CHAPTER 160: A CHALLENGER APPEARS

The messenger from Olympus fled, his tail tucked between his legs, but Nox knew the conversation was far from over. Zeus was not the kind of god who took rejection well.

’He’ll send someone,’ Nox thought, his gaze sweeping over the horizon. ’Not an army. That’s not his style. He’ll send a champion. A hero. Someone to make an example of me.’

He was right.

Three days later, as they were breaking camp, a new figure appeared on the crest of a nearby hill. He was alone, a single, powerful silhouette against the rising sun. He was clad in the golden armor of a Greek hero, a massive, bronze shield in one hand and a long, leaf-bladed spear in the other. A helmet, crested with a plume of horsehair, hid his face.

"That’s him," Vexia said, her voice tight. "The Champion of Olympus. Achilles."

Elisa spat on the ground. "Achilles? The guy with the bad heel? I’ve heard of him. He’s supposed to be invincible."

"Not invincible," Vexia corrected. "Just very, very hard to kill."

The Champion of Olympus did not speak. He just pointed his spear at Nox, a clear, unmistakable challenge.

Nox’s army tensed, their hands moving to their weapons. Elisa hefted her warhammer, a low growl in her throat.

"I’ll take him," she said.

"No," Nox said. He stepped forward, out of the camp, his own armor flowing over his skin in a tide of black and red. "This one’s mine."

He walked out to meet the champion, his scepter, Regulus, held loosely in his hand. The two of them met in the center of the field between the two armies, two kings from two different worlds, ready to decide the fate of their new age.

"The Void Monarch," Achilles’s voice was a deep, resonant baritone, full of an ancient, weary confidence. "Lord Zeus is... displeased with you. He has sent me to correct your insolence."

"Zeus can go play with his lightning bolts," Nox shot back. "I don’t answer to him."

Achilles just shook his head. "You are a child, playing with powers you do not understand. Surrender now, and I will grant you a quick death. Resist, and your end will be a lesson taught for a thousand years."

"You talk a lot for a guy who’s famous for having a weak ankle," Nox taunted.

That got a reaction. Achilles’s grip on his spear tightened. "You will learn to respect your betters, boy."

He moved. He was not just fast; he was a blur of golden light, his spear a streak of bronze death aimed for Nox’s heart.

Nox flickered, a stutter-step of void energy that moved him a foot to the left. The spear shot past him, its tip carving a deep gouge in the earth where he had been.

Achilles was already in motion, his shield coming around in a brutal, sweeping bash. Nox brought his scepter up to block.

The impact was a deafening boom. He was thrown backward, the scepter vibrating in his hand, his arm aching from the sheer, divine force of the blow.

’He’s strong,’ Nox thought, his mind racing. ’Stronger than Elisa. Stronger than Ragnar.’

[Analysis: The entity ’Achilles’ is a demigod. His physical parameters are far beyond those of a mortal. His body is invulnerable to all forms of damage, save for a single, specific weak point.]

’Yeah, the heel. I know the story.’

Achilles pressed his attack, his spear and shield a relentless storm of bronze. Nox was forced onto the defensive, flickering and blocking, the ground around them becoming a cratered mess from the champion’s powerful blows.

He was losing. He was faster, more unpredictable, but he couldn’t hurt him. Every blow he landed, a void-laced punch or a blast from his scepter, just glanced off Achilles’s golden armor without leaving a scratch.

"You see?" Achilles said, his voice calm as he forced Nox back another step. "Your power is nothing against a true child of Olympus. You are just a shadow, and I am the sun."

Nox flickered, creating some distance. He was breathing heavily, his mana and stamina draining with every blocked blow, with every desperate teleport.

’This isn’t working,’ he thought. ’I can’t beat him in a straight fight. I need to be smarter.’

He looked at Achilles’s feet, at the golden greaves that protected his legs. The heel was covered, just like the rest of him.

’So, how do I get to it?’

He flickered again, but this time he didn’t reappear in front of Achilles. He appeared twenty feet above him.

He pointed his scepter down. "Monarch’s Dominion."

A sphere of absolute blackness erupted from the tip of the scepter, not to engulf Achilles, but to engulf the very ground beneath his feet.

Achilles looked down as the solid earth dissolved into a swirling vortex of nothingness. He was standing on empty air.

He fell.

Nox didn’t give him a chance to recover. He flickered, appearing below the falling demigod. As Achilles tumbled through the air, his invulnerable body completely off-balance, his heel was exposed for a fraction of a second.

Nox didn’t hesitate. He didn’t use a grand, powerful attack. He just reached out with his free hand and flicked his finger, a single, sharp nail of void-forged armor extending from the tip.

It was a small, precise, almost delicate movement.

The void-laced nail just touched Achilles’s heel.

The Champion of Olympus screamed.

It was a sound of pure, agonized disbelief. His invulnerability, his divine gift, his very identity, was gone.

He crashed to the ground, not as a demigod, but as a man. He landed hard, his leg bending at an unnatural angle.

Nox landed softly beside him. He stood over the fallen hero, who was clutching his shattered ankle, his face a mask of pain and shock.

"It’s over," Nox said.

"How...?" Achilles gasped out. "How could you know?"

"I read your story in a book once," Nox said, his voice flat. "It was a boring story. You were an arrogant fool who died because he thought he was a god."

He raised his scepter.

"It seems you didn’t learn your lesson."

He brought the scepter down. The battle was over.

He stood in the silent field, the body of Olympus’s greatest champion at his feet. He looked at his own army, at Serian and the others, who were just staring, their faces a mixture of awe and terror.

He had not just defeated a hero. He had killed a legend.

A new screen appeared in his vision, a direct message from a very, very angry god.

[ZEUS, KING OF OLYMPUS: You have made a grave enemy this day, mortal. I will see your kingdom turned to ash and your soul cast into the darkest pits of Tartarus.]

Nox just looked at the message, a slow, cold grin spreading across his face.

He sent back a single, simple reply.

’Anytime.’

The God-War had just gotten personal. And Nox, the Void Monarch, was ready for it.