Chapter 4- Blessings of the Gods

While Ares playfully clenched young Alexei under her arms, they both noticed a few silhouettes walking over towards them. Alexei lifted his head and gazed at the approaching silhouettes in curiosity as he tilted his head cutely.

One was a beautiful lady who seemed to be about 30 years and wore a dark green dress that hugged her curvaceous body, parts of the dress were exposed around the stomach and back area giving her a seductive aura so effective, it made even young Alexei look down in embarrassment.

Her beautiful spring colored hair were like fresh blades of grass as they gave off a natural sweet smell and it's color matched her dress perfectly. The beautiful woman's eyes were exquisitely shaped and her gentle, deep green pupils reminded Alexei of his Step-mother.

The other was an extremely burly man about 40 years with golden colored hair and fierce golden pupils, anyone could tell by his fearsome aura and the way he carried himself that he was clearly incredibly strong.

He wore a full-body silver armor and precious looking golden armored shoulder pad that matched his hair color. The sheer size of this shoulder-pad would look exaggerated on anyone else but fit this burly man's huge size perfectly.

One one hand he wore a strange ancient looking golden gauntlet with strange black patterns, and in the other hand a leg of roasted meat. The strange thing was, no matter how many times he took a bite from the leg of meat in his hand, it never got smaller.

One word to describe this man - Dauntless.

The man made Alexei a bit nervous as he seemed to be like a fierce lion, his overall aura was stifling and domineering and sweats broke out from his tiny body almost instantly.

While Alexei was struggling to cope with the pressure from the burly man, the beautiful woman stepped forward as she leaned forward to meet Alexei's height. Her beautiful chest seem to bring in a mesmerizing aroma which confused little Alexei for a bit and made him slightly dizzy, Alexei felt a hand stabilize him from behind and he could tell it was Ares as he had gotten accustomed to her touch.

"Ares, who is this cute little guy?"

Alexei dropped his gaze even lower as the woman's eyes seemed to see straight into to his soul...that was also not the only reason as the woman seemed to not notice her cleavage was within his view, or rather she had done it on purpose.

Originally she had intended on teasing him a little, but seeing that her gaze made him a bit uncomfortable, the woman leaned backward as she let out a graceful chuckle and brought Alexei into a hug.

"You've suffered much, haven't you? Let this big sister take care of you for a while. Hehehe"

*Smack*

"Hands off Freya!"

Ares coldly retorted as she slapped the woman's hand away, the look in her eye was incomparably serious as she looked at the woman in the green dress.

"Ohh! You know I'm just fooling around! Ha ha ha!"

Alexei's nose twitched as he didn't understand what was going on and the pleasant scent of Freya still lingered on him. The burly man took a step forward as he stepped in between the two and gave Freya a displeased look.

"Freya, you know how she feels about that kind of stuff"

Even though he scolded her seriously and his eyes were fierce as a beast, he still lifted his hand to take a bite of the roasted leg as if everything else was his second priority and the leg of meat took precedence.

"...Fine fine....I was wondering where you went, it seems you went to try and find another champion. This little guy looks much better than that sniveling brat you had to send back"

Ares laughed as she smiled widely and took a proud stance as if she were the one being complimented.

"Hehe! I thought so myself! This kid is much more easy for me to get along with! He's my kind of people!"

From start to finish Alexei had his eyes on the burly man as his disposition had reminded him of his father, King Alexander. The burly man seemed to notice Alexei's fear-filled gaze, he misinterpreted this fearful gaze in his own way and surprisingly looked rather offended.

"You must think I'm fat don't you!! I'm not fat all! This leg of meat is special, it dissolves the second it gets in my stomach!"

"Behold! My true, great and awesome self"

As the burly man spoke, he flexed his muscles and his full-body armor shattered into dust in an instant. Alexei stared at the burly man with starry eyes as he saw the burly man's body expand and grow taller right before his eyes.

His muscles flexed and bulged, it seemed like coils of the most hardest and precious steel.

They were extremely exaggerated and seemed as if they had been carved by the hands of a God, his golden colored skin gave off the feeling of an ancient statue of a Deity carved in bronze.

"....Woah! I bet you can lift an entire mountain! No...maybe even two!"

Alexei was surprised by this display and clapped with starry -eyes, his eyes showed how much he thought of those muscles.

"Hahahaha"

The burly man was quite pleased with this reaction as he placed his huge hands on his waist and let out a happy, embarrassed laugh.

Alexei found the scary, burly man to actually be quite funny and this display of his quirky personality tickled a reaction from Alexei's child heart as he too laughed along with the burly man. Strange enough, Alexei continued to laugh after the initial joke, although the burly man's reaction was indeed funny it did not warrant this amount of praise.

"Hahahaha"

Alexei continued to laugh as he fell on his back and held his stomach, at some point in time a few dry tears had came from his eyes. It wasn't tears of sadness and hatred that he was accustomed to, but these were tears that were new to him, they were tears of happiness and joy that came from his soul.

This was the first time he had been around people who treated him like the child he was, people who didn't seem to care about his origins or what his status was.

Ares smiled warmly and just looked at him gently as she would her little brother, Freya who seemed to have an idea of his past immediately took this opportunity to tickle him with a leaf of grass that sprouted from her hands.

The burly man said nothing as he stopped gazing at Alexei and turned his back to give the young man his privacy.

"A man shouldn't show another man his tears! Hmph! Well your not a man yet, so you can be forgiven!"

The burly man took another bite of the roasted leg as his gaze rested on the beautiful suns in the sky, a hint of a smile on his face.

'It seems Ares finally found her champion huh. Good! Good! That girl needed some family! Still it was unexpected he would come from such a small world, well it matters not anyway'

At some point in time, the leaf of grass in Freya's hand put Alexei to sleep as she decided to let the young one have some rest. A stream of water came from the pond nearby and flowed into Freya's palm who washed the blood off the young boy from his previous encounters, Freya's gaze was gentle and kind as she washed his body and whispered something in his ears.

The grass around Alexei's body seemed to come alive as they gently rubbed against his body and cushioned him gently. The wind blew and with it so did Alexei's hair, as well as the grass and for a moment they had seemed to be one in the same.

"...Freya...you"

Ares was speechless, the burly man uttered these words as he looked at Freya in disbelief.

"..What? Relax Heracles, this is Ares' first champion so I want him to be something special"

"Freya....you didn't have to go as far as giving him your Blessing..."

Ares looked at her in shock but Freya only smiled and gave the sleeping Alexei a kiss on his forehead. The tattoo of a shining green rose appeared and then shortly disappeared as fast as it had appeared.

"Many of us can have many champions Ares, but you as the God of War can only have one; so why not make him special? The old man said you could only have one Champion, but he didn't say what quality of champion.

Besides this only costs me a single champion spot, as the Goddess of Fertility and Love have you forgotten how many champions I've already sired? I don't mind giving one to my best friend's Champion"

"Hehe, ya know that actually doesn't sound too bad. I like this kid a lot and he understands what it means to be a man!"

As Heracles spoke, he walked toward the unconscious boy and knelt at his side. With a flick of his wrist, the strange-looking gauntlet disappeared showing his both bare hands.

*Boom*

Heracles slapped his both palms together resulting in an intense shock wave of golden light, surprisingly the unconscious boy before him was virtually untouched. He rubbed his palms together and created a whirring sound as his hands were covered in a golden fire.

"Prepare yourself boy, this isn't as gentle as Freya's!"

*Doom*

Heracles slammed his both palms on Alexei's unconscious body covering him in eternal golden flames as his clothes instantly disintegrated, the flames burned like the sun as they covered his body in a golden luster. Alexei's unconscious face twisted in agony as his forehead became drenched in sweat, finally as if he could no longer bear the pain his eyes opened widely as he released a loud howl!

"Ahhhh!"

The golden fire seemed to temper his body as his once pale face, became full of life and his weak and frail body gained an intense vitality that directly affected his entire constitution. He became a tad taller and a bit more robust, but the most shocking noticeable change was the color of his skin. It became shades darker as it's color started shifting closer and closer towards Heracles' skin tone.

His muscles started showing and they took a perfect structuring similar to Heracles, however they were not too defined as Alexei was still only 8 years old and needed time for his body to expand and grow. The tattoo of a golden gauntlet appeared on Alexei's chest and then disappeared without a trace of a mark.

The already unconscious Alexei got up as he stared at his hands first and noticed his complexion change. As he lowered his head he noticed muscles forming in his abdomen that weren't there before, Alexei showed a joyous smile as he stared at his own body shocked at what it had become.

"....This is really my body?...I can feel power rushing through my body!"

Alexei understood the Gods may have done these things and not forgetting his manners he made sure to thank them first.

"Thank you....I-I don't know what to say"

Alexei lowered his head in embarrassment as he stole glances at the three Gods, Ares laughed joyously as she pulled him under her arms and gave him a kiss on his head.

"Such a spoiled brat! Huh? Aren't you glad you became my champion? Well? Well? Now you look like a certified lady-killer, Hehehe!"

Ares jokingly bombarded him with embarrassing statements as she hugged him tightly and rubbed her head on his silky black hair playfully.

"Why are you taking credit for our work? Kid, just so you know it's Freya and I that gave you your blessings. This cheap War God has yet to give you a single thing!"

Heracles wasn't one for holding his thoughts and immediately destroyed Ares' bubble. Ares sent him a cold glare, however this burly man had quite the thick skin as he took a bit of the roasted leg in his hand and pretended not to notice.

"Why doesn't big sister want to give me her blessing?"

Alexei suddenly turned towards Ares, a confusing look in his eyes. Ares' seemed to know what he was thinking and looked at him calmly.

" I know what you're thinking....but since you have a choice now, you should re-think if you want my blessing Alexei. First I'll tell you what it entails and then I'll let you decide if you want it. My blessing doesn't come easy, with the current you; if you work hard enough you should be able to live a comfortable life in your world"

"....My blessing isn't much of a blessing and it cannot give you a peaceful life. If I were you I'd--"

Alexei nodded at her words, and without waiting for her to finish speaking, he declared.

"I want it"

"Huh?"

"I want it"

"You didn't even let me fini--"

"I want it"

"...Why?"

"If I become afraid of being your family, how can I be your family?....Isn't this how a family should be?....I think"

As far as Alexei knew, this was indeed what it sounded life. Although the words sounded casual, to Alexei these words had came from a longing desire in his heart. The desire to have a family.

This answer, along with it's resolute stature had made the three Gods speechless! The first to recover was Heracles.

"....Bwahahahaha! That's how a man should be! A fire in his belly and not a care for the world! I was right giving you my blessing boy! The sniveling rats who came before you couldn't hold a candle to ya!"

"Indeed...such a little man, Ares? Well how are you going to respond to this young man's most sincerest wishes?"

Freya smiled brilliantly as she tilted her head and glanced at Ares.

"...Y-You...You have no idea what you're going to get yourself into"

Alexei looked down at the floor for a second, thought for a bit and then looked at her in the eyes.

"You gave me an opportunity to be your family, that is something I've always wanted. A family shouldn't be where only one person gives and the other receives. I'm not an expert on families, but I think I'm at least right about this point.

Big sister is a God, so far you've saved me from death and brought me to this place. You offered me a family and I got to meet big sister's friends who gave me these great gifts. I cannot be someone who walks over these things and clings onto big sister, whatever it may be I will definitely accomplish it for big sister"

Alexei clenched his tiny fists as he spoke declaring his determination, upon seeing this cute face Ares couldn't stand it anymore as she flew over and hugged him tightly as she smiled elegantly, obviously extremely pleased with his determination.

"Stop talking.....if you continue talking like a dependable old man, I'm afraid I won't be able to take you seriously,

Hehehe!"

Ares playfully grabbed his cheeks and pulled them at different angles making funny faces as she thought his serious appearance was quite funny. Alexei suddenly remembered something, he pulled away her hands from his cheeks gently , looked upwards toward her and stared at her eyes.

"....There's one more thing, ever since I woke I've found that I understand things easier. I don't know...I-I can't explain it good...uhh...I get things I didn't usually understand"

"Since then, I've had a feeling for a little while now...that this is a place meant for Gods, I probably aren't meant to stay here for too long right?"

Alexei looked at Ares' expression carefully and noticed at first astonishment, then almost abruptly afterward she tried to hide it with a fake smile, but the sadness in her eyes showed her true feelings.

"....mm"

"...Say if I die again...will I come back here?"

"NO! Definitely not! What are you thinking?!"

Upon hearing his crazy question, Ares immediately became angry at this careless inquiry as she remembered Alexei had tried to commit suicide before.

"..Bwahahahaha, kid maybe you should've become the God of Death's champion instead. A good man indeed, completely unafraid of death. Your the first champion I've met that probably ever thought of suicide right after almost committing suicide and ending up here..

Kid, is this going to be a recurring thing? Ah yes lad, you made my day today, that's for damn sure! No! Perhaps war might suit you best after all, only suicidal crazies enjoy war anyway."

Heracles suddenly felt a chill run down his spine as he noticed Ares' face become dark and the sound of a sword unsheathing was heard.

"Oh? Will you look at the time! It's skin past bones, quarter to flesh! Bwahaha! Time to go deal with that "thing" at "that" place!"

Heracles leapt and in a golden flash he was no where to be seen! The scent of roasted meat lingered in the air as it further irritated Ares' nose.

"I hate that stupid line, what does that even mean? Skin past bones...quarter to flesh?...Freya is he talking about meat?

"Ohh that? He found a world where there's no supernatural forces, it was called Earth I think. Apparently they have something called technology over there and he says their food is unparalleled . He wanted to "descend upon it" and "make it his homeland" or something to that degree....I don't usually keep up with that idiot's antics. I feel sorry for the poor souls over there though."

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