Chapter 120: A Bat Against the Gods

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"Frankly, my dear, I don't give a damn."

- Rhett Butler, (Gone with the Wind)

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<(Bruce Wayne POV)> 

"Even if you two kill me today, I'll still come back, stronger than ever. And when I do, none of you will survive what I am going to do to you... Any of you won't even be able to live past today. Do you truly think we just came here to declare war on you blindly? No, me and my golem army were just a small part of the plan. The mighty Amazons will lose today, and we will definitely win, no matter what." Ares blurted out as a thin line of blood oozed out from the side of his mouth. "However, if you agree to become my servants...," He somehow uttered with a painful grunt as different parts of his body continued to burn up under the power of the All-Blades.

"Not interested." I interrupted him before completely impaling my blade through him forcing Ares to release a terrifying and painful scream before his body began to dry and burn up like a piece of hot coal.

'Hmm, that was really... easy. It almost seemed like he was going to get an upgrade or something.' I couldn't help but think to myself while wondering how one of the most powerful gods in the Greek pantheon could suddenly become this weak. Even if he were once defeated by Zeus and later sealed away by a Wonder Woman substitute, he still shouldn't be this weak, right?

"... Why did you kill him? He was going to tell us his plan. And, what if he was telling us the truth? What if killing a god has its consequences? What if he comes back stronger somehow?" Diana who had seen the death of an actual god for the very first time in her life could not help but ask with uncertainty, her tone aggrieved with worry.

Diana always held a steadfast belief in the Olympian Gods. For her and her sisters, these deities were not just their guardians but also the very creators of their race. She had never encountered a tale of a god dying so effortlessly at the hands of a mere mortal before. In fact, she could swear that she had never heard any of them ever succumbing to such a fate like this before at all.

"Don't worry, Diana. If you hadn't realized, Ares was just supposed to be a distraction. Hercules is supposed to be the one to complete the core plan and it seems that Ares is banking on the fact that Hercules will succeed in his mission and somehow again revive him back from the dead... or wherever gods go when they die. All in all, Ares seems to be a hardcore fan of Madara." I concluded.

"Who? Is he supposed to be another god?" Wonder Woman asked with a slight tilt of her head.

"Umm no, I don't think so, unless there is a thing like the god of cool dialogues... Although he was the sworn enemy of a god, the god of shinobis to be exact."

"Shinobi? What's that?" Diana asked with genuine curiosity.

"*Sigh*... Remind me to introduce you to my "culture" later. Now, let's go, I have a sense that your mother might require our help." I cryptically stated as I pointed towards the direction the Queen had earlier rode off in, in order to fight her most hated archenemy.

Initially, I was quite surprised by the fact that Hercules would suddenly taunt Hippolyta for no reason at all and lure her to someplace else to fight her personally despite having once been defeated by her thousands of years ago. Honestly, there was even quite a good chance that Hippolyta could beat him once again if they had a one-on-one battle. So, why would he take such a risk and fight her directly like an idiot? Had he truly become so foolish because of his hatred?... Or maybe, just maybe, Hippolyta has something that he needs for his plan to succeed, and he is somehow sure he would win against Hippolyta no matter what.

"The monster army still hasn't stopped coming through the portal, Bruce. We need to figure out how to close it, otherwise, my sisters will gradually be overwhelmed by their endless forces. Are you sure that defeating Hercules will be enough to put a stop to their march?" Diana questioned in a worried voice.

"I am pretty positive. If what I suspect is really true, then we will be able to stop them soon enough." I answered while firing up the suit's repulsors at the bottom of my feet to fly to where Hippolyta was currently supposed to be battling Hercules.

"If what I surmised about Hercules' plan to battle Hippolyta was accurate, then we truly need to hurry up." I urged before remembering that Wonder Woman could not fly. "Should I carry you..." I wasn't able to complete my words as I noticed the champion of Themyscira effortlessly following after me while floating in the air. "You can fly?" I asked her in surprise.

"Magical boots of Hermes. It can give its wearer the ability to fly as well as to run on water." She answered with a proud smile as she gestured towards the stylish boots, she was wearing which looked like they were made of some sort of metal like the rest of her armor.

"Walking on water, huh? That's cool. Anyway, let's go then. We need to reach your mother before she gets her ass handed over to her." I warned.

"... That's rude! My mother will definitely not get her behind handed over to her. She is much stronger than you think and even stronger than me. It would be extremely hard to defeat my mother even if it were World War-time Ares himself going against her." Diana retorted, looking slightly offended at my words.

"I hope she is. Because whatever plans Ares had made with Hercules, the War god seemed quite confident in them." I explained as we both exited the forest while flying closer to the beach where Hippolyta was supposed to be fighting Hercules.

But the closer we went to the area, the more suspicious the situation seemed.

Hippolyta had followed Hercules to a different area out of the main battlefield because she had expected their battle to be quite brutal and destructive. She didn't want any other Amazon to suffer or get injured in her battle. In fact, we too had expected to feel the side effects of their battle the closer we got to their battlefield but quite contrary to our expectations, we sensed nothing. We couldn't even feel the slightest sound or tremor which indicated that a battle was happening between two "demigods". Instead, all we could feel was a dominating aura of a single person, someone who seemed to have already won the fight.

"By Hera, this aura, this is... It feels like the presence of a god, someone who hasn't been weakened like Ares was... but it shouldn't be possible. According to the treaty, gods aren't supposed to come down to the mortal realm anymore without an explicit reason." Diana gasped.

"What you are feeling isn't a god's true power, Diana but Hercules at the peak of his strength. It seems like he was able to win the one-on-one battle against your mother somehow." I corrected while motioning her toward the buff figure of Hercules who looked even more muscular and bulkier now, standing over an injured Hippolyta.

Parts of her armor seemed to have been destroyed while her sword and her spear lay broken on the sand, fragmented into pieces. Her skin itself had multiple injuries on it making her look like she had been beaten black and blue by the demi-god son of Zeus. And the way she was holding the side of her stomach and chest, it looked like quite a lot of her bones were fractured as well.

Hercules on the other hand didn't look much better. Despite being the one who seemed to have won the battle, multiple injuries were visible on his body as well with one of his hands being twisted in a weird position. But what made his situation different from Hippolyta's was that his injuries were actively healing, his wounds disappearing from his flawless skin like they were never there. Even his broken hand twitched a couple of times before correcting itself on its own.

However, another thing that immensely surprised me was the power that was emitting from him... It strangely felt similar to Ares' own divine presence, only stronger and more intense... more primal. It almost felt like Hercules was a stronger God of War than Ares himself, at least the Ares that I had faced just now.

"Wait, is he wearing mother's girdle?" Diana asked, pointing to the large belt Hercules was wearing around his stomach, the same WWE-style belt that I had once seen on Hippolyta.

"Why, is that supposed to be important?" I asked with a frown while looking at the golden belt that seemed to be radiating with a strange power.

"That girdle once belonged to Ares himself. After his betrayal, Zeus forcibly took it from him and gave it to my mother instead as a token of appreciation for her loyalty. It is supposed to give its wearer the strength of ten thousand elephants... although that is most probably a rumor since I had never seen her being able to use that much strength before." Diana explained before she quickly flew in to save her mother from Hercules' further assault.

"Maybe. Or maybe the rumor wasn't completely false." I could not help but think out loud as I used my 'Transparent World' vision to properly see the power emitting from the belt, the power that it was passing on to Hercules. Even the chi generated by my superhuman body felt minuscule in front of the life force that the girdle was passing on to him alone. It was like comparing a thin stream of water compared to a raging fountain.

Sensing its power, I could not help but wonder, what if the belt was more than what it seemed to be? What if the belt wasn't just a fancy accessory for a little strength boost but instead something that contained something very important that Zeus had forcibly snatched from Ares after the war and given to Hippolyta for safekeeping? What if the girdle was supposed to be the key to this entire thing?

'And here I was getting happy on being able to defeat Ares so easily. Turns out he wasn't even the main boss.' 

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