They would get an evaluation from Ares himself? Kane’s chance had come. The chance to prove he deserved to be in the Ares Division. Only the best recruits made up the Ares Division, and one of those would be him. It had to be him. Everyone in the room turned toward each other, both excited and fearful of the battle to come.

“When all of you are ready,” Darrien said, “please walk toward the door.”

It didn’t take long for them to zip up their suits. They each grabbed their respective Doros and lined up beside the door. Their Doros examination happened at the entrance ceremony several years back. Kane still remembered when he received his own. The lab sat full of technicians, each of them working in a separate department of Doros development. Such simple weapons, but each of them laid beautifully alongside their owners. Kane admired his own in his hands as they each fell in line. His resembled a simple blade. It had length and a strong curve yet cut clean. Perfection. Everyone else’s stretched as unique as his across their dominant hands. Abel used a staff. Rasheara, a kusarigama. Bracken gripped a war hammer with a larger than average head. Cale used daggers. And Carena used a bow. Kane took in each of their weapons, already planning how to use them for the coming test. He smiled. To think, if I make Ares Division, I’ll get a Domos.

Once they all fell in line, the sound of gears echoed throughout the room. The sound of opportunity. The doors flew open to reveal their expanded training arena. It resembled a large stadium stained as bright as the paintings of Olympus, their black training suits looking like shadows amongst the white. The training area usually remained clear so many squads could use it at once, but this time they owned it. Various black blocks sat strewn about to use for cover, each of which had varying sizes for the trial to come. And where a stadium would have had seats, the arena had a large glass room where the officers could watch the events unfold. Kane looked to his left and right. Everyone else stood as in awe of the expanse as him. Even humble Abel couldn’t help but succumb to the scene.

Suddenly, footsteps came from above. In one of the glass rooms, Darrien walked to the edge and peaked over at them with a grin. His slender face and black coat gave off an aura of confidence that made Kane’s hairs stand with excitement. Darrien brought his fingers up and signaled across the way. From their right, gears turned once more. There, in the doorway, stood the largest man Kane had ever seen. Standing atop the balcony in the execution room did little justice to his actual size. He had to at least be three feet taller than Kane. His shoulders stretched wider than Kane’s wingspan, his biceps bigger than his head. Though he wore the same black suit they did, it fought against his size. His short, black hair stood stiff against his head, looking as if it hadn’t been brushed in weeks. Though both his hair and his French-forked beard did little to cover his true prize: the scar running from his chin all the way through his left eye. They say he got it in the battle of Vivi Mortui against Hades. Chills crawled across Kane’s spine.

Ares pointed at them. “Here. I’ll close my eyes so you little rats can hide.” He shut his eyes.

Darrien laughed at them from above. “You may begin in ten…,” he said.

Kane glanced at the others. Not a soul moved.

“Nine.”

As Kane looked back toward Ares, a smile formed on Ares’ lips. He summoned an object into his right hand. There, between his fingers, sat an enormous axe with a gargantuan metal hole in the back of it. It was his Domos. His Aredomos. Though the head of it looked dulled for the trial, its size alone looked to be large enough to crush any who stood beneath it. The weight of the evaluation to come seeped into Kane’s veins.

“Eight.”

“Let’s move!” Kane exclaimed. He signaled to his teammates where to go.

“Seven… Six… Five…”

Carena stood at the back behind a black pillar, and Cale moved around the black barriers, finding home behind none of them.

“Four.”

Rasheara took position toward the front left behind a black pillar only someone as nimble as she could hide behind. Bracken crouched toward the front, behind a black barrier in front of Ares’ path of destruction.

“Three.”

Abel didn’t move far from Kane. He sat in reach off to his right.

“Two.”

And Kane situated himself in the upper middle of the arena for everyone but Bracken to see.

“One.”

Shuffling echoed from where Ares stood. He opened his eyes.

“Go.”

The stomping began. It echoed throughout the arena. Kane glanced over the barrier. Ares rushed toward them. Did he have no plan? No. He must have thought he didn’t need one. A crash sounded from the front of the room. Kane held his fist in the air, clear for Carena to see as he peaked around the corner once more. One of the black barriers laid in shambles at the other end of the room. Despite the axe’s dullness, it did enough damage. Yet Kane held his fist steady. From the corner of his eye, Abel stared at him, worry filling his gaze. Another crash sounded. Ares stepped one pace closer. Then another. And another. With each step, he got closer and closer to Bracken.

Finally, Ares stood in front of Bracken’s barrier. Still, Kane held his fist. Ares raised his axe in the air and swung with enough force to shatter the floor. Kane held his fist. Bracken rolled as the axe slammed through the barrier and entered the floor. Kane still held his fist. Then, as Bracken swung his hammer down, Kane’s hand released. An arrow whizzed past his head. Bracken’s hammer slammed into the back of Ares’s axe, lodging it into the ground. Ares jumped back, letting go of his axe, and slipped past the arrow. They had separated him from his weapon.

Kane signaled to Rasheara off to his left. She threw the weighted end of her kusarigama past Ares as three more arrows whizzed by Kane’s head. Rasheara’s chain wrapped around one of the tall barriers and had pulled it down behind Ares. Midway down, all three of Carena’s arrows lodged into the falling barrier, each of them sprouting vines from their tips. Cale shifted toward the front, scuttling to position himself behind Ares. Bracken followed suit and turned to approach Ares. The vines sprouted like tendrils and wrapped around Ares’s arms and chest, attempting to pull him into the barrier behind him. Still, he did little to stop them. Kane hesitated for a moment. Why did Ares not fight back?

“Abel, hold,” Kane commanded. Abel stared at him, his eyes unsure, yet he nodded. Kane turned to reach Cale, but he had already moved too far forward. As Kane turned to shout for their retreat, a smile formed on Ares’ face. His body flexed, making the vines snap behind him. As if it had a mind of its own, the axe rumbled. A stream of fire billowed hot enough from the back of the axe to even burn Kane’s skin from where he stood. Had a jet engine ignited? The ground beneath him cracked. The floor shattered. Everyone but Ares flew off their feet. Kane grabbed hold of the barrier in front of him as Abel tumbled onto his side.

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“Is this shit allowed-” Rasheara screamed from Kane’s left as she fell backward. Before Kane had time to move, Ares had already grabbed his axe and swung it toward Bracken. “Abel!” Kane yelled. The floor halted, and Abel jumped toward the scene. He swung his staff, blocking the blow that would’ve left Bracken in the infirmary past induction. Abel braced, but the staff shattered underneath the weight of the axe. Kane jumped, vaulting himself over the top of the barrier, and dashed toward Ares. Ares’s eyes stayed glued to Abel’s as his staff crumbled beneath the axe’s weight. Ares’ smile shifted into a grimace. Inside the large staff laid a chain. It caught the axe as it committed to the blow. Perfect Abel. Kane shifted to aim for Ares’s hands and separate him from his weapon once more.

Ares eyed him and let go of his Domos, swinging his fist toward Kane. It flew into Kane’s chest, sending him back into the barrier behind him. He braced his body, letting the barrier shatter against his spine. Kane gritted his teeth as he stared at the scene unfolding before him through hazy eyes. Abel had moved. He shifted forward, slinging each end of the now split staff at his enemy. Ares dodged left to right. It looked as if Abel practiced a routine. A dance only he knew. And the rhythm flowed. Yet, even with all the openings, Abel didn’t commit to his blows. Kane sighed. Abel had been afraid of violence ever since youth still formed their thoughts. Though the fear of getting hurt isn’t what haunted Abel. The fear of hurting another did.

Kane pulled himself from the rubble. Carena’s arrows continued to fly toward Ares, attempting to either hit or create an opening. Swing after swing, arrow after arrow met dodge after dodge from Ares. Abel swung one end of his chained staff at Ares’ right rib. Ares grabbed the staff with his right hand, attempting to pull Abel along with it, but Abel sent the other end toward his head. Again, Ares caught it with his other hand. Ares turned, preparing to sling it back, but Abel held on and swung a kick at Ares’ chest. It connected. Abel had hit Ares. Yet, Abel looked as if it hurt himself.

Ares stared at the foot touching his rib cage. He glanced toward Abel with a smile. “Vicious!” He let go of the staff, letting it fall to the ground, and swung his fist into Abel’s chest. With little room to move, Abel swung his arms before him, blocking the blow, but flew back into a waking Bracken. They clashed together, falling unconscious on the ground.

“Psst,” echoed a voice off to Kane’s left. Now lucid, Rasheara sought his attention. Kane nodded as she signaled toward Cale, who shuffled behind Ares. Ares didn’t notice. Kane signaled for Rasheara to help. He adjusted himself, and–as she threw her chain towards Ares left leg–Kane dashed toward him, aiming at his right ankle. Ares’ dark red eyes shone bright, staring at the chain. He allowed it to wrap around his leg. Before Kane could catch her, Ares had already pulled Rasheara toward him. She let go of the chain halfway, planting her hands upon one barrier along her path. She flipped out of the way. Kane pushed forward, preparing to strike. Ares grabbed the kusarigama and wrapped it around the hilt of the axe, pulling it back toward him. Kane had little time to aim for his ankles again. Instead, he shifted upward to meet the blow of Ares’s axe as the kusarigama flew off its hilt. Their blades clinked as they rubbed together. What brutal strength. Kane peaked around Ares. Cale stood behind him, ready to dive upon Ares’ back. Kane smirked and glanced back toward Ares, but Ares smirked, too.

“Your eyes give away more than you know, boy.” Ares shoved Kane backward and turned to meet Cale. Cale adjusted midway through the air, slamming his daggers down to meet with the axe below him. He used the force of the impact to fly off and land a small way away. Rasheara grabbed her kusarigama and joined them a short distance from Ares.

“Any more tactics, Kane?” Cale asked. Kane gazed upon their faces and nodded no. They all eyed each other. Ares’ smile glowed as he prepared for the blows to come. All at once, the three of them fell upon Ares. Flurries of blows came one after the other. Ares parried or dodged all of them, but they had him on the defensive. Carena bounced around at different angles, attempting to fire a mix of normal arrows and vine arrows. Rasheara threw her chain, and Cale dove at him from above. Kane joined, sliding at his legs as Carena’s arrows forced him to step forward into their oncoming attacks. Ares shifted to block, but a mass of metal appeared above him. Bracken’s hammer swung from above Ares’s head as Abel’s staff swung at his legs from below. They had him surrounded. All weapons swung at once, prepared to meet the giant before them.

A thud rang at the end of Kane’s blade. Kane looked up. They had done it. All of their weapons had met the body before them. They stood there, each of their weapons frozen in place against the deity’s skin. An arrow slid off Ares’ left shoulder. He stood there, smiling. A single bead of sweat fell from his forehead onto the floor below them.

“Vicious,” Ares said with a smirk, looking around at each of them. “Absolutely vicious.”

___

Kane smiled hard despite Ares leaving the arena without a scratch on him. They had done it. They had cornered Ares. All six shared high fives and snide remarks as they traversed the cracked floor below them.

“Was he supposed to do that?” Cale asked, pointing at the shattered ground. It shifted beneath him, piecing itself back together.

“I don’t think so,” Abel responded, attempting to put together his broken staff.

“Did you fucking see me hit that hammer? I was rolling and then went like wham and he couldn’t even get it out!” Bracken cheered. He reenacted the scene as if prepping for an interview with ZSNN.

“He got it out, dipshit,” Rasheara said with a chuckle. “That’s the whole reason you ended up on the floor.”

“May we please not argue over such trivial things? Bracken is subhuman in intelligence. Stories are his way of communicating,” Carena said with an analytical tone.

“I have no clue what the fuck that’s supposed to mean, but that had to be offensive,” Bracken remarked as he moved to confront Carena with a smirk. But before he could move his leg, the gears to the southern door shifted once more. Kane and the others gathered into a line, holding their formation with their backs straight and right arm in a salute across their chest. Their left arm laid stiff behind them.

The door opened, and both Darrien and Ares walked through together. Darrien walked with stiff steps, attempting to prevent himself from falling as Ares stomped beside him. “What a performance,” Darrien said as he moved to stand before them. Ares peaked over Darrien’s shoulder. “In all my years of training recruits such as yourselves, I have never seen such a wonderful evaluation.” It took every fiber of Kane’s being not to smile. He could tell his friends did the same.

“Stand proud,” Darrien continued, “You all will be fine agents after you finish the rest of your Evals.” Ares walked the line, taking in each of their features. He stopped at Kane.

“You,” Ares said.

“Yes, sir?” Kane asked, standing straighter.

“Your name.”

“Kane Kanezaki, sir.”

“Hmph.”

He finished walking the line, stared at each of them one more time, and walked out the far entrance. Darrien smiled and dismissed them for the evening.