A Hero's Blessing - The Challenge

Set right after the events of a previous post here on Patreon - "An Apology"

Chiron's POV

The entire building suddenly shook as the doors flung open, all eyes focusing suddenly on the surge of angry divinity.

Chiron noted absently that the large form of Herakles had moved slightly in front of him, as if getting ready to protect him in case something happened.

Zoe Nightshade began to swear in ancient greek, almost going for her weapons till Artemis placed a hand on her shoulder. The recently rescued goddess glared at the newcomer, "What are you doing here Hercules?"

His former student - the one that he was more familiar with in any case - gave a mocking laugh. "Good to see you too sister dear. I heard there was a party going on in my honor - am I not allowed at my own party?"

The goddess of the hunt raised a mocking eyebrow, "In this particular case, it refers to your more palatable self." She tilted her head over to him and Herakles. "So you may go back to brooding on your island if you'd like."

"Hmph." Hercules saw the two of them and focused immediately on Herakles. He then stalked over to him, divinity coming off of him in waves that pushed everybody else back save the gods themselves before stopping in front of Herakles.

It was an almost bizarre comparison. At six feet tall, Hercules would normally stand eye to eye with people or would look down at them. However, Herakles stood a full two feet taller than the other god, forcing the god to look up.

Hercules was handsome, and well put together. Chiron once heard another say that they could almost imagine him a Catholic Bishop, and agreed with the sentiment.

And then there was Herakles.

A towering giant of a man with corded muscles and a wild mane of hair, Herakles was somebody that simply exuded power to anybody that saw him.

The two, despite having the same origin, could not be more different from each other.

Hercules looked up and down at his counterpart and sneered, not seeming impressed. "So, you're claiming to be me, are you?" He scoffed.

Herakles, for his part, seemed to share in his dislike of the other man as he scowled. "So they say." He grunted disinterestedly. "Born Alcides, I am Herakles, son of Zeus and Alcmene. Though from what I've heard, being associated with your name is not the compliment it should be." The large man tilted his head in Zoe's direction, who was visibly being held back. The banner she had draped across her seemed to fluctuate its own power, as if it were responding to her emotions, and Chiron made a mental note to ask her what it was.

Hercules scowled back at him as he glanced at Artemis' Lieutenant. "I recommend you don't talk about things you know little about." He lashed out, to which Herakles shrugged.

Hercules then turned to Zeus, who like most of the other gods had been watching the proceedings intently. "Father, I request the right to challenge this imposter."

The room erupted into murmuring at that, those who recently came back from the quest the most vocal, and Artemis snarled. "Denied!" She turned towards Zeus, "Father, this celebration was in honor of the questers for completing their quest. Are we to allow a fight to disrupt such an event?"

"Ever since his formation, his very presence has been siphoning my own power." Hercules rebutted, muscles spasming. "If he wishes to steal my identity, then I demand he prove himself!"

"But you can't!" Thalia protested, "He just helped us with our quest, not only preventing the Titan's from gaining a huge advantage in the war, but providing us with several more advantages!" She gestured towards Pan and the Nemean Lion, who most were giving a wide berth, yet both of whom were watching the proceedings intently.

Zeus hesitated, "Normally I would agree with you, my daughters." He replied heavily to Artemis and Thalia, "But considering the nature of these two, I can hardly deny such a request."

Of course.

Chiron sighed and lowered his head.

Herakles existence was an anomaly. One that forced the gods to consider themselves. While there was precedence with such splits in the case of Harpocrates and Horus, the circumstances were slightly different. In that case, the people knew nothing of Horus, and assumed statues of that god to be a completely different domain, creating Harpocrates.

Now, everybody already knew of the gods. They were world renown. While their legends might be remembered differently, their core personalities managed to carry through. Yet if the gods became different enough than what people assumed them to be, couldn't that same thing happen to them? What would happen if there were two different Zeus's around? Or two different Ares? The gods were already dependent on humanity to a degree, the implications of this sort of thing was huge, especially with what Hercules just revealed about Herakles siphoning his divinity.

Whether it was true or not, simply saying it was enough to make the gods worried.

Chiron was about to protest again when he felt Herakles place a hand on his shoulder.

"Chiron," Herakles rumbled quietly. "Do me a favor and keep the kids out if this, alright? They don't deserve to be caught up in this mess."

Chiron gave him a look, "And what will you do?" He asked.

Herakles just gave a smirk before taking a step towards the gods. "You are not the only one that finds offense with the other's presence." He said loudly, his voice echoing through the room, immediately gaining everybody's attention as he stared down his counterpart. "Hercules, god of courage, a domain which you dishonor with your very existence. I accept your challenge."

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Hercules POV

Hercules scowled at his supposed counterpart as they stood at opposite ends of the arena.

It didn't take long at all for most of the people to relocate. In fact, they appeared to have gained quite a bit more people. He could see his 'wife' in the crowds, as well as quite a few other big names.

He could hardly care. His head was pounding from a migraine that refused to let up, his dreams had been troubled, and a portion of his divinity was being rerouted to some other place. But the straw that broke the camel's back was that the source of all his trouble was a leech using his name being given guest of honor status at a celebration on Olympus.

A different version of him. 0Because people around the world didn't like the 'current' him. How insulting.

Once he had been given a target, it was simple enough to make a plan. Soon he'd be rid of this leech, and things would return to normal.

He focused on the brute and scoffed. "You seem rather calm for somebody going up against me." Receiving only a smirk for his words. Seriously, he couldn't feel a shred of fear in the man.

Hercules was the god of courage and bravery. For somebody not to have any bravery didn't mean they were cowardly - for example, most people didn't need any courage to get out of bed. It was only when they were doing something that they feared that they required enough bravery to counter that fear.

As the god of such, he could not only sense that courage, but he could strengthen or weaken it within somebody if he so desired.

'Herakles' had no such bravery within him. Which meant he wasn't afraid of this fight at all. For this complete lack of fear, he probably compared it to making a grocery run.

On one hand, such arrogance would make this fight easier. On the other, Hercules found himself offended.

"It's impossible for you to win." Hercules threw out. "You don't seriously think you have a chance?"

'Herakles' actually looked surprised at his words, and the man actually began to laugh. It was a deep, belly laugh, one tinged with dark amusement.

"Did I say something funny?" Hercules fumed.

"Hah!" the other man finished his laughter and gave a tight grin, "To say those words to somebody like us, it's the greatest irony, isn't it?"

"Oh?" Hercules glared, "How so?"

"They said it was impossible to defeat the Nemean Lion." He grinned dangerously, "But I did it. They said I had a deathwish to attack the Hydra. But I slaid it in the end. They said I would die if I tried to steal the apples of the Hesperides. But I returned successfully. They said I'd never be able to bring Cerberus from the Underworld. And what do you think happened?"

"And now, here you stand, saying it's impossible for me to win against you." The large man extended his arms invitingly. "I, at least, have made a career off of doing the impossible. What's one more?"

"This is different," Hercules snapped catching the implications. The man was saying that while THAT version, the LEECH, had done the impossible, HE had not. "I have done all of those things plus more. I have been around for two thousand years as a god, while you have barely formed!"

"I defeated Ares while I was still mortal." The man shrugged. "Do you claim to be stronger than the god of war?"

"I defeated the god of war as well!" Hercules snapped, hearing the referee begin the match and lifted his club in preparation. "We have the same past!"

The man scoffed as he lifted his own club, a massive axe-sword hewn from stone. "No," He rumbled, suddenly somber, and Hercules almost snarled at the small amount of pity in that voice. "No, we are not the same."

Hercules smirked as he watched the man carefully, "and you would know this how?"

"I asked. I listened. I learned." The man then began to step forward.

Each of 'Herakles' steps were accompanied by small rumbles, the pressure exuding from him increasing exponentially as he let his divinity loose, and the sky rumbled ominously as it let loose its acknowledgement of another son of Lightning.

Hercules balked at the sudden pressure. Pressure that was pushing up against his own divinity and was suddenly not losing out against it.

"I've done all I could to learn about you." The man rumbled calmly, lightning briefly wreathing across his arms. "and there's one crucial aspect that is different between us."

"Oh?" Hercules shifted his stance as he prepared to charge. "And what would that be?"

Fast.

Almost before he could react, the ground burst beneath the man's feet as he launched himself towards Hercules, their weapons clashing and causing the audience to cry out at the explosion.

"Throughout all of my trials, all of my travels, I stayed true to my purpose." the man murmured as Hercules held off his strike with a grimace. "I wavered at times. I was angry and livid other times. But you. Gave. Up." Their weapons disengaged, and the man dodged Hercules next strike, moving in close to level a punch in his stomach. "And I have no intention of losing to a man that has given up on himself."

Hercules braced himself and quickly prepared for the next round of strikes.

This... Might be harder than he thought it would be.

Quick Note:
What did Herakles mean by saying that Hercules gave up? Well, I know that people like to portray Riordan!Hercules as the spawn of evil and whatnot, but I don't think that's the case. I think the guy went through a lot, more than what most people have gone through, and gave up. The part that most people hate about the guy is abandoning Zoe after she helped him. But if you look it up, the reason he did so was because he was terrified that if it got out that another person helped him, his cousin would say it didn't count and would throw another impossible task at him. And as can be seen from the previous tasks - it feels like the king was trying to kill Hercules by throwing him at impossible tasks. Before then, I think Riordan!Hercules was probably a decent guy.

Now, don't get me wrong - Current Riordan!Hercules is a jerk, and I don't like him any more than you do. But, I think that this is the major crossroads for how Hercules and Herakles turned out. One gave into fear, while the other didn't. That's also why Herakles says that Hercules dishonours his position as the god of courage.