One month later, Olympus was under siege. 

"Charge!" Hercules yelled as he plunged his body into the mass of black blades, smashing tens of them aside with every swipe of his muscular arms. 

This was the battle to defend Olympus and the Olympian Gods were out in full force against this new threat that destroyed Tir na rog. 

The enemy had carved their way from the Badlands all the way into End of Days territory and the nearest city was Olympus, after razing everything in between. 

The black blades swarmed the city walls, slicing numerous warriors to bits. 

Apollo's chariot flew over the enemy as he rained fire upon them. 

Mercury zipped through the enemy forces at superhuman speeds, but found killing them difficult due to their hard armor, even at his speed. 

Ares stood still, firing his automatic rifle with his left arm while cleaving through the enemy with his war axe in his right. 

His right hand man Achilles plowed through the enemy and joined Hercules trying to carve their way out of the city

Hundreds of warriors from Earth, from Level 1 to Level 6 were the bulk of the army.

Among them was the incredible Sarah Lochear, the warrior who got from Level 1 to Level 4 within 3 years, a speed matching the legends.

Together with Achilles, Sarah was now one of Ares' trusted lieutenants and was leading a team of warriors herself.  

Other familiar faces were the Level 3 mages Daniel Jones and Evangeline Northington, Level 3 Warriors Mat Rat and Raymond Bundy

There were also the Level 2 warriors Hatchiman Gurung and Ricky Yamamoto who Lionel also met in the training zone. 

This group joined the Greek pantheon and Olympus upon entering the End of Days. Annora Lee and Nico Nguyen on the other hand apparently joined the Chinese pantheon whom they were more comfortable with.

The battle lasted for days with both sides taking heavy casualties when, after a tremendous sacrifice of thousands of lives, the forces of Olympus finally pushed back the black blades. 

"Pursue and eliminate all of them!" Hercules yelled as he chased after the enemy forces together with Ares, Achilles and Sarah

The Olympian forces chased the enemy, killing all of them until they arrived at a patch of land where all the black blades were already killed for 1 km diameter all around. 

There was a group of heavily injured women, their clothes hanging off their bloodied bodies like ribbons. 

"Who are you! Identify yourselves!" Hercules yelled from afar. 

One of the woman put her hands up to say something, but she was too wounded to voice her words. 

"Wait! I recognize them! That's Tanya Grayson! The others... Monet Luca, Alissa the elf and Larissa the dark elf. I think they are the Wildcats from Fort Larimar!" Achilles suddenly said as he approached them cautiously.

"Achilles!" Catherine suddenly called

"Catherine Rosewald!" Achilles said as he recognized the head of the Mercenary Guild of Fort Larimar.

The girls were battered and bloodied, but they didn't seem injured too badly. In fact, they seem to be recovering now that the forces of Olympus have secured the area

Achilles introduced the girls to Hercules and realized he didn't recognize the final person

"I am Sophia of the House of Roland" Sophia bowed gracefully.

"Oh I know your father the Duke"

"He.. he's gone. I'm the only one left alive" she said

"And we're the only survivors of Fort Larimar" Tanya said

"About that... .how did you manage to get all the way here?" Achilles asked as they were led back to Olympus

"We... we had help from a powerful immortal warrior named... ah... Lyon Taiga" Tanya said

"Lyon Taiga? I've never heard of him" Hercules said

"Probably not. We rescued him from the outskirts of Fort Larimar and he joined the Wildcats for a while before venturing out on his own. He grew incredibly fast and is easily the most powerful among us" Alissa said

Hercules looked at all of them and were shocked that Catherine, Alissa and Larissa were Level 6 while Tanya, Monet were Level 5s. Sophia was a level 4! This was a powerful force indeed. 

"More powerful than you... at least a Level 6 then. I would very much like to meet this Lyon Taiga" Hercules said

"He... he decided to charge into the demon territory by himself. We couldn't dissuade him, so we headed here instead" Alissa said

"That's suicide! How foolhardy is he?" Apollo said as he joined the conversation

"A warrior after my own heart!" Ares laughed

They were led back to the city, and Sarah was placed in charge of their accommodations, at the main mercenary guild at Olympus. 

The ladies recognized that this young lady Sarah, who didn't look much older than Sophia, was a highly respected warrior here, based on how everyone treated her. 

Sarah brought them to the baths and as they bathed together, she finally said something. 

"You ladies... have the same scent" she said

"You too" Tanya replied staring glaringly at Sarah in a suddenly frosty atmosphere. 

"You...you've met Lionel haven't you?" she suddenly asked

"You know Lionel? Who is he to you?" Alissa asked

"He turned me into what I am today. I am... I was his lover together with Lady Hebe" Sarah admitted

"Is he friend of foe to you?" Catherine asked bluntly. 

"He... there's still a bounty on his head. Officially, he's my foe. But in private... he's my rescuer and the only reason I'm alive and able to rise to what I am today" she said

"That's good to know" Tanya smiled

"Then... where is he?" Sarah asked

"You know, I told Lord Hercules about Lyon Taiga? That's his new guise now" Tanya said

"And he charged right into the heart of demon territory? That's so like him. Has he been doing that all these years?" Sarah continued asking

"These few years? No. He crashed from his teleportation only a few months ago when we found him all burnt to a crisp. He said the last thing he remembered was that he was attacked before he entered the portal to the End of Days and ended up here" Tanya said

"But.. but that was 3 years ago!" Sarah gasped

"Yeah. Somehow he disappeared for 3 years and only just rejoined us here in this realm a few months ago" Alissa said

"Then what level is he now?" Sarah asked

"When we found him, he was a Level 1. But he had the battle capacity of at least a Level 5. Most likely much higher" Catherine said

"That's him alright! Just so like him." Sarah said with a sad smile

"Oh right! How is Lady Hebe?" Tanya asked

"Lady Hebe? No one has really seen her after what happened. It is rumored that she has recovered from her coma, but no one has seen her for years" Sarah said

"That's probably his one regret" Tanya said

"So he doesn't think about me huh?" Sarah huffed

"Why would he regret anything with you?" Larissa sked

Sarah blushed and smiled. She missed Lionel indeed. But she didn't like the thought that there were so many pretty girls who seemed to be his lovers too, so much so that he blessed them with the same awesome powers that she received from him.