Authority over War

Have you ever wondered what the night would look like without the sky? Well that's pretty much what I'm experiencing right now.

"Is this really necessary?" I asked out loud.

I've been walking in the dark for the past hour and by dark, I mean literal dark.

The glowing magical energy that emitted from my body was only enough to pierce about 3 meters of the darkness around me. I was essentially lost in the truest sense.

My voice has no echo in this space, my sight, hearing and smell do not reach more than 3 meters from me.

Fascinating.

I could escape with my bastardized use of the kaleidoscope, but I'd rather not reveal that card so soon.

I looked up to the perpetually dark sky.

"If there is no stars of the night sky to guide me..." I muttered, channeling the full force of the Primeval current through my body and soul.

∞

Above the clouds, in a separate dimension. Numerous gods sat at a long table, observing the Primeval Sorcerer, moving through the darkness. The gods of Olympus had noticed Zieg's shady behavior and took action. Normally they wouldn't care too much about a single human, however this human radiated the aura of a god killer.

Zieg never realized it, but after Artosh's death. His presence had a change in quality that only those with divinity could feel.

"What do you make of this one?" The God who sat in the largest throne questioned towards Hekate.

"Exotic." Was the answer she gave.

"You're gonna have to be a bit more descriptive than that." A god with winged sandals rolled his eyes.

"Shut it, Hermes." Hekate growled at him.

"Hey now, no need to be so hostile." Hermes raised his hands up in surrender.

"His weapon and armor... they look familiar."

"You recognize their origin, Hephaestus?"

"Aye, it looks celtic..." The smithing god said with some intrigue.

"Did that drunkard Odin send him then?"

"I said it looked celtic but... there are some differences. I am unsure."

"I wonder how he is in the sack." A female goddess with gravity defying breasts commented.

"You wonder that about every decent looking man you see, Aphrodite." Another female goddess snarked

"Hey now, she did say he was... exotic~"

The room became filled with small talk and gossip.

Zeus turned his gaze over to the God of War, Ares. Who was being uncharacteristically quiet, opting to observe the man known as Zieg Aversis.

"Ares? You have not spoken yet." Zeus stated

"This one feels... like a kindred soul." The War god crossed his arms. "One that I very much would like to fight." His divine blood boiled in anticipation.

The God of War did not know why, but he felt a great desire to fight this mortal to the death. Yet he also had a great desire to drink with him and converse. He was filled with conflicting desires, unsure of how to proceed.

"Regardless, he won't be able to leave that place any time soon." Hekate smirked and turned her attention back towards the image of Zieg standing still with his eyes closed.

"Did he give up?" Hermes asked, noticing Zieg's odd behavior.

"No... I will meet with him at the exit." Ares had an odd smirk that bordered between violent and confident.

"What?" A few of the gods were confused.

However to their surprise, the sight of stars bursted open in the world of darkness and began to illuminate it.

"Ares." Zeus called out, causing the God of War to halt for a moment.

"Make sure not to kill him, I still have questions in need of answers." He said before turning back to the screen.

"That will depend on him." Ares grunted before leaving.

∞

Stepping out into the world again, Zieg let out a cold breath.

"Well that was different." He commented.

It was no different from trying to escape a reality marble. Oddly enough, he expected Hekate to try and stop him, but she never showed herself.

"Hm?" He looked around and noticed people looking at him from below. They weren't all human, some were clearly of different races.

"Where am I?" Zieg wondered as he noticed a few of them taking pictures of him with their phones.

Deciding to get lower towards the ground and have a look. Zieg realized that these must be the supernatural people that lived under the greek pantheon's domain.

"This is like the youkai that live under the domain of the eastern gods." He noted, carefully inspecting the people with his senses as they continued to take pictures of him and gossip.

Zieg sighed and realized he would be trending on the devilnet soon enough. It was incredible how the devilnet spread as a worldwide thing in the supernatural world.

*CRASH sfx*

Without warning, a blazing inferno crashed into the ground near Zieg. People began to panic and back off as Zieg ignored the rushing wind that caused his hair to billow.

"Well, this looks promising." A small smile cracked on Zieg's lips, turning his gaze towards the man exiting his chariot.

The man was tall, and looked as if he were carved from stone itself. His golden flaming armor adorned his body, giving him a majestic look that commanded submission. The bronze spear and shield had clearly gone through countless battles, yet they still shined without any imperfections.

"Holy shit it's Lord Ares!" A random bystander exclaimed as the crowd began to go into an uproar.

Each step from the God of War caused the ground to tremble. Ares halted and slammed the butt of his spear to the ground about 5 meters from Zieg.

"I am Ares, God of War, battle lust, courage and civil order." The God announced himself.

The crowd became silent at his words, out of fear that they would be punished for speaking over a god. Yet many still had their phones out, recording the event for posting on the devilnet.

"State yourself, mortal." Ares ignored the crowd and kept his sole focus on the human.

"Zieg Aversis. Elden Lord and Primeval Sorcerer." Zieg decided to state his titles despite being unknown to the world.

"I have come to decide your fate."

"Oh? You alone?"

"Yes, take pride mortal. That the gods have decided that you are worthy of being judged by my hands." His words alone were enough to cause some of the civilians to gasp and back away in fear. "Now then, would you mind if we skip the formalities and grandstanding?"

"Now you're talking!" Zieg laughed, his spear appearing in hand.

"Don't disappoint me human!" A vicious grin cracked across the god of war's bearded visage.

"I'll have your heart!"

Zieg shouted out a cry that signalled the beginning of the battle between man and god.

∞

Somewhere in another reality.

*BOOM sfx*

"Why the hell do I have to be here too!?" Raynare complained in annoyance as she continued to throw explosive spears at giant mechanical eyes.

"You're still too green and need proper experience." Kokabiel answered her from above as he cut down a giant mechanical skull.

"Honestly with all the power you have, you still fight like a brat."

"Who the hell are you calling a brat, old man!?" Raynare was actually ticked off at that.

"Oh? Did I touch a nerve?" Kokabiel smirked. "If you want to prove me wrong, then how about you keep on fighting, the giant worm is still over there." He pointed over at the giant mechanical worm that was being besieged by thousands of fallen

"Fine!" Raynare huffed before charging at the monster

"Still so young." The Cadre shook his head with a wry smile.

∞

Ares found himself feeling absolutely euphoric.

How long had it been since he had last cut loose?

The passive state that the world found itself in, left him bored and disgruntled for many years.

No one would be willing to take on a God in fear of having the entire pantheon coming down on them.

When he heard of a terrorist group called Khaos Brigade, he sort of hoped they would cause trouble in Olympus, just so he would have an excuse to let off some steam.

*SHINK sfx* The red spear pierced through his shoulder. A similar vicious grin mirrored his own in the man in front of him.

*SLAM sfx* With a single slam of his shield, the Elden Lord was sent crashing into the earth with enough force to shatter the land itself.

"Fallen sky!" Without much warning, Ares found himself being pushed down by the weight of the sky itself.

"What the?" Zieg widened his eyes in astonishment as the God of War began to laugh and hold up the conceptual weight of the sky itself with his back.

"HAHAHAHAHA!" Ares Laughed madly as his authority imbued itself into his spear, ignoring the weight of the sky crushing down on him.

Like a laser from the heavens itself, the bronze spear impaled Zieg to the earth, ravaging it with the power of his divine powers.

The force of the spear was enough to break apart the earth.

"Is it over?" A random bystander whispered out.

"I.. I think so." Another one with his phone still recording responded.

"No wait, do you hear that?" Someone began to hear something akin to laughter coming from the place of impact.

"KehahAHAHAHAHA!" However to Are's excitement and to the rest of the greek pantheon's surprise. Like a madman Zieg ripped the spear carrying Are's full authority from his body.

Blood and chunks of meat flew through the air, yet it wasn't enough to cause him to falter.

"ARES!" Zieg roared out with the force of a beast. All of a sudden, The authority of war that was inside the bronze spear seemed to be sucked into the Gae Bolg, subjugating it as it's own. The God Slaying spear pulsed with black energy for a single moment.

The silhouette of a a bulking man with 18 pairs of wings overlapped with Zieg and the Elden Ring intensified in his eyes.

"HAH! I KNEW IT!" In response to the odd sight, Ares seemed to come to some conclusion and laughed gleefully as the Elden Lord appeared in front of him.

The Gae Bolg had pierced through his flaming armor.

∞

Somewhere in the states. The estate of the Pendragon family was more of a castle than a manor.

"Thank you for your help." Arthur Pendragon thanked the bipedal lizard and his group as he held what looked to be an unconscious maid in his arms.

"Think nothing of it! Stopping atrocities such as this is all in a days work!" Slane laughed heartily.

For whatever reason, when they had arrived to the Pendragon's territory in search of Uther Pendragon. They had found many of the people that lived here were imprisoned and in terrible condition. Apparently there was a civil war going on in the house, and Uther had obviously won.

"Do you know where Uther is by any chance?" Tresdin asked however the blonde shook his head.

"I'm afraid not. However last I heard, he was planning something big in Washington." Arthur frowned after a moment of thought.

"Then to Washington we go!" Slane declared, before turning around.

"Wait! Allow me to join you. The rest of the Round Table will most likely attempt to stop you."

"Excellent! Another comrade in our quest to Comic-con!" The bipedal dragon celebrated the arrival of another friend.

"Comic-con?" Arthur blinked in confusion.

"Just go with it." The mage of the Golden Dawn shushed him.

"Can we stop for some food first?" Valerie deadpanned as they hadn't stopped by a resturant in awhile.

"I have heard of something called, a Hot Dog. What is a dog?" The biker named Red commented

"I believe it is a pet of some sorts." Slane added as he remembered that humans kept pets called dogs.

"Humans consume their own pets!? They truly are vicious creatures." Red frowned in disgust.

"Um... It's not an actual dog though." Arthur decided to cut in.

"It's mostly pork, I believe." Tresdin added

"Really? Then why is it called a Hot Dog?"

Slane and Red were completely confused as the two humans were speechless at their reactions.

"Hm, very well. Let us try this Hot dog! Then, to Washington!" Slane declared as the group set off to find a Hot Dog vendor