Chapter 128 – Olympians, Timeskip, Departure

At this point, Zagreus enters a routine of continuously running through Tartarus. Most of the time, if he stays patient and pays close attention to avoiding blows from the weak shades, he can make it to Megaera with at three-fourths of his health. He is then utterly demolished despite his double dash making him harder to hit or whatever Boons he has.

Megaera has more vitality and strength than him by a long shot. Even when he stacks his build with Boons instead of going for Darkness, Chthonic Keys, or Gem permanent collectible chambers, he still cannot defeat her. He comes to the realization that he not only has to improve his combat prowess, he also has to focus on collecting Darkness to borrow more of Nyx's power.

Only 50 Darkness made his combat versatility and survivability increase greatly with Greater Reflexes. If he can continue buying upgrades in the Mirror of Night, then he will eventually be guaranteed a victory simply due to outgrowing her. What makes losing to that hateful bitch worse is that each time she beats him, she leaves him at low health, straddles him, and rides his big cock, but does not let him put it in.

She masturbates her pussy against the length of his dick then sends him off to death, usually with her favorite bite to the throat. The only reason he does not dash out is because most of the time he gets an orgasm out of it as well. His reasoning is, 'We all have guilty pleasures!'

(A/N: Fanart credit to robs0n)

Needless to say, her poor treatment pushes him extra hard to focus on his combat basics, survivability, and battle tactics. Also during this long period of dungeon grinding, he gets to know each of the Olympians through the messages they send in their Boons.

~ ~ ~

Aphrodite's blessing orb has a glowing pink heart logo upon it. When he accepts her message and the orb shatters to reveal her divine projection, he finds that she is both extremely beautiful and entirely nude. As a young teenager, Zagreus immediately gets hard. Her long pink hair barely covers her nipples and pussy from view, and even when he shifts his body to try to look around the hair, they are still covered from view.

Aphrodite blinks her pink eyes, licks her lips as she takes a relaxed pose in midair, and says in a voice dripping with eroticism, "Why hello, hello, there, little godling. I have to say you're quite the specimen, and so, I've decided I shall aid you for the moment. You interested?" before poofing into a pink screen.

'Yes, I am interested!' Zagreus immediately develops a naive little crush on Aphrodite, the low-t4 Goddess of Love and Beauty. She is far more pleasant to the eyes than his current sex-frenemy. She doesn't seem crazy either!

Aphrodite's Boons are focused on inflicting curses of 'Weakness' upon his enemies, allowing them to take more damage, him to take less damage, and overall increase his survivability.

~ ~ ~

Ares' Boon icon looks like a glowing red sword. When Zagreus opens it, he sees the valiant divine projection of the low-t4 God of War. He has black skin, white face paint, white hair, gold and white plate armor, and carries a bloodthirsty sword and helmet. The God is built, not as hulking as his Father, Hades, but purely of muscle, like a wrestler. Every part of his body is toned to perfection. Zagreus is relatively well-built himself, mainly due to his heritage, so he is impressed to see such a high standard of male form achieved.

Ares looks down upon him and says, "You've got quite the fighting spirit in you there, I have to say. Most intriguing, and yet no surprise for someone born in hell itself. You come on out of there, and tell me all about it. I'm a fellow student of death, you see."

Chuckling, Zagreus thinks, 'I suppose the God of War would work closely with my older brother Thanatos. Interesting that he calls himself his 'student' though.'

Ares' Boons are focused on inflicting curses of 'Doom' upon Zagreus' enemies, increasing his attack damage, and leaving blade rifts that function as a slowly moving, rapidly spinning area-of-effect ability dealing steady damage over time on whoever stays inside its bounds.

~ ~ ~

Artemis' Boon icon looks like a glowing green bow and arrow. Opening it, he sees the low-t4 Goddess of the Hunt, a pale white pretty flat-chested lady clad entirely in animal fur and accessories.

Looking over to Zagreus' position, she explains tersely, "I heard about you. Look, I'm not like all the others on Olympus. The power of the hunt helps keep me company, so, maybe it'll help you, too."

Immediately, he can tell she's a quiet person not used to socializing. He is extremely surprised by the diversity of Olympians that Athena had managed to convince aid him in his journey.

Artemis' Boons are focused on inflicting curses of 'Marked' which increases his chance of landing a Critical hit to a fixed percentage. Her other Boons also improve his Critical hit chances. Critical hits are devastating blows that Zagreus rarely, only through luck, is able to land due to his low experience in battle and hunting.

~ ~ ~

Dionysus' Boon icon looks like a glowing purple wine glass. When Zagreus opens it, he witnesses the low-t4 God of Wine and Ecstasy. His divine projection is that of a lounging brown-skinned, purple-haired handsome man who seems to be perpetually partying, as evidenced by the fuming cup of wine he holds even as a projection.

"Heeey, there, Zag, man, how's it going? Look, you have got to get here with the rest of us already, we've been saving you a spot! Let me see what I can do, make life a little sweeter for you in the meantime!"

Zagreus feels a close kinship with this easygoing God. Maybe it is the fact that Dionysus was once a demigod, who elevated in status to become a God. He is a natural people person, and somewhat like Zagreus himself, he lacks the overt arrogance of the other Gods.

Dionysus' Boons are focused on inflicting curses of 'Hangover', which places a small damage-over-time effect on those who are affected, regardless of their positioning, unlike the blade rifts of Ares. Zagreus quickly notices that, just like blade rifts, 'Hangover' effects can be stacked if he reapplies it to enemies, making it one of the most powerful and versatile of all the Olympian curses.

~ ~ ~

Poseidon's Boon icon looks like a glowing blue trident. When he opens the orb, he finds the divine projection of his Uncle, the mid-t4 God of the Sea. He is a smiling, well-built, and tan-skinned man with turquoise hair and beige robes. His demeanor is jolly as he hangs his trident behind his neck.

"Hoy there, little Hades! You recognize your uncle, do you not? We've a lot of catching up to do, but first things first, you get yourself out of that dour Underworld! As for me, I'll see if I can stir things up a bit to cover your advance!"

For all the vague and disparaging remarks he's heard his Father speak of regarding his extended family upon Olympus, Zagreus' first impressions of them are not bad at all. He feels like this Uncle is really chill and would be a great guy to get to know and befriend.

Poseidon's Boons are focused on inflicting curses of 'Ruptured', which deals damage-over-time to enemies while they move, increasing his attack damage, and adding knockback effects to his attacks. Ruptured is not as versatile as Hangover, because not all enemies will move often, but it does have stronger damage-over-time effects in return. Overall, the additional knockback is the most useful part of his Boons, since knockback interrupts enemy attacks and if Zagreus pushes shades into the wall or onto traps, he can make easy work out of them.

~ ~ ~

Lastly, Zeus' Boon icon looks like a glowing lightning bolt. When he opens the orb, a divine projection of Zeus shoots out at lightning speed and stops in front of him. Zeus is a hulking darkish-skinned man even more heavily-built than Hades with a large white, billowy beard and a golden toga. He gives off an excessively proud demeanor, which might be warranted seeing as he is the mid-t4 God of Sky and Thunder and the ruler of the Olympian Gods.

"Greetings there, young man! Look, your father's always been rather difficult, and he's not so much as called in quite some time. You'll have a better home where you belong, here on Olympus! And to help you on your journey, have my blessing."

Already, Zagreus can tell that his eldest Uncle is a troublesome person who seems to have clear expectations for others that he will immediately follow up on without giving their opinions any consideration. He is beginning to understand why his Father distanced himself from his older brother. There is a lot of room for misunderstandings and poor communication between an overly controlling older brother and a temperamental younger one.

As a nephew of Zeus, Zagreus is glad to be someone that Zeus plans to treat charitably. Zeus' boons are focused on inflicting curses of 'Jolted', which causes enemies to inflict damage to themselves when they attack, and chain lightning strikes between large groups of enemies.

~ ~ ~

Soon, Zagreus realizes that combining specific Boons will net him synergetic results in his damage output and survivability. For example, the Dionysus Boon to his Cast turns his bloodstone magic blast into a smokebomb projectile that produces a temporary area-of-effect fog, which applies Hangover to everyone in an area, called 'Festive Fog'. Festive Fog stuns all his enemies periodically and can be combined with Ares' blade rifts to do massive damage in an area.

On the other hand, Festive Fogs and Poseidon's knockback effects do not mix well with this set of Boons, since Zagreus tends to knock his enemies out of the bounds of the Fog or blade rifts accidentally. All of this goes to show that blessings can increase Zagreus' battle power exponentially if he applies them well or if he adjusts his combat strategy to match their strengths. There is a large variety of Boons and given that he is only getting 5 or so Boons by the time he makes it to Megaera, with 3 blessing options on each Boon and some of them having a low or negative effect on his DPS, he has to get lucky to get a good set.

~ ~ ~

Every now and then, he finds an extra powerful duo Boon, where two Olympians collaborate to send down a blessing. The small talk gives him a picture into the relationships between the two Olympians, and clues him in on some of the drama that takes place. One such conversation during a Duo Boon he receives from Ares and Aphrodite gets him down in the dumps.

The projection of Ares says, "Wars waged over love, my kin... can you imagine that? The lady Aphrodite and I can endlessly discuss such circumstances. I trust, from time to time, you stop to ask yourself how come you choose to fight. Not that you need a reason, of course."

The projection of Aphrodite replies, "Oh, Lord Ares, truly there isn't the need to cloud our little godling's thoughts and judgment with such comments, is there, hm? Let's give him what he wants, and we can carry on in private, how about that."

Zagreus knows that a Goddess of Love and Beauty like Aphrodite must be having a lot of sex, but it does not really register through the naive and idealistic crush he has on her until she clearly implies it. This bums him out and he even stops his runs for a week before Nuwa and Achilles are able to pull him out of his idle rut. It's been a few years and he's used to the grind now, so he starts running with a primary focus on collectibles like Darkness, Keys, Gems, and improving his overall combat ability.

By now, he is dealing some damage to Megaera instead of dying almost instantly. He also unlocks the formations on the other artifact weapons in the training room with his abundance of Chthonic Keys and begins to do runs using those.

Varatha, the Eternal Spear, was the weapon that his Father had used to defeat the Titans.

Aegis, the Shield of Chaos, was the weapon that Zeus had wielded to defeat the Titans and later passed to Athena.

Coronacht, the Heart-Seeking Bow, was the weapon Hera, wife of Zeus, had used her superb marksmanship to snipe at the eyes and hearts of the Titans with.

Malphon, the Twin Fists, were the weapons that Demeter, the oldest of the Olympians, had used to beat down the Titans with vehemence.

And finally, Exagryph, the Adamant Railgun, was the weapon of Hestia, who had wielded it against the Titans to deal horrific damage. However, the combination of metal and flame allows weaker beings to hold such devastating power that the Gods jointly decided to hide it away from mortal eyes.

Somehow, all these legendary artifact weapons ended up in the House of Hades for Zagreus to train with. Achilles tells Zagreus that all of these weapons will gradually thirst for the blood of the Titans over time, and consume the wielder's own blood if they do not get it, particularly Malphon, since the Twin Fists are the closest approximation of the Titan's will to destroy.

Nevertheless, after a great deal of begging and puppy eyes, Zagreus and Achilles secretly allow Nuwa to mess around with all the artifact weapons except for Malphon and Exagryph. Nuwa prefers the Heart-Seeking Bow since she gets a lot of compliments from her brother and teacher about how well she handles it.

~ ~ ~

[9 years later]

Azula walks out of her cave dwelling in the Spirit Realm. It is time for her departure and she does not carry many personal belongings with her, since she has her Smartphone to keep her visual mementos in. Tulen and Zina are oddballs to say the least, in a different way than Nuwa due to her not being able to influence them, but they are strong and mature enough to be independent.

Tulen is almost 18 and Zina is almost 17. He is mostly excited, but she is sad and crying. The gang and many of their teenage children have come. The spirits who they have befriended in the past 17 years show up as well. The froggy family, the fox proprietor family, several chimeric dragon spirits, and a variety of exotic bird spirits arrive to see Azula off. The gang have already said their goodbyes over the past few days, including hugs and crying in each other's arms, but they watch Azula walk into the horizon regardless.

Azula refuses to speak of where she is going, but they all assume she is going to find Nuwa. They have no idea when they will see her again or if it will be possible to contact her via Smartphone. Zuko tears up as a bespectacled Izumi pats his back. They look back at their adventures with nostalgia, but feel no desire to return. They want to make way for their children. Nuwa and Azula, on the other hand, the gang imagines that those two will be adventuring for a long time yet.

Azula heads to the Spirit Oasis of the North Pole with her physical body, periodically exercising her Gate of Opening and Healing to boost her speed. She does not want to make a scene with her fireboosters since it is the Spirit Realm and there may be Ancient Spirits more powerful than her offended by the commotion of the jet thrusters. Azula has full confidence in her strength within the Avatar World's Mortal Realm, except against Lo and Li, but not the Spirit Realm.

She is only on the road for an hour before Lo and Li drop out of some trees ahead of her. Maintaining her distance while observing their curious garb, Azula crosses her arms and states, "I've come. Where are we going?"

Lo and Li are wearing black, skin-tight jumpsuits with shawls to cover their faces. Their clothing is simultaneously modest on their tightly wrapped chests, and revealing of their long legs only covered by a miniskirt, small thigh holsters for tools, and fishnet leggings. They both carry dual swords sheathed on their backs. Azula has no idea why they are geared so heavily, but she trusts that they will not attack her. She is not stronger than them yet, but they would not have waited for so long only to take her down now.

Lo chuckles and greets Azula with gusto, "Hello! Straight to the point as always, Princess."

Azula replies flatly, "Just call me Azula. I was never fit to be a Princess."

"Very well, Azula." Li declares seriously, "There is a long journey ahead of us. But if you would like an exact answer to your question, our destination is Konoha."

(A/N: If you didn’t catch the hint from the Gate of Opening, Lo and Li are from the Land of Fire ;D)

(A/N: https://discord.gg/VD3C2BFPAu)