The Flames of Hope Ch 24

Chapter 24~Bringing the House Down
Even though Atlas had just been sent sailing across the room, he got up without a scratch on him. He continued to pat himself down to clean off the dust and rocks from the ruble. He then proceeded to crack his neck and he moved his head from side to side.

“I’ll admit you caught me off guard,” Atlas said as he pounded his fist into his other hand. The impact sent a shock wave across the room that felt like a blast of air or something. He began slowly walking toward us with his arms at his sides and an evil grin across his face. “So, who’s first?”

I could tell we were all worried a bit, but we held our ground as best we could. He then in one swift motion punched the ground which caused the earth to shake and most of us fell to our feet. I looked up and saw Atlas about a yard away from me as his massive fist came toward my face. However, his fist retracted when an arrow went sailing into the back of his palm.

“You think you can defeat me with these toys?” Atlas said as he pulled the arrow from his hand. There was some golden ichor that spilled from the cut, but the wound healed almost instantly, but I took this time to jump to my feet and pull out my weapon. I looked over at Malcolm who notched another arrow, but I wondered if they would be of any use. As Atlas looked distastefully at Malcolm, I took the time to swing my hammer down on his exposed big toe. He jumped back in pain and held on to his foot.

“Cacnea and Rose, trip him up!” I ordered.

“On it,” they nodded and a large vine appeared from the ground along with a patch of waist his cacti. The vines wrapped around Atlas’ other foot and he went falling backward into the patch of prickly plants. He let out an angered call before his foot ripped the vines and he was standing tall, once again with almost no visible injuries.

“I am going to destroy you!” he bellowed angrily and he started sprinting toward us with both hands extended that made it look like he was going to strangle someone.

“Everyone close your eyes,” Sarah said as she jumped in front of him and for a second I thought she had gone crazy. Instead, there was a blinding flash of light that caused Atlas to stop dead in his tracks as he held his eyes in pain. I thankfully had shielded myself just as the flash was building up, but there was still a small flash in the center of my vision and I knew it must have been much worse for Atlas. His eye lids were shut tight as he stumbled around swinging his arms wildly.

“Where are you!” he said as he smashed a nearby pillar before stumbling around some more. Ruff ran in and stabbed his sword into Atlas’ calf before jumping aside. Atlas punched the ground causing debris to fly everywhere, but Tuff had it covered as she blocked the rocks heading for Ruff. The two would switch back and forth, one stabbing and the other blocking. However, Atlas quickly got his sight back and backhanded the shield Tuff had, causing him to fly right into Ruff and the both hit a wall.

“Are you two ok?” I asked them from my spot in the room.

“Sure, I’d like some bacon on the side,” Tuff said and I could tell they were a bit confused from the impact. Atlas once again hit the ground, but this time cracks opened up in the floor as they started moving toward Bob.

“Be careful!” Megan yelled to Atlas. “If you break the floor, the sky will destroy us all.”

However, Atlas seemed to be in some kind of made rage and kept hitting the ground as the cracks spread across the floor.

“We need to stop him,” I told Megan.

“First we need to stop those cracks from spreading, maybe cancel out the shock waves,” she said as she tried to think of a way to do it. “Sam!”

He looked over as if not knowing what to do, but he wondered what she wanted.

“Run in front of Bob and punch the earth as hard as you can toward Atlas,” she ordered. He nodded and walked right in front of Bob before slamming his bronze covered fist into the ground. The impact not only shook the floor, but the entire room up to the ceiling. Atlas stopped hitting the ground and stood up looking at us.

“You think you demigods are so strong? You don’t know what strength is!” he yelled and we all watched as the walls behind him started to crack. Atlas then pushed hit pinky against a stone pillar, causing a section to fall from the middle. “This is strength. I have more power in one finger than you brats have put together!”

As he gloated, the pillar collapsed and a stone slab from the roof landed on Atlas’ head. He looked at it annoyed and tossed it behind him causing all the cracks to converge together.

“What, are you all scared, I see it in your faces,” he bellowed, and he was right. We were scared because the far wall at this point started to fall apart and fall forward. The sound of falling rocks managed to get the attention of the Titan and he turned around just in time to see a large stone wall fall on top of him.

“Sam, toss him!” I said pointing to Bob under the sky. Sam understood and ran over to Atlas’ exposed foot. He grabbed it after tossing off his gloves and pulled Atlas from the rubble. He then began to spin him around and tossed him toward Bob. Atlas was rolling across the floor and pushed Bob out of the way when the two collided, forcing the sky to fall once again on Atlas.

“Not again!” Atlas cried as he was forced to position himself as best he could for comfort.

“We defeated you, tell us where Leiomenos is,” said as I stood in front of Atlas. However he just smirked at us.

“You think it matters that you defeated me. In fact that gives me even less of a reason to tell you,” he said, and it did make sense. Then Sammy walked up as well.

“What if we make you a deal?” he said, making Atlas look a bit intrigued at the prospect.

“What kind of deal?” the Titan said.

“A little relief. I will help you hold the sky in exchange for information,” he said and Atlas took a long time to think about it.

“Alright, I accept your deal,” Atlas said back.

“Swear it on the Styx,” Megan said from her spot in the room.

“I swear on the River Styx to tell you what you want to know in exchange for help holding the sky!” he yelled, possibly annoyed that he had to obey mere demigods. But the thunder still could be heard in the sky. Sammy then proceeded to walk over to the demolished parts of the castle and grabbed a few still standing pillars. He positioned about two on each side of Atlas and wedged them up against the sky. It seemed to take a little weight off of Atlas’ shoulders, but if he relaxed too much, the pillars began to crack.

“There,” Sammy said. “I helped you. While these pillars are strong, if you leave this spot, they will crumble and you will most likely not have enough time to escape.”

“Indeed you have,” Atlas said with a sigh. “You know your father did something similar for me back in Greek, but when we moved, the pillars stayed in Greek forcing me to carry the full weight on my shoulders. I will tell you what I promised. The entrance is here.”

Darkcloud1111 ~Fastest Hero Alive