Disclaimer: I don't own Percy Jackson or Harry Potter
The Unrelenting Frozen Seas: Symphony of Tempering
Chapter Twenty Five: The Devil's Reckoning
Beta:
"This map is terrible." Su said as she looked up from the map to Lady Enyo's palace that Lord Dionsysus had given them as they'd set off for their mission to finally put an end to the terror of the Devil of the Rhine. The damned thing was thoroughly unhelpful and looked like something drawn by Theo! And he wasn't even one yet!
"Don't say that, it was supposedly drawn by Lady Enyo herself." Rhode said with a wince. "She might take offense."
"Isn't she faded?" Su asked with a cocked eyebrow.
"Doesn't mean she can't still curse us for disrespect." Rhode countered.
"Point," Su conceded with a sigh.
"Still. How are we supposed to use this?" She insisted, waving the childish doodle of a map at Rhode. It was essentially a dotted line that led to a small town and then from there to a castle. All of which were rendered in the most child-like hand that Su had ever seen and she was raising a baby son!
"At least it told us to come here to Buffalo." Rhode told her with a roll of her eyes, gesturing at the crudely written words "small town: Buffalo" besides the crude image of the town on the map. "That's still better directions than we get on most Quests or missions."
"True." Su admitted with a sigh. "But seriously, how is Buffalo a small town? It's the second biggest city in New York state!"
"Who knows?" Rhode asked before shrugging. "I'm more concerned with where we go from here? 'Cos I have no idea."
"I guess we just wait for the Fates to show us the way." Su said with a shrug of her own.
No sooner than she'd said that then there were the familiar growls of Hellhounds behind them. Spinning around they saw a pack of the familiar Underworld monsters stalking out the side alleys all around the street they were walking on. The grizzly sized monster dogs weren't alone though and walking out behind them with hungry looks on their faces and holding onto the Hellhounds' leashes were a dozen Laistrygonians.
"Su, throw them off our scent." Rhode told her wife, even as the mortals around them scattered shouting about rednecks and rabid dogs. Which was surprisingly close to the truth. Guess, Hecate wasn't in a creative mood today. "We'll lose them through the alleys."
"Shouldn't we just fight them?" Su asked, just a little confused as she wrapped herself in her Ent armor and had Helel lengthen his vines for the fight to come.
"There are too many mortals here." Rhode shot back as she turned towards one of the back alleys and began jogging down it. "We can't risk a repeat of my fight with Chimera. Besides, these guys look like scouts. If there's a bigger army about…"
"Right, we'd be overwhelmed." Su said in understanding as she dismissed her Ent armor - it was too bulky for a chase - and pulled several seeds of the mimbulus mimbletonia plant from the hip pouch she wore and tossed them in front of her, using her powers to cause them to rapidly grow into pulsating and squirming, boil covered cacti-like mature plants despite falling on the asphalt of the road and concrete of the sidewalk. Plants that she promptly ordered to release a dark green cloud of aerosolized stinksap that smelled of rancid manure from their boils.
The horrific scent ruined the sense of smell of not only the Hellhounds, but even the cannibal giants that held their leashes. Something that pissed them off if their angry growls and curses was anything to go by. But it did its job and bought them the time she and Rhode needed to sprint down the alley and hopefully to safety as they ran through the winding alleyways, their pursuers hot on their trail all the way.
"Rhode, in there." Su said, pointing at the store front of a dating agency of all things called Perfect Match across the street they'd run out into. "That place is enchanted. I can feel the magic. If we get inside we might be able to find shelter. At least long enough to catch a breather."
"Good idea." Rhode agreed as they made their way across the busy street separating them from the potential safety of the dating agency, dodging traffic all the while and all but dove into the store.
Thankfully, the place had automatic doors that swung open before they crashed through them and Su and Rhode were able to stumble into the air conditioned interior without causing any property damage. As they did, they turned around to see if their pursuers had followed and found, to Su's relief, that they'd stopped on the opposite side of the street looking pissed at their escape but unwilling to try their luck against whatever magical protections the store had.
"Welcome dears!" A voice from behind them said in enthusiastic greeting and both demigods spun around to see what they presumed were the owners of the shop: an older man and a young woman.
The man had graying hair but a reasonably well built body and the woman was a beautiful woman who was less than half his age with long blonde hair that she had tied into a functional and fashionable ponytail. And both of them were dressed in smart business wear that made them look like professionals.
Oh, and they were both also unmistakably fugitive spirits of the dead. The aura they radiated was a dead giveaway to witches like Su and Rhode.
"My name is Pygmalion," the man said with a welcoming smile, before gesturing to the woman standing next to him. "And this beauty is my wife, Galatea."
"Pygmalion and Galatea?" Rhode asked with a frown.
Wasn't Pygmalion the sculptor who carved his perfect woman from marble? And wasn't Galatea said woman brought to life by the gods? Su thought as she tried to place who these rogue spirits were. Yes, I think that's who they are. They shouldn't be all that dangerous. Their myth doesn't involve violence at all from what I recall.
Which was why Su wasn't about to look a gift horse in the mouth and put a restraining hand on her wife's shoulder whilst glancing meaningfully back out the shop's front doors at the Hellhounds and Laistrygonians that were still eyeing it from across the street.
"Oh, don't worry about those riffraff dear." Pygmalion reassured them with a scornful look at the monsters outside his establishment. "They know better than to sully our doorstep with their presence. You are welcome to stay here until they grow impatient and leave. It shouldn't be too long. Monsters have such little patience."
"Yeah, that's true." Rhode allowed, relaxing slightly. "Thanks."
"No need for thanks." Galatea replied with a sweet smile. "We are happy to offer our humble business as a sanctuary for those in need. And a pair of half-bloods fleeing from a pack of monsters certainly count as such."
Su looked at Rhode questioningly, meaningfully nodding at the two spirits as she did. Thus wordlessly reminding her wife of their duty to send them back to the Underworld. Yes, she was glad to have been offered sanctuary by them but they also couldn't afford to offend Lord Thanatos and Lord Hades by not doing anything about these runaways.
"We should at least hear them out first." Rhode insisted in a whisper. "They offered us sanctuary. That makes them our hosts. It would go against the laws of Olympus to return such hospitality by turning them in."
Su frowned but nodded, acknowledging the point. They would just have to report the two to the relevant gods after they left then. That should nicely satisfy both the laws of hospitality and their duty to the Underworld.
"Thank you so much, young lady, for your understanding." Pygamlion said with a grateful bow that Galatea accompanied with a curtsy.
"Rhode, Rhode Evans. And this is my wife, Su." Rhode said, offering their own belated introductions. "I imagine you can guess that we're both half-bloods?"
"Yes, that much was obvious. Monsters wouldn't be chasing you otherwise." Galatea said with a teasing smile as she ushered them away from the front doors and inside their business. "Come inside. The monsters outside will be there for a while, so why not let us entertain you for a bit while you wait for them to leave."
"That sounds wonderful," Su said with a grateful smile. "Thank you for the hospitality."
"It is our pleasure." Pygmalion said with a smile of his own as he led them through the building.
A building that Su noted had an abundance of lifelike marble statues everywhere. There was one every few feet. Men, women, children. All in different poses that ranged from tranquil to terrified.
Catching where her attention had turned, Pygmalion explained the presence of the statues with a chuckle. "In life, I used to be a sculptor by trade. I might have changed industries but I still pursue it as a hobby."
"And you're good." Rhode opined, eyeing the remarkably realistic looking statues.
"You are," Su agreed even as something about the statues that she couldn't quite pin down made her uneasy.
"Thank you for the compliment, ladies."
"Here we are, feel free to take a seat and rest those weary feet of yours, ladies." Galatea said like the gracious hostess she was as she showed Su and Rhode into a nicely furnished lounge area. "What would you like? Tea or coffee?"
"Tea for the both of us, please." Su said as she, Rhode and Pygmalion settled into seats and Galatea walked over to a kitchenette by the side of the lounge and began making refreshments for everyone with a happy smile on her face.
"So you would like to hear our story?" Pygmalion asked from across the large dining table that dominated the lounge.
Rhode and Su both nodded, even as Galatea returned and began serving cups of tea for everyone alongside a plate of crackers.
"Thank you, dear." Pygmalion said with a smile for his wife as she put his tea in front of him.
"Thank you, Galatea." Su and Rhode said belatedly.
Galatea waved the thanks away with a smile and settled into a seat next to Pygmalion.
"Darling, our story." She prompted her husband once she'd settled.
"Ah, sorry." Pygmalion said with an embarrassed wince. "So, Rhode, Su, my wife and I are, as I am sure you suspect, escapees from the Underworld."
"Yeah, we guessed as much." Rhode confirmed. "What's up with the dating agency though? I dunno, but it's kinda strange to see a pair of spirits of the dead running one of those."
Pygmalion chuckled at that and Galatea smiled with amusement.
"I suppose so, the dead finding love for the living? It is a little morbid." Pygmalion admitted. "However, it's what we found we are good at. You see, our agency is a front from where we literally create perfect matches for our clients."
"You 'create perfect matches'?" Su asked, her danger senses tingling.
"Yes," Pygmalion said, radiating pride. "I carve the perfect partner for our clients from marble then animate them, while my wife uses her impressive skill with magic to give them the records, memories, etc. of an actual life. It's a win-win business model!"
"Oh? Wow, your magic must be pretty powerful to accomplish that." Rhode complimented Galatea.
The woman giggled and shook her head. "Oh no, I'm just a dabbler. I learned it to help my husband's business, nothing more."
Why does something about the way she phrased that sound odd? Su thought with a frown, the wording having somehow triggered her danger sense.
She wasn't the only one who found it strange though as Rhode, with a frown of her own, pressed the woman further. "Are you interested in magic besides the need to use it to help Pygmalion?"
"Oh, I do have some interest, but still I mostly got into the art for my loving husband's sake."
Su's frown deepened at that. "Do you do everything for your husband?"
Galatea let out a heavy sigh and looked at the two. "Oh, you're those types of girls, aren't you sweeties?"
"What's that supposed to mean?" Rhode bristled at the question.
"One of those oh so modern girls who think that they can survive entirely on their own. That they need no life partner to succeed."
Rhode made to open her mouth, probably to strongly object to this. But before she could, Galatea cut her off.
"Don't try and deny it. I can tell."
"I am married, thank you very much. Plus, what's wrong with wanting to be independent?"
Su nodded in support. Even as she carefully prepared for a fight by having Helel discreetly begin extending his vines under her shirt and palming the folding fan that was the disguised form of her sword.
"There's being independent and there's rejecting the need for complementing your partner in pursuit of it. Of the desire to always be in charge, overriding the innate human desire to work together with one's love."
"I'm not that bad!" Rhode countered.
Actually, I love you Sweetie, but that's pretty close to how you are. Su thought. But Rhode was working on it! She was a lot less of a lone wolf than she was in the past now. So it was without hesitation that she spoke up in her wife's defense.
"Rhode is perfectly capable of complementing me."
"Perhaps, but she's far closer to that extreme than is ideal." Pygmalion cut in, shooting Su a winning smile. "So Su, how would you like an upgrade to a spouse that is perfect for you."
"Rhode is perfect for me." Su countered honestly.
So what if she didn't complement her in every way. Expecting that out of a spouse was just ridiculous. And reeked of pride. It suggested that you yourself were perfect and didn't need to complement them and instead they had to change themselves to fit you. Su wasn't narcissistic enough to think that.
Rhode complemented her in all the ways that mattered already. And where they actively clashed, they were working, both of them, so they could find a compromise.
Rhode's smile at her words warmed Su's heart in all the best ways.
Pygmalion and Galatea sighed in disappointment and the sculptor declared. "Since Su has refused our fine, fair services, we'll just have to kill the both of you now."
"What why?" Rhode shouted as she rolled out of the way of the spear thrust by the statue behind them that had suddenly sprung to life that Su proceeded to destroy a moment later with a lash of Helel's vines even as she wrapped her Ent armor around herself.
"So you won't send Lord Thanatos after us," Pygmalion said even as he surrounded himself with Mist that proceeded to equip him with glittering armor, an oversized chisel and an impressive looking warhammer.
"And so your blood can fuel our magic." Galatea added as she sent a brace of conjured arrows at the two demigods that they evaded with some difficulty. More from the surprise from the sudden attack than anything else. "Normally to bring one of our creations to life, we'd require our clients to kill someone and offer the power of that sacrifice to us. But with the divine blood coursing in both your veins? We'd be able to animate a hundred perfect lovers!"
"You use blood magic?" Rhode shouted, horrified.
"What other type of magic did you think would be powerful enough to essentially create life?" Galatea retorted, even as she snapped her fingers and a dozen animated statues armed with crossbows materialized behind her.
Su waved her hand and a wall of ivy burst into life that shielded them from the stone bolts the statues shot at them.
"Su!" Rhode said as she had Spellbound out, already surrounded by crackling green light and charged with one of her spells. The wall of vines parted and Rhode fired off her Sagitta Infernum (Arrow Hell). The rain of arcane bolts shattered the line of statues, making Galatea yelp in shock and scramble out of the way.
"Do you know what this will do to our insurance?!" Pygmalion scowled as he thrust his chisel into the ground and hammered it. An action that caused a line of spikes to rise from the ground, intent on skewing the young women.
"Geokinesis? I didn't know you were related to Uncle Hades, Pygmalion." Rhode spat as she and Su both apparated out of the way and rematerialised behind the undead couple.
"What is the earth but more clay for me to sculpt and change!?" The sculptor sneered as he hammered his chisel whose tip was buried into the ground repeatedly, causing new lines of spikes to erupt out of the earth in bids to impale Su and Rhode.
At the same time, Galatea's summoned animated statues turned around with eerie synchrony and began reloading their weapons from quivers on their backs even as the woman herself waved her hands and set the tips of their bolts alight with black flames that radiated negative energy.
"One does not need to be related to the gods to be skilled in their craft. Just look at Arachne!" Pygmalion boasted as Su and Rhode apparated out of the way of his spikes once more
Oh yes, because her story ended so well. Su thought even as she had the ivy from earlier, which she'd discreetly creep underneath the statues' feet, suddenly rapidly accelerate their growth and coil up their bodies. So that with a tightening of her fist, the bulging vines constricted the statues so hard that they shattered into a mixture of marble chunks and fine dust leaving their enchanted bolts to fall to the ground harmlessly.
Well, mostly harmlessly. The black flames that Galatea had charmed onto them were indiscriminate it seemed and promptly proceeded to set anything they touched alight. Worse, the unnatural blaze began to spread at an exponential rate that reminded Su of Fiendfyre.
"Curses," Galatea said with a frown that somehow did nothing to mar her borderline supernatural beauty as she waved her hands over the black fire, smothering it with whatever magic she worked.
"Wife! We didn't set the sprinkler system up for hellfire!" Pygmalion scolded from across the room, even as Rhode apparated into close quarters with him forcing him to pull his chisel out of the ground to defend himself even as he swung his hammer in a clumsy parry of her thrusting Spellbound at him.
"Sorry, dear. The flames are out now." Galatea said apologetically even as Su followed her wife's lead and took the fight to the enemy and had Helel launch a barrage of Manticore quills and bullet seeds at the sorceress.
"Good. Ugh, think of our finances!" Pygmalion said, leaving Su honestly flabbergasted.
The man was only barely keeping up with Rhode as the daughter of the seas pressed her attack and yet he was wasting his breath to berate his wife? Seriously, what was wrong with his priorities!?
"I promise to do better, my love~" Galatea replied to her latest scolding even as she spun her hands in the air in a circular motion and conjured a round energy shield that covered her whole body and was reminiscent of an oversized aspis used by Classical hoplites to protect her from Su's barrage.
Su could only feel ill at the dynamic between the two. Seriously, Pygmalion was a jerk and Galatea was being an absolute doormat!
It just didn't feel like what love should be.
"Oh, Gala Dear?" Pygmalion said as Rhode finally broke through his feeble guard and buried Spellbound in his chest. "Avenge me, alright? Oh, and I'll be back soon."
"Oh, my love! Of course I will!" Galatea waved at him as her husband collapsed into gold dust, even as she distractedly just snapped her fingers and sent a wave of hellfire at Su that forced her to abandon the attack she'd planned to follow up her projectile barrage with in favour of apparating away to safety.
"Seriously, what's wrong with you?" Su heard Rhode shout with exasperation as she disapparated next to her wife, who was shooting icicles at Galatea that were being deflected by the sorceress' energy shield.
"I don't understand why you're so upset. Then again, you seem the unstable type." The undead woman said with a shake of her head whilst with a series of strange gestures, she somehow reshaped the hellfire she'd conjured into a pack of Hellhounds. "I wasn't allowed a dog, Pygmalion is allergic you see, but I'm sure my love will forgive me later for this."
"You have bad taste." Rhode glowered as she fired another hail of Sagitta Infernum to soften the pack up before following up by starting to dismantle the Underworld beasts like a demigoddess blender with her trident. Su supported her all the way with covering fire in the form of bullet seeds and Manticore quills. She'd have waded in to help more directly, but honestly getting close to Rhode when she went ham on monsters like this was just asking to suffer a case of friendly fire.
Even as Su and Rhode dealt with the group of Underworld canines though, Galatea hadn't been idle. Using the time her conjurations had bought her productively, she'd been busy using her magic to summon an entire firing line of animated statues armed with modern rifles.
"Fire at will!" Galatea said, sounding annoyingly cheerful for someone ordering their execution.
Not that a mere hail of bullets would be enough to kill either Su or Rhode. A fact the daughter of Demeter proved by having a wall of thick hedges spontaneously grow in front of them to serve as a barrier that protected them from the rifle fire.
Rhode made to apparate but Su just put an arm on her shoulder and shook her head. "No need for that, Sweetie. I've got this handled."
Something she proved when with the sound of crushed stone, the roots of her freshly grown plants finished what she'd ordered of them and destroyed the statue riflemen before parting to allow her and Rhode to see that they'd also, as instructed, wrapped themselves around Galatea. They had her wrapped up nice and tight, with the leading elements of them rapidly growing to encircle her neck.
As the roots coiled around Galatea's neck, Su could only feel sorry for the statue woman given life. All she knew was what her abusive husband told her to do. But sympathy for her or not, what she'd done was unforgivable and she was supposed to be dead ages ago anyways, so it was with little hesitation that Su mentally gave the final order. Thus with a twist, the vines snapped the head in a one-eighty degree angle and Galatea went limp before crumbling into gold dust.
"They became monsters?" Su asked disbelievingly, staring at the pile of dust. "I get what they were doing was monstrous but can that turn people into monsters?"
"Looks like it can." Rhode said with a frown. "But I have a more important question. Where do we go next? The Fates must have sent us here for a reason, right?"
"They always do," Su agreed. "There must be a clue on where we need to go next around here somewhere."
"Then let's ransack the place to find it." Rhode suggested.
"Let's find their office and start from there. I'm betting we'll find what we need there."
Rhode was stuffing the surprising amount of drachma that Pygmalion and Galatea had stashed in their safe when a shout from Su from across the office they were pillaging had her turning towards her wife.
"You found anything, Su?" Rhode asked as she dusted off her hands after filling their travelling coffers.
"I found a delivery address!" Su popped up and waved the ledger. "For Lady Enyo."
"Huh, you think Lady Enyo wanted her own boy toy?" The daughter of Poseidon blinked in surprise.
"It looks like it, dear, but that's not important." Rhode begged to differ, but kept her opinion to herself and let Su continue. "What is important is we know where we're going now."
"Alright, that works for me. So where's our next destination?"
"Somewhere in the Catskills." Su said as she copied down the address. "You go finish looting their safe, I'll call us a cab."
"Right." Rhode nodded, happy with that division of labour. She and Su made a wonderful team.
Perfect Match? What arrogance! She'd found her perfect match already.
They had needed to call a cab, it being their best option to make the trip to the town of Woodstock in the Catskill Mountains that was the nearest town to Lady Enyo's palace. They would've asked the cabbie to drive them all the way there, but seeing as they were certainly going to have a fight on their hands when they got there, they had decided to not risk the mortal and had instead had him drop them off in town. They could hike the rest of the way on their own.
At least that had been the plan.
It had however gone pretty much out the window, hopefully in a good way, the moment they'd stepped out of their cab.
"Missus and Missus Evans." A feminine voice called out to them from behind, causing both Rhode and Su to turn to face its origin.
To their surprise they found themselves faced with the familiar face of the aristocratic looking, orange blonde haired Audrey Burne and her brown haired husband Banagher Links-Burne. Rhode hadn't seen the psychics since her Fourth Year at Hogwarts, which was what? Three? Four years ago? But the psychics had made such a big impression with their scary powers and mecha, that Rhode would never forget them or the Organisation they worked for.
"Miss Audrey? Mister Banagher?" Su asked, blinking in surprise at the two psychics. Whether it was due to their presence or how incongruous the two of them looked wearing glasses and dressed in winter coats and carrying some Taiyaki, one of which Audrey was snacking on, when compared to the composed couple they remembered - Were they trying to go incognito or something? -, Rhode couldn't be sure. "It's been three years. Fancy meeting you here, of all places."
"I blame your Fates," Banagher said as he fiddled with the glasses he was wearing.
Audrey rolled her eyes at this and elbowed him lightly, before turning to address Rhode and Su seriously. A look only mildly undermined by the half eaten fish shaped Japanese cake she was still holding in her hand.
"Missus and Missus Potter, may we have a moment of your time?"
In a command tent of a large staging area that the Organization task force that the Links-Burne couple were leading had set up outside Woodstock, Rhode and Su talked with the aforementioned psychics.
"I guess I jumped up on a lot of lists, huh?" Rhode asked with a smile, deciding to make some small talk first.
"Being formally adopted by your stepmother and accepted as a princess of the House of Atlantis, yes you have, Rhode." Audrey said with a smile.
"Congratulations on that by the way and your marriage." Banagher added. "To you as well, Su, on the latter count. And both of you on the birth of your son as well."
"Thank you," Su replied politely.
"So what's with the staging area? Big fight?"
"We're dealing with the Wizarding Resistance. They've become too much of a problem." Audrey said with a sigh.
"They've been launching attacks all across Britain in the past few months. Attacks that have left hundreds dead and many more wounded." Banagher added, his tone grave.
"What!?" Su asked, startled. "But my father is an Auror. How come I've not heard anything about it?"
"They weren't attacking the Wizarding World." Audrey explained. "They were attacking mundane targets and even then only top secret sites. Sites that were crucial to Organisation and United Kingdom operations in the magical world. That's why there has been no news of it."
Rhode rubbed her face at that. The Resistance had really lit the powder keg for their own demise hadn't they? Despite its scary reputation and what she'd seen it do during the battle in her Fourth Year and the Siege of Hogwarts, the Organisation, Rhode had learned, was actually a rather laidback group. It took Wizarding Britain almost a full century of being unreasonable jerks before they had done what they had. So for the Resistance to prompt such a harsh Organisation response so quickly… They really must've crossed the line.
"So the hammer is finally coming down huh?" Rhode asked rhetorically, prompting Audrey to nod regardless. "How did Cedric and the other idiots get so big that they became this much of a problem, anyways?"
"It's simple really. They used the fact that they were largely operating in the worlds of Hellenistic myth as a cover. That way they could attack and then quickly fade away into an area where the UK government and the Organisation had no jurisdiction." Audrey explained with a tired smile, clearly annoyed at the Resistance's tactics.
Hiding behind the gods as a shield. Rhode thought with a shake of her head, amazed the Wizards weren't smited already.
"What changed?" Su asked with a contemplative frown.
"The Organisation has decided that in regards to this matter, it's time to disregard jurisdiction. Enough is enough. We are stepping in and taking out this threat now."
"And if you are here as well, then I take it that the gods of Olympus have decided to move against the Devil of the Rhine?" Audrey continued where her husband left off.
"Oh yeah, Lord Zeus wants her stopped for good now." Rhode stated.
"In that case, seeing as we have a common enemy, how about we work together on this mission, Missus and Missus Evans?"
"What's the plan?" Su said even as Rhode nodded, earning them smiles from the two psychics.
Their agreement led to Rhode and Su joining the Organization task force as they assaulted Lady Enyo's palace, which turned out, rather surprisingly, to be a mundane mansion. At least according to what Banagher had told them that's what their Intel told them it was. More specifically, they were riding in the troop compartment of one of the dozen armoured personnel carriers (APCs) that the Organization had brought along for the raid. Above them flew Banagher and Audrey in their personal mecha, which they apparently called Mobile Suits.
Banagher piloted what he'd told them was called the Unicorn Gundam. A twelve feet tall mainly white mechanical knight that had a head which featured a single, horn-like antenna on its forehead outside of combat. When it did get into a fight though, like it was prepared to do now, the visor and face guard on its head retracted into the head to reveal its twin eyes and mouth plate, and its horn split into a V-fin. At the same time, its armor's seams separated and locked down into various hard-points, exposing sections that emitted a greenish glow. It was, so she'd been told, equipped with a powerful protective force field, a beam rifle, a pair of holdout beam swords attached to its backpack, twin vulcans built into its head and three shields that were each armed with a pair of beam gatling guns which floated courtesy of his psychic power and moved at Banagher's will.
Audrey meanwhile piloted a crimson machine that was supposedly called the Qubeley Mk-II. It was a strange looking machine with oversized shoulder pauldrons, an oval shaped head with a single optical sensor and oddly shaped armor on the waist, particularly in the rear, as well as its arms and legs. Emblazoned on its left shoulder was what Audrey had informed her was the Burne family crest. According to Audrey, it was equipped with emitters in its forearms that allowed it to fire energy bolts and create an energy sword, and could deploy ten highly maneuverable funnel shaped drone weapons each equipped with their own beam emitter from hangars hidden under the oversized rear skirt armor.
"Is it really necessary to bring those machines on this raid?" Su questioned as she glanced out one of the APC's viewports, presumably at the two Mobile Suits flying overhead. "Isn't it overkill?"
"Perhaps," Audrey, dressed in a space suit, said from the cockpit of her machine via a video call over a computer built into the front of the troop compartment of the APC. "But as the saying goes, it is better to be safe than sorry. The Wizarding Resistance has acquired quite a lot of exotic resources in recent months, who knows what they might have at their dis-"
Before Audrey could finish her reply there was the sound of an explosion outside.
"Damnation. Apologies Su, but we'll talk later. The enemy is engaging us." The orange haired woman said as she cut the communication.
"What's going on out there?" Rhode asked even as she tried to peer out of the nearest viewport but couldn't really make out anything.
"Give me a minute," the leader of the squad of troops they were sharing the vehicle said as he fiddled with the computer, prompting its monitor to switch to a video feed from one of the vehicle's external cameras.
The scene it showed was of Banagher and Audrey's machines fighting against a dozen twelve feet tall robots with brown armor, a single eye, a rounded head crowned with a spike, rounded shoulders, skirt armor decorated with a red spot and armed with spiked clubs.
"So everyone is getting a mech. Awesome." Rhode deadpanned as she watched half of the brown enemy machines fire at Banagher and Audrey with beams of raw magical energy that shot from the tops of their clubs.
In return, Banagher returned fire with his beam rifle and the occasional burst from the gatling guns on his floating shields, though he mostly used them and the short range force fields they could project to deflect enemy fire away from him and his wife. This left it mainly up to Audrey to take the fight to the enemy as she blasted away at them with bolts of energy from the beam emitters in her machine's wrists and her fast moving funnel drones, the latter of which were darting in erratic patterns all over the place.
"I understand the feeling." The squad leader confessed. "But Intel suspected the Resistance might have them. It's why Commanders Banagher and Audrey brought their Mobile Suits."
That makes sense. Rhode concluded with a frown.
"But seriously how the hell did Wizards, the same people who have trouble with telephones of all things, figure out how to operate, much less make, mechas of their own?" Rhode couldn't help but question.
They probably got help from Tanya or someone else. She concluded even as the squad leader offered an alternative explanation.
"If Intel is to be believed, the Wizards are using what we call Alaya-Vijnana systems. Basically, their pilots are literally grafted into the Mobile Suit, so that the Suit basically becomes their body."
"Does that mean what I think that means?" Su asked, looking a little green.
The man nodded. "Once the grafting is carried out, the pilots are fused with their machine. They can never leave it again."
Rhode paled, horrified at what she was learning.
"That's your tech isn't it? I remember you guys using those magic using mechs during the Siege of Hogwarts and they're like what you described. I'm right, aren't I?"
"You're correct on both counts." The man confirmed. "The Wizarding Resistance basically stole the technology for the Alaya-Vijnana system from the Organisation during one of their recent attacks. We use it for volunteers who want to continue to serve after crippling injuries who we then proceed to intern in Dreadnoughts, but we have no idea if the Wizards in those machines are volunteers or not."
"With the crazy sorceress leading them, if she didn't have enough volunteers she'd just make some." Rhode commented dryly.
"Sounds like the Devil." The commander agreed with a frown.
Suddenly one of the enemy machines, only nine of them were left by this point thankfully, broke away from the fight with Banagher and Audrey under covering fire from its surviving compatriots to charge straight at the road that the convoy of Organisation APCs were driving down. It was firing at them from the hip as it did, blasting the lead vehicle apart entirely, creating an impromptu roadblock on the single lane road that forced the whole convoy to a stop and leaving them sitting ducks.
"Out!" The squad commander shouted as the ramp at the back of the troop compartment dropped open and the couple plus the dozen or so soldiers that occupied it ran out.
The soldiers immediately started running for cover in the forest but Rhode and Su turned to face the incoming machine, prepared to face it head on. Rhode drew Spellbound and donned her Pallas Armor and beside her, Su had Helel extend his vines even as her Ent Armor surrounded her body.
They were saved the trouble though when suddenly a pair of Audrey's funnels caught up to the approaching enemy Mobile Suit from behind and firing in quick succession, blasted it to pieces.
"Nice shooting, Audrey!" Rhode cheered even as beside her Su offered a thumbs up in the general direction of their friend's machine.
Their distraction left them completely unprepared as their world suddenly went white as where they were standing was consumed in an explosion.
The blast sent Rhode flying and it was only a helpful tree breaking her fall to the ground by reshaping its branches to gently catch her and the healing triggered by the waters exuded by her Pallas Armor that saved her from being reduced to a smear.
"Thank you," Rhode told the tree even as she staggered to her feet and began searching the surrounding forest for her wife.
To her relief, she found her in a crater a short distance away, staggering to her feet in her battered Ent Armor. Its whole outer layer of bark had been blasted off but it was thankfully quickly growing back.
"I'm okay!" Su assured her.
"We'll just have to see how long that'll be the case, won't we, daughter of Demeter?" The Devil of the Rhine taunted from the back of her mate, the Nightmare Thunderleg, as they hovered over the devastated convoy.
It didn't take a genius to figure out what had happened. She'd blown them up.
Instead of pressing the attack though, she just hovered there with a smirk on her face as her Wizard lackeys suddenly swarmed out of the woods on either side of the road to engage the surviving Organisation men. Something which resulted in a massive firefight breaking out around them as the special forces operators of the Organisation and the Wizards traded enchanted bullets and spells.
Watching all this with satisfaction, the immortal sorceress snapped her fingers.
In response, a dome of dark energy suddenly descended over the whole area and sealed them in.
"What the-"
"A darling gift from your Grandfather Kronos, little girl!" Tanya informed Rhode tauntingly, gesturing at the dome that now surrounded them. "It's a time dilation field. You see, he wanted me to set up a trap with Enyo as the lure. He was hoping to trap one of your Olympian gods, maybe Ares or Athena."
She shot Rhode and Su a disappointed look. "But it seems you got sent instead. I guess that grumpy old timer will just have to be satisfied with two godlings."
She loaded her gun, priming her magic and causing waves of it to radiate off of her form as she took aim. Tanya smiled wickedly, eyes glowing with demented delight at the death and destruction she was about to unleash.
"I'd comment on you being a pair of meddlesome kids, but that's too Scooby-Doo. And I'm hardly a Saturday Morning villain."
Tensing, Rhode prepared to apparate out of the way of the incoming attack. The Devil of the Rhine's spells were light based, which meant they moved at the speed of light. If she apparated too soon, she'd just give away her position and leave herself open to being blasted to oblivion.
Before the cursed woman could fire though, with a loud clearing of his throat, Cedric flew over to her side on a broom.
"Lady Tanya, why don't you leave these two to me?" Rhode's former schoolmate suggested. "I think our Mobile Suit squad is in need of your help."
Tanya glanced back at the fight between the Mobile Suits and frowned. Following her lead, Rhode noted that things were indeed not going well for the Resistance's machines. There were only four of them left and they were being pressed hard by Banagher and Audrey.
Tanya sighed and nodded. "Fine, at least kill them this time. I won't accept failure like the last time you tried."
"Oh, I'll do my best, ma'am!" Cedric saluted with an annoyingly smarmy smile.
The Nightmare whinnied with annoyance. "She didn't ask for your best, she told you to succeed, Wizard."
Before Cedric could stammer out a reply, Tanya nudged her mate with her thighs and with an unhappy neigh, he beat his flaming wings and flew off towards the fight between the Mobile Suits.
The moment that Tanya's back was turned and they didn't need to worry about being struck by her lasers, Rhode and Su launched into an attack to end their former schoolmate.
"Just die already!" Rhode roared as she wordlessly cast Sagitta Infernum and sent powerful arrows of arcane magic shooting from the tips of her trident. Fire pumped in her veins, the fury of the ocean demanding to consume this brat.
He might've been her acquaintance once. But that was in the past. Since then he'd tried to kill Percy and Tyson. And for that, he would die.
Unfazed with her fury, Cedric responded by performing a textbook perfect casting of the shield charm. One that proved powerful enough to absorb not only Rhode's arcane arrows but also the manticore quills and bullet seeds that Su shot his way. Thus protected, he leaned down on his broom and blitzed towards them whilst flinging his wand in wide slashing arcs as he repeatedly cast Sectumsempra like it was going out of style.
How Cedric had learned a spell that Rhode was pretty sure that Professor Snape had developed and rarely shared with anyone was a mystery. But one she didn't care about as the overpowered spells felled whole swathes of the woods with every swing of his wand and managed to cut a thick gash along Rhode's stomach as it hit her.
"Argh!" Rhode cried out as she dove out of the way of a follow up Sectumsempra that Cedric sent her way and she thanked her lucky stars that her Pallas Armor mostly held. With the power to cut through dozens of thick trees, Cedric's spell was nothing to be scoffed at. The fact that Cedric's spell had actually cut through the former divine symbol was proof of that even if it was a thin cut.
It's deep though. The damn thing almost hit my organs! Rhode thought as she used her vitakinesis to enhance her natural water-activated regeneration and surveyed her surroundings for where Su and Cedric had gone.
She found her wife and Cedric engaged in a fight a short distance away, the daughter of Demeter shooting at Cedric with her various botanical projectiles whilst he returned fire with all manner of spells. Su though was ready for his retaliation and raised massive walls of foliage around her to shield herself even as she kept up an unrelenting barrage.
He's preoccupied. Rhode noted with a bloodthirsty grin even as she casually fired a bolt of Scorpio venom to her side to melt the face off the Wizard who had tried to sneak up on her from behind and leveled Spellbound at Cedric's distracted back.
"Scorpionem Seras (Crossbow Bolt)!" Rhode incanted, sending a powerful arcane bolt towards the distracted Wizard.
Acting with amazing reflexes, Cedric actually managed to avoid getting himself killed as he pulled off a desperate last second evasion. But the spell still managed to shear off the end of his broom and send him tumbling towards the ground.
He acted quickly though.
"Arresto Momentum!" He shouted as he made a capital "M" figure in the air with his wand, slowing his fall, throwing off the aim of Su's latest volley of botanical projectiles and buying him enough time to apparate to safety.
Two could play that game though and even as he rematerialised, Rhode apparated to his side, Spellbound thrusting forward hungry for his blood.
Seemingly unfazed, Cedric offered her a smarmy smile as he held his wand aloft and pointed at her face and unleashed a torrent of flame right at her. Wary of what spell he had unleashed, Rhode aborted her attack and apparated away.
As she rematerialised, she saw the flames had taken the form of a giant armadillo?!
"Rhode, watch out! That's Fiendfyre!" Su warned as she fired another volley of her projectiles at Cedric only to have him apparate out of danger and the fiery armadillo to tuck itself into a ball that proceeded to roll towards Rhode.
"Επικαλούνται: άβυσσα φυλακή (Invoke: Abyssal Prison)!" Rhode cast as fast as she could. At her incantation, the dark waters of the depths heeded her call and materialised around the armadillo as it rapidly rolled towards her, leaving fiery destruction in its wake, and trapped it in a pitch black sphere. One that produced a massive cloud of steam as the enchanted waters of the abyss summoned by her spell fought with the cursed flames of Cedric's Fiendfyre.
Thankfully, after a tense few moments of struggle, Rhode's spell won out and the sphere began to shrink away into nothingness as the Fiendfyre armadillo was smothered. There were still patches of the cursed flames all around where it had been though. Fires from which all manner of fiery animal constructs were crawling free.
Fortunately it seemed the Organisation guys had come prepared for Fiendfyre and a group of them were rushing over and casting the counterspell and putting the patches of it out as quickly as they could.
That means I can focus on dealing with Ce-
"Rhode! Move!" Su shouted suddenly even as Helel's vines grabbed her around the waist and pulled out of the way.
Looking quickly around her, Rhode didn't see what was the problem. Cedric had just tossed a few pebbles at her.
"Engorgio!" Their opponent cast with a smirk, allowing the Engorgement Charm to transform the pebbles into boulders the size of minivans.
Boulders that would've crushed her if Su hadn't pulled her out of the way.
"Okay, I think I've had enough of playing around." Cedric declared as he sent a brace of Blasting Curses at them that Rhode and Su both dove out of the way to avoid.
As they recovered from their evasions however the ground under them exploded from overpowered Exploding Charms, sending them flying. Their respective armor kept them from being too roughed up but it still dazed them and that was when Cedric decided to go in for the kill.
"Avada Kedavra!" He said, not once, not twice but no less than half a dozen times as he sent six deadly sickly green Killing Curses flying towards Rhode and her wife.
None of them connected though as out of nowhere one of Banagher's Mobile Suit's floating shields slammed into the ground between Cedric's spells and their targets. The spells were insanely powerful though as they easily burned through the magitech forcefield projected by the shield and even blasted straight through the thickly armored shield itself.
"Now that's just chea-" Cedric began only for the ground under him to explode as Su returned the favour from earlier and detonated an Exploding Charm right under his feet. The blast sent him flying and right where Rhode's wife wanted him as in a second of explosive growth a large pine grew out of the ground, its crown impaling Cedric as he flew over it.
"Rhode, finish him!" Su shouted.
Rhode was happy to oblige and leveling Spellbound, she took aim and cast the spell that would put an end to Cedric Diggory at long last. "Scorpionem Seras!"
The arcane bolt leapt from the tines of her trident and slammed into the Wizard's head as he hung impaled through the chest by Su's newly grown tree, popping it like a balloon and sending his brain matter flying.
It was not the end of things just yet though.
"Aw~! I was hoping for this to last longer." A ghost dressed in elaborate ancient Greek robes said as it pulled itself free of Cedric's body. "Mortals are just so bloody fragile. Next time I'm jacking a half-blood at least."
Rhode's eyes widened as she realised what the ghost's presence meant… Cedric had been possessed! But since when…
You know when. A dark part of her mind told her as unbidden memories of her hunting down escapees from the Underworld with Cedric a few years back entered her mind.
But if that's the case then… Then this is my fault!
"Who by the Pit are you?" Su said as she had Helel lash out with his vines and had them wrap around the spirit whilst Rhode had her terrible epiphany.
"It is not your fault Rhode," the familiar voice of Lord Thanatos said from behind Rhode suddenly, causing her to spin around to face the dark skinned, winged god. "All is as the Fates have decreed. Isn't that right, Sisyphus?"
Sisyphus? The former King of Corinth and Son of Aeolus?
"Yeah," the ghost said grumpily even as Rhode saw Su mouth the ghost's name. "I take it you're here to fetch me, old friend?"
"Yes," the god said as he teleported next to the ghost. "I hope you enjoyed your reprieve from the Fields of Punishment this time?"
"It went better than usual. Got to father a few new kids, I think. The women nowadays are so loose! You don't even need to buy them or marry them, just sweet talk them and they'll spread their legs for you." The ghost said with a shrug. "Still wished it was longer though."
Rhode felt angry, she had killed Cedric for what? Just because some old dead, pervert of a king wanted a vacation in the living world again?
"Lord Thanatos, this is-"
"I would advise you Rhode to dwell on this later." The god of death told her, pointing behind her. "For you have bigger problems at the moment."
Knowing a warning when she heard one, Rhode spun on the spot and apparated away. And as she rematerialised she found she made the prudent move as in so doing she narrowly avoided getting crushed as Audrey's wrecked Qubeley Mk-II crashed where she'd been standing.
"You're next, boy!" She heard Tanya shout gloatingly and turned to see the immortal sorceress smirking triumphantly even as Banagher moved his machine to interpose himself defensively between his wife's downed one and the cursed woman.
Right. We have bigger problems. Rhode thought with a bitter frown as she prepared herself to fight the Devil of the Rhine.
Like her wife, Su knew Lord Thanatos' words were a warning and like her, she acted quickly and apparated to safety and narrowly avoided being crushed as Audrey's Mobile Suit crashed. A quick glance showed her that the machine was likely a total write off. Both its arms had been blasted off, one at the elbow and the other at the shoulder. It was also missing its right leg at the knee and a sizable chunk of its left torso had been melted away as well.
I really hope Audrey is okay inside there. Su thought with a wince as she turned towards the source of all the damage to Audrey's machine: the Devil of the Rhine.
"You're next, boy!" The cursed woman shouted tauntingly at Banagher as he interposed his Unicorn Gundam between the Devil and Audrey's wrecked Qubeley Mk-II. While unlike his wife's, his machine was still largely intact, it was clear it had taken quite the beating with scorch marks all over its body and portions of its armor melted off entirely.
"Why don't you pick on someone else instead!" Su heard Rhode shout even as a barrage of the arcane arrows created by a Sagitta Infernum spell shot towards the Devil and her Nightmare mate that she was using as a mount.
"How plebeian." The Devil said with a mock yawn as with a beat of his wings, the Nightmare teleported them away from the barrage in a burst of flames.
To her surprise, Banagher spun his machine around and fired off a shot of his beam rifle. Spinning to see what he was shooting at, Su was surprised to see his beam slam into a barrier of light as Tanya and Thunderleg materialised. Somehow, the psychic had predicted where the two would rematerialise.
"Your precognition is pesky, you know that, boy?" The Devil shouted, sounding annoyed as suddenly dozens of beams shot out from the barrier she'd created around herself and her mate.
In response, Banagher threw his machine over Audrey's disabled Mobile Suit. Just in time to use it to shield the latter from the deadly barrage Tanya had sent its way and which served what Su deduced was its true purpose, take him out of the fight.
"Ah~! So chivalry isn't dead!" Tanya said with a mocking laugh as she surveyed the battered limbless wreck that she'd reduced the Unicorn Gundam to.
"I love it when you're being sadis-" Thunderleg began only to be cut off when Rhode apparated behind him and before he or his mate could react plunged Spellbound firmly into his back, straight through Tanya.
"Bombarda!" Su heard her wife shout, causing the Nightmare and Devil of the Rhine to be consumed by an explosion that she herself barely escaped with a last second apparition.
"Well, this sucks!" Tanya's dismembered head said as it and her other assorted body parts fell towards the ground amidst the cloud of gold dust that were her mate's remains. "Not only will Thunderleg be pissed about having to reform in Tartarus but now I'll have to get around without him which will be an absolute pain."
"You'll have to worry about more than that, Devil of the Rhine!" Su declared as she had Helel snatch her body parts out of the air. Learning from the last time she and Rhode had fought the psychopath, she knew keeping the body separated and unable to regenerate was their best bet at keeping her incapacitated. "You die for good today."
"Oh really?" The cursed immortal said, cocking her one good eye. Her other eye having been ruined by Rhode's Explosion Charm. "And how do you intend to do that?"
"That's where I come in." A strong yet soft voice declared as walls made out of energy bricks suddenly formed around the inside perimeter of the dome that was already keeping them trapped.
"What?! You blasted whore, what are you doing here!?" Tanya snarled as she turned towards the voice. Su followed her gaze and saw who she recognised as the faded goddess Soteria. And standing behind her seemed to be a group of other faded gods, including what looked like a reluctant Paradigm.
"So she's finally here." Rhode said, breathing a sigh of relief as she walked over though she frowned when she spotted Paradigm. "And she brought Paradigm? Why?"
"I'm here to kill you. You're not safe. All you do is bring danger to everything around you, like a wildfire that won't stop. So you gotta die for everything to be safer." The flighty goddess chirped merrily, as the faded gods spread out around Tanya in a loose circle. "Also, I want to repay the Lilies because they're nice. They let me set up an animal sanctuary around their house that I named after myself and are helping to spread my name and myth far and wide. We're even setting up more sanctuaries together. Over time, I might even reverse my fading!"
"The Lillies!?" Tanya asked, shocked. "Oh, that sneaky daughter of Hermes! She's pointed you at me! And after I gave her a pass last time too! I'm impressed."
She turned to look at the rest of the faded gods and asked. "And the rest of you little bottomfeeders?!"
"Frankly?" Paradigm asked, stepping forward and gesturing to the rest of his compatriots. "We've had enough of living in fear of you. We're barely scraping by as is. Though Soteria's badgering did play a large part in making up our minds."
"You suck!" One of the gods shouted out, glaring at Tanya.
"Thank you, Paeëon." Paradigm nodded before turning back to look at Tanya. "It's just… business. No hard feelings."
"And what are you going to do? Bore me to death? I'll just kill you all when your little attempt today fails and I regenerate!" Tanya snarled as auras of iridescent light that burned away Helel's tendrils formed around her scattered body parts from which tendrils started to reach out in an attempt to reconnect them.
"She's getting free!" Su shouted urgently.
"Not on my watch!" Soteria shouted as she waved a spade in the air and walls of energy interposed themselves between Tanya's body parts, preventing the questing tendrils from touching each other.
"Good work, Soteria." Paradigm said, offering the hard hat and overall wearing goddess a smile that had her rolling her eyes at him.
"Stop trying to be a salesman and do what we came here to do, Paradigm!" One of the other faded gods said in a gravelly growl before his body spontaneously exploded in a shower of gore and a stream of golden essence poured into Tanya's dismembered body.
"Wh-What the hell?!" She gasped, snarling as the various parts of her body began to bulge and otherwise deform as the divine essence entered it.
"Phosphorus... Always so bloody hasty." Paradigm said with a shake of his head even as ignoring him one by one, the other faded gods' stolen bodies exploded like the first did and their essences poured into Tanya's body.
"No! NO! Get out of me! Get out! Get out! Get out!" She screamed as her disconnected body parts became more and more distorted with each new god possessing her until cracks started to appear along her body. Slowly at first but spreading rapidly until they crisscrossed every part of it. "Stop it! It hurts, it hurts so much! STOP it yoU FIlthY FrEAKs!"
The presence of that much raw divinity stuffed into one small body…. Even cursed with nigh immortal regeneration as it was, it was just too much.
And that seemed to be the plan.
"NO!" Tanya screamed out as her good eye literally exploded, letting out a beam of divine light from the ruined socket. It was soon joined by many more that spilled from the multiple and rapidly spreading cracks along her body.
"NOOOOOOOOOOOOO~!" Tanya howled as the light pouring out of her body reached a crescendo and blinded everyone even as it was accompanied by the sound of an explosion.
As the light faded, it revealed golden specters hovering over where Tanya's scattered body parts had previously been.
"Ding dong, the bitch is dead." One of the specters, presumably one of the faded gods, proclaimed and they all roared with whoops and cheers even as they slowly seemed to disappear from view. Presumably returning to wherever faded gods went when they weren't possessing bodies to walk around the mortal plane again.
Su turned to Rhode, happy that at long last the Devil of the Rhine was truly dead. Hopefully. Yet her wife had Spellbound out and advanced on the smug looking Paradigm with deadly intent.
"Can't let you do that, daughter of Poseidon." The hard hat wearing goddess said with a firm shake of her head. "The other faded gods and I will drag him up to Olympus after the Titanomachy and he'll stand trial for what he's done. Faded or not, he is a god. He deserves better than a summary execution."
Su didn't really agree. Not when Paradigm's accursed business had undoubtedly cost the lives of untold numbers of gods and even more mortals over the years. Then again… How was that any different from how most gods operated?
"That's fair," Rhode conceded through gritted teeth.
Further conversation was interrupted when Banagher and Audrey approached them dressed in the spacesuits they insisted on calling Normal Suits which they had worn to pilot their machines and escorted by a squad of their subordinates.
"Well, now that Tanya is dealt with and the Resistance is belly up-"
"What happened to the rest of the Wizards?" Rhode cut them off, asking the male psychic.
Audrey nodded and said assuringly. "Our men are mopping them up as we speak. They shouldn't be much of an issue now."
Both Rhode and Su released a collective sigh of relief. That nonsense was finally over.
Banagher continued, "I sensed Lady Enyo's presence. If we can find wherever Tanya stored her essence and release it, she can still be resurrected."
At the grim statement, Paradigm swaggered up to them, grinning a salesman's smile with those shark-like teeth of his.
"I believe I can help with that."
About an hour later, Rhode and Su sat inside the richly decorated and overly large living room of Lady Enyo's palace which had turned out to really be a mundane mansion like Banagher had said it would be.
"It's actually her vacation palace." Soteria explained having divined her thoughts it seemed as she kept them company along with Audrey whilst Banagher and some of his men accompanied Paradigm as he used the tracking charm he put on all the "essence bottles" he provided Tanya to locate where she had hidden Lady Enyo's captured spirit.
"That explains it." Rhode nodded in understanding. "Though any idea why the time trap thing hasn't fallen yet?"
"It's 'cos it was made by Kronos not Tanya." Soteria said with a frown. "So her being dead doesn't affect it."
"Can't we break it?" Su asked, eyeing the dome of darkness that surrounded the whole area through a window with a frown.
"We'll need a god to do that." Audrey said with a shake of her head. "Only they have the authority to break it."
"I take it that faded gods don't count?" Rhode asked and received a shake of Soteria's head.
"And Lord Thanatos just had to bail on us." She continued with an annoyed sigh.
"Yeah, it's troublesome." Soteria agreed. "It's why we need to resurrect Enyo. She's our ticket out of here."
"I have a question though, what do you mean by authority?" Su asked, looking at Audrey with a frown. "I take it that it's not a question of power?"
"No," Audrey said with a shake of her head. "If it was, if we combine our powers, Banagher, Soteria, Paradigm and I would be able to breach the time dilation field."
"It's about having the right to challenge the alteration to reality that Kronos has imposed by creating the field." Soteria added with a sigh. "I think it's a silly rule but the Overgods say that when it comes to things like this, only someone with sufficient authority like another full god can challenge it. If someone who is not qualified tries, they'll make things difficult and empower whatever they're challenging and make it too powerful to be beaten."
"The Overgods?" Rhode asked with a frown.
"The arbiters of what you call the Ancient Laws." Audrey said, picking up the explanation. "Think of them as the gods of gods in our branch of Creation."
"Okay," Rhode said, trying to wrap her mind over something like that even existing. "But what if for whatever reason we can't resurrect Enyo?"
"Then we'll have to channel our powers through you and your wife, daughter of Poseidon." Paradigm said as he walked in carrying what looked like an innocuous wine bottle with Banagher and a squad of his men trailing behind him. "You half-bloods can challenge anything under the Ancient Laws after all. Though channeling the power to do so will risk reducing you to ash, so that's hardly an ideal solution."
"Thankfully, that's not likely to be necessary." Rhode heard Banagher say to the faded god with a glare as their arrival prompted the women to stand and face them. "Do it, Paradigm."
"Impatient, little mortal." Paradigm said with a roll of his eyes as he handed the bottle to Su. "Break the bottle and release Enyo, daughter of Demeter."
"Why me?" Su asked, blinking in confusion.
"Didn't we just explain that half-bloods can challenge anything? That includes the power of my 'essence bottles'. If we did it, things might be messy but for your kind, the rules are different."
"Oh," Su said, nodding with a slight blush of embarrassment as she tossed the bottle to the ground.
As the bottle shattered into innumerable glass shards, divine energy rushed out of its remains. Wincing, Rhode looked away from the possible divine form as Su did the same.
Once the light died down, the couple turned to see a dusky skinned amazon of a woman, standing tall in a full set of battle scarred Hoplite armor, wielding a large shield and a wicked sharp blade that felt like it was calling for blood.
Her eyes turned to face Rhode and her wife, dark and full of some type of disdain?
"Daughters of Neptune and Ceres, mortals, my faded friends. I, Bellona, greet you and thank you for saving my being from that horrific creature. Know that you have my aid should you pray for it."
As Soteria, Paradigm, Banagher, Audrey and Su all returned the newly resurrected goddess' greeting and thanks, Rhode could only blink for a moment as she registered names she wasn't very familiar with.
Weren't Neptune and Ceres the Roman names for Dad and Demeter?
"I have so many questions right now, but I'm going to ignore them for the time being." Rhode muttered under her breath as she struggled with dealing with the latest curveball the day had chosen to throw at her.
"That's the safe thing to do." Soteria said as she handed Rhode and Su some orange safety vests that she'd just conjured.
The couple politely took them. Because faded or not, it was never a good idea to insult a goddess by rejecting her gifts. Putting hers on, Rhode asked. "Do you think about everything in that way? Is everything safe or not?"
"Are you questioning Soteria's domain, mortal?" Bellona asked, glaring down at Rhode angrily.
"No, no!" Rhode said hastily, her hands up in a placating gesture. "I just want to understand her mindset. I mean, she keeps referring to things in terms of safety and all."
"Well, yeah." The overall wearing goddess cut in with a shrug before Bellona could respond, whilst casually adjusting her hard hat a little self-consciously. "It comes with being the goddess of sanctuaries. If the world isn't safe, it's my job to help it become just a little safer."
A bemused Bellona nodded, "Indeed it is, my fellow goddess. And as your domain is sanctuaries, mine is the destruction of war. Let me show you what that means."
At that, she raised her blade. An action that caused the bloodlust that radiated from it to surge in intensity and a beam of energy to shoot from its tip. It shot out of the nearest window and up into the air where it pierced the dome of darkness that was the time dilation field keeping them trapped and caused it to shatter like glass. Individual glass-like pieces rained down from the sky but faded to dust before they even touched the earth.
Rhode turned to thank the goddess, but paused at seeing how her face had paled. She turned to all of them and declared in a harried, fearful voice. "I must head to Olympus immediately, good luck warriors."
Without waiting for a response, she teleported away in a clap of cannon fire
Nervously, Su turned to Rhode and Rhode took her hand as some fear wormed its way into her heart.
"What's going on?" Her wife asked Soteria, who had a big pouty frown, her hands on her hips.
"Well gosh darn. It looks like-"
Banagher cut her off, coming to them with a worried frown. "You two need to head back to Camp Half-Blood, based on what I am sensing from New York…"
"What are you sensing?" Rhode asked as the psychic trailed off.
It wasn't Banagher who answered though but his wife who came to stand next to him and put a comforting hand on his shoulder. "Rhode, you must hurry. New York City is under siege. The final battle of the Second Titanomachy is about to begin."
Rhode paled and she didn't need to look at Su to know she had too.
"We'll get going right away!" Rhode said as she scrambled to plan the fastest way to make it back to Camp.
Thankfully, she was saved the trouble when the fireplace that dominated Lady Enyo's, or was it Bellona, living room flared to life with green flames. It didn't take a genius to figure out what had happened.
"Su, let's go." Rhode said as she walked towards the Floo connection that Aunt Hestia had created for them.
"Right behind you, Rhode." Su said from her side as together they stepped into the flames that would take them back to Camp and to the final battle of the war with the Titans.
Done and done! Thanks to Nameless as always!
And here we go, a nice big chapter for all of you! I hope you enjoy it. I think this side quest to save Enyo was pretty fun. Got to add more lore to things, like people becoming monsters if they try hard enough or just be their worst selves. Finally putting an end to Tanya (may she rot in her limbo) and just the faded gods group semi-wrapped up for the moment.
Nameless: If you're fans of Tanya and the faded gods, don't worry we still have plans for them. Though it won't be till the book covering the Gigantomachy before you see what we mean.
And that Roman drop for the fun of it with Bellona. Man, Rhode really gets along with the war gods and goddesses, huh? Well, maybe not Athena too much, but their mutual care for Annabeth doesn't lead them to be hostile or more Athena hating on Rhode due to being Poseidon's daughter. Along with being the bearer of Pallas' armor.
You know what to do! Smash that review button and tell us what you love! No flames and peace off my peeps!