Three days pass as they set off to Mount Olympus the four of them stop at a short patch of grassland,
“Hey, Ash, why are we stopping here,” King asked.
Ash quietly, "I am making a trap for certain people that might want to kill us.”
King figured it out, “Ohhhh those people, might as well prepare right. Hey princess, do you have a weapon?”
“Stop calling me that and yes but it is not nearly as strong as your swords.”
Ash tosses Astrid a long sword, she caught it with one hand, she prepared herself for the weight of the blade only to lift it up in the air.
“I got this from a traveling blacksmith, it's perfect for one-handed and two-handed combat. I reforged it in a different material. The material is featherite which is the lightest metal besides holy metal. Well, you are as fast as your lightning now.”
Astrid was a little skeptical about the blade, she asked a question, “Are you sure it looks like a basic sword to me but yeah it is light as a feather.”
“Take a swing at that tree.”
She walks towards the tree and hits it with medium effort. The sword zoomed through the tree and made a clean cut straight through the tree. It didn't look like anything was done to the tree until she pushed it over. The tree fell over and Astrid and everyone else besides Ash were amazed.
Astrid looked in awe at the blade, “Are you sure you can trust me with this powerful blade? How are you so sure I won't betray you.”
Ash turned around after placing a hellfire trap and looked at Astrid and with a flame in his hand, "Because I know you have a little sister you want to protect and it would be a shame to have to hurt a little girl because of her foolish sister.”
King chuckled in the background while Jax kind of gave off a distasteful look. Astrid grows even wearier of Ash, she was really caught off guard by what he said but didn't show it.
King shouted, "Fifteen decent fighters are coming our way!"
Ash stretches out both of his arms and shouts, “My guardian come forth and wipe out these pests for me!”
A giant black lion named Vex with a mane made out of grey fire comes from the ground of a dark purple summoning circle.
Jax joins in, “Don't be a show-off Ash, let me have fun too. Alright, let's do this, Daygon come out of hibernation and have some fun.”
A titan of a dragon drops from the sky and lands in front of Jax. Daygon the dragon is a grey scaled beast with blue eyes and green spitting fire with a spiked tail.
King laughing maniacally, “Haha, hey princess looks like you won't have a chance to use that new blade of yours. This is going to be fun, time to kill our brothers and sisters. Get the hell out here Vain!”
King's emperor serpent bursts through the ground and lands on the ground with such force it shakes it. Vain the serpent is a giant dark red snake with scales that are really sharp and can be propelled like projectiles. Plus its poison can melt through most armors and weapons.
Astrid just realized that she was mostly useless in this fight so she just stuck close to Ash to give him back up. She was intimidated by the huge beasts making her stuck really close to ash basically shoulder to shoulder.
Ash commanded the others, “Let them fall into my trap, then we will send our beasts in to kill the rest. Don't forget there could be waves of them!”
Five of the demigods jumped from the forest to the grassland which was booby-trapped. Right, when their foot touched the open land they burst into flames, melting into a pile of bones.
“Five down, probably a hundred more to go, alright King and Jax, you go together and lay waste to them while I and Astrid stay together and launch spells into the forest, now go!”
King and Jax dashed through into the forest slaying them one by one. Ash sent his lion to join the fight with the rest of the other beast.
Astrid closed her eyes and shouted, "Lightning strikes down my enemies and protects my allies! Lightning’s Judgment level two!"
Green lightning starts raining down from the heavens striking 10 of the demigods all at once. From over the horizon came 100 demigods lined up ready to attack. In front of the line two demigods standing there waiting for Ash and King to show up.
King and Jax are in the forest cutting down the lowly peons while the beasts tear down the forest and eat any unfortunate demigods. King used the message spell to contact Ash,
“Hey Ash we are about done here, there weren't any strong brothers or sisters here. I think they are children of the weak gods so that means it was a test which makes my blood boil, with excitement!”
Ash gets the message and scours the area for the actual enemies to worry about.
"Vex here me, come to me I need you.”
Vex the black lion roared at the sky then turned to the direction of where Ash is, then started dashing towards him.
Astrid asked with a little worry on her face, “Hey Ash, is there something going on.”
Ash answered quickly, "Yeah two of the stronger god's children are here. One of them is the daughter of Hermes while the other is the child of Athena. She must be the one who planned this.”
“What are we going to do? Ash, there are too many of them," Astrid tugged on his clothes hoping for a good answer.
King and Jax arrived back in the grassland to meet up with Ash and Astrid. King waved to Ash and walked towards them.
Ash told the three, “Alright stay here, and enjoy the show.”
King sat down and sent his beast away. Jax also did that while Astrid grabbed Ash's arm and tried to tell him he was no match for them alone.
“You can't do this Ash, you will die if you do this alone.”
Ash looked at her smirking and kept walking. Vex was walking beside him,
“I changed my mind, I will handle this.”
The lion bowed, slowly descending back into the summoning circle. He got into talking distance from the two girls. The small nimble girl was the child of Hermes and was suited for speed and agility; she wore a dark green caped hood with brown leather chest, iron arm guards, and also leather leggings that were smooth like a horse's back. She was about fourteen years old and still strong for her age. She is also wearing the boots of Hermes.
While the daughter of Athena looks like a paladin with really heavy metal armor. It has gold etchings on it of an owl. Most of the armor was made out of obsidian so it was a shiny glassy black with a gold lining.
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Ash asks, “Who are you two and I probably already know what you are trying to do.”
The daughter of Hermes dashes with speed, sending a few of the demigod soldiers into the sky. She hit Ash's katana, he didn't flinch.
“My name is Isabel and our mission is to kill you but you probably knew that already. You should have let your kitty fight with you, now you have no chance.”
Ash, unfazed by her attacks, lifts his left arm up then says, "Crush the weak, incinerate level one,”
the whole one hundred demigods incinerated into bones. It was instantaneous, the two girls didn't even realize until it was too late. Isabel’s cockiness faded, it turned to anger,
“How could you kill your brothers and sisters without even thinking about it for a second.”
Ash responded without remorse, "I did because you did the same thing and failed. That is why you didn't feel bad.”
Isabel backed up to create space between them, she pulled out a second sharp fang-like dagger that was a matching pair. Both were poisoned and with a running start she lunged at Ash; he blocked the attack then grabbed her by the neck with one hand, lifting her off the floor.
His voice was cold as he said these words, “You are nothing and will never be anything."
He tightened his grip, the paladin jumped in with her heavy sword and smashed the ground where Ash was supposed to be standing, Ash let go of Isabel's neck and jumped back. Astrid was awestruck and frightened by Ash’s cold-blooded style when fighting, in all of the long life she has never seen raw power from one person. She tried stepping back but tripped over her own feet and fell to the ground, immobilized. All she could do was watch this annihilation to the end. Back to the fight, Ash was getting tired of this fight so right when they were going to both strike together Ash finally swung his katana and cut Isabel's hand off in a blink of an eye. She screamed in agony, she was on her knees holding her wrist.
Ash in a nonchalant way asked, “So paladin, I didn't get your name, you should tell me if you want to live longer.”
Filled with fear she said her name, stuttering all over the place trying to get to Isabel, "It’s S...Sophia and I are here to kill you.”
Ash makes fun of her, “How valiant of you.”
Isabel pulls herself together and gets up ready to attack, Ash laughs loudly which shocks the two girls trying to kill him.
Ash replies to Sophia, “I like the name, it fits your talents but do you think I was even trying Sophia? That was just me letting out my overflowing power so I don't use it by accident.”
Isabel yelled, “You lie, you can't possibly have that much power!”
Ash sighs heavily and then lifts his blindfold to reveal his eyes, immediately the ground turns to glass with the scorching heat from the lightning strikes. Astrid never saw his eyes before but seeing them and how they look shows how he is feeling all the time. He is always in pain and can tell just by the look in his eyes.
Astrid suddenly bounces up and runs towards Ash telling him to stop, “Ash stop, you don't have to do this, they are defeated!”
Ash summoned his black flame from his hand ready to turn those two women into ash, Isabel and Sophia both peed themselves from the fear of death standing in front of them.
Isabel Whimpers, full of tears, "Please spare us, we are sorry. We will never come after you again please.”
Astrid ran and put her arms around him telling Ash, “Please Ash they are not in your way anymore, they are harmless please stop.”
Ash lowered his hand hesitantly after extinguishing his flame and finally pulling down his blindfold. He swayed, losing his footing and weak from using his power while Astrid was still holding onto him he sighs,
“I am okay, thank you for stopping me. I went too far for just two kids.”
Ash got frightened from his own insanity, he tried to mend his actions by helping the two girls who were huddled together.
“You, Isabel, come here so I can help you."
She was terrified and didn't move. She couldn't move. Her death just told her to come closer to him so he can help her right after he was going to kill her. Isabel was dizzy from the blood loss, Ash grabbed her arm and put his hands over her wrist where she lost her hand.
Ash with force, “Dragon healing!”
She squirmed, trying to escape his grasp, Isabel was terrified. Her hand started to regenerate back but it took a lot more power to restore limbs. Sophia, Astrid, and Isabel were amazed by his power. She stopped trying to break free after Astrid held her steady. After the spell was complete Ash was too weak to stand, he fell to one knee before completely collapsing onto the soft grass. Jax and King ran towards Ash to help him up.
King hissed to the girls, “You are lucky, Ash likes you or you will be dead already. Trust me he killed plenty of times without hesitation. I guess I could kill you so there won't be anyone holding him back.”
Jax intervenes with a remark, “Don't worry I am way stronger than him, you are safe. Anyway, what are you two going to do now that you know you can't defeat Ash and failed your mission.”
King lays Ash down against a tree, he walks away from the group looking for something. The two couldn't think of anything to do in their lives now that they knew they were no match.
Isabel got back on her feet still shaken from the experience but asked Jax, “Can I come, I...I am probably safer with you guys now that I failed the gods.”
Sophia pulled herself up exhausted from always wearing heavy paladin armor; she also asked if she could join them too. Sophia fell but Astrid caught her.
“The more the merrier plus when Ash wakes back up you can apologize for trying to kill him.”
They both looked happy and gave Astrid and Jax a hug for letting them join while King stared at them and basically telling them don't get near me or else.
After getting to a little town they went to an inn to have Ash rest and get the girls new clothes for their little accident. Astrid got a room for the two so they can change and get rest.
Astrid talked to the two girls, “Hey, what did the gods tell you exactly?”
Sophia answered with remorse, “They said Ash will destroy the world if he succeeds in his mission.”
Isabel added to the guilt, “We got our orders from Zeus, Poseidon, Hades, and Ares.”
Worry was on Astrid's face but she tried to hide it.
Jax went into the room where they were talking. “I brought sweets.”
He hands the two girls a circular bun made out of dough that has sugar on the top.
“Hey Astrid, can I talk to you for a minute.”
Jax pulled Astrid aside for a moment, “I know you are worried about Ash being evil and destroying the world but you have nothing to fear.”
Astrid questioned him, “How do you know, it's not like anyone can stop him.”
Jax sincerely smiled then happily said, “You stopped him.”
Astrid realized that he listened to her even if she couldn't win in a battle against him.
“Plus I can see into the future remember, and I have an ace up my sleeve.”
He lifts his eye patch to reveal his dragon eye. That answer put her at ease knowing she had an oracle on her side.
She went back to the teens and asked Sophia, “Hey Sophia we never asked how old you are and you too Isabel.”
Sophia devoured the sweet pastry before replying with one big gasp for air, “I am 16 and Isabel is 14.”
Astrid thought for a few seconds then another question popped up, “Was you guys together before your orders, or did you meet up.”
Astrid struggled to explain what she meant but Sophia interrupted her to say, “We were always together when we were smaller. We lived in a really small town at the base of Mount Olympus. The town was called The Steps To The Heavens. We had to go to Mount Olympus every three days to get a task from the gods.”
Jax listens in thinking how the gods used his village too then destroyed it just like what they are doing to these poor kids. He walked out of the room with his fist tightly closed.
Isabel finished eating her delicious pastry then muffled out, “We didn't get to see our parents, we didn't even live with our other birth parents. We lived in an orphanage with others like us who are weak offspring of the gods.”
Sophia sighed deeply then pushed out, “I wonder if Ash had a nice childhood or was it the same as us.”
King kicked open the door with a big boom in his voice, “Hell no, he did not have a nice childhood! You wouldn't believe what he went through by himself. He still helped me when I was at death's door!”
The girls were still a little frightened by King but started to warm up to him asking questions about how Ash and King met.
“Hey King, how did you meet Ash?”
He smiled with a storytelling face then began his story, “I was left for dead in a monster's den by my charming father. It was because I was too weak to be related to him, he said, now when I was running away from hellhounds I heard a voice shout "duck" and so I dropped to the ground then a blue flame wiped out those hellhounds.”
Isabel was enthralled in the story, Sophia asked, “So what happened next.”
Astrid was sitting right next to them like a child super interested in the story too while Jax was outside of the door listening in.
King laughed, “Hahaha so you like my story that much do you. Well, I will continue then, he lends a hand so I can pick myself back up. Ash said he was training in the den so he can exact his revenge. I begged him to let me join him on his mission.”
Astrid threw in her two cents, “I would love to see you beg.”
She giggled while King gave her a ticked-off face. "Just you wait princess now let me continue. He said to me “do you hate anyone,” I said yes my father left me to die in this den of monsters. Ash said, "good then we are brothers who have the same goal." So we went on adventures to get stronger so we can exact our revenge.”
Sophia sympathizes with King, “Wow you've been through a lot together.”
King nodded then added, "It wasn't just two of us there, there was one more, he was a kid that looked up to Ash. Ash felt like a big brother to him and loved him so much, it looked like they were real brothers."
Astrid asked, "What happened,"
King was going to answer but Ash pushed the door open with Jax behind him. "Nothing happened and King, keep your mouth shut, or else I will shut it for you."
King got up and walked out of the room with Ash to the other room. Before he left the room, he laid Isabel’s dagger on the bed.
Jax walked into the room with the girls and tried to ease them, “It's best to hold off on that story, it is for the best.”
Astrid was even more curious about what happened to the kid Ash loved so much. Ash scared Sophia, she still felt wary of him while Isabel was propelled to get to know Ash more.