Adam's eyes crackled with both power and rage as he glared upon the dark and bloodied figure that sat upon Celestia's throne, snarling at Ares, who gave him a similar look in return. Adam placed himself between the god and Celestia to be safe before he started interrogating the intruder.
"Why are you here, Ares? I highly doubt that you came to such a peaceful world to find war," Black Adam snarled at Ares, who smirked as he looked down at his palm.
"I will not deny that this world is truly devoid of the rage and bloodlust that sustains me, but there have been improvements in the years since you have been here, fool," Ares said with a smile on his face, but behind him Adam could feel Celestia trembling slightly at what Ares was saying...not the words alone, but the voice behind those words. The voice of an immortal being who had little regard for life outside of combat. "But to answer your inquiry, I am here for you, Black Adam."
Adam hid the surprise that he felt with rage. "I assume that you only come now due to my arrival back on my home planet? But what do you want with me? I want nothing to do with Earth nor the people on it. This is where I protect now, so if you are trying to offer me a deal--"
"You are truly far dumber than I had originally believed," Ares cut him off with a scowl. Adam wanted to tear his jaw off right there for the insult. "I am not here to bargain with you, I am here because you owe me something, you pitiful excuse for a warrior." The more Ares spoke, the more it terrified Celestia, and from the way the two were speaking with each other, it was clear they had met before. And if they had met, then Ares would not be antagonizing the strongest being she knew unless his power matched Adam's.
"I owe you nothing, God of War! I want nothing to do with you," Black Adam snarled at Ares as he let electricity crackle all along his body. "Now leave this land and do not come back or I will resort to extreme force. And trust me when I say this Ares, you do not wish to fight me with the power that I now wield." Ares tilted his head back and let a dry chuckle escape his lips as his red eyes narrowed at Black Adam.
"There you go, that is what I am speaking of. The Adam that I prized above all other warriors would have torn my head off at the sight of me, yet you have been tamed by the ponies and allowed yourself to go soft," Ares scoffed at Adam as he rose to his feet. Celestia suddenly felt the desire to attack him despite knowing that he was out of her league. "But I cannot solely blame the ponies for your weakness. There was also your people and your family. They held you back from being the bloodthirsty warrior that I knew you to be."
"Do not speak as if you know what they did for me," Black Adam whispered in a deadly voice as he slowly began to move towards the God of War. "They did not weaken me; they made me strong. Far stronger than I could have ever hoped to be by fighting for revenge. I fight for others now, not my revenge." This time Ares threw back his head and let a hearty chuckle echo across the room, eyes shining with mirth while he looked down at Adam.
"I do not believe you," Ares retorted. "You are a creature of vengeance, and I can prove it to you within moments." When Adam's eyes dared Ares to go on, Ares smiled with bloody teeth. "Do you not find it odd that there were only a handful of American soldiers in your home to fight next to Doomsday? Did you not think something was strange? Or how a nuclear warhead managed to sneak itself into your city while you were there? Even if you were battling with Doomsday, surely you would have noticed."
Adam thought about Ares' words for a moment, before his eyes went wide and he staggered back with shock clearly written on his face. "You..." Adam whispered.
"Yes, I am the one who destroyed your home. I convinced the leaders of America to send a small squadron of meta-human soldiers into your land by convincing them that you were a threat. I freed Doomsday from his prison within space, that you granted to him, and I was the soldier that pushed the button, killing everything you cared about," Ares pridefully admitted to the horrified faces of both Celestia and Black Adam.
"Why?" Adam said in a whisper, a whisper that was filled with both wrath and pain.
"Because I knew that you are far too ignorant to stop and think for a moment, that if your nation was attacked and I placed a few breadcrumbs, that you would not rest until you had wiped those who had hurt your nation off the planet," Ares said as he conjured images out of blood, images of Adam tearing through the United States' leaders. "That you would kill all those whom you believed to have wronged you and your people. That is why I chose you. Because you are stronger than Superman, far more magical than Captain Marvel, and one of the most brutal fighters known to man. In your enraged state, you would have given the entire human race the bloodiest war that had ever been seen in the history of bloodshed."
"And sustaining you," Adam said in a barely audible whisper. Ares looked at the figures in the blood for a moment before crushing them within his grasp.
"But then something happened that I could not have predicted. In your state, you allowed a moment of blindness to defeat you, to allow Diana and her league to strip you of your powers and send you back into the unknown. Yet I was not worried," Ares said. "You had returned before and you would again, all I had to do was wait. But then I received the greatest of shocks when I sensed your magic back on Earth, and yet you had not engaged in war with those whom you believed to have wronged you. So I followed you here and what did my eyes see? Black Adam, one of the mightiest warriors, protecting beasts of burden. I have slain many men and watched as humanity committed atrocities that could never be repeated, and yet that was the sight that made me ill. How could you allow yourself to fall so far?"
"All that death, all of those lives lost, just so you could use me to cause more death and destruction," Adam said as he looked down at his hands, the realization of what he would have done, the atrocities he would have committed, had the wizard and the heroes not stopped him. And then he remembered why he had killed the wizard. 'Forgive me Shazam, once again I am the fool.'
"Yes, but since you no longer have the fighting desire that you once had, I have decided that there is only one thing left I can gain from you," Ares said as he pulled a massive, blood-stained claymore out of his right hand, and a blackened mace with his other hand. "You will give me a battle of the ages. And then I will kill you." Black Adam did not move for another moment as he still looked down at his hands, before he slowly raised his eyes towards the god, with one emotion running through them.
Absolute hatred.
"You wish for a battle god?" Black Adam roared as lightning flung itself from his body and tore apart the room around him. "I will give you WAR!" Ares laughed when Adam threw himself at the god, the two of them colliding in the center of the room. Celestia had to construct a barrier of magic to keep the shockwave from tearing her apart, but to her horror when she looked at the two, she found that Ares had barely budged...and was matching Black Adam's strength.
"Good Adam. It seems I chose my champion well," Ares chuckled before driving his boot into Adam's gut to push him back, before driving the mace right under Adam's jaw. The godly strength that flowed through Ares gave him the power to hurl Adam through the ceiling and far above the city. Ares then looked down at Celestia, who was frozen simply at the sight of his power. "Come beast, there is much I wish to show you." Ares rose out of the hole that he had caused and waited upon the castle roof for Adam to return, which he did in seconds.
"Allow me to ask you a question, Adam, what is better than two immortal beings fighting in a battle?" Ares asked Black Adam, whose response was to blast Ares' chest with lightning and send him skidding back. Adam followed up with a knee to the gut and an elbow to the side of the face, spinning Ares around. Black Adam then put his shoulder to the back of Ares' neck and wrapped his fingers around the god's jaw, allowing him to flip Ares over his shoulder and throw him through the castle walls and into the streets below. Ares chuckled as he pulled himself out of the crater he had made, and he looked up at Black Adam and Celestia. "A battle that allows anyone to enter."
Ares snapped his fingers and a pulse of red energy emerged from him, quickly covering the entire city. Adam snarled as he prepared to attack when he heard shouting, and he looked down the street to see that ponies were now fighting with each other, some of them looking like they were going to kill the others. He tried to stop the fighting but was quickly pulled to the ground by a chain that Ares wrapped around his leg, allowing the god to drag Adam under his boot.
"What now, Protector?" Ares mocked as Adam struggled to push the boot off of him. "You wish to protect these beasts, yet you cannot both fight me and protect them. How will you manage to--?" Ares stopped talking as Celestia flew by them and in between the fighting ponies, using her magic to push them apart.
"Do not worry about them Teth, I can keep them safe," Celestia said to him with a smile. "Focus all of your efforts on the foe before you." Adam smiled at her words before he drove his fist into the side of Ares' knee, collapsing the god to one knee. Adam rolled to his feet and kicked Ares squarely in the jaw, sending him flying backwards across the ground. Adam threw a right hook at the god that was blocked, and Ares retaliated with a chop that caught Adam in the face, stunning him for a moment. A warhammer was the next sight to greet Adam as Ares drove the hammer into his face, hurling him through the upper levels of Canterlot and into the lower ones.
"Are you truly trying to defeat me at the very activity that sustains me?" Ares chuckled as Adam shot back up and drove himself into Ares, grasping his head with both hands as he began to crush the helmet and skull of the god. Ares fired off a blast of energy that knocked Adam back as he changed weapons to a spear, motioning for Adam to attack. Adam narrowed his eyes as he brought both of his fists up, throwing a kick that Ares blocked with the spear. Adam followed up with a flurry of punches that were all expertly blocked by Ares, who laughed at the frustration on Adam's face.
"I have been alive since the world first came into creation. I am the one who taught humans how to fight, how to wage war and how to kill," Ares boasted as he flipped under a kick by Adam and brought the butt of the spear into Adam's gut before driving the blade towards his face. Adam parried with his gauntlets and drove his elbow into Ares' jaw, knocking the god back. "You may have been alive for over five thousands years, but I have far more experience than you. What do you hold over me?"
"Hatred and drive," Adam snarled back as he muttered spells under his breath, causing thunderous clouds to surround Ares. Ares barely had time to react as magical bolts of lighting began to strike him from all sides within the clouds, stunning him long enough so that Adam could kick the spear out of his grasp and seize his chest plate with both hands. With a roar Adam channeled his electrical magic into Ares, who also roared as the lightning tore through him. Adam ceased the spell to drive his fist into Ares' face and drive him through the streets beneath him.
"You will pay, Ares. For the lives of my people, and any others who have lost their lives due to your greed and hunger for war," Black Adam whispered as he stalked Ares, who had arisen from where Adam had driven him, with a smile.
"I am a god. I do not have to do anything," Ares smirked as he pulled out a new blade, one that even Adam looked at with trepidation. It had a black skull that connected the hilt to the blade, a blade that was stained red with the blood of those who had fallen to its sting. Ares took up a fighting stance as did Adam, both of them measuring each other before they clashed again. Adam ducked under the Ares' swing and caught him with a side kick to the leg, almost driving Ares to his knees. Ares blocked Adam's second strike with the side of his sword and pushed Adam back, quickly spinning the blade towards Adam.
"ARGH!" Black Adam cried as he felt the blade bite into his leg, forcing Adam back as he fired more lightning at Ares to prevent him from pressing the attack. Adam chanced a glance down at his leg to see that the blade had caused a good sized gash, and he was beginning to lose blood.
"Even with your powers Adam, stronger magic can still cut through you as if you were a mortal," Ares chuckled as he pointed the tip of the sword at the lighting bolt on Adam's chest. "And this blade is the essence of war, the magical weapon that is infused with my spirit. Even you will fall to its wrath. It will not be easy, but you shall fall." Adam's response was to spit into the ground as he glared up at Ares.
"And I am the embodiment of the greatest Egyptian gods within one champion," Adam retorted as he let lightning flash through his hand before grasping the wound with that same hand, letting the lightning burn his leg to stop the flow of blood. Once the flow of blood had been stemmed, Adam looked back up at Ares with hatred. "Now come, let us continue."
S=H=A=Z=A=M
"Stop!" Celestia cried out as two ponies went at each other with bloodlust in their eyes, one holding a pair of scissors and the other the broken hilt of a broom. She barely got the spell up in time to separate the two before she used her magic to place the both of them in a trance, giving her a moment to breathe a sigh of relief. That moment was shattered when she heard a cry of pain and turned around to see that a pony had been killed by the magic of a unicorn, who was now strangling another with her magic.
"Enough!" Celestia cried out as she knocked that unicorn down with a blast of magic. "Can you not see that you are under a spell?" she asked the unicorn in desperation.
"Who cares? All I want now is to kill!" the unicorn roared as she tried to fight against Celestia's magic, forcing Celestia to knock her out as well so that she could not harm any others. As Celestia lifted her head and looked upon all of the ponies who were now trying to kill each other, for a brief moment she was reminded of the alien that had tried to attack her in the Phantom Zone.
'No, I will not allow our nation to fall into such a state!' she thought to herself as she took to the skies and began to fire more knock out spells upon the ponies who were trying to harm others. She took aim at a couple when a blast of magic clipped her in the wing and forced her to the ground, where she landed on her hooves and erected a barrier to protect herself from the spells that were hurled at her. The magic was strong, but the five unicorns could not overcome her alicorn magic and quickly found themselves asleep on the ground as well.
"I do not know how much longer I can keep this up," Celestia panted heavily as she took a moment to recover, ignoring the pain in her wing as she looked around at all the bloodshed. "But I can't stop fighting. If Teth is too focused on trying to save us, then he may fall to the God of War. Heh, never thought I would see the day where I believe Adam could lose." She heard more screaming, so she ran down the road to the source of the cries, but to her absolute horror she did not see two or three ponies trying to kill each other. She saw two armies of civilians preparing to face off.
"This is not happening!" she yelled as she flung herself between the two forces, switching to her regal voice. "All of you cease this at once and return to your homes! This is an order of the Princess!" But to her shock, the ponies barely paid her any mind as their red eyes were far too focused on the ponies across from them. Celestia spun around to face the other army, but in a moment she thought that she had seen a pony in a black cloak within the ranks. When she blinked it was gone, but then both forces let out a scream and nearly converged upon her. She cast two barriers to try and keep them apart, but the sheer volume of ponies shattered the spell, allowing the two armies to begin killing each other.
"Stop this! Cease!" she screamed from above them once she had taken to the skies, trying to keep as many ponies from killing each other as possible. "Stop! I order you to stop! Please!" But her cries were to no avail as none of the ponies listened to her, for all around her were the cries of war and death...and she was powerless to stop them. "Please, stop...listen to me," she begged as she tried her best to stop them, but it was too late. The center of Canterlot was now the site of a massive battle.
S=H=A=Z=A=M
Adam felt his cheek scream with pain as he barely moved his head out of the way of the Warbringer, which then cut through a building that had been behind Adam. Ares smirked as he switched his grip and sliced the whole building in half while he tried to cleave Adam in two. Black Adam managed to bring his right gauntlet up in time to deflect the strike, but the enchanted blade almost cut his guard in half as well.
"Do you now see how futile it is to fight against War?" Ares asked as he began to push against Adam, who resisted as the blade cut deeper and deeper into his guard. In an instant, Black Adam kicked his own feet out from underneath of himself and allowed himself to fall back, taking Ares with him as he rolled and placed both of his boots into Ares' gut. He kicked with all of his might and forced Ares into the air, allowing Adam to get back up and giving him the chance to tear the blade out of his gauntlet and toss it off into the distance.
"A valiant effort," Ares said as he floated above Adam, reaching through a red vortex to draw the blade once again. "But I am War. All weapons obey my will." Ares hurled himself at Adam again and Adam caught Ares' wrist so that he couldn't swing at him. The two shook as they each tried to overpower the other. Adam narrowed his eyes as he prepared a trick he had been saving.
"SHAZAM!" The divine lightning came to his aid and struck Ares in the back, causing the God of War to roar in pain while the lightning of the gods tore into his armor. Ares backed away from Adam with his armor smoldering and a stunned look in his eyes. Taking the opportunity, Adam gave Ares a 'round-house' kick to the side of the head and sent him skyward. Adam took to the sky to follow him and drove his fist into the flying Ares' face, sending the god into the side of the mountain that Canterlot rested upon.
"It seems that I am not the only one who is vulnerable to superior magic," Adam taunted as Ares shakily pulled himself out of the side of the mountain, finally looking up at Black Adam with rage in his eyes. But then a smile crossed Ares face as he drew his blade once again.
"Yes, but you seem to forget the other vulnerability that you have...Protector!" Ares turned and sliced the top off the mountain, grabbing it with both of his hands and hurling it up at Adam. Adam allowed it to slam into him so that he could catch it, knowing that if he destroyed it the mountain would not hit Canterlot. So with an effort, he lifted the mountain above his head and hurled it towards where the Everfree Forest once stood. With the mountain safely disposed of, Adam drove himself back at Ares. He dodged the swing Ares took at him and caught him in the gut with his knee, allowing him to grab Ares by the throat and hold the god up.
"This ends now, Ares. You will pay," Adam snarled as he tightened his grip, but Ares let out another laugh as he looked past Adam to the city.
"Are you sure? Because it looks like they could use your help right now." Adam punched Ares in the face and sent him into the smooth surface from which he had cut off the mountain, so that he could turn to look behind him. And the sight shocked him. The magical supports that held Canterlot to the mountain had been cleaved and from the red marks it was clear who had done that. But without the supports to hold the city in place...
"No," Adam whispered. He tried to take off, but another set of chains wrapped themselves around his neck, forcing him to his knees while Ares channeled his power through the chains. As Adam struggled against the chains, he could still see what was happening to Canterlot. Cantelot was falling to the ground far below it.
And if he did not catch it, everypony would die.