"Boy!" Normal Speech.

'Boy!' Normal Thought.

"Nista!" Power/Technique.

"Loki" Demonic/Dragon Speeches.

'Loki' Demonic/Dragon Thoughts.

Summary: At seventeen years of age, Atreus and his father found themselves in another realm, one that was unfortunately filled with the less crazy, but irritating versions of the gods they had slain. Can they live their life in peace? Or the supernatural world of DxD will be forced to know the full might of THE God of War? Atreus will try to make sure that won't happen… anytime soon at least.

The story will focus on Atreus, with Kratos being a side-character most of the time.

Warning: There will be a lot of smut, lemon and 18+ stuff in this story. Read at your own risk! You have been warned

Special note: I highly recommend reading this chapter while listening to A Son's Path by Bear McCreary, or just any God of War OST that you love.

Son of War

Chapter 18

Rias Gremory, Sona Sitri, Akeno Himejima and Tsubaki Shinra were the four most experienced devils on the battlefield of Kuoh Academy when it came to fighting.

Even though this was their first big battle, the four devils of the house of Gremory and Sitri had undertaken several missions to hunt down stray devils, criminals of their faction numerous times in the past, giving them a basic idea of what they needed to do in battle. Rias and Sona, especially, had also seen ultimate class devils in action numerous times, having yet to miss a match of the official rating game tournament since the day they learnt about the game. Those like Roygun Belphegor, or the current champion of the game himself, Diehauser Belial, had always left them gasping in awe and amazement at how powerful they were fighting alongside their servants when the situation required them to.

Not only that, but Rias and Sona were also the little sisters of Sirzechs Lucifer and Serafall Leviathan, two incredibly powerful devils who had actively participated in the Devil Civil War, with Sirzechs himself being one of the two aces of the Anti Maou Faction. While they had yet to have the chances to witness the full strength of their respective siblings in battle, stories that were told by those who had seen it were enough for them to have a basic idea of how absurdly powerful Sirzechs and Serafall were.

And yet…

What they were witnessing was unlike anything they had ever seen, or heard of before in their life.

"What are you fools standing there for? Kill those two!"

Kokabiel shouted to his army and despite the tone that he used to order them, the devils had realized that for the first time that night, Kokabiel had lost his cockiness and arrogance and was now feeling incredibly nervous, if not slightly afraid. Afraid for what, they could understand just by looking at Atreus and his father as they readied themselves to engage over a hundred enemies, all by themselves.

At once, the fallen angels and exorcists turned their attention to the father son duo and their pet wolf, with the first to attack being a group of stray exorcists, who stupidly decided to take the three head on. They were quickly followed by a group of fallen angels who had fought against the Sitri group,

Before they could even reach them, Atreus' father had already thrown his axe at one of the stray exorcists in the center, instantly killing him with the blade of the weapon cleaving cleanly through his head, splitting it in two. It was then that the ashen skinned man rushed into the squad of stray exorcists who had yet to recover from the sudden death of their comrade while holding out his hand to recall his axe, making the weapon stop in the air before flying back to him much to the surprises of all those who were watching.

Leaping into the air and catching the axe, Kratos then brought his weapon down powerfully upon the group of stray exorcists, splattering the lucky few who were eviscerated and the unlucky many how had either their entire body or body parts frozen with a powerful slam that froze the entire area around him, shattering them when they landed and creating a lake of gore and blood as they all bleed to death.

The fallen angels then flew down at him, hoping to catch him off guard from above, but a figure then used his back as a pedal stone to leap even higher than he did into the air, revealing themselves to be Atreus, who had his bow with a silver arrow already at the ready. In quick succession, Atreus took them all out with headshot after headshot, his arrows hitting the fallen angels square between the eyes despite the fact that they had tried desperately to dodge.

On the ground, Atreus' father fought the stray exorcists who had snapped out of their shock and charged at the man, carving a path of destruction through them all with powerful and mighty axe swings. Blood and gore splattered around him with every attack that he made, but the man never faltered. He gave his enemies no opening, no chance to even make a move against him as he tore them apart with the axe.

Jumping down, Atreus rejoined his father as dead fallen angels dropped around them. Together, father and son fought shoulder to shoulder, and back to back as they continued to push toward the gate of Kuoh academy. Atreus, being the nimble fighter, alternated swiftly between close and ranged combat, while Kratos fought the rest on the ground with his axe and also his fists, with each punch sending the enemies flying.

This was something that awed Rias and the devils. Never before had they seen two people fighting with such harmony, such cohesion despite having such different fighting styles. Atreus and his father had yet to speak a word since the moment that they started fighting together and yet, each person seemingly knew exactly what had to be done as they continued to push forward, keeping an overwhelming pressure on their enemies, who fell around them one after another.

The trust that they had for each other was unreal.

Coming to the conclusion that nothing could get close to the two without either being cleaved in two or dying to a precise silver arrow through the head, the moment that Atreus and his father pushed through the gate and entered the school ground, a group of enemies decided to keep their distances from the two, at the same time throwing everything that they got at Kratos, who to them was a seemingly much slower target than his son.

With Atreus trailing behind him to fight another group of fallen, Kratos raised his shield to block the coming projectile as it spun to form from the gauntlet he wore on his left arm. Just when everyone thought he had been pushed to the defense finally for the first time, the man was simply waiting for Fenrir to join him.

With a feral snarl, the wolf leaped over his head and ran toward the enemies his ashen skinned master was facing, swiftly maneuvering through the barrage of light bullets and weapons by agilely dashing left and right at the speed few could keep up to. The moment that he reached them, Fenrir lunged at the human closest to him, tackling them down and killing them with a single bite to the neck.

Shocked, the rest of the group did not realize that Kratos was already right on top of them, moving surprisingly fast for someone of his build and size, his axe cleaving through the torso of a stray exorcist like a hot knife cutting through butter. At the same time, Fenrir jumped onto another target and bit onto their head before flipping back, instantly killing them by violently yanking it off their body.

Enhancing his own speed with the power of his holy sword, the wielder of Excalibur Rapidly sprinted toward Fenrir and swung his blade at him. Kratos instantly stepped in and appeared between the two, matching the speed of the holy sword wielder with his own before blocking the strike for Fenrir with his shield, resulting in an explosion of holy aura upon collision. Kratos did not even flinch and killed the holy sword wielder with a shield bash that was only just a simple flick of his wrist, before he leaped back and threw his axe, decapitating another just as Fenrir finished tearing the last of the group in two with the sheer force of his snout.

"Good." Kratos calmly complimented his son, who ran up to him and hit another Excalibur enemy trying to blindside him by parrying his sword strike and knocking them off their feet with the shaft of his bow, which was covered in a golden aura, before killing them with an arrow through the heart.

Kratos could see that his son had gotten even faster, having wanted to see how he would cover his flank despite the fact that just a moment Atreus had been fighting his own battle against the fallen angels at the gate of the school. It had been so long since the last time the two of them had fought a proper battle together and while this was no proper battle, Kratos still wanted to see if the boy still remembered his training.

But of course…

"Hey! You up there." Atreus shouted with a finger pointing at Kokabiel while all around them, a not so small number of angels and stray exorcists had begun to flee in fear, not wanting to suffer the same fate as their deceased comrades against such fearsome opponents "You might want to come down and fight your own battle soon. Your army is getting thin, you know."

His words made Kokabiel grit his teeth in anger and frustration, but his pride did not allow him to do just that. He still had the Cerberi with him, and the ten winged fallen angel fully trusted that the three headed dogs of hell would make quick work of the three, even after the display of powers they had just shown.

"Stay focused, boy!" Kratos spoke sternly to his son as he caught his bloody axe with his right hand, having used it to kill a fallen angel in the air. "Do not let your guard down."

"Yes, sir." Atreus said, before he ran a short distance over to Rias, who was joined by Akeno as she flew down and stood next to her king and best friend. Stopping in front of her and Sona, he then asked them in concern, looking around to check if there were any injuries "Hey, are you guys alright? Anyone got injured?"

Rias and Sona could only shake their heads in response, feeling too stunned to vocally answer him.

Akeno was the same, until she saw a Cerberus came charging at Atreus from the side, making her widen her eyes before shouting out.

"Atreus-kun, behind you!"

Immediately after they were summoned, a Cerberus tried to attack Atreus, lunging at him with its middle mouth opening widely, but the young man did not even flinch. Before the creature could even reach him, Kratos had already jumped down between them and struck the beast and disemboweled it with a mighty swing of his axe. All three heads howled in pain as their body crashed into the ground in a pool of its own blood before it began to slowly disappear, dispersing into particles of light.

"Hey, look. I need you guys to group up with the others and get out of here." Rias then blinked in surprise when she heard Atreus speak to her while fighting a second, much larger and scarier looking Cerberus with his father, firing an arrow at its eye to anger it and turn its attention away from his devil friends.

Using his speed and agility to dodge the explosions of its fireballs, Atreus then shot the other two sets of eyes with his lightning arrows, making it roar in pain. This gave Kratos the opening that he needed to throw his axe at the monster, fully encasing it in ice before he charged forward while holding his shield up in front of him and crashed into the frozen beast, shattering it into millions of pieces.

"But surely we can…" Rias suggested, wanting to offer Atreus their help. They had been too shocked by Atreus and his father's strength in battle just now to make a single move, but now that they had been snapped out of it, surely they could lend them a hand to make the rest of the fight easier, especially against those three headed monsters.

Or at least, that was what they had wanted to do until they saw just how easy it was for Atreus and his father to kill them.

"No, you will only…"

"You are not ready, girl!" Kratos interrupted his son as he spoke to Rias himself after he had used his bare hands to wrestle down a Cerberus and snap its neck, having cut off the other heads with his axe "The best way that you can help us now is not put yourself in danger, and same goes for the rest of you as well."

Rias opened her mouth to speak, but another Cerberus interrupted her with a feral snarl, causing Rias and the others to turn toward it to see the monster lunging at them with all three mouths emitting flame.

"FENRIR!"

With the call of his young master, Fenrir leaped over the devils and grew to an unimaginable size, tackling the Cerberus down and hurling it to the other side of the schoolyard before it could reach the crimson haired girl and her devil friends.

Recovering quickly, the Cerberus rolled to the side and got up snarling angrily at Fenrir, who stood protectively in front of the devils with his own feral look before they both ran and lunged at each other. With his superior strength, the moment that they clashed Fenrir was able to instantly wrestle down the three headed dog, knocking it down before tearing it apart head by head with his snout.

"Wha… Atreus!" Rias cried out in shock, a feeling that was shared by both peerages as they gazed at the giant wolf before them "Is your wolf the real Fenrir!?"

"No, of course not! I used Giant Magic to enlarge him!" Atreus shouted back to Rias and then looked over to his father to reply to the look he was giving him with a shrug of his shoulders. Firing an empowered arrow imbued with the light of Alfheim at another Cerberus, killing it before he shouted to his devil friends "Okay, at least find somewhere safe and stay there! Fenrir will cover for you."

The wolf barked at Rias, and it was then that she saw the same cute, friendly wolf that she had been playing fetch with at Atreus' home in front of her… it's just he's a whole lot bigger.

Accepting that she would not be able to argue with Atreus, and especially his father, Rias did not have any other choice but to make a signal for her servants to come to her. Beside her, Sona did the same with her servants, who had also been watching the father son duo and their wolf fighting in shock, awe and amazement.

"You think you can run?" Kokabiel asked, looking over to Rias, Sona and their servants as they grouped up and made the decision to retreat to the old school building "Like I am going to let you!"

With that said, he raised his hands and casted another summoning spell to summon the rest of the Cerberi that he had in his possession, but…

Before he could finish casting the spell, Kokabiel widened his eyes when he saw an arrow flying at him, immediately shooting his hand up to catch it just the moment it was about to hit him.

Kokabiel turned to glare at Atreus, but his inner alarm suddenly kicked him and warned him of another incoming danger, making him move his head to the side out of reflex and avoid a golden spear with a long red cloth connecting to it.

What he did not expect, however, was the fact that Kratos did not aim for his head, but his chair. With another spear identical to the one he had just thrown appearing in his hand, Kratos then slammed the butt of it into the ground, detonating the one that had impaled into Kokabiel's chair, unleashing a wind explosion that destroyed the whole thing and sent Kokabiel flying.

"Gah! Damn you! You stupid fucking hu… UGHH!"

The moment the fallen angel brought his wings out and caught himself just before he crashed into the ground, Kratos instantly crashed into him with a shoulder tackle, knocking him down before flipping over and running toward him to deliver an effortless hook to his face the moment he was able to get back up. The fallen grunted in pain as he felt his skull getting cracked and his jaw dislocated, but it got even worse for him when Atreus followed his father's punch by kicking the other side of his head, making him stumble to the side before falling.

While trying to get up, Kokabiel left his back wide open, allowing Kratos to rush in and grab two of his wings and throwing him down. Placing one foot on the fallen angel's back, the ashen skinned god of war began to remove Kokabiel's wings one by one, making the fallen angel screech in pain before kicking him in the rib, sending him flying for the first time without his wings and crashing face first into the ground several feet away from him and his son.

"So, can we go hunting again tomorrow, father?" Atreus asked his father as they walked toward Kokabiel while he tried to crawl away from them in pure fear, leaving a heavy trail of blood on the ground behind him. "I know a new hunting spot. We can go camping there for a few days as well, since I don't have school next week."

"What will we be hunting then?" Kratos simply asked in return as he recalled his axe and put it behind his back.

"Deer. We gotta hunt some for Fenrir. I don't think he likes pork that much." Atreus answered as he turned to look at Fenrir, who was sitting protectively in front of the old school building with Rias and her servants standing at his side, wagging his tail around happily when he saw his owners looking at him.

"What are we going to do about him?" Kratos asked, looking at Kokabiel. If his son wanted the fallen angel dead, he could have easily done it himself. It was the reason why Kratos had pulled his punch, wanting to see how Atreus would continue to handle the situation.

"Well, I did warn Azazel that if his fallen angels cross the line in this town, then I will make sure they won't have the chance to do that again." Atreus answered as he and his father stood over Kokabiel, placing a foot on his back to keep him from crawling away "On the other hand, this guy seems to share the same position with Azazel. He is one of the leaders of Grigori, so…"

Before Atreus could finish, a red magic circle suddenly appeared beneath their feet, spreading out to nearly half the entire schoolyard. At once, the two of them jumped back from Kokabiel, as a giant three headed dog appeared over him, larger than every single Cerberus that had been summoned previously. Its fur was also bright red in color, while its eyes had the color green, quite unusual considering all the previous Cerberus had dark fur and red eyes.

The red Cerberus also appeared to be wearing three identical collars with a skull motif on its necks.

"Father, is this…" Atreus asked slowly, even though he did not need his father to say anything to know the answer to his question, as the man looked to be on full alert for the first time that night. At the old school building, Rias and her allies gasped in shock and horror as they looked at the giant three headed beast, which easily matched Fenrir in size if not slightly bigger with its three heads. Even Asia, who had very little knowledge of Greek mythology and bestiary, could tell that this was no normal Cerberus.

Or worse… It was THE Cerberus.

"GRGHH!" The Cerberus barked ferally at them, as Kokabiel slowly pushed himself up beside its fore paw. Even with a bloody face and an arching body, the fallen angel still turned around to face Kratos and Atreus while laughing mockingly at them.

"Splendid. It is about time my… subordinates realize… that it's time to summon… the true monster." He said between each laugh, although it might be because of the pain and a broken jaw that he had difficulty speaking "That's right! This is the Cerberus… the first of its kind; the son of Echidna, mother of monsters and Typhoon… bane of Olympus… You are dead meat, you hear me, you and your wolf!? You stupid fucking trashes!"

"Now, Cerberus, kill th…"

Kokabiel never got the chance to finish his order as the right head of Cerberus closed its middle snout around him and lifted him up in the air to gnaw violently at his body, tearing apart his flesh and bones. The fallen angel could do nothing but scream in pain and terror in the silence that had fallen upon everyone standing in Kuoh academy until he was eaten completely by the three headed beast. Atreus and even Rias and her devil allies almost felt sorry for the fallen angel, if Cerberus did not turn its attention to them next.

"Boy." Kratos said cautiously to his son as Atreus began to slowly walk toward Cerberus, holding a hand out with the other lowering his bow to his hip.

"Okay, alright. I know you are really angry right now, boy. That fallen angel kidnapped you from your master and locked you up somewhere, right?" Atreus said as he slowly approached Cerberus, who had turned all three heads to look at him. "It was the reason why the Cerberi followed his command, because he had you with him, right? But it's okay now. Your master has been looking for you, and I know someone who can contact him, so why don't we…"

"Atreus!"

Bringing out his shield, Kratos got in front of his son and blocked the huge wave of hell fire that Cerberus unleashed by rising up on its hindlegs and then stomping the ground with its forepaws, knocking Atreus down on his ass. Even if Kratos managed to stop the fire from blasting them both away, getting down on one knee and taking a low stance so that he wouldn't be pushed back as Atreus took cover behind his shield with him, the wave of hell fire continued to travel across the entire schoolyard around them, annihilating everything and everyone on its path, blowing away the entire new school buildings and some other facilities of the academy.

Rias and her allies would have suffered the same fate, if it weren't for Fenrir who created a giant wall of ice to protect them in the same manner Cerberus had done to unleash his fire. The old school building wasn't so fortunate, however, and got burned down instantly by the wave of hell flame Cerberus had just unleashed.

"Everyone, get back!" Sona shouted and summoned a large wave of water with her magic to stop a burning tree falling upon them. Akeno and Tsubaki quickly did the same, using the water magic they had learnt to aid the Sitri heiress, smothering out the blazing fire that spread really quickly around them.

"Go help your masters, Fenrir!" Annihilating a burning wall that fell down to them from above with her demonic power, Rias then shouted to Fenrir, who turned his head to look at her unsurely "Go! We will be alright!"

"Woof!"

With that howl, Fenrir jumped over the barrier of ice he had created and ran at Cerberus as the red furred three headed dog finally noticed him.

"Don't hurt him, Fenrir!" Atreus shouted to his pet wolf, but his words seemed to fall into deaf ears as the two beasts clashed, biting and clawing at each other as they wrestled violently across the entire schoolyard of Kuoh academy, slamming into the college division building and destroying the entire place before Cerberus managed to hurl Fenrir away with an angry bark.

Twirling around in midair, Fenrir was able to land on his paws, snarling ferally at Cerberus as the wounds that the two had inflicted on each other quickly healed up.

"Father, we gotta save Cerberus." Atreus spoke hurriedly to his father, who had brought out his fiery blades "I can't hear his voice at all. I think he's being controlled by some kind of magic."

This, however, was the part that confused Atreus. If Kokabiel used magic to control Cerberus, then why did it kill him?

And when he thought about it, how did someone like Kokabiel manage to capture Cerberus in the first place, if it was this strong.

"Are you certain?" Kratos asked his son as Fenrir and Cerberus once again clashed, sending waves of ice and fire at each other that generated shockwaves and explosions that shook the entire district.

"I can feel that there's foreign magic on him, but… we gotta give him a chance, father. He's important to someone just like how Fenrir is important to us."

Atreus shook his head and answered his father, shaking off all uncertainty in his voice as he tried to convince his father while remembering the dejected look the young man he and Rias had met a few days ago at that grocery store as he tried to look for his dog. Atreus had no doubt that he would feel the same if someone kidnapped Fenrir, or worse.

"I can try to remove the spell, but I am going to need you and Fenrir to hold him down long enough for me to do it."

"If you fail, then we will do what is necessary." Kratos spoke to his son, who nodded his head firmly at his father before at once, the two of them turned their attention to Cerberus.

Gathering a large amount of hellfire in all three of his mouths, Cerberus then unleashed it in the form of a massive fireball at Fenrir, carving a path of destruction on the ground as it traveled at high speed toward the wolf. Fenrir, however, stood strong on his feet and fired from his mouth a blast of icy wind at the ball of fire.

The two powers collided, and the result was an explosion so strong everyone was knocked off their feet; everyone except for Atreus, who fired several empowered arrow at Cerberus' head' to distract him, and his father, who used a portal Fenrir had created for him to descend upon the three headed dog from above and punched the head in the middle so hard with his fist everyone could feel it, with Cerberus himself roaring in pain.

As his skull was cracked and his whole body slammed into the ground by the sheer force behind his punch, Kratos then used the opportunity to throw both of his chained blades at Cerberus' middle collar, hooking onto it and securing a firm hold before he jumped down and pulled on the chain to keep Cerberus on the ground. The beast snarled angrily at him and tried to get up, fighting a tug of war battle with the god of war from another world, who immediately rolled to the side to dodge a fireball before immediately getting back up on his feet to pull even harder, shattering the ground beneath his feet as he yanked Cerberus down, slamming his heads into the ground again.

"Go, Atreus!" Kratos commanded strongly and Atreus did not waste any time to jump onto Cerberus before he could get up again and give a signal to Fenrir, who stomped the ground and sent an icy wave at Cerberus, encasing the lower half of his body in ice, further limiting its movement.

Dodging a bite from the left head of Cerberus, Atreus then got onto its back and held on with one hand grabbing a fistful of its red fur, keeping himself from getting knocked off as Cerberus shook his body violently and struggled to free himself.

"Alright, here goes!" Pulling out his knife, Atreus quickly casted a spell to reveal the magic that was controlling the three headed dog, making a magic circle with multiple lines of runes appear and spread across his body. What he saw, however, made him widen his eyes in surprise. "This is…"

"Atreus!" Before Atreus could start removing the spell, Kratos suddenly called out to his son in alarm, making him snap his head to the side when he felt it himself.

Instantly he reacted, raising his hand and projecting his runic energy shield with a quick chanted spell to block a blue two pronged spear that was thrown at him, making it bounce off harmlessly. Before Atreus could start looking for his attacker, the spear suddenly stopped falling, standing vertically in midair before it flew back to the direction that was thrown from, getting caught in the hand of a young man in red as he leaped into the air and launched himself at Atreus.

"Hey you! Get off my dog!" the young man shouted as he descended upon Atreus with his spear pointing down, forcing him to roll to the side to dodge the spear, which his attacker pulled back at the last possible moment to keep it from stabbing into his dog's back.

"Wait, your dog?" Atreus asked in surprise as he got on one knee "Then you must be…"

Before Atreus could finish his question, Zagreus had already started his assault, thrusting his spear at him with the techniques, speed and strength of a well-trained god warrior, forcing Atreus to move his body repeatedly to dodge, turning his body left and right before ducking down to avoid being turned into a shishkabob by his spear.

At the same time, Cerberus took advantage of the fact that Kratos no longer had a firm grip on his body to jerk hard, lifting the man off his feet and swinging him around until he was slammed into the burning new school building. Though the ashen skinned man emerged unscratched even as he was dragged across the entire building, he could not find a stable grip on Cerberus again, as the moment he swung his other blade at its collar, Cerberus' other head immediately bit onto it mid air and knocked it away.

"Hey, knock it off. At least let me explain!"

Atreus shouted before raising his shield again to block a wide swing. What he did not expect, however, was for his runic energy shield to get shattered completely upon impact, knocking him off his feet and skidding on the ground before he was able to catch himself.

"I said, knock it off!" Atreus shouted in frustration, and anger, as the moment he was able to roll around and got on one knee, his bow was raised with an arrow at the ready and the bow string glowing light blue. "Ljósta!"

Releasing the bow string, Atreus fired a sonic arrow at a spot on Zagreus' torso that he knew would not be enough to kill him, but it would surely leave a mark, but the black haired son of Hades instantly reacted to it, knocking the arrow away from him with the shaft of his spear. Getting into a stance, he then thrusted his weapon at Atreus, who was ready this time.

Rolling to the side, Atreus then shot up and swung his bow at Zagreus, forcing him to pull his spear back to block it. To his surprise, the spear then transformed into a shield with a skull motif, allowing Zagreus to even better defend himself against Atreus's attack before knocking him back with a shield bash. The moment that Atreus landed on his feet, Zagreus threw his shield at him like a massive Frisbee, but Atreus was able to dodge by rolling to the side.

"Þruma" Atreus called out as he fired several electric arrows at Zagreus, who caught his spear after it bounced off the walls of Kuoh academy to fly back into his hand and used it to block and hit the lightning arrows away before they could reach their target.

"Ulfr hlaup!" Jumping into the air, Atreus then fired a single arrow into the ground, summoning a pack of electric, spectral wolves with a single shot of his bow and sending them at Zagreus, who rushed forward while holding his shield in front of him, rushing through the entire pack Atreus' runic summons and sending them flying.

Although he was electrocuted by the lightning, the son of Hades refused to slow down until he was directly in front of Atreus, at which point his shield into a pair of massive, clawed gauntlets, which he used to punch the son of Kratos, who swiftly dodged to the side and kicked him in the rib, landing the first blow of their exchange.

Despite the pain, the son of hades did not falter as he threw an uppercut at Atreus, making Atreus jump back to dodge it before instantly firing three green-glowing arrows at him. Although they were all easily blocked by Zagreus, who crossed his gauntlets in front of his chest, the claws of his hands covering his face from the fourth arrow, he still got pushed back by the explosions generated by the sonic arrows, gritting his teeth when the sonic waves hit his eardrums.

The moment that he uncrossed his arms, however, Atreus was right upon him with his bow swinging down, forcing the son of Hades transform his gauntlets back into his shield to block it, before leaping into the air to slam into Atreus with a shoulder tackle, knocking the brown haired young man away from him.

Transforming his spear into a bow, Zagreus started firing at Atreus, his arrow appearing the moment that he pulled back the bow strings. Atreus, who caught himself midair and landed on his feet, instantly raised his bow and fired his own arrows at Zagreus after dodging his, dashing across the entire schoolyard while moving from cover to cover, which was the debris of the school buildings.

Zagreus also did the same on his side of their battlefield, ducking his head and then turning his body to avoid the silver arrows. At the same time, several of their arrows collided in midair, bouncing off before impaling into the ground as they kept on firing at each other.

Then, the barrage of arrows suddenly stopped, before Atreus felt a presence behind him and spun around to see the son of Hades jumping out of the shadow on the ground with a bright red sword with a skull handguard in his hand. The sword also radiated a tremendous amount of divine power, and gave a sense of dread to all those who were looking at it but Atreus, giving them the feeling that they were staring at death itself.

As Zagreus swung his sword down, Atreus instantly created another runic shield to defend himself, but just like last time, the shield shattered instantly upon collision, making Atreus jump back to avoid being sliced in two by Zagreus' red blade.

Zagreus, however, did not let up and kept on chasing after him, dashing forward so fast to the devil spectators he seemed to disappear from their sight for a split second before reappearing and swinging his sword down at Atreus, who raised his bow up to block. Although it was able to stop Zagreus' sword, it was only for a brief second as the son of Hades continued to push down with all of his strength, causing the Yggdrasil bow to bend…

… before it broke in half.

"What the…"

Not even having time to comprehend what just happened, Atreus jumped back to dodge Zagreus' sword, which missed his head by a hair before the son of Hades started chasing after him, the two young gods matching each other in speed no matter how fast the other moved, seemingly blurring out of existence for the devils who were watching them fight.

Knowing that it's pointless for him to just keep dodging forever, Atreus waited for the moment the son of Hades finished another strike to toss a shining orb of magic at him, making it explode in his face before turning into a spectral elk that slammed into his torso with its horns. Grunting in pain, Zagreus swung his blade horizontally and beheaded the runic summon, only to see Atreus emerging from behind it as he transformed into his wolf form and then lunged at him, tackling the son of Hades down onto his back with his weapon falling out of his hand and dropping beside them.

"Woah woah woah!" Zagreus exclaimed as he shot both hands up to grab Atreus' wolf snout and stopped him before he could bite his head off, mustering all the strength in his arms to hold Atreus back while the young man in his wolf form did the same, but with the intention of tearing his face off, knowing even if he succeeded it's highly unlikely someone like him would die from it.

As they struggled against each other, Zagreus then snuck a glance over to his weapon before he swung his arm as hard as he could to the side and elbowed Atreus in his head, staggering him for a split second to reach to the side and grab his sword. Once the handle was in his hand, the son of Hades instantly snapped himself back and swung his blade at his opponent, making the champion of the Giants jump back from him before he could be sliced in two and turn back to his human form.

"Atreus! Catch!" Hearing his father's voice, Atreus instantly shot his hand out to catch the Leviathan Axe as it was thrown to him by his father from the other side of the schoolyard. Despite the fact that he could step in any time he wanted to and help Atreus against that mysterious young man, who was probably the master of the three headed dog and mistook them for Cerberus' kidnappers, Kratos had chosen to stay out of it to make sure that Cerberus was not going to interrupt them in his rampage while keeping a close eye on their forms and techniques.

Although Kratos had never stopped training his son, he had always served the role of the teacher, and his son had always been his student. There had always been a factor that they lacked for every training session; a role that Kratos himself could never fully fulfill for his son no matter how much he tried, despite it being the final thing that Atreus needed to accelerate his growth. It was simply because of the fact that he was his father and Atreus was aware of his strength. His son would never feel competitive against him, knowing how much he held back whenever they trained together.

What his son needed, had always been a sparring partner, someone who was just as strong and as stubborn and hotheaded …

… and not to mention just as lacking in discipline as Atreus was.

His son might not get another chance to test his skills against someone like that young man any time soon, and it was the reason why Kratos had chosen to not step in between them...

… or at least, not just yet.

Once his mother's axe was in his hand, Atreus charged at Zagreus as the son of Hades did the same with his sword holding out to the side, matching his ever increasing speed. The moment that they met in the center, Atreus and Zagreus both swung their weapons at each other with all of their godly might, resulting in a violent explosion of red and white energy when the two weapons collided, sending them both flying back and crashing into the ground hard enough to make them roll several times before they could catch themselves.

"Now that is something else." Zagreus grunted as he picked himself up, while across from him Atreus did the same "Nice axe, wolf boy. Better than the bow I suppose." The son of Hades continued, glancing down to look at his weapon when he noticed a small chip at the spot where it had met the axe.

"You calm down now?" Atreus asked as he got to his feet "Or you want me to continue beating some senses into your thick head first?"

"You are funny, cause last I checked, I was not the one who got my weapon broken." Zagreus laughed as he ran his hand through his hair, swiping it back before at once, they both charged at each other again. Their weapons were both ready for another attempt to strike the other down as they moved at the speed only one man on the battlefield could match.

The same man who then jumped down between them and slammed his shield down hard enough to knock them both back on their asses once again.

"What in my father's name?"

"Father!?"

"That is enough." Kratos spoke with a tone full of authority as he stood straight up and looked at Atreus and Zagreus sternly, reminding his son of the general he had been as he led him and their allies to war against Odin and Asgard during Ragnarok. "You! Boy, what's your name?"

"Me?" Zagreus asked while looking up at the ashen skinned man from the ground as he turned to ask him. Just the look on his face was enough for Atreus to know that this man wasn't someone he would want to mess with. "I am Zagreus."

"Is that your dog?" Kratos then asked, gesturing his head to Cerberus, who was currently being kept busy by Fenrir.

"Yes, he is my dog." Zagreus answered before getting up and pointing an accusing finger at them "Speaking of, you guys kidnapped my dog."

"No, we did not!" Atreus retorted as he got up as well and faced the young man, his hand gripping the wooden handle of his axe tightly "Your dog ate him, the kidnapper. He was a fallen angel named Kokabiel."

"And I am supposed to believe that? Why were you holding a knife at him then?"

"I was trying to free him from the spell controlling him, genius. Can you not hear his voice? He's not himself right now."

"Not all of us can talk to four legged carnie friends like you, wolf boy. But anyway, you tried to break a spell with a knife? What kind of voodoo wizard are you?"

"What can a knife this small do to a dog that big?"

"ENOUGH!" Kratos roared, making both Atreus and Zagreus instantly shut their mouths and look at him. "You two are warriors, so act like it!"

Kratos continued strongly, and it was only then that Atreus got a good look at his surroundings, finally noticing that Rias, Sona and their peerages were standing in the air above the academy and maintaining a barrier around the entire place together. It appeared that they were the one holding back the destruction that were being caused by Cerberus and Fenrir as they battled it out and unleashed their ice and fire at each other.

They must have done it on Kratos' order.

"Our goals are one and the same, so quit bickering like children and focus on helping each other release the dog from the magic that binds it. If you two can't do that much then I will do what is necessary myself to stop it from rampaging across the whole town, and you both will live to regret the childish choice that you make tonight." Kratos stated strongly while looking at the two young men standing before him, making them widen their eyes at him because they could easily tell what he meant "Do I make myself clear?"

"Yes, father." Atreus said, nodding his head firmly to his father. He could see that the man was dead serious now, and not to mention that he was absolutely right.

"Fine then." Seeing no other option, Zagreus finally said as he held his sword out "I will let you guys help me save Cerberus, but that doesn't mean I trust you."

"I am sure that I can vouch for them."

All three men then heard a feminine voice, with Kratos being the one who had to turn around to look, seeing a tall, pale skinned woman wearing a dark purple robe approaching them, her arms being wrapped in a thin, floating veil. Her eyes were yellow like the moon, while her hair was of a darker purple than her robe, with the insides having multiple particles of light, resembling that of a starry night sky. In addition, the woman also wore dark purple lipstick and black eyeliners, and dressed herself in a fair amount of gold jewelry, several of which had the same skull motif as Zagreus' shoulderguard and Cerberus' collars.

"Nyx!" Zagreus called, making Atreus widen his eyes in shock. Even Kratos had a visible look of surprise on his face as the woman walked up to stand next to him.

"Nyx? The primordial goddess of the night, Nyx?" Atreus asked in surprise, while Kratos looked on in alarm. He did not show it, but Atreus could easily tell that the man was alerted by the presence of the very embodiment of the night itself.

"You are correct, child. It's a pleasure to meet you both, Atreus, Kratos." Nyx said, making Kratos harden his gaze and look at her cautiously, but she simply ignored him to speak to Zagreus "I got a bit worried so I came to check on you, Zagreus. It was only your second time in the human world after all."

"Hey, you know I can handle myself."

"Like how you attacked these two without even knowing who they were? What were they doing?" Nyx asked in a calm and collected tone, making Zagreus roll his eyes "You are not in the Underworld anymore, Zagreus. Things are different here."

"And as I said, child, I can vouch for them. They are not the ones who kidnaped Cerberus. It was a fallen angel. You ran off before Skelly could tell you."

"Really?" Zagreus asked, raising an eyebrow suspiciously at Kratos and Atreus, who crossed his arms on his chest before saying.

"Told you."

"Your time here is running out, child. The Furies and my son will come soon if you don't retrieve Cerberus in the time your father has given you." Nyx then said to Zagreus, making him widen his eyes, not realizing that he had wasted so much time fighting Atreus. "I suggest that you help these two. They genuinely wish to free Cerberus from the spell controlling him."

"We do what we must, woman." Kratos stated firmly "Nothing more, nothing less."

"As the man has spoken." Nyx said, gesturing a hand to Kratos "Now, you should go. Your wolf cannot hold back forever against the Cerberus, Atreus. Go and do what you must before the situation gets even worse."

"Right." Atreus said before looking at Zagreus, who did the same. There was a long second of silence between the two, before Atreus spoke up again "Are we doing this or not?"

"After you, wolf boy." Zagreus said with a gesture to the side with both hands, his body bending forward slightly "You seemed to know what you were doing, so I will let you take the lead."

"Right, try to see if you can reach him first." Rolling his eyes, Atreus said. As they walked away, Atreus finally noticed that his right shoulder was covered in the blood of his enemies, which he realized was dripping down from the side of his face. Using the sleeve of his shirt, Atreus wiped it away, seeing that not just blood but his face was covered in ash too, probably from the wave of hellfire Cerberus had unleashed earlier.

"Wait… Ah!" Zagreus suddenly cried out, pointing a finger at Atreus, who turned to look at him in confusion, before continuing "I recognized you now! No wonder why you felt so familiar. You were the guy on the date with that hot crimson haired girl I met at that grocery store a few days ago!"

"We were not… Hold on, so you are saying you have not been able to recognize me this whole time?"

"Well boohoo, sorry for not recognizing you when your face is covered in ash and blood. And with a face like that, don't blame me for thinking you are trying to hurt my dog either. Your old man is one scary looking guy too."

"Whatever. Just… help me calm your dog down. See if you can reach him."

"Hmm, sorry for not coming sooner and saving your son the trouble of having to fight Zagreus. He can be… quite impulsive at times, and worrying for his dog has been putting edge." Nyx spoke to the man standing next to her as they watched the two young men run at Cerberus. Kratos merely grunted in response, before he decided to enter the battle himself, walking forward without speaking a single word to Nyx, but he was stopped when she continued speaking to him "By the way, I know that you and your sons are not gods from this world."

Instantly, the god of war spun around and faced Nyx, his strapping physique looming over her as he glared harshly down at the primordial goddess of the night, who did not look afraid or nervous in the slightest while meeting his gaze.

"Do not feel so surprised, Kratos. I am one of the oldest primordial deities of this realm. I know things, even things I am not supposed to know." Nyx said "And to be frank, I don't really care who you were or what you did, considering the man you have become and all the goods you and your son have done for your home realm. My only concern these days is the wellbeing of the son of Hades, so don't worry, I do not want any trouble with you and your son, and your secret is also safe with me."

"And I'm supposed to believe you?" Kratos questioned. His tone and his expression remained unchanged.

"You have my words, Kratos. And just so you know, the words of a primordial deity have more weight than those of our descendants, as we speak for the very thing that we are the embodiments of… at least in this realm." Nyx answered simply with a hand gesture to the side "Now go. Those two boys will need someone to lead them, and I know that you are the perfect man for the job."

"Fine! Man…" Kratos grumbled under his breathe, repeating the word Nyx had used to call him and then turned away from the primordial goddess of the night to walk toward the battle with his blades at the ready "I'm a fucking god of war."

With that said, the ashen skinned god of war charged at Cerberus, who unleashed another explosion of hell fire around him, making both Atreus and Zagreus take cover behind Fenrir. Kratos, however, continued to push forward, the primordial flame of his blades burning hotter than even the fire of hell, and threw himself at Cerberus, slamming into him and knocking him over with a shock wave that shook the entire academy, rattling the barrier around the entire school.

"Hey! Don't hurt him!"

"Your dog will heal, boy, so be silent." was the only, but only response Kratos had for the son of Hades, as he jumped over Cerberus and swung his blades down, hooking them into his mouth. Cerberus roared in pain as the blades seared into his flesh, a strange feeling for the three headed beast as it was the first time ever he had been burnt.

As Cerberus tried to get up, Kratos instantly yanked him back down with a mighty pull, slamming its body into the ground hard enough to create a mini earthquake. Looking over to Atreus, Kratos nodded his head to his son, making him leave his cover behind Fenrir with Zagreus, as his pet wolf jumped onto Cerberus and helped hold him down, pinning him completely still for his young master to climb onto his body and reactivate the spell he had casted earlier.

"So, how are we going to do this?" Zagreus asked as he watched Atreus work.

"We find the rune connecting all these lines together and remove it." Atreus said as he gestured his hands to the glowing lines of runes on Cerberus' body, showing it to Zagreus "Your dog should be back to normal right after."

"Sounds way too simple." Zagreus pointed out before he had to get down on one knee to balance himself, as he almost got knocked off Cerberus when his pet dog jerked violently against Kratos and Fenrir "Woah, easy there, boy. This is going to be over soon."

"Yeah. As you can see, there are ways too many runes here." Atreus said while looking around. Cerberus had an incredibly large body, so the spell controlling him and his aggression spread on quite far. "Try to find a rune that looks different from the others. It should be unique."

"Got it!" Zagreus said and got up to start looking for a unique rune, memorizing every shape that he saw to make sure that he would get it right.

It did not take it long for the son of Hades to notice a rune that did not look like anything else he had seen so far near the top of Cerberus' neck. Believing it to be the one that they had been looking for, Zagreus turned around and called to Atreus.

"Hey! Think I found it!"

Hurriedly, Atreus rushed over to the other young man and kneeled down next to him, examining the rune carefully for a few seconds before saying.

"This might be it."

"So… what's going to happen if we don't get it right?" Zagreus couldn't help but ask, looking around to make sure that there was no rune that looked like the one that Atreus was about to snap his knife into.

"It's like bomb defusing in those action movies. You guys got them in the Underworld, right?" Atreus asked, to which Zagreus answered with a shrug of his shoulder "Cut the wrong wire, it goes boom and everyone is dead… Well, in this case, your dog is dead, taking the whole town with him, and we are badly injured."

"Then let's double check…"

"Hurry up, you two!" Kratos shouted from below, as Cerberus began to gather his flame again for another explosion of hellfire.

The last one had almost shattered the barrier around the school, depleting multiple members of the Sitri and Gremory's peerages of their demonic power reserve. One more explosion like the last one and the entire academy, as well as the whole district, would get blown up.

"Here goes nothing." Atreus muttered and then raised his knife up over his head, hesitating for a second before he brought his knife down with his eyes shutting tight, awaiting the worst possible outcome of the spell blowing up in his face, with Zagreus doing the same thing beside him.

The two young men waited, and waited…

When Atreus finally realized that no explosion was going to happen, and felt that Cerberus had stopped struggling beneath them, the young man opened his eyes to see the lines of runes on the three headed dog's body started disappearing, starting from the rune that connected them all that had already faded away at the tip of his knife.

"You… did it?" Zagreus asked unsurely as he opened one of his eyes to check before getting up to start looking around, smiling when he heard Cerberus' breathing become more stable and steady with each second passing. "Cerberus! Boy, are you back?"

"Woof!"

With a playful bark, Cerberus then got up as the last remaining of the spell that had bound him disappear, as Fenrir, Zagreus and Atreus both got off him, with Kratos retrieving his blades and sheathing it behind his back, being the only one who still had his guard on.

"Woof woof woof!" All three heads barked at the same time as Cerberus stood up and looked at his master, who smiled brightly up at him.

"Cerberus, so you're back." He then asked, and the dog barked happily back in return. "Happy to see you boy! I was so worried when I heard you were kidnapped."

"He said he's happy to see you too." Atreus spoke up, translating what Cerberus had just said to Zagreus, who turned around to look at him "And he's confused about what you said. Seems like he can't remember what happened."

Which was a shame, because Atreus had wanted to ask Cerberus if he remembered who else kidnapped him beside Kokabiel, because there's no way that fallen angel could sneak into the Underworld and capture Cerberus on his own.

"So you really can talk to dog huh?" Zagreus questioned, before nodding his head to Atreus in understanding as he was approached by Nyx, while Kratos did the same with his son, walking over to him and placing a hand on his shoulder.

"You got your pet back, Zagreus, and not a moment too soon too. Let's head back before my son and the Furies come and trouble these people." Nyx said as she glanced at Kratos, who gave her a very small, but thankful nod of his head, before turning away to create a giant, purple magic circle in the center of the completely destroyed schoolyard with just a wave of her arm.

"So, uh… I am not usually good at doing this, but… thank you for helping me get my dog back, wolf boy, sir." Zagreus then said as Cerberus followed Nyx into the magic circle, walking toward Atreus and offering the other young man his hand "And sorry for attacking you earlier, and for your bow."

"You don't have to worry about it. What's done is done." Atreus said as he shook hand with the son of Hades, they both looked up and saw that the barrier around Kuoh academy was lowered by the devil.

After Zagreus had shaken hands with Kratos, earning a nod of approval from the ashen skinned man, he then walked over to stand next to Nyx, as the magic circle beneath their feet shone brightly.

"Take good care of your pet, wolf boy. And try not to pay us a visit anytime soon."

With that said, the three disappeared, being teleported away from the human world and returned to the Underworld in a flash of light, leaving Atreus and his father standing by themselves in the center of the schoolyard.

Atreus then walked over to the broken pieces of his bow on the ground and lowered himself down to pick them up, sighing in slight disappointment while wondering if Brok and Sindri could fix it. Sure he still had his old Talon bow currently stored away in his father's storage room, and while Atreus knew that it would still serve him well, the bow wasn't as convenient to carry around as this one, which he could just turn into a normal wooden stick and put away in his backpack.

"I am gonna need a new bow."

However, not just a new bow. There was something else that he had realized while fighting Zagreus.

He needed weapons.

End of Chapter 18

Note: And that, folks! That is the end of this chapter! The chapter everyone has been waiting for! The action packed chapter that Atreus and Kratos are both officially in actions for the first time.

All that I want to say for this chapter is that I really, really hope everyone has enjoyed the fight scenes. It took me many, many attempts to make them as enjoyable as possible and finish what you have read here in this chapter. I really put my heart and soul into this chapter. It's truly amazing to write how great of a father-son duo Atreus and Kratos is, as I showcase it a lot of times in this chapter (it will also have a major impact on the devils, which you will see in the next chapters).

I will also acknowledge that some might not enjoy the fight scenes as much as the others, maybe it's because they are too long, or because it doesn't showcase how godly Atreus and Kratos are (keep in mind that they are still holding back). However, I hope that you will take it easy on me in the comment section, and at least fine some enjoyment in what I have written nonetheless.

I don't really know exactly how powerful the characters in the HADES universe are compare to those from the God of War Universe, and I do not wish to start an argument about them considering that they are two different types of games with different stories (so please don't talk about it in the comment section). However, as you can see in this chapter, I have established that Zagreus are as skilled and powerful as Atreus, though he's not magically as strong because we don't really see Zag uses magic significantly in his game, but he has more tricks up his sleeves with his arsenal of Infernal Arms. They kinda balance themselves out, don't you think?

They both, however, are still way weaker than Kratos (Obviously).

That will be all! Once again, I hope that everyone has enjoyed reading this chapter and the fight scenes specifically. As always, make sure to leave me a REVIEW once you have finished reading. Last chapter I got so many reviews as well I couldn't help but feel really happy, so I really hope that everyone will give me tons of reviews this time too!

Check out my p/atreon if you can and have the power to supports me! Feel free to join my discord channel as well and be a part of my community (the links to both can be found in my profile)

And I will see you in the next chapter!

P/S: I have already thought about what kind of weapons to give Atreus in the future chapter, but what is your opinion on the matter? What weapons would you like to see Atreus wield? What will suit him best? Sure, he can use the Leviathan Axe or the Draupnir spear just fine, but don't you think that Atreus gotta have weapons of his own, as the axe and spears belong to Kratos, and the blades are never gonna be family heirlooms?

Tell me what you have in mind, and I will seriously consider it!

Oh, don't feel so surprised how Atreus' bow got broken so easily by Zagreus' Stygian Blade. Sure the bow is made from a branch of the Yggdrasil tree, but it's simply just a really good bow that has no special powers or whatsoever.