"Aphrodite."
The name echoed like a divine decree across the festival square. The music died immediately, the flames in the lanterns flickered out as if a cold, unnatural wind swept through the town. Silence fell like a curse as all eyes turned to the sky. And there he stood— hovering above them, wreathed in rolling thunderclouds, his cloak rippling with the wind, lightning dancing across his fingertips as he stared down with a smirk that showed nothing but the superiority this God clearly had.
Kassus instinctively stepped in front of Aphrodite, before he gestured at a nearby comrad to spare him a sword. The man with shaky hands tossed it at Kassus, and he wielded it fiercely. Not because it would help, but because standing unarmed would have felt like surrender, and he never dared to do such thing, even to the strongest of foes.
"Don't." Aphrodite whispered, reaching for his arm and wrapping her hands around it. "Please. He'll kill everyone."
Kassus did not move. His gaze locked on the god above.
"She's here of her own will." Kassus called out, voice steady despite the storm roaring in his ears. "You say she belongs on Olympus, but you held her prisoner and she did not know that until now. I gave her the freedom she needed, and she chose to stay."
Zeus' lip curled in disdain. "You presume to speak of freedom, mortal? You, who slayed my wife's son and dared to call yourself a God Hunter?" His voice boomed so loud it cracked windows, making children cry out of fear. "Do not mistake your fleeting moments with her as anything more than a delay in her duty."
"I haven't forced her into anything," Kassus growled. "Can you say the same?"
Zeus narrowed his eyes, he did not like to be offended. Without another word, he raised his hand to the sky. The first bolt struck a rooftop. Flames erupted. Screams followed. A second bolt ripped into the town square, scattering people in every direction. Children ran, mothers cried, men dove for cover. The sky wept thunder, bolts slamming into the earth with reckless fury, starting to take lives. The young woman Aphrodite helped, the child whose roof was fixed by Kassus. Death was around them.
"Stop!" Aphrodite screamed, shoving past Kassus. "You're killing them!"
Zeus remained motionless, his eyes glowing as he continued to strike down bolt after bolt.
"Aphrodite, wait! You cannot go!" Kassus tried to grab her hand, but she pushed Kassus away, as she climbed to the top of the town centre's fountain, so she could be seen as what she truly was. She changed her appearance, taking her godhood and showing it to everyone. A goddess was among them all along.
"I'll go back!" she cried to the king of gods, her voice cracking. "Just... stop this. Please. I'll return to Olympus. Just don't hurt them anymore."
Zeus finally lowered his hand. The clouds swirled tighter around him, like a crown of storm and judgment. He looked at Aphrodite, her golden eyes filled with tears, and for a moment a flicker of satisfaction crossed his face.
But then, his attention snapped back to Kassus.
"You presume too much, Aphrodite." Zeus said coldly. "To believe a god's mercy could be earned by sentiment. Still, this fool you pretend to care about? He will suffer for your rebellion and greed."
Aphrodite's heart dropped. "Zeus, no!"
But it was too late. The god raised his hand to the heavens again. This time, it was not to summon another bolt, but to open a portal. He formed a whirlpool in the sky, one that was almost as big as Rhodes itself. From the churning skies above, a sickening roar echoed, a sound that did not belong to any beast known to man. It was ancient. Alien. A cry born of rage and madness. But it was not alone, it sounded like an entire estampede of growls of fury.
And then it descended. A mass of writhing limbs, each one thick as a tree trunk, covered in jagged scales and chains that dragged behind like rusted anchors. Fifty heads screamed in unison, eyes glowing with fire. The ground shook beneath its weight as it landed at the shores of Rhodes. The Hecatoncheires. A titan of old. A monster of myth. A friend of Zeus, called forth to finish what lightning could not, what was meant to be for real. The first real challenge for Kassus.
Kassus's breath caught in his throat as he took a step back. Even he had never faced something like this. The creature screamed again, echoing across the land. Zeus raised his voice for all to hear.
"Let this be your lesson, Aphrodite. Let him bleed for your choices."
The villagers were fleeing in every direction, torches dropped, stalls overturned, the once-festive air now thick with ash and fear. Kassus stood frozen for the span of a breath. Just one. Then he moved toward the rest of the citizens.
"Get them out!" he commanded at the few armed men nearby. "Evacuate the town and get everyone to the cliffs!"
"But what about you?" One of them cried, pale with terror.
"I will hold it here." Kassus said. "Go!"
The Hecatoncheires lunged forward with the weight of a collapsing mountain. Every footstep cracked the stone beneath it, every movement sent shockwaves through the earth. A fist like a boulder slammed down. Kassus barely rolled aside, the impact shaking his bones. He scrambled to his feet, teeth clenched, grip tightening around the borrowed blade. It felt like a splinter in his hand: useless against something like this. He needed the Aegis Blade. But he had left it hidden, far from the village, afraid it would draw divine attention.
A mistake.
The Hecatoncheires bellowed again, and one of its arms swept through a row of houses like they were made of parchment. Flames burst skyward. Screams followed. Kassus dashed towards it, sliding under falling rubble, slicing at a swinging chain—not to harm, but to distract. He had to buy time, and it worked. One of the beast's fifty heads turned toward him, snarling with molten eyes.
"Kassus!" Aphrodite shouted from the fountain, her hands outstretched. "You can't fight it like this!"
"I do not have a choice!"
The monster struck again. This time, Kassus could not dodge in time. The blow hurled him through the air, he crashed into a stone column and crumpled to the ground, coughing blood. Bones screamed in protest. He tried to stand but fell to one knee. He looked up, vision swimming. And Zeus was smiling in satisfaction.
"Enough of this." The god's voice was a storm. "Kill him."
The Hecatoncheires lunged forward like an avalanche made of bone and fury. Kassus barely managed to roll aside as a chain-crushing fist obliterated the ground where he had stood before. Stone shattered. Dust filled the air. A second limb came down, grazing his shoulder— he cried out as something cracked, his body slamming hard into the base of the town's central statue. He tried to rise, his legs shaky, blood leaking from his mouth. But he was not fast enough for the ambushing beast. A third arm caught him full in the ribs and sent him hurtling across the square. He landed in a heap, motionless. Aphrodite screamed.
"KASSUS!"
He did not move. The creature bellowed, stalking forward. The townspeople were still fleeing, but there were too many. If Kassus fell, everyone would die. Aphrodite turned to Zeus, her face stricken with rage and disbelief. "This wasn't what you promised!"
Zeus didn't look at her. His gaze remained locked on Kassus, his voice venomous. "He raised a sword against Olympus. He made himself the enemy. He will die like one."
"No." Her voice trembled now. She stepped off the fountain, her mortal form shimmering, beginning to unravel. Her skin glowed faintly, her hair lifting with divine heat, her power refusing to stay buried beneath this veil. "No, this isn't punishment. This is slaughter."
The Hecatoncheires let out another roar and raised all its arms at once, ready to crush the fallen man beneath the weight of its fury.
Aphrodite screamed.
"ENOUGH!"
The word rippled like a bell across the square. The air around her shimmered like heat off a forge. Her mortal dress burned away into light, revealing the divine form of the Goddess of Love, radiant and terrible, weeping and furious all at once. Her golden eyes locked with Zeus's.
"Please." she said. "Let him live."
Zeus descended slightly, his expression unreadable. "You ask a high price." he replied. "For a mortal worm who dared bed a goddess."
"He didn't." Her voice cracked. "Not once without my asking."
Then, with a flick of his hand, Zeus gestured to the monster. The Hecatoncheires froze, just a breath away from crushing Kassus's skull like fruit. Aphrodite immediately ran to Kassus, falling to her knees at his side. She pulled him up, cradling his bloodied face. He groaned faintly, coughing, his fingers twitching.
"You're alright." she whispered, brushing a strand of hair from his face. "You're alright..."
He looked up at her, dazed. "A... Aphrodite..."
Behind them, Zeus floated higher once more, the clouds spiraling tighter.
"This mercy is not eternal." he said. "You'll come with me now, and I'll spare your mortal. But if he truly wants to prove he is worth loving one of us, then he shall accomplish a challenge."
Before Kassus could move again, three hands from the mythical beast shot forward. One grabbing his leg, another his arm, the third around his chest. He thrashed, snarled, stabbed again— but more hands came. A dozen. Maybe more. Some clawed at him, others pinned his arms. One curled around his throat and some of them began to pull his limbs as if Kassus was nothing but a piece of cloth to be twisted.
"Let— me— go!" he shouted, his strained voice and teary eyes from the agony making Aphrodite tear up in response.
Then the heads came. Three serpent-like, with twin maws too wide, too long to avoid. They bit into him, not to kill, but to wound. He screamed in result. The beast lifted him like a broken doll.
Aphrodite shrieked. "NO!"
He turned his head, lips bloodied, face bruised—but his eyes still found hers, and he smiled. It was a weak, defiant smile. The one Aphrodite craved to see for the past seven days, the one she did not know she was going to see in what could be their last moment together. Even if it was momentary, she felt her heart shatter in a million pieces.
"Aphrodite," he rasped. "Do not forget me."
Zeus raised his hand one last time.
"Take him." the god ordered, voice colder than Olympus' peak. "And walk. Walk all the way to Tartarus. Let each step crush his hope. Let each mile of agony remind him: mortals and gods were never meant to love."
The Hecatoncheires obeyed. It turned, dragging Kassus behind, held tightly by clawed fists. His body bounced, dragged, limp and bleeding— but not dead. Not yet. That would come later. That was the point of his torture. Aphrodite collapsed to the ground in despair, her sobs lost in the smoke and ruin, her fingers reaching towards him through dust and flame, as if she could still take him to stop his gruesome fate.
And then... he vanished into the dark while the goddess was taken back to the Olympus.