Pausanias never thought he'd end up facing the one thing even Ares, the God of War himself, feared outside Kronos and his own father.
Fucking Hades in person.
But then, he never thought he'd see a supposedly mundane soldier from the future kill an alien god either. Sure, he finally died to the blade his father made that could kill deities, and he didn't know anything about the so called 'New Gods' except that they were that, gods, but Slayer had already punched a hole through Kalibak before Komand'r decapitated him, and going by the horror on the lion-like alien, he did not expect it to happen. And of course there was his little stunt with Ares back at the Forge. Sure, Ares was essentially a glorified bully, but one with enough power to kill Superman, and bullies were quickly in exacting payback against those who humilliated them. Add in the fact he was an Olympian and, well, Pausanias thought Ares would kill Slayer if not for Hephaestus being there to rein him in.
Instead, he told Slayer everything he knew and simply left with the metaphorical tail between his legs, barely even acknowledging his brother.
Pausanias couldn't lie to himself, he had yet to recover from those screw ups with Daizo, what with Slayer and his giant friend turning what had been for him and Ayame life-or-death fights against a night unkillable monster into ridiculousy easy victories, and doing so just before they got killed, but he was getting better.
And then the incident with Ares happened, and Pausanias realized he might had been seeing the martian immigrant from the wrong angle. Was his Earth really advanced enough to make soldiers like him, or was he something else entirely?
Even though the huge metal-covered bulk of the God of the Dead, the Betrayer, Hades in the flesh, was standing in the cave, the warrior just couldn't look away from Doom Slayer, and not simply because he was still the second largest person around after Grundy.
"So, Faust did what he was told, has he? Never expected the reedy scholar to actually pull it off." Hades said. Even with the battle raging around them, even with the screeching of the literal dead mixed with the battle cries of the League. his deep, reverberating voice was heard. "'I'm fairly certain he'll be out here in some minutes."
The helmet hid everything, obviously, but Pausanias had developed a good eye for body language, both because of his careers and because japanese tended to be a tad more physical than the average: the bulging veins, the unmoving muscles, the way his helmet faced Hades and ignored everything around him, and the fact he had shoved the boy right behind him. Raven, conversely, was much easier to read, a snarl on her lips and her suddenly red eyes laser-focused on Hades. Hell, Pausanias thought he saw something appear on her forehead, something red and glowing. The fact that every shade close to them just plain evaporated spoke volumes of her power, and what the both of them were feeling.
Pure, unbridled rage. These two did not fear Hades, but it wasn't simply due to parental instinct. Not that it mattered to Hades.
"So, you must be Trigon's little girl. Never thought he'd go the way of my family." Hades said. "But where are my manners? You are royalty! I think I must give you a proper welcome to my domain, don't you think?"
And then, before anyone could do anything, even though he saw a glimpse of Doom Slayer moving (or rather, jumping) towards the god, a gale of wind began to push everyone towards the gate; even Grundy, strong and heavy as he was, could do nothing but flail as he was sucked in.
Except Doom Slayer. Pausanias swore he saw him actually jumping in, trying to reach the flailing body of the boy, with Rachel somehow ahead of him but after that all he saw was darkness, smoke, and fire, and felt Ayame
"Alright, who's not dead and undead? Sound off!" He heard Constantine shout.
"Damn demon freak things tried to get up my ass." Grundy's voice managed to maked itself heard above the groans. "Can somebody check if they got in? Now, don't jump me all at once."
"Too bad. I think Flash stayed behind, can't see him anywhere."
"He was neckdeep into rock, he couldn't leave, remember?"
"Ayame!"
"Pausanias! Thank Kami!" A strange little thing of her, one that even now he didn't fully understand, and neither did her family.
And then they all looked around, and Pausanias wished they had died... even though they might had ended up there anyway.
Tartarus. They had been sucked into Tartarus. Not Hell as the Bible, but with the rivers of molten bronze and magma (the Phlegeton, if his memory didn't fail him), the smoke, and the screams of those who had pissed off the Olympians, it was a respectable second place, unless what he heard about Apokolips was true. Where Tantalus, Arke and the others watching them from afar, even as they suffered their punishments? And the Titans? Where they still alive, or had Hades cannibalized them, unlikely as it seemed?
"Oh, no..."
"Is... Is this Hell?" He heard Superman's father mutter in horror at the sight around him.
"Fortunately not."
"'Fortunately'?" The dark-haired amazon, Diana, said, bewildered, angry and scared at once. "We're in Tartarus! The prison of the Titans, Hades' domain! He's at his strongest here!"
Constantine didn't even bother to look her way when he spoke, preferring to take upon the sight. "First, there ARE worse places than Tartarus out there, Boudicca, places I've been to, like, say, the actual Hell from the Bible. Second, if this is Hades' house, where is his army? I don't mean the shades either, there's no giantass motherfucker on sight."
"That's insulting, John." Grundy muttered in a joking offended tone. "Am I not big enought for you?"
"You're fifteen feet tall, I'm talking Tower of London big."
"Hey, you're right, I thought we were being swarmed by those shadow thingies thirty seconds ago?"
"This is their home, it should be infested with them."
"Where are Slayer and Raven?"
"It doesn't matter, we must leave this dark place, now!" Hippolyta cried. "We must not waste your friends' sacrifices!"
"First, I'm not seeing the way we entered, so that'll have to wait, whether you like it or nor." Constantine said before his brow furrowed. "And second, I'm not leaving without them."
Grundy grunted in agreement. "Neither am I. I didn't search the entire damn planet for Rachel only to leave her in a Hell copy, and I sure as hell making Garfield an orphan again."
Hippolyta glared at them, bewildered. "Don't you have the slightest idea of the danger we're in?!"
"Believe me, I've been in worse places than this. Here, at least, you're tortured for pissing off someone, not being brought at the wrong time by the wrong twat. Oh, and you can see." Pausanias was happy Constantine didn't elaborate on that. "And kinda bold of you to assume they're dead already, given your gods can be warded off by psychos with bronze swords, and some of those psychos were fully human."
"Hades is not Ares!"
Before either could continue their argument, they were stopped by an explosion coming from their left.
There, on the far back of the cavern, rising over the sea of magma like a mountain, stood a large plateau of red hot iron, so large it covered the horizon, so high all they could see was the edge, so bright it was essentially a giant fire, yet far enough they all could look at it without issue.
"Any idea of what that might be?" Supergirl asked.
"I only know the geography of the Underworld. Of Tartarus, I'm more or less blind."
The princess, Diana, made as if to fly towards it, butConstantine's hand stopped her.
"Stay out of it." He said. She seemed to be about to give him a piece of her mind, or worse given that a man was touching her and she had a sword, but they way he looked at her, the grim, hard look his eyes had, stopped her from doing anything. Her mother, not so much.
"That there is Hades! Only Zeus has a chance to defeat him in a fair fight!"
"Yes, we know, and if you're intelligent you won't get close to them."
"John, I'm pretty sure they appreciate your confindence, but they're fighting a legit, REAL god, not a crappy alien demigod wannabe." Ayame pointed out. All she received from the trenchcoat wearer was a deadpan look.
"Whose father didn't kill Zeus because it'd be a waste of time."
"Who are you talking about? No one can beat lord Zeus." They ignored the raven-haired woman's question.
Did Constantine know something about Doom Slayer that they, not even Grundy, didn't? He was nearly always by his sidem didn't he? Just what the hell was going on?
"You guys forget, Raven is half goddess herself. Well, half demon, but that demon nearly killed Zeus in his heyday."
"So, we stay here and do nothing as that monster kills our friends and eats their very souls?"
"Who said anything about him killing them? I didn't."
"Then why the fuck aren't we helping them?! I can control the bioshpere, for fuck's sake!" Grundy roared, and was about to roar more when something struck. He looked around frantically, first in desperation, then in horror. "Wait... where's Garfield?!"
"He was the first to be sucked in."
"Okay, change of plans, Grundy and those who can fly'll go help Slayer and Raven, the rest will-"
And then, before Constantine could finish what he was, the 'arena' the fight was taking place at was engulfed by some kind of green light, so bright even Pausania's helmet couldn't protect his eyes and he had to look away, and so did the others. All except Constantine, who immediately conjured some kind of pole connected to the ground.
"What the hell?"
"Everyone, hold onto something, NOW!" The englishman screamed. "Now, goddamit, now!"
Not bothering to ask what was going on, Pausanias stabbed his sword on the ground and grabbed Ayame with his free hand, the yokai doing the same with one of her swords. The Amazons did the same; Grundy, being Grundy, simply grabbed the rockbed, his huge hands cracking the stone with ease, while Supergirl grabbed onto him, her parents doing the same with her.
And then the wind came. At first (say, a second or so), it was only strong enough to push the smoke, but then it grew in intensity more and more, until the rivers of molten metal became rain and the screams of the damned ceased completely. Hell, Pausanias swore it'd been enough to rip a mundane mortal's flesh off their bones; good thing Grundy took most of the blast and Supergirl shielded her parents. Constantine screamed in pure agony, but other than that he seemed fine.
"Did they set off a nuke?!" Ayame screamed, her voice barely audible with the gale. "Does Slayer have nukes in his pocket?!"
"You wish, gi-" Whatever Constantine was screaming (at the top of his lungs) was smothered by the sound of the strongest explosion he had ever heard. Indeed, so loud it was, Pausanias was sure something must have been protecting their ears, given they didn't burst under the oral onslaught, more powerful than a hundred cannons, or even the Forge when his father was pissed.
And then, a minute or so later, just as they looked around in amazement as it died out, something fell on Pausanias' head.
"Holy shit!"
The head of a horrible monster, partly ratlike, partly wolflike, horns dotted on its head alongside two long ears, and three long, forked tongues hanging from its mouth, red as blood, though whether that was because actual blood was coming out of the mouth or not he didn't know. Its black eyes were staring at nothing in particular. But what was it? Nothing lived in Tartarus sans its prisoners, the damned dead, and...
Right, he forgot, his foster relatives liked to change form.
And then the head slowly morphed into that of a handsome, blue-eyed, bearded man. Even dead, however, said eyes conveyed an expression, or rather, several: confusion, shock... and fear.
Something had killed Hades. And given everything that had transpired, Pausanias had an idea of what, or rather who, had done it... and how was it possible at all.
"Hades..." He heard Hippolyta whisper in both horror and amazement. "The Traitor of Tartarus... dead?"
"Well, yes and no, if you want to nitpick. Also, good alliterative."
Then, to the shock of everyone present, the head began to burn away, the ashes floating for a moment before raising to the air, flying around, then flowing... into the motionless form of Doom Slayer.
The soldier had his helmet in hand and a grim, stoic expression on his face, most of his body caked with blood. Raven stood right next to him, just as grim as the soldier, a wide-eyed Garfield hugged against her blood splattered chest. The mere fact they right there at all would've been more thn enough to terrify them, but with what they just saw happen right in front of their eyes.
At this point, Pausanias couldn't contain it anymore.
"Are you... a god?"