Chapter 53: War Game (END)

Loki watched the scene involving Hyakinthos' group at the eastern side of Shreme Castle through her own mirror, a playful grin forming on her lips. "Fei-fei, looks like your kiddo's in trouble!" she said, glancing at Hephaestus, who sat beside her at the main table inside Babel Tower. "Don't you think~?"

"It seems so," Hephaestus replied with a small smile, watching as Welf swung his magic sword upward, releasing a large wave of fire that surged forward but was dodged by Hyakinthos and Daphne. "It doesn't look like they'll win this fight," she admitted.

Loki leaned closer, eyes sparkling mischievously. "Those flashy magic swords—forged by him, right?" Her pearly white teeth glistened as her grin deepened. "Regrettin' lettin' him go?"

"Who knows?" Hephaestus looked at her warmly. "But it was his choice."

"Hehe," Loki shook her head lightly, "you're a nice girl, Hephaestus. I never would've let him go if I was in your shoes."

Hephaestus simply smiled. Meanwhile, Apollo leaned down to Hestia, a smirk on his face. "It seems your group was smart," he said with a grin. "But my children are smarter. You've lost, Hestia."

Hestia glanced back at the god sharply. "I don't know what you're talking about, Apollo."

Apollo glanced toward her mirror, which showed Bell running through the passages in the keep, the outsider, Leon, covering him by handling the adventurers trying to block their way to the throne room. "Fufufu, have you been watching Bell the entire time?" 

His eyes narrowed slightly. "I guess it's best you take a good final look at him, because in three hours, you'll never see him again."

Hestia glared fiercely, but Apollo casually leaned back. With a casual flick of his finger, his mirror turned to face Hestia. Her eyes widened at what she saw.Daphne stood with one of her feet pressing firmly on Mikoto's head, pinning her to the ground. Chandra knelt on the ground, his jaw broken and body covered in weapon wounds. 

Hyakinthos held Welf's bloodied and beaten body, his fingers gripping him firmly by the neck, his breathing ragged and weak. With the Level 3 Hyakinthos there, the Apollo Familia had easily overwhelmed Zanis's group, especially after Zanis was quickly taken out.

"It seems your alliance has lost four flags~" Apollo chuckled, tossing his head back as he laughed. "Ah~ I can already feel my boys in my hands." His expression turned disgusting as he met Hestia's eyes again. "Be ready to say goodbye, little Hestia~."

———

Hyakinthos pulled the magic sword from Welf's weakened grip, tossing the boy aside as he inspected the weapon—a red broadsword with a rather long hilt. 

"What an interesting magic sword," he remarked, sensing its power, stronger than any magic sword he'd ever encountered. He glanced toward Welf, who lay coughing on the ground. "A shame we wouldn't be able to recruit him into our Familia after this war."

"How should we distribute the flags?" Daphne asked, slightly raising her boot before firmly slamming it back down onto Mikoto's head, stopping the girl from reaching for her Katana beside her.

"You, Lissos, Cassandra, and Boro will take the flags," Hyakinthos instructed, nodding toward the four of them, including the Boaz named Boro. "Afterwards, we'll stake out and run the timer down." 

He cracked his neck casually. "There's no need to risk getting the flags from the two Level 3 adventurers."

"That's too bad," came a calm voice from above.

They all turned swiftly to see Soma's Chienthrope standing casually at the edge of the 15-meter-tall wall surrounding the keep, hands resting comfortably in his dress pant's pockets, amber eyes looking down at them.

"It seems you'll have to take that risk." Rex said coolly.

"Rex Magnus," Hyakinthos said slowly as everyone tensed up, with Mikoto glancing up from her pinned position on the ground. "You're more arrogant than I thought. You came to face the seven of us, alone?"

"I know, right?" Rex took a step forward and dropped from the wall, hands still tucked casually in his pockets. He landed heavily but effortlessly, knees barely bending as dust rose around him. "Doesn't seem like a fair fight, dose it?" he remarked calmly.

"You chose to come here," Hyakinthos shook his head. "And now you say it's unfair?"

"Indeed." Rex nodded casually. "How about I cripple myself to make it fair?" He tilted his head slightly. "Would that work for you guys?" His tone made it sound like he would actually be doing them a favor.

"Magnus," Hyakinthos narrowed his eyes at Rex. "You might be Level 3, but standing before you are six Level 2s and me. You can't seriously be so arrogant as to believe you can take all of us?" 

He raised his head confidently. "Even if I were alone, I doubt you could take me on."

Rex's expression remained unchanged. "Then why don't we test that theory?" Slowly, he withdrew his left hand from his pocket, causing Hyakinthos' grip around the magic sword to tighten.

Everyone else immediately prepared for battle, with Daphne and Lissos firmly gripping their swords, not wanting to be caught off guard like with Zanis magic. As for Cassandra, she stared at Rex with trembling eyes, her fingers clenched tightly around her staff. Since his arrival, she had been shaking uncontrollably, as though she knew what would happen, and now it was even worse.

Rex casually raised his arm, lazily pointing at the seven adventurers. "All level 2s," His eyes glowed ominously, causing the six Level 2 adventurers to freeze, their eyes widening, pupils shrinking to points.

"Fall," he commanded lazily.

With that single word, all six Level 2 adventurers instantly collapsed to the ground like puppets whose strings were cut.

Hyakinthos' eyes widened in horror as he glanced around at his familia members trembling on the ground like they were about to be executed. Daphne's face was twisted in fear, sweat dripping down her temple as she grit her teeth. Lissos was twitching, Cassandra was nearly in tears, her arms shaking violently as her staff rolled away. Even the towering Boro was trembling on his knee.

"Now that I've gotten rid of them," Rex's voice drew his attention, "Why don't we go one-on-one—"

Hyakinthos didn't let him finish. He roared and raised Welf's magic sword, slashing it downward with all his might, and a massive blast of fire erupted from the blade, engulfing Rex in an instant. The fire surged past him, slamming into the keep's wall behind and spreading across the stone like a web.

After a few seconds, the fire died down and Welf's magic sword shattered in Hyakinthos' hands. He immediately drew his red longsword, and the flames cleared to reveal Rex standing there, smoke rising from his body, expression unchanged.

"You should have taken my offer when you had the chance," Rex sighed, and in a blink, he vanished. 

The ground where he stood exploded after he was gone as he reappeared in front of Hyakinthos. He stomped his forward foot down, stopping his forward momentum and transferring it to his fist that crashed into Hyakinthos' abdomen.

The air was knocked from his lungs as Hyakinthos' eyes trembled, his swords falling from his hand. His entire body lifted from the ground—but before he could fly back, Rex twisted, redirected the force, and slammed him downward. The impact of his back shattered the earth, dust and debris exploding around them. 

Rex grabbed one of his ankles, then hurled him like a ragdoll toward the inner keep's wall. Hyakinthos flew through the air at breakneck speed then crashed onto the wall back-first, arms splayed out, embedding slightly into the stone with a thunderous boom.

Rex dashed forward again, bursting through the dust cloud and appearing in front of him, driving a punch into Hyakinthos' abdomen. Blood sprayed from his mouth as the force detonated behind him—the wall erupted in a web of fractures, stretching far and wide. 

Rex put more weight behind his punch and the wall exploded, with Hyakinthos shooting through like a cannonball, spinning uncontrollably in the air. Gritting his bloodied teeth, Hyakinthos managed to twist his body midair and landed on his feet, sliding back, raising his fist in shaky defense—

Rex's foot crashed into his jaw with a savage rising right kick, snapping Hyakinthos' head back, his feet barely touching the ground. Rex twisted, his right foot grazing the ground, and immediately spinned into an upward roundhouse with his left foot that slammed into Hyakinthos' gut, launching him into the sky. 

His body arched helplessly, blurry eyes catching the sunlight—then darkened as Rex eclipsed the sun, descending with an axe-kicking straight into Hyakinthos' abdomen. 

The man released a soundless cough of blood and spit, his eyes turning white. Then with a streak, Hyakinthos was hurled down, slamming into the earth with a massive boom. Dust and debris scattered, and Rex landed with his back on the fallen captain.

He calmly adjusted his blazer. "What a waste of time," he muttered.

———

"What was that?!"

"Did you see that earlier?!"

Babel was full of screaming deities, all of whom had been watching the fight between Hyakinthos and Zanis' group because it had been the most interesting thing going on during the War Game at that moment. So when Rex arrived, the attention naturally stayed—and most, if not all, of them witnessed the quick and brutal battle between him and Apollo Familia's top members.

"A mind control spell?!"

"He brought multiple Level 2s to their knees with just a word?"

"What kind of spell is that?"

"Not only that, how strong is he to bully Phoebus Apollo like that??"

"I want that dog soooooo bad!"

"He looks so sexy. Mommy want to put him in a leash~"

Not a single deity in the chamber stayed seated, all roaring with excitement and shock. Not only had he casually brought down six top Level 2s with a single word and a raised finger, he defeated Hyakinthos with a combo that left their blood boiling. 

The poor man didn't even land a hit and was tossed around like a doll. It was a quick, yet wildly exciting one sided fight.

"…?!" Separated from the other gods enjoying the moment, Apollo stood frozen with his mouth wide open.

Hestia, in front of him, didn't move either, her eyes bulging at her mirror. Then she slowly turned back with a grin. "You were saying~?"

Apollo almost punched the goddess.

It wasn't just Babel. Many across Orario had witnessed the fight, with pubs erupting into chaos.

"FUUUUUUK!"

"My bet! My hundred thousand!"

"How could he lose? No, I—I must be dreaming?" She punched someone, knocking him out, but she felt the pain of the punch her fist. "I'm not dreaming!!"

"Hyakinthos! When I catch you, Hyakinthos!"

With Hyakinthos and the six other flag bearers losing so brutally to Rex, it became clear that Apollo Familia would lose this War Game. And everyone who had bet on Apollo to win lost their minds. Especially those who had also bet on Hyakinthos beating Rex.

"No, how could the power difference in the same level be so big?" a man roared. "That's Phoebus Apollo we're talking about! One of the stronger Level 3s! How the HELL can another Level 3 power-creep him so easily???"

"Exactly! He has to be a Level 4. Did he hide his level again?"

"Yeah, there's no way Hyakinthos would be manhandled like that by another Level 3. An unknown fool from the Soma Familia at that!"

"Cope~."

"Who the fuck said that?!"

"What's going on?" a soft voice asked as a beautiful gray-haired human girl came out from the back of the pub to find everyone shouting at each other.She had just rushed to the bathroom when it switched away from Bell, so she hoped she didn't miss anything important with him. "Did I miss something?" she asked, rushing over to Mia Grand, the owner of the Hostess of Fertility.

"Nothin' you'd care much about, but these lot sure do," Mia replied, leaning against the counter. "Captain o' the Apollo Familia just got his arse handed to him by the Level 3 from Soma's crew. Now everyone's losin' their damn minds over it."

"Oh…" Syr nodded slightly, glancing at a mirror that showed Hyakinthos lying unconscious in a crater, blood flowing from his mouth. 'Haah…' she sighed internally at the sight.

She had been hoping Bell would get to fight that man, to see how much he had grown after training with Ais and Tiona—but someone else stole the spotlight. She expected Soma Familia to send their Level 3 after Hyakinthos, but it still annoyed her not seeing Bell defeat him.

"What's wrong, Syr?" a voice called, and she immediately smiled at the orange cat girl.

"Nothing," she replied, noticing the girl's downcast look. "You don't look well yourself."

"Yeah, nya…" Ahnya slumped down on the counter, tears welling up in her eyes. "Lost some cash on my bet, nya…" She clenched her fists, flames growing in her eyes. "I will punch Hyakinthos right in his smug face when I catch him, nya! Believe it!"

Mia and Syr glanced at each other, and before Mia could say anything, she saw a few guys about to start fighting. Raising her right palm, she slammed it down on the counter before her, the loud sound silencing the entire pub as all eyes turned to her.

"Take it the hells outside if yer itchin' for a scrap," she grinned, cracking her knuckles. "'Less you'd rather square up with me instead."

No one wanted to fight the giant so everyone, even gods, sat down like children who had been shouted at by their parents.

———

"Yo, Zanis." Rex kicked the captain's butt as he grumbled, not waking up. "Zanis." He called a bit louder, but seeing no response, he squatted, leaned in, and whispered, "Mr. Sniffles."

The man's eyes immediately snapped open, his gray gaze flicking to Rex. "…What happened?" he groaned as he sat up, massaging his jaw. The last thing he remembered was Hyakinthos' coat floating in the air, then a strong force on his jaw, and everything went black.

"Your group got defeated by Hyakinthos' group, and I came and saved you," Rex replied, holding out two simple health potions to Zanis who took them as he stood up. 

"We basically have all the flags now, so we just need the central keep flag to win." He had left the central flag because he wouldn't had looked cool walking around with it, but he guessed Bell and Ryuu had probably gotten it by now.

Zanis glanced around, noticing everyone looked fine despite, with the only signs of battle being the surrounding destruction and their tattered clothes. Mikoto and Welf were talking; Liliruca was handing Chandra a potion; the others seemed relaxed. The flag bearers now also had two golden bandanas—one on each bicep—taken from Apollo Familia members. 

Zanis glanced at the broken wall and moved to adjust his glasses, only to realize they were gone. 'I missed a lot while I was out,' he thought, tossing the empty health potion bottle aside.

"Just take a flag from one of those guys," Rex added, pointing at the six Apollo Familia members standing side by side, arms folded behind their backs like soldiers. "That'll bring us to twelve flags, assuming the elf and the little rookie didn't have theirs stolen, which I doubt." He began walking away.

"Where are you going?" Zanis asked, cracking his neck.

"Going to get the central keep flag and our last two flag bearers so they can take the remaining flag and wrap this up," Rex replied.

"Wouldn't it be better if you stayed to guard them?" Welf asked, jerking his thumb at the six Level 2 adventurers.

"With Zanis up, you guys shouldn't lose if they start a fight." Rex glanced back at Welf. "If you do, that's disappointing."

Welf nodded with a smile. "Understandable."

He was about to continue when Mikoto rushed toward him. "Rex-dono!" she called out, catching up. "What was that you used on the Level 2s? Magic?"

"Something like that," Rex said, deciding not to give away details—especially with so many gods watching. "Might tell you later. I'll be back." He waved and walked off.

"What magic?" Zanis asked as he walked up to Mikoto, still rubbing his jaw. "Fire breathing?"

"No…" Mikoto replied, watching Rex vanish in the distance. "It's some kind of mind-control spell."

It was indeed some kind of mind-control spell. Fear, especially at overwhelming levels, can override rational thought and trigger pure survival instincts, forcing reflexive compliance—like hostages obeying their captors. 

With his Predator DA, a target consumed by terror might involuntarily obey a simple command. It was similar to how a goddess of beauty's charm could make others do their bidding, except this used fear instead of love. Where charm might say, "Obey me because you adore me," Rex's method was more like, "Your body betrays you to survive the next few seconds."

'But,' Rex thought as he walked past the crater where Hyakinthos had landed. The captain had escaped at some point while Rex was healing the others, not that he cared. 'My fear isn't as potent as a goddess's yet.'

As confirmed by Scavenger, Predator only raises their fear by a fixed amount of 'points' based on how weak they are and such. Right now, he wouldn't be able to tell a Level 1 to kill themselves as their survival instincts would rebel, but telling someone with no Falna to kill themselves would work instantly. 

But the higher the DA's rank and the stronger he gets, the higher the fear threshold would become. If his DA reaches a higher rank, he might be able to induce fear on those at the same power level or even stronger than he is, and the fear might reach a level where it completely overrides self-preservation.

'And I guess the more terrifying I look, the stronger the fear induced is.' Just like how the more beautiful a goddess of beauty is, the stronger their charm. So, if he looked like an eldritch abomination, the fear induced by Predator would naturally be stronger. 

'A very impressive ability.' He thought as he backhanded a level one, sending her spinning away with a blood trail. 'Who knows, maybe in the far, far future I'll be able to override a goddess of beauty's charm with my own fear.'

'I should find a chance to practice this power more.' This was his first time using it since theorizing it weeks ago, but he couldn't exactly wander around using Predator on random people. Still, his bounty hunting era was coming, and that would be the perfect chance—likely when he hit Level 4, maybe in another month.

'I'll get plenty of opportunities then…'

As he got close to the throne room, he could hear fighting and when he looked inside, he saw four level 2s Apollo Familia fighting Bell. Two of them were the one on the eastern wall of Shreme Castle that Zanis had teleported away and the other 2 were part of the 3 that had been guarding the front gate. 

'...He can take care of himself.' Rex thought as he decided not to interfere and just walked away before Freya caught a glimpse of him. 'I guess this is the end...' He smiled slightly,

'It was pretty fun just showing off.'

[Author's Note: Late chapter because I had things to do. Might not post any chapter tomorrow, just a heads up.

Also, how was this chapter that ended the war game? Good? Bad? The next one or two chapter would warp up this very long arc with the newcomers in the Soma Familia and all then Rex would return to the dungeon for his grind. 

Also, wondering, should I maybe do a 'DanMachi Arrow of Orion' arc after this or just go to the Ishtar Familia arc? I mean, its non-canon and it's a bit convoluted for a novel especially with a goddess dying and the world almost getting destroyed and all, but I could maybe do something with it.

Anyway, thanks for reading and have a good night/day~o(*￣▽￣*)ブ]