A Butcherd God

The surrounding knights and their swords did nothing to quell her slight fear, the man in the tattered cloak was brutally ripping apart the captain of the city watch. Kaine had always been annoying, that she could understood, but to the point of receiving such a death, it was clearly uncalled for.

In two days it would be his wife's birthday, and in three his children would graduate from Xeraths Academy. Kaine always enjoyed running his mouth, no matter the situation, he was in, but she could not see one where it would bring about his death.

Brianna glanced at the man, and then at the Duchess. Then her eyes trailed to the woman in the cloak behind him. Brianna was a hunter of the highest order in the Church of Diana. Her eyesight was no worse than a hawks. She recognized the cloak, and she recognized the woman.

Brianna sucked in a cold breath. 'Great huntress, that was impossible', she looked exactly like Diana. Even the regal cloak, was one befitting of her noble stature. 'Was it an Avatar?' No she didn't feel like Diana, then who could look so closely to her goddess? There was no way it was her daughter.

Heat rose up to her cheeks as she started to blush in thought of her goddess and her husband. She frowned as she held the string back, regardless the man clearly wasn't simple. His face was clearly sculpted by a god if not divine in of itself. The Duchess at his side, and the woman made that conclusion more accurate.

So the question remained in her head. Who was this man, and why did he kill Kaine? As if the problem with the dead god wasn't such a huge mess now they had to deal with a new variable.

Yet no matter how complex the mans identity might have been, he killed a man that was under the jurisdiction of the Church of Diana. Her inherent bias, also wasn't helpful in her decisions as the church taught to be wary and distrustful of Men.

"What can I do for you?" His reptilian eyes stared intently into her soul. She shuddered under his gaze, her bow still pointed at him. She glanced at the Duchess, her eyes mockingly staring at her, giving her an uncomfortable feeling.

The mans companion glaring at her with silver eyes that were reminiscent of the moon.

'A Dragon?' She asked herself. As a minor goddess, the laws hiding his eyes, could not affect her. There was only one Dragon affiliated with the Duchess. She flinched at the thought of the man being Mercer entered her brain.

She shook her head, what would he be doing this far west? The possibility was slim but she couldn't be sure. She turned to face the Duchess her arrow still firmly pointed in the direction of 'Mercer'.

The word fool was almost written on her forehead, the way she looked at her. "Who is this man?" She ignored Mercer and focused on the Duchess instead.

His companions eyebrow twitching in annoyance at her ignoring Mercer.

"My... my... I Wonder" Her mocking voice permeated throughout the gate, the lion valiantly waiting for their master to board the carriage, the guards stoically watching their lady.

Her posture exuded an air of superiority, and her hand rested confidently on her waist, giving Brianna an uncomfortable feeling.

She put her finger to her lip, her eyes looking at her mockingly. "The mans right there," She spoke, her voice laced with unrestrained distaste for the hunter. "Ask him yourself." She looked at her as if if she was the most pitiful existence in the world.

Dinah's eyes shifted to Mercer, and she sent him a wink as she moved gracefully toward her carriage. Her path brushed against Brianna's, and she clasped the younger woman's shoulder before leaning in to whisper a single word: "Mercer." In an instant, the temperature in the vicinity plummeted, sending shivers down Brianna's spine. Dinah continued on her way until she reached the door of her carriage, where she turned her gaze back to Mercer.

"Javier Hotel, tomorrow noon, don't be late," she informed him, leaving Mercers companion frowning.

Van Draconia? The insane Demon Hunter? Okay, the pieces started to slowly form inside Brianna's head, the rumors surrounding Mercer were always up for debate, a god of light? Preposterous. A god of life? Unfounded. The strongest Demon Hunter? Up for contention, but the one thing, that everyone agreed on, was that he was bat-shit insane.

Power was not hard to cultivate, on the contrary, the more basic, the concept the easier it is to be adept at, want to become the god of swords? Train for years on end understanding the way of the sword, want to become a deity of fire? Cultivate fire techniques. Even things like fear and love, aren't always complicated, but madness? How does one cultivate madness? For fear, all you have to do is terrify the shit out of a large number of people, and if you did a good job, you'll become like Phobos. But madness? Do you just act insane? No, feigned madness isn't the same as actual madness.

So how could a god of madness be so simple? Was he going around doing insane things? No, he wasn't. It was much deeper than that, he wasn't talking to himself, he wasn't some paranoid nut, and if you met him and had a proper conversation with him, he'd be like any other person. Bipolar, maybe... Who knows? It was like a flip of a switch, the normal person would disappear and a monster would take his place, what was truly insane was that you could not tell that he was really insane. Under the perfect facade he presents himself as, you would never know until he snapped.

Hero, protector, Saint, gunslinger, Savior, God, names which he has been hailed as, and you would believe them too, at least until you saw him gut someone like a fish.

Trained at the church of Diana, one of the most important rules, was to avoid Mercer, and if they had to work with him, treat him as if they would treat their goddess.

As Brianna's palms grew sweaty, she stared at the famed hunter, her bow and arrow slowly lowering. A sense of regret washed over her as she apologized. The surrounding guards expressed their frustration, as the opportunity for avenging their fallen comrade had slipped away.

________________________________

"Esteemed Duke" She addressed him warmly a stark contrast from her blatant disrespect, and then looked at his companion.

"And this is?" she asked with a tilted head, Her purple hair, tied in a ponytail that extended to her waist, concealed one of her bright blue eyes. She wore a silver scout uniform with the Stag's sigil prominently displayed.

Artemis frowned, at the way her attitude changed, she put her silver knife back into her sheath as she glared at the huntress.

Mercer glanced at the hunter before ignoring her question. "A minor goddess of the Church of Diana in this region?" His eyes glazing over in thought.

'Another unexpected variable'. His charming smile, turned into a frown.

The hunter hesitated, before speaking. "A god has been murdered." Mercer nodded at the statement nonchalantly, causing the hunter to raise an eyebrow.

Had they only found out about Kleo now? What importance did Kleo have with Diana?

"Janus' body was found nailed to a cross in the center of the city hall, his head was split in two, resembling his symbol, there were words written in his own blood smeared against the wall,'is this your god?', it was reported to us through one of our embassies," She spoke, as if retelling a fable. "this happened shortly after Saint Xeraths cross was stolen."

That explains the dopple, Mercer thought to himself. Saint Xeraths cross was something that prevented monsters from entering in a certain vicinity.

Another dead god? This was uncommon in the mortal realm. Out of respect for Divinity, gods only killed each other in the Divine realm.

His frown intensified, another problem. Two dead gods, and an unknown plot by the Devils, a stolen artifact. He glanced at Artemis, a foreign god turned mortal, and his state of decay. As if he didn't have enough problems, the world kept throwing more at him.

Taking a god's divinity was easy, killing a mortal god was even easier, but outright killing a god was rare. To begin with, there was no purpose, at least not in this realm.

That led to even more questions. What was the reason and was there a connection?

What purpose would Janus' death serve? Was this a provocation to the Byzantine empire? 12 major gods were factioned within the empire and countless minor gods too, what was the purpose of making an enemy of so many of them? A warning maybe? Or was he simply dead as a distraction for the stolen sword? The threads of the plot were getting longer and more tangled and he simply did not like it.

To go against a pantheon like theirs was simply asking for Death. They were worse than the House of Pride when avenging ones allies. They relished war and loved any excuse to fight.

"Saint Vivian has summoned the Duchess to help find the culprit, we were planning on summoning you too." She paused to look at his reaction "But it seems you were busy, it would be our honor for you to help us." She spoke calmly and slowly, trying to not anger the man before her, while bowing slightly.

Mercer took out a cigar and lit it, putting it in his mouth. An unpleasant habit he picked up in the west.

He let out a long breath of smoke and with it in his hand, he spoke.

"You want the 'Duchess' and I to find a god killer when the two of us are barely equal to a Major god?" He looked at her with an apathetic gaze. Had she forgotten the restriction imposed on gods whom do not belong on this land?

She flinched at his unfriendly gaze, lightly shaking, as she explained the situation.

"We suspect this is the work of a Demon" trepidation and fear were evident from her tone. He could understand her fear, even as a minor goddess, a demon capable of killing a god and stealing a Divine artifact was a big deal.

"You suspect?" His lips wetly said the word, the frown ever so slightly transformed into a light smile. The thought of killing a Demon brought forth a happy mood. Perhaps the Demon, was the same whom killed Kleo. For what reasons? He did not know, but he was sure to find out.

"And Diana?" Her face twitched at her goddess name being used in vain. If it were any other man, they would have been struck down and hanged.

"Busy" It was one word, yet the one word was so telling, what could a Major god be doing that was so important to ignore one of her slain gods?

"One of her gods has been slain and she is busy?", Mercer observed, a hint of sarcasm in his tone. He put the cigar into his mouth, blowing a stream of smoke into the air.

He looked at Artemis before turning back towards the hunter.

A weak smile was ever so present on the hunters face.

"So?" he spoke to his companion, as he leaned in to whisper. His left hand holding his cigar.

"What do you think about this?" He asked observing her face. She unexpectedly looked happy that he asked her.

"We should help my counterpart" She said with a grin that should not have been there, sufficed to say, she was excited to help her 'twin'.

"That simple huh?"

She looked at him sheepishly, "but I have a condition"

She resolutely nodded to herself after the words left her mouth, her hair slightly swayed in the wind giving her an ethereal feel.