Seeing Death After Life (HoO Leo fic)

Chapter 6: Can't Faint

LEO BURNED.

His body in flames, he charged at Echidna. The monster dodged and lunged, but Leo anticipated the move and threw a screwdriver at her face like a dart. Unable to dodge, Echidna roared in pain as the screwdriver had scored a direct hit. Furiously, she removed the screwdriver from her face, a small trickle of golden ichor dripping on her wounded face.

"Valdez, I'll kill you!" She roared.

"Wasn't that your intention in the first place?" Leo replied sarcastically.

"I'll make your death more painful. Much more painful."

Leo shrugged and pulled back, eyeing the mother of monsters warily, expecting an attack.

Meanwhile, Makaria was facing off against the chimera. She stood her ground, summoning skeletal hands from the ground and hindering the monster's charge.

Unfortunately, she wasn't built for fighting. She was the goddess of peaceful death after all. Still, she fought hard, unleashing wave after wave of undead warriors after the chimera.

She might've been a goddess, but that did not make her powerful. She was a minor goddess, and a weakling too. She was forgotten by most, and barely kept from fading into nothingness.

But still, she held on. She was the daughter of Hades and Persephone, their ONLY child. She wasn't going to let that be a past, she wasn't going to be forgotten.

"I will never be just a memory!" She shouted as she summoned the undead to do her will.

"Not when I have something— someone depending on me. Not when I can finally do more than what I've ever thought."

The chimera was a beast, and it destroyed Makaria's undead minions faster than she could summon them. It's poisonous and flammable breath made it something to stay clear of.

Makaria may not die, but to live eternally scarred by her opponent's attacks would not be something she would want.

Closing her eyes and concentrating, she willed the ground to swallow the chimera.

It worked for a bit, but the Echidna's power made the chimera much stronger than it should have. Nonetheless, Makaria kept working with stopping the beast.

Leo, on the other hand, was running for his life. His foe was now twice as aggressive as she was before, and he knew should think fast before she would kill him.

Her lunges were strong, but out of direction. If only he could use that to his advantage...

And that's when the gears of his head started whirring.

"Yo, anteater! Come and get me!" He exclaimed mockingly. The Echidna lunged at him.

Leo ducked, and screamed. "Now!"

Festus came out from the bushes, performing a powerful sliding tackle. It was strong enough to throw Echidna thirty feet into the air.

"Good boy, now let me handle this." Leo said.

He got on top of Festus and jumped from the dragon's head. With his fire powers, he threw a massive fireball to where Echidna was falling.

It made quite the explosion, but the battle wasn't done yet.

Out from the smoke was a very injured, and very angry mother of monsters.

"VALDEZ!"

Scrambling for cover, Leo had to think of a new strategy.

All wasn't well on Makaria's side either. She was a bit to slow to dodge and the chimera bit it's fangs into her right arm. She gasped in pain; the venom was dripping off her wounded arm, turning into a sickly green color.

Makaria quickly bashed the chimera and forced it to let go of her hands. She felt terrible, but she kept fighting.

Makaria thought of a way to trap the chimera in its jumps, and quickly decided that it was better than nothing.

She made a skeleton pop out of the earth and made it lunge after the chimera. The monster in turn jumped high into the air and was falling fast.

Makaria raised her fists and a large walk of earth appeared. Unable to change direction, the chimera was falling fast into the earthen wall.

Makaria then opened her hands and the wall of earth opened with it. With one last yelp, the monster was swallowed by the earth, which closed with such force that you could practically hear the crunch from a mile away.

And less than a mile away, the mother of monsters realized this. She cried in anger as she lunged at Leo.

Leo ducked under Festus, who used its arms to hit Echidna.

She hissed as the bronze claws swiped against her. Her eyes were glowing red with anger, and with her teeth bared, she rushed against Leo.

Leo ran to the woods, hoping she would lose him for a while, my be long enough that he could think of a plan.

He almost got away with it until he slammed into something.

It was Makaria.

"Are you alright?" Leo asked.

"I'm fine, Leo." She answered.

Leo sighed in relief as the earlier tension lessened greatly. He was about to turn around when everything went black.

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Next chapter:

When the darkness has gone
And you open your eyes
All you can see
Is a world turned to ice

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AN.

Really long hiatus, I know. I was really hit by author's block the last couple of months, but I finished more than half of this a month ago.

I'm really sorry I couldn't publish this earlier, but I hope this and the next two chapters will be worth it.

I still thank my good friend, who might probably be busy right now, and you guys for making this story possible.

I won't leave this until I've finished it. That's a promise to my friends.

Stay awesome.