Artoria was injured.
In his time as a demigod, Heracles had been able to wound the King of the Gods with a single arrow.
Now, standing here as a full-fledged god, his power far surpassed what it once was.
And this particular arrow carried special effects: both [Anti-Dragon] and [Anti-Female] bonuses.
Under the weight of these twin enhancements, Artoria had emerged with merely an injured left arm—a feat so astounding that even Heracles was taken aback.
"My forearm bone is shattered… My ribs are fractured… But I can manage."
These injuries were nothing she couldn't recover from—if she were willing to absorb the life energy of the earth beneath her feet.
But to do so would be unfair to her opponent.
"You… actually blocked it?"
Heracles' golden eyes gleamed with a mixture of shock and admiration. Slowly, he drew another arrow.
But before he could nock it onto the bowstring, a black and red beam of light roared toward him. The searing heat radiating from it forced him to dodge.
The pillar of cursed energy grazed his shoulder and exploded past him with a deafening roar. In that fleeting moment of distraction, three streaks of black sword light surrounded him.
Heracles' face hardened. He swung his massive bow like a club, clashing with the deadly slashes of Artoria's blade. The collisions sent shockwaves rippling through the air, their battle a symphony of destruction.
Although Artoria's left arm was injured and her gauntlet had shattered, Heracles was not in peak form either. The scorched wound on his chest remained vivid and raw.
With each exchange of blows, the terrifying power of gods and legends came into focus.
Boom!
Black flames engulfed the sun, blotting out its light.
Crash!
A wild punch tore through the sea, splitting the waters.
Rumble!
A shadow fell from the heavens, obliterating an island as it struck.
High above, Heracles gazed at the spot where Artoria had fallen, showing no sign of relaxing his guard.
"King Augeas of Elis! Hearken to our pact! Bring forth your sacred herd and grant me your aid!"
Heracles' magical energy surged and coalesced, taking the shape of over three hundred radiant golden bulls, each imbued with divine light.
The fifth trial of Heracles had been to clean the stables of King Augeas in a single day. As a reward, Augeas had promised him one-tenth of his herd—more than three hundred cattle.
Now, the bulls before him were manifestations of his magic. While they lacked the strength of Divine Beasts, their combined charge was a devastating force capable of crushing all obstacles in their path.
"Moo—!"
The bulls roared, their sacred bellows reverberating through the heavens as they charged from the sky toward Artoria.
But before they could reach their target, a voice, tinged with irritation, rang out.
"Enough of this noise…"
A massive pillar of searing light swept through the bulls, its heat warping the very air.
Before the stampede could even cover half the distance, two-thirds of the herd had been reduced to nothing but steam.
As fragments of stone scattered, Artoria emerged, wielding a massive black blade forged from pure, cursed light. Black flames coiled around her figure, staining half the sky in their inky hue.
With a single sweeping motion, her colossal sword cleaved through the remaining bulls, annihilating them.
But just as she finished dealing with the herd, another arrow—a mirror of the one that had injured her before—descended upon her once more.
Wherever the arrow passed, the space behind it seemed to collapse into a void, as though the very fabric of reality had been torn apart.
Its trajectory was invisible to the eye, its sound inaudible to the ear.
But Artoria had [Instinct].
She had been wary of this arrow ever since it had struck her earlier.
Guided by her instinct, she preemptively shifted her position.
The arrow grazed her shoulder, its winds so fierce that she momentarily felt as though she'd been hit. Her shoulder numbed, nearly losing all sensation.
Her golden hair, now tinged with black streaks, whipped violently in the wake of the arrow's passage. Her expression, however, remained eerily calm, her emerald eyes as cold and lifeless as a still pond.
She stepped forward, her movement so swift it seemed as though she had traversed a thousand meters in an instant.
Seizing the opening left by Heracles' post-shot rigidity, Artoria closed the distance in a flash. The pain in her shoulder did nothing to impede her as her blackened sword descended silently, its arc breathtaking in its beauty.
Even Heracles, in the midst of combat, couldn't help but admire the grace of her strike, marveling at its deadly elegance.
The cursed black slash extended outward, its energy so potent it evaporated seawater and carved a massive trench into the ocean floor.
Artoria maintained her pose, her knees slightly bent, arms extended, as though frozen in the moment of her strike. But her brow furrowed—something was amiss.
Her blade hadn't delivered the decisive blow she'd intended.
Heracles, demonstrating his unparalleled physical control, had recovered from his rigidity just in time, using his massive bow to deflect the attack.
Though the bow managed to divert the blade's angle, the cursed slash still struck his waist, leaving a gash.
Without hesitation, Artoria followed up. Her muscles tensed, and her sword, wreathed in black flames, defied all logic as it reversed its trajectory and slashed upward.
But Heracles was prepared.
"Ceryneian Hind! You, who wear golden antlers and bronze hooves, sworn to the Moon Goddess—aid me now, and I shall let no prey escape my grasp!"
As Artoria's blade neared his torso, Heracles' figure suddenly blurred. The next moment, her slash landed only on his afterimage. He had already retreated to a safe distance.
The third labor of Heracles had been to capture the Ceryneian Hind, a sacred deer said to be favored by Artemis. The animal was so swift that Heracles had pursued it for an entire year before finally catching it by shooting its leg with an arrow.
As a divine ability, this granted Heracles immense speed, allowing him to evade Artoria's strike at the last possible moment.
From afar, Heracles studied his opponent with a wry grin.
"Your footwork is remarkable… Not a divine ability, yet it lets you move with such incredible speed. Even I couldn't react in time."
His praise was sincere, but he wasn't done. Once again, he nocked an arrow onto his bowstring. This time, however, the energy emanating from the bow felt different.
Heracles, as a Heretic God, wielded twelve distinct Authorities, each corresponding to one of his legendary labors.
Although he could invoke two Authorities simultaneously without issue, using more than that placed a heavy burden on him.
The arrow that had previously wounded Artoria had been powered by two Authorities: [Hydra Slayer], from his second labor, and [Hippolyta's Girdle], from his ninth.
Without both of these abilities, he would not have been able to unleash such devastating power.
But now, Heracles had already used the speed-boosting ability of the [Ceryneian Hind].
If he dismissed it to channel another power, Artoria might strike him before he could even release his arrow.
A single Authority wouldn't suffice to harm her.
And so, Heracles began chanting an incantation—a new Authority, one unfamiliar to Artoria, took shape.
---
...
Huh. You really stuck it out all the way to the end.
Didn't think you had the patience. Guess I was wrong.
WiseTL's the one who actually made all this come together. I'm just here putting a bow on it… or, well, shoving it in a backpack and calling it a day. Same thing.
If you had fun, you know what to do:
👉 [patreon.com/WiseTL]
Heads up—Patreon's 50% off for all tiers during May. So if you were on the fence? Now's the time.
And if you're the social type, there's a Discord too. Pretty decent spot to hang out—no battles required.
👉 [discord.gg/wisetl]
Alright. That's enough standing around. Go on—before you make it weird.
—Leaf