I really need to work on putting some kind of schedule in place. I can't just disappear for awhile. But please be patient, guys. I do have other things in my life I have to focus on sometimes. It's not that I won't update, it's that I can't, because I'm busy. So leaving a snarky review won't speed me up any. Just saying ;).

I will try and aim for two chapters a week, but don't get pissy if I don't follow through. It happens.

Enjoy!

Damien was not pleased, too say the least.

First off, they'd all been separated by The Olympians. That in and of itself was bad. But on top of that, he wasn't in very good shape. Despite what he wanted to think, he had to come to terms with the fact that his fight with the demon hunters had left him in a bad position. And now he was all alone in Mount Olympus, surrounded by the enemy.

As he said, not pleased.

Limping along, Damien spared a thought to wonder just where the enemies were exactly. He'd escaped his room a few minutes ago, and so far no one had come after him. He doubted that The Olympians were giving him an easy time because of his weaknesses, so where exactly was everyone?

Damien perked up as another explosion sounded somewhere else in the mountain. It sure sounded like battles were starting all around him, but just not for him. He wasn't complaining, he'd much rather not fight anyone if he could. It just unnerved him.

BOOM!

Damien shielded his eyes as an explosion tore through the wall ahead of him. Looking up as the dust settled, he was greeted with quite the sight.

A woman Damien recognised as one of The Olympians was seated up against the wall, a crater behind her where she'd made impact. Turning back to the hole, Damien watched as none other than his sister jumped through it and approached the woman.

"IS that really all you've got?" Steph demanded, crossing her arms as she approached the woman, who was struggling to stand. "And we were worried about you guys. This is just sad."

"Steph?" Damien asked. Steph perked up at this and turned in Damien's direction. Her eyes widened and she smiled.

"Damien!" She shouted happily, running towards him. Bracing himself, Damien was wrapped into a hug by Steph. "Are you okay? I'm so glad I found you!"

"I'm fine," Damien replied, giving her a reassuring squeeze. "What about you? Who's that woman you just knocked through the wall?" Steph looked back at the woman, frowning.

"She said her name was Demeter." She said. "She didn't really live up to my expectations. The two moved back towards Demeter together, and looked down at her as she still struggled to stand.

"I..." She managed. "I...Demeter...Goddess of..."

"What the hell are you mumbling about?" Damien demanded. Demeter looked up at him, but didn't give him any sort of response. The two watched each other for a moment, before Demeter's head shook violently.

"I...Am too...Destroy you..." She hissed. Damien watched as her whole body began to shake and before long, she went limp. The light left her eyes, and she lay still.

"She's...dead?" Steph asked. "I didn't strike her that hard..."

"Something's going on around here," Damien said, gripping his cane tightly. "There's no way she went down that easily."

"Who cares?" Steph asked. "Let's just get the hell out of here. I'm pretty sure I saw the exit over here, come on!" Damien watched his sister run back through the hole in the wall she had created, before turning back and looking down at Demeter's now lifeless body.

"I refuse to believe this..." Damien hissed. "There's no way The Olympians are that weak..."

"Perhaps they are." Damien slowly turned to look at Xisplate, who was standing next to him also looking at Demeter. "Perhaps they underestimated you."

"I don't think so," Damien replied. "They knew everything about us, so they must have known how strong we are. Something's wrong here." Looking back at Xisplate, Damien searched his face for any sign the demon knew what was going on. If he did know, he was hiding it very well.

"You should go, Damien." Xisplate said. "Getting out of here should be your priority."

"Why's that?" Damien asked. "So that I don't die?" The two locked eyes for a moment. Damien's stomach turned as Xisplate sighed.

"Yes, exactly." He replied, turning around to leave. "Before you or any of your friends die, leave this place. If you are to believe one thing I saw, believe this."

"Why?" Damien demanded. "What's going to happen?" Xisplate stopped and looked over his shoulder at Damien.

"You will die if you stay here," Xisplate said. "Of that, I can be certain." With this, the Demon Lord disappeared. Damien growled and looked back at Demeter, who was still not moving.

"We're not dying," he hissed. "No ones dying today."

Elise wasn't exactly sure where she was, but what she did know was that she could smell the ocean near her. She'd been following her sense of smell ever since she escaped her room, and she was certain it would lead her to an exit. After all, they'd come from the ocean, so she wanted to return to it.

She couldn't find the others, but she hoped they were okay. Maybe they could meet up and formulate a plan. Were the others even trying to escape? Elise didn't know. But maybe she'd meet up with them and find out.

"My my, it seems I've found one." Elise stopped and whirled around. A man with bright blonde hair and an even brighter smile was approaching her. Elise knew his name from earlier, it was Apollo.

"So you have," she replied, tensing up as he came to a stop. "You really want to try and follow through with that kill order?" Apollo smiled.

"Of course," he replied. "It is my duty, after all. You lot have been a nuisance, so we have to kill you."

"Yeah, we've been the nuisance..." Elise muttered under her breath. "Look, why exactly did you bother bringing us here if you were just going to kill us anyway?"

"Maybe we just wanted to have some fun," he suggested, as if it was the most casual thing in the world. "Besides, I'm sure you'd rather me spare the lives of your families, wouldn't you?" Well, he wasn't wrong with that assumption.

"That doesn't explain you're reasoning," Elise said. "Sure it's nice you spared our families, but why?" Apollo somehow managed to smile wider.

"Why indeed," he said. "But that isn't important. Right now, I must follow through with my orders." Apollo raised his right hand, and a bright light began to blind Elise. Before her vision adjusted, a blast struck her in the stomach and she flew backwards. Grunting as she stood, she watched him look at his hand in annoyance.

"I suppose I deserve that for trying to fight at night," he said. "My sisters got the upper hand right now." Elise didn't know what he was talking about, but from the sounds of it his magic was tied to the sun. That made sense, she was pretty sure that was his moniker anyway.

"Looks like that didn't do as much as you were hoping," Elise said. The blast had thrown her a fair distance, but she really didn't feel it anymore. "Were you expecting a better blast?"

"Not exactly, but it doesn't matter," he replied. "I'm only one of twelve Olympians in this mountain. If you beat me, another eleven still stand. Plus all the underlings here. Do you really think you can beat them all?"

"If we have too, then yes." Elise replied, iron covering up her body. "Not, let's hurry up and make that number eleven."

"Where are my friends?" Simon demanded, hoisting the underling up into the air. The man refused to look him in the eye, and he also stayed quiet. "Don't make me ask again."

"I'm not telling you anything!" The man shouted. "Zeus'll kill me!"

"Who said I wouldn't?" Simon demanded, his grip on the man tightening. "Now, where the hell are they?" The threat seemed to frighten the man considerably, but he still remained quiet. Losing patience, Simon slammed him up against the wall, which made him squeak.

"Look man even if I did know were they were brought, I don't know where they are now!" He shouted, shielding is face. "The news was that they're all on the move! Find them yourself!" Simon made a face and dropped the man, who cowered where he'd been dropped.

"Useless..." Simon muttered, turning and continuing down the path he'd been on before. He hadn't encountered any of The Olympians yet, which he couldn't tell if that was good or bad. Maybe they were hiding and waiting for him, or they were all busy with the others. Honestly, he couldn't tell which option was worse.

Simon's train of thought came to a halt as he came upon a door. It was locked when he first attempted top open it, so he raised a hand and blasted through it. Stepping through the debris, Simon raised an eyebrow.

What the hell is this? He asked, looking around the dimly lit room. Lacrima screens were displayed left and right. Some were showing the mountain from above, some showed halls in the inside, and others showed what looked like documents. Walking up to one, Simon decided to read through it.

When the Fairy Tail wizards break out of their rooms, the plan is too stall them as long as possible until the bomb in the basement is armed. Once it is, it will take fifteen minutes to detonate. All wizards under The Olympians are to use the emergency escape subs in the basement. The bomb will level Mount Olympus, and kill the Fairy Tail wizards.

Simon's eyes widened as he read through the information in front of him. The plan was the topple the mountain right on top of them. But that wasn't everything he was seeing.

Etherion Bomb: ARMED

Escape Subs: JETTISONED

The bomb was armed and the subs were gone. Simon felt his heart leap into his throat as he desperately searched the lacrima screens for any way out of the mountain before it collapsed on top of them. Finally, he found it.

A lacrima screen showed him the docks where they'd arrived at. Triton's ship was still present, and not destroyed like he assumed it might have been. That was their way out, now he just needed to find a way there.

But I need to warn the others. Who knows where they are though!

Looking around frantically, Simon spotted a microphone on one of the desks. He ran over to it and clicked the button next to it, which glowed green.

"Guys!" Simon shouted, hearing his voice resound outside the room. Good, it was some sort of comm system. "Guys, this is Simon! Listen too me, this was all a trap! The Olympians are planning on dropping Mount Olympus on top of us! We need to get out of here! If you can hear me, find a way out of the mountain and down towards the docks! We're getting out of here and we've only got..." Simon spared a glance at the timer next to the bomb warning. "...Twelve minutes! Finish whatever you're doing and get there now! If I don't see all you there, I'll kill you!" Simon took his finger off of the microphone's button, which caused the glow to die. He slowly backed up, before turning and darting from the room. He ran right towards the wall and destroyed it.

He repeated this process every time a wall got in his way. Eventually, he'd get outside. And that was the plan. To just get out.

He hoped the others would do the same.

"Huh," Ultear said, listening to Simon end his message. "Looks like I made a good decision, eh Triton?" Looking down, Ultear watched Triton cower under her foot, glaring up at her. She was surprised he was so weak, because she'd defeated him easily.

Shut...Shut up..." He managed. He seemed to be acting off, but Ultear didn't have time to wonder what was wrong with him. Moving away from him, Ultear went to the boats control board and played around with it. After a few more seconds, she felt the ship roar to life. Smirking, Ultear turned back to Triton.

"Sorry bud," she said. "Looks like we live to see another day." Triton didn't respond to her. In fact, he didn't even seem to acknowledge her words. He'd gone totally limp.

Looks like I knocked him out...

Ultear looked back at the mountain, frowning as she did.

Get out of there guys.

"I told you getting out was a good idea!" Steph said. Damien rolled his eyes at this.

"I get it," Damien muttered. "Let's just hurry up and find a way out of this place."

"Hm, good timing Simon," Elise said, turning her arm back to normal. "I was just finishing up here."

Apollo lay at her feet, battered and beaten. Elise had been expecting so much more, but it seems she was wrong to think so.

"See ya, Apollo." She said, turning to leave. "I gotta get out of here before your botched plan falls down on top of me."

"...Hahaha" Elise froze as she heard laughter. She turned back to see Apollo watching her. "You're such a...fool"

"Why's that?" Elise demanded. Apollo didn't reply right away, but when he did, Elise's stomach began to turn.

"Even if you do get to the docks...By the time the...sun rises...You'll all be dead."

Drake ran as fast as he could towards Nashi. He had been following her as best he could with his sound magic, but now he'd caught onto her scent. She was only a little bit ahead of him, and she'd been tearing through anyone who tried to stop her. Drake had already come across an Olympian, who looked dead as far as Drake could tell. He didn't waste time with the corpse, he just ran after Nashi.

Drake didn't know where exactly she was going, but he hoped that she had some sort of plan. He sure as hell didn't. At least he hadn't run into any Olympians yet. He didn't have a clue how Nashi had beaten the one he found, but he guessed it had something to do with her Second Origin being open.

Turning a corner, Drake looked left and saw Nashi running ahead of him.

"Nashi!" He called out. He saw her stop and turn to look at him as ran to her, her eyebrow raised.

"Drake?" She asked. "How did you find me?" Drake laughed as he reached her.

"You really think my ears couldn't find you in this place?" He asked. He winced as he recalled the explosion that nearly deafened him. "You didn't make it hard." Nashi made a face before her eyes widened.

"Oh, sorry about that. I don't know my own strength right now."

"It's fine, I'll worry about my developing tinnitus later." He replied. "You got a plan? We need to figure out what we're doing."

"Do I ever," Nashi replied, turning back in the direction she'd been running. "Some grunts told me Zeus was up here. I'm going to find him and put an end to this." Drake frowned at this.

"And you were going to fight him on your own?" He asked. Nashi didn't reply. "Nice idea."

"I figured you guys would think the same," she said. "Are you going to help me, or stop me?"

"I don't really think I need to answer that," Drake replied. "Point my in the direction of Zeus and I'll help you." Nashi nodded.

"Alright, let's get going the-"

"Guys, this is Simon!" Drake flinched as Simon's vice echoed in the hall with them. "Listen too me, this was all a trap! The Olympians are planning on dropping Mount Olympus on top of us!" At this, Drake paled.

"They're gonna blow up their own base to kill us?" He asked. "Are they insane?"

"We need to get out of here! If you can hear me, find a way out of the mountain and down towards the docks! We're getting out of here and we've only got...Twelve minutes! Finish whatever you're doing and get there now! If I don't see all you there, I'll kill you!" The comm cut out at this, leaving Nashi and Drake in silence.

"...We need to move ," Drake said. Nashi nodded.

"You're right, we've only got twelve minutes to defeat Zeus." Drake's eyes widened as he watched Nashi take off down the hall. She couldn't be serious.

"Nashi!" Drake called out, making her stop. "What're you doing?! We need to get out of here!"

"I'm going to find Zeus!" She replied, turning to face him. "There's no way he'll give up even if we escape! So I'm going to make sure he doesn't get to try again!" Nashi turned to run again, but Drake wasn't done.

"Do you really think you can defeat the master of The Olympians and get out in under twelve minutes?!" He demanded. "You don't even know if he's up there!"

"You tell me!" Nashi shouted. "If he up there?!" Drake frowned, but knew she wouldn't back down unless he said something. Concentrating, Drake's magic began to scan the mountain around them, sweeping upwards.

After a few moments, His eyes widened.

"He's..." Drake whispered. "He's up there."

"Then we know what we have to do," Nashi replied. "Are you with me, or not?" Drake looked at Nashi's back as she asked this question. Zeus was still in Mount Olympus, but why? Why was he still here? Was he waiting for something? Or was it a trap?

"Clock's ticking, Drake." Nashi said, snapping him out of his own thoughts. "Are you coming?" Drake looked over at her, and then looked back the way he'd come running after her, contemplating his options.

"...Did you really need to ask?" He asked, turning back to her. She looked over her shoulder at him as he spoke. "I've had your back for seventeen years, I'm not pulling away now." He ran to join her, and she smiled at him over her shoulder.

"Thank you, Drake." She said. "It means a lot to me that you're still here."

"Shut up and run," Drake replied, tearing past her in a sprint. "We've got like ten minutes left to end this."

Drake hoped they could end it in ten minutes.

If not, he hoped his luck was good enough to survive the explosion that would follow.

Zeus watched the lacrima screens as Nashi and Drake ran towards his office, and he smirked.

"It seems the threat will not deter them," he said to himself.

After a few moments, he smirked.

"It seems you were not wrong, Hades. She didn't fall back. And because of that, she's sealed her own fate."

That's a nice stopping point for today, hm? I hope you all enjoyed, leave a review! Let's try to get five!

Chapter 278: Palm of Our Hand