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"I am not in danger. I am the danger."
Walter White, (Breaking Bad)
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<(Bruce Wayne POV)>
"Ah, it seems that the daughter is finally here to save her mother... I have to say, your mother has raised you quite well. Your beauty even exceeds hers... Are you sure she is not mine, Hippolyta? It would make a lot of sense if she were. Maybe, she got my godly charm and your... assets" Hercules mocked with a perverted grin as soon as he noticed Diana rushing in to save her mother.
"Silence villain. How dare you lay your hands on the Queen of Themyscira? You will suffer for this. I, the champion of Themyscira will make sure of it." The princess of the Amazons threatened as she brandished her sword against the demigod while quickly hugging her injured mother.
Hippolyta who was still conscious, gritted her teeth listening to Ares' taunts but refrained from saying anything. There was pure disgust and hatred in her eyes for the Greek hero but the one emotion that was the most apparent was self-disgust. She looked like she was cursing herself for letting a situation like this even arise at all.
"Hmm? And who are you supposed to be? Some sort of dragon knight?" He curiously asked after noticing me landing behind Diana and her mother.
"At last, someone who actually understands the theme of this armor," I muttered to myself, almost happy that he had recognized my intent behind creating this design, but I remained serious on the outside as I looked at him straight in the eyes. "I am Vengeance."
"So, you are an agent of Nemesis, the God of Vengeance?" Hercules asked seriously while giving me another thorough look.
"... I thought you said your name is Bruce," Diana whispered while looking at me with an unhappy frown.
"So, you did lie after all. I knew that none of you men can be trusted." Even Hippolyta weakly added despite her critical state.
'Of course, they wouldn't understand the quote. What was I even thinking? Trying to act cool in front of a bunch of ancient Greeks. These are the same guys who thought that small cocks were better looking that bigger ones.' I sighed. "It means that I am the vengeance of these Amazons and everyone else who has suffered because of you, Hercules, and I have come to make you pay," I explained with an impassive face. "And yes, my name is Bruce. That is still very much my real name." I responded back to Diana.
"Pay for my crimes? Hahahaha. How amusing," Hercules remarked with a laugh, his voice laced with confidence. "Perhaps you could serve as my court jester once we've reshaped this world, human... Now, where is Ares? That old fool must be having his jolly time with this war. But we must proceed with the final ritual, now that I possess the key." Ignoring me, he began to scan the surroundings, utilizing his newfound divine senses in search of his partner. But even after a few moments when his efforts proved fruitless, Hercules frowned and raised his right hand, attempting to summon the god of war directly to his side.
However, Ares didn't appear in front of Hercules like he expected. Instead, out of nowhere, Ares' giant weird-looking helmet which hadn't incinerated like the rest of his physical body, armor, and weapons, came flying towards him before landing in front of his feet.
"Yeah, about that, you are going to need another god. I broke that one." I interrupted him with a small smirk while my eyes remained glued to Ares' helm. 'I didn't notice it before but how come that demonic-looking Viking helmet didn't disappear like the rest of Ares' stuff? Is it somehow special or something?' I wondered to myself.
"You killed Ares?" Hercules asked in a cold voice but that cold expression on his face soon turned into an evil grin "Well, you guys did me a favor. Now that he is dead, I won't have to share this power with him. I am pretty sure the bastard would have stabbed me in the back the first chance he got. But now, I can keep all this power to myself, the same power that Zeus had stripped off from Ares during their final fight and stored in this girdle along with a magical key to a prison." The Greek "hero" revealed with a victorious expression while pointing towards the large belt he had forcibly taken from Hippolyta.
"But that's just a rumor. The girdle doesn't contain that much power, tell him Mother...?" Diana tried to argue before looking at her mother for support but quite contrary to her expectations, Hippolyta didn't agree with her.
"That girdle, it is much more powerful than I ever told you, Diana. It was supposed to be our greatest weapon against our enemies, a secret that was only to be known by the rulers of Themyscira. I would have told you as well when the time came for you to know but... However, what I don't understand is how he was able to defeat me even though I was using the powers of the belt. It shouldn't be possible." Hippolyta asked the question more to herself with her breathing becoming more and more uneven as she clenched her fists in anger.
"You are right, my dear Hippolyta. Even last time, when I did not know about the girdle, you were able to overpower me with its strength and defeat me before banishing me and my men away. But this time, I had an ally. Ares who had grown mad in his lust for victory and his quest for revenge against the other gods agreed to share a major portion of his own divinity with me if it meant that I would have a chance at defeating you and taking away your belt. He believed that the divine strength I inherited from Zeus along with his own divine power would be enough to defeat you or your daughter. And look at that, he was right.
Now with the help of this girdle, I am finally stronger than ever. Not only the divinity that Ares shared with me but now I also have access to the huge amount of divine energy stored in this girdle... I can feel it. I am no longer just an ordinary demigod. I have evolved to become a god now. I am Hercules... the GOD OF MIGHT. And once I revive the titan sealed on this island from his prison, I will ascend to become the ruler of this entire mortal realm and soon enough, even Olympus as well with the help of his army." Hercules explained his plan in detail like every third-class cliche villain ever.
"You will never succeed in your twisted machinations, Hercules. We will stop you and bring you to judgment in front of the gods." Diana confidently declared before jumping towards Hercules to strike him down with her sword but before she could reach him, Hercules made a flicking gesture in the air with his fingers, resulting in an invisible force colliding against her and forcibly knocking her down on the sand.
"Now now, don't disturb me, girl. I need to complete the ritual. Go and play somewhere else." Hercules warned before joining both of his hands in a strange symbol and focusing his power on the girdle.
'Interesting, his power seems to have almost reached the level of an adult Kryptonian with added magical abilities on top of that.' I thought as I thoroughly observed every corner of his body with my transparent world vision to find out if he had any weak spots.
Surprisingly, he had none, at least none that I could use in our battle. He was not just a muscled warrior god with an annoying face like one of those handsome and charming Disney villains; he was also one of the best warriors in the entirety of Greek history and probably the strongest "Greek Hero" that had ever existed. Defeating him without any... advance preparations would be more than just difficult.
"It's too late now. He is already as powerful as a full-blooded Olympian god. We can no longer defeat him. We might be much more powerful than ordinary men or other mortals but none of us are a match for a god. He has even started to tap the power of the girdle to access the Well of Souls as well and remove the seal from the titan that the Gods had once imprisoned on this island. Once he completes the ritual and revives Iapetus, the titan of the West, who was sealed here during the great Titanomachy war, everything will be over. Only the Gods would be able to stop him then, although they would have already killed millions by the time the Olympians arrive." Hippolyta looked like she had given up as she explained to her daughter with a distraught expression.
"I agree, taking care of him is going to be extremely tough, especially if we can't even get near him. Ares was much weaker than this. I could have probably killed him if I had more time or still had all my stuff with me but sadly, I don't have access to anything right now except my armor... Do you truly have no other way to kill Hercules, like some secret divine weapon or something? If you do, this is a very good time to use it." I asked Hippolyta at which she looked slightly offended especially after hearing me mention that I could have taken care of Hercules if I had all my weapons with me.
"No matter how strong you are, you won't be able to kill Hercules. His death has already been prophesized by the fates. He is supposed to die at the hands of an avatar of war which is now impossible since Ares even before dying was always one of his biggest allies and now, Hercules himself has the partial powers of a god of war as well." She explained with a weak snort. "We are doomed."
"A prophecy? What type of prophecy? Can you say it? Maybe, we can get a clue from it or something." I curiously demanded to know.
Hearing my request, Hippolyta could not help but release a sigh as she nodded "Fine. Since we are going to die anyway, I might as well humor you. As much as I remember, it is supposed to go something like this,
In the ancient scrolls of Fate, it is writ,
That the traitor, the proud son of Zeus, shall meet
His end in battle, bathed in blood and sweat,
For only the avatar of war, a man-beast,
Who is born of the night, can end his earthly feat.
Thus, have spoken the gods, in whispers of the deep."
Hearing the prophecy, Diana could not help but click her tongue in annoyance. "A beast born of night and war; we don't have anyone like that on this island. We can't use the prophecy to our advantage. We will have to fight him directly. We have no other choice." She said while getting up from the ground.
"There is always a choice. And if we don't, then we have to make one... even if it is a very hard and very questionable choice to make." I muttered in response to Diana's words as I once again looked at Ares' helm quietly lying on the ground, almost like it was beckoning me to pick it up and try it on.
'Born of war... This is going to be a gamble but if it succeeds then this will change everything...'
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