Raymond flipped through the air, narrowly dodging a spear thrust from Charles. But as he was about to land on the ground, he was met with two powerful kicks to the chest that sent him tumbling into the dirt.
On the ground, Ray could feel several of his ribs were cracked. "Was that really necessary!?"
"It felt right," Charles wasn't in the slightest bit moved by Raymond's pain. Ever since Raymond got an 'upgrade', he'd been demanding that he fight with Charles' true form. Charles had naturally tried to dissuade him but Ray insisted and even argued he needed the experience.
Ray wiped the blood from his mouth and glared at Charles' smug face. This was the first time he was facing an opponent with six functional limbs. Not only did he have to deal with Charles' two arms and forelegs, but he also had to watch out for Charles' hindquarters. And that's not even mentioning the strength disparity.
Wielding his own spear, he got up and attacked Charles without warning. A loud clang of metal resonated throughout the field as their two spears clashed. Ray was forced back while Charles advanced forward.
Ray had to steady his grip as the violent vibrations almost made him drop his spear. Charles on the other hand, looked like he was having a breeze. Ray gritted his teeth and pulled back his own spear, it was slightly bent. He couldn't wait for his own enchanted spear from Athena to arrive. Wielding unenchanted weapons was beyond annoying at this point.
As Raymond renewed his attack, other sounds of metal against metal and metal against flesh could be heard throughout the field. This was Themyscira's training ground and was littered with hundreds of Contestants either showing off their skills or sharpening them for tomorrow's Preliminaries.
Another clash was heard and Ray's spear was completely bent. He quickly reached for another before returning to the fight. He had come a long way from the first time he sparred with Charles. Usually, at this stage of his training, his clothes were in tatters and his skin was filled with dried blood.
But now he had received fewer cuts and his clothes—though had suffered quite the tears—was still usable. Well, hours of continuous beatdowns would do that to you.
All of a sudden, the whole training ground became quiet, which spooked Raymond and he stopped his advance on Charles. Looking around, he saw everyone's gaze was turned to one side of the field. When Ray turned, he was met with a very peculiar scene.
At the edge of the field, there were four Amazon Guards that Ray had become familiar with, but there was an additional individual who looked completely out of place. The individual was completely covered in dark gold armor that shone in the midday sun.
Unlike the Amazonian black exosuits, this guy's suit looked more warlike and radiated an aggressive aura. Another thing Ray noticed was instead of a red visor that the Amazon guards wore, this guy had a black visor. Ray also spotted two swords hanging on the guy's back as well as two guns attached to what looked like a utility belt on the guy's waist.
Finally, there were four egg-like drones that seem to float around the guy and followed him wherever he moved. The guy seemed to be in a conversation with Jules—the Amazon representative of Argo.
"That's an Olympian Guard," Charles told Raymond. "You do not want to mess with that one."
"What is he doing here?"
"He's here to oversee the Contest. Every city that has a Contest gets one Olympian Guard to oversee it."
"How come you never told me of them before?" Ray frowned, even though he had a lot to cover, this felt important to him.
"Because it wasn't relevant until now. Besides, Olympian Guards are a dying breed. They used to be something of a legend but recently, they are being replaced by the Queen Guards. The only reason they are still relevant is that Hera is too lazy to get rid of them all at once." Charles sighed and had a gloomy look.
Ray knew that look all too well. "You used to be one of them?"
"I used to be their Commander. But that was a long time ago," Charles replied.
"Dude just how old are you? I know Adrastea is older than even Zeus himself, but she is a Nymph; they are ageless. Centaurs, not so much." Ray was curious. Charles' age became a mystery once Ray realized Centaurs had a lifespan of about seven hundred years.
But everything about Charles seemed way older than that, the guy even claimed to have met Jesus during one of their conversations. And that doesn't include all the legends Charles keeps describing to him like he was there in person.
"I'm curious too, especially about the Commander part." Another voice joined them from behind as both Charles and Raymond had turned to look at the Olympian Guard.
Ray and Charles turned to see Bob standing there in his human form and wearing dark armor with a cloak over his head.
"Sorry, we haven't met yet. I'm Bob, Ray's ultimate opponent, assuming he even gets that far." Bob gave Charles his fifty gigawatts smile and offered his hand.
Charles shook his hand and returned his smile. "Charles. Don't be too confident, he might surprise you."
"So, you're Raymond's trainer. I seem to recall your face, you're the other guy who fought the Minotaur back on the beach?" Bob connected the dots.
"That's me. About being the Commander of the Olympian Guards, that was a lifetime ago." Charles replied quickly and wanted to change the subject. But Bob frowned, Ray didn't miss this too.
"There has only ever been three Commanders ever since Athena started the Olympian Guards. The current one is a Cyclops, his predecessor who was killed during the Coup. That leaves the original Commander and he's the..." Bob frowned and looked at Charles before his brows shot up and his jaw hit the floor.
"I swear if you say my name out loud, I'm going to shove this long phallic spear up your ass," Charles growled. Bob nodded rapidly, with his mouth still open.
Raymond was confused by Bob's change in attitude. "What's so special about Charles?"
Bob's response was to look at Ray as if he'd grown two heads. It took several seconds of the silence of which Bob looked back and forth between Raymond and Charles before Charles sighed and nodded.
"He's Chiron!" Bob mouthed to Raymond.
"That still doesn't explain how he's as old as he is?" Raymond mouthed back. While Raymond had heard the name before, his curiosity about how Charles was still alive overshadowed Charles' old identity.
Bob was livid. Ray's attitude was insulting. While Bob could understand Ray's ignorance the only reason he hadn't smashed his fist into Raymond's face was that he didn't want to upset Chiron. The greatest Centaur to ever exist.
The history of Chiron was long, heroic, selfless, bloody, and momentous to their entire race. Chiron was the only Centaur to have stood up against Zeus in the Centaur Uprising, gaining the recognition and admiration of Athena herself.
Charles just chuckled. "Ever heard Hebe?"
"The Goddess of Youth?" By now, Ray knew almost the whole Pantheon by heart.
If Bob was shocked earlier by Charles' identity, he was now thunderstruck. While Hebe was just a simple Minor goddess—well at least as far as Olympians were concerned—but to the Supernatural, she was the closest answer to immortality.
Only races that don't live long could appreciate the importance of immortality. Even races that live as long as his would give everything to be immortal. And Hebe was the answer. She had the ability to control aging which includes reversing it, ensuring eternal youth. But there was one problem, her husband.
Hebe's husband, on paper, was just a Demigod but in reality, he's was a freak even by Olympian standards let alone Supernatural. To get to her, one had to go through her husband who guarded her like a hawk.
That left only one other way to get to her, and that was to gain the favor of a sufficiently powerful Olympian. Easier said than done. Of course, there were other alternatives to immortality but most of them only added a few years or the price was too steep.
So, the fact that Charles has access to Hebe made him a god among men, so to speak. Bob's earlier anger faded and was inwardly delighted. Meeting and helping Raymond in his time of need brought great benefits. Now he was adding actual important people in his circle and not those political fools who had no real power behind them.
"Can you take him on," Ray jokingly pointed at the Olympian Guard. Bob just grimaced while Charles chuckled again.
"Well, of course, with the right equipment," Charles answered Ray while presenting his spear. "This would be laughable at best against him."
Right at that moment, Charles's phone buzzed. He went to the stand and picked it up. After reading the text that was sent to him, he turned towards Raymond. "Your weapons and armor are here. Let's go."