God Of War: Gacha System

The voice echoed in the temple, the argument between the sisters increasingly becoming less of an argument and more of a personal attack on the other.

"Isn't our work amusement enough? Clotho spins the fate, I measure the length of the thread, and you cut it" The always so serious Atropos complained defiantly.

My little show wasn't to her amusement, apparently.

"Unfortunately, I get bored quickly and seek small diversions" I gave her an angelic smile as I continued "Surely, our threads are inventive, even elegant as they flow. Was it not fun when I made that hideous Pan irresistible to Nymphs?"

Her enraged face looked at me "He was hardly farcical when he…" She furiously spoke about the battle, but I wasn't listening to her.

She wouldn't get it. She can't get it. How could she? She is always there while everything happens, unlike me who has to cut the thread and watch the events come to an end; She measures everything, makes the play, and enjoys it to the fullest, I only come to destroy it.

At least Clotho talks less, even if she can't comprehend my woes either.

"Why don't we see Ares's and Athena's thread? After you so boringly altered the prophecy, we should give them something more interesting" The taunt did wonders and just as she was answering, a heavy, raspy, and demanding voice echoed through the palace.

"Enough. Stop skirmishing in such an unsightly manner, we have matters to attend" Clotho spoke as her body shifted slightly, rolls of flesh danced as her arms reached out to the both of us "The threads are actively changing without our interference, we can't let this happen"

"What? What is it that you're saying?" Atropos moved forward leaving a trail of black mist where she passed.

On the other hand, I wasn't bothered in the slightest about it.

This is how things should be, interesting, amusing, unexpected!

What fun is there to be in control of everything? None.

"Let me see" I levitated forward to the threads that my sisters were talking about, with false concern as I decided to let this fate develop as fast as it could.

In the immense spinning wheel used by my sister, the future threads of various gods were changing in various ways.

Some were abruptly cut, others were extended greatly, some didn't change at all and others merged together but ultimately disappeared.

No pretense was needed to have an adequate expression, I was amazed.

"I have just noticed the changes recently, they happened at the start of the day at most" So suddenly?

"The thread that has had more changes is this one" Clotho directed our attention to a thread midst the mortals.

Said thread hadn't changed like the others, unlike them, this one changed its… essence.

"Isn't this one your little pet, Lahkesis?" Atropos remarked.

I didn't need to be made aware of that, I recognized that thread since the day Atropos so forcefully mangled the thread of the boy of prophecy. His brother.

"Yes. The brother of the one-" My answer was cut short as a claw was extended towards the thread.

As it clashed with the claw of my staff, I stared at the one trying to ruin the biggest entertainment I've had for millennia "What do you think you're doing, ATROPOS?!"

She was taken aback by my rare loss of composure but quickly replied "What do you think you're doing sister, the thread means something beyond our control, we need to get rid of it immediately!" Angrily, Atropos used her other claw to tear the thread.

Before I could tear her entire arm off, Clotho put many of her arms between us.

"Enough! We need to discuss the meaning of all these threads changing, then we will make a decision" Clotho tried to mediate between us, but I wasn't going to allow any decision to be taken for my pet.

"What is there to discuss? In the end, if we decide to tear the thread, it will fall onto me the duty to end its travel, just as it always has" I answered Clotho, but I was looking at Atropos

"You won't get out of this on a technicality, sister!" Emphasizing the word sister, she kept on trying to antagonize me.

"There isn't any technicality here, we don't need such things" I started to appeal to her powerful nature "We are the ones who control fate, there is no such thing as something that can defy us, no titan, god, or primordial, and certainly no mortal." She can't deny this, that would be denying herself "The only thing they are worth is to entertain us, and don't you want that? Something good to see for the first time in many eons?"

She's conflicted, I know that deep down she also wants to see something different for once, but her sense of duty is interfering with what she truly wants.

"Are you sure you can handle this, Lahkesis?" Always the bossy one, Clotho underestimates me.

"Of course" For her, these short and concise answers work the best.

"Then, I will trust you" She finished and went back to thread making.

Trust me? You? Please.

"Sister, this is no-" Atropos tried to appeal to Clotho and I was in no mood for hearing their conversation.

So I left.

Past the Loom Chamber, the throne room, and finally the main entrance of the temple.

And I was out of it.

Flying above the massive Phoenix statue that is our temple, I looked in front of me at the vast sea of dark clouds. Below them, guarded by various beasts, was the palace, standing proud above the island of creation, surrounded by the vast ocean.

In front (Or at the very back of the palace) was the fiery Phoenix sleeping peacefully, guarded by the Kraken.

I looked at the entirety of the island, appreciating every minute detail that it had until I felt a disturbance in the wind and a claw approaching my shoulder.

Intercepting the claw with my staff once again, I asked her.

"What do you want now, Atropos?" I questioned my insistent sister.

"I want, need, to talk about that mortal, the brother of the boy of prophesy" She answered.

"What about him?"

"I will acknowledge that he's not a danger, but he is a variable that we have no way of foreseeing, the thread of his brother was already a unique occurrence, one that we banished to death's realm; He may become a threat in case we don't neutralize him"

"Atropos, are you perhaps afraid?" The taunt hit her more than she would bother to recognize "The same way that you were afraid of his brother, Deimos, now you want to kill his brother for a few changes that happened? Hah!" Her claws tightened slightly, but I was relentless "We don't even know if he's the one who caused these changes in the first place, he was just the most affected, for all we know, this could be one of Zeus's plans to amuse us and gain our favor" I finished with a slight touch of logic in my words, and as expected, she focused on them.

"That's insane! How would he be able to make those changes?" She retorted

"How would a mere mortal be able to do those changes?" I confused her

"That's…" As usual, in her hotheadedness, she didn't stop to think about her actions. I can't complain about that though, as she would just get rid of whatever could prove different from what she's accustomed to, and usually, that would work.

"You have seen his thread as much as I have"

It's the decisive moment now, I need to convince her fully

"Arian from Sparta, one of the many spawns of Zeus, he who will ascend to godhood. Yes, he may prove better than his peers, but as Clotho develops his thread, you will measure it and I will cut it. That way it will end his story, and we will go back to our usual work" The last part had to be said with a little more emphasis, something to remind her of the monotony of our existence.

"Don't you think we should see this until the end? What would you do if this event repeats itself in the future? Cut the thread of more people?" She's obsessed with duty, she wouldn't do that, but the idea is planted in her now, and I need to capitalize on it.

"No… I would…" She tries to defend weakly, but as I said, this is the decisive brawl.

"See? What if this were to happen with more important entities? With Nix? With Poseidon or Hades? Would you kill the ones in charge of our whole world?"

We would be mostly unaffected, but I can't have her thinking that.

"…" See? This works.

Releasing his claw from my staff, she lets it fall weakly to her side and raises her head to look at the dark mist on top of our temple.

"I understand your panic" I don't "But this could prove a nice opportunity to see something new, we could practice what we can do in moments of surprise" We won't, I'm sure that this will be the first and last time this happens "And as I said, once this is over, we will go back to our duties and we will take control over all the threads again" Hopefully, only the latter happens, not the former.

"But what if…?" She protests meekly.

"No, there won't be a what if" Interrupting her, I touch her shoulder, slowly moving my hand to her face.

Grabbing it, I make it look towards me. Her pitch-black eyes and white iris contrasted with my completely silver eyes.

"We control everything, one little mortal won't be a problem to us, right?

I have already said this, but saying it again will reinforce the subject in her mind, while emphasizing the word will make her truly believe that part.

"Yes, sister" She agrees with me ultimately.

It's just that easy.

That boring.

…

…

…

"…!" My eyes open suddenly.

Even if it looked like I had just woken up, I felt awake long before the sun hit my face.

"Uagh…" I groan and feel my body get stranger the more I focus on it.

'Let me take a look in the mirror' Was my only thought.

Moving from my bed, I find my moves faster, stronger, and more efficient overall.

While doing so, I also realized that the grogginess that I feel doesn't come from waking up, it comes from the disbalance of senses that gave me assimilating three other persons.

Grabbing the small mirror from my bed I take off my robes and inspect my body.

The slightly showing muscles began to be more defined and my body was bigger than it was yesterday, it was a minor difference, but I felt it bigger too, so I knew it was.

"That's pretty cool"

Using the same mirror, I inspected my face.

"…but, that's creepy"

My face looked normal, relatively normal, a pale, semi-attractive young but rough face that wouldn't win me any beauty contest in a moment, but it could help me in getting nicer tips at work, for example.

The creepy part was that while it did look similar to the face I had before I died for the first time, it looked like a Greek version of it.

What I'm saying is that… It looks like how would I look if I had been Greek instead of American-Russian. It's a bit off-putting, but it looks similar enough to my face that I don't feel too bothered by it.

The hair makes me annoyed though, it's almost completely bald, with only a slight layer of hair that I know was left there just because Kratos thought that it would be better to cut it completely once it grew more.

I do like the eye tattoo though, even if it's going to be way too notable in one of the worlds that I want to visit. It's a bit dark though, so I can't really…

…look at it well? No, wait, why is it so clear?

Just now I realized that I was accurately inspecting my whole body with a small mirror in the middle of the darkness that a sunless morning grants.

This has to be because of the assimilation process, right?

[Status - 3/3]

[Name: Arian Wolkoff]

[Race: Human(Demigod)]

[Assimilations: None]

[Assimilation Process:]

-Jason Todd -54%

-Roland Deschain - 24%

-Peter Parker - 38%

[Progress Bar : 0%]

It went up while I was sleeping and I have no questions about it.

This much is obvious, I'm considering the nightmares that woke me up as the reason for the progress.

My memories are vague now, but I remember a few things from them.

I suspect that escaping school, stealing various things, shooting various guns, and having a bag full of heads are from Jason Todd.

The various physics, history, chemistry, and other academic knowledge must come from Peter Parker.

Those are the only characters that I'm familiar with, so I'm assuming that the small bits of falconry that appear in my mind are from Roland. He was using guns in the card's picture so maybe some of the memories that I assigned to Jason came from him.

By the way, I will not acknowledge the bad memories that I got in the slightest, so I will not talk about Uncle Ben's death, being beaten with a crowbar, and carrying a charred and lifeless body. I assume that the last one was from Roland too.

Moving on, and seeing as how I'm not feeling tired even if I didn't sleep too much, I should do the things that I said I'd do and check my inventory.

[Inventory]

The tab showed various cards of various colors, each one separated by categories.

My eyes went to the lonely card in a corner.

[Color Customization Card]

It's a colorless card, so it's something that came from the gacha itself.

"What is this?" Summoning this card, I ask the gacha

[This ¨Card¨ it's what is an upgrade, once you assimilate this you will have complete control over the color scheme of your powers]

Thanks.

So if my understanding is correct…

Assimilating the card, I walk to the same window where I stood yesterday to train my powers.

"Freeze" I follow the same course of actions that I did yesterday.

But instead of transparent ice, out of my hands comes orange ice that contrasts in the morning darkness.

"Nice~" A smirk was plastered on my face

Not stopping there, I tested various other colors, dark, purple, red, rainbow, etc.

It worked perfectly.

"This is good, very good" I would hate to have reluctance to use a power because of its color schemes.

Let me set this aside and continue with my inspection.

My eyes dart to the only other lonely card in my inventory.

"Soft and Wet" I summon the card.

The card only shows an anchor, but when I extend the image it shows the stand in its whole glory.

"Use" Saying use works because it's the most explicit way to show and impose my will.

Unfortunately, that explanation was wasted because the card did not assimilate.

"Why?"

[As said before, certain mystical things won't be able to assimilate due to various reasons, in this case, the power comes from certain aspects of the original user, aspects that differ from the recipient]

Hmm, I see…

What are the powers that come from the personality in anime? Nen-based abilities?

Let's leave that aside now, why don't we focus on the other stuff?

Inspecting my inventory I saw something really interesting.

And maybe this is the reason why I got [Set: Spider-Man] instead of [Peter Parker].

There in my inventory, I saw a lot of items and different things.

Among those, I saw a suit.

The Iron Spider suit.

"Oh, I'm gonna have a field day with this"

Time to work boy.

…

…

…

The goddess Athena stood firm as she drew her bow, she held the string and released it at the exact perfect moment for the arrow to cut the air towards its destination, producing an acute sound.

Her chambers were adorned with bronze everywhere, proof of the goddess's meticulousness. The only ones spared from it were the various plants that were placed in every corner of the rooms.

They and the target of her arrow.

Before she could charge her bow again, a voice interrupted her and small claps could be heard echoing.

There in the bronze-laded red couch, laid an attractive man, very familiar to every god in Olympus.

Athena, taking notice of his presence, nocked an arrow onto her bow and pointed it towards the newcomer, not bothering herself with words.

"Lovely to see you too" Hermes, the messenger of the gods lounged on her couch. His smile didn't falter in the least at the face of an arrow.

"Hermes" She acknowledged, not moving the arrow "I remember warning you to not spy on me in my chambers, have I not?

"Certainly, you have" Shifting his body to showcase his muscles, which were on full display as he wasn't wearing any upper clothing.

"Then, I assume you have an excuse that will prevent you from being pierced by my arrow?" The bow in her hands started to glow slightly, energy flowing through it.

If he was scared then he didn't show it, as the messenger continued flirting.

"Of course... But isn't my admiration enough reas-" His attempts were cut short as the arrow flew by his side, slightly harming his cheek and damaging the furniture that he was sitting in.

"Hermes, do not test me" The goddess warned the messenger, reminding him of whom he was talking to.

"Right…" This time his face exposed his feelings, she thought he would focus on the message lastly, but she gravely underestimated Hermes's insistence.

"I see that you're wearing your wings… Is this an official message?" The goddess of Justice finally inspected his appearance and focused on the part that she cared for.

"You could say so… Then again, it's not as if Zeus spends much time caring for anything besides the mortal women, such a shame that Hera-" His answer was once again cut short by the bronze sword that was suddenly pointing at him

Rectifying his previous mistakes, he stood straight and began with the subject of the visit "This message is more of a formality, Lord Poseidon has seen the sisters of fate going outside their temple for a short while, while they didn't do anything besides observe their surroundings for a moment, it's the biggest change he has seen since the great war"

'How… unusual' The goddess, as cunning as always, was already thinking if this was to be a problem to any of her ongoing schemes.

The god of travelers continued with his message "Lord Poseidon heard them talking about some threads that apparently were working without the work of the sisters, not only that but they were engaged in a small skirmish about two mortals, both brothers"

The goddess's posture slightly changed and her gray eyes displayed a bit of emotion, expressions that passed unnoticed by the messenger god. Even if they were never displayed before by Athena. The Goddess Athena

"At the end, they reached an accord and retired back to their temple" He finished his message and sat down on the couch again.

"…" No answer was given as the goddess kept her own thoughts to herself.

"Now that my work is done, we could celebrate a little, right? This is a special occasion and you know what could make it really special? Getting rid of what you're so famously known for…"

Athena wasn't paying attention to him, but she slowly raised her sword, the deliberately obvious action scared more the messenger than a fast threat would.

"Please, the word of father forbids any god to harm each other…" His voice got increasingly lower as he stared at her gray, almost lifeless eyes.

"…" No thought of mercy was displayed in those eyes.

"…Sister, you know I'm perfectly harmless, right?" Nervously, the god tried to make excuses for himself.

"Hermes" Firmly, her voice came out her mouth low, but it felt as if it reverberated through the entire Mount Olympus.

"…Yes, sister?" While something as simple as calling her sister to try and provoke sympathy wouldn't work on her, Hermes didn't know any other way of appeasing her

"Leave" She ordered.

"…Yes, sister" Hermes cursed his own attempts to charm the goddess.

Showing why he was called the god of speed, he exited the chambers of his sister and went to give the message to the other gods.

Athena traveled through her abode in search of the golden owl gifted by her father.

Finding it near her bed, she grabbed it and used it to display a certain mortal.

Similar to how Hermes would use his caduceus to show what the mortals were doing, Athena uses her golden owl to do the same.

She pointed her owl to the air and it displayed one mortal, a young man with a red mark across his eye, enchained in pitch-black roots that any god could easily recognize.

Athena was taking a risk by spying directly on Death's domain, but she had to make sure that the efforts she would never admit to hadn't been for naught.

Confirming that the boy was still trapped, the owl shifted to a city, where a young man who also had a mark on his eye was striding through it, charming some of the passing women.

He went to the entrance of the city and out until he stood in a clearance, a small distance from his home.

Athena observed the boy train his body and travel through the trees with skill that wasn't fit for his age, and this much improvement since the day Ares had tried to kill him was unheard of.

"Perhaps he can be more useful than his brother…" She began to plan.

"Yes…"

"I can make it work"

The owl's eyes closed as she started planning once again, no one and nothing could foresee what she had planned for the unfortunate who happened to catch her eye.

Entire battles, civilizations, mortals, and now Gods won't stop her in her way of obtaining the result she desires.

And this time, the pair of brothers won't stop her neverending mountain of schemes.

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A/N: Hey there.

The GoW series has novels for their games, in which the characters have many more conversations that allow us to define them appropriately, the first section of the chapter comes from the second chapter of the novel 2. The dialogue it's similar, but we see it from a third-person perspective, while I wrote in first person from Lahkesis.

The Athena part came from the first novel. And yes, they happen at different points in time, but the reactions should be pretty accurate, which was my main focus.

There weren't any mentions of the sister of fate in the first novel(game) either, so I'm free to do as I need or want.

If you think it's weird that Atropos was portrayed weakly, it's because she's facing her sister whom she has known since before the humans were around, not a simple God Of War.

Don't think it's weird that Poseidon took notice of the fight between the sisters, their temple and island are surrounded by water, and these are the gods before the box of Pandora, so they are still the competent, non-arrogant gods.

¨Why didn't Zeus, god of the sky, notice, then?¨ As Hermes said, Occupied with mortal women(Zeus was always like that, no need for Pandora's box)

It's cool to see what was going on while Kratos rampaged through Rhodes and the islands.

In GoW verse (Greek) one is a god as a seat of responsibility, that's why several Demigods are considered mortals, even if they are sons of gods.

Kratos was considered a mortal even if he was the son of Zeus, and it wasn't until he became God Of War that he was referred to as a god. Once he fell, he was referred to as a mortal once again(Mortal, fallen god, fallen mortal).

I loved writing Lahkesis and Atropos, the decisive moment came out of my mind so naturally. But I'm not sure I'm completely satisfied with how that scene ended, maybe I could add a few more descriptions.

I'll think about it later.

This chapter was supposed to be a bit shorter than what I usually write, but I had the idea of putting an Athena POV, her being the most cunning character in the series(Well, there's Odin, but he's fully dead).

Explanations done, I hope you enjoyed the chapter, and see you in the next one.