The duo took their path into this gigantic underground Labyrinth. Kratos spoke as he was slightly curious: "You said that you're not from Greece and Athena mentioned that you're from 1,291 years from your future. Am I...alive at your time?" She shook her head and answered: "No...but in the stories involving legends, you are finally peace by forgiving yourself for the murder of your family." This is when they countered this Greek God as he spoke in a bit of a playful way: "Oh! Look who it is. Kratos the Ghost of Sparta. The fallen god. The cursed mortal." Cecelia spoke when recognizing him in a sense: "You must be Hermes the messenger of the Gods of Greece. There have been stories about those of Mount Olympus." Hermes chuckled as he starts flipping his coin a couple of times: "You're not from Greece. Yet, you seemed to know me. I bet that you must have studied a lot." She couldn't lie about that as she would have one of her friends named Levy McGarden study along with Juvia Lockser and Lucy Heartfillia. Kratos growled a bit and said this to the Messenger of the Gods: "To catch a fly from the ass of Zeus is not worth my time Hermes." She said to herself while shaking her head: "I was hoping to have a little bit of a civil conversation. But I suppose that it can't be helped at times." Hermes laughed and said to the Ghost of Sparta: "A coward's words, Kratos. You don't try to catch me because you know you can't." He jumped when he turned around to see Cecelia right behind him out of nowhere. Kratos was surprised as well, but he didn't express it on his face when he hears her saying this: "Best not to underestimate. I know some of my comrades from other lands that have just as much f a speed as you have if not faster than you." Hermes chuckled a bit and replied, "Interesting. I guess I'll just keep that thought in mind, would I?" He then asked as he quickly got onto one of the enormous chains: "Kratos, where are you off to today? Kill any family members lately? Oh. That's right. You're off to kill your father, Zeus. Hahahaha! Won't happen! Can't happen! Kratos is on a fool's errand. Again!" He then taunts in a form of a song as he runs up from one link of the chain to the other: "Never, never learn. Never, never change. Kratos, the fool who killed his own blood. Kratos, the fool among mortals and gods. Forever, ever cursed. Forever, ever doomed. Consumed by vengeance to his last breath. The Spartan lights the way to dusty death."
As soon as he is no longer in sight, Cecelia sighed and said this: "Pardon my language around here. But Hermes is turning out to be one pain in the ass." Kratos remained silent a bit, but it doesn't mean that he disagrees with her. Looking up, it seemed to be going somewhere. She offered to hold onto him from behind so she can use her dragon wings to fly upwards. He didn't object to her offering aid as she then starts to fly. For some reason, he could smell the faint but potent scented oil of apple blossoms and lilies of which he finds it very attractive. He scowled at the thought of it as he was married with a child together as a family in whole. At the top, they have entered into the Chamber of the Flame. There lies this box that's protected by the enticing blue flames. Athena appeared before the two and spoke up: "Our eyes do not deceive you, Kratos. It is the same box you opened years ago. The power to kill a god still rests inside." Cecelia thought to herself in her mind: "This is probably why Zeus would fo through all of this trouble." Kratos shook his head in denial as he recalled of what happened before: "I released those powers when I killed Ares." What he said was true at it is the very same box he had opened back when he assigned himself to kill the original God of War himself. But what Athena said next is quite a surprising message. She said this when turning to the Ghost of Sparta: "No. Trapped inside that box there is a stronger power. It has been missing from the world. It all began when Zeus triumphed over the titans in the great war. Zeus understood that the evils born from that battle, if left free would destroy the world of man and gods. To contain these evils, Zeus commissioned Hephaestus to build a vessel strong enough to hold them. Fear...greed...he locked them all away in the box in hopes that they would never again infect his reign. When you opened the box to kill Ares. You drew from the forbidden powers. After witnessing your victory, fear gripped Zeus." This wold have explained what's going on with the remaining Gods of Olympus. The other problem so far is how she can restore this world after Zeus is destroyed for good.
Kratos wondered as his mind is pondering a bit: "But the flame is deadly. How can I recover the box?." Athena replied as if stating the obvious answer: "With its namesake, Kratos." Cecelia realized of who Athena is talking about as she said, "You mean...Pandora?" Athena nodded and said when looking at Kratos: "She is the key to destroying the flame. The key to our revenge. This will be difficult, Spartan." Kratos shook his head as he turned to look into the Flame of Olympus again: "A simple child will not trouble me, Athena." Athena said this before disappearing once more: "I hope you are right, Ghost of Sparta." A few seconds later, Cecelia spoke up when she remembered something: "Of course...how could I forget that I have this a long time ago?" She pulled out a amulet from her pocket that represented in the design of two snakes that are of light an dark in a form of a oval by biting each other's tails. She said this when turning to Kratos: "Its magic protects the wearer from any form of danger. If Pandora wears this, not even the Flame of Olympus can harm her. Let alone kill her. Now, the problem so far is to find her..." Unfortunately, they won't have time to find Pandora as Hermes appeared when he said this: "You may have brute force. But you lack speed." It's clearly meant to taunt Kratos, but Cecelia stopped him for the moment as she pointed to the catapult that has a gigantic boulder on it. She then whispered a plan in his ear and then said to Hermes as she walks in forward: "I don't mind playing a game of Tag if not like Cat and Mouse. But if you prefer the latter, I best need to be in my true form." She said her last sentence when transforming into her form of the Sacred Dragon Slayer. On foot, Hermes is indeed faster than the blink of an eye. But Cecelia is in a much different league when she's seemingly teasing him whenever she tapped on his shoulder and he would jump in a fright. She laughed a bit and said to the Messenger of the Gods: "Don't look so sour. Look on the bright side. It's not like I'm about to cut your head off with one of my swords." Hermes gave it a thought for the moment and nodded a bit as the chase continues on.
Kratos watches closely for the signal for him to move and sees a clue of the sort when Hermes is on top of the statue of Athena and Cecelia discreetly motioned her white dragon tail to shake three times behind her back. He proceeded by launching a boulder from a catapult. That's when he chained himself to the boulder with the Blades of Exile. The boulder smashed into an Athena statue, which Hermes had previously perched himself on, and caused the statue to come crumbling down on a nearby building with the two clinging to it. Cecelia called out as she flew in forward to help: "Kratos!" Luckily for him, he's not hurt as soon as he got up on his feet at ease. Unfortunately for Hermes though, the wounds that he had suffered from the crash had left him critically injured and exhausted. This is evident when both Kratos and Cecelia followed the blood trail that led them to him. Hermes panted through his injuries as if he's asking for a fight: "I will not be bested by a mortal...!" Wanting to save Kratos the energy he would need in the future, this is when Cecelia steps in forward. She said this as her dragon wings opened and closed a bit: "Kratos is a demigod to be more precise. How about you compete against me? I may be a girl, but it doesn't mean that I am weak. But if you manage to pin me down, I would give you the victory." Since he's cornered, he has no choice but to accept this challenge from a unknown being who's not from Greece. At the start of the fight, Hermes is indeed fast on his feet and quite a agile fighter. But she surprised him in more ways than one for being the last of the Sacred Dragon Slayers. The example of a surprise is when she would dodge and countered with a jumping Tornado Kick to the back of his head that left behind a shock of white lightning. Besides being born with even the magic of redemption and the ability to create realities, he senses are higher than of human beings. Because of that, her sense of smell is even sharp as well as her hearing to pinpoint where Hermes would strike. She said this when Hermes seemed to be defeated: "Well, you didn't say that I can't hit you. I assume that it's a battle." Hermes couldn't argue with her because he didn't really set up the rules if there are any. He looked at her and said this when he has a hard time accepting defeat: "Why do you accompany Kratos when you know that he's only using you for his revenge? Surely, you should have a heart." Cecelia answered when putting her hands down: "I have come from the future, Hermes. If I didn't step up, even the last of my family will be erased in Zeus's hands. I'm sure that you could understand when and if you know in your heart that family honor is important...right?" Once again, he couldn't find any words to say back to her, even if it's i a taunting matter. In her eyes, he doesn't see any sort of malice. He could only see redemption, which is something that Kratos seeks to have but couldn't.
The Messenger of the Gods then turned to Kratos who was silent the entire time: "But you have your own sense of honor. Right, Kratos? And what has that honor brought you? Nothing but nightmares of your failure. Today you may defeat me. But in the end, Kratos...in the end you'll betray only yourself.." Kratos doesn't seem to have any expression of emotion on his face. But he surprised Hermes when he turned to Cecelia and sai to her: "You've done enough. Cover your eyes and ears. Don't turn around." Cecelia was confused but did as she was told as she even covered her entire upper body to shield herself. This is when Kratos forcibly moved Hermes up on his feet by shoving him against the wall and used one of his blades to sever off his left leg. Hermes pleaded as he tries to crawl away with his hands and remaining leg as he's bleeding out: "Leave me alone! Go away...!" His pleas are proven futile as Kratos continues to walk forward. Right at that moment, this is when he held up the Messenger of the Gods upside-down and used his weapon to cut off the remaining leg. This is what killed Hermes as his body startsto rapidly decompose. With his ultimate death, Hermes' corpse dissolved into a swarm of disease-carrying flies that flew across Olympus and covering the land with pestilence and causing the deaths of several of Olympus' servants in the process. Kratos turned around and did something that surprised even himself by turning Cecelia around and holding her close. His mind is pondering of why he's compassionate like this now. Perhaps, it was because she is different and more merciful that she's worthy to be a god in her own way. But there is no time to relax just yet because there are a few other Greek Gods that remain before getting to Zeus. One thing is for certain. He goes from respecting Cecelia to trusting her and not a full day went on by.