AGG: HSS: The Heroine

AGG: HSS: The Heroine

Commissioned by Binge Reader

Word Count: 2069

…

Life’s greatest pleasure is to be triumphant. My oldies always spouted a different tale, but I knew in the very cockles of my heart, that there was more to life than maintaining engines and making sure supplies were properly rationed. Running, with my coattails tucked between my legs, tasted like a bitter sweety on the tip of my tongue. One that didn’t melt away like a lolly ought to, either. Just survivin’, doing nothing besides outliving the competition, wasn’t properly living.

So, it shouldn’t be any surprise that I liked being the Concept of Heroism.

And, well, Li Song.

Focus on the battle, child. There’s time for ogling later. Thor chuckled deeply in the back of my mind, drawing my irksome eyes back towards the battle. He hadn’t noticed me staring like some wet strumpet, so I wasn’t mortified, but a lapse in judgement like that can get me killed. Ah, probably not against these weaklings, but your heart’s in the right place. Keep your focus, stay on target, and show that boy you’re worth fighting for!

You lower your standing by acting like a fool, Alyss. Focus, lest you become a jester fit only to be laughed at. Ares was a bit of a curmudgeon, but he was a big softy, behind all the armor and fire and fury. Discipline, power, and skill was the name of his game. And, he played them well. Well enough for me to learn from him easily. Visualize your targets. Focus on them. Leave future plans for the future. Now, there is only battle.

Dagda, Vishnu, and Horus probably had a few things to say, too. But, those blokes were a tad too slow on the uptake. If they wanted to chastise me, they needed to get in quick, before I started fixing what I sprung!

Chimera. The monsters that forced humanity off of Earth, save for the bravest! My oldies told me that they were born on a whole continent that fell to the Chimera, and that it was a miracle that the flotilla managed to band together, let alone survive long enough for a whole new generation to be born. were proper monsters. The sort that one didn’t need to think about worrying about morality, relationships, and all that other tripe.

They waged war, and I waged war against them.

While they were measured up pretty well, I was aces all the way through.

A kick, and I turn one into a cannonball that shreds a dozen of its hill-sized fellows. A upward strike with my fist, and I have to weave between chunks of bone and muscle. A thrown rock, and I have a few perforated sons of bitches toppling over, or few crushed pebbles makes a wonderful shot that would make most soldiers with their big trench guns blush with envy. I am a weapon. Whatever I hold is a weapon. And, well, I also had a few actual weapons courtesy of my good friends.

Are you going to use it as a club, or as a staff, this time? Or, perhaps, you’ll remember that you can do two things at once, with what little brains you have? Dagda was an old grouch, but the good kind of old grouch. The one that knew what he was about, didn’t take any shit, and let people work when he knew they should! I only needed to make him a promise, after sending another beastie hurtling towards its friends at terminal velocity, for him to grant me his power. Fine. Use it well, lass.

Dagda’s weapon had no name. It was a club and a staff, one and the same, that he used to bash in brains and control the seasons. It was a bit of a wasted opportunity to not give the stick a grand old name, but in the end, it was just a big, wooden cudgel with a bright, viridian leaf sticking at the top, that was either covered in flame or frost, depending on what I wanted. And, this time, I wanted a glacier at the end of my swings.

There’s a whole load of shite about getting by on you own talent and skill. It’s a whole load of bollocks. Everyone and everything’s alive because of the advantages we all have. The Chimera can afford to invade other dimensions, because they have the advantages they need to keep spreading around like cockroaches and get stronger. Humans didn’t politely ask the whole animal kingdom to let them put collars around their necks, give them their flesh, or their pelts, either. Honestly, there’s nothing wrong with training to use powers given to you, especially when it’d be a slap to the cheek to the one providing it if you didn’t.

I mean, Dagda would never lend me his staff if I didn’t earn it, or use it as he told me to, so did it really matter whether or not I using a Divine Weapon, or that I had an armory of Divine Weapons at my disposal?

I didn’t think so, especially since I had to train to use them all!

Anyway, Dagda’s staff was great for culling the calamitous critters, especially the smaller ones that I couldn’t be bothered with jumping onto the bigger blokes. They weren’t worth the drama of fighting, so a glacier here and there, while I sent their hunched-over, bigger brothers to get to know each other more intimately, by reducing their distance to one another to the negatives. It was one part cricket paddle, albeit one able to withstand divine strength and amplify it, and two parts generator for flame or frost, enough of either to cover a tanker in minutes from prow to stern.

I had plenty to be happy about with my powers and abilities. Sure, I hit the lottery, but it wasn’t like I didn’t earn it! Arsenal or not, I couldn’t use all my weapons, unless I decided to do something stupid like shoot them out at my enemies! No matter how tough Divine weapons are, there were better uses for them than being used as shot!

Focus.

Right, right! I had to focus—

There is moment in every battle where the tide completely and utterly changes. Typically, it’s when I arrive. That is a fact. The battlefield is my home. It is where I am the mightiest. In terms of skill, talent, and equipment, I reign supreme. My coming means the skies will tremble, the earth will shatter, and the very air will boil. To surrender to me is wise. To flee from me a fool’s gambit. To face me head on is suicide. I believed that to be an indelible fact. How could it not be, when I had five gods that were worshipped more earnestly by the people than all others?

That fact shattered upon Li Song’s first descent to my side.

The Chimera, facing defeat at my coming, faced complete and utter obliteration in his presence.

Physically, he surpassed excellence in every respect. His evaded hypersonic projectiles with ease. He adopted forms for martial arts seamlessly, and utilized their strengths as easily as breathing, and a kick from him did not send the hill-sized monsters into one another. No, his kick annihilated whatever was in its path, turning whole heads of creatures into nothing more than white dust and blood mist. His ability to react equaled his speed. Therefore, even as he turned into a blur I was sure that the Chimera could not track, he struck with the poise and grace expected of one standing still and going through motions, second by second.

Then, he used his weapons.

The first was a sword with the color of purest gold, a weapon that hinted at the age of bronze, and it radiated divine might. The moment it was in his hand, it disappeared from my vision. My vision, which allowed me to track hypersonic projectiles with ease and catch Camille whenever she tried to hide. Then, when he ceased his action and it returned to view, the monsters that surrounded him fell over dead in too many pieces to count, like a cardboard puzzle falling apart after being forced to stand.

The second sword stayed upon his hip. It was of eastern make, but of vastly larger make than those I’ve seen in pictures. It was nearly as tall as him. Looking upon it, I first saw a sword in its scabbard, but focusing upon it… I saw a guiding spirit hanging upon his shoulders. It was a woman clad in finery beyond everything I’d ever seen, with curtain-like mane of hazel and a face that would make most mortals weep. She was sword and a spirit, and even undrawn and not used to her full potential, she granted him more talent than he already had.

Two  more blades followed him.

Both were not in use.

Why, I did not know, but one felt to be a greater danger than all the others-

[/Focus./]

And, suddenly, I was no longer about to pull on my Avatar and attack him, and accept the punishment of defeat, because the possible prize of victory would be worth it.

[Temper your vices, child. They are unbecoming of your station as humanity’s guardian. Fall into the veracious depths of your sins, by turning them into vile vices, and I shall war against those of us who would freely grant you our power.] Vishnu’s voice was soft and gentle, but unmitigated might. A glacier that smashed into my consciousness and woke me from my faults further than all their voices combined. Damn, I’d thought I go the hang of having all their faults by now. [Each of us led lives impassioned and zealous in pursuit of love. We committed many atrocities, and sponsored the sins of many conquests deemed righteous by humanity of an earlier time. You must overcome that, child.]

/I will aid Vishnu, should you fail to restrain yourself, Alyss. Should you not be worthy of ruling, the day will not come when you shall./  Horus’ voice was just as steady. But, swifter and more sure. He presented his words, burned them into your mind, and they stayed there. However, he didn’t speak when he didn’t need to. Probably, because there wasn’t much he could teach me yet. I wasn’t cut out for ruling, thus kingship wasn’t something I could benefit from yet. /Indeed./

Still, again, I hadn’t needed them to pull me out of that mental muck for weeks.

I suppose a gal’s gotta have a few weaknesses.

And, well, mine was Li Song showing off.

I should be praised for being able to listen to a few gods and snap out of it, honest.

Especially when he flew on over to me, looking all worried, and talking with that nice, smooth voice of his, with just a tinge of an exotic accent.

“Are you alright, Alyss?” Hehe, my name is so pretty. And, he’s pretty. But, not too pretty. Just pretty enough to be more handsome than he already is. Very handsome. And, he’s tall. First man in a while as tall as me. Really, if I held him, I could just nestle my head on his collar… and feel him up— “Alyss?”

Hehe, my name is so pretty.

Brothers, we’ve lost her. Again.

The girl is weak to him. Excessively.

Oi, you bigwigs, how about we save ourselves from eternal embarrassment of becoming housed in a wanton wife for at least another week?

[…I will allow it.]

/Let it be./

Huh, was something happening—

“I would like to see your full strength.” Oi, oi, oi! Not cool, you blokes! This is my body you’re moving about! Give a lady some space. There is no lady here. Only a girl. Wait, you all let Ares take over!? Why! Because, I am versed at ignoring love. W-what!? No! This wasn’t love! This was attraction! Heightened, excessive, and nigh-limitless attraction, but just attraction. I do not believe you. Be silent. “Please, show me the fullness of your ability.”

I regained control of my body as soon as Song drifted off high in the sky, far away from me, and at the very edges of my vision.

For a second, I thought that I’d been defeated.

Then, Li Song began to really fight.

[/Shit./]

And, I couldn’t have been more gloriously victorious.

Momma’s hit the biggest catch, she just had to reel him in!