RisingWarrior; Hi to my very small and unknown but loyal readers hehe, Thank you for reading. Figured I would give my thanks *bow*

Chapter 5 - Mars Romulus

"Ha!"

*Cling*

*Clang*

The sound of swords crashing against one another permeated the air, two silhouettes could be seen engaged in a steamy duel. One a woman about 20 years old, the other a young boy seemingly about 10 years old.

A smile ever present on the young woman's face as she easily deflected the blows of the hot and sweaty youth that constantly heaved for breathes of air. These two were God and champion, but by the intimacy shown in the woman's eyes and the determined look in the young man's eyes to impress her made it seem as though they were brother and sister.

When they were finished with swords, they moved on to spears, then on to staves and then axes. Alexei never seemed to notice the seasons going by or the fact that he never got tired, hungry or sleepy, for days on end the two would battle with different weapons and a smile would be plastered on both their faces.

Summer the sound of swords clashing filled the air, autumn the grunts of shield-training, winter the spear pierced the snowflakes and the two continued to battle one another valiantly whether it they were bathed in the sun or rain.

Every so often the woman would correct his posture, or trip him on his butt with a laugh. Sometimes she would scold him and sometimes she would praise him, but all in all the love in her eyes never dissipated for a moment when she did either.

The boy seemed to enjoy being both praised and scolded as this was something he never had before, the other Gods and their champions at some point started stealing glances at the two as they were all too familiar with Ares' champion requirements.

They were pleasantly surprised she had managed to find someone to become her progeny, they also knew that Ares had always wanted one but her requirements were too harsh for most people and she could only watch on as other Gods sired one after another.

Now this beautiful young woman was finally smiling as she passed on her blessings to this young boy. From sword to spear, from bow to throwing knives, she taught him about every single weapon under the heavens. The reason why they were made, who made them and how to use them.

Though it had felt like a life-time living together with Ares, learning from her and being in her presence; in truth it had only been 5 years. Within these 5 years, Freya and Heracles had also dropped by frequently and also taught Alexei quite a few things.

The other Gods were hesitant to engage with Alexei as they knew too much help could indeed have the opposite effect and decided to mind their own business and leave Ares to her first champion.

After all, she was much different than them. They could sire many champions, but as the God of War she could only have one and if that wasn't bad enough; she would soon have to depart from him unlike the other Gods who could live along with their champions in the Palace of the Gods.

This strange rule may sound harsh towards the God of War but it was not without reason. This was mainly due to the fact that the last God of War had attempted to seize the Palace of the Gods and had been raising an army of champions to rebel with.

He had failed, was banished to the underworld and all of his champions killed. This event had remained clearly within the minds of the Gods, and they could say nothing because the last War God......had nearly succeeded.

Ever since that affair, the throne of the God of War had come with restrictions. It was also the only throne a God had ever been replaced on. No one had objections to this as the one who replaced the previous God of War, was his daughter - Ares.

Mainly because of this fact, most Gods kept their distance from Ares, with the odd exception of Heracles who feared no one and Freya who simply didn't care about anyone else's opinion.

Some of the Gods who didn't have any particular opinion about these events looked over at the two, they had their own reasons not to interfere and thus kept their neutral distance.

Naturally there were also other Gods who were displeased, some who had lost loved ones on that fateful day; whether it be a fellow God or a champion a lot of them had died that day.

Still, they couldn't act as they pleased and were given strict orders never to interfere with the young God of War from the higher ups so they could only watch on in annoyance or pretend not to notice.

**

"What are you thinking about?"

Alexei sleepily asked Ares who had allowed him to fall asleep on her lap, although Alexei never got sleepy or tired in this otherworldly place whenever Ares called him over to sit under the stars he would always catch himself dozing

away. He didn't know why, nor did he care as long as Ares was there when he woke up.

The young boy noticed her distant gaze as she looked up at the sky and was curious about her expression.

"...This sky is incredibly beautiful...no matter how many times I see it"

Alexei looked up at the sky, took a long glance and then nodded his head slowly at her acknowledging the comment. Ares waved her hand, surprisingly the pattern of the stars in the sky had changed and this didn't seem to astonish Alexei as he had seen her do it a few times before.

It had become a usual thing for the two to sit down together at this spot after training and Ares would always show him patterns of the stars in the sky. He would always feel strange as he looked at these stars, but it wasn't an unpleasant feeling and after a while he had memorized the patterns subconsciously which was Ares' original goal.

Suddenly, Alexei furrowed his brows as he seemed to notice something strange this time but couldn't quite put his finger on it. Ares restarted the combination as she smiled and then called out to him.

"Mars?"

"Yes big sister?"

"Tell me, do you see anything strange this time?"

Alexei wasn't sure when Ares had started calling him "Mars", but he knew he didn't dislike it as his beloved God was the one who gave him this name. He had gotten accustomed to it and unknowingly came to accept it as his true name and replied on instinct.

Mars looked at the stars as his blue eye's shone, the image of a golden sword appeared in his pupils unknowingly as his eyes swept over the stars in an experienced manner as if confirming their positions. The appearance of the sword in his pupils seemed to startle Ares for a bit but she quickly retained her smile.

'Wrath?...A "Deadly Sin"?...I thought for sure he would have "Humility"...or at least one of the "Seven Virtues" like me...surprisingly...he's just like father. Well it definitely could have been worse, hehe, like "Lust" or "Greed" "

Ares seemed to notice something and quietly noted it as she laughed quietly to herself.

The young boy on the other hand wasn't aware at all that an anomaly was happening in his body as he focused intently on the stars in the sky. As far as Alexei knew, he was simply looking for something that wasn't there before.

He searched and searched as Ares continued to shift the stars with a wave of her hand.

"Mhhm..something is strange for sure.. but I can't quite tell...Wait!....I've never seen that pattern before! That star is new! The one next to the sword star constellation big sister told me to pay attention to!"

"Ohh so you noticed! Hehe, do you know who that sword star constellation is?."

Mars pretended to think for a bit, then he seemed to understand something and smiled brilliantly.

"That's big sister Ares!"

*Smash*

"Ouch!"

"Hehe, Oh what a smart little brother! Yeah right! Don't pretend like you didn't know, I heard when Freya told you!"

Ares scolded as she smiled radiantly and knocked his forehead to teach him a lesson for lying.

"Then what about the new star...do you know who it is?"

Mars shook his head as he looked at her in curiosity. This time his face showed true confusion and a longing to know.

"Hehe, now that's more like you"

"...Big sister, that's mean..though it might be a bit true"

Alexei mumbled with a wronged expression, his eyes showing his obvious displeasure. The dark-skinned War God couldn't help but laugh as she enjoyed teasing this rascal.

Ares knew the intelligence that Mars had acquired after waking up was a different sort of intelligence. It would be more accurate to call it a higher level of instinct as opposed to intelligence, and she also knew that it came from Freya's blessing and was quite acquainted with it.

"Hehe, take no offense my bronze colored child, this big sister will always love you even if you can't even count to ten"

Mars drooped his head as his face became red with embarrassment, seeing this Ares no longer decided to poke fun at him as she let out a last giggle and then planted a kiss on top of his head.

Her face became solemn as she gazed up at the night sky. Mars could feel the change in mood and stopped playing around.

"That new star..."

Mars looked up at Ares' face who had brought him into an embrace as her smile was comparable to the star she gazed at.

"That little star......is you!"

Mars opened his mouth wide as he was shocked, he couldn't believe it at all and stared at the tiny star, but he knew Ares wasn't lying to him or teasing him. When it came to things like these, Mars always knew she would be serious and he had come to understand his big sister's ways.

Mars looked at the star in wonder and disbelief, Ares once more continued to speak and the former could feel a tinge of sadness as well as joy in her following words.

"No matter whatever happens, that star will always remain there right next to mine as a sign that we will always be family"

"Mhhm, big sister will always be my most precious family"

After agreeing, Mars didn't say anything more as he had a feeling he shouldn't, Ares wanted to hug him for a while longer today and was in an extremely fragile mood. He wasn't sure what it was, but he knew sometimes she would have this sadness appear every now and then and it was better for him to be a pillow at times, an extremely quiet pillow.

Freya had told him a little about the previous God of War and that Ares missed her father greatly, Freya seemed to strongly hint that the previous God of War was wrongly condemned but she would never come right out and say anything.

The green-dressed woman believed that Ares should be the one to tell Mars and didn't want to overstep her bounds. Even Gods had rules they had to obey and certain lines they couldn't cross when dealing with other people's champions.

Freya was never concerned with other people's champions and even she was confused when she decided to give Mars her blessing. She had never been too intimate with other people's champions, but there was something different about Mars that she had found extremely likeable. As for what that was, only Freya knew but Heracles had his suspicions.

After a few hours of star-gazing, the mood had been settled and Mars felt it was a good time to ask the question he had wanted to ask.

".....I'm going to have to leave soon aren't I?"

Mars asked as he gazed at Ares' face, her eyes visibly shook and her red full lips quivered slightly.

*Smack*

"Ouch!"

"Now why'd you have to go and ask that...*Sob*.."

Ares' voice trembled as she continuously knocked his head a few times and complained, a few tears had managed to leak out but she quickly composed herself and pressed the young boy's head down so that he couldn't tell. However, he wasn't that dense and obviously could tell.

For a Goddess such as herself who had been alive for quite a long time, 5 years was like a drop in a ocean. For them, it was much much too quick. Ares wasn't happy at all that it was already over for now, she gazed at the youth who seemed to look slightly more like a man now and a warm feeling came from her heart.

This was a boy she had raised on her own...no- a man...This was her champion! Mars Romulus! Champion of the God of War!!