War of the Gods part 3

With the challenge in place, Odin, Ra, Zeus, Shiva, and Izanagi all began their work on building the arena for the battle, while the remaining gods assembled their respective teams.

" What are the rules of this tournament, that lady Amaterasu proposed?" Hercules asked.

" It's pretty clear cut. Each pantheon will choose a team of fighters and they'll battle it out until there is a winner." Poseidon explained.

" How many fighters will each team have?" Hercules asked.

" Ten fighters each." Poseidon replied.

" And you want me to be one of the fighters?" Hercules asked.

" Yes."

" Then, I will gladly accept this task. Together we will crush our enemies and show them the might of Greece." Hercules exclaimed. " Who else will be fighting?"

" All together it will be me, Zeus, Hades, Athena, Apollo, Artemis, Ares, You, Hermes, and Triton." Poseidon explained to the man.

" Quite a lineup. Do you know who will be fighting for the Shinto gods?" Hercules asked.

" Not the entire team, but it's easy to tell a few of the members. Of course, Amaterasu, Susanoo, Tsukuyomi, and Amatsu-Mikaboshi will be participating. And I have no doubt Izanagi will as well. The rest I'm not sure yet. But we'll see when the time comes." Poseidon told the man.

" So, when do we go?" Hercules asked,

" Right now." Poseidon put his hands on Hercules' shoulder and then teleported them both away.

The two men traveled through a pocket dimension and into the space for their battle against the Shinto.

The other gods were still busy crafting the stadium, but each side already had their respective waiting rooms ready.

" Whoa, since when can you teleport?" Hercules asked.

" I can't." Poseidon replied. " I borrowed this from Hestia. It made traveling a lot easier. And we only had so long to assemble our teams. This way." Poseidon told the man as he led him towards the Greek waiting room.

Once inside the atmosphere changed from the bland colosseum like halls to that of a more open Greek centered realm.

" Welcome back, Poseidon. And you've brought Hercules. it seems like our team of ten is finally set. How about a drink, before we go marching into battle?" Ares asked. he walked up to the two men with a bottle in each of his hands and passed them off.

" Thank you, Ares." Hercules told the man as he took a drink from his bottle.

" Out of the way!" Running through the crowd of gods gathered in the waiting room, in a hurry, and upsetting the peaceful gathering was one of Artemis' huntresses. The young woman came to a direct stop in front of Poseidon and huffed.

" I don't have time for something like this." Poseidon spoke. " But." His previous, uncaring face flipped, and he smiled softly. " But I can always make time, for my little girl." He spoke. He extended his arms out and the Huntresses jumped into them.

" FATHER!" Diana, the daughter of Poseidon and Hippolyta, happily shouted as she jumped into her father's embrace.

" My little huntresses. It is good to see you." Poseidon spoke. " I've missed you dearly."

" I've missed you too. How was your hunt for the woman in black?" Diana asked.

" Nothing turned up. She's good at hiding. I was going to continue looking for her, then all of this started." Poseidon replied.

" I see. I knew things were bad. But I didn't expect all of this. Are you going to be alright?" Diana asked.

Poseidon placed his hand on Diana's chin and smiled.

" Of course, baby girl. Don't worry, we got this." Poseidon told the girl.

* SLAM!

The door to the Olympian room slammed open and Zeus stepped inside with a blade in his hand.

" What is that?" Poseidon asked.

" This? It's a sword. I had it made by a blacksmith just for this occasion. It's called the god slayer." Zeus explained.

" And you just happened to have that made?" Hades asked. He and Poseidon both shared the same skepticism about Zeus having a blade specifically called the god slayer in his possession.

" Does it matter right now? Instead, you should be focusing on this." Zeus spoke. he then grabbed a sheet of paper and held it up for everyone to see.

It was the list of names for the battles.

1st round Ares vs Hachiman.

2nd round Athena vs Tsukuyomi.

3rd round Hercules vs Bishamonten.

4th round Triton vs Suijin.

5th round Apollo vs Raijin.

6th round Hermes vs Fujin.

7th round Artemis vs Takeminakata.

8th round Poseidon vs Amaterasu.

9th round Hades vs Susanoo.

10th round Zeus vs Amatsu-Mikaboshi.

The gods studied the list and their opponents and images of each popped up in front of them.

Each of them were imposing figures, especially Tsukuyomi, and Bishamonten. One had the look of an elegant sword master and the other had muscles that rivaled Hercules.

However, the one that stood out the most to Poseidon was the beautiful Amaterasu. her beauty was said to rival that of the sun itself and it was certainly a fair description.

" Athena has Tsukuyomi. Her mental powers might just be able to overcome his illusions. Hades has Susanoo the god of seas. On paper it would be good match up for the Shinto, playing off our strengths and weaknesses. And I have Amaterasu herself. In a normal scenario, water would beat fire. But she embraces the power of the sun, and her flames burn hot enough to burn other flames. And Zeus has Amatsu-Mikaboshi, the primordial of chaos and darkness. That's strange, I don't see Izanagi on this list." Poseidon spoke. " Is he not fighting?" He asked.

" No, apparently not. But it doesn't matter. What does matter is that we each come back with a victory. Showing our full might to the rest of the cosmos." Zeus explained.

" The rest of the cosmos?" Poseidon asked.

" Yes. Many gods from across the cosmos have to watch this tournament. We have to show them all what happens when they mess with Olympus. The first round will begin soon. So, ARES MY SON, YOU MUST SHOW THEM WHO THE MIGHTIEST GOD OF WAR IS!" Zeus bellowed.

" Yes, Father!"