25 Wake up

Zeus wrested his palm around the blade, his neck twisting sideways to look into the darkness. Three figures came out rushing from there, their bodies reminiscent of what a human was. Zeus noticed the same Curse Mark on their bodies, but they seemed to have lost the internal battle against it.

Zeus stood unbothered, then curled his neck. His body felt fatigued and bare, with even cold wind bringing an immeasurable amount of suffering. However, Zeus ignored it. This was the perfect opportunity to relieve some pent-up anger. Additionally, Zeus no longer felt his mind as foggy as it had been since coming here, and plans started sprouting within his mind.

The first figure to arrive near Zeus was a man, whose forehead had a long dark horn. Additionally, the man had long disgusting nails, with which he swiped toward Zeus. Waiting for the last instant, Zeus ducked and struck his sword into the ground, thus protecting himself from a kick from another abomination with entirely dark skin.

The third one came flying from above, falling towards Zeus like a meteor, to which Zeus simply responded with a prompt rollback. Immediately after standing back up, the three figures rushed at him again, saliva dripping from their mouth. They were crazy and starved, not even caring about their own bodies.

"This is quite fun," Zeus mumbled, taking a step forward. He dodged a punch from the left and then jumped upwards slightly, evading a kick. Hanging in the air, Zeus enabled the third one with the horn to rush forward like a bull. However, that was all but a plan, for Zeus had purposely put himself in such a position.

Zeus twisted his body in the air and then kicked himself upwards from another man's head. The horned figure missed, revealing its back to Zeus, who immediately took the opportunity and sliced his sword downwards, making a deep cut on the monster's body.

The figure stumbled and hit another monster, thus causing a momentary dispute among them. Zeus took this time to glance around, not seeing Orochimaru or anyone else in sight. Even though he couldn't see them, they were probably watching all of this from somewhere.

Zeus looked internally at himself, still not feeling any chakra anywhere. Trying to remove the seal right now would result in nothing but death, so Zeus had made up his mind. After killing all these guys, Orochomiru would probably come back and Zeus would once again plunge into oblivion.

That's why - Zeus had to find a way to wake up unsupervised, not because a drug has lost its effect or Orochimaru decided to wake him up. Furthermore, he needed to make it seem like Curse Mark is slowly but surely spreading further, instead of coming to an abrupt end. As Zeus continued considering his options, the three monsters stopped bickering with each other, once again turning toward Zeus.

Now, much more confident and clear in his future options, Zeus smiled like a crazy man, revealing the teeth hidden beneath. "Come at me, show me everything you have got."

With that, they rushed towards Zeus, the horned man lagging behind due to his external injury. Much more energized, Zeus rushed forward and slid on his knees, passing just through the intersection between two figures. The dark-skinned one managed to contain his body weight, promptly turning back around, while the third man run a few feet further away due to his weight.

Faced with the horned man in front of him, Zeus gestured at him provocatively, forcing him to rush forward once again. Standing in silence, as the dark figure also came closer from behind, Zeus couldn't help but twitch his lips. He no longer looked at enemies from below, now he was standing at the same length, meaning that he could finally be engaged in some proper taijutsu.

Standing in between them, Zeus closed his eyes momentarily, having his moment of peace. When he felt both figures a few centimeters away from himself, Zeus stuck the sword into the ground and immediately jumped upwards.

The horned man was unable to change his course of attack, penetrating the dark-skinned man's stomach. Their collision resulted in both confusion and a lot of blood, forcing the man with the horn to get stuck. Zeus appeared from above, cleanly slicing off the horned man's head, thus leaving only one enemy.

Zeus turned his head. The third, who came flying towards him in the beginning, was a bulky man with sharp protrusions sticking out of his shoulders. He stood at two meters tall, but Zeus no longer felt like he was looming over him.

Instead of focusing on the battle, Zeus went inward into his system or rather the seal on his stomach. It was constantly sucking in a tremendous amount of chakra and transferring it outwards into the surroundings. Zeus grabbed onto it, latched like he had never before, and ordered the chakra to not get sucked in.

It was difficult and straining on Zeus's body, but he managed to gather just an insignificant amount of chakra. Holding onto it, however, was extremely difficult, so Zeus started weaving it immediately, transforming it into lightning within his own body.

Unfortunately, the bulky man wasn't just there for watching as Zeus felt a threat coming from above. Not breaking focus on what was happening internally, Zeus dodged and continued zigzagging, performing flips and other dangerous stunts. It was like doing two things at the same time, except that one mistake would result in death.

Still, it wasn't too difficult for Zeus. Hanging in the air after evading another punch, Zeus momentarily left that lightning hanging, instead passing through his internal system, his blood, nerves, and particles, until eventually, the image of his own soul popped into his body.

And there he saw it, the divinity. Since coming into this world, it has grown considerably, even though his achievement so far hadn't been that great. Zeus concentrated on the divinity, making it less profound, sneaking it into the deep parts of his very being. Its influence grew much less clear and Curse Mark energy traveled further through his system, seeing fewer restrictions.

Zeus attached the gathered lightning onto that divinity and stretched it outwards, creating a linear path straight up to his brain. The lightning hooped around his brain, and Zeus finally let it all go, finally landing on the ground. This should work perfectly. The chaotic energy from the Curse Mark will spread further down his body now that he hid the divinity, but eventually, it was still going to collide with it.

That would force the divinity to once again come out of hiding, thus setting off the lightning and striking his brain. Now, Zeus could finally finish off this annoying monster that has been pestering him for quite some time.

Landing on the ground, Zeus ducked and then punched the man's ribs. The man pretended to not feel anything, attacking right after, but Zeus simply relocated the attack away with his palm. Zeus jumped slightly, spinning in the air and delivering a kick to the monster's head.

The huge man stumbled and Zeus took this as an opportunity, throwing his sword towards the man's leg, as it penetrated straight through. Stuck in place, the monster raised his eyes, only to make eye contact with Zeus, who seemed to almost tower over him.

"You are just a failed experiment of a failed being, so know your place." Zeus declared, jumping upwards and grabbing onto the man's head, twisting it in one direction. The monster died a gruesome death, causing silence to descend on the battlefield.

"Was that good enough for a warm-up?" Orochimaru's voice echoed through the darkness, as Zeus looked south with a scowl. Suddenly, the ground seemed to shake. "Now, prepare for the real battle."

Hundreds of figures came out of the darkness, each of them different from each other. Zeus stood alone, faced with an army, then snickered. These were monsters, failed beings that lost their own intelligence. Zeus didn't fear them, no matter how many of them were there. They didn't know jutsu, didn't know how to properly utilized chakra, they were just negligences that Zeus was going to free from this world.

Grabbing his sword, Zeus rushed forward and a massacre took place. Blood painted the world in crimson and limbs scattered in the vicinity. More and more bodies fell, but Zeus kept killing and killing, lost in his own being. His hands moved automatically, while his body evaded based on instinct.

Eventually, silence once again fell on the bloody battleground, but this time it was suffocating. In the middle of a pile of corpses stood one figure, with a chest bare open. Injuries scattered all across his skin, and he was showered in blood, but he remained standing.

His eyes were staring south, into the perpetual darkness. He lifted his hand, pointing towards where Orochimaru spoke from earlier. Then, Zeus retracted his hand back to his neck, swiping his thumb over his bloody neck. There were no words, just this one single gesture, which said everything that needed to be said.

***

Gif: :)