FALL

Athos' pupils trembled as he looked at the monster before him. He could now see why Lions were called the Kings of the Jungle - their habitats aren't jungles but that's a whole other rabbit hole.

He snapped out of his trance the moment the monster took a step toward the car.

'Only I get to kill him!', he roared in his head, turning Leviathan back into its ring form. A modern compound bow, one upgraded by Beckendorf, appeared in his hands along with a celestial bronze-tipped arrow. He'd never carried bows with him due to their shit portability, but his watch circumvented that. Chiron looked down upon the modern variant of bows, preferring the more traditional ones, but still acknowledged their glaring advantage.

He quickly nocked the bow, the pully system granting him a mechanical advantage. Its remodelling by the Hephaestus Cabin let the bow withstand his superhuman strength much better.

*TWANG*

He exhaled and released the arrow, aiming for the lion's eye. Its skin was invulnerable to mortal weapons but its insides, eyes, and mouth were not as protected.

*CLANG*

The arrow ricocheted off its eyelid and snapped into two.

'Fuck!'

Athos shot another arrow but the Lion blinked yet again, rendering it useless.

"GRRAAAH!", the lion growled and turned its attention to Athos.

He knew he was invisible and the Lion knew it too, yet its familiar electric blue eyes seemed to stare into his soul. Those eyes spoke of its heritage - the product of the promiscuous Zeus and the faded Titaness Selene. Many myths claimed it to be the son of Echidna and Typhon, but those damned eyes spoke otherwise.

'This isn't going to work', Athos thought putting his bow back into his watch and summoning Leviathan. The damn monster didn't roar at him either. That would've exposed its mouth - another vulnerable spot.

The lion swiped the air but hit nothing. Athos had abandoned his position long back.

"GRRRR!"

Its nostrils suddenly flared and it jerked its head to the side, right where Athos was standing.

'You've gotta be shitting me'

With a roar loud enough to bust a mortal's eardrums, it leapt forward, leaving craters in its wake. He ducked underneath a wide paw swipe that sliced a car in two - akin to tofu. He retaliated by smashing Leviathan into the lion's snout, but it was in vain. His deadly axe that could cut through even Gods, harmlessly bounced off the monster. His eyes widened in shock. The arrows had physically hit the lion thus he believed that smashing a blunt object into the lion would cause some internal damage.

He was mistaken.

*BOOM*

He got backhanded by the beast sending him flying through a concrete column and into a wall on the opposite side of the street.

"Fucking pussycat...", he grumbled, dusting off his suit - unharmed. He was now visible, the blue half-mask covering his face. He looked around, finding himself at the entrance of the very place he wanted to take a detour to.

"NATIONAL AIR AND SPACE MUSEUM"

It was the Smithsonian. A sleeping guard who was armed sat next to the entrance, snoring away, completely unaware of the chaos occurring around him. The mist truly worked wonders sometimes.

"GRRRRAAAH!", The lion roared once more leaping over a car, its deadly claws extended. Athos grinned at the attack. It was one he'd seen before.

His half-mask turned red and his veins bulged. With a fluid motion, he grabbed the monster's claws and using its own momentum, twisted and slammed it into the wall behind him. The concrete promptly collapsed and the lion lay in a large crater next to the museum's entrance. He stomped on the monster's snout, deepening the crater, but the lion wouldn't take the beating lying down. With an angered snarl the monster got to its feet, slashing at Athos in the process. He immediately jumped back watching the giant claws barely miss his chest. He couldn't keep this up forever. He would tire eventually, and when he did, he'd be cat food. He didn't want to go Oni mode either. If he did, he'd pass out after manhandling the Lion. Luke could wake up by then and ruin his plans.

His father had famously defeated the Nemean Lion by strangling it - something he couldn't possibly do, not with his relatively tiny arms - and Percy had bested the beast by shoving an ice cream sandwich down its throat. The description was watered down, but that was the gist of it. Both methods highlighted one thing, the insides of the Nemean Lion were just as susceptible to damage as any other monster.

He summoned Leviathan and flung it at the monster. It wouldn't harm it but it would act as a distraction. Sure enough, the lion swatted it away as if it were a fly but he'd closed the distance by then. He leapt up, using the monster's snout to boost himself and land on its back.

"GRRRR!", the lion growled in indignation, trying to throw him off but he was one who even Arion failed to buck off.

He tightened his grip and grabbed the lion's muscled arm. His blood-red mask boosted his strength and he pulled back with all the force he could muster. He was lucky that the lion wasn't double-jointed as a sickening crack and pained howl sounded. The lion faceplanted due to not having the support of all its legs but he wasn't done. He grabbed the other arm too and pulled.

*CRACK*

"GRRAAAAAHHHHH!!!!"

The howl that the lion let loose hurt his ears but he did not relent.

*CRACK*

*CRACK*

The mighty Nemean Lion now lay helpless before his feet, writhing in pain, its four limbs broken. All it could do was glare at him with its bloodshot eyes and growl - No - whimper.

"See you in Tartarus", he grinned and grabbed the lion's neck dodging a mouthful of sharp teeth.

Using the lion's own body as leverage, he twisted inducing the loudest crack yet. The last one. One that signalled the snapping of a Lion's neck.

"See dad, it wasn't all that hard", he mumbled, slightly out of breath, staring at the enormous corpse before him. He patted the lion's magnificent mane and admired the lush coat. He would've been mincemeat without the mask and Perastos, and his father had killed it barehanded. He had a long way to go to match him.

Just then, the ground rumbled. It was so slight that it would be barely noticeable to the average mortal, but he was no average mortal. He frowned and looked at the body before him. The Lion's eyes were no longer electric blue. Instead, they were now a mixture of green and black as though an entire world was hidden in them.

"This....is...just....the beginning", the Lion muttered in an oddly feminine voice.

"Gaea...", Athos said gritting his teeth, recognizing the ancient aura. The last time they'd met, he'd been humiliated. That wouldn't happen again.

"...Fatebreaker is it?....You....shall fall all the same", the Lion spoke once again. "Thoon awaits..."

"We'll see about that Earthen Bitch!", Athos retorted.

The ground rumbled once more, this time much more fiercely and the lion's eyes glowed brightly. He readied Leviathan, preparing for a battle against another sand abomination but Gaea did no such thing. The glow merely died down and the lion dissolved, leaving its spoil of war.

A full-length golden brown duster.

***

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