30 Advance chapters on [email protected]/Saintbarbido.
(General P.O.V.)
-Loth's Spiritual world-
The black sea bubbled and roiled beneath the dim pink glow of the corrupted sun.
Loth's spirit stood on the darkened surface, his body glowing faintly with a shroud of Anodite energy.
His arm was gripped within the Hellhound's jaws, teeth dripping with dark venom. A hiss was produced everytime the venom drops fell on Loth's pink shroud.
The Hellhound growled in frustration, struggling to bite through Loth's reinforced arm, which pulsed with activated energy circuits.
The familiar warmth of his magic was more than welcome to Loth. And after weeks of struggling to control it, the energy now rushed to do his bidding like an eager puppy.
The Hellhound's jaws shattered when a shield construct sprung around Loth's forearm. Behind Loth, pink arrows shot out, exploding on impact and throwing the Curse away.
"You'll submit to me or die!" Loth said through gritted teeth, following the Hellhound from the air on a board of energy, while raining down destruction in the form of conjured constructs.
The Curse was unexpectedly smart, dancing around Loth's attacks while regenerating it's jaw by pulling dark energy from the black sea below. A strategy it used everytime Loth wounded it.
Despite the stalement, Loth was not frustrated. The more It regenerated, the more dark energy was used up, thus decreasing the curse's rate of infection through his body.
Winning was no longer a dream but a waiting game. Either the curse grew weaker and he purged it from his system, or It submitted to him and he gained another power.
With a burst of power from the sun overhead, Loth conjured a series of thick pillars that dropped down around the Hellhound, blocking escape and surrounding It.
A pink spear packed with immense magical energy formed above Loth, rotating with a powerful sound and glowing brilliantly in the oppressive void.
He hurled it with precision, aiming for the Hellhound's snarling throat.
The spear sliced through the air, but the curse unleashed a torrent of black venom, melting down the construct before it could strike.
"Maybe I didn't put in enough magical energy? No that's not it." Loth frowned, his fingers twitching as he summoned another weapon.
This time, a spinning pink disc materialized in his hand, attached to his finger by a thin string of energy that he could use to control the disc's path, unlike his usual constructs.
He launched the disc toward the beast in a winding unpredictable path, watching as it cut clean through the Hellhound's body.
For a moment, the beast froze, its form splitting apart—but instead of falling, the sea bubbled with dark energy and the curse multiplied, two identical Hellhounds emerging from the halves.
"You've got to be kidding me," Loth growled, falling back as the two beasts charged at him from below.
Thinking quickly, he split the disc in 2, modified them with faster spinning and added the function to explode on contact.
As the beasts closed in on his levitation board, he launched the modified discs, the explosions shredding the Hellhounds into black mist.
The sea beneath began to boil, more Hellhounds emerging from the depths. Their growls echoed across the void.
With each new arrival the sun above pulsed brighter, granting more power to Loth.
Loth smirked as his suspicions were proven correct. "The more energy you expend to beat me, the weaker you become."
This was his world. His life.
"I'm in control now." He raised his hand, pulling power from reserves that felt limitless. Behind him, a storm of spinning pink arrows appeared, each one glowing with lethal explosids energy.
With a snap of his fingers, the arrows rained down like a meteor shower, obliterating every Hellhound in sight.
When they split into copies or reformed from the sea, he simply conjured more constructs and continued killing them. Up until the black sea turned gray and the black veins of infection on the surface of the sun, were burned away by its recovered heat.
When the dust settled, only one Hellhound remained, its trembling form standing amidst the destruction.
Loth calmly floated down, his pink aura flaring as he leveled a spinning lance at the lone survivor cowering before him.
The curse had grown so weak he could kill it with a single motion, purging it out of his body. But he had a different plan in mind.
"Submit," he commanded, his voice echoing with authority. "This is your last chance."
The Hellhound whimpered, its eyes shaking as it began to bow Its head in subservience.
"Good-" The smile on Loth's face fell away as pain suddenly erupted through his stomach, forcibly ripping him out of his spiritual world.
In the real world, Loth's body convulsed after Ares drove his boot into his stomach, sending him sprawling across the rocky canyon floor.
"Pathetic," Ares sneered, striding toward a very confused and in pain Loth. "You can't even protect your body, let alone your mind from the curse."
Loth coughed, blood spilling from his lips as he tried to push himself up, tiny wisps of his magic flaring around his fingers.
Ares didn't give him the chance. Another kick sent him rolling across the ground, the rocks tearing at his skin.
"You're nothing," Ares said, grabbing Loth by the foot. "Dust. Born a few decades too early."
With a cruel laugh, he swung Loth like a rag doll before releasing him into the air, where he slammed into the canyon wall.
Loth's body smashed into the rock with a sickening crunch, leaving him embedded in the stone.
Ares leapt up, gripping the edge of the wall as he leaned in close to the bleeding mortal.
"I've been waiting for this," he said, his voice low and menacing. "Ever since Hecate took an interest in you. She thinks you're special. I still don't see it."
Loth's bloodied eyes flickered toward him, but he couldn't muster the strength to speak.
Ares snickered. "In case you're wondering why she isn't here to save you? It's simple: Gods are fickle. The moment you refused her offer, you became nothing to her. Consider yourself lucky, though. If you'd accepted to be her's, she would've devoured your soul for that strange magic. Chin up sport, this way at least you die with your powers intact."
As if in response, Loth screamed, black veins spreading across his body. A dark aura seeped from his skin, the air around him growing heavy and oppressive.
Ares' smirk widened. "It's time. I was beginning to wonder when the curse was going to overwhelm you with an extreme makeover involving fangs and claws."
He leaned in, voice filled with dark glee. "After all, I need a reason to kill you."
Laughing, Ares' hand glowed with divine energy.
A blade of red light formed in his palm, its edge shimmering with lethal intent.
Loth's screams died out slowly, head drooping onto his neck. His body had shifted into a more beastial form, with gray fur across his body, sharp claws and teeth.
"Don't worry," Ares said, raising the blade. "Your friends will be joining you in Hades soon."
Before the blade could strike, a deafening roar shattered the silence.
A pink funnel of sonic energy erupted from Loth's mouth, blasting Ares off the canyon wall and sending him flying across the desert.
Ares slammed into a distant sand dune, the impact kicking up a cloud of dust. He stood, brushing himself off as cracks spread across his sunglasses.
"What the hell was that?" he muttered low, narrowing his eyes at the canyon.
The ground rumbled, the mist obscuring a strange shadow.
Vooomph!
The canyon's rocky face shattered as a beast leaped into the air, its form silhouetted against the moonlight with a divine grace.
It moved faster than Ares expected, descending toward him with terrifying speed.
Ares jumped back, crimson shields forming before him just in time to block the impact.
"Who dares attack the God of War, son of Zeus?" he roared. "Reveal yourself, coward!"
The shadow straightened, the mist clearing to reveal a beautifully terrifying Lycanthrope.
Its glowing yellow eyes burned with feral intensity, its gray fur streaked with a brilliant pink aura flame that made the air blaze with thick magic.
The beast crouched on all fours, its movements fluid and predatory. Long strands of fur and hair danced in the wind, its savage yet controlled presence making Ares falter.
"Impossible," Ares whispered, recognizing the beast. "Loth?"
The Were-HellHound's mouth split apart in four directions, revealing rows of jagged teeth.
A swirling mass of pink energy gathered in its maw, and with a deafening roar, it unleashed a sonic blast.
The attack shattered Ares' war shields, the force blasting him across the desert. The sand dunes behind him disintegrated, leaving a deep trench scarring the land.
Ares landed on a conjured red chariot pulled by skeletal pegasi. His crimson aura flared as he surveyed the destruction he'd barely escaped.
"Not even Asclepius or the Golden Fleece could've cured that curse," Ares growled in disbelief at the Beast watching him from below. "And yet, you've not only rid yourself of it—you've mastered it."
His lips curled into a grin. "I was wrong. You are special. Impressive even. You've become a Hellhound-Human hybrid. A Were-Hellhound. But that just means you get to put up a brief struggle before the inevitable happens."
He bit his thumb, smearing blood into the air. Weapons materialized around him—swords, bombs, missiles—all glowing with divine energy. All primed at the target on the ground.
"Die," the God of War declared, preparing to unleash the full force of his War Domain.
Before he could strike, Lotb's bestial form vanished, reappearing behind him through the shadows. Ares' eyes widened as he recalled HellHounds could teleport through shadows.
A pink energy-covered claw pierced through his back, bursting out of the God's chest.
Ares coughed blood, his crimson aura flickering. He turned his head, meeting the beast's burning eyes with rage and indignation. "You… mortal beast…"
The Lycanthrope growled as it spoke, its voice guttural and savage. "Not mortal. Not beast. Blitzwolfer."
With a feral snarl, Blitzwolfer tore Ares' body apart, ripping him in two.
A red orb of light—Ares' divine essence—floated out of his shattered form, ascending toward the sky. His weapons and chariot dissolved into nothingness.
Blitzwolfer vanished into the shadows, reappearing atop the canyon.
It threw its head back, releasing a powerful howl that echoed across the desert. The moon seemed to glow brighter, acknowledging the rise of something new.
For the first time since getting infected, the Hellhound's curse wasn't a burden. It was power.