Chapter 4: Daughter of the Night
While the humans celebrated Charles-Henri landing a decisive blow in the fight, the Gods were much less enthusiastic. Many of them began to rage, upset at Nemesis for failing to block such an obvious attack or at the human for daring to be so cocky as to make a declaration like that. One small group of Gods, no more than four in number, were being particularly disruptive about it.
"I knew we shouldn't have trusted any of this to her!"
"Who cares if she's some great assassin or whatever, send out a real warrior! Where's Thor or Mars when you need them?"
This small group of minor Gods continued to argue and rabble-rouse, until a lone God approached them in the stands. He was tall and slender, skin the color of porcelain and wearing simple black robes. The bags under his amber eyes were so severe one might be forgiven for thinking he had never slept before in his life. All he did was bring a finger to his mouth to shush them, and the furious Gods in the audience collapsed to the ground.
As their snores filled the air, the God smirked to himself, turning back to call down the flight of steps and seats to some unseen group. Hypnos, the God of Sleep, called out to his unseen companions. "These guys decided to be gentlemen and gave us their seats…Just step around the bodies, if you will."
A small throng of Gods appeared, each sharing the same trademark amber eyes and porcelain skin as Nemesis and the sleep-deprived God before them.
The first to speak was gray-haired, wearing a black hooded toga and having a scythe hanging from his back. "Nicely done, Hypnos."
"Why are we here? If she wanted to see us, she would have invited us or even told us anything about this stupid fight!" The next God who spoke was short in stature, like a teenage boy with messy black bangs that covered his eyes. His robes were more loose-fitting than the rest, almost as if they were a size too big.
"Don't be such a downer, Moros. In times like these, she needs her brothers to support her," said Hypnos, though he frowned at the scythe-wielder as he said it. "Gods above, I'm starting to sound like you, Thanatos."
Thanatos only gave a satisfied smile in response, looking down at the fight. Nemesis had just gone down to the force of Sanson's sword swing, but Thanatos seemed unconcerned.
"This is our first time seeing you fight, sister. So show us what about this job was so great that you had to abandon your own flesh and blood to become Jupiter's attack dog," Thanatos said grimly, his smile fading fast.
Charles-Henri remained where he stood, wondering if he should go for a quick kill shot now that he had her on the ground. It was best to end her suffering quickly, he figured, but his muscles all screamed in pain at the amount of energy he had been exerting thus far.
And then suddenly, he felt a searing stabbing pain in his left leg, as if something had pierced the skin. He leaped back, stumbling slightly as he felt the blood spatter from his fresh wound. Where he once stood, he could see a black clawed hand reaching out, blood dripping from its talons. Nemesis' form looked unstable, like bits of her were fading into darkness and struggling to reconstruct themselves. The gloved hand that had been covered by her cape thus far was out and the glove removed, revealing a shadowy claw that had sought purchase in Charles-Henri's leg not five seconds prior.
Nemesis slowly rose to her feet, ripping the cape off in frustration and throwing it to the ground where it lay next to the scraps of Charles-Henri's overcoat. Her form had solidified much more now, but that left arm remained a single shadowy claw.
"Will you just shut up? I think I preferred it when you were playing the mute stoic, action hero doesn't suit you," Nemesis scowled, flicking her left hand to spatter the blood from it across the ground. Now that they had a better look at her, her originally pristine face and body were now covered in several bruises, welts, and scuff marks from the force of the Peine Forte Et Dure attack. Blood from a broken nose and split lip marred her otherwise perfect face.
"You prattle on about protection and justice and punishment and duty, but you don't know a thing about any of it. I sacrificed everything to be where I am now, and you expect me to feel bad for you because you couldn't go to school with the other boys and girls? That you're something special because you had an excuse to kill people?" Nemesis asked mockingly, spitting on the ground in disgust. "Don't make me laugh! Just another pampered brat whining! I offered you a swift, painless death with Adraestia, and you spat in my face for it."
Nemesis picked up the whip that had fallen from her hands in the moments after Charles-Henri's latest attack. One hand manifesting into a foul, shadowy claw, and the other holding her razor-sharp whip. The look on her face almost resembled a snarling wolf, ready to pounce.
"Hard to imagine that this is the same little girl we grew up with," Hypnos mused. "I guess what they said about her being some kind of vicious killer now is true. Maybe it's for the best that mom and dad aren't here to see this."
"What did she go through after she left us, to end up like this?" Moros mumbled.
"I…have something of an idea. But I swore to her, and to our parents that we would never speak of it again." Thanatos sighed, looking downwards. "But if there was ever a time to let it be known, then I suppose now would be the time."
The Heavens - Centuries Ago
Long ago, before the Ragnarök and before even the forming of the Divine Constitution, two ancient Gods met and fell in love. One, the Goddess of the Night, and the other the God of Darkness itself. Their courting was short, and the two settled down in the farthest corners of creation, away from the then-growing influence of Jupiter.
As with many relationships, the two eventually began to create a family. They had many sons: Thanatos, Moros, Hypnos, Aether. But things changed when they finally received their first daughter, a pale little thing that they named Rhamnousia.
Rhamnousia was a small, delicate looking Goddess, despite looking old enough to be a teenager. Pale porcelain skin and black hair that covered one of her bright amber eyes. She almost looked more like a doll than a deity. She sat in a field in Heaven, waiting while her parents were off having a meeting with Jupiter. She didn't know nor did she care about what that meeting was about, she was focused only on what she could see from this spot in the gardens. This hill was just perfect to give someone a look down at the realm of humans, far down below.
While her brothers played or worked, she spent her days watching the humans from afar, fascinated by them and wondering what life was like down there amongst them. Communication between Gods and humans was limited to only the most important of topics, especially for a God as young and inexperienced as Rhamnousia. Only those with important jobs or good reason were ever allowed to step down into the World of Man.
"Watching your silly little humans, again?" called out the voice of Thanatos, sitting beside his sister.
"It's not silly!" Rhamnousia retorted, pouting slightly. "They're fun. I like watching them live their lives. It's so short, but they do so much, I never know what to expect from them!"
"You're still such a child," Thanatos chuckled to himself, leaning back on his hands and looking up at the sky. "Be careful with talk like that, the other Gods might think you're some kind of weirdo or something. If they don't already."
A pale, scrawny elbow found its way into Thanatos' ribs, the spirit of death faking injury from it.
"You go down there for work, right? What's it really like down there, with the humans?"
"I envy you, ya know. You still look at those humans with such childlike wonder," Thanatos said somberly, ignoring the question.
"Huh?"
"My job is to find those that are dying and guide them to their resting place in the afterlife. I only see them when they're hurting, when they're suffering. Sometimes I get there early enough to see who or what caused those deaths. Sometimes they try to argue or explain themselves because they don't like where I was told to take them," Thanatos explained, looking at the ground. "Humans may look fun from afar, but they are a messy, imperfect lot. There's a reason so many Gods keep their distance from them. I think you'd be better off doing the same."
"You're wrong! I haven't seen any of that at all," Rhamnousia shot to her feet, panic entering her voice for a moment. "They're not perfect, sure, but they're just trying their best. They can change, I know it!"
A new voice entered the debate before Thanatos could respond, a deep chuckle. Three new arrivals appeared, catching the attention of the two children of the night. One was Jupiter, younger and in the militaristic attire that many of his pantheon also wore. Beside him were Nyx and Erebus.
Nyx was a humanoid woman, though her body lacked proper skin and was instead an inky black void, marked across her body with several small stars. If you looked into her being for long enough, it began to look like galaxies and universes within. Her black hair went down to her waist, tied into multiple elaborate braids. Her purple robes and various rings and jewelry pieces stood out brightly against the void that was her body.
Erebus, on the other hand, was just as pale as his children, though his eyes and mouth were replaced by deep black voids. Perfectly coiffed white hair almost blended into his flesh, though most attention went straight to the black robes he wore, another point of contrast against the God's chalk-like body.
"Your children sure are spirited, aren't they?" Jupiter noted. None of them were quite sure if that was meant to be a compliment or not.
"Rhamnousia, Thanatos, show some decorum, please," Nyx sighed.
"Hello, Lord Jupiter," the siblings said in unison.
"So polite, but we can skip the formalities," Jupiter laughed to himself. "I understand you have a bit of a fascination with those silly little humans we govern over?"
Rhamnousia bit her tongue but nodded along.
"It's best to put whatever thoughts you have about them far out of your head, little girl," Jupiter said sternly, the sudden shift in demeanor sending a chill down Rhamnousia's spine. "We're Gods, girl, there is nothing about them that should interest us or move us. Your brother has the right idea of it."
"But-"
"There are no but's!" Jupiter snarled. Nyx raised an eyebrow at this, and Jupiter instead cleared his throat and regained his composure. "Whatever thoughts you might have about humanity, cast them aside. Nothing good comes from Gods and mortals mingling needlessly. I came down here considering finding a placement for you, a job like the one your brother has taken on, but it's clear to me that you just aren't mature enough for such a responsibility. You don't know the true nature of the mortals yet."
With that, Jupiter turned on his heel and walked off, leaving the dark deities to sort the situation out for themselves.
"Jupiter is…harsh, but his words aren't entirely without merit," Nyx said soothingly, closing the distance and reaching out to comfort her daughter. "We represent darkness, death, the night…things that humans fear and avoid. Even other Gods tend to keep their distance from us. It's only natural that we, more so than any others, keep our distance from the World of Man."
"You're wrong!" Rhamnousia finally got the words out, stepping out of reach of her mother. "Humans only exist because we made them, so even if they are as bad as you all say, isn't it our job to help them?"
Nyx sighed. "You're still just a child, sweet girl. You'll see one of these days."
Rhamnousia felt as if she had been punched in the gut, expecting her family to at least understand her fascination with the humans. But instead, they were siding with that creep Jupiter. Rhamnousia shrunk down, unwilling to argue or fight with them. For a time, she stopped obsessing over the humans, dropped her habit of watching them from afar for just long enough that her family thought that the problem had fixed itself, that Rhamnousia had given up on dreams of communing with mankind.
Rhamnousia sneaked from the Gods' temple on Mount Olympus. While not their usual home, they had come because Nyx had some particular business with Jupiter. Now was the closest she would ever be to the gateway that led to the World of Man, and her only chance to do what she had been planning for months.
Draped in a black cloak and hood, she crept down the countryside and found herself at the door. She felt a lump in her throat, suddenly nervous about what this meant.
"You stupid girl, are you trying to be exiled?" the voice of Thanatos pulled her out of her thoughts, the psychopomp glaring at his sister.
"Thanatos, what are-" she was interrupted by her brother's voice once again.
"Just because Hypnos is too busy lazing around and Moros is too young to notice doesn't mean all of us are so blind. Mom and dad probably figured out about your little scheme by now, too," Thanatos sighed, crossing his arms. "You're so desperate to be different and prove yourself right that you're willing to illegally cross between worlds. What do you think Jupiter will do when he finds out what you've done?"
"...I have to try and do something," Rhamnousia mumbled in her defense. "Aren't we supposed to be guiding humanity? How are we supposed to help them if we just keep our distance from them like this? We hardly know anything about them anymore."
"You naive little-" Thanatos interrupted himself this time, groaning in frustration as he face-palmed. "You're just gonna try this again and again until someone stops you…You know I can't turn you in, I don't know what Jupiter will try to do and I don't want to be part of it."
Thanatos turned his back on his sister, beginning the trek back to their home. Rhamnousia stuttered out her thanks, and the death spirit paused, looking back over his shoulder at her.
"I just hope you know what you're doing, baby sister. This will probably be our last time seeing each other, but-" Thanatos paused, struggling to find the words. "Nevermind. Take care of yourself, Rhamnousia. I'll do what I can to help the others understand."
With that, Rhamnousia watched her brother ascend the hill and retreat into the darkness of the night. Suddenly emboldened by her brother's submission, the Goddess with no title turned on her heel and charged into the gateway, sending herself into her new life.
Rhamnousia wandered the Earth for some time, with no sign of the Heavens coming after her. Whether her brother had upheld his word and tried to keep the heat off of her, or if they simply decided that they did not care, she was unsure. But it was too late to look back, as she now had little choice but to continue wandering among mankind.
Eventually, she made her way into Sparta, a land of soldiers and warfare that had earned the attention of the Gods on more than one occasion. For now, the people of Sparta were enjoying a rare time of peace, though plenty of rumors about a war against the people of Persia still weighed greatly on their minds. But for now, the people of Sparta were content to simply train for the next inevitable conflict while living their lives.
Bundled in her rather plain black cloak, Rhamnousia wandered the streets of Sparta, captivated by its people. Larger than life warrior men roaming the streets, acting as guards for its people while the women and children of the city went about their daily lives.
As she wandered through the streets of Sparta, she eventually stumbled upon a disturbing scene. A Spartan boy, no older than 12, on his hands and knees, bloodied and beaten as a much older guardsman struck at him with a whip. Some citizens stayed to watch, with looks ranging from vague disinterest to outright disgust with the boy's presence.
"I didn't mean to-" the boy pleaded, cut off by the sound of a cracking whip and a bloodcurdling scream. Another lash had struck the boy, cutting him off.
"Shut up, little street rat!" the guard roared, preparing another strike. "You know what the price is for being caught stealing, take your beating like a Spartan should!"
Rhamnousia's body moved on its own, pushing her way through the crowd with relative ease despite her slight frame, placing herself between the two individuals.
"That's enough! The boy is remorseful, what's the point in beating on him like this?" she called out.
The guard snorted. "Out of the way, little missy. The boy's punishment is almost done."
"I'd say it looks pretty done now!" she retorted. "Some brave soldier you are, beating up on a child like this!"
The guard's face twitched in anger, some of the gathered individuals daring even to chuckle.
"You uppity little bitch!" the guard roared, sending the whip out at Rhamnousia.
She flinched ever so slightly, instinctively waiting for the whip to make contact with her. But rather than a stinging pain or the feeling of leaking blood, the moment of impact never quite came to be. As the whip made contact with her face, the cords within it shattered and exploded. Pieces of the whip's cord now lay scattered on the ground around her, stunning the crowd into silence.
"How the fuck did that happen?" the guard demanded, though his answer never quite came.
"What is the meaning of all this racket?" a booming, authoritative voice cut through the air.
Flanked by guards on either side, another muscular man waded through the crowd. Those that had gathered either knelt in reverence or made themselves scarce, not wanting to be seen as part of this incident any longer. The man had a tangled mess of black curls for hair, and a thick beard. Scars littered his chest, barely covered by the red tunic and cloak he wore.
"King Tyndareus!" the initial guard stammered out, though he was interrupted from making any gestures or movements as Tyndareus simply raised his hand as a silent signal.
"This man was torturing this poor boy!" Rhamnousia insisted.
"My king, the boy was caught stealing food," the original guard pleaded.
Tyndareus sighed, pondering for a moment what he was going to do. "Send the boy on his way, I think this embarrassment is punishment enough."
The guard seemed as if he wanted to resist, but relented without a word. The boy scrambled to his feet and began to make a break for it, rushing past all in attendance.
"What of the girl, your highness? She interfered in matters of the state-" the guard started rambling, desperate to save face.
"You dull boy, you think your whip would shatter like that against any mere girl? Do not concern yourself with her, leave us." Tyndareus sighed, looking from his confused underling to Rhamnousia. "If you would, my lady, come with me. I have many ways to explain to you, I think."
The guard, dumbfounded, looked first from his King to Rhamnousia, a smug cat-like grin forming on the young Goddess' face. Deciding it best not to pick this particular fight, the guard gathered himself up and sped-walked down a street, leaving Rhamnousia in the presence of King Tyndareus and his guards.
"Come with me to my home, I will answer whatever questions you might have about our land," he said, a surprisingly gentle tone to his voice as he and his entourage turned towards the direction of his home, a massive stone building that could be faintly seen in the distance of the city. "Worry not, you're in no trouble, you're to be an honored guest. I doubt much we could do would harm you, even if we wanted to."
Rhamnousia swallowed nervously at the implication. In her time wandering the World of Man, she hadn't been recognized for what she really was even a single time, and here this King was implying that he knew she was no mere mortal. She quickly realized she had little choice but to take the man up on his hospitality, lest she cause some kind of greater incident.
Rhamnousia soon found herself on the grounds of Tyndareus' palace, wandering through the hallways and looking out at the view offered to them. A massive stone building atop the largest hill, Tyndareus and his guest would have a view of the entire city as it laid around them.
"Apologies for the lack of decorum, I didn't even think to ask for your name," Tyndareus said, taking one knee and kneeling. 'It's not every day we get a visit from a Goddess."
Rhamnousia's eyes went wide and she began to stammer out some kind of rebuttal or defense, but Tyndareus could only chuckle.
"Apologies again, but as soon as that weapon broke against you it was pretty clear. Besides, the way you carry yourself is definitely not that of your typical Athenian," he said, looking up at her. Even the kneeling seemed to have been done in slightly mocking good fun. "It isn't the first time one of your kind has graced our city with their presence, though usually their presentation is a little bit different."
The Gods had taken notice of Sparta and its people multiple times in the past, she remembered, so it wasn't an impossible line of logic. She quickly gestured for him to rise, and the man returned to his towering height over her.
"My name is Rhamnousia, daughter of Nyx and Erebus. I...Don't really have a title or anything like that yet, I'm just me," she said forlornly.
"A daughter of the night, eh? Well, titles and names aren't all they're cracked up to be," Tyndareus said soothingly. "I wasn't King of Sparta my entire life, you know, and in some ways I think I was even happier without it."
"So why take that kind of role, then?" Rhamnousia asked, looking up at the human king.
"My brother took the throne at first, but he was mad with rage and greed. It's a long story, but the Gods sent a hero down to stop him. When all was said and done, that hero offered to let me take the throne. I had seen how my people had suffered, and knew that it was my duty to make sure that didn't happen again during my lifetime."
Rhamnousia was captivated by his words. So many of the other Gods had talked of their duty, but spoke of it like a burden, as if they were chained to some massive weight through everything they did in life. But Tyndareus' eyes lit up in a way she had not seen from anyone else in the Heavens thus far.
"So what is going to be done about what happened down in the town square, then?" Rhamnousia asked, thinking back to the rather public display of whipping she had interfered with.
Tyndareus closed his eyes, sighing slightly. "Nothing. While the guard was a bit out of line, he was following the tenets of our culture. Those who are caught stealing are to be punished, after all."
Rhamnousia's eyes widened. "What do you mean?"
"Stealing itself is not a crime, in fact it is something we endorse. Stealing teaches them agility, resourcefulness, self-sufficiency…It's part of how we raise our boys to become powerful soldiers," Tyndareus explained, speaking as if everything he said had been as plain as day.
"But that's…That boy was suffering!" Rhamnousia pleaded.
Tyndareus nodded slightly. "The guard was a little out of line and took a bit too much joy in administering the punishment, that much is true. He should have kept it to a more manageable amount, not dragging it our or escalating it the way he did. But that's something for me to take care of later, it isn't something you should worry about."
"How is any of that something you're okay with?" Rhamnousia asked.
"Sparta is a land of warriors, one in danger of being invaded or brought to war any day now. It is my duty to my people to make them as strong and as hardy as possible, so that we might survive. Just as it is our duty to punish and hold accountable those who fall short. I take no joy in it, and neither should anyone else. It's a fool who lets himself take too much pride in doing dirty work."
Rhamnousia sighed. There'd be no arguing with the man, just as there had been no arguing with her family or with Lord Jupiter. He was resolute, and besides, he was making some level of sense. The burden of being a King and having a duty to one's people was something she didn't totally understand, but she could only imagine what kind of pressure someone like Tyndareus or Jupiter might have been under to not fall short as a king. Though admittedly she had much more sympathy for Tyndareus than she ever had for Jupiter.
"You seem to have no grand goal, and nowhere else to go, young Goddess. Why not spend some time here, as an honored guest of Sparta? No one needs to know about your divinity, we may have to come up with some kind of cover story as to who you are, but it shouldn't be too difficult to get the people to accept you as one of our own," the King rambled on.
And so the next day, Rhamnousia was introduced to the people of Sparta as a priestess of the Gods and a personal guest of the King. She spent her days hearing about Sparta's history and the tales of Tyndareus' life, and of the many wars that their people had persevered through. Over time, Rhamnousia came to be seen as just another Spartan, with none questioning her presence or her supposed connection to the Heavens.
"So what, she saw something in Sparta that made her hate humans so much?" Moros asked, raising an eyebrow at the story thus far.
"And what possessed you to help her sneak away? Are you crazy or something?" Hypnos questioned.
Thanatos sighed. "It's a bit more complicated than just Sparta driving her to misanthropy. And it's not like I could say no to our baby sister, even if I thought she was going off on a fool's errand."
"So if it wasn't Sparta, then what? She doesn't seem anything like the girl we remember," Hypnos said forlornly.
"The humans she fell in love with really went and broke her heart," Thanatos admitted grimly, frowning. "Though I can't say that Jupiter or Venus did much to help in that regard, either."
Nemesis lunged forward at Charles-Henri, slashing at him with the shadowy claw only for him to push his blade into the path of it, her claws scraping across the metal with a sickening noise. While the claw hit the blade, the other hand launched the whip's cord, wrapping it around Charles-Henri's right leg. However, the executioner pulled his leg back with his full force, sending the Goddess stumbling forward as her center of gravity was briefly disrupted.
With Nemesis disrupted, Charles-Henri slashed with the sword, feeling the sword sink into her flesh, even if only shallowly. Blood and ichor dripped onto the ground as Nemesis now bore a diagonal cut across her torso, her body falling to the ground.
"Sloppy," Charles-Henri mocked her. "You're so focused on going for that kill that you've forgotten how to fight in the first place."
"The day I accept criticism from someone on the chopping block is the day I die," Nemesis seethed.
Charles-Henri blinked, pausing as he looked down at the fallen Goddess and offering a suitably dry response. "That is the point, I suppose."
In a blind rage, Nemesis slammed her hand on the ground, shadowy energy pouring out from her body and oozing out over the field in a wave. "Oculus Malus: Invidia!"
Charles-Henri felt a surge of lethargy come over his body, as if he could feel the weight of his bones themselves dragging him down. Gravity itself seemed to have become his enemy as he felt some of the strength in his body drain, his body bogged down by the very air around him. Nemesis rose to her feet, her amber eye glowing.
"What's going on here? Charles-Henri is completely frozen in place!" Helios called out from above.
Jupiter laughed, tugging at his beard smugly. "So she's really giving it her all now, I see. It took her long enough, though I don't hate it."
"I've never seen her in action myself," Juno admitted timidly. "So what is this Oculus Malus?"
"The evil eye, the humans call it. The idea that with a simple gaze, someone can have a curse cast upon them. Most humans chalk it up to superstition and rumor, but in Nemesis it is all too real. All those stories of her bewitching and cursing humans? They derive from that power," Minerva explained. "Aura, Narcissus…all of them fell victim to her Eye."
Jupiter grumbled under his breath. "I could've explained that just as well, you think you're so smart…"
Any of those in the audience unfortunate enough to have been present for the Battle of Marathon remembered this ability well. Sparta had refused their aid to the people of Greece, and in a rare disagreement with Tyndareus the young Rhamnousia forced her way onto the battlefield and, upon seeing human devastation like this for the first time, let out a pained cry. Shadows engulfed the battlefield, and the Persian Army was sent into a frenzy. Ships crashed, soldiers turned against one another, and the people of Greece were too stunned to know what had happened, other than to chalk it up to a simple explanation:
The Gods had smiled upon them and seen fit to intervene, and on that day Rhamnousia received her new title. The people she had saved on that day called her Nemesis Campestris. Nemesis, or "she who gives what is due", and Campestris for "of the battleground".
"I was not blessed with physical strength, not like Mars or even Lord Jupiter," Nemesis admitted, her sole visible eye still glowing with that amber light. "But with this, my curse of Envy, the divine strength in you will be drained until we are physically equal. You wish to be capable of fighting like a God? Then I shall use that very strength against you, just as I have every other mortal who dared to get in the way of the Gods."
Nemesis lunged forward, raking her shadowy claw forward as she moved. Charles-Henri stumbled back to dodge the blow, but his muscles would not cooperate. It was if he were trying to move while attached to iron weights. Nemesis' clawed hand slashed across his chest, leaving a shallow wound that matched her own.
"For your insolence, death by a thousand cuts should suffice!" Nemesis hissed, going into a flurry. She attacked like a wild animal, slashing with her claws one second before bringing the whip around for a stinging strike the next. Each attack hit, leaving shallow yet painful slashes and scratches across Charles-Henri's body.
Charles-Henri fell to his knees once again. Each attack was shallow, not enough to cause lasting injury but plenty deep enough to scar or slow him down. The blood loss from them wouldn't kill him, at least not yet. But Nemesis didn't want to kill him, not yet. No, her job was more than just to assassinate and curse the enemies of the Heavens.
Her job was to embarrass anyone who got in their way. She would not give him the dignity of a quick or clean death.
"So, any bright ideas about this one, Monsieur Sanson?" asked Pistis.
"A few," Charles-Henri grumbled under his breath. "You notice anything about that eye of hers?"
"Other than it being the cause of you getting beaten around? Not quite," Pistis said contemptuously.
"I guess you aren't quite used to body language, but I made a habit of keeping an eye on those in front of me. And there's one thing I've noticed since she did her little magic show. She hasn't blinked even once," Charles-Henri explained.
"Clever enough observation. Then I trust you'll figure out how to get around this issue before she decides to stop playing with her food," Pistis commented, fading back into Charles-Henri's consciousness.
Charles-Henri decided to take a risk, releasing his grip on the sword that had been his lifeline through the fight thus far and instead reached across his body towards one of the open wounds left behind by Nemesis' assault. He dug his own hand into the wound, wincing with pain and causing all to take pause.
"Has he lost his mind?"
"What, is this some kind of weird suicide attempt? Pitiful!"
The gods continued to mock him, even as Nemesis froze in place. Her uncovered eye twitched, though whether from the stress of maintaining her curse or from anger at the events of the battle none could say. But none watching the fight could have predicted what Charles-Henri would do next, as he took his bloodied hand and slung it out in front of him, sending a splattering of blood at Nemesis.
"Insolent little-" The blood hit against her face, forcing her eye closed and in a matter of moments, Charles-Henri felt the massive weight be lifted off of him. He sprung to his feet, grasping the handle of his sword as he felt the strength return to his limbs. With a roar of effort, he brought the sword upwards in a rising slash.
Sword cut through flesh, Nemesis letting out a pained scream despite herself. The sword has just enough reach in it that it found purchase in her face, slashing through the uncovered eye. Blackish blood now coated the edge of Charles-Henri's sword, and a thick slash raked across the Goddess' eye.
"Charles-Henri has landed another decisive blow! Nemesis' evil eye has been completely closed off to her now!" Selene commented from above.
Jupiter frowned, seeing the advantage shift once again. "This has long since stopped being amusing. Nemesis, end this at once!"
Nemesis covered her now damaged eye with her humanoid hand, the black blood leaking across it.
Charles-Henri sighed. "I don't have much taste for torture or dragging things out. I'll make this last hit clean, just rest."
He approached the fallen Goddess, preparing an overhead swing that would claim her neck. However, Nemesis once again lunged at the Frenchman, stabbing forward with her claw. Despite one eye being seemingly destroyed and the other completely covered until now, she seemed to know exactly where the executioner had ended up.
Charles-Henri had been so convinced she would be helpless that he could not react in time, feeling her shadowy claw impale his stomach. Instead of the proper slash he had been preparing, he brought the sword down pommel-first, clubbing her in that same bloodied part of her head with it. Nemesis was knocked aside and Charles-Henri was given a moment to catch his breath, clutching his stomach where the freshest wound now sat.
"How do you still look down on me? Just like everyone else…Jupiter, my brothers, the Spartans, the Trojans…all always looking down on me with that same stupid look on your faces!" Nemesis growled, rising up to her feet. The uncovered side of her face was now covered in blood from the previous two wounds, that eye still sealed shut by the slash.
She slowly reached up, brushing the hair that had been covering her other half of the face out of the way, revealing that the upper left corner of her face wasn't made of skin, but of that same inky darkness that comprised her claw-like arm. As she spoke, the darkness seemed to spread slowly, covering more and more of her skin.
"I tried to protect the humans once, and they spat in my face. The Gods told me to avoid them, and what did I get for it?" The entire left half of her face was now consumed in darkness, making her look more like some kind of demon than the militaristic woman that she had started the fight out as. "Tyndareus let me down, and those humans…they took everything from me! So now I'll do the same for them. You think I care that Jupiter just sees me as some kind of weapon? Of course he does, because that is what I am! It's what you are, and you're a fool to think anything different!"
Nemesis now hardly resembled the humanoid that she had entered as, her body almost entirely consumed by the shadowy form that she had been keeping at bay. As he rightened her posture, all watched as new appendages formed from this shadowy body. A pair of misshapen, almost feathery wings had appeared on her back. With her whip nearby, the tatters of her outfit stuck to her, and the wings fully formed, she now looked more like the ancient statues and art that the people of Earth would have been more familiar with.
"Erinys Telkhines," she announced herself to all, transformation complete. Pale skin was covered in darkness, each hand now ending in an awkward claw, two feathery wings sprouting from behind her. Her whip law on the ground nearby, forgotten, and while one eye was still damaged, the previously covered eye now glowed through the dark in an amber light.
Before Charles-Henri could respond, with a flap of her wings Nemesis shot forward, sinking one of her claws into his shoulder and making a ripping gesture with it. She landed on the other side of him, a bloody chunk now missing from Charles-Henri's left shoulder.
"I won't need curses, or shadows. I'll kill you with my bare hands, and then humanity will finally end for what they've done to me. You said you were done caring about justice, and want only to protect these people?" Nemesis mocked. "Then you'll die for them. Because I don't care about your justice either, I am simply here to dish out the revenge and punishment that they so rightly deserve."
From his seat up high, Prometheus sighed and rose to his feet, clutching his cane and the Box once again.
"Where are you going, is something the matter?" Pandora asked.
Prometheus shook his head. "No, I'm simply going to prepare for the next round."
"But don't you need to wait and see how this is going to end? Charles-Henri needs our support!" Pandora gasped.
"By this point, there's nothing we can do. The victor is all but settled, and I need to check and make sure our next fighter is actually going to be ready," Prometheus said wearily.
"Are you that confident in Charles-Henri winning? He seems like he's in kind of a bad spot," Pandora said meekly.
Prometheus' next words came as a surprise to Pandora, a hint of lost confidence behind them.
"Quite the opposite, in fact. From what I've seen here, Charles-Henri Sanson has already lost."
A/N: I finally remembered to put my Author's Notes here; I got used to AO3 having a separate section for these. But yes, I have been so happy at the positive reception Elegy of Fire has gotten here on ; it's been an idea a couple of years in the making ever since I accidentally stumbled upon Record of Ragnarök back when Round 5 was wrapping up in the manga. Anyway, I like including fun facts in my Author's Notes.
For example, Charles-Henri was actually not on my original roster, he ended up replacing Lorenzo de Medici because I felt like I could do more with Charles-Henri's backstory.
Anyway, next time the rest of Nemesis' backstory and her past as Rhamnousia, and a peak at what happened during the Trojan War.