Mycenae

Hermes rushed into the palace. His winged sandals were dirty and battered, their energy already waning.

"Why are you here, dear Hermes," An old man said. He was Ra, King and Father of Kings.

"We need help. Rifts are opening all over The South, and we simply don't have the numbers to hold them."

"How many do you need?"

"At least twenty thousand."

"You know that we are also in a sticky situation here. Rifts have opened all over The South and The North, but The Middle has none. We cannot afford to be off guard when the Demons do come."

"How many can you send then?"

"Fifteen thousand."

"Stick one of your gods inside and that's it."

"Anubis."

"That's fine. He'll work well with Thanatos."

"I'll dispatch them as soon as possible."

Hermes flew out of the palace the exact same way that he came in.

Ra stared at his back for a while, and then called one of his couriers, "Send fifteen thousand elite soldiers to The South. The Greeks need them. Also, Anubis"

"Yes, my lord."

Ra sighed and lay back onto his throne.

**********

"I got the soldiers. Fifteen thousand and Anubis."

"Good. Five thousand to Poseidon, five thousand to Hades, three thousand to Artemis, two thousand to Athena. Anubis goes with Thanatos and guard the Rift near Mycenae."

"I'll go right now," Hermes dashed off into the distance. Faintly, you could hear the agonized screeching of his unfortunate winged sandals.

**********

Thanatos smelled death, very, very far away. Not from the Rift, but from the Middle. As the god of death, he was rarely wrong with such things, and to his alarm, the sense of death was approaching him far too fast for his liking. Five minutes at most and it'll be here. He walked outside of his tent, preparing for its arrival.

True to his senses, the being appeared on the horizon four minutes later. Thanatos waited for it to introduce itself.

"Yo Thanatos! How's it going? Ra heard that things weren't going so well here, so he sent me."

Thanatos was relieved, very relieved. The ceaseless battles at the Rift's exit had tired everyone present, and far too many soldiers have died. Mycenae was the largest, strongest city in the South, but if this Rift was left alone, even Mycenae wouldn't stand a chance.

"Jackal-head, cm'ere," Thanatos waved towards the camp.

Anubis laughed, but then walked silently after Thanatos, who was, disturbingly, hovering.

"Look, Anubis. We need you. So recently, I've found this spell, and with two gods, it could possibly shut down a Rift in just a few minutes."

Anubis was shocked. When Rifts were open, unless no Demons were left to sustain it, it would stand forever, and to the gods' vain, un-closable, "Tell me."

Thanatos glanced towards his very own tent. Anubis received the signal and followed him.

**********

The Demons congregated beyond the Rift, waiting for the signal to attack. They were excited, already anticipant of the bloodshed just beyond the thin portal that connected two dimensions.

"Advance," a huge voice boomed over all of the commotion.

The first line started to move, and in a few seconds, hundreds of Demons were over to the other side.

Suddenly, the Rift started to decrease in size.

A Demon appeared back from the other side, "My Lord Shadowheart! Huge chains are squeezing the Rift to closing! We can't break them no matter what we do!"

A colossal Demon screamed in fury, "How is it possible! Find the ones doing it and kill them!"

The Demon went back, shivering in fear.

**********

"It's working!" Thanatos said through gritted teeth.

Anubis nodded, and then concentrated completely on the Rift.

The Rift then started to open again.

"Dammit! Something as powerful as both of us combined is opening it!"

"Call Achilles! We need him to go kill whoever is behind this!"

"I'm here, Anubis," Achilles ambled in, "I'll go now. Good luck."

"You too!"

**********

Achilles ran through the horde of Demons like they were nothing. He jumped into the Rift and was instantly surrounded by thousands upon thousands of Demons. He took his sword, and with a swing, slashed out a crescent of pure death. The crescent blade, made on magical ice and water, swept through the ranks, and more than a hundred Demons were killed, frozen and slashed to halves.

A humongous Demon appeared, dashing to in front of Achilles. It was ten meters tall, with dark energy literally shutting it in a cocoon. It took the shape of a human, with large claws. The area near its heart was empty, only a large gaping hole full of malice. It was covered with scales, and holding a claymore, four meters in length. All the Demons around it suddenly backed away, leaving a large blank area around the Demon and Achilles.

"Shadowheart," Achilles said, full of hatred.

"Achilles," Shadowheart said in the same tone.

The Demons around Shadowheart instantly prepared to attack Achilles, but were stopped by Shadowheart, "Don't. I can take him."

Achilles chuckled, but his voice was hollow, "You can't even touch me."

The two combatants circled each other, looking for a mistake that they can expand upon. However, neither could find anything.

Shadowheart advanced first. His claymore was previously with its tip dragging on the ground in front of him, but now he lifted it up, swinging it was incredible agility.

Achilles gripped his sword in his own hand, and then swung towards the claymore. However, when the two weapons were about to collide, Achilles twisted his sword, and with the very tip, delicately used Shadowheart's momentum against him, deflecting the claymore to the side.

The claymore flew to Achilles' side, and then with unbelievable power, lodged itself inside the ground. Achilles dashed towards Shadowheart, and then swung his sword vertically, from the top to the bottom. Shadowheart, in a hurry, pulled his claymore out, and then dodged. Achilles didn't stop his own sword, which hit the ground. At first, nothing happened. And then, the earth around rippled, just like water when you throw a pebble inside. Shadowheart was caught unaware and stumbled. Achilles advanced, taking advantage of the opportunity.

He threw his shield, aiming at Shadowheart's hollow chest. The shield was enchanted to always return to its owner whenever summoned, just like Odysseus' arrows.

Shadowheart could barely block with his claymore. The shield clattered with shocking power onto the claymore, and metal sparks flew from the point of impact.

Achilles waved his hand, and then shield flew back. There was already a notch on Shadowheart's claymore, but not even a scratch of Achilles' shield.

Achilles was very close to Shadowheart now, close enough to slice him in half. Achilles slid his left arm in the shield strap, and then swung it towards Shadowheart's crotch. Shadowheart, in his emergence, dropped his claymore, and used his arms to block the hit. The shield clashed with the scales on Shadowheart.

Shadowheart snarled. He was one of the seven Demon Kings, virtually unstoppable in the Demonic Dimension. He activated some of his Demonic energy and sent out a punch towards Achilles. It was incredibly fast, and Achilles didn't dodge in time. He was hit with a hard thump, and was flying back, hurtling through the air. He landed on the ground with a loud thud.

He tried to recover, but Shadowheart was on him in an instant. One of the claws were already coming for Achilles' head, aiming to cleave it cleanly off.

Achilles rolled, barely avoiding it. Shadowheart's claw got stuck inside the earth for just a split second, but Achilles had already scrambled up to his feet. Shadowheart swung his claw again. Achilles this time held up his shield, and the claw was blocked.

"Achilles! Come back!" Achilles heard Thanatos shout faintly in the background.

Achilles glanced back towards the Rift. It was very small now, only big enough to fit one person. Achilles sprinted as fast as he could, bustling through the stunned Demons. Then, as a final attempt, flung himself through.

"You made it," Anubis snorted. He was standing over Achilles, who was sprawling on the bloody ground.