Kostas 'Hercules' Nikoloau wiped the ash from his eyes. A fiery hellscape expanded before them, before the final gate. The final Labour of humanity, the twelfth Labour, the realm of Cerberus.
A path of fallen souls, defeated champions and sacrifice lay behind them. A single boss waited before them. A beast of fire, smoke and denial. A demonic canine, with one objective.
To make mankind fail.
Percy clapped him on the shoulder . 'It is something my friend, huh?' with his effervescent smile and perfect blonde hair, he should have been on a shampoo commercial and not in a demonic wasteland. Somehow he'd pulled through, intact, pristine and chipper as ever.
'Can we really best it.' Muttered Bell, spinning her daggers. The waif-like rogue nervously chewed her lip.
Percy nodded. 'What do we always say.'
The remaining guild, only ten of them, all repeated their mantra. 'Citius - Altius - Fortius.'
Faster, higher, stronger.
Percy nodded and pointed into the heavens.
General Kross rose into the sky before them. Her armour battered and singed. Her warhammer crackled with frost, even in the face of the final gates fire. Her hammer flared and a mighty blessing was cast on the last army of mankind. So few left, the final vestige of humanity, a scan ten thousand.
Blessing of Boreas - The North Wind
+100 Temp HP.
Divine Energy regeneration increased 100%
Mobility increased by 50%.
Resistance to fire damage.
The cold and bitter wind of Boreas flared around them. It had none of the comfort of Apollo's aura. None of the noble power of Zeus. None of the righteous fury of Poseidon.
Yet it was all they had. Zeus's champion fell at the seventh labour. Grigor, Apollo's great healer sacrificed himself to hold off the Stymphalian Birds curse. Poseidon's champion Aribelle disappeared days before this battle, assassination suspected.
Too many mistakes, failures and betrayals.
Herc rubbed his right arm, where dark green veins were barely contained in a runic script. He hefted his greatsword in his left arm, his shield buckled to the weaker side.
Yet heroes had risen, with great crisis, so had humanity brought forth its champions
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The Heroic Seven gathered in front of General Kross. The most powerful human's left alive. Each of them was a monster, with a unique class, a pantheon's blessing or a god-slayer weapon.
The Heroic Seven were hesitant around General Kross. She had only led them for the last battle, since the fall of Gerald Stormhalt. Stormhalt, Ares chosen, had been a hard man, but not bitter like Kross.
Yet could he blame Kross for being bitter in the face of mankind's failures? He had seen men stab each other other divine treasures. Betray their faith in one god for the favour of another, or worse betrayed their fellow man for gold.
The army marched down the volcanic slope, towards Cerberus's gate. The demonic dog was the size of a sky scraper. It's fur was replaced by charcoal scale, its eyes were red glowing embers, and its three head had teeth so wicked they could chew through a tank.
Kross screamed and the army charged. Thousands of men and women conjured blessings, auras and divine manifestation.
Lava surged from cracks in the volcanic slope. Golems of molten rock ripped into the lines, their very touch burning through the ranks. Wyrms and lesser dragons emerged from the smog like clouds above to rain fire upon the army.
Kross and the Heroic Seven flew forwards. Kross fired glacial spikes of ice into the packs of flying beasts. Ice spiralled around her in blocks and shields
A man with dark skin and broad shoulders swelled up to the size of a giant and swatted monsters from the sky. Atlas, the turncoat Titan. He punched a dragon and it slammed into the ground.
Right in front of Herc.
The dragon shook itself off and reared back. Fire blossomed in its maw and beside him Bell covered her face. Herc looked up at impending doom.
Herc was a tank. All constitution and strength. He'd taken the role as fate decided on the spur of the moment. He'd done his best to build around it, but there was only so much a common warrior class could achieve.
Yet he'd made it here.
He could slay a dragon.
Herc charged forwards, bringing his shield up in front of his guildmates. 'Hero's last stand.' He called out, his stamina doubling and his shield gaining a ghostly projection three times his height.
He ripped a potion out of his belt and downed it. Greek fire. Divine energy rushed towards him, empowering him for a moment with the might of the gods even as it scoured his mana channels and dropped his health to half.
'Any god who is listening. I might not have stood for much in my life, I might not have been willing to follow and have faith.
But if you're out there, I'm willing now. Just save my mates.'
The dragon blasted corrosive flames into his shield. The ghostly imaged shuddered, warped and started to crack. Behind him his guildmates rested their hands on his shoulders.
Something resonated with Herc in that moment. A power that was not his own layered itself into his shield forming a dome. His legs threatened to give out, his arm suffering horrific burns.
Yet the shield held.
For how long he didn't know, all there was, was the shield and the fire. Herc refused to stand down, refused to give in. His lungs burning, his heart pounding, he stood his ground.
He was the tank. This was what he did.
The fire stopped.
Herc staggered. The ghostly dome dropped and the slag of his shield collapsed to the ground. Above him stood giants. A cyclops larger than all the other reached down and scratched Cerberus's head.
All around were the dead. The last of mankind's forces had fallen. He alone stood. Then he fell to his knees. The last of his shield glowed, the aura of....something fading away.
The titanic cyclops leaned down. This could only be Typhon, lord of monsters. Typhon's one eye examined Hercules. It scanned the fragments of the shield, now inert.
'Tell me human?' What would you do if I gave you your health back?' Typhon's voice came in a booming rumble.
Bleeding out, Herc gave the only answer he could. The answer that had defined him for ten years of combat and challenge. All that remained of his comrades.
'Climb….higher….'
The dark claimed him.
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