The massive beam evaporated the army of Darkness like it was nothing, creating a large hole in the sea of monsters, enough to see the other side. There was no way the sinister warrior managed to escape such a powerful attack, and yet, how could someone explained to the gods that the same warrior they aimed to kill is standing a few meters away from the hole. Did they missed or could it be that the sinister warrior was fast enough to avoid such a massive blast?
In the corner of Zeus’s eyes, he saw the orb glowed whenever the warrior disappeared. He has been watching it since the beginning, but couldn't understand how its power worked. However, he does sense something familiar about the glow, but his thought was interrupted when Hermes stumbled back.
“Impossible…No one is that fast, not even me,” Hermes mumbled.
“I’m sorry,” Apollo said as he gazed at the warrior with despair while a tear flowed out from his eyes.
“You’re sorry? How...I don’t believe it! You knew about this. You knew about the coming death, and you didn't warn us?!” Hera snapped at Apollo.
“Enough, Hera.” Zeus intervened.
Hera turned her glare at the God of Thunder, and at that moment, she realizes it. She knows her husband so well that even his quirk and fault were memorized by her, and in those eyes, she knew that Zeus had known about it since the very beginning. Zeus looked away from his wife, guilty by his decision, but his gaze went back to the sinister warrior.
“Who else knew?”
“Me,” Hades admitted.
“So do I,” Adrestia admitted also.
“You’ve led us all to our death, I expected you both to be better than them, Apollo, Adrestia. But, I was wrong.” Athena lowered her chin in disappointment and closed her eyes.
“There’s no other way,” Apollo said.
“No other way?! I doubt that. We could always run, we could always stay away. But you! Chose to drag us here to meet our death.” Hermes yelled.
“I said enough! Keep your head straight, we need to retreat while we still can,” Zeus intervened once more.
“I concur with Zeus, right now isn't a good place for us to have a debate session. May I remind everyone that there is a more pressing matter at this moment than arguing amongst ourselves.” Demeter brought her glare at the sinister warrior, it remained standing there, watching them from afar.
“The Darkness is acting strange,” Aphrodite said as she glanced around her at The Darkness’s new purposeful movement.
“The portals! Zeus, they are aiming to spread their numbers on the twelve worlds. You must close the portals before it too late.” Athena said as she used her spear to fire an energy beam at the spreading Darkness.
Zeus instantly let his thunderbolt hovered beside him and pressed both hands together. A bright gold glow encased his body, while a dark cloud floated and spiraled above him, spreading across the sky above Mount Olympus. The sinister warrior finally jerked its sight at the God of Thunder and flew toward him with the jagged sword readied between its fingers. As the warrior about to strike Zeus, Hades with flaming blue hair stopped the attack with his Bident. The clash of two weapons created a shockwave that shook the air itself.
Thousands of lightning struck the invisible portals, destroying and closing it permanently. Zeus let out a breath of relief as he took hold of his thunderbolt; Hades took a step back while Athena and Hera snuck beside the sinister warrior and blasted it with humongous beams. The crashing beam exploded and sent both of the goddesses back but as the smoke cleared, the warrior had put up two primitive shields beside it that’s made from the same material as its armor. The shields have taken most of the damage, but some of the attacks managed to cause a small crack on the warrior’s evil armor.
Demeter and Aphrodite launched two balls of energy that managed to spread the crack even further especially around its stomach armor. Apollo fired an arrow with a small sun stuck on the tip; the heat was immense as the sun itself, and the moment it collided with the warrior’s armor, it exploded into a bright light and thrown the warrior far away.
The warrior finally stopped its momentum, it stood with its arms dangled in front of himself while its back hunched forward. Pieces of metal started to broke off from the warrior’s armor, especially around its stomach plate, the attack had shattered the dark metal, but no one could expect the feminine belly hidden underneath those plates. Hermes quickly made his way to the warrior at super speed, in hope of landing a kick that would end the fight.
Hermes swung his leg at the warrior's head, but that proves to be a grave mistake as it grabbed the god’s leg mid-air. The catch was so strong that it expanded another shockwave around them. Hermes looked at the warrior as its purple glare penetrated his very essence and struck fear in his soul.
“Wait...AAAH!” The warrior felt the crunchy feeling as it brought its elbow down onto the god’s leg.
The warrior didn't stop with only his right leg, he took hold of his other leg and smashed it against its own knee. Hermes cry of pain echoed throughout the sky, the warrior let the God of Trade fall. With his legs broken, the God of Trade has no way of flying so he fell down toward the dark abyss below. However, he was saved when Adrestia flew down and caught him before he fell even further.
After cracking its own neck, the warrior simply swayed its own right hand over the shattered armor, and it regenerated back to normal. It then called upon the jagged blade and it flew right back into its open hand. A small black orb appeared above its head, and it pushed the sword into it. Suddenly thousands, no, millions of black orb materialized around the gods and goddesses.
Jagged swords slowly formed out of those purple orbs and all of them are aimed at the gods and goddesses. The warrior raised an open hand then turned its gaze at Zeus. The God of Thunder widened his eyes and quickly put up a shield around his allies.
"Adrestia, run!" Zeus yelled as the swords speed toward them and crashed against the shield.
Demeter and Aphrodite glanced at the cracking shield around them and put up two more shields, creating three layers of protection. The jagged sword punctured through the first layer and slowly made its way into the second layer. Adrestia flew as hard as she could, trying to escape the thousand of swords that rushed toward her. Zeus suddenly sent everyone away from the center of the shield, narrowly escaped a massive jagged sword the size of a temple that pierced the shield easily. The massive sword crashed into Mount Olympus then imploded into a dark black hole before exploding again and become a massive ball of flame that ate the air around it.
No one had seen the massive sword coming except for Zeus, everyone was too busy focusing on the thousands of swords. Athena turned her gaze at Adrestia when she heard a scream, a sword had impaled one of her wings and left several cuts all over her body as she tried to protect Hermes.
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“Adrestia! Watch out!” Athena had calculated the trajectory of her fellow goddess and predicted that she is heading toward one of The Darkness.
It was too late as The Darkness pounced onto Adrestia and caused her to let Hermes go. She struggled with the monster as she began descending down toward the abyss. Adrestia cut The Darkness’s head off with a single swing of her sword, and when she turned to Hermes, it was too late as hundreds of swords had impaled his body and converted him into stone before turning into dust.
“Hermes!” Adrestia screamed as Demeter flew to her and pulled her toward her allies.
“He’s gone, pull yourself together,” Demeter said coldly, but in her eyes, it said otherwise.
Zeus looked upon his decimated kingdom and for the second time of his life, he felt despair like never before. All his hard work had been ridiculed in a single day, the hope he had forged inside him has all been destroyed, and now he’s going to lose his family. He felt a warm hand over his shoulder and when he turned his head, Hades stood beside him with a determined gaze.
“Thank you.” Zeus formed a smile on his face.
“Your welcome.” Hades nodded his chin.
“Together, we shall escape this,” Zeus placed his own hand on Hades’s shoulder.
“As always.”
“Hera, open a portal for others to escape. Hades and I will distract that thing.” Zeus turned his attention to his wife then rested his sight on the monster.
Hera materialized a white orb between her hands while furiously sweat down to her legs as she tried to concentrate and focus her power to tear the reality open. Hades pointed his Bident at the warrior and the blue fire of the underworld traveled across the sky. The warrior brought his blade right in the middle and slashed the fire in half. A crack of thunder beside the warrior temporarily deafened its hearing. Surprised by the sound, it turned its head to the source of simmering light, but it was too late to protect itself as Zeus appeared beside it and blasted the warrior with lightning.
The warrior was paralyzed by the lightning, and its armor was melted by the electricity, but by the sheer will itself, it managed to move again and kicked Zeus away. Afterward, it turned around then blocked the incoming Bident that was aimed toward it. Hades's hands trembled as he tried to push the Bident prongs deeper into the warrior’s throat. Zeus felt a similar feeling again after the warrior suddenly disappeared.
“Where did it go?!” Hades shouted after a quick glance around him.
“Above!” Athena shouted then Apollo quickly aimed his bow up and shot several energy arrows at the falling warrior.
The warrior disappeared again and appeared behind the arrow. It was getting closer and Apollo is running out of time shooting arrows at it, as it kept disappearing and appearing out of thin air. Demeter threw some seed in front of Apollo and it quickly encased all of them in large thicks vines, creating a shield of flora. The warrior’s blade stuck right between those thick vines, It looked around itself and saw the Darkness swirling around them. It raised its hand and clenched it, the Darkness roars as million of them make its way to the center and toward the ball of vines.
“HEEEY!!!” Zeus yelled as he cast his lightning at the warrior.
The warrior disappeared again into thin air, leaving the sea of The Darkness clawing on the vines. Zeus pulled apart his thunderbolt in half and let it formed into two gauntlets of lightning. Hades placed his hand on the God of Thunder’s shoulder and they disappeared in a single blink, leaving only a spark of electricity behind. They both appeared again along with the warrior and their weapons clashed together. The encounter caused a fit of thunder to shook the very air and spark of power flying around. Fire, electricity, and broken swords were left behind as they appeared and reappeared once more for a quick second before disappearing again.
Demeter’s shaky arms were a telltale sign that the vines aren't going to hold out much longer as the army of The Darkness tried to claw into the shield. Apollo looked at Hera and saw her struggling expression, even without an intellect like Athena, he knew, even without his ability to see the future, he knew. He knew that Hera won't make it time and all of them are going to die. However there’s still a way out, He pried open the bottom part of the vines and dropped out.
“Apollo!” Athena yelled out as Hermes exited from the safety of the vines.
A look od determination blazing inside Apollo’s eyes after he opened, a bright light shone behind him as bright as the sun. The Darkness was blinded temporarily by the light and that gave Hermes an opening to shoot every arrow he had onto the sea of monsters. Every arrow that hit the enemies exploded with intense heat, burning their skin and flesh. However, Hermes was overwhelmed by the sheer number of enemies, but the attack did the job. After the Darkness gained their sight, they began to swarm toward Hermes.
Hermes kept on firing every one of his arrows at the monsters, but he can't kill all of them, so he closed his eyes as he waited for the inevitable. However, it didn't come as he felt a gentle warm light caressed his skin, he opened his eyes again and surprised to see a pink light shield formed in front of him, preventing the monster from laying their claw onto him. Beside him is none other than Aphrodite, she gritted her teeth and the bottom of her dress was torn.
Aphrodite gestures her hands into different symbols and caused several spikes to grow out from the shield and impaled the Darkness. Hermes turned his head behind him as she heard a roar coming from behind him, as he was about to defend their backside, a spear flew and punctured each one of The Darkness in one singular trajectory. The spear flew back to its owner, Athena.
“Do you think that we will let you have all of the fun?” Aphrodite snickered, it’s been a long time since Aphrodite ever broke out from her serene mannerism.
“Thank you…” Apollo looked down with guilt and regret.
“Save it and focus! We need to give Hera some time to open up the portal.” Athena said as she glanced around, plotting their next move.
“Aphrodite moves your shield forward, spike out. Apollo and I will cover our back and our blindspot. We need our back against Demeter’s vine shield, it’s a safer position there.”
“No problem. Come and get some!” Aphrodite flew forward with her shield up and the spikes readied. The violently make their way back to the ball of vines.
As they were about to make their way back, Athena noticed something and was about to warn them, but it was too late as they were struck by a massive paw and thrown across the sky. Zeus was distracted as he saw the massive monster, the size of a Titan. The Darkness had merged together and formed a giant version of itself. The tiger spider-like creatures were terrifying to look at, even more so now.
“Zeus!?”
The God of Thunder turned his head and a sword was heading down toward this head, but he was saved by Hades as he extended his Bident forward and stopping the blade. However, it was all of the ruses, the warrior immediately let go of his weapon and create a new. It pushed the sword through the opening, but it was also stopped when Hades let go of his bident and grabbed the blade with his bare hands. The sharp edge had left a long mark all over the God of The Underworld palms.
Zeus coughed out blood, Hades turned around and the blade had managed to reach his brother’s stomach. Blood dripped out from the wound as Hades pushed the blade away while Zeus cast his lightning on the warrior and cause it to be thrown away. Hades looked at his trembling hands and saw the black poison seeping into his veins.
“B-Brother…”
“I’m sorry!” Zeus shouted, Hades turned his attention at his brother, but he was too late, as a blade made of lighting cut both of Hades’s hands clean off.
“AAAHHH!!!!” Hades yelled out his pain as both of his hands fell into the abyss below.
“Come, quick! The portal is unstable. I don't know where it will lead us, but it will lead us away from here!” Hera shouted.
“Go Hades! I’ll get the others!” Zeus shouted as he throws Hades toward Demeter vines shield.
Hades looked upon the massive Darkness, even without his hands he still could fight as he opened his mouth wide and breathed blue fire at the beast. Zeus flew and grabbed the unconscious gods and goddess before making his way back to the portal. Five jagged flew toward the God of Thunder in speed and caused him to let go of his allies and blocked the attack, but one the sword managed to make it through his defense and tore his upper shoulder.
Zeus placed his hand over the cut and gritted his teeth. He looked at the hovering allies around him, he had no choice, he turned his thunderbolt into a gladius and flew straight at the warrior. Flashes of lightning can be seen far away as Zeus battled the monster alone, Athena opened her eyes and witnessed the fight, she called upon her spear and joined in. The warrior blocked every attack that the god and goddess threw with a bit of difficulty. However, they were distracted again when they heard a scream from Aphrodite, one of the Darkness had swallowed her legs whole and she was getting devoured.
Athena turned his back on the warrior and caused a sword to pierce her back. She looked down at the sword and slowly lose consciousness as she fell toward the abyss. Zeus screamed in rage as he intensified his attacks on the warrior. Apollo woke up abruptly and glanced around him, he was about to head to Aphrodite, but a vine wrapped around his stomach and pulled him toward the portal.
“Let me go! Aphrodite!” Apollo screamed as he saw his allies being eaten alive.
Demeter tossed Apollo through the portal, Adrestia woke up afterward and looked at Hades fighting the humongous monster.
“Demeter, Hera… Get Hades and Zeus out of here, if we wish to win this, we need both of them alive.” Adrestia said before quickly flew and take over the battle against the humongous monster.
Hades was pulled by Demeter and tossed through the portal. Hera moved away from the portal and toward his husband, she took over the fight. While Zeus was forced to go through the portal, but that fight doesn't last long as the warrior easily left a large cut over the goddess's chest. The God of Thunder yelled out at the warrior and it immediately transported closer at the god, and at that moment, Zeus saw the opening, he flung his lightning at the warrior. The warrior dodged by disappearing away. However, the God of Thunder was not aiming for the warrior, he was aiming for the core. The lightning struck the orb and the warrior appeared again and screamed his unbearable pain out. Zeus had managed to crack the orb slightly and stunned the warrior.
Zeus then was thrown through the portal, Adrestia with a wounded wing flew toward Hera and picked her up. Demeter went through the portal, and all that was left was Hera and Adrestia.
“Quickly!” Adrestia said.
“No, someone needs to close this portal.”
“Can we do it on the other side?”
“No! It’s unstable, I had to pry it open with brute force, so the destination is not singular, but the entrance is. That’s why I need to close it here and now.”
“I won't leave you.”
“That wasn't a request, it’s an order. I always hated you for what happened in the past... but in different circumstances, you and I could have been a close friend.”
“Wait?!” Hera pushed Adrestia through the portal as she was embraced in bright light, she saw a jagged sword went through Hera’s stomach before the portal closed.