When Gods and Monsters Collide 1/2
"Come on, why do you keep running? I thought you wanted to fight," Hercules shouted with an excited grin as he chased after Graviton, who was fleeing at full speed without even looking back.
Meanwhile, the Olympian propelled himself forward with enormous leaps that could easily be mistaken for flight.
"You—!"
Before Hercules could say anything else, something golden suddenly shot toward him at incredible speed, catching him slightly off guard.
The impact came a moment later.
Hercules was sent flying, crashing into the ground and causing massive destruction. Part of the earth rose like a wave as a thick cloud of dust swallowed the area.
Even so, the Olympian stood up almost immediately, shaking his head slightly, still a little dazed, before looking up at the sky with an annoyed expression.
"Hey. Didn't anyone teach you not to interrupt a warrior's battle?" he said, staring at the figure now floating in the air, watching him from above without saying a word.
"Hmph. So you finally arrived. They took their sweet time sending you."
Graviton said as he slowed down and floated a little closer, his expression arrogant and irritated.
The other man simply glanced at him for a moment before looking back at Hercules.
"That's not him."
He said calmly.
"I know. No idea where he came from, but he was on that island."
Graviton replied, even more irritated by the dry way the other spoke, though he didn't dare show too much anger.
The person in front of him was far stronger.
And far more… unstable.
Floating lightly in the air, he wore a dark cape and a golden suit with a belt clearly marked with a large letter S. Around his forehead was a strange metallic device.
If Owen had been there, he would have been extremely surprised.
Because the presence of that man meant trouble.
Not because of the man himself.
But because of what he carried inside.
Sentry.
"For now… catch him."
Sentry said while looking at Hercules with a cold expression.
Though for a brief moment, something else crossed his face. A faint hint of conflict that disappeared almost immediately.
"Hmm? So this is going to turn into a two against one."
Hercules said while looking at Sentry and Graviton.
"Great."
He added with a wide smile that slowly turned almost savage.
Suddenly, his muscles tensed as his back straightened slightly.
Even standing still, the tremendous strength gathering inside his body could almost be felt in the air.
Seeing that, Graviton's arrogant smile vanished.
Now that Sentry was on his side, he had thought the fight would be simple.
But at that moment he realized something.
That monster hadn't even been using his full strength.
He had been playing with him.
And that was the truth.
Hercules' divine strength could have killed him at any moment.
But now Sentry was there.
And Sentry felt genuinely dangerous.
So Hercules stopped playing.
Sentry looked at him calmly.
"I'm sorry about this."
He murmured with a strange tone of regret.
The next instant, with a golden flash, he shot forward at incredible speed toward Hercules.
The Olympian's grin widened as he took a fighting stance.
Then he threw a punch.
Sentry's fist collided with his.
The impact unleashed a brutal shockwave that split the ground beneath their feet and hurled a storm of dirt and rock in every direction, like a tidal wave of pure destruction.
For a moment even Sentry's eyes widened slightly.
He had felt mountains break with less force than that clash of fists.
And yet Hercules was still there.
Smiling.
Sentry threw another punch.
Hercules answered with one of his own.
Their fists collided again. The ground around them simply vanished under the pressure of the impact, leaving Hercules standing atop the only column of earth that had not yet collapsed.
"HAHAHA! Now that's what I'm talking about!"
Hercules shouted.
Suddenly, he tilted his head forward and launched a brutal headbutt, as if he intended to crack his opponent's skull with pure force.
Sentry took the hit and was sent several meters backward, the air around his body vibrating from the impact before he stopped himself midair, shaking his head slightly.
But when he looked down, he saw a fist coming straight for his face.
His eyes widened in surprise.
At that exact moment, an enormous gravitational pressure fell on Hercules.
It only stopped him for a millisecond.
But that millisecond was enough.
The punch brushed past Sentry's cheek as he tilted his head to avoid it.
The wind released by the force of the blow blasted outward like a hurricane.
Sentry answered with a direct hook aimed at Hercules' face.
The Olympian shifted to the side, dodging the strike and returning one of his own that sent Sentry flying several meters back.
"Hahaha. You're strong, kid… but you still lack training."
Hercules said with an excited grin.
Then he leapt toward him.
And came crashing down with a descending kick aimed straight at his head.
Sentry moved quickly to dodge.
The kick struck the ground.
The earth split open, forming a massive crack that tore across the land in a straight line.
"Damn monster."
Graviton said while raising both hands, brutally increasing the gravity around Hercules.
For a moment, Hercules' body tilted slightly under the pressure, as if the weight of a mountain had suddenly dropped onto his shoulders.
But then he straightened again and looked at Graviton with that increasingly savage smile.
Graviton moved his hands, and enormous rocks began to float around him.
One of them shot toward Hercules.
The god threw a punch and shattered it into pieces.
At that instant, Sentry appeared beside him.
His fist struck Hercules in the chin and sent him flying several meters away.
But the Olympian stabilized himself midair and slowed his momentum by dragging his hands and feet across the ground, kicking up dust.
He touched his chin lightly and nodded.
"Good. Good. You learn fast."
He said before launching himself toward Sentry again.
Meanwhile, a rain of massive rocks was falling toward him.
Hercules advanced through them, destroying them one after another with brutal punches, each strike reducing huge stones into showers of fragments.
Until he collided with Sentry's fists once more.
Sentry quickly lifted his leg to kick his stomach.
But Hercules moved to the side, appeared behind him, and grabbed him by the waist.
Then he threw him backward.
Sentry's head slammed into the ground.
The impact triggered such a violent explosion of dirt and rock that, for a moment, the battlefield vanished beneath a massive cloud of debris.
Graviton, high in the sky, quickly raised his hands to shield himself from the flying rubble and dust, using gravity to redirect the fragments that shot toward him.
But the very next instant, Hercules appeared right in front of him with a gigantic leap.
And that savage smile on his face.
Graviton understood immediately.
A single punch from that monster could kill him.
Something seemed to ignite inside him at that moment, as total fury flooded his mind.
"Damn it!"
He shouted angrily while raising both hands and pointing them toward Hercules.
Suddenly, the hero was stopped in midair.
Even Hercules looked slightly surprised.
"Hmm?"
He looked down and noticed he was floating inside some kind of invisible sphere.
A gravity bubble.
Graviton, seeing this, smiled with excitement.
It was as if his power was expanding in real time, as if the battle itself was pushing his abilities toward something new.
Without wasting a second, he thrust both hands forward.
The bubble exploded.
The gravitational pressure released all at once, sending Hercules violently crashing toward the ground.
"HAHAHAHA! Now we're talking, you Neanderthal. I should thank you for showing me something I hadn't considered before."
Graviton said excitedly.
Several bubbles began forming slowly around him.
Each one pulled dust, rocks, and chunks of earth toward its center.
At the core of each bubble, a tiny black point could barely be seen.
But that only made Graviton more and more excited.
Meanwhile, Sentry suddenly rose from the crater where he had been buried.
He brushed the dust off his body.
He only had a few superficial wounds.
Clear proof that his body was nearly indestructible.
He simply didn't know how to use all that power yet.