Chapter Thirteen
Mercury did not stall for a moment in climbing to a balcony above the chamber door with the aid of his swords and making a perch out of from where he could shoot his arrows. Considering the fights he and Mathayus had with the local populace to protect Kycina, Mercury was doing pretty good on arrows though he only had seven left. Aiming the first of the seven, he decided to see if the death of the Enchantress would disrupt it and shot a fatal shot through her throat. However, his efforts sped up the sacrifice rather than stopped it as it now gave the All-Seer a new supply of power to absorb into his being and use for hastening his escape.
Below, Mathayus was insisting that Kycina get out and protect their future. "No, I am not leaving you nor am I leaving Mercury! What would Deimos say if he heard that you died on the mission with me? Add my pregnancy with your child on top of that if you haven't already done so," she asked. "If you tell him that I died a warrior's death along with Mercury, he won't have anything to say except to thank you for delivering upon my wish to have one night with you," he answered.
She didn't understand then she remembered how he had fallen in love with her before she realized she was in love with him too. Nonetheless, she created a portal and insisted that Mathayus get in it with her before it was too late. "No sweetie, I'm staying here with Mercury and you're leaving us!" he insisted. But when she tried to defy him, he snapped and swung the hammer around as if to hit her but he would have missed had she not put up a barrier to stop him.
However, the hit was powerful enough to throw through the portal without him just as he had insisted. When she was gone, Mathayus turned to face the All-Seer once more especially now that he was finished absorbing the power and life force of the Enchantress and had broken free of his confines. "You really should not have done that, you know. Not very gentleman-like to even attempt to hit a woman, after all," the All-Seer stated.
"It could be worse: I could be so vulgar as to insist my lady sacrifice her life to free me from my confines. If it were me, she would do it of her own will rather than how the Enchantress did it for you," Mathayus replied. "True but unlike me, you dissipated your energies protecting the weak. There are consequences," the immortal warned him.
At that moment, Mercury released another arrow and shot the All-Seer in the shoulder. The All-Seer looked up to see Mercury mounted on his perch and made to shoot him down with a blast of energy. However, Mathayus intercepted him just in time to force him to throw up a shield to defend against the hammer. When the hammer and the metal shield collided, a brilliant flash of light and a shockwave from the impact passed over and when the damage was clear, the shield broke apart and the All-Seer armed himself with a sword to fight Mathayus.
With that distraction, Mercury fired yet another shot and it landed on the All-Seer's other shoulder. He was quick to follow with three more before the All-Seer turned to faced him and actually managed to send a projectile his way. Mercury dodged it just in time to see it destroy his perch just before turning back in his direction and seeking him out. But he was quick to respond by using his second to last arrow to successfully shoot and destroy the heat-seeking projectile that would have claimed his life.
When he landed on his feet, behind the All-Seer, he quickly fetched his last arrow and pointed it to the back of his enemy's head. However, despite Mathayus' brave efforts which had distracted the All-Seer up to this point, the deity still managed to raise his sword up to where Mercury aimed his arrow and disintegrate when it came into contact with his sword. Tossing his now-useless bow aside, Mercury then unsheathed his swords and charged at the All-Seer from behind. Working alongside Mathayus and his powerful hammer, Mercury fought the All-Seer with the courage and stamina of a son of Neptune just as his brother would have.
"You will never leave this place," Mercury vowed to his powerful enemy. "Don't be too sure of that boy, legions have risen to test me and all have failed. What makes thee think thou shalt be any different?" the All-Seer asked. "Because neither I nor my brother here will stop until you're just a bloody stain on the floor of this place; bring it!" Mercury answered.
This statement angered the All-Seer and he fought more ferociously then ever. When Mathayus and Mercury's backs made contact, Mathayus asked why Mercury called him his brother. "Because as idiotic as it initially was for Deimos to raise you as his own, I have come to accept you as one of my kin. Before we die, I want you to know that in my heart you are my brother as much as Deimos is, even without a blood connection," Mercury answered.
Mathayus smiled and summoned enough strength to throw the hammer down onto the ground and send a shockwave that temporarily threw the All-Seer off his feet. The blow also gave Mercury enough time to prepare for a duel with the All-Seer while Mathayus snuck up from behind and struck him in the back. Unfortunately, it wasn't long before they realized that wasn't going to work on him so they just fought together. Mercury summoned fiery tornadoes with the aid of the swords whilst Mathayus sent shockwaves that tripped the All-Seer long enough for Mercury to do some damage.
It was after nearly an hour of endless fighting in this fashion that the All-Seer finally stopped not to breathe but to laugh. "What the hell is so damn funny?" Mathayus asked. "So long as the Domain of Exiles exists, I have limitless power within my grasp. Thou wastes what little energy thou hast trying to directly destroy me and yet thou doth not realize that so long as I have the city as my power-source, I am unbeatable," the All-Seer answered.
Mercury looked past the All-Seer and noticed a purple crystal sitting on a pedestal that apparently replaced whatever stone was used to contain the All-Seer alongside the chains reinforcing them. "Tell me something All-Seer: did you just shit that crystal or is that the heart of the Domain that I'm looking at?" Mathayus asked, joking in his usual, vulgar manner. The All-Seer turned and immediately grimaced in fear that he had been discovered and Mathayus smiled a smile that carried a wickedness his heart had never known before. It was at that point that he ran for the crystal with the All-Seer attempting to stop him but Mercury stalled the All-Seer with a slash that carried a firestorm in its wake.
"You have unfinished business with me, asswipe!" Mercury hissed. "Very interesting that thou wouldst like to die first but-" the All-Seer began before Mathayus swung his hammer into the ground and sent a shockwave that once again knocked the All-Seer off his feet. Then he bolted for the crystal that sat on its pedestal, crossing a rather narrow bridge as he did so and when he arrived, he heard a scream from Mercury. His brother had attacked the All-Seer and Mathayus turned around just in time to see the deity gut his foster brother with his sword.
What baffled Mathayus more than that is what came next: Mercury plunged each of his swords into a shoulder of the All-Seer and held him in the lock they created with all his strength. Mathayus looked at the crystal, then his brother, then back again and was indecisive as to what he would do. If he helped his brother, he risked jeopardizing the future for his son and Kycina but if he destroyed the crystal, he risked losing one of the men who raised him as his own. "Mathayus, DO IT!" Mercury said as the All-Seer attempted to yank his sword out of him, causing blood to ooze from within Mercury's mouth with each tug until his lower mouth was colored dark-red with his own blood.
Mathayus raised his hammer over his head as far back as he could and after a few seconds of hesitation, he lifted it over his head and down upon the crystal that was the heart of the Domain of Exiles. The shockwave and the brilliant flash of light created from it was so powerful that when the former effect arrived after the latter, Mercury and Mathayus were swept into a wall while something else happened to the All-Seer. In exchange for defending himself from any long-lasting effects on his strength as a result of the blast, the All-Seer unknowingly sacrificed his immortality thus making himself once more vulnerable to the cold embrace of Death. He felt it as well as the drain of the power he had relied on earlier and he was afraid, now more than ever.
Mathayus recovered from the blast, saw that all he had of his hammer was a sharp-tipped piece of wood that had been the hilt and also noticed Mercury's lifeless body not too far away from him. The shockwave that threw them both against the wall had undoubtedly finished the job the All-Seer started with killing Mercury. Mathayus knew that Mercury had already been dying from the wound the All-Seer gave him and was not surprised that his life gave out after hitting that wall. "Even now that I am mortal, there is nothing thou can do: I still have more than enough power to destroy everything thou love when I escape this place," the All-Seer warned Mathayus, confident of victory.
"If you escape this place," Mathayus corrected. "What? Thou canst be serious! Thy brother's swords are dust except for the hilts and thou hath naught but a piece of wood in thy hand," the All-Seer asked, laughing moronically after asking that.
"A piece of wood is all I need, you piece of shit!" Mathayus replied. Then he raised it like a dagger and charged at the now-mortal deity that had caused the death of his brother. Without hesitation or even thinking about it, the All-Seer simply pointed his sword at Mathayus' abdomen and rammed it in. Mathayus grunted in pain but nothing more than that before plunging the wooden shaft into his enemy's elbow.
"Let go fool, thou hast already lost!" the All-Seer commanded desperately. Laughing, Mathayus told him to look around and notice what was happening: the Domain was crumbling around them and it wasn't a matter of time before a piece of stone smashed them. Desperate to escape now, his ability in teleportation robbed as another price for his survival, the All-Seer tried with all his might to free himself from Mathayus. He even went as far as to hit the young man in the face hard enough to knock out teeth but Mathayus was defiant even in the face of death.
"What is this strength, this rage thou hast within thy body?" the All-Seer asked him as he attempted to pry Mathayus' hand off his newly improvised weapon. "It isn't rage that fuels me fool: it is the strength of my will to live you see before you," Mathayus answered. "But thou hast not much time before thou art dead, why doth thou fight to live knowing that?" the All-Seer asked him. "Because even if I die, my beloved Kycina and our son will be safe if I take you with me," Mathayus answered.
Mathayus then gestured above, to a three mile wide and two mile long piece of stone roof that looked to be several tons and would break off at any moment. "Let go fool, there is a reason I have remained here on Dathomir all these years!" the All-Seer commanded. "Yeah, so I can come and totally kick your ass along with my brother Mercury," Mathayus replied, smiling and looking up to the roofing that was going to smash him and the All-Seer.
He had to stall a little longer, at least until it detached, before he could let the All-Seer free since he would not be able to escape at that time. A few seconds later and it did, marking the end of Mathayus' strength to keep the All-Seer locked to him. He fell to the ground and rolled until his back faced the ground and he could see the massive piece of stone fall on top of them. The All-Seer screamed and tried his best to protect himself despite knowing that he could not outrun the falling stone nor could he barricade himself from it.
Mathayus, on the other hand, breathed a calming sigh, closed his eyes, and simply waited for the inevitable. When it finally did come, the All-Seer had tripped over a pebble and watched in horror as the stone crushed them both with enough force to break through the floor below them. This continued for all twenty-seven floors of the massive temple that had contained the All-Seer for endless millennia until the ground floor was reached. And by the time that happened… the All-Seer and Mathayus were nothing more than pulverized bloodstains on the cold stone's bottom.
Kycina had been thrown on the other side of the portal she created for herself and Mathayus and was enraged. Unfortunately, she didn't have the power to summon another and when she realized she was barely out of visual and hearing range of her coven's home, she screamed. Tears ran down her eyes and she beat the ground with the full might her fists could muster. This continued for several minutes until Kycina was too weakened by sadness to continue and instead, she sat there sobbing.
By this time, Maul had expressed his discomfort for her grief but there was nothing she could do to counsel or soothe herself, never mind him. She sat there, cold as it was, for several minutes and sobbed in mourning of Mathayus. But then she started to contemplate memories of him which used to cheer her up whenever she was enraged or sad but she found it wasn't enough. Only when she realized the reason behind her unexplained sadness could she truly begin to become happy once more.
She began to realize that this whole time, these three years she had known Mathayus for, she had in some ways loved him more than she realized. It certainly did explain why the hell he picked on her for it but had it really been that obvious she had feelings for him from the get-go? And if so, why wasn't he direct about mentioning as opposed to joking around all the time? Then it hit her: Mathayus was slowly and subtly leading her to realize her feelings for him and knew that when she did, she would be deeply infatuated with him.
Now, looking back on all that, and realizing that Mathayus had done what he had done for those reasons that she could truly begin to pick herself up and trek back to her coven. But there was another reason too, she realized: unlike her with all her power, Mathayus had felt he didn't have much time and wanted to make the best of his life while he still lived. He wanted nothing but the best out of his encounters with the Nightsisters and patiently planned and worked whenever necessary until he finally achieved what would allow him to die peacefully.
Her respect for him only increased but some of the original sadness she felt at his departure returned. It nearly maddened her to think about how all this time, she had taken his friendship and companionship for granted, only to desire nothing but his love in the final months that he was alive. Talzin had been right when she said that the dreams of the youth were the regrets of maturity and in some ways, Kycina could say she had matured during her mission. And she hoped it would show when Talzin saw her again which wasn't long considering that Talzin alone stood outside the coven as if expecting her return when no one else did; though the woman tended to be sadistic, this was the only time Kycina could actually say she was glad to see her.
Deimos had overcome the Ice Spirit Medusa in a battle of minds where she tried to convince him that Hephaestus had raped her rather than the other way around. This followed with a physical battle with weapons at which he had never been beaten, this opponent being no different especially after he started wielding the zhaboka and the vibroblade in simultaneity. Now, he had the gauntlet and he was coming home, wearing it as he wore his makeshift clothing only with more pride and zeal in his greatest triumph. Packing up his weapons and his supplies, he prepared for a trip back home and vowing to keep the shrine of Hephaestus as where he would need to go in order to find his way home.
He couldn't wait to see the look on Brother Viscus' face when he returned with gauntlet after being away for so long. Fortunately, this would be the best look out of all the other Nightbrothers that Deimos would expect except for two: the look of pride on the faces of Mercury and Mathayus. But he wanted to see Mathayus' face more than Mercury's considering Deimos' involvement in shaping who Mathayus was. What he was going to find out when he got back home was going to shake him to his core so badly that it would feel as though he had gone to Medusa' domain only for glory that would be overshadowed by the tragedy ahead.
One thing was for sure: if Deimos had never known sadness or the heartache of finding out the death of a relative, he was most definitely going to when he returned to his village. This was made even worse when he had earlier felt a sharp pang in his heart that hinted at something that happened to one or both of them; he hoped it wasn't true nonetheless for his own sake.