GOD OF WAR: SHADOWS OF THE NINE
Chapter 179 — The Birth of Enemies
The city did not recover from fear.
It adapted to it.
That was worse.
The square surrounding the Hall of First Voices remained fractured long after the crowd dispersed. Cracks spread through black stone like veins beneath wounded flesh while the nine pillars dimmed into uneasy silence.
No one slept that night.
Not truly.
People locked themselves inside their homes whispering about the entity born from the city. Some called it a miracle.
Others called it an abomination.
And both sides were growing louder.
Rain hammered against the rooftops before dawn.
Heavy.
Cold.
The kind of rain that made the city feel smaller than it truly was.
Kratos stood inside the Hall of First Voices alone, staring at the cracked center where the entity had emerged.
The chamber no longer felt sacred.
It felt unstable.
Behind him, footsteps echoed softly.
Atreus entered slowly, exhaustion visible in his face.
"You should rest," he said quietly.
Kratos did not move.
"Rest is for certainty."
Atreus almost smiled.
"Then none of us are sleeping again."
The threads around Atreus moved uneasily through the chamber. They no longer flowed naturally inside the Hall.
The fear from the night before still lingered here.
Stained into the structure itself.
"The city remembers emotions too well," Atreus murmured.
Kratos glanced toward him.
"And people forget them too slowly."
Silence settled heavily between them.
Then—
A scream echoed somewhere outside.
Both moved instantly.
The streets were chaos by the time they arrived.
Citizens crowded near one of the lower districts, shouting over one another as torchlight flickered violently against rain-soaked stone.
Atreus felt the panic before he saw the cause.
Hatred.
Sharp.
Focused.
Kratos pushed through the crowd first.
And stopped.
Symbols had been carved into the walls.
Deep.
Violent.
A circle split by nine slashes.
Beneath it, words burned into the stone itself:
NO MORE GODS.
NO MORE MONSTERS.
Atreus' stomach tightened.
"This wasn't random."
Kratos touched the carved wall carefully.
Still warm.
Recent.
Voices erupted from the crowd around them.
"It was one of them!"
"They're spreading!"
"We should've destroyed that thing when we had the chance!"
Fear spread faster than reason.
The city reacted immediately.
The nearby buildings trembled softly.
Atreus stepped back.
"No…"
The threads around him tightened sharply.
The emotional pressure building inside the district was beginning to distort the city again.
A man pushed through the crowd angrily.
Atreus recognized him immediately.
Dorien.
The former soldier from the council.
His eyes were hard now.
Certain.
"This is exactly what I warned about," Dorien growled.
"We're letting things we don't understand infect this city."
Kratos' expression darkened slightly.
"Fear creates ignorance."
Dorien stepped closer.
"No."
A pause.
"Survival creates caution."
Several citizens immediately agreed.
That frightened Atreus more than the words themselves.
Because fear had become organized.
The Hunger whispered softly.
Faction formation accelerating.
Atreus looked around the crowd carefully.
It was happening already.
People were separating not just by opinion—
But by identity.
Some defended the entity.
Others demanded its destruction.
And between them…
Tension deepened.
Kratos stepped forward slowly.
"You seek an enemy because uncertainty frightens you."
Dorien met his gaze without hesitation.
"No."
A pause.
"We seek control because chaos kills."
The city pulsed hard beneath them.
The emotional divide widened instantly.
Atreus felt something else then.
Not from the crowd.
From below.
Deep beneath the streets.
The entity.
Listening.
Hurting.
Without another word, Atreus turned and walked away quickly.
Kratos followed immediately.
"Where are you going?"
Atreus' voice tightened.
"It's beneath the city."
The threads guided them downward through older unfinished pathways beneath the lower districts. Ancient foundations stretched beneath the civilization like buried roots while distant vibrations echoed through the darkness.
The farther down they traveled—
The more alive the city felt.
The walls pulsed faintly.
Not mechanically.
Biologically.
Kratos noticed it too.
"This place grows."
Atreus nodded slowly.
"Yeah."
A pause.
"I think it always was."
Eventually, they reached a massive underground chamber.
And at its center—
The entity waited.
Its form looked weaker now.
Less stable.
Its shifting faces moved slower than before while cracks of dim light spread across its body like wounds.
Atreus stepped forward carefully.
"You're hurt."
The entity looked at him.
"Yes."
A pause.
"They fear us."
The words carried genuine confusion.
Not anger.
Not resentment.
Kratos studied the being carefully.
"You are connected to the city."
"Yes."
"Then their fear damages you."
The entity nodded slowly.
"As their hope strengthens us."
That terrified Atreus even more.
Because it meant the entity's survival depended entirely on the emotional state of the civilization above.
And civilizations were never emotionally stable.
The entity looked toward the ceiling above them.
Toward the city.
"They divide."
Atreus sighed.
"People always divide."
"But why?"
Silence followed.
Because there was no simple answer.
Kratos finally spoke.
"Because people fear losing themselves."
The entity's shifting eyes focused on him.
"And you?"
Kratos answered immediately.
"Yes."
The chamber trembled softly.
The city reacting to honesty again.
Atreus crouched slightly closer to the entity.
"You can't expect people to trust you immediately."
"We are part of them."
"That's exactly why they're afraid."
The entity fell silent.
Processing.
Learning.
Then suddenly—
Its body flickered violently.
The threads around Atreus surged in alarm.
"What's happening?"
The entity looked upward sharply.
"Hatred spreads."
The chamber shook harder now.
Above them, distant screams echoed faintly through the streets.
Kratos grabbed the axe immediately.
"We go."
They ascended quickly.
But before they even reached the surface—
The city erupted.
Flames burned across multiple districts.
Crowds clashed violently in the streets.
Some citizens carried the symbol carved into the wall earlier.
Others fought to protect homes and gathering halls from destruction.
Fear had become conflict.
Conflict had become ideology.
Atreus stopped cold at the sight.
"No…"
Kratos moved immediately into the chaos.
The Leviathan Axe slammed into the ground with thunderous force, splitting apart two advancing groups before they could collide.
"Enough!"
His voice shook the entire district.
But this time—
The rage did not stop.
A man shouted back.
"They're protecting the monster!"
Another answered from across the street.
"It saved us!"
The city convulsed violently beneath their emotions.
Buildings warped.
Windows shattered.
Stone pathways twisted unnaturally.
The entity appeared behind Atreus suddenly.
Its damaged form flickering desperately.
"They are killing themselves."
Atreus looked around helplessly.
The threads spiraled wildly now, unable to stabilize such massive emotional conflict.
The Hunger whispered urgently.
Critical instability approaching.
Kratos fought through the streets not to kill—
But to separate.
To contain.
To stop the violence before it spread further.
But every fear he suppressed simply emerged somewhere else.
And then—
Someone saw the entity.
Silence hit the street for one terrible second.
Then screaming exploded.
"There it is!"
"Kill it!"
"It's causing all this!"
The crowd surged forward.
Not soldiers.
Not monsters.
People.
Terrified people.
Atreus stepped protectively in front of the entity immediately.
"Stop!"
The threads burst outward in radiant waves, holding the advancing citizens back without harming them.
But their fear only intensified.
The city reacted harder.
Cracks spread through nearby structures.
The sky itself darkened unnaturally above them.
The entity looked at Atreus quietly.
"We are the problem."
Atreus shook his head instantly.
"No."
A pause.
"They just don't understand yet."
The entity's shifting face slowed.
Sadness moving across countless expressions at once.
"They fear what they become."
Kratos returned beside them, breathing heavily.
The streets behind him remained unstable.
Violence continued spreading through the city faster than even he could contain.
For the first time in a long time—
Kratos looked tired.
Not physically.
Spiritually.
"You cannot force peace," he said quietly.
Atreus looked at the raging city around them.
"Then what do we do?"
Kratos stared at the frightened people.
At the entity born from their emotions.
At the impossible civilization already beginning to fracture beneath the weight of its own evolution.
Then he answered with terrible honesty.
"We survive what comes next."
And deep beneath the city—
Something ancient shifted awake in response to the violence above.
Watching.
Waiting.
Recognizing the first true birth of civilization.
Not through unity.
Through conflict.