Chapter 24: Wrath of a Dovah
Three days. That was all the time Mars had for his confrontation with Ares in the Colosseum of Planeptune. Just three days of training his ass off to beat the highly ambitious and bloodthirsty War God into the dirt once and for all. It did not seem like a lot of time, but for Mars it was just enough time to get into the mindset of utterly annihilating the grey haired Anti-Crystal user. After Mars and Noire interrupted the vicious and deadly duel between Uni and Ares things would have escalated out of control had it not been for Enyo, the shapeshifting woman managed to convince everyone to a rematch, but instead Mars would serve as the combatant in Uni's place. The Lastationite CPU Candidate was too worn out to even object, so the motion was passed by the other Goddesses that were there, including Histoire, Mars and Ares themselves. It was decided that Mars and Ares would fight in three days time once the next day arrived, giving time for both sides to prepare themselves.
Soon after, however, Ares and Enyo disappeared from the Colosseum and Planeptune all together; no one knew where they went, and in the end no one really cared, especially Mars. However, with only around three days to train before competing in probably one of the most bloodiest fights he would ever be in, the young man of Lastation came to a decision. He would train alone in the wilderness, away from the city aspects of the country he had come to call home and away from the only person he had ever increasing feelings for. Mars never told them about his decision, instead he left them a letter that explained his reasoning, which basically said that he did not want any distractions from anyone or anything, and that he would appreciate it if they did not go looking for him. The young, scruffy haired man knew that they would most likely go looking for him, he knew that Uni would once she fully recovered from all the Anti-Energy that had been used against her, but he hoped that they would just stay away so he could train in peace; plus it gave him some time to think about how he was supposed to confess his feelings to Uni, especially now that those feelings had only increased dramatically.
Mars had planned to sleep out in the wilderness with the tent he had purchased back in Lastation before he left and live off the supplies he also brought along with him, he would find anything else he needed from the wilderness around him. He had lived off the land over the last two years before his chance meeting with Uni inside the Ancient Dragon lair in the Brown Mountains, so the young man was experienced with it all. Mars' camp was located in the small forest that surrounded the south-west edge of the Brown Mountains, it had a small freshwater river that flowed down from the mountains, through the small forest and out into the small sea channel between the southernmost coast of Lastation and the northern coast of Leanbox.
In the centre of the small forest was an open space filled with a small patchwork of old cobblestone, rocks and grass, the small river from the Brown Mountains was flowing along nearby. In the centre of the glade stood Mars. His back was straight, his arms were by his sides, his hands were still, his eyes were closed as a small breeze blew through the glade, sending his hair in all sorts of directions; a sense of calmness appeared to have been washed over him. As the breeze subsided the young man sighed and walked over to the flowing, cold river, he looked into the water and stared sternly at his reflection. Mars noticed how his scruffy was starting to become a little wild, there was even facial hair growing about as well, even that looked a little scruffy and unkempt.
"Heh, if my clothes were covered in dirt and I had a twig or two in my hair I think I could pass as some crazy old bastard who lives in the wilderness," Mars mumbled to himself in amusement. "Funny, I don't think I've appeared to have aged at all since Project Mars was turned into a pile of Dogoo shit two years ago. Is that normal, or does it have something to do with that fricking Anti-Crystal?"
"It's normal, although your genes will make you appear young for a long, long time," a womanly voice called out from the trees around the young man, causing him to swiftly glance around the area with a suspicious glare. After a minute had passed Mars was still in his guard, then the voice spoke again. "It's alright, Mars, I'm not here to harm you, in fact I'm here for a completely different reason. Stay, and I will explain what I can to you, but I need something from you."
"Who are you? Show yourself already!" Mars bellowed as he grabbed one of his beretta pistols from its holster. He sniffed the air and realised that he recognised the smell, yet for some reason that he could not explain it smelt as if Enyo, the battle companion of Ares, was around, yet there was also the scent of the oversized raven as well; both smelled the same yet also slightly different. "Alright then, come out of hiding, Enyo, and your bloody raven as well."
"Hmm, your sense of smell is getting better. Very well then." Soon enough Mars watched as the dark green eyed raven appeared out of the trees and land in front of him, it was then that the young man was in for a shock. The raven became surrounded by dark green as it began to rise higher and higher, taking a human form as the supernatural energy completely enveloped the being before him. As it began to dissipate Mars continued to watch as the raven turned into a human with feather sticking out of her body, then he realised who it was as the dark green energy disappeared and the feathers withdrew back into the woman's body. It was Enyo. She looked at Mars and could not help but smirk as she brushed aside her blonde bangs from her forehead. "Heh, weren't expecting that, were you?"
Indeed, Mars was utterly shocked to see the oversized raven that constantly spied on him turned into an enemy, but it was the knowledge of knowing that Enyo was an enemy that shook his out of his daze. The young man stood back, snarled and raised his handgun directly towards her forehead. "I don't know how you managed to do that, but all I care about is that you're an enemy, War God."
"War Goddess, thank you very much. Some of us can afford the upgrade," Enyo replied back in a snarky tone as she crossed her arms.
"Whatever, just give me a reason why I shouldn't shoot you between those dark green eyes of yours. Tell me!" Mars demanded as he pressed the barrel of the beretta pistol against Enyo's forehead. However, to his surprise he noticed that the War Goddess was looking at him with deep pools of sadness in her eyes, her lips were quivering and her limbs were shaking ever so slightly. What surprised the young man even more was that she was making no attempt to fight back. "The hell? I thought you War Gods, or War Goddesses, always fought back when in this situation, so why aren't you doing that?"
"Because I have no reason to do so," Enyo replied back as she stared into Mars' blue eyes. "I've come here not to fight, but to talk. Please, just hear me out."
"And why the hell should I do that?" Mars asked, his triggerfinger was almost twitching with anticipation.
"Because I know who you are, who you truly are," Enyo responded, never taking her eyes of Mars and never blinking.
"What are you talking about? I'm Mars, nothing more and nothing less." Mars was getting confused, and more than a little annoyed with the whole conversation. The only reason the young man had not pulled the trigger was because he could tell that there was something that Enyo wanted to tell him.
"That may be so for you right now, but it isn't for me. I know who you are, I know your past, I know your true name. Please, just let me explain everything," Enyo pleaded, tears started to swell around the corners of her eyes. "I know all of this because we're childhood friends, at least we were until this whole Project Mars shit happened."
This small piece of news alone was enough to shock Mars' brain, maybe even fry it. The young man, after a short moment, lowered the handgun and stared at Enyo as if she was crazy and was telling a lie, yet there was a voice going off in his head saying that she was telling the truth. "I… I don't know know what to say, or think," Mars said in disbelief as he took a step back. It would have been reasonable for him to not believe what Enyo said, but he could tell that she was not lying, the sadness that he was so accustomed to throughout his remembered life was in her expression.
Enyo's face lit up with a small smile. "I know how you feel, truly I do. It's usually a shock for me whenever I regain my memories after I get in and out of Project Ares." The blonde woman sat down on a nearby log and gazed back at Mars, who was still staring at her. "I'm sure you have a lot of questions, so please do ask me anything, and I'll do my best to answer them."
Mars sighed deeply and sat down on a separate log near Enyo, there were many questions he wanted to ask her, but the first one that came to mind was her transformation. "So, how the fuck did you manage to do that transforming shapeshifting thing? Is it a new thing for Anti-Crystal users?"
Enyo shook her head and let out a giggle. "No, Project Ares is nowhere near anything like that, and they never will be. My shapeshifting ability is genetic and is - was - passed down from generation to generation, it was the same thing with all the other clans."
"Clans? What clans?" Mars asked He was still finding it a bit too weird to be sitting near someone who was supposed to be an enemy, but he did his best to overlook that detail, the young man was focused on getting knowledge about everything he could get out of Enyo.
"I'm not surprised that you don't know, in fact I'm sure that nearly all of the human and CPU population in Gamindustri don't know about the Great Clans," Enyo began to explain as she brushed the hair hanging over her forehead aside once more as another light breeze blew through the glade. "While I may be a part of a clan I'm afraid that I don't know a great lot about the others, let alone the legend of my own as well. The Great Clans have been in existence since the the earliest days of Gamindustri's history, when that exactly was I have no idea. I don't know how many clans there are or were, but I know for a fact that there are at least a few, maybe three to four, that are still around yet secluded from society."
"What clan do you belong to?" Mars asked, his curiosity about the Great Clans could not be contained.
"The Raven Clan. Unfortunately I'm the last of my clan, the others are… gone from this world," Enyo replied, yet she quickly regretted even responding to the question. Mars could see the grief that fell across the young woman's face, her eyes fell to the grassy ground around her feet and her fingers twitched uncontrollably. "I-I'm sorry, but I rather not talk about it."
Mars sighed and a hint of sadness appeared in his stoic expression, so instead of pursuing the conversation he decided to change it. "Well, can you at least tell me how many clans there are now? What happened to them all, besides yours of course?"
As soon as Enyo had calmed down she answered Mars' questions. "Hmm... honestly, I don't know the answer to those questions I'm afraid, but I've heard of a few other clans that existed, and may still exist. There were the Raven Clan, the Kitsune Clan, the Wolf Clan, the Roc Clan, the Lion Clan, the Lycra Clan, the Naga Clan and, last but not least, the Dov Clan - the Dragon Clan. They're the only clans that I know about, I also know for a fact that just about all of them, and even more that I don't know about, are extinct. As for the clans that are alive today… I don't know, well, except for my own and one other at least."
"What happened to them all, then?" Mars asked, wondering what half of the clan names even meant.
"The Dragon War," Enyo replied, then she began to tell the short version of the tale about the Dragons of old. "This was thousands of years ago though, so neither us were alive then. The story I got told was that the Dragon Clan were the mightiest of all the Great Clans and ruled Gamindustri before a time when Goddesses existed, they lorded over the common people and many of the other clans, imposing laws, tribute, and monuments in their glory. However, they became cruel and began to misuse their power; thousands died in their name for sport. The people's faith for balance, for unity, for revenge manifested itself into Share Energy, and from that came the first CPUs in existence to be born: Magenta Heart and Turquoise Heart. The two CPUs, along with just about all of the common people, even other Great Clans and a few rebel Dragons, banded together to take the fight to the Dragon Clan."
"So what happened? I'm guessing that the Dragon Clan lost, am I right?"
Enyo nodded. "That's correct. Yet I was told that despite the allied forces having much larger numbers than their foes, it was a tough and bloody war; it lasted for many years and spanned across all of Gamindustri. Finally, after almost a decade of fighting, the final battle took place around the Snowy Mountains, the very same mountain range that dots the very centre of Gamindustri. The battle raged on for an entire day, and by the end of it so much blood had been spilt. But the CPUs and their allies were at last successful. Vulthur, leader of the Dragon Clan, was defeated by the Goddesses and his own brother, Kronstrunal. Afterwards the surviving Dragons disappeared, and the Great Clans that managed to survive also disappeared. Thus Gamindustri was carved into two separate nations, but the newfound peace only lasted a thousands years before it was torn apart by their successors, Obsidian Heart and Crimson Heart."
The blonde woman breathed in and out heavily, the short yet informative tale about the Dragon War, the disappearance of the Great Clans, and the eventual war between the successor CPUs had drained her breath and energy, not that she really minded though. After regaining her breath and posture, the War Goddess of Project Ares returned her attention back towards Mars, who was waiting as patiently as he could. "Well, that's about it for the Dragon War and the Great Clans. I'm afraid that's all I really know about them, anything else that I could have remembered is most likely erased from my memory. Anyway, was there anything else you wanted to ask?"
The young, scruffy haired man nodded; there were many questions that he wanted to ask Enyo, some of which were a lot more important to him than the Great Clans and the Dragon War of old. After taking a few sips of water from his waterskin, which he offered to the young woman, Mars stared firmly at the War Goddess and asked more questions. "There's something that's bothering me ever since you arrived. You said that we're childhood friends, yet I don't remember you at all."
"That can be easily forgiven, considering that you were captured randomly one day and forced into Project Mars as a test subject for the best part of a decade," Enyo said in response, forgiving the young man as she gave him back his waterskin. "Your memories would have been tampered with by Maximilian, making you forget everything about your past, leaving only huge gaps and an almost untamable rage. Yes, we are childhood friends, and Ares is your younger brother, well, younger half-brother to be exact."
Mars sighed and shook his head sadly. "I guessed that Ares and I were brother. That's just fuckin' fantastic," he grumbled sarcastically, his anger starting to rise for a short moment before calming down. "Wait, half-brothers? The hell's up with that?"
"You both share the same father, but different mothers. After the destruction of my clan your father took me in, can't remember why though. Your mother wasn't around when I arrived, but Ares' mother was. She was posh and all that shit; never liked her, not even Ares." The War Goddess let out a light chuckle and shook her head in amusement. "Heh, it's funny really. Ares and I were inseparable when we were kids, always hanging around each other day and night; some things just never change."
"How can you even stand to be around him? He's a bloodthirsty monster!" Mars exclaimed. "He almost killed me a while back, not to mention he tried to kill Uni yesterday! I hate him. You're a fool for being a… whatever it is you are with him."
Enyo let out an enraged growl as her dark green eyes lit up in Anti-Energy, her fists clenched together as spark of blood red energy crackled around her. "You're one to talk. Being friends with that CPU Candidate of Lastation, even being in love with her, it's… it's… it's just pathetic! The CPUs are just as bad as the people of Project Ares, I hate them all!" Soon afterwards the young woman sighed sadly as her Anti-Energy calmed down and dissipated. "I-I'm sorry, I-I-I shouldn't have said that. Still, being in love with a goddess is beyond ridiculous."
Mars was quite shocked to hear that Enyo of all people knew about his feelings towards Uni. "H-How did you know?" Mars asked, not even bothering to argue back with what she yelled before at him.
"Pfft, it was easy to tell that you're in love with that CPU Candidate, I'm merely impressed that she doesn't know about it, or her sister for that matter," Enyo began to explain to the young man. "You're all lovey-dovey with the Lastationite Candidate and you don't even try. It's kind of sickening to see someone like you attempt to be with a goddess, it's also ironic really."
Mars raised an eyebrow in response to to Enyo's comment. "What's so ironic about it, eh? You gonna tell why?"
Enyo waved her hand dismissively and sighed. "It's nothing to worry about, I just don't like CPUs, the family you came from didn't like them either. Let's just leave it at that. So, anything else?"
Mars nodded firmly. "Yeah, there's something else that's bothering me. Why are you telling me all this? Also, where is Project Ares? Tell me."
The blonde, shapeshifting woman sighed, obviously what she had to say was not going to be good news for the young man. "Honestly, I have no idea where it is. I… think they wipe our memories of it clean, probably just in case we go rogue and try to make a run for it. I'm sorry, Mars, I really am." She looked at the scruffy haired man to see him rub his temples, he seemed displeased with the answer, yet he also believed her. Enyo had no reason to lie, especially since she knew that Mars could kill her at any time he wished. But she was not yet done with answering Mars' questions. "Also, the reason I'm telling you all this is because I need to ask you a favour, a big favour."
"A favour? The hell are you talking about?" Mars asked, weary about what Enyo was going to ask him, or offer him for that matter.
"I will help train you for the upcoming match if you can defeat Ares and get us out of Project Ares, I'm sick of the whole thing and need to get out," Enyo requested in an almost pleading tone, her eyes never wavering away from the young man in front of her. "You need me to help train you for the next three days, I guarantee it. Do this for me, please. We may be enemies now, but we were once close friends in our childhood, and now that I know who you are all I can see is the small child that would constantly want to play with me and his half-brother day after day, never letting that bright smile of yours disappear, no matter how dark the day got."
"But why? Why the hell would you want to help me? It just can't be because of all this past life crap that I can't remember, can it? If so then you're more pathetic than I first thought," Mars rebuked harshly with a grim look on his face. "Just spill the beans already, or I'll force it out of you."
Enyo gripped her jeans tightly as a tear fell down her face, dripping onto her right leg, her gaze directed to the ground below. "I… I love Ares, and that is why he needs to be defeated. He's been too corrupted by the Anti-Crystal inside him to see reason any more." She then looked back at Mars, letting him see the pain and sorrow in her expression. "You see, Anti-Crystal have another effect, besides giving a person almost superhuman abilities, they can corrupt the heart and soul of their user. If one was to think nothing more than negative thoughts and feel negative emotions then they will start to lose their minds, becoming nothing more than mindless killers with an insatiable bloodlust. I've seen it before, and it was horrifying to witness. I don't want to see anyone go through that again, especially not the only person left that I love. That's why he needs to be defeated, so you can knock him down a couple of notches, then I can take care of the rest."
"How can you even love someone like that? If the Anti-Crystal inside him is turning that asshole into a bloodthirsty killer then that's your problem. Why does it concern me? Why should it?" Mars responded as harshly as before, making his thoughts on the matter clear to the War Goddess.
This time the last member of the Raven Clan could not hold back the tears that were swelling around her eyes; they burst forth and she started to cry uncontrollably. "Please, I'm begging you, just let me help you train for the fight, I can help you develop new skills and sharpen old ones. There is more to you than you believe, you're more than just a prototype for the ultimate War God CPU Slayer, I know it. There's a hidden power within you that I can help unlock, I promise. I can sharpen your senses, your speed, your power attack, everything. Just let me help, for my sake."
Mars sighed, knowing that it was an interesting offer, plus Enyo would be teaching him about his supposed hidden power, which did not sound like a bad idea. However, her involvement with Project Ares was enough to make him hesitant towards the offer. But eventually, after sighing in defeat, he accepted the inevitable. "Fine then, you win, Enyo. Train me."
The blonde, dark green eyed woman began to cheer up as she heard Mars say that. "That's good to hear. Thank you, Vedrahkaal," Enyo said happily as she wiped the tears away.
The name that the shapeshifting War Goddess just said caused much confusion for the young man as he stood up alongside Enyo. "The hell you call me that for? The name is Mars, not… whatever that is," Mars said in a far from amused tone.
"That is your original name. Your true name," Enyo replied in a sad voice. "From the society you and Ares come from, newly born children are taken to a farseer and have their future read to their parents. Vedrahkaal means 'Black Deity Champion', meaning that you were going to be the champion of a black god, or goddess. I think it is coming true, don't you think? Fighting on Black Sister's behalf in the Colosseum, there's no mistaking it, you are her champion." After chuckling to herself for a short moment she continued to speak. "Also, Ares was originally named 'Sosruth', that translates to 'Blood Rage'. It's definitely fitting for his personality."
The scruffy haired man sighed and stared sadly at his right hand, flexing it in front of his face. After many years of trying to figure out who he truly was, what his real name was, he finally knew, and all it took was to talk to someone who was supposed to be an enemy. However, after clearing his mind, Mars decided to put it all behind him and stick with the present. "Well, for the sake of the three day training regime I want to be called Mars, it's all I've ever known," Mars informed Enyo, who nodded in response, respecting his decision. "Now then, train me, Enyo. Train me to reach my full power. Teach me this hidden power, then I'll crush Ares with it"
Three days had passed and no sign of Mars had been seen, making a certain ravenite overly worried for his wellbeing, even though she did not voice it in fear of being ridiculed by either Noire, Nepear or Neptune. However, even though the CPU Candidate of Lastation did her best to remain calm and it was obvious to her older sister, their friends, and the general public, that she was highly concerned about the young man. What surprised the two CPUs of Lastation was that their citizens were starting to call Mars the 'Champion of Black Sister' in hype of the upcoming match between the Black Sister's 'champion' and Ares the War God. It was a hype that the Planeptunian Goddesses flamed even further, much to their own amusement.
Once the the three days were up Planeptune City found itself swamped by a whole horde of people ranging from Planeptune, Lastation and even Leanbox and Lowee, even the CPUs of those nations had arrived to witness to fight. It turned out that Blanc, Goddess of Lowee, was hesitant on coming due to an upcoming novelist convention, but after all the hype for the fight, that was mysteriously flamed by an anonymous person who would only call himself Sir Laran, the brown haired CPU was finally convinced to watch the fight thanks to her younger twin sisters, who wanted to watch the 'big dummy'. Vert, Goddess of Leanbox, said that she wanted to cheer her 'younger brother' on from the sidelines to support his fight. The others came because it was expected of them to be there, plus they wanted to know what would happen.
As everyone gathered together inside the Colosseum, eager to witness what many people were already calling the 'battle of the century', two figures stood outside the main entrance of the massive stadium, waiting for the now dubbed 'Champion of Black Sister'. It was IF and Compa, and both were nervous, especially the nurse-in-training. The Guild Agent of Planeptune looked over at her best friend and gave her a comforting smile. "Hey, it'll be okay, Compa. I know you're anxious about this whole event, heck, we all are," IF said, her arms crossed over her chest as she laned up against the violet coloured wall.
"I can't help it, Iffy, we haven't seen him for three days and now he's coming back, we're all anxious to see what will happen in the arena," Compa replied as she gave a nervous smile in IF's direction.
"Heh, the arena. I never fully agreed to the construction of this damn thing, and I still don't think it's a good idea," IF grumbled, her gaze falling to the ground as a grim expression appeared on her face. "The Colosseum is basically doing nothing more than making people more violent than they already are; if they want to do that then let them go to the Guild and earn some real money. At this rate there won't be many proper Guild members left around here, most of them would have signed up their contracts to the Colosseum to earn easy money there. Don't get me wrong, there's some nice features with the place that the Guild could learn from, plus it's another way for the CPUs to gain Shares. But there's just something wrong here, I can sense it."
"Have you talked to Nep-Nep about it?" Compa asked.
IF nodded before sighing. "Yeah, I did, but she didn't listen. As usual, of course. All she blabbered about was that the Colosseum sounded like a cool idea, plus it was just down the road from the Basilicom, ss if Histoire ever kicked her out again she could just walk down the road and do some stuff there. Tch, lazy as hell if you ask me. Still, Neptune has the best interests for the people, and I can't fault her for that. Just keep an eye out for anything suspicious, there's more to this than the Mars vs Ares fight."
Compa nodded, knowing that if IF said that something felt off then she was most likely right. Suddenly the two friends heard someone, or several people, cry out a name before the small crowd that was still trying to enter the Colosseum looked behind them and moved out of the way. IF stared ahead of her to see who they were making way for: it was Mars. The young man was walking straight ahead in IF and Compa's direction, paying no attention to the people that made way for him, although he did throw a few glances at the people around him, confused as to why they were acting like that. Once the scruffy, brown haired man had walked up to IF and Compa the Guild Agent thought that he was different, appearance wise anyway.
His brown hair, which was already scruffy and unkempt, was wilder than usual, almost spikey. Dark patches were visible under his piercing blue eyes, his expression was completely stoic. He was wearing a brand new black collared shirt with grey lining and the Lastation flag embroidered on both shoulders and over his left breast, a new set of blue jeans, a black belt, black combat boots, black fingerless gloves with steel rivets around the knuckles and the Lastation flag embroidered into the gloves, and finally a grey bandana was wrapped around his forehead and tied at the back with two flowing pieces behind his head. His sharpened axes were strapped to either side of his waist, his beretta pistols were holstered on both his legs and his battle-worn sniper rifle was strapped to his back. Mars had been busy over the last three days.
As he stood still in front of IF and Compa, trying his best to ignore the stares that drilled into his back, the Guild Agent chuckled and gave the young man a small smile. "Well, at least you're on time, I can give you that," the brunette said, causing Mars to raise an eyebrow in confusion. The emerald eyed, young woman gazed over towards the horde of onlookers and motioned for them to keep moving before returning her attention to Mars. "You've sure caused an upstir around here, Champion of Black Sister."
The young man tilted his head and appeared more than confused. "Eh? Champion of Black Sister? The bloody hell are you calling me that for?"
"That's what the people around Gamindustri are calling you," Compa replied with a bright smile, much to her nature. "You definitely look like you are a Lastationite champion with that getup. You also made Uni feel miserable for the last three days, not to mention Ge-Ge as well, I think even Vert was feeling a little lonely with her 'little brother' being around. You should apologise to them."
Mars sighed and stared sadly at the ground, making it obvious that he felt guilty about his actions. "I thought that would be the case. I'll apologise to them later, I have a duel to win."
IF nodded firmly as she stepped forward. "Alright then, let's get this party started. Compa, I'll catch up with you in the spectator stands with the CPUs, I'm going to show Mars where he'll be heading to. Try to keep the others from seeing him if you can."
Compa nodded before disappearing into the throng of people that clambered to get into the Colosseum, eager to witness the hyped up fight. IF and Mars strolled into the reception area side-by-side, making their way past the many groups of people that littered the place without trying to bump into anyone. "Jeez, there's so many people here, it's kinda hard to breathe in here," Mars grumbled with a snarky tone.
"Yeah, I know what you mean," IF responded. "Let's just hurry the pace and get you to the waiting area, the fight is going to take place soon."
After forcing their way through the crowd, which had only built up the further they went, Mars and IF finally reached their destination: one of the arena waiting rooms. The door to the Colosseum arena was closed shut, the mechanical arms that kept the door barred were tightly in place. The young man grunted as he sat down on the small bench and adjusted his weapons around. "Alright then, you better get back, or else the CPUs are going to come looking for us, even if Compa attempts to hold them back."
The Guild Agent chuckled as she waved the young man a 'goodbye', leaving the battle arena waiting room for Mars to use. The so-called 'Champion of Black Sister' was barely alone for ten minutes before he saw someone standing in the doorway, staring firmly at him. The young man looked over at the newcomer and was surprised to see that it was Nepgear, not Uni, who had gotten to him first. "Nepgear? The hell are you doing here?" Mars asked, who was honestly surprised to see her.
"W-Well, I just wanted to see you," Nepgear replied as she twiddled her fingers nervously, a light blush of red was on her cheeks. "C-Can I come in, please?"
Mars nodded. "Sure, you can com in. But why're you being so shy and nervous? Does it have something to with me disappearing for three days or something?"
The Planeptunian Candidate shrugged her shoulders as she fully entered the room and chose to stand near Mars. "I really don't know, it might be though." Then came an awkward silence between the two of them, it reminded Mars of the awkwardness that would envelope between him and Uni, but whether that concept was the same with the lilac haired goddess was another matter entirely. "So… um… h-how have you been?"
"I've been better, then again I've been a lot, lot worse," Mars sighed sadly as his faze fell away from Nepgear and aimed towards the stone floor. "Heh, don't worry about me, Nepgear, I'm fine, guess I'm a little anxious about how this whole fight is going to turn out."
"You'll be fine, I know you will do well, Mars," Nepgear told the scruffy haired as she sat down next to him, a nervous smile adorning her face as she gazed at him. "I believe in you, Mars, I always have. I know you can win."
Mars raised an eyebrow at the sudden and unexpected confidence boost that came from Nepgear, but it was not a bad thing. The young man extended his left hand out and began to gently pat the Planeptunian Candidate on the head, ruffling her hair ever so slightly in an affectionate way. Nepgear blushed brightly and glanced away from the young man with a highly embarrassed expression. "You don't like this?" Mars asked as he stopped patting the CPU Candidate.
"Um… I don't mind it, I… kinda actually like it," Nepgear replied, her cheeks bright red and a small smile spreading across her face as Mars continued to pat her head gently. She gripped her white, lilac and purple lined sailor dress tightly, her fingers were twitching nervously, her upper teeth bit into her lower lip. He's just like a big brother, like I'm a little sister to Vert. Actually, this feels more than a brother-sister relationship, it's like… no, no, I don't think it's like that. Besides, I don't want to make Uni feel jealous if she knew what I was thinking. Still, this is embarrassing.
"Hmm? You alright there, Nepgear?" Mars asked as he stopped patting.
The Candidate nodded unsteadily, her face burning red with embarrassment. "Y-Yeah, I'm fine, Mars. A-Anyway, since you seem to be fine I should get going; don't want to keep you from getting ready for the fight." Nepgear, much to her own shock as well as Mars', hugged the young man for a few seconds, afterwards she stood up and walked towards the door, but before leaving the room the Candidate looked back and gave Mars one final, sweet smile. "Good luck, Mars."
Once Nepgear was gone Mars leaned back up against the wall, his thoughts mixed between Nepgear's odd behaviour and the upcoming duel that would take place at any moment. However, after a couple of minutes after Nepgear had left Mars saw someone else lingering around the doorway, wondering if they wanted to enter or not. The young man looked over to the door to see Uni herself standing in the doorway, nervous and anxious to see him again - Mars felt the same way, too. "Uni…" Mars muttered, unsure as to what to say to the Lastationite Candidate.
"Um, Mars…" Uni muttered in response, her gaze falling to the ground as her cheeks lit up bright red. "I… I just w-wanted to say hi before you went out there. C-Can I come in?"
Mars nodded. "Yeah, you can."
Uni entered the waiting room and sat down next to Mars, her hands fidgeted around while her gaze never fell upon the young man; Mars could tell that she was both nervous and a little angry. Finally the Candidate spoke. "Mars… why did you have to leave for three days without telling anyone? I-I was so worried about you. Um, I-I-I wasn't th-that worried about you, n-not at all!"
"Yeah, yeah, I know," Mars mumbled in response. "Look, I just needed to have a few days by myself to train for this event, and… I think I made the right choice. I'm s-sorry for not telling you face-to-face, but I didn't want to be held back by force. I hope you understand." Just then the crowd outside began to cheer in a loud, booming voice. Mars stared at the small gate and sighed. "I'm probably going to be out there very soon, so we have to make this reunion quick."
Uni nodded, wishing she had gotten to Mars a lot earlier. "H-Hey, Mars, after you win this fight I… I-I have s-s-something I have to tell you."
"Same with me. I w-want to tell you something that's been buggering me for a while now, guess I'll just have to win to tell you it though," Mars responded, piquing Uni's interest. "Anyway, as much as I enjoyed being reunited with you I have a duel to win real soon."
It was then that the CPU Candidate remembered something. The raven haired goddess reached into her dress and pulled out a grey necklace with a small, shiny, crimson red and bright green jewel in the centre. Uni presented it to the young man nervously, her hands and arms shaking, her cheeks burning red. "Um… I f-found this yesterday when I was cleaning out my room. Y-Y-You c-can have it, i-if you want it th-that is; I-I-I don't really c-care if you want it or not."
Mars, much to Uni's surprise, chuckled in amusement before taking the necklace. "Thanks, Uni, I appreciate it. Where did it come from anyway?"
"This was long before I was born from the people's faith, but a couple of decades ago Lastation was the main hub of industry, weapon manufacturing and mining; it's all very different to what Lastation is like today," Uni began to explain, her nervousness starting to disappear as she told the story. "During one of the mining operations a miner came across this piece of ore stuck in the ground, it looked like there had been some sort of ancient mine around the area at one point, but all traces of it had disappeared. Anyway, this miner brings it home after finding out that it couldn't be shaped or anything, that was until her husband took a look at it. He called it 'Dragonite', a rare piece of ore that legend said that only the dragons of old could shape and hammer to their liking. So this woman's husband found a way to smooth it out and place it into the necklace, but a couple of years later he gave it to his daughter before disappearing."
"So who was the daughter?" Mars asked, his curiosity piqued.
"It was Kei. However, Kei doesn't care much for personal material, so she sold it to Noire for a large profit," Uni replied, sighing afterwards with a small smile. "I guess Noire gave it to me at some point in my early life, but I just forgot about it. Y-You can keep it, having a necklace with a so-called 'Dragonite ore' in it sounds kinda cool."
"Yeah, I guess so," Mars responded as he put the necklace on, admiring the stone as it shone brightly in crimson red and bright green; it reminded the young man of Uni's eyes, both human and HDD form, and he found it beautiful. He would not tell her that though, the Lastationite Candidate was susceptible to compliments, no matter how nice or true they were. "Thank you, Uni. I'll treasure it, I promise."
Uni blushed brightly as she smiled at the young man. "A-Alright then, th-thanks for liking it, Mars, I appreciate it." After a few seconds of silence the raven haired Candidate, whose face was burning red, suddenly wrapped her arms around the young man's body and brought herself up against him, tears were starting to form around the corners of her eyes. "P-Please win this fight, Mars, y-you're my… ch-ch-champion for a reason."
"I won't lose, Uni, I promise you that," Mars replied in a quiet voice as he returned the tight hug, resting his head atop of Uni's head; his sudden affection surprised the Candidate, just as she had surprised herself with her own affection towards him. "I'll win this for you, as your ch-champion."
"Mars… I… I…" Uni muttered as she withdrew back a bit before her face neared Mars', who also leaned forwards towards her, their lips puckered and neared each other, ready to lock together in a moment of passion and lust. Suddenly they were loudly interrupted by the crowd's excited roaring, which was soon followed by the announcer who welcomed everyone for attending. Mars and Uni drew away from each other swiftly and stared at one another, neither believing what they were just about to do. The CPU Candidate quickly got up and stuttered her words as she made for the exit. "Um… I-I-I b-b-better g-get going now, I-I'll see you l-later."
Uni quickly left the room and ran up the stairs towards the spectator seats, her face continuing to blush bright red as her thoughts turned towards what she and Mars were about to do. W-W-Was I really going to k-k-k-k-kiss Mars?! I… I don't think I would have minded it… Uni thought as she made her way towards the other CPUs, the Oracles and IF and Compa. The Lastationite Candidate took her seat beside Noire and Nepgear just as the announcer began to call out Ares' name. Just then one of the gates opened and Ares the War God emerged, his body crackling with Anti-Energy, his eyes blood red and a wicked grin adorned his face.
Then it was Mars' turn to be called out. His gate opened and the young man stepped out, a determined expression was on his face. As Mars stopped walking and faced his half-brother, their eyes glaring into each others souls, Uni stood up and bellowed at Mars. "Mars! You better win this fight!" she shouted while giving him the thumbs up.
The scruffy haired man looked back at Uni and gave her the thumbs up in response. "I will."
"AAAAAAAAAND… BEGIN!" the announcer excitedly exclaimed as the sirens went off.
Within the blink of an eye, Mars and Ares rushed towards each other, both brandishing their glaive and axes. The two men slashed their weapons together in a fury of sparks, both moving here and there; their speed was much faster than anyone had first imagined, they were running around each other swiftly while slashing, hacking and blocking each other's attacks. Ares yelled loudly as he swung his glaive at his opponent, who blocked it and forced the War God back before launching towards him, an axe raised over his head and the other swinging from around his right waist. The axe in his left hand smashed against Ares' glaive while the right axe went over and collided into the War God's left shoulder, crushing the bones as blood poured out, splattering the axe, the War God's clothing and the ground.
The crowd gasped at the sudden bloodletting, especially when Mars leapt into the air after pulling out his axes before jumping into the air and kneeing the War God in the chest, sending him backwards across the ground and into the wall, blood stained the violet coloured surface. The announcer stuttered, unsure as if it was a rule to draw blood in such a way, but after gazing in the CPUs' direction and seeing how unfazed they were she decided to merely accept it for this match.
And so the battle continued. Ares leapt back onto his feet just in time to counter an attack from Mars, blocking his axes just before they collided with him. The War God forced the young man back before launching himself towards him, his glaive fully encased with Anti-Energy. Ares swiped his right arm around and the red energy crackled to life, the deadly energy launched from his hand and smashed into Mars like lightning, tearing the ground apart as it sent Mars across the field and into the wall, just where the War God wanted him to be. With an almighty war cry the bloodthirsty God of War struck forward just as Mars got to his feet and began to touch the ground in several places.
"You're mine now!" Ares roared as he leapt straight at Mars, the blade of his glaive aimed directly towards the young man's head.
As the crowd gasped, thinking that Mars' time was all over, the young man chuckled almost silently as he backed up from the area he was touching, just as Ares was about to come down upon him. As the War God neared Mars, ready to kill, the Champion of Black Sister raised the palm of his left hand towards his opponent as the ground around the War God lit up in a blood red colour. "Here goes nothing. Hell's Surge!" Mars shouted as four, blood red magic circles appeared on the ground as Ares reached the centre of them.
Suddenly, to everyone's amazement, Anti-Energy crackled out of the four magic runes and encased Ares in it, fizzling and crackling like electricity as it surged around and through the War God's body. It was almost terrifying for the audience to watch as Ares cried out in pain; the Anti-Energy infused with magic energy runes was causing the grey haired War God to cry out in abject pain, the magic energy of the runes was causing him to feel as if he was being tortured by Laran back in Project Ares, only the pain was tenfold. Ares' eyes shot wide open as he was electrified by the mixed energy, levitating in mid-air; his arms were twitching violently along with his legs.
As he writhed in agony Ares quickly realised where he had seen this attack before. Enyo. This is one of Enyo's signature attacks when she's in her human form; she would use this attack to keep her foes paralysed before using another attack against them. Did she teach him that? So that explains where she was for the last three days. Let's hope she didn't teach him how to use this attack with others.
However, Mars was not yet done. As the magic runes disappeared and Ares fell to the ground he was soon to be disappointed, and overly enraged, with what happened next. The young man grabbed his sniper rifle and took aim at the War God, ready to strike. "Blood Beam!" Mars shouted as a red energy beam escaped his sniper rifle and collided into his half-brother's chest, sending the beam through the man's chest, tearing the fabric of his singlet shirt apart as blood splattered all over the place. Ares smashed to the ground and rolled over several times, groaning in pain as he breathed in and out heavily, his Anti-Energy beginning to rebuild his broken flesh and bones.
"Not dead yet? This should finish you off," Mars muttered as he took aim once more at the War God, ready to finish him off once and for all.
"Like… hell I am... going to let… you… WIN!" Ares bellowed as he shot his right hand forward and fired a heavily condensed bolt of Anti-Energy at his opponent.
The sudden attack was an unexpected one, and one that Mars was not fully expecting at all. The bolt of Anti-Energy collided with Mars' sniper rifle, causing shards of metals and wood to fly over the place as the Champion of Black Sister was forced back. He gazed at his sniper rifle, the rage within him started to rise as the young man saw how badly damaged it was. The sniper rifle that he had recovered from Project Mars, the same weapon that he had modified with all sort of mods and come to regard as a piece of him, was now destroyed beyond repair. With a cry of anguish and rage, Mars got back onto his feet, pulled out his beretta handguns and fired round after round at Ares, who clutched onto his glaive tightly as he ran straight for Mars while dodging the rain of bullets.
Once Ares reached Mars, the War God swung his blood red glaive at the Champion, who sidestepped it with no difficulty, but was swiftly subjected to a lethal blow of Anto-Energy bolts that surged forth from the grey haired War God. The Anti-Energy bolts collided with the young man, sending him crashing against the wall, his shirt torn up in separate places, blood flowed down from his wounds that were being regenerated. Ares was not yet done with his sudden act of aggression. With a savage war cry the young War God smashed the staff of the glaive across Mars' face before punching him in the gut; blood was coughed out as Mars fell backwards. The War God laughed wickedly as he pummelled his glaive into the young man and threw him across the arena field, tearing flesh, bones and clothing in the process.
"Come on, is that all you've got?" Ares asked in a taunting tone as he rushed towards Mars, raising his glaive over to his right side. The War God leapt at the young man and swiped his long weapon sideways across his opponent, the blade pierced through Mars' gut and up through his chest. As the Champion of Black Sister fell onto the ground once more, Ares grabbed him roughly by the throat and threw him into the air, he then ran towards his half-brother as the young man fell back to the ground. "Relentless Retribution!"
Ares' glaive glowed brightly as he struck forth, his mighty two-handed weapon pierced through Mars' chest and hurled him across the field once more. Then the War God struck forward and swiftly carved his blade all across the unfortunate young man in a swift set of bloody motions, never stopping as his glaive landed blow after blow, his opponent's bloody body all carved up and almost butchered, Anti-Energy flew through the air from both combatants. The final blow came when the grey haired War God smashed his glaive into Mars' back, sending him crashing to the ground. The crowd was stunned to silence, they had not seen such a display of destructive power before, not even the duel between Uni and Ares had been this destructive. Several areas of the circular wall and the ground were covered in small craters, cracks, missing pieces, blood and slash markings. It was total carnage.
Uni, who had been watching the whole duel playout before her like everyone else, was almost close to crying and had trouble keeping all of her emotions contained. She had a mouth covering her face as she watched Mars get horribly beaten up, hoping that the tears would not come rushing out like a tidal wave. Nepgear, noticing the twitching that was going on in Uni's hands and the swelling of tears around her eyes, looked over at her best friend and did her best to calm her down; after all, the Planeptunian Candidate herself was feeling the same way. "Hey, it'll be all right, Uni. Mars will be just fine," Nepgear said in her attempt to calm down the emotionally torn apart Candidate of Lastation.
"I-I can't help it, he's in pain and I… I… I just feel bad for him. I want to help him, but I'm stuck up here and I can't do anything about it!" Uni responded, her voice starting to worsen.
Nepgear sighed and gently rubbed Uni's left shoulder, causing the Lastationite Candidate to stare at her. "It'll be all fine, Uni. trust me, I know how you are feeling right about now, I'm worried for Mars' wellbeing as well. But all we can do is believe in him right now. You with me?"
Uni nodded, wiping away the tears that had started to fall down her face. "I-I am, Nepgear. I just hope he survives this and wins, I need to tell him something important."
"Hmm? Tell him something important? What do you mean?" Nepgear asked, although she already guessed - correctly - what it was. When it came to her, the Candidate of Planeptune did her best to not chuckle at Uni's expense, yet there was a voice in the back of her mind that was telling her that maybe it was not for the best to not have even asked about it.
Uni gazed away from her best friend and twiddled her fingers together, appearing embarrassed about the whole thing. "W-W-Well… I… don't want to talk about it right now, Nepgear." Nepgear nodded in an understanding way before she returned her gaze towards the fight. At any rate, both CPU Candidates were too focused on the duel at hand to worry about their own problems.
Mars had gotten back onto his feet, only to get smashed across the face by Ares' glaive, sending the young man back down to the ground once more. With an audible and frustrated groan, the War God grabbed Mars by his neck and held him up to face him. "Is that all you got, brother?" Ares asked in a condescending tone. "I'll admit that you put up a good fight beforehand, but you're starting to get boring. Show me real strength. Show me real power. Do it. Now." The grey haired War God threw the young man across the arena field.
Mars rolled across the ground and collided with the wall, leaving blood and torn clothing fabric behind. The scruffy haired man grunted as he got back onto his feet, his muscles twitching from all the pain he was going through, his Anti-Energy filled eyes burned with abject rage as he looked back at Ares while he grabbed his handguns. "You… I'm gonna make you pay. Heavens Barrage!"
Mars' handguns lit up brightly as he fired his new, special attack at his opponent. The beams were a mix of blood red and black colours, multiple rounds of high energy beams shot forward and collided directly with Ares. The special attack lasted for half a minute, and once it was over all people could hear and see were the pained groans that came from Ares and the small fissures that dotted the arena; dust and crumbled pieces of rock were everywhere. Mars looked around the area to see through the dust, yet his eyesight could see nothing. The young man sniffed the air, his sense of smell enhanced by the three day training regime he went through with Enyo. Mars could pick out various different types of smell, he could pick out where different people were, who they were, and what race they were. The Champion of Black Sister could smell out where each of the CPUs were, their Oracles, where Enyo was and even several others as well. Only there was something weird going on: Mars could smell that something was 'off' with Kei, plus there were a few other scents that he was unfamiliar with.
Suddenly there was movement from within the cloud of dust: Ares was on the move, and he was coming straight for the young man. The savage War God came bursting out of the dust cloud and launched several punches in Mars' direction, who did his best to defend himself from them while firing round after round at his opponent. Eventually Ares gained the upper hand and smashed his right fist into Mars' face, sending him back a bit. With an enraged look in his eyes, the grey haired War God began to channel his Anti-Energy throughout his body, he was getting ready to strike a deadly blow.
"Raging Explosion!" Ares shouted as the Anti-Energy that was building up around him exploded in a furious display, sending the crackling, deadly, blood red energy all over the place as it exploded. The ground around the War God was torn asunder as Mars was hit directly by the energy, sending him crashing deep into the wall; his arms were sticking out of the wall as were his legs, audible groans of pain came from the young man. Ares, grinning with delight, reached into the hole in the wall and forcefully grabbed Mars, pulling him out and smashing him into another part of the circular wall. "Heh, you had enough yet, Subject 13?"
Mars glared viciously at his half-brother and growl in an inhuman manner, not taking it kindly to being called 'Subject 13' once more. The crowd, meanwhile, were utterly confused with what was going on, especially the CPUs, who had no idea why Ares was calling Mars 'Subject 13'. Uni could no longer hold back her tears, she began to cry silently while gripping her dress tightly, unable to handle seeing Mars in so much pain. Get up. Get up and fight. Please, Mars, get back up and fight.
"Had enough yet? Jeez, you try too much, just give up and I might spare you from a agonising and brutal death. Maybe," Ares said as he tightened his grip on Mars' throat, enjoying the pain that he was inflicting upon his older half-brother.
That was when something unexpected happened, something that no one expected to see or hear at all. Mars began to laugh. The young, scruffy haired man was laughing at Ares, finding something funny; it was something that that everyone else could not see or understand. Mars looked straight into Ares' eyes as his laugh began to calm down. "Heh, find brinning pain and misery towards others joyful? If that's true then I pity you," Mars said with a pitiful tone.
"You what? Fuck you! At least I have a reason to fight! I fight to prove how strong I am compared to others, I fight improve my strength, I fight because I must!" Ares exclaimed, his grip only becoming tighter. "You couldn't even compare to that at all. You don't even have a reason to fight."
"That's where you're wrong, Ares. I do have a reason to fight," Mars responded weakly, yet there was a prideful grin that no one expected to see adorning his face. The Lastation Pride had affected him, not to mention that his reason for fighting was beyond what people expected. "I fight for Uni, CPU Candidate of Lastation, so I can make her proud and repay the debt that I owe her. To fight for someone rather than for your own ambitions, isn't that a far better thing?"
"Not if you're dead," Ares said as he used his Anti-Energy to forcefully throw the young man across the arena and into another part of the circular wall, grinning as he did so. As Mars flew across the field people in the crowd swore that they saw the scruffy haired man's dragon mark on his upper left arm start to glow in a fiery red blaze, and that a toothy grin appeared in his expression. After Mars crashed into the wall, leaving dust and stone particles flying all over the place, Ares chuckled and approached the young man. "Well then, let's get this over with-"
The grey haired War God never got to finish what he was about to say as he approached Mars. As Ares neared his opponent he heard Mars exclaim "Fire Roar!", then a great burst of fire came rushing forward from where the Champion of Black Sister was, smashing into Ares and sending him flying across the arena into another part of the wall; smoke flowed from his body.
Soon afterwards the awed crowd, CPUs, Oracles and Enyo watched as Mars emerged from the hole in the wall, only to be stunned at what they saw - except for Enyo of course. It was Mars that they saw, but he look much, much different. His black collared shirt was almost completely torn apart, his pants had several tears in them, his headband was hanging loosely around his head, his eyes were blood red with Anti-Energy as well as the glow around his body. But what was most disturbing of all was fiery red scales that were growing around the left side of his body. Mars now had fang-like teeth; his left eye was blood red with a blood orange centre, black eye veins and a black, thin pupil right in the centre; red scales covered the left hand side of his body; the fingers and nails looked like claws; a long, red scaled tail was sticking out of the end of his lower spine and curled around the back; a pissed off expression adorned his face; the dragon mark on his upper left arm was shining with a fiery red.
"What… what is he?" Uni asked to no one in particular, too shocked to even be grieved for his injuries.
Before anyone could respond to Uni's question a dragon-like roar was heard coming from where Ares was, then to everyone's awe and shock they watched as the War God emerged from out of the wall, but he too was covered in red scales, but it was not just on his left side, it was all over his body; his eyes were just like Mars' left eye, so too were the claws on each finger, the long scaled tail as well as his fang-like teeth. Ares and Mars glared at each other, their new eyes filled with rage, then they roared at one another, sending particles flying everywhere and making the spectators cover their ears. Soon afterwards they pounced at one another; no weapons, only fists, teeth, claws and tails.
I should have known, I should have realised what Mars happened to be a long time ago. Histoire thought as she and the others watched as Mars land a savage punch against Ares' red scaled face with an Anti-Energy infused left fist, sending him backwards. The Dov Clan still exists. The dragons of old still live!
Enyo watched sternly at the duel below, silently hoping that neither of the combatants kill one another. The fight was becoming more intense and bloody than before now that the two half-brothers were using their humanoid dragon form - Dragon Force. Both were neither giving up nor were they holding anything back. Yet the raven shapeshifter of Project Ares was highly concerned about how Mars was going against Ares. Well, Mars and Ares - Vedrahkaal and Sosruth - are making this pretty enthralling to watch, yet I can't help but worry about them, especially since Vedrahkaal can only use half of his humanoid dragon mode. It's going to be tough for him, but he has to beat his younger half-brother, he just has to.
Not long afterwards Enyo heard someone mumble something, or rather someone's name, nearby where she was standing. The last member of the Raven Clan looked over to her right and saw a woman with long, brown hair, a lilac coloured, collared shirt, dark grey jeans, dark blue eyes and a worried expression upon her face. "Vedrahkaal," she muttered quietly to herself.
Hold up, how the hell does she know who Vedrahkaal is? Enyo asked herself as she stared at the strange woman, who was now gripping her shirt tightly out of anxiety. Then it came to the shapeshifter. Hmm, is she… yeah, I think I just might know who she is. As soon as she looked away from the strange woman, Enyo spied around the arena with her raven eye ability to see who was around, and what she saw almost astonished her. There were a few people on the other side of the arena with wolf marks on their upper arms, there were a few others with giant eagles, there were also a couple of other people with different markings on their arms. They were all members of a Great Clan, although one did seem a little off due to Enyo not recognising it. She had heard of the Lesser Clans, those who were practically subspecies to the greater creatures that made up the Great Clans, so Enyo guessed that one of the Lesser Clans had come to watch the fight as well.
Further away was Laran, grandson of Maximilian of Project Ares, who was watching the whole duel play below him. The sadistic War God kept a cool demeanor as he watched Ares pummel Mars in the face and gut with several punches before smashing him with his tail, laughing wildly as he did so. Laran merely watched and shook his head. So, you believe that just by being a part of the great Dragon Clan you can flaunt it for all people to see? Pathetic. I honestly don't care if Ares gets himself killed, it wouldn't matter to me in the end, the CPUs will die this day. Still, why isn't Subject 13 using a complete Dragon Force? Hmm, maybe he's only a half-dragon, that would explain it all.
Meanwhile, Ares kicked Mars across the field after slashing him across the face with his dragon claws. "Is that all you got?" the War God taunted his half-brother mockingly.
"Far from it," Mars muttered as he crashed into wall, only to burst from the rubble and fly into the air. Two, large red and white wings with clawed ends erupted from the young man's upper back, gliding him through the air as he circled around the grey haired War God. Soon afterwards, Mars flew down towards Ares swiftly and attacked him ferociously. "Fire Claws!"
Mars struck at Ares viciously again and again, his left hand imbued with fire, his claws sharp. The attack forced Ares into the ground, sending dust and pieces of rock flying, then came another great shock to the crowd, though by now some of them had been expecting it. Are flew into the air, the same coloured and shaped wings that Mars had were also appearing out of the War God's upper back. As the two dragons glared at each other, their vicious stares locked onto each other, fire began to erupt around their bodies, slowly engulfing them in the fiery substance. Only that was not all, for Ares was also channeling not only Dragon Fire but Anti-Energy as well. He grinned at Mars while flexing his scaled hands. "You ready yet, brother?" he demanded with a toothy grin.
Mars nodded as a wild look appeared in his eyes; streams of fire escaped his mouth. "Hell yeah, now I've got a fire in my belly! Let's dance!"
Ares, for some reason or another, seemed to be more than annoyed. "Oi! Don't you start stealing lines from other franchises!" The grey haired War God hated it when people broke the fourth wall, in fact it was why he hated Planeptune.
"I don't care," Mars responded before he launched himself towards Ares, colliding his fiery head with the War God's chest, causing the grey haired man to arch backwards in pain. Swiftly afterwards the scruffy, brown haired man somersaulted around as his left foot lit up brightly with Anti-Energy and Dragon Fire, bringing it down against Ares' head. "Fire Talon!"
As Ares crashed into the ground Mars swiftly followed up his attack with another roar. "Fire Roar!" the young man shouted as Dragon Fire blasted out of his mouth, smashing into the War God and burned his clothing.
"You asshole," Ares muttered viciously as he regained his composure. He looked up at his half-brother, arched backwards, and launched his face forward as fire escaped his throat. "Fire Roar!" Mars dodged the attack by swerving away, only to get hit full force by a heavy blast of Anti-Energy encased with Dragon Fire.
The young fell to the ground and landed on all fours, his wings managing to glide him to safety. Once Mars stood up straight and floated off the ground he watched as Ares floated ahead of him, his arms were crossed over his chest and a highly annoyed look was upon his face. "I'm getting fed up with all this, you're putting up too much of a fight," the War God complained.
"That makes two of us," Mars responded, his gaze stern. "Let's end this!"
The two Dragons surged their backs backwards as they began to channel their energy into a final decisive strike, both ready to unleash all they got into it. Fire escaped their mouths as their cheeks puffed up, filled with Dragon Fire. Then, in a swift motion, they lurched forward, huge jets of fire burst from their throats and collided together in a fiery explosion. "Great Fire Roar!" the two Dragons shouted as they unleashed their greatest and deadliest roar attack.
The two Great Fire Roar attacks smashed into each other in a fiery explosion, resulting in a great boom as the Dragon Fire rushed all over the place, scorching the entire Colosseum arena as the spectators ducked underneath their chairs, narrowly escaping a fiery death. The burst of Dragon Fire exploded out through the open ceiling and into the air in a great, fiery beam, piercing the heavens as dark clouds rumbled around the Colosseum, lightning striking through the dark clouds and thunder rang in the ears of the spectators. Eventually the fire subsided, leaving only smoke and charred walls; no one was dead. As the spectators - both CPUs, Oracles and humans alike - peeked their heads over the safety of their seats to see what was going on below, the two Dragon Clansmen were floating around in the smoke, both barely able to see what was going on.
"Tch, the hell am I going to do about this?" Ares muttered to himself, his gaze falling all over the place, leaving him to rely on his sense of smell and hearing. Unfortunately for the War God of Project Ares he was not as attuned with his Humanoid Dragon Form as Mars was with his, the young, grey haired man preferred to be in his human form anyway, that way he was more attuned with the Anti-Energy that flowed through his body.
Suddenly there was as bright, fiery light coming from below him, but as Ares looked downwards to see what it was he heard his half-brother shouting. "Flaming Lotus!"
The smoke blew away as Mars struck upwards, his body bright with Dragon Fire and Anti-Energy; his hands and feet were the most heavily condensed with the two energy types. The young man struck upwards and the Dragon Fire erupted into a cyclone while he smashed his fists and feet simultaneously, causing the War God to cry out in pain, his wings becoming scorched and torn up. As Ares began to fall back to the ground he was struck in the back by a savage headbut from Mars, who was flying upwards whilst covered in Dragon Fire and Anti-Energy. As they surged ever onwards towards the sky many people in the crowd thought that it looked like a flaming spear that surged upwards towards the heavens, hence they silently dubbed the attack 'Flaming Spear'.
Mars roared loudly as he surged ever upwards, ignoring the sound of Ares' spine breaking in several places as the scruffy, brown haired man flew out of the arena and into the darkening sky. He then kicked his younger half-brother upwards before flying up to face him one last time. Red dragon scales began to form across his right hand and arm as Dragon Fire and Anti-Energy fully encased his clenched right fist. "I know there's a softer side to you, Ares. Deep in your heart there's a light that's trying to break out, trying to free itself from the corrupting influence of all that Anti-Energy, from that Anti-Crystal inside you," Mars said sternly as he grabbed the War God by what was left of his singlet shirt. "I know you can free yourself from it, just like I did. Don't shun the outside world, because it will help you, like it helped me."
Mars drew his right fist back for a short moment before bringing it forward and savagely punching Ares in the face, once more ignoring the breaking of bones as he shattered Ares' skull; Mars knew that the Anti-Energy would repair it anyway. "If I can do it then you can as well. Free yourself!" Mars shouted as he flew downwards, leaving a fiery trail behind him in the process.
To the people in the crowd it looked as if a large bolt of fire was heading straight towards them, ready to destroy the Colosseum and burn everyone in its path. Fortunately that was not what happened. The large firebolt crashed into the ground, leaving the largest crater they had seen in the process, yet at the centre there were two people: Mars and Ares. Ares was lying on his back, finally knocked out from the attack; the red scales around him were slowly starting to disappear. Enyo, standing in the spectator stand high above, jumped down as black feather appeared from all over her body, easing her assent to the crater where Ares was lying in. She took a hold of him as the feathers all over her disappeared, a stern nod was directed in Mars' direction.
"Thank you, Vedrakhaal," Enyo muttered to her old childhood friend as she began to make her escape from the arena, eager to get away from the vengeful wrath of Laran and Project Ares, and hoping that she and the grey haired War God could start a new life together in a place far, far away from everything around them. Their life in Project Ares was now over, yet their struggle to survive in the world around them had just begun.
Laran watched as Enyo made her escape with the unconscious Ares in her arms, it made the sadistic War God mad with rage. With clenched teeth and blood red eyes flaring, Laran made his way past and through the crowd as they evacuated the Colosseum. The sadist was making his way to one of the backrooms where the power was housed, there Laran had set up a last surprise for the CPUs, the Oracles and the people of Planeptune. The sadistic man threw the door open and stormed across the room until he reached the electrical switches, he began to fiddle around with a couple of wires and a red button connected to a panel that was thrown open to reveal C4s and other explosives. The whole Colosseum was rigged with explosives. Laran grinned malevolently as he readied himself for what may be his final moment alive, yet he did not truly care if he lived through the destruction that was to come.
"Time to die, Goddesses. Gamindustri will belong to us War Gods soon after," Laran muttered as he firmly pressed the red button. Yet nothing happened. After pressing it several more times, without any sort of success, the sadistic man ripped open a wall panel to check the wires, only to see that they had been torn apart, even the explosives within the wall appeared to be missing. Laran growled viciously as his teeth became more jagged and brown scales began to form around his face, his inner beast beginning to come forth. "Enyo. ENYO! I'll kill you for this, you traitorous hag!"
As Laran yelled to himself, enraged that his plot to slay the Goddesses had failed, Mars stood on the broken, violet ground of the Colosseum arena, his gaze falling upon the crowd as they made their way out of the area. Just then the young man felt a presence behind him as a voice spoke out to him. "Mars?" the voice asked.
The scruffy haired man knew the voice well: it belonged to Uni, more specifically Black Sister. The CPU Candidate of Lastation had flown down to the ground to see him. A sense of uncertainty was in the air, no doubt Black Sister was afraid with how Mars appeared. Slowly Mars turned around until he was facing the woman he loved, the Anti-Energy and the Dragon Fire that surrounded him was gone, leaving only normal flesh and red dragon scales, yet his left eye did not return to normal. "Uni… what do I look like to you?" the young man asked, uncertain as to whether he wanted to know.
"What… what kind of monster are you?" Black Sister asked in response, too afraid to even greet him. It was a question that she instantly regretted. The silver haired Candidate watched as Mars stared at her in disbelief, then a grim and sad expression took over his face before he flew into the air and made his way out of the arena. What made Black Sister hate herself afterwards was what she saw Mars do: cry. She made him cry silently, his tears falling to the ground as he flew away.
"Wh-What! Mars! I-I'm sorry, I really am! Please hold up!" the CPU Candidate cried out, yet to no avail. Before Black Sister could take off after him she was stopped by Kei, who had managed to get down into the arena while some of the other CPUs and Oracles were directing the crowd out of the Colosseum. The silver haired Oracle placed a hand on Black Sister's left shoulder and shook her head, causing the Candidate to only break out in tears. It seemed that Black Sister had just ruined the future she wanted with Mars, and vice versa. Despite it being a proud day for Lastation it was also a sad and grim day for Black Sister, and for Mars as he flew away into the wilderness to mend his heart.
A/N: Sorry for the longer than usual update for this long, long chapter, I've had a bit of Writer's Block with the large fight scene, plus I lost my connection to the internet so I have to go to university to write all this up, unfortunately I don't go ti university often now, so updating the story has been mildly slow. Anyway, I rather enjoyed this chapter, especially with Mars' and Ares' background being mildly revealed; I don't think I'm quite done with their backstories yet. Will Uni manage to apologise to Mars and make him feel better? Will Mars ever return to Lastation after being called a monster by the woman he loves? Why does Kei smell strange? Will Enyo and Ares manage to get away from a wrathful Laran? Find out next time!
Notice the Skyrim and Fairy Tail references in this chapter? Hope you did, I've been wanting to add them for a while now. The next chapter is in the middle of a great debate in my mind at the moment, I've got two scenarios playing out yet I can't decide on them, although one of them is going to be my favourite chapter yet, so I might write that one up first. Maybe. Anyway, leave a review if you have suggestions or just want to say something, and I'll catch up with you all when I can.