Chapter 42: War

Lucas returned to his room and slumped down on his bed.

“Ah!?”

“???”

He didn’t expect that after falling on his bed, he would hear a girl’s shout.

Lucas recognized the voice and quickly pulled the sheets.

“...Barbara? What are you doing here? When did you even get here!?”

“L-Lucas! Hey! I uhh...heard you were done with Pamela so...I came here…”

“...”

Lucas was speechless.

Are they really gonna come at him one after another now!?

Lucas looked at Barbara and saw that she was still wearing her Batgirl...no, she’s Batwoman now. She was still wearing her outfit so she probably just got back after patrolling or something.

But then, Bruce disappeared somewhere so why is she still here?

“Is it okay for you to be here? Didn’t Bruce get out just a while ago?”

“Ah, yeah. Don’t worry, it’s just Calendar-man.”

“Oh.”

Guess there’s nothing to worry about.

Since that’s the case…

Lucas stretched his hand and created white hard light to bound Barbara on the bed.

“Eh? Lucas?”

“Hehehe, looks like Batman isn’t here to save you now, Batwoman!”

Barbara paused for a bit then realized what Lucas was up to. Her face changed and looked like she was tearing up beneath her mask.

“No! You can’t do this!”

“Can’t do what!?”

“Don-don’t put it in! Ahhh!”

…

(╯°□°）╯︵ ┻━┻

…

The following morning, Lucas woke up and tried to sit up and stretch. However, when he moved, he found his hands were actually handcuffed to the bed.

Lucas remembered their ‘battle’ last night and was a bit embarrassed.

Lucas looked around for the key but didn’t see it anywhere.

He can just break the handcuff but this was Barbara’s so he didn’t want to break it if possible.

...She probably stole this from her father so they would be in trouble if it was found out…

Lucas turned to look at Barbara who laid beside him.

He found the key was actually in her cleavage.

Since both his hands were bound, he simply used telekinesis to take the key and unlock the cuffs.

Barbara woke up from the commotion and saw Lucas removing his cuffs.

She smiled and sat on top of him as she started to kiss him again.

“Mm!”

Feeling something beneath her, she blushed and punched Lucas lightly.

“Enough! I still have things to do today so don’t go overboard! I heard Pamela is still unable to walk properly you know!”

“Err...sorry…”

Lucas laughed awkwardly and stood up to get dressed.

Barabara also slowly got dressed.

While dressing up, she recalled something and spoke.

“Oh, Diana told me to have you come find her next.”

“...Did you guys like...agree to an order rotation or something?”

“Haha, something like that.”

Barbara laughed and kissed Lucas one last time before leaving.

Lucas sighed and wondered how long could he last like this. At this rate, he might really get sucked dry…

After Barbara left, she suddenly remembered something and paused.

Wait a second…

To confirm, she pulled out her phone and checked the group chat again and looked for Diana’s message.

[Diana: Tell Lucas to save up and come find me when he’s ready!]

“...Well, it should be fine.”

Barbara shrugged and left.

Lucas ate breakfast first then headed to Mount Justice first to check up on everyone.

There wasn’t anything urgent yet and the team also hasn’t finished with their mission so there wasn’t much to do. He taught the others for a while until lunch and left again to look for Diana.

He gave her a call to ask where she was. She wasn’t in the Watchtower and there doesn’t seem to be any urgent business for her so she’s at Themyscira.

Feeling a bit nostalgic seeing the island again, Lucas smiled and landed on the shore where Diana and her mother, Hippolyta.

Diana walked towards him and gave him a hug.

“Lucas, it’s been a while.”

Hippolyta smiled and stretched out her hand.

Lucas was confused and thought that he needed to kiss her hand or something.

Lucas bowed slightly and held her hand as he kissed the back of her hand.

“Your highness, it’s a pleasure to see you as well.”

“Cut the formalities. You are now one of us. Just call me Hippolyta.”

Hippolyta smiled and held his hand. Lucas tried to let go but she was holding onto it tightly.

Lucas looked at Diana in confusion but she didn’t answer him.

Like this, Lucas let himself be pulled along by Hippolyta on one hand while Diana clung to his other arm.

The two of them led him to this colosseum-like area.

There, the rest of the Amazons seemed to be waiting as well.

Hippolyta was about to open her mouth to speak when suddenly, the earth trembled and shook.

Everyone quickly drew their weapons and no longer looked relaxed as they stood on guard.

Suddenly, in the middle of the colosseum, a dark red vortex started to appear.

Slowly, a man in full jet-black armor rose up. He wore a black helmet with four horns which looked really menacing.

Seeing his appearance, Lucas could guess his identity.

He licked his lips and pulled up his status window which he hasn’t looked at for a while now.

[Level: 10 (10/1000)]

[Characters: ]

• Superman (Clark Kent/Kal-El) : 100%
• Wonder Woman (Diana): 100%
• Mera (Y’Mera Xebella Challa): 100%
• Darkseid: 87%
• Blackfire (Komand’r): 52%
• Green Lantern (Hal Jordan): 84%
• Martian Manhunter (J’onn J’onzz): 28%
• Flash (Barry Allen): 64%
• Raven (Rachel Roth): 100%
• None

Damn! Just barely increased a level!

Haha! Good thing there is now a new slot open!

Synchronize Character!

• Ares: 1%

Lucas grinned.

Now, he has a god in his synchronized characters!

The God of War, Ares!

Gaining his power, Lucas felt a whole new sensation in his body…it was still negligible at the moment, but it still exists.

If he can increase the synchronization rate, then maybe he can figure out what that power is.

Right after Ares appeared, he looked around and sneered.

“How nice of you all to gather before me! Are you all prepared to die? Or to worship me?”

“Ares! You are not welcome here!”

Diana roared and unsheathed her sword.

Ares just chucked.

“I can come and go as I please. As long as there is conflict, I am invincible!”

He waved his hand and summoned an army of undead. The rest of the Amazons charged and attacked the undead while Hippolyta charged towards Ares.

Lucas frowned and thought of something.

He pulled his phone and called Batman.

“Batman, what’s happening right now?”

“Prime! There’s been an accident! The Injustice League suddenly showed up all of a sudden and released Scarecrow’s Fear toxin in all the cities! Everyone is attacking each other and the heroes are trying to contain everyone!”

Diana frowned as she also heard the call.

She knew that while conflict exists, Ares would only become more and more powerful.

Lucas thought for a moment and his gaze turned cold.

“Diana, Hippolyta, leave this guy to me. Go and help the others.”

“...Got it.”

“Alright!”

The two of them quickly stopped attacking Ares and helped deal with the undead.

Ares frowned and stared at Lucas.

“Who are you?”

“I’m Prime!”

Lucas grinned and created armors around his body using white hard light. He created a sword as well and charged towards Ares with lightning trailing behind him.

Ares’ eyes widened in surprise at the fast speed and was only barely able to react.

Lucas swung down his sword hard and met Ares’ sword which he managed to raise in time to block.

*Boom!*

The ground sunk and created spider web cracks around them.

Those nearby were even blown back a bit from the shockwave of their clash.

Lucas didn’t give Ares a moment to spare as his eyes glowed white and shot a ray of Omega Beam at Ares.

Ares raised his arm and used his armor to block against Lucas’ attack but the Omega Beam suddenly turned and attacked him from a different angle.

Ares was blown away but didn’t seem he was damaged too much. He planted his feet to the ground to stop himself from being blown farther.

When he came to a stop, he roared and raised his hand. Darkness formed and turned into hundreds of weapons overhead.

Lucas raised his hand as well and created hundreds of missiles made of hard light above him.

Ares looked surprised.

“Please, you think I’d match your swords with swords as well? Take my Unlimited Missile Works!”

“DIE!!!”

Lucas sneered and brought his hand down at the same time Ares did the same.

*BOOOOOM!!!*

A loud explosion rang out where Ares stood while countless weapons pierced Lucas.

The dust cleared and the Amazons at the sides saw Ares was still standing. Though he wasn’t completely unscathe, he still looked energetic enough.

On the other hand, Lucas was pierced with various weapons.

Seeing this, Diana cried out.

“Lucas!”

Then, they saw Lucas smile as if it was nothing.

“Heh, did you really think that would work on me?”

Suddenly, his whole body glowed white and he dissolved into countless white ravens...err, guess not ravens but doves.

He reformed above Ares and appeared as if he had two angelic wings behind him.

Lucas stretched both hands downward and condensed light energy in his hands before firing it downwards.

*BOOOOM!!!!*

Ares was covered in a bright light.

“AAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHH!!!!!”

“NOT ENOUGH!”

Lucas roared and his eyes started to flicker with lightning.

The clouds rumbled and flickered. Suddenly, a bolt of lightning crashed down and struck Lucas.

Lucas’ whole body was covered in lightning then gathered in his arms as it condensed and combined in his light energy blast.

“NOOO!!! WHAT IS THIS!? WHY DO YOU HAVE THE POWER OF ZEUS!!!???”

Lucas gritted his teeth and continued to shoot downwards and didn’t let Ares take a moment to breath.

As Ares repeatedly tried to withstand the attack, the synchronization rate kept increasing and increasing.

20%...30%...40%...50%...60%...

As the rate continued to increase, Lucas found out that...he actually didn’t get tired at all! More like, he feels as if he is getting stronger and stronger!

This is...the power gained from conflict!?

Right, Ares’ powers increase when there is war around the world. Since he had synched his character, then doesn’t the same apply to him as well?

However, at this rate, who knows how long Ares would give out? He is, after all, a god. It would be hard to kill him.

Also, there is that unconfirmed theory of his that if the synched character dies, will he still keep the abilities?

Lucas thought for a moment and decided.

...80%...90%...100%!!!

“AZARATH METRION ZINTHOS!!!”

“NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!”

The light intensified and everyone watching closed their eyes in reflex.

When the light died down, they saw a large crater in the middle of the colosseum.

Looking down on it, the hole seemed to be very deep...however, Ares was nowhere to be found.

Above them, they saw Lucas slowly descending with the same smile he always had. However, something was different from him.

On his forehead, a white diamond crystal was embedded.

Diana rushed forward and saw he looked tired as he was perspiring a lot.

She pulled a cloth and wiped his sweat on his head and cheek.

Looking at the crystal, she asked.

“Lucas, this…”

“Ah. That’s Ares. Killing a God was more troublesome than I thought so I sealed him in that crystal instead. As long as I’m alive, he will never be able to resurface again.”

Lucas laughed.

He had waited for the synchronization rate to reach 100% before he decided to seal Ares.

For him to reach 100% that quickly, it seems Ares had considered Lucas with great enmity at the end. To the point where it will be impossible to reconcile each other.

Lucas didn’t really care but at least he now had the full power of Ares.

With this power, he can teleport anywhere he wanted and even travel to Olympus...isn’t that fun?

He can also now distribute his powers...Lucas can’t wait to test it out.

Hm? Wait, does this mean he can now be considered a God as well?

Just as he was thinking that, a ray of light appeared before them and a huge person appeared. She had brown hair and wore a loose pink robe which highlighted her curvaceous body.

The beautiful woman smiled and looked down as she started to shrink into the size of a normal human.

She landed in front of Lucas and gave him a smile.

“I am Aphrodite. The Goddess of Love.”

“...Lucas Wayne.”

Lucas was a bit surprised to suddenly see a goddess right after defeating Ares.

Diana, Hippolyta, and the others also appeared surprised.

Aphrodite looked at the crystal on Lucas’ forehead and looked a bit sad. However, she soon returned to normal and smiled.

“Lucas, you are truly an interesting being...since you had sealed and taken in the powers of Ares, henceforth...you are now the new God of War. The doors of Olympus are now open to you.”

“Uhh…”

Lucas didn’t know what to say…

“Do I have to go there or...what?”

Aphrodite blinked for a bit and tilted her head.

“Not really? I just wanted to see what kind of man can defeat the God of War while there is conflict in the world.”

She chuckled and circled around Lucas while nodding.

“Un. I can sense that a lot of women love you. You sure are popular.”

“Uhh...thanks…?”

What to say...it’s kinda embarrassing when the Goddess of Love says that to him…

“I was actually about to help out when I saw Ares was causing trouble again. But seeing that you had it handled, I didn’t show up until just now.”

Aphrodite continued to look at Lucas while poking at his muscles and nodding here and there.

Lucas felt awkward being treated like this but since she doesn’t have any ill intentions at him, he just let her be.

“Umm, Goddess-”

“Just call me Aphrodite.”

“...Then, Aphrodite...is it really alright that I sealed Ares away? I’m not in trouble with uhh, I don’t know, Olympian laws or something?”

Aphrodite touched her lip with her index finger while thinking.

“Hmm, not that I know of. Ah, speaking of laws, don’t you know it’s forbidden for a man to step foot on this island?”

“...Err…”

“Hehe, I’m kidding you. That law is centuries old, you don’t need to worry about it.”

Lucas sighed in relief.

“Then, about going to Olympus that you mentioned...is it necessary?”

Aphrodite shook her head.

“As I said, it’s not really necessary. Us Gods only like to stay there because we had lived long lives already and had grown tired of staying in the human realm. Sometimes, we would come down and have sex with mortals but that’s it. Only Ares likes to wreak havoc all the time, he’s really a troublesome kid!”

She pouted while recalling Ares.

Lucas and the others could only laugh bitterly when the Goddess of Love called the God of War a kid…

“Oh, but if possible, you should go and greet the other gods at least. If you want, we can also have sex!”

“Uhh...that’s a bit…”

Diana suddenly grabbed Lucas’ arm and glared at the goddess.

Aphrodite just laughed.

“Hahaha! No worries! I’m free whenever you want to do it! Of course, you can hook up with the others too. There’s Athena, Hecate, Artemis, Demeter, Hestia…ah, Hera is a no go! If you touch her, the old man Zeus will smite you!”

“...”