Chapter 43: Flame and Frost!
Damon and the others stood face to face with Vali. The Norse demigod's runic tattoos blazed to life across his arms and chest, each ancient symbol pulsing with a cold, hungry light that seemed to drink the warmth from the air itself. Frost crawled along the length of his war axe in thick, crystalline veins, and with every breath he drew, the temperature plummeted further—the kind of cold that didn't just chill skin but settled into bone, into thought, into will.
Damon answered with fire. Hellfire erupted across his body in a roaring shroud of blue-black flame, the heat rolling outward in waves that met the advancing frost and devoured it, turning Vali's creeping ice to hissing columns of steam before it could reach the others.
"Stay close to me!" he shouted, his voice carrying a new authority none of them had heard before.
Whatever had happened to him in the labyrinth's depths had changed him, hardened him into something more focused, more dangerous. The trials of combat and facing the other demi-gods had forced him to hone his abilities, becoming much stronger for it.
Thalios didn't need the invitation. Lightning crackled around him in a protective cocoon, the electricity super-heating the air and creating a pocket of warmth. But his eyes never left Vali, and the hatred burning there was almost tangible.
"I've been waiting for this," he growled, remembering the disrespect Vali had shown him before.
"This time, no one will be getting in our way!"
Lightning crackled in Thalios's eyes as raw fury consumed him. Without warning, he launched himself forward, his bronze sword singing through the air with electricity dancing along its edge.
"No, Thalios, wait!" Damon's voice cut through the tension like a blade, but it was too late. The son of Zeus was already committed to his reckless charge.
Damon's stomach twisted with dread. From the moment they'd encountered the other demi-gods on Mount Olympus, something had felt wrong—terribly wrong. Each of their opponents radiated power that seemed to dwarf their own Greek powers, as if they'd been forged in different fires entirely. The disparity gnawed at him, leaving him scrambling to understand abilities that seemed to operate on entirely different principles.
Vali stood motionless, watching Thalios's approach with the patience of a predator. As the Greek demigod closed the distance, Vali's lips curved into the faintest hint of a smile. Lightning erupted from Thalios's fingertips—not the wild, chaotic bolts of a novice, but focused spears of electrical fury that could have levelled a building.
The air itself seemed to scream as the lightning tore toward its target. But Vali moved with fluid grace, angling his massive war axe just so. The ancient weapon's blade caught the lightning strikes perfectly, channelling their devastating energy into the labyrinth's stone walls.
Thunder boomed as the redirected bolts exploded harmlessly against millennia-old masonry, leaving smoking craters in their wake, leaving Vali standing unharmed.
"Is that all?" Vali's voice carried the weight of a mountain, utterly unimpressed.
In that instant, Thalios vanished.
Not the slow fade of invisibility, but the sudden absence of matter itself. One moment he was there, the next—gone. Only the faintest trace of ozone lingered where he'd stood.
Vali's eyes sharpened, scanning the shadows between the labyrinth's towering walls, having lost track of him. "Where did—"
A spark flickered in his peripheral vision, and lightning-fast reflexes, honed by centuries of battle, saved his life.
Thalios materialised mid-strike, his body wreathed in crackling energy. He'd transformed himself into living lightning, riding the electrical currents through the air at impossible speeds. His bronze sword descended like a falling star, aimed directly for Vali's exposed neck, unleashing all of his power.
The clash of metal rang out like a bell tolling the end of worlds. Sparks cascaded around them as Thalios pressed his attack, his blade weaving patterns of deadly light. Each strike carried the force of a thunderclap, yet Vali met them all.
"AAAHHHHH!" Thalios's battle cry echoed through the labyrinth as he locked blades with his opponent. The moment their weapons touched, he felt it—Vali's strength was monstrous, inhuman. It was like trying to move a mountain with his bare hands. Something Thalios hadn't experienced before.
Slowly, inexorably, Vali began to push back. Thalios's muscles screamed in protest, his feet sliding across the ancient stone as he was forced to give ground unwillingly.
"Is that all?" Vali repeated.
Now there was genuine disappointment in his voice. The Norse demigod pressed his advantage, each movement calculated to humiliate rather than simply defeat Thalios, as if he had been playing with him this whole time.
Suddenly the shadows came alive.
Tendrils of pure darkness erupted from the ground, wrapping around Vali's legs like living chains. They pulled with surprising strength, trying to drag him down to the labyrinth floor.
"What—?" For the first time, genuine surprise flickered across Vali's features feeling the strength of the shadows force him to bend.
Twenty feet away, Damon stood with both hands extended, sweat beading on his forehead as he channelled his power. Son of Hades, master of shadows, he wouldn't let Thalios face this monster alone, no matter how much his pride might suffer. No matter how much he wouldn't hear the end of it. He knew they would need Thalios's power, and that he couldn't allow him to die here.
"Now Thalios!" Damon shouted, his voice strained with effort. "Hit him with everything you have!"
Vali's strength was incredible, fighting against Damon's shadows knowing he wouldn't be able to hold him for long.
Thalios felt the shift in momentum and seized his chance. Pride warred with pragmatism for half a heartbeat before survival instinct won. He raised his sword high, calling upon every ounce of his divine heritage.
The sky answered, and thunder itself seemed to descend into his blade. Lightning pure, primordial, the very essence of Zeus's wrath coiled around the bronze weapon until it blazed like a captured star. The air temperature spiked, and the scent of ozone became overwhelming.
"TAKE THIS!" Thalios yelled, bringing his weapon down with the force of heaven's judgment.
Vali's eyes widened as he recognised the true power behind the strike. These weren't the clumsy efforts of a novice—this was divine fury made manifest. Still trapped by the shadow-bonds, he had no choice but to meet the attack head-on, summoning all the power he could into his axe to meet the strike.
Damon and the others all watched as the two weapons met, shielding their eyes from the blast of light that erupted.
The collision was cataclysmic.
Light burst outward in a sphere of raw energy, engulfing half the labyrinth. The sound was more than noise—it was a tangible force that rattled dust from walls older than recorded history, while the air itself seemed to rip apart and stitch back together.
Thalios was hurled backwards like a leaf in a hurricane, his body spinning through the air, threatening to crash into the far wall. His lightning-quick reflexes allowed him to drive his sword into the stone floor, the blade carving a deep furrow as it slowed his momentum, saving him from the impact.
"Did that get him?" Naia's voice was barely audible over the ringing in everyone's ears. She struggled to sit up despite her injuries, Eudora's healing magic still working to mend her wounds while Brick groaned nearby.
The smoke cleared with agonising slowness, revealing the aftermath of Thalios's desperate gambit.
Vali's figure slowly came into view. He stood tall, his war axe casually slung over one shoulder, with his tattoos glowing in response to his powers. Not a single hair was out of place. The only sign of the titanic battle was a small scorch mark on his leather armour, which he now brushed away with his free hand.
"Is that all?" he asked again, his tone suggesting he'd just witnessed a mildly entertaining parlour trick rather than an attack that could have levelled a city block.
"H-How?" Thalios asked, feeling the anger in his veins boil over.
"That attack would have cut through a skyscraper... Yet he still stands like it was nothing." Thalios said.
Damon was also shocked; having faced Thalios in combat before, he knew that attack was no joke. Not realising the incredible power that their Norse counterpart possessed.
Meanwhile, high above the labyrinth, the gods of each pantheon watched as their demi-god children continued to battle inside of the labyrinth of time, each going through their own trials and battles alike.
The Greek gods watched with utmost interest as their children battled against Vali.
"Oh my, what a difference in power," Hermes said, causing the others to agree.
"Indeed, what are you feeding that boy?" Poseidon said with a chuckle as he crossed his arms.
The Norse gods sat in their own dimension next to the others as they too enjoyed the show, watching how Vali was fighting against Thalios and the other Greek demi-gods.
"Unlike you, we take more interest in our offspring. We have been training our children, allowing them to tap into powers and strength that are far beyond your own children at the moment. Perhaps if you had spent more time with them before the tournament, they would have stood a better chance." Loki said with a playful laugh, before taking a bite of an apple.
Ares didn't look pleased as he sat with his arms crossed over his chest. He had watched the battle his own son, Brick, had with Vali, even watching as he had unleashed his battle rage, only to be of no use against this powerful Norse demi-god.
However, Hades watched with an interested gleam in his eye. Seeming to spot something that his fellow Olympians hadn't.
"It is true that your offspring are strong. No question. However, I am yet to see any of them fight outside of their own realm..." The god of the underworld said, sparking interest from the others.
Back in the labyrinth, Damon's mind raced. He'd watched Thalios throw everything he had at Vali—lightning powerful enough to level a small town, speed that defied physics—and yet the Norse demi-god had shrugged it off as little more than a flea bite. Brute force wasn't going to win this. Not against someone who seemed built to absorb punishment.
Think, Damon. You're not a brawler. You never were.
He was a survivor. And survivors didn't fight fair. Having trained himself in the art of deception for years, running everything through his mind.
"Everyone, fall back," Damon said, his voice cutting through the stunned silence.
Thalios whipped around, fury and humiliation burning in his eyes. "Fall back? I'm not running from—"
"I said fall back, Thalios!" Damon's tone left no room for argument, and something in the absolute authority—made even the son of Zeus hesitate.
"He wants us to come at him one at a time. That's his game. He's picking us apart because we keep giving him exactly what he wants."
Vali tilted his head, studying Damon. The faintest crease appeared between his brows—not concern, but curiosity.
Damon closed his eyes and let the shadows reach outward, not as weapons, but as sensors—threading through cracks in the stone, pooling in the spaces between the walls, feeling the shape of the labyrinth around them. The darkness whispered back to him, feeding him information that his eyes alone could never provide.
And there, buried beneath the layers of ancient frost and Norse power radiating from Vali, he felt something else. Something he and the others had missed entirely.
Vali's tattoos weren't just channelling his own strength. They were drawing power from the labyrinth itself—from the cold, from the stone, from the very trial they stood within, as if the maze was feeding him power.
Thats it... How could I have missed something like this? Damon thought to himself.
Each time he had fought against the other demi-gods, it had always been on their own turf. This labyrinth had areas representing each mythology, sprouting monsters and trails from each. It only made sense that it would also grant power to those who hailed from its own realm.
Damon opened his eyes, the realisation showing on his face, because Vali's expression shifted. The casual amusement vanished, replaced by something harder. Something almost like respect.
"Clever, it would seem you figured it out," Vali murmured, his grip tightening on his axe.
Damon turned to the others. "We're not going to beat him here. Not in his element. In his own realm. We need to move—now."
"Move where?" Naia asked, wincing as Eudora's magic continued to heal her wounds.
Damon pointed deeper into the labyrinth, toward corridors the shadows told him were warmer.
"Somewhere he can't cheat." Damon then said, locking eyes with the Norse demi-god.
"Cheat? What do you mean?" Thalios asked, anger seeming to cross over his expression before he looked at Vali.
Vali's laugh echoed off the walls, low and resonant, shaking loose flakes of ice from the ceiling.
"I'll explain once we get out of here," Damon said, not taking his eyes off the Norse demi-god, unsure if he was going to press the attack or not.
"Run if you wish, son of Hades," he called after them, his voice following like the cold itself. "The labyrinth will bring us back together. And next time—" the temperature suddenly plummeted so sharply that Damon's next breath crystallised in his lungs, "—I won't hold back!"
The five Greek demigods retreated into the winding dark, battered and bruised but alive. And as the frost faded behind them and warmer air filled their lungs.
None of them liked it, but at least they would live to fight another day.