Issue #52: X, Not Kane.

Advance chapters on P@treon.com/Saintbarbido.

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(General P.O.V)

(Outskirts of the Eastern Front)

"Major!! Major!! We have a problem sir!"

A Junior officer wearing the rank of Sergeant, pushed through the flap of the tent belonging to the highest ranked officer in the brigade HQ.

"Halt Sergeant!"

One of the Captains standing beside the Major's desk blocked his way.

"State your business!"

"At ease Captain Briggs."

The Major waved away the Captain, turning his gaze to the Sergent who was sweating profusely.

"What's going on son?"

At first the Sergeant hesitated, however upon the Major sending him an impatient glare, he found his voice, but it was shaky.

"Well you see...Major...the bodies of the dead in the trenches have...all disappeared! Even our own men! It's the Devil's work Sir!"

The Captain and Major stared at each another. Had it been anywhere else, the Sergeant would have turned into a laughing stock and been punished for wasting his senior officer's time.

As this was the outskirts of the Eastern Front where more than a million soldiers had met their untimely demise(that was the official record), the Captain and Major wasted no time, following the Sergeant out.

-0-

The scene repeated itself on the German and Soviet side. The bodies and even remains of every soldier that had died in the front lines...had mysteriously disappeared.

Not only that, even the fresh mass graves that held hundreds if not thousands of civilians caught in the crossfire, men, women and children-all their corpses went missing.

-0-

And it wasn't just limited to the Eastern Front.

In the Western Front, Field Marshall Douglas Hague had called in all high ranking officers for an important meeting.

However, plans were scrapped when the sky changed color from blue to a scarlet red.

And then, it started raining blood.

(Kane's P.O.V)

"Damned Mortal. Wait until my Father hears this."

The God beneath me seethed, glaring at me from the ground.

He couldn't move due to the knee on the small of his back, and the tough steel like webs binding his feet and hands.

"Why do have so many pockets?"

I asked, a little frustrated while searching his body for the Soul Mirror.

"What is it to you Mortal Dog?! Pockets are very useful. And if you think I'll show you mercy after suffering such indignity, you're gravely mistaken!"

He shot back, still struggling to free himself.

So I slapped the back of his head.

"Listen here, you self entitled prick, you're testing the last bits of my patience. Where the fuck is the stupid mirror?"

Deimos stiffened before relaxing and starting to laugh.

"You're never going to find it. I lost it when you attacked us. It's probably already shattered to bits, hahahahaha."

This guy...

I grabbed Crescent Moon from my back, shifting it into its dagger form before wrapping the string connecting both daggers on his neck.

Already, a bit of golden blood started dripping to the ground. The string was just that sharp.

Deimos couldn't even gulp out of fear of the string digging in deeper.

"I guess I have no use for you then."

I whispered coldly, fully intent on decapitating him. Leaving him alive could mess with my plans of taking down his father.

"Wait!"

Someone else called out from the side, overturning the debris around to stand up.

The guy was an almost picture perfect copy of Deimos.

Only, where the God of Terror wore a silver black suit of armor, his twin brother, (who else could it be?) had on a tuxedo that was shredded in multiple places, a scepter in one hand and on the other, a familiar mirror.

He also looked like shit, covered in dust and seemed to be favoring one leg.

"This...is what you wanted right?"

He panted, holding up the soul mirror.

"I'll give it to you. Right here and right now, if you agree to a request."

"Phobos! You traitor! Don't you dare betray our father for me!"

Deimos roared out, limbs straining against the webs.

What a fool. Spyra's webs were more durable than mine. Even with all my strength, breaking them was an exercise in futility.

And for all his power, Deimos was not a physically imposing figure.

Phobos who had made eye contact with me, slipped his gaze down to his brother below me.

"Who said I was doing this for you?"

He questioned with an unexpectedly hateful glare.

"I don't give a rat's ass if you die Deimos. You're a sick and twisted bastard who wouldn't hesitate to sacrifice me if Father requested it. I'm just doing the same."

For the first time, Deimos was truly rendered speechless. And I was thankful.

So thankful, I couldn't help the snort that escaped me.

"Okay, now you have my interest."

I stood upright, a foot on Deimos back and an open hand stretched out for the mirror.

"Give it to me and I'll agree to your request."

'After I've heard it.'

Phobos breathed in before exhaling out heavily.

"Alright. I just want you to let me go. And if you promise to kill HIM, the soul mirror is all yours. Deal?"

I didn't need a mind reader to realize who he was referring to. Ares.

"It's a deal, now hand it over."

I accepted.

Phobos wasted no time and chucked the thing my way. Finally, I could bring back Rhadamanthus and the rest.

The mirror sailed through the air, the reflective surface shining under the light from the sky, and the tongues of blue flames left hanging around the destroyed camp.

Then...time stopped.

Without warning.

I blinked and it restarted again. Only this time, everything was different.

The sun had disappeared, the entire sky shifted from blue, interspaced with the dark clouds due the climate of the area, to a bloody red.

Even the clouds looked like clumps of blood hanging above us.

The smell of blood intensified and red rain started falling ontop of us.

And when Deimos whimpered below me, I knew things were bad.

The mirror had fallen on the ground and Phobos scrambled to get it but a web shot from my hand got to it before he could.

I pocketed it, prepared to fight incase he had decided to change his mind.

However, the God of Fear was more concerned with the sky.

"This is b-bad..."

Phobos fell back, looking around us in terror.

"We have to r-run."

"No wait!"

I tried to call out but he turned around and started to hobble away, favoring his left foot.

"Speak!"

I exerted more strength through my foot onto Deimos' back.

"What is this? What has Ares done?!"

Deimos only trembled, closing his eyes shut.

All I managed to get out of him was unintelligible rambles about how 'Father was upset', 'he's really angry' and the continuous string of, 'I'm gonna die! I don't want to die.'

Fuck it.

"Spyra it's up to us-"

A scream tore through the air, reaching my ears. I swerved towards the direction Phobos had escaped and gaped.

Bro's body was standing upright but not of his own accord.

There were dozens of blood red spears, swords, arrows, pole axes and even needles? stabbed into him all over his body, turning the God of Fear into a pin-cushion.

With great effort, he turned his head my way, golden ichor, the blood of a God, spurting from his lips and wounds.

'Help me...'

He mouthed. Not a second later a massive double bladed Axe fell out of nowhere and split him apart.

There was a loud screech as a golden light exploded forth from his position, so bright that I could only gaze upon it due to Spyra covering my eyes in her fire.

The pillar of light rose into the air, cutting through the rain and clouds only to slam into an invisible field above us.

The light coalesced into a giant face made of yellow energy. Phobos.

"NO!! FATHER PLEASE! I DIDN'T MEAN TO BETRAY YOU!! PLEASE FATHER! I'M YOUR SON!"

The God of Fear's voice fearfully echoed through the bloody sky.

Begging for mercy failed to work though and with another gut wrenching cry, the falling blood rain combined into a tornado that sucked in his Godly form and tore him apart.

"Yikes."

I blinked, the Tornado deforming and reforming into hundreds. No, thousands. Scratch that, hundreds of thousands of blood red projectiles that rained down on us.

I didn't need Spider Sense to realize I was fucked if I didn't do something.

"Shit."

And neither did Spyra, as she immediately Displaced the three of us, to a flame wisp a quarter mile away from the camp, strategically placed in between two rocks that provided cover from the camp.

My foot was still on Deimos' back. I stepped off it and raised him to eye level, slapping his face.

The ramblings and terror fell away as he refocused on me. Good.

"I swear to whoever you Gods pray to, if you don't tell me what's going on, I'll leave you to my Fire Spider. She'll eat you. And trust me, that experience will be worse than anything Ares can do."

Deimos widened his eyes.

"No! You fool! You said his n-name! Now he'll find us!! And when he gets like this..."

I slapped him again, before he could start rambling again.

"Gets like what? What did he do?"

A soft chuckle came from my back, making my hackles rise up. I hadn't sensed or heard anything.

"That is a question, I believe I should answer."

Deimos begun to hyperventilate, his gaze fixed to my back.

"You're still alive. Haephestus' creation failed me then? No matter, you have my attention now."

The voice spoke up once more. And I knew without a shadow of doubt he was addressing me.

I dropped Deimos and turned around with a carefully blank expression on my face.

"Ares, there you ar-"

My words cut off midway.

It wasn't due to the God of War levitating a few feet off the ground, nor was it due to his body, covered in red squirming tattoo like symbols and characters.

And it wasn't because of the golden piece of Laso wrapped around his hand either.

No. It was the woman missing a leg, with burns across her upper face and eyes, hanging off his left hand.

My hands shook.

"Diana..."

Her once long strands of hair were burnt off, leaving a patch of red skin across the left side of her head.

Even with all those injuries, blind and missing an eye, Diana still heard me call out her name.

"K-kane...? R-run."

Her voice, barely a whisper reached me.

And I saw red.

"Back to your earlier question, you wanted to know what this is?"

Ares gestured around and time itself stilled.

The blood raining down stopped falling and instead begun to rise up to the sky.

"The easy answer would be, welcome to my turf."

Diana groaned weakly. The blood flowing down the portion of her missing leg and body begun to rise up as well.

My anger mounted and increased to a level I'd never felt before.

My body was visibly shaking and it felt like molten lava was flowing through my veins.

This wasn't a simple contract anymore. Now it was personal.

The rage finally hit a peak.

And then evened out. The Lava in my veins instantly cooled and clarity returned.

(General P.O.V)

"Oh, what is this?"

Ares mused, staring at Kane whose expression had returned to the blankness from before.

"The Cold hearted Killer finally shows himself."

Ares chortled.

"Well then, Kane, how about this. You and I, God vs mortal, someone who kills for pleasure vs someone who kills for monetary gain. What do you say, a duel to the death?"

The Assassin's lips moved,

"I'm not Kane."