Chapter 123: A Merciless Greek Tragedy (1)

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"I Reject My Humanity, JoJo!"

- Dio Brando, (Jojo's Bizarre Adventures)

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<(Omniscient POV)> 

"Stop! How dare you use these dirty moves on the great Hercules?" The demigod growled in anger as he recovered from the pain assaulting his groin and face. A drop of thin golden liquid was even visible slowly trickling down his nose. "You want to fight ME? You want to fight THE GREAT HERCULES in a battle?... Fine then, let's have a battle. I will give you a fair chance to prove your strength against the god of might himself. But it won't change anything, you will still die by my hands by the end of today for how you have insulted me. No matter how much you struggle, I will still be the one winning at the end." Hercules roared in righteous rage as he made a pushing gesture at Batman with one of his hands like he was pushing the air toward him.

Instantly, Bruce felt a force hitting me in my chest, threatening to propel him away from the Greek warrior. However, with his newfound godly strength, Bruce was easily able to resist the force while steadily moving forward toward Hercules in a slow but steady gait. The closer he got to him, the stronger the force of the push became, but it was nothing that the genius billionaire couldn't handle. 

Logically, Bruce shouldn't have been able to contest Hercules' god-like powers with just the remnant power of Ares left inside his helmet but for some reason, even that leftover strength of the God of War was enough for him to easily resist Hercules without any significant difficulty. It almost seemed like Bruce wearing the helm was more powerful than even the version of Ares whom he had just fought a few minutes ago. 

"How?... But this should have been enough to even push Ares back. How are YOU still moving, mortal?" Hercules muttered in confusion, but he didn't have enough time to be in shock because Bruce had already reached in front of him by that time. 

"I am not Ares." Bruce's deep, almost inhumane voice hummed before he directed a punch at Hercules with his right hand. 

Having already anticipated the punch, Hercules easily blocked the hit with his own hand, but Bruce didn't stop at just that. A short silver-colored blade quickly formed from his armor around his left hand's wrist which he used to stab Hercules' unguarded shoulder, an attack that Hercules unfortunately hadn't foreseen. 

"AAH" Hercules groaned in pain before using his other hand to stop Bruce's blade from sinking further into his flesh. But the young Wayne used this as an opportunity. He headbutted Hercules using his new helm, resulting in a small sonic boom generated from the blow. But he didn't stop his attack at just one blow, instead, he headbutted again, and again and again until he was able to draw fresh golden blood from Hercules' broken nose and busted forehead where a nasty small gash became visible.

The Greek warrior too didn't just stand still while this was happening. He tried using his strength to force Bruce to pull the blade out of his shoulder but after failing multiple times, he changed strategies and started repeatedly striking the side of Bruce's stomach at the same place on his armor in an attempt to break through its sturdy defense. In fact, Hercules was even somewhat successful as his repeated punches were able to produce some small cracks in Bruce's armor to some extent, proving that he hadn't begun calling himself the God of Might for no reason at all. 

Bruce on the other hand didn't just sit still and wait for his armor to crack further. Instead, he twisted his blade inside Hercules' shoulder to cause him as much pain as possible. The moment Hercules faltered even the slightest because of the immense pain in his shoulders thus loosening his grip on Bruce's arm, Bruce pushed him back with one final headbutt, producing a *Boom* sound in the air.

"Kya!" Hercules could not help but grunt in pain as he hatefully looked at Bruce with a venomous gaze. "How did you...?" He tried to ask but Bruce interrupted him before he could even finish asking his question. 

"I used small parts of Batmanium inside my armor. The blade is made of that. That stuff is dangerous to even gods." He answered without bothering to explain to Hercules what Batmanium even was. 

'And mixed with the durability and anti-healing properties of carbonadium, it is even more lethal. It might not be enough to kill a god, but it can definitely be used to torture one.' Bruce further thought with a smile.

"You are not just confident but arrogant too. I like it. Men should be exactly like that, like lions. A few centuries ago, I would have loved to fight to the death with you, just two men proving their superiority over the other... But unfortunately for you, I am no longer a man, I am a god now." He snickered before bringing up his hand and making a show of clenching it. 

Immediately, heaps of sand began to solidify around the Greek warrior, taking the shapes of various weapons like spears and blades before starting to float around him, all aiming at Bruce. "I will show you how gods fight," Hercules muttered with a snort before lightly flicking his fingers, causing all the newly formed weapons to rush towards Bruce at breakneck speeds. 

"How a god fights, huh? Interesting, maybe I should try it too." Bruce lightly mumbled to himself. He calmly raised up his hands to protect himself from the storm of blades approaching him which almost made Hercules release an amused chuckle but contrary to his imagination, Bruce wasn't at all pinned to the ground under a fury of blades like he had imagined. Instead, all the weapon constructs melted as soon as they got within a certain distance to the billionaire. 

"... You have access to Ares' other powers besides his strength as well?" Hercules asked while wiping away the golden blood from his face. There was clear amusement in his voice.

However, Bruce didn't bother to give any reply to Hercules. Instead, he looked at his hands with mild surprise like he was trying to understand his own powers. He almost looked shocked at what he could do. 

As Bruce continued curiously examining the armor on his hands, the temperature around him rose, soon reaching a level where not just the grass and the plants but even the soil itself was burning away from the immense heat generated by his body. 

"I can feel it..., I can feel myself getting stronger with the war. Every drop of bloodshed as a result of the war is making me stronger, all the death and destruction giving me almost a sort of twisted pleasure... It's almost euphoric" Bruce mumbled as an ecstatic feeling coursed through his entire body. "This power is immensely dangerous; it can make any sane man go crazy with lust for power, and its potential to corrupt is immense... I'll have to end this quickly." He thought out loud while stretching both of his hands in a t-pose like Jesus. "Let's see what else I can do." 

Instantly the sky darkened under the effect of his divine power. Lightning crackled throughout the entire sky as a storm began to rage over the entire island of Themyscira. As soon as he extended his right hand towards Hercules, torrents of lightning began to strike the Greek warrior from the sky, almost looking like an entire storm had exploded over a single person. 

*BOOM* *BOOM* *Sizzle* *Sizzle* Dozens of lightning strikes directly hit Hercules and his surroundings, burning not just him but also everything around him. A lair of smoke spread around him, covering a major part of the beach while parts of the sand around him changed into solidified glass. 

"Using lightning on a son of Zeus..., *Cough* *Cough* you sure do have some guts," Hercules exclaimed with an annoyed smile amid coughs as he looked at the minor burns on the upper layer of his skin. "HAHAHA, I am really lucky that I inherited a good part of his immunity to lightning and thunder attacks while you are lucky that my father has been missing after he waged that war against Ares, otherwise, I can't even contemplate what curse he would have given you if he had found you using a lightning attack against his favorite child." Hercules cackled proudly.

However, Bruce wasn't there standing and listening to his boasts anymore. By the time the smoke cleared, and everything became visible, Bruce had already moved in front of him and was in an arm's distance. "I wonder how hard I can hit with my new strength." Bruce mused out loud before hitting him with the meanest right hook in the history of right hooks that shattered part of Hercules' perfect jaw. 

*BOOM* In just a single hit that sounded like a grenade explosion causing tremors even in the air, Ares was forced to kneel on one of his knees. However, Bruce was nowhere near done with him. He held Hercules with his left hand while continuing to repeatedly hit him with his right. One, two, three..., Bruce was not even done after hitting him with seven consecutive punches. 

"Y-yiu..." Hercules still tried his best to resist by trying to punch Bruce with both of his hands at once, despite Hercules's valiant effort, his resistance waned as Bruce easily intercepted both of his punches with ease. In front of his newly evolved senses and extensive combat experience, Hercules almost seemed sluggish to Bruce. With a swift motion, Bruce seized both of Hercules's arms, rendering him immobile before headbutting the god of Might again, unleashing another thunderous sonic boom The sheer power behind the blow drove Hercules further deeper into the sand, nearly causing him to lose consciousness from the overwhelming pain.

"You love your face, don't you, Hercules? The face that you once used to charm the Queen of the Amazons into your trap, the same face that made you into one of Greece's most good-looking heroes?" Bruce questioned, his left hand gripping Hercules' hair firmly as his right hand balled into a fist before his captive's face. " I wonder..., how will you fare without it?" 

"W-wait. S-stop, p-please, have s-some mercy. L-let me re-recover. S-show s-some honor as the avatar of Ar-Ares..." Hercules weakly begged as he felt an immense threat to his perfect face for the first time in the last millennia. 

"Mercy..., you want mercy? Unfortunately for you, you won't be getting any from me here. Also, as I have already said before, I am neither Ares nor some avatar of him doing his bidding.... I am Bruce Wayne, the Merciless." 

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