Manufactured for Sin 2 (Clean version)

Chapter 9: The Braizen Bull

"Get ready." Greg whispered to Izleena. She nervously eyed the crossbow in front of her, taking a calming breath as Greg's fingers snapped. In a single moment, like a well timed machine, Greg stomped the edge of the table, flinging the crossbow into the air, as Gizzy disconnected the pole, her ass in the air and both hands on the gold colored bars at the poll's base. Greg sprinted, drawing the eyes of Artemis as a moving target while the crossbow landed in Izleena's hands.

Haphazardly, her hands caught it, loading it with one of the fumbling arrows now spilling out everywhere. Greg placed the tipped arrow in his teeth, bending the flag and fastening the dangling rope as he strung it like a well hidden bow. Gizzy bent upward, flinging the wooden pole to her left, drawing the sword from it's hollow core to the right, going for a throat-shot before the bull could react. Greg knocked and aimed, lining the tipped arrow up to the minotaur's eye slits just as Artemis lined her bow with him. Izleena shouldered her weapon, pulling the trigger and sending an arrow towards Artemis. Like a trio of hands on a fine clock, everything went flawlessly, right until it really didn't. And it really didn't, extremely hard.

The arrow sailed in slow-motion towards Artemis, striking the air in front of her and bouncing, as a green glow faded from the impact point, around her, barely jarring her shot. The sword struck Dionysus' helm, creasing it and raking sparks from his face without damage. Greg released the tipped arrow lodging it in the chestplate and barely sinking the tip in. Still as time slowed, His face scrunched into a confused expression, and a white light rushed just past his head with a beam-like hum. Time caught up to speed as Greg turned to see the stone pillar next to him now supporting a plate-sized missing hole, the edges of the clean hole, now red with molten marble and the sound of the pillar crackling under the weight.

"That's a hell of a bow." He nodded, as Gizzy flailed through the air, landing face-down and sliding, tossing him the sword, rolling to her back to get up. He tossed her the bow, now arrowless and wielding the fantasy claymore with intentions.

"What the crap!?" Izleena shrieked as a staggering Gizzy tackled her out of the way, and another white beam vaporized the offering table and made another foot-wide port-window in the stone temple's exterior wall.

"Shit..." Gizzy added, grabbing another discarded arrow and knocking it, ducking for cover.

"She has a bow that can laser through stone?" Izleena asked in alarmed pitch.

"Yea that changes things. I assumed as a goddess of archery she was just a really good shot, wasn't expecting a mythical techno-bow. That's on me. But luckily with our more advanced alloys, we're actually far more heat resistant than the marble." She assured, leaning out to see and nearly taking another beam. She retracted her arm quickly, holding up her right hand and noticing the 3 missing fingers between thumb and pinky, melted off to just glowing nubs.

"Never mind, it's all fucked, just run." Gizzy gnashed.

"She's also got energy shielding." Izleena reminded.

"WHAT!?" Gizzy yelled. "You sure you just didn't miss?" she asked, pushing her to dart to the next pillar as an additional beam whizzed past.

"Yes I'm sure I didn't miss, asshole. My aim was fairly dead-on. I know what energy shielding looks like." Izleena objected.

Greg wailed the sword through the air, deflecting of a horn and barely scratching it, as Dionysus grabbed his own sword from his throne, now wielding about 9 feet of folded steel.

"Alright Vulcan, you better not fail us now." Greg sighed, delivering an overhead swing at full power, reducing the sword to half a sword, as Dionysus smirked with entertainment, holding up his now severed weapon.