DEMIGODS: The Rule Breakers

Chapter 20: Battle between Gods

It was a declaration of war.

Silence hung in the air like the calmness before a fierce storm brings its sinister wrath; the tension rises as it slowly lingers in the air as if it unintentionally paralyzed us. No one was able to move as the two gods brooded at each other as if they weren’t sharing the same blood.

And the sky rumbled. It was like Zeus’s blessed them with his authority to cause chaos in Divine Continent. As I frustrating bit my lower lip, the humid grow cold, but at the same time, the air was hydrating us. It was like we are in the middle of the collision of two kinds of weather.

Eeriness filled the air as the sun slowly moves to the other side while the moon rises above; it was such a peculiar and beautiful sight. But just like they said, anything that looks lovely on the horizon symbolizes disaster. And when the rumbling of the sky hushed, their weapons abruptly collided.

The sudden gust of wind pushed us, and it was heavy and hot at the same time. I immediately covered my face and watched the mighty collision of two gods. They are causing a frigid rainstorm, but instead of a major downpour of rain, the speckles of ice slowly plummet as it slowly turns into a hot humid.

“Bow down, and I will forgive you,” Apollo seriously said. Artemis gritted her teeth, grips at her bow tightly, and glared at his brother, “I won’t,” Artemis replied.

My eyes search for the other god, who was with us. Athena’s eyes glimmered in amusement, and just by looking at her, I can quickly tell that she will never waste her time stopping her two comrades. I heaved a sigh. If a goddess like Athena wouldn’t stop them, then who would? As if that I can manage those two.

“Kung desidido ka na sa sagot mo pwes ipapakita ko sa’yo na mali ka ng grupong pinili,”

Apollo held his golden sword high. The sun shimmered down to it, reflecting its indescribable brilliance and blaze. The golden sword slowly changes from a simple looking one onto a blazing one, and everything it touches melts. On the other hand, the moon’s brilliance blinded us for a while. Artemis’s grew thicker and somehow more powerful.

“Pigilan mo sila,” Savannah commanded Athena.

Athena amusedly smiled and mockingly tilted her head, “Should I? This is something you don’t often see,” I don’t why, but her words made me brood at her. She’s the goddess of wisdom, but she’s not acting like one.

“Hindi na ako nagtatakha kung bakit galit sa’yo si Alexis,”

It hit her. Savannah’s remarks made Athena’s amusement disappeared in the thin air. Athena was about to talk back when Apollo charged towards Artemis, who just swiftly avoided him by doing a moon assault. Apollo’s sword struck a stone, which immediately melted because of its scorching heat.

Artemis’ winced as she holds the mark made by the demons, but then she endured the pain and frustratingly raised her bow and languidly looked at her brother. She shot three arrows made of ice, which Apollo easily deflected, and due to the heat possesses by the sword, the arrows melted.

My eyes widened when Artemis fell on her knees while screaming in pain as she tightly grips the black marking, “You might have forgotten, I am your weakness, Artemis,” Apollo jeered. He slowly walked his way towards Artemis.

She mightily gasped for air. Artemis weakly pulled one of her arrows, and with only an eye open, she pierced the blade to her arm, which was covered with black markings.

“Artemis…” Freya mumbled.

Wala kaming mag gawa kundi ang panoorin sila; taimtim at tahimik. Tila wala rin kaming karapatan na pigilan sila sa kanilang kasunduan. Dahan-dahan na tumayo si Artemis na akala mo’y nawala ang sakit na kanina ay dinadamdam n’ya. Saglit s’yang umatras at nagpakawala ng tatlong palaso patungo sa direksyon ni Apollo, mas mabilis ito kumpara kanina dahilan upang magasgasan ang balikat ni Apollo bago ito tuluyan na maglaho.

Isang ngisi ang kumawala sa labi ni Apollo habang patuloy pa rin naglalakad patungo kay Artemis at ang dugong biglaang tumulo sa kanyang balikat ay saglit na umusok bago ito maglaho.

“I know that I’m weak against you. That is why I’m trying my best to defeat you,” Artemis muttered, a sad smiled slowly curled on her lips, “For the meantime that I was with them, I learned how to treasure things. All I wanted was to recruit huntresses, but little did I know that I will meet them…”

“You must be crazy,”

Her smile grew more expansive, and for the first time, I was able to see a lot of emotions lingering in her eyes, “I am a goddess who only loves teasing Zeus. But because of the people I now love, I learned a valuable lesson – being powerful means nothing, sitting on a golden throne means nothing, being a goddess means nothing, if you can’t even protect those people you wanted to protect,”

“You really are crazy,”

A cold yet soft laugh escaped from her thin lips, “I really am, after all…” Artemis paused and looked in our direction, “I am one of the rule-breakers,”

Apollo angrily hissed and jolted towards Artemis with his sword ready to pierce. Artemis deflected it using her bow, and their collision made the sky parted along with the extraction of force coming from their clash. And as the clenching of their weapons continued, the moon slowly cast to the sun; the lovely view from earlier was slowly becoming a terrible nightmare.

It was like a curse. Everything was covered with crimson, like a bloodbath; it was sickening and terrifying. The soft-touch of darkness was leisurely growing into something more fearsome; the air becomes denser and suffocating, the sparkly specks of dust are now covered with blood as the sky rumbled, the crimson lightning emerged.

Apollo emitted his powerful aura, as well as Artemis.

At kung sino man ang magwagi sa laban na ito ay siyang mananatiling nakatayo.

“Face your reality, Artemis. You will never defeat me,” Apollo said.

And without any second thought, Artemis releases a hoard of arrows towards Apollo’s direction, which he mightily shoved away. Apollo grinned and charged towards her sister, but before he could fully pierce her, they were suddenly imprisoned into glimmering projectiles.

The sound of her footsteps echoed; we all looked behind just to see Alexis brooding at the gods.

Apollo mightily lunged his swords to the projectiles, but not a single thing happened, “Do you know the myth about the child who is bound to kill the gods?” Alexis asked while smiling at Apollo.

Apollo’s eyes widened, and his body weakened with eyes locked to her.

“The god slayer...”

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