142 Issue #2

But the sight that greeted Jack was different from what he was expecting. While Kang was looking at him in fear and anger, the Olympians were looking on in indifference. It was a woman with black/blue hair that stepped forward to speak on behalf of the Olympians.

"My name is Athena, mortal. Or should I say, fellow god, since you have killed Hermes and Troy? We have learned from the latter that you gain the best quality of those you kill, such as both of their divinities," Athena introduced herself

"If you are wondering why we are not killing you or trying to avenge Hermes and Troy, it is also because of what we have learned from him. You both are thieves that bury your hoards in tombs no one can ever access.

Troy was allowed into our group because he stole Hephaestus from the universe and we needed a blacksmith. As long as you promise to serve us as our Hermes and Hephaestus, we have no issue with letting you live. But if you resist, we will just enslave you.

He was the only one of us that wanted to work with this fool to kill you. We were going to turn down the negotiations after both of them got done speaking with one another."

Jack listened to her words and felt some comfort in them. Even if he got all of Troy's memories, he could never get their perspective. So hearing the words from the goddess' mouth was the best confirmation.

"Oh. That's cool. Since we have no beef, do mind if I just 'zic!' him over there real quick?" Jack asked indicating towards Kang

"Be our gue..st," before Athena could finish, Jack used the superspeed he had gotten from Hermes a moment ago to speed over to Kang, freeze his neck, snap it, and return to his original place.

[Tactical Intuition (Master) acquired.]

Athena turned and looked at the head that fell to the ground before turning back to Jack with a small amount of surprise in her eyes.

"Didn't think you would act so fast."

"I have hesitated before. I know the cost of doing so. So what's up with you guys? You look very different than the photo that Hercules showed me before," Jack asked while trying to gauge their strength but the result was very disappointing

'They should all be around Thor's level of strength while Zeus can match Odin. I just might die if I am not careful.'

Athena then began their tale of how they came to be as they were and this is how Jack understood it.

At first, they were the same gods of myth. The ones that meddled in the affairs of humans, slept with everyone but their spouses, the ones that sent down the harshest punishments to humans for petty reasons such as not winning a beauty contest.

But there was darkness within their ranks. Nyx, the goddess of the night. A being more ancient than the Titans and gods.

She along with her spawn rebelled against Zeus and the other Olympians long ago before getting sealed away, forever doomed to never see the light once again.

But Nyx and her children were not alone. For years, a cult that worshipped her had searched for ways to unseal their goddess from the abyss that she had been trapped in. It was a few months ago that they had finally accomplished their goal.

Once Nyx and her children were unleashed, they immediately set off towards Olympus to have their revenge on the ones that sealed them away. And it was a slaughter.

Of all the Olympians, it was Zeus, Hera, Apollo, Artemis, Athena, Hermes, and Hephaestus that put up the greatest fight. Because they did not die so quickly, Nyx placed a curse on all of them.

While all Olympians were immortal in that they did not age after reaching their peak and would always resurrect themselves, Nyx placed a twist on these 7.

After she killed them, they had indeed come back from the dead but as twisted versions of their original selves. All of them became much more violent and cruel. Athena was the tamest while Zeus was the leader of their group and had wiped out over a hundred worlds in the previous 2 months that they had come back to life.

"And you're saying you want me to join you?" Jack asked while trying to think of how he could survive this situation

He tried to send out his telepathic powers into their minds but when he reached them, he felt a blockage from each of them. It was only after paying attention to where the barriers were coming from did he notice what was going on.

'Adamantine!'

Adamantine was the divine metal of Olympus and could be said to be the best material in the universe to make weapons or shields from.

The metal was as durable as Adamantium that covered Wolverine's skeleton, could be enchanted just as well as the Uru that made up Thor's hammer, and protected their owner's/user's from magical and psychic means that the user does not wish to be affected by.

In other words, it was a material that crippled over 70% of Jack's combat abilities in an instant.

"No. We know that you will resist. So you can no longer join us but only be a dog at our beck and call," Athena told him before removing her mace and shield from her back. The other Olympians summoned their weapons to their hands while looking at Jack as if he was their prey.

'I'm definitely going to die here. Emma is gonna be so pissed when she brings me back to life'

Jack tried to play it cool in his head but he knew just what kind of situation he was in.

"Then what the heck are we waiting for?"

Jack charged forward. His best chance was to make the first move so he could control the pace of the battle.