BOOK 1 CHAPTER 12 “TWELVE LABORS”

(Mmmhh… Where…Am I?)

I opened my eyes to see Aurie on the ground. Eion had his leg on her back.

Eion: “Oho, wakey-wakey there!”

“I have a real fun time planned out.”

I heard Aurie’s muffled voice with her face on the ground. She was gagged.

Eion: “Look, she’s struggling! Why, isn’t that adorable?”

He talked with a twisted smile painted on his face. I knew then that he wanted to torture us both.

Eion: “You won’t struggle though, will you Tifon? You’ll just lie right there and watch me have my way with her, right?”

“You tried struggling before, remember? Didn’t go so well for you.”

“When will you realize you can’t stand up to the Gods?!”

I was sprawled along my stomach on the floor. My hands were bound, but I wasn’t gagged. He wanted to hear me squeal.

Eion: “See ‘Aurie’, he isn’t even making a sound! Silence is acceptance you know.”

He stared into Aurie’s eyes completely frenzied.

“He’s a little dumb, isn’t he?”

“Still doesn’t get that you’re mine, the Gods have given you to me!”

I almost yelled out, but I restrained myself. He wanted to get a rise out of me now. But I had to stop him somehow.

(These bounds aren’t too tight to slide out of.)

I must’ve seen it a couple of hundred times in movies but…

(I have to dislocate my wrist.)

(That’ll bend it enough for me to slide it through.)

Eion: “Do you hear me? I am a God Tifon!”

I propped myself onto my knees.

Eion: “Hah, what, are you gonna-”

Tifon: “AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHH”

JUST PUSH IT THROUGH

“KRUK”

Eion: “!!!”

Tifon: “Ah… hah… ahh…”

I was completely breathless. As if all my energy went into squeezing myself free. It worked, but I had no energy left to fix my arm. I had no time either.

The rope fell off of me as I stood up.

Eion was completely taken aback. He had expected no resistance from him, in his head, he thought such an occurrence was impossible.

But that was just half the truth. In reality, he had suppressed the idea, for Tifon’s fighting back was his greatest fear.

Eion: “Take another step… And I’ll scorch you alive, Tifon.”

The piercing pain from my wrist seemed to spread over my entire arm. It was unbearable.

Why?

Why would I do this? Why would I put myself through this?

That’s right. It’s because of what he said, isn’t it?

He said she was his.

I couldn’t fool myself anymore. I wasn’t playing hero for the greater good, this was only for one thing. In truth, he and I were both doing this for one single thing.

PRIDE

I had accepted it. I felt as though a long-lost piece of me had finally returned to its place. I felt whole.

I remembered what gramps had said.

‘I seem to have started missing that arrogant smile of yours’.

I held my head up then. I looked Eion straight in the eye, and I pulled the most erratic and arrogant smile I could muster.

Eion: “?!”

Tifon: “I could just scream from pure rapture!”

“Listen to me, Eion, I am going to free Aurora. And if you use those God-stained flames against me.”

“I will haul my scorched carcass over to you, Hades can’t stop me, but you will pray for His release.”

I could see him shaking, he was no God. He was nothing but a child playing pretend.

I took my first step.

Eion: “!!!”

In reaction, Eion flared out a burst of flame. It was just a warning shot, but the heat from the steam alone was enough to burn the skin off my arm.

Eion: “O-One more step… and you’ll be a conscious pile of ash.”

I didn’t drop my arrogant smile for an instant as I spotted Aurora’s eyes on me. She didn’t drop her gaze, this time, I did.

Tifon: “About twelve steps from here.”

“In twelve more steps, you’ll die.”

I moved my legs.

Tifon: “Eleven.”

Tifon: “Ten.”

Eion: “No more…! Not another step!”

To use his Boon on him would mean to accept it.

It would bring back reality.

It would show him:

That he was afraid

Eion: “I WARNED YOU-!”

Apollyon Fire: The enhanced version of SunBlaze, and the power exalted by Apollo Himself. Eion’s Boon was in nature SunBlaze, however, it was often prefaced as lesser Apollyon Fire instead. This was for the simple reason that, his Boon, was too powerful to be put in the same category as SunBlaze.

While SunBlaze produces flames around 400°-600° F, depending on the X grades mastery over it, his flames burn at over 1500°.

All in all, there were only 10 seconds between when the blaze was released from his hand, and when it made contact with Tifon.

(Aah?)

(AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA)

MAKE IT STOP. MAKE IT STOP. MAKE IT STOP. MAKE IT STOP. MAKE IT STOP. MAKEITSTOPMAKEITSTOPMAKEITSTOP

I KNEW THIS WOULD HAPPEN, SO WHY?

WHYWHYWHYWHYWHYWHYWHYWHYWHYWHY

‘So, basically, you’d be conscious without a brain, and the ability to move, communicate or exist in any manner that matters?’

Is that what was going to happen?

That’s right, the commandant had shown me before where my pride would lead me.

I knew.

Oh look, my skin is starting to peel off. I can see my flesh bubbling too, but I can’t feel anything. Am I going to die-?

That was the turning point for Tifon. He had finally reached it. There were only two options in front of him, madness or Godhood.

He had suffered through the unbearable pain, but he had caught himself before it ruined him.

…No. I can’t die.

‘That pride could make you invincible, but would that be worth everything?’

!!!: “MMHHH…!! MMMMHH――?!?”

I can hear her screams.

What was her name?

That’s right, now I remember.

I made my choice. I made it when I held her, back then I chose my pride over her. Over everything.

I’d choose it again every time.

‘9’

###: “He’s… Moving?!”

‘8’

###: “It can’t be! I CAN SEE YOUR SKELETON!”

‘7’

!!!: “MMMH-MMM… MHH――――!”

Who are these people? What am I doing?

‘6’

Where am I going?

‘5’

That’s right. I promised I’d make him wish for death.

Which one is he?

The fire is dull on my flesh. I cannot feel it, but it warms me.

His fire is Godly.

I’ll snuff it out with my bare hands.

There is no describing what Eion was seeing. His flames had scorched the earth along with everything Tifon was made of.

All of his hair had burned off in the first few seconds. His skin had charred and blackened almost instantaneously. He no longer had a face, it had melted and fallen off, piece by piece.

All that was left were his ashen bones and fragments of musculature… Along with that Godsforsaken noise. It was a sort of gurgling howl erupting from him, Eion could tell only one thing from it:

He was counting down his steps.

The muscles in his throat were too burned and disfigured to allow anything but base screeching.

He was trying to talk.

Tifon: “ 󠇆󠇆󠇖󠇖󠇖󠇖󠇖󠇖󠇖󠇖󠇖󠇖󠇖󠇖——―――!!

󠅀󠅀󠅀󠅀󠅀󠅀󠅀󠅀󠅀󠅀󠅀󠅀󠅀󠅀――――――——!”

Eion was too afraid to move. Deep down he’d always thought that Tifon must’ve been some half-God. But now he was convinced otherwise.

That thing was a demon.

There was no stopping It.

It made its unyielding march, just as promised.

It was destruction manifest.

Tifon: “󠇖󠇖󠇖󠇖—――!”

(I’m… I’m going to die.)

Tifon: “󠇖󠇖󠇖—―!!”

(But I was supposed to be loved by the Gods…)

Tifon: “󠇖󠇖󠇖—――——!!”

Eion: “WHERE ARE YOU, APOLLO?! WHAT ARE YOU GOOD FOR??”

Tifon: “󠇖󠇖󠇖󠇖󠇖󠇖󠇖󠇖󠇖󠇖————―― 󠇖!! 󠇖 ――——!!!

󠇖󠇖󠇖󠇖󠇖󠇖󠇖󠇖󠇖󠇖󠇖󠇖󠇖󠇖󠇖󠇖󠇖󠇖󠇖󠇖󠇖󠇖󠇖󠇖󠇖————————―――!!!!”

Does this demon even know what It's howling for?

Eion: “…Tifon-?”

It had finally reached him.

Tifon: “󠇖―—󠇖󠇖󠇖󠇖󠇖――――—󠇖!!!”

It had no limbs, Its legs were the least exposed, and all that had been left of them was molten flesh. Its right arm had long since fallen off, all that was left in its place was darkened bone.

That was all It needed.

It flung itself back, dragging falling flesh with each movement. Raised Its limb, and after pulling it back down, skewered the false God with it.

The bone remained in Eion’s throat as Tifon fell back. His mission was accomplished, he had won.

Eion fell to his knees, he struggled for some time. But he succumbed soon, choking on his own blood he could only spasm as his view darkened. He died, a luxury Tifon could not afford.

He had now thoroughly fallen apart. After piercing Eion he smashed into the ground, breaking off his chin and cracking his skull. All that remained of his body was a molten torso, the flesh, and organs that had made it up before were now scattered along his path.

(He’s gone… Although he can’t die, no man could stay human after being bathed in the sun’s flames for that long.)

Aurora almost began weeping, but then looking up she saw a figure approaching.

It was Lord Xuth, he walked towards the bodies of the fallen.

Lord Xuth: “It seems I was just a little too late.”

The Lord let out an innocent chuckle, before facing Aurora.

Lord Xuth: “Let’s get you out of that sorry state, hm?”

After undoing her bounds the Lord laid her down on her back.

Lord Xuth: “Bare it for a while longer, the medics will arrive soon. They are my men, they’ll be sure to take good care of you.”

Aurora: “…What will you do with Tifon…?”

The Lord’s face contorted into a profound leer, a look he’d rarely ever worn. He answered without breaking it.

Lord Xuth: “Fight back.”