Deicide: To Kill The Gods

TWO YEARS LATER

XENO'S POV

We hadn't been able to escape the check for the reincarnated Veritas, the Ascender and so-called God of War. However, to my surprise, nobody had been chosen– this all seemed to be a ruse for the king to abduct all of the homeless children and make them into soldiers he could use like tools in his endless battles… which had no goal, it seemed. He merely wanted to remain at the top– and the best way to do so was to crush everyone else underneath his feet.

And as such, Arwan, Deianira, Evanora, and I now found ourselves in a military training camp– though it was closer to slavery and child labour than anything else– in the forests on the outskirts of the city of Veda. In comparison to our previous life, we were fed consistently and had beds– but none of the previous freedoms. Left with nothing but scraps and a blade in hand, learning to fight for a corrupted, tyrannical king. It wasn’t the life I wanted, yet, it was the life that I had been forced to conform to.

Waking up at the crack of dawn wasn’t fun. I slept in a barrack on a bunk bed with Arwan, in rows near to the other boys– Deianira and Evanora with the girls on the opposite side of the camp. As our instructor called us to attention, we lined up in the middle of the camp, standing with our backs straight and not a hair out of place. If there was, Instructor Grey would likely punish us– Arwan had told me before about how the last guy was forced to run from camp to the city centre and back carrying a pail of water… and if he spilled a drop, he was forced to repeat it until he didn’t.

Arwan nudged me with a small smirk, pointing towards the man. His ashen hair was dishevelled, and he looked older than normal, spit flying as he proceeded to scream at some of the newer recruits. I couldn’t deny I felt bad, but Arwan’s constant nudging and joking around caused me to let out a small, but audible giggle.

Instructor Grey turned, his eyes setting on me as he stalked over, seething. The closer he got, the further back I leaned.

“Would you mind telling us all what, exactly, is so funny,” He spoke, every word dripping with hatred, before leaning down to scrutinise the small plaque sewn into Arwan and I’s shirts, “#200 and #199?”

In the camp, the trainees were ranked from 1 to 200 in order of skill. Those ranked within the top 50 got greater perks, such as better beds, better food, and joining the actual army. I was ranked 200th, and Arwan was rather 199th. Deianira and Evanora were ranked somewhere between 50 and 100. Ranks were determined by strength, skill, and amount of soul. Due to the fact I had very little, barely enough to reinforce my full body, and so, I was the weakest of the bunch. And because of it, the instructor picked on me more than he did anyone else.

Arwan could easily rise above 199th– I was sure of it. But why he refused to maximise his potential, I wasn’t sure.

Instructor Grey turned, motioning for us to follow him as we broke the line of recruits, the laughter of the others more than audible in my ears– they were doing it on purpose, just so I could hear it.

“#200’s done it again!”

“...What a weakling. He shouldn’t even be here.”

“Ugh, he’s just going to get beaten up again. What a waste of everyone’s time.”

“Ew, he’s even looking at us. What a freak.”

“He should be sent to live amongst those uncivilised human mutts, since he's got the same level of soul as them.”

Arwan patting my back slowly dragged me away from their voices and into reality. His voice was calm and playful as usual, a break from the monotonous life I was now confined to. At times like these, I was grateful to have my best friend, more grateful than I was for anything else.

“Now, since these two clearly believe that their joke is more important than learning combat, how about they show us what they know? #90 and #71, pass them your blades.”

More snickers followed, and I let out a groan. Two girls with light-pink hair reluctantly passed us their blades, and we faced each other down. The sharp blowing of a whistle pierced my ears, and our training match began.

My physical abilities were average– and my soul was… below average. Logically, our matchup was a clear and easy win for Arwan– but I had spent my time studying him, taking notes in terms of how he fought. It took him quite a while to get serious, playing with his food more than often.

“Tell you what, Xeno. If you manage to land a hit on me, I’ll consider this your win!”

“I accept.”

I lunged at Arwan, who dodged effortlessly as though I was moving at a snail’s pace. Which, in comparison to him, I probably was. Attempting to reach him, we danced across the dirt in an unusual rhythm, all of my strikes very nearly hitting him but missing by a hair. Was he doing this on purpose to tease me? I couldn’t tell, but it grew tiresome. My body was becoming fatigued, and I couldn’t keep up with him.

My brain was my only positive. In comparison to most of the recruits, I was smarter. That was my talent. Instead of spending my days working as hard as they did, I noted down what they did. The way they fought. And used it to build counter strategies against them. In an actual fight, I wouldn’t have nearly enough time. I’d need to work faster. But for now, this was enough– so it was time to deploy the Arwan counter.

Instead of attacking, I slowly but surely began to back off whilst enticing him to go on the offensive, so I wasn’t wasting unnecessary energy. Every movement I made was merely to block and nothing else, but I was sloppy. Yet that was good, as it got him cocky, overconfident. As he lunged in, I also took a step forward, twisting my body sideways and off to the right, my left foot stepping on his right, keeping it in place. Turning around, I swung my own blade, hitting him on the back.

The entire camp fell silent, and I glanced towards Arwan, who was grinning at me. He hit me on the back the same way as before, but harder, wrapping an arm around my shoulder, wrapping me in a friendly headlock as we made our way back to the line.

“You did it, Xeno. I said if you hit me, you win. And I’m a guy who sticks to his word. How does it feel to be the victor for the first time ever?”

“It feels…. Good.”

“Cherish that,” He said with a laugh, “It’ll be a while before I ever let you beat me with something as stupid as that again.”

“I won’t have to, since I’ll beat you properly next time.”

“Whatever you say. I’m excited to see that.”

–

ATLAS REYES’ POV

My eyes blinked open, a yawn escaping my mouth. It had been a while since I had a dream of my past life as Xeno– though, I didn’t exactly mind reminiscing every once in a while. Isabella lay curled up on the pillow beside me, still sleeping peacefully as I removed the covers from my body and sat up, fingers curling around the hairbrush on my bedside table.

It had been approximately two years since the Succession Ritual Tournament. I was now 14, and had spent the time with my family, simply enjoying life and getting used to it all, finally settled into my existence as Atlas. Sometimes, I still referred to myself as Xeno. In my heart, I thought, I always would. But I knew I needed to let that go. Xeno was dead, and Atlas lived in his place.

I rarely ever saw Hua, considering she was incredibly busy now that she was the crown princess. As for Feng and Yuxi… I hadn’t heard much about them, other than the fact they scarcely ever left their rooms nowadays after the public humiliation they had experienced due to the tournament and its aftermath. It was better, I supposed, than being put to death. If they had been anything but royalty, they would have been executed. But once again, birthright came into play, altering even justice itself, blindfolded as it was.

Headmistress Ambrose sometimes came around, noticeably more often than I met Hua lately– which was a low bar– to check on her ‘little penta-elemental prodigy’, which was fair enough. As I was the only one on the continent, the bragging rights of having trained me were… well, incredibly great. She couldn’t be having me fall into the hands of someone else. I could certainly imagine her wanting to show me off to her friends, having the personality she did.

She never questioned me about the letter, but I was almost certain she knew of my connection to Meryll. Why didn't she ask, though, I wasn’t too sure of. The woman’s brain was too complicated to decipher, nor did I care enough to even try to do so.

Hua’s 16th birthday was soon approaching, I noted, as I brushed the knots from my hair. Hua was one year older than I was– however, there was a short period each year where she was two years older than me for a few months as my birthday hadn’t happened yet.

Having completely brushed the knots from my hair, I tied it into a low ponytail with a short strip of black fabric, shaking Isabella awake, who let out a grunt before leaping up and onto my shoulder, already hearing my mother and father downstairs. Today was the day I planned to tell them about my wishes to become an adventurer. Considering my physical age, I couldn’t exactly simply go without their permission, and it was also out of respect for the ones who had raised this body before I had taken over.

–

The conversation almost went exactly as I had expected– my mother wasn’t happy, in the slightest, as I was chased around the table, my father doing his best to hold her back… and failing quite badly.

“No! I won’t let you disappear again!” She shrieked, leaning over the table in a desperate attempt to pick me up. “You disappeared the last time, and, what, came back three years later having almost died multiple times! I know, Atlas! I know that you’re not telling us things, and…”

Her voice wobbled, sadness evident as she sat back in the chair, my father’s arm wrapped around her shoulder as he rubbed circles on her back.

“...and I’m scared. We both are. You get yourself into such dangerous situations, Atlas. Situations that no child your age should be going through– what if next time, you ended up dead? I mean, children your age are hanging out with their friends. What about that academy Miss Ambrose talked about?”

My gaze fell to the floor. I couldn’t imagine how worried she was, as I had never been a mother before. She had my best interests at heart, and I was grateful for all of their love. It was a love I hadn’t experienced before, a love that if you were to ask the past me, I would have said it was impossible to feel. But ultimately, it was for them that I did all these things. It was for them I needed strength, and lots of it.

The war that Isabella had first spoken of was constantly in the back of my mind. Where I was now wasn’t close to enough to keep them safe through it. I couldn’t face the rising tide, not just yet. In terms of magic and soul usage, I was far superior to my previous life, who was forced to rely on nothing but his brain. But even that… I’d need to become stronger, better than I ever had been in order to protect them. Before, I’d survived because I had nothing to take care of but my own life. No friends, family, and romantic relationships were fleeting, never deep enough for me to truly say I cared.

With everything I had gained as a person in this life, becoming more of a person than the emotionless husk I was previously, I’d need far more strength to keep it all safe.

“Mum, I’d be too young for them. I wouldn’t be able to fit in, or make sense.” I said with a chuckle, to which she looked at me, an expression of shock on her face, deep in thought.

“I want to go out and experience the world just like Dad did, just like you did before you settled down and had me. I want to see what the world is like for myself before I go to the academy.”

“He has a fair point, Elizabeth.”

“B-but Caspian, he’s only 14! He could get hurt or, or–”

“The Lizards are returning from Krystallos in a few days. We could ask them to go with him for extra protection.” My father suggested. My mother seemed to be slowly but surely relaxing due to the fact we both had good points, though I could tell she was still ultimately reluctant to honour the request.

Upon hearing the Lizards’ name, I perked up. Not only was I surprised to hear them from my father’s mouth, I was also… happy to know that they were okay. After Jasper and the way Hua and I fell from the cliff, we hadn’t been in contact since.

“You know the Lizards?”

“Yes. As a matter of fact, whilst we were putting up missing person fliers around the city a few years ago, they came to us and told us they had seen you. We didn’t believe them– not until we saw you through the projection magic.”

My mother remained silent, but my father nudged her. “Besides, I think I’m more worried about what he’ll do to his enemies.”

She let out a sigh. “Fine. But under some conditions.

One, you must remain in contact with us. Letters every night.

Two, you must remain with the Lizards, as they will be your guardians during that time. Three, you have to prioritise your own safety. I know how you can be, but you need to promise me you’ll stay safe.

Four, you will be returning for your 17th birthday, so you can attend the academy.

Five, you can leave after Hua’s birthday party in a few days’ time. She’d probably be sad if you left before then. Also, we need the time to sort out your equipment.”

I could accept her rules. After all, she was letting me go, and as such, I didn’t have room to complain, the excitement from also being able to see the Lizards again flowing freely through me as my lips curved upwards into a beaming grin. Making my way around the table and over to her, I embraced her, before pulling away quickly. I had never been good at expressing my feelings, having locked them away for years, but I tried.

“I’ll stay safe, Mum. I promise. I’ll return in one piece.”

“You say you will, but I can’t help but worry about you.”

“...I know. I’ll try my hardest.”

I was going to come back to them, no matter what. I promised myself that much.