Helios' voice was calm, but the words carried the promise of ruin. "Let's get started on repaying you for all the torture."
Hades leaned back against his chains, the rattling echoing through the Underworld chamber. The ghost-light flickered in the deep cracks of the obsidian walls. "Repay me? Oh, please. I've had shades with more bite than you. You've got no fire—literally and figuratively." He grinned wickedly. "Besides, fire doesn't work on me. Guess you'll just have to… improvise."
Helios stepped forward, Equilibrium materializing in his grip, its silver-and-black length catching the eerie light. "I was counting on it."
With no warning, he snapped his hand upward. Waterga erupted beneath Hades, surging into a spiraling column that wrapped the god's body from waist to neck. Before the water could fall away, Helios clenched his fist and unleashed Thundaga.
The result was immediate and brutal—the water acted like a conductor, carrying lightning through every link of the chains and into Hades' immortal body. The god's back arched violently, his voice cracking in a half-snarl, half-laugh.
"Now that's a start," Hades rasped, the tips of his teeth showing. "You might just have a spine after all."
Helios didn't answer—he stepped in close, thrust Equilibrium into the floor, and summoned Aero in a narrow, slicing ring around Hades' torso. The wind tore through the lingering water, flinging it into the air in fine droplets before Helios froze them mid-flight with Blizzaga. In seconds, Hades was peppered with dozens of jagged ice fragments, some shallow, others biting deep.
Helios twisted his fingers, and Slow rippled over the god like syrup. The movement of Hades' smirk dragged out painfully, each twitch of his eyebrow an eternity.
"You talk too much," Helios murmured.
"Yeah?" Hades strained against the magic, forcing the words through clenched teeth. "And you're—too—predictable. Makes you no fun."
Helios tilted his head slightly… and then made good on the insult.
Waterga again—but this time he held it suspended just below Hades' jaw, forcing him to feel the icy weight pressing up toward his face. Then Helios flicked his wrist and froze it solid. A final snap of his fingers shattered it into jagged chunks, the shards slicing along Hades' neck and arms before hitting the floor.
The god chuckled low. "Cute. You know these are gonna heal, right?"
"They're supposed to," Helios replied evenly. "Otherwise we'd be done too soon."
The keyblade whirled in his hand, shifting grip mid-spin as Helios stepped forward. Reflect flared—not as a shield against an attack, but as a concussive burst timed with a thrust of the blade. The mirrored magic detonated point-blank into Hades' chest, sending cracks of pure force spiderwebbing along the floor beneath them.
Hades coughed once, then smirked again. "Better… but you're holding back. You should try harder because after I get out, you'll regret not having done more."
The chain around his left arm rattled violently as if to remind them both that, despite everything, Hades wasn't helpless—just contained.
Helios didn't give him time to posture. Another Aero, this one compressed to a thin, shrieking blade of wind, ripped across the god's abdomen. The follow-up was instantaneous: Waterga to soak the wound, then Thundaga to electrify it from the inside.
Hades grunted sharply, his hair flaring in response to the pain. "You've got some bite after all, kid… but you still don't have flair. Remember all that I did to you? Remember the gut-burning finger pokes? "
Helios smiled faintly. "Then let's ramp it up."
He lifted his free hand and began weaving. Aero spiraled upward, creating a vacuum that dragged every shard of ice still embedded in Hades back into motion, swirling them around him in a cyclone of glittering blades. Helios added Blizzaga, enlarging the shards mid-spin, then snapped them inward like the closing teeth of a trap.
Hades' grunt was low, guttural this time, though he forced it into a laugh. "Now you're just trying to impress me."
"Not trying," Helios said.
The god's smirk faltered when Helios suddenly cast Sleep—not to let him rest, but to dangle him on the edge of unconsciousness before ripping him back into full awareness with another water-lightning combination. It left Hades blinking hard, disoriented, the smug gleam in his eyes dimming for just a moment.
"That's two days' worth," Helios said quietly. "We're not even close to finished."
"Days?" Hades scoffed. "You think time means anything to me?"
"Maybe not, but I'm sure you'll remember this time," Helios corrected. "Afterall, it'll be measured in suffering."
The next barrage was designed to exploit every weakness magic could touch. Waterga again, but this time only on Hades' feet, freezing them solid so that any movement sent needles of ice breaking inside the flesh. Then Helios targeted Thundaga into that frozen mass, the dual forces of expansion and conduction sending waves of deep, aching pain up through the god's core.
Even an immortal couldn't mask the sharp inhale that tore from Hades' throat.
Helios didn't smile this time. He simply paced in a slow circle, the keyblade dragging along the floor with a metallic hiss.
Hades followed him with his eyes, the grin returning, thinner now but no less venomous. "When I get out of these chains, kid, I'm going to crush you so hard you'll beg for me to burn you. And I don't even need fire for that."
Helios stopped behind him. "When you get out," he said softly, "I'll make sure the first thing you remember is that I promised you nine years without Olympus. And that I meant it."
Hades barked a short laugh. "You think you can keep me in check? That's rich."
Helios didn't answer. Instead, he raised his hand and layered the spells—Aero to lift, Waterga to drench, Blizzaga to freeze mid-air, and Thundaga to shatter the ice into an electrified hailstorm that pelted every inch of the god's chained form. The sound was deafening, a storm trapped within four walls.
When the magic faded, Hades' chest rose and fell sharply, though his grin never left. "You've got… potential," he admitted with mock praise. "Maybe next time, you'll actually make me scream."
Helios stepped closer, meeting the god's gaze without a flicker of fear. "You'll hear it before we're done. Sadly, we only have a few hours, but as you know, I'm good at getting results even with a short deadline."