Page 100 of Hades

Making her run right at Thanatos.

Thanatos grabbed his sister by her throat and tossed her away from him, towards Nyx, and turned on Harleena.

Nyx grinned coldly as she caught her daughter and slammed her into the dirt on her back as she purred, “Hello, my little one.”

Mnemosyne’s forces numbered fewer than fifty now.

Perhaps they could win this after all.

Bright light burst behind him and he pivoted towards it, a growl rolling up his throat and the darkness swift to seize him when the gate opened before his eyes.

And daemons poured through it.

Keras spotted them and motioned to Enyo. “Fall back.”

She glared at him, her jade eyes bright, but did as he ordered, edging backwards towards Hades. The daemons surged towards them and Mnemosyne grinned as she saw them, confidence flaring in her silver gaze.

Hades readied his bident and summoned the last of his strength, harnessing the darkness now. He sank into it, centuries of experience telling him it had all come down to this moment.

This last fight.

The daemons outnumbered them, but not him nor any of his allies would give up until they drew their last breaths. It was there on Calindria, Keras and Enyo’s faces as they braced themselves, forming a defensive line with him.

The wretched males and females swarmed outwards from the gate. It shimmered and pulsed with light behind them, the power of it pressing down on him.

He frowned at the gate, the hunger to strike at the daemons and meet them head-on falling away as he realised something.

The fiends hadn’t come running through the gate because they were eager to get back into the realm he had banished them from centuries ago.

They were being pursued.

By Persephone.

She was fierce and striking, and a sight that got his blood pumping as she unleashed a battle cry and caught one of the daemons with a slice of her sword down his back.

He was so stunned and bewitched by her that it took him a moment to realise something else.

She wasn’t alone.

“Ares?” Enyo breathed as she spied her brother, the real god of war, sweeping in behind Persephone to dispatch a further two daemons with his golden blade.

Light flashed across the golden armour he wore over his rich blue chiton as he spun and decapitated a third, his sapphire eyes dark as they sought his next target. He preened his fair hair back and shot Enyo a grin before he kicked off, hurling himself into a group of daemons.

Beside him, Artemis leaped high into the air and released three golden arrows from her bow, her fair hair flowing behind her as she landed.

Two of the arrows hit their marks, lodging deep into the backs of a male and female daemon.

Apollo, pulled the arrow from the female’s back as she fell and nocked it on his own bow to let it fly at the third daemon, hitting him in his nape and instantly killing him.

The two of them looked like the twins they were in their matching gold armour and white chitons, with their long hair and similar heights, and bows that were identical in every way. They fell in together, picking off daemons in perfect symphony, their backs to each other.

Nikos, the blue-haired son of Poseidon, and his larger black-haired brother Demetrius worked as one too, their swords making swift work of another group of daemons, clearing the way for those who appeared through the gate behind them. The amber light of the lava turned the silver detailing on their turquoise breastplates and the slatted skirts they wore over their dark blue short robes closer to gold, and made their greaves and vambraces flash as they twisted and turned, almost dancing through the enemies.

Marek charged through it with Esher at his side, and Calistos and Marinda followed close on their heels. His three sons combined their powers to spear daemons on shards of earth, Esher using his power over water to gather what had made it through the gate during the battle and blast it against the males and females, driving them onto the spikes, and Calistos summoning a fierce wind that hurled them high into the air and then brought them down, impaling them on the spears of stone.

Mr Milos, of all creatures, prowled through the gate beside Cerberus, the scarred ginger and white domestic cat transformed into his guardian deity form of a great winged lion that growled and snarled at everyone.

Protecting Cerberus.

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