Hey guys! Back once again with another chapter. Amazing right?
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"I'm an Olympian after all."
Because of course she was.
As Nashi watched Eris smile at them, she felt her stomach turning. Again, the Olympians were involved. Nashi wasn't sure she was allowed to be surprised at this point. It just kept happening.
"What's the matter?" Eris asked, as none of them had spoken yet. "Did I surprise you? Sorry, but it's true. I'm an Olympian through and through."
"Okay, so it seems you are." Simon said, gaining his footing back. "What do you want? You mentioned you weren't after Drake. Is it something within the city?"
"It's in the city, yes." Eris replied. "Of course the only reason Crocus got involved was to intercept it before we lost it."
"Stop dancing around the question." Damien said. "Why are you here?" Eris laughed, but there was no joy in the sound. More of a haunting one than anything else.
"Please." She said. "As if you don't already know." This confused Nashi. They knew what they were after? Nashi couldn't think of anything that it could've been. She had no knowledge of any item or artifact she'd learned about recently...
Eris was staring right at her, smirking.
"I'm not here to hurt you, I'm only here for Nashi."
Kronos' words from twenty years before rang in her ears, and Nashi realized in that moment what was happening.
They'd invaded Crocus to prevent her from travelling back in time.
"They're...They're after me." Nashi croaked out, surprising the others. "Just like Kronos...They're after me." Eris laughed again, and clapped her hands together.
"There we go! What a smart girl you are. Now, come quietly before I have to use force. Believe me, you don't want that."
"Like hell we're doing that!" Drake shouted. "Go to hell!" Eris' smile turned into a frown.
"What did I tell you?" She asked Drake, sounding irritated. "I'm not here for you!" Eris raised her hands and, before anyone could react, aimed it at Drake.
BOOM!
An explosion rang out that sent Drake flying backwards away from them, causing him to impact a wall and disappear into the pile of debris. Eris sighed and dusted herself off.
"Foolish boy." She said. "Seriously, no manners at all." The Goddess' gaze once again fell to Nashi. "So? What'll it be Nashi? Will you come quietly or do I have to force you?"
"Nashi, think this through." Simon warned next to her. "I have no idea what they want with you, but it can't be anything even remotely good."
"Yeah, don't listen to a word she says." Ultear agreed. "With the five of us, we can totally take her." Nashi listened to her friends say these things as she stared at the ground, before she looked up and glared at Eris.
"Alright fine, you win." She said, stunning her friends. "You want me? You got me." Eris clapped her hands together with a smile.
"See, I knew we could be diplomatic about this." She said. "Come here, girl. We've got quite a ways..."
"Oh? I'm afraid you misunderstood me." Eris raised a multicolored eyebrow, and Nashi took a step forward away from the others to square off with the Goddess of Chaos.
"What?" Eris asked. Nashi took her own turn to chuckle darkly.
"I didn't mean I as going to go with you." Nashi's body erupted in fire as she glared at Eris. "I meant that I was going to pulverize you. I have had it with the Olympians causing so much destruction. I'm going to make quick work of you, and then my friends and I are going back in time." Eris stared at Nashi before she chuckled.
"Zeus did mention a temper given the situation." She said, her own body starting to glow. Nashi tensed as the magical energy increased around the woman. "I'm giving you one more chance, Nashi Dragneel. Come with me and I will spare you your dignity."
"Not a chance in hell." She said. "You want me? Over my dead body."
"Nashi, are you sure about this?" Damien asked weakly. "She's an Olympian. She won't play around." Nashi nodded.
"I'm sure." She replied, turning to them. "Get Drake out of his hole and get Ultear to the Domus Flau. Tear through as many people as you have to. We're going home." Simon stared at her before he finally chuckled.
"Don't make this a repeat of Silverridge." He advised her, and she nodded and she turned back around to face Eris. "Alright guys, let's get the hell out of here!" Nashi listened to them run off to get Drake, and Eris hummed in irritation.
"And here I was hoping to not dirty my dress today." She said wistfully. "Oh well, work is work."
The impact had given Drake a serious headache, even as the others pulled him out.
"W-Where is that bitch?" He asked, dizzy as all hell. "I'm going to kill her..."
"Over there." Ultear replied, jabbing her thumb over her shoulder. Drake followed this to find Nashi and Eris squaring off, the magical tension increasing with every second.
"What's happening?" He asked.
"Nashi's giving us time." Damien explained. "We shouldn't waste it hanging around." Drake looked back at Nashi as fire whipped around her, at the same time multicolored flashes surrounded Eris. "We have to go."
"And Nashi?" Drake asked weakly. Simon frowned.
"She's never let us down before." He replied. "Not even in the face of an Etherion explosion. Let's go!" The others took off towards the Domus Flau, and Drake took an extra moment to watch Nashi's figure as he slowly retreated.
"Please be careful..." He whispered to himself. "She isn't Katsuchi or even Apocalypse...She's worse. I can tell from here."
Nashi heard the others retreat, and she now had the entire block to themselves. Eris sighed and looked back at the militia men who had accompanied her.
"Back up." She advised. "This is going to get ugly." The men did as they were told, slowly backing up away from the pair. Eris returned her eyes to Nashi, and cracked her neck.
Nashi wasn't ready for the cracking in Eris' neck to set off explosion all around her, blocking her vision of the girl.
She must use some form of explosive magic, these blasts are huge!
Nashi looked around the smokescreen Eris had thrown up before she heard another rumbling sound. She jumped just in time to avoid the building next to her collapsing on top of her. She sent fire in that direction, but it disappeared into the smoke. Soon enough the ground below Nashi feet erupted and left nothing but a thirty foot crater right below her. She scrambled and made it away, only to be on the receiving end of another explosion. She slid backwards out of the smoke, and spotted Eris.
The Goddess had not moved.
"Oho?" She said, sounding sarcastic. "I would've expected you to fall in that hole I made."
"I'm not that unaware."
"If you actually took the time to challenge me instead of coming quietly, I am politely begging to differ." Nashi raised an eyebrow as Eris yawned. "This is nothing but a workout for me. Are we done?"
"Like hell we are." Nashi replied. "You and whoever you answer to have hurt my friends, my family, one to many times. It's time for some revenge." Eris smirked.
"You want to talk about revenge, do you?" She asked. "Be glad my associate isn't here. She'd know a whole lot about revenge." Nashi raised an eyebrow at this, and Eris raised a hand to her forehead. "Nemesis? Are you there?...Really? Its not like Ares to re-task you so suddenly...Well, good luck! I'n securing our package as we speak, so it's all fine regardless...Yes, I did find her, you dummy!...You're so mean, Nemesis. Bye." Eris sighed as she cut off the connection.
Nashi really had no idea how to react to what she just witnessed. Eris had sounded so...innocent.
"What just happened?" She asked, genuinely confused. Eris smiled
"The aforementioned associate will not be joining us. It appears Ares contacted her about another problem to deal with."
The road leading to Crocus would've been suspiciously empty had it not been obvious why. With the capital city of Fiore occupied my the forces of the Olympians, no one was very interested in going to the city.
And standing in the center of the road, looking up at the sky, was a woman.
Her entire biker outfit was jet black, including her curly hair. Her eyes were blood red, but they showed nothing but vague interest as they stared up at the sky.
"It's still pretty blue." She said. "Kind of nice. Although with Eris worked up, I doubt it'll stay that way."
"The woman in question was Nemesis, The Goddess of Revenge.
As instructed by the Olympians, she'd been sent to Crocus with an army to intercept Nashi Dragneel and capture her. However, twenty minutes prior, Ares had contacted her and said she needed to be on the road towards the city, as he and Zeus had learned that a single vehicle traveled the road towards the capital.
It had originated in the city of Magnolia, which was under watch just in case.
So obviously whoever was coming was backup, and Nemesis was to stop them.
Nemesis looked back at the road as she heard an engine roaring in the distance. From the sound of it, it was some sort of magical vehicle being pushed way to hard and was about to die. For it to be pushed that hard, the driver had to be some kind of strong. Nemesis sighed.
"Show time."
"Elise for God sake slow down!" Elise just barely heard Luke over the sound of the wind whipping around them.
"We need to get there fast!" She reported. "It's not that big of a deal!"
"That guy said it'd take an hour! It's been like twenty minutes and we're nearly there!"
"This thing sounds ready to blow too!" Kaida said from the back, clinging into Luke's midsection for dear life. "Even if it's just a bit, please slow down!" Elise rolled her eyes and pushed the bike even harder, knowing that Kaida was right. The thing did sound ready to give. She only needed it to go for a few more minutes.
Come on you piece of shit, don't give on me now.
"Elise!" Elise came out of her thoughts as Luke shouted her name. He freed one hand and pointed ahead of them, and Elise followed this to find him to be pointing at a figure in the distance. The figure seemed to be standing in the dead center of the empty road, and as they got closer Elise felt apprehensive. This wasn't right, she felt it. She slowly stopped the bike and the machine seemed to appreciate the stop.
"What's the matter?" Kaida asked. Elise regarded the figure in the distance silently, which still hadn't moved from the stop in the center of the road.
"Listen closely." She said. "We have a problem."
"That person?" Luke asked, and Elise nodded. "What if they just need our help?"
"That is not the stance of someone who needs help." Elise said, narrowing her eyes. Whoever was there, they were waiting, and not for help. If they needed our help, they'd be screaming or waving...Anything to make it more obvious."
"Okay, so what do we do?" Kaida asked. Elise paused as she gave this some thought. She looked down and regarded the bike they were on, and smiled.
"Here's what we'll do. Kaida, transform into your flying snake thing and take Luke to Crocus."
"Huh?" She asked. "What about you?" Elise lowered her head slightly.
"I'll take care of our roadblock." The two young adults seemed unsure if they were going to object, but slowly the weight on the bike lessened as both got off and Kaida transformed. Elise held her hair out of her eyes as Kaida, in her snake form, flew through the air with Luke standing on her back. She watched the two fly ahead and then returned her eyes to her roadblock.
"Showtime." She said.
Elise revved the engine of the bike and took off as fast as she could. Without the added weight of two other people, the bike far exceeded what it had been able to hit before, and at some point Elise realized she could barely breath.
But she didn't stop.
Elise quickly covered her body in her iron scales, and watched as the figure she was aiming for didn't even flinch as she reached them.
"Knew you were trouble."
BOOM!
Luke turned back and regarded the explosion as it sounded in the distance. Somehow he wasn't surprised Elise had crashed the bike into their enemy, but he was still worried about her regardless.
"Jeez." He said, keeping his balance as Kaida flew towards the city, where more explosions could be heard. "Stay safe, Elise. Even if the timeline changes, you shouldn't be so brash."
Elise watched the burning wreckage of the bike smoldering around her target, ashes still falling from her as well. Rolling out of the way hadn't been so difficult, but she'd hit her target directly.
"Well, that was an interesting tactic." Elise watched as the smoldering wreckage was kicked aside, and a woman stood there watching her. "Didn't really work very well."
"And you are?" Elise demanded.
"Most call me Nemesis, the Goddess of Revenge."
"Goddess? So you're an Olympian."
"Obviously. And you are Elise Redfox, if the file serves me correct." Elise raised an eyebrow at this.
"File?"
"Of course. Did you think just because our main objective disappeared meant we weren't going to watch you? You were a pretty big problem back in the day before you finally exacted your revenge."
"..."
"What? Did you think we weren't watching you? Foolish woman. We watched you for the entirety of the time you were after Kronos. And of course, we saw you kill him."
"If you really are some Goddess of Revenge, you'd know I went after him for a good reason."
"Oh most definitely. It was a good kill too. The screaming you were doing...Poetic." Elise felt a shiver go down her spine as Nemesis curled her lips menacingly. "No matter, it was years ago. I assume you know what we're after?"
"Yep. And I know what I have to do."
"Which is?" Elise took her own turn to grin.
"Two factors were behind my mission for revenge. Kronos, and those who ordered his hit on my friends." Nemesis slowly looked down, acknowledging what Elise was saying. "Funny how the Goddess of Revenge is the one I'm exacting revenge upon."
"Indeed. Let us see what how your mission will end." The wind blew between them, and neither moved. The only sound was the crackling of the bike as the fire died away.
Even if the timeline would change,
Even if Elise as she was now would not exist given time,
She as she was wanted to vent some pent up frustration.
And I want to leave you guys here because I'm that kind of person. I hope you all enjoyed, leave a review! Let's try to get five!