31 Origins: Nice Toss
Underworld Kitchen
*
Two of Hades' Erinyes were preparing some Pomegranate-inspired cuisine, as ordered by the Lord of the Dead himself. Their instructions were to create a bomber of a dish, not their usual hideous ones.
"This will be served to a very special guest." Hades warned them. "Don't mess up."
They went to the kitchen to carry out their order. "Weeekekek! Do you think that boy was honest when he said that they won't try to get out, sistah? I sure do hope so. I already prepared the spices to use on him – wekek." One of them said as she began to slice the fruit and remove its seeds.
"Yeeeekekek! Never trust anyone who's not dead, sistah! They always want to go back – yekek!" The other replied. Suddenly, she picked up some familiar distraught signal, and her ears twitched.
The other one felt it too. "Weeeekekek! Did you hear that? Is that sistah calling for help – wekek?"
"Yeeekekek! She's on patrol now near Phlegethon. She probably had another skirmish with one of the stubborn souls there and lost – yekek."
"Weeeekekek! But it sounds like a call for back-up. Shall we go – wekek?"
She thought about it, and then said. "Yeeekekek! Hmmmm….. after we extract this juice – yekek."
--
Julius tried to forget about the chilling call of the voice from afar, because right now, they have to think of a way out of this crisis – shadowboy is on the rise again.
Aside from him, their immediate concern are the ones above them. This problem came for them as the trio of the Furies were now flying in circles overhead, looking for a perfect opportunity to attack. Currently, they are bickering with each other, one in particular was being a bit harsh towards her sister who aged her leg.
"Reeeekekek! How incompetent of you! What if Master Isaac got injured and passed out? How do we get out of here? Wanna be trapped here again and not see the outside world? – rekek?" This one appears to be the leader due to her commanding tone.
Out of the three of them, only Corinna had a proper weapon – already at point towards her targets. At least Rexis told him he's got a shield, which was not yet on display for now, but Julius had nothing at all on his disposal. 'I wish I can bind them too or something. How do I use that aging power again?' He tried to draw out his so-called 'powers' and channel it on his hands. 'Come on, work now.'
Then, for some reasons, from his palms, a strange purple aura glowed, like embers from fire, only that it isn't hot. However, he feels like his hands now can pack a punch, and that's the best he can hope for in this situation.
Rexis saw it and decided to start his own fire too. He felt the tingle in his hands and later on, it burned, and flames were now dancing along his palms and fingertips.
From above, their trio looked quite formidable – Corinna with the threat of her aim, Julius getting in the zone and Rexis looking hot. They formed a circle with their backs on each other, and their eyes only looking dead ahead at the Furies. They seem to say, 'Bring it on.'
But in truth, they were actually unsure if they can get out of this unpleasant situation. However, what choice do they have, than to fight?
The aged Fury lunged angrily at Julius, as she dived onto him headfirst. His initial instinct was to get away from her reach, and since he thinks she's too fast that he might not be able to counter her, he just transported himself a few meters to the left. The woman screeched when he suddenly disappeared, and from behind her, he launched an attack. The purple beam hit her aged leg, she didn't feel any pain, but her leg suddenly became firm and….. returned to normal.
"Huh?!" Julius said out loud. Meanwhile, the concerned Fury screamed in delight. She's young again!
--
The other two were far too busy to notice what happened because they too got engaged in battle. Rexis began throwing fireballs at another Fury, who looked like she was just toying him with her ease at dodging his attacks. Her laugh echoed throughout the place as she watched her enemy who seem to be a novice at using his powers by just throwing these balls of fire at random directions.
Her laugh really irritated Rexis, so he shouted, "Come down here you hag!"
She didn't like that either, for she always considered herself to be the most beautiful among her sisters. The term 'hag' doesn't sit well with her. So she got to a lower elevation to use the talons of her foot against her opponent. Rexis barely dodged that one, but the tip of her talons tore his front, and a long slash wound appeared on his chest. Though not too deep, it began to bleed.
"Grrrrrr." Rexis growled and moved to the side when she lunged at him again, aiming now for his head. But he rolled in the perfect time and completely avoided that one. They were now facing each other three meters apart. Rexis really wanted to land a hit on her, so he taunted. "Come here, ugly!"
'Gladly grrrrrr.' The Fury thought. She flew straight at him and bared the wicked-sharp claws from her hands. She was about to close in when Rexis suddenly jumped up. 'What?'
Rexis' quirk is being ambidextrous. That's his best quality in playing as a setter in volleyball – he can easily get a touch on the ball and set it with pin-point accuracy towards his spiker. His dexterity also enables him to launch attacks and dumps from any direction of the court, left or right, front or back. When he jumped up this time, he willed the band on his right hand to transform into a shield, and he brought it down to his opponent's exposed back, slamming her towards the ground.
Black blood came out from her mouth after that critical hit. But Rexis was far from over. With his free left hand, he swung a fiery uppercut towards her, bringing her back up, and giving her another dose of pain with his fire punch. Rexis thought it wasn't a very pleasant thing to do to a woman. But who cares?
--
Julius resumed his fighting stance when his own foe smiled evilly at him. Now that she's young again, her vitality has returned, and she really wanted to get her revenge upon this kid who humiliated her in front of her master. She launched multiple attacks towards him, but the boy was persistent in avoiding all of them.
It's taking all of Julius' concentration to keep up with her very quick attacks from just about everywhere, and his body keeps on moving reflexively to block those out. His arms and legs hurt from the taking in the blunt hits from his blocks, but it was enough to keep him alive. If he was still normal, he would've been looking black-and-blue now.
She slashed in front, tried to strike from behind, and used her feet from below. Every time he's in a pinch, Julius didn't try to block. Rather, he just dodges by appearing-and-disappearing in various places, which really irked the Fury.
When he got a good distance away from her, he compressed the light from his palms and launched a beam towards her direction. By now, he's sure that these lights are the manifestations of his power to 'control' time – to either return or advance the 'clockwork' of a certain thing he's aiming. This instance, he tried another concept in his theories, hoping it will work. He wanted to 'freeze' her movements. No better time to try this but now.
She dodged the attack, knowing that it can either age her or probably turn her into a baby. Julius scowled at that, so released another beam. It went on for a while, both of them attacking and defending against each other's attacks, until the Fury made a crucial mistake. She flew upwards to gain momentum on diving back down, but Julius sort of predicted that.
When she thought her distance is sufficient, Julius disappeared from below, only to reappear just above her, and attacked her from behind. "Bind!" He yelled. She screeched and lost her inability to fly, so both of them plopped to the ground. Julius dropped smoothly, but she came down with a loud thud. And apparently, she also can't move, for she found herself wrapped up with a purple semi-transparent lasso.
--
Corinna and the leader of the Furies were both warrior types. At first, it was like a game of tag, Corinna being the 'it' who wanted to catch the Fury from midair. It was a difficult ordeal for her because she can't really get close to her foe. The Fury was only amused.
When Corinna concluded that her long-range attacks won't be effective against her, she threw her bow and quiver to the ground, and brought out the two bronze hunting daggers sheathed in her belt.
That changed the tides. When her opponent dived down, their fight became similar to that of a snake vs a bird of prey. Corinna was so nimble in escaping the reach of her claws and talons, at the same time preventing her opponent to go up, while the Fury too moved so swiftly to dodge her swings.
In a lucky break, Corinna managed to lacerate the Fury's left wing, rendering her flightless as she screamed in pain. She was about to deliver another blow but the Fury kicked her stomach, throwing her backwards. The Fury then sprang forward, her claws aiming for a dig, but Julius saw it from afar and assisted.
"Bind!" He roared. And a thick purple lasso wrapped around the Fury's body, restricting her movement.
"Tch." Corinna said. "I could've taken care of her myself!" She yelled for him to hear since he's quite far.
"Yeah, you're welcome!" Julius replied sarcastically. They also noticed that Rexis seem to have taken care of his opponent as well. The only one remaining now is the boss.
They looked at the river and saw that the shadow bridge is completed. The man on the other side is now so pale and bleeding in the nose. However, he seems to be radiating more death in him than earlier. He was cloaked with black aura, and drew his broadsword as he finally crossed over to their side. His shadow connected to the nearest one he can find, spreading darkness all over the chamber.
"Crap!" Julius said and launched an attack at Isaac. But he blocked it with the blade of his sword.
"Take this!" He continued throwing more time attacks, but Isaac still blocked them all. It seems that his sword can counter his magic. 'Maybe only physical attacks will work against him!'
"Corinna throw the ball here!" Rexis shouted.
Corinna was confused by that odd instruction, but her eyes searched for the ball nonetheless. Apparently, her current position is closest to where Rexis dropped it earlier. She picked up the ball with white, red, and green colors, and threw it over Rexis's direction.
He caught it with his two hands, and then shot a look at Julius, whose eyes widened in anticipation. Rexis then shouted, "Open!" and set the ball towards him.
Julius got himself a sufficient three-step run-up, and jumped for the toss. His palm hit the ball with perfect accuracy, and he launched a powerful spike aimed at the shadow manipulator.
'What the hell?' Isaac wasn't really expecting another crazy plot twist like this. But the speedy ball travelled in a blistering straight towards him, and before he can blink, it hit him square in the chest, throwing him backwards. The spike was so powerful to be considered a normal one, and he coughed out blood from the hit. 'No….' His vision blurred, before everything completely blacked out for him.
"Rexis, nice toss!"
"Nice kill, Julius!"
