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Divine Intervention

by Orthoros

Chapter 11: 9. Shock And Awe

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Hyas was lying in wait at his designated spot, behind him were the lesser gods that made up his squad. From their position, they had the perfect view of the party that was still going strong. Large party tables had been set down in one of Olympus’ many gardens, so the gods were surrounded by beautiful flora as they drank enough wine to kill the entire population of Earth several times over, all of it supplied by Dionysus.

The sound of revelry reached them easily, the noise being more than enough to mask their own hushed conversations.

“Will we even be able to hear the signal like this?” Eros asked while looking down at the party with disgust. “They are incredibly noisy.”

“I’m sure we will,” Hyas replied, keeping track of the major threats among the party-goers. “Hades will make sure of it.”

Satisfied with the answer he received, yet still nervous, Eros continued to survey the situation down below. Zeus was currently the furthest away from them, sitting at the seat of honor. He clearly was enjoying the festivities the most out of all attending gods, his booming laughter reaching even Hyas ears, even though they had to be at least six-hundred feet apart.

Hades was no doubt already in position right next to his victim, his helmet allowing him to stay completely undetected. Hyas could feel the time of attack growing closer, so he drew his bow from his back to give it a final once over. It had been crafted from the finest elm trees that grew in the underworld, which Hyas had then completely plastered with runes to enhance its strength and effectiveness against even the most resistant gods. The arrows resting in his quiver had received similar treatment, although their purpose was slightly different. Their effect would stun every god he’d hit with them, completely taking them out of the fight.

Hyas furrowed his brows, as he could feel the atmosphere change slightly. The party remained unchanged, but he could almost feel the anticipation in the air. Slowly, he drew a single arrow out of his quiver and loosely readied it against his bow.

“Get ready,” Hyas said, every muscle in his body tightening.

Behind him the other gods finished their own respective preparations. Shock and Awe was the core of their battle plan, so once the horn sounded they had to react immediately. The more gods they could take out before the enemy realized what was happening, the easier the fight would become. They waited in tense silence, until they could hear a horn being blown in the distance. It was barely perceivable, but even if they hadn’t heard it, the fact that Zeus’s throne literally exploded, sending the god flying away from the party, would have surely clued them in.

Similarly, Hyas and his squad exploded into action, bursting out from the foliage they were hiding in just moments ago. The partying gods hadn’t even had time to react to Zeus’ sudden exit, when Hyas arrow already hit his first target square in the shoulder. The god seized up completely and fell off the bench he was sitting on, garnering confused looks from the gods close to him.

Three gods had already fallen to Hyas’ well placed arrows when the first confused shouts and screams could be heard. The three squads of Hades’ faction had all attacked attacked at the same time from different locations, leaving gods paralyzed, or in some cases, gravely injured wherever they ploughed through. Their goal wasn’t to kill, as even the death of a minor god could have huge ramifications on the mortal realm, so they tried to incapacitate them wherever possible.

With the exception of Zeus, of course.

Hyas’ squad slowly fanned out from each other, so as not to be in each others way and to cover more ground. These first few moments of battle were crucial for them, so they had to raise the bodycount as high as possible. Hyas arms and legs moved without pause, the shooting of his arrows seemingly mechanical, every shot a hit.

It didn’t take long for the enemy faction to come to their still inebriated senses. The first few gods were starting to put up a fight as the reality of the situation started to sink in, although the fact that they were all extremely drunk worked against their favor. Most of their resistance was thus futile, and they joined the others on the ground, unable to move, forced to watch and listen to the carnage around them.

In his battle induced trance, Hyas shot at every god that moved and immediately moved on before even confirming whether or not his arrow had hit. A flash of bright red hair caught his attention, an arrow was fired, Hyas moved on. Or at least he would have, but shortly after having shot his arrow, a metallic clang reached his ears. Refocusing on his last target he recognized his mistake.

“Hyas!” Hephaestus, the god of fire and metalworking, shouted angrily. “Traitor!”

“Yeah, what he said!” Hestia, the goddess of the hearth, home and fire, meekly hid behind the towering Hephaestus.

The sight of Hestia hiding behind the hulking form of Hephaestus almost made Hyas laugh. Although Hestia usually kept to herself and appeared rather weak, Hyas knew she could handle herself in a fight… if she had to.

“I’m just doing what I have to, Hephaestus!” Hyas called back. “You were offered to join us, a long time ago, but due to your stubbornness, it would appear that we are on different sides today.”

“You have all gone mad! Hades has clouded your judgement with his sweet words!” Hephaestus said, brandishing the two smithing hammers he always carried with him. “Stop this madness!”

“On the contrary,” Hyas got into a fighting stance himself. “I do believe the ones with clouded judgement are all of you.”

A quick brush over his quiver revealed that there were just three arrows left before Hyas would need to switch to the daggers he had prepared, currently dangling from his belt. Just three chances to hit his adversary, who was well versed in the art of combat, and didn’t seem to be bothered by the alcohol in his system at all.

“Maximum effort…” Hyas mumbled under his breath, before reaching for his first arrow with a speed that only came to him after millenia of training.

The arrow was aimed at Hephaestus’ left leg, but Hyas had no doubt in his mind that it would get blocked. It’s purpose was merely to start the battle and keep his adversary busy, even if just for a second. Their matchup was a classic of speed versus strength, and Hyas planned to use every advantage his speed could get him.

When the his arrow was deflected with a loud clang, Hyas had already closed the distance between them, had drawn his dagger with his left hand and was aiming to strike at the arm that was busy defending from his arrow. Yet, although Hephaestus’ hammers were incredibly heavy, he was able to use them as if they weighed nearly nothing. As such, Hyas’ blade met with steel, instead of skin.

Already seeing the second hammer coming for his head, Hyas somersaulted backwards, sheathing his dagger midflip and exchanging it for another arrow. Immediately after landing on the table behind him, he nocked the arrow, aimed and let loose.

Hephaestus noticed the strange trajectory of the arrow, as it would have completely missed him where he stood. Thinking fast, he moved to impercept it anyway. Once again, the sound of metal clashing against metal resounded. He spared a glance at the cowering Hestia, which he had just saved, his anger boiling up even more.

“Hey, leave her out of…” Hephaestus turned back to face Hyas, angrily shouting out his feelings, realizing his mistake too late.

The first rule of combat was to never lose sight of your enemy, and for breaking it, Hephaestus had to pay the price now. Hyas had already closed the distance between them once again, and only instinct saved Hephaestus from getting stabbed. He raised both hammers in a panic, desperately trying to block the incoming strike. He barely succeeded, but the blow was enough to disturb his already unstable stance, causing him to fall backwards on his ass, his two hammers following after him and cracking the ground where they fell.

Panic filled his eyes when he looked up, only to see Hyas standing above him, arrow already drawn and aimed at him. In a desperate last ditch effort, Hephaestus went for a leg sweep, managing to throw Hyas off balance and miss his shot. The arrow struck the ground, inches away from Hephaestus’ arm, but this time he didn’t dare take his eyes off Hyas who fell to the ground.

Not intending to miss this opportunity, Hephaestus took hold of his hammers again and shot back up to his feet. Hyas was about to get up, when Hephaestus firmly planted his foot into Hyas’ back, pinning him to the ground.

“You really shouldn’t have done that,” Hephaestus said, his heart beating a mile a minute. “You know, Zeus permitted us to kill all the traitors… I didn’t feel like it was necessary at first… but you guys… you guys just make me so mad! You barely have any forces and still hope to achieve victory over us? And then you even have the gall to challenge me to a one on one? You’re not made to fight Hyas, and you had no hope of winning from the start!”

“Who said it was a one on one?” Hyas said with a dry chuckle.

“Huh?” Hephaestus could feel his anger ebb away, as the sensation of something stabbing his back took over his senses.

Slowly, Hephaestus turned his head to look what happened, just to see Hestia stand behind him with a triumphant smile. The arrow that had missed him earlier was now firmly planted in his back, it’s magical properties already denying him access to his most basic motor functions. He collapsed slowly, a betrayed look in his eyes, while Hestia guided his fall, making sure he wouldn’t fall on the arrow and push it in deeper.

“Thanks,” Hyas said as he got back up from his prone position, stretching a bit to relax his sore back. “You really came in clutch there.”

“It’s no problem, really,” Hestia said, shooting a look of pity at the motionless Hephaestus. “If there was ever a time to drop the act, this was it. He thought I was on Zeus’ side right to the very end and got cocky.”

“Seeing how you’re treated most of the time, anybody with two working brain cells should be able to realize that you’d betray them at the first chance you get…” Hyas said while collecting the arrows he used earlier from the ground.

“It’ll all be over after today,” Hestia looked at the fighting all around them. “Let’s just hope they’ll be able to adapt to Zeus’s absence.”

“Don’t say stuff like that, wouldn’t want to jinx it,” Hyas commented. “After all, Zeus is still alive, and until that changes, things will stay the same. His death will be the pebble that’ll eventually cause an avalanche.”

As if to prove a point, the sound of repeated thunder could be heard in the distance. A series of explosions followed shortly after, signaling that Zeus and Hades had properly began fighting as well.

“Looks like we’re growing short on time,” Hyas said as he watched the flashes in the distance. “You need any weapons?”

“I got some,” Hestia procured a small knife out of one of her pockets. “You know I don’t plan to stick around, so I don’t need much. I gotta go back to protect the flame, wouldn’t want any of these idiots getting any stupid ideas, after all.”

“Alright, best of luck to you,” Hyas gave a firm nod towards Hestia.

“You too,” Hestia replied.

Shortly after, Hestia sprinted off in the direction of the Olympus’ sacred flame, which was her assigned charge. Similarly, Hyas scanned the garden turned battlefield for any places that needed his help. Their tactic seemed to have worked, as seemingly most of the Zeus’ faction was paralyzed on the floor, or if not, otherwise incapacitated. Not seeing anybody of his squad really struggling with subduing their foes. Hyas took off in a random direction, helping anybody he came across.

For now, he focused on using his daggers, since he wanted to conserve his last three arrows for when he really needed them. He mowed down gods left and right, always keeping an eye out for any major threats. He made his way past a group of seemingly passed out gods when suddenly a fist came out of nowhere and smashed him square in the face, causing him to violently get thrown on the ground.

A small scream escaped Hyas at the unexpected pain, but even still, he forced his body to move, so as not to present an easy target for whoever assaulted him. He rolled backwards and got back on his feet in one swift motion, rubbing his nose in a futile try to alleviate some of the pain.

Eyes aimed forward he searched for who could’ve done this to him, but it appeared like there was no one even remotely close to his location. He turned around a few time, just to make sure no one was hiding behind him, but the result stayed the same… until he heard a hiccup behind him.

Hyas turned around to come face to face with Dionysus, who was currently struggling to stand up. He was swaying something fierce, obviously way too drunk to even think about standing straight. Hyas clicked his tongue in annoyance, the drunkard must have gotten in a lucky shot.

“I don’t have time to entertain a drunk, Dionysus,” Hyas said, his patience wearing thin. “Get out of my way.”

Dionysus, in turn, simply swayed on the spot, his eyes closing for a prolonged amount of time every few second. He seemed to at least make an effort of trying to recognize who stood before him, but failed spectacularly. Seeing as there was no point in talking to the god of wine, Hyas waited for when his enemies eyes closed again before dashing at him, intent on just grazing him with his enchanted daggers.

He aimed at Dionysus cheek and swung with practiced ease, only to lose his balance as he struck nothing but air. Before he could react in any way, he felt an extreme force connect with the side of his rib cage, causing him to exhale sharply and fall to the ground once more.

Dionysus just stood there, unstable as he was on his feet. No follow up attack came, as Hyas took his time to get back up and dust himself off. “Oh now you’ve done it…”

Hyas once again charged at Dionysus, but this time aimed straight for the chest. His attack connected and Dionysus fell backwards with a satisfying thump.

“Finally,” Hyas said, checking his dagger for any blood which he’d need to clean up before moving on.

Satisfied to find none had stuck to it, he scanned the battlefield once more. The fight was calming down, as only a few of Zeus’ supporters remained standing, and by now Hades group had the advantage in numbers. Just as he was about to take a step forward, his foot caught onto something, followed by a godly faceplant into one of the wine pitchers that was on the table he crashed into.

Cursing, Hyas tried cleaning off the wine as well as he could, but there was no doubt that this was gonna stain. Annoyed he turned around to see what he got hung up on, only to find Dionysus smiling at him from the ground, a mischievous smile on his face.

“Oh you’ve got to be kidding me!” Hyas exclaimed. “You only acted like I hit you, didn’t you?”

Dionysus didn’t answer, but instead started spinning on the ground like he was breakdancing for a moment. Surprised by the nimbleness the drunk god displayed, Hyas didn’t react fast enough, as Dionysus launched himself off the ground, in a mocking variant of a dropkick. As he could do little more than to watch as two feet came straight for his face, Hyas realized that this fight wasn’t going to be as easy as he thought it would.

And then he got kicked in the face.

Author's Notes:

Another chapter with our good friends, the gods. Things are heating up on their side as well.

Once again, thanks to my editor ScootalooFTW, as well as my proofreader Soren Mercer.

Today's chapter was brought to you by this song.

Come join us in the Discord channel! Lonk

Or the official Divine Entertainment group! Divine Universe

Next Chapter: 10. Setting Up Shop Estimated time remaining: 1 Hour, 42 Minutes
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