Chapter: 116
(The Titan King)
The fortress behind us lit up.
A massive explosion tore through the black marble for exactly three seconds before orange power washed outward in a wave. The blast reversed itself, fire and debris pulling back toward the source in a roiling display of temporal force.
Kronos had found our little surprise.
We were already a fair distance away. Not as far as we would have liked, given the need to stay under his radar. But far enough that escape wasn't impossible.
Which was to say we had just stolen two prisoners from under a Titan Lord's nose.
Artemis glared up at Michael with a flush colouring her pale cheeks. He carried her without acknowledgement, his pace never faltering.
My eyes met the blinking gaze of the Titaness in my arms. Leto had decided to wake up at some point during our descent. Her chains clinked softly as she stared at me with obvious confusion.
I smiled awkwardly and with a touch of nervousness.
We weren't as far as I would have liked.
Simply flying away at full speed would have alerted the Titan too soon, so here we were flying low and just out of the zone of the mountain. Even with that, our escape was becoming more likely by the moment.
The diversion had been pulled over just in time, the wood clones filled with most of my chakra. It was a new ability I had been able to perform with Mokuton with no small amount of practice. And it had been the base of my plan.
I'm sure if Kronos had seen us before we wouldn't have been able to pull that off, but he hadn't and that had allowed me to pull this off after successfully managing to alter the seal.
"You don't look like someone who would work for Kronos." The words came out measured, careful from the Titaness in my arm.
She tilted her head, golden hair shifting against my arm. "Am I to hope or is this merely a different cage?"
"It's a bit of a long story," I said, sending a glance behind me, just in time to see another wave of orange power go down into the courtyard along with another explosion.
That would be Percy's team or the wood clones I had sent. While they couldn't use my magic, adding a sufficient amount of chakra made them surprisingly formidable at a high cost.
And most of all they could all use my chakra-based abilities.
She turned and looked behind me, then blinked once more, her eyes widening ever so slightly.
"I see." Her voice remained calm despite everything. That same gentle quality I'd noticed before. "Am I to understand that I am being kidnapped once more?"
There was amusement there. A hint of worry too, but mostly amusement.
"Saved," I corrected, keeping my eyes forward. "There's a bit of a difference in this case."
My words were amusing even as I felt a ball of anxiousness enter me.
Going the sneak path had definitely worked out in my favour, but not having the entirety of Heaven readily available was showing itself in the face of what was definitely an ancient power.
Luckily, I did have a way to contact them it would just take a little while.
"Is there?" She tilted her head, showing an amusement that didn't match her eyes. "From my position, the distinction seems rather hard to separate."
"Yeah, well. I'm going away from the big explosive evil Titan with you in my arms." I said dryly.
"Forgive my lack of decorum in that case." She replied carefully. "But are you sure this is wise? I can't say I've been able to see much of what transpired beyond my being forced unconscious."
"Probably not, I really should have stored in my inventory but you aren't that hard to carry…" I said, allowing the wind to hit our faces as we shot through the sky all the while.
She sent me a confused glance at my terminology.
Her gaze drifted to Michael, who was a blur next to us as he flew ahead of us with Artemis in his arms. The Goddess of the Moon had stopped glaring, exhaustion finally winning over pride.
"My daughter..." Leto's voice softened further.
"She's fine," I said. "Michael has her."
Something in my tone must have conveyed more than my words. Leto studied Michael for a long moment, then relaxed slightly in my grip. Whatever she saw seemed to satisfy her.
Then those luminous eyes turned back to me.
"You risk much for strangers." Her words carried no accusation, only curiosity. "Did the Olympians request your aid? I cannot imagine my nephew extending such a plea willingly, but perhaps Athena..."
"Nah." I shook my head. "Just common enemies."
She blinked.
The intensity of her gaze sharpened, seeing something in me that I couldn't name. For a moment she said nothing, simply watching me with those ancient, knowing eyes.
It was almost weird, having such a being like that in my arms.
Regardless, I focused back on the task at hand.
We were almost clear.
It had worked.
The edge of the mountain's ward boundary flickered ahead of us. Another thirty seconds and we'd be beyond Kronos's immediate reach. As Michael had said, protections were spread out far in an obvious attempt to mark their territory.
Then the world exploded in an almost comical display of timing.
A massive detonation erupted from below and to our left. Not from the fortress. From the base of the mountain in a location we had been at when we had arrived.
The labyrinth's entrance and more specifically the trap I had set up.
Someone had activated the trap at the Labyrinth entrance.
My eyes narrowed and my senses flared.
I guess our actions in the Labyrinth had come with a cost, figures. Hopefully whatever force followed us had enjoyed our little surprise.
The explosion lingered in the air, rolling flames of raging heavenly fire creating a heatwave of its own and combating what had been the slightly windy sky.
Michael's face went deathly serious in an instant.
His calm demeanour vanished, replaced by something cold and focused.
Then I felt it.
Demonic power.
It roiled outward in a wave, thick and oppressive. The sensation crawled across my skin like oil, coming from the explosion that was beginning to quickly clear up.
My frown turned more prominent and Leto looked on strangely.
"I presume this isn't another ally of yours…" Leto asked warily.
"No, it isn't," I said, wracking my brain.
Demonic power? There were very few beings who had access to that… it wasn't too surprising considering we had passed through multiple places during our raiding of their bases, but… which Devil had this much power?
Unfortunately, I couldn't linger or speculate on it for long as one other thing occurred from the explosion… The attention that it had drawn to our general location.
The space behind us warped. Space folded in on itself for a split second before something massive tore through. A large figure moved with a resounding boom following in his wake, the blur slammed into Michael with a crack that made the air itself billow out in a shockwave.
I almost wanted to sigh.
Of course, this wasn't going to be easy.
Another wave of demonic power surged outward.
Leto sighed. "I'm afraid it is never that simple with Kronos…"
I dropped lower.
My familiar's presence was a comfort, but it didn't ease the tension building in my chest. Multiple powerful enemies, not anything I hadn't planned for but still…
My first thought was the logical one as I dropped into the land below.
Leaving Michael behind and calling on Heaven.
I had hoped to avoid that, to handle this cleanly without dragging the full weight of the angelic host into Greek affairs. Which was to say the presence that would instantly be sensed by every God around.
Even then, with the method Azrael had given me, it would take a little while. And if I wanted to send it quicker then I'd have to leave Michael behind which wasn't happening.
"Does your companion require assistance?" She asked. "I would suggest retreat, but..." Her eyes met mine, gentle as they were piercing. "My daughter does not look well. Atlas seems to have spotted him…"
I caught a vague glimpse of the figure engaging Michael. From the glance I got at the blurring figure, he was a tall armoured humanoid who looked more like a giant.
Which was to say a Titan in every sense of the word.
'Appraisal.'
{Name: Atlas}
{Title: Titan of Endurance, Bearer of the Heavens, General of the Titan Army}
{Race: Titan}
{Power Level: 61,340}
My blood ran cold.
That wasn't just God-class.
Atlas was brushing into the Super-class.
The same realm as Michael himself.
Surely with my Semi-divine form, I could help? Tip the scales enough to matter?
The thought had barely formed when instinct screamed at me.
"Move." Leto quickly urged.
And moved I did.
It was a mixture of her voice and my instincts that allowed me to twist my body with Leto in my arms, pulling Leto against my chest and throwing myself sideways.
Just in time for an armoured gauntlet to pass through where my head had been. A shockwave left in its wake and an armoured figure watching our curiosity.
I caught myself, wings manifesting to stabilise my flight.
"There you are." The figure said. "The real you it seems and with my prisoner. What a cunning little intruder you are."
I looked up at my attacker, meeting the gaze of a hooded figure hanging in the air before me. Armoured in dark plate and with gauntlets that crackled with a pale orange energy that I didn't even need to look at knew was dangerous.
His divine power rolled off him in waves, that thick golden power with a scary ability to adapt to any concept filling the area.
Two golden orbs regarded me from beneath the hood.
'Appraisal.'
{Name: Kronos}
{Title: Lord of Time, The Crooked One, King of the Titans}
{Race: Titan (Possessing Host)}
{Power Level: 56,200}
Leto's body subtly tensed in my arms, a small sigh escaping her lips as her light eyes turned minutely bleak.
So it was Kronos… and he was this strong in a host?
I didn't have time to ponder it much longer, Kronos' large armoured form taking a casual step forward, a billowing of wind choosing that moment to sweep through the area between us.
"That was an impressive showing," Kronos said, a hint of respect smoothing into his tone. "I can respect such acts. You had so little time and managed to perform admirably, the technique you used was rather unique."
The Titan looked up at the large battle in the sky.
"Even with such power behind you..." He said, uninterested in the time he was wasting.
That was probably because the world had begun to slow around us. Our perception strained, that sense buried deep in divine beings flaring to life as we processed time at an accelerated rate.
The battle in the sky was rapidly becoming clearer. What had been five blurred afterimages of attacks became three distinct strikes. Then two. The gap between moments stretched thin.
Mahoraga shifted behind me. Galadriel's cold scales moved against my skin.
"I must say your ally could have caused quite a bit of trouble… but it seems we weren't the only enemies you accumulated." Kronos chuckled. "Tell me, what was your intent?"
"Eh, well. We partially have a bone to pick with the organisation you've chosen to ally with, which on that topic, you wouldn't be willing to tell us everything you know about them, would you?" I said conversationally. "If you could be a champ and give me all their nearby bases, I'd be happy to kill you without much pain."
Kronos looked amused. "Oh? That's not a very fair deal. And here I thought you were going to offer an alliance."
"Maybe, but there's just a small problem with that," I said, letting the dark cold feeling I felt mixed with no small amount of smite enter my visage. "You hurt Hestia."
Unfortunately I didn't gain her attention by using her name, the barrier seemingly warding that off, not that I was even sure I had wanted that to happen.
"Ah, so you know of my eldest daughter." Kronos chuckled. "In any case, I don't know who you are. And even so, while you may possess a powerful ally it's nothing in the face of the force that has been created within the alliance."
My sword appeared in my other hand.
I couldn't say there hadn't been a part of me that hadn't wanted this to happen. I had suspected it would be Kronos with the previous clues about his sealing matrix being tampered with.
But it would have been illogical to fight him… it would seem the choice had been taken away from me.
"I suppose I'll have to remember to chew when she falls with the rest of my children," Kronos said darkly.
My teeth clenched, Hestia's kind smile coming to flashed through my mind, the warmth of her aura and the kindness in those gentle flames that served as eyes.
Leto's grip on my arm tightened. "You should retreat," she said quietly.
"Ah, Leto. You're finally awake once more." Kronos said amicably. "Fleeing with strangers rather than accepting the inevitable. I had hoped you, at least, would show more wisdom than my wayward grandchildren."
Leto pursed her lips.
Kronos chuckled.
"You were always the gentle one, Leto. Even among Titans." Kronos's voice held something that might have been regret. "A shame you chose to bear children for my son's dynasty. We could have used your wisdom in the coming age."
Leto flinched minutely, her mouth opening to reply.
"I'm not surprised." I spoke up. "Nobody likes to join the losing side."
His eyes snapped towards me.
I should probably keep a lid on my taunts but I couldn't help it with the image of Hestia and Aphrodite in my head. I wouldn't mind as much if they weren't involved-
I didn't get to finish that thought however, as it seemed Kronos had finally had enough of the chat he had decided to start.
Leto became urgent and sensing the danger, for the first time in a while, I activated my Semi-Divine form with just a thought. Golden light erupted from my body in that familiar sensation of overwhelming power.
It was just in time, allowing me to move away from a half-hearted attack. The blur that would have killed me with ease and the blur I had barely been able to react to suddenly became clearer.
The world slowed.
Power flooded my limbs and my angelic magic began flowing around me, a new larger energy reserve ready to be called upon. Even my chakra that had been completely spent was filled up by a large amount. Not close to my angelic power but still replenished.
I should have had Michael break Leto's chains before we left.
The thought hit me as I stared at Kronos, my Semi-divine form blazing around me like a second skin. The chains were still wrapped around the Titaness, clinking softly as she shifted in my arms.
Or I should have just put her in my inventory.
I frowned beneath the golden light.
Oh well. Too late for regrets now.
"Fascinating," Kronos said, tilting his head. Those golden eyes studied me with the intensity of someone examining an interesting insect. "That transformation. Not quite divine…"
Kronos tilted his hooded visage.
Mahoraga didn't remain idle, surging forward from his position with a boom and without an ounce of hesitation. The trees around us found themselves blown away by the display of power.
The trees around us found themselves blown harshly by the display of power. His fist pulled back, golden tattoos blazing as he prepared to strike.
Kronos's head turned slightly and he raised a hand almost lazily, barely sparing him a glance. Orange light flared, divine power rolled out in no end of power and the angelic Shikigami found himself easily overwhelmed by superior power.
A ball shot out and consumed Mahoraga, freezing him mid-swing, his body trapped in a block of that orange power. His entire form locked in place as if he'd been turned to stone, fist suspended from its direct path towards Kronos's hooded face.
Time had simply stopped around him.
"An interesting creature," Kronos observed.
He flicked his wrist. Mahoraga flew backwards, crashing through a dozen trees before embedding himself in the mountainside. The impact cratered the stone.
The bubble of orange remained around the angelic Shikigami.
In that instant, I didn't remain idle. I opted for backing away, feeling a sense of wariness in the face of a magical element I knew to be one of the highest and rarest forms of element.
Which was to say I was dealing with someone who could not only use a highly dangerous element but had a Divine Domain in its function.
Perhaps this wasn't my brightest idea…
As I attempted to gain distance, holy power surged through my veins. Golden light gathered in front of me, condensing into something far more potent than a simple blast.
I poured a large amount of angelic power into it, letting the holy energy swell until it burned against my skin.
A lance of pure white hot holy power formed, brilliant and blinding. The air around it crackled, wisps of steam rising where moisture evaporated from the sheer heat.
The lance screamed through the air, trailing a wake of golden fire. It crossed the distance in an instant, aimed directly at Kronos's chest.
Kronos quickly turned his head back towards me.
Then the orange light flared again.
My attack simply stopped. Inches from his chest, suspended in the air like an insect trapped in amber. The golden flames still flickered, frozen mid-dance. The energy still blazed, held in perfect stasis.
"Now then." Kronos turned his attention back to me. "Where were we?"
He moved, the ball holding the attack shifted and the attack exploded, the ball opened up and a beam of holy light was sent towards me, burning the ground and turning everything it passed by into ash.
The attack passed over me and I made sure to absorb any of it getting too close to Leto, squeezing her closely against me, missing the puzzled look she sent me.
The attack cleared up, only to reveal a gauntleted fist driving toward my chest with immense speed that made me jerk.
I twisted, barely avoiding the strike.
The shockwave alone sent Leto and me tumbling backwards through the air. I caught myself with my wings, but the follow-up came immediately as Kronos appeared above me.
His fist came down like a hammer. I raised my arm to block and the impact rattled my bones. Golden light flared around me as I redirected the force, but I still dropped a hundred feet before stabilising.
Yeah… maybe I should have had Uriel create me some armour.
I threw a glance at Mahoraga who seemed unable to move… if only that adaptation would kick in at some point.
Kronos was already in front of me once more and I allowed all my thoughts to focus solely on the Titan before me. Even with my Semi-divine form active, he was too fast.
I blocked the strike, sending a dull pain through my arms, the only saving grace seemed to be his lower amount of physical might. Whether that was due to a host or more of a magical build I didn't know.
The problem is that his magic seemed very much touching the super-class due to this.
With Leto still in my grasp I was at a disadvantage.
My sword materialised in my free hand and I slashed in the same motion, holy power blazing along the edge. Simultaneously, the holy energy I had seeded around us coalesced into a dozen lances of golden light that rained down on our position from every angle.
Orange energy flared from his palm, warping around my blade with casual precision. The moment the blade met that temporal field, all momentum died.
My sword hung frozen in the air, mid-swing, as if time itself had reached out and caught it. Which was exactly what had happened.
I frowned.
The lances I had called down to buy myself breathing room hung suspended around us, each one trapped in its own sphere of orange stasis. In that same instant, an armoured gauntlet drove into my stomach.
The impact launched me backwards, though my body absorbed the blow without real injury.
Kronos seemed to notice that fact instantly.
I cursed under my breath, eyes flicking to my sword still trapped in that blob of frozen time.
Leto caught my gaze. She stared back with resignation written across her features, something apologetic in her expression. As if any of this was her fault.
That brief exchange alone told me everything I needed to know. I couldn't afford to hold back.
I clasped my hands and holy power blew out from me, briefly creating a distraction as the world around me turned gold. A massive explosion of power no doubt wiping out a major part of the massive mountain.
My wings let out a powerful flap and I sailed backwards.
The only reason we had not blown up more was due to the concentration of power. We could make a massive attack that blew up all the mountain, but that would spread power further out of a surface area, weakening its effect.
Focusing more on the task at hand, I bit down on my thumb and slammed my hands together. Chakra surged through my network, draining deep as I formed the signs.
Two wood clones sprouted from my shoulders, peeling away from my body with a crack of bark and sinew. Each one cost me more than I would have liked, but they were important.
I couldn't carry Leto while fighting Kronos.
They dropped beside Leto without a word. She looked up at them, then back at me. They knew the task at hand. Find a way to break the chains.
With Leto, the fight would become exponentially easier.
"Wait-" Leto said urgently but the King of Titans had already moved once more.
He crossed the distance between us in a single step, orange light trailing from his fingertips like embers from a dying fire. I brought my arms up to block but he was already past my guard, palm pressing against my chest.
Time stuttered.
The world lurched. One moment I was standing, the next I was airborne, crashing through stone and earth. I hadn't even felt the impact that sent me flying. The blow had simply happened, the moments between cause and effect stripped away.
I caught myself mid-air, wings flaring wide. Holy power surged through my body, golden light wrapping around my fists as I launched myself back at him with a boom, undeterred by how easily he was repelling me.
He didn't even bother dodging.
My fist connected with his raised palm. Orange light bloomed. My entire arm froze, locked in place from knuckles to shoulder. I couldn't pull back or push forward.
The limb simply refused to exist in flowing time and a heavy punch was coming my way.
My Rinnegan activated.
A repulsive force erupted outward from my body, an omnidirectional blast that didn't care about speed or timing. It simply pushed everything away. The frozen bubble around my arm shattered as the gravitational wave collided with it, the conflicting forces creating a crack in his hold.
Kronos slid back from the explosive force. His head tilted beneath that hood.
I surveyed the scene critically,
"Those eyes… how curious," Kronos commented, and then he was in front of me again, his other hand came up, fingers splayed. "You are full of surprises."
I didn't waste breath on a response, not that I was given the chance to. He closed the distance before I could form another technique, sliding into my guard with a fluidity that didn't abide by his status as sealed for so many thousands of years.
His fist drove into my solar plexus, precise and controlled.
I tried to retaliate with an elbow strike, only to fail as he moved and a palm slammed into the side of my head, snapping my neck to the right. Stars exploded across my vision. Before I could recover, his knee came up, catching me in the ribs and lifting me off the ground.
I tried to activate Shinra Tensei again. His hand closed around my wrist, twisting sharply and disrupting my concentration. Pain lanced up my arm.
His other fist aimed for my kidney but I adapted and blocked, only for my arm to be held there with a flare of that orange energy, allowing for another kick to be sent along my ribs.
As I was pushed back, I subtly let my power flow into the ground, touching the chakra-infused root beneath it.
"You carry an interesting set of skills and you are not a God… no. You almost feel bey-"
I didn't let him reply, wrapping illusions around the area to confuse him, along with multiple light attacks that were packed with holy energy.
The light attacks roared through the air and I allowed them to explode before they collided with him. The explosions roared through the area, holy light causing the area to burn.
In response, the Titan merely responded with an orange light that halted the powerful attacks in place as he passed by.
"…"
No wonder he had such a big head… even if he was weaker than me I would probably be struggling just as much.
It was a shame he had to go and say he was going to hurt Hestia.
The Titan raised his hand and dozens of orange balls formed, shooting towards it as orange streaks in the darkening sky. I avoided them, flying between them.
The Titan flicked his wrist.
The frozen bubbles imploded, sending strange temporal waves outwards.
I retaliated with multiple lances of light that struck up from below, getting closer than the previous attacks but being frozen still all the same.
I winced at the pain that wracked through my body.
Chains of adamantine chakra erupted from my back, twelve of them shooting toward him from every angle.
Orange light pulsed. Every chain froze mid-flight, suspended in the air like metallic serpents caught in more of that pale orange power.
The Titan glanced at them, a hint of suspicion entering his eyes. He walked through them casually, ducking under one frozen chain, stepping over another, approaching me with the leisure of someone who had all the time in the world.
Wind was already gathering in my palms, compressing into a golden sphere as holy power swirling with it. I released it in a concentrated blast aimed at his feet.
A wall of golden wind shot towards him, predictably freezing in place. The fast and burning element is hovering in yet another ball of frozen time.
"Is this the power you thought would stop me?" Kronos asked, obviously attempting to taunt me.
My mind thought over everything present as I got a brief reprieve.
Mahoraga was still frozen. My clones were working on Leto's chains but they wouldn't be fast enough. Every attack I threw got stopped before it could land.
I guess it was a good thing I hadn't been idle in the mere twenty seconds that had passed as my ass was handed to me.
I was glad my Semi-divine form wasn't limited to two minutes anymore.
Anathema.
Judgement.
The curse erupted outward first, a wave of power erupting and covering the area in what could only be called rejection that seeped into the stone and air, blackening everything it touched. Reality itself turned hostile around us, pressing against Kronos from every direction.
For a moment I was surprised at the sheer effect, as was Kronos.
And through the divine curses usage, Judgement struck.
My finger pointed at his chest. The skill needed no travel time. It simply was, forcing his consciousness inward, dragging him through every sin in the eyes of his victims.
Kronos's eyes turned black and he actually staggered, recovering instantly and more quickly than any other had before. His two golden eyes reflected a hint of shock, but it didn't last.
The distraction served its purpose as I flew towards him.
Galadriel erupted from the earth in an explosion of silver, her massive serpentine form coiling skyward. Her jaws closed around Kronos before he could turn, stellar fire blazing between her fangs.
Kronos grunted in surprise, his form blazing with power for a single instant before Galadriel was hurled off him. She tumbled through the air, only to be snared in a sphere of orange stasis before she could recover.
He turned toward her, intent clear.
The corrosive weight of Anathema still hung in the atmosphere around us, visible as a dark haze that pressed against foreign energies and sapped their strength.
A small advantage, but mine nonetheless.
The temporal prison holding my sword had dissipated. I called the blade back to my grip and launched myself forward, closing the distance before he could finish what he started with my familiar.
Light erupted from my body, golden radiance wreathing my form as I bore down on him. My blade carved through the air, trailing ribbons of solar flame as Sun Breathing surged through my limbs and pushed my speed beyond its natural limits.
Kronos caught the strike on his forearm, orange light flaring to protect him. The impact sent shockwaves through the corrupted air. Still weaponless he struck at me.
I didn't stop.
My body twisted, blade arcing in a continuous spiral of flame and light. Each strike flowed into the next as my full power came forth.
Kronos caught the first slash on his forearm. The second he redirected with a flick of his wrist. The third found its mark, grazing his shoulder and slicing through fabric, the edge a hair's breadth from drawing ichor.
Then time hitched. My blade reversed its trajectory mid-cut, pulled backwards as if the moment itself had been unwound.
I pressed forward with all my strength, but orange light flared across his form.
His movements sharpened, speed increasing as a fiery aura of temporal energy cloaked his body. His palm rose and my blade locked mid-arc, caught in another bubble of frozen time.
I released the hilt without hesitation, letting the sword hang suspended while my fist carried through, wreathed in holy power. It just managed to catch him across the jaw.
Kronos's head snapped to the side.
"Better."
His hand closed around my extended wrist. Time stuttered and I was airborne again, but this time I caught myself instantly, wings flaring as light gathered at my fingertips.
A dozen spears formed and shot toward him before I even finished righting myself.
He froze every last one. Then he was in front of me, the spears resuming their flight behind him and detonating uselessly against empty air. His fist came down like a hammer, driving me toward the earth.
I never hit the ground. A wall of orange materialised at my back, catching me mid-flight and holding me in place. His kick followed without mercy, crashing into my ribs.
D-damn.
I took a breath, the light around me beginning to drain out of the area.
"You have an impressive grasp of light," Kronos said casually. "I think I've finally deciphered what you are."
His hand rose and more balls of orange shot towards me.
My body dissolved into radiance. In a flash I crossed the distance between us, reforming before him in the span of a heartbeat. The world blurred into nothing while I existed as pure light, my speed eclipsing anything I should have been capable of.
Surprise flickered across his eyes.
Clear Blue Sky.
The technique erupted with a massive amount of force, a vertical column of flame and light that carved through the mountainside towards Kronos.
Kronos caught the blade between his palms in surprise, his knees bending. The shockwave flattened everything for a hundred meters in every direction. The ground beneath us cratered, then cratered again, sinking deeper with each passing second as our powers clashed.
Orange power flashed a moment later though and I was forced to release my sword. I abandoned the sword, spinning into a kick that he blocked with his elbow.
Light erupted from my heel on impact, a point-blank detonation that scorched his sleeve and sent us both skidding apart.
I didn't give him time to recover.
Fake Rainbow.
My form blurred, afterimages scattering in every direction as I twisted around his guard. The real strike came from below, an uppercut slash aimed at his chest.
It connected.
The blade bit into his armour, carving a furrow across his ribs before he could react. A small amount of gold ichor sprayed across the blackened stone.
Kronos looked down at the wound, an armoured finger coming to look at it, putting me on edge. His eyes had changed. The detached curiosity was gone. In its place was something older.
Colder.
The gaze of a being who had devoured his own children, who had ruled over an age of darkness, who had been imprisoned for millennia and emerged with his hatred intact.
"I believe I've had enough," Kronos said. "This is your last chance, in consideration for your dead Lord, surrender."
So he had found out what I was. As if my wings weren't a giveaway… but then all children of Nyx had wings. So it wasn't like there weren't other races with wings, though not as angelic as mine.
My response was a massive unleashing of holy power.
I reformed into light once more and flashed away, the word blurring and my power visibly dropping from turning into light. It was just in time as Orange exploded all around the area we had been.
The uprooted rock and debris hung in the air, right up until the temporal bubble shattered and allowed the explosion of force to take place.
The mountainside no longer had many signs of life, the clash having dug into its side and only left burnt rock in its wake.
Thick orange power began covering his dark-plated armour, making no sound as it came to wrap around his form. His leg tensed and he vanished in a burst of speed far superior to anything he had shown thus far.
He had simply removed the time it took to cross the distance between us.
One moment he was there, the next his fist was buried in my stomach. I doubled over, gasping, attempting to block the incoming assault. My hand froze. Orange energy wrapped around my wrist, locking it in place mid-swing.
His knee came up, cracking into my chin. Stars exploded across my vision. I felt myself starting to fly backwards from the impact. Then I stopped. Frozen in mid-air. Suspended in a bubble of stasis with my body still reeling from the blow.
Kronos kicked me and a ball of orange followed me down on my impact into the ground, forming a ball of frozen time as it exploded around me.
"You see the problem now, don't you?"
His fist drove into my ribs.
The bubble released just long enough for the impact to register, for my body to jerk from the force, then as I attempted to block he locked me again. The pain hit twice.
Once from the blow, once from being frozen in the aftermath. Another punch. My head snapped to the side, blood spraying from my lip, then stopped.
I gritted my teeth, reaching for another skill I had been holding in reserve.
He wasn't fighting at full power. I had known that from the start and tried to match his pace, but trading restraint with a Titan who could freeze time itself was proving to be a losing strategy.
I had been waiting for him to commit to a killing blow. An opening. But the pain radiating through my body told me I was running out of time to be patient.
Gravity coiled around my fist, subtly making that numbing void of sensation that accompanied the freezing of my body fade.
Kronos seemed just about to notice this when Galadriel chose that moment to blur from her position, her serpentine form coiled upward like smoke given substance.
Scales of midnight blue shimmered with pinpricks of white, each one a captured star. Her eyes burned with the light of a certain set of trees. She was massive.
Her coils alone could have wrapped around a considerable length of this mountain. Her head rose above the treeline, crowned with a halo of orbiting lights that pulsed with divine rhythm.
Kronos regarded her with something that might have been interest.
"Curious," he murmured. "Do you finally understand the mistake you made? Did you think fighting Gods made you able to take me on? I am a Titan boy, Gods tap into their domains, I am submerged in mine."
Galadriel didn't give him time to analyse.
Her mouth opened and light poured forth.
It cascaded down in a torrent of silver and white in multiple beams, each beam gleaming in a different manner than holy light. Every time she unleashed a beam she would rapidly assume a different position.
Kronos flicked his hand and unleashed dozens of orange balls that turned into miniature shields that caught the attacks.
The starlight froze.
My eyes picked up something as Kronos almost grimaced, a brief bit of skin I could see blackening before a wave of orange transformed it back into a healthy shade of colour.
My familiar didn't stop there. Galadriel's scales began to glow, each pinprick of light on her body igniting like a newborn star. Beams lanced out from her coils, dozens of them, hundreds, filling the air with crisscrossing lines of stellar fire.
Kronos caught them. The orange bubbles multiplied around him, each one containing a frozen shot of starlight. But Galadriel kept firing. Her divine skill wasn't one attack.
My eyes widened in alarm, my Rinnegan activating and draining the power that was holding my arm still in tandem with the gravity magic that was destabilising the flow of time.
Kronos approached Galadriel's form easily with his superior speed, a blade of energy forming and cutting through Galadriel's scales. My familiar let out a pained hiss and I felt rage grow in me.
I shot forward, just in time to watch her neck be cut through, with my eyes burning. I appeared before an amused Kronos, who naturally attempted to pause me with an orange glow.
This time, it didn't work.
Gravity magic erupted across my form, enhanced by my Rinnegan tears of gravity formed on my body, distorting the bubble of frozen time and bursting through it.
Kronos' golden eyes reflected a genuine amount of shock and I could practically see him reevaluating me.
He went to block with his thick arm guards that were covered in orange energy, only for me to zap behind him. My sword, now in my grip once more, cutting along his back and through his armour.
I watched golden ichor splashed from an open wound with a heated gaze, quickly backing away, while his hood lifted up, showing me an unfamiliar face.
As I backed away I saw rage grow in his eyes.
Bansho Ten'in
Gravity inverted. Focused entirely on Kronos, pulling him toward me with the force of a collapsing star.
He lurched forward, eyes widening as his own forward momentum combined with the gravitational pull. His control over the temporal field wavered for just an instant as he fought against the unexpected force.
An instant was enough.
Sun Breathing surged through my limbs as I met his lurching form. My cursed sword lit up the destructive cursed light I had been waiting to call upon.
Dragon Sun Halo Head Dance.
A circular slash that carved through everything in its path, wreathed in flames that were fed by the titanic amount of holy power that made my higher end god class reserves dip noticeably.
My blade caught Kronos across the chest, opening another deeper wound that carved deeper with the purple glow of cursed light. The solar flames seared his flesh. A noticeable amount of golden ichor sprayed from the hit and Kronos looked astonished.
He vanished back, looking at the damaged armour that crackled with cursed light.
"Very well then," Kronos stated simply.
I looked over with worry at Galadriel, who had managed to retreat.
Divine power shattered my senses. The world around us turned orange and I felt the activation of a divine skill. And then another divine skill as the wound I had just inflicted reversed itself.
Time around us stopped and I felt a massive dome around me pause. I felt myself being pulled in a dozen directions at once, my body experiencing moments out of order, pain arriving before the blows that caused it.
When reality stabilised, I was embedded in the mountainside again.
Deeper this time. Blood poured from wounds I didn't remember receiving. My regeneration kicked in, my vitality knitting flesh back together, but it was slower than usual.
But my body found itself unable to move, even with the gravity magic I had surrounded myself with. I was sure that was only allowing my body to even regenerate.
The purple glow intensified and my eyes glowed with power, draining only the immediate energy around me which came in as a small trickle of angelic energy.
I stood up, staring warily at the Titan.
Kronos stood in the centre of the battlefield, chest heaving. He looked at me with something that might have been respectful before that turned into a dark killing intent.
The orange light around him intensified.
The frozen battlefield began to crack, temporal energy pressing harder against everything it contained.
Finally, the full weight of his power came down on me like a mountain of its own. The gap in power was showing itself.
And I was starting to think I had bitten off more than I could chew.
The Gods were powerful and it was only the wide range of skills I had that gave me an advantage, along with possessing two sets of energies. But I could see why Kronos wasn't lumped in as a God… he felt above that.
This was him possessing a host?
How the hell did Zeus and his brothers manage to beat this?!
His gaze snapped to where my wooden clones had been working on freeing Leto, the mass of temporal energy struck forward and they were erased in moments.
The gravity magic erupted off my form in response and I reactivated the divine curse around me.
I patted myself on the back for deciding to get gravity magic…
This was going to be tough, I tried to spy a glance up at Michael but the world of orange blocked it out.
It seems like I was back to supporting myself.
-{Percy}-
Percy stared at the sky with growing concern, or rather the multitude of colours that were shining in the sky every moment. Knowing each of those colours was different energies clashing made the scene a tad bit nerve-wracking, even for the Demigod.
Another explosion rattled in the distance. Light flared in colours that shouldn't exist together. Divine gold clashed against burning orange, followed by a shockwave that made his bones vibrate.
Zoe ground her jaw next to him, her eyes burning with emotion, while the hunters next to her shifted uncomfortably.
"We should have followed them," Zoe said, her jaw tight.
The three other hunters beside her nodded in agreement, their hands gripping their bows.
Percy rolled his eyes despite the knot forming in his stomach.
"Do you see that?" He said, pointing at the massive booms lighting up the sky above Mount Tamalpais. Each one felt like it was shaking the earth itself. "Do you honestly think we should have any part in that? As much as I'd love to get vaporised today, there was a reason we stayed back."
Zoe's scowl deepened. "Thy words..."
"Are right," Annabeth cut in, though her grey eyes were fixed on the mountain with the same worried intensity. "Percy's right. We'd just be in the way."
Percy gritted his teeth. "Face it. Kai was right. There's just some level of power that can't be overcome."
Even he wouldn't be able to help… as crazy as that felt to him.
"So thy suggest we merely wait?!" Zoe scowled. "The plan has obviously gone awry. I cannot bear to stand here while our Lady persists in such a battle."
"Kai and Michael are working on it," Annabeth said comfortingly. "The plan half worked right? We saw the main fortress explode. That was a trap left behind. So he found your lady and obviously escaped… it just seems the escape part of the plan didn't go as well as we hoped."
Percy hated this.
Hated standing while others fought battles he couldn't even comprehend. Once again, Kai had gone and made himself bullshit levels of strong. And Michael? The Archangel made Percy feel like a kid with a plastic sword trying to fight a tank.
He'd barely stopped himself from rushing in after them. The only thing holding him back was knowing he'd become a liability.
A distraction that could get Kai or Michael hurt if they had to babysit him instead of focusing on the fight.
They'd been told the plan. The absurd, insane, 'this will definitely go wrong' plan. Sneak into a fortress held by a Titan King. Free a goddess. Escape before anyone notices.
How did you even hide from a Titan? A Titan King at that? One that was probably stronger than Princess Sparky who sat in the clouds rubbing his thunder balls.
Apparently, the answer was "carefully" and "with exploding wood clones."
Because that made total sense.
Another shockwave rolled across the landscape.
Even at this distance, the force of it pushed them back. The sheer magnitude of power on display made them instinctively shrink away, something primal warning them not to draw attention.
Percy had thought his own strength was considerable.
Watching the sky tear itself apart above that mountain, he felt a new goal crystallise in his chest. Once more, he found himself wanting to catch up to Kai.
He had no idea what was happening up there now.
They had put a decent distance between themselves and the mountain. Far enough that they should have gone unnoticed.
But distance couldn't hide the explosions of light that bloomed across the horizon, each one sending tremors through the earth and shivers through their group.
"Lady Artemis..." one of the hunters whispered.
"I'm sure Kai is doing something…" Percy said with more confidence than he felt. "He had backup up right? And you saw how strong Michael is. It's annoying as hell but they're both strong… stronger than us."
Annabeth shot him a look that said she appreciated the attempt at reassurance but wasn't buying it either.
The forest around them was too quiet. No birds. No animals. Just the distant sounds of a battle that could probably level a city.
"So we just wait…?" Zoe asked.
"Do you think getting involved in that…" Percy said, pointing at the massive displays of power that came with flashes of light and distant booms. "Is something we can get involved in? Just accept it, that's a battle of Gods."
Percy felt absurd that he was being the voice of reason for once.
"Surely-" a hunter began, cut off as someone else arrived.
Percy's hand went to Riptide instantly.
A figure stepped out from between the trees.
A woman. Tall, with dark hair pulled back severely. Her features were sharp. She wore armour that looked Greek but was wrong. Black metal that seemed to drink in light rather than reflect it.
Her eyes locked onto their group.
And she smiled.
"Well, well." Her voice was smooth. Almost pleasant. "Lord Kronos will be pleased to find some stragglers while he's occupied above."
The hunters had their bows drawn in an instant.
Percy uncapped Riptide, the bronze blade springing to life in his hand. Beside him, Annabeth drew her twin knives, her stance shifting into something ready and dangerous.
"Who are you?" Zoe demanded, arrow already nocked.
"I suppose that would be a question you would have." The woman's smile didn't waver. "I'm afraid it'll only be answered once you surrender peacefully. Unless you are with Lord Kronos?"
"So Kronos is up there?" Zoe said sharply.
Annabeth sighed.
Percy sent her a look.
He wasn't planning on denying it but just straight up confirming that for what was obviously an enemy…?
The woman smiled. "Then I'll have to ask you to come quietly, call it a slight suspicion but I think you'll have something to do with the rather large battle going on overhead."
"Yeah? Pretty sure we should be saying that to you. Your Titan daddy's up there getting his ass handed to him right now." Percy replied.
"I doubt that." She laughed lightly. "Now, come quietly children."
"You know, I really hate when people say stuff like that," Percy muttered. "It's so cliché. Like, at least threaten us creatively."
The woman's eyes flickered with something that might have been amusement. "A demigod with spirit. How refreshing."
She moved, way faster than Percy expected.
Her hand lashed out, fingers curled into claws wreathed in divine energy…. Something he knew due to his own albeit diluted version of it.
She was a goddess?
Percy ducked, swinging Riptide up in a diagonal slash. The blade met her armoured forearm with a clang that sent sparks flying. Percy was sent flying back, barely managing to get into a role.
Yep, she was a Goddess.
Great.
"Okay. She's strong." Percy said bashfully, but even with that he dove back in with vigour.
"I think we got that Perce," Annabeth said dryly.
An arrow whizzed past his head, followed by more in quick succession towards the unknown Goddess. The woman's hands snapped open, deflecting two arrows.
The third nearly grazed her shoulder and it almost looked like she wanted to roll her eyes.
At least they were trying.
"Hunters of Artemis? I suppose that's to be expected, the only surprise is you still being amongst the living."
Percy narrowed his eyes and he could see Annabeth trying to figure out who was standing in front of them.
"But you are answering to Kronos," Annabeth said, her eyes glinting with worry. "And the fact you haven't killed us gives me a clue, you're a minor Goddess."
She frowned. "I assure you there is nothing minor about me."
Energy swirled around her in waves of dark purple and black. The air grew heavy, oppressive. She raised her hand and it writhed like a massive spear towards them.
Percy moved on instinct, pulling water from the air, from the ground, from every source he could reach. It coalesced in front of him and Annabeth in a swirling barrier just as Nemesis released her attack.
A massive mass of water met the wave of force slammed into his shield.
Percy gasped. His arms shook. The water barrier held but he could feel it cracking, not physically but conceptually. Something was pressing against it beyond the raw power.
Something that whispered of every wrong he had ever committed, every mistake, every failure.
The weight of it drove him to one knee.
The hunters let out more arrows that were unable to pierce the clashing forces, all of them looking at Percy with surprise.
He gritted his teeth, pouring more power into the barrier. He remembered Kai had mentioned something once, during one of their conversations. Divine skills.
Was this one of those?
When the force let up the Goddess raised a barrier that stopped the admitted fast arrows.
"Insufficient I'm afraid."
"Story of my life," Percy muttered, shooting forward again and blocking her powerful swing with his sword, his knees bending.
Annabeth joined him and appeared behind the woman. The Goddess whipped out at her with a superior speed, except she wasn't there. The image flickered and vanished. A mirage.
The real Annabeth struck from the left, her knife scoring a line across the woman's side. The goddess whirled, but another mirage appeared on her right.
Then her front.
Divine power struck out and Percy forced a large amount of water to erupt out, forming a shield that barely stopped the massive black wing from impaling her on its surprisingly sharp edge.
More arrows whizzed past, hitting into the barrier she maintained. She flicked her hand with annoyance and the barrier struck out towards the hunters as a wave of force.
Allowing Percy to drive his fist into her sternum, surprising her as his sword impacted her black wings that were wreathed in her power.
A spike of dark energy erupted from the ground in response. Percy threw himself sideways, feeling the heat sear past him as the earth where he had been standing blackened and cracked.
He grinned despite himself. Annabeth's new Sacred Gear was turning out to be seriously useful. Also kind of terrifying. Note to self: never piss her off.
Of course, she had figured out how to use it mid-quest. Because she was Annabeth.
He didn't waste the opening.
Orbs of water formed around them, turning into large thick and powerful whips of water that lashed out at the Minor Goddess. In return, she whipped her arms out.
Dark divine-infused energy exploded outward in a shockwave that sent them all stumbling back. Percy kept his feet through sheer stubbornness, Riptide raised defensively.
A wave ripped through the area and Percy summoned a large mass of water that absorbed the power, holding it in its depths as he sent it back at her in blasts of water.
She moved, avoiding the blasts and sending attacks of her own back which forced Percy on the offensive.
Percy barely got Riptide up in time. The impact drove him backwards, his feet carving trenches through the dead earth. She struck again and again, each blow carrying the weight of divine authority behind it.
He parried desperately, water swirling around him in a defensive cocoon. It wasn't enough. Her strikes shattered through his barriers like they were tissue paper.
A kick caught him in the ribs and he felt something crack.
He flew backwards, crashing through a dead tree trunk and rolling to a stop in the ash.
Arrows shot through the air.
The hunters had recovered, letting loose volley after volley at the goddess. The Goddess didn't even look at them. She raised a hand and a dome of force materialised around her, deflecting the projectiles harmlessly aside.
Annabeth flickered into existence behind her, knife flashing. The Goddess caught her wrist without turning, twisting sharply and hurling the daughter of Athena into the hunters' formation. They scattered, barely avoiding a collision.
Percy pushed himself up, wincing.
He reached out with his senses, past the dead clearing, past the withered forest, down into the earth where underground rivers flowed. The water in the air and the water he could create.
And he pulled.
The ground rumbled.
The Goddess paused, turning to face him with something approaching curiosity.
"Such power for a Demigod…" She tilts her head, her eyes shimmering.
The rumbling grew louder. Cracks split the earth around them, water seeping up through the gaps. The air grew humid, then wet, then saturated with moisture so thick it was hard to breathe.
Percy stood at the centre of it all, eyes glowing with sea-green light.
Massive bursts of water roared to the surface and spiralled up with a force that blew the trees around them away. These spirals erupted in a raging wave of destruction towards the Goddess.
The Goddess's eyes flashed and Percy sensed that strange shift, that feeling he was sure was linked to the divine skills Kai had spoken about. The area ringed and the water found itself destabilised from its path.
A measuring scale formed and he felt his magic go out of control.
That didn't matter though as through that cover Percy was surging forward, a blast of high-pressure water shooting through and impacting the surprised Goddess, forcing her back and turning her skin red.
He jumped through, slicing his blade down in a powerful arc.
It was probably stupid to rush in such a manner. Definitely reckless. But sitting back and letting others fight had never been his style. Also, he was tired of feeling useless as of late.
Riptide met the Goddess's conjured blade in a shower of sparks.
He gave ground, deflecting rather than blocking, letting her strength work against her. Water formed beneath her feet, making the ground slick. She adjusted, but it forced her to split her attention.
The measuring scale that floated rang again though and he found himself stumbling.
An arrow took some of her focus, allowing him to recover and with Percy's true power raging she was forced on the back foot.
A slash caught her leg, drawing blood and causing her arm to rip out, a pulse ripping out of her and bypassing the defence he returned with. His eyes widened as he felt his emotions rage
In that moment of surprise, he was blasted back. He landed on his feet, his chest feeling burnt but luckily covered by a thick layer of water he had just about summoned.
The Goddess was hurt, far more than him.
He grinned.
"We don't have to fight," Annabeth said, taking the moment of the brief respite to speak.
"You're wounded. We're wounded. And for what? I doubt K-he cares about you. You're a means to an end."
The Goddess's eyes flickered.
Something passed across her face. Not doubt, but consideration.
Annabeth pressed on. "You're a Goddess. Does serving a Titan who was known for eating his own children inspire something in you?"
The goddess was silent for a long moment.
"You speak well, daughter of Athena." She tilted her head. "But you misunderstand. I do not serve Kronos out of loyalty. I serve because the scales demand it. The gods have gone unpunished for too long. Their arrogance, their neglect, their cruelty. Someone must collect what is owed."
Annabeth seemed to have a realisation of who she was.
But it didn't matter as the Goddess prepared another attack.
He went to rush forward only for movement to catch his attention. Through the smoke of the large amount of damage that had been done to the area around them, Kai stepped out with someone he didn't recognise.
What was he doing here?
-END-