50 Issue #47: X, Soul Stone.
More advance chapters on P@treon.com/Saintbarbido.
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(Kane's P.O.V)
They're all dead.
I couldn't even sense their heart beats anymore.
Not to mention, it looked like I would be joining them soon.
But not if I had something to say about that. Death was nothing new. Losing fri- teammates was nothing new.
I had a mission to complete.
With Hermes' arm through my chest, the pain hit almost immediately after taking a breath.
The God of messengers' fingers were curled around my still beating heart, it's performance greatly undermined.
It would have been enough to completely overwhelm someone...else.
But for me, I had more than a few dozen ways to deal with this. Without preamble, I ordered Spyra to teleport me away.
For a second, I thought it wasn't going to work. Then fire bloomed around my body in the familiar sphere that marked the activation of Flame Displacement.
VOOOOPPPP!!
I stumbled into being a small distance away- on the slopes of the ranges that overlooked the sea cove.
Hermes still had his arm sticking into my chest. It seemed that even Spyra couldn't leave him behind as long as he had that hand in me.
Which is why I didn't waste time, grabbing Crescent moon from my back and slashing out towards the hand.
The aim was to sever it on the elbow before making distance with Flame Displacement again.
Hermes was currently too fast for me to deal with at close range.
Spider Sense warned me of something fast cutting the distance towards us.
The end of a glowing chain slammed onto one of Crescent Moon's blade, throwing off my aim and sending us flying backwards.
In the same vein, Hermes curled the fingers around my heart even more tightly before wrenching it out of my chest.
I coughed out blood, ragdolling on the rough ground before coming to a knee.
My body suddenly felt untold pain and weakness:- one of my major organs was missing.
Spider Sense tried to warn me of another chain attack but I couldn't dodge.
Hence the chain links wrapped around my torso and I was whirled through the air, colliding on the face of the hills and ranges around, my enhanced body breaking apart the boulders and gouging out the terrain in an uncontrolled spin.
Then I was released, only to sail across the sky and land in the water.
I immediately sank into the cold depths, thankful for the brief respite.
Only for the water around me to start churning, then it was immediately separated in the middle by a chain cutting through the fucking ocean, heading my way.
Shit.
Flame displacement brought me to the burning slopes again. I couldn't help but thank my past self for not putting the fire out.
Despite escaping, my body had finally reached its limit and I found myself propped up on something, hand on my bleeding chest.
The question of how I was still alive could be answered by two words, Spider Totem.
Said Totem had immediately molded herself into my chest, taking the form of an artificial heart made of flames, But it wasn't a perfect solution.
'Thanks Spyra.'
I bit out, still tasting the blood on my lips.
I was hiding behind a huge rock but I knew that sooner or later, they would find me.
(General P.O.V)
"What are you doing?"
Deimos growled at Herakles and Hermes.
"Spread out and find him. Now!"
Hermes disappeared so fast it was like he had teleported while Herakles choose a single direction and started walking towards it.
Deimos knew the strange mortal was still around.
It didn't make sense for him to escape and leave his partners in crime. Even though they were dead.
And they really were dead.
Deimos stared around at the corpses on the ground. Each of them was missing their hearts. (Hermes had crushed them in brutal fashion)
Kneeling down, he carefully cast a freezing charm on the bodies. They would come into play later and had to be fresh.
And then he turned his gaze to an object in his hands.
A small mirror with a few thousand silver swirling lights glinting on it's surface.
Souls.
Or to him, spoils of wars.
The mirror was created from refining numerous soul stones, a naturally occurring element in the Underworld, before forging them into the artefact in his hand.
While a single soul stone could house one soul, the mirror's capacity was in the tens of thousands.
Deimos had liberally used it to imprison the souls of anyone he came across during his hunt for the Amazons.
He would let his warriors kill and decimate entire soldier camps, refugee caravans and any undestroyed settlements that had the unfortunate luck of attracting the God of Terror's attention.
203 new souls had been added to the soul mirror. A good haul indeed. The only thing left to do was reunite Kane with his friends. But Deimos could leave that to Hermes and Herakles.
Truly, he was the only one capable of succeeding in his tasks and exceeding his father's expectations.
A red scepter appeared in his hands. He pointed it at the bodies on the ground and activated a one way spatial relocation.
Naturally the souls in the mirror needed bodies to house them.
Despite Deimos keen godly senses he failed to see or hear the small needle made of flames that quietly slid into Steve's jacket.
(Kane's P.O.V)
Artemis' blessing was truly a blessing.
Without it, I wouldn't have managed to slid a bit of my fire into Steve's body before Deimos sent them away.
I still couldn't believe they were dead. But lack of a pulse and the punctured heart was pretty indicative.
But I would get revenge for them by completing the contract.
All that was left to do now was- oh shit, they found me!
I rolled out of the way as Hermes smashed onto the boulder I hid behind and absolutely destroyed it with his landing.
My hand was already on Crescent moon drawing on an arrow that I sent rocketing toward him.
Inches from the bow, Hermes appeared so fast, he seemed to have teleported and snatched the arrow right upon release.
I immediately caused it to explode in a burst of fire while jumping backwards to create distance.
Whooosh!! Whoosh!! Whoosh!!!
Spider Sense warned me of Herakles' arrival as dozens of chains surged out from all direction.
Clang!! Clang!! clang!!
Moving at the limit of my current physical capacity, I blocked all of them with Crescent Moon in its blades form, my hands a blur.
'Spyra!'
I called to my Spider Totem and my surroundings changed, now I was coming up behind Deimos, Crescent Moons flashing from the God's blindside.
I saw his body go stiff as the feeling of encroaching death grew and a shadow of fear appeared in his eyes.
Golden chains wrapped around his torso and pulled him further from the path of my blades.
Undeterred, I spread out my fire through one of the blades- lengthening its reach and leaving a slice mark on his nose.
With a cry of pain and anger, the God of Terror pointed his scepter my way, sending flashy red bolts flying at me.
Only to find me missing- a few instantaneous seconds before Hermes arrived, I had relocated to the slopes which were still burning with my fire.
Crescent Moon was already back in its bow form and I had an arrow ready- releasing it as soon as I notched it.
'Rain of fire'
(General P.O.V)
'My nose!!'
'That bastard almost sliced it off.'
"WHERE IS HEE??!!"
Deimos demanded, using his authority over the War brands to send waves of pain into both Hermes and Herakles!
They were so useless!
A sudden surge of heat alerted him to something from behind him. Looking at the burning slopes, Deimos' face paled into a sheet of white.
Thousands of flaming arrows! Just like the attack from before that had not only burned through his ranks but had sent back those souls to the Underworld.
"SAVE ME!!"
Deimos yelled and his two slave Gods rushed to do his bidding.
Hermes begun running around him so fast that he formed a tornado that trapped the flames arrows and forcibly dispelled them, while Herakles dashed towards the slopes- moving far slower than Hermes but still scarily fast.
The Demigod of Strength arrived before Kane who looked shocked before the chains under Herakles' control crushed the Assassin into nothing.
The whole ranges shook.
A burst of flames exploded into the air and a second later, Herakles jumped back to stand on Deimos' side.
"Did you get him?!"
The God of Terror demanded almost immediately.
A songle nod from Herakles made Deimos start laughing. That annoying guy was dealt with. Finally!
Sure bringing back his body and trapping his soul would have been better options as he was surprisingly powerful for a mortal but...killing him was acceptable as well.
"Good. I only wish I could have tortured his soul, but good job."
Deimos sighed. The mission was over. He achieved all his objectives and now it was time to go back.
"Let's go."
He informed his remaining warriors and with a pulse from his scepter, they all disappeared from the scene.
A few hours later, a golden hawk landed on the beach in front of the sea cove, transitioning into a beautiful woman with a statuesque figure and divine bearing.
Athena spread her gaze out and using her superior intuition, was able to understand everything that had occured on the scene.
"Deimos."
She growled, before staring at the blue fire that had spread out and consumed the whole range, with a strange look.
-0-
(Elsewhere)
(Kane's P.O.V)
Flame displacement was truly wondrous.
As long as there was a flame, heat, spark, kindling to sense, then I could teleport anywhere.
And because Spyra could sense any flame she created despite the distance, it was easy to fake my death by having a flame construct take my place and get dispelled by Herakles.
While on the other hand, I appeared next to Steve, in a massive ditch filled with hundreds of corpses.
And before me was a mountain shrouded in red mist.
