8- End of the War

The Goal Of All Life Is Death

Here we are, fighting, again. Me and my brother and sisters stand atop a cliff overlooking a plains, but Instead of the expected green pastures we see a field of celestial bronze and giants. With our godly senses we can see 3 smaller beings over a mile away with very defining features. Titans. The biggest of the three being Atlas, Titan of strength and endurance, a hulking giant standing taller than even the Gigantes, he has two pairs of arms instead of one with golden armbands on each one. The smallest, but undoubtedly the strongest of the three. Is Cronus, Titan of all consuming-time, recognized by his massive wizard beard reaching his knees, however unlike real wizards his body is rippling with muscles not dissimilar to Atlas. And lastly is probably the weakest, Crius, leader of the Gigantes. His only notable feature being his size and reddish skin.

It's been over a decade and we've been fighting almost constantly. It's really tiring you know, having to stomp on arrogant Titans over and over again. Luckily I haven't made the same mistake twice and I haven't 'killed' any Titans, if we're speaking death via soul steal. Like any respectable Godly beings Titans have the ability to regenerate from almost any wound to their physical body. It wasn't that hard to decapitate them and ship them off to Tartarus where they would eventually recreate their lower bodies to serve their life sentence. This helps avoid the whole world collapse thing as their Divinity or laws or whatever, are still active even if they are drained of divinity.

The girl I made a demi-god Is doing quite well in the world of nomadic barbarians, she was named Angela(a rather modern name) and quickly proved to be blessed by the heavens, even if the tribal people didn't know who lived in those heavens. Angela certainly did, at least she knew of one of them, and from what I've observed she seems to pray every once in a while, and often questions aloud asking what a God is and who I am. Though she'll figure it out when she dies, as I doubt she'll be able to survive for more than a few centuries. Or even this upcoming battle to be honest.

Anyway it doesn't really matter what she does or when she dies. She'll come back to me eventually.

Back to the war at hand. We ready our weapons and prepare to make our presence known.

"You ready Zeus?" I ask Zeus just to piss him off a little

"Don't ask me if I'm ready! I'm always ready! Are you ready? Hmmm?" What a fucking child. Over to the edge of the line up are the women.

"Men. Am I right?" All the girls chime in with something of similar manner. Women, am I right?

"Okay, try not to die, okay Zeus?"

"Stop only asking me you bastard!" His face turning red from anger at this point. What a terrible king he'll be if he's this irritable.

"Alright let's get this show on the road." At the same time all six of us spring from the cliff straight toward the perimeter of the Gigantes camp at speeds faster than sound. The cliff we were on crumbling from the force of our takeoff. The Gigantes and three Titans look toward us simultaneously, however it's already too late as we're already upon them.

Using a Gigantes large body to soften my landing I instantly start mowing them down with lightning speed karate chops while making my way toward Cronus. My siblings having similar thoughts as we pave out a path through the army of giants. Unlike when we fought Hyperion, my brothers and sisters are much more experienced after fighting lesser Titans. Zeus now uses his weather control to summon lightning clouds that rain lightning from the sky's, stunning those it doesn't disintegrate, Poseidon uses his earth and water manipulation to flood the field, turning it into a mire of mud slowing the enemy's movements greatly, then summoning spikes of earth or blades of water and impaling or dismembering the giants around him.

Hera much like before is using her curses to their full capabilities, using spells like [poison], [fatigue], [blind], and my favorite [Pain] to cripple the stronger giants. Hestia continues what she did before by creating pillars of flame and pools of lava, being very useful crowd control.

Demeter seems to have improved too, instead of the field of death vines, she used her power of life and earth to create soldiers and monsters made of green.

Treants taller than the tallest tree wielding clubs made from redwood, Spriggans wielding spears gallop forth from the treeline, riding their earth boars, surrounding the army of Gigantes(using giant interchangeably), being humanoid in shape with deer like antlers acting as a face shield. The most impressive of her arsenal however is not the treants, nor the Spriggans, it's the Forest Dragon.

A legendary creature a league above the others. They are serpentine like monsters that despite the name, don't fly, instead they dig underground using their Geokinesis and rise with incredible might and momentum. Demeter found him while we were inspecting reports of a giant, golden, lightning hydra. We found him as a baby in a forest on fire, obviously it's parents were dead. So Demeter took care of him and then years later he's much bigger than what his wild brethren should be around his age. He spans over an acre, his face in the shape of a cleaver, made of dark green vines and gorgeous brown bark. His giant body crushing hundreds of giants with each pass as it's allies gang up on the sprawled remains.

All of this combines to form an insanely chaotic battle field. Dodging an axe aimed at my neck, I karate chop the arm holding the axe, bisecting it at the elbow. Now that the Gigante is disarmed and stunned I simply palm his face separating it from his body. I look around and see myself surrounded with more fodder, with even more blocking the path to the main event.

Lightning bolts fire, water cleaves, fire burns, earth shatters and curses are spewed, yet the Gigantes army remains standing. Their numbers seemingly never diminishing. How annoying.

"Poseidon, clear a path!" I yell into the air as I dodge another blade, and slay another giant. Moments later a tsunami shaped like a wedge erupts from behind me several times taller than the massive giants. It speeds through me at incredible speed, though thanks to Poseidon it passed right through me, not even wetting my toga. It shoves and blasts the giants in it's path forcing those ahead to make way.

I instantly follow closely behind the tsunami with Zeus and Poseidon following suite next to me, the girls will be fine with the fodder.

"You guys ready to kill dad?" I ask with some sarcasm at calling him 'dad'. I'm mean c'mon, going out to get milk is one thing, eating your kids is another. They both nod In acknowledgement, but say nothing else. I guess they actually care about kinslaying, not me though.

We stomp the last line of defense and come face to face with the Titans.

"For being sons of mine you are quite foolish." Cronus says with a smirk as he looks at our slightly smaller forms. Although we were surrounded by an army of Giants they were all too preoccupied with being slaughtered by my sister's.

"Wipe that smirk off your face, these giants will soon be fertilizer, and you will be rotting in Tartarus for eternity." Zeus says as if it was a given, I guess I need to work on his quips, they were rather lacking.

"You are like a toddler still suckling on your mother's teat, are you sure your brain developed right, your mother did give birth to a rock after all." Damn since when did Cronus ever get so good a roasting Zeus.

"The rule of Titans is over." Zeus said not knowing how to win roast battle

"Oh and who will rule after? The ants?" Cronus speaks again with another snarky remark.

"I will." Zeus says, arrogance overloading.

"[Time will tell]." At once we spring into action. Poseidon heading straight to Crius, hoping to incapacitate him quickly and join in with fighting Atlas. At the same time I sprint toward Cronus with Zeus interrupting a tackle Atlas had launched at me.

"Aagh" He groans while trying not to get hit by the Titan of strength and endurance, as a single hit would likely take a chunk from his body.

Now with both bishops away from the king, it's just me and Cronus.

"You know, I thought you'd be bigger." He says mocking my smaller height.

"Size doesn't matter, it what you can do with it." I lunge at him with a diagonal chop, he dodges easily, and retaliates with a kick to my side launching me a few meters away. The part of my toga he kicked turning to dust, as if it just experienced a thousand years.

I amp up my powers and start to get serious.

[Vermillion Nova] A pillar of fire erupts from below his feet instantly, even to my senses. Though somehow Cronus still easily dodged not even breaking a sweat.

"How annoying." I launch an array of fire spells while keeping my distance, he's faster than me... somehow.

I launch a fire blade [Flame], it homing in on Cronus.

"Is this all you amount to? Spewing fire weaker than a drake! HOW PATHETIC! [Time Warp]" He stops moving and stares me dead in my eyes. The Black [Flame] frozen mid air, the next second it's colliding with the ground behind him as if it teleported. He looks toward the struggling Zeus and the unskilled Poseidon then back to me.

"My son, look at your brothers.. Weak... In the back of my mind I had hoped you would have made a good fight, though.. I suppose not. Playtime is over." He brings his hands together, and with a single chant everything goes black.

[Time is Relative]

What happened... 0.2

Nothing but darkness. 0.5

Am I dead? 0.6

This can't be the end.... 0.7

Ow my head. 0.9

What the hell. 1.0

Light comes back to my eyes. All around me is desolation. The army of giants has become nothing, not even dust. A breeze brushes past me, and all the grass and trees and Spriggans are blown away, like they were never even there. Bare brown soil remains for miles around me.

I look to my family hoping they did not receive the same fate. Zeus, collapsed on the ground, a crater emanating from his body, revealing the beating he must've took. Atlas nowhere to be seen.

I look to Poseidon hoping he had the chance to incapacitate Crius at least. No. Much like Zeus he lay on the ground, though instead of broken bones he has gnashes and stabs and cuts while he bleeds his godly blood like a broken faucet.

Luckily it seems the girls got it the easiest, if we're comparing, from what I can see this far away is that it was either punch to the nose, stomach or neck for Hestia and Demeter, with Hera looking only a little better than Poseidon. Demeter's pet dragon knocked out a few miles away with a big dent in its cleaver like face.

"What the hell happened?" I say. Completely at awe at what happened in what felt like less than an instant. A trail of blood falls into my eye telling my I had suffered an injury during the brief second of darkness. I bring my hand up and feel my head, or what's left of it. The entire top right of my face has been torn off revealing my skull, the muscle and flesh having been destroyed. I wrap my hand in hellfire and hold it against my head, accelerating the healing as my muscles, flesh and hair start to grow back, still much slower than usual. What is happening to me?

"*cough,cough* I will admit Hades, you are quite strong. Compared to your siblings." I look toward the voice and see Cronus sitting on a marble rock, with blood flowing from his nose and spittle in his beard from his coughing.

"You have lost, Hades, give up." Crius says, sword in hand, but from what I can tell from his healing wounds, is that if Cronus didn't use his spell he would've lost to Poseidon.

"Ha, ha.. hahah, hahahahahaha!" I couldn't help but laugh at the size of this strawberry's balls. Me?.. Surrender?

"Who said I've lost?"

"I di-" Before he can finish his sentence I reach out my hand and chant my favorite spell while channeling a humongous amount of death Divinity into my hand. The very air screaming in pain as my divinity enforces my will onto the world.

[Grasp Heart] Red Light with the shape of a heart appears in my hand.

"What the hell are you doing to me!" He starts scratching at his chest, literally feeling my hand around his heart. I squeeze, slowly.

"Sto-"

*pop* It pops and the hologram fades away while Crius collapses into his back. He'll be up in a few minutes though, so I better make this quick.

"Bad move Hades. Atlas if you would." Cronus grasps his chest while he starts coughing again, his condition getting better as his skin regains color. I can't let him get back up.

Atlas starts walking toward me, then starts jogging, then sprinting, gaining speed almost endlessly. His big body gathering unimaginable momentum.

"I crush you!" He says as if he's three years old. He's upon me before I realize, his massive body, making him appear slow until he's right next to you. He punches toward my shoulder. I dodge easily enough, though it seems dodging isn't enough as my shoulder gets torn to shreds.

I growl as it begins to repair itself, the muscles reconnecting with each other until the flesh beings to grow back, my body feeling fatigued from the aggressive healing I've done in the past two minutes.

I must be off my game. Why am I struggling so much?

"Atlas strongest!" He dashes at me again with the same intensity as before, this time hoping to grab and pummel me into the ground. I attempt the dodge again not wanting to get into a physical fight with the Titan of strength. However, sometimes you just have a bad day. My body moves 100 milliseconds too slow. How.. vexing.

He grabs hold of my body with his massive hands and slams me onto the ground, causing my body to bounce like a ball from the impact. Without another second his foot comes down on my stomach with the force of a thousand God's. My body turned into a V while spit and blood escape my mouth.

What is happening? I question, anger at my inability to fight back cascading onto me.

I catch his fist before it impacts my face and push him off with all that I can muster, pushing him a few feet back, giving me some breathing room. My body starts healing again, my shattered ribs and torn organs repairing themselves, however much slower than normal.

I look to my arm, almost all my fingers bent the wrong way or completely missing, it should be good by now..

A moment later I look up, a massive fist an inch from nose. Too slow to react it collides, my Body skidding through the dirt into the distance, landing squarely into a stump, snapping my spine and shattering my remaining bones.

My rage reaches new heights as I Iay there. Unable to fight, unable to win. Wrath begins to drown my reasoning as I glare at the Titan looming ever closer.

I lay there motionless. Unable to even twitch my finger. Unable to blink my eyes. Unable to think clearly.

My consciousness fades as Atlas approaches. His steps shaking the earth as my defeat inches closer.

Why?

Why?

Why?

Why?

Why?

WHY?..

Why am I so.... so weak.

The world fades to black....

...

...

...

Light returns to my eyes.

I'm greeted with a familiar sight, the Underworld, or more precisely my palace. The pits of lava partnered by the breeze of ash a welcome sight.

A dream?

I head toward the entrance, humongous stone double doors greet me, depictions of evil on one side, and illustrations of good on the other. I push, and they open smoothly into a large, long hall. I walk forward guided by a hidden attraction. White pillars on each side with braziers bolted evenly on them. As I walk past them they alight with green flames, the color of magic. The floor. an obsidian black clicks and echo's with each step I take until I am upon a set of stairs with four steps at the end. A dreadful throne resting atop them.

I take a step and my body shudders. Weight I've never experienced descending on my shoulders. My soul encapsulated by what awaits at the top of these steps, words coming from the depth of my my soul escaping my mouth as I push forward.

"The Burden."

I grit my teeth an take another step. The pressure intensifies, my knees crack and back arc from the oppression. Words escape me once more.

"The Responsibility."

I take the third step, my vision blurring from the pressure, my mind spinning from the force. Images flash through my mind, images of the future. Images of destruction and fear. Images of a man. A man bringing death and destruction wherever he goes. A man who is so blinded by rage he destroys everything in his path, everything he has ever loved and cherished... How sad. Yet again the words spew forth my very soul resonating with them.

"The Power."

I take the final step, the world clearing of all strain as my vision clears. My mind feeling faster and clearer than ever, my body for the first time since my reincarnation feeling like my own.

I look toward the throne and take a seat. My seat. On my throne. The God of death and King of the Underworld having been born anew. More words escape from the center of my soul, binding me to my new reality.

"The Purpose."

...

...

.. 3rd pov

*FWOOMP* A black shockwave exploded out from Hades, forcing Atlas back a few steps. A dark fog envelopes the two creating a impenetrable barrier by Atlas's immature senses.

"I.. Am.. Death." Hades announced with naught but a whisper that was heard throughout dimensions. His mind not entirely his own. His broken body twitches as his newfound power courses through it.

"[The Goal Of All Life, Is Death]" Sounding like a billion yet one, his voice echoed through reality.

The earth groaned in pain at his power. The sky shuddered in anger at his declaration. The ocean stilled in shock at his actions.

For a single second the world froze. The breeze too scared to blow, the water too anxious to flow... life too dead, to move.

The field, a previous lush plain turned dirt field via Cronus was now nothing but sand. A desert. The end of the road for life. All of Greece was effected. All grass and trees shriveling up into husks of their former bodies. The ocean suddenly devoid of coral and life. Hardly any life at all remained, let alone intelligent life, those surviving having been in lush forests or near the edges of Greece.

Hades, having awoken from his dream seeming to be overtaken by emotion begins to transform into his God form. A form all godly beings possess and is considered a benchmark in power once attainable. It was similar to the transformation he used to reap Hyperion's soul but much, much more powerful.

Hades flesh melts from his bones, his broken toga repairing and becoming ever more dreadful, his size growing comparable to mountains, his body rejected by gravity as it floats gently. His face erupts in Hell Fire, it's black and purple hue predicting the dark future for his foe, a beautiful golden crown appears, expressing his deathly kingship taking it's place hovering inches above his bleached skull. His poleaxe bursts into reality in a show of fire, finding it's place snugly in his hand. His death aura amplified by his weapon and his God form crashing down onto the very world itself, his wrath ever ascending, his sanity long since fled. Perhaps in fear of his anger, or perhaps Hades has no need for sanity anymore... I suppose he would not.

He gently glides toward Atlas, his skin having been partially disintegrated as he twitches in pain. He lands behind him with naught a sound and grasps his shoulders with his skeletal hands. Atlas's senses completely void due to the missing part of his head Is unable to even notice the encroaching tentacles of doom so easily grasping around his very being.

"Boo."[Immolation] Instantly, all the flesh on Atlas's body is burnt to ash, scattering in the wind. He collapses to his knees nothing but a colossal skeleton. No sign of regeneration or life. Having no idea of how he died his soul scattering into fragments with no one to mend.

"Ha, h-a*cough**cough*. How the turns have tabled. It seems I've revealed my card too soon. Oh well." Cronus grows a bitter smile as he looks upon his eldest son. His face would be the ideal picture of a father proud of their son and accepting his fate, it would be the correct picture too, if it weren't for the last of his wounds having just been healed.

Cronus feeling like he stands no chance in his normal form decides he has to transform into his Titanic form for the first time in millennia. He stands from his supportive rock, arches his back and cracks his neck and knuckles like preparing for a run then takes a deep breath, starting a transformation similar to Hades own.

His body grows to a similar gargantuan height dwarfing the Gigantes and standing taller than even Hades. His skin turning to stone, his veins imitating crack's. His eyes glow a golden wheat as his toga transforms as well, beginning to depict fields of wheat at the ends and hourglasses spread among the middle. His hair transforming into a waterfall of sand as it trails behind him. He summons his sickle as it spins in from the distance finding it's place snugly in his hand.

"Daddy's home." He says in a gruff, booming voice, mockery dripping from his words.

Hades says nothing, too absorbed in his power and rage to think of any words to his annoying remark. He knows now why his body was so slow, why his mind was so weak. Cronus is the Titan of Time so obviously he was slowing him down. It's so obvious now, that he is enraged at his own stupidity.

He looks to his crumbled and bloody siblings, looking particularly long at Hestia's bloody face, his power surging in response to his wrath.

Cronus looks to his broken children, a sneer once again growing on his face, he felt nothing but regret for ever even giving birth to them, the weaklings. His eyes stop on Hestia's battered and blood form for just a moment longer than the others, clearly feeling something he wishes he didn't. Steeling himself he spins his sickle in a display of skill and prepares himself to kill is greatest son.

"Enough games, this farce has gone on long enough, [Time Waits For No Man]" And with those words, the battle for the throne commences.

His form a blur as he speeds toward Hades preparing to bisect his arm. Hades creates a ring of fire around his body anticipating his father's quick arrival and casts [Deaths Boon] on himself, a blessing that increases his healing and causes his touch to cause Necrosis.

Cronus zips past the barrier of Hell Fire his legs sizzling and healing over nearly instantly. He swings his sickle downward hoping to dismember Hades arm holding his axe. Hades twists his wrist stopping his swing with said axe handle. He follows up the block with a left hook which Cronus dodges slamming his own fist into hades skeletal ribs, cracking a few. [Stasis] Cronus casts on hades stopping his healing almost completely.

The battle intensifies as Hades and Cronus fire off curses, negating boons or enhancing attacks. They swing their divine weapons at each other neither connecting as both put all effort in avoiding contact. Their environment around them taking the brunt of the impact, as entire mountains of sand fly into the air and literal mountains are flattened by the wayward strike of the battling behemoths. This stalemate continues on until Cronus manages to cut Hades arm with his sickle, his bones beginning to break down as All-Consuming time begins to take hold.

"YOU DARE!" Hades screams, his rage ever growing. He lashes out, enveloping his hand in Hell Fire he grips Cronus's wrist holding his sickle, the pain in his side he grips tight, melting the flesh from his bone with a good helping of necrosis for a little spice. A wretched scream escaping Cronus's lips as he experiences both physical and spiritual pain.

Not letting up Hades grips his axe tight and swings it down on Cronus's out stretched arm the long handle retracting for a better swing. Cronus catches the blade with his other hand, the blade biteing into his palm, sand flooding from the wound with his skin turning a sickly black.

"YOUR TIME IS UP CRONUS!" Hades evil voice resounds from his fiery skull, his empty eyes staring straight into Cronus's as he applies more pressure onto the axe, causing more damage and pain.

"Don't be so naïve! [It's Rewind Time]" Time stops as it begins to rewind, Hades pulling his axe from his hand, and his grip becoming undone, his wounds going back in time to before they even happened. However it also has the added effect of undoing Hades wounds too, erasing both their hard work.

"GIVE UP, YOU SENILE OLD FOOL! We can do this for as long as you wish and you will never win!" Hades literally seeing all his progress become undone is as angry as ever, leading to his power increasing even further his flaming skull exploding in intensity. With his spell now over Cronus takes a breath, his divinity having been drained considerably.

'How can he continue for so long? And his power has only increased since the fight has started.' Cronus wonders as he watches his son stand there, unfazed.

"I tire of this game! [Fire Dome]" A dome of extremely intense Hell Fire surrounds the two of them, increasingly getting smaller blocking off any retreat. Hades channels a enormous amount of divinity making his eyes blur for a moment and chants, "[Deaths Hold]" Cronus stops in his tracks feeling his limbs unresponsive, his spine tingles as cold envelopes him.

"[Time Heals All Wounds]" He quickly spews, as he sees Hades charge at him, his axe held high. Hades spell loses its effectiveness but all too late as hades is already there. He swings with all his might, cleaving the very fabric of space as he collides with Cronus.

Cronus slows the world to a crawl, his instincts flaring due to his pending doom. He stays there, his body stuck in time with the world. His mind racing with thoughts. The axe inches deeper into his skull as the demonic skeleton flexes his power. Cronus focuses on holding the time, trying to delay the inevitable.

He starts questioning where he went wrong and how he ended up where his head was soon to be split and where would he find a better time to rethink his life than at the end. He thinks it started when he over threw his father, perhaps at that point it was already too late to change the same happening to him, or maybe it was caused by his belief that the prophecy should be true, perhaps being the cause of the prophecy entirely. In the end he came to a undeniable and simple truth, he was a bad father, much like his was. How underwhelming and avoidable this whole predicament is.

He exhales as he begins to tire, the blade millimeters from his brain as it slowly creeps deeper, his powers faltering with time returning to normal. For Cronus hours have passed, but for Hades not even a second has.

"[Soul Bind]" Hades cleaves Cronus in two separating his left from his right. As he collapses onto the ground his grip on his weapon loosening. He's really lost now, and he knows it. As he collides with the sides of mountains indenting them, his weapon slides from his hand, it's power leaving his dying body.

Although he is angered at losing like his father lost, at least his son was strong enough to defeat him himself. Seeming to accept his fate, perhaps realizing that it was his own fault this was his fate.

Hades stands above his crumpled form watching as his father dies.

Cronus's titanic form fades as his power drains to heal his unhealable wound's.

What remains is a battered and bloody elderly man laying on the ground, his form pitiful.

Hades mind clears at the sad sight of his previously formidable father. He knows what he must do and he does it with little guilt. The words coming naturally as he fulfills his purpose.

"Cronus. My father... I, as the Ruler of the Underworld, King of the Dead will act as your Judge. Your Jury. And your Executioner.

I find you guilty of attempted murder of kin..

I find you guilty of tyrannical practices...

I find you irredeemable.

I hereby sentence you to life in Tartarus. Prohibited outside contact, and drained divinity for the duration of your sentence.

How do you plead?" Hades announced with zero emotion in his voice but with immense power in every word, binding him to his fate.

Cronus looks at his eldest sons fiery bleached skull and imposing gigantic form bloting out the sun above him. He can feel the power rippling from within him as vast as the universe.

And he thinks to himself that maybe a break from the world won't be so bad.

"Guilty." He says not shying away from Hades hollow black eyes.

"You have pleaded Guilty."

He slams his axe on the ground, opening a portal underneath Cronus leading straight to his cell in Tartarus. He falls in and Hades looks toward his family still unconscious bodies.

His skin starts to regrow as his Divine form fades. He looks around at the damage he's caused, at the desert that is Greece, body feeling dead with my mind cranking slower than ever as he reels from the aftershocks, yet only one thought comes to mind.

"Demeter's going to kill me!"