God of War: Daughter of War

Ares smiled as his harpy minions delivered his prize, the great and terrible Pandora's Box, an artifact that could grant any mortal the power to kill a god, or even the entire pantheon that stood against him, to him, allowing him to stare at the odd container for a time as he took in Hephaestus' craftsmanship once more. Originally he had intended on utilizing Kratos to bring down the rest of the Olympians, after using the Furies to poison his mind against Zeus and the others, and when he killed Alecto and her sisters he had decided to change his plans and tell him about his brother, Deimos, to incite his rage against the other gods. After listening to Athena for a time he came to understand that the Ghost of Sparta might not be so easily swayed anymore, so he came up with a new plan that would not only allow him to start his decimation of the gods of Olympus, crushing the Goddess of Wisdom so he could cripple the gods, but also gain the Box while eliminating what could be his greatest foe. With Kratos sent down into the depths of the Underworld, to be judged for his crimes against the rest of Greece, and having obtained the infamous Pandora's Box, removing it from Zeus' hand since there was no telling what the King of the Gods might do, his victory over the other gods was assured.

At least that was his thoughts for the first few moments after he obtained the Box, only for the magic in the air to shudder as a burst of energy erupted from where Pandora's Temple was located, a dark power that reminded him of Thanatos, the God of Death that literally no one but his daughter liked, which caused him to pause for a moment.

"Thanatos must have come to collect Kratos' soul... torment him with his brother for the rest of time." Ares commented, a fact that he was fine with, because if that was true he wouldn't have to worry about Kratos breaking out of his new chains for quite a long time, or ever depending on how well the God of Death locked him up, allowing him to focus on taking down the rest of Olympus and becoming the sole god of this entire land.

As he turned his head, however, he heard something that sent a shiver up his spine, an eerie whistle that seemed to come out of nowhere, something that should have been impossible since he was the God of War, though he found that it was followed by the air to his left rippling as a young warrior seemed to materialize out of thin air. Ares recalled what several of his harpies had said when they reported on what was going on inside Pandora's Temple, that Kratos had picked up a young girl at some point in time and brought her into the terrible structure that Zeus had the mortals construct to house the Box that was now in his possession. The interesting thing was that her attire had changed shape, as it now seemed like she had a dark grey shirt over her chest, brown trousers, and a black robe over both that could have passed as a shroud of sorts, one that had a hood attached to it that could likely be pulled back to reveal her face to her foes. He took a moment to recall the fact that she was supposed to have wings, limbs that seemed to be missing right now, though it hardly mattered to him, as Kratos had been an easy bug to crush and the figure in front of him was also just a bug for him to eliminate.

Yet despite his thoughts on the matter he couldn't help but feel a great chill run down his spine, because he could tell that there was something odd about the warrior that was in front of him, as the dark energy of Death seemed to be pouring out of her, like she had stolen Thanatos' power for herself.

"So, a worthless and insignificant mortal has come to meet her end." Ares remarked, because even with the power he was feeling right now he assumed that victory would be his, as he was an Olympian and his power was far beyond anything that the young warrior could have experienced so far, though when he turned to face her she swung her right hand and he found Pandora's Box flying off towards the nearby cliff, "What the...?"

"Ares, the God of War... the fact that you don't value life at all, and enjoy reveling in the destruction of mortal lives, did piss me off, but what you just did... I am beyond angry right now!" Flurry replied, where she took a moment to pull the hood back, showing the god that her eyes were now red and filled with rage, before pulling out her sickles and spun them for a moment, letting the collision of the pair resonate in the god's mind as he stared at her, "You killed my father, Ares... AND NOW YOU'RE GOING TO PAY FOR IT!"

Ares, sensing the sudden change in the air, as Flurry's rage was pouring out of her while darkening the sky and caused a bit of lightning to flash every now and then, almost as if she were Zeus himself, shifted his stance as he quickly called forth his sword, a massive weapon befitting his giant form, and brought it down on where the girl was floating. Flurry, on the other hand, rushed through the air, flying like her wings were still there and he couldn't perceive them, showing that she had no concern for the weapon that was about to cleave her in half, before she had a chance to get close to him, before she did something that stunned him. She spun around when the weapon got closer, planted the base of her left hoof on it's edge, and kicked it with enough force to keep herself in the same spot, instead transferring all of the energy into his weapon as she knocked it back into the air, reversing it's trajectory while forcing Ares back in surprise. As he regained his footing Flurry landed on his left arm and hacked into his armor with her sickles, where he was surprised to find that all of her attacks were capable of bypassing his armor and actually cut into his flesh like it was nothing, before she leapt off of his arm and prepared for another attack.

What Ares discovered was that his opponent had called forth Artemis' own weapon, the Blade of Artemis, and drove it straight into his left eye, causing the God of War to howl in pain for a few seconds before she ripped it right, taking his eye with it, where he rested his left hand against the wound, keeping the blood at bay, while Flurry landed on the water and gripped his eye, squishing it like it was just a grape.

In the next moment Ares called forth his monstrous legions, moving them from the ruins of Athens, as he had tasked all of them with destroying everything else and killing anyone that remained, all to weaken Athena so he could smite her down first, but right now he had a more important task for them to accomplish and sent them at Flurry. His plan to end the little creature quickly encountered some resistance as he found that the enraged figure tore through them with ease, swinging Artemis' blade around as she severed limbs, removed heads before some of the monsters could react, and even crushed some gorgons like they were nothing. As he watched her move, however, he noticed something when she switched to her sickles and used what appeared to be transparent chains when she hurled them at some of her enemies, her movements were far too similar to Kratos', almost as if she had been with him for far longer than what his harpies had told him when they first discovered her presence in the temple. She was, as she claimed, Kratos' daughter, likely a replacement for the daughter he had lost thanks to him making him into the warrior he had become, so him ending the Spartan's life with that fragmented pillar must have triggered her, creating the monster that was literally tearing his army of monsters apart like they were nothing.

Ares, deciding not to let her get away with tearing his eye out, called forth his power as he formed a massive fireball right above his right hand and brought it down on the area that Flurry was standing in, blasting her and everything around her into oblivion with his attack, only to find that a barrier resting inside the flames. As he thought about that a magical arrow flew out of the flames and struck him in the shoulder, blasting his armor clean off with ease, before finding several more that struck him all over, only to discover that his foe also had a bow and a quiver, which had appeared out of nowhere, like she was hiding her equipment from him. Her accuracy was astonishing, as it matched what he had seen when Artemis and Apollo showed off their skills to the gods, as one had questioned their skill during a party and the pair had demonstrated why they were considered gods of archery, and yet, despite the rage the young girl was in, somehow her accuracy was just as good. In fact he had to consider the magical powers she had, as what he had seen her use so far, which included a pair of lightning bolts that slammed into his chest, were potent and trained, far more than what he expected from someone like her, which told him that Hecate must have taught her at some point in time, just like how the twin bestial gods must have done the same with archery.

His thoughts were interrupted as Flurry flew out of the rest of the smoke and punched him in the side of the face, with far more force than he thought she'd possess, though as that happened he noticed that the look on her face was one of pure rage, meaning she was losing herself in her rage towards him and, if he was lucky, she would trip up and expose herself at a critical moment, allowing him to beat her. Until that happened he had to keep himself alive and swung his sword down at her once more, intending on crushing his foe or opening a hole in her defenses, only for her to spin out of the way and let the blade hit the water below her, before her sickles started to glow and she brought them together, the edges of their blades touching oddly enough. In the following moments he found that Flurry transferred both weapons into her right hand and swung her arm, transforming the sickles into a long pole with a curved crescent blade at the peak, a scythe that seemed to have the same design as her previous weapons. As he stared at the weapon several of his flying minions took it upon themselves to rush at Flurry, before she could do anything else to him, and they were slain before they could even hit her, as she swung her scythe around and slaughtered all of them without pause.

In that moment he started to wonder something, the dark power leaking out of her was definitely Death, mixed with her rage and power, and the scythe sealed the deal in his mind, she seemed to be a replacement for Thanatos, though after everything that had happened so far he was going to kill her at the end of the day.

After that he shifted his stance and raised his sword so he could swing it at Flurry again, only to find that the blade had been cut off, the majority of it sticking in the water causing him to do something that he hadn't considered until this point in time, he manifested more of his true power, where he created six massive spider legs that erupted from his back, with sharpened blades at the tips. Normally he wouldn't do such a thing, but after losing his main weapon, and his magic just doing nothing to his foe right now, Ares realized that he needed to do something drastic, just to stave off her assault as he sought out her weaknesses, as he could see that her reasoning seemed to be fading as she gave into her anger. Based on what he had seen with Kratos an opening would show up as Flurry delved deeper into her rage, though there was also the other side of that coin, that rage only made her stronger and that the longer this went on the stronger she would become, to the point where he wouldn't be able to stop her. With that in mind he needed to pull out all of the stops, which was the reason he reached into his own storage space and drew out another of his weapons, a massive mace that had the power to breathe fire on his foes, plus he had a greataxe as well, in case this one failed.

As he attacked her, however, she used her left fist and swung upwards, where the energy that was gathering around her shattered the weapon like it was made of soft stone, causing him to wonder if he might have been better off facing Kratos and the power of Pandora's Box, instead of a young girl who seemed far more than what he was expecting. That wasn't the only thing that was going on right now, as he could feel the godly energy in the air as Zeus did something in Athens, a fact that would have demanded his immediate attention if he wasn't in the middle of such an important battle, especially one where his foe was hacking into his body with such a deadly weapon. In addition to the King of the Gods, someone he wasn't expecting to feel in the area he was in, Ares could also feel the energies of the other Olympians, all of the major ones to be exact and even some minor ones in his opinion, were positioned all around the area he and his foe were in, as if they were watching the battle unfold. At the very least they were following Zeus' rules, none of them were coming to do anything to him since that would be violating his rule on the gods waging war on each other, though as he thought about that he swung his greataxe and his spider blades, finding that Flurry dodged the latter while grabbing onto his weapon before crushing it with her power.

In the next moment, as he wondered what weapon or power he would call on next, energy danced around his foe's left hand, forming a sphere of energy to be exact, as she rushed forward and brought the back end of her fist right into the side of his chest, where it felt like she was vibrating the air or something as his bones and insides cracked. That wasn't the only thing that happened when the attack made contact, as he found that, as he coughed up blood due to the damage that was done to his insides, the air around them seemed to crack as well and was branching out in every direction, and he felt the earth below his feet crack as well. Everything around them was breaking as the earth cracked and split while the waves themselves violently reacted, even the sky itself seemed to be under the sway of Flurry's power as it cracked, a fact that seemed to worry the observing gods as they channeled their powers into a combined barrier to contain the rest of the potential destruction inside the area he was in. Even as that happened, however, an idea formed in his mind as the vibrations stopped, his spider limbs were still out in the open and he had been waiting for such an opening to reveal itself to him, so while he might do some damage to himself, which he would be able to heal on his own, he would crush his foe before she escaped from his clutches.

As he brought them down, however, he felt another massive burst of energy, this time coming from Pandora's Box, which caused both him and Flurry to pause for a moment as a new player entered the battlefield, though when he found a far more massive Blade of Chaos coming at him, wrapping around his spider legs and chaining them in place, he realized that he had been had by Zeus.

"ARES! You shall pay for your crimes!" Kratos shouted, where he appeared to be in the middle of a jump, pulsing with blue energy that must have come from Pandora's Box and granted him the giant form he was now using, as he was just as tall as Ares was in his true form, as he brought down a massive version of the Blade of Artemis and severed his spider limbs before the God of War could do anything to defend himself.

As Ares howled in pain Kratos switched back to the Blades of Chaos and drove them into his chest, where he could feel his back being pierced as well, though instead of calming down at the return of her father, like he expected, it seemed like his daughter seemed to think this was an illusion of some kind. The reasoning for that decision was because she was rushing at him and slashed into his arm as he tried to crush her with his fist, though this time around she dug the head of her new weapon into his skin and carved her way up to his shoulder, ruining his armor in the process. Kratos, at the same time, did the same thing, using one blade to keep Ares pinned where he was standing while using the other to cut into his legs or his other arm, the rage and determination in his eyes showing him that the revived Spartan, who must have crawled his way of the Underworld to be here, meant he was very serious. At the same time he noticed the blue energy pulsed around his body, something that seemed to be fueling him far more than his usual rage, like there was hope in his eyes, or maybe he was overthinking everything as he realized something important: they were going to kill him.

Flurry's onslaught had weakened him and scattered his arsenal, while Kratos' more focused attacks on his vitals proves his defenses were falling at a rapid rate, though as he thought about that Flurry slashed into his neck as Kratos put his blades aside and drove the Blade of Artemis right into his chest, tearing through his heart before he could say anything.

Together Kratos and Flurry watched as the life seemed to fade from Ares' body, where the former yanked out the Blade of Artemis and found that his body seemed to shudder, like his soul was trying to resist what was happening, before he fell back into the water behind him. The pair watched for a moment as he bled out into the water that was around him, as if waiting for something else to happen, before a bit of energy burst out of his chest, which didn't seem to do anything at all, though that was when his body started to shake, like it was going to violently detonate on them. Fortunately the pair had nothing to worry about as the air around them vibrated and Hecate teleported them over to where she and the twin gods, Artemis and Apollo, were resting, where Kratos found that the power of Pandora's Box seemed to fade as he reverted to his original size. He didn't have time to even think about what had happened as Ares' body detonated in an explosion that wiped out all of the water that was around him, the gods throwing up a new barrier to keep the destruction contained in the area they had fought him in, and once everything was said and done they dismissed their powers as Zeus and several others moved out to collect what remained of Ares.

As Kratos realized that the quest was over, that they had slain the God of War, he heard something hit the ground not a moment later and quickly turned his head to find that his daughter had dropped her weapon, hope filling her eyes as he found tears in them as well.

"Father? Is that... really you?" Flurry asked, paying no attention to anything else that had happened recently, in fact Kratos had no idea if she was even aware of the fact that the gods had just watched her use a new level of power and tear into the now dead God of War, but right now that hardly mattered to him as well.

"Yes. I am neither specter or undead... I am really here." Kratos replied, where he knelt for a moment and raised his hand to Flurry's face, wiping away some of the tears that were already starting to flow, something that caused his daughter to start crying tears of joy as she hugged his chest and rested her head against him, making sure to avoid stabbing him with her horn.

Kratos, despite having pulled himself out of the Underworld with some help, couldn't help but smile as he held his crying daughter and comforted her to the best of his ability, as for right now nothing else mattered to him, not even the reward for completing this quest, and he resolved to tackle everything else once he was sure Flurry was fine.