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Divine Intervention

by Orthoros

Chapter 15: 13. Decisive Battle

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Zeus tumbled into the building from the wall he’d just been thrown through. Judging by the seemingly limitless amount of wine pots and barrels, it must have been Dionysus’s storage room. Several pots were destroyed by Zeus’s smashing entrance, soaking him, as well as a good portion of the floor in blood-red wine.

As he came to a stop against a shelf on the far wall, he begrudgingly admitted that his adversary packed quite the punch. Zeus’s astronomical power resulted in him having an even more sturdy body than most other gods possessed, so circumventing his defenses to inflict actual wounds spoke volumes of Hades’ strength.

His musings were cut short when he noticed a small splash amidst the wine on the floor, revealing his invisible opponents position to him. Taking a shot in the dark, Zeus threw out a punch, which, much to his satisfaction, he felt connect with something hard. Moments later, another shelf exploded in a cloud of alcohol, revealing the Hades as a weirdly shaped mass of red.

“Ready to abandon your silly toy and face me like a man?” Zeus roared while shaking his hand in pain. It would seem he had hit the helmet, which was seemingly able to withstand one of Zeus’ punches.

“I wouldn’t exactly call this a ‘silly toy’, Zeus,” the amorphous wine blob said as it rose from the ground. “Although I must admit, this whole wine business makes it rather ineffective.” Hades shook his arms a few times in an attempt to get rid of the traitorous liquid.

Hades reappeared as he took off his helmet, slicking back his drenched hair which sent more wine flying behind him. He clicked his tongue in annoyance seeing as he had just effectively lost his biggest advantage. Silently thanking Zeus that he wasn’t immediately exploiting this momentary opening, he set the helmet down on a still intact shelf, partially hiding it behind one of the pots.

As long as he managed to keep Zeus busy, Hades forces could work on taking out the other gods, and the more time passed, the more likely he was to receive reinforcements. He sure could use every advantage he could get against Zeus.

“It would seem that we’ll have to finish this the old fashioned way,” Hades said, turning to face Zeus.

“So it would seem,” Zeus cracked his knuckles, which seemed even more intimidating since small arcs of electricity ran along his bare hands.

The two stared at each other for a few seconds, waiting for the other one to make the first move. Zeus, ever impatient as he was, exploded into action, which he soon found to be a mistake. Hades had waited for this and effortlessly countered the attack by simply sidestepping the right hook and jamming his elbow into Zeus’s ribs. Once again, Zeus was smashed through a shelf, including the wall behind it.

As he careened through the air, Hades appeared above him, slamming both feet down and ploughing Zeus into the ground below him. Hades used him as an impromptu snowboard to traverse the grassy field below them, hitting the occasional rock on their way. Not having any of it, Zeus called down a bolt of lightning from the, hitting both Hades and himself with it.

Seeing as lightning was his domain, Zeus was able to shrug off his own attack. Hades, on the other side, wasn’t as lucky and had to take the full force of the electrical onslaught. He fell off his improvised transportation, his whole body spasming as the current ran through him.

Desperately trying to gain back control of his own body, Hades writhed around on the grass. Zeus foot connected with Hades’ gut sending him flying into a nearby tree, causing his body to adopt a rather unnatural shape as it bent around its trunk. Hades coughed up blood as his body hit the ground with a thud.

“I think it’s time that we ended this facade,” Zeus spat while patting down the dirt that clung to his robes. “I won’t hold back anymore.”

True to his words, the clouds swirling above them turned nearly pitch black as an angry roiling could be heard emanating from within. Zeus was obviously done fighting and fully intended to simply overwhelm Hades by raining down the full power of the skies. Hades hacked and sputtered as he slowly got back up, his eyes flicked upwards to his impending doom, deciding that the only way to counter the following attack was by calling upon his own dominion.

The clouds above reached a crescendo as small bolts of lightning traveled between them, before releasing their charge with pinpoint accuracy, accompanied by a furious shout.

DIE!

A massive bolt of lightning struck Hades, completely obscuring the god from view for a moment and causing a huge explosion of dirt and wood. It was immediately followed by a deafening thunderclap and the accompanying shockwave, causing even Zeus to stumble back a few feet.

Once everything settled, Zeus glanced to where his opponent stood just moments before, pleased to find little more than a crater. Nodding once to himself, he turned away, fully intent to go and rout the other foolish gods who thought they could revolt against him. He barely took a few angry steps towards his party grounds when an immense feeling of dread slammed into him from behind.

Zeus whirled around as the hairs on his neck stood on end, coming face to face with a gruesome scene. What was once a flourishing garden of an immense variety of trees and flowers, was now an empty husk. Trees were withering and dying in front of his eyes, collapsing into heaps of ash, while the various other flora had long ago met their demise. What he laid eyes upon was a barren wasteland, a representation of death incarnate, and standing amidst it all was Hades. He was pretty banged up, but didn’t look worse for wear.

“H-how?” Zeus’s question was barely a whisper as he stared dumbfounded towards Hades. The sound carried surprisingly well, as seemingly all sound had been drowned out and the air was still. It almost seemed like the only reason the word was able to leave his mouth was because the entity before him allowed it to.

“You seem to forget in your arrogance, that I am the god of death, Zeus,” Hades cackled. “You may be strong and able to overwhelm other gods by sheer force… but not me.”

Originating from his fingers and traveling through his hands and arms, Zeus felt an unknown sensation spread throughout his body. A twang of fear made itself known for the first time in an extremely long while, the thought of his life being in danger entered his mind.

“You think your lightning to be all-powerful, and yet for all your ability to control and guide it, at the end of the day it still follows the unbendable rules of nature,” Hades explained. “As such, it is a simple matter to redirect it, if one knows how it works. And believe me, Zeus, I have studied your lightning for centuries. I will admit that the resulting shockwave is somewhat unavoidable, but it’s nothing I can’t handle.”

A wave of dread seemed to emanate from Hades position as all of Zeus’s instincts seemed to scream in fear, the prospect of death seeming just as tangible as the fury evident on Hades face. It was a humbling experience to say the least and it almost paralyzed him where he stood. The difference in power he witnessed sent his brain into overdrive in an attempt to figure out a way to defeat the very avatar of death. Going over thousands of possibilities in the span of a few seconds in a panicked frenzy, something clicked in his head and he immediately calmed down.

Yes, indeed. There was no reason to be afraid. After all, Zeus had already known that defeating Hades would be no easy feat and he had prepared for this eventuality long ago. A calm smirk spread across his face as he regarded his opponent.

“I must admit that you’re right,” Zeus said, raising his tingling arms above his head in a mock display of defeat. “I don’t think I’ll be able to defeat you as I am right now… In that case, all I have to do… is change.”

Having said his piece, Zeus turned on his heels and bolted, quite literally. He ran until he could feel himself leave Hades’ sphere of influence before vanishing in a flash of lightning. A cry of fury could be heard throughout all of Olympus as Hades’ prey escaped his clutches, and Zeus allowed himself a sensible chuckle as he reappeared in front of his own palace.

He rushed through the marble halls, making a beeline for his destination. Everything was dark, his own clouds blotted out the midday sun. Nobody had been around to light the torches lining the walls. Not wasting time on lighting them, Zeus relied on his own intricate knowledge of his palace’s layout, as well as the occasional lightning bolt that illuminated his path through the windows.

It didn’t take long for him to reach his destination, and he burst through the doors paying no mind to the needless destruction. His gaze frantically traveled along the room until they fell upon the object of his desire. At the far end of the table that dominated most of the room was a small, faintly glowing sphere.

The glass-like material sat upon a tastefully crafted statue of the one it contained. Atlas was kneeling on the table, his arms spread wide behind his back, holding up his own prison. Yet, to Zeus, this small sphere was so much more than a mere prison to contain his old adversary. It was the means to his victory over Hades.

Just a few weeks prior, after a lot of hard work, Zeus and his affiliates had finally finished the necessary preparations to transfer the powers of the one trapped within towards whoever wished. Obviously, the only one allowed to do so was Zeus himself and he had made sure to make it so that nobody else could, even if they wanted to. He regretted not having made the transfer sooner now, but it mattered little, seeing as he was about to do it.

He took a few steps when another lightning strike illuminated the room. Across the way, a shadow seemed to bleed away from one of the many pillars lining the room, stopping Zeus dead in his tracks.

“I’m afraid I can’t let you go any further than this,” the figure spoke in a familiar tone of voice.

“I must admit this is rather unexpected,” Zeus said, looking as if he had bit into a lemon. “But I guess I should have seen this coming.”

“I suppose you should have,” the figure replied sadly.

“While this is all quite shocking, I do not have the time to dwell on it,” Zeus shook his head. “All I have to do is touch the cage…” A lightning bolt materialized in Zeus's hand. “Do you feel confident enough to stop me?”

Author's Notes:

Oh wow, an obscured figure! Who could it be??? I feel like it should be obvious enough, but still, gotta be vague and mysterious ^^ I know I've taken some time to write recently, and that is in part due to me having too much time on my hands and because I'm going over stuff again and again, since I don't want to screw up the ending of this story. Gotta hammer these details down before writing them, or else I won't be happy with the outcome.

As such, the next chapter might also take a long time, since I suspect it could be pretty long. I might split it up though, depending on how I feel.

Once again, thanks to my editor Alcatraz, 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: 14. Final Destination Estimated time remaining: 57 Minutes
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