"Lord Death!" Cried two girls in unison. Akuro turned to see the sisters, Sallius and Razzaiel, running towards him hand in hand.
'Lord Death?' He wondered. 'I kinda like it..'
"Yes?" Akuro asked.
"It's Tetsuno!" Sallius spoke.
"He's fighting a god on the surface!" Razzaiel added.
"So they've begun their attack already, hmm."
"Should we go and help big brother Tetsuno?" Sallius asked.
"No. He can handle himself, I can tell he is stronger than what he showed me when we fought." Akuro said. "I'm just concerned the gods might send reinforcements when they realize the one they sent isn't enough."
"Then should we still go?" The girls asked together.
"No. At least not you two, you are in charge of the largest battalion. Without you things will get chaotic."
"I thought chaotic was your thing?" Razzaiel asked innocently.
"Ah…" Akuro groaned. "No. I want you to go tell Xell to help Tetsuno. If he needs it."
"Okay!" The girls said in unison before heading off to find Xell.
'The fun…' Akuro thought. 'Has already begun without me.'
•
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•
"Your majesty!" Aphrodite cried, running into the garden.
"What!?" God called back, irritated that his nap was cut short.
"The fight isn't going well, at this rate Notus will die without even managing to kill a single demon!" She said.
"Seriously? He's really that weak? Fine then! Send another god… hmm let's see… someone expandable but strong…" God thought for a moment, then asked, "Who is Notus fighting?"
"Apparently it's Tetsuno, the Incarnation of War." Aphrodite answered.
"Oh-ho! Now that's a name I have not hear in many years." God sat up. "Now this is interesting.. hmm… what if, we sent the god of war, to fight the Incarnation of War? I wonder, who would win?"
Aphrodite's eyes widened. "You intend to send out Ares this soon, your majesty? Are you sure that's wise…?"
"Bah!" God waved his hand. "If anything he will end up ending this war for us on his own. If he dies, he will at least take out an Archdemon or two along the way. Send him. Now leave me, I would like to sleep in peace, wake me only when someone wins."
Aphrodite took a low bow. "Of course, as you command."
•
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•
"You get it now, don't you?" Nathan asked as Emma slowly became more conscious of the things happening around her. From seeing his memories, she had seen the pain he'd gone trough in just that short time of his life. She also learned what aura is and how to use it.
"So… I… have your… aura now..?" She managed to ask.
"Well, seems you are a fast learner. That's good in this world." Nathan spoke. "I never expected an innocent mortal to be mixed into all of this… but it's happened now, so you are in it. Do you have any idea what's going on in the world right now?"
"N…no."
"War. Akuro has waged war on the gods. Be aware the reason your memories are mixed up is because he got in your head and changed things up so he could live with you, making you believe he was your friend. It was all lie. And the reason your parents were killed in that accident… was simply because one of the Deities was testing out their powers. Umm guessing it was the one they call Adeline, they seem to dislike her. Though, apparently she is dead now."
"War..?"
"Yeah…" Nathan's tone turned sad. "I'd hoped the sixth war would be the last one… but I was wrong. Everything we sacrificed… only for there to be more bloodshed. I feel like this war… is going to have a much larger impact on the world than all of the previous ones."
Emma could tell that Nathan was concerned, and even if her memories of Akuro were all fake or made up, she still felt those emotions, and she was worried for him.
"Hah!" Nathan laughed suddenly. "I wouldn't worry about that kid if I were you. He's extremely powerful, there is no reason to concern for him yet. I don't think there are many gods who could kill him."
•
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•
Tetsuno rose his sword, the blade pointing towards the ground, which began to turn to molten rock at a rapid pace. Notus backed away, his body shaking. How was he to defeat a monster like Tetsuno? There was no way, he was out of his league…
As Tetsuno was about to plunge the blade into the earth, he froze, his head turning skyward. The clouds suddenly parted as something streaked down. Tetsuno raised his sword to block as a large figure crashed into him, their fist slamming into his black sword with such tremendous force that the ground began to break apart in a large radius from the force of the impact, Tetsuno sinking into the earth as it began to melt into liquid rock.
"So, you're the one they call the Incarnation of War?" The man roared. "Haha! I must say I'm impressed you survived my first strike, for I am Ares, the god of War! Compared to me, you are.." Ares reared back his other arm, before shooting it forward like a piston crashing into Tetsuno's sword, sending him flying back a couple dozen yards, rolling end over end before skidding to a stop, his sword clattering across the ground.
A dark orange aura cloak covered Ares's body, taking the shape of a Roman style armor, like a gladiator or a Spartan. His black hair was short and his beard was tied in a braid. Two large broadswords were sheathed at either side of his waist while red gauntlets covered his lower arms.
"Come, brother of war, let us do battle, and see who is the greater war!" Ares roared, aura exuding from his body.
Tetsuno stood, his head tilted. He walked over to his weapon, bending over and grabbing his sword off of the ground.
"Come now! Fight me with your bare hands! No weapons!"
Tetsuno let out a hiss, raising his sword, then the flames around his body burst upwards, like a roaring tornado of fire, and then the sword plunged into the earth, the ground turning to lava, the ground exploding outwards and erupting, as if they stood atop a city sized volcano.
Ares stood amongst the magma and flames, his aura cloak keeping his body from being harmed.
"I said," he growled, "Come fight me!" Ares charged like a mad bull at Tetsuno, who held up his sword to block, but the god knocked the weapon aside, grabbing Tetsuno's head and punching a hole through his gut. The flames seemed to have no effect of Tetsuno, and he was unable to use his mask or the ability of his weapon since his opponent was only using brute strength. It was not a good situation.
Tetsuno's sword clicked, shrinking down into a short sword that he swung for Ares's throat, but the god backed off, kicking Tetsuno away. Notus dashed behind him, sickle poised to cut, but Tetsuno flipped his weapon around and stabbed behind him, the blade plunging into Notus's eye. The wind god let out a scream of pain as black markings spread over his body, and then he dropped to the ground, his form fading out in a cloud of light blue aura. It appeared that his cursed blade had the ability to shatter the souls of others. Tetsuno found it funny that Notus thought a curse such as that would kill him; he was an Archdemon, he had no soul.
"Ah, he really is so pathetic. Correction, was." Ares spoke. "Well, now that he's out of the way, you and I can go all out, yeah?"
The ground was still molten, casting an orange glow across the battlefield as the Archdemon and the god faced off.
The flames around Tetsuno's body had died down considerably now, having used most of his aura in his last attack. His sword made another click. He was hoping to use that curse on Ares, but now he was unable to. Once he copies and uses the attack of an enemy once, he cannot do it again unless he repeats the process of absorbing that attack. He could no longer sense the aura of Notus's katana or his sickle, meaning they were either melted by the magma or they were soul bonded to him, disappearing as soon as he died.
He cursed his luck. He now faced an opponent who countered him perfectly. Ares had powers as well as divine weapons, he just wasn't using them because his physical prowess is so great that he could fight Titans with just that alone. Not just that, but he knew how Tetsuno's abilities worked, so he chose not to use his powers.
Ares leaned forward, then bolted at Tetsuno, his fist crashing to the ground as the demon leapt back, trying to gain distance, but Ares was fast. The god jumped forward, closing t he distance in a split second before his knee slammed into Tetsuno's face, his mask cracking as was sent to the ground.
"Come now!" Ares roared. "Is that really all you can offer me? I thought you were a fellow being of war! Obviously demons are much lower caliber."
Ares watched as Tetsuno lay motionless on the ground. He frowned, disappointed in the performance of someone he had high expectations for. He felt let down, he'd wanted a good fight.
Just as Ares turned his back on him, Tetsuno sprung up onto his feet, hunched over, head tilted and his bones popping and cracking as he moved. Ares looked over his shoulder and grinned, seeing the hollow eye socket through the cracked mask of his opponent glaring directly at him. Even if Tetsuno was blind, Ares felt a hateful gaze drilling into his back.
"So, you do have more." Ares spoke, turning to Tetsuno.
The demon held his sword in both hands, the blade pointing at his chest.
Ares raised an eyebrow. "Are you seriously going to kill yourself?"
The blade then emitted a loud hum as it gave off an intense, blood red light, clicking and unfolding as it latched onto Tetsuno's body, wrapping around him and taking the form of a sleek black set of armor with glowing red markings and a new mask similar to that of an oni. Blades grew from Tetsuno's wrists over his hands, turning his arms into weapons, while black metallic wings grew from his back and a long, thin tail swung around like a whip.
"Ah, it's good to see you haven't run out of tricks yet, demon!" Ares called, raising his hands. "Come! Show me your battle spirit!"
Tetsuno lurched forward as if he were about to fall over, but then he vanished, the lava at his feet erupting upwards as he moved at an extreme speed, reappearing above Ares, who thrust his fist upwards in an attempt to defend with an offense, but Tetsuno was unaffected, spinning in the air around Ares's fist, his metallic wing severing the God's arm as both of his blades pierced his frame, straight through the chest, before ripping outwards, cutting open Ares's rib cage.
Ares didn't seem to care about being cut to shreds, a grin planted across his face as he grabbed Tetsuno's head, then continued to bash his own skull against the demon's.
Tetsuno stumbled backwards, dazed, and Ares raised his fist, aura gathering into his gauntlet, but just as he was about to hit Tetsuno, a stream of aura blew his head off completely, his body falling back into the lava.
"Yo." Came a nonchalant voice. "Am I late?" It was Xell, leaning up against a blackened tree, a pipe in his mouth and a bow held in his hand.