AN: Wanted to have this out on New Year's Day, but was both too busy spending time with my family to work on this chapter much, and was then out with my family for the entirety of New Year's, and was too tired upon getting back on the 2nd to try and write much. Once I finally did get to working on this proper, I initially expected it to only reach about 20K roughly, only, as you're about to see, it reached well above that, and even exceeded the length of the previous chapter, after multiple additions and edits, which took place in my free-time when I didn't have to do something else.

Now that I'm back in the swing of things, the update time will be shorter. Was originally gonna go and see if 4 chapters would be possible for this month, but given how beefy these chapters are gonna be, this will be the first of three this month. This means I'm gonna have to go back on what I said before about the Titanomachy ending in this month, but the arc will only be about one-to-two chapters off by the time we reach February, which will also have three updates for this fic.

Will be sure to have updates on my profile(hopefully accurate) from now on to let you guys know if anything's going on and if plans have changed, so that you're not stuck waiting for a chapter to come out in order to find out the reason for the delay, so be sure to keep an eye on it from now on for updates, as they'll replace the Author's Notes in these chapters that'd normally explain it.

Also, before I forget, even though this is like two-and-a-half weeks late, hope you all had a lovely New Year's!

The Olympian God of Destruction:

Chapter 32: The Titanomachy XXV

Far from all the fighting…

"And what boon is it that you desire, young one?"

Were it not for Ouranos having told them before that it spoke, Hades might've started once those perfectly fluent words passed through the Ophiotaurus' bull-mouth. A question asked in clear response to his open revealing of his own intentions with the creature.

"For the strength needed to guarantee my side victory against my father's." The pale-skinned god replied calmly, getting a hum from the creature, as he hoisted it up over his shoulders. "We don't necessarily need it to win this war, but seeing as me and my siblings' father tried to use you to guarantee his own victory, we elected to use you for ourselves, just to twist the knife deeper in his chest."

"I see." The creature held above him chuckled. "I'm not even a requirement this time around, but I'm being used anyway just to spite the very brother of mine that dearest mother sought to aid as much as I did at the time of brother Ouranos' rule for the sake of the former and his brethren. Rather ironic how events have turned out. Mother had such high hopes for Kronos as well."

"It would seem apparent that you do not need me to tell you how woefully he squandered those." Hades quipped, as he moved them toward the alter, and the sacrificial flame burning upon it.

"Indeed." The bull-serpent hybrid let out what Hades felt was a sigh. "In the end, despite the promising beginning he had, Kronos ended up becoming just as bad, if not worse than his own father, from what I understand. Such a shame."

"You'll forgive me if I'm sceptical on the 'promising beginning' part. With how much of a bastard he's been, it's hard to imagine him ever not being as he is now." Hades grunted as he placed the creature upon the alter, just to the left of where the sacrificial flame burned strong.

"Ah, he was young once too. And while I may not have personally interacted with him, I did keep a watchful eye at the time over mother's other children. He was kinder and more considerate back then of his brothers and sisters. I wonder what could've gotten him to take such a drastic shift toward the crooked god that he hath become? Or maybe perhaps he was always that way beneath the surface, for I doubt a cursed prophecy foretold to him by Ouranos about a child of his overthrowing him could've had that much of an impact on him…" The Ophiotaurus pondered.

"Well, it matters not now, anyway." Hades sighed. A stone-cold expression upon his face at the thought of his so-called 'father'. "He made his decision and sealed his fate the moment he chose to have children despite the prophecy, and swallow us all whole in an attempt to keep us forever imprisoned in his stomach."

"Not all." The Ophiotaurus revealed, taking Hades a bit by surprise. "I reformed not long after the previous rite by my mother, and prior to this war becoming as strong as it has, I continued to watch over whatever proceedings I could from a distance, so I can tell you this. Only the children he bore with Rhea, to my understanding, he chose to swallow. Or tried to, in the youngest's case. Those he bore with the Oceanid nymph Philyre in his trysts as a horse, he did nothing of the sort to. Doubtful he even looked at any of them twice, after they were born."

"He had… more children than just us…?" Hades growled at such information. "And he chose to spare them the fate he gave us?"

"Perhaps it had to do with what he had Philyre birth for him. The children that sprang from their numerous unions were certainly not gods like yourselves or the Titans. They were something entirely new, thanks to the form he took when mating with her so as to avoid any irksome confrontation with Rhea." The creature said. "Their lower halves being that of the very horse-form he'd taken during coitus. Kentaurs, I believe they were called, named Kheiron and Dolops. Beings who held potential insignificant to most other gods, and I suppose, in Kronos' mind, couldn't possibly have been the child his father's cursed prophecy referred to, unlike those he had with Rhea."

"I see…" So, he and his brothers and sisters had two other brothers out there somewhere, huh? Well, that was certainly something to think about. He wanted to ask a little more about them, out of pure curiosity now, but he shook his head at the thought. That could wait for later, and no doubt from the horses mouths themselves, no pun intended. "Returning back to the matter at hand, seeing as you can divulge it to me, is the rite just as simple as removing your entrails and burning them over the flame?"

"Close." The Ophiotaurus nodded. Its demeanour becoming dead serious. "You have to make sure my body shows no sign of life first before you put the entrails in. I am not the same as you or the other gods. I am technically capable of death, but only for a short period of time. My whole body will disappear and reform wherever I wish a few minutes after being 'killed'. During that time before my body dissipates, my spirit will transfer to my entrails, and from there, all you must do is burn them upon the altar, while having a clear image in your mind of what you desire, as you speak your wish."

"Understood." Hades grinned slightly. "You-"

BOOOOOOOOOOM!

"Nngah!..." Suddenly, the pale god was forced to grip the alter as hard as he could, which cracked and splintered all around, as the ground quaked so hard that Hades almost lost balance from that alone, whilst his back was struck with an intense shockwave that slammed not only over him, but everything. Even then, Hades felt himself being pulled away, as the alter outright crumbled under the forceful waves, with its fire snuffing out in an instant. The Ophiotaurus was being lifted off too, until the second eldest son of Kronos and Rhea thought fast and reached out for the beast just as his body left the ground too, latching on to its serpentine tail, as he activated his helm's ability.

Made invisible not just to sight, but to all other senses of all beings and the world itself, the terrifyingly strong shockwaves merely passed through Hades and the hybrid creature now, the latter of which was now held upside down by Hades. Both soon shot their gazes, unseeable to anybody but each other, out to where such a billowing blast had come from, as it began to fizzle out. His senses detecting the main culprits being his bastard father and the Hekatonkheires on Crete, as the ocean rose high around them in roaring waves, splitting and slamming all around not just where they were, but every landmass there was, threatening to swallow them up if the water became anymore disturbed.

"Though it may not be a requirement, perhaps it'd be best if we got the rite underway now, young one?" The Ophiotaurus voiced, as several enormous waves smashed down over where the alter had been, and far off into the landmass' distance. It wasn't enough to flood and sink it, but Hades didn't have to be an oceanic deity to know it wasn't far off from doing so. "Things won't get any better from here, godling. They'll only get worse, so I suggest you reform the alter for the rite to be done, and have my insides be burnt within the conjured flame swiftly! For I don't know if you knew this, but the sacrificial flame can't burn beneath Pontus' body!"

Hades' eyes widened a bit, before nodding in understanding as the shockwave ended completely, leaving ferociously churning waves behind in the chaotic ocean floor behind. "Yes. That'd be wise. You have my gratitude for your assistance." The pale-skinned deity thanked, as he focused and enforced his shape-shifting power upon the soggy land below, forming an exact replica of the previous alter, with sacrificial flame burning and all.

It was a good thing he was far enough away from the battlefield to be unaffected by the barriers that'd been setup to neutralize certain abilities, else the situation would've been absurdly more complicated than it was. His felled foe had been a weather god, after all, so without the ability to shift his make into a stone prison of himself, things would've been incredibly bothersome at this point, rather than his harmless, stony form being broken apart, unable to defend itself. All his pieces no doubt being laid out across the wettened land at this point, from the way the wave had struck and splashed down across it.

"It is no problem at all, young one." The Ophiotaurus replied, giving him its approximation of a smile, while they were both still under his helm's effect. "I'd much rather be a willing participant for this, than be forced into it, like Aegaeon was attempting with me before you arrived."

Hades somewhat returned the smile, as he quickly lowered them down to the alter, removing the creature from the helm's influence before his expression became stoic, as he readied his hand to spear into the creature's guts, while the other reached for its neck and twisted sharp and fast. The bulky neck snapping and silencing the creature, sparing it any extra pain before Hades speared his hand into its gut with a gory SQUELCH!

The creature had flopped lifeless by then, for a temporary period, as Hades swiftly brought his other hand into its opened belly just above its serpentine half, widening the wound further, as its dark-gold blood spilt out alongside its innards. The pale god was quick to pull them out in their entirety, as he brought them toward the flame. His mind, in that instant, conjuring a specific image, just as he began to place the entrails inside the fire, and his wish sprung from his lips.

Around the isle of Crete… As that sequence occurred…

"Damn youuuuu!" Rhea screeched, consumed by unforgiving rage, as she flung herself toward her once husband, bypassing the Hekatonkheires, who yet again failed to land even a single blow upon the agile Titan of time, who seemed to dart away from their joint efforts with a practised ease.

Kronos spotted her, not for the first time since she'd joined the battle, much to his delight. Her face fierce and passionate in a way he'd not ever seen before this fight, with her skin a dazzling, royal purple in its radiance, with her long hair fluttering about behind her, gravity-defying in its own gorgeous splendour. Each lock of it glimmering with varying shades of red and purple, appearing similar to the heavens during night and the stars that glowed within its veil. Her pupilless sclera blazing a more vibrant red than his own, but missing the swirls of gold, as she charged in cloth-less, bountiful and beautiful bare body magically shrouded to cover the more erogenous parts he'd seen many times before.

He couldn't help it. Each time he saw her coming at him like this brought about a sense of intense arousal in him, both sexual and malicious, as he laughed and ducked below her sharp but predictable punch. Her sense of grace in combat, made more mesmerising by her fury, hampered in no way by Menoitios' hold, which was no doubt due to her domains of comfort and ease, which were able to resist the younger Titan's thrall just enough as it was to allow for it. He didn't doubt either that if she ever figured out her anger getting like this so openly was through manipulation, that she'd be able to cut it off with those very same domains.

Not that it would matter either way, given she was no rival of him when it came to power or battle, no matter how attractive and arousing she may have been to his eyes, as her second fist crashed against the shaft of his raised scythe. The Titaness pushing him back with her strength and his willing consent across Crete, before she launched into a series of impressively precise and stellar strikes. The Titan goddess putting all her might and weight behind it, as she thrusted out with her palms, barrelled forth with her punches, cut in with chops of her hands' sides, and snapped in with the occasional whip of her smooth, sexy legs that curved her wide hips. Hips that like the rest of her curvaceous body, were built mainly for coitus and bearing children.

Nobody would be able to tell at present they were the main and sole purpose of the way she looked, though, given the way she flew out with her limbs toward him with such hostility and practised ease, smacking against his weapon's hide with the impact of thunder in the sky. Were he a lesser god than he was, Kronos was certain he'd be overtaken by her onslaughts sooner than later, with how relentless and untiring she was in her attack, as they zigged and zagged around above Crete's earthy floor and jutting mountaintops that pointed to the infinite sky. Her pursing with continuous switching of her attacks' rhythm to catch him unawares, while he backed up and swerved with her seamless transitions betwixt her hammering blows, blocking and deflecting all that came his way.

"You're truly breath-taking, my dear. It's almost a shame what I'll have to do to you as punishment for your betrayal." Kronos spoke honestly, tone cast over by dark amusement, as his former queen snarled back at him.

"You betrayed me when you made a mockery of me and my domain of motherhood, by doing what you did to our babies!" She shot back with fire, slipping past his guard finally as she smashed her fist into his open cheek.

Kronos' head rolled with the punch, however, mitigating much of the damage that would've come with it. All while letting just enough land, as he purposefully opened his maw post-impact and let spittle fly out to make his sister believe she'd landed full and encouraging her to open her own guard to follow-up on said strike. Something she did quickly, a flash of excitement on her face at potentially gaining the upper-hand on him, firmly taking his bait, as she wound back for a punishing blow with her other fist.

Kronos tilted his head right as her fist rammed forth, making her knuckles miss his face by mere millimetres as she overextended, leaving herself completely vulnerable as the Titan King responded back with a punch of his own just as the three aggressively charging hundred-handed ones closed in yet again. His fist almost gouging a hole through her gut, sending spit and pure, golden essence flying from her mouth, as she was bent over his aggressing limb.

"Careful now. You're getting a bit too hasty, don't you think?" The Titan smirked, as Rhea grit her teeth, recovering enough from the sharp counter he'd given to grab the wrist of his offending fist. An obvious attempt to keep him more locked in place, as she struck out with her open palm, looking to dent his face with it, whilst the trio of fifty-headed colossuses rushed toward them to get a piece of him.

Ever the conniving one, the Titan of time summoned forth his domain, forcing the tides of time that move ever-forward to slow to a crawl around him. The faltering debris from the harsh battle of Crete along both the ground and the damaged mountains, which had previously been crumbling rapidly, now within Kronos' hold began falling apart at an infinitesimal pace, slowed down far beyond the reaches of what future mortals could ever conceive as the smallest unit of time.

The Hekatonkheires, mighty and monstrous as they were, forced their way through such magic, only being minorly slowed down by the altering of time's passage, but that was enough for Kronos when it came to them. His former queen having been more effected by his spell, which slowed both her physical movement and thoughts enough to where her palm, from his perspective, came toward him at a quarter its previous speed, allowing him to easily bat her attack aside, while delivering one of his own. That being a jab using the butt of his scythe into her temple.

Even slowed down in time, he could make out her eyes crossing briefly from the knock he gave her, the grip of her hand on his wrist slackening, before he grinned evilly, using his embedded fist within his once-consort's gut to fling her toward Briareus, unbinding her from his spell as he did so. The closest and biggest of his hundred-handed and fifty-headed brothers was left unable to fully react, too focused on Kronos himself, as Rhea's heavenly body hurtled toward him at incredible velocity and crashed into his face. Her crumpling body hitting him right between the eyes of his head that stood above his shoulders with enough force to knock the giant back, stumbling to keep himself upright.

Releasing his hold upon time's passage briefly as he evaded the retribution of Briareus' younger brothers, Kottus who swung a fist and Gyges who swiped a hand to swat him down like a fly, Kronos' eyes and body shone with a wave of red that eclipsed all of Crete, as he focused his powers purely on his current adversaries. With more effort this occasion, being time's master, everything around him, from the crumbling debris, to the shaking of Crete from the hundred-handed ones' heavy footfalls, to even light from shining Helios, halted completely. A grey undertone taking over the landmass as the rest of the world went on, while time on the Isle froze.

With even greater struggle than before, both stumbling Briareus and angered Kottus and Gyges were able to move, even with time at a standstill, though the strain of such shone clearly on their features, as they fought against the magic's effect. Kronos' first lover, Rhea, being left much worse off, as her resistance proved too feeble to counter the stopping of time, and she was henceforth frozen in place in the unmoving air as Briareus righted himself a few paces away from her.

Knowing it was too much of a risk to try and deal serious damage to one of the Hekatonkheires, even slowed as they were by time's halting, Kronos propelled himself toward his former wife, darting past the enraged giants in the process and reached Rhea in the blink of an eye. The Titaness raised stagnant and vulnerable before him with body crumpled in from his prior blow and shunting into Briareus' face, defenceless to whatever the Titan Lord wished to do with her.

Though he could end her at that very instant with but a swing of his scythe, decapitating her for good and leaving her as close to death as the deathless gods could get, Kronos elected to take a different path. His hand planting itself upon her face, gripping her head tight, as he pulled her from his domain's embrace a second time, catching a rough, spluttering hack from her, as he shot them both toward the floor of Crete. The Titaness, realising at the last moment what may've been going on, attempted to struggle against her former lover. Her arms flailing as she tried to get a grip on him or smack him, while her legs kicked out behind her in protest.

It was a useless effort, for she collided brutally with the heavily enhanced island before she could truly attempt any meaningful resistance. Kronos driving her into the magically buffed earth with such zeal that the back of her skull, which struck first, shattered on impact, as time resumed movement, and the Isle of Crete shook heavily around them as a crater as wide and deep-plunging as a mountain was massive formed beneath them.

All other mountains upon Crete in that moment, despite protection from the deities that embodied them and Gaea herself, became splintered and cracked along their hides, just as various other bones within Rhea's ascended form did the same, as she was laid out by Kronos' feet. The Titaness open-mouthed in horrendous shock and pain, body letting out spasms and convulsions as it tried to heal itself from such a cruel crash into the island floor.

Blood-red aura flaring at its highest yet, Kronos couldn't help the toothy, face-splitting smile that stretched over his face with malicious glee, even as he let out a few huffs of exertion from using his power to keep the Hekatonkheires off his back for a short moment, what with how harshly they resisted him. That part mattered little to him now though, catching his breath quick and feeling the strain leave him, as he glared down at the mother of seven of his nine children. The vibrations of further shaking of Crete after his slam from the approaching trio of Hekatonkheires surrounding him doing nothing to hamper his mood, as he grabbed Rhea by the neck, and watched her pathetically cough and sputter sputum and ichor in equal measure. Unable to even grasp his arm in that moment to show any degree of defiance to him.

"I almost pity you, dearest Rhea." Kronos said to her, gripping tighter around her bleating neck, as he pulled her from whence her body lay crumpled and pushed himself back with blinding speed with her in tow, narrowly avoiding the trio of enormous fists that would've otherwise crushed him, had he remained. Their bodies flying through the legs of Gyges, as the Titan King continued to talk down to his ex-wife. "Hiding away in fear of me all this time, leaving our children to fight all the real battles throughout this conflict that you helped to realise, and then, the one time you find the courage to fight me yourself, even full of aggression like this, you are just as weak as you were before."

By this point, Rhea's fractured body had healed enough for her hands to come up, gripping Kronos' forearm and wrist as tight as she could, but the Titan Lord was unfazed. "Back when you still lived upon Othrys, you were too cowardly to attempt escape from me, and could do nothing on your own but my bidding, whether it was sex or the handing of the latest new-born for me to swallow. You were pathetic in every sense of the word, my dear, but at the very least, you were my queen, which gave you some level of importance. Now, since you chose to gather help from mother, and betray me for those doomed children, you are nothing!And once this war is over, and I have vanquished our awful spawn, I have decided that I will have you watch as I end them, along with every other rebel who dared aid them!"

"Yuh-You're despicable…" Rhea spat in fury, Menoitios' influence removing all restraint from the goddess, as she glared at him with nothing but hate. "Calling me cowardly, when out of fear of the prophecy, you wanted to immediately put down our children with your scythe, and then when I pleaded with you not to, and instead try to be a good father to them, which ours was not to us, you chose to eat our children and called it a mercy!"

"It was a mercy. Compared to what I could've done, and what I will do now, it was a generosity to you. One that I never should've made." Kronos replied without a hint of remorse for his actions.

"Generosity?" She hissed back, having heard that line before, and in no less disbelief of its utterance now than the first time her ex-consort had offered it up. "Only someone as vile as you could believe that a generosity. Could such 'generosity' have not been shown by you showing restraint, and proving yourself better than father, by actively trying to be a good ruler and father yourself, who impressed upon his children such that they would not dare even think of usurping you!?"

"Hmph! You think simply being a good ruler andparent would've allowed me to avoid our father's curse?" The Titan king snorted, finding her words to be little more than a poor joke to his ears, as his senses picked up one of the Hekatonkheires raising a huge chunk of earth that they'd ripped straight out of the Isle, and then tossing it at him full force! The Titan narrowly dodging it as it shot past him, brimming with the greyish-blue aura of the giant trio, rending space as it thrust in an arc across the lands and seas, far into the distance.

His body and eyes shined a deeper crimson then, as he forced time around Crete to stop once again, the effect only slowing the pursuing giants once more, rather than halting them, as he consciously made his former consort immune to the ability. Something that saved him dealing with slightly more strain on himself from the mountain-sized siblings' already troublesome resistance while turning most of his attentions toward her, as he said, "With silly thoughts like that bouncing around in that head of yours, it appears you're obsessed with disappointing me these days, Rhea…"

"I could say the same to you, Kronos." Rhea responded, in more of a whisper this time. A mixture of her present rage and an added form of sadness flooding over her features. The latter seeming to overwhelm the former for a brief moment. "I really did think you better than this, when we first came together in union. Prophecy or no, I truly did believe in you, back then, that you would be better. That you'd not repeat the same error our father made with us, with how clever you seemed to be, and that you'd endeavour to be a splendid father to our children, just as I would endeavour to be the best spouse and mother I could be…"

For the briefest of moments, what she said seemed to have an effect on the Titan King, despite his prior statement, with his features even seeming to soften at that. And for but a small moment in time, even in her haze of magically manifested anger seeking to cloud all judgment, Rhea could've sworn she saw a glimpse of the kinder Titan she'd seen in the past, back when the fall of Ouranos had been a fresh event.

Like a mirage in the desert, however, it was gone almost as soon as it appeared, leaving behind only the sneering image of the crooked Titan, as he came to a stop with her while bringing their faces close. And Rhea, despite her rage and other emotions, shivered to her very core in terror at the unparalleled cruelty present in her brother's eyes. "Believed in me, did you? Thought that I'd 'endeavour' to be a 'splendid' father to my spawn with you, any one of which could've been the one to depose and cast me down in just as violent a manner, if not more so, than I did our father?"

The laugh that left him in that instant was bone-chilling in how abominable it sounded and felt, as Kronos flourished and swung his scythe repeatedly. The Titan sending waves and arcs of space-splitting energy hurtling toward the advancing Hekatonkheires, as he cut off time's halting, returning all to complete motion while no longer putting strain on himself, keeping the steadily more resistant giants hampered. Each being forced to halt their advance temporarily, as they blocked his dangerous attacks using their fearsome auras, as space-time around them warped heavily from the collision.

"Your capacity for delusion is almost impressing me, at this point, Rhea. As if I would ever consider doing something so profoundly stupid, as relying on kindness to combat a divine curse from father. What a joke!" He barked with more spine-tingling laughter, even as the hundred-handed giants fought, and overwhelmed his projectile attacks in the background. "Such sappy drivel like that won't earn you any favours. Especially not from me, after you went behind my back and conspired against me. For that alone, I'm going to enjoy ending those contemptuous children of ours right in front of you."

Though she felt another spike of fear, for Rhea in that moment, it was quickly replaced by righteous anger, overflowing past the more violent one induced by Menoitios, as she scowled defiantly. Her aura bursting forth around her sublime form with a powerful radiance that managed to overshadow Kronos' own, even if just temporarily.

"You'll lose." She said, her words carrying such faith and confidence behind them, that it wiped any amusement away from her once-husband's visage. "Even if you somehow manage to take the Hekatonkheires down here, after defeating me, it will not matter. Your horrid actions will see you punished in the end. Our eldest son will see to that, after the callous way you treated him and his siblings. That, I swear!"

"Swear, huh?" Temperament darkening, the gold within Kronos' blood-red sclera shone with malefic intent, as his own aura swelled out, swallowing Rhea's whole. His glare so potent, that it would've reduced any non-ascended deity to ash, as his gaze bore into her. "You're willing to swear on that, are you?"

"Swear on this, you horrid little shit!" Briareus roared out, his huge form bounding up in the air, upper arms raised and hands clasped for an axe-handle strike, while a lower set of arms struck out, with grabbing hands looking to bind the Titan in place, even if Rhea got caught in the assault. His two brothers fast approaching from either side behind him for backup, and their own shot at tearing Kronos apart.

"Gladly." Kronos whispered darkly, his response heard only by Rhea, as he pulled upon his domain yet again, body and eyes shining sanguine brighter than ever, as at the last possible instant, he pulled the Titaness toward himself. The metal of his scythe biting into her divine skin, as he drew the sharp tip over her back, producing a dreadful, shrill shriek from Rhea, as it cut into not only her body, but her immortal soul itself. The cut over her spine, despite its relative shallowness, drawing out a far more profuse and violent spray of ichor than any other weapon.

Rhea's divine state flickered, her mouth hung wide open before Kronos' gaze in unbearable pain, both physical and spiritual, her eyes wide and unfocused, vision blurring as she felt even the very connections to her domains, all of which had become an integral part of her dim. The Titaness, in just that exceedingly short instant whilst Briareus drew in, felt much of her strength ebb away, with a nigh-unfathomable exhaustion creeping over.

It was at that point that Kronos' temporal magic took effect. Only this time, rather than slow or stop time, his body appeared to distort, as his weapon's tip reached the bottom of her spine from the top. His features primed with absolute focus, just as the Hekatonkheire's hands swung in, fully intent to squash him.

KA-BOOSH!

The resultant shockwave was downright majestic, warping the very island itself along with the space it inhabited in shape briefly, bending and contorting light and colour all across Crete whilst the universe itself seemingly shook from the impact before the Isle rubber-banded back to normal. The lost echo of an enormous, meaty THWACK as tow hands slapped together, and then two more came hammering down in a joint pair, heard only by those present upon Crete.

"Hah… Quite the dismal display that was… Much as I'd like to torment her further for her actions, such activity can be saved for later." The main heads of Gyges and Kottus snapped back behind them, as they barely heard their vile Titan brother's distorted voice, surprise briefly flashing over their features as they saw him standing within the epicentre of the crater he'd made with Rhea but a moment ago. Various veins pulsated across his face and body, as he let out a somewhat raspy breath, all as his gaze glowed with glee in their brother's direction.

"Hunh…!?" Briareus let out a grunt of surprise himself, as he too heard Kronos' voice behind him, causing him to turn toward the Titan as he pulled his clasped hands away, blood and bits splotching over the rims of them as he opened up the ones he'd clapped together and stared down. Even more blood and mashed flesh meeting his eyes, as it clung and dripped over his now cupped hands, as Rhea's mangled lower-body flopped between them, with her head, arms and torso having been crushed into paste. Her divine shine evaporated, leaving nothing but a golden-blood soaked, pale pelvis and legs, as a tattered and tainted tunic was all that remained to cover the small bit of dignity she had left, before she reformed.

"Hehehehahaha! Would've dealt the final blow to her myself… but I believe this outcome suits just fine as well. Perhaps… when she eventually reforms and regains consciousness, this might just teach her to see you as the hideous monsters you always were." Kronos laughed and gloated wickedly in-between wheezing breaths, seeing the bitch who'd betrayed and undoubtedly aided his children in bringing about his prophesied demise be reduced to worthless paste. All the current strain he felt on his body now, which would fade in time, more than worth it, just to see her felled so brutally by her own allies, especially after what she'd just had the gall to say to him. "Regardless, such an ignoble fate is well deserved! She should've known her place, instead of defying me."

"You rotten fucker!" Gyges raged, swiftly coming out of his shock as yet more violent rage overtook him. His inflamed words having the same effect on Kottus, who joined him in charging toward the Titan with intent to maim once again. "Enough of this! Whatever wicked trick you just pulled, won't save you from us!"

Not a trick you dumb brute… Just another use of my domain… One that, as I suspected, will be too risky to use like that too often… Kronos thought to himself, his body feeling just a little heavier as the two hundred-handed giants rushed him.

While all aspects of time were at his command, his most preferred form of it, which he held the most control over by far, and which he'd originally bonded himself to, was the destructive tides of it. That which was all-consuming, and eventually swallowed all within its endless passage. What he'd just done there, was more an application of that, then his slowing and stopping of the temporal axis previously.

He'd focused his domain on the very path he'd taken coming to the spot he'd brought Rhea to, and applied the all-consuming tide of his domain to it, thus causing the distance he'd specifically travelled to be no more for him. Thus, whilst Rhea, weakened by his scythe, was left to be crushed, he was warped right back into the crater, as though he'd never moved from it in the first place. The move essentially causing a reversal of time for him – which was something he could also do – but without the drawback of reversing everything, including himself, back to prior positions, armed with none of the knowledge as to what had occurred in the rewound temporal passage.

Since he was technically applying his domain on himself in such a way, though, despite being time itself, he could feel it down to his very soul, almost like he'd just cannibalised himself spiritually. Even if what was being devoured was miniscule, it still caused a good deal of strain, nonetheless. More so than his other uses of his domain and certainly was not an ability to be spammed in the way he'd used it, unless he stupidly and unnecessarily wanted to test how much of the drawback he could take before losing consciousness.

Too bad these monstrosities are too powerful for me to put them under that effect. All I'd need is a touch, in that hypothetical, to devour their time in relation to age. Immortal though they may be, if such a thing were an option, I could still reduce each of them to ancient husks of what they are now, greatly weakening and making them brittle enough to where a mere flick of my wrist would be enough to splatter them across Crete. Just as it was for that one stupid Nymph who dared to cross me so many years ago. Kronos thought in slight annoyance, not even bothering to remember said Nymph's name, as he flung himself back, scythe radiating a dark-sanguine glow, as he sliced through the air multiple times, sending several arcs of space-cutting energy at his aggressors.

None were as strong as the more massive one he'd sent at them much earlier, so both the many-armed-and-headed giants coming toward him had their monstrous auras spike high, densely packing over them as both torqued their bodies for a shoulder tackle when smashing against the projectiles. Two arcs slamming into each and attempting to slice through them, only managing to shallowly cut through their skin, drawing thin lines of dark-gold blood as both let out a war-cry and overpowered Kronos' attacks, eviscerating them into countless particles as they charged ahead. Both ignoring the tears in space-time left behind in their wake, as they rushed for the Titan leader.

Briareus, knowing she'd heal anyway, and too enraged to be considerate at this point, as the shock of crushing Rhea fizzled, tossed her limp, very slowly regenerating remains over his shoulder, as he raced toward Kronos, behind his brothers.

"Hah! At least we're in agreement over her standing, anyway!" Kronos joked fiendishly, seeing the abysmal treatment of her remains, as he took his scythe in both hands and flew up high. The eyes of trailing giants following him as his body and eyes shone bright once more.

"Oh, no you don't!" Briareus growled, making Crete tremor as he jumped up high, launching himself over his brothers and toward his wicked sibling. His aura as thick as could be around his mountainous frame, all his arms prepping back for a megalithic assault, as his eyes on all faces began to resemble a torrential storm with how they morphed and lit up. Each fist suddenly having a dark, stormy cloud enveloping it, whilst unimaginably strong, blustering winds emerged from within the depths of each faces' maw, summoned forth by his endless wrath and desire to annihilate his evil kin.

Kronos' eyes narrowed at this, but he didn't back down. "You wanted to take me down so bad!? Well, now's your chance, you ugly beast! Hit me with all you've got!" Kronos roared in challenge, his scythe all but consumed by his menacing, red aura as he rose it above his head, and then swung it back down with a furious slash!

"Graaaaaaaaah!" Briareus met it with bestial roar of his own, as all one-hundred fists of his, coated in dark clouds thrusted forward with universe-quaking force! The blustering winds contained in his fifty mouths launching loose with horrifying ferocity, combining with the dark clouds released and fusing into one gargantuan storm, which took the form of a cyclone carrying his aura, fierce and deadly. A vortex packed with nature's aggression that towered well above and spread several times wider than the giant who'd summoned it. Had it just a little more time to grow, it would've eclipsed that which Themis had forced into existence earlier. Instead, it smashed against Kronos' scythe's arc of lethal, space-splitting energy, both immediately vying for dominance as the world around the two attacks trembled from their heavenly battle!

It didn't take long for the dark, supernatural tornado and sanguine arc to merge after their collision, becoming extremely volatile in an instant, as both black and red glowed brightly in a mix of calamitous shades, screeching with Kronos and Briareus' hatred for one another mightily throughout the endless lands, sea and sky. Uncaring for such an obstacle's instability though, Briareus' brothers charged in regardless, their hulking, mountain-sized bodies crashing into it in a rash, unthinking bid to get to Kronos on the other side of it.

That action from both proved too much, as then, like a powder keg going off, only on a macro-cosmic scale, the violent, hostile energies of Kronos' and Briareus' attacks glowed a darkish-red, blinding hue, enveloping the entire Isle in eye-scorching light, as they exploded as one.

All the while…

BAM!

Styx' lower-jaw was nearly torn right off her face, as a large fist that certainly wasn't Theia's blasted her from a blind-spot on her cheek, snapping her head to the side so hard her neck nearly broke from the whiplash alone, as the beaten-up goddess was flung away from her Titaness foe.

"K-Krios!?" A haggard and battered-looking Theia started in surprise, seeing her brother appear from nowhere and take it upon himself to strike her personal target. "What are you doing getting involved in my battle? Shouldn't you be-"

"Pan has been handled. He won't be a concern for us in this battle anymore." Krios cut her off gruffly, his eyes never once leaving Styx, as she gained control of her body and came to a stop roughly a hundred or so metres away from them. Her expression one of someone a little dazed, but also outraged at being blindsided, as she turned in his and Theia's direction with a snarling scowl. "As for why I'm getting involved here? I would think it rather obvious why I would desire to get my hands on this bitch, wouldn't you?"

"Pallas…" The name came tumbling out of her mouth before she knew it, making her feel a tinge of shame for forgetting such a thing, in her haze of hatred. She may've had a bone to pick with Styx for helping in her brother-husband's demise, but she also had an even bigger one to pick with Beerus afterward, who was apparently the one who'd actually taken him down. Her brother, meanwhile, had his personal business mainly with Styx and the Hekatonkheires that'd helped her take down and then capture him. Something the eldest Oceanid had freely admitted to him during their second siege on Olympus around a year ago, following the first where Pallas and the vast majority of their allies had been vanquished.

It was no secret to those upon Othrys that Krios, despite how rough he could be at times, cared a great deal for his three sons, Pallas being the only one of them who'd made the choice to become an active part of their war with the so-called 'Olympian' side. And unlike his brothers, who had chosen to remain neutral at the beginning, he unfortunately paid the price for aiding them and going against Styx and their children, who unlike him, did not appreciate their brother Kronos' rule or how things were done under them.

"Allow me to assist you, dearest sister. For I not only need to gain revenge for my son, I also need to squeeze the information about his current location of imprisonment from this repulsive, spiteful creature who dared to once call herself his wife." He growled, feeling the passive effect of Styx's hate-inducement, only he welcomed and allowed it to stoke the flames of his righteous rage as much as it did the seething hatred for the Oceanid he'd once proudly told his boy was a wonderful bride during more peaceful times.

Those might as well have been eons ago, as far as he was concerned. Even still, he felt disgust at himself for having ever thought and felt such a thing of her in the first place. And there was no doubt in his mind that his son, wherever he'd been placed, felt much the same way, after all the trouble his former consort had helped cause.

"'You hear that, you miserable wench!?" Krios roared, not even waiting for his mending sister's answer, as he thrust himself forward at the outraged, steadily healing goddess. "Your nonsense comes to an end today! Whatever it takes, however I must torture your worthless hide, I will free my son from you, and then when Kronos cuts you to pieces, I shall personally cast each and every one into the deepest pit of Tartarus, never to see the light of day again!"

"The only 'nonsense' that came to an end, was my union with your worthless son!" Styx snapped back with loathing fury, her supernaturally beautiful face contorted into the ugliest snarl her enemies had ever seen, as she refused to back down and charged toward the approaching Krios. "He made the mistake of going against his wife and children for a failing regime doomed to fall! And just as he deserved everything that has come to him for his choices, you deserve all of the woe that comes with losing him and this war!"

Their fists clashed, Krios' dwarfing Styx' in size, but not in power, as the shockwave released warped the colour and space of the sky around them. The much larger deity feeling his hatred spike upon making contact, and welcomed the added rush it brought, as he harnessed his domain. A new pattern forming in his eyes and over his body of endless formations of constellations, appearing over his calf this time in the form of a discus. The sky above them briefly shining with the stars, which peeled through Hemera's day-time to conjure cosmically-crafted projectile.

Shaped like a flat circle with the sharpest of rims, the massive, star-laden tool spun aloft in the air on its own far above the hateful goddess, before shooting down as though thrown by an unseen force with absolute precision. The projectile curving to the side as it neared, swinging like a boomerang toward the unknowing Oceanid, as she began exchanging punches with the much bigger Titan. Their fists a blur as they CLAPPED against one another, neither deity giving ground to the other.

That changed very quickly, however, when the discus reached them, its rapid rotation making its menacing glow all the more prominent, as it turned vertically and zoomed into Styx' arm, right as she threw a punch with it. Her fist not even getting to make contact with Krios', as like a butchering buzzsaw sharpened to perfection, it bit into the goddess' limb at the elbow, drawing and spraying her ichor out as it sliced through flesh and bone with little resistance!

"Guh!..." Styx was given no time to process the dismembering of half her arm, as it flopped away with a gush of gold away from the rest, as without her fist to intercept, she was left wide open and caught lacking as the discus shot away, when Krios' massive fist crashed into her face and upper torso. The force of it sending her flying back, as her body, not entirely healed, felt its bones everywhere it was struck fracture, while a trail of blood was left in her wake.

"Enough out of you! The only thing I want to hear from your venomous maw, is where you've hidden Pallas! That, and your screams of anguish, as I wrench that truth out of you in my vengeance! For everything you've done, and no doubt are still doing to him, wherever he's imprisoned!" Krios bellowed, a promise set, as he darted after her.

"Grrrrrr!..." Pulling herself to a stop in the air, Styx' hate-filled growl was reaching a different, but no less primal, bestial air that would've given even Pan at his wildest pause, as she flung herself toward the coming Titan yet again, with a complete disregard for her own safety or health. Her stump of an arm only just beginning the process of reforming, as she and the Titan rapidly closed the distance between them, both seemingly eager for another clash.

The intense power and heat of a violet laser as wide as the goddess' arm interrupted such a charge, stunning Styx in place and making her stumble in flight, as it struck the shoulder of her healthy arm. The strength of it more focused and condensed into a single point than any previous one she'd taken, and thus, managed to burn through her this time, melting off flesh and bone in an instant. The goddess gritting her teeth as a dreadful screech threatened to escape, where an agonized grunt was let out instead.

Her other arm flopped uselessly, unable to be raised now, with what little sizzling flesh and bone connected her liquified shoulder to it, leaving her exposed to another assault from Krios. The Titan wasting no time in drilling his enormous fist into her front, covering from chest to hips, as the rest of her bent over and under his appendage unnaturally from the blow. Spit and blood firing from her mouth in equal measure.

"Hope you haven't forgotten about me!" Theia screamed, flying high above both with her eyes still flooding out with rays of light from the joint laser she'd shot. The Titaness having evidently accepted her brother's presence and aid, almost as if bonded by their shared vitriol and execration of the eldest Oceanid, as she dived down toward the vulnerable goddess. Her body flipping as she dropped in, slamming her foot down on Styx' yawning face, as her brother pulled away, sending her and their foe careening down at immeasurable speeds, far from any landmass as they bashed through the ocean's surface.

The Titaness felt her fellow deity's skull crack badly beneath her foot, as her attack had the disturbed waters gaping around them. The collision creating a deep-plunging chasm of it with them in-between, as they flew back on either side of the deities in gargantuan waves that reached as high as Olympus and as wide as the long-since non-existent planet Earth of Universe 7 a hundred times over. All from taking but a minuscule drop of the force that Styx took directly as an aftereffect. The baffling amounts of surging water formed into deadly, dense waves. One of which carrying with them numerous yelping and screaming Nymphs and direct daughters of Oceanus unfortunately caught up in them, as the others, neutral to the war, barely managed to escape in time.

Styx, despite her hate and rage driving her, took notice of this, and despite the numbness and pain she felt throughout most of her injured body, she roared to life with righteous fury of her own. The enraged 2nd generation Titaness surprising Theia, as she forced her foot up and away from her, with but her cracked head alone. Her face looking flattened and unrecognisable temporarily, as she took advantage of Theia's broken guard and flew up, driving her knee into her chin. An audible CRACK heard only by Styx and the elder Titaness, as the latter's jaw was broken and caved inward, taking away much of Theia's beauty with her face warped from the blow, before Styx spun around and sent her zooming to the side with a roundhouse to the head.

The larger deity crashed through one of the enormous waves in an instant, which had been the aimed toward where all the other battles were going on, coincidentally. A mightily powerful SHOOM following, as the monstrous wave was blasted apart into nothing, freeing – if violently – her siblings and other Nymphs from the clutches of the catastrophic comber, who splashed down back into the tumultuous, distorting waters.

Styx wasn't given the luxury of waiting for her father's endless domain to begin fixing the chasm, before a spear formed from miniaturized stars swooped down from the heavens with purpose. The sight of it forcing another snarl out of her as she noticed its descent and met its sharp, girthy tip with her stabbing foot, as she turned and angled her body to kick against it. Much of her divine power coalescing and emanating from her foot in that moment, as it clashed with the hurled weapon.

The Oceanid's wavy aura shone bright and burst around her, a war-cry leaping from her lungs, as her opposing power forced cracks to appear at the tip of the spear, before quickly travelling all around it, as its power got overwhelmed. Styx giving one final push with her lashing leg, pumping more power into it, before the conjured spear soon shattered into harmless pieces of celestial starlight around her, which faded away not long after.

Accompanying their departure, however, was the hand of Krios, who had thrown it down, as it quickly wrapped around Styx' pointed foot. His clenching hand putting in all the pressure it could with his own strength, swiftly crushing every bone in said appendage, earning a harsh sound of suffering from the goddess in return. The sound pleasing him as he made her offending foot become mush in his grip, before twisting and flinging her by it up into the far-reaching heavens at such speed, that she broke through and blasted away a formation of clouds far above what any mountain on Gaea's plane reached.

By the time she brought herself to a stop, hissing from the mangled mess that was her now mending foot, Krios was upon her already, ploughing into her with a tackle that sent them both even further up, until they were roughly a billion kilometres off sea-level. All with the goddess now trapped within Krios' huge arms, which when circled around, covered the entirety of her back, as her front pressed unwantedly into his, flattening her magically-covered breasts against his bulky shoulder. Her now mostly reformed arms bound within his arms circling hold as well, as she immediately began to squirm in his hold.

"Who said I'd allow you to engage in a counter-offensive?" The Titan sneered balefully, before beginning to constrict. His ears, so close to her, hearing every muscle pop and tear, every tissue rip and every bone in her torso started to crack under the pressure. This time, Styx genuinely did howl in pain, as within moments, her ribs began to snap, bones beginning to puncture into her sloshing organs, whilst her spine creaked and creviced all over, being forced toward her rupturing ribcage, whilst her chest bones crunched against Krios' shoulder and breasts felt ready to pop!

"Ghkh-kahk!... Hnngh!... Hraaaaaaaaagh!" Hacking up glob of ichor while sputtering for breath in progressively more shredded lungs, Styx fed off her own hate, and every lick of rage she felt, combining them into one all-consuming force of malice to drive her forward into action, as her legs swung back. The motion only making the crushing of her back and front worse, but she didn't care, as she let out a screech of anguished ferocity, as she summoned every drop of strength she could, before ramming them forward by her knees, driving them into Krios' front with a colossal CLAP!

"Kuh!..." Eyes widening, Krios's grip loosened enough for Styx to slip away, her globes of flesh puffing back out with a jiggle over her chest, as the power behind her blow partially caved in some of his own ribs, puncturing a few of his own organs in the process, as he coughed up a spritz of ichor. All before his head whipped to the side, as the Oceanid's fist slammed into his cheek.

"Haaaaaaaaaagh!" Screeching in both vile torment from all her broken bones and heavily damaged organs which shifted, sloshed and crackled inside her, as well as abhorring wrath for her enemy's mere existence, Styx ignored the horrible shape of both, as she attacked. Her body creaking horrifically as she ignored the new cracks formed on her now reformed arms from Krios' crushing squeeze, and sent the Titan's head whipping in the other direction with a follow-up punch using her other fist. Blood and bits of teeth sailing out his maw this time, as she let out an animalistic grunt and prepped to throw a nasty combination of attacks on him.

She was once again interrupted from being able to get off any meaningful offence, as several beams of destructive, violet light blasted against her badly damaged back, one after another, eviscerating any healing process her spine had been starting to undergo. The column of bones, left brittle from Krios' bear-hug, crumbled under the power of them, as Styx arced herself with another agony-fuelled cry. Body undergoing total paralysis from the sustained damage for a brief time, which Theia, zooming up through the air, capitalized on without hesitation.

Body now around Styx' size, the elder Titaness pulled from her domain and formed two blades of malicious, violet light around her arms and hands, as she raised them above herself, before swinging them down, letting out a holler of exertion as they sliced through the other goddess' shoulders. A sizzled spray of blood following from the stumps, as Styx' arms were both cut off at the same time, pushing a tortured wail out of the latter, who could do nothing to defend herself.

Letting the light fade from her arms then, Theia wrapped them around the Oceanid's neck in a rear-naked chokehold, squishing her magically-obscured boobs against her broken back, as she cinched the wrestling submission in tight. Enough to where she could wrench and crush the windpipe, as well as all the bones in Styx' neck, if she felt so inclined.

"You're not going anywhere!" Theia barked, full of evil intent as she leered at the younger goddess.

"She most certainly is not!" Krios agreed, rounding angrily on their shared object of hate, whom made it hard to think any rational thoughts, as her presence only made their hatred for her bloom to obscene levels. The male Titan downsizing as well, to be more around their size, as his eyes swirled, forming a new pattern in them, which, as it appeared over his body, turned out to be starry chains, which immediately formed and wrapped around Styx' body. The tool sliding beneath Theia's pressed body with a rattle identical to normal chains, as they bound her legs, wrapping and criss-crossing around her torso in such a way that it blocked her arms from being able to reform, and also made any aggressive movement with her legs virtually impossible.

Just in case, though, another pattern formed over Krios' eyes and body, as not one, but three thin, sharp, star-formed blades appeared, and then stabbed through both her legs from the side. One running through her ankles, the next her knees, and the last her upper thighs, just below her hidden sex, all with a spurt and oozing of ichor that dripped and cascaded from them down her curves and spilt from her feet and toes, dropping to the ocean far, far below.

"This is where you're going to remain, Styx. Captured and helpless before us, as you get what's coming to you!" Krios snapped, bashing her face with a hard jab that crunched the nose of her mended face in, and earned a spit of ichor from each flattened nostril. "You deserve nothing less, after everything you've done!" He snapped again, this time knocking the wind out of her with a gut punch that snapped her half-mended rips right back to their terrible shape.

She was then grabbed by the face by the Titan, who held her cheeks hard enough to fracture them and make her whine, as more pain was added to her torture-racked form. His eyes glaring into hers, as he calmed himself down a bit. "That being said though, I'll be generous and give you one chance to make this easier on yourself." He said, earning her full attention seemingly. "Tell me where you've put my son, and I'll have Theia here end you quickly. Keep your mouth shut on that, however, and rest assured, we will torture you until you give it up. Until even someone with such a strong spirit as yours breaks." He growled darkly. His cruel gaze making it clear which option he'd prefer. "So, what'll it be?"

Styx seemed to take a moment to collect herself from all the pain that wracked her being, as her face outwardly healed itself back, but with the look that she gave Krios, it could hardly be said to be one of beauty.

"Where I've put him…?" Despite all the rage and agony, Styx' features contorted into the single most foul and soul-shivering smile that had ever been seen, enough to make the requesting Titan nearly flinch, as she let out an odious chuckle that made both he and Theia tense.

"Yes, where you've put him!" Krios snapped harder, resisting the urge to rip her head off the look she was giving alone, along with the anxiousness she made him feel, just from the way she said it. "If you value your own sanity, then speak up! Tell me where I can find him, now!"

"You poor bastard…" She replied back, showing her bloody teeth at this point, as her glowing eyes darkened. In that moment, it was hard to judge if it was simply due to the rashness instilled in her by Menoitios, her own spite or a mixture of the two, but her spiteful gaze soaked in the sight of Pallas' father. Took in the evident nervousness she could sense within him, the fear of what'd been done to his son, and felt relished in it, as her tone became one of poison at what she said next. "Pallas is not hidden anywhere. He's gone!"

"Gone…?" Krios shook, his face becoming the ugliest snarl of his life, as he pulled himself closer to the Oceanid's twistedly smiling face. "What in Tartarus fucking name do you mean he's gone!?" He screamed, his throat actually aching from how hard he'd done so.

"Krios…" Theia started, wanting to try and calm her brother down, as it was clear that Styx was trying to rile him up, but the Titan either didn't hear her, or ignored her, as he solely focused on the goddess of hate, and of her own river given her namesake, which ran into the underworld.

"It's rather simple, really." Styx' bloody-toothed smile somehow stretched even wider across her malignant-looking face, as she managed to tilt her head just enough to where her forehead touched against his, putting their eyes but a few inches away from one another. "I and my children grew bored of punishing him, so, I brought him before Beerus, and requested of him to use his sword, the very one that rivals your brother's scythe when it comes to its destructive nature, and put. Him. Down!"

"W-What…?" The colour drained from Krios' ascended features, his eyes widening and harsh grip over her face halting, as her words sunk in. Theia was little better, looking downright shocked at what Styx had just gleefully admitted to.

"Chopped him up good, Beerus did. Didn't stop until he was nothing but unrecognisable pieces of butchered meat, incapable of ever regenerating, with his wretched soul torn to nothing right before my eyes, all to my immensesatisfaction!" A spiteful cackle arose, as she stared upon the horrified visage of the 1st generation Titan, hearing such woeful words of her former consort's apparent fate. "And as for his remains? I wouldn't bother looking for them either, because I personally had them thrown into the river Phlegethon to burn to ash!"

"Y-You… What…?" Krios' voice was barely above a whisper, as he stared in disbelief at the evilly-grinning goddess, utterly at a loss for words.

"Sh-She's lying to you, brother! She has to be!" Shaking off the jolt that such awful words instilled in her, Theia looked at her brother – even though she herself wasn't sure of her own words' validity, given how she knew Styx could be – and tried to snap him out of the state her fellow goddess was seeking to bury him in. One of despair. "Such venomous words are only meant to cause you suffering, brother! Nothing more! She can't fight, so I'd wager she's using the most rotten of words she can think of to harm you with her speech!"

"Look at you, trying to help him cope." Styx cooed. She actually had the Tartarus-forsaken nerve to coo at her, for denying something so heinous! Was Menoitios even affecting her at all at this point!? "If what you said was true, Theia, then I'm afraid I would've said something far viler than that."

Theia didn't know how to respond to that, as Krios stood frozen in the air, having pulled away from the hateful deity. A myriad of emotions seemingly flashing across his face, none of which were even remotely good.

BOOOOOOOOOOOOM!

It was then, almost as if by some dark, comedic timing, that a shockwave from far down below struck them, buffeting against them and sending the heavenly air of Aether, which normally remained stagnant, blasting out around Krios' body in a noticeable mist. The Titan seeming to not even feel the blast-wave hitting them, even as the world in its entirety – land, sea and sky at the very least – shook from the force generated. The power of it eradicating the massive wave that Styx hadn't dealt with before it had the chance to reach a certain pale-skinned god, or before he even noticed, as well as making the sun warp, as Helios, far, far away from all of them, struggled to keep control over his chariot.

When the universe-spanning shockwave calmed, however, Krios' expression had finally settled. His body beginning to shake once more, though this time with much more volatility, as his hands balled into fists by his sides. Fingers digging so deep into his palms that he drew his own blood, which flowed out like the rivers that dotted all across the endless lands, as every muscle in his body seemed to tense and bulge. A guttural growl unlike any he'd let loose before leaving his lips, as they split apart to reveal gritted teeth, which showed cracks forming from how hard they were ground together, as veins began popping out all along and around his body, even his face.

Theia nearly flinched when she saw the look in his glowing, orange eyes, which'd begun burning with gold-flecked flames outside his retinas. An intense heat radiating off of it, with a glare of such monstrous, grief-stricken fury that it made any glare she'd given Styx prior look kindly by comparison.

"Oh… You've done it now…" Krios hissed through clenched, cracking teeth. An explosion on the horizon, just from his expression alone.

Styx showed no fear, however. Her accursed smile somehow getting stronger, as she saw his reaction. Theia felt her own bout of rage strike again, as it did, when she took a good look at the captured goddess' features, and could've sworn she saw arousal on them with how much pain she was causing to a hated foe, both mentally and emotionally.

"I most certainly have." Styx crowed. "You should've seen the look of fear on his face, when he realized it was the end. His façade of pride and stoicism broke fairly quick, as he begged me for forgiveness, promising he'd never go against me again. Something he continued doing up until his head was severed from his body. My, you should've witnessed how-"

"Enough!" Krios cut her off, his visage so far past the point of livid, that no word, no description, could accurately convey the outrage present on his features, nor the look in his eyes, as he grabbed her face once more. His snarl so vicious and bestial that it strained his face and made him look downright terrifying to Theia, who at the very least, still had her brother-husband in existence somewhere beneath Gaea's watch. "I've heard all that I can stomach of your disgusting words and abominable glee at them."

Some of Krios' teeth really did break under the pressure this time, as his fiery gaze at that very moment would've made even the most soul-crushingof Tartarus' pits seem preferable.

"Forget what I said before. There will be no mercy shown to you…" The Titan hissed even more venomously. "Falling to Kronos' scythe would be too generous at this point, as it'd afford you an end, which you most definitely do not deserve. Eternal suffering will be your fate, for I swear, even after I break you, I will not stop. I will never stop torturing you. Not even when you lose your mind and sense of self. Not even if such a time arises where you can't even feel anymore!"

"I'm afraid I'm going to have to deny you that desire, Krios."

The Titans senses burst into alarm, as they heard that voice above them, with Theia's head snapping up much too late to see the recognisable figure of the ascended Prometheus descending on her, before his elbow smashed down unto her face. The brutal impact such that it broke her nose and partially caved in her face, as her arms slackened and fell from Styx' neck, before he swiftly followed by pushing forth over Styx' head, using Theia's as a springboard of sorts, as he threw a powerful punch for Krios' face.

The latter, unable to react in time, tanked the blow to the face and lost his grip over Styx, as he was sent hurtling back several miles away. Prometheus then turned and, without missing a beat, thrust another punch over Styx' shoulder, bashing the hovering Theia hard enough in the mug to send her careening away in the opposite direction just as far!

"I'd ask if you're alright, but then, I can see you're in chains, have no arms, and have your legs skewered up pretty bad." The 2nd generation Titan remarked almost humorously, as he turned his attention to his ally with a light grin on his face. The anger, while still very much present on him, under a reasonable amount of control, as was his rash urge to chase after either of the Titans he'd just sent packing. "Here, let me help you with those."

"By all means." Styx grinned back, still full of the viciousness she'd had with Krios, but none of it directed at him. Her expression becoming a tad more friendly, as Prometheus gripped, then with a good amount of strength, broke and tore the chains off of her, reducing them to countless shards of starlight as he freed her arms to be able to heal again, which they did post-haste. His hands then moving down and doing the same for each blade stabbed through her legs, breaking and ridding her of their presence on and within her person speedily and expediently.

"You seem to be in a far more pleasant mood then I'd expect of someone who was just in your position. Care to share? All my future-sight showed me, was that you were in danger, so I came rushing in to help." The younger deity said, garnering an almost depraved chuckle from the goddess, as her legs were freed and quickly allowed to heal, much like her back and the rest had done whilst she spoke to the Titans.

"Let's just say that the anguish I got Krios to feel just now was more delightful than even I thought it'd be. He sought to put me in agony, and yet, all it took was some foul words of Pallas' fate, and it was as if I'd taken his very soul in my hands and squeezed it for all it was worth!" She replied, looking one step away from experiencing a strange kind of total ecstasy right there and then.

"Pallas' fate?" Prometheus blinked. "Last I recall, you told me you and your children had punished him sufficiently enough, to where he eventually broke down and begged of your forgiveness, before you had him bound and plunged beneath your river, which no being could escape without your permission, until the war was over. I fail to see how that could've gotten Krios so riled up like that…"

"Probably because I didn't tell him the truth." Styx licked her lips sadistically, still feeling the joy of having caused such emotional damage to a hated enemy of hers. "I merely told him of a scenario I had once thought of to do during that fool's punishment, but didn't go through with. An idea involving our esteemed leader putting him down with his blade, before taking what was left to be flung into Phlegethon's flaming river…"

"Wow," Prometheus whistled, as impressed as he was unsettled, despite his own barely constrained emotions of violent rage approving of such. "And here I'd almost forgotten how evil you could be to those who cross you. Remind me again to never get on your bad side."

"Will do." Styx nodded amusedly. Her anger slightly more subdued due to her pleasure, but still present on her own features as well.

"You! What are you doing here!?" Krios bellowed, bringing both their attentions to him, as he flew back near them, stopping just shy of their range out of caution, which Prometheus almost commended him for rational enough to do, given how pissed he was. Though, at the same time, they made sure to keep their senses sharp for Theia behind them, who also was back on her way. "I thought Iapetus was supposed to be taking care of you!"

"My father has effectively surrendered." The Titan of forethought revealed, making both his father's siblings, as well as even Styx widen their eyes in shock. "Upon finding out the reality of his situation, as well as the fact he never wanted to be fighting me or my brother to begin with, nor wants to see us put to Kronos' scythe, he chose to cease fighting altogether."

"He what!? Brother Iapetus would never!" Theia denied vehemently, reaching close enough now to hear their words, as she too stopped just shy of their range. "Nothing short of a guaranteed defeat would have him back down, and we're far from beaten!"

"Ah, you see, that's the thing…" Prometheus couldn't help the amused smile that adorned his face, as he folded his arms across his chest. Styx being of a similar fashion as he spoke, only hers was incomprehensibly more savage and spiteful. "Whether you like it or not, your defeat is a guarantee at this point. And I don't even requiremy future sight to tell you of that truth."

"Huh!? What are you-" Krios was cut off, as both he and Theia, along with Prometheus and Styx felt it. The sudden and exuberant growth of numerous pressures that came not from them or the enemies near them, but from further away. Most being near where the fights with the lesser gods were happening and close to finishing, while one was much further out, but no less potent than the rest, in how the universe at large seemed to react.

Theia's head was the first to turn, Krios' following, as they laid eyes on numerous, differently coloured beams of light punching infinitely high up into the heavens, the aura of each recognisable after battling against them for over a year, and how their power seemed to climb higher and higher.

"Don't take my word for it, you two." Prometheus chuckled, suddenly feeling far less weighted by violent rage and rash urges, as he and Styx turned to briefly look as well. "You're about to see for yourself soon enough."

As that was going on…

"Damn wench!" Koios snarled, as he dove in to meet Metis' charge with a punch, angling his punch in such a way to where she couldn't bob her head out of the way, as he had foreseen.

Metis, recognising this, had her body give off a faint glow beneath her aura, hardly even visible to the naked eye, as she suddenly seemed to split apart before the Titan's eyes, becoming two full-bodied, identical goddesses, as one ducked down while the other kept course.

Doing it while hiding is one thing, but right in front of my face, where I can see them both? And they call her smart! Koios' eyes lit up with recognition, not allowing himself to be fooled twice, as he got a feel for both their movements simultaneously, before focusing his sight on the one he couldn't sense this time. His plans changing in an instant, as he got into the process of ducking beneath the punch that he knew the fake was throwing, subtly preparing a counter with his own fist while aiming a kick for the one that could not be felt.

He knew he'd missed something, however, when rather than look alarmed at his incoming foot, the un-feelable one smiled, as though he'd done exactly as she'd expected him to. Koios then found himself being the one alarmed, as he felt a slight change occur just as his foot slammed home on the much smaller goddess' torso while he ducked the other's punch, his fist already halfway up to the other's body when it happened. The Metis who should've been the true one immediately dissipated into nothingness.

"Thought you'd figured me out? Think again!" Metis shouted, hands grabbing on to Koios' wrist as his fist shot up, and twirling her body just in time to avoid his and answering back with a spinning kick that landed flush against his cheek. The front of her foot cracking his head to the side with a nasty impact, which had the rest of him bending over at the hip and forced to plant a hand against the ground to stop himself from falling over. A rather futile effort, as Metis landed by his side and swung up with her leg before he could look at her or adjust.

THWACK! Her knee struck home on his face, breaking a few teeth and sending some blood spritzing out of his open maw and temporarily damaged gums, as his head and torso flung back, his legs stumbling to keep him upright in his disoriented state. A fact that Metis was quick to follow-up on, by duplicating herself once again, focusing hard enough to create two more of her, as opposed to one this time. All of them charging in shoulder to shoulder, as the middle one, the true Metis went low and slid as hard as she could into his stumbling legs, where her feet tackled into one of his much larger ankles.

"Gwuh!" A yelp of surprise escaped the Titan, as one of his legs was smacked up unceremoniously behind him, whilst his other leg, still off-balance, failed to properly support his weight, and sent the god falling down. Rather than be met with dirt, though, he was met and stopped, in brutal fashion, by two glimmering knees crashing against either side of his face, breaking many more of his teeth whilst dislocating, if not outright breaking his jaw from the double-impact, as tooth fragments flung from his gob in messy, gold-glazed chunks!

The Titan barely had time to let out a pained whine, before the true Metis came back, leaping over his body as her doubles pulled their knees from his wrecked face, just in time for her to pull her knees up to her chest before pumping them back down with zeal. The soles of her feet him crushing down on the back of his skull without mercy, sending the Titan down face-first into the land, with a sizeable crater forming beneath them, and his ass sticking high in the air.

Despite how jarring and painful something like that must've been, Koios surprised Metis' doubles by shooting with his hands and grabbing their legs, from ankle to just below the knee, gripping so hard that even with the glimmer of his ascended state, his knuckles began to turn white from the sheer force exerted. Were either the real Metis, nearly every bone present in that part of the leg he latched unto for both would've been crushed to dust. Instead, they dissipated from his grip, fading away as he growled into the soil and reared back, forcing the true goddess off his cranium and away from him.

His head pounded even as he rose, his body healing the wounds suffered, patching up his features as well as the back of his skull, which had cracked badly from the attack, as he rounded on his assailant. His face almost dotted with as much fury at this point as Metis' own, without any assistance from his nephew on the matter.

"Oh, you've done it now…!" Koios snapped, his much larger frame bounding forward, aura blazing around his glowing form as he balled his hand into a fist packed full of his divine power down at Metis' head. His eyes lasered in on her for all that she'd do, and he knew she'd be using that blasted ability of hers when his knuckles were but a few feet away from her features.

The foreknowledge didn't stop him from pressing with his attack, impacting directly against Metis' face, only for the one he'd struck to blast apart into nothing, without so much as a lick of blood, all while the true Metis had launched herself back. Her heels skidding along the ground, as he picked up on the faint glow beneath her aura, and two new doppelgangers appeared by her sides. Both on either side of the original radiating off an actual presence, while the middle one did not.

That clearly doesn't matter though. It appears she's found a small way to circumvent the barrier we put up, by being able to switch places with her copies at will, anytime she wants. The Titan thought to himself, recognising the futility of simply going off which of them gave off a presence and which didn't, even in his anger. All he'd be doing with such a simplistic mindset was get caught in her trap for him again like a buffoon. He would not make that same mistake twice, if there so happened to be more than one of her around.

That bit of information to practice caution against her with hardly helped him much, though. With things as they were, his ability to read her and know what she'd do in advance was made much less of an absolute. Even if he kept his eyes on all three at first, inevitably, his eyes were going to be off one or more of them, which would give Metis the perfect chance to give an attack that landed. This was quite the conundrum he found himself in.

The Titan wasn't given much more room to think, as the trio rushed forward in a seemingly reckless dash against him, but he would not be fooled this time. He could tell from just gazing upon all three that they were studying him and his movements, judging precisely what he would do in response to their initial assault and then react accordingly to get their desired result.

Huh. So that's how she wanted to play it? Well then, looks like he'd have a genuine challenge after all, with Oceanus' daughter. More than just a simple test of brawn, it would be his wit pitted against hers.

Armed with this understanding, the Titan of the inquisitive mind and the heavenly axis and the daughter of his brother, Oceanus, leveraging most her domains of planning, cunning and wisdom, did engage each other. The bout between 1st and 2nd generation Titan and Titaness respectively quickly turning into a whirlwind of motion, wherein which both analysed the other, probing for weaknesses and baiting the other while doing their best to predict their foe's movements for their own offence.

For Koios, much to his annoyance, though he put such an emotion in check as best he could, he came out on the losing end with each exchange. He kept his judgment as objective as possible though, not allowing frustration and, more importantly, the anger she'd instilled into him without Menoitios' favour to sway him. With each loss, where he failed to strike on the true Metis and, in every loss, was punished for it worse than the last by someone who was managing to thoroughly pick apart his patterns and habits in combat, he worked his head around what she did. Took in every detail he could as she belaboured him with increasing precision and volume of damage, forcing him to retreat each time before enough accumulated prior to his healing kicking in to take him out.

It was around about the time they both felt the enormous shockwave hit them all the way from Crete, shaking the entire world around them from his brother's contest against their hundred-handed siblings, and sending high waves of water splashing down on them in-land, that things finally clicked for Koios. His analysis baring fruit as he ended up with three details pertaining to her irksome ability, which were helpful to know.

The first, which had been a suspicion of his prior, but was later confirmed through multiple clashes with her and them, was that the maximum amount she seemed capable of summoning, at least while under Menoitios' influence, was two. Because if she was capable of summoning any more than that at a time, then there was no way she wouldn't have by now, knowing her little technique worked well on him. It'd be foolish of her not to take advantage at that point and summon more to take him down.

The second, which was rather obvious in hindsight, was that her duplicates could not duplicate themselves, like she had. If they could, there was no reason why they wouldn't have either, as like with the first, it would've helped greatly in overwhelming him. That meant the maximum he'd ever have to deal with when it came to her and her clones, was three in total, and not a potential army of endlessly spawning clones.

The third and final piece, had actually been revealed to him during the shockwave's occurrence. This was also one he'd had his suspicions of, but couldn't quite confirm until he'd seen it himself, seeing as she'd been rather clever at hiding it from him. He'd seen it right as he'd managed to dispose of her clones, who'd just accomplished the shattering of his hips. He'd had little choice but to tank the hard knee she'd clipped him across the face with for his trouble, cracking his jaw and breaking some teeth before she launched into a flurry of flying limbs. Her cataclysmic combo smashing him up something fierce, fracturing his ribcage into pieces, imploding his pelvis up into his guts almost and pummelling his face and skull into an ugly mess, as he tried to counter her back.

Seeing his attack coming, she'd made to create a clone that phased out behind her and switch places with it, and through his blurry vision, he'd watched as that tremendous blast-wave hit them, and her concentration was cracked for but an instant. Enough for him to see the faint glow beneath her aura vanish and take her semi-formed double with it.

Koios had managed a smile then, even with all the pain he was under, and a face that felt like it'd been munched on and spat out, with how horribly misshaped and crooked Metis had made it with her assault, as he began to heal.

He'd been taken aback by the shockwave as well, more so than Metis in his badly wounded state, where one more headshot would've seen him crumble and be conquered. The distant, but universe-quaking blast knocking him off most of what little balance he'd maintained, just enough for his counter-strike to go wider than he'd intended. One of his massive knuckles scraping along her temple, drawing a thin line of ichor from a cut that quickly healed, as she took the chance to leap back and create distance. His failure to land the proper strike there though didn't matter to the Titan, nor did it even matter when he stumbled afterward and fell to a knee. For after being put on the backfoot against her, carving out and cratering the land around them even more with their battle, he now had what he needed.

"It's been fun, Metis, but I'm afraid this little fight of ours will be coming to an end very soon." Koios said, fully healed now and tempering his anger completely as he stared across the ruined clearing at his foe, who narrowed her eyes back at him, as two new clones appeared at her command, flanking her sides.

Metis caught the change in tone from him, and knew it was not mere arrogance that had him saying such a thing. It was confidence. Confidence in something he'd been able to gleam from battling with her and had him looking at her almost identically to how he had when they'd first begun this fight of theirs, with him in total control. The only difference between then and now, was the begrudging respect that she could see reflected in his glowing eyes for her.

"I agree." She finally said, the true Metis, that is. Her words coming out as a barely restrained snarl with the boiling anger within her, which she was convinced at this point was certainly not her own naturally, as she and her two copies took a readied stance to charge at their foe. "Though I have a feeling you and I have a differing view on who shall ultimately come out the victor of this, in the end."

Koios actually managed a chuckle at that. One that didn't sound condescending, but surprisingly enough, could almost be said to be good-humoured. "That we do." He agreed, while settling into his own stance, with his huge legs spread out and bent at the knee and his fists clenched by his sides, as he formulated his final plan of attack. "Only one can carry the truth, though, and you're about to find that out the hard way."

Their stare-down after those words seemed to drag on for several moments, before Metis, still under Menoitios' influence, was the first to break it. The goddess rushing forward with her clones at her sides, as she came toward him with the fullest of intent to put him down.

Koios didn't bother waiting for her to reach him though, before he pushed forward toward the charging trio, his watchful gaze on all three for as long as possible, before he noticed the presence-giving doubles darting to either side, leaving only the original rushing straight at him. He wasn't dumb enough not to feel their presences circling around him and knew that both would be looking to strike him from behind, whilst the one he couldn't feel would be pushing toward his chest with a punch, before she switched places with a clone.

Sure enough, the one in front of him leapt off the ground, soaring upward as she made to drive her fist right between his pecs, all as her clones were coming in at his back, ready to pounce at him whatever he chose.

And so, the son of Ouranos and Gaea grinned, as he suddenly veered to the side rather than attack, pushing himself a good dozen metres away from the three versions of Metis. The Titan watching as they all stopped their attacks in good time, having clearly managed to predict he'd do that at the last second, before turning and pressing forward in his new direction.

Time for you to get a taste of what you did to me, Metis. Only, I think you'll find that what I do is superior. With that thought in mind, and with them watching, Koios raised a fist up, his divine power pumping into it in both obvious and subtle ways, as he bent his magic to his whim and ploughed his fist into the ground suddenly. The collision instantly followed by the pulsing of his power through the ground and wetted soil, an act which led to the forceful explosion of a thick cloud of dust into existence, much like Metis had done earlier, enveloping both in its embrace as it quickly shot out tens of metres around and above them.

What's he up to? All three of Metis thought as one cautiously, as their vision was totally obscured to the point it was impossible for them to visually see anything but a shadowy outline that wasn't a foot away from them. He's using the same strategy I did to see if my copies would work, but unless he figured out how to do it, he can't create any like I can to hide the real him… She thought observantly, glowing brow furrowed to make sense of why he'd copy her earlier tactic, as she looked ahead of her, despite no longer being able to see. He doesn't seem to have moved at all either as I can still sense…

Their eyes widened as one, as the original Metis broadened her sensory ability just to be sure, which was followed by the goddess and her doubles halting their attack and coming to a stop dead in their tracks. Each of their faces one of anxious awareness when they realised that they didn't simply just sense him in front of them, like they had an infinitesimal fraction of a second ago. Instead, much to Metis' confusion and growing trepidation, she sensed him all around them now, not just in front. His presence being felt everywhere, from the furthest reaches of the dust cloud he'd punched up, to literally right on top of them, weightlessly weighing down on their chests whilst also floating alarmingly betwixt their thighs and more. As if ghostly caressing every crevice of her body at once, which didn't make sense. How could that…

It was then that Metis' mind whipped itself into overdrive, pushing beyond the rage constantly trying to cloud it completely, as she narrowed her eyes, noticing something very off about Koios' dust cloud when compared to hers. That being that if she looked close enough, it wasn't just that she sensed him everywhere, all of a sudden, but could also make out the faint glimmer of his aura that permeated throughout the conjured cloud of cover, no matter where her eyes turned to look. The movement of her head as she did so, getting not even the faintest reaction out of the dust that covered her and her duplicates from head-to-toe.

And that was when it finally clicked in her brain.

Shit! Jump! The true Metis screamed mentally, as though it were a command, alarm and panic crashing over her rageful features, as she realized the severity of her situation. Her and her clones suddenly tensing as they leapt off the ground, seeking to fly out of the Titan-produced dust cloud as fast as their ascended bodies could manage.

Not fast enough, however. She and them only made it about two or so metres off the misshapen earthen floor before they were intercepted. Metis' clones being grabbed from behind by their ankles with much smaller, but similarly calloused hands, while the middle one found herself wincing in pain, as what felt like a pair of jaws clamped down viciously on her own. The hands squeezing hard enough in that brief instant to crush her bones again, forcing both clones to dispel, while the true Metis felt herself being violently wrenched back down to the ground.

Out of desperation and rash, but quick reflex, she thrust her other leg down, sending a foot shooting toward the face of the Titan who'd chosen to bind her with his mouth this time, for those were definitely teeth she felt biting into her skin, drawing her blood even as she thought and reacted. Her attack struck home, and the goddess felt his skull crack again beneath her heel, but despite the damaging and concussive blow, her enemy did not let up on his bite's grip. Instead, he seemed to push through whatever temporary head trauma she'd just given him through sheer force of will. One of the Titan's now free hands taking advantage of her stomp by thrusting over to grip her by the ankle of her offending foot, and trap her even more within his hold.

Knowing she was caught, at the last possible moment, the Oceanid tried to form a clone again to replace her and take the attack for her, so she could regroup. She didn't even get halfway through the conjuring process though, before she felt his hand tighten around her, squeezing down with the fullest of his strength on her ankle, while his teeth bit down as hard as he could over the other, breaking her focus as horrid pain shot up both of her legs.

Metis' tormented scream came out muffled by the soil that met her face, as she felt the bones in her ankle be broken apart, whilean entire chunk of flesh was ripped straight off the bone of the other, as her front impacted harshly with the ground, cratering it beneath her. Her Ichor beginning to piss out from her gnawed-off ankle and gush over the earth, before she heard what was likely her clump of missing flesh being spat out by her foe, who appeared as little more than a vague shadow through the dust cloud, despite being so close to her as she just barely managed to look up behind her.

"Well, that worked even better than I expected." Koios remarked with a tone of sadistic glee, before a fist broke through the cloud of dust, and Metis was helpless to do much but blurrily watch, as it crashed down on her with a BANG! The goddess making a whining sound into the ground, as the crater became twice as wide and deep from the force of the clubbing blow, which cracked the back of her cranium and thoroughly rung her bell.

"That obfuscating dirt cloud you summoned turned out to be rather useful after all. For me that is, when utilized properly." The Titan continued, dropping to his knees, which fell by and clutched near her hips, as he got on top of her in a full-mount from the back, before another fist of his, charged with highly concentrated divine power, crushed down over her spine. The impact jarring her and making her arc pathetically beneath him in a muffled, pained wail, while further widening and deepening the crater they were in. "For all your intelligence, which I'll admit has impressed me, it appears you weren't smart enough to be aware of how subtly one can weave their energies into such a thing as this, making one virtually undetectable whilst they're within it, unless you're dealing with someone like me or my brother Hyperion, of course."

His knuckles dug and grinded purposefully against her damaged back. Metis, in rash action to get him off, seeing as she couldn't focus properly, swung her arm back in hopes of either clipping him and stunning him long enough for her to wiggle out from the position he had her under, or forcing him to back away and give her some breathing room.

Neither happened, of course, given he knew what she'd do before she even did it, evidenced by him easily catching the wrist of her arcing arm with his other hand. It wasn't long before he made her pay for the pitiful attempt at getting him off, by packing all the power he could muster into his palm and fingers as they closed into a fist, mashing her wrist – both flesh and bone – into golden pulp that barely clung to the rest of her arm. The action getting Metis to thrash about with a face of pure agony and wretched rage etched onto her, desperately trying to get him off of her, but to no avail, as his other hand clamped down on her rapidly healing skull, letting her whine into the soil.

"Wouldn't be the first time I've used such a tactic as this, you know. I think the last time I utilized this kind of cover, was during one of my spars with Krios a few hundred years ago. Mostly no fancy tricks, like ascending for example. Just a simple bout to see who was the better hand-to-hand combatant, both in striking and in wrestling." The Titan grinned, as though having a somewhat casual conversation of the past at this point, whilst pulling her head up from the ground. His eyes soaking in her damaged features which dripped with muck and dirt, along with the way her eyes glared at him, as she tried to reach for him with her other hand, before he slammed her face back down, expanding the crater's size yet again with a shake of the earth.

"As you can probably imagine, I was able to come out the victor using this very dust-cloud I used against you, and which you used against me, though yours was little more than a setup for spawning a clone without me seeing you, lacking the benefit I was able to give it. And like with my brother back then, you figured out its purpose of veiling my true location from you a little too late to save yourself!" He exclaimed, as the muscles on his arm keeping hold of Metis' wrist tensed and bulged.

KERR-RIIIIIIIP!

The elder Oceanid cried out and spasmed within the mucky crater, agony flooded through her yet again, as her entire arm was torn off from her shoulder in an instant! A sizeable gush of uncontrolled, sloshing ichor following as she writhed beneath Koios, who sat atop her with dismembered arm in-hand, dripping and spilling ichor from the exposed flesh and jutting bone that was once attached to her shoulder.

"What's wrong? Surely, you can just summon one of those duplicates you've been using against me and have them help free you, right?" The Titan asked rhetorically, having his analysis confirmed even more so now, when she made no attempt to do so even with his taunt.

And that was because she couldn't. The process of creating a clone of herself wasn't as simple as a mere, effortless thought. Like everything they did, no matter how natural it felt, it still required some degree of concentration and focus, no matter how little they may be. If such were broken or couldn't be achieved before or while the ability was attempted to be brought into effect, it was essentially cancelled out.

Give how strong of will she was, she could very well push through the pain and focus despite it in order to summon her clones. That is, if immense pain was all that she had to deal with. Compound that with his nephew's influence that already made it hard for her to focus or concentrate properly, and you basically had the perfect combination to keep her from using her ability. Heck, they could throw the barrier down and he was certain that she wouldn't be able to bring out even the most basic function of her other standard, godly abilities at the moment.

Throwing her torn appendage away, he paid little mind to her blood-spewing stump of a shoulder, even as it started trying to form a new arm over itself, as he caught her other arm right as it tried swing for him. "Now you're just being foolish again." He chastised, before wrenching the appendage out well past where it could bend naturally, forcing another writhing from beneath him, along with a muffled noise of torment, as her other arm was snapped like a twig near the shoulder. Blood spurting from the torn flesh and ligament with her broken bone jutting out, before he tore off most of that arm too, letting it splatter wetly against the ground as he tossed it aside.

Full of pain and the rage she was desperately trying to keep from rising, Metis was now unarmed – quite literally – for the moment, making her even more vulnerable than before, as his other hand then came to rest around her jaw, making it clear what his next and final action would be. He wasn't going to toy with her like he did in the beginning, just for his own amusement in her suffering. He was just going to end her.

She channelled her power as much as she could, but she wasn't strong enough to shake him off of her. Flying or using her legs to jump up wouldn't be effective either, seeing as he'd still have more than enough time to finish her, and that was assuming he didn't just ground her from both of those as well. She tried again to focus for her cloning ability, but yet again, found herself incapable of doing so at this time. She could see the slight shimmer of her blood that pooled out beneath and around her, as she tried it anyway, for her clones could also be formed purely from her blood, if need be, something she'd also been able to accomplish during private spars with her Zeus.

She failed again and again though, as she felt the pressure over her neck and skull, which she resisted as best she could, only buying a few fleeting moments at best, as the Titan on top of her closed in on ending their battle.

"You fought well." Koios complimented her, as her head was turned slowly and agonizingly to the side, allowing her to look up at him, as the Titan's dust cloud faded away of its own accord. Now fully visible, she could see the victorious smirk on his face at having bested her. "In the end though, as I expected, I have ultimately come out the victor in-ooph!?"

Metis' eyes widened slightly as Koios was interrupted by the defeated and battered form of a Nymph that'd fallen from the sky on top of his head at quite high velocity, forcing the Titan to bend over her somewhat. The Nymph's glowing, ascended state fizzling away as her nude, limp, olive-skinned form folded over him. The minor goddess' face being one that Metis recognised as one of her many younger sisters, before her healing body was grabbed and thrown down beside her by Koios, fully unconscious. Her long, curly locks of black hair obscuring her pretty face from view.

"Ugh!... Did they have to smack one of them down here?" Koios complained in annoyance, shaking his head to rid himself of the slight disorientation that came with a beaten goddess being suddenly dropped on him like that, as he glanced up for a brief instant at the heavens. "At the very least, I suppose those who allied with us are doing what is expected of them."

He wasn't wrong, much as Metis didn't like it. Despite the larger numbers they'd started out with against the allies of the Titans, it was clear just from a glance and use of her senses that much of their forces had dwindled. By her brief estimate, it looked as though the Titans had lost only a few of their supporters that were battling in the sky, and they now outnumbered those that still remained fighting – recklessly and without thought, she might add – from their side. Some of their allies, to her shock, were even fighting amongst themselves, only helping out their enemy eliminate them in the process!

What was worse, was that in that brief moment she could look up, she personally made out numerous other allies of hers being taken out, further decreasing their forces until they only made up less than half of the Titans own. Within moments, she was certain that the others would be taken out as well, which was a truly baffling scenario that would only have made sense if one of the Titans heavy hitters had joined the lesser deities, but that didn't seem to be the case.

"Thinking about how we managed to get in such a good position, despite all your advantages?" Koios asked, forcing her attention back to him, as he took the time to smash his fist down on the nape of her neck, which broke nearly all of her cervical vertebrae at once and had Metis gagging on her own blood as she bled internally from a punctured throat. Globs of her own ichor spitting out from her hacking maw, as his free hand once again grabbed her by the jaw. She couldn't even attempt to grab at his wrists to alleviate some pressure, for her arms were barely halfway reformed.

"It's simple really." The Titan continued, looking smug as he saw his victory about to occur, gripping her head hard enough to crack her jaw and her skull simultaneously, as his muscles in both arms tensed at the ready. "We had all the right pieces in place this time. You won't get to see it, but the best is yet to come!"

With that, the Titan began to wrench, and despite remaining defiant to the end, Metis still expecting to hear the sound of her neck being snapped completely within a single instant, followed possibly by having her head full on ripped off her shoulders for a ghastly finish.

And that was when she felt it. A familiar wave of comforting bliss suddenly washing over her, as a calming presence embraced her in an ethereal, golden touch, that almost had her body, mind and soul melting as it caressed her. A feeling she recognised, but felt much more potently than ever before, as all the anger that she'd had, along with the urges for rash and violent actions vanished quicker than morning dew when Helios rose in the sky and chose to be exceptionally hot. Even all the pain she felt from her current wounds seemed to just fade away in an instant.

"Nngh… What…?" Metis wasn't the only effected though, as Koios' grip on her head loosened entirely, and the Titan seemed to sag on top of her. His previously smug and combative face morphing into one of shock as he too seemed to recognise what was going on, as for a small moment, all the fight seemed to leave his eyes, as they became unfocused.

That moment was all Metis needed, as with her newfound calm, she hyper-focused, getting her blood to shimmer as, within no time, two duplicates of her formed on either side of Koios. Their bodies fully formed and free of injury as they took full advantage of Koios' total lapse in aggression and judgment by swinging their legs out and kicking him hard in the chest, practically caving it in as they sent him flying back. His body skidding and digging a trench through the upper portion of the crater they were in, as he was flung out toward Mount Olympus' hide yet again, where he smashed into it with great speed and unsparing force. The Titan indenting himself yet again in its rocky surface, which shook and vibrated from the impact.

"Kuh!... Fuck!..." Coughing up his own blood, Koios, dazed and hurt, but very much still conscious and capable of battle, shook away the sensation he'd felt, which had dulled and weakened him, and found himself gazing up around the same that Metis got to her feet with the help of her clones and did the same. For the former, he felt nothing but confusion and a strange sense of anxiety as he looked upon the one responsible for weakening and leaving him open to counter-attack in what should've been his moment of triumph.

For Metis, there was almost a sense of awe, as she saw the elder sister of the Olympians, and Beerus' older twin Hestia floating aloft in the air above both just several metres ahead of her. The younger, serene-looking goddess with a hand outstretched toward where she was and where Koios had been, with her hair raised and a bright, white glow shining through from what seemed like her bosom at first, before it spread out around her form entirely. Its majestic radiance mixing with Hestia's homely, golden aura tinged with white to make a far brighter and rapidly expanding aura.

"Hestia…" Metis felt breathless for a moment, drinking in the sight as the goddess' aura began to flow with easing calm and shine with purest gold, reminding her of the look and feel of a hearth-fire, which her mother had occasionally put on in their underwater home when she was yet fully grown. Except, the sensation Hestia gave off felt far more potent and heavenly by comparison. It didn't just bring a feeling of nostalgia from her original home, but so much more.

Even in her most intimate of moments with Zeus, when they were simply laying in each other's arms in bed, and she'd felt like she was in her new and true home with her husband, she'd never felt as strongly at peace and contentment as she did now. Hestia's mesmerizing aura and being, at that very moment, captivated and made her feel a level of tranquil pleasantness that shouldn't have even been possible. Just by standing and basking in her presence, as her body fully reformed itself, Metis felt, in all aspects of her being, that she was in the absolute comfort and cosy, warmth-filled safety of both the most idyllic home and family pulled from the purely conceptual and made into a physical form.

Koios, as he saw her aura expand out like a brilliant, but gentle, pure gold flame around her, to the point it touched and made the perforated ground, but an infinitesimal fragment of his mother's earthen form tremble with elation, was too stunned to speak. His jaw falling open, as her brilliant, gold-glowing eyes bloomed, making her the most striking beauty he'd ever seen. The radiance she gave off incomparable to anything he'd felt in his immortal life, as he sensed her power rapidly climbing upward, whilst the pressure she gave off became more and more intense.

"Pardon my interruption, but I felt the urge to intervene."She said, her voice resonating, even despite the lack of moving wind and easily reaching both the Titan and Oceanid. Koios, in particular, didn't ever think he'd heard a feminine voice that sounded so soft, innocent and pure as the Olympian's did now. And despite her being his enemy, he felt himself subconsciously draw in a sharp breath of admiration, unable to stop himself from somewhat basking in her godly glowas well. His eyes latched in what seemed like an unbreakable stare as her tattered tunic burned away, revealing her perfect, pale, buxom body, just as free from taint as her voice felt to his ears, in all its naked magnificence.

Such an enrapturing view as Hestia's bare form barely lasted a split-second, but to the elder Titan's enhanced perspective, the glimpse he got to drink in of it lasted almost like an eternity. The splendorous sight of her sublime curves, slim belly and wide, child-bearing hips mixing marvellously with her bountiful bust tipped with the pinkest of buds and untouched maidenhood betwixt her voluptuous thighs and lithesome legs. Koios genuinely felt like he was in a trance, his mind going blank, as the wondrous sight brought forth both arousal and a strange form of wonderment in the watching Titan.

Neither he nor Metis were quite prepared for when, in the next instant, a pillar of golden glimmer burst forth around and hid her from view, shooting for the sky with light almost as blinding as Hyperion's, bringing with it the sensation of a divine power that easily rivalled said Titan at his zenith!

Whilst that was occurring…

Before the eyes of Hera, Demeter and Poseidon, the daughter of Atlas struggled to survive against their brother. Her boon-granted strength not seeming to matter much, anymore, as her fried form bounced and tumbled along the floor of Olympus' summit. Shocks of electricity zipping across her bare body, as she came to a stop, gasping hard for air, as she managed to stumble back to her feet.

Eyes regenerated but wide and blurry in their vision, her senses went haywire as she felt her foe's rapid approach. Her jaw only just snapping back into place, but still not fully mended, as living lightning flashed before her. Out of fear and instinct, she threw a punch toward it in self-defence. A poorly though-out move, as her fist simply passed through it, earning a sputtering screech from her, as voltage poured through her arm and circulated through her whole body in an instant, blasting out of every hole and pour without restraint. Both the inside and outside of her undergoing such insane levels of torment in but a fleeting moment, before the lightning danced away from her limb and the form of Zeus emerged, his hand gripping her throat, as he hoisted her smoking form up in the air.

"D-D-Damnit…!" Mind too fried in that moment to observe a chance to attack him for holding her so carelessly, Kalypso was left helpless as Zeus choked her. Her spasming form hacking and coughing up charred blood as, whilst it was healing, the inside of her mouth appeared blackened from the electric burst she'd just endured.

"What's wrong, little Nymph? I've barely even begun with your punishment and you already look prepared to drop!" Zeus boomed, before throwing her back from his hand, allowing her to land, then stumble again on her feet, before tripping and falling rather humiliatingly on her round ass. The god's static blue sclera glaring down at her pitiful form with nothing short of disdain, as sparks flung from the rims of his eyes. "Have you hit the limit of what your father's charity affords you that quick? Perhaps I'll have to find another way to punish you, after I'm finished with you here, and this war is over."

Glaring back up at how easily he was dismissing her, the daughter of the Titan general growled, ignoring the protests of her convulsing muscles and burnt internal organs, as she forced herself to her feet. Her balance shoddy as she did, with her almost falling back again, before she grounded herself, forcing her body back under her command, kicking and screaming at her all the way, as she met Zeus' disdain with her own, while pushing down her growing anxiety over him.

"Y-You son of a bitch!" She shrieked in offense and outrage, as she pushed herself from the ground, her aura blazing to life around her as she swung for Zeus' face. The god, fast as a flash, bringing a forearm up to block her wild punch without much effort, but this didn't stop the Nymph from pressing forward. Her nude form, healing with each step she took, launching a barrage of blows, both from her arms and legs, whipping, swiping and thrusting them out with every bit of force she could muster, seemingly forcing Zeus to back up as he blocked and deflected each of her attacks.

"I-I won't lose here!" Kalypso squawked determinedly and aggressively. "I-I don't care if you've increased your power! My father's strength and training will carry me past whatever you've gained from your damned allies, your bastard brother Beerus, or even your stupid, traitorous mother!" Her voice rose higher, as she reached those last two, having both seen and heard many a thing from the former, and overheard more than a few disparaging things said about the Olympians mother, primarily from Lord Kronos.

As it turned out, hurling insults like that at an irate Zeus' family was a bad idea, evidenced by the way his face scrunched up, the previous sparks that flew from his eyes becoming like much bigger trails of crackling electricity, whilst his lips peeled back. His teeth bared in a fiendish snarl, as he batted away her latest punch and struck with one of his own, his appendage flying into the side of her face with such swiftness that Kalypso couldn't hope to react to it.

"Puuh!" Head snapped to the side, teeth and blood flew from Kalypso's mouth, as her body lurched in the direction she'd been struck to, before Zeus' other fist flashed up too quick for her to catch more than a glimpse and struck her in the countenance again. The Nymph feeling her body lurch the other way as her head whipped with it, her jaw now hanging loose and crunched up from a brutal breaking, spewing yet more ichor across herself and the courtyard as more shattered teeth flew from her oral cavity. Before her body could tip over, she then felt a hard knee slam into her sternum, raising her off the ground while shifting and smashing multiple ribs at once, bending her over the offending appendage before she was roughly grabbed by the hair.

Pulling her up to meet his eyes, he left her toes to graze just above the ruined soil, Zeus' thunderous glare held the hurt goddess petrified, as he rebuked her. "You would do well to keep any foul mention of my brother and mother out of your mouth, daughter of Atlas, for they are both far and away your betters in every way!"

With that declaration, Zeus hurled her up high in the air, tearing some of her locks out of her head in the process, before his body became a pure, heavenly form of lightning once again, as he shot off after her. His form of pure, electrical energy reaching her faster than he'd sent her up, before it raced around her, a clenched fist of the god conjuring itself from the bolt of blue and showing no mercy, as it administered punishing blow after punishing blow. Her body being forcefully flung in every direction, contorting in all manner of egregious angles as she spun about, bone after bone being busted apart.

Kalypso made feeble attempts initially to strike back or grab on to Zeus' briefly appearing limb, but it was all for naught, as she pummelled in the air without reprieve. Her skull soon shattered and brain matter sent splattering and slashing both in and out of her head, as her cranium was smashed open. Her face turned into a grisly mask of agony, with ripped and munched flesh, as one eye was burst and the other knocked out of its misshapen socket, dangling and flinging about her face before being crushed against her crunched-in cheek in a splash of viscous flesh by another battering blow.

By the time Zeus was done and let her body drop from the air in a mangled heap, only her legs had seemingly been spared the torture, as her head and face were essentially mush. Her torso so badly twisted and distorted in various directions from all the strikes she'd taken, with countless bruises and indents turning her black and blue that, other than her hair, she looked unrecognisable to anyone who saw her, as she hit the ground with a wet THUD!

The youngest of the Olympians appeared back in full then, standing before her in her woebegone state, as she slowly – through his perception, anyway – began to regenerate. He awaited the moment where she'd back to form patiently, his hands stretching and clenching in preparation, as lines of electric energy zipped between his fingers. Holding back the increasingly rash urge to strike her reforming body with his lightning right away.

"Kuh!... Kahk!..." Her coughs and wheezes soon arrived, as her body returned to a much more presentable visage, the goddess on her hands and knees as her blood spat on the ground, her breaths heavy and erratic. To Zeus' ever so slight respect, she was able to force herself up again, quicker than he'd have thought and rise to shaky feet, raising her arms once more to battle-

"Guhkh!" Only for her lips yawn wide in a sharp gasp, letting spit and blood fly, as her abdomen caved inward under the force of a hard punch that broke through her shoddy guard with ease. A sudden zap of electricity following that shocked every nerve in her body, as she was sent careening back. The pure wind of aether pressing against her back, as her heels desperately dug into the ground this time to slow her momentum and keep her body upright, as she was able to keep her arms raised in defence, just as her father had taught her, watching as a living lightning-bolt flashed before her eyes. The sound of thunder booming with it, as the fearsome figure of Zeus appeared right in front of her.

"You're out of your depth, Kalypso." Zeus remarked, easily dodging her hastily thrown punch, before ducking low, and burying his lightning-infused fist into her side. The Nymph letting out a wheezing wail as her body bent awkwardly once again from such a blow, as she felt some of her newly reformed ribs break, a trail of electricity following her, as she was blasted off in another direction, her body undergoing electrocution as she tried to keep herself from tumbling. Something absurdly difficult for her, given the immense pain she was in from Zeus' attacks and the paralysis induced by the lightning that struck her from them.

"I… I'm… n-n-not…!" The Nymph stuttered in defiance, feeling shocks racing up her throat even as she spoke, managing to just barely find her feet and bring her momentum to a halt, almost losing all sense of balance in the process. Her fists raised all the same in challenge. "M-My father's strength courses through me!... I-I can still-"

"Defeat me?" Zeus partially snarled, as he appeared in a flash of blue discharge behind her, his breath tickling her ear with his lips but centimetres away, causing goosebumps to arise all over her nude form, at how easily he could take her back now, without her able to do a thing about it. "I'm afraid the moment I took this intermediate state, your odds of beating just me on my lonesome plummeted to insignificance."

Said intermediate state being something he was rather thankful he'd been curious enough to discover. Following one of his many spars with his consort just a few days ago, he'd gotten to thinking about what Gaea had told him and his brothers about what Beerus had done with his weapon, in order to bypass the training required to achieve a True Divine Form. He remembered thinking about him replicating what his elder brother had done, just to get a feel for it, as he'd secretly so often did. Except that time, he'd elected to tell Metis of his thoughts, rather than keep them to himself.

She'd heard him out, as she always did, and given his words serious thought. She'd then thanked him for bringing it up, as there was something she'd been curious about regarding his thunderbolt for some time, even before Beerus had done what he had with his blade. She told him about how she remembered that, after he'd first acquired the thunderbolt, he'd told her it felt like an extension of himself, of his will, before asking, just for clarity's sake, if he still felt the same about it now.

Naturally, he'd replied that he did, of course. Telling her that even now, his very soul itself felt harmonized with it, and that some days, even outside of combat, he felt more comfortable with it in hand, then he did without. Metis had simply hummed at his words, in that attractive way she always did when she was in deep thought, and he always had to resist the urge to interrupt her with his passionate affections for just how beautiful she appeared when pondering something.

Her domains of good counsel and wisdom had shone through yet again, as she asked him about something he'd not even considered. That if his thunderbolt truly felt like that much of an extension to his being, would it be possible to simply subsume it outright into himself? To instead of creating a feedback loop of sorts like Beerus had with his blade whilst it was still a separate entity, fuse with his thunderbolt and become one with it completely.

Zeus' eyes had widened after she'd said that, having not even considered such a possibility. Out of sheer excitement at the prospect, he'd then immediately gotten to trying it out, and after a couple failed attempts that'd seen him getting zapped for a change, under his consort's watchful eye, he'd managed to do it. He'd managed to subsume his weapon within himself, and at first, nothing had happened. All it'd taken though, was some encouraging words from Metis about focusing, telling him once again, what she did in order to attain her True Divine Form and see if that would work.

He had done as she asked, focusing both inward and on his domain, where he'd almost immediately felt a response throbbing within his spiritual essence, and admittedly in haste, he'd reached out and latched onto it, caring not for pacing himself or concentrating anymore. A rather rash decision, but one that'd resolved in this pseudo-Divine Form he was now in, its discovery being noticed by near everyone on Olympus when he'd done it, including his siblings.

Even though it wasn't what he'd initially been going for, and he felt as though he could definitely push himself into a fully ascended state if he wished to, he'd felt more alive and filled with exhilaration than any time in his life before, despite the immediate strain that filled him. Something he'd shown after he was somewhat complimented by Beerus for attaining it, as well as a few others, by scooping Metis up without any thought and flashing towards their room for some spur of the moment lovemaking that, while surprised by, she wasn't opposed to.

He could comfortably say it was the best sex he'd had yet… and also the shortest, as the strain of the form became too much for him after some moments of intense fornication, resulting in him falling unconscious on top of Metis after they both had an incredible orgasm. His thunderbolt separating from him in the process and leaving him with a somewhat embarrassing, but insightful experience, when he'd woke up some hours later – rather than days, as opposed to his brother – to the concerned, but teasing smile of his gorgeous consort.

"Y-You lie!" The lithely muscled goddess yelled in miserable denial, swinging her foot up to her shoulder as she leaned back, looking to slam it into his face, as she pumped as much of her boon-granted strength as she could into it, with her aura blazing high.

Zeus simply caught the foot with a hand before it reached his features. A thoroughly unimpressed look upon his countenance, as he glowered down at her. "You fool." He sniped, as an extremely high surge of electricity pulsed throughout his semi-ascended form, yet again lighting Kalypso up with countless volts that shocked her to her core, producing a shrill, agonized screech, as every nerve in her body fried in an instant, her leg burned a crispy black, and her organs burst into flames inside her.

When he stopped zapping her, Zeus held on to her ankle, as he yanked her off the ground with ease, swinging her over his head, before slamming her down by her back on Olympus' wrecked courtyard, cratering it in the process. Sparkling ichor launching from her maw in the process, as her tits leapt from the impact. The latter a sight that he normally would be delighted to see, but in his current rage, any thoughts of perversion were as far from his mind as could be. The only thing on his mind now, was making her suffer for her transgressions against them, especially his dearest sister Hestia.

"Uhg!... Gyaaaah!..." Kalypso made a pained noise, before letting out a squeaky war-cry, as she tried to counter with a kick, using the leg that hadn't burned from all the electricity pumped through it. Much to her chagrin, the appendage only spasmed, much like the rest of her body. Every muscle in protest, as she barely managed to raise it in what was meant to be a threatening gesture toward the younger god towering over her.

To Zeus, however, even in his angered state, it looked more like she was presenting herself to him, with how both her legs were spread out, giving him a clear path to her twitching lower-lips, which sparked with small licks of lightning over her labia. Even if such were the case, however, the younger deity ignored it, as he wrenched her off the ground by her heavily burnt leg, leaving her swaying upside down as he stared into her eyes with electrically-charged pools of righteous fury. "You should've stayed out of this war, Kalypso. You only have yourself to blame for your current predicament, for your witless decision to oppose us, as you have!"

Before Zeus could do anything else, however, he was forced to brace himself yet again, as an incredibly mighty shockwave tore through Olympus' peak, the very mountain itself, along with everything else around him shaking. In his intermediate form, he was able to brave it better, simply by digging his heels in, but was forced to let Kalypso go, lest her own weight, helped by the pushing force of the blast-wave, bring him off balance.

Zapped of most her strength, and with muscles that were scarcely willing to obey her at all, the blonde goddess was pulled away helpless, unable to muster up the power needed in that moment to try and dig her hand into the mountain in order to stop herself from tumbling forward. Her spasming frame smacking back first off something hard, stopping her from being sent off Olympus altogether, as the shockwave ceased.

"Uhhg…" Flopping to the ground without such force applied to her anymore, Kalypso's breasts squished against the ground beneath her, as she took a breath and forced her muscles to work for her. Her own body, tired and feeling the effects of paralysis lingering, whined and was slow to respond to her will, as she steadily and shakily rose to her hands and knees. Her pale breasts puffing back out and jiggling as much as her heart thumped erratically, as her frazzled and static-filled mind didn't even register what'd stopped her from being sent flying off the majestically massive mountain.

When a foot impacted into her stomach, drawing a heaving gasp along with droplets of ichor out of her, as her weakened form was raised from the ground, Kalypso barely had time to turn in the direction she'd been struck to see the enraged form of Poseidon, before Hera came forward. Her fist burying into her face fast as the wind, cracking her brittle-feeling jaw, before her head and floating body were snapped forward as she was propelled in the direction the goddess' fist had been aimed.

Her body rolled and tumbled out of control, until it came to a stop around the centre of Olympus' courtyard. Kalypso couldn't help but massage her steadily mending jaw and stomach in shock at such damage being done to her by Zeus' siblings, despite the fact that none of them should've been physically strong enough to do this kind of damage, given the lack of Hestia's presence to weaken her durability.

"Hope you didn't forget about us, you bitch!" Demeter roared from above her, earning a flinch and giving the Nymph precious little time to glance up with a raised head before she saw her fellow blonde swing up with her own leg, CLAPPING her face and breaking several bones as the front of her foot collided clean. The goddess' leg completing its arc upward, as the blow nearly decapitated Kalypso, whipping her head and body back so violently from the ground, that she ended up doing several backflips in the air, spritzing ichor from a fractured nose.

Despite her serious disorientation and lacking response from her body, which saw plentiful flashes of electricity over it, the daughter of Atlas righted herself enough to land on stumbling feet this time, with great exertion. Her breaths feeling more laboured and stressed by the second, as she pulled the best guard she could, recognizing that Zeus' siblings had decided to stop being spectators and were now back on the offensive as well.

Her confidence from before was greatly wavered, as Demeter drew in with Hera coming up on her rear. What the Nymph wanted to do, was use her boon-granted power to push forward, blitzing past their senses whilst taking Demeter out first, then Hera second, though with what, she couldn't think of. It didn't matter either way, however, as to her dismay, her body's reaction was much more delayed and sluggish then it should've been and as such, the best she could do, was ground herself as she took a step forward and kept her arms raised defensively.

The first punch that came from Demeter, she was able to block with her palm, though with far more effort than she should've had to. Hera then darted in, with Kalypso managing to block her punch as well, with her other palm. The Nymph, seeing her opportunity, enforced her will over her body and let out her best battle-cry, as she tried to push in for a counter on both. Her mind was in too much of a bad state to think of what, but anything would've done at that point.

The sudden surge of electricity that shocked her from inside-out, however, which turned her battle-cry into a scream of pain, threw any notion of pressing a perceived advantage off a cliff, as every muscle in her body spasmed worse than ever and failed her in that instant. Her legs completely giving out on her, as she began to fall forwards, and this time, she couldn't even call upon her arms to save her from face-planting into soil.

"And just where do you think you're going!?" Hera shouted disdainfully, neither her nor her sister Demeter allowing her to pass betwixt them, as both seemingly torqued their bodies at the same time, spreading their legs and bending at the knees, before pumping up at the same time with an uppercut. Both their fists blasting into the Nymphs' falling face without remorse, landing with such power, that Kalypso felt every bone in her head shake and crack, brain bouncing barbarously inside her near-shattered cranium, as she was sent sprawling back high in the air. Her face cruelly crunched inward, with broken teeth and blood oozing past her lips.

She didn't recognize Poseidon's form looming above her until it was much too later, his own war-cry let loose, as he plummeted down on her with his trident thrusting toward her exposed front, stabbing through her gut and sternum with its three sharp tips. Her back smashing terribly against the ground under a pico-second later, the rest of her body flopping once before she was laid out, arms and legs spread wide, choking and gurgling on her own blood, as the trident pierced through bone and organ. More blood spilling from her front and back, as the trident ran through completely, severing her spine in the process.

"This battle of ours is over." Poseidon growled, holding his weapon steady and keeping her pinned.

"Guhkh!... Kuhkh!..." Puking up more of her ichor over herself, wetting her chin and splashing her trembling tits, Kalypso's body writhed beneath the penetrating weight of the younger deity's trident. Her eyes wide with horror, but a sliver of hopeful defiance remaining, even as her body refused to obey her, even so far as balling a fist at this point, as she laid on her back, impaled to Olympus. "N-N-No!... It's not over!... I… I-Hnngh!..."

"That's enough out of you, you detestable wench!" Hera howled, pressing her foot down against the Nymph's neck, cutting off her ability to take breath and speak, as she began to choke even worse now. Her throat slowly and ruthlessly being crushed under heel, as the beautiful goddess gave her one of the angriest, nastiest looks she'd ever seen. "I've heard enough of you to last until the end of time! You're beaten and at our mercy now, whether you like it or not!"

"And after what you did to our sister Hestia, do not doubt that your punishment will not be kind." Demeter added in, somehow looking angrier and readier to rip her apart than Hera did, as she stomped on her collarbone just above her breasts, breaking it almost instantly from the force, and putting Kalypso in an even more pathetic-looking state, as she let out a harsh, gurgling wheeze.

"Yuh-You…!" The slow cracking of her neck reached her ears, but Kalypso didn't care, as she tried and failed to force herself up, despite how hopeless her situation had become. The Nymph pulling the fiercest glare she could up at the two sisters and brother pinning her down.

"You've lost. No amount of whining and putting on a defiant face will change that." Zeus cut in coldly, his voice full of wrath he barely kept in check, as he came to stand by over her head, forcing the Nymph to tilt her head – about the only movement she could manage – to look up at him, as he glared down at her quivering form, looking deep into her eyes and scoffing at what he saw. "No amount of foolish hope on your part will either. Though far be it from me to tell you to rid yourself of it, given such an emotion will only make you feel all the more miserable, after this war ends in our victory."

"Y-Y-Yuh-Your victory…?" Somehow, Kalypso managed a scoff of her own. "G-Geh-Getting a bit… akhk!... ahead of yourself, don't… yhkh!... you think…?" She asked, while coughing up more blood and choking on it at the same time, from the pressure of Hera's and Demeter's feet. That hopeful look in her now scared eyes not wavering in the least. "S-Suh-So what if… krkh!... take me down…? Muh-My father's side will… nngh!... will…"

"Will lose as well." Poseidon piped in, his voice a barely restrained snarl, as he cut her off and held back the violent urge to just immediately tear her into chunks with his trident, as her eyes turned to him. "And this time, it'll be for good. Our bastard father and his remaining forces shall be decimated, today."

"B-Based on wha-" The Nymph paused in her response, as she took note of the pure, white glow beginning to emanate from the chest of Poseidon, and as she glanced around, she noticed it was the same for Hera, Demeter and Zeus as well. The expressions of each having shifted in that moment, losing much of the anger that'd just been present and almost having what looked like a euphoric bliss in their eyes, as they stood over her momentarily. Both goddesses' pressure over her with their feet relenting, as the glow expanded around all of them, soon becoming an underlayer for their auras, which flared up around them.

W-What's going on…? The Nymph thought to herself, totally at a loss for what was happening before her, as something within them seemed to change. Something that left a foreboding feeling clawing through her heart, as their auras suddenly started to merge with white glow.

"Th-This feeling…" Demeter all but moaned, as her bright-orange aura expanded. "Is it…?"

"It is…" Hera trilled beside her, her fiery-red aura doing the same. "There's nothing else it could be."

"Hah… About time that brother of ours came through for us…" Poseidon groaned, as he suddenly yanked the trident out of Kalypso's body, nearly pulling her apart as he did, with her blood and bits of flesh clinging and dripping from it, as his sea-green aura ballooned.

"Indeed. There's no doubting this sensation welling up within as anything other than Hades having completed his task." Zeus breathed, his form shaking as it reverted back to its usual state, with thunderbolt in-hand without him even realizing it, as his sky-blue aura blazed larger. "The Ophiotaurus' boon has been granted."

"Th-The what!?" Kalypso's eyes widened like dinner plates, as she heard that last bit. Her expression morphing into one of potent perturbation, as her body healed, but still refused to budge a muscle for her, as lightning danced and traced off her. Her senses, while shot to shit via Zeus' lightning, were still able to pick up on their rising power-levels, as more and more pressure began to exude off their bodies, in a way that Kalypso, despite never having done so herself, knew all too well. The feeling was as unmistakeable as the realization of what they were now doing was genuinely terrifying.

"We'll get to your full punishment for what you've done later, Kalypso." "Zeus addressed her again, earning her full, wide-eyed stare, as his siblings seemed to agree with him, as unbeknownst to the Nymph, each of the Olympians senses were also expanding outward rapidly. All to the point where they could feel those that'd been defeated from their side and gained a much firmer grasp on what the current proceedings were around them. And with such understanding in mind, each instinctually eased off and away from her, seeing any further interaction with the beaten Nymph as a waste of time, at the moment.

"For now, you can just lay there and watch, daughter of Atlas." The silver-haired god told her, as he and his three siblings turned away from her paralyzed form. Their gaits confident, as they all moved away, their auras growing bigger and brighter by the second, as Zeus imparted his final words, which shook the blonde beauty to her very core. "Watch and bare witness, as the Titan rule comes to an end!"

Meanwhile…

So, that's what happened… Beerus mused, as he easily dodged a telegraphed punch from Menoitios' far larger frame. Themis' sword glimmering while it was in his hand, projecting the Titaness' final thoughts and emotions into his head, as she forced her domain to do for her. You gave up whatever chance you might've had to escape defeat at Atlas' hands, just so you could aid me, both by guaranteeing my ascension, as well as handing off the information you were given…

Beerus didn't really require the info given on Menoitios, given he already knew that he'd caused the children of Styx to become consumed by rage and rashness, and had been able to guess on his own that it was likely affecting all of his allies, so the bit where it didn't affect the Titan's came as no shock. An ability like his would be rather useless, after all, if it put both sides under the same shroud of wrath and reckless behaviour.

The god was appreciative of the effort to get him such detail regardless, however, and much more so for the assist with her flung blade, which had stopped the Titan in his tracks from his only shot at stopping Beerus achieving his True Divine Form. For such loyalty and willingness to aid him over herself, he owed her again now. He now owed her two debts that would need to be paid in the future by him. Not an enticing thought, he'd admit, given he'd never enjoy being indebted to anyone, but those could be handled after the war, for he was sure she wouldn't ask anything silly of him anyway.

For now, though, the destroyer kept his attention zoned in on the raging Titan that was his opponent, who's snarls and baleful cries would probably be irritating his ears to no end, were it not for the deadening of the wind's movement. Menoitios, ever the tenacious and stubborn one, refused to let Beerus out of his red-eyed sight, blitzing through the skies with one blow after another, throwing his hands, feet, arms and legs around like a madman to try and smack his smaller foe out of the air and pummel him.

None landed, of course, as Beerus bobbed and weaved his body around all of them, for as strong as Menoitios had become in his anger, physically-speaking stronger than even Beerus himself to a solid degree, his attacks left a lot to be desired. The god of destruction could barely call them one step above simply flailing his limbs about like a panicked animal doing what little it could to ward off a hungry predator.

"Graaaaah! Damnit, you tiny little shit! Stop avoiding me and fight!" Menoitios snarled, growing angrier with Beerus' dodging, increasing his power further as his barrage of strikes continued, frustrating him as still, none landed flush on his slippery foe. "You dared say I wouldn't last long, and then all you do is use your pint-sized stature to help do nothing but evade me!? Is that how you plan to deal with me, you impudent gnat!?"

"You think I require smaller size to deal with your pathetic attempts to strike me down?" Beerus scoffed, pushing back to avoid yet another graceless punch. "Allow me to show you just how outclassed you truly are…"

Menoitios' eyes, despite his boiling fury, widened in surprise somewhat, as purple particles scattered around Beerus' anthropomorphic cat form, which signalled the active destruction of something around him, before he suddenly grew in size! Not just him though, for his blade enlarged as well, soon matching Themis' blade in size, as his body stretched out to the same height as Menoitios'. The only difference being their size, with Menoitios being wider and bulkier than the sleeker, yet very well-muscled Olympian.

"Surprised?" Beerus almost drawled at his opponent's look, though his features looked somewhat strained. "Its only size alteration, you dumb brute. A simple ability which you should be well aware can also be done through a liberal use of shapeshifting. If buffoons like you can decrease your size to my more natural height with magic, then it shouldn't a leap to assume that I could shift my shape to reach yours and beyond, if I really wanted to."

Of course, Beerus was well aware that that wasn't how the Titans themselves downsized, for that involved a different spell that Themis had acquainted him with months ago during training, and one which he could also just as easily reverse-engineer and use to increase his size if he wished. Only reason he'd chosen this path toward it, was to give his first demonstration to the buffoon who'd challenged him of the kind of opponent he'd chosen to face.

He could outright destroy the barrier trying to hamper him here and now, but that would most likely take out theirs as well, which would only complicate the already ongoing battles, including his own unnecessarily. Not to mention the fact that doing so would also give his bastard father an easier time at fleeing, once he realised things were going south for his plans. And Beerus wasn't about to make it easier for him to try and hide away from his fate, nor the Titan's allies, given they'd so conveniently allowed themselves to be trapped with them. Especially once Kronos' plan was revealed to have done nothing other than help them.

"Shapeshifting…?" Menoitios stared, his face a mix of his own fiery anger and currently, bafflement at how his foe had done such a thing, despite their barrier blocking the use of such an ability.

"Try not to get too distracted by the fact I just did something you thought you stopped me from doing." Beerus remarked callously, as he flashed within Menoitios guard, slicing both blades in diagonal arcs opposite the other, drawing a spray of ichor from one sizeable cut on his torso, and a line of fading purple particles from the other, equally-sized cut. Both creating an 'X' from his hips to his pecs as they shredded through flesh, earning a pained howl from the Titan.

"Such feeble magic holds no sway over me in this state, for I am beyond such pitiful constraints that your side created to bind my abilities." The destroyer continued, even as he felt said magic trying to reassert itself over him constantly and force his size back down to what it was. Something it probably would succeed with if he let his attention slip on the intrusive force attempting to press down on him for even a second, as he glared right into Menoitios' eyes. "A reality you and every one of your allies will discover soon, is that I am your better."

"You… what!?" The Titan seethed, hearing such a statement. His power rising further the inferno of rage cooking up inside him, as he thrusted out an arm packed with every bit of divine power he could muster, with the hand that could still be clenched into a full fist, striking faster than he'd possibly ever done before.

CLANG!

"You're not… my better!..." Menoitios grunted in exertion, pushing against the flat of his blade, which Beerus had brought up to block the punch, pouring his destructive power into it to annihilate all the force behind it shortly after contact, making the strike rather harmless. Even his attempts to push it back were having their force actively erased and made useless, but this did not stop the Titan of violent rage and rash action from trying anyway, as he leaned in and snarled at Beerus' face. "I'll… crush you for such an insult!... Haaaagh!"

Beerus was forced to bring up a knee to block the kick that the Titan lashed out with. His power, not as amplified in a place where his sword was not, only erasing enough force to leave his knee stinging briefly from the contact, as his body was pushed back several dozen metres with a billowing shockwave.

"So, what if you can shapeshift now!? Go ahead and use it as much as you like! It'll make no difference, for I'll tear you apart, regardless!" The Titan roared, anger making him dismissive of what the reality of Beerus' words being true meant, as he recklessly rushed toward him. His full fist and half-destroyed hand coming up as he closed the distance between them in an instant, before slinging a volley of high-powered punches at him. A series of CLANGS and WHOOSHESfollowed, as his knuckles and hand-stump either struck Beerus's personal blade or empty space, whom dodged, blocked and parried with a level of precision and skill that even were he not consumed by rage, Menoitios would've had no hope of matching up to.

"You'll tear me apart? Don't make me laugh!" Beerus shouted, taking advantage of the brief window afforded between Menoitios' rapid-fire blows to snap his leg up and smash the front of his foot beneath the Titan's chin. His and the Titan's wills clashing in that same instant, as his power, without the sword's enhancement, somewhat bypassed the, by now, much higher durability of his foe. A loud, but now localised CRACK resonating out, as the Titan's jaw somewhat caved inward, multiple teeth being shattered as both rows were forced to smash together from the impact of the kick, damaging and making ichor ooze and spritz from his gumlines.

Were it full on, rather than his head snapping back as his body reeled from the counterblow, Menoitios' head would've already been detached from his shoulders by now, ending the fight there and then. A fact that Beerus was slightly disappointed by, but shrugged off quickly, as he went on the offensive.

Ducking beneath another punch from Menoitios, who tried to keep him away while hurting him, Beerus slammed his elbow into his gut, briefly stunning him while driving the wind out of his lungs and bruising a rib. He then followed that up by torquing his body and spinning the arm holding Themis' sword upward, crashing the flat of the blade right into Menoitios' face, as he pumped his destructive power into it. The impact disorienting and snapping the Titan's head back with a broken nose, as Beerus spun his body in the air again, swinging his leg in an arc that smashed his knee directly into the side of the Titan's skull, disorienting him further and knocking him sideways while leaving a dent where he'd struck.

"You don't have what it takes to defeat me. If you had any sense, you'd give up now before you embarrass yourself any further." The god of destruction spoke both matter-of-factly and disparagingly. "No matter which option you choose, this will only end in your defeat, and if you continue to get on my nerves, your destruction."

"De-Destruction…!?" Flames burst even greater from the Titan's sclera, as his rage shot higher, making his aura denser, and his power greater yet again. "Y-You think you can destroy me!?" He screamed in outrage, feeling affronted by such a claim, as though he were but a nuisance, rather than the mighty Titan that he was!

"Not think. I know." Beerus replied coldly, just as Menoitios threw out another baleful scream, and swung his leg out for the destroyer's hip. Instead of dodging or blocking it though, he allowed it to slice forth through the deadened air, and grunted as it smashed into it. Most of the damage it would've inflicted, which at this point, without his destructive aura would've torn him in half, being mitigated down to but a bruise, as the arm wielding Themis' blade fell down and wrapped around it, trapping the offending limb by his side.

If Menoitios were thinking clearly, he would've immediately thought to use his superior strength to pull his leg away from Beerus' grip, knowing that being caught like that was a terrible position to be in. Instead, true to his violent and rash nature in its purest form, he chose to rear back with his head, and then swing it forth, bashing his forehead with a brutal CLAP against Beerus' own, producing a hefty shockwave that was felt throughout all the heavens.

Beerus' head barely budged from the blow, as purple flecks from the destroyed force of the attack flew out from between their pressed temples. The god feeling an aching pain in his skull, but little more, as he watched the rage-consumed Titan rear his head back for a second hellacious headbutt.

The destroyer responded, by slicing his own blade upwards, the sound of the destructive metal carving through Menoitios' trapped leg like a hot knife through butter. The sharp metal letting out a SCHICK sound as it tore through skin, tendon, flesh and bone all at once as it arced up. By the time it'd sliced through its target completely and was raised high above Beerus' head, the Titan was yet again sent stumbling back in shock, with not a single drop of blood spilling from either stump, as his limb from the lower thigh down was severed from the rest. The sliced section, which was roughly two-thirds of his leg, floppinglimply by the slimmer god's side, held in his arm's grip.

"Oh look, there goes one of your legs." Beerus drawled without care, opening his sword-wielding arm and letting the worthless limb plummet behind him. "I would ask if you've had enough yet, but let's be honest, it's obvious that you're far too stupid to recognise when you're beat."

It was at that moment, both he and the recovering Menoitios felt an intense, world-shaking shockwave crash into them, forcing the growling Titan back a little, whilst the destroyer remained rooted. His aura obliterating much of the excess force being pushed forth unto his back, throwing up countless flecks of purple that rose past his body and dissipated into the air, as he tilted his head, looking back behind him at Crete, where the blast had originated. His eyes narrowing at Kronos' presence, as he felt the Titan still engaged in combat with the Hekatonkheires.

He also felt the exceedingly weak power of his mother of this world, laid out somewhere on the shaken Isle, which signified that she'd attempted to do battle with him herself, and had been soundly defeated, from what he could sense. He would've been confused as to why she'd bothered to join the fighting at all, allowing herself to be taken out in the first place, had he not already known of a certain Titan he was about to fell, who'd most certainly manipulated her into making such a silly error without her ever realising.

There was something about how weak she felt though, that reminded him of what he'd done to Hyperion after dealing the final blow on him. It wasn't as bad, but there was certainly that feeling of her being there, but also not, at the same time. He scowled heavily at what that may imply, whilst a very small part of him wondered where Amaltheia had gone off to, seeing as he couldn't sense her presence upon Crete at all.

"Recognise… when I'm beat…?" Menoitios growled lowly, killing intent waving off of him in droves, as his anger ascended further, and the veins present on his face pulsated harder and harder with each breath he took. "I… am… far from beaten!" He snarled vehemently and bestially, convincing Beerus, as he turned his attentions fully back to him, that he was indeed stupid, as well as delusional, for one look alone told him he still believed he could win. That he could beat him, despite already lacking a limb and half a hand, neither of which had reformed even a little since losing those parts of himself.

The disfigured Titan then, with reckless abandon, launched himself toward Beerus, eyes wide and seeking to pummel him into bits, as he raised and swung his fully whole fist at him, aura surging around it like a mighty inferno. "I am strong! Stronger than your worthless lot will ever be!"

Right as his knuckles were but an inch away from planting into Beerus' face, however, the 'younger' deity's body blurred, leaving behind an afterimage that his fist ploughed through and dissipated, while the real Beerus floated off to his side, unharmed, and with his Cyclopes-crafted blade raised above his head.

"I don't think I can put this any clearer for you." The destroyer said maliciously, as his blade swung down, earning an agonised screech from his Titan foe, as it effortlessly sliced through his aura and arm, cutting through the latter just above the elbow. The blow leaving a blood-less stump behind with floating particles, while sending the separated part of the dismembered limb tumbling out of the heavens and to part of Gaea's plane below, joining the Titan's lost leg as Menoitios staggered in tormented shock. "You, specifically, may have more raw power than me right now, but you are inferior to me in every other aspect. Strength means little, if you can't even land an attack on your opponent to begin with. Meanwhile, I am capable of bypassing the one advantage you hold, and making even it meaningless."

"Grrrrr! Graaagh!" The Titan howled out his fury, surprising Beerus a little, as he pushed through the pain of losing another limb to swing and smash his half-destroyed hand into Beerus' jaw, most of its force robbed by Beerus' aura, but the rest managing to peel through seemingly, as it whipped his head to the side, sending some spittle flying out. His wild eyes falling to the land below, much of which had been soiled by water, before he snarled again and swung at Beerus with his remaining leg, the god blocking it with the flat of Themis' sword, but Menoitios didn't care. The Titan using his still superior, raw strength to out-muscle Beerus, and send him flying back, hurtling toward a mountain range!

Beerus stopped himself just before he hit one of them, eyes narrowed as his senses picked up his enemy near him, having flown down right behind the mountain in front of him. The Titan's aura flaming so damn high at this point, that it crested over the towering, earthy structure, giving it a deep, red glow much like Menoitios as-

"Haaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa!" Beerus' eyes widened slightly, as the ground shook, and the floor around the glowing mountain crumbled apart, as the tall, rocky structure was pulled right out from its foundations! And beneath its heavy mass, as it rose in the air, was one-legged Menoitios, pumping his own aura into it, and making it burn with a crimson-orange hue, as he somehow steadied it on his shoulders, while using his stump of an arm and half-destroyed hand to keep its massive girth in his grip.

"I'm!... Not!... Done!" He war-cried, his muscles bulging as he torqued his body and with furious zeal, hurled the entire mountain, packed full of his own power, directly at Beerus! "Be crushed like the vermin you are!"

"Ridiculous." The god of destruction didn't look worried, but instead, rather annoyed as the slight surprise wore off and he stared down the fast-approaching, jagged earth crust. "I'm actually insulted you think you can turn the tides in your favour simply by chucking a mountain at me!"

Beerus didn't even bother swinging either sword this time. Instead, while Themis' was gripped in hand, his destructive purple aura burst wide around him, as he let out a battle-cry of his own, and punched the mountain as soon as it was in range! A massive wave of both force and Beerus own energy CLAPPING out from the impact in a purple blast that resonated all around the earthen construct.

Menoitios' aura attempted to fend off the intrusive, destructive power that pulsed out from the cat-like deity's fist, but it was no use. The orange-red glimmer was, within a moment, washed away in a sea of obliterated particles as it failed to hold against the destroyer's power. The only sign of exertion from Beerus throughout this task being the grunt he gave, as his arm bent back somewhat, and he was pushed back within inches of the other mountain behind him. His fist buried into the hurled mountain, cracks forming around where it'd penetrated, as the massive, multi-kilometre large structure came to a very brief stop, pressed against most of his torso and face.

The god of destruction contemplated simply breaking it to pieces or erasing it into nothing in that very short instant, but with his senses on high, he was able to feel the life-force emanating from it. A soul that was bonded to it, in the form of another god, which reminded the deity of what Gaea had told him however long ago, about all the mountains themselves being her children as well.

With that in mind, and given his opponent's brazenness in throwing it at him in the first place, Beerus came up with a better idea than simply destroying the poor sod that'd been thrust upon him, which he immediately put into action. The mountain gaining a dark-purple, menacing glow around its outline to match Beerus' aura, as he felt the disfigured Titan shunt himself toward him, with the fullest of intent to end him, no doubt in the laughable belief that he had him fully preoccupied.

"I see you're still capable of using your head!" Beerus boomed out, his voice holding such power that it carried over even the deadened air between them, reaching said Titan's ears, as the feline god's eyes blazed with pure destruction and his own muscles bulged. The mountain being lifted above his head, pretty much one-armed, as he glared down the fast-approaching Titan, who had his half-obliterated hand reared back and primed for a stab at him. "Too bad you use it poorly! Haaaaaaagh!"

In an instant, the mountain was flung once again, full force, from Beerus' hand, sent hurtling at high velocity toward the charging Menoitios, whom ever arrogant and with clouded judgment by his own violent rage, paid little mind to the outline and hue of the structure as it came upon him. Rather than flee or evade, his own rashness had him smashing his half-destroyed hand into its hide, seeking to either break it to pieces or send it back at his foe.

Flecks of purple scattered from the collision, as wrathful Menoitios found himself being pushed back with a snarl, his face and shoulder forced to bash into the mountain's body before long, as rather than be smacked away or broken by his strength, the structure resisted his efforts. Beerus' aura helping greatly in that, by eradicating much of the force and strength he exerted on it to stop it, making it far more difficult for him to handle the force exerted upon it by the destroyer god against him.

"Grrraaah! Damn iiiiiiiiiiit!" Violent and dismembered Menoitios screamed in fury, his power increasing more and more to combat the destructive aura as he was pushed back. His lone, remaining foot soon crashing against the land, digging a deep trench along it as his heel dug in, and his aura flamed brighter and denser around his shining body. Veins beginning to pop and pulsate all around his body in his desperation to not be crushed, and his efforts were rewarded, for soon, his momentum began to slow, before eventually coming to a halt with him ironically being within inches of falling into the very space he'd ripped the mountain from.

Letting out harsh, guttural breaths from the amount of effort exerted, as he steadily raised the purple-hued and glowing mountain above his head with great difficulty, given his spasming muscles and lack of ability to grip into its surface properly, aura or not.

SQUELCH!

"Nnngluk!?..." Menoitios' eyes widened again, a pained gargle erupting from his open maw, as a blade glowing dark-purple ran him through the chest and burst right out from the back in a shower of purple particles by several feet. A hilt quickly coming to rest against pectoral, as he felt his heart be shredded through and reduced to nothingness all in the same instant, before he could truly even process what was going on.

"Looks like you actually managed to catch it, even in your abysmal state. Not bad, I guess…" Beerus' voice taunted him, as said god stood before him, clutching the destruction-imbued blade of Themis that he'd penetrated him with, not a wound to be spoken of on his body, as opposed to Menoitios, who barely stood upon one leg now, as his strength hit a plateau and then began to decline for once. His soul feeling like it was melting as agony unlike anything imaginable flooded through him, cutting away at his rage and leaving nothing but a sudden, plunging sense of fear behind, as his domains began to feel less and less responsive to his calls.

"Has it finally sunk in now, Menoitios?" Beerus asked, not that he truly cared to hear the answer, as he glared deep into Menoitios' eyes, which like his now fizzling aura and dimming body, were fast-losing their glow and intensity. "In your final moments, are you beginning to realize the mistake you made in challenging me? Or, even in a hopeless situation like this, are you still dumb enough to believe you can beat me?"

"Kukhl!... Yuh-You…!" The Titan spluttered pitifully, trying to find the words, as agonising and tiresome as it felt currently to speak, let alone what it took to keep himself from tipping over. "Yuh-You're not normal…" Menoitios shivered, his anger and power slipping further away from him, causing his existential dread to grow worse. "P-Perses… the Titan of destruction… S-Same domain as you… would never have been capable of this…!"

Ah, the destroyer that'd been around before him in this world. One that he'd only heard passing reference to occasionally from those that'd defected from the Titan side, as well as Gaea beforehand, but still had yet to meet. The deity having clearly chosen to remain out of the conflict instead of getting involved. The brute clearly knew of him as well, and if his word was to be believed, then it seemed as though he could already accomplish feats with his domain, which his predecessor of this world could not.

"W-What… are you…?" His beaten foe borderline whispered, gazing upon him as though he were no longer looking at a god, but an eldritch being well beyond his comprehension. The thought alone was almost enough to make the destroyer chuckle, as he finally saw the recognition he'd been looking for in his arrogant foe, of the difference between them.

It was in that moment, where Beerus paused, as he felt a change taking place within him. A soft, but bright, white glow emanating out from the depths of his soul and flooding out throughout his being, joining his purple-destructive aura almost like a second layer, bringing with it a sudden sensation of euphoria that felt almost as special as when he'd first claimed his domain.

The feline deity grinned savagely, knowing instantly what this was, as he felt any and all strain leave him right away. His True Divine Form, which had slowly been approaching the beginnings of its unravelling like the first time he'd used it, now feeling at ease and tightly bound to him. Genuinely feeling as natural to him, in that moment, as his regular form did, even when the white glow faded. And not only that, but even their barrier's prodding felt insignificant now, like it wasn't even there, anymore.

"What am I, you ask?" With a slight tilt of the head, Beerus gave the weakening Titan a dark, unforgiving smirk, as he let go of Themis' sword, leaving it lodged in the Titan until such a time as when the Titaness awoke and summoned it to her. "Your stupidity knows no bounds, does it?"

Striking so fast he could barely be perceived, Beerus struck out with his pointer finger, sharp nail jabbing Menoitios across the forehead, followed by a light pulse of dark-purple.

"I am the god of destruction, Lord Beerus. And I do not take kindly to those who disrespect me." Turning away, Beerus walked off without a hint of remorse, as Menoitios' divine form faded away, the waves his True Divine Form produced vanishing with his last whimper, as the disfigured Titan fell back, the mountain following suit.

THOOOOM! The ground beneath the destroyer's feet rung, as the defeated Titan was crushed beneath the weight of the mountain, imbued by Beerus' power, thus ensuring a vast unlikelihood that the rash and violent son of Iapetus and Klymene would ever emerge from beneath such a structure. And with how tiny his presence felt at that very moment, Beerus doubted anyone would ever be able to find him, if they sought him out, much less free the fool, outside himself, possibly the god of said mountain squashing him, and Gaea.

"Consider your being crushed indefinitely beneath a mountain as your punishment, for daring to take me on, as you did. And given what you have done to one of my more favoured ally's children, I'd say this fate is rather fitting for you." Beerus continued coldly, not once glancing back at the spot his defeated foe was now trapped beneath, just as said foe had trapped his own enemies beneath his own figurative mountain of climbing rage and rashness.

"And so, you have slain my brother. Impressive, even if his rage and rash disposition makes him rather predictable, most of the time."

Beerus turned his head up, as he heard and recognised that familiar deep, masculine voice, despite its distortion. His gaze coming to rest upon the floating form of Atlas above him, enormously muscled arms crossed over his wide, massive chestas he glared down at him. The Titan general looking remarkably serious and stone-faced, giving away little as to what was going on in his mind.

"You don't look all that put off at the fact that your own brother has been taken down and flattened beneath a mountain by me. Though, I suppose with a personality like his, not many would bat an eye at him taking a prolonged dirt nap." The feline deity remarked somewhat casually.

"He has lasted as long as he has because Lord Kronos required as many powerful allies as he could get, even if their attitude was less than desirable. My brother only gained real value for our cause when we discovered his domains, which were so often only a hindrance to himself, could be weaponised against you and yours, and in that vein, he has served his purpose well." Atlas replied calmly. "And though we may be kin, I will confess that I have never truly liked him. He tended to frustrate and anger me, more often than not."

Letting out a sigh, the mightiest of all Titans in terms of physicalityunfurled his huge arms and placed them ready by his sides with clenched fists, while puffing out his chest in challenge. "Nonetheless, I will endeavour to extricate him from where you have trapped him soon, and hand him to our mother, where he may heal from the damage you've inflicted on him, however long it may take to do so. In the meantime, I have a son of my king to take down."

"Hmph. So, you're going to try and get in my way, then?" Beerus' eyes narrowed, becoming almost like slits as he stared Kronos' right-hand deity down. "Well, you and your brother certainly have arrogance in common. I hope you don't think that just because you managed to defeat Themis without much hassle, that you have what it takes to defeat me?"

"I have made the mistake of underestimating you before. I shall not do so again. Especially seeing as you have managed to achieve a True Divine Form much earlier than any deity prior to you, and have just reduced my brother to a horrendous state of being, not too far removed from what your father has done to those that got on his bad side." Atlas' eyes then narrowed hard. "Not only that, but I can sense the use of shape-shifting magic from you, which our barrier should prohibit the use of, yet you've utilized it anyway to equal our natural height. You're far from normal, that much is clear and I shall treat you as such."

"What an honour." Beerus rolled his eyes in sarcasm. "Much as I'd love to put you in your place, I'm afraid I have waited long enough for the opportunity to put an end to Kronos and am far too impatient to waste time on you, so if you don't mind-"

"Don't you dare think you can dismiss me like that, Beerus! You're not going anywhere!" Atlas roared, his body hurtling forth as he began to charge straight for his quarry, who looked quite annoyed at the gesture.

Before he could reach him, though, Atlas' senses went into high alert as he felt something fast-approaching, and stopped himself just in time to avoid a sharp, tri-pronged instrument blur past his vision. The Titan feeling his chest being cut into, as it went, before halting as it smashed into the earth smashing, stabbing itself firmly inside, as it made the ground all around shake and convulse.

Atlas looked down at his chest, healed but still wet with his own blood in surprise, before turning his sights down to where the instrument had impaled itself. His eyes taking in the expert craftsmanship of a shining, aura-fuelled trident that he recognised all too well, and brought him a feeling as far from joy as one could imagine.

"Well, it looks like you'll have your hands full without me." Beerus snorted, sensing as much as seeing six bright pillars shoot up into the heavens, four from Olympus, one from near it and one from much further away. Each a different colour matching the aura of one of his siblings, as their combined pressure slammed down on his senses, just as they did with Atlas, who he saw snapping his head in their direction, as both felt two pairs of eyes in particular staring down at them from far up on Olympus' lofty peak. "I wonder how you'll be able to handle them, now that they as well have been given the very trump card that your side was so desperate to use."

"What!?" Atlas' head snapped back to Beerus in shock, just in time to see the god smirking devilishly at him, before he dematerialized in a mix of gold and purple particles right before his eyes, leaving him behind as he made way for Crete.

AND CUT!

Welp, that's the end of this monster of a chapter, which is about the size of three average chapters in one. Hopefully, this ends up being the longest in length, and no chapter goes past it. 25K-ish for the remaining chapters at a max seems reasonable to me, though with me, you never know, I guess.

So, to start, Kalypso and Menoitios have fallen, and now, all that remains mostly, is the biggest fights, as the Ophiotaurus' boon takes effect. The Olympians shall ascend! Ascend, I say!

Iapetus has pulled the surrender card, after having the truth bomb dropped on him. Wonder if that'll change anything?

The long-awaited bout between Beerus and Kronos will begin in the next chapter, whilst Atlas has Beerus' younger brothers to worry about.

Poor Koios is about to get the 2v1 treatment, between Metis and Hestia. Not an enviable situation, given the latter's ascension, but oh well.

Hera and Demeter are about to feed. You'll know what I mean by that soon enough.

For those wondering what the point of Zeus intermediary form was, if he's just going to ascend, don't worry. That has implications that'll be seen later. Also, as for his Aegis, I haven't forgotten about it, and you will see it again next chapter, if not the one after.

Also, a mention of Kheiron(AKA Khiron/Chiron) in this chapter. It won't be long after the Titanomachy that we see him and his brother, for those that are excited to see his Greek Myth version appear.

Hades got the shortest part of the chapter again, but he'll be playing a bigger role in the upcoming chapters. No doubt you already know what.

Regardless, I don't want to get into spoiler territory, so I'll just end this off here. Hope you all got some enjoyment out of this chapter, and I'll see you in the next one.