War God's Mantle- Underworld

by James Hunter

  Tartarus Sauce

  THE FIRE STALLIONS carried me over the city and into the maelstrom of harpies, more of the creatures than I could even begin to count. The winged women dove and swooped, trying to surround me, but when they got close, their feathers smoked at the blazing fury of the chariot and its mounts. The winged crones didn’t stop. They kept on coming even though it meant death by barbecue. They attacked in a mad frenzy. Claws scratching off the gold sides of my chariot. The ones that raked their talons down the Inferno Shield were flash-fried on the spot.

  A harpy had been the first monster I’d met on Lycastia, and it had taken down my Harrier.

  That was NOT going to happen a second time.

  I ignited Apollo’s Glory and became a ball of raw sunfire streaking through the sky. All those evil bird crones let out a cry as they fell back, blinded by the sheer badassery. I crashed through them like a flamethrower through a chicken coop. The War Blade flashed behind me, struggling to both lop off heads and keep up as I raced through the air like an angel of death.

  Blackened harpies tumbled out of the sky by the hundreds.

  The winged crones soon bailed on chasing after me and headed toward the battle in the city proper, where their efforts would be far more effective. And those harpies would play hell with our ground forces. Well, they would if not for the epic air support I had standing by, just waiting for my signal.

  Toxaris, I have a sky full of harpies for you and the girls. Lure them close to Highland Park and let the Death Harvesters fill them full of holes. I magicked those guns to give them an extra kick. They’ll pierce that harpy skin without a problem.

  Yes, War God, on our way! the Beastiamancer sent.

  Breaking free of the cloud of harpies, I urged the chariot into a dive and hit the ground with a thud, not slowing a bit as I bolted across the stone, searching for Hades.

  I couldn’t find the bastard. No sign of him anywhere, which was probably bad news.

  What I did see, however, were colossal creatures storming through the mile-high gate that had once blocked off the entrance to the hellscape of Tartarus; they sprinted across the dry riverbed where the Phlegethon used to flow. Those giants didn’t come at me. No, in flashes of lightning, they disappeared. Thunder rolled across Hell, loud and ominous. I tried to count the escaped monsters, but they were gone so fast, I couldn’t. Six? Maybe more. Most likely those had been the Titans, and they were just glad to be out of their prison. With the rift open, chances were they weren’t going to cool their heels in the Underworld for long.

  The next thing to come shambling out of the gate filled the horizon. It was five hundred feet tall if it was an inch, and it didn’t want to escape. No, it wanted destruction. It slithered toward me.

  The stink of the monstrosity blew into my face on a stiflingly hot wind. Heat, incredible heat, struck me like a fist to the nose. That thing was like a walking volcano crossed with an octopus and a mannequin-arm supply company.

  I stopped the Helios Chariot. Where had Hades gone?

  Sophia teleported in carrying Phoebe. She vanished and returned with the Rune-Caster’s mech. Loxo skated in on her winged sandals. For a second, I was a little jealous—flying around in battle was pretty much the coolest. But then I thought of Hades’ black leg, withering in preternatural frost ... that was all thanks to the flying demigoddess of stealth, lust, and the hunt. Sophia vanished, returning to Rockford to help with the battle there.

  Above Rockford, my Beastiamancers had engaged the harpies in an aerial battle. Archers shot bird crones out of the air in flashes of lightning, fire, and ice. Toxaris preferred grenade arrows that exploded on impact. I’d watched YouTube videos where good ol’ boys attached dynamite to arrows. It was just like that, only better. Because, you know, hot Amazons firing dynamite arrows. Everything’s better with hot Amazons. Harpies fell in explosions of feathers. Others went down with iced-up wings. Still more became burning torches of hapless chicken meat.

  Meanwhile the Pegasi did their part, lashing out with razor-sharp hooves, bashing in skulls or stomping on wings. And from Highland Park, the Gatling guns on the Death Harvesters rattled. Tracers lit up the gloom, tearing the demon birds out of the sky.

  From out of the chaos of the aerial battle, Asteria, in her giant eagle form, flew to me holding a cage of vines created by Persephone. Inside it were both Myrina and the goddess of spring. Asteria landed and turned human. She looked epic, naked and holding the trident, which was as big as she was. Persephone flung the plants away as she and my Battle Warden strutted out like the two baddest bitches that every walked the face of any world.

  Well, at least I wouldn’t be alone to fight the god of monsters sliding across the Plain of Judgement toward us like a skyscraper with a snake body.

  “It’s Typhon,” Persephone said, face pale, hands balled into fists. “The Titan of monsters, and the very worst thing ever created. Hades is insane to have released it.”

  And I had no doubt that Hades and the Erinyes would show up to take care of Typhon’s leftovers.

  Typhon was close enough that I could see its body, which was mostly arms, a thousand at least, all of them as long as redwood trees. In its many, many hands it held a fine variety of weapons: spears, axes, swords, and a potpourri of polearms. Keeping with the snake motif Greek mythology seemed to enjoy, its legs were two long serpent tails that stretched at least another hundred feet behind it. On its back were two huge dark wings that sent gale-force winds to drive us back. The stench of the thing made me nauseous. And then it opened its big demon mouth, showcasing a mask of teeth and tusks situated beneath two gleaming eyes the size of the stained-glass windows in my church back home. Horns curled back from its forehead.

  The god of monsters vomited out chunks of molten rock the size of semitrucks; the flaming asteroids crashed into the earth like wrecking balls and rolled across the stone, tossing bits of lava as they cooled.

  Phoebe laughed. Okay, so big and ugly there breathes magma. All we need to do is get it some Gaviscon and that’ll fix up that heartburn quick. Put him in a much better mood.

  I was too busy crapping my linen skirt to respond.

  Typhon roared, laughed, roared some more, and kept right on coming.

  My mind whirled as I thought about possible solutions ... There was one that might work, though it was a long shot, and it required some serious faith and trust in my new demigoddesses and in Persephone. But we were past the point of trust issues. Hell, we were elbow deep in an absolute shitstorm, and if now wasn’t the time for a Hail Mary, then it never would be.

  “Okay. This is what we’re going to do,” I said. “We are going to rotate weapons. Use the most powerful attack, and then toss it to the next person. The once-a-day abilities seem be tied to the individual, not to the item itself.” I threw the Sower’s Glass to Phoebe, who caught it. “Can you stop time?”

  She shook her head. Not enough mojo, it seemed. She tossed it to Persephone.

  The spring goddess smiled. She was a ginger now with a nice freckled face. “I can use the Sower’s Glass.”

  That was awesome, since I’d already stopped time that day. “Okay, if things go sideways, do it!” Checking, I saw I’d regenerated a little over forty Divine Essence Points. I was up to fifty-three.

  Then it was time to hit the god of monsters with everything we had. It reached down with its enormous serpentine arms, wielding a forest of weapons in its many hands. All those spears and axes must’ve been forged by the inhuman Cyclopes because they were double XL for sure.

  Uh, make that triple.

  Myrina got into the Helios Chariot while I readied the Crystal Scythe. I was dangerously low on Divine Essence, but it had been twenty-four hours and I had access to all the scythe’s goodies.

  Typhon, who was finally in range to attack, let out an ear-splitting bellow as he lashed out with a thousand truck-sized weapons all inbound at the same instant. With a thought, I triggered the Mystical Barrier function of the scythe. Abov
e us, the air shimmered, and the incoming weapons struck the force field and bounced away, the barrier flickering electric blue. Ol’ Typhon couldn’t get past the divine energy shield, but we, on the other hand, could fire right through the barrier, unhindered. I added Time Orb to the mix, slowing the god of monsters by 90%. The spell was line of sight, and if I could slow a comet, I could sure as shit slow Little Timmy Typhon.

  Asteria used her trident like a high-powered pressure washer, blasting Typhon’s torso and limbs with columns of unrelenting water. The high-velocity hose removed skin and muscle, and even broke bone. Meanwhile, Persephone used the Root Feet function, courtesy of her sickles. A veritable national forest snaked out of the stone with enough foliage to trap Typhon’s massive serpentine legs. In seconds, big and ugly was stuck.

  Then Persephone got busy. The sickles whirled up the body of the beast, cutting off arms, which fell like raindrops around us. Big-ass raindrops. She’d triggered the Maelstrom Blades feature and now it was harvest time. The blades carved great furrows into the creature’s body and hacked through limbs with pitiful ease. Those dropping limbs presented a challenge of their own, however. We quickly found ourselves dodging, ducking, and diving as the amputated arms landed, shaking the ground. And even while we evaded, we continued to press our assault, launching wave after wave of attacks.

  Myrina raced the Helios Chariot up the center of Typhon’s oversized torso using Sunfire to blister skin and sear through muscle. When she crested the giant’s body, she then triggered Apollo’s Glory. The god of monsters let out a howl as it was blinded. Of course, Myrina used that moment to hurl Athena’s Spear into one of its eyes, most likely using the Strategic Initiative aspect of the weapon.

  I tossed Phoebe the War Blade and she triggered Shockwave, calling down a lightning storm on the back of the Titan. Its wings caught fire, and one exploded.

  Phoebe had given Loxo the Hammer of Hephaestus, and the demigoddess of the hunt went Chris Hemsworth on the enormous freak. Skating up on her winged sandals, Loxo bashed, fried, and blasted her away around waving arms and slashing weapons. Then at the top, Loxo created an iron wall and let it drop down on the skull of the demon-headed leviathan.

  Loxo threw Myrina the hammer while she plucked Athena’s Spear out of the Titan’s ruined eye. Then Loxo did something downright cruel. She flew to the top of its skull and brought the spear down between its curling horns. As the weapon landed, she triggered Battlequake. The force of the magical assault crunched its skull. That massive hit blew out the other eye, permanently blinding the god of monsters. The behemoth Titan stiffened and spasmed, even as its snake tails flapped and shuddered.

  Then it was my turn. I used my Strength to leap onto an arm, then another, then another, bounding my way up, up, up until I was halfway up his scaled torso, easily two hundred feet from the ground below. I drove in, pressing the Inferno Shield into its skin. At the same time, I wheeled back and hit that fucker in the belly as hard as I could with the Crystal Scythe. I added a Smite to the mix, doubling the damage and really tearing into the thing, though it left me useless for a minute. All the Divine Essence I’d regenerated in the last few minutes left in a whoosh—fifty points gone in an eyeblink.

  My own blow sent me flying back. I slowed my fall by ramming the Crystal Scythe into the monster’s belly and sliding down its skin. I felt like Captain Jack Sparrow using his dagger to ride down a sail.

  I hit the ground, dizzy and sick to my stomach. When I glanced up, however, I had to smile in feral victory. I’d opened a gaping wound in the god of monsters the size of a football field.

  In mere seconds, the six of us had smashed away ten thousand points of Health, and we could do ten thousand more, since it was moving so slowly.

  Ha, Phoebe sent, and we thought this was going to be hard.

  Asteria flew down and caught me in her eagle talons. Her wings beat furiously as we rose, soaring back up through the forest of arms all swatting at the air, trying to take us down. I kept on hacking with the Crystal Scythe. It could cut through anything, and with my added Strength, it was nothing for me to take an arm off with each swipe.

  Asteria swooped, dove, and barrel-rolled, driving back down. A moment later, we all reconvened on the ground, protected by the Mystical Barrier I’d created, as the thing reeled back and fell, blinded, down and verging on death.

  I had to agree with Phoebe. “Well, that wasn’t so hard.”

  Famous last words, those.

  Something leapt up into the air—that son of a bitch, Hades. Perfect. Typhon wasn’t doing so hot, but he was hardly down for the count, and now I had the god of death to contend with.

  He pointed his club at me. Very good, godling. Very good. Yet perhaps you should’ve held back some. For I have healed, as have the Erinyes. Now tremble, for your doom draws nigh.

  A mouth cracked open in Hades’ blank face, a jagged slit like an old scar that had never properly healed, revealing a black maw. And from that puckered hole flew the Erinyes. They came smoking out of his gullet, reforming wings, sprouting fresh muscle and skin, unfurling long whips while rage burned hot and heavy in their midnight eyes. As one, they shrieked, fire gushing from their mouths.

  Typhon clambered back to its scaly feet and let out a roar. Though it was blind, it could still hear, and it could still fight. The enormous Titan staggered forward on his odd snake-tail legs, then promptly puked up another ball of lava, which smashed into the Mystical Barrier above us in a rain of rocks, fire, and ash.

  I tossed the Crystal Scythe to Persephone, who activated another round of Time Orb.

  At the same time, Loxo threw Phoebe the spear. The Rune-Caster smashed the butt of the spear into the ground, casting a Battlequake of her own. The destructive energy rippled through the ground, dust and rocks leaping up as fissures formed in the stone; the wave of energy smacked into Typhon, making it stagger back. But that was only a minor setback at most. And Hades and the Erinyes seemed completely unphased as they rushed our position.

  Loxo tossed Myrina the War Blade, and she activated Shockwave. Clouds swept around us, swirling overhead as lightning electrified the air. The resulting thunderstorm from both the air and the ground wreathed the god of monsters, the god of death, and the winged minions in arcs of crackling blue power. All smoked. One of the Erinyes lost a wing. Naturally, that wing grew right back. Burned skin repaired itself. Sigh. Everything had to be killed twice. Er, three times.

  Hades laughed, the sound as cold and humorless as a winter wind blowing through a graveyard. He raised his arm and the spiked bone club in his hand burned with sickly green light; a wound on his chest—jagged and black and ugly—knit itself closed at once. All that damage, gone in two heartbeats.

  His club burned brighter and brighter, so bright it hurt to look at. Emerald energy, some kind of telekinesis, plucked me, Myrina, Phoebe, and Asteria up, then sent us sprawling across the ground. The Helios Chariot was upended, the fire mounts banished. In the same instant, Hades pulled Loxo from the sky and smashed her down beside us, pinning her flat on her back with the force of his rancid mind alone. Only Persephone remained untouched.

  My Amazons and I fought to get to our feet, but then the next attack hit us ...

  The Erinyes struck without mercy, lashing out with their bronze-studded whips.

  Hades pounded the ground with his club. The shattered stone debris rose as if in slow motion, then slammed us back into the earth. Stars exploded across my eyes and the breath rushed out from my lungs, leaving me gasping for air. Holy shit, I’d lost half my Health from that one attack alone.

  On the plus side, the mental force holding me down suddenly faded, allowing me to move. I rolled left just as one of Typhon’s axes—easily the size of my Kia Forte back home—crashed down onto the rocks, carving a deep furrow where I’d been a second ago. With a grunt, I gained my feet, clutching my chest as I struggled to regain my breath. Up above, Hades hung in the air, held aloft by some magic I didn’t understand, his cape flutt
ering madly behind him.

  I thought about hitting him with Wrath, but I hadn’t cleared the twenty-minute cooldown timer yet. Besides, I didn’t have the Essence. I wasn’t even close. If I was going to take down this asshole, I’d have to think of something else.

  Meanwhile, the fight went on unabated. Myrina, Asteria, Phoebe, and Loxo—who had regained the ability to move along with me—were dodging Typhon’s massive swords and flailing arms. Persephone tangled with the Erinyes. The goddess of spring was using a writhing mass of vines, which sprouted from the earth like some green Cthulhu horror. Wrist-thick tendrils of foliage wrapped around arms and legs, torsos and wings, drawing the winged women down to the earth while inch-long thorns drew blood. The Furies breathed fire on the vines, blackening the plants, and raked at them with wicked talons.

  The vines were working, sure, but they would only tie those three up for a matter of seconds.

  Which meant I had to move my ass.

  I turned and sprinted toward the Helios Chariot.

  Another flash of cancer-green light filled the air as Hades summoned a stone storm that knocked me from my feet. I face-planted, then rolled onto my back to find Hades standing over me, his club raised high, ready to end me. I rolled away before he could slam the spikes into my brain. I dodged the blow by mere inches. Hades brought the club down again, and this time the spikes lodged firmly in the ground. I flipped onto my belly, fear a tight knot in my stomach, then scrambled to my feet and broke into the clear.

  I thrust my right hand straight out as I turned and, with an effort of will, recalled the War Blade to my fingers. I didn’t have enough power to hit us with the normal round of spells like Burning Aura, Fury, and Defender—I was at single-digit Essence points—but I could turn into a werewolf one more time. As my fingers wrapped around the sword’s hilt, I shifted, nose elongating into a muzzle, claws and fangs taking shape as coarse hair sprouted from my skin. I squared off with Hades as a slavering wolf creature with the War Blade twirling around me in a slow orbit.