Chapter 6 - Sibling Rivalry

The Champion of Sparta was told to climb back where he came from, and that is Mount Olympus. With the Demi-god following Tartarus, Morpheus, and Nemesis by their orders, he was commanded to confront his mother and end her reign as a full-fledged Olympian Goddess, and by doing it, he has to bring her to them dead or alive. It was totally out of his control anymore, he was being manipulated by them to bring chaos to Greece once again.

With the flames around his body surrounding him, it served as his aura and indicator that his vengeful self is back to wreak havoc and tear Mount Olympus down with it. And after finding a way to exit the realm of the prisoners that is the Jails of Tartarus, he finds himself in the Cavern of Eos again but this time, the Goddess of Dawn was evacuated. Matthaios shook the whole cave down, destroying its rock formations that instantly closed the ways after getting out of it.

Meanwhile, Eos slowly regains her strength back with the help of the sunlight since it was already daytime, but it still wasn't enough to reclaim her power as a Goddess. Apollo, Artemis, and Hestia were the ones aiding the wounded Goddess of Dawn, while Athena is gone and Aphrodite is in The Forum near the Chambers of the Flame where Kratos and his half-brother Hercules fought once. The Goddess of Love was sitting on a throne where Hera was once destined, waiting for something that might entertain her.

Aphrodite felt some strange and aggressive presence that made her worry, standing up from the throne before being surprised by her son Matthaios who seemed to glare at his mother with murderous intent. "Oh, my son... How did you-"

"How did I escape? Is that the question you're going to ask me?!" Matthaios strangles his mother using his bare hands.

Aphrodite was certainly powerless to fight her son's sheer strength, begging for him to free her. "My son... Unhand me. I-"

Instead of freeing Aphrodite, Matthaios tightened his grip on his mother's neck. "You're coming with me in Hell."

The Goddess was now passing out, her whole body is now limping before help came to save her as a winged entity arrives and shoved the Spartan Demi-god into the ground. Matthaios fell over before finding a way to recover immediately, bringing the Arms of Sparta out and yell his loudest battle cry yet. The winged deity checks for Aphrodite who was struggling to catch her breath from his son's choke, kneeling in front of the Goddess of Love to help her regain her power by taking deep breaths.

After telling Aphrodite to hide and run for her life, the winged being stepped into the arena to face the raging Demi-god who is fully equipped for a clash. "Leave our mother alone."

"Our?" He asked curiously.

"I know this is not the right time for us to see each other, but we finally meet... Brother." The winged deity was none other than the son of Ares and Aphrodite, Eros.

"Eros... I finally get to see you." Matthaios recognized that it was him.

"Stop this madness, brother. You bring harm to the Gods and all of Greece, and I can't stand it anymore." Eros grew tired of his brother's malicious actions.

"Madness? Do you call this madness? Is that what you think of me?" The Champion of Sparta took a step closer to look at his half-brother.

"Yes, indeed. And as your brother, I command you to submit and put an end to all of this mayhem you induce." Eros tells Matthaios to surrender.

"You are mistaken on how a Spartan works, brother. I kneel for no one." He proudly holds the Arms of Sparta while speaking to Eros.

"I am not belittling you, you have to listen. You do not kneel for anyone yet you let your anger control you. This is not the Champion of Sparta I'm expecting to face, you are something better than this nonsensical bloodshed you are inflicting." He shows his concern for the Demi-god's brutality.

"Tell that to your father," Matthaios smirks at Eros, including Ares to their heated conversation.

"I'd hate to tell you this, but your father would not be proud if he sees this." Eros also mentions Kratos.

"Continuing what our fathers left, eh? Then so be it." Matthaios prepares his shield and spear by getting into his battle position.

"And I'd hate to do this with you..." Eros brought his sword out, flapping his wings to signal that he would be in flight anytime.

Matthaios took the first blow by shoving the spear right up his brother's chest, but Eros dodges it completely and grazed the Demi-god's face with the Blade of Olympus. He spins around so is his brother, performing such a furious attack where neither of them nudged from the impact. The Demi-god shouted then again and deflects the attack from Eros using his shield, creating an opening to stab him with a spear. Eros uses his wings to evade the spear, flying above his brother before grabbing him by the arms.

The Champion of Sparta broke free from his brother's grip by forcing it out, landing on the arena before gaining enough momentum to perform such a high jump to kick Eros off from the air. The God of Love was hit by the ferocious kick that caused him to step on the arena and resume the battle without his flight abilities and Matthaios pointed the spear at him before pulling off a stupendous sequence of attacks that left Eros moving to dodge it.

"What's the matter, brother? Is it too much?" Matthaios stopped from swinging his spear around and uses his shield to guard himself.

"No... But you are too powerful for a Demi-god." Eros floats around while speaking with his brother.

The Demi-god noticed that Eros is bringing his bow out, but it wasn't his. He is wielding the Bow of Artemis and Matthaios wasn't a fan of it. "You coward... And I thought you would live up to my expectations."

The God of Love has a lot of arrows to use, and he starts shooting the Champion of Sparta with it. Matthaios tucked tail with his shield, waiting for the arrows to subside before executing a huge leap to throw his magical spears at him. Eros flapped his wings around and avoided the upcoming spears, and this made Matthaios even angrier. He tackles his brother in mid-air, taking him to the ground with an earth-shaking slam that puts Eros in agonizing pain.

While Eros is lying in the battlegrounds, the Demi-god seized the moment to choke his brother out just like what he did to their mother earlier. But the God of Love thought of a plan to get rid of his clutch and that involves a test of strength, wrestling it out in the middle of the arena. Eros puts the Champion of Sparta into a tight lock, but he immediately escaped by outmaneuvering him, reversing the hold. And when Matthaios is about to use his spear to put pressure on his neck by pressing it against him, Eros frees himself and takes the Arms of Sparta away from him.

The Demi-god smirked, admitting that he didn't get a better hold of his weapons. This left him with his only weapon left, the remodeled Blades of Athena. With its chains smoothly moving along with the movements of his arms, the flames seemed to appear, fueling the blades with his rage. Eros didn't show any signs of fear, and the objective of neutralizing his brother is what gives him the motivation. Regardless of what is about to take place, the battle is just getting started between the maternal siblings.

Eros still has the Bow of Artemis in his grasp, and he starts firing more arrows toward the Spartan Demi-god. Matthaios however, is gritting his teeth in pain after the arrows penetrated through his skin. He should be careful with his next move, or it will affect and weaken him from being such a dominant Demi-god. Eros sticks on his strategy of relying upon the usage of the Bow of Artemis, hoping that it would slow his half-brother down. Still, Matthaios stood tall and simply walked towards the God of Love while removing the arrows stuck in his arm.

The Blades of Athena begins to stride around with Matthaios controlling its movements, grazing Eros's cheek before turning pale, learning how wicked and vile the Demi-god could be. Knowing that Matthaios is after him, Eros again has the Blade of Olympus to collide with the Champion of Sparta and his surging Blades of Athena. The Demi-god draws the first blood by slashing his brother's back, kicking him away from him before attempting to stab him with his weapon.

The Blade of Olympus, the divine weapon that once Kratos wielded now has Eros as its rightful holder. And with them determining the strongest son of Aphrodite, it is almost hard to tell who will prevail. Eros soon came up with his momentum of offense by stepping forward, using the sword effectively to make Matthaios take a step backward and protect himself from how powerful the weapon is. The Demi-god didn't have any choice but to get on defense as Eros wisely uses the Blade of Olympus to turn the tables.

And with how fortunate Matthaios is by ducking his brother's attack, he uses the Blades of Athena to severe his hands, forcing him to drop the Blade of Olympus in the arena before Eros flew away and suspend the Spartan Demi-god into the air. The God of Love took the chance to use the Artemis Bow to puncture Matthaios with the arrows, seeing him drop into the floor with arrows around his body. He kneeled and removed them all by pulling it, wincing is so much pain left to withstand.

Using his agility, Matthaios charged to make a massive jump to grab Eros mid-air, trading punches with him until someone gets weak enough to surrender. Blow by blow, they are exchanging fists with one another to see who will come out victorious and who would suffer a disastrous defeat in the fistfight between then both. "You have to accept your defeat, Eros!"

Eros was resisting his brother's force. "Over my dead body, brother."

The Demi-god pours his remaining strength to send his brother Eros to the ground, slamming him brutally that he could hear a crack in his spine. Screaming in venomous rage and pure sentiment of fury and resentment, Matthaios had the chance to beat the living hell out of his half-brother. And without wasting any time, the Champion of Sparta had his domination on display by landing ground-breaking fists on Eros, leaving his face into a bloody mess before a cry was heard, begging him to stop it.

In the arena's entrance, a woman was crying out loud from Eros's despair but the Demi-god just kept on laying his knuckles on his brother. "Perish, brother! You pathetic scum..."

Matthaios shoves him once more, gripping his wings to bend it, but the woman looked at the Demi-god into the eyes to beg for mercy. The Demi-god answered with a grunt in rejection, not listening to what the lady is indicating with her emotions. And so, the Champion of Sparta tore the wings of Eros by bending it in the opposite direction, dislocating before removing it from his back completely. The woman sobbed even louder after witnessing Eros getting his wings detached from his back that caused a lot of blood flowing out from him.

The Demi-god left his brother fighting for dear life, leaving the arena only to encounter the woman who is in the doors. "I'm so sorry that it ended like this, Psyche..."

To be continued...