Beyond The Impossible

900,000 years ago, Olympian Galaxy

At first glance, this planet looks like paradise. Endless beautiful gardens, without a single building in sight. Or any mortal, for that matter: they’re all in orbit, surrounding this world with an armada of hundreds of ships ready to obliterate anyone foolish enough to attack it.

There’s only one being here. A human girl, wearing a green dress that matches her long green hair and frolicking in a field of beautiful flowers, without a care in the world. Or so it seems.

She’s still a little girl, but she’s 3,000 years old. And she’s a goddess.

Then she notices something very odd: a bunch of flowers suddenly wither away in seconds. She gets closer, slowly, to investigate. Then she witnesses a figure emerging from the decayed mess: a teenage girl with short purple hair and bright red eyes.

The girl shakes in fear, not knowing what to do. Until the teenager looks at her and smiles.

<Hello. Nice world you have here.>

<It’s a gift from my mommy. She doesn’t, uhm, she doesn’t want me to talk to strangers.>

<I’m not a stranger, I’m your half-sister. My name is Eris.>

<H-hi. I’m… I’m Persephone. Goddess of the spring. How… how did you do that thing?>

<You mean this?> the young Eris asks, picking up a flower: it turns to dust in seconds.

<It’s called death, kid. Want me to teach you? This place seems boring as f#ck.>

<Uhm, mommy doesn’t want me to hear bad words.>

<Yes, I’m sure you do everything Demeter tells you. I did everything MY mother said, and then she left me! Do YOU want your mommy to leave you, Persephone?>

<N-no. Maybe you could… teach me stuff? But don’t say anything to mommy!>

<Of course not, kid. It’ll be our own little secret.>

<But no bad words, okay? I think swearing is kind of dumb.>

 

Today, Uruk Galaxy

When Enyo’s war cry ends, the center of the arena has been vaporized and replaced by a large hole.

The air is so filled with dust that it’s impossible to see anything, even for a goddess.

<Surrender> she orders: even she knows that it will take far more to take down Persephone.

<Is that the best you can do, c#nt?> Persephone asks; the fiery green aura that surrounds her blows away the dust, revealing that she doesn’t have a scratch.

<No> Enyo replies, moving towards Persephone faster than sound; the pressure wave she creates is impressive, but Persephone manages to avoid her punch with ease.

<I knew you were fu##ing ret###ed, but you’re not just slow in the head> she mocks her, releasing a blast of green energy. There’s nothing left in the arena to destroy, so she immediately figures that Enyo has dodged the attack. In fact, she’s floating right behind her.

<Missed.>

Persephone reacts with another blast, accompanied by a scream of rage, that completely misses Enyo once again.

<Missed> she repeats.

<Don’t you fu##ing mock me!!!> Persephone shouts, her body barely containing the energy it creates. Instead of unleashing it, she focuses it on herself and tackles Enyo as hard as she can. The Goddess of War is taken by surprise, and both fighters fly away from the arena.

 

700,000 years ago, Olympian Galaxy

Persephone is lacking her dragon tattoo and is wearing a more conservative attire, a bronze breastplate and a skirt, but otherwise she doesn’t look any different than she will after meeting Null.

She’s at one of the sacred temples of Hera, or rather inside the crater where that temple used to be before it was atomized by her green energy.

<Well, Ares? Do you surrender NOW?> – she asks smugly, crossing her arms.

<No way> a deep male voice answers, jumping out of the dust cloud so fast that Persephone doesn’t see him coming. He grabs her by the throat and slams her on the ground, harder than she could’ve imagined, creating an earthquake.

<It’s just becoming interesting> Ares answers, coming closer to kiss her.

<Stay away, you creepy bastard> Persephone says, doing what she can to force him to let her go: her energy is so blinding that even the goddesses witnessing the fight can’t see them now.

There are three of them: Athena dressed in her full armor, Eris in a purple gown, and a goddess in her teenage years with long pink hair and impractically skimpy clothes.

<Come on, brother, show her who’s the boss!> the younger one shouts, when Athena stands up.

<I have gathered all the information I needed. I better leave before Demeter arrives.>

<Already, aunt Athena? But the fight’s not over yet!>

<It is over, but it’s not a fight: it’s a beating. I hoped Persephone would prove herself to be a valuable asset, but what she has in raw power she lacks in control. She’s useless to me.>

<It’s all about strategy for you, isn’t it, Athena? You can’t enjoy the simple things> Eris tells her.

Athena doesn’t answers, looking instead at Persephone who is yelling while Ares removes her skirt.

<Get away! Stop this! Stop! Somebody help me!!! HELP!!!!>

<Your protégé is about to get raped by Ares. You instigated their fight, Eris, is that your idea of fun?>

<You have to admit, it is kind of hilarious to watch her panic like that.>

Athena doesn’t dignify that with a response, disappearing in the blink of an eye as the screams from Persephone get louder. Enyo’s smile slowly fades away, and she turns towards Eris.

<He’s… he’s not actually doing it, right? I thought you just wanted to teach her a lesson!>

<And I am. But don’t worry about Persephone, help is on the way> Eris says pointing at the sky: it just turned green, when a goddess enters the atmosphere glowing with pure anger.

<What is going on here!?> Demeter asks, descending telekinetically to the ground. Ares lets go of Persephone and pulls up his pants, while she flies towards her mother.

<Kill him, mother!!! Kill him now!!!>

<Ares. What were you doing with my daughter?>

<Nothing, Lady Demeter. She just attacked me without reason and I had to defend myself.>

<Is that true, Persephone?>

<That’s a fu##ing lie! He was trying to abuse me! Eris, tell her about it!!!>

<Persephone did attack Ares, Lady Demeter, but I don’t know what happened after that… the battle was so fierce that I couldn’t see or hear anything.>

<What are you talking about? I saw and heard everything!> Enyo protests.

<I have no reason to trust Eris or Ares. But your mother speaks highly of you, Enyo, which makes you trustworthy… even more so that my troublesome daughter. What just happened?>

<Ares was…> Enyo begins to answer, looking at Persephone. Then her eyes move towards Ares, who nods ever so slightly.

<…just defending himself. He didn’t want to hurt Persephone… he doesn’t know his own strength, and didn’t realize she was so weak.>

<You fu##ing liar!!!> Persephone shouts, trying to slap her. There’s enough strength in her movement to crush a mountain, but Enyo easily grabs her wrist to stop her.

<Please, don’t embarrass yourself. I’m the legitimate daughter of Zeus and Hera: I will always be stronger than you, Persephone. Always.>

<We’ll see about that> Persephone answers through her teeth.

Enyo watches Demeter dragging her away, feeling the satisfaction of putting a lesser goddess to her place. Then she feels a hand on her shoulder, and a chill down her spine.

<That was hot. Let’s go to my temple and talk about it> Ares tells her.

<Thanks, but I should probably go> she excuses herself, trying to move away… but realizing that Ares is holding her hard enough to hurt.

<I insist> he creepily adds.

 

Today, Uruk Galaxy

The planet where the arena was transported doesn’t have a name. Life never had a chance to evolve here, which means there is nothing to damage when Persephone launches Enyo into a mountain hard enough to make it explode. The Queen of the Underworld hasn’t finished yet: she floats in front of the mess she created, concentrating her green power into a ball of energy.

<I’ve been waiting SO fu##ing long for this! Let’s go bigger!> she shouts, increasing the size of the ball to that of a house.

<Bigger!!!> she repeats, inflating the ball to rival the tallest skyscraper.

Enyo pushes away a boulder, looking at Persephone holding the ball above her head.

<BIGGER!!!> Persephone shouts, clearly strained by the effort to summon so much energy so quickly, but even with her veins glowing green she doesn’t stop until above her there’s a green star larger than the entire mountain range.

<WHO’S STRONGER NOW, B##CH!!!> she screams, launching the ball towards the ground.

There is no adequate scale to define its destructive power. Even asteroids don’t hit planets with this much force: it instantly atomizes billions of tons of rock, exposing the magma to the surface and flooding entire continents with boiling lava. The scar is so deep that the planetary core is partially visible, and the orbit around its star has completely changed.

Persephone watches this from ground zero, inside a maelstrom of vaporized ground, keeping a hand on her chest: she can feel her heart pounding like crazy, and she’s panting from the fatigue.

<And that’s why I’m the Motherf##king Queen of the Underworld! Who’s stronger now?> she asks once again, when the atmosphere clears. It doesn’t do it by itself, but thanks to the wave of a hand.

<Me> is the answer by Enyo. She sustained some damage: her black armor has crumbled away, leaving her naked body exposed and badly bruised. And her other injuries are now visible: not just the bruises from this attack, but the scars from a far more horrific encounter.

<You. Talk. Much> Enyo says, struggling to use her voice. And Persephone understands why, now that she can see the fingerprints Ares left on her throat.

<I won’t let you win this fight!!!> Persephone protests, shooting another blast: Enyo deflects it like an annoying fly, then she flexes her muscles. The air solidifies to recreate her armor.

<You think I’m afraid of you!? I’m the-> Persephone begins to say, then stops when Enyo’s punch connects to her stomach so hard that the goddess spits blood.

<Shut. Up> Enyo says, punctuating each word with another punch. Then she lifts Persephone and throws her towards the planet, following her flying as fast as she can.

 

“Strongest Under The Heavens” Arena

Most of the audience has been unable to follow the fight, but its effects are clear: the arena’s barrier created by Thoth is the only thing protecting it, now that it’s inside an ocean of lava.

<What happened? Did one of them die!?> Rhea asks, worried about the fate of her nieces.

<You can feel their divine essence, why do you bother asking?> Inanna wonders.

<Oh, that’s right! Silly me, I forgot I could do that!> Rhea giggles.

Enyo emerges from the ground, breaking through the floor of the arena: she’s holding Persephone in her hands, and she slams her against her knee so hard that everyone hears her bones snap.

Persephone has lost consciousness: badly bruised and drooling blood, she lays immobile until Enyo grabs her by her hair and prepares to deal the finishing blow.

Before she can do that, something emerges from the shadows: the cloaked figure of Hades.

Enyo looks at him, considering for a second challenging even him. Then she lets go, leaving Hades to take his unconscious wife in his arms and disappearing back into his shadow.

Nobody dares say a single word. Enyo calmly walks back towards the stands, leaving Thoth to be the one to break the silence.

<Persephone is no longer able to fight. The winner is Enyo, Goddess of War. The tournament will be suspended until tomorrow to rebuild the world.>