Trials

Zina took a sip of his wine and dropped the glass back on the table. Vasilis refilled it.

"Zina," he began and Zina hummed in response, "How are you so sure it will work?"

Zina grabbed a napkin and cleaned his mouth, "You have never experienced daemonic resonance, so I won't hold that question against you. But if you're asking me if he will resonate, then there is no doubt. He already did it once before under stress. And if the stress levels now are not high enough, then the ambrosia will take care of the rest."

"But will he awaken?"

"Maybe. Maybe not. It's a gamble, Vasilis. The only thing I know for sure is that if he does awaken, then the whole world will definitely know about it. It's all about who gets to him first."

-----

The daemon roared as it let go of the aircraft and free fell to the ground, it crashed into the building Damian had flown into. The aircraft jostled slightly before it finally leveled out again. Adrian and Thea immediately ran to the door.

"Damian!!" Thea shouted, "What the hell was that idiot thinking!?"

"It was after him," Adrian said, "It completely ignored us"

"Well, now he's going to die! What can he possibly do against an S-cla -!!"

BBBOOOOOMMMM!!!

The entire plane shook as a sonic boom echoed through the city, the daemon flew out of the building and slammed into a skyscraper opposite it.

A figure appeared from the hole, covered in black flames that turned the surrounding stones to ash and melted the ground under his feet.

Damian turned his head up and roared.

"ROOOAAARRRRRR!!!"

"Daemonic resonance," Thea whispered, "He can manage that?"

She looked towards Adrian, but Adrian's eyes were transfixed on the battle going on below. The daemon had emerged from the skyscraper and was now facing off against Damian. Damian, meanwhile, was hunched over - his kneed bent and his hands clawed - preparing for battle.

He shot off the ground and slammed into the daemon.

BOOMM!

The daemon growled as its flesh began to burn from the black fire and it slapped Damian into another building. The building crumbled over Damian but he immediately shot out and slammed into the daemon again, this time pushing it back into the skyscraper behind it. He grabbed its head and slammed it into the glass window of the high rise, making it roar in pain.

The daemon scrambled back from Damian and shook its head. Damian landed on the ground and jumped forward to meet it again.

Up in the aircraft. Thea's eyes were wide, "He -He's winning?"

"Yes. He is," Adrian said as he turned around and quickly began making his way to the front where the pilot was, "But we need to land. Now"

"What!?" Thea looked back at him and grabbed his hand, "You want to go down there!? They'll destroy us!"

"Thea," Adrian looked her right in the eyes, "The hunters are down there with hellfire,"

Hellfire was different from normal flames. For one thing, it didn't care what it touched, everything around it was disintegrated into ash. And the more a child of Hades used it, the hotter it became.

Thea let go of Adrian's arm, feeling ashamed of herself, she hadn't even thought about them. Adrian went and told the pilot to land immediately. The pilot was skeptical about it but finally accepted and began to descend.

Damian and the daemon had now taken the fight into another part of the city, breaking buildings and tearing up the landscape in their battle. The aircraft landed in the middle of the street and the hunters that had been on the ground began running towards it.

There was a roar from somewhere above them and they looked back to see a trail of black fire blazing higher into the sky.

-----

Damian's eyes were blood red and the sadistic smirk on his face stretched wider when he heard the daemon's scream echoing. He slammed his fist into its gut once more before he turned around and kicked it back to the ground.

BBOOOMMMM!!

He opened his mouth and built up a vast amount of negative Karma, so much that it began to form a ball of hellfire that swirled around angrily. He turned his head down and released it.

PHWOMMM!!!

KABOOOOOOOMMMMM!

It detonated into a wide explosion that tore through the sky, and only the fact that they were in the sky saved the hunter on the ground from it.

The black, charred remains of the daemon fell to the ground in front of the unbelieving hunters. Damian landed on top of it and released a menacing chuckle.

He looked up at the hunters and they all flinched at his red eyes. He was just like another daemon.

"Get in!!" Adrian shouted out to them, "Get in now!"

He looked back at Damian and saw that he had that smirk on his face. The same one from back in the forest.

Damian dropped from the daemon and the hellfire around him burnt the ground under his feet into molten stone. He began walking towards the hunters.

The hunters were paralyzed. The amount of negative karma in the air was enough to choke on and it was only increasing as Damian came closer.

The first person Damian got to was the leader of the group, he stretched his hand out towards his face and the man whimpered and closed his eyes. Damian's smile widened as he felt his fear.

This was how things were supposed to be. The weak should fear the strong. There was no space for the weak in this world. There was only power and those who lacked -

"Damian!"

Damian's head tilted to the side and he set his gaze on someone moving towards him. Adrian tried to hold her back, but Persephone pushed past him and continued forward.

"Damian. Damian, please, calm down…"

Damian looked at the girl and his brows squeezed in slight confusion.

"Damian," Persephone was now standing directly beside him. The hellfire licked at her and she winced and took a step back. Almost on reflex, the fires dulled.

"Damian,"

Damian's hand tensed and he looked down at the man whose eyes were still closed. His mouth was moving, whispering something under his breath. Damian's red eyes narrowed.

BANG!

A gunshot resounded and a white ball slammed into Damian's side. He growled and roared at the group of hunters.

Persephone's eyes widened.

"Damian! NO!!!"

"RAARRGGGHHH!!"

"Yellow sun. Overdrive"

Yellow and black collided.

-----

Zina paused in the middle of his meal and simply stared at the food on his plate. He closed his eyes and snarled.

"Zina?"

Zina stood from the seat and threw his napkin to the table, "Get me Jacinta! Now!"

Vasilis immediately moved out of the room. He came back with a phone and handed it to Zina.

"Jacinta," Zina began angrily, "What happened!?"

[Your toys break easy, Zina.]

"You were supposed to control it!"

[Don't blame me for your mistake. It's not my fault that you misjudged his strength. I only control, it's your job to acquire.]

The phone went dead and Zina growled as he threw it to the ground. It shattered into pieces.

"Dammit!!!"

-----

Damian opened his eyes groggily and groaned as a headache assaulted him. He tried to move his hand but a cold hard feeling prevented him from moving it. He turned his head towards it and squinted to see he was chained to the ground with a metal link. The other end of the chain was attached to a wall behind him. Damian looked around and his eyes widened at the barely lit prison cell he was in.

'What… What am I doing here?'

A door opened in front of him and he turned his head up sharply to see a man wearing a suit walk into the room. He had black hair with gray streaks in it and black eyes. He stopped in front of Damian's cell.

"Good. You're awake."

"W-Where am I?"

"My name is Arashi. Now that you are awake, your trial can commence"

Damian's eyes widened, 'Trial?'

"You have been found guilty of conscious murder and destruction of property. You will face a panel in two days, and if found guilty, you will be sentenced to death"

A pin could've dropped in the room and it would've echoed like a gong.

"What!!!?"

-----

Adrian opened his eyes and stared at the white ceiling above him. He turned around in the small bed and rose to sit on the edge.

"Ugh. My head"

"Lie down," a voice said from in front of his bed and Adrian turned o see a short woman with brown hair writing something on a pad - Ana.

"W-What happened?" Adrian asked.

"I said lie down,"

She turned her black eyes towards him with a scowl and Adrian quickly lay back down. Ana walked around the bed and adjusted something on a pole there. That was when Adrian finally noticed that he had a drip line attached to his arm, running towards the bag hanging on the pole. He turned his head towards Ana.

"What happened?" he asked.

"You were brought back to Olympus. Now get some sleep"

"But, what about the others?"

She pointed to the bed beside his own and he turned to see Persephone sleeping in it. She had a bandage around her forehead and right arm.

"A bit of blood loss, but she's fine. You on the other hand lost a lot of blood. Why didn't you say anything about that wound to your shoulder?"

Adrian sobered and Ana smacked his head with her clipboard.

"Ow!"

"If you don't tell your teammates these things, you'll die. Don't play with your life like that, do you understand?"

"Y-Yes, Ana."

"Good,"

Ana turned to leave the room, but Adrian stopped her before she could get out, "Wait. What - What about my other teammate?"

Ana paused for a moment before she sighed, "He's being held by the council," she said, "He is to face trial"