"This is…!"
Two bolts of divine thunder tore through the air with terrifying speed.
They were powers Ares knew better than anyone. The moment he sensed them, his eyes widened in disbelief. Before he could even finish speaking, the lightning struck.
"Aahhh!"
Ares screamed.
"My eyes!"
He threw his head back violently, blood pouring from his eye sockets as he clutched his face with one hand. His other hand swung the battle axe wildly through the air as he stumbled backward in panic.
The attack had been sudden and devastating.
At such close range, the divine lightning had struck directly into his eyes, plunging him instantly into darkness.
This was different from the earlier injuries.
The lightning Victor had used before was powerful, but it lacked divine authority. Those attacks could wound Ares, but they could not truly threaten him.
This strike was different.
It carried divine power.
That meant the injury could not regenerate immediately.
"You stole my power!" Ares roared.
His voice trembled with rage—and something else.
Fear.
"You despicable thief!"
Electric arcs crackled through the air as Ares thrashed violently, trying to orient himself in the darkness.
Victor stood calmly several steps away.
In his hand, divine energy gathered once again. Lightning twisted together into the shape of a spear, glowing with a deadly brilliance.
He looked like a hunter who had already caught his prey in a trap and was preparing to deliver the final strike.
"I can smell fear," Victor said slowly.
His voice carried a faint hint of amusement.
"Are you afraid, ancient God of War?"
He began walking forward.
Each step was slow and deliberate.
The situation had reversed in an instant.
Just moments ago, Ares had only been slightly disadvantaged. Now the war god's eyes had been destroyed, leaving him blind and vulnerable.
"Mortal!" Ares roared.
"You cannot kill me!"
The sharp crackle of lightning echoed like the cawing of a crow.
Victor's approaching footsteps seemed to hammer directly against Ares's heart.
Fury and panic twisted together inside him.
When Victor mocked him again, Ares swung his axe in a furious arc.
But without his sight, his movements had lost their deadly precision.
He could no longer keep up with Victor.
Victor did not hesitate.
To end the battle, he hurled the lightning spear forward.
The divine thunder pierced directly through Ares's neck.
The spear carried his towering body backward through the air. The axe flew from his hand as the lightning weapon pinned him brutally to the ground.
Ares cried out in agony.
Blood poured from his mouth as he struggled violently, trying to rise.
But a foot slammed down onto his chest.
Victor stepped forward and crushed him to the ground like a collapsing mountain.
The God of War had been completely defeated.
His strength drained rapidly as he lay pinned beneath Victor's foot.
"I will return, mortal!" Ares roared hoarsely.
Blood spilled from his lips as he glared upward.
"I swear in the name of the God of War—I will return!"
"When I do, you will suffer pain deeper than what my father inflicted upon Prometheus!"
Victor looked down at him with mild curiosity.
"As expected of a god," he said thoughtfully.
He held the lightning spear in one hand while examining the pinned war god.
"Your throat has been pierced, yet you can still speak clearly."
"It doesn't even affect your voice."
After being mocked again and again while lying helpless beneath Victor's foot, Ares's rage exploded completely.
He forced open his blood-filled eyes, roaring like a ferocious beast.
His face looked horrifying.
"I will come back, mortal!"
"When I return, it will be your death!"
Victor's expression turned mocking.
"If you were the God of Anger," he said calmly, "your current rage might actually make you stronger."
"But unfortunately you're not."
He pressed down harder with his foot.
"So save your strength."
"Think about how you'll return to Mount Olympus and face the gods you betrayed."
To Victor, Ares's threats sounded like the desperate barking of a defeated dog.
"I'll be waiting," Victor said coldly.
"I'll be waiting for you, Ares."
"If you ever manage to come back."
"Aaaah—!!"
Ares's furious roar suddenly stopped.
Divine lightning tore through his neck.
His head flew off.
The severed head rolled across the ground like a discarded ball before finally stopping in the mud.
Ares's eyes were wide open.
The expression frozen on his face was one of rage and unwilling defeat.
[Hate from Ares, God of War +155…]
Victor barely had time to look at the severed head before something strange happened.
The headless body dissolved.
It turned into countless points of light that slowly scattered into the air and disappeared between heaven and earth.
"I guess even a god can't die peacefully," Victor muttered.
Nearby, Diana and Shabak had already stopped fighting.
Both of them stared at the scene in stunned silence.
"The God of War…" Diana whispered.
Her voice trembled.
"He was killed."
"Killed by… a mortal?"
Her beautiful face was filled with disbelief.
She had seen Victor manipulate divine lightning earlier, but she had no idea how he had accomplished such a thing.
Shabak felt something even stronger than shock.
Fear.
The ancient God of War, feared across the world for thousands of years, had just been killed by the young man standing before him.
And earlier—
Shabak had actually believed Victor was the easier opponent to deal with.
[Uneasiness from Shabak +132]
[Fear from Shabak +122]
Victor had killed Ares without suffering any injuries.
The only price he paid was a slightly damaged shirt.
The contrast was terrifying.
When Victor turned his head and looked toward him, Shabak's face instantly turned pale.
His body began trembling uncontrollably.
Without waiting for Victor to speak, Shabak shot into the sky like a frightened bird.
He turned and fled immediately.
Within seconds he disappeared beyond the horizon.
Victor stared at the empty sky in mild surprise.
He hadn't expected Shabak to run away so decisively.
The demon warrior had inherited the flying ability of the Hell demons. Once he launched himself into the air, he moved like lightning.
In the blink of an eye, he was gone.
Victor didn't bother chasing him.
There was no real benefit in killing Shabak anyway.
Nearby, Diana tightened her grip on the Vulcan Sword.
Regret flashed across her face.
She had hesitated for just a moment—and the demon had escaped.
"You killed the God of War," she said slowly.
"As you can see," Victor replied casually.
He walked toward her.
Diana was still in shock.
"How did you do it?"
Victor glanced at her but didn't answer.
Diana quickly realized she had asked a foolish question.
A power capable of killing gods was not something anyone would casually explain.
"Wait," she suddenly said.
"You really killed the God of War?"
Her eyes widened as a realization struck her.
Victor had completed an impossible feat.
A mortal had slain a god.
That meant something important.
According to the promise the Amazons had made…
The man standing before her would now be recognized as their king.
Diana's expression changed slightly.
Then she fell silent.
"My mother definitely never imagined this," she thought.
Hippolyta had believed Victor could at most weaken Ares enough for Diana to deliver the final blow.
She had never imagined Diana wouldn't even need to act.
The man standing beside her had almost single-handedly killed Ares.
And he had done it without suffering any injuries.
The battlefield around them was filled with ruins.
The last light of the setting sun spread across the broken land.
Diana stood beside Victor as he gazed silently into the distance.
Looking at the side of his face, she felt a strange emotion rise in her chest.
It was shock.
And something else.
For a moment, it felt as though the myths her mother had told her since childhood had come to life.
The great heroic deeds from ancient legends.
The stories of warriors who faced impossible odds and triumphed through courage and strength.
Victor looked like one of those heroes.
Even though his goal had been to conquer the Amazons, not a single Amazon had died during the conflict.
Diana held the Vulcan Sword tightly.
She didn't know what to do.
Should the Amazons break the promise they had made?
A conflicted expression crossed her face.
After a long moment, she slowly shook her head.
No.
The Amazons kept their promises.
Before Victor did anything extreme, she would honor the oath their people had made.
Victor, however, had no idea what she was thinking.
He was staring into the distance.
With Ares gone, only one task remained.
Paradise Island.
Soon it would fall under his control.
And he already had plans for what to do with the Amazons.
After all, how could they use him as a weapon without paying a price?
Even if he had been the one who invaded their island first.
Victor already knew exactly how he would make the Amazons submit to him.
They would resent him.
They would hate him.
And yet they would still obey.
That hatred would generate an endless supply of emotional points.
"I wonder how Clark is doing," Victor thought suddenly.
"I hope he's regained his sight."
…
"Forty blue T-shirts?"
"No problem. I can have them ready by Wednesday."
Inside a clothing store in Metropolis, Clark stood quietly at the counter.
He wasn't holding a guide stick.
He wasn't wearing sunglasses either.
Clark faced the shop owner's direction carefully, trying to appear completely normal. A faint nervousness lingered in his posture.
"Everyone has to wear this symbol?" the shop owner asked.
The slightly overweight middle-aged man examined a piece of paper while stroking his chin.
"That's a bit troublesome."
He squinted at the drawing.
"This is your school badge?"
"The student council logo?"
On the paper was a simple design.
A red and yellow emblem.
A diamond-shaped frame.
And inside it—
A large letter S.
"It's my personal signature," Clark said.
He touched the long, stamp-like object hidden inside his pocket.
During the time he had spent wandering blindly through the city, he had seen many things.
The memory lingered in his mind.
The golden sunset light fell across his face.
Clark smiled slightly.
"It's my personal symbol."
The shop owner scratched his head.
"A personal symbol? What's the point of that?"
The young man in front of him wasn't famous.
Why would someone design a personal emblem like that?
The shop owner muttered to himself for a moment but didn't question it further.
As long as it wasn't some gang symbol or terrorist logo, he didn't want to get involved in trouble.
Most likely it was just another teenager going through a phase.
Young people liked to believe they were special.
Designing personal signatures.
Creating their own symbols.
Things like that.
....
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