The Ancient Prophecy

60 : Final Battle ( pt.2 )

     Bursts of power erupted all around in blinding lights , lighting their way in the dark of the night . The rain did not seem to touch any of the gods and titans as they fought .
     Even after centuries of being caged in the land of the monsters called Tartarus , the goddess of wisdom still remembered every fighting tactic she had learned . She swinged her spear around and dodged attacks with her shield . But a shield can be a weapon too . She tried to make enemies lose balance by pushing them forcefully with the shield .
      Children of Nyx fought alongside them in battle like Thanatos , Phantasos , Eleos , Dolos and Hesperis . Charon was also their ally but remained in the Underworld to do his job of guiding the souls of the dead into the Underworld . It was already an unbalance to the course of the Underworld that Thanatos was not present there but with the Allience to fight .
      On the opposite side fought children of Nyx like Nemesis , Morpheus , Hypnos , Eris and so on . Even if some of the opposing children of Nyx were considered gods too and their demigod children were welcomed in the Resistence they still chose to fight against Athena's allience , on Kronos' side .
     On Athena's side fought some of Kronos' siblings too , like Thetys , Themis , Coeus , Phoebe and Crius . The goddess of wisdom believed that some had chosen to join their Allience against Kronos because of their low statuses , for a chance to be more known outside the shadow of Kronos and his more powerful brothers , Hyperion , Iapetus and Oceanus .
      The rest of their allience consisted of lesser titans , children of the main twelve and children of the lesser titans like Leto , Styx , Epimetheus , Eos , Dike , Pallas , Nike , Zelus , Bia and Astraea .
      And some of the oceanids fought on their side too . The oceanids who nursed Zeus in his first years of his childhood .
     Rhea could not bear to assist to another fight and she had sent some of her sacred lions in her stead to fight alongside the Allience .
     Athena was surprised to see that most who fought on their side joined not because of the recognition they could gain by the gods and mortals but because they favored one of the gods before the war . Some even joined out of spite for Kronos' careless ruling manner .
      By what Athena had been told by Phedora , Kronos seemed to not care of his people besides the demititans that formed the Finders . He wants to keep anybody else in the haze , not letting them evolve to their true potential as a nation , only favoring his and his siblings' children . That was why the Finders' base had advanced tehnology yet you could not find anything similar anywhere else in Greece .
      Kronos conducted rules that the finders would make the citizens respect even if he could not care to bat an eye at them . He had been busy partying in his luxurious palace most of the time and right before the battle he started finally worrying about the integrity of his plans .
      Athena remembered that Zeus' manner of ruling was quite similar to Kronos' before the Titan War erupted . But Zeus was more watchful of his people . Sometimes maybe too watchful . But the goddess hoped that after centuries of being locked in Tartarus after losing the Titan War because of his mistakes could make him rethink his choices regarding the rule of Greece . She hoped that all her brothers and sisters had enough time to think more of their ideals and realize that what brought them their doom in the first place was their lack of care towards their people and their arrogance towards their powers .
      Athena knew that she had been the same before . Self-centered , arrogant , believing there was no limit to her powers and no consequenses applied to her just because she was a god . But she had enough time to realize that the reason the gods had come to stand so powerful and tall in their grandious hall on Mt. Olympus all those centuries ago before the Titan War was solely the faith of the people . Their rituals dedicated to them , the sacrifices and the smoke on their altars , the holidays and feasts made in their name . They all made the gods stronger and more  powerful with each passing day . The goddess of wisdom had enough time to think and realise that she should had not took everything for granted back then . She would not make the same mistakes again . And she would make sure her brethen would not too . If her father , Zeus , feared that his throne could had been taken then he should have been a better king from the begining .
      The goddess pushed through the titans , trying to split their warband in half . She knew that their hearts were beating with ichor and not blood . They were immortals , all of them , including her . They could never be truly dead . Only caged , weakened , cut in pieces , banished in the depths of Tartarus . But never dead .
      Athena fought the titans , piercing forward with her spear , in search for Kronos . She had to be quick , make sure that he will not have enough time to awake Typhon if the Allience won .
     Then she had found him . At the back of his warband even if he was supposed to be leading it . Cowering perhaps ?  But the goddess knew that must not be it .
      Athena found it suspicious how no one seemed to bother fighting her as she made her way to Kronos .
      And it was even more suspicious how Kronos did not put up a bigger fight before Athena seized him to the ground with her hand around his neck stranggling him and her other holding her spear directed to where his ichor beating heart stood , ready to pierce right through him . His hand reached to take hold of Athena's wrist tigthly , trying to stop her from squeezing his neck tighter . He was not desperate for air but looked at if him being stranggled was a small incovinence .
"Why do you look so careless now , even after I managed to pin you to the ground ?" Athena asked , pushing Kronos further into the rain dampened dirt and grass .
      The titan lord only grinned at her "Go ahead and pierce my heart , granddaughter . Try to cut me into small pieces like I had once done with my own father ." he let out a short , dry laugh "They will not stop fighting with your small allience even if I am defeated ."
      Athena tightened her grip on his neck "And makes you think so ? What makes you think your warband will still fight for you after you have been deafeated ? I already got some of your brethen on my side . And even your own wife , Rhea , has not been on your side from the very start of your reign ."
      Kronos' expression faltered as he heard Athena's last sentence . The goddess' look remained stern , only raising an eyebrow at the titan "Oh , so you do not know then ? Who do you think had sent the Prophecy down to the mortals after you had imprisoned Prometheus ? Rhea had been the sole reason the Resistence was created ." her words had a sharp edge to it , as if she wanted to stab Kronos with her words only "You think you are so priviledged because you are the king of the titans when you earned your title by cowering behind a monster when you could not fight the gods anymore . Being a king is not only a title , but also a responsability ." Athena pushed the tip of her spear enough to feel it piercing his skin , making Kronos' face twist faintly in pain "A responsability that you clearly do not know how to handle and never did ."
      To Athena's surprise Kronos started laughing , still fully aware of the hand stranggling him and the spear that was about to pierce through him "And what makes you think my son will be a better king ? He already failed once ." he spoke between laughs "And most importanly , even if you do manage to awake your brethen and the other gods back .. Who will be left for Zeus to rule upon ?"
      The goddess frowned at him "What do you mean ?" she squeezed Kronos' neck tighter .
      But she soon got her answer when she saw a massive sillhouette in the distance . The goddess felt the ground thrum beneath her as she observed the sillhouette strolling closer to the spot where she knew that the battle between the Resistence and the Finders took place with slow , big steps . The grip on her spear tightened until her knuckles were white against the celestial bronze .
"So this is your plan ? Send him out ? Send Typhon out to kill everyone ? Even your own children that you have cherished so much ?" Athena huffed out a sound  of laughter "Actually , knowing your history , I am not even surprised in the slight ... just angry you had done such an arrogant and unwise move ." she finally drove her spear down through Kronos' immortal heart . The titan's grip on Athena's wrist loosened .
I have to be quick . The goddess tightened the grip on Kronos' neck until she heard the cracking of bones . She took her spear out and stabbed again at Kronos' body . She stabbed until he was only a mess of flesh and ichor that ran onto the ground . She stabbed and stabbed and stabbed until she was sure it could take at least a decade for Kronos to recover from his state .
      Athena quickly stepped away from his body and sped back into the battle , her spear stained halfway with golden ichor .
      She yelled at the ones who fought . She yelled to tell them of the danger of Typhon . She yelled at them to stop fighting and go to save the mortals . But no one listened to her words , the frenzy of the fight already over them , blocking their senses .
      The goddess had nothing else to do but to resume fighting while trying to stop them herself . She had to hope that Phedora and the others could handle Typhon for a while until she found a way to stop the titans from fighting .