- Underworld side -
Olympus and its surrounding cities were slowly falling into chaos while the rest of the Underworld group was finally starting to relax. Above-ground was filling with battles, meanwhile, Death, Lucifer, and Lucifer's team were having fun in one of the palace's dining areas. Lucifer was speaking with Death while his team sat at a round table. Peter, Heinrich, Sabu, and Lao sat across from Dimitri Yvere, and Elijah. The team, except for Yvere who had the metal container Hades gave her, all had mugs of purple wine that they were frequently sipping.
Lao was speaking with Sabu and Heinrich about their hand-to-hand training. Yvere and Elijah were talking about Elijah's training, and Peter and Dimitri were having an argument.
"It was alcohol poisoning!" Peter insisted.
"No, it was hypothermia!" Dimitri argued. "How are you gonna tell ME what killed ME?!"
"Because I know ya well enough to know ya drank yerself forgetful!" Peter scoffed. "Ya know what? We can solve this easily," He turned to Lucifer. "Hey Luce, what killed Dimitri?"
Lucifer, barely paying attention, answered, "Hypothermia."
Dimitri pointed at Peter. "Fucking told you!"
Peter pouted as he tossed a coin to Dimitri. "Fine. I would still argue that the alcohol is what killed ya."
Dimitri put the coin into his pocket. "Don't be a sore loser."
Yvere took a sip from her container and looked at Elijah's arm. "It still surprises me that you've never experienced healer's overload."
Elijah rubbed his wrist. "I guess it's because of my life in the human world. I must have built up a considerable pain tolerance."
"Still..." Yvere looked at Sabu. "I'm young, relative to this team, and even I've seen plenty of beings knocked unconscious from the pain of being healed," She sighed. "Don't ever look at Lucifer as an example of what's normal in regards to damage or healing. Archangels are ano, anom," She looked puzzled.
"Anomalies," Heinrich said, pointing his head out.
"Thanks, Heinrich," Yvere gave a small wave.
Lao sighed before turning his eyes to Heinrich. "Reading is important but you shouldn't neglect your training."
Sabu took a sip out of his mug. "There's only so much progress that can be made in a certain amount of time. Don't forget that you're three times his age."
Lao shifted his eyes to Sabu. "Okay, then how has your training been going?"
"Maybe you'd like to see fo-" Sabu was interrupted by Heinrich.
Heinrich put his hand on Sabu's shoulder. "No, no more training for today," He turned to Lao. "I'm doing everything I can Lao, I assure you. I burn through all my mana, then Sabu and I spar, with the occasional demon asking for a match with one of us."
"That's good," He made a conspicuous glance at Dimitri. "Do you have any good book recommendations?"
Heinrich grinned. "What are "you" looking for?"
"Nothing in particular..." Lao said.
While the team was having fun, Lucifer and Death were trying to figure out how to handle the current situation.
"How do you want to treat this?" Death asked.
Lucifer leaned back far in his chair. "You're asking me?"
Death looked over at Lucifer's team. "You have more experience with this type of thing than I do. If it was up to me I wouldn't do anything until something certain happens. It's the blessing and curse of being an Ancient."
Lucifer looked up at the tall ceiling. "I feel like if I say "Let's wait and see" the universe will make me regret those words. The Demon War taught..." He paused for a moment. "No...It reinforced that strength doesn't completely ward off misfortune."
Hades was being informed by a palace guard that there were problems happening above-ground that he shouldn't concern himself with. He was told that there seemed to be a problem with the minotaur army and Aphrodite chasing after a being but that it was being handled.
- Julius -
The sight of minotaurs and satyrs impaled on spikes of stone was in contrast with Julius's wide smile as he looked down at a heavily damaged Aphrodite. Julius was joined by other cloaked beings who were all pointing their hands or weapons at Aphrodite.
"TRAITOR!" Aphrodite screamed at a green-cloaked figure that was holding a bow.
The city that Aphrodite had chased Julius through was in mass hysteria. Arrows, stone spikes, boulders, scorch marks, and deep slashes covered the surrounding buildings. Julius jumped down to Aphrodite. He was careful not to step on the bodies that littered the ground.
"Let's make a deal, goddess of beauty," Julius said.
Aphrodite looked around at the destruction and the beings accompanied Julius. She knew she had no chance of winning and that her only out was Zeus or Poseidon coming to the rescue. Even those options didn't seem likely given what she had seen during her chase. She dry-swallowed and held her ground.
"Why would I make a deal with someone like you?"
Julius chuckled. "Is all this really worth your life? One of the most beautiful goddesses in the world dying for nothing? That doesn't seem right."
Aphrodite laughed, surprising the cloaked figures behind Julius. "I join you and Zeus kills me."
"Who do you fear more?" Julius asked. "Zeus or ( )"
At the mention of the other name, Aphrodite's eyes went wide and she fell to her knees. "How do you know that?"
Julius spoke confidently, "Take that knowledge as a sign of my organization's strength."
- Salim -
Salim sat on the beheaded corpse of a minotaur. "That seemed easier than it should have been."
Minotaur bodies covered the ground. Every corpse had some kind of large cut through the body. A minotaur approached Salim.
"Did you even need our help?" he snorted.
Salim smiled up at the minotaur. "Not for this part, no."
- Underworld team -
"It's a horror story about a man that goes out to sea," Heinrich was explaining to Lao. "Every night he dreams that he's being dragged below the water and drowned."
Lao looked confused. "I still don't understand this world's fear of the ocean."
Dimitri joined in on the conversation. "It's not a fear of the ocean it's a fear of deep water."
"It's both," Peter added. "The ocean in this world is full of terrifyin' creatures, even more so than the human world. The deepwater fear mostly comes from R'lyeh though."
"And that one god," Heinrich said. "The one that some aren't sure if he or she actually exists?"
The table all looked at Peter for an answer.
Peter looked around at the staring eyes and sighed. "He or she is usually called "Drown" in the books that have been written on them."
"How do you know that?" Dimitri asked.
"I read up on them," Peter said. "I like bein' knowledgeable on the gods in this world, real or otherwise. There wasn't much to read, though. As far I've seen the only stories written all seem to be speculation."
"Gods making up gods?" Dimitri joked.
"Maybe..." Peter hesitated. "Maybe not."
After Peter's comment, the group couldn't help pressing him for more information. While Lucifer's team was barraging Peter with questions, Lucifer was shrugging to Death.
"Let's just try and relax," Lucifer said unconfidently. "I trust Hades and Persephone to be able to handle whatever is going on and even if they can't, we're here to help if they need it."
"Do you know how to relax?" Death asked.
"Do you?" Lucifer huffed.