THEOS

Status | Skills | Quests | Inventory

Kill a Hero:

Land the killing blow on Tyrisa of Peles, and as the light leaves her eyes grant Bellerophon’s Blade a name worthy of a weapon that will one day belong to a god.

Sub Quest: Claim her storage ring as a spoil of war.

*Killing an entity at the Hero-tier is equivalent to killing a hundred warriors.

Luke quickly read through the description of the quest, before dismissing it. Absently wondering both why the Seed wanted him to name his sword, and what was in her ring that would help him become a god. A part of him already dreaded how that conversation would go over with the others, but he didn’t linger on it. Future Luke could deal with being looked on as greedy, but as he scanned his eyes over his would-be companions, he realized that both of them were already rich. Lukeus probably wouldn’t even care, and he sincerely doubted that the rebel hero had anything worthy of a Son of Zeus anyhow.

He grinned slightly at the look of defeat on Jason’s face. He liked the guy, he really did, and what he was saying made a lot of sense. Caution should be prioritized. If it weren’t for the quest he would probably even agree with him. He knew how much stronger a Hero was compared to a Warrior. The effortless way Cyzicus had killed that giant was still burned into his memory, and he wouldn’t forget it any time soon– if he ever did.

But, some small part of him couldn’t help but wonder if the Seed had once again reacted to his desires.

He knew he shouldn’t go, logically it was just dangerous. Trying to kill a Hero when he just broke through to the warrior tier was ludacris. Even more so, considering that the Rebel wasn’t likely far from the Saint-tier if she could keep up with Cyzicus.

Even so, he had wanted to go, even before the quest had been issued by the Seed. Just based on sheer principle alone, because fuck Tyrisa.

The lengths she was willing to go to for a throne were evil. An evil he would gladly expunge. One that would make him sleep better at night if it wasn’t there. Since he learned about her, she had been a cloud hanging over his head, and he wanted it gone.

Nel may have killed Jax, but it was a decision made in fear of her and what she would do to her family and her home.

He had met Sophia for a handful of minutes, but she was sweet. The look of glee on her face when she read Cyzicus’s letter was both beautiful and happy. A breath of fresh air compared to the bleakness of the rest of the world and their journey towards her, and to see her decapitated head outside of Cyzicus’s home. It wasn’t what she deserved, and it wasn’t what Cyzicus deserved.

Not even counting the fact that he was a good and well liked ruler, the Emperor had done more for him than anyone else on all of Theos. Granted, he had his reasons, but there was more than one way he could have gotten Luke to obey him, and he had used none of them. Choosing instead to just ask and trust. The Saint-tier marble in his inventory, the Oath Orb, proved that. The Emperor hadn’t known, nor cared about what Luke had to hide, and had simply sworn himself to secrecy, as a gesture of trust.

All of that together, was more than enough to make him want to see the Rebel dead.

Would he have gone had actually volunteered to go without the Quest though, he didn’t know, and now it didn’t matter. He was going, and it was with confidence backed by the Seed. If the Primordial artifact thought he could do it, then he did too, mostly.

An insidious thought tickled the back of his head. Unless my theory about the Seed planning for my failure is true, I don’t really have anything to worry about, I haven’t failed a quest yet, and I don’t plan too. That said, I’ll have a better idea about the consequences when I actually do. If I had to guess though, the Seed is probably relying on me using a Charge if things go south. Which isn’t ideal. Still, a quest is a quest.

“You’re going?” Rex asked incredulously, staring at Luke. A dumbfounded expression on his face.

I’ve done way too much reckless shit in front of him at this point. I don’t even know why he’s surprised.

“Yeah, why not.” Luke shrugged with a grin, and extending his mana around his body, he lifted rose into the air, and shot towards the chariot.

“HAHAHA! I knew you had a heart of steel.” Heracles cheered, and slapped Luke on the back as he climbed into the chariot.

“Since when are you a warrior?” Rex asked, his mouth dropping open in shock.

Luke blinked through a headache just from looking at him, and grinned. “Sometimes in life, you only have two choices. To become stronger or die. I got stronger.”

At that moment, Lukeus tugged the reins, and Nutbutter flew off the deck of the ship, and flew in a wide circle around the giant ship.

“Where is she?” He asked, turning to Heracles.

The Son of Zeus pointed towards the river, to a destination north of the Capital. Luke strained his eyes, and his jaw set in determination. At the very edge of his vision, he saw her. A charred legless figure flying unsteadily through the sky.

“It looks like she’s retreating to Clan Skyscar territory.” Luke said.

“Who are they?” Heracles asked.

“Traitors.”

“Of course.” Heracles grunted. “We’ll have to try and keep her separated from any strongholds she has set up then. It’s unlikely that she has many resources, especially as a rogue cultivator. Whatever she does have, she will have depleted by now, and it will likely take her decades to replenish her stock, but if we let her retreat behind wards… you know what, never mind it doesn’t matter, if she hides, I have something that will break anything she may possess. She’ll learn what it means to make an enemy of me.”

Being rich has its perks I guess. Luke grinned.

Nutbutter neighed, and the distance between them began to shrink rapidly. Injured as she was, it seemed that she couldn’t even fly faster than their steed.

“Don’t get too close to her yet.” Heracles warned. His ring glowed as he retrieved a bow from his inventory. For a moment, Luke thought he was going to fire that crazy red and black arrow, only to relax when it turned out not to be the case. It was a different bow, the same one he had used to instantly kill a Warrior-tier giant. Taking aim, he pulled back the string, and an arrow made of blue energy appeared.

It flew through the air faster than Luke could even follow, but Tyrisa had no problem dodging it. The arrow sailed past her harmlessly, and dissipated into the air.

“Let’s see how long you can keep that up.” Heracles muttered under his breath, before consecutively firing one arrow after another at her.

“LEAVE ME, OR YOU SHALL REGRET THIS.” She turned her head back and screeched. Revealing the ugliest sight Luke had ever seen. The hero really hadn’t escaped unscathed. The entire front side of her face looked like it belonged in a horror movie.

The flesh on her head was simply gone, leaving just two unblinking bloodshot orbs lingering on charred bone. Her nose had simply vanished, and even her teeth could be seen through her holes in her cheeks.

How is she even alive? Luke thought incredulously. She's basically just a charred torso.

“FUCK YOU.” Lukeus yelled back.

Resisting the urge to empty his stomach, Luke removed the sword Cyzicus had given him from its sheath, and channeled mana into it. He frowned slightly when his heavier mana filled it more completely than it ever had before. Touching mechanisms inside it, that he didn’t even know existed.

Right. It’s a Warrior-tier artifact. Obviously it works best for a Warrior, even if it was made to be used by a mortal.

Feeling around with his mana, Luke quickly learned the new limits of his weapon. He could still fire the same Mortal-tier attack he had been before, but the blade now defaulted to attacks with Warrior-tier potency, and he had some control over the shape of the arcs. More than that, there wasn’t really a set amount of mana that he needed to fill the blade with anymore either.

Back when he first got the sword, it drained nearly ninety percent of his mana pool, granted he only had less than six thousand mana then. When he was at the peak of the Mortal-tier, he possessed hundreds of times that amount, making the weapon much more useful.

Now, he suspected that he could unleash attacks at that level all day. His denser mana was both more efficient and more abundant. Doing more of the work with less than a quarter of the effort.

A Mortal-tier attack won’t do shit to her though. He frowned, and filled the blade with five points of mana. Five points worth of my mana now, was fifty-thousand points of mana then. Let’s see if that does anything. He thought to himself, as he held out the glowing edge of the blade in front of him.

Then remembering Heracles’s missed attack, he began to enter the First Stance, the mortal version of his Warrior-tier skill.

“Don’t.” The Son of Zeus suddenly said, his hand darted out and pushed his sword down.

“What?” Luke looked at him confused.

“Don’t use any Techniques. Not unless you think you can kill her with one. Otherwise you’ll just drain your mana uselessly. This isn’t going to be like any fight you’ve been in before. So here’s the plan.” He swallowed nervously, and ripped a talisman. A white translucent white bubble spread out around them, and silence engulfed the chariot.

Right, super hearing is a thing too.

“We’re going to wear her down with countless cuts, and deny her the opportunity to rest. But nothing we do will be more than a nuisance, and that’s what we want. It’s her injuries that are our biggest strength, and the longer she flees without addressing them the better for us. Everyone at the Hero-tier is durable, but not that durable. I think she’s either using some artifact or a Technique to keep her alive. The longer she keeps it up, the less mana she has.” He explained.

“Is that why she isn’t attacking us?” Luke asked suddenly. “She can’t spare the mana?”

“In part. I imagine whatever is keeping her alive is costly in more ways than one. Perhaps the focus required to maintain it is high. Her speed alone is proof of that. So remember, the longer we drag this out, the better. She is also in immense amounts of pain right now as well, and she’ll make more mistakes the longer she suffers.”

“Right.” Luke nodded, paying careful attention to his words and idly wondering how he even knew that he was planning to use a technique. “We let her exhaust herself before we move in for the kill.”

“Yes. My arsenal is big, but Jason wasn’t wrong. Hitting her with anything will require both immense luck and skill. Especially if we want to do it in a way that doesn’t end with her throwing our attack back at us. We also won’t have many chances. If she realizes that we have the means to end her, I suspect that she will either risk mana exhaustion and teleport away, or try and kill us. We want her to try and kill us.” He said.

The ring on his finger glowed, and a handful of talismans, both protective and explosive, appeared in front of Luke and Lukeus.

“Those are all at the Hero-tier, but there’s two Saint-tier protective talismans with them. I don’t think she held anything back considering her state, but in case she does, do not stray far from me.”

“Thanks.” Lukeus nodded gratefully, before roughly stuffing them into his pocket. Not taking his eyes off her for even a second.

Luke sorted his own out a bit more carefully, before also stuffing them in his pocket.

Fuck, this plan is full of holes, but it’s not garbage. Keep pestering her until she decides to deal with us. No biggie.

The bubble surrounding them vanished, and Luke took careful aim with his sword, before slashing forward. Watching carefully as she tilted to the side, allowing it to glide harmlessly past her.

Five mana was too much. He realized. If the goal is to just be annoying then it doesn’t matter how shallow the cut is if I do hit her. He opened his status and watched his mana tick up. Heracles is right too, the real fight hasn’t even started yet. I need to conserve as much as possible.

In that case, if I attack with half a point worth of mana every thirty seconds, I’ll match my regen.

Frowning in determination, he did just that.

Letting Heracles take the lead, with his near endless rain of arrows while he loosed an attack once or twice a minute.

She continued to dodge every single one. But with every attack that was fired, Luke imagined the expression on her face getting just a little more annoyed.

Hours later, when the nine suns of Theos finally began sinking over the horizon, one of Heracles’s arrows finally struck her.

An aura of palpable rage emanated from her wretched figure.

Luke gulped as Nutbutter neighed.

It was time.