Forgotten prophecy

Chapter 88

The demigods of both camps and the Hunts had encircled Hercules, but they were still the ones playing defense. Occasionally a demigod would dart in and take a shot at Hercules, hoping that they might finally cause some damage to the Corrupted god. Each time they were lucky to escape with their lives, and some weren't even that lucky. "We need a plan," Dante said, favoring one arm and breathing hard. "We're only wearing ourselves out right now, and we haven't figured out a way to hurt him yet."

"This would be a great time for a god to step in," Thalia agreed, her shield leveled before her.

"I don't see that happening," Reyna said, eyeing Ceres and Juno. They were standing at the edge of the camp, clearly stunned by what they were seeing. "For multiple reasons."

"Reason number one amongst them being that they don't want us to figure out how to kill a god," Lydia put in.

"First things first," Hylla said, a spear held at her side as she watched Victoria dart in and duck under Hercules' sword and cut ineffectively at his calf. "We need to immobilize his movements."

"Leave that to us," a red and silver Hunter said simultaneously from their right.

Dante and Thalia looked at the two of them in confusion, their mouths hanging open slightly. Even with a Corrupted god before them, the sight of the two Hunts having any semblance of cooperation was far more surprising. The two, the red Hunter with skin of a deep auburn, and the silver with skin as white as snow, were clearly siblings; eyes of a sparkling blue like that of a frost and hair as white as snow marked them as children of the same god. "Anthony, you sure?" Dante asked. "It, ah, might be a bit dangerous."

"Yeah, Steph," Thalia agreed, "No reason to do anything reckless."

"Just to be clear, you are saying that working with Anthony is more dangerous than fighting a god?" Stephanie asked skeptically, not taking her eyes off the massive form of Hercules. She took a deep breath and then leapt forward, moving quickly and low to the ground in a dead sprint.

"If we die it's her fault," Anthony said cheerfully, a spear in each hand as he chased after her.

"Khione?" Dante asked, glancing at Thalia.

"Khione." She sighed, nodding.

Stephanie reached Hercules first, leaping onto his back and placing her hands onto his bare skin. Instantly a surge of ice coursed down her arms and began to spread across Hercules' body. Enraged by this he reached back for her and that is when Anthony made his move, stepping directly in front of the distracted god and, after shoving his spears into the dirt at his side, placing his own hands on the Corrupted's stomach. Just as quickly as Stephanie's had, ice poured from his hands and began to wrap itself around Hercules. Now aware of a much easier target, Hercules raised the metal club high above his head and was about to bring it down on Anthony when the ice surged around that arm. Several loud cracks rang out as the ice cracked as he tried to bring it down on the demigod. Luckily, the ice accomplished its goal and the club never reached its goal. "We've got him," Stephanie called, a definite strain in her voice. "But I don't know how long we can hold him, he's strong."

"Look at that," Hylla said, morbid amusement in her tone. "Red and Silver go pretty well together after all."

Reyna shot her sister a look, but stored that comment away to be examined at another time. "We need to do something, they can't hold a god forever."

"That eagle thingy you Romans have," Dante said, eyeing the standard. "Would that be able to bring him down?"

"Doubtful," Reyna shook her head. "It was given to us by the gods and I doubt the gods would give us something that could destroy even them. Against monsters, sure, but Hercules isn't a monster."

"Well I am open to other ideas you know," Dante snapped, annoyed that his idea had been so readily shot down.

"I really have no idea," Thalia said, her brow furrowed in concentration as she tried to figure out a solution to the problem. A loud crack rang out and they all turned to see that Hercules' arm had descended another inch towards Anthony. The son of Khione was clearly aware of this, but he did not move. A large circle of ice had now covered the ground surrounding them and Hercules. The other demigods had the common sense not to attempt to attack the god lest they cause him to escape sooner than he would originally.

"Damn." Dante muttered, his eyes running over the assembled demigods until he found the one he was looking for. "I really hoped we wouldn't have to use this."

"Use what?" Thalia asked warily.

"Zain!" Dante roared, sprinting over to the zombie-like demigod.

The son of Thanatos, his stygian iron escrima sticks still in hand, glanced over to Dante and raised an eyebrow in question.

"I know you hate to use anything your father gave you," Dante said grimly, "But we need that scythe of yours."

"What scythe?" Hylla asked, frowning.

"The scythe of Thanatos." Dante said. "The one weapon I can think of that we have that can kill a god. Maybe."

"Wait," Thalia protested. "He has the scythe of Thanatos?! When were you going to mention this?"

"I wasn't," Dante said, nodding at Zain who dropped his escrima sticks.

Thalia was about to say something else when Zain thrust a hand into his own chest. This seemed to pain the demigod immensely, his face drawn up in tension. He reached under his rib cage and seemed to take hold of something. He tugged on whatever it was for several seconds before managing to dislodge it. Breathing hard, Zain pulled his own beating heart from his chest.

The others, even Dante, took a step back in shock from this atrocity. But the heart only beat for a few moments before it began to change: it turned black and began to elongate and, in no time at all, a scythe was held before Zain. "Behold," Dante said grimly. "The scythe of Thanatos. If this can't kill Hercules, nothing can."

"We can't hold him much longer," Stephanie screamed, a loud series of cracks accentuating her words. Hercules seemed to be shivering now and the ice that had encased him was now falling off in sheets despite the obvious efforts of the two children of Khione.

With a roar, Hercules cast off the last of the ice and his club finished the last of its arc. It didn't move too fast, but it still had enough force to snap Anthony's neck like a twig when it hit him. The demigod spun to the ground and landed face up, a quizzical smile on his face as though his death was some fun puzzle. Stephanie almost managed to get away. Almost. She was more than a dozen yards from Hercules when his sword, thrown like a spear, impaled her chest and left her in a standing position.

"NO!" Dante and Thalia shouted simultaneously.

Hercules bellowed again, a sound clearly of triumph this time. "Go kill him, Zain," Dante said grimly.

The son of Thanatos nodded and began to walk towards Hercules. He held the scythe over one shoulder, as casual as could be, despite the obvious severity of the situation. He passed the corpse of Stephanie and placed a hand on the back of her neck, a strange light emanating from his palm for the briefest of moments. When he passed by Anthony he knelt down and did the same for him. Hercules watched the scythe-wielding demigod approach and bellowed a challenge. Now, with only his club remaining as a weapon, Hercules swung at Zain's form intending to crush him entirely. But the blow never landed, but Hercules arm did. Several yards away, severed at the elbow with the club still in hand. The god reeled back in shock, fear showing on his face for the first time, but he never had a chance to retreat. The scythe cut forth once more and Hercules' head rolled across the grass.