Godslayer

The dark clouds over Washington District surged like a boiling vortex, with the golden lightning of Olympus and the blue-white lightning of Asgard intertwining and colliding within the clouds, each clash exploding with an ear-shattering bang.

The entire city trembled in the divine war; glass curtain walls of skyscrapers shattered in patches, and car sirens on the streets emitted deathly screechs.

Thor stood atop the ruins of the building, Mjolnir trembling in his palm, the Uru runes on the hammer crackling with ancient lightning.

His cloak billowed wildly in the hurricane, and the fighting spirit in his eyes burned brighter than lightning.

A hundred meters away, Zeus stood with thunderbolts beneath his feet, the legendary Thunderbolt Spear that had once defeated the Titans gleaming with destructive golden light in his hand.

The Odin's snow-white beard fluttered in the static electricity, his eyes filled with a condescending mockery.

"Odin's brat," Zeus's voice boomed with thunder, "Even your father dared not face my lightning!"

Thor swung Mjolnir in an arc. "Then let the Nine Realms see who is truly worthy to wield thunder!"

Mjolnir transformed into a silvery meteor, aiming straight for the face of the Odin. Zeus merely flicked the tip of his spear—

"Boom!"

Golden lightning bolts erupted from the spear tip, Mjolnir flew back at an even faster speed, piercing through five steel skyscrapers in succession.

Thor leaped up and caught the still-trembling weapon, his hand instantly splitting open and bleeding.

"A god who relies on external things," Zeus sneered, raising his Thunderbolt Spear. Instantly, a vortex of lightning a thousand meters in diameter condensed in the clouds. "Let me show you true divine punishment!"

Armageddon golden beam of light crashed down.

Thor roared as he crossed his arms, Mjolnir erupted with unprecedented blue and white lightning.

The moment the two divine forces collided, the shockwave leveled Capitol Hill, and the glass of buildings within a ten-mile radius was simultaneously reduced to dust.

"Bang! Bang! Bang!"

Thor retreated step by step through the thunderstorm, each step leaving a charred footprint in the ground. His armor melted into molten iron, revealing the bulging muscles beneath, but his hammer-wielding hand remained motionless.

Zeus raised an eyebrow. "You are quite robust."

"This is just the beginning!" Thor spat out a clot of blood, then suddenly spun around and threw Mjolnir.

Mjolnir, crackling with lightning, spiraled through the air in an unpredictable trajectory.

Zeus extended his other hand, and a shield now rested on his forearm— Zeus Aegis, the Shield of Mjolnir—

Boom!!!

The entire city trembled violently, and the shockwave sent up hundreds of meters of earth.

Thor's arms bulged with muscles, veins coiling beneath his skin like angry dragons, while Zeus merely fluttered his robes slightly.

"Brute force is acceptable." Zeus sheathed his shield, and the end of his Thunderbolt Spear slammed heavily into Thor's chest. "But thunder isn't used like that!"

Thor was sent flying like a cannonball, crashing through seven buildings before coming to a stop.

He knelt on one knee in the ruins and discovered that Mjolnir's Hammerhead had developed a tiny crack.

"Watch closely, boy." Zeus plunged the Thunderbolt Spear into his chest, the Thunderbolt Spear flowing into Zeus body like water. He raised his hands high, and golden lightning shot into the sky, drawing all the thunderclouds together to him. "Divine Punishment— "

Billions of golden lightning bolts condensed at the tip of the spear into a blazing white sphere, the energy of which distorted even space itself.

Thor's pupils reflected the enormous ball of lightning, but he grinned, revealing bloodstained teeth.

"I am not only the Thor of Asgard! I am the Son of Odin!" he roared, swinging Mjolnir into a silver halo, a hurricane rising into the sky from his center.

Zeus sneered as he hurled the ball of thunder, "Oblivion!"

Zeus hurled his thunderbolt, and Thor's fearless Charge was like an ant rushing towards a torrent; the blue and white lightning crumbled the moment it touched the golden Divine Punishment.

First, the sound disappeared.

Then comes the light.

A gaping wound was torn open across the sky above Washington District., and all colors were Oblivion in absolute white light.

The shockwave spread in a ring, causing skyscrapers along the way to collapse layer by layer like building blocks. Concrete vaporized directly in the high temperature, and the pool at the Lincoln Memorial, several kilometers away, evaporated instantly, turning marble columns into dust that floated in the air.

When the colors of the world returned, Thor was already embedded in the ruins three blocks away.

His body carved a deep trench in the ruins. Mjolnir rolled thirty meters away. The indestructible Mjolnir was now riddled with cracks. Fragments of his cloak were still burning, his armor was shattered, blood stained his beard, and the lightning in his eyes was as faint as a candle in the wind.

He struggled to his feet, looking at the still bewildered Hulk, "Hulk... watch out—"

Before he could finish speaking, golden lightning descended from the sky and struck Thor.

The divine power within the thunder caused the already powerless Thor to let out a painful roar.

Zeus's mocking voice echoed in the air.

"You brat, are you the God of Hammers or the Thor? Didn't Odin teach you not to rely on external things?"

Hulk's eyes widened in anger, and a faint golden light seeped from the cracks in his Taurus Cloth, like a dying ember.

He heard the cracking sound of Thor's bones shattering in the thunder and smelled the scorching scent of blood and flesh.

"Don't! Hurt! Hulk's friends!"

Hulk's roar attracted Zeus's attention. "Even Beast has friends?"

Hulk roared again, and the golden patterns on his Cloth suddenly flared up, only to dim at the peak of their brightness— Hulk's physical and mental strength had reached its limit after the fierce battle with Ares.

But this didn't stop Hulk from shooting into the sky like a cannonball, the ground beneath his feet collapsing into a crater due to the reaction force.

Zeus didn't even move his feet. He simply raised the index finger of his left hand slightly.

"Bang!"

A golden lightning bolt, only as thick as an arm, struck Hulk precisely in the chest. The Hulk was sent flying backward even faster than when Charge, piercing through twelve buildings before crashing into the Potomac River, creating a hundred-meter-high wall of water.

"Pathetic monster." Zeus twirled his Thunderbolt Spear, its tip pointing at the churning eddies on the river's surface. "Your anger cannot even appease me."

A body floated to the surface of the river; it was no longer Hulk, but Banner's frail form. Zeus's attack had completely submerged the exhausted Hulk, who was battling the God of War, into the water.

Zeus turned his gaze back to Thor, Thor was kneeling on the scorched earth, golden lightning binding his limbs like chains. With each strike of lightning, a muffled thud of flesh and blood bursting could be heard.

"Look at yourself now," Zeus said disdainfully. "For so long, your father hasn't even taken a step to save his own child. It seems Odin has grown old, so old that he can't even..."

"Shut up!"

Upon hearing Zeus's contemptuous words, Thor's eyes widened in fury, the lightning chains binding him shattered inch by inch, and blue and white lightning erupted from every pore of his body.

"I won't allow it—" Thor staggered to his feet, shattered armor clattering to the floor. "You insulted—" With each word he spoke, the lightning in his eyes intensified. "My father!"

Zeus saw that the blue and white lightning emanating from Thor's body was undergoing a qualitative change—the lightning was no longer transmitted from Mjolnir, but was erupting directly from Thor's body.

A flicker of interest crossed Zeus's eyes. "Interesting..."

Thor's fists had already coalesced into two balls of liquid lightning, and the scorched earth beneath his feet melted into magma under the surge of divine power. Just as he was about to leap up, he suddenly froze in place.

A wisp of black smoke seeped from a crack in the ground, coiling around his ankle like a venomous snake.

"What--?"

The black smoke spread at an alarming speed, covering Thor's entire body in the blink of an eye. The smoke seemed to have a life of its own, drilling into his nostrils, ear canals, and even seeping into the corners of his eyes. Thor was horrified to discover that his newly awakened divine power was being rapidly eroded.

"The Underworld Power?!" He turned his head with difficulty to look at Zeus.

Before he finished speaking, the black smoke suddenly surged. The thick, inky fog completely enveloped Thor, forming a writhing cocoon. A dull thud came from within the cocoon, followed by silence.

After Thor fainted, the black smoke receded from his body like a tide, then quickly condensed into a whirlwind and began to spin like a whirlwind, in which Hades' figure appeared.

Zeus's eyes blazed with lightning, and he was about to rebuke Hades for meddling when he saw Hades' pale finger slowly pointing into the distance.

"Brother, your attention is entirely focused on a mere child who has just awakened divine power..." Hades' voice was deep, as if it came from the depths of the Underworld, "But haven't you noticed that your child is about to die?"

Suddenly, a dazzling golden light burst forth from the distant horizon, and the surge of the sun god's power caused the ruins of the distant streets to burst into flames. Zeus's pupils constricted—it was the aura of Apollo, yet mixed with the decay of impending death.

"Boom!"

The Odin the Olympus transformed into a bolt of lightning that pierced the heavens and the earth, leaving a golden trail in the air wherever he passed.

Hades gazed in the direction his brother had left, a cold smile playing on his lips beneath his black robes. He bent down to examine the unconscious Thor, black smoke once again seeping from between his fingers.

"Son of Odin..." Hades smiled sinisterly, "Let's see what you can bring to the Underworld..."

Hades stretched out his hand, shrouded in black smoke, toward Thor's head, only to have it suddenly gripped firmly by a large, pale hand covered in scars.

Hades looked up in astonishment and met a pair of cold eyes.

He was a man as imposing as a mountain, his gray skin covered with ancient battle scars, his forearms wrapped in chains, his face covered with a full beard, and beneath a vertical scar across his right eye socket, a red stripe tattoo extending from the back of his head adorned his left cheek.

"You—" Hades's ghostly figure beneath his black robes began to shriek.

The man gripped a battle axe tightly in his other hand, and a chilling aura slowly emanated from the blade.

The man slowly opened his mouth, his voice like steel grinding through gravel; his words were simple:

"Leave, or die."

Hades' eyes widened in terror as he saw the mountain of corpses and sea of blood behind the man—an epic of countless gods slaughtered, a raging inferno of blood and fire that even the world could not contain.

Hades' figure exploded into countless wisps of black smoke, reforming a hundred meters away, his black robes mostly torn. He glanced one last time at the unconscious Thor, then stared intently at the unfamiliar man before transforming into black mist and disappearing into a crevice in the ground.

The instant Hades disappeared, 2B suddenly appeared, carrying a wet Banner in her right hand, the water droplets on her short white hair reflecting tiny sparkles in the sunlight.

"Injury assessment: serious." She knelt down on one knee, her tactical goggles quickly scanning Thor's charred wounds, and took out a nano-medical spray from her waist pack.

The blue healing spray made a hissing sound as soon as it came into contact with the wound.

The man slammed the Frost Axe heavily into the ground, his hands clasped together on the top of the axe handle.

He made no other move, simply standing quietly beside 2B, like a statue.

2B glanced up at him, her fingers flying across the medical panel: "Master requests your intervention in this crisis."

"I'm tired of war." The man's voice was deep and rumbling, his gaze fixed on Ares, half-submerged in a pool of water amidst the distant ruins. "Especially war against the gods."

2B frowned almost imperceptibly. She said nothing more and instead injected Banner with Banner. The nanomedical robot began to repair Banner's broken ribs.

The man gazed silently at the horizon, where the golden trail of Zeus's departure was fading away.

His rough fingers unconsciously traced the ancient runes on the axe handle, the chains making a soft clinking sound.

"But you have to participate. If Stark and the other Arbitrators die, Master will be very angry."

2B didn't even look up, focusing intently on treating Thor and Banner.

The man's already furrowed brows deepened. After a moment's thought, he sighed, "I will go, but once I make my move, there will only be death and destruction."

2B didn't reply, and the man said nothing more. Instead, he walked away and stopped as he passed Ares. He then raised his battle axe, which cleaved down with a red aura of fury, and Ares's head rolled to the ground.

In an instant, a crimson light shot into the sky, like a volcanic eruption piercing the clouds. Within that light, the wails of countless war souls could be faintly seen, staining the entire sky crimson.

"Another war god..." the man murmured, the icy aura on the axe blade freezing Ares's blood into crimson crystals.

He stopped looking at the red light and slowly walked towards another battlefield.

Meanwhile, on another battlefield—

Zeus's Thunderbolt Spear simultaneously blocked the claws of the Winged Dragon of Ra and the fist of Apollo. The beard of the king of the gods danced wildly in the energy storm, and thunder and the sun intertwined around him, forming a dazzling energy storm.

"Enough!" Zeus's voice boomed over the roar of energy, Thunderbolt Spear burst forth with blinding golden light. "I never expected even the Egypt gods to join in the fun!"

When the Winged Dragon of Ra spread its wings, every feather shimmered with the light of the sun, its intense radiance even dimming the thunderbolts of Zeus.

"False gods of Egypt!" Zeus roared, his Thunderbolt Spear slamming down, golden lightning coiling around the body of the Winged Dragon of Ra like a raging dragon. "Your flames are nothing before true divine punishment!"

The Winged Dragon of Ra let out a deafening roar, its eyes burning with the runes of the Eye of Horus, and a fireball of the sun, a kilometer in diameter, condensed in its mouth, its core temperature hot enough to vaporize steel.

"Divine Punishment— " Zeus raised his Thunderbolt Spear, and the thunderclouds in the sky instantly collapsed, condensing into a golden pillar of light that pierced through the heavens and earth, colliding head-on with the Winged Dragon of Ra's sun fireball.

"Boom

The shockwave from the explosion swept across the entire city, completely leveling half of Washington District, D. C.

Zeus's thunderbolts and the flames of the Winged Dragon of Ra intertwined, forming a blazing white sphere of light, which then suddenly collapsed, transforming into a black hole-like vortex that devoured everything.

When the light faded, the Winged Dragon of Ra's golden wings were tattered and broken, its body pierced by lightning, and golden blood flowed like lava.

Zeus stood at the center of the storm, his Thunderbolt Spear still gleaming, but his long beard was charred and his robes were torn, clearly indicating that he was not unharmed.

"It's over," Zeus said coldly, raising his Thunderbolt Spear once more, its tip gathering a strike powerful enough to destroy even a god.

However, just as the lightning was about to strike, the Winged Dragon of Ra's body suddenly burst into eerie black flames. Its golden shell peeled away inch by inch, revealing crimson flesh within, and then—

A mournful cry echoed through the heavens, Winged Dragon of Ra's remains reformed in the flames, transforming into a giant bird engulfed in immortal fire. Its wings were no longer golden, but blazing flames, each feather like flowing lava from the sun.

"The Phoenix?..." Zeus's pupils contracted slightly, Thunderbolt Spear in his hand trembled slightly.

The Phoenix of the Winged Dragon of Ra soared into the sky, flames cascading down like a waterfall. Wherever it passed, ruins turned into a sea of lava. Its body was like pure solar fire, immortal and indestructible, burning everything in its path.

Zeus snorted coldly, Thunderbolt Spear plunged into his chest, golden lightning merging into his body like liquid.

His muscles bulged, lightning runes appeared on his skin, and his eyes transformed into eyes of thunder and lightning.

"Since you wish to witness true Kamui..." Zeus's voice deepened and resounded, as if the entire sky resonated with it, "Then I will show you what the power to rule the heavens and the earth truly is!"

In his hand, starlight converged, transforming into a dazzling scepter— the Cosmic Scepter, the ultimate weapon symbolizing Zeus's supreme divine authority.

At the top of the scepter, a star-like core rotates, releasing energy fluctuations powerful enough to distort spacetime.

"Divine Punishment - Thunder of the End!"

The Cosmic Scepter swung down, unleashing a bolt of lightning that pierced through dimensions towards the Phoenix. The Phoenix shrieked as it met the attack, flames and lightning clashing once more, but this time—

"BOOM--!!"

Space was torn apart, and the boundary between reality and the Void blurred for a moment.

The Phoenix's flames were pierced by lightning, and its body disintegrated in the destructive energy, turning into countless burning fragments.

However, just when Zeus thought victory was in his grasp, the fragments reassembled, Phoenix was reborn in flames, even more powerful than before!

"Immortal and indestructible..." Zeus frowned. "Troublesome."

The battle between Zeus and the Phoenix nearly destroyed the entire Washington District. The once political center of the United States was engulfed in flames and lightning; the ground collapsed, and molten steel and lava dripped down.

However, neither could defeat the other; the Phoenix could not defeat Zeus, and Zeus could not completely kill the Phoenix.

After defeating the Phoenix once again, Zeus's white beard was charred and curled, and his divine robes were tattered, but the fighting spirit in his eyes was even more intense than before.

The defeated Phoenix Fire reassembled and flew over the sea of lava, each flap of its wings unleashing towering flames. The battlefield between the two had long since transformed into a boiling lake of lava.

"Your flames are indeed surprising," Zeus's voice boomed amidst the thunder, a new vortex of lightning gathering at the tip of his scepter. "But the thunder of Olympus is endless!"

The Phoenix let out a clear, long cry, and its fiery wings suddenly retracted, transforming into the core of a blazing white sun. The light was so intense that even Zeus had to squint.

Just as the Odin was preparing for a new round of battle, the Phoenix did something unexpected—

It did not attack.

Golden flames rained down, Phoenix's body began to disintegrate into countless points of light.

"Huh? It disappeared?" Zeus didn't understand the Phoenix's move. Judging from the trend of their battle, the two sides would fight until the small broken ball shattered, and there would be no winner.

Meanwhile, in the safe zone outside Washington District, Tony stared blankly at the Winged Dragon of Ra card that had materialized in his hand, muttering to himself, "What, it turned back?"

He flipped the card over to examine it, and saw that one of the three divine blood markings on the back had disappeared. He immediately realized that the energy had been exhausted.

Just as Tony gripped the card again, preparing to summon the Winged Dragon of Ra of Ra once more, 2B's voice came through the communicator, "Stark, stop using the Winged Dragon of Ra. If you continue, your body will break down."

Tony frowned as he looked at the card, which was slightly warm in his palm, as if in response to his inner anxiety.

"No," he said through gritted teeth, his words resolute, "Even if it means collapse, I will summon it. We cannot withstand Zeus's power; only the Winged Dragon of Ra can—"

"Stark." 2B's voice was no longer coming through the headset, but directly in front of Tony.

Tony looked up and saw 2B carrying Banner in one hand and Thor in the other, slowly walking towards him. "Master had a backup plan."

Tony was stunned. "What backup plan?"

2B did not answer immediately, but turned to look at the distant battlefield shrouded in thunder and fire. There, thunder and Kakkō illuminated the sky.

"A true god-slayer," 2B said softly.

Zeus hovered beneath the shattered heavens, his Cosmic Scepter radiating blinding golden light. His white beard danced wildly in the energy storm, and lightning surged in his eyes.

"Foolish, lowly humans!" The Odin's voice boomed like thunder, "Did you think that summoning the false gods of Egypt would quell my wrath? No! Only by destroying you can you atone for your sins of feeding hellish beasts with the power of the Olympus!!"

A new vortex of thunder and lightning condensed at the top of the scepter, with billions of golden lightning bolts intertwining in the clouds. Just as Zeus was about to unleash Divine Punishment, his movements suddenly froze.

Zeus frowned and looked into the depths of the ruins, where a burly figure was slowly walking towards him.

It was a man with grayish-white skin, his body covered in ancient battle scars. His arms were bound with chains, and a gruesome scar ran vertically across his right eye socket. In his left hand, he carried a bloodstained ice battle axe, the blade still bearing traces of Ares's divine blood.

Zeus's divine eyes narrowed slightly. He didn't recognize this mortal, but the aura emanating from him made him instinctively feel... danger.

It was a pure, undisguised intent to slay gods, as if even the air itself trembled at it.

"Who are you?" Zeus asked in a deep voice, the lightning on his scepter pulsating uneasily.

The man did not answer. He simply continued walking forward, the chains clanging coldly with each step.

When he raised his head, Zeus saw a pair of cold eyes—eyes that held neither fear nor awe.

Zeus suddenly felt a chill creep up his spine. This mortal seemed to bear a blood debt that even the gods could hardly imagine.

Zeus waved his scepter, and golden lightning struck the man in front of him. The man stopped and looked at Zeus.

Zeus roared, "You killed Ares? State your name! Then kneel down and die!"

The man slowly raised his head, the hideous scar on his right eye faintly visible in the crimson flames. He took a deep breath, and suddenly a monstrous crimson aura erupted from his body, within which countless wailing souls could be vaguely seen.

"Some call me the Sparda ghost..." Every word he uttered made the air tremble.

A vision of Mount Olympus collapsing appeared amidst the crimson flames, and the corpses of the gods fell like rain.

"Some call me the Godslayer..." He took a step forward, and spiderweb-like cracks appeared on the ground beneath his feet.

The fiery illusion shifted, revealing the sun god's chariot plunging into an abyss, Apollo's head being torn off, and the burning sun extinguishing in the darkness.

"The goddess of fate calls me a curse..." He took the second step, and the chains wrapped around his arms trembled, emitting a grating metallic scraping sound.

In the vision, Poseidon's eyes were pierced by his own Trident, and his head shattered from the blow; Hades' soul was torn from his body by the chains of death. The sea flooded the land, and the dead fled from the underworld.

"The Olympus gods call me a nightmare..." In the third step, he gripped his battle axe tightly, the cold air emanating from its blade.

A fleeting image flashes by Ares is pierced by a giant sword and pinned to the Temple of Athens amidst crimson flames.

In the final step, he stood before Zeus, looking up at Zeus in the sky. Crimson flames gathered behind him, and a figure remarkably similar to Zeus was repeatedly beaten by the Flames of Chaos until it finally burned to ashes.

"My name is Kratos."