A/N: Hey all, sorry for the long delay. Work was busy for the last week for me, but I'm finally back with some time off again! Once again, make sure you guys have read Strife of Rome and Henosis before this one, it's a sequel after all! Either way, hope you guys enjoy the chapter! Things finally start happening!

Strife Mansion – Post battle – Angry Wife Hylla

Hylla likes to consider herself as a reasonable individual. Sure, she has a male only slave empire and harem, sure she's violently sexist towards men, sure she's publicly executed people before, not everyone's perfect.

But this? Her completely destroyed home at the hands of her husband and his secret godfather? This has pushed her to her limits and beyond. The two men should count themselves lucky she's strong enough to control her temper otherwise she'd have Mori cleaning up after two dead bodies.

Samson and Samuel are enwrapped by mystical vines of some kind, they burst from the walls much to Hylla's chagrin and stopped the fighting between the two men, but the damage was already done.

Two human sized holes in the hallway, bullet holes and destroyed heirlooms, toppled furniture, shattered windows and glass everywhere.

Compared to the place when it was abandoned for years and unofficially housed a bunch of homeless people, it's even worse now.

Hylla inhales sharply and pinches the bridge of her nose, Mori subtly scoots a few feet away from her and whistles a nonchalant tune.

Samuel winces and struggles minutely against the vines, and to his displeasure they don't budge against any amount of his strength.

"Save it," Samuel looks to Samson, "These are magic vines. You need something sharp if you want out."

"Great…" He groans and goes slack. When he looks up he meets the burning eyes of Hylla as she taps a foot impatiently on the hardwood floor.

Everyone is quiet for a moment as Hylla glares at the two men and thinks about what should happen next. If they were her subjects she'd just either execute or exile them, but alas she cannot.

One is her husband, now don't get her wrong she's totally going to kick his ass later, but death is a bit much. As for Samson, well according to the evidence he's immortal and has high connections with Olympus.

He'd be a wonderful asset to have later on for the Amazons, so killing him isn't in her best interest either. Maybe she can make him pay for repairs as compensation? It would be fair compensation and would leave the door open for a mutual relationship later.

But first, she needs to put her foot down.

"First things first. Samuel, did you hit first?"

"Hylla-"

She cuts him off, "DID YOU. Hit. First?"

He sighs and nods. Hylla's expression tightens, "Wonderful. I'm sure Hecate will be very pleased when she finds out you shot her favorite daughter."

She looks to Samson, "Because he hit first, I'll be more forgiving. Pay for repairs and we'll call it even, okay?"

"Fair is fair."

"Good. Now, second thing. Both of you, what do you actually know about the other?"

Samuel scoffs, "That they got my dad killed and left me alone to die."

"Yeah… I still don't actually know who you are," Samson replies, "As far as I know you're just a Child of Eris."

Hylla rolls her eyes, "Of course men's first reaction is violence."

The two Sam's complain but she ignores them, "Samuel, meet your godfather. Samson Akira and newly born immortal. Samson… meet Max's son, Samuel Strife and your godson."

Everything goes quiet, so much so that you could hear the faint dripping of water from the broken sink.

Samuel glances at Samson with a scowl but he doesn't notice it. The sorcerer is too caught up in his own thoughts about the revelation to notice the anger in his godson.

"Despite the… incident, I want the two of you to at least be able to talk to one another."

"But babe!" Samuel argues, "These fuckers got my dad killed! Like hell I'm gonna talk to them without putting a bullet in their heads!"

Hylla sighs, "Sam, when you were a werewolf did I ever blame you for your actions? Did I ever think of the beast as you exactly?"

"Of course not! That thing wasn't me, it was just a monster based off of me!"

"If it was the same for her, what then?"

He goes quiet.

"She was brainwashed, she had no clue what was going on or what she was even doing. I know, she told me the whole story."

He's still silent.

"I'm not asking you to be friends, I'm asking you to be reasonable and not make enemies of immortals. We have a life here Samuel, all this violence, making all these enemies, is that what you'd want to raise a child in? It's time to settle down, Sam, we have it good, don't destroy everything we've worked so hard to get for petty revenge."

Samuel closes his eyes and absorbs her words. He doesn't have to like them, but he's reasonable enough not to straight out kill them… for now. Who knows what the future holds?

A Child of Eris is a child of vengeance, wrath is his fatal flaw and always will be, but he's grown since he first found out about his heritage. If his beautiful wife wants him to cool down, then he will.

"…Fine, I'll play nice. Just don't expect me to like them!"

Hylla nods, "Understandable. Now that that's settled, Mori? Will you drop them?"

She snaps her fingers and the vines dissipate into thin air. The two Sam's drop to the ground and slowly rise to their full heights.

The air is tense as they turn to one another. Despite being nearly a head shorter than Samuel both seem to stand as equals, each sizing the other up and getting a feel for one another.

Samuel gazes into Samsons eyes. A deep feeling of emotion can be seen in it, sorrow, anger, remorse. All these emotions run through Samson an he extends a hand out for his godson.

Nothing happens for a moment, Hylla worries he'll try and break his wrist or something but her worries were unfounded. Samuel takes the hand and meets the iron grip of Samson with his own impressive strength.

"To new beginnings?"

Samuel tightens his grip and his blood red eyes harden, "Don't count yourself lucky."

Magic is a very handy skill. With it you can do just about anything you can imagine should you possess the mana to power it and the skill to make it a reality.

With but a thought and a wave of her hand, the damage dealt to the house slowly repairs itself, almost like time was reversing around everyone.

'Repair' is a simple spell, most novice mages learn it, but doing it on a scale like this belongs to only some of the strongest sorcerers from history. Calypso, Circe, Morgana, people like that.

Call her vain, but Mori feels a bit of pride being able to compare herself to witches like them.

The group around her gazes in wonderment as shards of glass neatly fly back in place like they were never broken, bullet holes mend themselves and ripped and torn furniture moves by itself and returns to its previous location looking brand new.

In only a matter of minutes, the damage was reversed completely. Samuel whistles in appreciation and Hylla nods impressed.

Being the gentleman that he is, Samson passes Hylla a stack of bills from his enchanted wallet. She doesn't need it, she's filthy rich already but the thought is what counts really. She pockets it and turns to her guests.

"Now that we've worked everything out… how do you feel about dinner?"

Samuel's head snaps to her and she meets his glare with a fierce one of her own. They don't say anything but an argument seems to pass between them. He scowls and goes to a phone hanging on the wall and dials a number.

"How about Moscato's? Best pizza in town by far, I got it all the time when I was young and they're still in business now."

"No shit sherlock," Samuel snaps, "I had it all the time with… my dad."

The two boys are silent, but Hylla speaks up and breaks the awkwardness, "Make sure to get a salad, dear. We need something green if we're going to eat all that grease."

Samson sits down on the couch across from Hylla and smiles fondly, "I love that place! Me and Tony go back a long ways! Did you know he was a legacy from Demeter? That's why he always had fresh ingredients, man just grew them fresh each night when everyone was gone. I'll miss the old bastard… heart disease got em', guess all that pizza had to catch up eventually."

Hylla just nods and relaxes against the fine leather couch. She's not really sure how to respond… it's rather awkward to suddenly learn the whole history of a Pizza shop she's never even been to before.

"That… sure is interesting!"

Mori smacks his arm and hisses in his ear, "Dude, stop! You're being too friendly!"

"What? How can I be too friendly? We all live on this green earth, man, we're all friends here!"

Hylla groans silenty and Mori rolls her eyes, "I know that, but the sixties was a long time ago! These kids do things different now! At least try and act regular."

Samson throws his hands in the air, "I don't get this world anymore! I was just making friendly conversation about a good pizza shop!"

"Is it Moscato's?"

Everyone brandishes their weapons in the blink of an eye and points them at a strange, dark haired man in a track outfit with a weird postman's hat with wings.

The stranger holds his hands out in a peace motion, "Whoa-whoa! Put the pointy things away! I'm just here to pass a message along!"

His blue eyes shift between all of his assaulters with a fast pace, each second long glance analyzing them and finding hundreds of ways to incapacitate them with only minor struggle.

Samson squints at the stranger who somehow appeared in the mansion without anyone knowing.

"… Lord Hermes?"

The Olympian waves him nonchalantly, "Enough of that! You're a god too, Hermes is just fine! Not for the rest of you though, to ya'll I'm still Lord Hermes!"

Everyone shrugs and puts their weapons away. Hermes puts his hands down and fishes into a satchel bag and pulls out a golden letter with beautifully engraved letters.

He hands the letter to Samson and does a two-finger salute, "Personal delivery. Very important! Don't dally of he'll get mad, don't want a repeat of Apollo to happen to you do ya' Go ahead and sign this and I'll be on my way."

He hands Samson a clipboard and snatches it away the seconds he finishes his signature. Hermes salutes one last time and vanishes in a blast of light.

Samson scratches his head and looks at the crowd. They all plead at him with their eyes an he quickly takes his dagger and cuts the fine parchment open.

He takes a piece of fine note paper from the envelope and holds it up to read.

"Dearest Samson Akira. Samuel Strife too I guess… You are hereby summoned to stand before the grand council of Olympus immediately upon opening this letter. Hurry post haste, lest the card explodes with a radius of five-hundred meters."

Samson immediately throws it to the floor and jumps on it, hoping his enchanted jacket might absorb the blast enough to save everyone!

…Only nothing happens. He waits for a minute longer and still nothing happens.

He stands back up and finishes reading the letter.

"Just joking. Now hurry up and get your asses here!"

Samuel groans, "Great. Just great!"

Hylla pats his shoulder, "You'll be fine. Maybe you can figure out what's been going on? After all, no one's heard anything from them practically since Gaea was defeated!"

"Well," Samson takes an elaborately designed hand mirror from his interior jacket pocket, "Shall we be off? It doesn't sound like they're in the mood to wait. The sooner the better I say!"

Samuel goes white when he recognizes the mirror, "…Oh no… not again!"

The world finally stops spinning and Samuel staggers for a few moments before leaning against the wall. He dry heaves a few times while Samson has his hands in his pocket and idly waits for Samuel to settle.

"So… First time flyer?"

Samuels shows him his middle finger, "Not the first time! Hylla's used it a few times before to save my ass… Gods it's just as awful as I remember!"

"Yeah the first couple times are rough. Travel via looking glass isn't for everyone."

He heaves one last time and takes in his surroundings. All around cars fight through traffic, towers of glass and metal reach high in the sky and a lingering scent of pollution hovers over the air.

"Ah, New York City. A symbol of wealth and human greed. Fuck this place!"

Samson puts a friendly arm around Samuel's shoulders, "That I can agree with. Ready to head out, friend?"

Samuel elbows his ribs and throws his arm off, "I'm not your friend asshole! Let's just get this shit over with!"

The entrance to the empire state building was thankfully only a block or so away from where Samson teleported them.

A curious little item, Samson's hand mirror allows him to teleport small numbers of people through mirrors or other reflective surfaces. Despite the convenience, many who've acquired the limited number of copies find the experience unpleasant and discombobulating.

To them, driving and flying is a more comfortable alternative then the hazardous means of teleportation. Rumor has it some have gone missing when they use the mirror, never to be seen again. Others simply just lose a limp or two.

Either way, Samuel hates the damn thing and by extension hates their creator even more. Ironically the creator happens to be the out of touch hippie walking and complaining about the city with him.

They head inside the Empire State building and call an elevator to take them up to the six-hundredth floor. Samuel almost killed the guard when he did his whole 'ignorant mortal' shtick, but Samson managed to save him from that horrible fate.

The ride up is quiet, Samson not sure what to say and Samuel too pissed off to make conversation despite the long and boring ride.

A couple minutes later and the door dings open. Olympus, as always, is as grand and beautiful as what one could imagine and beyond. Quite literally too. Magic and mysticism permeates the grand mountain and warps human perception.

Look at something long enough and you'd get a headache from your mind trying to comprehend the sheer power that simply exists around the mountain.

Samson crosses his arms and huffs. Samuel gives him a weird look, "What's with you?"

"Nothing serious I guess… I'm still just a little salty since they won't let me get a house up here! I'm stuck in some Ogygia type forest with a dozen blood thirsty nymphs, two insane lamia witches, and a Titaness! Gods having someplace to go that's just Mori and I would be great…"

"…Good luck with that cause' you sure as shit not gonna be sticking around my house!"

Samuel sighs, "Let's just go talk with the council and get this over with."

About an hour and a half's hike later the two Sam's finally arrive in the immaculate and towering throne room of Olympus.

All around them the twelve primary Olympians stand in their full towering heights, each scowling with varying degrees. Zeus stands and his voice booms across the grand room, much to the annoyance of his fellow council members.

"YOU DARE MAKE THE GRAND COUNCIL WAIT?! YOU WERE SUMMONED HOURS AGO AND ONLY NOW ARRIVE?!"

Everyone, even the other gods, hold their ears in pain from the sheer volume of Zeus. Hera whacks his arm with a surprisingly hard peacock feather and scowls at him.

"Inside voice, remember?! This place echoes too much!"

"Yeah dude, keep it down!"

"I agree with them, father, it is rather unpleasant to have to bear the might of your voice in this room."

The rest of the council murmurs their agreements and Zeus cups his face with his hand, "…Just tell us why you were so late!"

Samuel puts his hands on his hips and glares at Zeus, "Well, for starters this place is like five miles away from the elevator! Second, there's no transit here at all! Could it kill ya' to hire a golf cart driver or something to take people here quicker?"

Hephaestus throws his hands in the air, "Thank you! I've been telling him we need transit here for centuries!"

Samuel nods at the forge god. He doesn't think much of most of the gods, but Hephaestus is on his list or deities he's cool with. After all, the god gave him a new eye after he lost it the first-time years ago.

Zeus waves his hand in dismissal, "SHUT UP! Enough with your stupid inventions! I miss the good old days when mankind stayed on the ground and rode donkeys around. Now they have their fancy aero-planes and automobiles!"

Ares coughs into his fist, "Old man!"

Either Zeus didn't here him or chose to ignore him. Either way the war god wasn't smited instantly as his father chose to continue his train of thought.

"If they wanted to get here quicker then they should've just teleported! The boy is a god!"

Samuel looks at Samson, "Yeah… I don't think so. No way in Hades this kid's a god!"

Samson throws his hands out to his sides, "Right?! Seriously, is it actually too much to ask for one of you guys to train me?! Literally nothing about me has changed from a couple months ago!"

"You must be the one to decide your own future! You have a domain, only you can learn what that means and what your powers are! But enough about you and more about us!"

Athena rolls her eyes. When he says that, he actually means, Shut up and pay attention to me! Drama queen.

"Samuel Strife… Samson Akira… you stand before the Grand Council of Olympus to pay reparations for your actions!"

"What!" Samuel and Samson scream, "I've totally made up for everything! I destroyed a Giant army during the war with Gaea for you a-holes! I went through so much crap, There's no way I owe any of you squat!"

"Did you forget everything I've done too?! I rallied the Legion, destroyed a powerful enemy and liberated an old ally!"

The council murmurs but Zeus stays stubborn, "Both of you have brought great honor to Olympus, but both of you have violated the vary laws of nature themselves! Samuel, you defied fate and returned to life from death! Samson, you stole the divine energy of my daughter-your mother, Athena and made yourself immortal with it!
As payment due both of you shall henceforth work for the grand council! When the time comes one of our members shall fetch one or both of you for a labor you must complete! You may leave now and prepare yourselves, I'm sure each and every one of us will have interesting things planned for the both of you!"

Zeus smashes his lightning bolt against the tile and the two Sam's scream as blinding light consumes them. When it vanishes they find themselves in an empty parking lot, the midday sun for when they arrived at Olympus has been mysteriously replaced with the full moon.

"What the? How did time just jump forward like that?! It must be like midnight by now!"

Samuel doesn't answer and instead kicks a loose chunk of sidewalk into an old stone building.

"Who gives a FUCK! About that!" He walks over to an old, rusted and abandoned car and starts smashing his heavy boot into the metal, each kick making a larger and larger dent.

"STUPID FUCKING GODS!" The metal croaks, "STUPID FUCKING HIPPIE!" It starts breaking, "THIS IS ALL YOUR FAULT!"

The door finally breaks, the metal literally crumbling to pieces and staining Samuel's duster red with rust particles.

Samson's patience finally snaps, "This is my fault? THIS IS MY FAULT?! Samuel, I don't even know what's going on anymore! Apollo is gone, the gods don't say a peep and suddenly we're forced to do their bidding?! HOW AM I RESPONSIBLE?!"

Samuel pushes him away and pulls his rifle from the strap on his back in a fraction of a second, aiming directly for Samson's heart.

"YOU'RE ALL THE SAME! YOU JUST SHOW UP WHENEVER AND EXPECT ME TO DROP EVERYTHING AND WORSHIP THE GROUND AT YOUR FEET! NEWS FLASH: I DON'T CARE! YOU'RE JUST LIKE THEM! EXPECTING FORGIVENESS WHEN YOU DON'T DESERVE IT! I'VE HAD IT! HYLLA BE DAMNED I'M GONNA BLOW YOUR FUCKIN' BRAINS OUT RIGHT HERE AND NOW YOU SON OF A BITCH!"

Slow clapping suddenly echoes around them. The silent, empty streets making it all the more haunting as a gangly voice giggles from some hidden shadow.

"Well, well, looks like we only have to do half the work! This is almost funny if it wasn't pathetic!"

Seventeen figures dressed in black, monk like robes with long Estoc swords made of shiny silver metal emerge from the shadows and surround them in a big circle. Each of their faces is covered by hoods, leaving only their chins lit up by the dim parking lot lights.

"We're on a bit of a time limit here… you boys feel like laying down so we can make it quick? How I hate when they struggle, makes it all the more difficult to hide the evidence later!"

Samson stands back up and reaches into his pocket, taking out a small cylinder made of celestial bronze.

"Samuel… I think we should postpone our grievances."

"No shit!" He hisses, "I don't want to die before I can kill you!"

Samson rolls his eyes, "Whatever you say. You take the guys in the front, I take them in the back?"

Samuel gives him a feral, maniacal grin, "Dude… that's pretty gay!"