SCC Chapter 29 Fall of Olympus(5)

Declan was ferocious, attacking from every angle, every posture, with his flames hot enough to the point that they had started reddening the floor. Ansel was somehow surprised at the stone floor's durability, but when he thought about it deeper, he realized that it made sense for it to be this durable.

Declan was becoming increasingly frustrated. The woman was maintaining a powerful defense. She wasn't attacking. And movement was minimal, such that she wouldn't make any mistakes.

He changed his tactics, shaping the now white flames into a spear, one he concentrated on solidifying, but in the split second that he averted his attention, as if by prior knowledge, a massive wind blade was horizontally hurled towards him, with Ansel almost crying out in alarm, but the figure bisected, turned out to be just a mere mirage, an illusion.

Then, Declan's form was revealed, right beside the woman's defense, at her back, where a white sword was poised to be thrust into her back. But Ansel, as the spectator, could see that her eyes didn't have any worry, as if she had anticipated the move.

And that thought was proven right, when ten wind blades were released, threatening to take Declan's life if he didn't retreat, which he did.

But the woman discarded her previously impenetrable defence in favor of going on the counter-offensive, chasing after Declan, with wind blades flying, changing direction in response to his shifts, homing in on his form. Apparently, she had decided to switch strategies upon seeing that her mind games weren't achieving the desired outcome.

Ansel had to provide praise where it was due. Even though she was arrogant, beneath that was a highly meticulous and crafty mind that wouldn't lose out to any cultivator who had lived on the edge of life and death.

The battle entered a white hot stage as Declan shaped weapons from his white hot flame, whose temperature had gotten hot enough to even start melting the stone floor. But the woman decided to reveal Pantheon's superior technology at this juncture, with her bangles separating from her wrists and spreading across her entire body, where they turned into a metallic looking fabric that interwove itself across her entire body, effectively enhancing her defenses, while also boosting her attacks, putting Declan on the back foot.

(Don't join in! Remember that!) warned the man having noticed the shift in Ansel's energies. Though Declan was a firecracker everyone loved to avoid like the plague, there was no doubt that he was a genius in battle only bested by two people in their little group.

Ansel ultimately decided to keep watching the Battlefield, where the other man had settled into a rhythm where he was simply tanking or evading the woman's strikes. Ansel became certain that there was something afoot. And it seemed that Hera could see it too as her attacks dropped in energy, while she became even more wary, intermittently releasing her divine sense for any anomalies.

The reason divine sense wasn't kept unfurled in battles was mostly because of the fact that it could easily be overwhelmed by information due to intense bursts of spiritual energy. If it became overloaded at a critical moment, it could spell defeat.

Declan found a chance to take a leap back, with a small white sphere materializing in his palm. Ansel instantly felt a chill down his spine when that sphere materialized, treating it as his worst enemy. And clearly, Hera was of the same thought, because, not even a moment later, she also materialized an attack at the same quality, a small curved blade of green with her intent greatly encapsulated within it.

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A tense atmosphere materialized within the cavern. Ansel had also lost his previous laziness as each of these two attacks was powerful enough to vanquish him should any sort of mishap come to pass!

There was an explosion beneath Declan's feet, with his speed far surpassing any that he had shown previously, instantly appearing before the woman, and palming towards her, with the small sphere leading the way. She also did the same with her wind blade.

Ansel was about to shelter himself from the explosion, when the wind blade harmlessly passed through the white sphere, and he managed to capture the widening of Hera's eyes, the contortions of her facial muscles, with her facial expression shifting from solemnity to horror in the next moment, before a powerful flame, as if spewed by a dragon, instantly erased her left side, even boring a hole through the cavern's walls to the outside, where it left a long trail of destruction.

"Gods... Always so arrogant. You thought that just because you saw it once, it was no longer an option for me!" shouted out Declan, who was now standing behind the woman. Even Ansel had been deceived!

Though, he had made certain not to damage her head in any way, probably because of Ansel's own request of keeping her alive. She crumpled to the ground while Declan went down on one knee, gasping heavily. He had overstrained himself in compressing his intent into the flame. And he wasn't the only one in such a condition, as even Hera was facing the same.

Ansel hurriedly tended to the woman. Though, He first stripped away every artifact upon her body. And since her clothes had all been destroyed, her nakedness was laid bare for the two men, yet they barely cared. Both their attentions were elsewhere.

"Don't look at me like that. After this, you are going to die! That, I promise you! If I had the power of revival, I would have loved to kill and revive you for every single villager that died!"

"That attack of yours created quite the commotion. If I am not mistaken, everyone will be attracted here. What do you want to do?" Ansel asked.

"We will wait for them to come. Even if the President wants to spare her, I won't allow it!"

-----

The first person to arrive was the President. He didn't come in through the door, but through the hole created by Declan's destructive power. Ansel could feel a weighty presence bearing down upon them. Being in the man's presence was akin to being right next to a burning flame, certain that it would burn you if any mishap happened.

The silence was only broken by his steps that first circled the cavern, occasionally pausing to look at the runes down below, until finally, he appeared before them.

"What happened here?" he asked, with his crimson eyes gazing deeply into Hera's. There must have been a grudge there. Maybe the woman had insulted him before the siege battle...?

"This woman must die by my hand." spoke Declan. There was an edge to his voice. And even though he too, must have been feeling the weight of the man's presence, his gaze was firm.

Those crimson eyes finally looked away to gaze into Declan's. Only after holding that gaze for a few seconds did the President avert his gaze...

"Her death won't be in doubt then. Though, keeping her alive right now isn't going to earn us anything. I suggest the bitch is removed from this world right this instant." Ansel was somewhat surprised by the vulgar language, but what was greater than that was the puzzlement.

"She is under oath. There is no way she would divulge anything valuable. The moment the words so much as start to leave her lips, her life will be forfeit."

Ansel's gaze went back to the woman before signaling towards Declan, who dragged Hera by the hair, out of the place, while she screamed and struggled.

"That brat has what it takes to ascend the path of power. What is your name?" The president's gaze lingered on Declan's back before a question was thrown at Ansel.

"Ansel!" His cheeks burned when he felt that his voice had come out louder than he had intended.

"Have you managed to glean anything about this array?" he asked.

"It is complicated, sir. All I have managed to get a glimpse of, is the fact that whatever was used to transmit energy within these grooves was taken by someone. When we found the place, there was despair written all over the woman's face, meaning that this array had probably served as some escape of sorts. Zeus must have used it before. That's the only conclusion I have been able to come to." Ansel explained all that in one breath.

"Mmmm...There are traces of spatial disturbance. I will go out on a limb and deduce that this might have been some sort of teleportation array."

The deduction confounded Ansel. A teleportation array! Had the sects reached a level where they could produce such things!?

But if the space was disturbed, that was the only conclusion that was plausible.

"That is going to be troublesome. Determining the destination is going to be like searching for a needle in a haystack." cursed the President.

A few others arrived, with an exclamation attracting the attention of the two towards one of the newcomers.