"Laws are Overpowered"

(Aether is the name Maulketh's energy will be called from now on. It's perfectly mixed Mana, Void Essence, Tyrranic Essence, and Chaos Essence, all forced together by the Law of Tyranny. Very strong stuff. Also, we will be getting into Xinxia vibes as Laws are essentially Daos.)

Maulketh looked down at both his swords which were covered in golden blood. Ares looked at the two giant swords and saw how his blood was being drawn into the blades. When the blood was gone, Maulketh twirled his blades as he looked at Ares. 

"Come on Ares 2, you should be stronger than this. If your avatar can only show this much, are you gods worth my efforts in this war? Because if this is what you amount to, I don't think you do." 

Hearing those words caused Ares to begin to tremble in pure rage. 

"You will rue those words you false god." 

An enormous aura of Divinity radiated off Ares' avatar in mere moments. In mere moments an ocean of darkness began to spin around him. The injuries Maulketh caused were healed by the sheer amount of divine energy pouring into the avatar. 

Ares eyes locked onto Maulketh and in instants, he split the sea of shadows. He arrived in front of Maulketh in instants and brought down his sword. As the god of War, the blade seemed to glimmer with his blessing. 

Ares was smirking behind his helmet as his sword struck Maulketh's left shoulder. The God and Dragon Slaying aura empowered by his Divinity took effect in moments. Ares felt flesh and bone tear away as he sliced Maulketh in half. 

The momentum and power behind the blade went past Maulketh and into the reach of space reaching for many millions of miles. Ares smirked behind his helmet as he looked toward Maulketh's corpse only to see something entirely infurriating. 

Maulketh was calmly floating there, as his 'injury' was not as exaggerated as Ares thought. He managed to cut through Maulketh's collar bone, but the sword had failed to slice his ribs. 

Ares' eyes went wider than saucers as Maulketh seemed barely bothered. He looked at his wounds which healed instantly. 

"That was a worthy blow indeed." 

He raised Laevatein above his head as Aether flooded the blade coating it in an overpowering aura of dark energy. 

Laevatein cackled madly as Maulketh lept through space to appear in front of Ares. The sword took the Aether given to him and empowered the blade. Ares was instantly struck by both a tidal wave of Aether, but also the entirety of Laevatein himself. 

Ares got launched into the void of space not stopping as the blade of Aether brought him beyond the edge of the Solar System. Watching that made Maulketh take a deep breath as his heart beat with pure joy. 

He grinned widely watching his own power in display. 

"So this is the power of a Law." 

Laevatein was the one to feel it and he was in awe as well. 

"And you did not even use it consciously that time."

Maulketh's large wings twitched as he blasted off into space to chase Ares. He hoped Ares was not dead yet as that would be so disappointing. When he caught up to Ares, the Aether in his slash had dissipated, but they had traveled for at least a few Light Years. 

When Maulketh looked at Ares, he admired the damage. First of all, the entirety of his chest from his right shoulder to his lift was just gone. His organs and bones were visible and his left arm was cut off at the elbow. 

His right leg was missing its foot, and his remaining hand was mostly bone. Aether's corrupting glow was radiating from those wounds which showed it's deadly effects. 

"So you survived. I commend you, Ares 2." 

Ares did not respond as his Divinity now that it was unleashed to some extent forced out the Aether in his wounds. When this was accomplished, he started to heal his mangled body and his armor. 

Maulketh waited patiently and in the meantime placed Laevatein on his shoulder. Ares snarled like a beast as he glared at Maulketh. 

"You have done it now. You have FUCKING DONE IT NOW!" 

Maulketh let go of Gram reached up to his face and removed his sunglasses. He had not taken them off this whole time. He tossed them away which instantly caused them to explode into Aether which was absorbed by him. 

His eyes were quite different now, in his eyes his symbol was burning in both. His slit pupils locked onto Ares' form. Maulketh took a breath and towered to full height. His demeanor changed as he looked at Ares like he was looking at scum. 

"Quit your yapping copy. You bring shame to the name Ares. You bring shame to Lambda on my chest, you bring shame to the Spartans, and you bring shame to the art of War. Now, heal your wounds, and show me your full Greek god. And when you fall, take with you the name of the one to slay you. Maulketh Imperator Tempus." 

Ares grit his teeth so hard that they pop as cracks cover them. His wounds stopped healing for a moment as an even bigger wave of Divinity radiated from his body. Divine energy flowed through the avatar in literal oceans which caused the shadows to explode outward which blasted past Maulketh. 

His body began to grow larger, his armor warped and became the embodiment of war, and his flesh began to glow as the essence of War flooded the avatar. The black sword Tyrrant's Edge warped as its powers were empowered by Ares. 

He opened his hand and a large Spartan shield appeared in it from his mountain of weapons in his realm. This time, Maulketh knew that the fight had finally gotten past the exchange state. 

Ares was using more of his power, how much was left to be determined? 

"Since you decided to power up, I should do the same." 

Instantly, Maulketh's empowered Domain burst from his body splitting the sea of shadows apart. In its place, Aether-fueled flames, ice, wind, lightning, water, and earth began to rage around him. Gravity warped and churned, spatial quakes burst from him, and time became chaotic. 

Maulketh looked at his left hand at his gauntlet as he had named the gauntlet itself, but not the being who inhabited it. He would think of a proper name soon, but now, it was time to bring it up a notch. 

Gram, Laevatein, and the Tyrrant's Gear began to resonate together as Ather flowed between them. Maulketh's body was soon transformed into his biomechanical form. 5 meters tall was still large, but compared to now that Ares was showing more power, he was smaller for once. 

Ares was 30 meters tall as the essence of War flooded him with power. Maulketh's two hearts began to race as they sped up the Aether production. He stirred the Law of Tyrrany as he prepared to go for the kill. 

He gripped Gram and Laevatein firmly as he looked up at Ares. His voice sounded mechanical as his body had truly turned into a living machine. 

"Now that the gloves are off, truly show me what a god can do?" 

"Gladly." 

The giant Ares flew forward in his shadows. Maulketh's eyes tracked his moments as he swung Gram against him. As he brought Gram up the Law of Tyrrany acted on it's own. By having a Law of his own, he could effect other Laws. 

The Law it effected was one of the special ones, The Law of Swords at least one part of it. The Slashing aspect of swords. Gram himself with the help of his brothers launched a blast of Aether against Ares' sword. 

His slice went past the sword and nearly took Ares' head. In an instant, Ares raised his shield and reinforced it as much as he could. The attack destroyed his shield, but it stopped the majority of Gram's attack. 

The remainder cut open his helmet from the tip of his head to his chin. But only his armor caused Ares to be filled with a cold sweat. He the god of War was sweating. Maulketh flapped his wings and backed away slightly as he looked at Gram. 

'Interesting.' 

He looked back to Ares who pulled out another shield, a tower shield. Let's try this consciously. Thrusters and turbines hummed on his wings as Maulketh combusted Aether to launch himself forward. 

He pulled back Laevatein as he appeared above Ares' heart. He moved the Law of Tyrrany and used another aspect of the Law of Swords. Stabbing. In that one move, Laevatein pierced through the god's heart and caused an explosion on his back expelling most of his organs. 

For a god, losing a heart was not fatal, but Aether was a terrifying energy. It was the amalgamation of all of Maulketh's evolutions and ascensions. When Maulketh's attack destroyed his heart, Ares was launched flying into the void again. 

His eyes seemed to lose their luster as his Avatar nearly died then and there. Maulketh watched the avatar continue to blast through the Void with no mercy in his eyes. If he was in his dragon or human form he would grin, but he did not have lips in his form. 

Instead, his mechanical maw opened up in the place of a smile. When Ares stopped drifting, his avatar began to slowly sit up. He placed a hand on the hole where his heart was as the Laevatein's god-killing effect took place. 

Even with his power, the wound refused to heal at all. 

'What?' 

Maulketh stepped forward and appeared above Ares. 

"This is the thing Ares, an Avatar is just that. It can never measure up to a being's full power, not even yours. Come at me in your true form if you wish to stand against me." 

Ares reached up and ripped his helmet off. Golden blood continued to pool in his throat, as the hole in his chest began to glow from more Aether. If he did not cut the connection to this avatar, his true self risked harm. 

"I see. This avatar was much too weak was it? Then I will just make a stronger one." 

Maulketh did not allow the puppet to continue to speak as he rushed forward and stabbed Gram and Laevatein into it's chest. Both swords began to drain the Divinity and energy that made the avatar up. 

Gram and Laevatein fed like starved beasts which began to cause Ares Avatar to break apart. Ares' Avatar grinned as it began to turn to dust. Maulketh planned to feed the sword to Gram, but it too began to turn to dust. 

The real Ares still had the original meaning this was only a projection of the blade. Ares left some words before his avatar was gone.

"Wait for me, I will be right back." 

With those words, it was drained dry which caused it to vanish into dust. Maulketh snorted as he looked at his swords. 

'You know what to do don't you?' 

Laevatein scoffed. 

'Of course.' 

Gram hummed in acknowledgment. 

'Yes.' 

Both blades used the Divinity they got from Ares to synthesize a direct counter. Meaning that the next time they faced Ares, both blades would be his natural bane. Just as Maulketh was waiting for this to happen, Space tore open once more, and from it emerged another Ares. 

Just as he was going to say to not bring another Avatar, Ares appeared in front of him and stabbed his sword into Maulketh's Left Heart. Ares was not wearing his helmet this time so his grin was easy to see. 

"I took your advice Maulketh, this is the real me. Now die."

A massive tidal wave of Dragon and God-slaying energy began to flood Maulketh's body. Ares felt Maulketh's body go slack feeling he had proven that Maulketh was not even a god. But he was wrong. He knew this when he felt his own heart be pierced. He looked down and saw Maulketh's large tail blade in his chest. 

From Maulketh's tail, a powerful toxin began to flood Ares' body. The Aether-based cocktail began to enter his bloodstream causing him to pause. 

"As I said before, I am immune to dragon-slaying magic. But, I will give it to you, you got my heart." 

He said the last it with pure sarcasm as his healing factor was Tyrranical. He kicked swung his tail and launched Ares flying away. His wound was already closed and his heart was back to normal. 

'Does having a Law truly make such a difference?' 

His patron would have told him yes, as they showed one was a special kind of being as not everyone could use a Law. There were paths to power that did not involve Laws, but they had more stages and took longer. So, yes, having a Law was all the difference. 

He chuckled a bit to himself. 

"Laws are overpowered. Making me even more so."

(The love taps are over, time to get to the true fight.)