PHASE 28 - SMACKDOWN WITH THE GODS

“No! Thor has been defeated!”

Goddess Hebe cried as she hovered with an even higher altitude, using her maroon angel wings for flight. She was more terrified than the other gods and goddesses for the reason that she’s the one nearest to me.

“Everybody, run! Don’t you ever look back!” Goddess Eirene said. “!!!”

The Goddess of Spring waved her bouquet of flowers, and several petals fell down on her trail. All those petals immediately sprouted root-tentacles that surged towards me, attempting to be an obstacle to my God-hunt.

The tentacle roots wrapped me, but I easily overcame them with my overwhelming strength paired with the God Fragment of Thor’s electricity. The vines may tie me up, but these are nothing but spiderwebs for me. They cannot prevent their incoming doom.

I bent my knees and arced my legs, compressing energy on my buttocks. With electric energy and the power of the Aether Armor, I jumped forward, aiming at the fleeing Greek Goddess of Youth.

Snap! Snap! Snap! All the root-like tendrils that were blocking my way got destroyed the moment my armor touches them. I did not lose momentum on my jump, so with extreme speed, I caught up with the flying Hebe. I raised my war hammer ready to pummel her head.

“What kind of monster are you!?” The Goddess of Youth cried.

“!!!”

Everything became dark, and a large silver streak dashed downwards. There are also lightning streaks that followed the silver trail, and then there was a huge explosion.

When the darkness faded, the Goddess Hebe was already put to the ground, with a large crater on her background. Her maroon wings have been electrocuted completely as some of its feathers suffered burns. The grail that the goddess was holding was broken to pieces, and now there’s this black bubbling ooze filling up the point of impact.

“Damn, I should have made a wish before I destroyed the grail,” I muttered to myself.

“!!!” Goddess Dike raised her staff as soon as she saw me striking down one of her allies. It seems that she has planned this counterattack beforehand.

As soon as I landed on the ground, a powerful explosion blasted right in front of my face. Thick smoke engulfed the area, and the crater where I landed became much deeper about five feet.

“Take that, you armored bastard!” Goddess Dike laughed.

When the smoke faded, I saw myself carrying a gigantic scale, about the size of a double-decker bus. This spell called should have been a direct attack to my face, and it is sure to convert anyone to chunks if it hits. Good thing my Aether Armor is invincible.

Slightly irritated, I dashed forward with a teleportation-like speed and went in front of the Greek Goddess of Justice. I raised my hammer, ready to beat her up to a pulp.

“W-Wait!” Goddess Dike cried, trying to bargain her life. “Aren’t you afraid of hurting a lady like me? More so if it’s a goddess!”

“Oh, I’m sorry.” I laughed. “But I’m an advocate of true gender equality. If male enemies are getting some smacking, then I should have the same punishment to my female enemies.”

“Ah! How dare you!” Goddess Dike groaned like a sassy maiden.

“And I hate all-high-and-might women like you.” I gritted. “!!!”

BANG!!!

The goddess of “Justice” was down in one smash. Now there are three gods down, and there’s three more to go.

“We have to do everything to slow him down!” Chronos cried in panic. “Everybody, unleash your ultimate attacks!”

“!!!” Poseidon spun his trident and then threw it towards me. The trident was immediately converted into a long serpent with red eyes, and its head is about the size of a compact car. The water dragon surged towards my face which washed the dust out of my precious armor. I guess I don’t need a car wash.

“!!!” Eirene pointed her bouquet of flowers at me, and the bouquet unleashed an endless stream of brown vines that crashed towards me. But because of the Aether Armor’s protection, all the vines snapped the moment they make contact with my silver plates. But hey, at least the vines brushed all the dirt from my newfound armor!

“!!!” Chronos levitated as he opened hundreds of Time Gates to summon his other counterparts from different timelines. These time clones of him immediately unleashed beams of prana from their hands, pointing at me. According to the armor’s sensors, the heat would have fried anyone for each beam of prana is about a thousand degrees Celsius, but thanks to the armor again, I’m unaffected. All the beams did is to dry my armor up.

Now I’m all nice and clean.

“No way!” Poseidon cried as he exhausted the power of his God Core. He reverted back into a plain Cursed Guardian as a result. The same goes for the Goddess Eirene and God Chronos.

“My turn.” I smiled underneath my armor. I raised my hand, focusing my prana to create a stack of three gigantic snowflakes that levitates and rotates in midair. “!!!”

As the shurikens hit the three Cursed Guardians, eighty percent of their bodies were engulfed with ice. Everything underneath their necks became frozen solid, and now they can no longer escape.

“Damn it!” The Cursed Guardians cried.

“It’s over now, so don’t try to escape, you puny rats.” I laughed at the enemies.

“Who are you!?” The Cursed Guardian that once held Chronos’ powers asked me with a mix of fierceness and scariness on his tone. This guy must be Leon Frembell.

I looked at my mechanized armor’s arms and fully appreciated its beauty. This armor, which was made from the ice of the Frozen Soul is something that defines absolute power. With this, I’m completely invulnerable to any attacks and effects. My body is also frozen in time, which means my energy will never be exhausted. I can even use a fragment of a God Core to use a portion of its powers.

I should be fighting Goku and Superman right now.

I took my time to make a series of steps towards my target, the Cursed Guardian Leon Frembell. He’s a middle-aged man who is wearing their traditional cult uniform of a black cloak. His crimson eyes with triangle sigil looked at me with signs of being a coward. He seriously wants to run away from me right now, if only he’s not sealed with my ice.

“My name is Aeternos,” I muttered.

“Ha! I knew it.” The Cursed Guardian laughed. “You’re a time traveler from the future. You are destined to be the leader of the New Order. You are a Cursed Guardian, just like me... Just like any of us.”

“I’m not cursed like you!” I clenched my fists, trying to suppress my urge to punch the bastard’s face. “Give me the God Core of Chronos!”

“Ha!” The crimson-eyed bastard with thick eyeliners laughed. “Hahahaha! Hahahaha! You’re funny, mister time traveler!”

“What’s so funny?”

“I knew all along. I knew that you wanted to take the God Core of Chronos from me, to return to your future. I’ve seen it through my .” The Cursed Guardian continued to laugh. “I knew that we cannot beat you in battle, so I have devised a plan in order to win the war.”

I don’t have time to listen to his nonsense. I have places to be. My adorable idiotic girlfriend is waiting for me on the other side of the timeline, and I need to beat the shit out of my doppelganger (which is the future me, by the way).

“Void Art: God Core-”

Just before I could finish pronouncing the spell name, the Cursed Guardian talked once again.

“I have sealed the God Core of Chronos with my heart. Once you remove the God Core, my heart will be removed too: which will result in my immediate death.” The Cursed Guardian laughed.

“What the…” My jaw trembled. “Are you nuts!? You don’t need to kill yourself just for a God Core!”

“I’m not doing this for the God Core, oh supreme leader of the New Order. I’m doing it so that you shall be born… as the true Aeternos. If you withdraw the God Core and take my life in the process with your selfish and sinful greed, you shall become one of us… You shall become a Cursed Guardian.”

“That’s…”

Right at this moment, all my resolve has been turned to dust.

The Cursed Guardian is right. If I kill him just for the sake of obtaining the God Core of Chronos, then I’ll be tainted by sin. I’ll become cursed. I’ll become Aeternos. But if I did not get the God Core from him, I will be stuck here, in this timeline.

I will not be able to return to my own time. If I get stuck here, the things that I saw on my about me ordering Diadem to kill my friends; about me becoming the leader of the New Order; about me being the enemy that will take the Fragment of the Frozen Soul from Amy and the Curse of the Brightmore Witch from Tiara; will certainly happen. If I try to resist that fate, a time paradox will take place.

It’s a complete checkmate where I become a Cursed Guardian whatever path I choose.

And the worst part...

I will never be able to come back.