Bang! Bang! Bang!
On the narrow pier, Diana and the First Born clashed with furious intensity.
But it was clear—she couldn't keep up.
Even as the newly anointed God of War, Diana was struggling. Her divine power had grown since she left behind her role as a mere demigod, but the First Born was something else entirely. His presence was overwhelming, his strikes unrelenting.
He moved like an unstoppable tank barreling down a highway—no matter how finely crafted the weapon, no matter how strong the armor, he crushed everything in his path.
"Truly unbearable to watch," Jack Kadere muttered, his eyes following their brutal exchange. He tilted his head slightly toward Diana. "Promise me one condition, and I'll help you deal with him."
Diana's eyes narrowed, her arms straining as she locked against the First Born's colossal strength. "What condition? What are you planning now?!" she shouted.
"Just tell me yes or no." Jack's tone was calm, teasing even.
"If you promise to restore my mother and the Amazons on Themyscira to their true forms, I'll agree!" Diana demanded, her voice sharp with desperation.
Jack let out a small laugh. "You've changed, Diana. You used to be so pure, so straightforward. Now you've learned how to bargain."
"Do you agree or not?!" Diana gritted her teeth, straining as the First Born's fist pushed her to her limits.
Jack chuckled. "Fine. I agree."
"Hmph! Overestimating yourself!"
The sharp voice came from the side. Cassandra, once proud but now stripped of her power, sneered. "Who do you think you are? No man, no god can stand against the First Born!"
Before Jack could reply, Kate stepped forward, her voice cutting like steel. "And who do you think you are? No one speaks to my master like that!"
She raised her hand, summoning a blazing torrent. A Firestorm burst forth, surging straight toward Cassandra.
Though Cassandra carried divine blood, her gift of Word Spirit had long been crippled. Even if it hadn't, she was no warrior—just a bitter voice with nothing to back it up. Faced with Kate's onslaught, she had no choice but to stumble and retreat, scrambling for cover.
Kate pressed her attack, hurling flame after flame, driving Cassandra back in a storm of fire.
"Someone—help me!" Cassandra cried, fleeing in disgrace.
But Diana had no time to care. The First Born's raw might pressed down harder with every strike. Her body screamed in protest; her godhood itself felt as though it might shatter. She was seconds away from breaking.
BOOM!
A thunderous crash split the air, as if the heavens themselves had fractured.
The First Born's hulking body was sent flying across the pier, crashing into the ground and skidding across the stone.
Where he had stood a moment ago, Jack Kadere now stood calmly, lowering his fist. His expression carried the faintest of smiles.
"What was it you just said?" Jack asked lightly, his voice almost playful.
So fast.
Diana's heart skipped. She hadn't even seen him move. One instant, she was on the brink of collapse, the First Born's crushing strength pressing her down—and in the next, Jack had effortlessly blasted him away.
"You're getting stronger," Diana said softly, her expression conflicted.
Jack shook his head. "No. I've always been this strong. I just never met anyone who forced me to show it."
Were the enemies before truly that weak?
Diana thought back. The Goddess of Discord, Eris—defeated almost instantly. Ares himself, the former God of War—utterly crushed. Against Jack, neither had stood a chance. Now she realized she had never even glimpsed his true limits.
A gust of wind tore across the pier.
From the distance, the First Born roared and lunged, his colossal fist swinging with the force of a mountain.
Jack stepped forward, his own fist flashing out to meet it.
Their collision shook the world. The impact hurled Diana back several steps, her sandals skidding across the stone. The seawater around them surged high into the air, frozen for a moment like a vertical wall. The pier itself trembled, the ground cratering beneath their clash.
Time seemed to shatter. For an instant, the world was still—yet in that silence, their fists struck again and again, each blow like the crack of thunder.
It felt both like the briefest heartbeat and an endless eternity.
Jack's smile widened. "You're going to lose."
"Hmph," the First Born growled, his voice dripping with disdain.
Almost as one, the two hurled themselves at each other again.
The First Born's style was nothing elegant—raw, primitive, utterly savage. But behind that simplicity lay terrifying strength and a monstrous regenerative ability. His divine aura radiated something more—an overwhelming, suffocating force born of pure hatred.
It wasn't just strength. It was an instinct to slay, to destroy, to tear down gods and rend heaven and earth itself. His hatred devoured everything in his path.
Fight—everything. Kill—everything.
That aura pressed down on everyone watching. Diana's expression hardened with concern for Jack. Hera's body trembled, her legs giving out as she collapsed to the ground. Even Athena faltered, her instincts screaming at her to flee.
Jack laughed, unshaken. "Diana may not be your equal—her power even at its peak doesn't match yours. But compared to me? You're nothing but trash."
His tone shifted, and then his presence did too.
An aura far darker than the First Born's hatred erupted outward. It wasn't just oppressive—it was annihilating. The air itself grew heavy. The sky dimmed.
Diana gasped as her knees buckled, forcing her down against the stone. Her body trembled uncontrollably under the weight of Jack's killing intent.
The First Born's eyes widened. That energy… it was his own power reflected back, amplified beyond recognition.
"You… This can't be… That's my power!" he snarled.
"Infinite Stacking. Double it!" Jack's voice thundered, his grin widening.
With exhilaration blazing in his eyes, Jack's fist shot forward.
BOOM!
The First Born blocked, but the sheer force hurled him back—one step, two steps, his heels digging trenches into the pier. Before he could steady himself, Jack was already on him.
Another punch cracked across his jaw, snapping his head sideways. Before his body could even tilt, Jack's opposite fist slammed him back the other way.
Bang! Bang! Bang!
The sound of knuckles colliding with flesh echoed like cannon fire. Jack's fists struck in relentless rhythm, left then right, hammering the First Born like a toy caught in a storm.
Ten blows, then more—each one tearing skin, shattering bone, leaving his face mangled and raw, nothing but red flesh where his features had been.
Jack suddenly leaped high, his shadow looming over his opponent. He brought his fist down like a meteor.
CRASH!
The First Born slammed into the ground with earth-shaking force, the stone caving beneath his body. He bounced once, twice, before lying still—motionless in the crater Jack had made.
The pier fell silent.
The God-Slayer… defeated.
The same Firstborn who had risen from the earth after seven thousand years of hatred and torment—brought down in minutes.
The silence that followed was heavy, broken only by Jack flexing his knuckles. Blood smeared across his fist, but the wounds knit themselves back together in moments, glowing faintly with regenerative power.
"So resilient," Jack muttered, shaking off the last trace of pain. His eyes burned faintly with divine fury as he turned toward Diana.
The Amazon lowered her gaze instinctively, unable to meet the terrifying intensity in his stare.
"Are you… avoiding me?" Jack asked, and with a thought, the oppressive aura of his divine power receded, the suffocating hatred vanishing like mist.
Diana exhaled sharply, relief washing over her face as she finally looked back at him. "Your eyes just now… they were terrifying."
Jack smirked. "Relax. I'm not going to eat you." He paused, then chuckled darkly. "Though, funny thing—I think Firstborn actually could. His power let him devour others to take their memories and speech. When he first clawed his way out from the earth's core, he devoured a scientist just to learn English."
Diana's expression tightened, troubled by both the revelation and by the man who had just shattered a god with his bare hands.