his whole body.
Kisuke immediately retreated and saw Ares coming out of the smoke virtually unscathed, "Even without using your aura, an attack of that magnitude shouldn't have any effect on you."
"I don't want dirt touching my armor," answered Ares nonchalantly.
"My~ Now that makes me want to draw some smiley faces on it using a permanent marker~"
Ares snorted at him in disdain, "You should just worry about how to stay alive. It looks like defeating Hades went to your head and you suddenly invaded my glorious Faction. Killing you is the most lenient punishment I could give."
Ares didn't let Kisuke reply as he suddenly disappeared from his spot and reappeared in front of Kisuke in an instant while brandishing his greatsword, intending to cleave him in half.
Kisuke didn't move from his spot and used his own blade to deflect the greatsword to the side before returning a counterattack. Ares on the other hand, didn't panic as he materialized his golden aura in his free hand, letting it act as a shield, deflecting Kisuke's attack.
From that point on, the onlookers could only see bursts of shockwaves from their clash as they moved from one place to another at speeds that they couldn't follow.
Some Gods also arrived at the scene and let their men take care of the damaged parts of the city as they watched the ongoing clash between the two.
"Hooh~ What a surprise. He's able to keep up with Ares. And here I thought he defeated Hades through some dumb luck since he's too arrogant and always looked down on others," A handsome young man appearing in his mid-twenties with black hair commented from the walls of Olympus.
"It's really surprising. It's been a while since a young man has managed to reach the level of Gods." A hazy shape of a man spoke beside the young man before turning towards him, "It's rare for you to come out. What made you come here, Erebus?"
Erebus clicked his tongue and answered with hatred, "Of course it's because of my missing sister! She was last seen at Hades' ritual sight before it was destroyed after they trapped Kisuke Urahara in there. With her abilities and my connection with her, I know that she's not dead. My only clue would be him, who Hades declared as dead."
Erebus turned to the hazy man and asked, "What about you? You come out even less than anyone else, Morpheus."
Morpheus just chuckled at his question, "Nothing much~ I just felt Great Red's strong scent on him, so I came to see who rudely knocked on our door."
"After all these years, your obsession with Great Red hasn't changed."
"What would you expect~ I'm a God that represents dreams and sleep~."
While they were talking, more and more Gods started appearing and Morpheus commented, "Wow~ I never thought he'd gather this much attention and interest~."
All this time, Erebus had been on guard against Morpheus more than anything the moment he appeared beside him, as he's one of the few Gods that aren't under the control of their coalition due to him being in his mysterious space for more than a century now. And due to his form which isn't in reality completely, it would be hard to plant the poison within him, making Morpheus either their enemy or potential ally, 'What a troublesome God... He probably approached me because he's gauging the situation and trying to figure out the benefits on both sides.'
Although Apollo's faction is overwhelmingly powerful among the other factions within Olympus, they just couldn't simply take control of everything as there are other mythologies to watch out for. The main reason for Apollo's absence is to gather more allies that will join him for his inevitable clash with the Three Factions.
Although he has the same enemy as the Khaos Brigade, their goals were completely different, so they didn't pursue their relationship and only gave a handful of assistance. Apollo also knew that they may become enemies with them in the future after the Three Factions are out of the equation.
While dwelling on such thoughts, the situation changed between Ares and Kisuke, as the latter crashed on a floating island, partially destroying it. The dust was immediately blown away by the high winds and those who're watching saw the tattered Kisuke half-buried in the ground coughing blood.
"So it's done... Before Ares kills him, I have to interrogate him first," Erebus intended to fly towards Kisuke but he was suddenly stopped by Morpheus, "What are you talking about? This is far from being done."
Erebus looked at him in confusion and saw Morpheus pointing towards Ares who was silently floating and watching Kisuke.
Once Erebus turned his attention towards Ares, Ares' majestic golden armor, including his full-face helmet, suddenly started falling apart, revealing his head with red and orange-colored hair and his face wearing a very serious, borderline enraged, expression.
However, this is not what shocked Erebus. As his armor fell off, it also revealed his bloody body full of cuts, "H-he did that? To Ares?"
Morpheus didn't reply to him and only watched with keen interest.
Kisuke pulled himself out of the ground and dusted his already tattered Shihakusho and wiped the blood seeping from his mouth with a smile, "As expected of a God~ I almost died there~" As his hat was already blown into oblivion after that clash, Kisuke also had to dust his hair which was now full of dirt and grime.
Ares didn't answer and only frowned. Although he was still holding back, he knows that his opponent is doing the same. He already heard the news that Kisuke used a different form to defeat Hades in an instant, 'Despite that... He already went through my armor and reached my flesh. His swordsmanship is no joke.'
After a few more seconds of silence, Ares said, "You have my respect."
He then suddenly threw away his greatsword and summoned a blood-red spear in his right hand and a blood-red round shield in his left hand, "As such, I shall show you my power."
After declaring that, Ares grunted and the golden aura around his body was suddenly mixed with a red aura. At the same time, all the wounds on his body instantly healed and his body doubled in size.
The calm fighter Kisuke was against was no more, as Ares's demeanor became wrathful.
"I see. So this is the power of the God of War that represented unbridled violence and bloodlust," Kisuke casually commented before releasing some of his Hollow powers inside him, letting it mix with his Shinigami powers.
After growing his hair and growing a single horn, Kisuke stared at Ares with his golden pupils and blackened sclera and said while pointing Benihime towards him, "Let's start the second round, shall we?"
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Editors:
Staz Irvine
28th00: You ever wonder why shounen powerups always involve hair growing? Phis-chama is still unsupervised, but hopefully not for long! Levi-tan is supposed to show up and watch over everyone, so hopefully Phis-chama doesn't create a singularity by building in spatial dimensions above 3 for her castle to be "Awesome." I wonder if she would be scandalized if she knew Ares just destroyed 'The Hat'?
Goyya: She won't be able to destroy anything if it's already destroyed~