A new age of Divinity: Theomachy

Speed of Thought

Hermes arrived at the camp's remains and looked around at the carnage. He knew that Athena was getting much more violent as of late, but he had not expected what he was currently seeing. The corpses of children... well there were adults too, but the children were what messed with him the most. He knew Orpheus's invincibility would wear off once he was no longer needed, but he had figured he'd be needed to protect his haven. As he walked around, he felt a strange presence in the wind. While most of the bodies were dead, he could sense... something alive. He tried to keep his guard up, but it was difficult with the smell of rot and char. Every now and then, a tree would fall into black power when he touched it, the fires that had destroyed the camp had absolutely destroyed almost everything beyond repair. However long they would be gone, he hoped the Demigod survivors would be back soon.
As he walked back into the town's ruins, he was suddenly blasted into a broken wall, which prompted him to yell "Can everyone please stop with the cheap shots!?" He got up and dusted himself off "Where did that even come... from... oh what the shit?" He turned around and saw Nate on top of a roof, his Bifrost arm bloody red and his eyes showing hints of insanity "Great... look, kid, I do not have time to deal with whoever you are. I just came and now I will go home."
"Oh... oh, you wanna go home?" Nate asked, a small smile creeping across his lips "Well, here's the thing... my home, it doesn't exist anymore because of your sister!" Nate ran at him, jumped at Hermes, and tackled him down to the ground.
Hermes swung his knees up into Nate's chin, then pulled both his feet back, and slammed them both into his chest. Nate went flying backwards and snarled as he looked back up. He got up and cracked his neck, then they both ran toward each other. Nate hook punched Hermes across the jaw, then ducked underneath a cross. He got up and uppercut Hermes in the chin, then used his Bifrost arm to block a thrust punch to his throat. Nate used a spear poke from his left hand, but Hermes blocked the attack, then slammed a hook punch into the Demigod's nose. Nate stepped back from the strike, then spun, and roundhouse kicked Hermes in the nose. The Messenger God returned with a throat chop, but Nate just ducked under the attack.
"Enough!"
"Agreed!" Nate got back up and they swung a punch at each other, their fists crashing together, which pushed them away from one another "Consider this your blood payment!"
"My what-" Nate slammed his Bifrost arm full force into Hermes' chest, sending him flying backwards.
He crashed into the stone remains of Eir's old infirmary and looked up at Nate. He yelped and dashed away as the Demigod blasted himself towards the messenger. Nate's left fist casually broke through the stone and he glared back at Hermes. He ripped his fist out of the wall and ran toward his opponent again.
Hermes leapt a few buildings away, then groaned, and asked "Can you Demigods not just leave me alone-" Nate suddenly kicked him in the back, sending him flying down to the ground again.
Hermes tumbled face first to the dirt and Nate jumped off the roof he had kicked the God off of. As Hermes scrambled to his feet, Nate rolled over his shoulder as he landed in front of him. Nate ran at Hermes and slammed his shoulder into his chest. Hermes coughed and looked up just in time for Nate to uppercut him in the chin. After this strike, Nate spun, and elbowed him in the throat. Hermes staggered back and coughed while holding his neck. Nate used this opening and used another Bifrost burst on Hermes. He was knocked backwards and back rolled to his knees, then they glared at each other as Hermes got into a running stance. They charged toward each other again and Hermes tackled Nate to the ground.
"Leave me alone!" He exclaimed as he threw Nate away, then he began to run away.
"We aren't done!" Nate yelled as he shot blasts of Bifrost up into the air, then pulled them back down to the ground.
The first one crashed down like a meteor in front of Hermes, stopping him in his tracks. He looked back at Nate, but before he could do anything the second burst exploded in front of him. Hermes didn't know much about Bifrost, but he knew that this level of mastery over it was something very few in any world had ever achieved. Whoever this was, he was something else. He couldn't see anything through the fire that surrounded him so he didn't notice Nate running up behind him. Nate grunted as he grabbed him by the ankle with his Bifrost arm and dragged him across the ground. He swung Hermes up and slammed his face into a wall, then spun around, and threw him into a tree that hadn't been burnt into a standing piece of ash.
Hermes groaned as he sat up and Nate snarled, "My home's been destroyed... and you did nothing to prevent it, Hermes."
"Yeah, whatever... wait, why do you think this is my fault?" Nate snarled and threw a powerful punch with his Bifrost fist "Woah!" Hermes moved his head out of the way of the attack, then grabbed Nate, and began running him backwards "Just let me go-" Nate headbutted him in the nose before he could finish his sentence and pushed Hermes off of him.
Nate snarled and balanced on his Bifrost hand, then swung both of his legs into Hermes' knee. He tumbled to the ground and Nate grabbed him by the neck, then launched him away with another Bifrost blast. He crashed into a destroyed hut and looked at one of the support beams. He saw Nate running at him and decided to use the beam as a weapon. He punched one end of it, ripped it out of the building, and swung it at Nate. It struck him across the chest and knocked him down onto his back. Hermes began to run away, but Nate clearly wasn't going to let that happen. He ran up into the air and Nate used a burst of Bifrost to launch himself up. Hermes looked back down at him only for Nate to tackle him through the air.
"You're not getting away!" Nate told Hermes as they struggled while falling toward the shore of the lake.
"Let me leave and you will never see me again!"
"I'm never gonna see you again regardless!" Nate slammed Kenneth's father to the ground as they landed "And neither will anyone else. Sorry, Beth, but you won't be the first to kill one of the twelve Olympians."
"Enough!" Hermes snapped as he ran away.
"Hey! Get back here, I wasn't done!"
Nate blasted Hermes in the back of the knee and stopped him dead in his tracks. Hermes went flying and face planted to the wet ground of the lake's shore, then tumbled onto his back. He rolled back up to his stomach and glared up at Nate.
"Okay... you know what? Fine."
"Ready to stop being a coward?"
Hermes let out a yell and they rushed each other, their fists clashing as they met. The impact immited a huge shockwave that caused the calm water of the lake to burst up into the air as if a nuclear bomb had been detonated in it. The shockwave knocked down all the trees, and those which were simply ash, darkened the air as it flew all around the two combatants. Hermes swung a punch at Nate's jaw, but he ducked under it. He sidestepped Hermes, got up, and backfisted him across the jaw. He fell to one knee from the force of the attack, then leapt up, and kneed Nate in the chin. The strike was so powerful that Nate had to step back and Hermes jumped on his chest. He pushed himself away and tried to run on the air, but he just fell back to the ground. Although he managed to land on his feet, he was confused as to why running on air didn't work. He looked back and saw Nate holding his shoes, then he callously tossed them into the blood saturated lake.
"Oh, you are just trying to piss me off."
"We'd be on equal footing emotionally."
Hermes snarled, then pushed himself off to get more speed for his next attack. Nate brought his arms up in a guard and when Hermes got close enough, he unleashed a powerful hook punch. Hermes was sent flying to the ground and bounced until he fell into the shallows of the lake.
"Come on, you can't have actually expected that to work," Nate asked as he launched himself up into the air "Never underestimate the strength of the Norse!" Hermes got up and yelped as he dove away from Nate, who evaporated part of the lake when he landed.
Hermes ran in a huge semi circle before rushing back topward his opponent. Nate ran at him as well and slid on his side to avoid a flying scissor kick from Hermes. Nate rolled up to his feet and leapt at Hermes once again. He ran away from Nate's impact point and began running away.
"You're not getting away!" Nate yelled as he rushed after Hermes and tackled him by launching himself with his Bifrost arm.
They both tumbled to the muddy shore of the lake and scrambled to their feet. Nate swung a powerful hook punch into Hermes' jaw and took an equally powerful slap a second later. After the slap, Nate kneed Hermes in the floating rib. He fell to one knee, which Nate took advantage of to swing an elbow across his eye. Hermes turned and fell to his hands and knees while panting for breath. He had not expected to fight two Demigods today, and this one seemed to be out for blood! Hermes shook his head and turned to look up at Nate again before tackling him. He held him by the shirt and dragged his back across the entirety of the destroyed Haven. Nate quickly grew tired of this and punched Hermes in the back of the head to knock him off balance. The Demigod's plan worked and they crashed into the wall of Eir's infirmary. Nate got up and stomped on Hermes' chest, then swung a punch at his nose. Hermes rolled away the attack and got behind Nate while the Demigod's fist was caught in the wall. He looked back and ripped it out before pursuing Hermes once again.
"Enough running! Just fight me, damn it!" He told Hermes.
He crouched down and swung his leg at Hermes' knees, but he leapt over the attack. Nate got up and jumped into the air to try and land on Hermes, but he dove away. Nate landed and snarled as he landed, turned, and uppercut Hermes in the chin. The strike had enough force to launch Hermes up into the air so he did a backflip before landing. Hermes touched down on the ground again and ran at Nate again, but he just back handsprang away from it. When Nate landed on his feet again, Hermes drove by punched him across the jaw. The punch managed to knock Nate to the ground and he got up to his knees while holding his bleeding mouth. He spat out blood and one of his golden teeth, then got back. He stood at his full height and turned back to face Hermes... only to find that he was gone.
"What the He-" Time suddenly slowed down... but in reality it hadn't.
Hermes was running so fast that it only appeared the time had frozen. He ran in front of Nate and threw him up into the air, then leapt into the air, and slammed himself down into the Demigod. Hermes continued to pound him into the ground until Nate was surrounded by a six foot deep crater. He leapt out and began to walk away, not noticing the glow from the crater behind him. As he was beginning to leave, a slight rumbling caught his attention.
"Leaving so soon?!" Nate jumped out and before Hermes could react, lifted him up, and slammed him down to the ground "Hermes, stop and listen! My home is gone and it's because of your sister! Athena destroyed this place!" The rest of the group arrived and saw them both sweaty, covered in mud, and bleeding "So, you gonna help us? Or are you going to stand in our way? 'Cause we've killed a Goddess, another one won't hurt."