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Issue #40: X, Betrayed.

(General P.O.V)

A crash sounded out as Diana's body broke through wood and stone, sailing out of the church followed by impacting on the muddy ground.

Her body bounced a few times before she left an imprint of her back on the wall of the village well.

Something that crumbled the bricks making up the outer structure of the old well.

Coughing from the dust, the Princess of Themiscyra got to her feet, furious eyes on the building she'd been thrown out of.

It had taken one punch.

One simple slip up where she should have dodged but had decided to tank the attack instead.

Luckily she had her bracelets on, or else the bones in her hands would have shattered into bits.

That's how physically imposing the opponent was.

Boom!

The entrance to the church exploded outwards, the wooden doors splintering into multiple wood shards.

Out walked the Armor.

While it was quickly darkening, the little light available allowed her to see the blood stains covering the armor's intimidating chasis.

As well as the brand of War on it's forehead, pulsing a deep scarlet.

An agent of Ares.

So, it's like she suspected. No more words were needed then.

Diana sheathed her sword, grabbing the Laso of truth from her hip before beginning to spin it around.

The Armor immediately started running forward, it's metallic arms spread out to grab her in a bear hug.

"Demigod..."

The Princess lashed out with her Laso, the end tying around the Armor's heel. And then she tugged and it's feet were pulled out from under it.

Diana heaved, sending the large metallic warrior crashing through the foundations of the houses around her.

After completing a 360 degrees twirl, she released it, throwing the over 7 feet armor crashing through the streets before collapsing a portion of the outer wall under it's weight.

In the meantime, Diana ran forward, leaping across the roofs of the village houses that remained standing, on a path towards the Godkiller Armor.

Taking an even bigger leap, she reached the apex of her jump, high enough that she could touch the very clouds.

Lightning streaked through their voluminous forms, and a light could be seen descending to the ground like a God's Judgement.

That light was the glint of Diana's Godslayer sword. How fitting.

With a roar full of power and a thunderous impact, she crashed onto the God killer Armor, driving the blade through the mark on it's head-

The ground under the village flashed red.

"Wha-"

Diana could only gasp in shock.

And then, the whole village suddenly dissappeared. One minute it was there. The next? Gone.

Like it had never existed before.

(On a Cliff over looking the village)

Pillyphus blinked.

"Wait, where's the village?! It's gone!?"

One of her sister's yelled in surprise.

"How?? It was just there a minute ago!"

Another one echoed the sentiment from her side.

Even the General couldn't believe it for herself.

It wasn't normal for something to just dissappear out of the blue. That would take immense magical ability on par with Circe, or the divine power of a deity.

It had to be the work of a God.

And the only candidate that would have a motive? Ares.

Which meant that the enemy had discovered they were hunting him.

With the Princess missing, it naturally fell to her to maintain order. Her warriors were waiting on her leadership.

"Silence."

She roared out testily at the panicking group.

"You are Amazonian! Act like it!"

"But General, the Princess..."

One of them begun, only for a glare from the General to cut her off.

"Is strong."

Pillyphus said in a confident tone.

"The only thing we can do now, is to go down there and look for clues on how to get her back, or where she may have dissappeared off to."

From their rear, a few of those army vehicles pulled up, depositing a squad of soldiers, led by a man in a grey long coat.

"What happened?!"

Savage demanded, walking upto a quiet Pillyphus.

The small village below them was no longer there. It was obvious that had him worked up.

Pillyphus however knew an act when she saw one. He wasn't the least bit concerned with the village.

"You were supposed to go in and rescue the villagers!"

The irate man growled at Pillyphus.

"And yet-"

"And yet what?"

The General, finally having had enough said in a low tone, her body shaking with anger.

"Where are the villagers you are talking about? I don't see any."

Vandal stayed silent, narrowing his eyes at Pillyphus.

"In fact, you know what I think?"

She went on, still staring at the empty ground below them.

Her hand tightened on the handle of her sword.

"I think, that there were no villagers. And if there were, they are all probably dead. I think that this was a trap, set for us. Set for Diana."

Her sisters instantly drew out their weapons, everyone pointing them at Savage.

"Put the weapons down now!"

The commanding officer among the soldiers with him- a squad of merely 10 roared out the order.

His men raised their guns, pointing them at the 400 plus Amazons surrounding them.

Pillyphus scoofed internally.

If they were trying to be intimidating, then they were doing a very poor job of it.

"No, we will not put down our weapons."

Pillyphus sniffed disdainfully, turning around to face the Immortal, unafraid of the guns.

"I'll only ask this once, Savage. Where is the princess?"

The tension was palpable. However, Savage looked the least concerned.

He swept his gaze around at the warriors with weapons on him. Finally his eyes fell back to Pillyphus.

And a small grin appeared on his lips.

"Ah, Pillyphus. To think you'd let your guard down like that. Hiding away in Themiscyra all these years has made you weak and careless."

He chuckled.

"I gave you a chance."

The General shook her head.

"Knowing you, the longer we talk, the more dangerous you become. Kill him."

The order was executed almost immediately.

In an instant, over six arrows sailed from the Amazons- each of them accurately targeting a spot on Savage's body.

The latter snagged out with his hands, collecting all the arrows off the air by merely twisting around.

"Please."

Savage scoffed, the arrows in his hands chattering to the ground.

"You overestimate your abilities. I have faced worse odds."

The soldiers, even some of the Amazons reavuluated how they looked at him.

"Are you alright sir?"

The officer in command asked.

"I'm fine, Captain. Just tell your men not to get involved, or else you will all die."

Savage waved him off.

A thin trail of sweat fell down the Captain's face. He gulped, looking around at the women who were exuding out murderous intent.

"No use."

Pillyphus spoke.

"They shall die too. Or are you arrogant enough that you think you can take us on and protect them at the same time?"

"Me?"

A deep chuckle left him, rumbling from his chest.

"Oh, you're not facing me my dear."

Bam!!

Something heavy landed on the ground between Pillyphus and Vandal Savage.

The impact it made caused the entire ground to shake, a crater forming under it's feet.

The dust settled and a figure with glowing chains around his body rose up.

Pillyphus' eyes widened in disbelief. Some of her sisters' eyes widened in terror.

"Great Hera..."

Someone said in a horrified tone.

Clang.

A few of them even let go of their weapons, allowing them to fall onto the ground as...

"Herakles...?"

Pillyphus bit out.

...the most famous Demigod, the God of Strength, the most hated man in all of Themiscyra, the bitterest enemy of the Amazons- straightened to his feet.

"You're facing...him."

Savage finished in glee.

A blood red symbol flashed on Herakles' forehead. His eyes hidden behind his long loose hair lit up with malice and madness.

Clink.

The ends of the golden chains around Herakles' arms smacked the ground. The message was clear

Pillyphus bit her lip.

"Amazons...ATTACK!!!"

"AaargggH!!"

The female warriors surged forward in a relentless wave of death.

As the fight begun, unseen to anyone, Bulma, dressed in a light armor slinked away.

She had a message to deliver.

(A few hours later)

(Kane's P.O.V)

"Diana...is missing?"

I muttered, the words feeling foreign and filling me with a warped sense of irony.

I was the one good at the 'going missing' part.

Now, after I had made it back from literal hell and back, Diana herself dissappears.

"More like kidnapped."

Minos replied, tapping the side of his chair with his tail in agitation.

No doubt by Ares. The more I hear about this guy, the more his death becomes a necessity.

"Naturally, Ares has become a thorn on my side I can suffer no longer."

Hades went on.

"However, dealing with him myself or sending my subjects to do so would incur Zeus' retaliation. And I have no time to suffer that fool's petty grievances. A war would impact me badly."

"That's why he needs an Assassin."

Aeacus took over.

"With your expertise at killing and Princess Diana's demigod heritage..."

"You should have enough power to pull it off."

Minos finished.

"Killing a God."

"As of now, we only have a vague idea on where Ares himself could be."

Hades said.

"To that end, you will need a guide. Someone who knows the terrain of the battlefield well."

The chamber went silent as blue flames bloomed next to the King's throne.

A pitch black hellhound, similar to a few I'd seen guarding some of the entrances, walked out.

Behind it was a familiar figure dressed in an Aviator jacket.

"Okay, I love the gloomy decor but this...isn't the...bathroom..."

The figure trailed off upon sweeping his eyes around and finding himself in a room full of powerhouses.

Steve Trevor took a second to get over his confusion and gather himself.

Then his eyes landed on me with a questioning glint in them.

"Is this...like a club of Assassins or something?"

Aeacus snorted, Minos sighed and Rhadamanthus and Hades stayed silent.

Me on the other hand, I was grinning like a loon.

Despite not seeing the guy for a few weeks, it was like no time had passed.

I stretched out my hand.

"What would a spy like you say to helping me assassinate a God?"

Steve tilted his head in confusion.

"Huh? What? God? You want to kill God?"

His eyes flickered to Spyra.

"And why do you have a burning spider on top of your head?"

Okay. I think he's going to need more context.