In the hall of the gods, while they awaited the arrival of Hades and Hecate, Ares had already departed for the outer world, since Olympus is separated from Earth, its location being the reverse of the world's.
After some discussion and a short nap by Hestia, the king of the Greek underworld arrived with Hecate.
He arrived wearing his black cloak, his skin pale, a hat gifted by Dante, and carrying his iconic staff.
What is his iconic staff? No idea, but it's iconic.)
Beside him stood Hecate, trying not to draw too much attention from the gods behind Hades.
"It's about time you arrived; I was running out of things to discuss with Zeus," Poseidon said to Hades as if they were talking about the weather.
"It's about time you arrived, Hades; when I call, you must come here immediately," Zeus said calmly, not being too harsh with his brother.
"Unlike you, I'm working and doing a lot of things; I can't just stop like that," Hades declared.
The three siblings began talking as if they hadn't seen each other in years, all while the other gods watched.
"Hey, are we going to talk about that guy who thinks he's Death, or are we going to see who has the biggest dick?" Hestia said, not very interested in what was happening; she was more interested in this guy Ares had come to test. "Hecate, can you show us what he's doing now?" she asked the goddess of magic.
Hecate looked between Hestia and Zeus, knowing who should win.
Zeus simply looked at it and nodded. Hecate, drawing smoke from her hands and forming a circle, which began to transform into a shield, appeared, in the center of which an image emerged. The image depicted a man in a trench coat with bandages wrapped around his body; beside him stood a beautiful, blonde woman with pointed ears, holding a parasol that cast a shadow over her entire body.
They were on the summit of Mount Crisa. At that moment, a man appeared whom two of the gods recognized. It was Bemus, followed by his daughters Adara and Aria.
"Hey, Dante, is that necessary?" he said, scratching his head, looking at what the others were also looking at.
"Obviously, it's very important; a ruler needs a throne, and I'm practically ruling this island. Besides, when those fools show up seeking salvation for their souls, they'll see me, the guy they have to defeat, in all my magnificence, hahahaha."
Bemus watched as Dante laughed maniacally, only for Kiss to approach him.
"He hasn't gone five days straight without sleep," he said, implying Dante's unusual behavior, since even a being like him needs sleep.
Bemus simply nodded.
"But it's necessary to use all the silver and gold on the island," Bemus asked.
"Of course, we don't use gold and silver, since we're in a communist state; money isn't necessary here," he said, approaching a nearby construction worker. "How much longer until it's finished?"
"Lord Dante, it will be ready in three more days; we're doing our best to please you," the man said, smiling.
At that moment, Dante sat down on a still-unfinished throne made of gold and silver, but it wasn't just any throne—it was made of bone, bone inlaid with gold and silver.
Seated, Dante took out a staff from the skeletal head of a goat with curved horns.
"And that weapon?" Adara asked Dante.
"It's a staff. It's something I decided to copy from the grumpy Hades," Dante replied.
Hades, upon hearing that, could only grimace a little, but he was already used to Dante's words.
"Or what's that?" Kiss-Shot asked, wondering whose staff it was, knowing he'd obtained it from the system.
"It's Skeletor's staff," he said, displaying the staff in all its glory.
Kiss-Shot stared at it, unsure what to say.
"Skeletor, don't you know him?" Dante asked Kiss-Shot, who shook her head. "Don't you know, He-Man? From Masters of the Universe, none of that?" She shook her head again. "We can watch it someday; the old series, yes, the reboots aren't worth it."
Bemus and Adaria exchanged glances, unsure of what to say, while Aria sat in a comfortable chair a short distance away, observing everything, waiting for something to happen.
Kiss-Shot began talking to Bemus and Adaria; meanwhile, Dante, seated on the throne, fell asleep. Seeing this, Kiss-Shot escorted everyone except Aria off the mountain, allowing Dante to rest peacefully.
"Well, that Dante is certainly interesting. Tell me, brother, where did you get him?" Poseidon asked Hades.
"I got him from the trash," Hades replied curtly.
"Shhh, both of you be quiet; the important part is about to begin," Hestia said. At that moment, a god was seen falling from the sky in the mirror at the entrance to the village of Crisa.
There appeared Ares, in the guise of a man, somewhat Spartan in appearance. He wore armor from that era, his skin a pale, tanned hue from sun exposure. In his hands, he held only his Spartan-style helmet.
The citizens of Crisa were terrified, as Ares's fall had created gusts of wind that nearly blew the entire entrance to the town to pieces.
Setting his helmet on the ground, Ares prepared to speak.
"DEATH MAN, COME OUT AND HAVE A MAN-TO-MAN CONVERSATION WITH ME!!" he shouted, more than actually speaking.
The scream echoed throughout the town, creating even more panic than before.
Ares, grabbing his helmet, entered the place, finding it in better shape than they had expected, ignoring the disarray and chaos he himself had caused.
"Hey, do you know where the guy with the skeleton face and scythe is?" The god of war asked a woman lying on the ground, nearly having a heart attack.
"I DON'T KNOW ANYTHING, I HAVE NO IDEA, I KNOW NOTHING," the woman cried, sobbing, on the verge of fainting from sheer panic and fear.
Ares took a step back and stared at himself, thinking that perhaps he didn't have to enter a city like a Spartan; perhaps he could have asked Hestia, Aphrodite, or his mother for clothing.
"What happened here?" "Bemus?" he asked, arriving at the scene with his sword in hand. He was almost out of the mountain when he saw Ares ascending from the sky.
"Or a warrior, it's about time; I think we can communicate better now," Ares said, a little more excited at the sight of Bemus, since he was the closest thing the island had to a guardian.
"Who are you?" Bemus asked the god, not recognizing him.
"I am Ares," he declared, and summoning a sword, he unleashed a blast of energy at Bemus, who barely managed to block it, sending him flying and destroying part of the area in its path. "God of war, and I think I should have said that before attacking; maybe he didn't hear me."
Ares is a warlike and violent god, but that's only in relation to certain aspects like war, battles, or conflicts; it's part of his nature, hence the relentless attack on Bemus. But aside from that, he's not a bad person, at least not according to the definition of a bad person or a bad god in this case.
(Note: This is not the Ares from GoW; different franchises, different Ares).
Walking toward his "opponent," he saw Bemus nearly destroyed, badly wounded, but alive. The sword had withstood the attack; after all, he hadn't used its full power.
"I see you're still alive; congratulations. Being able to withstand my attacks isn't something just anyone can do," Ares said, unaware that Bemus had fainted.
Seeing that he was alive but unable to continue fighting, he lost interest.
"I see you left him looking like he'd spied on some virgin goddess," Dante said, appearing beside Ares.
"Well, yes, I think I went too far; after all, this isn't a city like Sparta, and therefore, they don't resist like they do," he replied to Dante.
"Besides, you destroyed a large part of the city, and therefore I can't let you do whatever you want; whatever you do, you are no longer the lord god of this city." Dante spoke, looking at Ares.
"And to whom do you pray in this town?" Ares asked, also looking Dante in the eye.
"To no one," he replied, summoning the Fusion Sword, and with a vertical slash from bottom to top, he lifted Ares up. Using Geppo, he delivered another slash, sending Ares flying far from the town.
"ADARA!" Dante shouted to the girl.
"Yes, sir," she said as she rushed over to check on her father.
"In the opposite direction from where I sent Ares, there's a cabin with a farm; in the farmhouse, there's a passageway to a shelter. Send all the townspeople to the shelter; Kiss already went there with Aria, it's not safe here." Dante gave the order.
"Understood, my lord?" Adara said, seeking help to carry her father.
*Dante's POV*
I watched Adara retreat; I focused on my fight, using Soru to quickly reach where she had fallen.
"A good hit; I hope that's not all you've got," she said mockingly, getting to her feet.
"You're in for a surprise then," I said, placing the Fusion Sword on my shoulder. "Let me guess, the god of war; if it's you who came out of the other 10 possibilities, it only means one thing." At that moment, I enveloped the sword in Haki.
"Clever man, you've got me," said the god of war, summoning a red metallic hammer-axe.
And with a leap, it landed on me; I instinctively dodged the blow. The impact on the ground shattered the entire floor within a 5-meter diameter.
Once I regained my balance, I slashed at the god, who responded in kind. The clash of weapons created a shockwave.
"That's a worthy opponent, ours." I cut him off, punching him in the stomach and sending him flying.
"For the god Ares to be unfocused on a fight is unbecoming of a being like you," I said reproachfully as I walked back to where I had flown.
"My bad, now I'll get serious," Ares said, summoning his helmet to put it on. At that moment, I felt the divine presence increase exponentially.
I sensed the danger; I used Haki to see Ares appear beside me, wielding a hammer with boosters on one side. He increased the speed of his attack, sending me flying and severely injuring me.
I quickly drew my sword into a defensive stance, enveloping myself in Haki, and glancing to my right, I saw the war god's attack.
"Tenkkai," I said before the attack hit; I felt as if the weight of the world had fallen on me.
He was thrown from where he was, not farther and less injured than he should have been from the start.
I ended up being dragged about 20 meters from my original position, but I managed to stay on my feet, only to spit out a little blood.
"What stupid strength; you're the god of war, not strength," I complained to the god.
"Among all beings, there are only a few who might be stronger than me in terms of raw power, but among the Olympians, I am the strongest physically." I could feel his superior smile even though I couldn't see their faces through my helmet.
Seeing that I also had to get serious, he transformed me completely into my Grim Reaper form.
At this, Ares leaped at me with the full force of his hammer's swing. I dodged it with a jump, summoning my scythe to attack him, but I only managed to damage him physically.
I figured as much; a scythe made of pure bone wouldn't work on divine beings. I quickly set the scythe aside, summoned several energy swords, and attacked the god.
In response, he began spinning his hammer, destroying everyone, but this gave me an idea of his fighting style: it's not about thinking, just hitting. That might help me defeat him, since this god fights without any plan or strategy.
If I let him accelerate with his weapon, his strength amplifies exponentially, so I can't let him use it that way, and the only way to stop him is to fight head-on.
Using Soru, I reached Ares and, summoning a scythe, began slashing and blocking attacks, something the god of war also started doing.
As soon as I saw an opening, I used it; given the distance, the fastest thing was a punch; I hit him in the jaw, sending him flying, but I wasn't going to let him get away, so I used the Dark Devil Fruit to pull him back.
Just as I was bringing Ares back, I saw him transform his mace into a spear, which also had boosters. Advantages of being a machine god, because otherwise, I can't imagine them having boosters.
I quickly canceled the absorption and moved to the sides to create distance from Ares, but his irrational attacks made it impossible for me to counter, as it wasn't worth tanking one attack for another.
"Dark quicksand," I said, kicking the ground hard, which began to be covered in darkness.
The moment Ares stepped into the darkness, his legs began to be sucked in.
"What the hell?" he said, slowly pulling his legs out of the darkness.
I did everything I could to continue absorbing, but Ares's brute force was otherworldly, but it served its purpose, which was to stop him.
Summoning the Fusion Sword, I attacked Ares again using Conqueror's Haki.
"Dikastirio Apólytis Epikráteias: Anótati Dýnami," I said, launching a slash at my opponent. It wasn't the most powerful, but that didn't diminish the damage and power it contained; after all, it's not in my best interest to kill an Olympian god.
(Note: Dikastírio Apólytis Epikráteias: Anótati Dýnami is in Greek for your enjoyment.)
The attack swept everything away, including Ares, who fulfilled his desire to emerge from the darkness with a cut across his chest in the process. My damage output is potent enough to pierce divinity and harm gods, at least superficially, not to mention that Conqueror's Haki damages more internally than externally.
A few seconds of calm passed, only for me to double back, dodging a spear thrust.
I looked at Ares's chest to see the cut I had made; it wasn't superficial, but it wasn't too deep either—something in between.
Spinning his spear, Ares flung me back and followed not far behind.
I quickly disassembled the Fusion Sword into its seven blades, taking two of them.
Ares's skill and aggression with the spear made him a top-tier lancer; I could only use Observation Haki to block most of his blows.
"So you can see the attacks before, but how about when the attacks are more than I can handle?" he said, creating another spear and doubling his already swift and violent attack.
Without much delay, he began to shatter my defense, piercing several parts of my body with his spear.
I quickly spread my wings and flew high, creating distance, to which Ares responded by creating more spears and launching them at unimaginable speed.
I flew as fast as I could, but he managed to destroy one of my wings, forcing me to fall.
At that moment, Ares created his mace again and attacked me head-on with its thrusters.
I used Haki and Tekkai, but that only kept me from being knocked out immediately.
The entire area I passed through was destroyed. I barely managed to stand. My body was covered in blood; thanks to the bond with Kiss-Shot, my body regenerates faster than normal, so I'll be fine. Nothing to worry about; I'll be alright.
Ares walked toward me, twirling his hammer in the air.
"Is the fight over already?" I don't know if he asked mockingly or if he wanted to know if I could keep fighting, but I wasn't going to stop at this point.
"No, we just reached the climax," I said as I removed the blood-soaked bandages and smoothed my hair.
I summoned Murasama and transformed into my hybrid form. I planted my feet firmly and unleashed bursts of Conqueror's Haki.
Ares smiled at me in response. He shattered his mace, transforming it into a double-bladed sword with a gap in the middle from which pure ether energy emanated.
During my time in Hades, I practiced and perfected the Dark Fruit; I'm arguably far more skilled at it than Blackbeard himself, achieving levels capable of destroying space itself.
Using one of these abilities, I created singularity points around Ares. He noticed but did nothing, merely passing his sword through them, which had no effect.
The moment I took a step, my body was sucked into a singularity point, reappearing in one behind him. Ares quickly turned around, but he was slower than my ability.
"Dikastori Apolutis Epikrates: Anotati eoousia sti megisto tis." I said as I slashed at Ares's sword, destroying a large portion of the terrain in its path.
My dark ability reached the point of becoming a black hole; hence why I am considered an anomaly and a singularity. I am a man of both death and darkness, and of alchemy as well, but that's beside the point. If darkness can manipulate gravity and aspects of it, then it can become a black hole; by default, I too am a black hole and can do everything one can.
Using this logic, I created what one calls a wormhole, where a black hole is the gateway that takes you to another place, bypassing space and time.
I saw a burst of magical energy heading toward me; I simply teleported to another point of singularity, dodging the attack.
Ares came at me like a raging bull; I simply blocked his attack using the Murasama.
And so we engaged in a flurry of sword blows. At some point, we both dropped our swords and began exchanging blows with our bare fists.
Neither of us defended; we were both attacking relentlessly.
After about 20 minutes of this, we stopped. Ares's case had already broken; I could see his face was somewhat tired, covered in ichor. I probably didn't look much different.
"Let's finish this with a single blow," I said, challenging him.
Ares looked at me and smiled.
"Sounds good to me, buddy," Ares said, no longer seeing me as someone to walk all over but as a comrade-in-arms.
We both prepared for our final attack, stared at each other for a few seconds, and then launched ourselves forward.
"Apólyti dýnami," Ares said, throwing a punch at my face, which I dodged using Haki.
He opened his eyes, having forgotten he could do that.
"Grothía tis Kólasis: skotádi," I said, delivering a direct blow to his chest, sending him flying into the ocean and destroying a large part of the island.
I didn't have the ability to absorb everything like a black hole, but I did have the ability to absorb a little bit of everything.
Unlike Logia users, I can't become intangible, but that's part of the fruit's power. What happens is that I absorb and store all the damage I receive. And throughout the entire fight, I was storing up all the damage I took, only to unleash it in this single attack.
Once the attack was over, I saw that my arm was completely destroyed, to the point where it didn't even look like an arm anymore.
Kiss-Shot could heal this, so I wasn't worried. So, using Geppo, I headed to where Ares had ended up, since I couldn't fly with only one wing.
I also took the opportunity to check on the island, only to see that 20% of it was completely destroyed, but the shelter was intact, so everything was fine.
I ended up on the seashore, waiting to see if Ares would emerge. Five minutes later, I saw a wounded god of war clutching his nearly destroyed chest. But what caught my attention was his smile; it wasn't a malevolent smile, but one of joy.
The moment I stood before him, he placed a hand on my shoulder and began to laugh.
"HAHAHA, for a moment I thought I was going to die. That was a good attack," he said, as if we were the best of friends.
"Aren't you going to kill me for all the damage I did to you?" I asked, curious.
"That would be a waste. Who else could I fight like this? Speaking of fighting, you didn't technically defeat me with that attack, but since they were our final attacks, we can say it was a draw," the god said.
That wasn't how things worked, but I didn't want to contradict him, since I didn't really care.
"So, what were you really coming to my island for? It wasn't just to fight, was it?" I asked.
"Not really. Zeus came to invite you to Olympus, and I do recommend you don't refuse," Ares said.
"Okay, when would that be?" I asked.
"Someone will come to get you in three days, since Zeus will take the opportunity to throw a party while he's there. Well, see you then."
With that, he transformed into his machine-god form and flew off into the sky, leaving me with only one arm and a lot of rebuilding to do on the island.
"Next time I'll charge him for the damages," I said, somewhat annoyed by all the work I had to do.
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I'm back, folks. I'm not dead; I just didn't have anything written down from when I started my week of self-isolation so I wouldn't fail the semester.
Now that I have more time, I also wanted to ask for anime recommendations, since it's been a while since I've watched any because I haven't had the time. The only one I watched this year, and it was streaming, was To Be Hero X; that's it. I'll be looking forward to your recommendations. Cheers!