The Goddess of War & Death: Nika

Once upon a time in ancient Greece, a Spartan captain Dragon had a daughter named Nika with his wife Ginny. Unfortunately, the daughter of the Spartan captain had been born with a skin disease set by the God of War Ares and would have been thrown into a canyon and left to die as Spartan law stated, but was spared that fate when her father completed the task set forth for him and Ginny pleading with the Spartan King to spare her life. From that point on, Nika became fascinated with the female warriors and her father's military career to the point where she desired to become one herself, much to her mother's disappointment but was somewhat relieved as she had built a flute to play as a hobby.

Dragon, however, was joyful that his daughter was interested in becoming a warrior and had offered to train her when he wasn't away for a military campaign, with the teachers taking her father's place when he was away. During the first eight years of her life, Nika had become the finest warrior in all of Sparta thanks to learning from her father. She had eventually defeated all other young warriors in sparring matches and had been trained in all weapons but swords were her favorite.

A few weeks before her father's latest campaign against the Barbarians, Dragon had given his daughter the very same mark he had and had given her a twin swords as a present. "Thank you, Papa. I wish you the best in your campaign. But please promise me that you'll come back to Mom and me when it's over."

"I promise, Nika. After this campaign, I will go to the king and request to stay in Sparta for much longer to train you. But until then I need you here to take care of your mother. But I want you to promise me that you protect her and yourself from anything and anyone that dares harm the both of you, no matter who or what that threat is. Promise me." Dragon said softly to his daughter while looking into her eyes.

"I give you my word that I will protect Mama to my last breath if necessary, Papa, and I will be awaiting your eventual return." Nika promised as she shared one last embrace with her father. But unknown to either of them, it would be the very last embrace they'd share.

***

A few months later…

Nika and her mother were sent to a village and were told to go to the Temple of Athena by someone whom they did not know. It was fortunate that the young warrior had brought the swords her father had given her because tonight, her life would change forever.

"Mama, bad people have come here and they're setting the village on fire." She said with concern for her mother.

"It is alright, Nika, just remember everything that your father taught you." Ginny reminded her daughter, knowing that if anything happened, Nika had a small chance of protecting them, despite it being a slim chance.

But then they heard a familiar voice. "They built this temple to offer prayers to Athena! This entire village stands as an affront to Lord Ares! Burn this village! Burn it to the ground!"

"Is that... Papa? What's he doing here? Wait. He just said to burn the village to the ground. Does that mean...he's responsible for this? No. It can't be him...but that really sounded like him." Nika mentally thought to herself. A few minutes later, her suspicions were confirmed as the doors were broken down, revealing none other than the last person she was expecting: her father Dragon, who was in a bloodlusted rage and began to kill everyone inside the temple.

Ginny knew she had to stop this before anyone else got killed or worse...their daughter. She quickly ran up to him and grabbed his left arm before speaking in a frightened but pleading voice. "Dragon, stop this madness now! Please! Our daughter is here and you are frightening her! Please Dragon, stop this!"

But her voice fell on deaf ears and the blind with bloodlust Dragon sliced through his wife with his free blade, unknowingly traumatizing Nika for the rest of her life. When her mother fell to the floor dead, Dragon looked at Nika and began to move toward her in a blind rage but soon stopped and looked in horror at what he'd done. But before he could say or do anything, Nika was mad with rage and yelled at the top of her lungs before running towards her father and driving her blades through his gut before slicing it open, making his intestines spill out and making him yell in terrible agony before falling down.

Dragon looked at his daughter as she still glared at him and brought her closer to him as he said his final words with remorseful eyes. "I'm... so... sorry, my child. Please... forgive me." He softly said with his dying breath as he died.

Nika looked at both of her parents one last time before the face of the God of War Ares appeared. "Well done, young Nika. You have great potential as a great warrior. A shame about your father. I'd hoped to have him, but this was completely unexpected. If I can't have him, I will settle for you instead. But with your parents dead, nothing will hold you back from your true destiny. Henceforth you will be known as...Lady Death." He said as he lavitated her outside of the temple as it burned, with her parents corpses still inside.

When Nika was safe outside, she'd realized that this entire thing had been orchestrated by the God of War to get her father to serve him and prove his loyalty by killing innocent people...and his own family as the ultimate test. "AAAARRRRHHHHHHH! AREEESSSSSS!"

The village Oracle turned around before speaking to the young girl. "As much as I do not want to, it appears I have no choice. With your father dead, you will take his intended curse, young Nika. From this moment on, the mark of your father's terrible deed will be visible to all. The ashes of your parents will forever be fastened to you, never to be removed." The old woman said with remorse as she magically made the ashes of Nika's parents attach to every strands of her black hair, turning it white for all eternity.

And with that curse, all would know Nika for the beast her father had become in life. With her hair permanently white from the ashes of her dead parents, the Devil of Sparta had been born.

After that horrible night, Ares sent his minions to retrieve the Blades of Chaos and attach them to Nika in the same cruel way he did to her father. The now Devil of Sparta had gone out on her own after that and began to train herself at the peak of human condition and even beyond that. Athena had no choice but to give the now Lady Death the horrible memories of her father as part of a plan set by the Gods, which haunted her every single night. During the past sixteen years, Nika had grown into a strong and sexy looking woman, with her beauty almost rivaling even the Goddess Aphrodite herself. When she was sixteen, she discovered that she liked other women and only seduced men to catch them off guard before killing them, but only the ones she knew were pure evil to the core. She'd built a fierce reputation as an Anti-Heroine and had vowed to protect innocent people from whatever danger prayed upon them while using her sexy body as a distraction to catch her enemies off guard, which were mostly just men and monsters, and even women as well. 

After Nika had saved another city from Ares' minions, a statue of said God had come to life and began speaking to the Devil of Sparta. "This is outrageous, Lady Death, I am the one who saved your father's life and made him what he was before you killed him! And even if it was unintentional, I made you what you are today! You should be grateful that I didn't simply end your life that day!" He said furiously.

"Grateful for what, asshole? That you were only using my dad for your damn sibling rivalry with Athena? Grateful for you for tricking him into killing my mom and innocent people?!" Nika asked, cursing the God of War for tricking her father into killing her mother and innocent people.

"HE BEGGED ME TO SPARE HIS LIFE WHEN I COULD HAVE JUST LET HIM DIE AT THE BARBARIAN KING'S HANDS! IF NOT FOR ME, HE WOULD HAVE DIED AND THE BARBARIANS WOULD HAVE MANICURED SPARTA, ALONG WITH YOUR MOTHER AND YOU!"

"At least my father would never have been tricked into killing my mom and he'd have died with true honor. Well guess what, asshole, you're not going to be tricking anyone else ever again...because now the days of your minions are numbered, as are yours. Better make peace while you can, cause I'm coming for you and your death ain't gonna be quick and painless." Nika vowed, refusing to serve Ares and promising to kill Ares' minions and him slowly and painfully.

"Mark my words, Devil of Sparta, you will serve me. I don't care what it will take but you will be my disciple and eternal servant. I swear it!" Ares threatened before the statue of Ares glowed no longer.

"Not if I find a way to break the oath of my Dad that you passed on to me first, flame hair." Nika said as she began to leave the city to search for a way to break the oath that was passed on to her. "But before that, why don't I find a nice woman to screw? Been a while since I had a little bit of fun, shishishi." She said with humor.