Izuku slowly walked through the 'forest' of one of the biggest parks in Musutafu. He was trying to avoid being seen currently, as Hermes has forced him into an outfit that he thought would ease Aphrodite.

The downside is that he felt like he was wearing nothing.

Hermes had given him a green top that rested on only one of his shoulders and covered everything except his lower torso, which was slowly growing into a set of abs, a matching skirt that almost went down to his knee, a pair of silver and brown shinguards, and some rather comfortable sandals.

He almost gave up on his search entirely, he had been looking for Aphrodite for about an hour and had made zero progress. But then he heard it; a beautiful, almost hypnotic voice, singing loudly through the trees. Izuku heard a squeak overhead and held out his arm for Phosphor to land on.

"You found her?" Izuku asked,

Phosphor gave a confirming caw.

The winged-boy smiled, "Lead the way then buddy!"

Izuku stared up in awe when he saw her, Aphrodite's form was that of a simple apple tree, but her head had still remained, and although her skin was made of bark, Aphrodite looked as magnificent as Hermes had described to him.

Aphrodite finally noticed him and greeted him with a warm smile, "Oh hello! Have you also come to eat from my branches?"

"Um, no. Ms. Aphrodite I have come here to ask for your assistance in the fight against Typhon," Izuku explained.

Aphrodite laughed at his proposal, which honestly confused him, wouldn't she want to get back at Typhon for turning her into the giving tree?

"You're a funny little one. No, my days of fighting are over. I'm content with simply staying here and feeding the animals," Aphrodite simled,

Izuku stared at Aphrodite, confused. From what both legend and Hermes had told him, she was a very vain woman, and not exactly one for charity. This was a far cry from what he had been told about the goddess of love.

"Now you know what I have to deal with," Hermes suddenly said from behind him.

"Hermes, so lovely to see you! Apple?" Aphrodite offered.

"For the last time, I don't want any apples!"

Hermes grabbed Izuku but his 'shirt' and brought him in close. "You need to fix this. I want my friend back to her old self-centered self again!"

"Well, what am I supposed to do, she clearly doesn't want to be turned back." Izuku whispered,

"Then we take her essence and make her turn back. The problem is, her roots are blocking the vault it's locked in," Hermes grumbled,

(Zeus- Just get a chainsaw.)

"Excuse me," Aphrodite called, "If you need to move my roots, I know how."

"Why do you want to be able to move your roots?" Hermes asked skeptically.

"I've been rooted— haha— in this place for so long, I'm a bit bored of the scenery, and with my roots able to move I can go deliver more apples to all the creatures in need." Aphrodite explained with a smile.

"She doesn't seem to be aware of our intentions, so let's keep it that way, and take her essence on our own." Hermes shoved Izuku forward to talk with the love goddess.

"So, how could we move your roots?" Izuku asked.

"Salt water, very strong stuff at that. Somewhere on the northern coast is another 'Pearl' that gave birth to the seafoam I came from. If you can roll it into the ocean and take some of the water that it creates, you should be able to get my roots mobile," Aphrodite said.

Izuku nodded before turning to Hermes, "I'll get Ochako, she used to live up in the north part of Japan, she might know her way around better."

"Then get to it!" Hermes ordered.

"Ugh, I can't believe Hermes made me wear this stupid thing," Izuku grumbled as he tried to make himself as small as possible, which wasn't too hard considering that most people's eyes went to the six foot two girl to his left.

"Oh come on it's not that bad, you look kinda cute," Ochako teased, although her inner thoughts went more along the lines of; 'Fuck he looks so cute I want to ride him until his dick breaks.'

(Zeus- Ew, Prometheus, TMI!)

(Prometheus- I have to tell the story exactly how it happened.)

"Well thanks for letting me take the window seat at least," Izuku smiled,

"No problem."

The train came to a creaking halt and most of the passengers stepped off, Izuku led Ochako to a bench and had her take a seat next to him. It was a clear and sunny day, not a cloud in sight.

"So what exactly is the plan? We'll be here forever if we're just going beach to beach looking for this pearl," Ochako said.

"Don't worry, I sent Phosphor ahead to scout the area, he'll lead us to it," Izuku explained, the firebird then burst through the sky and landed on the bench beside Ochako.

"Awww, he's terrifying!" Ochako cooed as she scratched Phosphor's ashen beak.

"So?" Izuku asked,

Phosphor nodded and squaked, taking off into the sky, but making sure to stay low enough so the two could still see him.

Izuku grunted as he pulled Ochako the rest of the way up the small cliff, it was now mid-afternoon, and Phosphor was circling over this small sandy outcove by an unpopulated beach, bridged together by a thin valley with a stream running through it.

Inside the cove were several rocks, both large and small, and a giant red clam, shut tight, although a glimmer of silver could be seen between its lips.

There was just one tiny problem.

A humongous red cyclops, slumbering against the clam peacefully.

"Oh, that's gonna be rough." Hermes said, now joining the two on their spot laying on the grass and spying on the giant.

"We can just take the pearl and let him sleep, right?" Ochako asked,

"Nope, that clam has been sealed by Typhon, and that seal is tied to this cyclop's life. You have to kill it...good luck!" Hermes suddenly shouted, waking the monster.

The cyclops roared and Izuku flew down and pulled his axe off of his back, he charged and hit the giant with a spin attack which briefly knocked him back.

Izuku threw his axe in the air and grabbed his bow, sending an arrow that clipped the cyclop's neck, the axe then fell on his back and he placed the bow there as well before pulling the sword of Achilles from his belt.

Izuku attempted to bum rush the cyclops but its arm then grew larger and began to glow red, he reared back and slammed his fist into Izuku, sending him colliding with the walls of the cove.

The cyclops stalked toward Izuku but abruptly stopped just a few feet away, its eyes went cloudy and it fell to the ground, nearly crushing the winged boy under him.

Izuku saw the little chunks of rock scattered around the stage and then turned his eyes to Ochako who was standing in front of a large pile of rock. He could hear the cyclops turn to the telltale black ash, and his shoulders relaxed.

"Are you ok?" Izuku asked,

"Y-yeah I just...did not like that," Ochako murmured,

"In the future, it might be better to just leave this stuff to me," Izuku told her in jest.

"Please, without me you would've been monster chow," Ochako chuckled,

"Let's go get this saltwater," Izuku said as he hopped into the clam.

(Zeus- I've always loved this story, grandpappy Uranus splitting open the skies to beat my father, Kronos. It always made me happy!)

(Prometheus- I would've thought that you would've hated this story.)

(Zeus- Why would I? This was the story that led to the birth of Aphrodite.)

(Prometheus- Yes but I just thought you'd be slightly uncomfortable with her brith cost our grandfather. I know I am.)

(Zeus- Why would I be uncomfortable? it was just a pearl.)

(Prometheus- Um, no, that's not what it was?)

(Zeus- What are you talking about? When Uranus broke open the sky, a pearl landed in the ocean, and from the seafoam it created, Aphrodite was born.)

(Prometheus- Oh, I see, Gaia lied to you about Aphrodite's birth.)

(Zeus- What?! Well if that is true then what really happened?)

(Prometheus- Uh, how do I put this. The sky wasn't the only thing split in that fight, so was... Uranus' sack.)

(Zeus- SO IZUKU JUST PUSHED OUR GRANDFATHER'S TESTICLE INTO THE OCEAN?!)

(Prometheus- I'm afraid so.)

(Zeus- You're sick Prometheus!)

Aphrodite sighed as the last bit of salt water landed on her roots, she could feel them loosening already.

"Thank you Izuku, you and your friend have done me a great service," the goddess of love smiled.

"Happy to help," Izuku said,

"Now Aphrodite, remember what we agreed to when they were gone?" Hermes asked,

"O-oh, yes…" Aphrodite's face donned a guilty look, "The root seems to have been asleep for too long, I'm terribly sorry."

Hermes sighed, "It's fine, we'll find another way."

Aphrodite smiled as she disappeared with a bright gold glow.

"So what do we do now?" Izuku asked,

"No clue," Hermes shrugged,

"I'm sorry Izuku, it's getting late. I gotta get home," Ochako yawned as she picked up Izuku from behind and sleepily bear-hugged him.

After she put him down, both Ochako and Hermes disappeared for a second, and when he returned without her, Izuku simply assumed he had sped her home.

"I believe we were on the right track, we just need to find something stronger," Hermes mumbled,

"What saltwater is stronger than mythical seafoam?" Izuku rhetorically asked.

Hermes suddenly snapped, "The tears Aphrodite shed for Adonis! I knew there was a reason Typhon locked them away!"

"You really think that would do it?"

"It has to. There's no other option," Hermes told him.

"You sure I have to wear this thing?"

Izuku fiddled with the helmet on his head, it was mostly silver but there were some bits of brown on it as well, the wings on the side of the helmet and along the 'T' shaped outcrop in front of the helmet that allowed his face to be shown.

"Not unless you want some kind of brain damage." Hermes snarked, "So, three tears, three vaults. Together they should be enough to move the root."

Izuku nodded to the speedy god and he lifted the cover off of the manhole. Thankfully it was a quiet street, so he didn't have to worry about cars too much. The pillar of red light that shot from the hole blinded him for a few seconds, but he was fine a moment later.

With a final thumbs up, Izuku jumped into the manhole, intent on the first tear no matter what stood in his way.

Izuku burst from the mound of rock with a shout of fear, landing face first into the gravel of the rock quarry. In front of him, the Tarturos vault caved in on itself, and the ground where it once stood became flat again.

Izuku took a leather pouch from his hip and pried open the top, dropping in the third and final tear, teal in color and somewhat sharp due to its crystallization.

"Got it?" Hermes asked,

"Yep," Izuku said, touching a finger to the slice on his cheek. He really fucking hated Spartoi.

"Cool! So this will let you go into Aphrodite's vault?" Ochako asked from behind Izuku.

"AHH!" Izuku screamed as he jumped forward.

"Sorry," Ochako chuckled,

"When did you get here?" Izuku asked,

"A couple of minutes after you went in there," Hermes answered.

"You can't just take her away from whatever she's doing whenever you feel like it just so she can help us!" Izuku scolded.

"It's fine, I like it. We're like the Three Musketeers!"

"If one of the three was miles more important than the other two," Hermes chuckled,

"Aww, thanks man," Izuku smiled.

"I was talking about myself."

"That's a big root," Izuku said in awe.

They were currently under the largest tree in the world, at least three hundred feet high. In front of them was a cave of shorts, blocked from entry by a thick root that came up from the ground and then plunged back into the dirt.

"Yep, that's what we need to move. Now, sprinkle those tears, and you can get going!" Hermes shoved Izuku forward a little.

Izuku was about to remove the pouch from his hip, when he felt an intense feeling of dread from his left. Izuku's wings sprung out and rocketed him backwards, away from the large spear that stabbed into the ground where he had just stood.

Achilles slammed down against the ground and picked up his spear, putting it on his back and pulling his sword from his hip.

Izuku tossed the pouch of tears to Ochako and nodded to her, wordlessly saying to stay back. Hermes threw him his helmet and Izuku placed it on his head before drawing his bow.

Izuku fired off an arrow that missed completely, it got nowhere close, but Izuku drew his sword like it hadn't happened. The two warriors charged at each other and Achilles blocked Izuku downwards swing, the dead hero reared his fist back and punched Izuku across the face. Stunned, Izuku was unable to stop himself from being kicked hard enough to fly back a few feet.

With a garbled roar, Achilles pulled the spear and attempted to throw it, only to scream in pain as an arrow pierced through his heel.

Izuku quickly recovered and stabbed Achilles in the gut, before slamming his axe into the wraith's back.

Achilles growled before fading to red and black ash, and his weapons fell to the ground.

"Thank you lliad," Izuku mumbled to himself.

He almost went back into fight mode for a second as Ochako grabbed him and hugged him close to her chest.

"Are you ok?" She frantically asked.

He would answer, but his face was currently buried into Ochako breasts, so he instead gave her a simple thumbs up. Although she didn't let him go until Hermes stepped in.

"If you would remove him from your bosom?" He sarcastically asked with a roll of his eyes.

Ochako realized exactly what she was doing and let him go immediately, both of their faces red as tomatoes.

"You need to take care of Achilles," Hermes said to the winged-boy.

"I-I just did." Izuku was still feeling awkward for what had just happened.

"I mean for good," Hermes explained,

The red faded from Izuku's cheeks as he started to pay attention more.

"It's time to kill the hero of the Trojan War."

It's been a while hasn't it? I haven't touched this story in just shy of two months, probably the longest a story has gone unupdated since i started to take my writing seriously. Anyway, Discord links:

Epsi's Hoard: https/discord.gg/enz3cHPFJ8

LoM: https/discord.gg/R9BU25t

That's it for now, Peace.