Apollo was the first to move. His golden dagger appeared in his hand, and the god of the sun launched himself straight toward Damon, leaving a trail of light behind him.
To the minor gods, the nymphs, and several of the Olympians present, Apollo was moving at an incredible speed. And they were not wrong. The god of the sun was fast, much faster than most could follow with their eyes.
But to someone like Damon, the entire fight was moving in slow motion..... The difference in levels was too great.
That was why, when Apollo arrived in front of him and launched a direct slash toward his body, Damon did not even move. He only looked the god in the eyes as the golden dagger struck an invisible dome in front of him. The impact released golden sparks, and Apollo's eyes widened in surprise, but before he could retreat, a controlled gust of wind struck him in the stomach and sent him backward, knocking the air from his lungs.
The god of the sun landed on his feet, sliding several meters across the marble. His face twisted for a second, but he quickly recovered his breath. As the god of healing, he could afford to take hits like that and recover faster than most.
Without wasting any more time, he moved toward Damon again.
Artemis, who was coming behind her brother, appeared from the side and went straight for the blond's ribs.
Damon had already seen it coming.
He turned his body, caught Apollo's wrist, and pulled him toward himself, using the god of the sun as a shield. Artemis's eyes widened when she saw her own dagger stop a centimeter away from her brother's chest. Apollo gritted his teeth, trying to free himself, but Damon had already moved his arm.
He released him with a punch straight to the jaw. The blow echoed throughout the entire throne room, a shockwave burst from the impact, and Apollo was sent flying back several meters before Artemis appeared behind him and stopped him with both hands.
Even so, the momentum pushed her back. Her sandals scraped against the marble, leaving two deep lines in the floor while Apollo blinked, golden ichor running down his nose. The god of the sun tried to recover his breath, clenching his jaw so he would not show too much pain in front of everyone, but the way his hands trembled said enough.
"You… damn man!" Artemis shouted through gritted teeth.
Artemis carefully moved Apollo aside and launched herself toward Damon. Her anger and hatred toward men were clouding her judgment, but what left the worst taste in her mouth was how easily she was being surpassed. And worse, by a man.
Damon simply shook his head. Then, with a small smile, two white daggers appeared in his hands, deciding to play a little with the goddess of the hunt.
Artemis reached him with a direct slash toward his neck. Damon raised one of his daggers and blocked the silver blade without moving from his place. The goddess twisted her wrist, changing the angle of the attack toward his side, but Damon had already seen it coming. His second dagger struck hers with a dry sound, deflecting it to the side.
Artemis gritted her teeth and attacked again. She launched a slash toward the blond's chest, but Damon blocked it with ease. The goddess did not stop there. She spun on one leg and tried to cut Damon's legs, but he dodged it with half a step. Sparks flew as they clashed again and again, but each exchange made one thing clear: Damon was superior even in Artemis's own territory.
Daggers, along with the bow, were supposed to be her main weapons. Even so, she was losing ground.
In one last attempt to regain control, Artemis launched a quick stab toward the blond's throat. Damon tilted his head and let the blade pass centimeters from his skin before striking her wrist with the handle of his dagger.
Artemis's fingers trembled from the impact, but she did not drop the weapon.
Damon smiled..... "You have good technique," he said. "But you're fighting with rage, not with your head."
"Don't tell me what to do, I hate the kinds like you, 'mans', " the redhead growled, launching another attack, this time faster.
Damon sighed and disappeared from her sight for a second, moving inside her guard. Before Artemis could react, one of his white daggers was already resting against her throat and the other against her wrist, stopping her weapon.
Artemis tried to step back to free herself, but before she could move, Damon struck her in the abdomen with an open palm. The air left her lungs, and the goddess flew backward, dragging across the floor until she crashed into the steps of one of the thrones.
Damon walked toward her and looked at her seriously, shaking his knuckles as if he had only brushed dust from his hand.
"If this were a hunt, you would already be dead. Better yet, if you were fighting someone stronger than me who truly wanted to kill you, and you kept letting your hatred toward men cloud your judgment, you would already be dead."
Artemis gritted her teeth and stabbed the broken dagger into the floor, furious that she had been treated as if her life and all her years of hunting meant nothing.
Apollo, who had already healed a while ago, did not take well to seeing how easily his sister had been dispatched. Seeing Artemis on the ground, humiliated in front of all Olympus, erased every trace of humor from his face.
A golden glow exploded behind him. The solar chariot appeared above the throne room with a roar of fire and light, its wheels barely touching the marble before Apollo jumped onto it. Several gods immediately stepped back, covering their faces from the heat that filled the room.
Damon narrowed his eyes with a smile.
Apollo tightened the reins, and the solar chariot shot across the throne room with enough force to make the columns tremble, ramming into the blond.
Damon took the hit head-on, covering himself with a layer of air. The front of the chariot crashed into him and dragged him out of the room, breaking through one of the walls open to the sky of Olympus.
Demeter took a step forward, worried, but was stopped by Hestia, who raised a hand to hold her back. Demeter looked at her sister in desperation, but Hestia did not take her eyes off the hole in the wall.
"He's fine," the goddess said seriously.
Hestia kept her attention on Zeus. She had long since left behind her eight-year-old form, now showing her fully adult appearance. The flames of the hearth were ready to react if the king of Olympus tried anything against Hera or Demeter. Hera, still red-faced from the constant arguments with Zeus, raised a golden barrier when several fragments of marble flew too close.
But the last thing the sisters expected was for Zeus to jump after Apollo, following Damon out of the palace as he prepared to enter the fight.
Poseidon also followed his brother. All this time, he had remained on his own side, his face blank, but the way his hand trembled around his trident gave away his nervousness. It was obvious to him that things were about to spiral even further out of control, and from the way the blond had looked at him with disappointment, he knew perfectly well that he was next. He also had a feeling he knew why. Honestly, the god of the sea was not prepared for that, but he could not simply stand by with his arms crossed either.
Outside the palace, Apollo raised the chariot into the sky of Olympus, dragging Damon several meters before releasing a burst of light that threw him downward. Damon fell onto a marble platform suspended among the celestial gardens, breaking part of the floor beneath his feet.
Apollo rose above him, standing in his chariot, bow in hand, his face lit by the anger of helplessness.
Damon lifted his head, brushing a bit of dust from his shoulder.
"Ha. I'll say this much: at least you have some control over the domain of the sun… not bad."
Apollo did not respond. He preferred to draw his bow and increase his power in a matter of seconds. Dozens of arrows of light filled the sky around the solar chariot, all aimed at Damon.
From the throne room, several gods approached the hole in the wall to watch the scene.
As for Zeus, he remained still, watching the scene with his teeth clenched.... And just like that, a barrage of arrows descended on Damon. But to everyone's surprise, Damon did not try to dodge. He only raised one hand, and a dark dome appeared around him.
The first arrows touched the dark space and disappeared in an instant, as if they had never existed, leaving the god of the sun in shock. His arrows were infused with solar power. Sure, he had seen people dodge them, but taking them head-on and making them disappear like that was something completely different.
Gritting his teeth, Apollo prepared to release another barrage, but in the blink of an eye, Damon was no longer in front of him. He appeared above the god of the sun in the sky. Apollo barely managed to raise his gaze before Damon's leg came down like a hammer.
He did not even have time to raise his arms to cover himself.
The kick landed directly on his head with a crash, sending the god of the sun plummeting toward Olympus. The horses of light neighed in fear as the solar chariot lost stability for an instant.
Apollo crashed into the surface of Olympus, opening a crater around his body. Golden ichor could be seen on several parts of the god, and the only thing that came out of his mouth were groans of pain. He had just received the beating of his life.
Then, a mass of roots rose from the ground and wrapped around Apollo, restraining him and slowly healing him.
That was the sight Zeus and Poseidon saw when they teleported to the edge of the crater, looking at Apollo's condition. They did not see Damon anywhere, but before they could move, a crash sounded behind them.
The two gods felt the hairs on the backs of their necks stand up. Smoke rose around Damon as he walked out with a smile that promised nothing good.
"The main event at last," he said, looking at the two gods.
Then he raised his voice, loud enough for everyone watching to hear.
"Look, everyone! Two of the Big Three standing in front of me." Damon looked at Poseidon for a second before turning his eyes back to Zeus. "Zeus, tell me something… are you going to keep hiding behind your family, or are you finally going to prove why everyone calls you king?"
Damon let out a low laugh, enjoying the way Zeus's jaw tightened with every word....
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Drop Stones
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P@treon: Brotato up to chapter 103