Thanks to Celina, Salus is on the verge of being released. When that was known, Maru and his friends moved as fast as they could to stop it. They headed straight for the pillar of light with hope that they can still stop this from happening.
"What are we going to do once we get there?" Tony questioned.
"He's right. We're going to need a plan." Ginger claimed.
"We'll figure that out once we get there. All that matters is that we try to stop this thing and keep moving." Maru said. With how big this is going to get, they can't afford any set backs or to give up. They just have to keep going until they get something. All of them kept moving with them crossing over a river, but then Mary noticed a shadow on the ground moving.
"Wait!" Mary said with her suddenly stopping and the others following her lead.
"What's wrong? We can't really afford to stop." Maru said.
"I saw something. I think there might be something here." Mary said with her looking around for it. All of them kept their guards up, but they didn't see anything. That was until it too late. Out of nowhere, the bat creature from before came at them and attacked. It grabbed a hold of Maru with his feet and smashed him against the tree. Once it did that, it screamed right at Maru with a sonic attack. The sound was painful, but it caused Maru to become disoriented and he could barely hold it together.
"Maru!" Sandy called.
"I've got this!" Sorano said. She had a series of feathers attack the bat, but it flew out of the way. Maru could barely take the sound and dropped right to the ground.
"It's that bat creature again! What did it do to Maru?!" Mary said.
"Don't worry about him. He's just a little disoriented, but it should keep him out of the way for a while."
"Wait. That thing can talk?!" Mary said.
"And a whole lot more!" The bat attacked once again with it flying right at them.
"Lookout!" Sorano called with her pushing Mary out of the way, but she took the full force of the bat's attack with her being smashed against a tree.
"This is getting bad! Ginger, get Tony out of here!" Mary called.
"I was hoping you would say that." Ginger said with her lifting Tony off the ground and taking off.
"No, wait! Mary!" Tony called. He didn't want to leave them behind, but this situation is starting to get dangerous.
"You can't leave!" The bat called as it attempted to chase after them.
"Hey, leave them alone!" Sandy called as he bravely tried to stop it, but the bat easily knocked him out of the way.
"You're not going anywhere!" Mary said with her getting her charms ready.
"That's enough." Another came over and joined the fight. "Salus has been found, so the boy is of no use to us anymore. We have other matters to attend to."
"As you wish." The bat said with it flying over to its master: Siena.
"Hello. Mary is your name, right? Tell me, how does it feel to gaze at radiant beauty such as myself?" Siena asked.
"You? Radiant beauty? Don't make me laugh." Mary said.
"Oh, you'll pay for that one. By the way, has my pet been entertaining you and your friends? He certainly did a good job." Siena said with her petting the bat's head. "I believe you would know him as Pluto. Olympos magic is quite fitting for someone as beautiful as me." She claimed with her showing she had three charms of blue, pink, and black.
"You use the same magic as me?! Now, I feel sick to my stomach." Mary claimed.
"You'll feel a lot worse than that. I noticed the last time we saw each other that you have some charms of your own, so hand them over or else." Siena threatened.
"Not going to happen. Come forth, the one who rages with war! Mars!" Mary called with her bringing out Mars to this fight.
"Begone, Pluto. Let's have some fun." Siena said with her sending Pluto back.
"Take her down, Mars!" Mary said.
"I don't need you to tell me that." Mars said.
"Why do you hate me?" Mary questioned. Regardless, Mars ignited his sword and was getting ready to attack.
"You are aware we're fighting over a river, right? Here's why that's important." Siena said. "Come forth, the one that rouses the seas! Neptune!" The one she called for emerged right out of the water. It was a merman with a blue tail carrying a trident with him holding a long wavy white beard and hair with a crown on it.
"Neptune!" Mars said with that being a problem.
"Hello, Mars. I'm sorry about this, but I have to do what my holder asks." Neptune said. With his powers over water, Neptune caused a wave to flow down the river like a flashflood. It smashed into Mary and Mars and knocked them right off the land. Mary acted quickly and grabbed a tree root, but Mars didn't look so good. His whole body was actually steaming.
"Mars! What's wrong?!" Mary called.
"Stupid girl. You knew my powers grow weaker in water." Mars groaned. He had to go back to his own world to replenish his power.
"Mars, wait!" Mary called as she hurried to him, but he was already gone. "Oh man."
"You seriously thought fire could beat water? How pathetic." Siena mocked with her walking right over to Mary so that she could kick her right in the back. "Someone like you never had a chance against me!" Mary got knocked right in the water. Maru and Sorano could see Mary struggling, but they cant' do much to help her right now.
'How am I going to beat her when she took out one of my best so easily?' Mary thought, but then she realized something and emerged out of the water. "I'll just use what works best against water! Come forth, the one of the striking heavens! Jupiter!" She called on her very best with Jupiter emerging.
"You called?" Jupiter said.
"We have to be beat this girl or else we're in real trouble." Mary said.
"Sounds simple enough." Jupiter said with him reaching for his sword. "Sorry about this Neptune."
"Jupiter... Interesting. Begone, Neptune." Siena said with her sending Neptune back. "I have someone else in mind for him. Come forth, the one of radiant love!" Jupiter knew only one olympian that call belongs to. "Venus!" Venus emerged right before them. The same Venus that served Bruce Von Madder with Jupiter.
"I'm sorry, Jupiter." Venus said.
"Venus...!" Jupiter said as he couldn't believe it was really her.
"That's Venus?" Mary said. She remembered all that Jupiter told her about this olympian. "How did you get your hands on Venus? I heard her last holder, Bruce Von Madder, died years ago!"
"Simple. I'm the one who did it." Siena admitted with them surprised to hear that. Bruce's killer was right before them. "It was rather easy. He tried calling for his olympians to help him, but they never answered his call." That was because of Jupiter's own actions, which means he sees that Venus fell into her hands because of him. "I was surprised to see the charm of Jupiter disappear, but at least I got the one of Venus." Venus didn't seem to enjoy this, but she had no choice except to put up with it.
"You two are reunited and now you have to fight?" Mary questioned. After the sacrifices Jupiter made, Mary couldn't ask him to do this. "No. I won't force you to do it, Jupiter." She was going to send him back, but Jupiter grabbed her arm and stopped her.
"I appreciate it, Mary, but it's not needed. Venus and I may have served the same holder before, but that's over." Jupiter claimed. "We both have new holders now. As olympians, we must fight for them. That's just how it is."
"That's right. I owe a lot to you, Jupiter, but we olympians fight for those who hold our charms. That is our responsibility." Venus said. Despite their past, they have to fight for their new holders. It's like a sense of pride to them.
"I'm sorry about this, Venus. At least we both know it's not personal, it's just professional." Jupiter said with him drawing his sword and attacking.
"Lovely Glitter!" Venus' specialty was light magic. That's why she was able to cast a series of glittering pink lights, which also made her look quite lovely. Not only did that blinded Jupiter, but Venus also showed tough love by smashing a hand of light against Jupiter.
"Would you look at that? They're actually fighting. Not what I expected, but at least it will be entertaining." Siena claimed. She certainly enjoyed this, but Mary certainly didn't.
"No. This isn't right." Mary said. She had to watch as the two kept attacking each other with lightning or light. "They shouldn't be forced to fight each other like this." It was hard for Mary to watch, but at the same time she understood why they had to do it. This probably isn't the first time something like this happened. Still, it didn't make it any easier.
"This didn't go quite as I thought. She's holding out better than I thought against him. Luckily, I have another idea." Siena said as she has something sneaky planned. Venus kept on fighting Jupiter as she formed pink hearts of light that fired lasers, but Jupiter jumped up and avoided them. This isn't easy for Jupiter, but he raised his sword and came down at Venus to strike her down. Just before his attack connected, Venus disappeared.
"Venus!" Jupiter called.
"Come forth, the scream of the afterlife! Pluto!" Siena called.
"Surprised, Jupiter!" Pluto said as he reemerged and attacked when Jupiter's guard was down and bit down right on his shoulder.
"Jupiter!" Mary called in concern.
"Sorry, Mary... I failed you..." Jupiter said as he couldn't hold it together and returned to his own world.
"Hahaha. Sorry. It looks like I put your best out of commission." Siena said. "Honestly, I don't get why you're so upset. They didn't die or anything."
"But that's why! They're alive and feel pain like you and me!" Mary called. "You'll pay for that! Come forth, the huntress of the land! Earth!" She called upon Earth and Earth instantly attacked. She swung her sword at Pluto, but Pluto flew up in the sky and avoided her attack. "Earth, take this witch down."
"It will be my pleasure." Earth claimed. Pluto flew around and charged right at Earth with Earth charging at him. Earth was about to attack, but then she suddenly vanished.
"Earth! What just..." Mary suddenly felt weak with her dropping to her knees. "Oh no. I summoned my three best consecutively. I'm out of magic power."
"Aw. The poor thing doesn't have any gas left in the tank." Siena said. "Pluto, you should have no trouble finishing her off." That's just what Pluto did. Pluto just kept on attacking her and Mary didn't have the power to fight back or summon anything to help her.
"Hold on, Mary!" Maru called as he tried to get back up to help her fight, but Pluto blasted him with another sonic attack and kept her down. This wasn't looking good for them. Mary kept getting thrashed around, but she kept herself and glared right at Siena.
"Quit glaring. If you have something to say to me, just say it." Siena said.
"I want you to revoke your hold on your olympians. At least let Venus go." Mary said with Siena and Pluto a little surprised by her request.
"You're joking, right?" Siena said.
"Bruce abused her. Treated her horribly because he treated her like a piece of property or a thing instead of a living being. Jupiter had to step in and defy Bruce to protect her. She's suffered enough." Mary said. Her words didn't mean much to Siena, but Pluto certainly felt bad being a fellow olympian. "She shouldn't be with someone as rotten as you. I don't know about Neptune and Pluto, but Venus shouldn't have to go through this anymore." Pluto felt bad, but he still had to obey.
"What do you know?!" Pluto called with him smacking her with his wing, but Mary wasn't backing down.
"You don't honestly expect me to let her go, do you? I'm more interested in having your charms." Siena said.
"That isn't going to happen." Mary said said. "I'm not going to let you just treat them like they're your toys. It doesn't matter how loyal to you they are when they have their own freewill."
"You must be joking if you think I'm letting any of them go. There are only nine olympos charms in the whole world. I have three, and it looks like you have five." Siena said. "Once I add those to mine, I'll have eight! I deserve to have them all! I'm not going to let an opportunity like this slip away! Pluto, finish her off and get me those charms!" Pluto was going to do just that, but the fierce look Mary had in her eyes showed that she wasn't only afraid, but she's standing her ground in her beliefs. He couldn't bring himself to do it. "Hurry up! What are you waiting for?!"
"Why... Why can't I do it?" Pluto questioned. He couldn't bring himself to do it for some reason. Something about Mary's words resonated with Pluto that he actually shed tears. "No, I can't do it. I can see it in her eyes that she loves us. I... I envy her olympians for having such a caring master." He cried with Siena astonished that he defy her orders.
"Pluto..." Mary said.
"Begone! Get out of here!" Siena shouted. "You'll pay for defying me. Now, give me those charms!" She was going to take Mary's charms herself, but then a gunshot was heard. Siena felt something hit her right in the head and knocked her out with her falling in the river and the current carrying her away. Luckily, the one that saved Mary was Gin.
"Mary!" Gin called with him rushing over to her.
"Gin! You're here!" Mary said.
"Are you hurt? Can you stand?" Gin said.
"I'll try." Mary said. Gin helped her get back up, but Mary looked down the river and felt bad she couldn't save Venus, or maybe even Neptune and Pluto. Looks like she might have lost those three.
'Mary... I always knew under that tough exterior is a heart of gold.' Maru thought as he was real proud of Mary for what she tried to do.
'Ironic how this went.' Sorano thought. 'She's a lot like someone else I know.'
...
Celina
Meanwhile, Celina was still at work with the seal. She still didn't seem aware that Boomer and Kage were watching, but Boomer was starting to get impatient.
"Come on. Dante never said that undoing the seal would take so long." Boomer complained.
"Quiet. Someone is coming." Kage said. Celina didn't notice Boomer and Kage, but she did hear someone's step right behind her. She turned around and was now faced with Aster. Aster managed to find his way to her.
"Celina... You're really back." Aster said.
"Aster..." Celina said. These two find themselves facing each other once again. Once old friends, but last time they were on opposing sides. Now that they are reunited after believing Celina might have been dead, what are these two going to do now?