Chapter 7

The first level of Olympus looked like some kinda giant market. There were all sortsa wrecked stalls and scattered merchandise from shops that'd been demolished in the rebellion. Multiple large buildings looked to be some kinda bank or auction hall whose doors'd been sealed shut the second that trouble'd started up. Jackie figured that a Market made sense for a normal town, but he couldn't for the life of him figure out why Gods would need to buy shit. Least until he came across the first corpse.

It was between two buildings down an alleyway that Jackie was looking through where he spotted the corpses. A Bull-headed, humanoid, Minotaur, armored in some kinda bronze breastplate that'd been punched open. A broken bronze spear haft lay snapped in two nearby. The Minotaur wasn't alone neither, the corpse of some kinda Rhino-Man lay nearby, a bronze spearhead lodged in its chest. There were a lotta corpses down that alleyway that Jackie spotted. Goat-legged, horned, Satyrs with broken bows, Myrmidons with chipped swords and battered shields lay mixed together with more dead Minotaur soldiers, Rhino Beastmen and Lion-Headed Beastmen, and Pig-Human Hybrid Beastmen.

Beyond them, a buncha civilian corpses lay hacked apart. A number of flower-clothed Nymphs and Green-skinned Naiads lay cut apart, gored, or beaten to a pulp. It was a fucking horror show and Jackie couldn't believe what he was seeing. How the fuck did the rebels expect to rule shit if this was the way they went about things. Jackie'd done some illegal shit back when he was a criminal, but he ain't never butchered a civvie like this.

"Ares is not like your Eastern War Gods. He does not hold to Codes of Honor or Rules of War the same way your Guandi or Erlang Shen does. He is the merciless brutality of war made manifest. We must hurry if we do not want his madness to spread through the Mortal Realm further." Intoned Princess Diana, putting a hand on Jackie's shoulder.

"All right, mark my words. By the time this shit is over? I'm gonna punch that sonavabitch in the face." Swore Jackie.

"Good luck with that. I have been attempting to do as much for as long as I have been in Man's World, after all." Snorted Princess Diana.

"Whatever, let's just fucking do this." Huffed Jackie.

They ran on, passing through the demolished marketplace and into an area with a buncha temple-looking buildings and all sortsa statues of various gods. Most of the statues lay smashed and broken, Jackie passed by a statue that was apparently Hermes. It'd been broken off its plinth so the only part standing was the little winged sandals the guy always wore. The sounds of a major scrap echoed from up ahead beyond the statue. Jackie looked up and spotted a big palace of some kind that'd been up a flight of stairs near the walls of the first level. There were big-ass red and black banners flying from the Palace's walls.

Beyond the Palace, on the battlements, was a big honking battle going on. A Buncha the Lion, Pig, and Rhino-headed Beastmen were backing up a Helmeted God in black armor with glowing red eyes, a Bearded God in black armor with a red cloak, and a Scarred God in golden armor. These Gods were facing off against Sun Wukong, Erlang Shen, and Brother Piggsy. Brother Sandy was unconscious on the Ground, a pile of Beastman Corpses surrounding him.

"Brother Sandy! All right assholes! Time to get fucked, nobody fucks with my Sworn Brothers!" Challenged Jackie, charging into the Fray.

"Jackie wait!" Called out Princess Diana.

Jackie ain't paying attention to her, though. He was already hurtling forward, Butterfly Swords drawn, and all his buffs up and going. He plowed through a trio of Beastmen, slashing out as he passed by them. His blades trailed thunder as he cut out and his right-hand blade took the head off a Rhino-Headed Beastman even as his left-hand blade tore the throat outta a Pig-Headed Beastman. He kicked out at a Lion-Headed Beastman with all his might, throwing in the Strong-Maned Boar Stomps the Ground and Thundering Qirin's Retributive Hoof Kick Techniques as well. His kick smashed into the surprised Beastman's chest, shattering a buncha ribs, breaking its sternum, and basically pulping its chest.

Jackie didn't stop going neither, lashing out at another group of Beastmen as he cut his way toward the unconscious form of Brother Sandy. He lashed out with a kick that snapped a Rhino-headed Beastman's neck, thrust his right-hand blade up into a Lion-headed Beastman's gut, disemboweling it, and parried a strike from a Pig-headed Beastman's sword before channeling magic into his Right-Hand Blade and letting the storm enchantment on his Butterfly Swords crack out with electric force. The lightning bound in the blade conducted through the Beastman's Blade and killed it with the power of a thunderbolt.

Kicking the corpse away, Jackie almost made it to Brother Sandy before he was smashed aside by a Golden-plated fist with enough force to make his ribs crack even through the armor and all his enhancements. He was sent flying through a nearby group of columns, smashing through the marble and feeling his tailbone creak in protest. Jackie stood up despite his broken rib and bruised tailbone and saw the Scarred God stalking closer to him, an amused grin on his face.

"I don't know who you are, Mortal, but you've got nerve butting into a battle of Gods with your blood so thin. Let's see if you can keep that nerve. Now you face Deimos, the God of Dread." Sneered the Scarred God.

Deimos blurred forward so fast that Jackie barely had time to put up his blades to avoid taking a shot that would've crushed his skull head-on. Even with all his enhancements and the Quicksilver Stepping Method, Deimos was too quick. He parried a fist that would've crushed his windpipe, barely ducked a kick that would've taken his head off with the force of it, and had to bend nearly in half to avoid a blast of some sorta green flame that definitely would've cooked him alive in his armor.

Unfortunately, Deimos seemed to be able to read Jackie's moves somehow before he even threw 'em. The guy was fast and with his mind powers, he was able to force Jackie to make parries and dodges he would've preferred to avoid. He was giving ground to the asshole, and doing it fast. Then he took a shot to the body that broke another of his ribs and sent him flying back into the walls of Olympus, making a Jackie-shaped dent in the stonework.

"Not bad for a mortal! You weathered thirty-six blows from a God, but now it's over!" Roared Deimos, surging forward.

Jackie just barely avoided the God of Dread's rushing, lunging, punch by using the Resplendent Crane Takes Flight to fly up. He kept going till he was a long way up, huffing and puffing as Deimos taunted him from below. Jackie scowled, he oughtta start raining fire on that asshole from above. That'd show him.

"Wait a sec, why ain't I thought about doing that before?" Muttered Jackie to himself.

Going over the battle in his mind's eye, Jackie realized that Deimos'd been hitting him with the Mind Whammy from the start. Using his power over dread to force Jackie into only reacting, scaring him into doing what he wanted him to do, and forcing him to react to his attacks instead of being proactive and what he oughtta be doing, which was flying above him and raining spells down on him.

"I got your number now asshole!" Growled Jackie as he dove down from above and let loose a torrent of spellfire.

His Generalist Elementalism Spells, boosted by the recently drunk power of Dragon's Blood, washed over the God of Dread, fireball catching him in the face and searing into his godly fucking flesh. He could be burned, which meant he could be killed. As Jackie banked up and away from another burst of green flame, he grinned to himself and conjured an icicle that shot forth at Deimos with blinding speed, forcing the God of Dread to dodge away, right into a flying knee strike from Jackie who swooped down after conjuring the spell. The knee-strike connected with Deimos' face and sent the asshole hurtling through the wall of the big-ass palace as Jackie banked up. The roof of that room of the palace collapsed in on Deimos as Jackie grinned in satisfaction.

Jackie had a brief moment to look at the state of the battle. Brother Piggsy was guarding Brother Sandy's unconscious form against a massive wave of Beastmen, while Princess Diana and Erlang Shen hammered the Bearded God from two sides. Brother Monkey, meanwhile, was going toe-to-toe with Ares and seemingly playing with the asshole, laughing away at the God of War like it was any other training exercise. That was all that Jackie had time to take in before his attention was drawn back to the fight at hand by Fucking Deimos.

There was a rumbling noise from the broken-into palace as Deimos tore his way outta the busted-up room. His face, neck, and chest were burned and his nose was crooked from where Jackie'd caught him with a fireball and smashed him with a knee, but he was still raring to go. Meanwhile, Jackie had two broken ribs and a bruised tailbone he was ignoring the pain from successfully, but he ain't too sure how much longer he could keep that up. If this dragged on and nothing changed, Deimos would put him down, eventually.

"Fucking cheating Gods." Spat Jackie.

In response, Deimos sent forth a massive torrent of green flame up at Jackie that he just barely janked to the side of, only to spot some sort of massive dragon flying his way, jaws open. It took Jackie a minute to realize it was just Deimos putting the mind whammy on him again, but that was all the time Deimos needed to clamber up onto the roof of the palace and launch himself at Jackie.

Deimos surged up as Jackie ignored the illusion and swooped down at Deimos. Jackie launched a kick at Deimos that was empowered by everything he had while Deimos punched out at Jackie. Both strikes hit at the same time with the force of a sonic boom echoing out around the first level of Olympus. Jackie was smashed back out over the first level of Olympus while Deimos was kicked downward. As Jackie rocketed back out into and through the roof of some kinda temple, he contented himself with the knowledge that he'd made a God bleed with his kick.

Then darkness took him. . .

XXXX

Jackie woke up with a start after having been knocked unconscious. He wasn't in the temple where he landed, instead having been stretchered onto some kinda cot. He rolled over and sat up, his ribs aching in protest, and found he was naked from the waist up. Someone'd taped up his ribs, but he was alone in an unfamiliar room. Fortunately, his equipment was lying next to the cot and he managed to grab a healing pill from his pill chute. It ain't enough to do more than heal the worst of his wounds, but it'd have to be enough. He had to ration his shit, after all.

Then he shrugged on his armor, mask, pill chute, and armory bag and made his way outta the room. He found himself in some kind of cellar surrounded by a buncha of battered Satyrs and scared, tired-looking Nymphs. There were a few minotaurs laid out on various plus-sized cots, all with wounds patched up, but there was only one Minotaur that was currently up on his feet.

That one was ducking into the cellar from the stairway up above, his bronze breastplate was battered and there ain't no sign of a shield on him, but he was clearly functional. He nodded at Jackie and approached.

"You are with the relief force, yes? Word was there was a battle near Ares' Command Post four hours ago." Intoned the Minotaur.

"Yeah. I had it out with Deimos." Nodded Jackie.

"Come with me. Her Ladyship wishes to speak with you." Commanded the Minotaur.

Jackie frowned, but he ain't really seeing much else he could do. He'd been out for four hours, apparently, which meant that he needed info. He followed the Minotaur up and out into what looked like some kinda warehouse floor. He passed by another pair of Minotaurs in armor that was just as battered as the Guy he was following's was. Then he was led to a Woman in White who was doing something with a cauldron over a fire. The Woman had that glowing aura about her that Gods tended to have and she looked over at Jackie for a moment with Brown Eyes that seemed to look right into his fucking soul. Then her gaze snapped back to the Minotaur.

"Thank you, Maurice. I can take it from here." She nodded. As the Minotaur saluted and turned to walk away, Jackie couldn't help himself. He cracked a huge, shit-eating grin and let out a bit of a laugh.

"Your name's Maurice? What, was Steve the Minotaur taken?" He chuckled. The Minotaur let out an annoyed huff before walking off and the Goddess turned to Jackie.

"That was ill-done. Maurice has served valiantly in the Resistance since Ares and Circe first launched their Coup." Chided the Goddess.

"Is that what this is? The Resistance?" Questioned Jackie.

"What's left of it. Four Hours ago there was a battle near Ares Command Post. Three Hours ago, our base on the second level of Olympus was assaulted by Rebel Demigods. There were few survivors. One hour ago, you were brought to us by Rhapso, a Nymph who operated a tailor's shop near the Temple of Artemis with her sisters on this level before the Coup started. They found you in the shrine of Tyche, having collapsed part of the roof. You were unconscious at the base of her alter." Informed the Goddess.

"Tyche, huh? Ain't that the Goddess of Luck?" Queried Jackie.

"Indeed. Makes you think, doesn't it?" Grinned the Goddess.

"I guess. So, I'm guessing you've got questions?" Prompted Jackie.

"Yes. We don't know much about the battle, but we do know that Ares retreated, however, that doesn't explain why it has taken so long for the Relief Force to arrive. I was hoping you might be able to divulge any information that could tell us why." Responded the Goddess.

"The plan was to set up a forward base before pushing into the second level. Poseidon was supposed to take charge there. As for why it's taking four hours? I couldn't tell you. There were a lotta Beastmen, so presumably there's mop-up operations going on. Do you know what happened to Deimos?" Asked Jackie.

"He was seen retreating with Ares and a badly wounded Phobos. He appeared to have had several teeth knocked out. I suppose that was your doing?" Mused the Goddess.

"Oh yeah." Smirked Jackie.

Over the course of the next Hour, Jackie learned that the Goddess he was talking to was Hestia, Goddess of the Hearth. She was apparently considered a non-combatant by both sides, which don't mean jack shit to Ares if he'd caught her, but it did mean that he ain't going looking for her. That made her the perfect person to set up a resistance. She'd been gathering up scattered resistance fighters and unifying 'em under a central authority for a while, but the resistance'd apparently lost their largest and most organized fighting force when their base under the Gymnasium of Hercules got hit a few hours ago. What they had left was what Jackie'd seen here.

As to where here was, they were in a warehouse owned by the Satyr Gemon who apparently did a brisk business with the Minotaurs and Satyrs still living in hiding down in the Mortal World. Wine and Olive Oil exports from groves on the third level of Olympus, apparently. Gemon was buddy-buddy with Dionysus who'd been wounded pretty bad early on in the Coup and he'd let Hestia use the Warehouse for the resistance as a sorta circuitous revenge.

One hour into his stay, though, a hooded, cloaked, Nymph made her way into the Warehouse from the street entrance in a big-ass hurry. She rushed over to Hestia with a frantic look on her face, breathing hard like she'd run the whole way here.

"Lady Hestia, they're coming! The Rebel Demigods have been tasked with hitting our base! Three of them are almost here!" Hissed the Nymph.

"Eirene, slow down! Which ones are coming?" Demanded Hestia.

"The Boxer and the Swordsman. They're being led by the Son of Deimos!" Answered the Nymph.

"We have to flee. I am no warrior and the forces here cannot handle three Demigods at once." Frowned Hestia.

"Let 'em come. I'll handle them if you'll give me some of your Guys to back me up." Offered Jackie.

"Are you certain?" Questioned Hestia.

"Yeah. I can handle 'em." Affirmed Jackie.

"Very well. We can't have you fighting for us still wounded, however." Pointed out Hestia.

"Can't be helped. I gotta ration my healing items." Shrugged Jackie.

"Fortunately, I have something that can help with that. Have a taste." Intoned Hestia, ladling a bit of the stew that was in the cauldron over the fire out for him.

Jackie shrugged, figuring he ain't got much to lose here since he'd trusted Hestia so far. If she'd wanted to fuck with him, she could've done it while he was knocked out, after all. He took a mouthful of the stew and immediately felt his body restored to be good as new. All his wounds and aches were healed, even a cold that he'd been starting to get before all this that he'd been ignoring for a week, all of it was gone. He felt better than ever.

"Stew prepared by a Hearth Goddess has the effect of a Panacea." Explained Hestia.

"Perfect. Gimme a sec." Grinned Jackie.

Then he reached into his armory bag and pulled out the gourd full of Peach Wine of Immortality. He couldn't figure a better time to do this than with something that could heal any backlash right there, after all. Jackie popped the cork outta the gourd and tossed it back, draining the contents in one go. He felt a fire in his gut as he swallowed the last of the Wine, burning like molten lava. Jackie cried out, clutching his gut as he fell to his knees. It felt like he was dying.

Fortunately, that pain was temporary. Something felt like it gave way inside him and the ball of fire diffused out into energy that supercharged him, pouring into his meridians and blasting open his remaining chakras before his whole Chi system settled into some sorta new, hyper-efficient, configuration. Jackie stood up as a golden haze enveloped him like an aura, the Peach Wine of Immortality strengthening the traces of godhood in his blood as it turned him into a Boddhisatva. As he straightened up, Hestia looked at him inquisitively.

"Are you all right?" She asked.

"I feel better than ever. Let's see those assholes take me now." Smirked Jackie.

Hestia took that as a sign to bug out, leaving behind Maurice, his two Minotaur Buddies, and a trio of Satyr Archers under a Satyr named Petreus to back him up. Jackie didn't think he needed the backup now. He truly felt like he could take on anything the Trio of incoming Demigods could throw at him and more. Hell, Jackie felt like he could handle a rematch with Deimos right now and actually win instead of getting knocked the fuck out. He wouldn't have to wait long to test that feeling out. In ten minutes, three Rebel Demigods arrived to throw down.

Jackie couldn't wait. . .

XXXX

AN: All right, so here we see a few things. First, how Ares and Circe are conducting their Coup. Ares isn't exactly an Honorable War God. He's more of the kill them all and let Zeus sort them out type. It's one of the reasons that he's a recurring Wonder Woman Villain. Accordingly, he'll kill civilians if he thinks they've given him a reason, the same for both Phobos and Deimos. It's why Hestia went into hiding and started organizing a resistance to begin with.

Speaking of Deimos, he's not exactly a super-powerful God. Honestly, he's barely that much stronger than a Demigod. He's still able to beat on Jackie as he was prior to drinking the Peach Wine of Immortality. Jackie got some licks in, but Deimos still knocked his ass out. Now? Now the fight is going to be a lot more even.

Speaking of Jackie, at Boddhisatva Level, he is now as strong, fast, and tough as Wonder Woman or a Kryptonian on, say, Kara's level while he's got his enhancements up. Not enough to contend with guys like Superman, Etrigan, or Captain Marvel, but he's now got plenty of power under the hood. Enough to take on stronger Demigods or Weaker Gods and have an even shot at winning.

Speaking of which, next chapter he'll have his shot at one of those Stronger Demigods as he takes on Yuri Raatko, Tyler Benn, and Henri Tautin of the Rebel Demigods.

Stay tuned. . .