13. As If We’d End This Way

The final battle with Jesus plays out, but will Ace succeed in defeating him?

“Hello?” Ace called out.  The world around her, if you can call it that, was white and featureless.  Nothing but solid white for an eternity.  Ace couldn’t even tell where the floor was, but after tripping a little she figured it out.  She walked for only a few minutes before she heard a voice.

“Sucks that you’re here.” It called.  It was familiar.  The same male voice she heard before, calm, inviting, but at the same time aloof and nonchalant.  Ace looked around for the source.

“Who’s there?” She asked.

“You know.  Why ask?” It responded.  In front of her a man appeared.  He was in his mid twenties, a few inches taller than Ace, although with his poor posture it was hard to tell.  He wore a sleeveless white shirt with white jeans.  His left hand was in his pocket while the other hung near his side.  His hair was spiked, similar to Ace’s.  There were no wrinkles on his face and his eyes were featureless.  Despite his odd appearance, he was nothing short of inviting.

“God?” Ace asked.

“Maybe. Yeah.” The man said.  He walked up to her and gave her a lazy salute using only two fingers.  It was more of a wave.

“Well…this is weird.” Ace shrugged. “Where am I?”

“You’re dead.” God said bluntly.  Ace jumped in shock.

“What?!  D****t, I lost to Jesus?!”

“Sucks, doesn’t it?”

“Yeah…that means you’re going to be put into another body, and I don’t get to go home….”

“Well, I never said that.”

Ace looked at him confused. “I don’t get it.  Jesus won, he killed me.  Hell, you’re sealed, how can you be here?”

God snickered.

“Hades didn’t seal me.  I countered it.”

“You…wait, so this whole time you were awake?  Why didn’t you help me?  Alex died because of you!”

“She’s not dead.  Her powers will be fine in….” God looked at his wrist, pretending to have a watch. “Four minutes, twenty one seconds.”

“That…that’s all?  Oh well, doesn’t matter.  I’m dead.”

“And I’m your god.”

“I don’t get it.”

God snickered again before putting his hand on her shoulder and pulling her close.

“I love you mortals.  I don’t know why I stopped doing my job.”  He mused.  There was silence between them for a few seconds before God started again. “I’ll resurrect you.  I’ll snap off Hades’, er, ‘seal’, and we’ll beat my kid.”

“And you’re okay with that?  He’s your son.”

“He doesn’t know who I am really, or where I come from.  He was born on Earth.  He can’t see the bigger picture.  Taking him down would be best.”

“So you’re granting me all your power?”

God laughed, letting go of Ace.

“Genius, you could use all my power whenever you want!  You just didn’t need to!”

Ace shoved him. “Bullshit!  If I could smite people with the power of God I wouldn’t have lost to Alex, or could’ve smashed that robot, or killed the demon before it took people’s lives, or I could’ve subdued Hades.”

“Yeah…but you wouldn’t be here, with two new friends, more powerful than you can imagine physically and mentally, having learned important lessons in self control that you couldn’t have if I told you you had all my powers at every moment from the start.”

“People died, God.  That’s a cruel lesson, if even that.”

“People always die.  Destiny’s neutral.  It’s sad to say, but those people were meant to die.  Just like you were meant to meet Alex, or just like you were meant to fight my son.  And if you think this is it for you, let me tell you- you haven’t even scratched the surface of your destiny!”  God stepped back a little and stretched his shoulders before slouching back down.  “Now, how about we finish our warm up and show my son why you would be a better savior than me?” He smirked.  Ace smirked back.

“Let’s ace this.” She said.  A white light overcame Ace before turning black.

Jesus was standing over Ace’s body, waiting for his father to rise.

“You b*****d!  I’ll kill you for this!” Otto cried out.

“Such is my burden.  But in doing so I have saved all of mankind.”  Jesus replied, staring at the body.  A massive burst of energy sent him flying into the wall on the opposite end of the room.  Ace’s corpse glowed as brightly as the sun all the while slowly rising from the ground by imaginary strings on her body.  The damage to her skull was immediately healed, the blood on her face gone, it was as though it never happened.  The aura of God appeared around her, as defined as ever.  Ace took on his posture, slouching a little and keeping one hand in her pocket.

“Father!  At long last!  I was sure the seal was still there.  But this is not what I wanted.  With you awake you will once more turn your back on the people of Earth.  I beg you, stay amongst us, live with your creations.” Jesus cried out in joy.

“No.  It’s time for you to go home.”  Ace said.  Her voice was mixed with God’s to give a truly ominous feel to the searing presence before everyone.

“I respect your command, but I must do what is right for humans.  They are your greatest creation, and with my help they will thrive.”

“Yeah?  You should’ve thought of that before you killed me, douchebag.” Ace snapped, while pulling her goggles down over her eyes.  God’s voice was no longer juxtaposed over hers, but His aura mimicked her movements, all while she mimicked His.  The two were in synch.

“If thou does not wish to remain, then thou has lost thine way.  You must be defeated, for the sake of all of Man- my father, the Holy One Himself!”  Jesus stood up, a look of determination overwhelming him as swords of light appeared around his body.

“Over our dead body.”  God said, with Ace mimicking the aura’s movements.  Ace moved her leg to one side so that her loose arm was closer to Jesus.  Jesus let loose a rain of swords, but it was pointless.  Ace dodged every one, either side-stepping them or flicking them away with her one hand.  Jesus rushed in with his hammer and attempted to smash them through his now refortified bubble.  With his one swing Ace smacked the hammer out of his hand and smashed through the bubble, surprising everyone in the room, especially Jesus.  Ace grabbed Jesus by the robe and hurled him over her shoulder, straight into a wall, then grabbed his foot by smashing through the broken barrier and throwing him so hard into the ground the building shook and Jesus bounced in the air.  Then suddenly something new happened.  The aura of God turned into an aura of Ace, giving her a larger appearance.  She dashed at Jesus and grabbed his head before smashing it with her knee so hard he flew into the air. 

“This is impossible!  How could you become this powerful so quickly?” Jesus called out as he threw more light swords at Ace.  She turned her aura back to God’s, took his stance, and deflected them with ease. 

“I bet God has a better answer, but if you’ve ever watched TV, this is the part where the hero gets a huge boost in power and kicks major a*s!”  Ace gloated.  Her pride gave way to a sword thrown through her foot, exploding into a cross of light that knocked her back.  Jesus followed up with a spear of light that he hurled with all the force in his body.  Ace turned back to Alex in a split second before turning back to Jesus with just enough time to throw up a rock barrier, the aura of Alex now surrounding Ace.  Ace took Alex’s stance as she protected herself with barrier after barrier.

“Ace, how are you doing that?!”  Otto called out.

“I don’t know!”  Ace responded, seriously not understanding what she was doing, but considering the roll she was on she refused to give up.  She turned the aura back to her own and jumped at Jesus with a flying punch.  Jesus blocked and sent a punch of his own at her.  Ace’s aura turned into God and she deflected it with one hand before turning back to her own aura and punching Jesus in the face, sending him spiraling into the ground.  Ace changed her aura to Alex’s and body slammed Jesus, making a massive dent in the floor and causing pillars around the room to collapse, taking part of the ceiling with them. 

The two were covered in rubble as Jesus burst out.  He grabbed Ace by the face and ran around the remains of the room, grinding her head into the walls as he went, before impaling her with a dagger of light that knocked her down.  The aura was changed to God, who absorbed the aura and reverted Ace’s face to normal, before changing the aura back to her own and sending out bolts of energy.  The barrage was just like Alex’s in frequency- Jesus had to put up another barrier to protect himself. 

“Why do you continue to defy me, my child?”  Jesus called out. “All I want is to make sure this world prospers!”

“No!  You want me dead and God out of the way!”  Ace responded, continuing the barrage of energy.

“Nay!  With my father by my side I could have saved humanity!  But now you have forced me to take His life along with yours!”

“Humans don’t want your help!”

“They do!” Jesus roared before smashing into Ace, destroying the bubble but in the process grabbing Ace by the neck.  She responded by pulling herself free, changing the aura to God’s, and deflecting all of Jesus’ punches.  He attacked faster and stronger, each hit quicker than the last.”

“Humanity is imperfect!  They battle one another for supremacy when clearly peace is the superior solution!  They allow their own kind to die off or enslave them when love and friendship would reign supreme!  I offer them the perfection they so desperately need!  Without me, humanity is as barbaric as when they first stood upright!”  Jesus snarled as he kept up his flurry of hits.  His face gnarled with anger, passion, hatred, and determination.

“That’s how we advance!  We try to one up each other in order to learn from our mistakes!  With each battle we become stronger as a whole.  We would never have advanced passed fire if we didn’t experiment with it!”  Ace argued, deflecting the blows with her one hand.

“No!  That is not how it should work!”

“No, that’s not how the gods work!  But you abandoned us to live on our own!”  Ace grabbed Jesus’ arm and immediately pulled him passed her before landing a kick on his back.  Her aura changed to her own and she delivered her own maelstrom of punches across Jesus’ body.

“We may have killed you for our sins, but you could've come back whenever you wanted!  While you were gone you assumed we fell into turmoil and despair, but we thrived!  The world was stacked against us and we made it anyway!  Because you weren’t there for us when we needed you most we moved on!  Arriving now is nothing more than a ploy to cover what you did to your father!  A ploy I for one am grateful for!”

“What?!”  Jesus howled.  Ace delivered one final blow to Jesus’ chest to send him into the wall high above the door.  With a single hand she sent out a solid beam of energy that basically held Jesus in place while delivering an infinite number of hits.

“If you hadn’t killed God, I wouldn’t be here!  I wouldn’t have felt good beating up a demon after having spent my life holding back.  I wouldn’t have cried horribly as I realized how much I hate hurting the innocent, I wouldn't have realized I'm envious of others like me, I wouldn’t have learned that I can survive even the strongest attacks from both the army and a deitan even stronger than me, I wouldn’t have made two friends who I cherish with my life enough to fight God’s only son, I wouldn’t have met Hades and learned more about the nature of deitans and God’s power, and I wouldn’t be here now killing you!”

“I shall not succumb!  My will must be done!  I must save humanity!” Jesus cried out in pain.

“Save this.” Ace snapped before grabbing Jesus by the throat.  She dragged him through the air and hurled him through the wall into the center of the Vatican, where people saw what she was doing.  Jesus fought back but Ace’s changing of auras was so quick she blocked all of his attacks with God’s form.  When Jesus fired a hail of lightning bolts or swords, Alex’s aura would pull up barriers and counterfire spikes of stone.  When Jesus came in for a close attack, God’s aura deflected it.  When Jesus reeled back for one last time, Ace’s aura smashed Jesus down to the ground.  Just then God and His aura took over for one quick moment and created His own sword of light that hovered in front of Ace.  Ace turned the aura back to hers, crunched the sword into a ball of energy, pulled it to her side as she cupped it with both her hands, sucked in more power from seemingly nowhere, and pushed it forward with open palms.

The orb connected with Jesus, who flew back, bounced on the ground, then was tossed into the sky.  He screamed in both pain and fury.

“You are a traitor to all of mankind, child!  I could have saved you!  I could have saved all of you!  Your arrogance and pride will be your downfall!”  He bellowed.

“Tell heaven God’s back.” Ace nonchalantly called back as she walked back to the building she burst from.  Jesus’ form flickered before bit by bit of him disintegrated and shot into the sky.

“Forgive me…Father…” He muttered, tears coming down his face.

“Always.”  The aura of God responded.  With that Jesus vanished into dust. 

Ace didn’t make it too far before God’s aura, Alex’s aura, and her own aura all departed.  She fell to the ground, exhausted, and looked up at the building.  Alex limped up to the hole along with Otto supporting her.  She was clutching her side.  Alex waved weakly before losing her balance, falling on Otto, and crushing him.  Ace chuckled a little as they got back to their feet, but her attention was turned to the massive crowd surrounding her, booing and yelling horrid insults.

“He killed Jesus!  He killed out savior!”  A man in the crowd called pointing to Ace.  The crowd agreed and began yelling at her, throwing trash and electronic devices at Ace.  She tried to cover herself and head back, but the cardinals from before rushed out and calmed the crowd.

“Stop!  This girl’s the one Jesus was looking for!  She’s the vassal of God!” They called out.  The crowd gasped and fell silent, but then a woman yelled over the group.

“Vassal nothing!  She just killed Jesus Christ!  We all saw it!”

“I’m sure there’s a logical reason for this, please just hear her out!”

The crowd and the cardinals turned to Ace, who shrugged.

“He…he wanted to kill me?” She said weakly.  The crowd booed.   They called her a liar, calling her selfish for not thinking of others, saying she’s a false idol.  Ace never wanted to be an idol to begin with.

“What’re they saying, Ace?  Why are they getting angry?” Otto called down.

“They’re calling you a turtle!”  Ace yelled back quickly, half ignoring him.

“You’re a turtle!”  Otto yelled back.  Alex gave him a quizzical look before punching him.

“Don’t encourage her.”  She said calmly. “This can’t be good…” 

The crowd began to close in on Ace.  She didn’t want to hurt anyone here, and even if she did she was so tired they could probably take her down with ease.  Suddenly a voice bellowed over the crowd that silenced everyone.  A man stepped into the circle around Ace.  He wore a black suit with red stripes going down his pants.  His glasses covered his eyes, but the look he had would pierce a man regardless.  He was very well kept and neat.

“Oh, just what I need….” Ace moaned.  The man walked up to Ace and turned around to face the ground.

“Enough!  Ace is protected property of Interpol.”  The man said flashing a badge.  “Regardless of what you may have witnessed, this is part of an elaborate plan set forth by Jesus.”

“You think we’re stupid?  We saw that kid kill Jesus with our own eyes!”

“Contrary to popular belief, Jesus was already dead.  When you are resurrected, you cannot be killed again in the same way we would normally think.  The details are classified, but know that Jesus needed to return to Heaven to take care of some otherworldly matters.  He is unharmed, and has already helped the world out so much that even if he had stayed here he wouldn’t be doing much anyway.  God, on the other hand, will remain here and watch over humanity while he is within Ace here.  Until the two are separated, she is under our jurisdiction.”

“Damn Americans.  You think because God lands in your lap you own Him.”  An older man griped.  "Jesus called that brat a traitor to humanity!  She attacked him in broad daylight!  How can you cover this?"

“Sir, I assure you, this is a matter of Interpol, not just the United States.  Now I strongly suggest we disperse immediately.  My men will be by shortly to handle this…situation.”

The crowd lingered but eventually dispersed, grumbling amongst themselves about how unfair it was.  The man turned back to Ace and smiled, dropping the serious façade.

“Hello, Hades.” Ace growled.  Alex had jumped down with Otto and made her way over to them.

“You’re as clever as you are beautiful.”  Hades charmed.

“Here to kill me?  I heard your seal didn’t work.”

Hades sighed. “Yes…that’s my fault.  Jehovah…I should’ve  known he was way too good for that.  But hey, at least you’re alright!”

“You’re not mad that you lost the chair?  I told Jesus to tell Heaven God’s back.

“Well, I’m disappointed I won’t be able to take my friend’s place…but relieved that he’s back!  Is it…is it alright if I speak with him?”

Ace scratched the back of her head. “I don’t know how to do that.  The power just comes and goes, I can’t really tell God to do anything, nor do I plan to.  Kinda weird having me tell God what to do, right?”

As soon as she finished the aura of God appeared once more, forcing Ace into his posture.  Hades looked at him warmly, almost teary-eyed.

“Jev…Hey, Jev.” He said.  God’s aura saluted Hades using only two fingers lazily.  Ace’s body was forced to follow.

“Yo, Lucy.”  God said.  Hades chuckled.

“You know I hate that.”

“Yeah…”  The two stared at each other for a few seconds before Hades began.

“Listen…I’m sorry for trying to take the chair.  It’s just…”

“Eh, no worries.”  God said, waving the issue away. “I know why.”

“We’re so concerned for you, Jev.  You’ve been distant ever since…well, you know.”

“Since Jesus killed his father?” Alex asked.

“Since I was quit her army.”  God corrected.  Otto and Alex looked at one another in confusion.

“Her?”

God waved it away. “One day you’ll learn.  Just know there’s someone higher up than me.”

“But you understand why we feel that way, right?  Even Jesus, bless his soul, he was the most concerned of all.  Everything he did he did because he was worried.  If had known your past.” Hades continued.  God put Ace’s hand on Hades’ shoulder.

“It’s all good.  I’m the forgiving type.”  He said.  A couple more seconds passed.

“So…what’re you going to do?” Hades asked.

“Well…since the kid put so much effort into getting me down here…guess I’ll hang out for a bit.” God responded.

“You’re going to be awake the whole time?  That’ll drain Ace’s lifespan, you know that.

Ace gasped while God’s aura did not.   God shook his head, along with Ace’s, regaining control.

“Nah, she’s got it.  From what I’ve seen, the world’s doing fine without me.  Yeah they have wars and famine, but people are working on it, and are doing good for the future.  They're advancing technology, they may even get to where we were when we were their age.  You know what they say- if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.”  He yawned and stretched.  “Guess I’ll just take it easy.”

“I see.  Well, if you plan to go back to sleep, I could put in special mention to keep the seat open for you…”

“Actually, better idea.” God formed a small trinket out of energy.  Seemingly made of Gold with a platinum finish, it was engraved with a shield reflecting a beam attack. 

“You’re…you’re insignia!” Hades exclaimed.

“Just keep it polished, alright?” God said, handing Hades the trinket.  Hades began to well up with tears.

“This means…” He tried to say.  God nodded.

“I couldn’t think of anyone better for the job.”

“Great, so all that work we did, that fight you and Ace and Alex had in hell, it was for nothing.” Otto complained. 

“Circumstances, Otto.  Plus, Hades would read a crippled puppy bedtime stories every night until it gets better.  Nicest god you’ll meet.  No one better for my job.” God pointed out.  Hades bowed in respect to God.

“I’ll do my best, Jev.  And if you need anything, Ace, Alex, Otto, please don’t hesitate to call.  It won’t even cost you your souls.” Hades said, winking.  He walked a bit of a distance away, waving to God before turning into dust like Jesus.  Otto walked up to Ace and God’s aura.

“So, you’re really the God?  Hey, could you do something for me?  Just a little thing- could you make me a bit taller?”  He asked nervously.  God chuckled and patted his shoulder.

“If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it, remember?” He said.  He yawned again.  “I’m done here.  Ace, you got this.  I’m going back to bed.  I’ll let you figure out my powers, but just know they’re all there for you.  And if you need me, call.  Laters.”  He lazily saluted Alex and Otto before the aura vanished.  Ace staggered but regained her composure.

“That was a weird experience.  I felt like a puppet.”  She said wearily as Otto held her up.

“Well, you did just have a pretty rough experience, killing Jesus and all.” Otto mentioned.

“Do…do you think I did the right thing though?”  Ace asked solemly.  The other two looked at each other.

“…Of course!” Alex said with some hesitation.  Ace didn’t look her in the eyes.

“Look, Ace, you came here thinking Jesus was going to help you awaken God.  If anything, he brought you here under false pretenses.  You thought he was going to release God from you without doing anything, but instead he tried to kill you even though he had the same sealing powers Hades had.”  Otto explained.  Ace couldn’t look at him either.

“I still feel like I messed up.  I killed the planet’s savior.”

“Eh, he’ll be back.  But hey, awesome story to tell your kids right?”

Ace pushed herself away from Otto and walked away for a bit.

“Ace, let’s get you home.  You need rest.” Alex requested.

“She needs rest?  What about you?  You got sealed and collapsed under your own weight!” Otto  interjected.

“I’m fine, don’t worry.  Back to full strength.”

“I don’t buy it.  When we get home I’m cooking your three favorite meals- at once.  You need your strength!”  They both looked to Ace, thinking she would say something insulting concerning Alex’s weight.  Ace just kept looking in the distance.  The other two lost any humor they were building up and went to comfort her.

Author's Note

This might've come out strangely, but I've wanted to write this scene from the very beginning. There's one more chapter after this, another transition chapter, before the next arc begins. A lot of the questions raised here would be answered there, so if you want me to continue let me know.