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Meanwhile, Athena and Perses had finally reached the grey cyclone. Up close, one could see a million stars swirling within a broiling void. It was as if the miniscule grey tornado contained an entire virgin universe within it. And at the point where it met the earth was a cloud of sinister reddish black energy.
As she neared it, Athena's skin felt as if I were turning into brittle paper. Her blood churned like it turning to fire, and she could feel the fabric of her divine form beginning to unravel.
And she knew this was because the reddish black cloud before her was the physical manifestation of the anti-life itself! As for murky the grey cyclone it guarded; it was the last snippet of primal chaos: the only place in space where destruction and creation refused to separate originally: Two opposites somehow existing as one.
The Anti-life swirled around the grey cyclone, eating at it's roots, but the cyclone would always reform in the end, thus a cycle of erosion and restoration was constantly occurring.
Next to Athena, Perses stood silently. The chains that had bound him were gone and his aura was so powerful that the sands faintly shifted towards him, almost as if he exerted his own field of gravity.
After staring for a while, Athena shifted her gaze towards Perses.
"Your bonds were broken and you were freed, and yet you still insisted on coming here. . ." She asked with a tone of utter indifference.
"And you agreed to come with me, why?" Perses asked. His voice was deep and sinister, and his expression contorted with madness.
"Does it matter? You pestered me for my companionship for eons, and now that you have it you would question me?"
Athena asked. Despite her being able to feel the heat of Perses mad stare; her tone remained as indifferent as ever.
"And you don't wish to know why I asked you here?"
"You brought me to a place that unravels my very essence. Even a fool would know that you do not plan for me to leave this place alive today." Athena replied coolly. Despite the fact that she was talking about her own death her tone remained as indifferent as ever, causing Perses to burst into a bout of raucous laughter.
"Good. Good. Very good. You are indeed worthy of being the goddess I've spent my entire life chasing after.
Alas the spell I must now attempt to free the anti-life requires the essence of a powerful divine being. Athena, are you willing?"
"So that was indeed your plan?"
Athena asked, her tone still undisturbed. The directness of her words allowed Perses to realize that she'd guessed his intentions long ago.
"Yes! With a mere fraction of the anti-life's power I became strong enough to lord over the entire underealm! Imagine how powerful I would become after drawing the entirety of the dark force into myself! Why, would all of existence not bow before me!?"
"You are fool!" Athena remarked calmly. "The anti-life is the IS NOT, The Anti-All, The Absence, Absolute nothingness, it is the enemy of everything that lives and breathes. The hateful disposition you had as a child may have allowed you to come into contact with it, but if you attempt to fuse with it in its entirety, then you will be destroyed in body and soul!"
"Maybe, maybe not, but you will not be here to see it!"
Perses laughed and then fiercely thrust a palm at Athena. Instantly, crimson bindings wrapped all around Athena's body, binding her arms and legs to her sides and completely restricting her ability to move.
Athena immediately lost all her balance and dropped limply onto the ground like a lifeless corpse.
"What a pity." Perses said as he drew close to Athena who was helplessly lying on the ground. He should have been happy how events were turning out. But as he looked at calm, indifferent goddess at his feet, his confusion outweighed his joy as he asked.
"You knew that I had planned to sacrifice you. You knew and yet you came here at you're fathers behest anyway. From the very beginning till now you cooperated with me and showed no resistance. Even just now that I bound you, I did not sense the slightest bit of the will to fight from you. Why?"
"Because I spoke with the oracle the moment my foolish father freed you.
So I know it was never my destiny to destroy you. That path has been laid out for another. For the future I desire, all of this must take place. So even if I must die by your hands, so be it."
After hearing her words Perses threw back his head and laughed uproariously. "What a shame it is then that no one can kill me. Even the Titans gods of old could only resort to despicable means to imprison me, and now that I am a freed who dares challenge me!?"
Not even a full second after he finished speaking a massive flaming lion flew through the air and crushed him beneath its weight.
"Atta boy!" Adam cried as he landed besides Athena.
A few meters away, Creed viciously ripped and tore at the Titan god beneath him. Adam silently prayed to never be on the receiving end of Creeds claws and teeth, and then he immediately placed his palm on Athena and said.
"Lena, dissolve her bindings immediately."
"Affirmative, my lord!" Adam's ring glowed with a serene blue light and crimson bindings around Athena swiftly vanished.
Adam helped the goddess onto her feet and immediately asked:
"So what's the plan?"
"What?" Athena gave him a confused look.
"What's the plan? The reason you dropped all those hints for me to join you here?"
"Plan .. there is no plan." She admitted calmly. "You were simply the only remaining card I could play. The one variable that could somehow foil Perses's plan."
Adam was flabbergasted. Upon hearing Athena's words, what he felt was not Admiration, but the desire set the goddess on fire!
'F*ck, F*ck, F*ck, this madwoman actually wants to kill me!' He thought inwardly.
"Are you insane?! Are you really telling me that you led me here for such a reason? Do I look stronger to you than that lunatic?" Adam roared furiously with his eyes bulging. Needless to say, his current appearance was extremely funny.
Meanwhile, Perses bellowed and launched a powerful backhanded blow that landed harshly against Creed's ribs. Creed's huge body flew several meters through the air and crashed into rock that shattered into fragments immediately. Adam watched with horror as his cat collapsed onto the ground a few feet away from him, a soft whimper escaped through it's teeth.
Perses slowly walked towards them, the ground trembling with his every step. His eyes were bloodthirsty and rageful and he was covered in cuts and scrapes—ineffectual wounds that only served to make him madder, and his hair was dishevelled.
"Lena." Adam called. "I'm not going to get out of this one without you. I need your help!"
A the same time Creed struggled to his feet with apparent frailty, about to pounce again when Adam reached out into his mind and commanded.
"No! Do not attack! Leave!"
The lion trembled as it's darted rapidly between Adam and the approaching Perses. Adam could feel the conflict within the beast. He saw how difficult it was for Creed to abandon it's master- as it now saw him as.
But his command was absolute.
"Run!"
His voice reverberated powerfully within the beasts mind, this time too strong for it to disobey.
The lion recolied, then cast a sorrowful gaze at Adam before letting out a deep and painful sound from it's throat.
Then Creed turned away and with a powerful bound of his hind legs, he raced of into the distance.
For some reason Perses stood by and watched him go, despite clearly being able to stop him.
"LENA!" Adam yelled internally.
"Patience, My lord. I have found a way to save you. But you need to buy me some time."
Then Perces continued to take slow, deliberate steps towards the duo. Now that Creed had left, Adam and Athena bore the entire weight of his gaze. But strangely, most of the madness and fury in his gaze had subsided. Especially when he looked at Adam; the expression in his eyes was rather curious. . .and almost appreciative.
"Oh… So you are the backup," mused Perses just as he had finished measuring Adam, his face revealing a rather interested smile.
In turn, Adam returned his smile brilliantly like they were the best of friends. "Oh, I didn't know Titan gods knew how to tell jokes. If you're going to kill us, can you please get along with it."
Surprisingly, Perses's eyebrows loosend up at Adam's words and his the corner of his lips arched into a slight smile. "Oh there is no need to be in such a rush. Child, honestly, I would hate to kill you. You are abnormal strong for a mortal, and you are smart as well, and you have abilities and means that are even more extraordinary. Despite being in grave danger, you do not panic at all, this means you have an exceptionally strong mind. You knew I was here and yet you came anyway, so you are also very brave. You are the first person to ever impress me to this extent. If you died like this, It would be such a waste!"