Delos system, 78.000 light-years from Earth
In sheer numbers alone, the Ares fleet is the most impressive one in the Galaxy: there seems to be no end to the millions of ships that it can deploy at a moment’s notice.
Their numbers and their unflinching devotion to Ares are the only things that make the fleet exceptional: the vast majority of its ships are no match for the forces of other gods, and the Ragnarok is no exception.
Their weapons don’t even penetrate the hull of Neutral Matter, and the only tactic that is causing trouble to the Vanguard’s flagship is the constant barrage of kamikaze attacks.
<Where the hell are the reinforcements!?> Noriko Null yells at Helen of Troy, standing next to the captain’s chair of the Ragnarok’s bridge.
<You know Apollo doesn’t have a real fleet. You should summon more Oracles, you know you have the authority to do so.> the Queen replies.
<I wouldn’t recommend it. They’d just be slaughtered by Demons.> Kylon notes; he’s been observing the battle between the Demon forces and the Oracles stationed at Delos, and even if the sensors are providing an incomplete view it’s definitely not pretty.
<If only my husband were here. How did Ares know that Apollo wasn’t in this system?>
<I’m not so sure he did, Helen. Clearly Ares doesn’t care if his soldiers die, so maybe he just wanted to send a message.> Noriko answers, then she leaves the captain’s chair and she moves towards the Kari Zel duplicate at the weapons terminal.
<Time to send a message ourselves. What have we got?> she asks.
<We’ve taken a few hits, but we’re basically unscathed. There are way too many ships to take down the whole fleet. Electromagnetic pulse?> Kari answers with a question.
<Not with those damn pentagram portals still open, they’d just send reinforcements.>
<Black hole generators?>
<Not without killing every single Oracle and Demon, plus anyone on Delos.>
<There are no survivors on Delos.> Helen intervenes.
<How do you know?>
<It’s how Ares works. This is a war, Null, and we are facing an enemy. We must respond in kind.>
<I am not going to order a senseless massacre, Helen. Gimme another option! Can we call Apollo?>
<I don’t know where my husband is. And if you want to avoid a massacre, calling him would have to be your very last option.>
Noriko doesn’t reply, weighing all options. Intellectually she knows that this will inevitably end with the death of countless Ares soldiers, but that doesn’t mean she’s eager to kill them.
<Kari, get the black hole generators ready. I’ll come up with some way to warn both the Oracles and the Demons so that they have just enough time to leave the system before…>
<That’s risky. If the Ares ships intercept it…> Kylon warns her.
<I know. But there won’t be another Hell.> Noriko replies with her silver eyes shining.
Kari prepares to execute her orders, but before she can press the switch diverting power from the engines to the black hole generators another one of her duplicates interrupts:
<A portal is opening right above us! It’s a big one!>
<Another pentagram? Have they found a way past our shields?> Kylon asks.
After glancing at the sensor readings, Noriko replies with half a smile:
<That’s not a pentagram.>
From the viewscreen, a ship nearly identical to the Ragnarok flies towards the Ares fleet, making some room and clearing the battlefield.
<We’re receiving a call from the N13-Vanth.> Kari says.
<On screen.>
<Sorry I am late. I had to get used to the controls.> Dmitry Voron says with a slight Russian accent, transmitting from a bridge where his only company are Nullbots.
<Let me guess, you would’ve preferred a Surtur class?>
<You should have retired the Ragnarok class; the Surtur is vastly superior, mostly thanks to the fact that we designed it together, I might add.>
<If I threw everything away every time I get a new toy I wouldn’t have half my arsenal, Dmitry.>
<I am glad to hear that, since according to my sources you are single again.>
<What sour… do we have to do this right now!?>
<We can discuss things in private if you prefer. We’ll talk after Quantum and the dogs are done.>
The channel closes, with the image of the Russian scientist replaced by the battlefield. Specifically, by the bright laser that ricochets from one ship to the other; after it disables enough weapons, it transforms into radio waves to get inside the Ragnarok.
<Hey guys. What’d I miss?> Quantum asks.
<The ex boyfriend is back.> Kari answers.
<The senator or the athlete?>
<The mad scientist.>
<The Russian jerk? Never liked that guy. Anyway the F.E.N.R.I.S. are here too.> Quantum reveals nonchalantly, just as the N15-Tyr enters the system and opens its bay doors to unleash a few thousand F.E.N.R.I.S. units.
The wolf-shaped robots swarm the Ares fleet, dismantling the ships and carrying their crew towards Delos with terrifying artificial precision.
<Nick trick; your description didn’t do them justice. But as long as the portals are open this is only a temporary solution.> Kylon highlights.
Just then, something cuts off the supply of new ships… almost literally: an enormous sword made of fire appears out of nothing, cutting one of the pentagrams in half.
<Or not. Things sure move quickly around you guys.> the Lar admits.
<You have no idea.> both Kari and Quantum comment at the same time.
<Is that… is that Torn?> Noriko wonders, feeling something through the Blood.
<No. That’s a goddess.> Helen corrects her.
The Demon army moves likes a single swarm; hundreds of thousands of soldiers converge around a single point, with the Blood energy used to protect them against the harshness of outer space creating a vast red web.
Vesta stands at the center, her body surrounded by an aura of superheated Blood that moves like an angry fluid. Her eyes and her voice are on fire, resonating with every Demon soul.
<You want a target? Here I am. Take your best shot.> she tells them, opening her arms.
There’s a moment of hesitation, then every single Demon unleashes a barrage of every conceivable form of weapon against her.
It’s such a monumental display of power that the Ragnarok’s viewscreen can no longer pick up anything: the entire screen goes completely red, overwhelmed by the amount of Blood energy.
<Okay, I’m going out on a limb here but I guess this is really bad?> Quantum asks.
<Demon weapons bypass her invulnerability, don’t they? Please tell me she got away!> Kari asks Noriko, hoping to get some reassurance. But instead her boss is looking at the instrumentation in sheer disbelief.
<Nori?>
<She can’t be doing this.> Null whispers.
<Nori, talk to me. What is Vesta doing?> Kari asks, creating a duplicate to get close enough to see the same screen. Specifically, the repeatedly flashing line that reads TEMPERATURE: ERROR°C.
<She broke the scale… I have no way to measure how much heat she’s generating. Just how powerful is she!?> Noriko wonders.
The Demons wonder the same thing, ceasing their barrage. When the sea of red disappears, the only thing they see is a wall of white hot fire surrounding Vesta.
<Is that all you’ve got?> she asks, reabsorbing the fire into her own body.
The entire Demon army slowly backs away from her.
<My turn.> she adds, her mouth warping into a sadistic smile that nobody has ever seen from her.
Her aura ignites again, as she concentrates her power into a large blade of superheated plasma hot enough to effortlessly cut through an entire planet, and she charges towards the Demons.
<Sickle to Death!>
Vesta’s blade hits a scythe made of red and black flames, as Torn is suddenly in front of her; his body is protected from her heat by his Blood aura, but he has to put everything he has into the scythe to stop her from attacking the Demons.
<Out of my way, mortal!>
<You’re losing control of the Blood, Vesta. It’s drawing out all your lost potential, but this isn’t who you are. You are no killer.>
<This is what I was always meant to be!> she replies, shoving him aside: his mastery of the Blood gives him some control over her weapon, but he’s simply no match for her divine strength.
She charges towards the Demon army, even as tens of thousands of pentagrams are leading them to safety as they retreat en masse. She readies a full powered blast hot enough to evaporate anything, but she stops as a mass of photons appears in front of her.
<That’s enough, Vesta!> Quantum scolds her, crossing her arms.
<Step aside. I want to burn something. Anything.> she warns him, so angry that her body is literally shaking. Quantum doesn’t budge.
<I have to burn EVERYTHING.>
Then the fire of her eyes ebbs away, as anger is quickly replaced by sincere guilt.
<I was… I was ready to… oh Gaea, what’s happening to me!?> Vesta asks herself, almost crying.
<Divine wrath charged with Blood. Its anger needs a target.> Torn answers, creating a chain sickle and throwing it towards the remains of the Demon army that are still in retreat. The sickle hooks itself on a random Demon, and Torn is able to pull the chain to pull it towards himself.
<Let’s find you one. Null will probably want to assist during the interrogation.>
Boreas, 3.000 light-years from Earth
Leiko Tanaka is thoroughly enjoying her renewed youth. She doesn’t consider herself particularly vain, but she hasn’t worn the Winter Armor since Hera turned her back into a 25 year old.
And since the Endless Winter has been cybernetically installed inside her chest, she doesn’t even need it to survive the freezing temperatures of the Lar world.
The same can’t be said of her hostage. Adrestia’s body has healed almost completely from the beating sustained at the hands of Hera, but she’s still too dangerous to be underestimated.
She’s trapped inside a torture device: she’s forced to kneel in an uncomfortable position by a curved bar of indestructible Neutral Matter, with most of her body trapped into a block of ice. As if that wasn’t enough, there’s a block full of spikes floating above her head. It’s made of destabilized Neutral Matter: if Adrestia tries to concentrate her gravitational powers on anything else, she will be crushed by a few billion tons of spiked pain.
<I hope you appreciate the gesture. Your accommodations cost me a fortune.> Leiko tells her.
<Why the effort? You could trap me in cryostasis, like you did with Dionysus.> Adrestia replies.
<You’re the goddess of retribution. Surely you don’t need me to spoon-feed you all the answers.>
<You think Dionysus is useless, but you want something from me. What is it?>
<Information. I know everything I need about Hera, but your father is still an enigma to me.>
<He only loves killing and f##king. He’s not a complicated god.>
<What is the secret to his power? What is his weakness?>
<What is… are there no limits to your madness, woman? You want to go against war itself!?>
Instead of answering, Leiko moves a step closer. The ice that traps Adrestia grows a little more, coming so close to her mouth that her lips turn blue.
<He gets stronger the more he fights.> Adrestia finally admits.
<Explain.> Leiko orders her. Adrestia’s heart misses a beat, and the block above her drops an inch.
<He absorbs the energy of an attack and makes it his own. What doesn’t kill him literally makes him stronger.>
<He must have a limit. According to my sources, Vesta once defeated him.>
<If… if he knows I’ve told you this…> Adrestia says, the ice now creeping up from above and almost reaching her eyes.
<What. Is your father’s. Weakness.> Leiko insists.
<Heat… he can’t… absorb… heat…> Adrestia manages to say despite the ice filling up her mouth and extending inside her lungs.
<Hmmm. That would explain why he had her exiled and why he has a rivalry with Apollo, if he’s the one god who can actually hurt him.> Leiko thinks out loud. She’s not worried by Adrestia hearing her thoughts, since the goddess is now completely incased in ice.
<Prepare to launch my flagship for a trip to the nearest black hole. I have some garbage to dispose of.> the Ice Queen says through her radio communicator.
As she teleports away, billions of tons of Neutral Matter crush the paralyzed Adrestia in an earthquake that will be felt throughout the planet.
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