Tarous, стр. 71

I just gave her a quick smile followed by a slow kiss.

“Guys, as much as I love love, we are in the middle of a battle,” said Cupid.

The two of us slowly released each other. Then behind Nyxra I saw Edward, Mary, Jeb, and a few other monsters that I didn’t recognize. My three monster friends all waved at me and I enthusiastically waved back. Mixed in among the monsters were about twenty witches that I vaguely recognized from the school, but didn’t know very well. Finally, there was Crowley, who came bounding through the portal at lightning speed and launched himself into my arms and then up onto my shoulder.

I felt overwhelmed with happiness at realizing how many people had my back. My confidence soared as I looked around at the mix of gods, monsters, witches, and other creatures. It was an intimidating army, and I was glad they were on my side.

While we had been gathering, more and more of those golden gargoyles stepped through the portals on the other side. Behind them two men appeared along with several golden lions and large golden dogs.

“Who are they?” I asked Cronus. If anyone would know it would be him.

“That is Hephaestus, the current God of Fire, Earth, and Metal. Beside him is the current God of Darkness. Shadow and Ice were both part of their faction. Apparently they have decided to come here and reclaim the powers of Shadow and Ice personally.”

Cupid turned and looked at me. “We need to be careful. That is The Hephaestus, the original Hephaestus. He is over a millennium old and he is as crafty as they come.”

I looked at Hephaestus, covered in golden armor with an anvil and hammer etched onto his armor’s breast plate. The symbol of Hephaestus. He looked every bit a god.

I summoned my shadow armor and covered every inch of my body in armor. Hephaestus wasn’t the only god with cool armor.

“I call dibs on Hephaestus. The rest of you take out the demons and the God of Darkness.”

“Are you sure?” asked Cronus.

I nodded.

Hephaestus was intimidating. His muscles had muscles. His right foot had a large metal boot that clanked when he took a step. In Greek myths I had always pictured it as comical and a little sad, but here and now the metal boot looked fierce and deadly. I imagined he had stomped more than one enemy to death with that heavy metal boot.

Quickly before our battle started, I sent death qi outwards in a giant wave. It swirled around all the dead bodies and was slowly absorbed by them.

“Arise.”

My voice echoed across the desolate battlefield. Everything had grown quiet. The calm before the storm. All of those that had died were now mine to command. Demons and humans that had gone to their eternal rest rose once again. Slowly, one body after another managed to stagger to their feet.

The zombies weren’t that strong individually, but together they were a powerful force. The zombies would also keep my enemies at bay while I focused on Hephaestus.

I walked toward Hephaestus, glaring at him with intense anger in my eyes. He had been the one to send the other gods after me. He would be the one to pay for his transgressions.

The power of four gods flowed through my body. The power swirled around and through my body, building like an on-coming storm. As the power grew, I felt that it was overwhelmingly stronger than before, and it wanted release. I was no longer a weak and dying boy. I was a god.

One step at a time I drew closer to Hephaestus. The world seemed to melt away, the only ones to exist in it were Hephaestus and I. Soon there would only be me. A bolt of black death energy whipped out of my body and dug a trench of death through his soldiers. As if some unspoken command was given, the armies separated and left plenty of space between the two of us.

THIS WAS A BATTLE OF GODS!

A wing of pure white feathers grew out of his left armored leg. A second wing also grew out of his black metal boot on his right leg. Two tiny wings also emerged from the left and right side of his helmet. He rose into the air and a quiver of golden arrows appeared on his back and a golden bow appeared in his hands.

I raised a wall of ice, but the arrows shot right through the ice with little resistance. With only moments before being impaled by his arrows, I summoned shadows and the arrows passed through my shadows and reappeared in the ground several miles away.

Hephaestus tossed his bow away.

“Bring it on, oh god of dragging feet,” I said with a smirk. I summoned my black ‘Cupid’s Bow’ and shot towards Hephaestus, but the arrow only glanced off of his armor.

This time he took out something rather terrifying. In his hand appeared a three pronged bolt of lightning that hissed and wriggled. It seemed to want to be released, as if it had a mind of its own and it wanted to be free at all costs.

My mind started racing with ways to dodge to the best of my ability.

“CHAINS OF PROMETHEUS!” Hephaestus yelled with a deep thundering voice.

Thick metal chains shot from the ground and wrapped themselves around me. They slithered up my legs like snakes. Soon they covered every inch of my body, except my face. I tried calling the shadows to escape, but it was pointless. These chains were designed to hold a god.

Hephaestus walked towards me. There was no way for me to escape the chains that entrapped me. He raised the bolt of lightning above his head and prepared to strike when my scythe impaled him in his side.

My shadow self was holding the handle of the scythe, whose blade was now imbedded in Hephaestus’s right side. The lightning bolt