CHAPTER 489: OATH

Jewel observed the entity before her and gasped in her actual body. ’No... How can this be?’ She watched as the golden entity began hurdling energy at her with enough force to destroy dozens of planets.

She really couldn’t believe what just happened. ’This thing spoke in my Apollo’s language?!?’ This made no sense. From where Nukumi was, She literally could not get further from where her mate was if she tried. How was this entity able to speak the tongue-Wait!

Using Nukumi’s flimsy body, She opened the aquatic primes mouth and ingested a large amount of the godly Psionic energy that had assaulted her. The feeling... It was familiar. Jewel then remembered the name Apollo brought back with him and could not help mutter out.

"ARES."

Ares, who was roided out, suddenly stopped his barrage of attacks and stared at the creature before him with confusion. ’It can speak?’ The thought was put to the side however, it was irrelevant. His target was reaching ever closer and he would squash it within his palm.

Jewel studied the human-cum-robot with faint intrigue. It had replaced its entire being with robotics and metal, yet its Psionic existence was still this powerful entity. Jewel wouldn’t usually fight a being of this caliber, it consumed too much energy to be worthwhile and she knew entities like this could still escape while she wasn’t there in true form.

However, This Ares was Spartari. A fraction of it had empowered her reason for existence, her mate. If she could collect more of this god, perhaps Apollo could become stronger even faster and she could finally have her trillions of children.

Even if she couldn’t collect a few bites from the god, learning its Psionic rhythms and how a human functioned at such size and power could still be beneficial to her mate. Jewel took no time to prepare. The fight would be a slog, but she wouldn’t lose.

Whatever the god used to free it from its mechanical shell was temporary. It would begin losing power at some point and that is when she would go in for her chomps.

As she watched the god loom closer, Jewel acted. The biomass of her additional limbs would be useless here so she killed them all and in fractions of seconds, began gathering them towards her from thousands of miles around.

Prime 4, corpse was not spared either and the gigantic hulk engulfed around Nukumi’s body who now became the brain of an impromptu Hive leviathan. Stitched together in moments from billions of bio forms.

Ares watched this happen as he approached and smiled as he felt the Psionic might within the flesh craft abomination before him surge to levels he considered worthy. The thing being created before him was nothing like he had even witnessed.

With Its form mostly taking on the shape of a head, its colossal maw and tentacles sprouting out of it made it look totally eldritch. The size of the being was half of his current size, but he knew first hand that size mattered little in the combat between gods.

And despite being pumped to put the smackdown on the flesh sack in front of him, Ares was still cautious. He might now be more powerful than the entirety of his siblings put together perhaps numerous times due to his unfathomable growth, but he could tell that whatever the enemy of life was, its power was close in power to his own. He could feel it in his circuit-blood.

Ares loved melee combat. Ever since he was a child, but powerful enemies prevented him from always achieving this goal. However this enemy, he couldn’t wait to begin tearing it asunder as it was so close to being in his reach now.

And just as he got into range to begin combat, he felt it.

A psionic fluctuation so powerful coming from the creature that he literally ripped a hole in space and emerged somewhere else to avoid the attack. Even with the dodge, Ares still felt at danger as the source of the attack came in the form of a Psionic scream.

A scream so powerful and so loud that the sheer amount of decibels it produced caused a small black hole to form and follow behind the attack. Knowing he could not evade the attack, he could feel it, honing in on his very being, he braced his domain like a shield and proceeded to shut out his perception so he could feel within himself.

An instant and he was inside of his Mindspace. The sounds of grunting of soldiers going through intense training in synchrony was the first thing he heard. It brought him peace. It had been too long since he had been here. Too long under his suppressions.

He didn’t regret this. He became what he became out of necessity. The path was correct. Flesh was weak. He had created alloys stronger than anything that could naturally exist.

Hoaa!

Another series of grunts came from all around him and he began looking around the gigantic gladiatorial arena. He walked, feeling the sand beneath his feet. Blood sweat and sand. That is where he started. This is where he would like to end, when the time came. But that day was not this day.

Hoaaa!

The chorus of training grew louder, reminding him he didn’t have time to dwell in these... Human emotion. He wasn’t one anymore, had not been for millennia, however, he was something more, even when fully machine. The reason he needed the overrides. The reason he needed suppressants.

Hoooaa! Hoooaa!

Ares walked. The chanting, getting louder and louder. The sign that great danger was drawing near. The sign he needed to fight. Like he always has, like he will continue to do so.

AU!

A chant suddenly began. As he stopped before A statue. His Origin. His Promise. The statue was cracked, worn, and dilapidated. His Origin was a vow. A vow he was forced to break after his own family turned against him.

AU!

Ares took a shaky breath. He found the part of himself that had returned to him many months ago. The closest aspect he had of who he used to be. The memory of that young Spartari lad. Apollo, spurned within him.

AU! AU!

His home. It was not yet gone. It still held strong. There were still those that fought against the path of stagnation his family had left in place as he conquered in the name of Spartari. There were still those there worthy, or at least still one. Something he had not expected after all this time.

AU! AU! AU!

With that knowledge spurning his heart. He knew he could take his oath and not have it mean nothing. He knew he could bear saying the words. For Spartari. For Apollo. For the future of humanity.

AU! AU AU!

"This is my ground. Here I fight." The ancient words seemingly came not from Ares’ avatar, but the truth of his very Psionic existence. "The enemy. The Alien. Here I Fight!" The statue before Ares began glowing, seemingly repairing itself like the words were stonemasons.

"This is where I hold them. Here I fight." Ares could feel a swelling of rage burn within him as the lingering threat grew ever closer. He was running out of time, but this could not be rushed.

"THIS! Is where they die! BY MY MIGHT!" He screamed as the statue came to life and looked down at him before both in synchronisation spoke. "BY SPARTARI BY OUR LANDS WE SHALL CARVE OUT A PATH FOR HUMANITY’S FUTURE!"

AU! AU! AU! AU! AU! AU! AU! AU! AU! AU! AU! AU! AU! AU! AU! AU! AU! AU! AU! AU! AU! AU! AU! AU! AU! AU! AU! AU! AU! AU! AU! AU! AU! AU! AU! AU! AU! AU! AU! AU! AU! AU!

...

Ares’s eyes snapped open and his golden domain expanded once again, denser, thicker and more powerful than even previously. In a flash of Soul energy, his body became adorned with armour, armour he had not seen in a very long time...

Plated gold head to toe with large pauldrons, golden vambraces and a helm with gold transversal plumage floating and a cloak billowing behind him despite being in space. Through his black visor, he looked over to his right and materialised a golden spear. Once his trusted weapon, now an old friend reunited.

Ares gripped the spear with an uneasy familiarity and pointed it towards the attack and the blackhole that followed it like a dog on a leash. Ground materialised beneath his feet as he braced himself, drawing Psionic and soul energy together as he began charging up his attack.

He didn’t need long. He hadn’t expected to unleash his oath which caused yet another growth in power and fired the galactic cataclysmic amount of power towards the attack on him.

As the two deathly attacks struck one another, so much energy built up that it appeared multiple supernova’s went off at once, yet in the centre of this explosion. Two entities, worthy of the title of divine, locked onto each other’s presence before attacking once more.