"I guess this is unexpected isn't it? By the way I'LL KILL YOU"
His eyes glowed a bright golden colour and his words laced with venom as he pulled the spear out and drove it back in again piercing his heart a second time. The words Zeus spoke about Aphrodite are words he'll soon regret. Lightning sparked as Zeus disappeared again and this time appeared a bit too far from Hephaestus, his shock was immeasurable as well as everyone else's. Hestia stood there dumbstruck.
.
[Hephaestus! Are you alright?]
"Yeah I'm fine, in fact I feel great"
Testing out whether or not he was immune to the Scythe was something he was hesitant on doing however now he's sure, however this type of immortality where you die and get brought back isn't quite it, he needs a better and greater form of immortality, and he knew just the one. Responding to his desire the Hokyouku began to work.
"Strangely enough I feel invigorated like I drank an energy drink"
He ignored her question of what an energy drink was and Instead moved the spear around him swinging and slashing the air before he settled into a Stance, with the spear above his head and his legs open and lowered, he pulled his arms back and prepared to launch it forward
Zeus cautiously watched or it seemed that way as he kept a stern face as he watched Hephaestus, however in his mind panic had set in, the scythe was supposed to kill Hephaestus yet it didn't, this caused Zeus to freeze, as his mind was confused, no one has Been able to completely survive the scythe not even a primordial yet for some reason Hephaestus did but how? How was it possible, when did he acquire such power who gave it to him?
"I WANT IT!!"
He inadvertently Shouted those words.
"You best dodge this even if you want it, Gae Bolg!!"
Hephaestus threw the spear that glowed an ominous blood red and Zeus chose to rush towards Hephaestus at the same moment he threw the spear. His speed was a appropriately Godly in how fast it was he dodged the spear and got close to Hephaestus to swing his scythe however just as the Scythe's blade was about to touch Hephaestus's neck he felt a piercing sensation on his heart followed by an intense pain.
"GYAAAAHHH!!!"
He screamed as he felt his inside get torn in to shreds, blood curdled at his throat as a he screamed and dropped to his knees causing Hephaestus to palm his head. Everyone in the stadium was shook especially the Gods, not only did he survive a cut from the scythe but he brought the god king to his knees.
…
Athena's elation was present on her face as gigantic smile spread open revealing pure white teeth that sparkled.
"Amazing!!"
Nike exclaimed as she suddenly decided to come down from her height, the battle was too far away to observe properly. Hera felt a plethora of emotion at this moment, pride in her son? Elation at the sound of Zeus's pained screamed and concern about his state of being. She was feeling conflicted.
"Ha!! That's what you get"
Hades surprisingly cheered for Hephaestus, finally someone dropped Zeus to his knees. He does love his younger brother and doesn't necessarily hate him However he isn't against someone else beating him up and teach him humility, Although perhaps he shouldn't have celebrated like that at Zeus's pain in front of his wife, she's quite possibly the daughter of his that cares for him.
"Careful now if he loses I win the wager"
"Meh! That was something worth cheering for but that doesn't mean he'll win"
Hermes had stood on his legs and stared at the scene of his father scream in pain, his mouth was hung and words could not leave his mouth, it wasn't until several seconds later that he uttered a single word.
"FATHER!!!
"Oh! This is the first time I've ever heard you call him that, Hermes"
Themis expressed as she finally was able to sit comfortably in her chair, she had been uneasy ever since the battle began but now she had begun to finally relax, perhaps under Hephaestus's rule the law will actually be followed. Artemis was the only one in the room who remained silent or rather her interest was in getting Athena's attention and gaining her affection as such while she was somewhat paying attention to the fight she didn't really care for it.
…..
Blood curdled at his mouth as he strained his neck to look up to Hephaestus only to receive a kick to hid stomach sending him flying across the stadium before be decelerate and rolled on the ground. The kick was light, a means to simply remove Zeus from the spear.
The God king struggled to rise on his feet as his golden blood poured onto the ground as three gaping holes turned into one hole had opened in his chest right where his heart would be and surprisingly it was moving at a snails pace to heal, the pain he was in was quit intensely he could feel the thorns in his blood piercing him from within.
"whhahh— what is that weapon?"
"you'll have to find out. You can thank both your luck and the fact that you're God that those three strikes at your heart didn't kill you. I guess I made it too close to the original"
He lamented, People with great amount of luck and divine protection usually survived an attack from Gae bolg so it makes sense that Zeus would survive after all he is a God and should have considerable luck no matter that can be fixed in the future
Zeus fought through the pain and stood tall ignoring pain in his heart, he is a God king to simply fall because of a wound to his chest is ludicrous not to mention he refuses to lose to his own offspring like his father.
"you have quite the weapon there, it will make a fine addition to my collection. When do you think the sky begins and the land ends"
Hephaestus raised an eye brow at such question, not understanding its relevance. Seeing his Confusion Zeus flipped his wrist and had both his middle and index finger pointing upwards.
"ouranós pou klaíei" (weeping sky)
The sky became dark as thunder clouds filled the Air and blocked the sky, an intense rain began to pour down on the stadium, dousing everyone within it with water, as soon as the rain landed on Hephaestus however he dropped to his knees and an intense feeling of powerlessness overwhelmed him, his knees became weak his arms were heavy and he suddenly didn't want to do anything anymore.
"wh-what the hell"
A strained whisper left his mouth, the sudden feeling of powerlessness crippled him as he was unable to move nor stand up it was as if the world's Gravity had become stronger, He couldn't understand, his mind felt dizzy as the image of Zeus became blurry
"Since I can't kill you, the next best thing is to beat you till you concede"
Zeus once again flipped his wrist and Hephaestus was suddenly sent flying high in to the air before being brought back down again, slamming onto the ground like a meteor the force of his landing caused the stadium to suddenly crack as it threatened to collapse, to Zeus the humans had become irrelevant, his goal was to utterly crush Hephaestus now, he completely left it to the other God to help the humans if they want.
The light in his eyes was gone and his mind couldn't properly think any thoughts was cut off and restarted before it could complete, the only thing he felt was the Muddy ground as he continuously slammed against it's surface.
"the rain is often associated with sadness and hopelessness, those emotions tend cloud our minds and weigh us down and make us weak of course that's only metaphorically However this rain makes that literal as such you're your mind will be clouded, your body will be weighed down and weakened giving me the free reign to beat you up till satisfied"
The rain was just one aspect of his control of he sky the second one was, the sky hands he was using to slam Hephaestus on to the ground. He stopped and held Hephaestus High up and commanded lighting to strike Hephaestus ceaselessly, each bolt stronger than the last causing Hephaestus to start groaning in pain.
[Hephaestus!!]
[Hephaestus!!!
[HEPHAESTUS!!]
Aphrodite Shouted his name but it was useless, he could not hear her, rather he could but he could not respond his mind was clouded and he couldn't move as his body felt far too heavy, even if he boosted his strength with magic as long as the rain didn't stop he won't be able to do anything. Aphrodite's Uselessness become ever apparent to her, she realized that she was absolutely no help to him at all, She could not help him when he fought Ares and she could not help him now.
"even if I could help him, this is a duel if I helped he'd lose the duel, what should I do?"
As a goddess of love she had little combat options however she did have option, before this match began she has been training her powers to control them better, she managed to get better at it however now she wonders rather than Make people love her can she do other things, like give others strength? After all love gives you strength.
"I'll try"
In the empty space that is Hephaestus's stomach Aphrodite glowed a bright pink as she tried to use her power to give Hephaestus strength or at least have him fight back, unfortunately however she failed, She tried again and failed, multiple attempts were made but each ended up in failure. This forced her to think about her concept of love much deeper
"what should I do? what should I do? what should I do?!!!!"
Panic began to sit in her mind as her attempts to help were utterly useless. If she doesn't do something Hephaestus will lose and she'll have to be taken by Zeus, she doesn't want that, she doesn't want to be separated from him. Zeus had now stopped slamming him into the ground but now had begun punching him relentlessly. Each punch was delivered with enough force to destroy cities, the stadium was collapsing and the humans spectators had begun to scatter.
"please Hephaestus I need you to win, I want you to win, YOU SAID YOU WERE GOING TO WIN!!!!"
Unbeknownst to her, her attempts did work, however not in the way she wanted, The clouding in his mind was mitigated by a sudden flash of her image into his mind, it wasn't just Hephaestus who saw the image of her beautiful Visage but everyone within the stadium as they tried to run away and escape the collapsing stadium.
For Zeus seeing the image of Aphrodite's Beautiful Appearance caused him to pause for a fraction of a second, his concentration broken and in that fraction the rain paused and within the same time frame Hephaestus moved as the hilt of a blade appeared in a golden portal. Hephaestus grabbed it and with a swift motion sliced Zeus diagonally, he tried to dodge but it was too late, the blade sliced his shoulder and chipped of a part of his head too. The rain suddenly stopped and everything became silent as Zeus jumped back with a missing shoulder and Hephaestus recovered and stood up.
"gotta stop being careless"
He said cracking his neck and spitting out some blood before another golden portal appeared and this time the golden hilt of the sword peeked out and he grabbed it and pulled it out. He was supposed to be Immune to ill status effects and mind control so the fact that the rain weakened him and made it impossible to think properly means it's effects don't fall within the category of ill status but the didn't Matter the Hokyouku should have adapted to the situation and the rain shouldn't be effective the real problem was the fact ultra instinct didn't work when Zeus began punching him, well it wasn't like one was completely untouchable with Ultra instinct but still…
"Say your prayers Zeus, Your title of God king will be mine"
He declared, Seeing that image of Aphrodite's made him realize that losing was not an option and Zeus's death will be guaranteed
...
A/N: alright this fight should conclude next chapter, I don't want to drag it out, also I'll be taking a break to work on the second arc once I'm done with this, the Romance between Athena and Hephaestus will happen in that arc. There's something other stuff I'll be updating to read as you wait.
Thank you for your support, I appreciate it quite alot.
Also finished fate Apocrypha and I just gotta say Sieg (mc) has mad plot armor.