The children seemed to enjoyed the their mothers story and fell asleep right away nearing the next settlement the two had to thing of their next move ,they both knew that staying in a large settlement would work against them eventually so they had to think ahead .
" keke looks like they've been here guess we can get rid of the Cain candidate early " A tall man in a trench coat chided to himself as he took a breath of air " They must have got far this is still hard as usual" .
Their entry was smooth with no problems excluding the caravan of slaves from before had caused a slight commotion as one of them seems to have escaped but it was of little consequence to them it seems , later that day the children's father seemed to be familiarizing himself with the area a habit he had picked up when he noticed a boy with a red eye and brown hair.
"Red eyes huh?" It wasn't uncommon for people to be born with a particular god's traits while having no relation this was usually due to atavism on the ancestors part or somewhere along the tree although this was the norm he seemed to have been born with a very odd feature 'it's not like there's no other god's with red eyes but it's not like anyone cares for what he's going to say even if he knew '.
He approached the boy and soon noticed something else he had shackles on his arms and an emblem anyone would recognize ,it seems he had stumbled upon the missing slave however it was not his place to report it he just handed the child some food which he cautiously eyed when the man knelt and whispered " There are no guard's at the south gate " To which the boy nodded as he watched the man rise to leave .
"I…will…remember you" The boys cracked whispers reached his ears just before he left , returning home for the day.
The next month however it was time to move yet again as that special time was approaching and being in a city was far too costly well at least not money wise , having left the city they hadn't gotten too far when they were attacked they weren't surprised since bandits are fairly common but something was wrong .
"Found you little escapees" the mans voice sent a chill down their spines .
" Take the kid's and r-" He quickly found a blade in his stomach as the man continued .
" James !!"
" Oh yeah you go by James now isn't that right, Lord Demios?" The man had a smirk on his face like he had done the most amazing thing and The man just sighed .
" Demigods again huh?" his eyes had a red glow to them when he looked back up making the man take a step back "I'm already too old for this " his muscles bulged as his wound disappeared as he removed his assailants blade, slashing downward with the weapon he split the ground causing debris to fly everywhere " I said run didn't i?" having recovered from her shock she picked up the children and started running.
" Oh no you don't little goddess "he dashed out to block her path only to be met with a fist to his sides .
" Pay attention or die "his red eyes a glaring reminder that the man in front of them was one of the most vicious demi-gods of his era, soon he opened his mouth wide inhumanly so, veins pulsed round his body as a blast fired itself from his mouth letting out a roar that made the earth vibrate as those who couldn't withstand it fell to their knees.
" You stand before a true demi-god filth" he raised his hand above his head " now offer your lives as penance" he cleaved their bodies like paper but he still seemed to be looking around searching for something . "one's missing" he said calmly as his body vanished from the spot leaving only a field of blood and bodies .
His wife was being chased by their leader who had somehow remained after his accomplices were dead . "You can't run forever little goddess you have to slow down eventually or those kids of yours will suffocate" He was right, they were moving unreasonably fast so fast that one wouldn't be able to see them but herein lay the issue the children couldn't endure such high speeds for long so she'd have to slow down and considering how fast she'd love to move this was already proving to be quite the challenge
He pulled out something from his pocket and crushed it shone for a few seconds before he vanished "peekaboo little goddess" he slashed at her bringing her to an abrupt stop as she tumbled trying as much as possible not to injure the children "haha that would have been nothing to you if you just hardened your body, I guess you don't wanna snap the little demi-gods necks? You bloody traitor, the elder gods want you head " .
"As I want yours" Something slammed into him raising dust and some debris standing where their assailant previously stood "The kids?"
"Perfect just knocked out ".she stumbled to her feet while looking at his bloodstained body .
"We have to move fas-"Fast was all she could think as the spear had pushed him back, he dug his feet into the ground ,his muscles bulged and his hair grew slightly as he stopped himself pulling the weapon from his body his regeneration seemed to have slowed, he gripped the spear tightly as he examined it "cursed weapons" he thought as it suddenly vanished from him.
Opposite him the sound of bones cracking could be heard as a man with only half his head stood before them his flesh squirming as it healed itself "Ouch" he readied his spear again but this time James was ready for it.
" ahhhhhh" a familiar scream caught his attention as he could see chains wrapping around her body, chains he recognized .
" Vermillia!!!" For the second time he had been run through by the same weapon, disappearing a soon as it had pierced through he had remained unmoved as he stared at his opponent with hatred his teeth looking more like fangs as he growled at him.
" Surely you didn't think low level demi-gods were all I brought "The man laughed as a man with red hair and silver eyes had appeared he wore golden armor and his body his face slim yet sharp showing no sins of kindness he was big but only more so than the average man his eyes devoid of life as he gripped the chains.
"Caedes" The man before them was the god of war Who stood against Cain during the war but if there was one thing wrong with this situation it was that he hated demi-gods no matter what he would not work with them and didn't have any of his own, while he had priests and followers he had no children .
"Greetings filthy demi-god "he said as he tightened the chain making her scream again, James body trembled in rage as he as the demi-god had grown confident he was at his limit.
" James…stop…don't fight ..agh" the chains glowed again as they cut off her sentence .
"Silence witch, humph I can't kill you yet but…your children seem very interesting I don't like demi-gods but I respected cain I'll at least keep the girl ".A look of horror flashed in her eyes as he spoke her husband couldn't bear it anymore forcing his wounds closed he quickly bashed in the demi-gods head as he approached the god who didn't seem bothered by his speed . "weakling"He smacked him back into the ground with the back of his hand with minimal effort.
" J..ames" The god gave her a quick look before he kicked her in the head .
" Noisy bitch" .James quickly recovered but it seemed more bounty hunters were appearing with more cursed weapons ." you can kill the boy if you like I'll be leaving now ".he threw Abel at one of the bounty hunters who caught him with ease.
" hey he's kind of cute mayb-" the top half of his head disappeared before he finished speaking, the mans speed seemingly even shocking the Caedes.
" No one " his voiced distorted as his size increased and his nails grew into claws, black aura leaking from his body, his features becoming closer to that of a beast "no one!!!!!" he roared as a black beam erupted from his mouth killing a few of the bounty hunters .
'interesting ' Caedes sat on a rock to observe the situation . Crashing into the group he tore them apart as they cut him with their weapons each cut seeming to bleed more than it should but in a few minutes he had wiped them out, he stood over their corpses when he heard the sound of clapping." A truly brutal display but now what you're exhausted and weakened you can't possibly" It was then that he noticed a fist twice the size of his head about to slam into him .
Having moved away from the blow the shockwave still seemed to travelling forward destroying whatever it hit ' that would have hurt even if it's me somethings not right here I need to' a chill ran down his spine feeling hands on his shoulders along with a strange warmth, it seems James had taken a bite out of the god of war. His face twisted in rage ,his hand quickly drawing his weapon "insolence".
As the two fought James wife slowly crawled towards her children, waking Vanessa she told her to run as far as possible with her brother and hide though reluctant she obeyed now all that was left was to somehow escape which didn't seem likely seeing how james had reverted back to his human form and had injuries all over his body as he remained on his knees, the god wasn't without his share of wounds as his dead eyes now burned with fury "you…fought well demi-god but it ends here " he picked the man up by his hair prepared to cut him down as vines seemed to restrain his arms . "I should have known as much" he tugged on the vines as they snapped "I'll explain Heimdall later" he gathered his aura in his arm as he swung at the goddess cutting her body in two "Now where was i?"
Abel had just woken up to his sobbing as where their sister had chosen to hide wasn't as far as their mother had hoped as she watched their parents struggle ,Abel had risen in time to behold his mothers death and his father on the verge this site seemed to trigger something as he started to tremble violently his sister thought he might be afraid but she couldn't be more wrong as her brothers hair had now turned jet black and one of his eyes turned red as he rose to his feet his body aged till he looked to be about 15.
" Abel ?"she gazed at her brother in fear and awe while he inspected himself.
"Down with the gods" He mumbled just before vanishing from the spot .
On the field Caedes had yet to end the man before him cause he had been getting an ominous feeling for a while now but wasn't sure why "I've wasted too much time " he raising his blade when he started to tremble and sweat ran down his forehead .
"Caedes" A voice that froze his soul an unfamiliar feeling he hadn't experienced in years…Fear, yes the god of war was afraid turning around to be met with and adolescent with jet black hair and a red right eye.
" You bastard!!!"He swung he could feel it but refused to accept it, he wouldn't . Calmly almost making the action seem slow he held the blade with the tips of his fingers "You" His body trembled again as red aura started to gather in his hand and a blade started to materialize it trembled in excitement it's edge shone red .
"Explode …Bane "He swung his hand downward the body of the god disappearing in a stream of red aura screaming at the top of his lungs as his body crumbled , the landscape was not spared as mountains vaporized and he had created a small gorge which expanded as it went forward he slowly turned his head to face his face who he proceeded to touch only for him to fall over limply. Aura started to leak out of his body as the ground started to boil.
"Monsters!!!!" His aura swelled reducing whatever it touched to dust except for strangely his fathers body which started to twitch and transform until he had reverted back into his beast like form but this time it was different his eyes where hollow as though nothing were there. The sword vibrated as though it was excited as it rattled and his aura seemed to swell even more
"This escalated rather quickly "