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It took them two hours to strike, by then Max had drooled, Thalia had grabbed my arm in a panic and I had been capable of learning a few things about my powers. Appearantly, I could summon a pair of chains that had gravels connected to them. It reminded me of the chains that Hades would be equipt with in that really old God of War 3 game.

Aside from being able to summon them, the were practically useless. I couldn't draw in my enemies and the soul eater thing didn't work. Great. I thought, thanks dad.

Caring aftwr Thalia, I decided to do her hair while she slept, which if you really wanted to know, it's really hard. Kinda like threading a needle, but a little bit harder.

When I had finished, I had done a french braid which I only had the experience to, since there were three girls in the orphanage this year, one was five the other one was seven and the last one was about my age. Gazing up at the sky, I noticed the two giants from my dream.

I couldn't tell which was which because they both looked the same. Reptilian feet, a man-like torso and a brutish face. Smiling they landed to wake both Max and Thalia.

Flipping over Max smiled summoning his golden blade. "Finally, I've been dying to fight!"
Waking Thalia murmured. "What?! Xero! Did you do my hair!"

"I'll explain later, right now let's deal with them." I gazed at the one named Alyus and skulked forward. "Alyus is it?" I spoke calmly. The giant gazed at me batheled that I knew his name. "I've dreamed about you planning to attack us, you're after Thalia, while your btoher there is after Max, is that right?"

"I believe your mistaken, I'm after the son of Zeus." He smiled, in a quick strike, Max blocked as Otis launched forward. Throwing myself before Thalia, I blocked his attack.

Rising my gaze, I smiled. "I applaude your bravery, but harming a girl is considered wrong. How about you try fighting me instead."

Fear coursed through his eyes as he backed away. Smiling, I grabbed the chains and smiled, throwing one of them, a gash of golden blood flooded forward.

"What is that? Urine?" I wondered.
"Ichor, the blood of the immortals." Thalia explained.
Forging a smile, I got an cruel idea. "You mean to tell me that he's immortal? That's. . ."
"Bad." She interrupted.
"No, just unfortunate, for him." Channeling my energy into the chains, I focused. I wanted to drain him of all his powers, I wanted to show him the might of death, the power of the god of the underworld, the strength of Hades. After about a few minutes, I could see a lucid green figure surrounding him. I didn't know exactly if my plan could work or if it would but so far it was going according to my line of thought.

Pulling the chains in, the spirit drew into me, as the giant began to fossilize and turn to dust. Collapsing to the ground my eyes shifted yellow as I took a breath. "That was . . ."
"Painful." Thalia finished.
"I was gonna say unusual, but that too." I sighed rising to my feet seeing that Max was struggling with Alyus. I smiled, as I walked forward.

"We should help him." Thalia insisted.
"Why?" I asked. "He's having fun, don't you see that smile on his face. He actually is playing tag with blades and claws, it seems fun. I'm a little jealous, mine wasn't that hard to beat. Maybe I'm stronger?" I laughed.

"Really, you're gonna let pride get in the way now?" Thalia complained. "Max could die! He isn't immortal!"

I studied his movements silently. Max would draw in his enemy, attack three to four times and then receed. It was the basic tactic to prolonging a fight just for the fun of it. Max wasn't an idiot, he was a fighting genius he knew when to fight right and when to play around.

"He isn't going to die. I'm here and if he were I would've sensed it long before this." I replied. "Just watch he isn't doing anything out of the ordinary, he is using the basic manuvers to prolong a battle. He's having fun."

Thalia studied his movements intently. It didn't take her long to figure it out. "He's just toying with him!" She said amazed. "But, Why?" She wondered.

"Because it's fun. He likes the thrill of the danger. He is an adventurous kid. He likes being a demigod, but not for the power or the reputation. He likes it for the life or death situations it puts him in. Max is definitly made to live to the max. Hence his name." I smiled.

Thalia gazed at me wanting to differ, but choose to leave it alone. She watched as they matched evently, by now Max was getting tired but still liked being on the ropes. With a quick swipe, Alyus dodged and did a triple backflip with a supperb landing. He smiled amazed.

"You're all strong, but you're not strong enough for his magesty." He said confidently.
"Icaris is no threat to us!" I announced.
Gazing in my direction Alyus noticed his brother was disposed of.

"Surprised? You think Otyus was stronger?" I asked.
"No, he's always getting in the way, but no worries, he'll be back soon enough, we're ancient we don't take long to heal, anymore." Alyus smiled. "Max, I enjoyed our battle, but next time be a doll and use your full power. I hate having to dumb it down for one who doesn't find me worth of a challenge."

In a black vapor he vanished. I stood next to Max aware of a challenge.
"You finished him quickly?" He asked.
"Yeah, appearantly I have a new ability to use these." Showing him the chains, Max's expression changed to shock. He smiled. "The chains of Hades, I only thought they were legends, but to see them makes me wonder. How did you get them?"

"I summoned them, they came to me." I replied.
"There has to be something more to it. It seems to be like an ability, maybe you can use all of his symbols, the helm, the chains, the sword."

"It's called ShadowForce." Thalia explained. She now had a delta laptop which was ancient but still managed to work as fast as the normal ones. "Appearantly, Hades can bless his children to whield his weapons but this comes with a price."

"What kind of price?" I asked.
"You can't kill the innocent with the weapons, those chains won't work on mortals or demigods." She replied.

I gazed at them, amazed. Focusing on the absence of the blades they disappeared into shadows leaving me with biker gloves. "That's better, I won't use them then. If they're dangerous there is no need. I'll use my sword."

"Well either way, we should get moving." Thalia said closing her laptop. "Let's travel west from here, if we can make it to Montana within the next three days we should be set."

"There's no deadline. We have to make sure we just save Persephone." I reminded her.
"There is." Max interrupted. "We need to make sure we get Persephone safely back before the summer solstice. If not Demeter might flood the land with snow storms and sorrow."

I smiled. "Well then, let's get to work."

Notes

Was that a bit easy?
More action to come, just keep reading as I keep writing.
The dynamics also seems to be accurate.
Who do you think is stronger? Xero or Max?

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