Adventures of John: Gods of War

Chapter 2: Embattled Immortals

"You're an idiot," I chastised myself as I paced around my room on Thursday. "An idiot! Who goes and challenges four different war gods to a duel?! Apparently I do." I shook myself off, trying to clear my head. "Pull yourself together John," I told myself. "You've beaten worse. Just beware their strengths and discover their weaknesses." Eventually the time came and I closed my eyes, going deep into meditation.

. . . . .

I opened my eyes to find myself in the middle of a vast desert. Sand dunes rose in the distance, nothing but sand and hot air as far as the eye could see. Immediately around me there was a metal ring, with the five bloodthirsty deities standing along it. "Well howdy there," I greeted nonchalantly, standing up. "Interesting choice of location. I guess it fits, what with Sekhmet being an Egyptian goddess and all. So, Miss Kitty, are you ready to fight?"

"You are foolish to face me, mortal!" Sekhmet growled, showing her fangs. "I will tear you limb from limb!"

"Blah blah, die mortal, blah blah, I'm so great, blah blah blah," I muttered. "Will you guys ever get over yourselves? You guys are always bragging on about how great you all are. Why don't we finally see some action along with all that talk?"

"Let us fight then!" Sekhmet exclaimed, jumping into the ring. "We will see if you are as powerful as you think!" I snapped my fingers and I shifted form, changing from a teenage boy to the Adventurer, my golden armor shining, crimson cloak billowing. My golden eyes blazed as I faced the lion goddess.

She slashed at me with her claws extended, roaring with rage. I dodged to the side, her claws slicing through the air mere millimeters from my cheek. She swiped again and again, each time barely missing me. Even with the enhanced reflexes I have in my Adventurer state, I was barely able to evade her frenzied attacks. As I did so, however, I realized her weakness. Much like Ares in my first battle with him, Sekhmet let her rage drive her. It gave her strength, but it also made her attacks wild and uncontrolled.

I concocted my plan as I continued to evade her attacks. Now, before I tell you what I did, I would like you to know that before this all occurred, I had been rewatching all three seasons of Avatar: The Last Airbender, so that may have influenced my decision somewhat. As Sekhmet's last attack came down I dug my feet into the sand and shot my hand outwards. A spire of rock blasted out of the ground, throwing her backwards. I took up a solid earthbending stance, solidifying the ground beneath me. She jumped at me again and I thrust my arms to the side, a pillar of rock shooting out from beside her, knocking her away.

Roaring, she leaped at me once more and I dodged to the side, blasting her away with a gust of wind. Another strike was dodged just as easily as I formed a whip out of the water in the air and snagged her ankle, sending her toppling to the ground. With each strike the Egyptian goddess grew more enraged and wild, the Chaos within her taking over. One attack was met with a salvo of fire blasts, another with a boulder to the face. Finally she was so enraged that she simply ran at me, intending to bear me down and tear me to shreds on the desert sands. Instead she was met with the point of a spear I had just conjured and I forced her down to the ground. She sought to free herself with her claws, but soon both of her palms and feet were also impaled by spears, stretching her body out and keeping her from being able to do anything to me. I know the spears weren't exactly in line with my Avatar theme, but they worked, so that is really all that matters.

"I know a bit about Egyptian mythology," I told the downed immortal. "Your gods are difficult to kill. However, the story of Osiris shows that you can, in fact, die. It also shows that you can come back." I conjured another spear and aimed it at her skull. "Now, this may not kill you," I told her, "but it will certainly hurt a whole lot. So, do you surrender?"

"Never!" she roared.

"Alright then." The spear went through her skull, and her cry of pain rang throughout the vast desert realm. "Set killed his brother Osiris by cutting him into a bunch of little pieces," I told her, conjuring my favorite flaming sword. "Now, I don't know exactly which parts are the important ones for you, so I guess I'll just have to start cutting parts off and see what does the most damage."

I raised my sword to strike and she cried out, struggling against the restraining spears. "Enough! You win. I have been defeated."

"Well then," I replied, stepping back. "See you all tomorrow." With that I bowed, and with a snap of my fingers both the spears and I vanished.

. . . . .

The next day at noon I appeared to find myself in the middle of a vast jungle. Like before I was in the center of a metal ring, with my adversaries circling around it. Sekhmet now shared the same look that Ares and Thor shared. I may have won the battle, but I had made a dangerous enemy. "I believe it is now my turn to battle the mortal," Kali stated, walking into the ring, swinging her scimitars. "You may have defeated Sekhmet, and you may have defeated Ares once in the past, but they are old. They have not been worshipped for centuries, millennia in the case of the Egyptian. My religion is still strong, and is one of the largest religions in the world. And I am not simply some warrior god. I am the goddess of destruction!"

"Then let's see your power then," I replied. "I've never fought a goddess of destruction before. This could be interesting."

She reached out to strike with her blade, only for me to strike her with a spire of rock out of the ground. Unfortunately for me, this tactic didn't work quite as well with her as it did with Sekhmet. Instead of hitting her, it seemed to unravel itself as it came near her. I conjured a dozen blades and sent them at her, only for them to explode before they could reach her. I conjured a wall of diamond between us, but a swipe of her blade shattered the wall as if it were glass.

"Goddess of destruction," I muttered, pulling a shard of diamond out of my cheek. "Alright then. This will be interesting." I was forced on the defensive as she came towards me, each of my attacks proving useless against her destructive powers. "Impressive," I muttered. How exactly am I going to overcome this? She closed in and struck, and as the blade came down I closed my eyes, gathering my creation energy into a blade. Her eyes went wide as the two blades connected and my sword held firm. Time seemed to stand still as I watched the two energies play across the blade, golden creation energy crackling across red destruction energy. She only paused for a moment, but it was enough. A blast of creation energy sent her reeling, and once she was far enough away I closed my eyes and concentrated.

"What are you doing?!" she cried, suddenly unable to move her feet.

"You are a goddess of destruction," I told her. "But I possess the power of creation. Creation will always be more powerful than destruction, but not only that, it happens on every level, beginning on the atomic level. I don't know how much a being like you knows about science, so I will explain this to you. Everything is made of atoms, even magical beings. Even you. And right now, I am replacing the atoms in your body with atoms making up certain minerals. In layman's terms, I am turning you to stone."

"No!" she cried. "Impossible!" But it was too late. Already her legs were nothing more than grey rock. I kept concentrating and the stone crept up her body until the process was complete and the goddess was a stone statue.

"It looks like I've won this bout," I stated with a chuckle. I didn't dare to break the statue, not knowing whether that would kill her or free her. "Maybe we could find a good garden for her to be a decoration in," I laughed. With that I left. Two adversaries had been defeated, but tomorrow I would have a rematch with Ares, and after him I would face Thor. I am much more powerful than I was the last time I faced the Norse thunder god, but it would still be one of the most dangerous fights I had ever been in.