Heyo lads! Seems I disappeared a bit. That's fine though, everyone needs a break hm? Sometimes you just need to take a step back. Also been thinking of doing a My Hero fic, but I won't even consider it until I finish Homecoming. Need an open slot in my shitty schedule, you know?
Enjoy!
Elise could do nothing but watch as Katsuchi wandered backwards, standing beside Tetsu as Hephaestus recovered from the surprise assault.
"I-I don't understand..." She murmured weakly as Azzie helped her to her feet, giving her a shoulder to lean on seeing as her knee was broken. The only real changes she could visibly discern was that both Katsuchi and Azzie had cut their hair short, Azzie's barely gracing her shoulders whereas Katsuchi's was shorter than Tetsu's mangy mess. "W-Why are you guys here?"
"Is that really that important right now?" Katsuchi asked, cracking his neck. "We're here, and we got here just in time."
"Yeah, kinda!" Elise replied. "This is a war zone! I want to know why you guys just showed up!"
"It's kinda hard to explain," Azzie said. Elise looked over at the girl, watching her confused gaze. "We'll have to tell you about it later."
"Or do it now!"
"No time, shorty" Tetsu replied, watching Hephaestus as he recovered from the surprise attack. "Point is, we're here now. Surprise!"
"And what do we find when we get here?" Katsuchi asked with a grin. "Our old friends The Olympians messing with our friends. Can't have that can we?"
"The Devil Advocate defectors," Hephaestus said, having finally rejoined them. The mans clothes looked scorched from Katsuchi's attack, and his metal eye zoomed in and out as he evaluated the arena quietly. "Even Artemis has been having a hard time finding you lot, your hiding skills are impressive. Why have you decided to resurface now of all times?"
"Do you need an answer?" Tetsu demanded. Hephaestus scoffed.
"Not really, no." He replied. "I know how you young folk operate, what with your friendship is magic routine."
"Could you sound anymore curmudgeonly?" Azzie muttered under her breath. "It's not some newfangled device you can't work out..."
"I don't need children telling me how to live my life," Hephaestus said. "I am impressed, though. Athena did not place much faith in you all showing up. What did she say again? 2% chance? Hm, small enough she didn't make a contingency plan. That being said, you three alone are not enough to ruin our plan completely."
"Guess we'll have to see about that," Katsuchi said. "Azzie, get Elise out of here."
"Got it," Azzie replied, Elise nearly stunned into silence.
"Hah?!" She demanded, anger growing. "Don't tell me what to do! I need to protect Luna, or else he'll take her!"
"I assume you mean the Nashi look alike over there," Tetsu said, gesturing to the transport waiting patiently off to their left. "I don't know what's going on or why you called her Luna, but take her too."
"How am I supposed to take both of them?" Azzie demanded, sounding irritated. Tetsu laughed.
"Just take the transport," he replied. "Don't worry, we'll keep the goblin over here distracted?"
"Did you think I would just allow you to take my mark and wander off?" Hephaestus asked as he raised his hammer. "You won't be stepping near this transport as long as I-!"
"FIRE GOD KAGUTSUCHI!" With a shout to accompany his attack, a massive black fireball roared forth from Katsuchi's hands, consuming the forest around them as it barrelled towards Hephaestus. The man was consumed completely by the flames as it erupted around him.
"Go!" Tetsu shouted, arms turning into katanas. "Grandpa is ours!" Elise jumped in surprise as Azzie scooped her up in her arms and ran for the transport, throwing her aboard without any warning.
"Azzie!" Elise shouted as the girl ran her hands across the transport control board, making it rev up and speed away through the forest. "Go back! He's an Olympian, don't you understand how much trouble they're in?!"
"I think you misunderstand, Elise-sama." Azzie said with a smile. It was a brave, confident one, and it confused Elise. "Do you know what Hephaestus is?"
"An enemy?!"
"Wrong, he's the The Forge God," With this, Azzie looked over her shoulder as the transport sped away. "Which means we left The Fire and Iron God Slayers right with their natural prey."
"Yeah, funny." Elise replied, stomach not settling in the slightest. "Now, how about you tell me what you guys are doing here?" Azzie nodded.
"Of course," she said. "Although, I'm more interested in why Nashi-sama is suddenly alive again. Care to explain that to me?"
Katsuchi watched as the transport sped away, Elise no doubt complaining the whole way.
"You got any idea what's going on around here?" Tetsu asked from his right. Katsuchi just laughed.
"Not a fucking clue," he replied earnestly. "You?"
"No, I almost choked seeing Nashi alive over there." Yes, that had been quiet the surprise. As far as Katsuchi knew his old pink friend had died a year ago, yet here she was. "So safe to say I'm confused as hell."
"We'll make sure to ask later," He said as he turned his attention back to his dying fireball. The flames had died down enough inside he could see the man he'd targeted still standing, and it turned his stomach. "You ready?"
"Damn right I am," Tetsu replied. The flames finally licked away, and Hephaestus regarded them coldly.
"I suppose I will need to dispose of you two to follow my mark?" He asked. Tetsu nodded.
"Damn right you will," he said. "So put up your dukes, pudgy. It's time we taught you a lesson." Hephaestus just sighed at this, clearly growing irritated.
"Children really are a damn annoyance," he hissed, readying his hammer. "I'll make sure you die a swift death." At this, the battlefield silenced itself, all three readying themselves for the upcoming battle. For a moment or two none spoke, all making sure they were ready.
And it a moment, the battle erupted.
Katsuchi and Tetsu surged forth together, flames around his own hands and Tetsu's turned into blades. Together they launched a full scale assault on Hephaestus, forcing the man onto the heavy defensive. He had to busy himself blocking Tetsu's swords with his hammer, leaving his free hand to deal with Katsuchi on his own. With every punch Katsuchi could feel Hephaestus being forced back, obviously more focused on defending from the sword. Jumping backwards, Katsuchi brought his hands together and shot fireballs at the battling duo, doing his best not to hit Tetsu. The blasts mostly missed or were swatted away, but at the most it made him a nuisance for Hephaestus to deal with. Tetsu backed up a bit and changed his arms into clubs, slamming one of them into Hephaestus' head. The man stumbled backwards from the attack, and Tetsu chuckled.
"Get ready Kat!" He shouted. "We're gonna make sure this old bastard doesn't hurt anyone else!" Ignoring the use of his annoying nickname, Katsuchi watched as Tetsu drove his other club into Hephaestus' chin, making the man fly high into the air. Smiling, he took his stance and called upon his magic.
"Fire God Scythe!" The flames morphed into the weapon as he launched himself into the air. Raising it high above his head, he swung the weapon down across Hephaestus' chest, making the ma cry out in pain as the weapon lacerated his chest, leaving a painful looking burn mark where he'd been struck. Katsuchi wasn't done, though. Using his remaining momentum, He flipped himself upside down for another attack.
"Fire God's Overload!" With this cry, Katsuchi spun on his hands and used his feet to deliver repetitive hits to his enemy, using both his momentum and fire to boost his strength. Every hit got harder than the one before it, the final forcing Hephaestus back into a tree, which cracked and fell over. Tetsu didn't give him any time to recover, using his arms - which had turned into maces - to wrapped the man up in the chains and hold him in place for Katsuchi, who was powering his magic up once again.
Despite this, Hephaestus looked relatively calm.
"You know, I think Zeus would have forgiven you guys for betraying us if you had joined our side in this fight instead," he said as Katsuchi prepared himself. "After all, you only exist to serve us."
"Join you?" Katsuchi asked. "That implies we ever worked for you to begin with."
"Hm?" Hephaestus asked. Katsuchi laughed as as he brought his hands together in a circle motion, flames raging to be freed.
"We never worked for you morons, not willingly anyway." He said as the flames grew harder to control. "And they freed us, gave us the chance to live our lives the way we want too. If you think, for even a moment, I'd throw away the chance that they gave me, you're insane! Tetsu!"
Tetsu nodded and strengthened his hold on Hephaestus, making the man flinch in pain.
"The only way you're going to get us back is if you kill us and bring us back!" Tetsu said with a smirk. "So shut up and fight back, you old codger! Hit him Kat!"
"Fire God's Spiral Typhoon!"
Simon paused amidst a sword lock with Ares as an explosion burned the back of his neck. He didn't dare look back to see what had happened, but he saw Ares' eyes widen.
"Black fire?" The man asked. "No, Athena said there was no way..."
"Anyone you know use black fire Scarlet?!" Nami called off to the side, having been hit away earlier by a shield bash. Simon smiled at this.
"Only one," he replied.
"A dream?" Elise asked. Azzie nodded at this, looking just as confused as Elise felt.
"Yeah," she said. "It happened about a week or so ago. Came out of nowhere. I was standing in a misty field, like a graveyard or something, and a man came to me. He said that I needed to make my way to Magnolia, and that you guys were going to need my help. I don't know who he is or what he was thinking coming to me, but he clearly wasn't wrong." Elise frowned at this, ignoring her motion sickness to the best of her ability to try and think this through.
"And the guys both had this dream too?" She asked. Azzie nodded.
"That's how we knew something was up," she replied. "All of us had the same dream, on the same night. It was frame for frame the exact same." That stuck out as odd for sure. Elise knew that if she and the others had some sort of dream like that, they too would seek out answers as quick as possible. It just so happened that seeking out answers for Azzie and the guys resulted in them coming all the way to Magnolia.
"Well, you're here now." she said. "Do you really think Katsuchi and Tetsu can handle Hephaestus?" Azzie just smiled at this, looking back towards where they'd driven away from.
"I do," she said. "I know you underestimate them because you've beaten them, but neither of them are pushovers. Especially now that their fighting for something they care about."
Katsuchi watched as his flames continued to swirl around the forest, consuming all of the flora that was too close to it.
"Do you think we got him already?" Tetsu asked. Katsuchi only scoffed in response.
"If that was all The Olympians could muster we could have fought them off when we were ten," he replied coldly. "Prepare yourself, he's just taking his sweet time." Tetsu didn't seem pleased with this order, but nodded and raised his arms in preparation. Just as he did so, the sound of gears grinding could be heard from within the flames.
"I tried to warn you," Hephaestus' voice came from inside the fire. "I tried to tell you this was a bad idea, but of course children don't listen when their beliefs are challenged." The flames dispersed in a mighty gale of wind, one Katsuchi wasn't aware Hephaestus was capable of making. Once the gale was stopped, he looked back up towards his opponent, only to find quite a sight before him.
Hephaestus was in the middle of... changing.
His legs folded out from his shins, armour and metal being winded forward with gears inside his own flesh. His arms also grew in length and girth, growing to three times their previous size and his right gripped the hammer he used prior tightly. His chest opened and expanded into a set of steel that glistened in the afterglow of the flames, and his head had been encased in metal as well, the only eye that was relieved being his metal one. The previously short man now towered over them at at least nine feet tall, glaring them down like someone would an insect. All in all, it made Katsuchi sick to his stomach.
"Are you even human?" He demanded as he watched the process continue.
"Perhaps I was, once." Hephaestus replied, voice more autonomous than before. It gave Katsuchi chills. "But it is so difficult to find willing participants for my experiments. Kronos was a good test subject for me to see if I could cause the human body to run on modification alone. Turns out you only need so many parts of you to function in an organic matter. Who knew?"
"He's their blacksmith," Tetsu said from beside Katsuchi. "More like mad scientist. What the hell is this?"
"The others were not willing to go through with my changes," Hephaestus said as he reared back and prepared his hammer. "If they did, perhaps this battle would turn out differently. Or perhaps they only allowed this because of my inefficiency in combat. Either way, my preparations are complete. Would you like to try again, Devil Advocate turncoats?"
"Don't get spooked," Katsuchi said as he forced a grin onto his face. He coated his fists in flames and brought them up, glaring right at Hephaestus' metal eye. "No matter what he says, he's still just human. Let me ask you something, Hephaestus. Why would you reveal just a pitiful trump card against people like us?"
"Like you?" Hephaestus asked. Katsuchi just smirked, his whole body engulfing in flames now.
"You all had us trained in God Slayer Magic," he said. "The highest tier Slayer magic known to man. Do you really think your pitiful steel can withstand my flames? Tetsu's strikes? No matter where you took that name from, you're still mortal. And you'll be defeated as easily as one too!"
Hephaestus only laughed as Tetsu too readied himself, coating his entire body in a dark layer of iron.
"Then come, God Slayers," he said. "Let us see who is more deserving of their divine title."
"Another foolish advance!" Ares shouted, knocking Simon back with his shield. He attempted to get himself out of the way fast enough, but Ares was still able to nick his leg as he used Meteor to get out of his way in time. Simon came back again, swinging both his swords directly for the mans throat. At the same time Nami came at him from behind, bringing her sheathed blade down on top of him as well.
The way Ares moved as almost inhuman. He moved quickly to parry Simon's strikes with his own singular blade, causing them to get caught at an odd angle that prevented him from moving away quickly. Without even looking Ares aimed backwards and used his shield to block Nami's attack as well, causing her to rebound off of it with a painful gasp, probably due to the hilt of her blade vibrating from the block in her hands. In once swift movement Simon was thrust backwards and had to block the downward swing Ares tried to kill him with. He tripped over his own feet while doing so and fell to the ground, still blocking the attack.
"Simon!" Nami shouted, glowing white. Ares was hoisted off of him as his gravity shifted, left to float around. Simon growled and kicked the man, making him fly upwards. "You okay?" Nami asked as she ran towards him.
"Yeah, I'm fine." He replied. "Maybe we should have done that- lookout!" Simon pushed Nami to the ground, which made the shield that Ares had dropped miss her head. This caused the girls concentration to break, and Ares was allowed back down to the ground. He didn't waste time as he fell, aiming right for Simon with his blade. The angle was awkward and Simon's hands already hurt, which made his only option evasion. He rolled out of the mans way as he hit the ground, which kicked up a dust cloud into his face. Coughing, Simon tried to get back to his feet as quickly as possible. Sadly, it wasn't fast enough.
A large object, probably Ares' shield, was driven into his forehead. Black spots appeared in his vision as he hit the dirt again, moaning from the strike. With his vision blurry and unstable, he did his best to raise his blades from his position on the ground as Ares approached him.
"Two on one isn't a big enough advantage, kiddies," He said, panting. Simon had already taken notice of the mans fatigue, and through his own possible concussion he tried to think.
Ares had been one of The Olympians attacking Rocky, it was clear to see. He was the only one of them who already looked beaten to hell and back, chips in his armour, and blood on his face. Rocky had gotten him good with whatever he had done, and it showed. Simon had figured that meant this battle would be easy, but it wasn't. Ares' skill with his sword and shield was unlike anything Simon had ever had to face before. He seamlessly switched from one to the other, complimenting his swings with bashes or the other way around. He managed to fight both himself and Nami off no matter how they approached him, and even when they got him with Nami's gravity change he somehow found a way down again, succeeding in breaking her concentration no matter how it happened.
"Get away from me," Simon hissed as he fought off the pounding in his head. Ares just laughed.
"You just don't get it, kid." He said. "I didn't start this, you did. We could have just taken the girl and left, but you didn't let us. Now look where we are."
"I'll never let you have her!" Simon shouted, trying to sound defiant. Instead he just sounded pitiful. "I'll die before I let her go!" Ares just smirked at this and raised his blade.
"Fine," he said. "Die, then."
"Don't you even!" Ares just smirked as Nami shouted this, emerging from the dust cloud, sword raised.
"Classic battle tactic!" He shouted as he whirled, blocking her strike. "Try to strike when your opponent is killing another! You're too easy to goad, kid!"
"Did you really think I was that obtuse?" Nami asked with a smirk, blade shaking against Ares'. "Better watch out, I'm a wildcard!" With this Nami glowed, and a boulder surged forth from the dust, it's field of gravity altered. It soared for Ares, who watched it with mild annoyance.
"Great," he muttered. "I've got a loudmouth and a proud warrior type. Fuck me." He raised his shield and easily shattered the boulder, and it flew into every direction as it broke. Nami used this to her advantage, though. She used her magic on the shield, and it dropped like a rock as it's weight increased. Ares went with it, falling to one knee in surprise. With this Nami kept him there, smirking.
"Gotcha," she said as she raised her blade, still sheathed. "Just try getting up, you're about as heavy as an elephant right now." Ares just glared at her angrily, unable to move from the position she'd left him in. Nami unsheathed her sword, causing the light to refract off the dark black menacingly.
Simon couldn't recall any time in specific she'd unsheathed her blade, but maybe that was because his head still hurt like hell.
"Sorry guy," Nami said as she threw her blade up and caught it, preparing to run Ares through from head to toe with it. "I guess we kiddies got the better of you. Sorry!" And with this, she surged the blade downward, changing it's own gravity as it went to deepen the strike.
A shockwave threw Simon back onto his back, worsening his headache ever so slightly. Groaning, he sat back up and tried to focus his eyes on the situation. After he did, he really wished he hadn't.
Ares had reached forth and grabbed Nami's blade by it's, well, blade. He had resisted her gravity change and grabbed it, shocking both Simon and Nami enough to silence them.
"Did you now?" Ares asked, glaring up at Nami triumphantly as her concentration once again broke. "Because from my perspective, I just haven't tried hard enough yet. I'm one of the strongest warriors in the Pergrande Kingdom. I travelled up and down it's shores to find opponents worthy of my skills. One by one they fell, and I grew stronger. I'm sure you're wondering, what magic am I using to do this?" Ares smirked and got in Nami's face, who both looked too scared and stunned to say a word.
"Nami get away from him!" Simon shouted as he tried to get up, failing to do so and falling to the ground again.
"I use what's call Warrior's Vitality," Ares said. "More of a technique than it is a full class of magic. By amplifying my body's intake of Ether particles I can enhance my body's strength, speed, vitality... All of it. No warrior in Pergrande was able to defeat me, and a couple of kids from some backwater kingdom like Fiore won't either!"
With this, Ares ripped Nami's sword from her hands, tossing it aside with his newfound strength.
"Be glad, Nami Mikazuchi!" He shouted with a wild grin. "You fought valiantly against Ares, The God of War! But despite this, I don't think you worthy to carry that blade you have! So I shan't let you any longer!"
Simon could do no more than watch as Ares swung his blade down, separating Nami's sword hand from it's arm. The severed appendage dropped to the ground with a quiet thud, making Simon's head spin. Nami stared at her stump in amazement, growing pale in the face as one would. Ares laughed and kicked her aside, causing her to hit the dirt hard. With this, he turned back to Simon.
"Now then," he said. "Shall we continue our play date, Simon Scarlet?"
Damn I really do treat my characters like shit, don't I? I'm fucked up man. But another chapter logged in for the story! Now I'm sure I've said this for other arcs, but I'm not going to try and drag these fights out too long. Because then I end up with arcs like The End of The World, where the whole arc felt like a One Piece fight. So, this next chapter name might be a bit of a spoiler. But eh, what can you do! I hope you all enjoyed, leave a review! Let's try and get five!
Chapter 321: Advent of Heaven