"You?!"
Elena turned back to look at him with a small smile on her face, earlier, she and Hades seemed to have been discussing something serious but now they stopped and watched as he walked up to them.
"Hey, handsome", Elena greeted and he smirked at her.
"What are you doing here?", He asked.
Elena was about to say something but Hades cut her off. "She's on an important business for me", He said smoothly.
A pang of hurt filled his chest. Hades had seen Elena as fit enough to be privy to the hidden mission while he still kept it secret from him.
Haze shrugged it off though and kept his calm.
"Why are you here, Haze?", Hades asked in his montonous voice.
Haze fought the urge to grab something and fling it against the wall, instead he let his lips curl into a smile.
"I'm bored".
"Bored?", Hades repeated bemusedly.
"Yes, bored", Haze said. "I'm tired of doing nothing, give me a mission".
Haze stroke his chin. "Hmmm, but I don't have any missions right now".
'But you clearly do', Haze thought bitterly. "You clearly have a mission that is stressful to you and everyone involved".
Why didn't Hades want him as part of the mission? Was it a lack of trust? Or did he think he was not strong enough?
Haze looked at Elena. He had not told Hades that the Queen stabbed him with her shadows and killed him but she easily could have told him.
He clenched his teeth in anger, yes that was it, she must have told Hades about the fight and now Hades thought he was too weak to be on missions for him.
"Make one up for me", Haze snapped.
Hades sighed with his usual exaggerated pomp and leaned back in his throne.
"What really is the matter here, Haze?", He asked.
"There's something going on and it's related to you", Haze said. "It's obviously stressful and you probably need as much help as you can without alerting the others about your mission. Yet you don't want to tell me or involve me".
Haze stepped closer to the throne. "I am your heir, this is what I was chosen for, but you don't want to use me, you'd rather use her". He said placing emphasis on the 'her' and it sounded rather venomous.
"Hey, what do you mean 'her'?", Elena complained. "I'm much stronger than you by all metrics".
Haze grabbed the hilt of his sword and pulled it out. "Oh yeah? How about you come prove it?"
Elena looked at him in surpise but her hands lit up in fire.
"That's enough!", Hades commanded and thunder roared loudly, a fierce breeze flowed through the room, extinguishing Elena's flames.
"It seems to me that you need to be exerted physically", Hades said, looking at Haze, he stroked his chin. "Killing beast seems to be too easy for you".
Haze stared at him in defiance and Hades sighed. "Starting tomorrow, you will train every day from morning till evening and it will be supervised. You need to learn how to use the sword properly anyway".
"I know how to use the sword just fine", Haze snapped.
Hades' eyes suddenly turned cold. "Really?" He asked and got to his feet, he was really tall at 193cm and he towered over Haze, Hades grabbed his sword from the side of the throne and he unsheathed it.
He pointed the sword at Haze. "You say you can use the sword, now prove it".
Haze looked at Hades with uncertainty, he wasn't sure if Hades was serious or he just wanted to prove a point.
Besides how was he supposed to fight against a god and win? No matter how strong he got, it would probably always be impossible.
Hades descended the stairs swiftly and kept his sword pointed at Haze, his gaze was cold and his voice sounded metallic.
[Enemy attack detected]
[You have a new mission]
[Mission: Survive Hades' wrath]
Reward: +10 Exp]
"Raise your sword Haze".
"Hades", Elena said pleadingly.
"Stay out of this Elena!", Hades replied without looking at her, he advanced closer to Haze who shakily raised his sword.
Hades grinned and in a flash he charged at Haze.
Haze barely saw the attack, all he saw was a blur rushing at him and he hastily raised his sword to block the attack.
Clang!
The force of the two blades meeting echoed in the room as Haze was thrown back a few feet.
"Hades, you don't need to do this, you've proven your point", Elena pleaded again but Hades paid her no heed, he charged at Haze again.
Haze could barely see Hades, he was astounded, he had increased his speed and senses to moderately high levels, he still couldn't see Hades' movements, all he managed to see were blurs that he quickly reacted to avoid being slashed by that long sword.
A little voice at the back of his head told him that even now, Hades was holding back.
Haze raised his sword and blocked the attack.
"Are you going be on the defensive throughout?", Hades teased with a cruel voice. "What good swordsman only blocks?"
Haze bristled with anger and he charged at Hades and swung his sword, one minute Hades was standing in front of him, the next, he was gone.
Haze gasped as Hades suddenly disappeared from his view.
"Huh, where is he?", He thought.
Then he felt a presence behind him, Haze turned around quickly just in time to block the attack but the force of the two swords clashing slammed him into the ground.
Haze wheezed as the wind was knocked out of him and he struggled to breathe, his vision was blurry at this point and he watched dazedly as Hades rushed at him and swung down with his sword.
"No!", Elena yelled as Hades' sword slammed into the ground, breaking the floor and sending up a cloud of dust that covered the two of them.