Orion screamed, "NOT AGAIN!"
His heart was pounding. This wasn't like the chimera. This wasn't like Susanno appearing from nowhere. This was chaos left to roam around. He stood there in the middle of the street, eyes wide open.
"Shut up and run!" Heracles barked at him, grabbing his wrist, trying to yank him away by the wrist
But Orion didn't move
Before Heracles could shout again, Shiva dashed forward in a motion blur. The air cracked as he dashed ahead, before Orion, cold blink, the god of destruction, slammed both fists with terrifying force.
BOOM!
Heracles caught the blow with both of his forearms, and the concrete beneath his feet shattered like glass. He grunted, clenching his teeth as his muscles bulged, trying to hold Shiva back with sheer force
"You've got guts. I'll give you that, "Shiva said with a massive smile. But let's see how long you last."
With a sudden twist, Shiva brought up a knee, but Heracles deflected it with his elbow and released a thunderous uppercut. The blow moved through the air like a cannon.
Shiva didn't flinch.
He caught the punch mid-air with a single hand; his face was calm and unmoved. Then, raising his free hand to the sky, he summoned beams of swirling black and violet matter-darkness in its purest form. The beams rained down like divine judgment.
The beams hit Heracles, but his lion cloak roared to life, absorbing the brunt of the energy. The golden fur glowed
"Hah," Shiva smirked."That's quite impressive. I am going to have fun destroying that thread by thread."
Heracles snapped," Why are you killing humans, too? You're supposed to be a god. This war doesn't involve them
Shiva's grin twisted into something darker
"I felt like it."
Orion watched in horror. standing there in utter shock. The bodies.. the destruction.. Shiva had no reason to. A god with no leash
"He needs to die," Orion said out loud
Shiva turns his gaze to Orion
"Come and kill me then."
Orion stood there confused. "He didn't say that on purpose," he said to himself in his head
Heracles clenched his fists. The lion cloak hanging off his head seeping out golden energy, "You're no god," he growled."You're a monsyer wearing a crown."
Shiva smiled faintly, the ground beneath his feet darkening, cracks forming like a spider's web. "That's not nice to say to the man who saved you. Oh well, let the monster show you what divinity is."
The air became heavily charged with something dark. Out of Shiva's back burst streaks of twisting,black-violet tendrils that slithered like snakes through the air. They weren't just made of energy -they were alive, humming with destruction, trailing sparks of matter wherever they moved to
One lashed out, and Heracles reacted at the last second, dodging out of the way. The tendril struck a lampost behind him, disintegrating it instantly. leaving nothing but a burst of violet particles
"That has to be cheating", Heracles muttered
Shiva lunged forward again. This time, he didn't strike with fists alone. As he moved, the matter followed, weaving patterns in the air, slashing like blades. Heracles ducked and weaved between them, but one clipped his arm, burning through his skin like acid. He winced, more in frustration than pain.
Herales slammed his fists down with enough force, sending shockwaves through the street, shattering windows, and lifting debris into the air. He then surged forward using the debris as a blind spot, landing a blow to Shiva's chest that would have killed a human a thousand times over
Shiva slid back several feet, his sandals scraping against the street. For a moment, he looked impressed.
"Nice," He said
He lifted his hands, and a dozen dark matter glyphs started to spin in the air around, like a celestial clock running in reverse. Each glyph summoned projectile-lances of obsidian energy that sizzled as they launched towards Hercules
Hercules crossed his arms as the lion cloak expanded, creating a barrier around his body. The lances struck-boom, boom,boom-one after the other, each growing more powerful. The shield held, but cracks formed in the aura.
"Come on, break, "Shiva whispered."Just a little..."
Heracles burst from the smoke, uppercutting one of the glyphs and destroying it before slamming a knee into Shiva's chin. But Shiva twisted, catching the blow. Shiva jumped back, then placed his left hand on the ground, turning the ground beneath Hercules' feet into liquid
"You're stalling, "Heracles shouted, pushing free with raw might
"No," Shiva said, stepping back as one of his tendrils wrapped around his arm like a snake, sharpening into a blade."I'm playing."
They clashed again, blow after blow, the street crumbling around them.
In a moment of distraction, Heracles managed to land a punch on Shiva's face
He stood there in silence
Heracles jumped back
"Alright," Shiva muttered, brushing dust from his shoulder
"I'm getting bored now."
In a flash, he vanished
He reappeared behind Hercules, speed blitzing him with a vicious elbow to the spine. Heracles coughed blood, stumbling, trying to stay standing, but before he could recover, the ground below cracked open
From the pavement, giant hands crafted from dark matter erupted like a twisted forest, grabbing onto Hercules, dragging him to his knees.
"Let's finish this."
Shiva raised his hand- all the energy around him condensed into a pulsating black sphere. Reality warped around it
Orion stood there. Helpless. He looked to the ground, all that surrounded as broken concrete
He picked up the most throwable piece of stone, using all his strength hurled it as Shiva.
The stone hit him in the head.
Shiva glanced at the frail teenage human and laughed
"your next"
FWOOOM
A gust of wind split the street as Susanoo appeared in a flash of blinding light. With a fluid motion, his katana shimmered through the air-cleanly slicing off Shiva's extended hand.
The destructed halted.
Shiva blinked, caught off guard
His face was overcome with rage.
"You-" he growled.
Dark purple and black energy surged from Shiva's body like a storm. The air itself seemed to flee in his presence as he extended one of his hands and used the energy to push Susanno forward.
Shiva met his body while it was being drawn towards him, hitting him with a colossal punch to the gut. It cracked through Susannos' armour, sending him skidding backwards.
Heracles broke free from the bindings with a lion-like roar, dashing to Susanoo and catching him before he landed
The two gods now stood shoulder to shoulder, facing the god of destruction
Shiva hovered above them, hair floating upward, eyes glowing like stars dying in reverse
"I'm going to turn you both into food to feed the world seraphant", he said coldly, raising both arms. The dark energy surged again-twisting, growing, preparing to consume the entire street in one attack.
They were going to die.
The energy built into the sphere was so dense that the light around it began to bend. Orion's breath hitched.His legs felt like jelly
But then-
Shiva paused
He stopped charging the attack.
Slowly, his head turned
he whispered, "shit."
The glow in his eyes dimmed. The storm around him faltered. he began to lower his arms
Susanoo and Heracles tensed.
"What is he doing?" Orion said
Then with a scowl, he powered down.
"Today's not the day you die"
And with a flash, he vanished
Heracles sighed, eyes wide, fists still clenched." That was close."
Orion stumbled forward." Why did he leave? He was about to win!"
Sussanoo sheathed his katanda and said, "Something worse arrived."
Orion blinked."Worse than shiva?"
Heracles looked at Susanoo. Susanno noded
They spoke at the same time
"Wukong"