18 Issue #17: X, End.

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(General P.O.V)

The Coliseum was by now long abandoned.

Only 3 individuals remained in the vaunted sands of Themiscyran pride.

Kane watched Circe like a hawk who watched Diana with equally the same type of intense focus. It was clear the Witch was more focused on Diana as a threat.

Kane liked it that way.

A low wind blew through the ground, the only thing missing being a tumbleweed to add to the palpable tension that seemed ready to blow.

And then Circe shifted her footing, forcing her form to go lax, body to relax.

"Just to make it fair to the two of you, I'll give you one free shot."

The Witch said, confidence pouring off her in waves.

Kane and Diana stared at each other and then in the blink of an eye, the two of them were approaching Circe from the left and the right, feet almost flying over the ground due to the speed of their silmuteneous dash.

The first one to initiate an attack was predictably, Kane. The lightning whips in his hands, crackling with yellow bio-energy had a longer reach than anything Diana had.

Zzztttt!

Whivvv!!

Crackle!

The first whip missed Circe by mere inches as she parried it away with a wave of telekinetic force.

Kane came to a sudden stop, spinning around and whipping the bio infused web back, aiming to snag her on the whip's return trip.

Sensing the relative danger from the self made weapons in the Assassin's hands, a wave of water formed at Circe's urging- having pulled all the water molecules soaking the sands from her previous attack.

The water formed a wall between her and the whip, which cut through it without even wasting a second.

But strangely enough, every millimeter the whip managed to cover only slowed it down.

Circe had infused the water with telekinesis, packing the molecules even tighter together.

Knowing that tugging would demand more strength than he was willing to share with the enemy, Kane intentionaly destabilized the bio-energy in the whip.

The action caused it to frizzle into nothing, producing a burst of energy that turned the water wall into steam.

Diana took that chance to charge through the cover of the steam, one hand on a shield and the other on a short Gladius, edge glinting sharply.

And her trajectory was aimed right for Circe's neck.

By the time the Witch caught on to the ploy of their fighting style, Kane to distract while Diana attacked, the blade's edge had sliced a fire on her cheek.

Fortunately she had bent down at the last second or else she would have lost her head.

"You bitch! My beauty!"

Anger and disbelief evident in her words and motions, she sent a burst of green flames Diana's way, aiming to pay her back for the wound on the side of her face.

Diana rolled under the hand, escaping the flames and coming up behind the Witch with a slash aimed for her back.

Only for the ground between them to rise up in a repeat of a similar move from before.

A mound of Earth intercepted the sword, giving Circe enough time to fly away before Kane's Whips tagged her from the side.

Zzztttt!

The mound was split horizontally by the snaking whip, losing its top half.

The battle stalled.

Circe, floating above the Arena was breathed heavily, staring down at the two with an indescribable emotion in her eyes.

Maybe letting them have the first shot had been the wrong idea. These two had good synergy. Covering for each other's weaknesses.

Kane stepped up next to Diana, a single whip in his hands, both their attention turned above them as they faced off with Circe.

"You ready?"

The Demigod asked the Assassin.

The Assassin's response was to shoot a web from his left hand at the shorn off piece of mound from Circe's spell and hurl it at the Witch.

"Mmph."

The witch snorted, showing her disdain for what she considered a weak attack.

Only for Kane to surprise her again by sending Bio-energy through the web.

Arcs of yellow electric energy lanced up it's length, landing on the piece of mound and promptly blowing it up in her face.

Pebbles and dust pelted the Witch of Aia.

"Aarghhh!! Damn you! Little pest! I'll murder all of you!"

Circe shot back through the air, one hand on her face while the other was aimed at Kane's position.

"Emerald Lightning!!!"

The sky above darkened. Thunder rumbled just as wide arcs of lightning fell on to the Arena.

Kane danced out of the way of each. strafing, dodging and weaving around the Arena as the lightning missed him by mere seconds and inches.

It was like he knew where the attack would land before they did.

Circe cut off the lightning shower, believing that nothing and no one could have survived that barrage.

And even if Kane had, he wouldn't have come out of it unharmed.

No. The one she needed to guard against was Diana. Zeus' brat was fast, strong and skilled enough to actually pose a threat.

That was why a curse escaped her lips as large pieces of the torn barricade around the perimeter of the Arena, were suddenly sailing her way.

Her brief distraction had cost her.

The chunks of the barricade were each aimed at her position, and the directions she could escape to, cutting off her escape routes.

Circe brought both of her hands forward, face scrunched up in concentration.

The chunks of the barricades slowed down in the air before she sent them hurling back the way they came.

Appearing from Circe's front, Diana jumped.

Her foot landed on one of the barricade chunks, leaping off it and it's subsequent compatriots with a ballistic bolt in her hand.

The chunks landed behind her, destroying part of the stands.

The muscles on her hand grew prominent as she swung the arm back, veins jutting out.

With a great yell and heave, the air screamed along the path of the ballistic bolt as it left her hold.

Too fast to dodge, Circe showcased the speed of her casting as a great whirlwind of sand and cutting winds surrounded her, slightly diverting the ballistic bolt from its intended path to her heart.

"Got you!"

An explosion of wind escaped her position- her dress shifting into a flying carpet and sending her dashing towards Diana, riding on the currents of the whirlwind below her.

Diana felt her body get seized by an incredible force, the clamps of Circe's telekinetic hold, proving too much to an airborne Diana.

Circe's other hand begun roiling with a funnel of sharp winds, a vicious smile on her face as she steadily approached the immobile Diana.

"Aaand DIE!!!"

The Witch commanded, only for Diana to be wrenched out of the way by strings of webbing attached to her back.

The Demigod's smug face as she was steadily pulled out of Circe's reach contrasted with the surprised anger on the latter's face.

Her mistake however, was forgetting she wasn't fighting Diana alone.

The Demigod landed on the stands to the right, crouched low and spun.

The webbing stuck to her back grew taut, straining with Diana's strength as she rotated clockwise, sending the other end of the webbing whipping around.

The creator of the webs cut through the air like a missile headed for Circe's blindside, the plan having worked beautifully.

This time Diana set up a false opening while Kane initiated his attack.

Circe quite literally- never saw it coming.

Zzzzztttt!!

Bam!

Crack!!

A flare of yellow and blue appeared in the air above the Arena.

There was the sound of a large impact as Circe's neck twisted, her spine broke and half of her head disappeared under a punch that sparked with erratic bio-electric power.

The whirlwind died down, her flying carpet shifted back into a green flowing dress, and the body of the witch of Aia fell.

It smacked down onto the arena with another bone shattering impact.

Kane landed a second later, his right hand slightly trembling. He'd put half of all his Bio-energy into that one attack.

Diana timely appeared beside him, shield and sword held at the ready.

The two watched Circe's unmoving body expectedly for over a minute before Diana fell out of her stance, cocking her head in question.

"You think she's dead?"

The Demigod whispered at the assassin.

Kane narrowed his eyes at the Witch lying on the sands before them.

"She's missing half of her head. If she survived having the left hemisphere of her brain turned into mush then...we would be fucked."

He replied, walking closer and prodding her corpse with his foot.

Blood was beginning to pool around Circe and brain matter, some of it blackened by Kane's final attack was in full display within her cracked head.

One loathsome eye stared at nothing, wide with abject fear and shock.

"Yeah."

He affirmed with a nod.

"She's as dead as they come."

Saying that, he dropped to his back, staring up at the sky with a tired expression on his face.

This was the first time he'd truly ever used his new abilities so extensively.

He was exhausted, hungry and irritated. Not having a shower for 3 days would do that to someone. Not to mention the life or death battle he'd been forced to go through.

Diana lay down next to him. Side by side, the two stared up at the sky slowly clearing of the dark clouds.

"That actually happened."

Diana breathed out.

"I still can't believe it was that easy."

"Easy? Hell nah."

Kane snorted.

"She underestimated us. Not to mention with the right information, killing anything is possible."

Diana turned her head, the strands of her hair falling before her eyes.

"What was that last attack? It was-blinding and very powerful."

Kane held up his right hand, fingers curled in a fist. Bio-energy started arcing around it as tongues of yellow energy with specks of blue intermixed in, manifested.

"It's supposed to be Venom Blast. But...there was something within as well."

He answered, a curious glint in his eyes.

"It felt...hot."

"I agree. Right before you made contact, there was a blue flare. Almost like..."

Diana trailed off.

"Pyra's hellflames."

Kane finished.

"Pyra? You named the Hellhound?"

Diana raised her eyebrows.

Kane sat up, still staring at his fist. This time with an intensity that surprised Diana.

"She saved me."

He said after a short pause.

"I can't count the people who saved me in one hand because the number would be Zero. And yet within these three days, I've come to owe not one but two life debts."

Diana sighed, sitting up as well.

"Well. You can consider one of those life debts repaid."

Her eyes turned to Circe's body.

"I was wrong. I wasn't strong enough to face her alone."

Kane blinked. Hearing Diana admit something like that...

The Assassin smiled at his curled fist.

"Yeah? Well we didn't do it alone...Pyra helped."

A beautiful smile appeared on Diana's face.

"I was wrong about you as well. Thank you X."

She said, sincerity pouring off her.

Kane was momentarily blinded by the genuine gratitude she was showing him but nonetheless, he accepted the hand she was offering him.

"Please, call me Kane. X is for when I'm on the job."

Their palms clasped in a firm handshake.

Krakkk!

A crack appeared on the ground in between them.

They watched as it grew bigger, cutting right in the middle of the Arena.

Waves of green fire begun to lick the air, coming out of the crack.

The two of them turned to Circe's still body, only to watch as it was swallowed into the ground.

Turning to each other, incredulous looks on both their faces, Kane only had one thing to ask.

"Huh...is that supposed to happen?"

He stared down at their clasped hands.

"Did us shaking hands-"

Pulling her palm from the handshake, Diana jumped to her feet, Kane following an instant later.

The ground started rumbling, pieces of the Coliseum falling away into the crack that was forming a wide crevice.

"No no no no..."

The Princess started shaking her head, worry and fear apparent in her tone.

"This isn't supposed to-"

"Diana?"

Kane called out.

She didn't hear him. Or rather she was too concerned with what was happening to pay him attention.

"Diana!"

He grabbed her shoulders, forcibly turning her to face him.

"What's going on?!"

Grim blue eyes stared at him apologetically.

"I am sorry Kane. But because of me...your life might be over."

Kane narrowed his gaze at her.

"This isn't the first time I've found myself in a situation I had no hopes of surviving. Tell. Me. What's. Going. On."

Diana breathed in, the look in her eyes changing. Resolve re-appeared.

"Circe was planning on using my blood as a catalyst to bring forth Heracles and his Hoarde from the Underworld."

Kane blinked at the bombshell.

"Heracles? You mean Hercules? Why you?"

Kane enquired, already knowing the answer but wanting it confirmed.

With haunted eyes, Diana replied:

"Because we're both children of Zeus. We share the same divine blood."

"Oh."

His suspicions had been right.

"But we killed her before she could complete the spell right?"

Kane pointed out, as more of the Coliseum started chipping away and falling to the emerald depths below.

"Also...now would be a good time get out of here."

He told her, noticing the destruction was about to reach them, with the crevice turning into a massive trench.

"It's no use."

Diana shook her head, pointing above them.

"The ritual has already started."

Sure enough, a dome of green energy had popped up above them.

Kane wasn't about to believe that it was too late. He shot out a web at the stands and swung away, coming at the dome with his fist cocked back, bio-energy sparking across its length.

Boom!!!

He landed the punch on the dome. The whole thing trembled, rippling with tons of power before it was redirected to the source, slamming him back.

The Assassin dug a groove with his body in the sands, flipping to his feet before his momentum brought him sliding till he reached Diana.

"Okay."

He shook his hand- which was in pain.

"That clearly didn't work."

"I don't understand."

Diana shook her head before a different expression, one of rage appeared in her eyes.

"Serena."

She bit out, venomous realization in her tone.

"There was a second part to the Ritual. My blood on the sands of the Arena to create a path is the first part. The second is to provide a sacrifice to power and stabilize the way through. A sacrifice that not only needs the life of an Amazon but that of a man..."

"Steve."

Kane realized.

(Elsewhere)

(Below the Arena)

Standing in the middle of a green pool of water, the high priestess, naked, held her hands stretched out.

Steve's body floated behind on the surface of the water, the throat slit with blank eyes staring up at the ceiling.

"So, Circe failed."

Serena muttered, bringing the knife on her hand to her neck.

"It doesn't matter. I planned for this. If I can't bring you to Themisycra my love, then I'll bring Themisycra to you."

She ran the knife through her neck, slicing it open with no hesitation.

Falling back in the pool, blood spraying out, Serena reached out with a trembling hand to the mural on the ceiling.

A mural showcasing a battle from Millenia before.

"H-Herakles..."

(General P.O.V)

"Great Hera. This must have been her plan b from all along."

Diana theorized.

"In case Circe failed on her part, she could still send the Island to the Underworld. Circe would have been fine either way as long as Themiscyra was destroyed and every Amazon dead...or worse."

"It's just one thing to another..."

Kane shook his head. His luck hadn't been the best this week.

"So what do we do now?"

"Nothing."

Diana answered, to Kane's horror. Unbeknownst to her, she continued.

"Thank Zeus the Spell seems to be limited to the Arena. The Island will be safe at least."

"I'm guessing we don't get the same deal?"

Kane asked, he and Diana stepping away from the wide trench that had pushed them to the very edge of what used to be the greatest Coliseum in the world.

Looking down at the awning pit, all they could see was green fire and mist.

"No. I'm-"

Diana begun, only for Kane to grab and hold her to him.

"None of that sorry stuff."

He interjected, flexing his wrists. He was going to need all the webbing he had.

A sharp glint passed through his eyes.

"Hold on tight to me. It's not over yet. I've survived your Island's discrimination, bad food and mosquitos the size of cockroaches. How bad could the underworld be?"

Hades had no idea what was coming.

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Next Chapter:- Aftermath