"Die, Zeus. The fall of Olympus begins now."
Martin unleashed the full might of the Space Stone, ripping apart Mount Olympus at a fundamental level. The very fabric of space-time screamed as it collapsed in on itself.
Zeus roared in fury, brandishing the Sacred Blade of Olympus, and launched himself into the air. With divine might, he brought his sword crashing down toward Martin.
But Martin merely cast a disdainful glance at the God-King. The Mind Stone flared, instantly disrupting Zeus's mental defenses. The next moment, the Time Stone pulsed, and Zeus's form began to reverse, his wounds healing, strength unraveling, age and power regressing at an alarming rate.
Martin struck.
A single punch, carrying the force to shatter a star, smashed into Zeus's chest with a thunderous boom, sending the King of Olympus hurtling through the air. A deep, gaping wound tore through his divine frame.
Zeus roared in agony. Shirtless, his chiseled body now covered in gruesome lacerations, he summoned the full magnitude of his godly essence. The air trembled. The earth cracked. Time itself seemed to reel as the Olympian unleashed his fury in a cataclysmic final stand.
But it was meaningless.
His eyes, alight with a celestial radiance, found Martin again, only for that light to be extinguished in an instant.
"Why... why do you strike down Olympus?" Zeus growled.
Despite their fear, the other Olympians charged forth, trying to overwhelm Martin.
"I'm simply... interested in the divine genetic structure of beings like you."
Martin's voice was low, his sneer cruel. And then he struck, without mercy, without pause, turning Olympus into a charnel house.
The heavens howled. The gods wailed.
One by one, ancient deities, beings whose names once echoed across the cosmic void, fell before Martin's advance. Their bodies were strewn across the blood-soaked ruins of the holy mountain.
Poseidon. Athena. Zeus.
Each resisted. Each died.
They were as fragile as children before Martin's might.
With a single stride, Martin closed the distance to Zeus and tore him apart, his divine essence ripped from existence.
"Who is this man?!"
Below the ruins of the mountain, mortals fled in terror. All but one.
Kratos stood unmoving, his eyes ablaze, witnessing gods he once worshipped, untouchable and omnipotent, crumble like paper before Martin.
He saw it. He saw Zeus, the King of Gods, dismembered by this mortal... this force of nature.
Olympus isn't the strongest.
Zeus isn't the strongest.
There exists a man named Martin... who can slaughter gods as easily as breathing.
"This... this is the one I was born to follow," Kratos muttered. His blood-red eyes locked on Martin. The reverence he once held for the gods now burned solely for the conqueror standing amidst their corpses.
"DIE!!"
Ares charged, roaring with primal rage, swinging a massive battle axe. Martin didn't flinch. He raised his left hand, caught every blow effortlessly, and then a blade of spatial energy cut through the God of War, cleaving him in half.
Mount Olympus burned. Flames stretched to the sky as the sacred mountain crumbled.
"Olympus dies today."
Martin stood in the epicenter of carnage, surrounded by the bodies of the Twelve Olympians, his trophies on the road to conquest.
Then his gaze fell on Kratos.
Kratos immediately fell to his knees, unsheathing his dagger. Without hesitation, he carved a deep wound into his shoulder.
"I, Kratos, beg to serve at your side. Grant me strength, and I will slaughter all your enemies. The battlefield is where I belong!"
"Kratos..."
Martin activated the Time Stone again. In a blink, Kratos aged backward into an infant, then forward again to adulthood. The warrior was left stunned, his awe deepening.
"Kratos, I will give you power. But in return, you will become my blade. You will give me your undying loyalty. Fail to do so... and the fate of Olympus will be your own."
Martin's tone was ice.
Kratos slammed his head to the ground in submission. Then, driving his blade into himself again, he painted a blood sigil across his face, the symbol of Martin's name.
"I pledge myself entirely to your will."
With a single wave, Martin pulled Kratos to his side. "Gather the blood of the gods. I have use for it. Then... we hunt the remaining pantheons. I will bring my own Ragnarok to every god who still draws breath."
Kratos obeyed without question. Though he didn't know why the god-blood was important, his devotion was absolute.
Together, they marched upon the other divine realms.
Wherever they went, screams followed. Corpses piled high enough to cover planets. It was annihilation, pure and brutal.
"Martin, you butcher!"
"May the Mayan gods strike you down...!"
"What about Tenjin Ōhoshi?! That traitor, he sold out the Shinto gods, didn't he?!"
The mythologies of mankind were torn apart. Gods, once eternal in legend, fell like wheat before a reaper.
Kratos was drenched in divine ichor. His body trembled, not from fear, but from the ecstasy of conquest. One by one, he collected the blood and corpses of gods whose names once inspired awe.
He could hardly comprehend the magnitude of it all.
"Master," he said, voice trembling, handing the harvested blood to Martin, "I... I don't even know what to say..."
Martin gave a small, cold smile.
"Raise your gaze, Kratos. This is nothing. Power, for my soldiers, can be temporary. But ambition must be boundless."
He stood atop the corpses of fallen god-kings and looked skyward.
"Next is the Heavenly Court. Once they fall, only eight realms remain under Yggdrasil. The gods will be no more."
Martin looked down at the battlefield; the limbs, the corpses, the stench of divine ruin.
A millennium ago, these so-called gods ruled Earth like tyrants. If not for the Celestials who once descended to monitor humanity's development and crushed the pantheons in battle, Earth might still be under their heel.
But no longer.
"There are almost no gods left," Martin whispered.
He turned to Kratos, whose expression was a fevered blend of awe and devotion.
"Kratos. You'll become my test subject. All the divine blood you've collected will become part of you. With any luck... you might evolve into a rather interesting bioweapon."
Kratos bowed deeply.
"If it brings me closer to battle on a higher plane... I will pay any price."
That was what Martin had seen in Kratos: an obsession with war, an endless hunger for strength.
Suddenly, Martin's expression shifted. He turned sharply, toward Earth.
"My Earth base... has been breached?"
Not even the base's internal AI systems had picked it up.
A smile curled across his face.
"So this is it... the Age of Ultron begins."
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