The silence that followed the beating was heavier than the sound of the war outside. Ares, the once-fearsome lord of massacres, lay sprawled at Eron's feet like a slaughtered animal. Golden blood, the ichor of the gods, stained the fortress stones, evaporating into black smoke at the touch of the electric aura emanating from Eron.
Eron felt no pity. He felt only a divine hunger roaring in his veins.
— You are nothing but an obsolete concept, Ares — Eron said, his voice vibrating with a magnetic resonance that made the weapons scattered on the ground tremble. — The world has changed. War now belongs to lightning and iron. It belongs to me.
Eron buried his hand into Ares' chest. There was no resistance; the divine flesh parted like silk before the will of the new master. Ares let out a scream that echoed not only through the fortress but across every battlefield in Europe—a final lament of a fading era.
Diana watched, paralyzed, as Eron extracted Ares' pure essence. A red light, dense and pulsing like a heart of magma, was ripped from the fallen god's body. Eron enveloped this light with his blue sparks, forcing the fusion.
The impact of the absorption was cataclysmic. A shockwave of pure energy swept through the fortress, pulverizing the throne of bones and hurling the remaining columns into the sea. The sky over Greece, once crimson, exploded into a storm of white and black lightning.
When the light receded, Ares was nothing but a gray, empty shell, crumbling into dust in the wind.
Eron stood in the center of the courtyard. He seemed taller, his skin glowing with a metallic luminescence, and his eyes were now abysses of absolute power. He was no longer just the son of Zeus; he was the new God of War, but a different kind of war—a war of order, dominion, and electricity.
He turned to Diana. The arrogance was still there, but now it was accompanied by a terrifying majesty.
— Rise, my queen — he said, reaching out his hand. A gentle magnetism helped Diana to her feet, healing her wounds instantly with his touch. — Olympus will feel this void. They will try to fill it with our destruction.
Diana looked at Eron's hands, feeling the power now emanating from him. She knew the balance of the universe had been shattered. The taboo had been violated, and Eron was now both the greatest criminal and the most powerful being to ever walk the Earth.
— Let them come — Diana replied, her voice firm, though her eyes still showed the shock of what she had witnessed. — We are no longer the Amazons or the bastards they ignored.
Eron pulled her into a possessive kiss while, in the background, the skies of Europe continued to burn with World War II. But for Eron, that war was merely a rehearsal. With Ares' divinity fused to his own, he looked toward the horizon and saw not just a battlefield; he saw his empire.
— The age of men is over, Diana. And the age of the old gods ends today. — Eron looked up toward the invisible Mount Olympus among the clouds. — Father, I hope you are watching. Because I am coming for your crown next.