Game...OVER

"NOW THIS IS WHAT I'M TALKING ABOUT!!!" Steve yelled as the beastified Ottar swung his new weapon around with much greater ferocity and power, each sweep filled with the intent to kill as there was almost no reason to be left in the Boaz other than what was necessary to stop him from going on a rampage.

The very ground Ottar ran on shook with each of his thundering footsteps as Ottar created shockwaves with each slice that slashed apart rocks, trees and even adventurers if they were unfortunate enough to be caught in the crossfire.

Nothing was on Ottar's mind anymore except the adventurer in front of him, the immovable, invincible foe he was fighting in his Lady's name. For too long that ambition, that adventurous drive had laid dormant within him, asleep because there were none around who could oppose him, because he now scaled the top of the adventurer world. Hailed as the king of the current generation of adventurers, few dared openly challenge him because his mere presence and fame scared them away.

It had been too long since he was able to gaze up the steep slope of the mountain of power, and not be able to see the top anymore. For seven years he'd not found another opponent whose strength outweighed and overshadowed his by leaps and bounds to the point where he felt as insignificant before it as he did before the Zeus and Hera Familia when he was just a young boy trying to survive in the adventurer world as a new dungeon diver.

And now he was face to face with the more terrifying opponent yet, who was able to hold the life of his enemies in his palms and deny them the right to die, as if the permission to keep them from passing on into the reincarnation cycle was some God-given right. An opponent who swatted him away like a fly every time he threw his full weight behind his advances, who just dragged his face in the mud every step of the way.

On the new Ottar's face, there he sported a crazed smile as his more bestial body lurched forwards with a sweeping arc, intending to cleave Steve in two from his left shoulder to his right hip. But Steve span out of the way and butted the hilt of his own sword into the back of Ottar's head before punching the Boaz in the side with such force that his armour completely shattered and ribs crunched.

Ottar was sent digging trenches in the dirt before his body went flying over the lake, creating a tsunami that washed upon poor adventurers trying to escape the death battle they were now so caught up in between the two monsters they called adventurers. Ottar bounced onto the shore and settled into a crouch as the momentum of his body continued to carry him backwards until he came to stop. Steve re-appeared in front of him and clanged his Netherite sword with Ottar's, creating a blast wave that eviscerated their surroundings.

Steve ducked under a punch from Ottar and elbowed the bicep of that arm, making Ottar feel his arm go numb as Steve flipped backwards into a handstand, clipping his heel into Ottar's chin as he did and making the Boaz fly into the air. Steve flew up and jack-hammered him back into the lake with such force, that the water blew out in all directions from the crater that Ottar's body created. Steve landed on the bed of the lake before the water closed over them again.

A flurry of slashes from Steve created another empty pocket of air inside the lake as he prevented himself from being engulfed. Through the water he'd pushed away from himself with slashes, he saw Ottar's body stand up from its resting place in the lake's bed. He clapped his hands in that direction, splitting the lake apart and creating a corridor for himself to Ottar before he blurred out of sight and reappeared with a round house kick straight to Ottar's uninjured side, making the Boaz fly out of the lake and embed himself into a giant boulder.

Steve ran over to the boulder and lifted the large rock as big as Twilight Manor with a hand and jumped in the air while swinging the huge thing about before launching at the tunnel he'd made up above on where the 49th Floor previously using a Hollow Purple. Ottar's world was spinning but what he did register was that the part of the rock he was lying in was flying straight into the tunnel itself.

The rock plugged the hole of the tunnel as it went about halfway into the tunnel before it became to big to squeeze itself in any more, having reached its apparent hilt.

Ottar was buried in the part of the rock that had stuck itself inside. Steve ran up the wall and jumped up towards it as a series of banging from inside the plugged tunnel forced the giant rock back out and made it plummet below right into Steve. Steve swung his sword up and cleaved the thing in two just as Ottar fell between the two halves and slammed his own sword onto Steve's own.

Steve had been unready for this surprise attack and this time he was sent plummeting to the ground as his body collided with the base of the wall so hard that cracks ran up it as a giant crater was formed beneath Steve's body. Steve shook his head and looked up to see Ottar falling towards him with the sword pointed to impale itself right in his face. Steve rolled before timing a double spin kick, the first of which he deflected the blade away from himself before using the momentum of that first one to boot Ottar right in the stomach again and make Ottar slam into a giant tree and knock it over with a great shake of the earth.

Steve stood up a little breathless with all the excitement, his arm actually jarring from all the blows exchanged with Ottar. He'd underestimated how powerful Ottar could become. Man did beastmen have such a cool card stowed away if it gave them a boost like this! Steve was then made to look at his Netherite sword as something caught his attention. He'd been using it so long now that he hadn't paid attention to the durability of the weapon and the bar was at practically zero now. Steve smiled wryly as he flicked the blade one last time and the Netherite Sword crumbled into nothingness, having outlived its usefulness.

"You will be missed." Steve said as he saw Ottar jump back up.

The Boaz noticed Steve without a sword now but didn't care as he turned around and grabbed the tree he'd knocked over with his sailing body. As if it weighed nothing more than twig, Ottar swung it around to make the thicker bottom hit Steve. Steve held out a forearm to the side as the the tree collided with the arm and exploded into a cloud of sawdust and splinters with broken bark exploding out everywhere like sharp blades that even impaled some lower level adventurers, to the point of fatal bleeding. But the gamer stayed in place like an immovable object. 

Steve ran forwards towards Ottar as did the Boaz to him with sword raised. The gamer held out his fists as he ducked out of the way of Ottar's next slash and punched him straight in the gut that knocked the air out of Ottar and made the Boaz drop the sword and stagger back a few steps. Steve pressed on as he and Ottar exchanged blows, the Boaz's punches actually aching a little as the collided with Steve's forearms which he used to block the punches.

Steve hid his face behind his arms and weaved around Ottar's punches by dodging from side to side as he danced on his feet, much similar to a famous boxer in his old world.

He only showed his face when he was delivering a punch. And there where plenty that hit Ottar and vice-versa as both men gave each other pain, the kind of pain that was only enjoyable because this was a hot blooded fight in which both were aiming to come out on top. Steve delivered a triple a combo with a left in the gut, a right on the side of the torso before a left to the right side of the jaw, making Ottar's empty eyes roll a bit as the Boaz staggered back, stunned a little.

Steve took the opportunity to spartan kick him into the wall, making Ottar's body bounce as Ottar fell forwards on his hands and knees. Steve rushed up to him and grabbed him by the shoulder and threw him back into the wall before raining punches down on the Boaz's chest and face as blood flew out of Ottar's mouth.

"I'm not even using a fraction of the power I used to put Alex down!" Steve shouted as he concentrated a particularly powerful punch into Ottar's sternum. The Boaz's diaphragm rippled with the pressure put upon it Ottar's air was knocked out down to the lungs' residual volumes. "I'm using less force on you than I needed to beat up a girl! Show me your real power Ottar! Show me the valour of Freyja's Hildisvini! I want to see it for myself."

He grabbed Ottar by the neck and broke his nose with a punch as the back of Ottar's head bounced off the wall. Ottar grit his teeth before prying Steve's fingers in a surprising burst of strength before pulling Steve's arm forward and and smashing his helmeted head into the wall. He then stepped back as he grabbed Steve by the heel and rag-dolled him a few times on to the ground before grabbing Steve by the side of his face and running along the wall, digging Steve's face through the wall as rock snapped away before Steve's face like bread crackers.

He then pulled Steve out and put all of his power into one fist as he held Steve steady with one arm and sucker punched the gamer right in the face. The force of the impact was so hard that three shockwaves emerged from the point of impact, one after another as ripples disrupted the ground beneath them before it all went to chaos as the environment was destroyed and Steve went flying back, for the first time feeling any real pain in this fight.

Steve flipped back using gymnastics so that his body didn't just flop when it finished its journey and leapt to his feet. He felt a warm trickle down his lips and stuck his tongue out to taste metal running from his nostril to his mouth. Steve grinned; Ottar had finally made him bleed, though it was still a minor injury, barely more than a temporary inconvenience. Ottar had managed to only shave off half a heart from his vitality which was a lot more than what Balor had been able to do even when firing at Steve point blank.

But as that half-a-heart regenerated, so did the busted vessel in Steve's nose and the blood disappeared as it all went back to normal. Ottar rushed up, having picked up Zald's sword on the way before swinging down in a hacking motion. Steve caught it between both his palms as the taller man tried to add his own weight to the sword by pushing down further. Steve stared into the eyes filled with primal rage.

"Show...me...real...power." Ottar grunted in barely sentient state.

"Well this is where I draw the line the big guy. You finally made me bleed. Consider it a victory on your part." Steve said as the Boaz's eyes narrowed. "This War Game is over."

Steve head-butted the Boaz making him stagger back before summoning his axe out of his hotbar. He deflected another blow from Ottar with such strength that Ottar actually spun a little involuntarily on his heels. As Ottar turned around, Steve flipped his axe to the blunt side and used his real power, for the first time putting his full level 9 strength behind an attack.

The axe's blunt side collided with Zald's and Steve was certain that had the sharp part of the axe blade hit the sword, Zald's weapon would finally have given out. But the aftermath was apocalyptic as Ottar's wrists were suddenly mashed back into their arms, the full length of Zald's sword embedding itself into his own body as blood spurted out of Ottar's chest in torrents. But more than that was the Boaz's body shooting up the wall.

Upwards and upwards Ottar's body sailed, digging trenches in the walls of the hole in the dungeon as his body flew up the whole expanse of the Dungeon. As his body broke the surface, a geyser of earth just shot up out of the mouth of the great hole as Ottar's body travelled further and further up into the sky. Ottar's body disappeared into the clouds and re-emerged on the other side as the air became thinner and the pressure decreased and the light of the sun bore down on Ottar's body.

Just at that moment, Ottar came out of his bestial form and returned to full cognisance once again as that moment of his life suddenly extended into a longer period, time slowing down for him as he felt life leave him this time. His gaze was fixed upon the deep blue sky that was hidden by the clouds. Up this high, the Boaz could see far off stars twinkling in the distance as the faint colours of different nebulae covered the ceiling this world like little brushes of paint.

In that faint. almost feather light consciousness did Ottar really see himself measured up against existence and felt how small he was in comparison to it. No matter how strong he got, there would always be someone out there stronger than him. That was the ultimate truth. Even if he somehow became stronger than a god, there would probably be some being out there even stronger beyond the border of this world that was called the sky. One such being had descended upon them with formidable power that he was able to throw around so casually, uprooting mountains, casting away the sea and splitting apart the earth, while bring up giant monsters from the abyss.

Yes, Ottar was convinced now. Stephen Hewer was not of this world and he was just...just...

"Indomitable." Ottar muttered with a smile. His body then burst into a cloud of confetti as he was reborn whole once again.

The War Game had come to its end...and the Ptah Familia had won.

---

"Game's over guys." Steve said as his teammates landed behind him.

"We know." Kai said as she stuck her sword in the ground and stretched her arms, feeling her bones crack as she sighed in relief. "It's been a while since I had such a good workout. I must be getting rusty."

"Well I'm just glad we're done with this." Alex put her hands on her hips. "I was getting a little tired of pushing around suck weaklings. They weren't even half of what the city chalked them up to be."

"Maybe but with the exception of the big guy that Steve was fighting." Ari said. "We saw your battle. I want to fight that guy myself someday."

"Sort that out with him in your own time." Steve said as he readied himself for what was coming next. "I've work to do now."

"What are you planning on doing?" Zuri raised a brow at him.

"I'm going to clean up." Steve said as he snapped his fingers.

Outside of the hole, the world border flickered and disappeared, no longer separating the space within from the outside world. Steve then teleported his team to the surface before looking the direction of Babel. He squinted and focused with his blessed eyesight as best as he could and slowly he magnified the image, zeroing in on one of the floors of Babel, where he saw Ptah standing on the edge of the gods' observation room.

Sensing his child's gaze, Ptah nodded towards him and Steve took his eyes off the little god, and raised his arms in the air as he brought forth all magic power inside him to front inside his body. His multiple skills activated simultaneously as his blue eyes turned red, like Ptah's did whenever he used his ability.

Immediately, the adventurers of the War Game felt a heavy presence bear down upon them as Steve lifted the seal on his full magical power. His reserves of magical energy fell upon them all like an ocean as they felt his power swallow them whole and snuff whatever pitiful resistance they tried to put up against him. The earth began shaking underneath the weight of his power as its influence reached far and wide, to the point where even the residents of Orario were short for breath as his presence bore down on them.

Even from so many miles away, the windows of buildings in Orario quivered and Babel towered shivered from the tremors Steve's raw power created. Pebbles and cobble began to rattle in the streets at the feet of civilians and they gasped for breath as once more they were able to understand the raw untapped power of Stephen Hewer, and even then they realized that he had practically shown them nothing in this War Game. It had not been a War at all...just a game to him...a one-sided slaughter. He'd never needed his team to begin with.

Steve then began firing off mental commands in his search bar as another miraculous and frankly blasphemous phenomenon took place. 

The sun began moving across the sky at a fast pace as it chased away the day sky, followed closely behind by the night sky as the moon rose in the sun's place while the clouds raced across the lands. Slowly this cycle became faster and faster as it seemed like time was going even faster and weather phenomenon began spontaneously bursting all over the place, from sunny spring weather, to hurricanes, to rain and thunder, to snow and ice, all a jumbled mess of confusion as every living being physically FELT Steve take control of the natural law and mould it to his being.

...

"HE REALLY CAN CONTROL NIGHT AND DAY!" Tiona squealed happily as she hugged Ais tightly, the kuudere's mouth hanging open. "Alex was telling the truth! He's so amazing!"

"W-Wait. You knew about this?" Finn asked her as Tiona's face beamed with pride.

"Yes." The Amazon replied. "I didn't disbelieve it since Alex said it but its one thing to hear it and another to actually see it happening before your eyes."

"What is he?" Riveria muttered. "Controlling the daylight cycle like its nothing. Is he really a mortal or just some undercover god? This can't be happening."

"Well it's happening." Gareth grinned.

"Why are you not surprised at this whole thing?"

"After all you've seen them do in this damn War Game and you're still getting surprised? I can't even treat anything with surprise anymore. Now I'm just going with the flow."

"...So strong." Ais said quietly as her eyes filled with renewed wonder. "So, so strong."

"Yes he is." Tiona hugged Ais again. "The strongest. That's what our boyfriend is. No-one can beat him!"

The Amazon then lay hand on her stomach as she closed her eyes and began to lose herself into fantasy as memories rushed to her mind of the time she'd been spending with Steve. She'd taken several vials of contraceptives during her tumbles with the Minecrafter. He had proved to be a relentless and passionate lover after all; she could still feel his warmth inside her even now because of how much of an impression he'd laid on her...while laying into her herself.

But she wondered what would happen if she decided to forego a contraceptive just once. What would that effort culminate into? Would she grow in her stomach a child capable of doing the same things as her father could do?...or would it have to climb the power ladder like everyone else? Amazons sought out the strongest males to produce the strongest children and she had landed the strongest one in the world.

What would their daughter be like?

She shook her head of that fantasy, her cheeks turning red at the thought. It was far too early to even think of children, as fast as their relationship tended to progress. She would not entertain the thought of a child until she was certain all loose ends were tied up and they could raise their daughter themselves unimpeded. Steve had made his opinion clear on the Amazons' tendency to just turn their daughters in into Telskyura...he wanted his children close to him in the future and had sworn that if her sisters resisted his decision, he would pay that island nation a visit and sink it into the sea along with every Amazon on it.

Judging by how he'd conducted himself in this War Game, she would not doubt the sincerity behind that threat. She cast her eyes at Ais whom she was still hugging and hummed to herself in thought. She needed to educate the girl on marital relations and she had some way to go by the look of things.

But how long until she could get the Sword Princess to join her and Steve?

---

"Restore." Steve commanded as all the phenomenon around him dispersed, having decided that he'd shown off enough at last.

And for the next few seconds it seemed like time was going in reverse. All that had been changed in the barrier reverted to its old condition as the chunks moved back into their original places and the hole in the Dungeon filled up. While that massive hole was being closed, an invisible force levitated all the adventurers in the hole and suspended them above the spectacle as they watched the ground fill up again until the land was level as before. Grass pushed through the soil as it was all returned to normal and the trees grew back until all was fixed.

You could never tell that an apocalyptic War Game had taken place here.

"Down." Steve ordered as his voice resounded from all directions at once as the suspended adventurers fell to the ground on their feet. "On your knees." Steve commanded, making the Freya Familia, the Ishtar Familia and the Apollo Familia all fall to a knees as they were forced to kneel to him, like one would kneel to their king.

They tried to resist as much as they could but some were instantly crushed by the forcefulness in Steve's Tongue, while those like Ottar resisted the command as long as they could, their adventurer strength helping them hold up a little longer. Eventually though, even the powerful ones kneeled eventually, which was a big blow to the pride of people like the Freya Familia.

"Sunny, go fetch 'it'." Alex ordered on behalf of Steve.

Sunny responded and walked up to Hedin who looked up at him angrily. Sunny just shrugged him off and grabbed at the elf's cape, tearing it off the shoulders of the elf. Sunny returned to his friends' side as he turned the cape over and showed the contents of the cape...or rather the flag. For displayed proudly on it was the emblem of the Freya Familia.

"It was smart of you to hide the flag like that." Steve said. "One of the best and smartest decisions when inevitable doom is heading your way...just delay it as long as possible. Nice. But you didn't think such a tactic would pass by us did you?"

The Freya Familia said nothing and Steve shrugged with a smile as his teammates held all the flags of their opposing teams up for the world to see through their magical screens.

...

"Freya, Ishtar and Apollo Familia have all been eliminated!" Ganesha announced on the microphone. "The War Game is done. The Ptah Familia are the victors of today. And this is your commentator, LORD GANESHA!, signing off."

A small cheer went up in the city as they were glad now that this War Game was over. Most couldn't have their common sense being shattered like this ever again. But Ptah smiled a big smile as he looked at the three gods who had moved against him and smiled with his hands behind his back.

"Alright jerk wads. Time to cough up...except you Ishtar. I'd rather not see what you cough up."

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