The God of Gravity part 3: Apocalypse

Dragunov

-

*

“I'm gonna kill him!” Sayuri grumbles, flying in the sky faster than the wind.

Her comrades are barely catching up to her. The distance she is making from them is growing by the second. Hyun takes care of making Hiroki and Prisha fly. 

“She's getting far from us!” says Hiroki having a hard time saying it clearly because of the wind in his face.

Jasper transforms from a bird and into himself for a moment in the air to say, “Let her go. We'll catch up.” Then transforms into a bird.

Philip is still not used to see the large crater where Olympus once stood. It was a symbol of greatness and power but now it is gone. He wonders if Olympus still has power. 

“There're stragglers below,” says Jasper. 

They sense at least a dozen of them and they are running away from a horde of masked men, pursuing to kill them. 

“I'll handle it,” says Philip and begins to dive. 

Hyun and Jasper observe him closely from above, ready to see their new comrade's ability. Through the clouds, Philip dives down. The masked men are too late to do something to stop him as soon as they saw him. He stomps the ground with his heel. Like a dropped bomb, it explodes, separating the men from the people who they sought to kill. 

As soon as it happens, Philip kicks them while they are in the air. When they land, only four of them hit the ground alive.

“You're gonna pay for that, brat!” curses one of them.

They stand up and are not even ready to defend themselves. He takes them out with one swift kick at a time. They stand no chance. He goes flying back to the sky and the people he rescued watch him like a guardian returning to the heavens. 

“Let's go!” says one of them to the others.

The leader is still watching Philip in the sky until he goes higher than the clouds. He disappears. Then for a moment, there is a hole in the clouds, and had a glimpse of Philip's comrades.

“I think I have an idea,” says their leader.

“What is it, my lord?”

Raising both of his hands before his subordinates, he speeches, “We will create our own Olympus!”

Confused as they are, they are curious as to what made him think about that idea. More importantly, how.

“How, my lord?” one of them asks.

“That boy has allies which are far more powerful than him. We must talk to them to arrange things for our betterment! That's the first step to make our dream a reality!”

As if they forget they have almost been killed, they celebrate their leader's “brilliant” idea. 

Where Aiko teleported everyone, things are getting more and more troubling. The masked men found out where they are and most of them are slowly catching up. This is in the western part of the Human Districts, the Athena District. 

“Move!” yells Juliet, guiding the people to run to the west as fast as they can. “Lady Aiko!” she exclaims, seeing her very tired and out of breath.

She is walking with the others. “I'm sorry I couldn't…, ” says Aiko, panting. “teleport everyone… to a safer place!”

“It's alright, Aiko,” says Hilde, using crutches to walk. 

Narada, being carried by demigods says, “We will survive—I'm betting on it.”

“ARGH!!!” an enemy appears from the building above along with others. They jump off, ambushing the innocent people.

Then they just land on the ground, not continuing their different approaches of attack.

“Killing innocent lives is the worst,” one of them says.

“Yeah, we should stop,” agrees the other.

Seok from afar ahead has his eyes glowing purple. Then an axe, spinning and flying cracks open each other their heads. Finally, it lands on Hilde's free hand. It is all covered in blood. She nods to Seok and he does the same.

The panic is still there among the people but Hilde shouts, “Move out!” so they did. 

The demigods are fighting back while retreating, along with fauna deities that are capable of fighting.

“Stand your ground, men!” cries Damon, the God of Spears.

He raises the tip of his spear for it to catch the sunlight and glint in the eyes of the men behind him. They are in the street, slowly being surrounded by the enemy. 

He shouts, “Spear of Olympus:” making his eyes glow silver. Hundreds of spears appear around him. “Phalanx!”

Onward, the spears whistle in the air. They pass through the walls like needles through the fabric. The sound they make is like the sound of death slowly creeping to visit you. The masked men are too late to dodge. The humans among them are helpless. The demigods and few deities survive the onslaught and now, only a hundred of them remain. 

Damon's men cheer as if victory is already sitting right in their hands. However, he remains stern. This is not over and it is just the beginning. His grip on his spear is still as tight as before, not missing a second. Lowering himself for a more sturdy stance, he glares at the golden masked man in the distance.

His mask shines gold in the mist and his presence is enough to kill fragile creatures. The demigods of Olympus sense him right after he chooses not to hide his presence. Their cheers vanish all of a sudden. 

Damon aims to throw his spear at him. He is cautious so instead of throwing it, he threatens, “Not a step closer!”

The man with a golden mask stops. The noise in the air stop with the last sound of his foot. The other masked men also stop. Through the eyes of his mask, he looks at the terrified but trying faces of Damon's men. He would like to show his smirk but he is wearing a mask.

“Leave and I'll spare all of you!” Damon warns again.

Voice as clear as glass, the man with the golden mask says, “It's not your place to say that, Damon, the God of Spears.”

His voice alone, shivers the spines of every warrior under Damon's command. How he does it only with his words, they do not know.

“So, you know me after all,” says Damon, standing calmly to show he is not afraid. “And I guess you know what I'm capable of.”

Drums beat inside the chests of his men, making them feel that he can defeat the enemy. They know he is saying the truth.

“I do but not enough,” says the man with the golden mask. His men laugh. “You need the King if you want to kill me.”

“Who are you?”

“I guess I shouldn't hide it now, should I?” He grabs the front of his mask.

Pulling it off, his identity is n***d for them to see. “Dragunov?!!” Damon yells in anger and surprise. “How the hell did you get here?!!” He and his men became wary. They know the name.

Dragunov's face is full of scars. His nose is crooked, some of his teeth are missing, his cheekbones are wide, and his eyes have murderous intent.

Putting his mask on, he says, “Well, after my friend, Rai defeated me on Jupiter, instead of falling into its violent storms, I was given another chance. The God of All saved me!”

“You're not making any sense!” Damon argues. “There is no such thing as the God of All!”

“I thought so too but I know what I saw. I wouldn't be alive if he wasn't real. Storms, planets, light, matter, energy… he can control them! All of them! He saved me and brought me here with a single nod of his head! And that's how I realized my new purpose! I'm his prophet that will change this Realm for the better!”

“You've gone mad! Killing billions of lives is your way to change it?!!”

“Of course! Nothing is achieved without sacrifice!”

“Then I'll sacrifice you with a spear in your head!” Damon looks at his men behind him. “All of you retreat and protect our people!”

A goddess tries to intervene, “But-”

“Go!”

So they retreat as he wants them to do. He stays behind and Dragunov's men leave their fight alone. They know it is the best they can do.

Damon throws his spear. Dragunov dodges and with his fist, he absorbs Damon's incoming punch like it was nothing. The spear comes back to impale Dragunov's back. Grabbing the spearhead, what he does next is launching a punch to hit Damon. The attack is blocked by his palm. The power is too much so the back of his hand hits his face. 

Eight blocks of the street are the extent of the destruction when Damon gets knocked away. The spear in Dragunov's hand breaks free and returns to its master.

Damon emerges from the rubble unscathed and unsurprised about the strength of that punch. His eyes glow, grabbing his spear. He aims from this distance. He throws the spear but this time it is so fast that it reaches Dragunov in an eighth of a second. The tip goes against his gauntlet as he gets pushed back, decimating the ground along the way. He stops but the spear is still desperately trying to pierce through the Olympian Steel gauntlets. 

Damon punches the back end of the spear. Dragunov gets thrown back like what he did to him earlier.

All the while, the news of Damon fighting Dragunov alone reaches Hilde. “I have to go and help him!” she insists, walking using her crutches.

“My lady!” Juliet tries to stop her but Santos cuts in.

“You can't, my lady!” he stops her. “You're still not fully healed! Let Damon handle him. He can do it!”

“As much as I want to believe that, Santos. I know what it took for Rai to defeat him! Damon will not be enough to give us time to escape!”

“I bet she's right,” says Narada.

Santos looks at Hilde's injuries. “But you couldn't possibly tell him enough because of your state, my lady!”

“Then heal me, you fool!”

“I'm out of prayers.”

“Nevermind, I'll go even if you don't heal me!” She starts to limp at a faster pace, on the street heading to the east.

“My lady!” Santos tries to reach her.

“I think we have some else to heal you, my lady!” suggests Juliet.

Hilde turns, still have a scowl on her face to look at her. “Who?” she asks.

“Dyami.”

“Where's that Dyami boy?!!” she yells out loud so everyone can hear. Even those in the far front and end of the group.

Dyami comes to her, looking nervous as he bows, “Yes, my lady?”

“Heal me!”

“I will, my lady but the problem is-”

“Do it!”

“My lady,” says Santos. “Dyami could not control the microbes that well anymore now that the prayers he have been reduced. It's dangerous to use his powers to heal right now, my lady.”

“I don't care! Do it!”

“My lady!” Santos runs out of convincing words.

Juliet speaks, “Actually, Dyami has been practicing to control body cells, my lord. Right, Dyami?”

“Yes,” he says, white hesitantly. “but-”

“Enough of your but but but!!” Hilde snaps. “Be a man and do what you have to do!”

“Yes, my lady!” he panics into putting his palm on Hilde's broken arms. His eyes glow orange and takes his time concentrating to control the cells of Hilde. 

“Faster!” she blurts out. He is startled for a bit.

“My lady, please let him concentrate,” pleads Santos.

Dyami continues to heal her at his pace. Everyone around them is crossing their fingers, wishing for Dyami to successfully and quickly heal Hilde before it is too late.

*

-