God of War, Ares: Guardian

by Brandon Chen

  “Jafaar!” Sahad screamed, his hands shaking at his side at the sight of his injured friend. “You bastards are going to pay for this!”

  Ares blinked, turning to see that the giant hound was his Guardian that he had summoned to protect Aleysha and Yuu. He narrowed his eyes when he saw his two friends dismounting the Guardian. “What are you guys doing here? I told you that you were to stay back!”

  “Stay back and watch as the eastern nations battle the Persians only a mile away? Do you know anyone who would sit there and watch their comrades die?” Aleysha snapped, patting the Guardian. “Besides, you were in trouble and we came here to save you. Fang got us here pretty quick, didn’t ya?” The mercenary nuzzled the hound’s cheek and the Guardian panted, content.

  Fang? Ares sighed and looked at a wrinkled piece of paper that was lying at his feet. It showed a drawing of Tetsu, all beaten up. His execution … at noon? His heart began to race and he glanced upward. Tetsu is here in Persepolis? That idiot, I left him back in Yuusus for a reason!

  Do you know anyone who would sit there and watch their comrades die?

  A bead of sweat trickled down the side of Ares’ face and he lowered his head, chuckling. Man, I guess I really don’t know anyone who’s willing to just sit back and stay safe, do I?

  “Yuu … you’re with these guys?” Sahad growled, tightening his grip on his chain scythe. “You’re committing treason! What the hell is wrong with you?”

  Yuu stared at Sahad with a cold gaze that sent chills through the enemy Magus. He unsheathed his sword and twirled it through the air perfectly, his turquoise eyes gleaming, taking a step forward. “I don’t like being lied to. The boy that you’re fighting is the true heir to the Persian throne. Not that hubristic fool, Cambyses. I will see to it that Darien claims what is truly his.”

  “Cambyses is making Persia more prosperous than ever before. Even the previous Persian king didn’t build an empire as grand as this!” Sahad snarled, whirling his chain over his head, making the blade move at such blinding speeds that it was no longer visible. “He’s a great king!”

  “But at what cost?” Yuu said, pointing the tip of his sword at Sahad. “He’s destroyed the lives of hundreds of thousands by taking over their homes. Entire countries have been burned to ashes and countless families have been torn apart. I know what it’s like to lose family. After all, you’re fighting someone that’s a brother to me. A few weeks ago, I thought he was dead. I’m sure you know what it’s like to lose someone important to you, Sahad. Imagine millions of people feeling that same agony. Persia has been nothing but an aggressor to the other nations of Dastia, led by a greedy king with a nefarious plan to conquer every inch of this continent. How many people will have to die for that dream to become reality? How many people will have to suffer?”

  Sahad didn’t speak.

  “Man, stop babbling on and on about peace and all that junk,” Jafaar murmured, a sliver of blood streaking from his mouth down to his chin. He slowly rose to his feet, his left arm cracked in a twisted position. The Magus dragged his sword across the ground weakly as he slowly began to limp towards Yuu. “Peace, peace, peace. That’s all the king wants! Who cares how many people have to die to maintain peace. Even if you try to stop Cambyses from achieving his dream you’ll have to kill even more people! Isn’t that what you and your army are doing right now? People are going to die regardless. You can’t change that!”

  Yuu’s eyes widened as Jafaar suddenly bolted forward, swiping his sword up at the noble mage. The white-haired man took a step backward, planting his feet firmly. He held his sword out in front of him as Jafaar engaged him, the emotion sucked out of his unwavering glare.

  “Jafaar, you idiot, stop!” Sahad yelled. “There’s no way you can handle Yuu! Not in your current state!”

  “Shut up!” Jafaar boomed, tearing his blade through the air at Yuu’s face. The Magus grunted when he realized that the noble had ducked the blow easily, calmly seeing straight through the attack. Yuu clamped his other hand on the hilt of his sword and rotated his body, swiping his blade in a diagonal slash up from Jafaar’s torso to his upper chest. Blood spurt into the air like a fountain and Jafaar’s face paled as he stared at Yuu. The noble struck with such perfect speed, accuracy, and force that his skill was easily unrivaled by any ordinary swordsman. Everything he did was perfect, straight from the books. So why was someone like him rebelling against his superiors?

  Jafaar slammed his foot into the ground, his legs quivering weakly and screaming for him to collapse. But the Magus clenched his bloodstained teeth and launched himself once more at Yuu, unwilling to surrender. “How dare you go against the lord who gave you everything? You selfish brat, you’ll pay for going against Cambyses!”

  Ares stared at Jafaar. This man was so loyal to Cambyses, very different from Ramses. The god was about to step forward to help Yuu but saw that the noble was already prepared for the assault.

  Yuu stepped backwards, allowing Jafaar to strike out into open air. The noble swiftly ripped his weapon downward, cutting straight down Jafaar’s body. The crazed Magus collapsed in a heap, blood pooling around his body. Yuu squeezed the hilt of his sword as he eyed the unmoving body of his old comrade, but said nothing. He turned to Sahad. “You don’t have to do this, Sahad.”

  Sahad was quavering with rage, stricken by the death of Jafaar. He rushed forward, whipping his chain scythe downward at Yuu. The blade cut a downward arc straight at Yuu’s body. “You’ll pay, you spoiled brat!”

  Yuu was about to take a step backward when he suddenly felt someone grabbing his ankle. He glanced downward with horror and saw that Jafaar had grabbed him. The man was just barely alive and was gasping, blood hemorrhaging from his fatal wounds. Yuu tried to tear himself from Jafaar’s grip so that he could avoid Sahad’s whipping scythes but grunted, realizing that Jafaar wouldn’t let go.

  Aleysha stepped in front of Yuu, raising her sun shield to the air. One of the scythes smashed into it, glancing off harmlessly. The noble sighed with relief, glad that Aleysha had come to his rescue. Suddenly a spear shot straight past Yuu’s face, blowing his hair slightly, and buried itself straight into Sahad’s chest. The Persian Magus was forced off his feet and smashed into a building made of clay. The structure collapsed in an instant on top of Sahad, sending a wave of dust dispersing outward.

  The spear tore itself from the wreckage and returned to the hand of its owner, Ares. The god walked forward and nodded to Aleysha and Yuu. “Thanks for the help.” He looked down and saw that Jafaar had loosened his grip on Yuu’s leg. The Magus had already died from blood loss. “Tetsu’s in trouble. He’s in District Four, scheduled to be executed. I need you two to go there and help him as soon as possible.”

  “What are you going to do?”

  “Mithra is off fighting Ahriman right now and I have to help him. I trust that you guys can save Tetsu,” Ares said with a smile. “And you, Fang, make sure these idiots don’t get killed, alright?”

  Fang stuck out his tongue playfully, panting excitedly.

  Ares smiled and snapped his fingers. His flaming chariot, pulled by the four black warhorses, leapt into view and drifted to the god of war’s side. The young boy mounted his chariot, grabbing the black reins, turning to look at his friends. “Good luck on your side. Once you’ve got Tetsu to safety, go and help Alkaios and his forces with taking the city. Make sure that there are as few casualties as possible.” He snapped the reins down and his horses bolted forward, pulling his chariot through the chaotic city of Persepolis.

  People are going to die regardless. You can’t change that! Jafaar’s voice echoed through the boy’s head. So what could he do? Was facilitating the downfall of Persia and the elimination of Ahriman really the best course of action? The number of civilians that would perish in this battle would be enormous. Ares’ expression softened as he raced through the streets. But it was either that or allow Ahriman to slay millions. The world is unfair. The world is cruel. Darien had learned
that firsthand five years ago.

  In order to save lives, he was going to need to take them. What a barbaric cycle.

  ***

  Tetsu analyzed his situation, beads of sweat racing down his face. He was surrounded by hundreds of fleeing civilians while thousands of Persian foot soldiers were closing on his position. Kira was stuck amongst the panicking crowd and had melted in with the civilians, meaning that it was difficult for the archers to pinpoint her exact location. Persian rangers were positioned on every rooftop around the plaza. Their arrows were nocked, and with a single command, both Tetsu and Ramses would be pumped full of bronze pricks. On the bright side, Bator had left the scene earlier to go and warn the Persian generals of some incoming threat. That was one less enemy to worry about.

  Tetsu looked down at his hands, which were still cuffed together. He narrowed his eyes. Damn, this bites. The mercenary closed his eyes and exhaled, calming himself. His heart rate slowed and his shoulders relaxed as all of the panic left with the air he expelled through his nose. His eyes opened, glowing bright red like two perfect rubies. “Alright, let’s do this.”

  Ramses looked at him and smirked, reaching up and pulling his cowl over his head. “I’ll follow your lead then, big guy.”

  Tetsu leapt off of the stage, hitting the ground and rolling swiftly as he broke into a mad sprint towards the crowds of fleeing civilians that were rushing for the plaza’s exit. If he managed to get close to the civilians, it would halt the archers from firing. After all, they didn’t want to hit their own people, right? Even if Cambyses gave them the order that they were allowed to fire into the crowds, Tetsu knew that those archers were still human. Humans with families, and they could potentially be firing at people that they knew.

  Ramses extended both of his hands out in opposite directions and released bright beams of light from his palms that matched the evanescent flashing color of the sun. The beams cut through the air for only a swift second but smashed into the rooftops of buildings, obliterating entire structures. Archers screamed in terror as the roofs beneath them collapsed. In only a moment, Ramses eradicated a majority of the surrounding buildings, leaving nothing but sweeping clouds of dust and rubble.

  Archers who were positioned on buildings that hadn’t been decimated were firing rapidly at Ramses, but soon realized that the Magus had melted into a cloud of dust that came from a nearby building that had fallen right next to the stage. “He’s getting away!”

  Meanwhile, arrows were smacking into the ground behind Tetsu. He scrambled forward, his heart racing as he dove into the crowd of fleeing Persians, fully ready to use anyone as a shield against the arrows that rained down on him. But the projectiles stopped coming, as he expected, and Tetsu sighed with relief, realizing that amongst these civilians he was safe. That was until he saw the Persian foot soldiers converging on his position. He grunted, the chain on his handcuffs jingling as he turned to try and find Kira. Unfortunately, she was nowhere in sight. Damn it! I need to get these cuffs off or I’m screwed!

  A soldier rushed through the crowd towards him, his scimitar brandished freely in the air. The crowd scattered around Tetsu, and the Persian sprinted forward, bringing his blade cutting downward towards Tetsu.

  Tetsu rolled to the side and leapt towards his opponent, driving both of his legs into the Persian’s chest. The soldier grunted as he staggered backward, stunned from the blow, as Tetsu slammed hard onto his side, unable to catch himself with his hands. He groaned and swung back onto his feet, realizing that dozens more Persian soldiers were shoving themselves through the crowds of people, closing in quickly on Tetsu’s position. Soon he would be completely surrounded if he didn’t do something. His eyes darted around, but all that he could see were Persian soldiers rushing at him. Where the hell is Kira? Where did Ramses go? Damn it, guys!

  Tetsu sensed a flicker of movement from behind him and swung around to the side as a sword jab punctured the air where he had been only a moment earlier. He jammed his elbow back into a man’s throat, causing the soldier to collapse in an instant. But he didn’t have time to rest. More slashes and blows came raining down on him and he gracefully avoided them. His eyes could see the tension of his opponents’ muscles and the direction at which they would strike far before they actually attacked. This was the power of the Hayashi clan’s infamous demonic eyes. But Tetsu knew that he couldn’t dodge forever. He hardly had any opportunities to take the offensive. If things kept up like this, eventually he’d make a mistake and would get cut down.

  Suddenly there was a frightening roar as a gigantic beast smashed through a wall of one of the plaza’s buildings, smashing out into the execution area. It was a ferocious hound with black fur and beastly red eyes. It bared its sharp fangs and snarled loudly as it dashed in the direction of Tetsu.

  The Persians around Tetsu had lowered their swords and were now scattering at the sight of the charging monstrosity. Tetsu cringed as the beast rushed towards him. What the hell is a beast from the Lost Sands doing here?

  “Fang, stop! Tetsu, are you okay?” Aleysha’s voice called.

  Tetsu frowned and looked up to see that Aleysha was on top of the beast with another man who had flowing white hair. His turquoise eyes were unmistakable. “Yuu?” Tetsu’s eyes widened and twinkled with excitement as he exclaimed, “It’s you, isn’t it?”

  Yuu brushed some of his hair from his eyes and he smirked. “It’s been a while, Tetsu.”

  “Hell yeah it’s been a while! I thought you were dead all these years!” Tetsu exclaimed with a broad grin. Then he lowered his eyes, remembering that Yuu had sacrificed himself for Tetsu’s sake five years ago in the throne room. “Look, man….”

  “You don’t have to say it,” Yuu said. “Just get on Fang and let’s get out of here.”

  “Wait, Kira and Ramses are here as well—” Tetsu began when suddenly he heard an explosion. He turned his head and saw Ramses burst from a cloud of dust and slam hard to the ground, his face heavily bruised. “Ramses!”

  Emerging from the smokescreen of dust behind Ramses was Bator, who wielded his crescent-shaped weapon. “Ah, there you are, Tetsu! I was beginning to think that you had already escaped!” He sauntered forward casually and brought his boot down on Ramses’ cheek, smashing the Magus’s face hard into the ground. Blood spurted from the man’s lips into the dirt. “But you always put your friends first, don’t you?”

  Tetsu gritted his teeth. “Take your boot off of him or you’ll regret it!”

  “Oh? I’ll regret it? And what are you going to do to me? You don’t have the Sands of Time anymore, infamous mercenary. Do you know what that makes you? Nothing. You’re no one special. You’re just an idiot bound by chains just like when you were a child. I know your story, Hayashi clansman,” Bator said, pressing his boot harder into Ramses’ face. “But do you know what pisses me off the most? That you have the audacity to even think that you can still beat me even without that Sacred Treasure. Look around you! You’re finished.”

  Tetsu looked over his shoulder from the corner of his eye and saw that Persian soldiers had completely surrounded their position. He worked his jaw, digging his nails into the palms of his hands in frustration.

  “R-Run…!” Ramses let out through clenched teeth. He pressed his palms into the dirt ground, trying to pick himself up.

  Bator smirked at the Magus’s persistence and smirked wickedly. “Great Tetsu Hayashi, I want to see you suffer. Watch, powerlessly, as your friend is sent to the afterlife. Realize the reality, Tetsu. You’re too weak to protect anyone. Even yourself.” The Magus whirled his crescent dagger and jammed it down into Ramses’ back, twisting the blade. Blood soaked Ramses’ cloak and he cried out in agony, tears gleaming in the corners of his eyes.

  Tetsu scowled and his hands balled up into tight fists as he quavered with rage. He yanked on his chains, wishing that he could just shatter these cuffs, fly outward, and bash Bator’s face in. He wished that he had Ares’ power. Powerless. What am I without the
Sands of Time? Just an ordinary man fighting amongst gods. He continued to pull on the chains in futile attempts to shatter his shackles.

  Bator watched him pitifully with a sadistic grin on his face. “Bring out the other one,” he ordered. Emerging from the dispersing cloud of dust were two other Magi that were holding Kira. The Luxas Magus was covered in bruises, and was barely conscious as they forced her onto her knees. Her staff fell from her limp hands and clattered to the ground. Bator tore his blade from Ramses’ unmoving body and began to saunter towards Kira. “She’s next.”

  “Don’t you dare touch her!” Tetsu screamed, sprinting forward with his bound hands swaying in front of him. Suddenly there was a flash of movement and he saw that Bator had practically teleported from his original position to Tetsu in an instant. His speed was too fast for even his eyes to follow without the Sands of Time.

  Bator ripped his dagger downward at Tetsu’s face, perfectly prepared to kill the Hayashi clansman. Suddenly there was a crackling sound, and Bator’s eyes bulged when he saw that his hand had been completely frozen in ice, stopping his motion mid-air. An orange shield suddenly came crashing down on his hand, shattering the ice into a million pieces. Bator didn’t feel the pain, but he screamed in agony when he realized that he could no longer see his hand. All that was there was a bloody stub covered in frost. “AGH!”

  Tetsu glanced to his left and smiled at Aleysha and Yuu, who had come to his aid.

  “You’ll regret hurting Tetsu’s friends, Magus,” Yuu said, dismounting Fang. He snapped his fingers and Tetsu’s shackles chilled to such a freezing temperature that the metal snapped, and the chains clanked loudly to the ground. The noble reached to his side and unsheathed his sword. “I’ll make sure of that.”

  Tetsu shook his hands, satisfied that he had been freed. He turned around and walked to the body of the soldier that he had knocked unconscious and picked up his sword. He tested the weapon’s balance as he tossed it from hand to hand and kept his eyes trained on Ramses. He walked forward and stepped past Aleysha and Yuu. “You guys handle the two Magi who have Kira. Make sure she doesn’t get hurt. I’ll handle the one-eyed freak.”