บท 20: Chapter 20

I spun my spear and slashed at his head. Atlas ducked under it and tried to cut me in half. I jumped back and summoned a ball of lightning in my palm before firing it at him. The lightning stopped him for a moment and Briareus stepped forward and stabbed him with the biggest cleaver I've ever seen.

It had a long white handle and a large bronze rectangular blade. The blade had a small curve and was serrated at the bottom. The top of the blade slanted up into a sharp point making it a long right trapezoid. And he had like twenty of them. I had asked the Cyclopes to give them actual weapons but the Hecatonchires had refused and opted to stick with their rocks. At least they had the blades on standby. Where they held those monsters I didn't know.

As the Hecatonchires pummeled Atlas I turned to Cronus and the others and it wasn't going so well. Cronus had a few cuts on him but was otherwise fine. The others however looked like mortals that wrestled a bear and barely got away.

Hades' left eye was shut and a long cut ran from his hairline to his jaw. His left arm, his main hand, had lacerations running across it like he'd been blocking with it. His bident was in his right and had just fixed itself from being cut in half. His legs had multiple cuts on them but he stood firm. Rain and wind smacked against his body but he didn't care. Ichor dripped from his mouth but he still had a sadistic smile. If you changed his hair, you might think it was Cronus. I don't know what the Furies did, but pain didn't seem to bother Hades anymore. Hell, he might even enjoy it. I frowned seeing that his helm was nowhere to be seen.

Poseidon was leaning on his trident and was breathing heavily. During Theory we concluded Poseidon's weakness was his stamina. While he would be unstoppable compared to mortals, to us he was kinda weak in terms of energy. He was in quite a bit of a better shape than Hades and only had a large cut across his chest and minor injuries everywhere else. His nose was crushed and he was missing a tooth.

Demeter's sickle was bent and broken at the middle, turning the crescent into a "w". Her powers didn't sap her nearly as much as Poseidon's but she still looked tired. And by looking at the numerous destroyed trees around I could tell why. The boys had done an amazing job of keeping her safe. We could take a few hits as we've been in fights before, but not Demeter. She had a single cut on her leg but was fine.

Cronus twirled his scythe, which was drenched in ichor and laughed. "Oh this is fun Aidoneus! You've drank from the Pyriphlegethon. You luckily won't die from the torture you're about to endure!"

Hades laughed before frowning and reading his bident. He had changed its shape. The blades now curved instead of making a goalpost. The blades were two different sizes, one was a foot and a half long and the other was just a foot, The blades were wider than the spikes from before and the inside was still serrated while the outside looked sharp enough to cut you before even touching it. He held it so the longer blade was on the bottom and it was pointed right at Cronus' chest.

Just as Cronus charged I called down lightning on him and he caught it on his blade and threw it to the side and that created the much needed opening. Vines wrapped around his legs and an earth spike stabbed up his ass. Hades spun the bident and sliced at Cronus' neck but he vanished again and reappeared in the air a few feet away and slashed down at nothing before landing. I dashed in front of him but was blocked by Atlas who bashed me in the chest with his shield.

He stomped the ground and destroyed it, making me stumble on the wet rocks and he swung at my head. I activated Absolute evasion and rolled out the way before jumping mid roll out of the way of Cronus' scythe. He started slashing at me without rest. Poseidon jumped in but Atlas blocked his path as well and when Gyges tried to jump him, he cut the Hundred Handed One in half. I wasn't too worried as that wouldn't kill him.

As I ducked under another slash I sent out a wave of lightning but Cronus vanished leaving behind a gold silhouette of himself that continued the assault. Soon I was surrounded by multiple versions of him and I could feel Absolute Evasion timing out. I activated Worthless but it only slowed their attacks that were, unfortunately, so coordinated that it barely helped.

I jumped above them and propelled myself away with a wind. Cronus' time skills also for some reason included probability and things that could happen. Themis also said he had precognition. It only allowed him to see a possible future and had a long recharge time so he rarely used it lest it unnecessarily fueled his paranoia.

He did Theory with Themis before she joined our side and warned me that he could find ways to break my spells. He knew that my Worthless wouldn't cancel his abilities because of my previous attempt. So he wanted to get rid of Absolute Evasion so he could hit me. And he succeeded as I could feel it timeout.

I landed in the flooding ocean as Cronus appeared in front of me. He slashed down at my right shoulder, my main arm. I tried to block it with my Lightning Bolt but it went through like a hot knife through butter and lopped off my arm. I bit my lip and jumped back and he followed before kneeing me in the stomach and punching my face. He kicked my leg causing me to fall to a knee before he kicked me in the face.

My head was submerged in the freezing water and I felt his hand close around my neck as he began to drown me. I kicked and struggled but he wouldn't budge. Themis had told me that my hand to hand fighting was weak without my abilities and she was right. I trained under her vigorously but it wasn't enough against the titan who literally declared war on his father at birth.

I summoned all the lightning from my spear and without caring for anyone else, discharged all of it into the water. Cronus let go of me and I quickly stood up and assessed our situation.

Atlas was a monster as he held off Demeter, Briareus, Gyges, Cottus, and Poseidon. He didn't allow them to surround him and would never have any openings thanks to his shield and overall skill. He stabbed Demeter in the stomach and stepped back before Poseidon could stab him. The Hecatonchires continued to attack Atlas as Poseidon tried to help Demeter.

I charged at Atlas and readied my spear. Cronus blocked my path and I activated Absolute Attack and targeted Atlas before throwing my spear. I sailed through Cronus' chest and stabbed through Atlas' head. I stepped forward and kicked Cronus in the side of his skull and sent him out of my way. I charged forward but was stopped by the scythe at my neck. I ducked under it as Cronus pulled. I spun around to face him as he cut Hades' bident in half again.

The helm was back on his head and he vanished but Cronus predicted it and stabbed him in the stomach as he tried to move to the side. Cronus spun him around and threw him into me. I caught him and Hades quickly got back on his feet.

"This isn't looking too good." Hades huffed.

Cronus dashed forward before I could reply and swung at my neck. I dodged and Hades stepped forward and stabbed. Cronus shortened his scythe into a kama and held it in a reverse grip before quickly putting it under Hades' arm and bident. He pulled it up and cut the bident in half again and Hades' arm at the elbow. He stabbed at Hades' head but he jumped back. But Cronus followed him and continued the swing.

I jumped to block it but hit a violet barrier that surrounded Hades. Cronus' kama smashed into it and it cracked. He spun around as multiple daggers stabbed into his body and an array of fireballs surrounded him before exploding. Another barrier surrounded Cronus and contained the explosion. I turned to see Hecate on her knees coughing up ichor. I could sense her aura diminishing at an impossible speed.

Cronus exploded from the barrier. "HECATE! You'd break an oath on the Styx for the Olympians. I thought you had more sense!" He jumped at her and I blocked his path and stabbed at his chest. He stopped dead in his tracks and a bunch of daggers flew from behind me and stabbed him. He spun his scythe in front of him and deflected them but some still stabbed his legs and chest.

Invisible Hades stabbed him in the chest from behind and he quickly vanished. Hecate covered herself in a green barrier and crossed her arms to block Cronus' strike. She opened her mouth and a blast of black flames shot at Cronus' face. He jumped back and I slashed at his waist.

Doing a quick backflip, the titan dodged my attack and grabbed Hades' helm by the eyeholes and pulled it off despite Hades still being invisible. He crushed it and Hades rolled his eye as it vanished.

Hecate rose her torch in the air and golden lights surrounded everyone on our side. Instantly, all of my energy was renewed and I stopped bleeding.

"You dumb bitch!" Cronus shouted as he was enveloped in his own gold light. "CHRONUS I SWEAR YOU PIECE OF SHIT! IF YOU FUCK THIS UP!" The light blasted out wards as I activated Worthless on Cronus. A blue barrier appeared around everyone but Atlas and the light didn't touch us.

I looked at Atlas and saw him visibly deaging. Cronus snapped his fingers and Atlas turned back to normal before he was cut to pieces. Hecate collapsed to her knees and began coughing up blood.

A woman appeared behind Hecate and put a pale hand on her shoulder. The woman had long white hair that ignored all the wind. She had a round face and black eyes. She wore a long white chiton and scowled down at Hecate.

"People like you are the worst. Don't make an oath if you can't keep it." She cupped Hecate's chin in her hands. "I'll enjoy this sorceress."

"Styx stop!" Hades said and he rushed towards them. I stepped forward and blocked Cronus' advance and he quickly backed away to catch his breath and I did the same. Both fights seemed to stop as everyone looked over at Hecate and the woman Hades called Styx.

Styx smiled at Hades. "Ah it's the emotional idiot from before. Hades was it? You have an oath as well. This can be a warning." She winked at him.

"Put her down and leave this place." Hades pointed his bident at her. She frowned at the blade.

"Things like this shouldn't be meddled with Olympian." She grinded her teeth at something behind Hades. A tall figure shook its head at her. It wore a long black cloak with a hood that shrouded it's face in darkness. It put a pale finger to it's lips and vanished. Styx frowned and looked at Hades.

"I better get something out of this." She vanished.

Hecate slowly stood up and pointed her torch at Atlas. A pit appeared in the ground behind him as golden chains wrapped around him.

"What! No!" Atlas began to struggle in vain as a dark laugh could be heard from the pit. "Cronus! HELP!" Cronus ignored him and focused on the rest of us. Atlas was quickly swallowed up and the pit closed. His energy was a nice respite.

Everyone turned to Cronus who was now alone. He took a deep breath and was enveloped in light again as all his wounds rewinded. He raised his scythe into the air and sliced the sky, bathing him in silver blood. The blood collected in his hand and turned into another kama.

"I didn't want it to come to this but you traitors leave me no choice." He pointed his kama at us. "The hell am I saying. I ALWAYS WANTED THIS!"