The violent battle raging across the mountains was so powerful that the tremors could be felt far beyond the battlefield.
Even in the capital city of Kandak, miles away from the ruined fortress, the ground began to shake.
Buildings rattled. Windows trembled in their frames. Dust drifted from rooftops as frightened citizens rushed into the streets.
"Is it an earthquake?" someone shouted in panic.
Another person looked toward the mountains outside the city, their face pale with fear. "No… that can't be it."
"Then is it a missile attack?"
People stared toward the distant military base on the outskirts of the city.
What they saw made their hearts drop.
Violent flames roared into the sky like pillars of fire. Blinding thunder and lightning flashed repeatedly through the clouds. At the center of it all, strange purple energy streaked across the battlefield like cosmic lightning.
The terrifying display filled nearly half the sky.
Everyone watching felt a deep chill crawl up their spines.
"What… happened over there?"
Back on the battlefield, the chaos was even more intense.
Stab!
Ares swung his axe again, lightning exploding from the blade like Zeus himself had unleashed it.
The moment the divine thunder entered the fight, Victor Kent's relaxed expression disappeared.
Until now he had fought with a calm, almost casual confidence, but Ares's lightning power forced him to focus more seriously.
He simply didn't have the spare energy to keep protecting something as trivial as his clothes.
Bang!
Victor launched another heavy punch that slammed into Ares with explosive force. At the same time, a bolt of divine lightning shot from Ares's axe and struck Victor's shoulder like a violent spark.
The fabric of his beach shirt tore instantly.
The cloth ripped apart under the blast, exposing his shoulder as small arcs of electricity crackled across his skin.
Victor glanced down briefly.
There wasn't even a scratch on his body.
With a casual motion, he brushed the remaining sparks off his shoulder as if they were nothing more than annoying dust.
Nearby, Diana forced Shabak backward with a swift swing of the Vulcan Sword. The demon warrior tried to retreat quickly, but in his haste he left an opening.
Diana seized the moment.
She drove her elbow sharply into his chest, sending him stumbling back several steps.
Moments later she moved beside Victor, the two of them standing back to back as they faced their enemies.
Diana frowned slightly.
Her gaze flickered toward Ares, who remained almost completely unharmed despite the brutal exchange of blows.
For a moment she hesitated.
Then she spoke.
"You can't defeat Ares," she said quietly.
"Only a god can kill another god. Leave him to me."
Her mother had told her to wait.
Hippolyta had instructed her not to act until both Victor and Ares had weakened each other. Only then should Diana step forward and deliver the final strike.
But Victor had just helped her moments ago.
More importantly, Diana didn't believe he was truly evil.
"You captured Paradise Island," she continued, "but you never killed anyone."
Her voice carried quiet certainty.
"Even when the Amazons were ready to die rather than surrender, you didn't slaughter them—even though they threatened me."
She tightened her grip on the sword.
"Instead, you chose to kill Ares to force the Amazons to surrender."
Diana looked directly at him.
"You're not as bad as people think."
Hearing that, Victor couldn't help letting out a quiet sigh.
Diana truly was innocent.
He had known that for a long time, but hearing her say it so seriously in the middle of a battlefield still felt almost surreal.
Even after realizing she had been deceived by Ares, she was more worried about others than herself.
"You can't defeat Ares with your current power," Victor said calmly.
Even though Ares was no longer at the terrifying peak he had reached during the ancient wars, he was still far beyond what Diana could handle right now.
Not while her true potential remained untapped.
"Amazons never fear death," Diana replied firmly.
Her sword rested in one hand while her shield rose in the other.
Her eyes burned with determination.
"Even if I die here today, I'll still kill Ares."
Despite living in comfort on Paradise Island for thousands of years, the Amazons had never truly escaped Ares's shadow.
Especially in recent years.
As Zeus's protective magic slowly weakened, the looming threat of the war god had grown heavier.
Diana often noticed her mother standing at the edge of the island, gazing silently toward the distant horizon with sadness in her eyes.
"Just protect yourself," Victor said.
His expression remained completely unchanged after hearing her words.
Without hesitation, he launched himself toward Ares again.
Why could only a god kill another god?
Victor had long ago thought about that question.
"Earth's gods are almost like special dimensional creatures," he thought as he moved.
"They exist on a slightly different layer from ordinary people."
It was like looking at a reflection in water.
A person could throw a stone into the lake and create ripples that disturbed the reflection. That meant the gods could be injured.
But destroying the reflection itself was another matter entirely.
No matter what injuries they suffered, gods could recover almost instantly.
Only another god possessed the power to truly erase them.
Victor already knew that.
"He's not surprised at all… did he already know?" Diana wondered silently.
She couldn't understand why he had rejected her suggestion.
But there was no time to question it.
Grinding her teeth, she turned and charged straight at Shabak.
Her eyes burned with fierce determination as her attacks grew sharper and more aggressive.
If she could kill Shabak quickly, she could help Victor fight Ares.
Ares deserved to die.
And the demonic servant who followed him deserved the same fate.
The battlefield had become almost unrecognizable.
At the beginning of the battle, the fortress ruins still stood nearby. Now the ground itself had split apart.
Massive cracks tore through the mountainside.
The terrain looked as if a giant had smashed it repeatedly with a hammer.
Terrifying craters covered the area one after another.
Victor and Diana held a slight advantage over their opponents, but it was far from decisive.
The fight had slowly turned into a brutal war of attrition.
And that worried Diana deeply.
She didn't believe things would end so simply.
Ares felt the same.
Buzz!
"Your attacks are meaningless," the war god sneered.
"Mortals are mortals. Gods are gods."
His armor had cracked in several places. His body bore burns from Victor's scorching cosmic energy.
But Ares didn't care.
He fought like a blood-crazed warrior.
His eyes burned with savage excitement as he swung his axe with brutal force.
"The difference between us was decided from the beginning," Ares continued coldly. "Your defeat is inevitable."
Ever since he began channeling his divine thunder power, Victor could no longer block every strike as effortlessly as before.
Earlier, Ares's attacks had felt like they were falling into a bottomless ocean.
Now things were different.
Victor's strange defensive ability couldn't fully neutralize divine lightning.
"What exactly is the difference between gods and humans?" Victor asked calmly.
He dodged the descending axe blade as if he hadn't even noticed the injuries he had inflicted on Ares instantly healing again.
A fist wrapped in dense cosmic energy shot forward like lightning toward Ares's head.
"Gods cannot be killed," Ares said coldly. "That is the difference."
The horned helmet flew off as Victor's punch slammed into his head.
Ares's head jerked violently to the side.
Yet he slowly turned back, revealing a terrifying grin across his face. Burn marks and red scars covered his skin, but his eyes shone with savage delight.
Pain only fueled the God of War's bloodlust.
"Mortal killing a god has always been nothing more than a fantasy tale," Ares growled.
"An illusion."
Deep down, Ares already believed victory belonged to him.
Yes, his divine power had been heavily consumed during the fight.
But the mortal before him couldn't possibly possess infinite energy.
Even if it took time, Ares could simply exhaust him.
That thought made the war god attack even more violently.
Bang! Bang! Bang!
Their fists and weapons collided again and again.
Shockwaves burst outward in visible white rings, spreading hundreds of meters across the battlefield.
Victor's eyes remained calm.
Cold.
Like the still surface of a frozen lake.
While exchanging fierce blows with Ares, he looked like a patient hunter waiting for the perfect moment.
And Ares—
Ares was the prey.
But the eldest son of the Heavenly Father, whose arrogance had once driven him to massacre the gods of his own pantheon, didn't notice that detail at all.
"I think the difference between gods and humans," Victor said slowly during the clash, "comes down to divine power."
"The power granted by godhood and bloodline."
Ares sneered.
"You're not wrong."
Lightning exploded from his axe again as he launched another thunderous attack.
"As long as someone possesses divine power—whether through bloodline or divine status—they can be called a god."
His mocking laughter echoed across the battlefield.
"So tell me something, mortal who spends his time beside my sister—the daughter of Zeus."
The axe ripped through the air and slammed downward.
Victor caught it with his hand.
The ground beneath his feet cracked under the pressure, like a ten-thousand-ton hydraulic press had suddenly descended.
Ares stared at him with open ridicule.
"Bloodline or divine status?" he said mockingly.
"Which god are you descended from?"
"Or where exactly did you pick up your divine authority?"
Ares could clearly sense it.
Victor carried absolutely no divine aura.
From head to toe, he was undeniably mortal.
His words were nothing but ridicule.
"I have neither," Victor replied.
The earth beneath his feet shattered further as he wrestled with the God of War's strength.
A faint smile appeared on his face.
"But I do have supernatural power."
The moment he finished speaking, Victor's eyes suddenly lit up with brilliant lightning.
Stab!
Two terrifying bolts of divine thunder shot through the air without warning.
"What—?!"
The brilliant light illuminated Ares's face at point-blank range.
The eldest son of the Heavenly Father stared in shock, his eyes widening in disbelief.
....
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