The Armor

The stranger immediately charged towards Aphrodite, barely giving her any time to reflect her moves, let alone dodge the sharp blade that threatened to mutilate her. She was doomed and she was well aware of it. But the toughest thought inside her mind was not the fact of a weirdly attractive man about to kill her. Was the fact that she would have to see Hephaestus again in the Tartarus, and she could not let any Titan to mock her for being married to him. She tried to fight back, to cast one of her divine mirrors that would be used as a shield, but the man broke it and continued to attack her, over and over again. Whoever this man was, he was a tough one, and she was sure of it.

The man continued to charge towards her over and over again, Aphrodite could barely dodge his strong and powerful blows that were fueled by the insane amount of rage this mortal held deep inside. She did not know why would a mortal try to kill the gods, and why she was so afraid of him. But as she got slightly lost in thought, she heard a growl of rage.

"Die!" The man shouted angrily, before raising his blade and stabbing something, hoping he had finally killed Aphrodite. 

Unfortunately for him, he noticed someone had intervened between Aphrodite and himself. Hermes. The messenger and speedster groaned in pain as he felt the sharp and magical blade on his right hand.

"Escape, Aphrodite! I can handle it!" Hermes called out with fear and concern in his voice, before he started to fight against the strange warrior. Despite the initial pain and the fact that ichor was dripping off his palm, Hermes began to use his divine winged sandals to attack the infamous man at full speed, welding his caduceus and aiming directly at the man's chest to turn him into gold and end the feud once and for all.

Aphrodite stared at the sight, her eyes widening even more as Hermes pushed between herself and the blade, saving her from potentially being killed. She let out a gasp, before looking back and forth between the two men as they fought. For a moment, she felt frozen before she found her voice again.

"But Hermes-!" 

"Just go!" Hermes scolded, swiftly dodging most of the attacks from the mortal. Hermes dodged and attacked back, although somehow the human was being able to not get much harm from the godly attacks from the messenger.

The goddess took a few steps back, her eyes looking back and forth between Hermes and the stranger as they fought. Seeing as that man was powerful enough to withstand the attacks of a deity, she knew she would just get in the way if she helped. After a moment, she reluctantly decided to obey, and quickly turned on her heel and began to run in order to flee, hoping she would be able to go back to Olympus and tell Zeus about the so-called 'God Hunter'. She could not believe that she had underestimated a man as strong as him. As Aphrodite continued to run, she began to hear groans of restrain and pain coming from Hermes. She would recognize the voice of her dear friend from miles away, and that was pulling at her heartstrings. She gave herself a moment to reflect her choices; ultimately, she knew she could not just escape, she had to fight alongside her friend and fellow god. She turned around and began to run back to the garden where the battle was taking place, until her ears were deafened by one last cry of pain coming from the god messenger. Aphrodite's eyes widened in horror and fear the moment she finally arrived at the garden, finding the strange man holding his sword with one hand, while removing Hermes' sandals off the god's feet with the other.

She could not believe her eyes, she did not want to approach, she did not even want to breathe too loud to avoid getting the mortal's attention. But she also could see her dear friend, the one she called crazy a couple months ago, bleeding out with both of his feet clean-cut off his body. Hermes was barely conscious, the ichor flowing freely out of his wounds. He managed to turn his head to Aphrodite, reaching his trembling hand out to her, silently calling for help. But Aphrodite could not move still, she was in a next level of shock to move, to take a step closer and help her friend. She knew she had to help him, to bring him back to Olympus, but she could not. She could only witness how the dangerous god hunter put the bloody winged sandals into a leather bag before tying it up and placing it behind his back. He turned his head towards where Hermes' hand was pointing, and eventually noticed Aphrodite's presence once again. The man could not help to let out a dry chuckle, enjoying the sight of a goddess in shock and fearing him, just like his people have feared the gods for centuries. He decided to speak up, while his feet began to lead the way away from the garden.

"You are lucky I am tired." The warrior said nonchalantly, jumping over the fence of the garden and starting to walk away from Aphrodite.

Aphrodite let out an appalled and angered gasp at the man's nonchalant comment. How dare he act so uncaring to the goddess of love? Hermes was not a top priority anymore, but her pride.

"H-hey! Get back here! You're not getting away with this!" Fury fueled her words and actions as she darted forward, reaching out to try and grab the man's shoulder. She was not going to let him get away with his actions. 

She thought she had the upper hand now, considering the stranger was tired, and she successfully grabbed him by the shoulder. Until she heard a stinging noise coming out of the warrior's armor, and she felt some kind of liquid flowing inside of her. She immediatelly retreated her hand off the man, and noticed how her palm began to turn dark, as if the armor had some kind of venom that would get triggered by touching him. The hunter looked at Aphrodite, a dangerous smirk of enjoyment dressing his features.

"Careful now, you might die by midnight if you do not find the cure." he said, crossing his arms and admiring the fearful look of the goddess staring down at her palm.

Aphrodite let out a gasp of pain as a sharp pain shot through her arm. The realization that she had been injected with some sort of venom caused fear and worry to fill her mind even more. She stumbled back after being affected by the magic armor, holding her arm in slight pain as she tried to process what he said.

"W-what... What did you just do to me?!" Aphrodite cried out, her voice demanding and horrified. The man seemed to frown slightly at the horror and fear in Aphrodite, as if he had heard that same tone of horror and fear before. 

"I did not do anything. But my armor was created with venom from a hydra, some of Medusa's blood and was blessed by Pandora. It injects a venom powerful enough to kill gods." The man responded tiredly, before a sudden sense of guilt crossed his mind. He was feeling bad for a god for once, specially a goddess like Aphrodite who was selfish, greedy and uncaring. He sighed and rolled his eyes, before turning around and facing the way ahead.

"I have the cure, though." He added.

Aphrodite's eyes widened in alarm as he told her the specifics of the venom the armor injected. The realization that the venom could possibly kill her was alarming, but when he mentioned that he had the cure, she felt a mixture of relief and desperation. Even if she always felt superior to any kind of mortal, she was ready to plead for the cure and avoid joining Hephaestus in the Tartarus.

"Good! G-Give it to me, please! I beg of you, lord..." She trailed off, unaware of the man's name. She forced a fearful smile, trying to look as charming as she could to the man that was immune to her unnatural beauty.

The man looked over at Aphrodite, and raised an eyebrow, finding her sudden attitude strange, to say the least. Of course, he was aware that she was ready to plead, but he could not believe how easily it was for the goddess. It was almost comically sad and he felt a wave of pity all over him. He had to help his biggest enemy for once, and revealing his name was going to seal his fate forever. 

"Kassus. Call me Kassus." he replied, before he started to understand what kind of game they were playing now. He was the one with the upper hand, with the higher ground. He had Aphrodite eating straight from his hand, and he wanted to test that. He cleared his throat, his voice now comically sarcastic. "But why would I help you? you are a goddess. I am a literal God Hunter and I would gladly let you bleed."

Aphrodite let out a deep breath, trying to contain her urge to let her stubbornness win and just tell Kassus to fly off and let her die. But her willing to survive was, for the first time, bigger than her pride. Nevertheless, she was not going to let the man think she was eating straight from his hand. She wanted to yell at him and demand that he hand over the cure immediately, but she knew that it would not solve anything. She needed a different approach, one that would hopefully change the hunter's mind. Gathering enough courage, she spoke up, her voice trembling slightly from the inevitable fear of dying.

"Just because gods have wronged you does not mean every single one of us needs to be killed. You're no better than us if you kill indiscriminately."

Instead of thinking she had changed his mind, Kassus gagged and clenched his hands into fists, finding her comment completely offensive. How dared she attempt to call him as ruthless as the gods? His pride was damaged, and he had to defend himself.

"No, do not ever compare me with your race. Immortal pieces of scum." He responded with anger, before he looked at the road ahead. Despite his initial disgust and obvious reject towards any deity, he had to prove her wrong, no matter what. Even if that involved helping her. He continued to speak, his voice slightly calmer despite the initial rage and disgust. "The cure is back at my shack, we might arrive by sunset if we start walking."

Aphrodite bristled at his response and felt a flash of anger at how he was speaking about her race. But when he agreed to help her and mentioned the cure was at his shack, she felt a wave of relief wash over her. Despite how he saw her, she knew the only thing she could do was agree to his terms and hope that he would keep his word.

"Okay... Fine. We'll start walking." She said with a hint of reluctance before following behind the man.

The two of them were completely oblivious of the fact that they were just trying to prove the other wrong.