Chapter 3 - One Step Ahead
When Zeus turned around to have a look at the lady, the sight of her standing right in front of a broken window sent an alarm to his instinct. Has it become evident that his senses failed to notice the sound of shattering glass?
"Cease your imprudent act." Zeus spoke with a ferocious tone at the lady who was taking a seat on the window stool.
—Swish!
With only a slight tilt of his head, Zeus safely dodged a piece of glass from touching his poisoned cheek while maintaining his composed glare!
"..."
"..."
Leaving no words to be spoken, the present situation had strained overwhelmingly from the tension once the silence overflowed the room entirely..
Sooner or later, these two found themselves lying in wait for each other's next move!
—Rustling…
Amidst this situation, the air mindlessly let out a gust of wind for it to pass through the shattered window. Thoroughly breezing through the lady's veil to display her exquisite lips before the wind grazed Zeus' hair, the gentleman couldn't grasp a glimpse of what was behind the veil.
Because at that moment, when the lady exhaled a sigh…
—BANG!
—CRACKLE!
Pieces of glass emerged with a shatter when they were thrown at Zeus as lightning struck to fry them to smithereens, leaving nothing to scathe him. And before long, the thunder flickered within the blink of an eye, forming a rain of disaster and aligning itself to penetrate the lady amongst the chaos.
—WHOOSH!
In order to counter Zeus' attack, roots arose from the floor where they had provided the woman with a durable shield against the lightning's might! All of a sudden, Zeus swiftly perceived an oddity in the floor, finding himself wavering as if an earthquake had arisen!
"..?"
Right afterwards, it was to his surprise when he witnessed the carpet being pulled by a few of the roots, leading to an outcome where Zeus was about to lose his balance.
Despite his efforts to regain his footing, it was proven to be difficult once the carpet was yanked right back at him, prompting the furniture and documents to be flung straight into the air.
In the middle of it all, Zeus had already dodged the carpet before having his sight being obstructed by papers hurling around aimlessly.
Instead of preparing to shoot his thunder, Zeus had other plans and causally moved the papers away to the entrance of the office; a shocking behavior!
—Fwip~
"Damaging those original copies of contracts, documents, and so forth would spoil your opportunities, would it not?"
The woman bears a smirk on her covered face as if she had planned this before she eventually picked up a letter from the ground, waving it around for Zeus to clearly see.
"An invitation from Yggdrasil to reach a mutual relationship with Olympus? This seems to have been written for quite some time, yet it has only now been opened recently. Zeus, you are rather discourteous for being unpunctual in your response, it appears."
"What's next on the agenda? A discussion of the budget for the upcoming Olympics? This paper will need a revision since a Chess Tournament will be held in the Olympics Stadium."
"In other words.."
Even though Zeus hasn't given his acceptance, the woman will be making certainties to warn him of the impending storm prompted by his rejection.
"Do not dare to be inconclusive about your decisions. If you assume you can let all of this situation be silenced, may your effort bear fruitless." She sneers at the Emperor!
"My connections are wider than the eyes can see. Wherever anyone sets their foot, they'll see posters of the Chess Tournament between the Olympus and the Underworld."
She speaks without care whereas her floral attacks took care of the uproarious lightning from Zeus!
"It's your obligation to make it happen as the posters will touch the pride of your Empire's people. Let's not forget the outcome behind each party's winner. I'll receive my hard-earned peace while you'll be safe from your daughter's name being publicized."
"Isn't that so, Zeus? Isn't it necessary to ensure your daughter doesn't make an appearance in this society, much less as Olympus' Representative?"
—BANG!
"My.." The lady watches while the Olympics' budget paper instantly turns into ashes, rubbing her fingers together to remove the burnt paper's leftovers.
"..."
"You merely destroyed this because it requires a reworking nonetheless."
"..."
"Not a word? I understand." This woman gave Zeus a delighted glance before vines overturned the entirety of the room!
—RUMBLE!
All of a sudden, bookshelves shook from the floor's quake while chandeliers quivered with the notion of falling from the ceiling! Furthermore, there's no indication of this being related to the lady!
It's as though an earthquake has come to assist the woman in her escape from Zeus' clutches! Immediately after, Zeus sends down thunderbolts to prevent the furniture from quaking with the lady's tricks at play, causing the furniture to be burnt to bits while papers are neatly pushed aside by the shockwave!
"You must have already noticed that my veil and outfit are immune to your lightning, haven't you?" Sitting by the window, the lady didn't spare a glance at the man who had perfectly secured his documents.
—COLLAPSE!
Being hurled in Zeus' direction were the remaining bookshelves with books descending upon him! Not even a second later, the debris of damaged furniture rushed to pile up from the buildup of objects forcing its weight onto the man!
—SWOOOSH!
In an instant, a tree began to burgeon straight from the ceiling before expanding its trunk rapidly to penetrate the middle of the messy pile! After that, branches of this tree pierce through the empty spaces in the pile to poke holes into Zeus' body!
All of this happened in a flash, yet it took only a split-second for Zeus to react at lightning speed by blasting a thunderous bolt to extinguish the room entirely! Leaving not a single object left untouched except the documents, the woman observed that the whole place became nothing more than a blank slate!
Nonetheless, it didn't take long for this empty canvas to be stained by the mountains of ashes spreading across the room, depriving Zeus and the lady of their visions!
"Well done. You intentionally made it difficult for me to see through my veil." The lady comments with a scoff.
"What an imprudent act, Zeus."
—CRASSSSH!
From her words, a rupture of flora hurtled its way through the walls and the window without any regard for the destruction it lays waste onto the surrounding walls!
—FLASSH!
Spreading with a trail of scorched vines in its wake, thunder persisted in its pursuit to plunge through the woman's floral defenses, when, in fact, trees grew from all sides to jeopardize the lightning's path!
—FLARE!
Out of the blue, three of the trees were set ablaze by a spark of thunder, prompting the last of the four to be personally removed by Zeus' own hands!
"Even if I hadn't known those documents played a crucial role in your plans, you're making it quite obvious by how critical those are right now, Zeus." The lady snickered after she had bombarded Zeus with a valley of flora!
In the process of abolishing it with a roaring thunderclap, Zeus suddenly spotted in the corner of his eyes that a dozen of the flora missed him by a margin!
With all of the smoke and ashes flooding the place, it must have been challenging for the woman to locate Zeus' position and by using that discernment, Zeus shoots out decoys of thunder and quietly takes a step to circulate lightning below the covered floor!
—CRACKLING!
Immediately after that, lightning began to brutally tear open beneath the ground, bringing forth cages of thunder to imprison the person inside!
Trapped within this jail, the lady sent out flora to enact the same fate to Zeus by confining him in a sphere of vines. But all of it was burned to a crisp in the process!
"Oh." The lady appeared to be stunned?
"They're taking longer than I expected. No, I assumed wrong. My expectations didn't align with their incompetence, that's all." A sigh left the woman's lips when she seemed to be in disappointment on someone's behalf?
"Silence." Having enough of his foe's antics, Zeus brushes off the dust on his being after coming out of the cloud of ashes for her to see him in his glory.
"Unscathed, as expected."
"..."
"Though, I'll have to warn you in advance, Zeus. I'm the type of person who has planned ahead of time."
"..." Not buying her bluff, Zeus approaches.
—RUMBLE!
"...?"
—TREMBLING!
"Your Majesty! I heard a huge commotion!"
"Please stand back! Your Majesty!"
"Everyone! Capture her quickly!"
—SHAKE!
Hearing the outcry of his subjects, Zeus swiftly shifts his gaze to his behind before realizing the woman's missing attack earlier was an attempt to alert the people outside about the room's ruckus!
'My blindspot.' Zeus grumbles inwardly.
With this sight, the door was beyond obliterated where only vines remained on the edges of the ruined entrance!
'However..' Zeus wonders.
While leading a horde of guards to hurry inside, those supposed guards sprinted their way to initiate a defensive maneuver, bringing forth their shields as the front were proceeding to encircle the stranger!
"What are you doing?" Zeus looks down at his subjects, determining it to be an inconvenience as well as obfuscating him of his people's inconsistencies with the officialized procedure!
"Y-Your Majesty! We're here to protect you..!"
"Your safety and well-being matter a lot to the people, including us!"
Perplexed yet understanding of the guards' noble intentions, Zeus tones down his expression that nobody has managed to see clearly because of the drifting ashes!
But..!
—Crackling…
The sound of thunder dissipating…
"..Capture her!" Zeus shouted after he had realized his mistake in taking his eyes off his enemy in a moment of interruption!
—FWOOSH!!!
"This isn't farewell yet, Zeus." The lady chuckles.
Even for a split second, it literally became a window of opportunity for the lady to take a leap out of the broken window without a single glimpse of the great descent!
Compared to breaking free from the thunder cage which will land severe injuries upon her, it means nothing when the office room's height is enough to shatter bones!