CHAPTER 189

CHAPTER 189
As I heard the commotion behind me, I knew I needed to buy time for Reya and Ixion.

Hades was watching me with a satisfied smile, the kind that belonged to someone who had already won and was simply savoring the aftertaste of victory. The Thonicks surrounded me on every side, weapons steady, completely unmoved by my presence.

"I must confess," Hades said, rising from his throne with the unhurried grace of someone who had never once been rushed by anything or anyone in his entire existence, "when I heard you were coming, I expected someone more formidable. The daughter of Terra, wielding the combined powers of three gods, and yet here you stand, looking exactly as lost as the first time you wandered into my home uninvited. I'm disappointed."

"Where is Claire?" I demanded, ignoring his hurtful jab because he was absolutely right. This entire mission was based off of surprising him, I didn't have any other advantage.

"Claire." He repeated her name like he was tasting it, rolling it around in his mouth with mild distaste. "You crossed the barrier between worlds, survived those crocodiles, navigated my maze and walked into my ballroom for a human girl whose presence in your life has always led to pain." He descended from the platform slowly, each step deliberate. "I find that either deeply touching or profoundly stupid and I genuinely cannot decide which."

Again, spot on the mark but my affinity with Claire wasn't a justification for her getting caught up in my mess. I've forgiven her and even if I haven't, I wasn't going to let her perish here because of my war with Hades.

"Let her go," I said. "This is between you and me and you don't have to drag anyone else into it, that's cowardice."

"Is it?" He tilted his head, studying me with those dark eyes that had watched civilizations rise and crumble. "You brought quite a few people into my home, Celeste. Your little rescue team, your dragons, even the ghost of that incubus you love so desperately. I cannot ignore the disrespect, if I do, even when I finish with you, they'll think it cool to come back here and try again. So no, I don't believe this is just about you. This stopped being between you and me the moment you decided to make it a group project."

So I will have myself to blame if anyone of them gets hurt, message received well Hades.

I gathered my powers quietly, sun and earth and ocean braiding together beneath my skin, careful not to let it show on my face.

"You want me," I said, keeping my voice steady. "For some sick, twisted purpose, You've always wanted me, not Claire. So let her go and we can settle this properly, just the two of us."

He looked at me for a long moment, something shifting behind his eyes.

"You know," he said softly, continuing to circle me with those slow, deliberate steps, "I have existed for longer than most gods can comprehend. I have seen every kind of courage and every kind of desperation and I have learned to tell them apart quite easily. What you're doing right now, this careful, measured negotiation while you quietly pool your powers hoping I won't notice, is neither courage nor desperation." He stopped directly in front of me. "It's stupidity. And I find it rather insulting."

Shit, he's caught me.

So I stopped stalling and released everything at once.

The blast hit him square in the chest and sent him stumbling backward, genuine surprise crossing his face for one brief, satisfying moment.

Then the Thonicks closed in from every direction.

There were too many. For every one I threw back, three more took their place. My powers were draining faster than I expected, the Underground's energy pressing against mine like a physical weight, wearing me down with every second I spent in this domain.

A blow caught me from behind and dropped me to my knees.

Another sent me sprawling face first against the cold stone floor.

By the time the Thonicks pulled back, I was on the ground, wrists bound behind me, cheek pressed against the stone, chest heaving.

Hades straightened his clothes unhurriedly and looked down at me with the expression of someone who had never once doubted how this would end.

"There," he said quietly. "Much better."

I didn't stay down.

I remembered everything Pelagius had drilled into me. Don't give him time to think. Be faster, more aggressive. Hit him with everything from the start.

So I did.

I rolled onto my back, snapped the binding on my wrists with a burst of earth power and came up swinging. Sun, earth and ocean braiding together exactly the way Mother had taught me, that perfect spiral of combined energy that made my skin glow blue.

I threw it all at him at once.

He raised one hand and absorbed it completely.

The rebound hit me harder than the original blow had, throwing me off my feet entirely. I hit the floor, rolled, got back up because Pelagius had made me do that drill so many times it was muscle memory now.

The Thonicks came again and this time I fought smarter, not harder. Redirecting their momentum, using earth power to shift the ground beneath their feet, using ocean to disorient their senses, using sun to blind them temporarily.

For about thirty seconds, it actually worked.

Then there were simply too many and no amount of training could compensate for that.

A blow caught my ribs. Another caught my jaw. When they finally pulled me down and bound my wrists with something warded and burning, I had nothing left to reach for.

Hades looked down at me, completely unhurt, not even breathing hard.

"Is that everything?" he asked.

I said nothing, I was beat, and I didn't think anything was going to save me from the doom I'd worked myself into.

"Good," he said quietly. "Now we can talk.”

As he went to sit back on his throne, I listened for Reya and Ixion.

Nothing.

Hopefully they're faring better than I am.