24 Issue #23: X, War.

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Issue #23: X, War.

(General P.O.V)

"So what do you think of him, Cerberus?"

Hades asked from his throne.

He had just finished listening to the reports from the judges. A daily tally if you will, of the current number of denizens in the underworld.

After all people died all the time. And most of those who had no religion to speak of during their mortal lives, usually ended up at his doorstep.

Adding that number to those who occupied the three levels of the Underworld and the final figure was staggering at best and aunerysm-inducing at worst.

Thankfully, this portion of his job was over for the day.

Which is why, right after the Judges and other deities of the underworld had left, he hadn't hesitated to call on his trusty guard.

Coming out of his Hades' Shadow, Cerberus was the size of a normal dog.

"He has fire in his eyes."

The central head of the hellhound replied, licking it's teeth while lying down at the foot of Hades' throne.

"So you've decided then?"

Hades questioned.

"You will test him?"

"Awwooo!!!"

The hellhound gave it's response in the form of an earth shattering howl.

(Kane's P.O.V)

I have a girl in my bedroom.

Man, this would be more nerve-wrecking if Diana and I were in our teens. Fortunately, I was way past that hormonal fueled stage.

And Diana was at the least thousands of years old. Sheesh, and I thought I had more experience than her...

Which is why our conversation flowed as it normally did. Naturally. With the only slight difference being I was in the nude.

Half nude to be exact.

But we were about to change that. Right after Diana made up her goddamn mind.

This was the tenth- And I kid you not- tenth outfit she had picked out for me, only to discard it once I tried it on.

The floor of the walk in closet was full of haphazardly strewn about clothes.

"Try this."

The princess said, throwing a frilly shirt my way.

One look at it and I decided enough was enough.

"No."

I refused, balling it up and throwing it back her way. The shirt landed on her forehead.

"Pfft."

I snorted in amusement at the look she was giving me. Part annoyance and part questioning.

"For starters, I would never be caught dead in that."

I decided to grace her with an answer.

"And secondly, we've been at this for close to an hour. Did you forget we have a feast to attend? I don't know about you, but I'm starving."

My stomach had been Persistently growling at me.

The thought of keeping Hades waiting was enough to jar her out of the stylist fugue she was in.

"You're right."

Diana slapped her forehead, hurriedly routing through the ocean of clothes around us.

"We need to find you something! And quickly."

Sighing, I joined her, grabbing a pair of gloves that I threw to the side upon spotting the gold accents. Everything had a little gold on it, and I was slowly getting sick of it.

"I can understand having trouble picking something out for myself, but you're not as helpful as I thought you'd be Princess. How did you even choose your dress?"

I shook my head.

"Oh I didn't. The maid servant, a sweet dryad told me I looked good in black."

Diana responded shyly.

I paused to stare at her blankly.

She stopped.

"What?"

"I-"

Knock! Knock!

Someone was at the door.

Fuck. We used up all the time we had.

"Put this on. Hurry, I'll go but you some time."

She instructed, throwing me whatever was in her hands before immediately leaving the room.

I stared down at the black shirt with silver buttons in my hands, eyebrows raised in a little surprise.

First thing without gold in it. Mmh, I could make this work.

-0-

The maid servant, another dryad, the first time I had ever seen a green skinned being before, led us through a long hallway to the banquet hall.

We passed by a windowed hallway, the view outside a mishmash of horror: Lava, trillions of souls languishing in agony within it, so many monstrous creatures and above all, the aura of suffering that permeated up into the Hall.

"The Underworld palace is located deep within Tartarus itself."

Diana stated in a faux-confident tone, masking her own disturbed emotions.

I said nothing.

But I kept in mind the fact that I could end up there...if I wasn't careful enough.

We already had an enemy in the form of Minos. This feast...I had to swallow ny pride and leave with the God of the Underworld's favor. I was after all in his territory.

Soon after, we arrived.

And the first indication of that were the two massive hellhounds decked in what I could only describe as flame armor guarding the doors.

With them, stood 3 beings outputting an aura that was no less that of Chiron.

2 of whom Diana and I knew. The judges.

Aeacus stepped forward...and bowed.

"You both look lovely. Kane, adjust your collar please."

He muttered under his breath.

"When I introduce you two, remember to bow before the King and Queen, they're not normally sticklers for rules but this feast is important. Appearances need to be maintained in such an official setting."

Diana and I stared at each other. Something fishy was going on.

"Mmph."

Minos stepped towards us, not even bothering to hide his disdain.

"They're ready for you. Follow me."

Saying that, the three judges walked ahead of us, passing under the watchful gaze of the Hellhounds before Minos pushed open the huge doors to the banquet Hall.

And immediately, the soft sounds of a lyre being struck resonated out into the corridor we stood on.

Diana instantly looped her hand over mine, linking our elbows together.

I swallowed as my spider sense somehow started going off. We were afterall, entering a room full of Gods.

Yeah...apparently the feast was much much larger in scope than what Diana and I had imagined.

And to make matters worse, Aeacus made sure everyone in attendance learned of our presence by loudly announcing us, as we entered.

"Introducing the Princess of Themiscyra, Diana and her companion, X the assassin!"

The judge proclaimed.

And it seemed that I'd rubbed off said Princess as Diana's next word was not only crass, they best described our situation.

"Fuck."

Diana bit out.

I pulled her closer, plastering a smile on my face.

"Smile and act like you wouldn't want to be anywhere else Princess."

(Elsewhere)

(Eastern Front)

(March 19th)

The recent rain cast a mist over the area, making visibility an issue.

Splash!

Bam!

Splash!

Bam!

2 pairs of Steps sounded out, each footfall made, sending clumps of mud and blood soaked water splashing about.

A massive figure easily over 6 feet tall appeared through the fog, golden chains subtly glowing covering his limbs.

Around him were dead soldiers. Bodies of both the soviets and the central powers.

Most of whom seemed to have been ripped apart and beaten to a pulp.

Soldiers, some of them barely 18: kids forced into a war they never wanted.

It was sickening to see.

And yet Herakles, unbothered by the spectacle, whether due to the fact he was not himself or was used to it- maybe both- kept on walking, passing by the small mountains of corpses stacked together.

A romanian soldier, young and barely old enough to be called a man remained silent in his hiding spot, eyes wide with a thousand yard stare as he watched the beast of a man, responsible for destroying both enemy troops in a matter of hours, walk away.

Oh the story he had to tell.

No one would believe him.

Bullets hadn't worked on his skin. And one swipe of those golden chains had slashed apart heavy guns, barricades, vehicles and bodies alike.

He had been fortunate enough to fall unconscious from the concussive force of an explosion nearby.

And when he woke up, there was no longer the sound of gunfire like he had grown used to.

No longer the wheezing sound from difficulty in breathing common among the tuberculosis affected soldiers.

It was just him.

And the God of death's shadow, looming over.

Slowly, as he heard the steps fade away, the soldier extricated himself from the pile of bodies he was under, his rifle clasped in his hands.

He got on his elbows and knees, crawling backwards while his eyes never left the direction Herakles had taken.

Inch by inch, he cared not for the blood and other visceral matter lying about. He had nothing in his stomach to vomit despite heaving in horror at the wide and unblinking eyes of his comrades.

Which is why he had to live. Someone had to report this.

They weren't fighting the Germans or Austria-hungarians anymore.

Fueled by new determination and confident that that...thing was gone, he got to his feet, turned around and-

Promptly smacked onto a solid wall of metal.

Dazed, the young soldier looked up from the ground, blinking the blood and sweat from his eyes.

Throughout the ordeal, he'd forgotten something crucial.

There had been two sets of footsteps.

And standing before him was the Godkiller suit, towering over him silently.

Hands shaking, heart pumping wildly, an animalistic roar escaped the soldier as he raised his gun and for the first time since coming to this hell, unloaded his entire magazine onto the chest of the suit of armor.

Ratatatatatatatatata!!

A few bullets missed him as they pinged off the suit's chest plate.

The smoke cleared.

No dent in its carapace.

The rifle in his hands fell to the ground and the young soldier, body weak and eyes blurry from the onset of a panic attack, begun to crawl away.

"No...no! No! No!"

He grasped the cross hanging from his neck tightly.

Tears fell from his eyes, as the will to live in him died once a shadow appeared above him.

"Mama..."

Splurt!

Snap!

The Godkiller's foot crushed his entire torso into nothing.

Then it raised it's foot again, and brought it down on the corpse's head.

Bam!

Splurt!

And again.

Bam!

Bam!

And then it kept moving forward.

Heavy steps sounded out as the Godkiller suit followed after Herakles.

All remained quiet in the Eastern Front.

(Elsewhere)

The ramifications of what had happened on the Eastern Front hit both sides of the war equally.

The consequences far reaching and wide.

For starters the Treaty of Brest-Litovsk, necessitated by Germany encroaching on Russia's capital city, Petrograd (St. Petersburg) was rendered null and negotiations fell through.

Russia accused Germany of violating the ceasefire in effect while Germany blamed Russia for scheming against their backs.

Both forces had lost a combined 1.1 million soldiers in one day. 800,000 Russians and 300,000 Germans and Austria-Hungarians.

The hate for each other stoked flames of war to burn even brighter on other fronts.

Down history's line, the treaty would have affirmed Ukraine's independence but now...it practically turned the entire country into a war zone.