In those precious few moments, Finn hadn't really known what he could have hoped for… Was it his fear of Origin Wolf which drove him? Or was it a deeper desire to win after suffering an incredibly sinful defeat, a defeat which cost the life of a respectable goddess? Either way it didn't matter, for the object of his past, and current humiliation had arrived.
It was but a single gust which turned into a raging wind upon his appearance, he'd moved so fast the air had been forced to move at unnatural speeds, creating a pressurized wave of hot air, one which quickly subsided.
Standing upon his light platforms, Origin Wolf looked around the area, he noticed several smells he recognized from childhood. Looking their way he could also tell there was more to the story at a glance.
Rethusa, through unending tears, looked up at the slayer of evil gods, the boy she'd once met on the School District. Her feelings need not be spoken, she knew it, and so did he.
Zald leapt off Shurry's back, landing on the deck of the Tsugunai. The pressure he gave off on his own, was more than enough to make everyone kneel. Freya's eyes widened in shock. There was another one.
"So, Zeus has a level 10 in his familia now as well." Freya spoke, with a half attempt at charming Zald.
"Freya, it's best not to attempt any sort of mind games with me. I've long since managed to deal with them. Save your strength." Zald spoke, his tone was clearly full of disgust, and yet his words managed to speak with a bit of light heartedness… all to convey that, he was just as disappointed in them as Shurry was.
"I see, so if you're here, I take it you know the situation?" Freya asked with a bit more than curiosity in her tone, looking Zald up and down.
"More or less." Zald said slowly, not bothering to look into anyone's eyes, save for a handful of the Artemis familia members. Something had shifted in him. "Nephew…"
"Yes?" Origin Wolf responded with a curious look.
"Do you think it would be alright if we swapped our roles from the plan?"
"You mean to ask, if you can manage holding onto that much power on your own now, right?" Origin Wolf spoke, still retaining his wolf form.
"Indeed, I know you were able to at level 9, but I'm level 10 now, I should be able to manage a bit, right?"
"I can tell you'll be able to handle it, but as far as managing total control, and retaining the ability to move… I am unsure. Remember Uncle Zald, I have long since fought far above my level, surely you remember."
"I do, I just can't let this go on."
"If that's truly the case, then grab it right now. If you can do that, I'll agree to it. If you can't then we will continue as normal."
Zald nodded, and looked up to the half moon in the sky. Finn watched from the sidelines, quietly… but his curiosity got the better of him.
"Loki, what are they talking about?" Finn asked in a whisper.
Meanwhile Zald was seemingly starting to struggle a bit, sweating as he stood still. Loki and Freya knew it at that moment.
"He's trying to capture all of Artemis' Arcanum from Antares… But he's barely putting a dent in the arrow…"
Zald continued, eventually he managed to make a rather sizable dent in the arcanum arrow, however, there were a few things working against him… First, Zald had no prior experience with this type of power flowing through his body. Second, he was attempting to pull Arcanum from far away. Third, the Arrow of Arcanum was being replenished at just a slightly slower rate than he could absorb… in short, Zald was rapidly hitting his limit. His entire body had filled to his limit. And…
"Sorry Nephew, I over-estimated myself. I will not be able to handle this task, I shall leave it to you." Zald said, and instantly, felt a wave of relief wash over him. "I guess I can do this… You're definitely something else." He said, whipping his brow dry of sweat, and then let out a laugh.
"No need for apologies Uncle, You've never dealt with it before, and I can say now, this is definitely a whole lot more than I had expected before. It seems saving aunty Artemis will be a fair bit harder than I had originally thought… Maybe."
"Nah, I doubt that, Antares is not stronger than me. A decent warm up, maybe… I'll slice it up, and free the goddess for the demon's grasp. You can handle the rest."
Zald drew his weapon and took off with great speed, Finn's jaw dropped, his eyes still struggling to notice that Zald was gone.
"WHAT!? What did I just see?"
"Huh?" Origin Wolf said with a half snarl. "Do you not remember? I had been fighting Erebus, were you actually watching the fight? Or were you using those mirrors the gods made to keep track of it?"
"The… Mirrors."
"Yeah, it's only right you'd be surprised. That and you're a criminal so… What you saw just now, was Zald actually trying. Perhaps, if you ask nicely, Loki, and the bitch can make some mirrors for you to witness the place where Zald will be successful where you had sinfully failed… Costing the honor of a Goddess." Origin Wolf explained with a hint of anger… "Now, don't bother me. I have to somehow contain the full might of a Goddess, all because you let her get swallowed."
Shurry began to glow, and the arcanum from the sky flew down from the arrow, and into his body. Rapidly the arrow began to disappear… But this was just the start, and… then he felt Antares give up on making the giant arrow. To which, Shurry leapt into the fray as well, brimming with power, and constantly siphoning the arcanum from Antares, there was no longer any threat of Antares using Arcanum based attacks… It was struggling to hold onto what it already had.
And that's when Antares met Zald, face to face… There was no battle… Zald just started warming up.