AN: Harem votes are 83 to 54 FFN and 26 to 5 Wattpad
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The Age of Darkness Part 2 and more shenanigans
Ascension of the Fallen: Chapter 11
The lord of the underworld was currently extremely grumpy. Charon had to come begging for more pay, and when he had acquiesced, he wanted MORE!
The god grumbled to himself unhappily.
He couldn't throw the stupid ferryman into the Styx since, well he actually needed him. Why didn't he just get some other god again?
Oh right, because Charon had somehow weaseled himself into the job, and Hades hadn't cared at the time, figuring a random god as a ferryman was better than some mortal. And now he had to pay the price for it, literally.
Granted, Hades was the god of riches, but Charon asked for more money to indulge in his ITALIAN SUITS!
Then again, Hades liked them too. The nice, intricate fabric of the suits along with them being well-fitted...
The god of the underworld touched the fine Italian fabric of his suit, relishing in how comfortable and well-fitting it was compared to other suits those mortals made...
He felt how soft his black tie was, and how deep black it was...
Giorgio Armani suits were just... exquisite.
Perhaps he was a bit of a hypocrite.
A violent rip in reality abruptly appeared in front of him, as if it was a pathway between dimensions.
Hades rose cautiously, brandishing his dark sword and preparing for any who dared to enter his domain. Few could enter his domain so easily, and whoever was on the other side was surely dangerous.
...On second thought, it was probably Perseus. The god of the underworld stowed his sword away and crossed his arms, tapping his foot and waiting for his brother to appear.
Of course, the god of mountains stepped through the rip with a huge, goofy smile on his face. Hades sighed exasperatedly, "Brother, why is it that you must always use this," he gestured to the rip in dimensions behind Perseus, "this... method of transportation?"
The god grinned at the lord of the underworld, "It's amazing! Of course, I would! Why not? It shocks the enemy and makes them afraid, that's one," he counted on his fingers, "then it looks cool. That's two. A one-two punch!"
"Alright, I'll give you the first one. It did scare me a bit," Hades admitted with a sigh, knowing what was coming next.
"BAAAHAHAHAHAhahahHAHAHA! The l-lord of the dead is-is scared of a-a rip in the fucking air!" Perseus wheezed, doubling over as he laughed hysterically like a maniac.
The third eldest of Kronos grumbled but smiled a bit at the same time. Having his brother laugh instead of being moody like he used to be much better.
When Perseus first got out the pit, he was moody and snappy. He'd snap at all of his subordinates a lot, and everyone knew he was hell-bent on revenge. He was obsessed with overthrowing Zeus and extracting vengeance, spending days plotting reconnaissance and stealth missions down to the exact detail. No failures were allowed. "Ascension of the Fallen", Perseus had called it. Many of his closest advisors, including Poseidon and Hades, told Perseus that he wasn't in the right state of mind.
"Ascension day will come," Hades told his eldest brother, trying to calm him down.
But Perseus had been so full of rage and anger at one point that the god had worked out for twenty-four straight hours to the point of exhaustion.
Working out was often Perseus' way of unleashing his anger safely, since fully unleashing his powers would decimate the surrounding area. He'd done ungodly amounts of pushups, leveled and raised up mountains, and running several thousand miles while holding two boulders on his shoulders and controlling time around him. At the end of all that he'd even fist fought with Menoetius, the titan of anger, mind you, and Atlas, the titan of endurance, a two versus one. It was a full out brawl, and it ended with Atlas AND Menoetius fully knocked out, while Perseus was dripping ungodly amounts of sweat down his chiseled body. At this point, he promptly passed out too.
Needless to say, the minor goddesses thoroughly enjoyed the show Perseus put on.
Now, he had laid off the anger and was fully in control of his emotions, sometimes even being jubilant like he was now.
It was a significant improvement and Hades was proud that his brother had gone back to how he used to act in ancient times.
Perseus wiped a fake tear from his eye as he straightened himself, still chuckling.
"What brings you to the underworld, brother?" Hades asked. His brother was still king, and was often busy in his office, working on new maneuvers and building alliances with more deities.
"I must see Persetris. I haven't seen him since I, fell."
Hades nodded somberly, and gestured to the Northwest of his kingdom, "He is in Elysium. Be careful," the god warned, "he was out of it when his soul came into my world. He was scared, whispering something about a jade daimon. I left him alone, he should be ok by now, but you never know. Some souls are forever damaged in the underworld."
Perseus clenched his fists silently and disappeared into a golden dust, presumably to see Persetris. The lord of the underworld sighed and retreated to his quarters.
Line break
The former king of the gods walked silently through the joyful sounds of Elysium, pondering solemnly. Because of his weakness and his fall, Persetris had gone mad and died to some... jade daimon.
Perseus looked up as he saw his pupil sitting peacefully on a bench, his eyes closed. It was like he was sleeping like a rock, like a content baby.
The former king of the gods approached slowly, thinking about what to say, when his pupil, whose eyes were still closed, smirked, "I know you're there Perseus. Why don't you give your student a hug?"
A full-blown smile broke out on the god's face, and Persetris grinned as the teacher and student reunited with a bear hug, joy apparent on both of their faces.
"Ow. Ow, ribs," Persetris groaned, and Perseus immediately let go of his former student.
The god grew serious, a sober look appearing on his face, "What happened when I fell?"
The underworld boomed as that word unleashed a small shockwave outwards from where Perseus was standing.
"The staff was not obtained. We ran into some," Persetris swallowed, his Adam's apple bobbing, "complications after your fall."
"What sort of...complications?" Perseus questioned, his deep voice becoming gravelly and dark as he sought to understand what had happened to his beloved pupil.
Persetris was known across the lands of Ancient Greece as one of the best duelists and leaders at the time; none could hold a candle to his pupil's otherworldly fluid yet unpredictable swordsmanship, nor could they command and lead an army like he did. To kill his student was thought of as impossible for a mortal to do. Divine interference would have been needed, much more than even a minor god.
"We lost supply lines after you fell from the skies of Ouranos. Something attacked us in the night, each and every night. It would be quiet and silent, too quiet... The damn thing never made a sound. All would be fine and well until the screams of one of our men alerted us. We would arrive to find one of our comrades gone, and a trail of red blood leading into the night. At the end of it all, our numbers had gone down from thirty to just five."
"Who killed you?" Perseus inquired rather bluntly.
"Some kind of powerful immortal. A jade daimon. Sit down, this may take a while."
Persetris stiffened, his back going ramrod as he no longer felt the presence of his four other comrades. The student of Perseus turned around, noticing that they were no longer behind him and nowhere to be found.
An eerie, green mist enveloped the area, surrounding him entirely and putting him on guard.
The commander of Elea took a few steps backwards, his boots crunching on the Saharan sand as he pulled out his own sword, a beautiful dark blue sword gifted to him on his fifteenth birthday by none other than the former king of Olympus.
His feet shuffled quietly in the sand as he bent his knees, preparing for the ensuing fight.
All was silent and still...
A footstep.
On the right.
Persetris quickly threw two throwing knives in that direction, praying a hit would land and staying still and silent.
Persetris heard one of the knives land a hit with a loud clink and immediately dashed in that direction, only to find that the knife had hit lone shield lying in the sand.
Where was the enemy?
He spun around frantically as he sensed an immortal presence.
An imposing figure with menacing green eyes in full jade armor with lunged towards him.
The figure was clearly an expert swordsman; he wielded a beautiful jade flamberge sword, showing amazing quickness and speed as he dashed towards Persetris.
The Elean commander backpedaled frantically, expertly parrying all jade sword strikes that the figure sent towards him, but not without a heavy cost.
Every strike by the figure was perfectly timed and calculated, each with a tremendous amount of force and momentum.
Persetris' arm rattled painfully with each blow, and he knew he couldn't keep this up for long.
He countered with a lightning quick strike to the figure's right shoulder, but to his utter dismay, the immortal easily parried with his flamberge, keeping Persetris on the backfoot, right where he wanted him.
The pupil of Perseus was struggling to stay above the water here, and Persetris was about to drown.
Persetris tried to disarm the powerful immortal by intertwining their blades and flicking his wrist, but the jade figure shifted his weight and changed his sword hand to his left, catching Persetris off guard again.
The commander of Elea cursed as the figure zigzagged left and right, tactfully parrying each counter sent his way, and perfectly executing every single arm movement.
Persetris had fought against the best of the best; he had been trained by Perseus himself. But none of his training could have prepared him for this... jade daimon of a man.
The flamberge's curves allowed the figure to get away with an extremely minor miscalculation that Persetris could have capitalized on.
The pupil of Perseus watched in horror as the figure brought out a large jade mace with his right hand.
Persetris futilely tried to dodge, but the mace landed a hard hit on his right shoulder, dislocating it rather painfully.
The commander of Elea flung a knife at the figure to give himself some space, retreating several steps and quickly popping the shoulder back in its socket.
But the immortal instantaneously closed the gap, slamming the mace straight into Persetris' chest.
Persetris felt the tremendous impact straight through his celestial bronze armor; it was as if the armor didn't exist at all. His ribs cracked, all of them fracturing painfully as Persetris went stumbling backwards.
The figure pressed the advantage with lightning speed, slamming the mace again into his chest and demolishing the celestial bronze armor with his jade sword.
The commander of Elea frantically parried, but the figure disarmed him easily with a powerful flick of the wrist and landed a hard haymaker straight into Persetris' face.
Persetris landed on his ass as the figure slammed him with the mace again and again, leaving him severely wounded and gasping for air.
The immortal violently thrust his jade sword into Persetris' chest, seemingly waiting for something.
The commander of Elea took another gasp as he felt otherworldly pain, pain beyond comprehension.
It felt as if his very soul was being sucked away piece by piece into the jade flamberge, much like the legendary myths of the scythe of Kronos. The very act of the sword being in his body made him feel as if he was submerged in the Styx, crushed painfully to dust, and bisected in half all at once.
The figure abruptly twisted the blade, increasing the pain from a 10 to an 11, and withdrew it, leaving the pupil of the king of the Gods bleeding out on the Saharan sand.
The fight had lasted a total of less than a minute, the fastest Persetris had been defeated by anyone outside of Perseus himself. The Elean commander lay in shock, petrified at his own defeat. He was now at the mercy of this immortal.
The mysterious immortal crouched next to an immobilized Persetris, seemingly satisfied with the outcome.
"W-who... who are you?" Persetris managed to gasp out, his chest still heaving with unimaginable pain.
The figure's glowing green eyes narrowed dangerously.
The immortal ignored his question, standing up and menacingly leveling his jade blade at Persetris' neck.
"The Council of the Seven sends its regards. Goodbye, Persetris."
Then, with swiftness, he struck.
Perseus bit his lip anxiously, clenching his fists in anger.
If this 'Council of the Seven' was a real thing, then some trouble might be on the horizon. His return to the mythological world needed to be kept a secret, lest this council disrupt his plans.
"No matter. Once I deal with the Olympians and the Titans, I will deal with this 'council', and extract justice," the god of darkness assured his pupil.
Persetris nodded, trusting that his mentor would do just that.
"I'll be on my way now. I will come visit from time to time, but no guarantees."
Mentor and pupil embraced one last time, and Perseus proceeded to vanish in a flash of gold.
Line break
"Heracles! Stop that RUCKUS right NOW!
Nemesis stormed over furiously to a gulping Heracles, her patent leather boots clacking dangerously as she pulled her black leather jacket around herself, fully embracing her 'biker chick' look.
She leveled a sharpened knife at the minor god, her eyes blazing dangerously, "None of us can focus!"
The minor goddess gestured to Hecate and Atlas, who were both glaring daggers at the son of Zeus.
Heracles cringed, and backed away slowly, putting his hands up as if to placate the goddess of revenge.
"I'm sorry, I was only-"
"Don't give me that 'I was testing the construct out' AGAIN! You've tested the construct out a million times! The thing is half a mile below us in the arena and you're STILL managing to make pandemonium! I'm sure you and the construct are one and the same since you both seem to lack a brain."
Atlas and Hecate started snickering while Heracles turned an ugly shade of purple, a vein bulging on his head as he clenched his fists, trying to stop himself from lashing out.
Nemesis examined her nails, clearly ignoring the furious Heracles, the ultimate show of disrespect.
Heracles brought out a gigantic celestial bronze hammer, lunging at Nemesis, who smoothly stepped to the side.
The titan of strength caught the hammer easily, stopping the angry Heracles in his tracks.
The minor god of strength gulped as the proud titan looked down at him. Atlas booted Heracles out of the room like a fly as the son of Zeus flew straight through the doorway, breaking the gigantic double door.
"ATLAS DAMNIT! Stop kicking people through doors!"
Menoetius emerged into the room, while Atlas pointed at the annoyed Heracles who was getting up.
The titan of anger snickered, "Ohhh, let me guess, he was playing with that construct again huh?"
"Yep."
"Maybe having him control the thing instead of someone else was a horrible idea," Hecate piped up.
"I'm right here you MORONS!"
All eyes turned to Heracles, who had a disgruntled look on his face.
Nemesis rolled her eyes mockingly, "Aaaand the petulant man child is back."
Heracles sucked in a deep breath, forcefully making sure that he didn't lunge for the provocative Nemesis again.
"What is going on here?"
The king of the high seas strode into the room.
Atlas grumbled petulantly, knowing that he was obligated to report to Poseidon.
He still didn't understand why Perseus didn't make him the second in command; gods, he was the General, after all.
"We were just.... Disciplining, yeah disciplining Heracles for his obstruction of the common sound, his utter disregard for his obnoxious noise pollution."
Poseidon smirked knowingly, "Nice way to put it. I'll be on my way now. I suggest you discipline him in the arena."
Atlas rubbed his hands, as if anticipating food to eat, while Menoetius did the same.
The minor god of strength gulped in apprehension, while Hecate and Nemesis smirked, knowing Heracles was about to get his ass beat black and blue.
Atlas grabbed Heracles by the neck and easily slung him over his shoulder, Heracles kicking and screaming as Menoetius led them to the arena.
A few minutes later
"MOMMYYYYYY!"
AN: Our mystery figure used a flamberge sword, also known as a wave-bladed sword or a flame-bladed sword. It's similar to the Chinese Guan Dao, but 'Guan Dao' is more ambiguous and has a lot more possible shapes of swords, so I didn't use that. Basically, a flamberge sword is like a sword with curviness to it, with waves (think Shen's blade from KFP2 if you watched that).
Also, gave Heracles a little bit of bad light here; didn't want him to seem too goody-two shoes you know? A balanced character is best, in my opinion.
As always, follow, favorite, review/comment if you liked it!
See you guys in the next one!