Chapter 22

"I want you dead, that's what I have to say. You may have been able to see past Apollo's tricks but he isn't the strongest of us gods. You think that just because you have power you can judge a god!" Ishtar said as she stood up from her seat, her words dripping with anger and killing intent.

Releasing her own Arcanum as she too jumped down into the arena. As soon as she released her Arcanum a golden set of armor appeared on her body and wings sprouted from her back while 6 swords floated above her wings.

Not only was she the goddess of fertility but she was also a goddess of war.

Grabbing one sword in each hand the other four swords melded with the two in her hands, increasing the size of them both.

Seeing Ishtar ready to strike Billy smiled and replied, "Come then, let me see just how strong you claim to be. From what I see from Apollo's display it seems you gods have gotten soft in your old age. I hope you can give me a challenge."

Instantly Ishtar dashed forward aiming for Billy's neck. Her speed was much faster than Apollo, many of the other gods couldn't even see her movement.

Just as the sword was about to take his head, Billy ducked under it while moving forward he planted his lead foot and threw an uppercut which smashed into Ishtar's gut, knocking her back into the wall on the opposite side.

Rather than remain down Ishtar shot back towards Billy, determined to end him for all that he had cost her.

Slashing in the same manner as before, Billy began to think this goddess may be insane, however just as he moved to counter her slash he saw her armored foot heading straight for his head as he ducked under it.

Quickly raising his right arm to block, as soon as her kick connected Billy was forced into a trap Ishtar had laid out for him.

As the force from her kick caused Billy to slide to his left, Ishtar already had the sword in her right hand slashing at where he would be.

Quickly Billy dashed backwards to avoid her strike, but to his surprise Ishtar continued the swing which launched out one of the swords that had merged with it previously. Seeing this Billy punched out with his left hand firing a golden beam of energy, it slammed into the sword, shattering it into pieces which then absorbed back into her sword.

Now Billy knew the goddess before him wasn't as foolish as he had thought, in fact he was the foolish one for repeating the same attack.

Seeing her trap fail, Ishtar aggressively moved forward and separated her swords back into the original six. While she still held one in each hand, the other four floated around her and began attacking Billy from all angles.

Seeing no options Billy attempted to catch a sword in each hand, as soon as he did however he felt a pain in both hands.

Ignoring the pain he used his energy to crush the swords and jumped up into the air to avoid the next strikes. As he floated above, he looked at his hands and saw large gashes where the blades had hit.

The gashes quickly healed shut but he was still amazed that the swords were able to hurt him.

"Foolish boy, you think too highly of yourself. No mortal can withstand a true divine weapon. Now die!"

Ishtar launched herself up to continue the battle in the air. This put Billy in a tough spot, although he had power well above the gods what he lacked was experience.

He had only fought against weak opponents up until now and had been using his SHAZAM abilities which gave him access to knowledge and wisdom well beyond his years. He knew that was a weakness of his which was why he was trying not to use it, at least not yet.

He knew he shouldn't rely on the power of SHAZAM cause anything could happen in battle. If he fought a magical being and they figured out a way to block that power he would be in trouble.

Nothing is all powerful, there are weaknesses in everything. It was the reason he went after the Sentry serum in the first place.

Many would've been content with just the powers of SHAZAM, he is a Superman level existence afterall. But Billy knew with all its strengths it also had limitations too, so he wanted to improve on them.

Using his teleportation ability, Billy teleported behind Ishtar and hammerfisted her back towards the ground.

Rather then slamming down head first, Ishtar spun her body so that she would land on her feet instead and launched herself straight back at Billy.

Seeing his hit connect and the massive crater on the ground Billy began to fly back down but was welcomed by a fist to the face which launched him back into the air.

'Well shit, this isn't going as planned. Didn't Ishtar get one shot by Freya? I guess I need to stop playing around thinking everything can go my way just because I have power. I need to work on control.' Billy thought as he rubbed his jaw where Ishtar had stuck him.

Closing his eyes to calm his mind as he floated in the sky, he took in the suns rays and took deep breaths. He focused on the energy within himself and replayed the attacks Ishtar had launched and how he could've done better.

It wasn't long till he felt danger from below, knowing Ishtar was chasing after him.

"Damn woman, can't you give me a few moments to think? I'm not as old as you, don't you know its wrong for the elderly to pick on the young?" Billy shouted at Ishtar as he watched her flying towards him, swords at the ready.

Ishtar hearing him calling her old fumed with rage even more.

"I'm going to enjoy carving you up slowly, brat."

Teleporting back down to the arena ground after seeing her throw her swords at him to hopefully give him a few moments to reflect on how to handle those swords and her defenses, he focused his mind once again.

Replaying her attacks and strikes over and over he began to see opening in each of her strikes as well as weaknesses in her armor.

Deciding to give it a try he opened his eyes once again only to be greeted by a sword aimed at his head, quickly taking a step back just before the sword struck he felt a pain on his nose.

Looking at the gash that appeared, almost cutting his nose in two nostrils, Billy remained calm even though he was pissed.

Looking up Billy saw Ishtar in a state of rage as she threw down another two swords, she was trying to end the fight quickly.

Teleporting back into the air right behind her, Billy coated his hands in energy and caught a sword strike meant to take his head. He knew Ishtar was going to expect that he would appear behind her and was ready for her counter.

Using this moment when she only had half of her swords Billy struck the armpit region of the arm she used to strike with, then swisting the wrist of the same arm to block the incoming strike from her other hand.

Once it struck Ishtar's wrist that he had twisted had shattered due to her own strength, causing her to let out a scream in pain.

Seeing his opening Billy launched a powerful kick into the left side of her ribs, his strike send a spiderweb of cracks to appear on the chest plate of her golden armor.

'I was right, that armor mainly protects the front and back which was why she was able to recover so quickly from my previous hits. My first strike I hit her head on and the other was from behind. If I focus on the sides I should be able to shatter that armor. Lets see how she handles a kidney shot, wait do gods even have kidney's? Only one way to find out.'

Billy shot forward not wanting to give Ishtar any time to recover, he charged head on and threw a punch.

Seeing Billy approach Ishtar readied her defenses and prepared a counter strike, however just before the punch struck Billy teleported to her side so his strike would land on her right side, in the area where the kidney would be located.

The attack completely blindsided Ishtar, when she saw him dissappear she had expected him to appear behind her as he had done each time. So once the punch connected a large chunk of her armor shattered and immense pain coursed thru her body making it hard to breath.

She began falling due to her pain receptors being on fire and her vision darkened, then a massive force once again hit on her left kidney which shattered the rest of her armor and launched her back to the ground at high speed.

Not wanting to take chances Billy teleported back down to the ground and readied a large energy blast to finish her off.

Just as he was about to launch his final attack to finish Ishtar a golden arrow shot towards his head at incredible speed, shifting his head quickly to the side the arrow skimmed past his head, cutting a gash from his cheek to his ear.

"What the fuck Artemis?" Billy shouted as he looked to the balcony that the gods were on.

However he didn't see any weapon in her hand which confused him until another arrow was fired which instantly caused him to focus on Apollo.

There in Apollo's hands was a beautiful golden bow, as he pulled back on the string a golden arrow materialized as the string was pulled.

Catching the second arrow Billy threw the arrow up at the falling Ishtar and fired a energy blast at Apollo causing him to jump out of the way.

'Damn, I forgot the bow wasn't just Artemis' weapon only. He should also have a lyre which gives him healing powers.'

Dodging another golden arrow shot by Apollo, Billy teleported up to Apollo and grabbed him by the throat. Once Apollo was in his hands Billy teleported them both out of the balcony, he didn't want to involve other gods if he didn't have too and he didn't want to hurt an innocent god.

Back in the air Billy used his other hand to break the wrist of Apollo's hand holding the bow then kneed him the gut causeing Apollo to cough up a mouthful of golden blood all over the arm which was still holding onto his neck.

Just as Billy was about to break Apollo's neck so he could focus on Ishtar, a massive blow hit him from behind causing him to drop Apollo.

As Billy flew forward from the blow he turned to see Ishtar, a golden arrow sticking out of her right breast and in a pitiful state.

"Alright you two, I think I've had enough training for one day. It's time to end..." Billy stopped mid-sentence due to getting information from Angel regarding Apollo's blood that was still on his forearm.

While everyone else just heard a series of beeps, Billy fully understood what she was saying.

"Master, high levels of energy are detected within the blood that match your own. While it can't be used to strengthen your power, it can definitely improve your control as well as increase the amount of solar radiation your body can absorb. Next time you grab hold of him I can leech his blood and infuse it into your bloodstream."

Looking at the golden blood on his arm with a surprised look after being told this Billy quickly asked, "How much energy would you have after infusing his blood into me?"

"If you wish for all his blood to give the largest boost I would have 18% left in reserves. I will also have to go into sleep mode until enough energy is recovered to bring me back up to 20% which would take about a week."

"What if I get you a large amount of those crystals? Would you be able to convert them into energy to recharge quicker?"

"Affirmative"

With that Billy smiled, 'Well he did try to consume me first, so I guess it's only fair that I do the same.'

With a new plan for Apollo Billy decided to end this as fast as possible, while also showing the other gods he wasn't to be triffled with.

"Oh I may have forgot to mention something before we started this. You keep assuming that I am a mortal. Well as they say, 'when you assume something, your only making an ass out of u and me."

As the gods heard him, Ganesha and a few others couldn't help but laugh at his play on words as they watched with interested on what he would do next.

Ishtar dashed forward wanting to end this before his next strike, she had been weakened greatly from all the damage she had taken and knew she couldn't maintain her strength much longer.

However what happened next shattered any hope at survival she had previously.

Although Billy didn't shout it, the gods and adventurers that were able to remain conscious thru the release of the two gods Arcanum heard him clearly.

"SHAZAM"