Null Tower, New York City
Kari Zel is alone in the Operation Center, surrounded only by her duplicates. The holographic screens hovering above the conference table are showing images from over 20,000 light-years away from her adoptive planet.
They show a massive swarm of robotic wolves attacking the Ares fleet, a huge mass of twisted metal that just tears through the hulls of every ship it encounters. It doesn’t last long: barely a minute passes before a large explosion engulfs the two opposing fleets.
<Well… that could’ve been gone better.> Kari admits, once the screen disappears.
<That monster slaughtered an entire battalion of the best ships of the Mortal Fleet, and you thought that your dogs could’ve made a difference?> Aura’s hologram scolds her. There was already a profound distrust between the Acting President of the Mortal Republic and the Vanguard before this threat, and things are definitely not improving.
<They’re called F.E.N.R.I.S., Madam President, and they’ve held their own against Egyptian fleets in the past.> Kari justifies herself, having a difficult time that the self-replicating robot wolves have been defeated so easily.
<I don’t care what they are called. I want Null to give me options for how to deal with Ares, because I’m not sending any more ships to be demolished!>
<Themiscyra has already sent another fleet, they’re on their way. Their ships are way faster than those of Ares, so they’ll intercept him before he reaches Earth.>
<They didn’t make a difference before. Is Ares only going to target Earth? Or does he plan to invade the rest of the republic?>
<Based on what we know about him, there is zero chance he’ll just stop at Earth.>
<Then I hope Null does manage to kill him there. Because if she doesn’t, I’m going to send each and every ship under my command to attack him at once.>
<Haven’t you just said that it’s not going to make a difference?>
<The difference is that I won’t go down without a fight, Zel. May fate help you.> President Aura says, abruptly ending the conversation.
Kari leans back against the chair, creating a duplicate to massage her shoulders and sighing.
<I don’t know how Nori deals with this kind of crap.> she comments as she noticed something under her pink t-shirt is emitting a glowing light. She takes out her pendant, shaped like a cog with a lightning bolt inside it.
<Well, it was just a matter of time. Athena.> she says, activating the pendant which creates a hologram of the goddess of wisdom.
<Miss Zel. Hopefully you will find our conversation more useful than your previous one.>
<Were you spying on… wait, stupid question, of course you were. Can I help you with anything?>
<I wanted to ask the same question. Null has sequestered herself into her eponymous dimension and she’s positioning her forces in anticipation for the arrival of Ares, but she hasn’t contacted me yet.>
<You want to help, Athena? Fine. Can you defeat Ares?>
<Not at the moment.>
<Can you provide any kind of useful support?>
<I am dispatching all the ships that Null has gifted me… the Kali Yuga, the Jörmungandr and the Huginn… to intercept Ares. They will not stop him, but they can buy her some time.>
<But you’re not going to join the fight yourself. Is Ares really that powerful, or do you have another angle? You’re a very hard person to read, Athena.>
<By design, Zel. Please give my regards to Noriko, as well as my wishes for a happy birthday.> the goddess says, interrupting the communication with a slight nod.
<I’m beginning to hate that woman.> Kari sighs.
Asgard Station, the Null Zone
The living quarters provide an unmatched view: the Null Zone is often illuminated by planet-sized lightning bolts that streak across the endless void, and the new suns created by the Star Forge create a luminous aura that is just barely visible from the barriers that absorb most of its life.
<Here’s the thing about gods.> Noriko Null says, reaching for one of the sushi rolls that one of her Nullbots has gently placed on the table.
<I used to think they had physical bodies which they enhanced with their powers, but that’s not technically true. They don’t have bodies, not like us.> she says, pausing only to eat.
<All I asked was “how close are you to finish the weapon”, but go on.> Dmitry Voron clarifies; he’s sitting across the table, but Noriko is not really talking to him: she’s thinking out loud.
<Gods are living information, living stories. They control atoms to interact with the universe and we take for granted that those atoms are their bodies, but they’re not. The greater their control, the more powerful they are. The strongest they think they are, the strongest they become. Once their power reaches a certain point, physical attacks become meaningless because no physical force can overcome the control they have over matter. Are you following me?>
<On principle, yes. But I fail to see how this makes any scientific sense, or how it’s useful.>
<When I built the God Eraser, it was able to kill gods by flooding their mind with so much information that they would just shut down. Then I jumped to the Final Abyss, which straight up annihilates the mind. But that only got me so far… I can’t put into words just how powerful the mind of a Class-2 god is. Using the Final Abyss to kill one required the power-up from my golden eyes, and a high level Class-2 like Apollo also required channeling the brainpower of his Oracle network; I’m fairly confident that, even ignoring the fact that the golden eyes are killing me, I’ve reached the limit of what the Nexus can do.> she explains, stopping for another sushi roll.
<Instead of overcoming a god’s mind, you want to attack the body: if you prevent this “living information” from accessing matter, you’re essentially killing the target anyway.> Dmitry deduces.
<I knew you’d get it! I couldn’t have done this project without you.>
<Yes you could. I haven’t done anything since we got here, which… ah, here it is, my contribution.> he says, gesturing towards the Nullbot that is approaching the table. It’s holding the last thing Noriko expected… a cupcake.
<Gods beware. We have desserts.> Noriko jokes, raising an eyebrow.
<I programmed your robot to cook something for your birthday. Happy 25th Day of Null.>
<Ugh, don’t remind me of that stupid holiday. Does it even count? I’m not physically 25 yet… I’ve lost eight months in the time dilation against Tiamat and six against Ulysses, and we have been in this time bubble for just three and a half months.>
<But it is your birthday on Earth. I’ve done the math.>
<I’m sure you have. Just as I’m sure you remember that I hate celebrating my birthday.>
<Then let’s celebrate the fact that you are alive. Or that as soon as you step back into the universe the gods are going to need to change their pants. Those that do wear pants, anyway.>
<And I suppose you have ideas on how you want me to celebrate, Dr. Voron?>
<We are both geniuses. I’m confident we can come up with something.>
15,000 light-years from Earth
One day has passed since the last time anyone made an effort to stop the Ares fleet. Of course he could simply open a portal and transport his ships in Earth’s solar system almost instantly, but the thought of terrorizing the Galaxy by showing off how unstoppable he can be fills the god of war with endless satisfaction.
<My Lord, six ships approaching. They just slowed below light speed and will intercept us within three minutes. Shall I order the fleet to attack?> the navigator asks.
<Proceed as planned. I need to stretch my legs.> Ares answers, standing up from his throne of skulls. In the blink of an eye he has left the ship and concentrates his divine senses on the ships approaching: he can already see them, even though the light they emit hasn’t had the time to reach his eyes yet.
Three of them bear the sigil of Athena and three the Ø symbol that he’s grown to recognize.
<Remote control ships. Too much of a p#ssy to attack me directly, Null?> he tells himself as he unsheathes his sword of Degenerate Neutral Matter.
The N21-Jörmungandr and the N16-Ymir attack him straight on, while the others three target him with a barrage of energy blasts. Their onboard computers coordinate their trajectories to make sure they are never too close to each other, ensuring that Ares will have to fight one at a time.
He cuts the N16-Ymir in half, but that doesn’t cause much trouble: as one of the Surtur-class ships, its modular design allows it repair any damage in a matter of seconds.
Ares does manage to land a few blows, but he has to fight one ship at a time: he’s not fast enough to catch up with them. Unfortunately he doesn’t sustain any damage since every blast completely fails to even scratch his armor. Soon enough he figures out the fleet’s strategy.
The only two ships protected by a hull of Neutral Matter, the Ragnarok-class N05-Kali Yuga and the N13-Vanth, have kept their distance the entire time. And more importantly, he senses that they are diverting power from their engine to the weapon systems.
<Clever girl.> Ares admits, throwing his sword at the N13-Vanth at a significant fraction of the speed of light. Even if the sword wasn’t one of the few objects sharp enough to cut through Neutral Matter, it still weights as much as a planet: the ship is cut in half and explodes in a thousand pieces.
There is little time for celebration: the N05-Kali Yuga is done charging up its Black Hole Generator, and it shoots its singularity at Ares from behind.
The god of war didn’t expect that kind of attack. The black hole doesn’t have much gravitational pull at first, but all the four remaining Surtur-class ships… the N21-Jörmungandr, the N22-Huginn, the N15-Tyr and the N16-Ymir… are all sucked in, squeezed down to a point.
The N05-Kali Yuga then releases an electromagnetic pulse towards the remains of the N13-Vanth: all the Neutral Matter in the wreckage is destabilized, increasing its mass hundreds of thousands of times before being absorbed into the black hole.
The god’s armor resists both the destabilization and the gravitational pull, but the black hole is still gravitationally attached to his back: he can’t just reach for it.
As he’s awkwardly trying to free himself, the N05-Kali Yuga deals the finishing blow: it powers up its Negative Engine and flies straight into Ares himself.
There’s not enough space to accelerate to its top speed of 400 million times the speed of light, not when the ship also destabilizes its own Neutral Matter.
But immobilized by the black hole, Ares can’t dodge the billion-ton ship hitting him ten thousand times faster than light. It’s an unstoppable force hitting an immovable object.
A lesser god would be devastated by this: even the armor can’t fully absorb such an astronomical blow, and if this solar system was inhabited this would’ve ended any living creature in it.
Once the debris has been fully absorbed by the black hole, Ares removes his armor’s chest piece: it’s heavily damaged, with very visible cracks all over the place, but it’s still intact.
He breathes heavily as he uses his nearly infinite strength to manually separate it from the microscopic black hole, his muscles overcoming the gravitational pull.
<Not bad. I actually felt that.> he admits, floating away from the black hole as he puts his armor back on and telekinetically calls back his sword.
<But not good enough, Null. I can’t wait for you to get serious.>
Parthenos, on the other side of the Galaxy
Athena is disappointed. Her face remains inscrutable, but she expected her strategy to be more effective; especially since Zel provided three additional ships from Null’s own fleet.
As she watches the fight from the giant screen looming over the war room, where none of her generals dare say anything analyzing the battle, she has to admit:
<Ares has grown more powerful than I anticipated. Under no circumstances shall any ship of the Athenian Federation approach him.> she orders, while also thinking:
“Null might be destined to die at his hands. If even the Slayer of Gods can’t defeat Ares… Gods beware, there might be no way to stop him.>
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