Retribution [malexmale]

Chapter Nineteen

Chapter Nineteen

"You've made a very big mistake coming here, Xenon." Zelus muttered as he stood across the chamber from me, decked out in full ancient Atlantean battle regalia. I clenched my fists at my sides, watching him warily.

"Zelus, get out of my way." I commanded. Zelus curled his lip.

"Bite me," He sneered, then raked me with a disgusted glare, "I can't believe you'd turn on your own family like this. And even worse, siding with the Greeks? Have you any idea the mistake you've made? Father will not only never forgive you for this, but he will torment you for eternity as he will with the Greeks once he's enslaved them." I laughed at that and it only infuriated Zelus further as I took a guarded stance, feet apart and hands flexing as I conjured a pair of swords to clench in my fists.

"No. The only one who's made a mistake here was Atlan. He lied to me and he betrayed me. He tried to kill my friends and he kidnapped Lea's infant. He tricked an ancient demon into falling in love with him just so he could use his powers to his advantage and now said demon is eternally enslaved. He wants to destroy a whole pantheon, a whole race, because he feels threatened by them. And he should. The Greeks may have their baggage, but so do most pantheons. At least they own up to their mistakes. At least they have a shred of humanity left inside themselves. And if there's one thing that I admire most about the Greeks, its their ability to value family above anything else."

Zelus growled at that, waving his hands out and conjuring twin swords into his fists.

"You're pathetic," He sneered, "The Greeks are nothing, but a group of pathetic actors. They will turn on you. And you know? It'll be too easy considering you're such a sap."

"Talking time is over. Come get some." I returned menacingly. Zelus let out a fierce war cry and lunged for me, slashing his swords at my face, but I swung mine up and knocked his back, aiming to stab him in the chest, but he stomped his foot down on mine and swung his elbow up into my nose. I cursed, stumbling back and wiping the blood from my nose.

"You fight like a child." I mocked. Zelus snarled and began to slash violently at me, but I ducked and dodged and spun out of the way until I smacked my back against a wall and cursed. Zelus roared and went to behead me, but I ducked low and swiped his feet out from under him, causing his swords to go flying. I cast mine aside to keep the fight fair, because I at least had some semblance of fairness, and leapt on Zelus, slugging him in the face. He writhed, struggling to get up and push me off.

I caught sight of him grabbing a dagger from his jacket and caught his wrist, trying to twist it away from him, but it buried against my suit. I cursed, waiting for it to break the material, but the material held tight and the dagger broke in half. Zelus stared at his dagger, then at my suit, then up at me as I smirked.

"The armor of the future, brother. Good luck getting your own." I replied, then grabbed his head and smashed it against the floor so hard that I swore it would shatter, but Zelus only managed a groan as I heaved myself off him, stepping back and moving toward one of the walls to try and blast through it. But a wall of hot flames whizzed past me and scorched my suit for a second before it healed itself. I turned to see Zelus lifting himself onto his feet, breathing hard.

"I'm not finished with you yet." He snarled, reaching up and brushing his bloody hair back from his face; blood from the crack I'd given to his skull. I narrowed my eyes and turned to face him. He ran at me again, but I caught him and threw him over my shoulder. The weight of his armor killed me, but it did the same to him as he fell like a box of rocks to the ground. I smirked.

"Pretty hard to fight with armor that weights nearly as much as you do, fatass." I said. Zelus scrambled in the dirt, lunging to his feet and headbutting me. I cursed, the breath knocked from my lungs as he threw me down onto the ground and slammed our heads together. I hissed, feeling blood ooze down either side of my nose. He reached down, grabbing my throat and squeezing so hard that I swore my head was going to pop off.