Sorry for the wait. I was busy lately, also i didn't have time to write this. Anyway, next week there will be a new chapter. Maybe early, that depends on work and university.
Chapter 16: War around the Corner
Zeus was speechless. All the Olympians saw what happen to Athena. With one single move, Nameless kill her. Almost all the Gods were crying, except for Zeus, who was quiet, looking at the floor. Hercules was watching from the shadows. He close his eyes and grunt.
"Hercules" Someone call for him. He turns around to see Hades. The old man with gray skin was looking at him with anger. "What are you still doing here?" He asks
"What do you mean?"
"Athena is dead. Talk to Zeus, we need to do something. This is war"
"War against whom?"
"The Humankind"
"They didn't do anything"
"You think so? They release that monster. They are the one to blame"
"No. We can't condemn an entire kind to extinction because of this..."
"Grow up! They are-"
"That's enough!" Hercules and Hades turn to the voice. A boy appears next to them. He had short black hair and red eyes, he was holding a sword in his left hand, on top of his head rest an old crown made of bronze. He was wearing a white robe. "While you talk about war against humans, that monster is killing the Gods of Japan... Shinigami" Thanatos made a pause "He is... Gone. One of the last representatives of Death. It's gone. You cry over Athena, a single goddess. Neither of you move a finger when my mother, Nyx, turn to dust. The same with my brothers and sisters... We aren't immortal. Stop fighting or i'll give you a good reason to fight" Thanatos look at both gods and sigh. "I'll talk with Zeus about this. If any of you leave the Olympus, you'll regret it" He leave and Hades talk behind his back.
"Such a whiny brat" He said
"That "brat", like you call him, can kill us whenever he wants..."
"The future change... What does this mean?" Naomi looks at the TV and saw Athena dying at the hands of Nameless. "Kokoro was supposed to die in that place... and Nameless wasn't alone. Unless... That's it" Naomi run to the door and leave her apartment. The moment she told Kokoro that she was going to die, everything change. What she saw was one of the many outcomes. She don't know if she change the future for better or worse, what is important now is to find Kokoro so they can come up with a plan against Nameless. She gets out to the street and saw people running and talking about Kokoro being shoot in Akihabara. "This future... I made it happen... It's my fault"
Tony Stark was inside his Iron Man suit, flying to Japan when a call reaches him. He answer and it was Steve. "I'm almost in Japan, Captain" He said. Steve waits a couple of seconds before talking.
"Stark, Kokoro was attacked in the middle of a street... In the News they say that Kokoro might be dead"
"Wait?! What do they mean by might?"
"After the attack, Kokoro disappear. No one knows where she is. Not only that, there's been another fight in Tokyo and a god dies in front of a group of people. Looks like they are hunting the gods, Stark. Please, find Kokoro"
"You'll receive news from me and not from the TV. I'll find her" Stark hang up. "Jarvis, search in the internet everything related to Kokoro in the last hour. I need to know if anyone has seen her" He said and internet articles, news, videos, and all kind of information pop out in front of him. A video was shown of the moment a man with a black suit, shoot Kokoro right in the head when she was on the floor, defenseless. Blood spreads everywhere. "She's not dead... She can't" The video keeps going, people run toward her, but a strange man appears out of nowhere. He had long black hair, a scar on his right eye, long beard and a snake tattoo covering his neck. He takes the body and disappear in front of everyone. "Jarvis, find this man. You have his face on the video"
"Yes, sir"
"Things just go to hell really fast"
Kokoro wake up looking at a white ceiling, she could feel a lot of pain inside her head, like it was about to explode. Kokoro raise her head, only to see the room where she was. It was an empty room, the walls were made of wood and the floor as well. Hanging from one of the walls was a large katana, the blade was inside the black scabbard and a red cord was tied near the scabbard mouth. The Guard was black and the Braid was white. That Katana was different from the others, it was not curved and it looked a little larger than the others. Kokoro stand up, despite the pain in her head, and walk toward the katana. She feels something, like something calling her. Telling her to grab the sword, but a voice stops her.
"Don't touch it" Kokoro turn around and saw an old man with long black hair, he had a scar on his right eye, long beard and a snake tattoo covering his neck. He was dressed in a red kimono and a sake bottle could be seeing on his left hand. "The Murakumo-no-Tsurugi isn't a toy, Chaos"
"The Murakumo-no-Tsurugi?" Kokoro asks. "Wait, is that the Kusanagi? The real one?" She looks at the sword and then the man. "Who are you?"
"If you know about the Kusanagi then you should know where it came from and what god discover it" The man sit in the floor and drink from the bottle.
"So You are Susanoo?"
"What kind of question is that? Of course i am? Father never talks about me? Or about my brother and sister?" Susanoo asks and Kokoro shake her head. "I should have known that..." Susanoo look right at her face. "Maybe you should look yourself in a mirror"
"Wh-What? Why?" Kokoro was nervous.
"When i found you... your head was... all over the street" He said. Kokoro stand up and touch her face, nothing was out of place. Susanoo gives her a mirror and she looks at herself. She was exactly the same, but her hair color change from black to white.
"What happened to me? Why my hair change?"
"First, you should thank me. I save your life and you only care by your hair color. Looks like you're still human after all"
"I'll thank you when you explain me what happened"
"Well... A guy with a weird gun kill you. That's no lie, you were dead for at least 30 minutes. I was lucky that your soul didn't leave your body completely, but the problem was that your power was trying to get out. If i let it out, then a part of the city would've been swallowed by a cloud of darkness. So i seal it, at least until your soul comes back where it should. Your hair color change because your soul almost crosses the line of no return, for a moment you were between the human world and the other side, it's a side effect for the gods that cheat death, you'll be weak for a couple of hours. Don't worry about it. Still... Death almost takes you personally, lucky it didn't happen"
"So... I was dead. Why i can't remember anything from that?"
"Those who came back to life can't remember what they saw in the afterlife, even the gods. It's too much for them to handle, let's leave it there. I didn't bring you back to life so you can ask me all these questions. I did it because we need you to stop Nameless"
"Are you saying that i'm the only one that can stop him?"
"No, i say that we NEED you. Just because you are the daughter of the Chaos King, you think that you are better than everyone else?"
"N-No"
"Listen to me very carefully, you are going to help us to stop him. But i can't promise you that any of us will survive" Susanoo look at the sword in the wall. "Some lives will be lost in this battle"
Izanagi take Tomoko to a hospital and leave her there, after he make sure that she was out of danger he leave and went to search for Naomi. He needs to know what happened and if the future that she saw was like this, something wasn't right. He stands in front of the hospital and was about to leave, but he saw Naomi walking down the street. She saw him and run toward him. Izanagi grab her by the arm and took her to an alley to avoid the people.
"Naomi, what's happening?" He asks with anger in his voice. "Was this supposed to happen?!" Izanagi was about to hit her. His fist was closed
"No, none of this. The moment i saw the future... It changes. I don't know how"
"What do you mean you don't know?! You should know! You are a Kitsune!" Izanagi yell again
"Shut up, Izanagi! You are not the only one scare right now... We are all going to die if we don't calm down" Naomi was right, they were both in the edge.
"Calm down? Athena is dead! I can't find Shinigami, everything is falling apart. If something happens to me, then you can say goodbye to the rest of the gods" Naomi knew what he mean by that, if Izanagi dies then Susanoo, Amaterasu and Tsukuyomi will disappear. Not only they are his children, but they are part of him too. He dies, they too.
"Just calm down... Kokoro is with Susanoo"
"Susanoo? How?"
"She was wounded in the middle of the street. A man with a strange gun almost kills her. Susanoo appear and take her with him" Naomi explain the situation to Izanagi, the best she could.
"Great, just great! Come with me" Izanagi grab Naomi's hand.
"Where are we going?"
"To see my son"
Tony Stark landed near the Tokyo Tower, a few people were walking around the Tower. Some of them were taking pictures of the Tower or taking pictures to Stark. He arrives before the other Avengers, he has Jarvis scans the area for any signs of Kokoro. To tell the truth, he was worried for her. He imagines on his mind the worst case scenario for some reason.
"Jarvis, anything?" He asks
"Not yet, Sir. But i do detect something in the area" Jarvis made a pause. "Some kind of unknown energy source"
"What? Where?"
"It's moving very fast... Its Behind you now" Said Jarvis. Stark turns around to see a Young man with Short gray hair, blue eyes and a scar on the left side of his neck that reach his left eye, he was holding a red walking stick. He was smiling at him.
"Are you one of those Gods?" Stark asks. The man stop smiling and instead look at him with anger.
"You are insulting me, Anthony Edward Stark" He said and point at him with his stick. "I'm not a God. But i would do a better job than them... I'm a man without memory, without a name... I'm nameless"
"... How do you know my name?"
"They told me who you are. They told me everything i need to know about you... and the Avengers"
"Who are they?" Stark knew the answer, but he asks anyway
"They call themselves, Hydra. Sadly, they think that we have the same goal..."
"You kill them?" Stark asks while looking at his surroundings. He was surprised that not so many people were watching. He was expecting people to react to him, but looks like they are not interested at all.
"Not really, i just leave them behind to do what i was doing before they seal me. I'm going to kill all the gods, Stark. When that happens, i will stand on the top of their rotting bodies and become a god. A true god. They took everything from me, its fitting that i do the same. I'll take their lives, their memories, their souls, their status as the gods, everything. You and the other humans can choose a side... You are either with me, or against me. Choose"
"I met another god who wanted to take over the world. This plan of yours is more simple than his" Tony walks away a little. "You against everyone else, you think that you can defeat the gods all by yourself?"
"Loki was a joke. I just kill Athena, one of the strongest goddess, with my own hands. I destroy the Kitsunes and the rest of the spirits, the rest of the gods fear me. I'm truly immortal. No one can stop me"
"We'll see about that" Said Tony and shoot a laser right to his face. Nameless took the shot and the laser went through his face. He absorbs the laser "That's new"
"For you maybe" Nameless look around and then, in the blink of an eye, appear next to Stark and grab him by the neck. To Stark surprise, Nameless was lifting him in the air. "Where is Mikaboshi's Daughter?"
"What do you want from her?"
"There's no reason for me to tell you that, Stark. Tell me where she is or i'll turn you into dust"
"Well... There's no reason for me to tell you either" Stark shoot at him right in the stomach, this time it hit him. Nameless let go of Stark and grab his abdomen. "Maybe you should see a doctor, and i have the best doctor money can afford"
"You can't escape from m-" Nameless felt a presence right above him. He looks up, only to see a green giant man falling on top of him. Nameless dodge him and Hulk hit the floor, stand up and roar at him. People in the area were either looking at the giant green man or running for their lives "You are only delaying the inevitable, Stark. I will be the last one standing"
Devin Grayson open the door of an old factory, inside the place was empty, no machine, no desk or chairs, the place was completely empty. Devin leaves the shotgun on the floor and take out his phone. He call to an unknown number and wait for someone to answer. A woman answers quickly the call.
"Speak" She said with an authoritarian tone in her voice
"It's done. Hydra won't be a problem anymore. I also burn all the files about the Project 0, alongside with the bodies and the videos of the test subjects. The only thing left is the corps of Kaminari, we need to retrieve it"
"We'll do it later, Now our only problem is Nameless. Get rid of him and we are done with this. Hydra screw up our original plan when they release him. Once he's gone, we can focus on the extermination of the gods around the world. We can bring true balance to the world" Said the woman.
"What about Thor? And the Asgardians?"
"They are out of our reach right now. We'll deal with them later. One thing at a time, Grayson, go find Nameless and kill him. After that, the only god left is Izanagi. Don't worry about Susanoo and the others, when Izanagi die the others will fall too"
"I understand" Devin pick up his gun. "I'm glad that we are freeing the world from this monsters"
"Monster... It fits them. They are a disease that needs to be eliminated, quickly"
"Ms Kiyohara. What if we let Nameless kill the gods and then we kill him?" Devin asks. "He put his intentions very clear to Hydra when they release him"
"If we let him kill them all, then he will be unstoppable. Kill him now before he kills Izanagi, if he do..."
"I understand. If you found him, send me the coordinates" He hang up, take the shotgun and walk out the door.