Apotheosis

Atlantic Ocean

Off the Coast of the Gotham Docks

December 2006

The sea, it is such a beautiful place. Despite already knowing this however, I seem to always find myself shocked whenever I do experience its beauty. It's depths are filled with wonderful yet also terrifying things; a duality that I find myself drawn to more and more each day. To those who belong to it, the sea will always be home. To those who do not, it will be a place to explore. It is the lifeblood of this planet and the originator of all life. All began from the sea and eventually all will return to it again.

Now that Poseidon is no longer present, I can feel everything about the sea. It is such a wonderful place that was tainted by him. He did not inherit his moody and foul nature from being the personification of the sea; no that was simply the excuse he used. For as I gently sink here, in these gentle waves of the sea, I can feel the turbulent sea raging off the coast of England. The calm and serene waves of the Caribbean, and even calm and cold oceans of Antarctica. Had he truly been representing the sea, he could have always remained calm, for there is always a part of the sea that is calm.

Yet, despite enjoying the oceans, I cannot ignore war. It is a brutal and terrible thing. Families lose their mothers, fathers, sisters, brothers and even more distant members of families such as aunts, uncles, and cousins. And those are only when both sides of the war respect each other's civilians. Most of the time that is not guaranteed. Even from here I can feel soldiers killing innocent civilians, and some even resorting to mistreating them.

I can feel the pain of the victims, those crying out for vengeance, and those who simply want to see it all end. As I calmly float in the embrace of the ocean's welcoming and life bringing waves, I feel war ravage homes and destroy lives; truly a duality of epic proportions.

"Hahahaha" laughs a familiar boisterous voice near me. "You have reached godhood, as expected of a child of ROMA such as you." says the voice of Quirinus-Romulus as I turn to face the origin of his voice.

Looking at him, I cannot help but feel perplexed. For floating by my side is none other than the spirit of Quirinus-Romulus, founder of Rome, God of War and a spirit that I had thought to have completely merged with.

"Romulus? I had thought that the merge was complete." I tell him as the founder of Rome approaches me.

"No my child." he answers as he places a hand on my shoulder. "I am a god, how could the merge be complete when you had only united with my mortal side. Behold! I, Quirinus-Romulus, father of Rome, in all my godly glory." he says as he spreads his arms wide open.

"I see." I quietly say to myself as I think about the implication of his words.

I had merged with his mortal side which explains me not receiving anything other than an increase in skills that we share along with my physical stats.

"What is the purpose of this visit?" I ask him.

"It is time for the unification to be complete." he answers.

"This will be like the previous time, correct? There will be no changes to my personality?" I ask him.

"Of course." he replies easily.

"Not even a little bit, correct?" I ask with narrowed eyes.

"I give you my word." he tells me as he gives me the Roman salute, arm fully extended, facing forward, with palm down and fingers touching.

"You said the same thing last time, yet at some point after the merge was complete I found myself caring more about humanity and life than I ever did." I tell him.

"Hahahaha" he laughs as boisterously as Iskandar. "You believe that it is my doing?" he asks me in between laughs.

"Who else could it possibly be?" I ask him.

"Child of Roma, I had no part in this development. Rather it is all you. You have always cared about life, but had simply buried those feelings as far down as possible."

"Do you realise who you are speaking to?" I ask him with a raised eyebrow. "One of my first acts in my second lifetime was cold-blooded murder with absolutely no remorse." I tell him.

"Indeed, I have seen your memories of this… jumpchain." he answers me as he stops laughing. "However, I would have taken the very same course of actions as you. That… Joker, I believe his name is, has done some vile and dangerous things. He posed a threat to all forms of life." says Romulus.

"Are you trying to tell me that all of my decisions were all subconsciously made because of my care for life?" I ask him.

"No. What I am trying to make you understand, is that you have always cared for humanity. One simply needs to look at your children to understand this." he says, somewhat shocking me. "While Mordred and little Cassandra can be excused as you not allowing evil acts to continue with your knowledge, you had no obligation to Jason, Setanta, Connla, Aoife and her entire bloodline. For two thousand years you watched over their bloodline and prepared them for your eventual departure from their world. And if you say that you were simply attached emotionally, then you are merely proving my point."

His words, no matter how unexpected, hold some form of truth to them. I care for life, but I had buried those feelings for a more pragmatic look at life. Although those feelings found a way to manifest themselves through my care for my family, and now that scope has widened to encase all of humanity. Despite this revelation and acceptance, that does not mean that I will seek out lives to save, I am no Emiya Shirou after all.

"Good, you have accepted it." says Romulus, freeing me from my thoughts. "Now child of Roma, it is time for us to finally merge completely and show these upstarts what a true God of War looks like." he says as he offers me his hand with a grin that, for a second, reminds me of Setanta.

"Heh, whatever you say old man." I answer with a chuckle as I take his offered hand and I feel myself explode with power.

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Gotham Docks

New Jersey

December 2006

Azula had never felt hatred before. Sure she was groomed by her first father to be the perfect weapon of war, however one thing he instilled in her was that emotions are a weakness, even hatred. He thought her that she should be causing others to feel emotions, preferably fear, and to never feel them herself. As an impressionable child, she had fallen for his lies hook, line and sinker. How could she not when he was the only one validating her existence and giving her what she at the time believed to be love. Her mother favored Zuko and neglected her, her uncle Iroh, for all his righteousness, also favored Zuko and believed that she was far too much like her father and far too gone to be saved like Zuko. It is only natural that she believed Ozai.

Despite all of this however, she has never felt hatred towards anybody. Not towards her father for what he did to her, she only felt disgust and disdain for him, not towards her mother or uncle Iroh, only indifference towards them, and certainly not towards Zuko. She didn't hate Polybotes when she made him beg for death, or any of the monsters from the PJO universe. So no, Azula has never felt hatred, at least not until now.

Zeus has somehow accomplished what none before him have done, that is make her hate them to their very core. Which is why she is currently beating the godhood out of him.

"ENOUGH!" roars a bruised and battered Zeus as he throws a bolt of lightning at her.

"Do I look like one of the doormats from your pantheon?" questions Azula as she absorbs the lightning bolt before returning it to him threefold.

Not able to react in time, Zeus is blasted into the ocean from the lightning bolt. Taking control of the area where he fell, Azula makes the water rise into a pillar with the king of the Olympians stuck inside before turning it into ice. As Zeus temporarily struggles to free himself, Azula wrests control of his blood, rushes it to his throat and makes him choke on it. With fear in his eyes, Zeus does all he can to either spit the blood out or swallow it. Unfortunately for him Azula has no intention of letting him go as she begins to boil the blood in his throat.

Just as it seems that Zeus will completely suffocate, Azula stops and pulls him towards her. Grabbing him by the throat, she summons a massive bolt of lightning that strikes Zeus, giving him second degree burns all over his body.

"H-h…how is this possible?" asks the beaten god with a raspy voice.

"All these months you never noticed, but I've been slowly encroaching on your domain." she tells him as she easily brews a lightning storm over them. "The sky no longer belongs to you. This is now mine." she says as another bolt of lightning strikes him.

"You are my daughter, why do you side with these lesser beings?" he asks as he attempts to discreetly create a bolt of lightning in his hands.

"These…lesser beings, as you call them, are my family." she answers as she casually dissolves his lightning bolt. "Should anything happen to them, I would burn this entire Multiverse." she tells him as she summons a blue flame to her free hand and proceeds to place it on Zeus' face. Zeus' howl of pain silences the entire battlefield as the god of Olympus watches as their king is made to suffer.

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Gotham Docks

New Jersey

December 2006

Scáthach's battle with Hades had not gone how she expected. As one of the Big Three, she expected him to be powerful, and he easily proved to be so when he summoned a legion of monsters that outnumbered her Valkyries and Azula's Amazons combined. As such when she clashed with him she expected him to be a competent, if not formidable, opponent. She did not, however, expect him to be this weak.

After their first five clashes, she had easily disarmed him of his weapon. She then expected him to react in some shape, way, or form to his defeat, he did not. Then she took another close look at him and did not like what she saw.

Despite his much earlier complexion as opposed to his previously ghostly pale skin, Hades' body is not in a healthy condition. Under an illusion that would make Azula proud, Hades' complexion is far worse than before. His cheeks are sunken, his body frail and weak, and his previously beautiful black hair is now dull. However, what truly shocks her are his now dull, lifeless and glassy eyes that beg for death.

"What has Zeus done to you?" quietly whispers Scáthach as she approaches the unresponsive god.

As she inspects him, Scáthach notices that his body possesses no sign of physical torture, indication that it was all mental.

"Can you understand me?" she asks him.

Despite following her movements with his eyes, Hades remains completely unresponsive.

"Perhaps it would be best if you were put out your misery." says Scáthach.

Rather than remain unresponsive, Hades reacts this time with tears silently rolling down his gaunt face as his eyes gain a small gleam of hope in them.

Seeing his reaction, Scáthach summons Gae Bolg to her and prepares to do the deed. Before she can however, a howl of pain resonates throughout the sky and life seems to return to Hades' eyes when he recognizes the voice. As the voice screams in pain a second time, the battlefield falls into silence as the combatants look towards the cause of it, Azula.

For many, such as Hades and the Amazons, it is a sight that they never expected, yet are glad to witness, Zeus at the mercy of his enemy. For Hera, the only Olympian on the field of battle not fighting, while Artemis and Apollo, who have just escaped from Bahamut, it is a horrific sight that they never expected to see.

Despite his horrible faults however, Zeus is their father and has treated them well. As such, the twins nock a few arrows and fire them at Azula. Before the arrows can reach her however, Azula and Zeus dissolve into bolts of lightning that ascend into the sky

"Ha, finally I can die in peace knowing that Zeus got what was coming to him." whispers Hades before he throws himself at Scáthach and impales himself on her spear with a content smile on his face.

As his body slowly dissolves into nothing, the monsters that were under his control cease to fight in an organised manner and begin to rampage around. Not willing to allow this, Scáthach freezes every single monster in ice before the Valkyries and Amazons shatter them.

As Scáthach surveys the battlefield, Zeus' body crashes onto the Gotham Dock before it proceeds to slowly dissolve into nothingness.

"Lay down your weapons." orders Azula as she slowly descends from the sky to face the remaining Olympians.

Artemis and Apollo exchange uneasy glances with Hera before they slowly dismiss their weapons and put their hands in the air.

"What now?" asks Apollo as Scáthach appears next to Azula.

"Why did you side with Zeus? Surely you must know that his actions were wrong." asks Scáthach.

"You have no idea what's been going on in Olympus, do you?" asks Apollo with a raised eyebrow.

Before Scáthach can answer him, dozens of Boom Tubes open behind the Olympians and an Omega Beam emerges from one before it zigzags its way towards the group. Knowing what is coming, Azula's body dissolves into lightning while Scáthach becomes snow, allowing them to dodge the Omega Beam that disintegrates Hera, Apollo, and Artemis. As the bodies of Azula and Scáthach reform, Darkseid along with countless parademons emerge from the Boom Tube.

Not far behind Scáthach and Azula, a second set of Boom Tubes open up. The first to emerge from the Boom Tube is a man that stands at six feet four inches tall, has blue eyes, black hair, and possesses a warrior's build. He wears a silver and red cuirass over his black shirt, red pauldrons on his shoulders, black pants, and black boots. He is Highfather, ruler of New Genesis.

"Darkseid, I believe that I had made myself clear when I said that Earth is under New Genesis' protection." says the man as he is followed by two more gods.

The first is a man that stands at six feet one inch tall, has blue eyes and a hair that cannot be seen due to the silver helmet covering it. He also possesses a warrior's physique that is accented by his all red bodysuit with blue gloves and boots while he hovers using a golden harness and wristbands. His name is Orion, and he is a god of war.

Behind Orion stands Scot, a New God also known as Mister Miracle. Unlike his brother's warrior physique, Mister Miracle is far slimmer. He stands at six feet tall and wears a full bodysuit colored red, yellow and green that even covers his head and face.

"Highfather." greets Darkseid. "You should not have come here. Dying when I destroy the Source Wall would have been far more painless as opposed to dying by my hands." he says.

"I cannot allow you to wreak havoc on this planet." answers Highfather.

"And you plan to stop me?" questions Darkseid with a rare grim smile on his face.

"I do." answers Highfather.

Before Darkseid can answer, a surge of power explodes from the depths of the sea creating a wave that reaches hundreds of feet into the sky.

"That will not be necessary, Highfather." says a powerful voice from the wave. "Earth has its own Gods, and we are capable of defending our people ourselves." informs the voice as the wave crashes back down into the sea allowing everyone to see the owner of the voice.

Floating there is none other than Ambrosius himself as he radiates power in waves on par with Darkseid and Highfather. As he approaches the two factions of New Gods, Azula and Scáthach appear by his side with their weapons drawn ready for battle.

"And who might you be, little godling?" questions Darkseid.

"I am Ambrosius Malphas, God of War, the Sea, Storms, Destruction, many other things, and protector of Earth." answers Ambrosius as he summons his golden trident. "Now, I will only say this once. Leave Earth before my fellow Gods and I decide to permanently remove you from this Multiverse."

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AN: There it is, what some of you guys have been impatient about, Ambrosius finally completing his transformation as a god.

Tell me what you guys think about this chapter, and don't forget that I'm still taking ideas for vacation jumps.