All Chapters of The Return Of the God Of War: Chapter 171
- Chapter 180
200 chapters
WHEN THE WALL TREMBLED
The siege had begun, and Lin City trembled.The first barrage struck like thunder. The Eastern Gate shuddered under the weight of modern steel, ancient stone coughing dust into the air. Sparks from collapsing torches scattered across the battlements as men stumbled, shouting over the roar. Ares planted his boots, steadying those around him with a hand, his gaze locked on the horizon where fire blossomed.“Shields up!” Reyes barked, his arm already bleeding from the last strike. “You hold or you die - there’s no second chance!”Below, the enemy surged. Armored vehicles crawled forward like iron beasts, their engines belching smoke, soldiers pouring in behind them with a relentless hunger. The smell of fuel and blood mixed into something acrid, something that clung to the back of the throat.Ares gripped his sword tighter. He felt every vibration through the hilt, like the city’s heartbeat was syncing with his own. Hawk slid beside him, rifle cocked. “If they hit us again with those can
THE UNSHAKEN
The walls trembled. The ground split. And still, Ares did not move.The air turned heavy with dust, choking and dry. Each breath scraped his throat raw, but he didn’t shift, didn’t blink. Pebbles rolled over his boots, sliding into the widening fissures. Behind him, men shouted, stumbling for balance. The chamber groaned like a dying beast.Mira crouched low in the corner, pressing Elijah close to her chest. She coughed hard, her body shaking, but her gaze stayed fixed on Ares. There was terror in her eyes - yet not of him falling. Of what would come if he did not stand.The enemy commander laughed, though the sound wavered. “You can’t fight the earth, God of War. No man can hold back stone.”Ares’ voice cut through the roar. It was calm, almost too calm for the madness around them.“The earth remembers me.”He took one step.The fissure beneath him sealed with a grinding snap. Dust swirled but did not rise again. For a moment, the chamber itself seemed to hesitate, as though uncertai
THE FIRE THAT SPREADS
And for the first time in years, the war didn’t feel endless.It felt winnable.But Ares knew better than to linger in that thought. Wars were never won in a single chamber, with a single death. They were battles layered upon battles, each one costing more blood than the last.He lowered his sword slowly, the steel heavy in his grip. Elijah had drifted back into half-sleep against his chest, his small breath warm through the grime and sweat on Ares’ shirt. Mira stood beside him, her hand still on his arm, her face streaked with soot and tears that had dried into faint lines.The silence that followed the commander’s fall stretched long, filled only by the occasional drip of water from cracked stone. Then Reyes cleared his throat, breaking it.“You’ve shaken them,” he said. His voice was tired, his body leaning heavily against the broken wall, but his eyes were sharp. “Word of this will spread. Soldiers talk. And when soldiers talk, cities listen.”Hawk snorted, dragging one of the bou
THE PRICE OF DEFIANCE
And Ares, with Elijah’s hand wrapped tight in his, stepped into the ruin’s heart without a single glance back.The air changed the instant they crossed the threshold. It wasn’t just colder - it was heavier, thicker, like a weight pressing against their lungs. The humming that had stalked them through the tunnels deepened, resonating in their bones until Elijah flinched and clung harder to his father’s arm.Mira’s eyes darted everywhere, following the flickers of red light leaking through the cracks in the jagged walls. “This place feels wrong,” she whispered.“It is wrong,” Ares said, voice low, rough. He kept moving, boots crunching over stone. “But we don’t stop here. Not now.”The corridor bent inward until they had to walk single file. Dust rained from the ceiling, the metallic taste of it sticking to their tongues. Elijah coughed once, and Ares immediately slowed, pulling him closer, his body angling as a shield.“Papa,” the boy whispered, voice trembling, “it sounds angry.”Ares
THE BURDEN OF THE GOD OF WAR
The path swallowed them whole.At first it was only darkness. Damp earth under their boots. The heavy smell of wet bark. No birds, no insects, nothing. Just a silence that felt too heavy, as if the forest was holding its breath.Ares led the way. His shoulders were tense, every step deliberate, eyes sweeping the shadows as though expecting them to move. Behind him, Mira walked close, one arm around Elijah, guiding the boy when the roots grew too thick.Elijah whispered, “Mama, it’s scary.”Her throat tightened. “Stay with me,” she murmured, squeezing his hand.Then Ares stopped. He lifted one hand. Mira froze instantly, heart leaping to her throat.“What is it?” she asked.He didn’t turn. His voice was flat. “We’re not alone.”And then it came.A voice drifted between the trees -low, mocking. “So the great God of War has learned how to creep. Tell me, Ares, how does it feel, dragging your chains with you? A woman who doubts you. A child who fears you. That’s all they are - chains.”El
A FATHER’S SHADOW
And Ares carried it too – the hope that love, not blood, could define him.The dawn pressed faint light across the camp, threading silver over the edges of tents and broken crates. Soldiers stirred, resistance fighters pulled on their boots, and the hum of rebuilding began again. Yet Ares stood still, his arms folded, watching Elijah chase a stick Mira had thrown. The boy laughed, clumsy and bright, as if war had never marked him.It was that sound - his son’s laughter - that made Ares’ chest both swell and ache. He had spent years drowning in violence, carving his name into the world with blood and steel, but here… here, his son carried none of that shadow.Mira’s gaze slid to Ares. “You’re quiet.”“I’m listening,” he said. His voice was low, steady, but she caught the heaviness behind it. “When he laughs, I hear the man I want him to become. Not me. Something… better.”She studied him, her lips parting as if to speak, but instead she bent, scooped the stick, and tossed it again. Eli
THE ENEMY WITHIN
Chapter 179 – The Enemy WithinThe fire was almost gone, just a scatter of red coals and thin smoke curling into the dark. Mira held Elijah close, his small breaths warm against her collarbone. Ares stood apart, arms folded, staring past the fire into the black beyond. He had spoken - love, not blood, would define him. He believed it, or wanted to. But belief and reality were never the same. Blood had a way of clawing back.Mira’s voice broke the stillness, steady but laced with doubt. “You speak of love as if it shields you. Men like Wu’s allies, men who live off chaos - they don’t care what you carry in your heart. They’ll press until you bend or until you break.”Ares turned, crouching beside her. Elijah stirred faintly, his fist tightening around Mira’s sleeve. Ares brushed the boy’s hair back, voice low. “Then let them come. I’ve carried war before. But this time, it’s not for pride. Not for revenge. I fight for him. For you.”Her eyes searched his. For once, no sharp words came.
THE GATHERING STORM
Ares’s whisper still hung in the night air, swallowed by the dark horizon. Then let them come. We’ll be ready.Reyes shifted his weight, the flicker of torchlight catching the sharp lines of his scar. Hawk cracked his knuckles, restless as ever. Mira, though silent, had her gaze fixed on Ares as though searching for the part of him that wasn’t steel, the part that had whispered instead of roared.The hall emptied slowly after his words. Men and women left in quiet knots, their boots dragging. Plans were one thing; war was another. Ares remained where he was, staring at the crude map spread across the table, his hand pressing down on the lines that marked their fragile defenses.“Three days,” Reyes muttered, breaking the silence. “If the informant’s right, Victor’s remnants will strike in three days.”“Not remnants,” Hawk growled. “Wolves. They’re not limping, they’re hunting.”Mira stepped forward then, her voice soft but cutting. “And what happens if the wolves are already inside the
THE EVE OF BLOOD
“Tomorrow,” Ares whispered, “we remind them whose city this is.”The words lingered, heavier than the night air. Hawk’s grin faded into grim purpose. Reyes stood with his arms folded, a man carved from stone, yet his eyes betrayed the unease he never voiced. Mira remained silent, her face unreadable, but her fingers clenched around her cloak until her knuckles whitened.The courtyard emptied slowly. Men dispersed to their posts, whispers trailing after them like smoke. Ares stayed behind, alone with the shadowed city walls and the distant echo of that enemy horn.He thought of Fallujah. Of the nights before battle when the air seemed to buzz with something that wasn’t fear, not quite hope, but a charge that lived in the marrow. The same hum filled Lin City now. Only this time, Elijah’s small tunic was clenched in his fist....Inside the hall, Mira found him later, staring at the map again, as though sheer will could rearrange the lines of war. She walked up quietly, but he didn’t loo
THE WEIGHT OF THE DAWN
Tomorrow had come.The words pressed heavy in Ares’s chest as he stood in the gray before sunrise. His body stirred before his mind, instincts sharpened by years of war. The village was quiet, only the crackle of a fire somewhere and a cough breaking the silence.Inside the small room, Mira lay lightly asleep, one arm across Elijah’s shoulder. The boy curled tight, his face calm in a way Ares wished he could protect forever. He lingered in the doorway, memorizing it - because peace was fragile, and mornings like this never lasted.He pulled the door shut, stepped into the cold air, and tightened the straps of his jacket. Scars tugged under the fabric, reminders of battles past. The dawn mist clung, but he didn’t shiver. Weakness had no space left in him.Down the slope, people stirred. Men carried crates, women passed rations, children huddled close. Heads turned when they saw him. Not curious - pleading. They wanted him to make the impossible possible.Reyes limped toward him, rifle