Darkness tore through the air, ripping open the veil of reality. A portal surged to life and through it stepped a figure. One foot struck the earth. Then the next.
Atrox emerged.
His hand brushed against the golden stalks of wheat, and where he touched, blackness spread. The poison of his presence infected the land, rotting everything it touched. Plants withered in an instant. Life died.
He walked slowly, with cold purpose, toward a nearby village. His fingers tightened around the hilt of his blade, and he drew it. As he stepped onto sacred soil, the sword stabbed into the ground half its length buried. From its core, darkness pulsed outward… and from that shadow, demons spilled.
"Destroy everything," Atrox commanded, relishing the death he brought upon the world.
"UAAAH!" A furious roar shook the skies. In a vortex of flame, Hephaestus descended from the heavens, his burning hammer clutched in both hands. Each strike fell like the eruption of a volcano. Flames lashed from his weapon, seeking to engulf Atrox in divine fire.
But the demon moved with effortless grace, avoiding every blow. Then, in one sudden moment, he caught the hammer mid-swing, seizing it with a bare hand.
Hephaestus strained every muscle, trying to reclaim his weapon but it was futile.
"Is this the best a god can do?" Atrox sneered. His claws tightened and the hammer began to groan. Metal twisted. Cracks formed. It crumbled to dust beneath his grip.
"Impossible..." Hephaestus whispered. That hammer had been forged with all his skill and divine strength. It was the embodiment of his craft, his essence.
Atrox's blade pierced his gut, erupting from his back in a spray of crimson. The god of the forge gasped, clutching the sword as blood poured between his fingers.
"Kh..." The sword tore free, and Hephaestus collapsed. With a trembling hand, he reached for the broken remains of his hammer but never made it.
Atrox stepped on his chest, grinding him into the earth.
"NO! Father!" Pandora's scream rang out as she burst from hiding.
Atrox looked up, watching her, waiting. He held his strike until the moment their eyes met father and daughter then delivered the final blow.
The god's eyes went cold. Whatever spark remained vanished in silence.
"NOOOOO!!" Pandora fell to her knees, her cry echoing through the scorched fields. Tears carved bitter paths down her cheeks.
A demon crept forward, aiming to strike her. But then the ground shook.
From deep beneath, thick roots erupted serpentine and ancient. They skewered the demon, then writhed outward, smashing every fiend in their path.
"Perhaps you will give me a worthy fight," Atrox said, voice laced with cruel amusement.
"You'd best leave," Demeter replied, stepping forth from the twisting mass of roots.
She summoned every ounce of life and nature's power that remained in the land. Her body glowed with vibrant green light, and from her hands surged a wave of divine force, infused with the essence of the earth itself.
Atrox answered with darkness, his blade sliding forward as a wicked grin twisted his face.
*****************************
Moments before Atrox's assault
Atreus' POV
"Atreus, scouts report Persian forces have landed on the coast. An enemy army approaches from all directions," Leonidas said grimly.
"I'll deal with them," I replied. But as I took my first step, a sudden force struck my chest. Pain deep and raw drove me to one knee. My heart thundered like a war drum, as if trying to escape my ribcage. This wasn't physical pain it was something far worse. It was the agony of the soul.
"My world… what's happening to it?" I whispered, dazed.
"What's wrong?" Leonidas asked, concern tightening his brow as he reached to steady me.
"Do you remember the place where I first summoned you?" I asked, eyes locked to the ground.
"I do. Is someone attacking it? Then go," he said with unflinching resolve.
"But what about the defense of the pass?" I asked, torn.
"We are Spartans," he said, his voice iron. "Even if it costs every last one of us, we will hold this ground. Until you return we will not fall. Go."
"I'll come back as soon as I can," I promised.
I had no compass with me, but I could still invoke its essence bend space to my will. It cost me. My strength, sapped by days of battle, waned further under the strain. The wound to the Golden Groves pulsed through me this land was part of me, born of my will, my vision of life.
The path twisted, resisting me. Something fought against my crossing.
When I finally emerged in the Groves, devastation met me. A village lay in ruin, flames consuming everything. At the edge of the settlement, I saw Hephaestus' broken body. He had died protecting this land one wound in his gut, another through his skull.
In silence, I walked the rubble-strewn streets, corpses beneath my feet. At last, I reached the mill.
Atrox sat there, as if waiting for me.
I stepped closer. I saw Demeter her body ravaged, barely clinging to life. My grip tightened around my spear. Quietly, I extended my will toward her, mending what I could.
"So… the last of your strength, and you waste it on her?" Atrox mocked.
I flinched. He felt it he sensed my will?
"I wanted to face you as an equal," he continued. "When you're strong. When our blades would clash again and again, echoing across the realms. But the Abyss… it controls me too tightly. It denied me that fight. It thinks it owns me. It doesn't. I won't be its hound."
"Then why did you do all this?" I asked, eyes never leaving his.
"Why…?" he echoed. "I don't even know anymore. All that remains of me is the hunger for battle and endless destruction."
He raised his hand. In a flash, his sword was aimed at me.
"Only one of us walks away from this, Atreus," he said. "You… or me."
Power swirled around me, the last remnants of my will strengthening my limbs.
"You never should've set foot on this land," I growled. "I will destroy you and every last Dark God that follows."
But then… I felt it. My power began to bleed away. Something someone was draining it.
"Let steel speak for us now," Atrox said calmly.
They'd found it my weakness. They understood what will truly was. Will is not brute strength. It's not magic. It's the fire to keep fighting when the body breaks, to rise above all limits. But no will is infinite. Even mine.
This world is poisoned. Every moment I've fought has cost me more. I'm tired. No matter how much power I hold I'm still human. That is my greatest weakness.
But also… my greatest strength.
"Don't think this fight will be easy for you," I said. I accepted the challenge. Even if I had little strength left, I had my spear and shield. That's all I needed. I would fight The death of everythingand I would win.
"Good," Atrox replied.
"Fight me."