66 PILLAR
"How would you like to die?", Dionysus whispered, emitting waves of unstable purple energy. The intense white light made it hard to see but the majesty of his true form was not diminished in the slightest.
Athos blinked for a second before checking whether his limbs were intact and whether his body had turned to dust. Once he made sure that he wasn't affected, he grinned and looked up, meeting Dionysus' eyes. They were no longer bloodshot and watery but bright and electric-blue. Even the rage that had previously burned in those eyes disappeared, now replaced by a placid calm - entirely unlike his usual cranky demeanour.
Athos wasted no time, blasting forward in a sonic boom and bringing down Leviathan for the second time.
BOOM!
Unlike the previous bout, this wasn't one-sided and Dionysus held his own. The island shattered regardless, forcing Herakles to take refuge on a small piece of land.
"Futile", Dionysus whispered.
An energy pulse blasted Athos backward while thick grape vines shot forth from the Wine God's back, akin to extra limbs. He deftly moved Leviathan, slicing three vines as though they were jelly but the fourth slammed into his chest, coiling around him and jerking him forwards.
"Get over here", Dionysus growled and swung the Thysrus at his head with speed faster than he could track.
The pinecone-topped weapon met his helmet with such force that formed a visible shockwave, turning his body into a missile that sliced through the air and smashed into the sea with enough force to form sizeable waves. While it may seem that the water cushioned the fall, it was anything but. At that speed, he may as well have slammed into concrete.
"Argh! Fuck!", he spat as he surfaced. The large dent in his helmet was slowly filling out and he shook his head to clear it. He held out his hand and Leviathan shot back into his grip, breaking the turbulent surface.
"SON OF A BITCH!", Herakles bellowed from below shaking his mostly healed fist at the Wine God.
His stores of Divinity were still dry and he could do nothing but watch as his son was battered. No matter how aggrieved or how displeased he was, against such power he was helpless. Dionysus' strength showed just how outmatched he was compared to the Olympians and the sheer amount of luck it took to put down Apollo.
"Can you shut up?", Dionysus sighed but Herakles ignored him.
"Athos! It takes a LOT of divinity to sustain a Divine Form and even more to attack using it. Just tire him out!", he yelled once more.
Minor Gods when compared to Major Gods rarely ever used their Divine Forms, that is if they even had the capability to form one. It did indeed provide a stupidly large boost in strength but it was also a double-edged sword. If a God ever ran out of Divinity Mid Divine Form, they'd be incredibly vulnerable.
"Alright, you can die now", Dionysus said and pointed the thyrsus at the Herakles. Purple energy collected on its tip and the air around it sizzled with power. Space bent around the forming energy ball as though it were emitting its own magnetic field.
Herakles wasn't fooled by the tiny size of the ball. The power behind that could probably atomize him and most of the fragmented island. It was nothing to scoff at. His face filled with dread for a few seconds but in the end, he sighed in defeat. His brows relaxed and his fists clenched but he kept his head high, glaring at the Wine God.
"NO!", Athos yelled, knowing his father had no way of surviving the attack. Gods were indeed immortal but their bodies could only take so much punishment.
He saw red and he released an animalistic roar that seemed to shake the very foundation of the seafloor. Dionysus froze, his stoic expression cracking for the first time. His neck snapped to the side finding Athos slowly rising from the surface of the sea, wreathed in black lighting. His giant axe was nowhere to be seen but his forearm was glowing gold.
A familiar frightening aura burst out of his body, spilling out in large swathes and halting the formation of the energy ball.
He grunted in pain as his hand began to burn. The thunderclouds immediately scurried away, dispersing as though afraid and the sounds of the sea ceased. The winds stopped blowing and the sun peaked out but its light dimmed as well. A pitch-black bow that seemed to herald doom, appeared in his hands, blue crystals coiling about it endlessly.
He took a deep breath and placed his hand on the string.
"AARGH!", he yelled as what seemed like invisible spikes pierced into his arm. It seemed that even possessing a Divine Body was not enough if he wanted to truly wield the weapon.
He bit his lip, drawing blood, before pulling back the string with great effort, which was akin to trying to push an entire mountain range with one's bare hands. Every centimetre made him grimace and to make it worse, the string seemed to cut into his fingers the more he pulled back.
'What was the point of giving me a weapon I can barely use?!", Athos internally cursed as he barely managed to pull ten percent of the string back.
Just then, black lighting burst out of his body, swirling about the bow as though feeling it out. Vajraha gave out a slight hum of approval and the lightning shot forth, taking the form of an arrow. Athos barely had the time to feel surprised as the veins in his arms burst - reddish-gold blood spilling out.
"Don't you dare!", Dionysus managed to squeak as he tried to fight off the draconic pressure that forced him to curl his spine. The swirling arrow that seemed to be forged in the deepest trenches of the abyss brought out the fear of death in him. A fear that had vanished ever since his ascension. After all, why must a God ever fear death? Hadn't he strutted around for millennia without ever fearing for his life? Yet here he was, trembling in front of a twelve-year-old boy who seemed to break every rule and Law he'd ever known.
Athos exhaled and released.
BOOM!
A pillar of lightning blasted forth and tore through the air.
"NOOO!!!", Dionysus howled. The lighting was thick enough to swallow a bus and fast enough to put Apollo to shame. He'd used to think that if his life ever flashed before his eyes it'd go on for hours but now, when the pillar drew near, he realised just how short it truly was - how much of it he'd wasted.
"AAARGGHH!!!", he yowled as his very being was shredded, his yell of anguish echoing across the mediterranean sea.
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