Chapter 6
"Such a bright boy!" replied Eris in a coddling, condescending tone. "Yes, it is I, Eris, Primordial of Strife, favorite of Polemos, both my Uncle and Brother! Consider this an honor, no human or god has perished by my hands in eons!"
"We shall see." replied Kratos. "My legacy far overshadows yours, and the people of Sparta see you no more as a ghost, which you very much ARE!"
Kratos flung one of his blades forward, and struck Eris in the heart. Upon the blade's impact, Eris let out a bloodcurdling scream, so powerful that Kratos had to cover his own ears, and she burst into millions of crystalline, glass-like shards. Instead of falling straight to the ground, the shards were suspended in mid-air for a few moments, and the screaming stopped, at which point they did fall.
Kratos uncovered his ears, and looked down suspiciously at the shards that littered the ground. Something was indeed not right, as Kratos knew it would be much more difficult to defeat a Primordial than a simple blade thrust. Grasping his blades in his hands, he moved some of the shards with the tip of his boots, expecting Eris to re-materialize and attack him once again. The next moment that took place caught Kratos completely by surprise and unaware.
Just as Kratos stopped nudging the shards with his boot, they flew upward and lodged themselves into Kratos' eyes. Bellowing in pain, Kratos covered his face in his hands, could feel the blood dripping from his sockets into his hands, but everything was black, until a bright, purple light nearly made Kratos fall backwards.
Blinking his eyes, Kratos found himself in what appeared to be a different realm. Everything seemed to be made of purple-pink cosmic air, and bright stars, with a glassy surface covering everything. Stalactites and stalagmites of crystals of the same color littered the environment. All was not peaceful in this new realm however, as flaming stars shot across from all directions, crashing into one another. High above the cosmic scenery, in what Kratos could only think of as the "sky" of this world, Eris looked down on him, laughing.
"Oh Kratos you poor fool!" said Eris. "You cannot simply defeat me by a mere flurry of blows and kicks, and you'd have better luck doing damage to thin air!"
Kratos summoned the Bow of Apollo, and fired 4 arrows at Eris' massive face in the sky, and the arrows disappeared within her eyes. Kratos felt heat beneath his feet, then a sharp, burning stab in his thigh, and realized the arrows he fired were coming at him from the ground up. Rolling out of the way, Kratos was able to avoid the rest, and winced as he pulled the arrow that hit him out of his thigh. Before his eyes, a burst of flame came forth, and Eris stood before him once again.
"On your feet Spartan, and face me!" demanded Eris.
Jumping to his feet, Kratos charged his powers, and attempted to attack Eris using Cronos' Rage, sending forth a blast of powerful electrical energy her way. The energy connected full-on with Eris' body, however instead of harming her, Kratos felt the surge of electricity throughout his body. The shocks were so intense that it brought him back down to his knees. His body emitted smoke after the failed assault, and Eris grasped him by the throat, holding him in the air, as she grew bigger.
"You harm me, you harm yourself!" explained Eris. "War and Strife, we are connected, ergo, I am connected to you, the God of War! Had it not been for me, everything you see, would never have come to pass!"
"Nonsense!" said Kratos in a strained voice, trying to wriggle free of Eris' iron grip on his throat. "The great Primordial War created all, as the Primordials fell one by one, their bodies turning to earth, sky, water and all that we see, instead of decay!"
"And how do you think that war was STARTED?!" hissed Eris. "Polemos and I grew tired of our father Chaos simply allowing his children to be, exist without purpose. So one day, Polemos took me and cut me into a million tiny pieces, and those pieces settled into the bodies of the Primordials. My being caused dissent and mistrust among the Primordials, as I rattled inside the fibers of their existence. Then one night, Polemos crept into the head of Aether, the Primordial of Light, while he slept, and with Polemos' influence Aether beheaded Erebus, the Primordial of Darkness, shadowing the world with Erebus' corpse. Then, my mother Nyx sought revenge against Aether for her husband's death, and brought light to the world killing him. On and on, the Primordials fought and slew one another thanks to Polemos and myself, rising again amidst the reality and elements of reality you see here."
Releasing her grip slightly, Eris threw Kratos backward into one of the crystalline walls. Kratos got back up, and attempted to run towards Eris with the Boots of Hermes, but was stopped in place, as the floor began to upwardly crystalize his feet. Trying to free himself from the boots, Kratos struggled with all his might, but to no avail. Eris hovered towards him, standing about a foot away from him, looking at him with smug satisfaction.
"So the God of War is to be destroyed by his own divine ancestors." chuckled Eris. "Tsk tsk tsk, and here I thought about giving you a fighting chance, coming down to your level to fight. But you never earned it, your kind never will. However, I will give you one final attempt to attack me, just one, before I destroy you. Choose wisely."
Kratos glared defiantly at the Primordial, the toughest force he'd faced thus far amongst his adversaries in this realm. This entire experience had been nothing but Eris' own personal torture session, with Kratos as the victim, and Kratos thought of thousands of ways he could tear this Primordial apart. Yet with each thought, he knew it could not come to pass without it backfiring upon him, or Eris contorting the reality even further. Fresh out of options, Kratos silently made his decision.
"Time is up Kratos." said Eris. "I await your counterattack before I destroy you."
"So be it." said Kratos. "Be prepared for the Head of Euryale."
Summoning all his concentration, the head of the gorgon Euryale came forth in Kratos' right hand.
"The head of a gorgon?! said Eris. "You disappoint me Kratos." I expected much more from you as a final attack against me."
"It is not for you!" said Kratos.
Taking Euryale's head in both his hands, Kratos swiftly turned Euryale's head around to face him, and summoned her to open her eyes. Kratos looked deeply into the gorgon's eyes, and Kratos' eyes were turned to stone, but not the rest of his body.
Eris looked on, puzzled, and all of the sudden, the ground around her began to shake, and she saw her crystalline floor turn to stone, then spread to the walls, and then spread upon her body. Eris tried desperately to run and to stop the spread, but it was no use. She felt her legs solidify, causing her to fall to the ground. Then it spread up her waist, then torso, upper arms, and finally encompassed her head.
His eyes turned to stone, Kratos put Euryale's head away, and summoned the Nemean Cestus. With a mighty strike to his face, Kratos freed his eyes, and stone dust fell from them.
"Now you will feel the wrath of the God of War!" said Kratos.
With a mighty bellow, Kratos slammed the Nemean Cestus into the ground, and created the Nemean Roar, sending a powerful shockwave throughout Eris' reality. The stone cracked and shook, and boulders began to fall all around them. To hasten the process, Kratos executed the Triumphant Labor maneuver, and smashed at as many rock walls, surfaces and objects as he could. Feeling the ground cracking beneath him, Kratos soon began to fall, as all the broken rocks followed after him.
Kratos landed upon the grass of the previous battlefield, where he had been fighting the entire time, and the rock fell from the sky. Rolling several times out of the way, Kratos avoided being crushed among the rock and boulders. When the rocks stopped falling and the dirt finally settled, the rubble shook slightly, and from the wreckage emerged Eris, looking wobbly but still strong. Her eyes filled with anger and rage, she looked at Kratos, and her starlit body burned brightly with rage.
"Now have I earned it?" asked Kratos, his blades ready for action.
"Very well!" said Eris. "If it is battle and bloodlust you seek, then that you shall have!"
Firing towards him in a spiraling, corkscrew fashion, Eris attempted to strike Kratos in the chest, her long claws spinning like propeller blades. Kratos countered with a Hades Reverse, parrying the blow, and countered with the Spirit of Hercules attack, striking her with devastating blows and launching her into the air. Mid-air however, Eris extended her arms and anchored her claws into Kratos' chest, swinging back down and raking Kratos across the face with her free hand, knocking him to the ground. Eris attempted to spring towards him and slice him again, however Kratos deflected her with the Golden Fleece, and deeply cut into her divine flesh using the Hyperion Might maneuver, arcing his blades and sending her flying backwards. Kratos rushed forwards with the Boots of Hermes, to see her lying on the ground, and getting up slowly. Kratos summoned the Blade of Artemis, and looked as though he was going to use it to cut Eris down to size.
"I take back my disappointment in you Spartan." said Eris. "You are not just any common soldier. Now, I grow tired of humoring you, and shall attack you in my regular forms! Let us finish this battle once and for all!"
"No." said Kratos, driving the Blade of Artemis into the ground. "I end this conflict."
Stunned, Eris looked at him in disbelief.
"What?!" said Eris. "NO! You cannot! You must fight me until one of us is destroyed!"
"I will not." said Kratos. "I hold the upper hand, and end this battle, claiming myself as the victor."
"You will NEVER be the victor!" snarled Eris. "Not if I kill you!"
Kratos stood silently, and Eris rushed at him, her claws slashing at him violently. Yet, when she struck Kratos, her arms went right through him, as if he were a ghost. Enraged, Eris turned herself into a giant of massive size, far bigger than Pallas, Enceladus or Peloreus, and brought down a giant foot upon Kratos, intending on stomping him into the ground. Yet, when she lifted her foot, Kratos stood standing, within the massive crater of the footprint, as if nothing had happened.
Returning to regular size, Eris raised her hands to the sky and the clouds began to rumble and crack with thunder. Fiery raindrops fell from the sky, scorching the ground below, and still, passed right through Kratos. They did not, however, pass through Eris, and screeched as they burned her cosmic skin. Immediately ceasing the attack, Eris continued to slash desperately at Kratos, nothing connecting.
"I don't understand!" shrieked Eris. "What is this trickery?!"
"You're right Eris." said Kratos. "You are the mother of everything I hold dear, in the realm of war, and I will not fight you. My cold, black heart deeply adores war, and you are part of it."
"What sort of cowardice IS this?!" cried Eris.
At the end of her statement, Kratos impaled her in the stomach with both blades, and drew her to him. He wrapped his arms tightly around her, and looked her deep in the eyes.
"It is not cowardice, its love." replied Kratos.
Before she could say another word, Kratos held her tighter, and kissed her deeply on the lips, with vigor and passion. Surprised, she returned the kiss, and soon began to convulse and her body surged with electrical-like, red energy.
"NOOOOO! NOT LOVE!" said Eris.
Feeling a deep, dull pain in her chest, Eris looked down, and saw that Kratos had plunged his hand deep in her chest cavity, which he then ripped away. Kratos held her heart to her face, and grinned darkly.
"Yes, love!" said Kratos. "What love I have for you exists in my deeply passionate love for war and bloodlust, one of the greatest loves of my life! It was my key to getting close to you, the faint connection you and the rest of my adversaries thus far have, and the key to you letting your guard down! I love it so much, there's no room for both of us to love it, which is why you will perish!"
Throwing Eris' heart on the ground, Kratos stomped it mightily with his foot, creating a shockwave throughout the land that unhinged the earth beneath him, and caused Eris' body to burst into a bloody pool of cosmic blood, bone and tissue. The green, red, blue and golden orbs surged within Kratos' body from the gushy mess that was once Eris, as well as Eris' divine life force that commanded all strife.
"Thank you for the inheritance, Primordial failure!" said Kratos to the puddle.
The skies settled, just as they did with every previous battle, and Kratos sat among the fallen bodies, awaiting his next challenge.
"There's no time to sit on your ass, God of War." said a male voice. "You've yet to face me!"
The dark clouds that brought his previous 3 foes surrounded Kratos yet again, causing him to stand up abruptly, and he turned around and saw his foe once the storm clouds cleared.
"The time of the gods is at an end!" said the foe. "I've conquered much without your help, or the help of any other gods or goddesses, and your death will prove you've outlived your usefulness and purpose!"
The warrior was, simply, a human being. He was not as tall as Kratos, but muscularly built, and well-armed. He wore a bronze cuirass, with a blue metal armor sash riddled with sharp spikes, small bronze gauntlets, and bronze vanbraces to cover his boots. His skin was light-colored, similar to many inhabitants of the regions of Greece more inland, and had light brown hair.
But what Kratos noticed most about him, were his eyes; he had none.
The empty eye sockets of the soldier dripped continuously with blood, yet the warrior could see Kratos as plainly as Kratos could see him.
"You!" said Kratos. "The Disgrace of all Thebes, come to challenge the God of War!"
Angrily, the soldier drew his sword.
"Quiet your tongue, false idol!" replied the soldier. "Your time is at an end, and the time of Oedipus the King, has dawned! You will bow to me before this battle is through!"
(Check out artwork from this story on deviantart under RealPMP's account)