Dance of Destrcution!

The Next day, after announcing themselves as Warbound, Markus and the others awoke to the sound of drumming throughout the entire city.

They were the imperial drums. The triple drum call, signaling the start of a public holiday.

" Let's give it up for the mighty gray Shadow Warrior, Virlal-Ur. The fabulous Trench, gotta love that ladies smile. Grog the Kronan, everyone's favorite hunk of rock. Dregg- Iron Body, the unstoppable colossus. Sid, the unhived. Sneakiest, and quite frankly the luckiest bug I've ever seen. And Last but certainly not least, the Big man himself, The king of the ring, Vulcan!"

The Gladiators were met by a resounding round of applause from the people in the crowd. They certainly knew how to throw a party if anything.

" Now, he and his crew will face their final challenge! Will they earn their freedom? Or will they die in the sand?" The announcer asked. " And don't forget-- Commemorative banners, posters, and shirts are still available from vendors in the lobby."

" You all should get, ready." Dregg spoke.

" Why?" Markus asked.

" Because there's only one more challenge I can think of, that the King would throw at us." Dregg explained.

The doors ahead of Markus began opening up and from the inside, the group could see the outline of a man with red hair.

" This is it Citizens, slaves, and Oligarchs! Prepare yourselves for, the Dog of War!"

" Don't listen to that jack-ass. The Name's Orion, I just want you to know ahead of time, I'm sorry. But this disk they got in me, is forcing me to fight." Orion explained. " I promise to make this quick."

Orion charged forward, and uppercutted Markus in his chin, sending him and those around him flying.

Markus hit the ground and used the momentum to throw himself back up onto his feet, but by then, Orion was already in his face again.

Orion threw another punch at Markus, but this time, Markus caught his fist just before it hit his face, he then leaned back and slammed the center of his head right into Orion's nose.

" Gah!" Orion stumbled and grabbed his nose, and when he pulled his hand back, blood was trickling down his face. Orion looked up at Markus and smirked. " Hah, not bad. You got some fight in you, I like that." Orion lunged at Markus again, using his herculean strength to tackle Markus to the ground. He then started raining down blows on the man from above, pummeling his face without mercy.

Markus was hurting bad, but he managed to throw his legs up and wrap them around Orion's neck. He then pulled his legs back down and slammed Orion into the ground. Markus quickly recovered to his feet, and wiped the blood on his face away, with a hand.

Dregg and Grog tried taking advantage of the moment, and attack Orion while he was getting up, but Orion turned around and knocked Dreeg right into Grog with one solid punch, denting his metal body like it was nothing.

" Stay out of it. This is personal now." Orion told the men. He wasn't gonna let this upstart punk get the better of him.

When Orion turned back around, Markus punched him in his jaw, sending him crashing into the side-wall of the Colosseum. Markus went after the man, but Orion managed to dodge out of the way just before Markus' fist landed on his head. Orion then grabbed Markus by his waist and lifted him up over his head and slammed him back down on the ground. He then quickly got back up and kicked Markus across the Colosseum.

Markus smacked against the wall.

Mongul watched from above, Orion was a New God, a monster in strength. Had he not caught the man off-guard, even Mongul doubted he could beat him. Without the obedience disk, Orion could leave at any time. But Markus.

" What is he?" Mongul wondered.

" What my king?" Cir-El asked.

" Nothing, let's just watch." Mongul spoke.

Markus and Orion locked arms with one another, each man vying for dominance over the other. But as they stood there pushing against one another, they began to crack the ground below them.

" Ngh! Not bad, You're pretty strong. Haven't met anyone that isn't a god like me that can match my strength." Orion grumbled.

" What are you talking about?" Markus asked the man.

" I'm talking about you and me being gods. I'm a New God. But what are you? You look like one of the Greeks." Orion muttered.

" Greek? You know about my people?" Markus asked.

" Yeah, I know about the Greeks. But I gotta say, you old gods used to brag about your power. But if this is all you can do, then I gotta say, I'm disappointed." Orion stated.

" You know, you're pretty annoying for a guy, who claims to be a god." Markus told the man.

" Yeah, I get that a lot. Yet, I haven't found a foe I can't best in battle." Orion headbutted Markus hard. Hard enough to send him staggering. Orion grabbed Markus and slipped behind him, catching him in a rear naked choke. He then fell to the ground and started choking Markus as hard as he could.

Markus struggled to break free of Orion's clutches, but the more he moved around, the tighter his grip around his throat became.

" Heh! Is that all you got? I must have been mistaken earlier. To be put down by a choke hold is pretty embarrassing. Maybe you aren't a god after all?" Orion spoke.

His words, his taunting rang like noise in Markus' ears, but even as he clawed and scratched at Orion's arms, he saw the world around him beginning to fade.

" Gah!" Markus awoke to a strange world full of white. It was familiar. " Where am I?" Markus asked.

" Well, you're in your mind." A voice spoke.

" Who's there?! What happened to the fight?" Markus asked.

" Well, you lost it." The voice spoke once again. It sounded familiar. " You lost it, because you stopped listening. Though I don't blame you. You've always had a hard time hearing me."

The shadow from Markus' dreams slowly appeared in front of him.

" You!"

" Yes, me! It's been sometime since we last met. And yet you still haven't learned." The shadow spoke.

" Learned what?" Markus asked. " What are you trying to teach me?"

" How to be a god! Markus! That's what I am trying to teach you. But you never listened. At least no until now." The shadow exclaimed.

" What are you talking about?" Markus asked.

" Have you never noticed it? Anytime you've danced, the lightning and thunder? Your escape from the amazons. Your first fight with Mongul. You called upon the lightning. Remember? You called upon the full might of your power. So, much power. Yet you remain blind and deaf to your own skills. You're strong now. Imagine how much stronger you would be if you merely let go." The shadow explained. " But, I guess it doesn't matter now. You've been beaten, and any moment now, your life will fade away. And what was it all for? Absolutely nothing."

" What can I do?" Markus asked the shadow. " I... I don't want to die."

The shadow smiled.

" You don't want to die? Then call upon it. Let your rage flow forward, stop holding back. Stop being afraid. Let your emotions flow freely. And listen. Listen to it. Listen to the sound of my voice. Just as you did all those times before." The voice spoke. It extended its arm to Markus, and Markus in his desperation, took it without hesitation.

The world around him began hurtling back to reality and Markus' eyes snapped open.

" Heh! Finally asleep huh? Guess this fights ov- Huh?" Orion looked down at Marku's face, the flowing sparks of lightning bursting out of his eyes alerted him to the coming blast. he looked up into the sky and pushed away from Markus, just before the lightning hit them both.

The large explosion shook the arena, and the occupants inside.

" Where the hell did that come from?" Orion asked.

When the dust cleared, Markus was standing in the middle of the arena, his clothes had changed. He was now wearing a black chest plate, with a solid dark Blue W across the chest, his arms were wrapped with black cloth, and his bracers had changed, they were now completely black with the exception of a glowing blue star on the front of them. He was wearing pants now, instead of a skirt. His pants were black, but on the side of the pants, from his hips down, they were dark blue. His sandals had changed into a pair of dark blue boots.

But more importantly, his obedience disk was gone.

" HAAAH!" Markus slammed his fists on his chest at the same time, and at that moment, Markus began dancing to the Rhythm of the universe, something no other Greek God could hear, not even Zeus himself.

" What is this?" Orion asked.

The skies above turned black. Thunder roared to life, and Lightning flashed above. Each time he moved his arms and legs, another bolt of lightning touched down. Nearly everyone in the arena looked upon the man in fear, even Mongul.

Orion, however, raised his fists and accepted the challenge.

" Okay then, let's see what you got, twinkle toes." Orion mocked Markus' dancing.

Markus exploded forward, cratering the ground beneath him and his fist slammed into Orion's stomach, sending him flying across the stadium.

Orion crashed into the top of the Colosseum wall and fell to his knees, spitting up blood.

" Diabolical, Son of a bitch. Haven't been hit that hard since Darkseid. Wait? The disk... It's gone." Orion muttered. He grabbed the spot where the disk had been placed on him and found that the device was gone. " GAHHHHHHH!" While he wasn't looking, Markus hurtled a bolt of lightning straight at Orion, and struck him. Orion, fell back to the stadium hard. He was smoking from the lightning. But still he pushed himself upwards. He looked up to see Markus rushing straight towards him and Orion raised his hands. " Wait! Stop! The disk is gone. We don't need to fight anymore. It's ove-"

Markus slammed Orion into the ground hard with a punch to his face.

" YAAAHAAAAAAAAAAAH!" The people in the crowd screamed as loud as they could as they watched the fight continue on. But as Markus continued pounding on Orion's face, the sound of bones breaking and crunching. They suddenly went quiet. They were in shock. Never had they seen anything so brutal

" Graaaaah! RAAAAAAGH!" Markus raised both of his fists above his head. he was prepared to snuff the life out of Orion. But just as he was about to slam them down on the man's head, Dregg and grog grabbed both of Markus' arms and stopped the man.

" Markus, stop! It's over. Weve won." Dregg told the man.

Markus looked at Dregg, his eyes and mouth still flowing with lightning, but when he looked down at Orion he suddenly stopped. His body relaxed and he stood up. He was done. he had beaten his foe. And Orion no longer fought back. There was no need to kill him.

" You're right..." Markus huffed. " It's over."

" We've survived three rounds! Three rounds in the great arena! GIVE US OUR FREEDOM!" Grog demanded the King free them after successfully winning the challenge.

Mongul looked down on the crowd.

" It's over your eminence." The Governor told Mongul.

" Not just yet." Mongul muttered.

The arena was cleared, and Cir-El, along with a group of soldiers, brought a prison unit down into the arena.

" You have survived three rounds. But the Vulcan brought harm to the king himself. So, you must pass one last test of loyalty." Cir-El spoke. She opened the container and prisoners were escorted out. " These are enemies of your king. Elara Kai. Your friend. A high-born imperial, and a traitor. Kill her and you are free to go."

" That's a bad joke." Markus replied.

" I wish it was." Cir-El spoke. " Now, Primus."

The warden from the Maul raised his staff to activate Markus' Obedience disk.

" Don't fight it, boy. You're still wearing your obedience disk... Remember?" Primus and Cir-El both became closely aware of the missing disk.

" I told you; it was a bad joke. Never again." Markus muttered. Markus raised his hands and clapped them together, sending out a roaring wave of lightning that exploded the obedience disks of every single person in the arena. " No more slaves." Markus exclaimed.

" Agreed." Orion managed to get to his feet, but now he had something in his hands. A small black box. " Motherbox destroy all of the disks." A wide spreading wave raced out across the planet. " No more slaves.... Only free people now. Tied only by the bonds they've chosen.: Orion muttered.

Grog's disk dropped to the ground along with the others.

" Free." He spoke.

" What now?" Sid asked Markus.

" What do you think? No, we burn this colosseum to the ground." Markus stated. He looked at Mongul, high above and grinned.