Atlas submerged into the ground while Hyperion dashed in the air. A trail of fire streamed from behind him. As Pontus solidify himself into an ice warrior, he picked up a car and hurled it at Erebus.
He dissolved into a mist.
The car came spiraling down and Erebus emerged with his two swords in front of him as he cut the car in half. He ran towards Pontus. Approaching the ice Titan, Erebus stumbled as the pavement beneath him erupted. Atlas formed into the shape of a huge rock monster. He smashed the pavement down in front of Erebus. The Titan roared as a wave of water came rushing towards him.
Erebus vanished.
***
Hyperion's trail of fire illuminated the night sky giving light to the remains of New Gate. As he soared in the air, he swerved in the figure of a number eight. At the speed of light, he heated up the flame to the point that the red fire turned to blue. With the temperature of the flame increasing, the night turned to dawn instantly.
Red streaks of light continue to crack in front of Sera as she laid sleep in the shroud. Nyx protected her from the unending hordes of demons and possessed, fighting vigorously as she stayed near the girl. A bright light shined across her face. She glanced up and saw Hyperion. She leaped in the air and dissolved into a black mist.
Chronos watched from afar as the terror demons gathered around the dark shroud that protected Sera. Silently he waited. They crept in numbers around the force field, clawing at the ominous barrier. Chronos instructed Pontus to breach.
The titan of water turned his fist into the shape of an icicle. He impaled the demons and splashed them with no incident. He touched the shroud with his hand and he manifested back into his humanoid form. He froze the molecules of the force field, creating tiny cracklings of ice that gradually grew in size that penetrated the shroud.
Atlas continued his assault, hurling massive boulders and jagged rocks at Erebus.
Erebus averted the projectiles, agilely avoiding them with blinding speed.
"Keep still twinkle toes!"
"Got a problem hitting what's in front of you?” Erebus replied. “Maybe you should leave the fighting for the grown ups."
"Atlas is MIGHTY!"
The Titan pounded his fists upon the ground, creating a tremor that ripped towards Erebus. As it shook the ground beneath him, Erebus disappeared and the tremor raced to a nearby support pillar. A cloud of dust erupted as the concrete structure leaned forward. Erebus emerged. Standing on top of a metal beam, he jumped from off it and sliced the metal bracket that held the pillar in place. The column snapped from its anchorage, falling on a second tremor that headed its way. Atlas emerged through the tremor, smashing the pillar to pieces. As chunks of the column landed on his shoulders, he held up the globe pillar.
"Is that all you got, twinkle toes?" the titan sneered.
Erebus jumped in the air and landed on Atlas’s back. As the titan struggled with the large column, Erebus climbed towards his head.
"What are you doing?" Atlas continued. "You wanna get physical, huh?"
Erebus sheathed his left sword. His eyes turned raven as his left arm wrapped around the titan's neck. It configured into a scythe as he summoned his primordial form.
"No, big guy! I just want your head."
He slit the titan’s throat with his scythe arm, releasing his aura.
“The Hand of Kaos...” he continued.
Erebus reached out his hand and consumed the titan’s soul in his chest. The remains of Atlas jerked violently. Falling to his knees, the rock monster deteriorated, leaving a pile of heaping large stones. Erebus return to his humanoid form. His chest glowed with a nebulan blue light.
***
Nyx streamed through the air. As the shade of the night sky progressively turned towards daylight, she accelerated her speed and charged towards Hyperion. She soared into the stratosphere, colliding with the titan. A massive explosion erupted.
"You're too late..." Hyperion hissed.
He hovered above her as she started to descend.
"By unleashing the light, I can reveal your weakness."
Nyx wrapped herself with her cloak.
"Enough of this!" she growled.
She formed into a dark shroud and soared back up to him.
Hyperion ignited his body.
"How about a little more heat?”
He reached out his arms and flew down towards her. They met at mid-flight as he snatched her up and held her close to his body.
She screamed in pain as the heat was intense.
Nyx returned to her dark mist form and dissolved away from him.
“No more Protogenoi,” the titan boasted. “With the lifestream present... YOU CAN ALL BURN AND DIE!”
Nyx reappeared in the distance.
Hyperion summoned a blue fireball and threw it. As it ignited just short of Nyx’s face, it exploded into a huge blast, blowing away a third of the city. A bright light engulfed the ruins of New Gate.
Nyx plummeted towards the ground. She peeked out the corner of her slanted red eyes as a blinding white light illuminated around her radiating with the heat of a sun. Hyperion floated in the lustrous glow. He stood in the center of it proud and determined.
"You and your brother can die now!"
Nyx held on to her stomach and reached for her waistline. She noticed the glow of Jubilee's aura and reached for a vial in her Mantle of light. She held out the vial and pointed it at Hyperion.
"That’s where you’re wrong, Titan... The light will never kill me...” she growled.
She continued her descent.
“It gives me a reason to live...”
She removed the top of the vial and closed her eyes.
"Cradle of darkness," she whispered.
Hyperion eyes grew wide with fear.
"What have you done?" he hissed.
With the suction force of a vacuum, Hyperion and the light filled into the vial. The illuminated glass looked like a mini lantern.
With ferocious speed, Hyperion charged his way towards Nyx, forcing his way through the vortex. As he reached the lid of the container, she held up the lantern and touched his forehead. His eyes turned gray and he sank towards the bottom of the vial. She secured the vial with a rubber plug. Within seconds, the sky returned to twilight.
Hyperion let out a fury of screams as he raged inside the vial. He pulled at his face and eyes as he reached for the flame within his chest. He fought his demise as Nyx infused the vial with darkness. The blue flame emulating within his chest turned to a fainted flicker before blowing out and extinguishing itself altogether.
Nyx held the vial out in front of her and crushed it with her hand.
***
Chronos banged his scepter upon the ledge of the abandoned building. With a resounding thud, the vibration of the impact smashed the shroud around the ice-encased barrier. With a flicker, the shroud vanished. Sera didn’t move. As she laid slumped on the ground, exposed to the terrors and demons around her, she remained unconscious. Pontus separated the horde as he approached the girl. Effortlessly, he picked her up.
With the power of his scepter, Chronos summoned that time stood still. He leaped in the air and flew towards Nyx. He placed his hand upon her, eagerly searching her body for the Occulus. As he reached behind the small of her back, he found the orb.
He held it out in front of him, admiring it as if it was the first time he’s seen it in all its creation. He reached for his serrated dagger. He reached around the left side of Nyx and stabbed the goddess in her torso, leaving the blade to hang freely.
He teleported to Erebus.
Chronos held out the orb. He noticed the fissures of cracks that etched themselves across the surface of the orb. A green radiate glow pulsated from within the core of the artifact. The titan pressed the orb against Erebus’s chest. Stealing the life force of the primordial being, the Occulus absorbed the terrorized souls that lingered within Erebus’s wound. As the last soul stood encased within the orb, Erebus collapsed to t
he ground. His hooded cloak appeared and materialized over his body.
Chronos returned to Nyx.
He released his time freeze then clutched the goddess’s arms behind her back. He grabbed her face and forced her to look and gaze down at her brother.
"Behold..." the titan growled. "Witness the power that is Chronos!”
Nyx jerked her face away. In an attempt to not respond, she fought the urge to grimaced as the titan’s blade burned into her skin.
Erebus slowly rose to his feet. He stumbled to his knee as he picked himself up. He looked down at his hands. Tears welled up in his eyes as he gazed upon his pale white flesh. He brushed his chest lightly with his fingers. The area where his wound once stood was now populated with a bare chest. Erebus looked towards the heavens and screamed. Falling on all four limbs, he broke down and cried.
Pontus gazed at the humanized Erebus. He circled his palms in a rhythmic motion and a wave of water expelled from his hand. As it crashed through the street of the desolate city, the wave of water came rushing towards Erebus. He rose to his feet and ran in haste.
Osira lifted herself up from the rumble. She held the right side of her torso. Looking at her ribs, she noticed a scar the size of a stab wound. She turned to her back and noticed a water pipe had pierced her.
***
Erebus ran between two cars. He braced himself as the water ramped forward his direction. The water crashed against him. He dropped to the ground then slid near Osira. He flailed his arms as a glob of water clung to his face. His chest heaved for air as the glob crawled into his mouth. He squirmed as he rigorously fought for each breath.
“Kill her,” Chronos uttered.
Pontus clenched his fist. Water sprayed from the pipe that was behind Osira. It blasted on her arm. Her eyes grew wide as her hand began to evaporate. Falling to the ground, she screamed out terrified. She looked up at Chronos.
"Stop this at once!” she pleaded. "Why have you forsaken me?”
Chronos didn’t respond. He restrained Nyx and forced her to look upon her brother.
“I will kill you..." he whispered in her ear. "...but before I do I want you to witness your beloved die."
Blood trickled down the goddess’s leg.
Osira watched them both from below. Aimlessly she searched for her crossbow. Just a few yards in front of her, she crawled on her elbows towards it. She took aim at Nyx, but hesitated.
"Chronos..." she yelled. "...release the primordial!”
Chronos did not yield.
“Do as I ask... I did what you wanted.”
Chronos glanced at Pontus. The titan nodded his head then return to Sera. As Pontus approached her, he froze her in ice then glanced at Osira. He let out a roar then transformed into a wave.
Osira dropped her weapon as her arm disappeared completely. She looked up at the approaching tide. Accepting her fate, she closed her eyes. As the wave of water came roaring towards her, Osira looked up. Hecatan appeared and teleported her to Erebus.
The mortal Erebus held on to his throat with urgency. Forcefully, Hecatan pushed down on his chest.
Water spilled from his mouth and Erebus gasped for air.
Chronos gleamed with a ferocity in his eyes as he looked down upon Hecatan. He removed the blade that was in Nyx’s torso then plummeted towards the surface.
***
Osira screamed in pain.
Hecatan ran to her side and helped the woman sit up. Osira looked over at Chronos. Without warning, the Titan king teleported behind her. He drove his dagger and stabbed her in the back. Chronos stood above Osira as she slumped forward.
He held out the orb in front of him. Chronos glanced over at Hecatan and approached her.
She reached for the soulstring and picked up Osira's crossbow. Hecatan fired at Chronos’s arm. The arrow ricocheted off his gold-plated armor. She fired again, this time he jerked back as the arrowhead remain lodged in his shoulder. She squeezed the trigger again, this time harnessing the power of the Soulstring. She discharged a surge of purple energy that pulled at Chronos's life force.
"Futile," he roared. "I am your MASTER!”
Osira’s lifted her head up. As the Titan king marched passed her, she wrapped her legs around his ankles and leaped onto his back. Hecatan rushed towards the both of them in the confusion. She pulled out the blade that was lodged in Osira and stabbed the titan in his armor, piercing his back.
Chronos roared then threw Osira off of him. As he pulled out the blade, blood seeped from his back and energy flowed from his wound. A timeline of a billion memories streamed out from his arm as infinite space unravel before him.
Chronos fell to his knees. He held on to the glow of the Occulus and looked down at Osira who laid a few yards in front of him. Pontus sprayed her with another blast of water and her legs disintegrated.
Nyx passed out of consciousness. Erebus reached out to her, but Hecatan stopped him.
Chronos looked back at the stream of energy that poured from out of him. Still on his knee, he manipulated the energy into a temporal portal. With each passing moment, the portal grew bigger in size and dimension. He lifted up Nyx and tossed her over his shoulder, into the portal.
Hecatan picked up Chronos’s dagger. She stabbed him in his wound closing the gateway.
Chronos held out his arm and summoned his cosmic scepter. He held the Occulus and banged his scepter upon the ground. As the two parts of the Occulus merged into one, the cracks that fractured the orb vanished and the artifact began to glow. He rose to his feet and held the orb in the air. Hecatan reached for it, but a beam of cyan energy flew into the night sky, pushing her back forcefully.
Pontus pooled into a stream of water over the Soulstring, Materializing into an ice warrior, the water titan crushed the weapon beneath his feet.
Hecatan breath was short. She glanced over at Osira. Her body was regenerating and the wound in her back scarred over then vanished. Osira reached down to her legs. Able to finally stand, she ran over to Chronos and punched him in the face. The titan did not flinch as he remained still locked in a grandiose trance.
Pontus blasted water at her. Osira moved but was force back into a parked car. She shook her head as her face dented the front end.
She leaned against the side of the vehicle. Slumped upon the cold wet ground, she shook off her dizziness. She gazed down at a puddle of water, and noticed a droplet of water drip down from her hair. A goblet demon emerged from the puddle and leaped out at her face. Hecatan summoned an air bubble that trapped the creature.
With nowhere to go, the goblet of water shook violently. The air pocket shrunk and the bubble fell to the ground. As it splashed into a cascading pool of liquid, the bubble surrounding the water creature popped.
A light surrounded Chronos and the orb. It pierced into the night and escaped beyond the atmosphere. Osira covered her face and rose to her feet.
The beacon, she thought, he's summoning Tartarus.
"We have to stop him!" she yelled.
"It's too late!" Hecatan replied. "Tartarus knows we're here."
Osira gazed up at the sky. She noticed a green stream of energy gather around the cyan beam. As it traveled along the edge of the beacon, the energy descended towards the Occulus, creating a force field around Chronos. Without hesitation, Osira rushed towards the titan.
"Don't go near him!" Hecatan warned, pulling at Osira’s arm. "The barrier around Chronos will kill you... It’s the lifestream."
Osira pulled her away and stared back at the woman.
"Alright, then genius...” she contested, “How do we stop him?"
Hecatan turned her head and looked back at Sera. Pontus waited patiently as he stood guard in front of the ice block.
"He's not watching us...” she replied. “Now would be a good chance to... WAIT!"
Osira ran toward Sera, interrupting Hecatan.
She pressed her back against the line up of demolished cars. As she crept, she remained cautious of Pontus.
/> She gazed up at the titan as she reached the ice block that housed Sera. She remained quiet as Pontus engaged in the summoning ritual with Chronos. As Osira pressed her hand against the ice block, she adjusted her eyes to the density of the cube.
Sera stood suspended in time. As Osira gazed at the young girl, she gripped her fist into a tight ball. So you're the reason he made that promise, she wondered. Her eyes squinted and her jaw clenched. She pounded on the ice block with little result.
Pontus opened his eyes. He turned around and billowed out a thunderous roar. The water titan expelled a series of spikes that erupted from within the ice block. Osira took a step back and nearly tripped as Hecatan teleported towards her, only for the both of them to disappear again, together.
They emerged at a safe distance. Hecatan reappeared and laid Osira down.
"I had a plan..." Hecatan scolded. "I could have made a duplicate and teleported the ice block somewhere else!"
"What are you waiting for then... Do it!"
"I needed you to be a distraction, not another liabilty!”
In the distant sky, thunder roared as rain began to fall. A violent gust of wind blew passed Osira and Hecatan as they looked out across the ruined city. Pontus approached the ice block. He knelt before Sera and picked her up. Disappearing into the blowing high winds, the water titan retreated in the hurricane.
"This isn't right," Hecatan cried out. "We must go!"
Erebus climbed his way up a pile of rumble. Weak and barely nimble, he joined the two women.
"Where to?" he asked.
Hecatan looked back at him. With a bit of satisfaction, she watched as he panted desperately.
"We’re going to the last person who would know how to find her."
"Ethan!" Osira replied.
Hecatan nodded.
She waved her hand and summoned a portal. As the three of them retreated into thin air, Chronos raptured himself in the energy of the lifestream. Ripping across his body, the fury of the lifestream peeled away his armor. He maintained his focus as the convergence with the Occulus continued. Holding the orb high in the air, Chronos directed the beacon far beyond the stratosphere.
Raising Sera- Lineage Page 22