"Pardon my indolence. Call me Adam. I could say the same thing to you, Miss Sasaki."
Well, Sayo really didn't appreciate Adam's mocking tone. 'Don't underestimate me, you twerp!'
Her sword clashed with the length of his spear, and they started a showdown of who's the better one at wielding their weapons. Adam is genuinely impressed with the black-haired girl's unorthodox eastern sword techniques, but she's obviously inexperienced when it comes to real-life fighting. She attacks but she seems to be holding back, 'Probably afraid to seriously harm her opponents.' He thought.
He dodged another slash from one of her short blades and managed to block the other with a calculated maneuver of his spear. He thought he'll hit her somewhere in the leg, but Sayo surprised him with her speed in dodging from that attack. 'Hmm, she's fast. Her reflexes are incredible, and that armor isn't just for show.'
Meanwhile, Sayo wanted to eat her words upon properly experiencing her first fight to death with this unknown individual, whom she actually underestimated. 'I thought he's a pushover! But he's damn good!'
She took a step back, trying to ignore the danger she's sensing from the blonde before her. She was out of range for a lunge that would leave the guy open. So she started to process a strategy in her head.
'He's not giving me any opening, and he's really excellent at dodging too. So, if I strike him head on, I'll only be overwhelmed by his strength, given the length of that spear! I can't hit from extremely close! But perhaps if I can trick him into a feint…ah, yes, I'm definitely faster than him, I can counter using my speed!'
If she swings her sword to the right, where Adam can parry it and lunge at her as well, in that instance, she can jump back and turn, swinging again from both directions. Time seemed to slow down when Sayo executed this strategy in mind.
She attacked from the right, and just as she predicted, Adam lunged at her, and so she spun the balls of her feet to jump and used her weight to step on the spear's head, bringing the weapon down. Then, she swung her kodachis from two directions, forming an 'X' towards Adam's throat.
He gulped after luckily avoiding that attack by arching his head and his entire torso down, feeling the swords in the process as they cut through the air he just breathed out - a mere centimeter away from the tip of his nose. He never thought she'll go for the neck!
'Seems you're not as nice as I thought you were, Miss Sasaki.' A single bead of sweat slid down from his forehead.
Sayo started to feel that the spear was lifted from the other end, so she quickly jumped away from the weapon's blade that she was currently stepping on. She resumed her stance the moment she stepped solid ground again.
"You must be doing martial arts, right, Miss Sasaki? I must say, you're quite light-footed." Adam commented.
"What's it to you, Adam? You aren't scared, are you? I almost made it to your dear neck." She taunted in reply.
An irk mark appeared in Adam's forehead before he sprang to the right, and thrusted his spear to the left. Sayo only jumped farther back, completely avoiding the range of his weapon. When he slowed down his advances, she threw one of her swords at him, which he easily flicked aside.
He wasn't expecting the second sword to be thrown in the same manner, though. The split-second after he casted aside the first blade, his eyes saw the second one coming straight at his face, but the reaction time of his hands couldn't keep up with the sword's movement, thus, he wasn't able to deflect it.
He was barely able to move his face, but he wasn't able to avoid the hit. The blade cut through the flesh in his cheek, and he felt the depth of the wound from the gush of the blood coming out from the right side of his face. Sayo smiled, pleased that she landed the first hit in their showdown.
"Yo, Adam! It seems that I drew first blood!" She taunted him once again.
Adam touched his cheek, and resumed a mad expression after seeing his own blood on his hands. It's been a long time since he was last wounded, and he never thought that this girl could ever do this to him.
She only imagined that it will work, so she stretched out her arms, as if calling for her swords. Never in her wildest dreams did she ever think that the kodachis will follow her will. The swords twitched from their landing spot, and eventually returned to her open palms. Both her and her opponent looked shock at what happened. 'Holy Hephaestus! That god indeed makes nothing that is not superior!' She internally exclaimed.
'Right, about time I get serious now.' Adam thought. "It seems that I really underestimated you, Sayo Sasaki. You are far more formidable than I thought you would be." He said it out loud after wiping the blood using the sleeves of the khaki long-sleeved shirt he's wearing. He surmised that the wound is deep enough to leave a scar under his right eye if not healed quickly.
"For your excellence in this close combat between the two of us, I'll show you something that I rarely show to anyone. Feast your eyes upon this revelation. Behold, the power of Helios!"
He raised his weapon in the air, and when it caught the rays of the sun, the spear began to glow faintly. Soon, it looked as if it is in its liquefied aqueous golden state, red-orange in color, and from its tip, little orbs of pure energy gathered.
'Shit'. Sayo thought. 'Bastard's resorting to cheating! If this is a showdown between weapons then I can definitely fight him on even grounds. But really? Solar powers? Dude, that's out of my league!'
Then Adam said something that blew her mind. "Iliakes Sfaires!" and the energy balls that appeared from the tip of his spear went after Sayo.
'Wtf is 'Iliakes Sfaires'? A freakin' attack name? What the hell, he names his attacks like in anime?! How did he even think of that?!' She thought as she began running away from the balls in attempt to save her own life.
On the other hand, Tobias understood the Greek phrase that was uttered by the man. 'Solar Spheres.'
He might just be spectating in the fight right now, but his mind never stopped working. From the moment the man introduced himself as the 'Mythos' of the Sun God, Helios, Tobias' mind never wandered away from what he just revealed.
He thought of what a 'Mythos' is, and how the term connects to the man who is currently squaring off with Sayo.
Mythos….. Solar spheres…. God of the Sun….. Helios….
'What if.… what if a Mythos is someone who can manifest the powers of a God? But how?' Tobias thought. He looked at his shaking hands, which were very uneasy right now, and he's sure it's not out of fear. It's about completely something else. 'I'm excited but I don't know why.'
Another thing also never left his thoughts since the time he saw the God Apollo back in the Shrine of Delphi. He can't deny the familiar feelings he felt towards the God….like his warmth was somehow a part of him too. Then, the line from his prophecy became stuck in the loop of his mind.
/The day, soon enough, comes to thee – Yes, ye will, Son of Truth, shall see/
The prophecy called him the Son of Truth, and the Truth is no other than Apollo. He pieced two-and-two together, and came up with a crazy conclusion which he can never really prove. 'I am Apollo's Son…? Eh?'
Apollo is the God of Many Things – including the Truth, Healing, Music, Poetry, Archery…. and even the Sun is sometimes attributed to him ever since the Titan, Helios was cast into Tartarus. That's why he's also often called as Phoebus Apollo.
"AAAAARGHHHHHH!!" Tobias heard Sayo's scream. When he looked, he saw that she fell, because her leg got burned by the ball of energy coming from the tip of the man's spear. More balls are coming towards her….
Mythos….. Solar spheres…. God of the Sun….. Helios….. Sun.... Apollo…. Son of Truth….
'Ah dammit, let's try this out.' He ran towards her direction and used his body to shield her from further harm.
"No, Tobias, I told you to stay away! Move away from there, those balls can burn you!" Sayo fired at him.
But he will hear none of it. He stretched his palm outward in a protective manner, and all three of them looked surprised when a magic circle appeared in front of him. 'Whoa, what is this?!'
The moment the balls hit the circle, they all vanished as if they were cancelled out. A horrified 'HUUUH?!' look was painted in Adam's face. The attacks ceased and Tobias hurried over to Sayo's side.
As if it's the most natural thing to do, he put his hand on her injured leg, and began healing it, his hands glowing the same glow it had when he made those magic circles appear. Then suddenly, their attentions were caught by the bright, green radiance coming from the Heavens, which enveloped everything it touched.
"Demeter." Both Sayo and Tobias said this as they looked at each other. They all realized that the Goddess just unleashed her wrath upon the entire world.