Kratos stood over the body of his fallen enemy. He had not even suffered a scratch during their battle. This opponent had been able to do nothing to harm him.

And yet he was smiling.

"Speak." The God of War rumbled. "Do you not fear death, Mortal?"

And the man answered:

"Death comes to me like a warm embrace. I know that I will be welcomed with open arms to the home of my god."

Kratos raised his hand. He gripped the man's face in his palm.

The man let out one last laugh.

"Hail Actraiser!"

And then he was no more.

…

The centuries rolled by. Kratos walked the Earth, his blood stained weapons carving out entire chasms that would be filled with his enemies. Giant demons, other gods, and creatures that had no name filled these chasms with the bodies that he left behind.

He was feared, and hated. Every time he crossed a warrior hoping to best him he was felled instantly. The God of War had become a terror… a demon. An unstoppable creature of death and despair.

And yet… Every now and again…

"I know in my heart that you will be destroyed, Kratos!" The man crowed. He was lying bleeding at his feet. His weapons lay sprawled all around them, and yet… in his eyes.. he was still smiling.

"You have lost." Kratos rumbled. "Why are you so certain that I will one day be killed?" He leaned forward. "Do you not know that I cannot die? Hades himself cannot contain me."

"There is one than one way to destroy a god." The man answered. "One must simply have faith."

Kratos knew the words that would come out of his mouth the instant he brought down his weapons.

"HAIL ACTRAISER!"

It was beginning to be the same everywhere. Kratos realized, as he turned to look at the vast city before him. The people there had erected churches and monuments to this God the called Actraiser. He had slaughtered dozens of towns just like it, and yet… it seemed somehow the people's faith remained unshakable.

It angered him. The people relied on this god to protect them, and yet it did nothing. A part of him was convinced that it must not even exist. For if it had, it would have come to challenge him itself. If it did exist, it feared him. He was sure.

And yet… it did not stop these warriors from challenging him in his place.

"Hail Actraiser!" A woman wielding powerful magicks fell at his feet.

"Hail Actraiser!" A gunman equipped with flintlock pistols fell at his feet.

"Hail Actraiser!" A woman who had never fought a battle in her life charged at him with her knife, to prevent him from raping her child. What fools. Kratos thought to himself, as he cut each and everyone of these people down. There was no ActRaiser coming to save them.

Thousands of years went by. Kratos continued to exist, and fight, and kill, but so did humanity. One day he found himself standing in what was the remains of Mount Olympus, watching the citadel that humanity had built for itself high above the clouds.

He was thinking deeply about how to reach them, and kill them, when another champion stepped up from behind him. This one was no different than the others… although he carried a sword made of light and armor that could withstand the deep recesses of space, he was still nothing more than a man.

"You have come here to challenge me in the name of the your god." Kratos said quietly. The man laughed.

"God?" He asked. "We have no need of such things. We have outgrown the need for gods." He raised the sword and pointed it at him. "And we have outgrown our fear of you."

The fight ended like all of the others. The man lay at his feet, bloody and bleeding, as Kratos stood over him, glowering ominously.

"You will never be rid of me." He whispered. "I will exist as long as humanity does."

The man laughed. A brief flash of anger came through Kratos: This was not a man of the Actraiser, and yet he dared still laugh.

"Then I suppose you will have to kill us all then." He said, before Kratos took his life. He grabbed the body and threw it at the skyward citadel. It was a warning as to what was to come.

He ventured forth into the stars and space, killing all that he came across. Warriors, machines, and starships all fell at his hand. He was unstoppable. He fought more and killed more than he ever had before.

And yet humanity kept growing.

He had no choice. He had to keep killing. He had to keep becoming stronger. He had to exterminate all of humanity.

He needed followers.

The Sons of Sparta, they called themselves. People of the Galactic Civilization that had grown weary of the endless growth and expansion of humanity joined him in his conquest, and with much wrath and fury, they took to the stars, conquering all who crossed them. And in time… the galactic civilization had destroyed itself.

Only a small handful of humans remained, on a single solitary rock. Kratos watched over them with an evil eye, his monsters keeping the population in check. Never again would man think themselves his better… never again would he be laughed at….

One day he found himself in front of small hovel. A child came up, bearing a sigil. It stopped, and stared up at him fearfully. He stared back.

"What is that?" He asked sharply.

"This…?" The child brandished the thing in front of itself. "It's the symbol of… the ActRaiser."

In a rage he struck the child across the head, killing it instantly. The sigil fell to the ground and lay there as he beat the body senseless.

"There is no ActRaiser!" He roared. "No one is coming to save you!"

He went on another rampage, then. He sought to destroy all of humanity. He gathered his loyal followers and sought to have them destroyed. He stood on top of his mountain lair, staring down at the land below.

"Soon it will all be over." He said to himself. "No longer will I have to bear the burden of being the god of these people."

He raised his hand.

"Slaughter them all!" He called to his followers. "Until no follower of the ActRaiser remains!"

He smiled to himself. It would only be a matter of time now. Humanity would go completely extinct, and never again would he hear these accursed words-

"ACTRAISER!"

He looked up, frowning. A ball of light was rapidly starting to descend from the sky. It was not a starship, that had been so prominent many thousand years before. But neither was it a god or figure he recognized. No… it was a shooting star, nothing more.

"Sire…"

He glanced down. It was an imp he had made himself, a groveling little creature who had no purpose other than to inform him of the status of humanity.

"A warrior has arisen among them." The creature growled. "It is fighting your chosen minotaur now."

"This warrior will fall like all of the rest." Kratos said dismissively, as he placed his hand on his chin. In all of his years of life, he had never met a man or god who could challenge him.

"Sire…"

Kratos opened his eyes.

"The humans have established a colony in a small valley." It rasped. "They call it… Fillmore."

"And it too will be destroyed." Kratos said dismissively. "Humans are weak, pathetic creatures. They can do nothing to stop what it is coming to them."

"Sire…"

Kratos opened his eyes.

"The humans have formed new cultures in Bloodpool and other areas." It said. "Their numbers increase every day…"

Kratos scowled.

"How is this so?" He demanded. "They were on the verge of extinction not long ago. How have they survived this long?"

"It is that warrior… sire." The creature intoned. "The one they call… Actraiser."

Kratos did not know what he was doing. He leaned forward and grabbed hold of the creature around the neck, throttling it.

"There is no ActRaiser." He hissed. "It isn't true! It isn't-"

He stopped. He watched the sky in the distance. A speck of light, as bright and powerful as the sun, was falling from the sky. It was heading to Bloodpool… a place that he knew his armies had established a great stronghold.

"Sire, Bloodpool has fallen. The humans have migrated to Kasandora and Aitos."

Kratos shook his head.

"This isn't possible…!" He murmured. "This isn't… how could this… Who could-"

The flash of light hit his eyes again. He stared, wide-eyed, as the ball of light descended upon the land of Kasandora. For the first time since he had destroyed all of the gods, he felt fear.

The reports he received every day painted a grim picture. Every day, his armies lost ground to the humans. Every day, completely inhabitable landmass became populated by humans and animals. Farms flourished, lovely rains tended the fields, and a powerful warrior descended to protect humanity from the very greatest of his monsters.

Actraiser.

The name did not escape him: He was sure that, somehow throughout the centuries, this false god had been absorbed into the public consciousness. And so, the savior of humanity… the one who had come to destroy Kratos, its ancient enemy… had taken on the name.

"ACTRAISER!"

He screamed at from his throne. His newest assistant had been killed before he had even finished giving his report. He descended the stairs to his vast palace, his feet clicking along the metal.

"I will destroy you myself, ActRaiser!" He sneered. "I destroyed Zeus himself, King of the Gods! You are nothing before me! My power far surpasses your own! I, Kratos, am the strongest!"

He looked towards the heavens and crowed.

"ACTRAISER!" He crowed. "I CHALLENGE YOU!"

There was no answer. Kratos stared up at the sky, with bated breath, expecting that hated ball of light to come descending down on top of him.

But there was nothing.

"So you are just a man after all." Kratos sneered, as he turned his gaze downward. "Perhaps I simply need to destroy your people myself…" He drew the Chains of Olympus and smiled. "Yes… It was a mistake to send minions to deal with my problems…" He said. "I must subjugate these people with my own power! I will destroy any god that humanity dares to believe will protect them from me!"

He froze. His breath hitched in his throat. An angelic music hit his ears from above. For the briefest of moments he shut his eyes, and when he opened again…

He was standing there.

He knew instantly that this was his hated enemy, the ActRaiser. It- it could not be described as a mere man- radiated a power and force that he had not felt since he had killed his Father Zeus. The giant broadsword it carried in its hands gleamed with a holy light, and the face under the helmet…

It had no face.

Kratos could not bear to look at it. He averted his eyes, choosing instead to stare at the Actraisers feet.

"So you have come at last." He breathed. "Actraiser."

"Indeed." The Actraiser said quietly. "I have."

"Your people have cried out for you for millenia." Kratos said. "And yet it is only now that you appear…" He smiled grimly. "You fear me."

"I do not." The Actraiser said. "No, Kratos… you are nothing to be feared."

"What?"

Kratos glowered at him.

"Do you know how many I have killed?" He asked. "Do you know of my feats? Do you know that none have been able to stop me?"

"I do." The Actrasier said heavily. "But that does not make you great."

Kratos threw his head back and laughed.

"You think I am not great?" He goaded. "You think I am not strong? I have bedded more women and killed more men than you have ever seen, Actraiser!"

"Are you proud?" The Actraiser asked quietly. Kratos stopped, his expression souring. "Proud, of what you have done? Proud, of the people you have killed? Proud, of the civilization that you have destroyed?"

"I am." Kratos said. "I am the strongest. I do what I please."

It was over in a flash. A brilliant flash of light emanated from the ActRaiser and Kratos let out a cry. His very soul was ripped from his body. He, in the form of a child, kneeled at the feet of the ActRaiser. His power body… the one that had been used in millions of battles… lay useless behind him.

"You are not strong." The Actraiser said, as he raised the sword. "Strong people use their strength for others. They do not take their frustrations at the world, or think themselves gods. You took the power that was granted to your by your forebearers and you destroyed the world with it. You failed in your role, and in the end I had to step in to correct the course you have set."

"Failed?" Kratos sneered. "I am the most powerful god to ever exist! Should you send me to Hades, I will simply leave again! There is nothing that you can do to destroy my soul!"

"Oh, child." The Actraiser said. "You are not the first to think he can challenge me… and you will not be the last." The brilliant light surrounding it began to glow again. "But I can assure you… that you were never the strongest."

Kratos grinned with confidence. His soul was absorbed into a portal and he was taken somewhere far away. Hades, perhaps, or another place like it. He knew that with his sheer strength of will and tenacity that he would soon be free, and that he would once again be free to wreak havoc across the world.

He couldn't have been more wrong. The Actraiser had sent him to a place filled with things far more powerful than he. Never again would he be free to cause havoc as he had in the past.

The Actraiser stood at the Palace of Kratos. It became a ball of light once more and returned to the heavens. The people of this new civilization knew that Kratos had been destroyed, completely and utterly, and were deep in celebration. The statue it left behind stood as a monument to the terror of the tyrant Kratos, and how he had been felled in battle by the Almighty Actraiser.

Humanity had always known that God would come to save them, and He did. And he would do so again.