The dense fog spread around them, an opaque curtain of ghostly mist that seemed to distort reality itself.
Ikki, Thalia, and Zoë emerged into this ethereal environment, their presences breaking the silence. The two girls had their own reactions; Zoë quickly recovered, while Thalia was still finishing her surprised yell when Zoë raised a hand in a stern gesture, silencing her immediately. Her piercing gaze scanned their surroundings cautiously.
"Do you want to wake Ladon?" she murmured, her voice laden with warning.
Thalia blinked a few times, still adjusting to the new landscape. One second they were on the docks of San Francisco, and now they found themselves on a fog-shrouded road, as if transported to a different realm.
"You mean we're here?" she asked, frowning.
"We're very close," Zoë replied, not taking her eyes off the path. "Follow me…"
The road ahead seemed intangible, a blend of illusion and reality. Layers of fog undulated across the ground like spectral cloaks. Zoë moved forward without hesitation, her feet touching one of these layers, and in the next instant, she vanished as if swallowed by the mist.
Ikki and Thalia exchanged glances.
Thalia hesitated for a brief moment before stepping forward. As soon as she touched the fog, her silhouette flickered and disappeared. Ikki followed close behind, somewhat impressed that Zoë hadn't been disoriented by the teleportation.
When the fog dissipated around them, the scenery had changed again. They were still on the mountainside, but now the road was muddy, the vegetation denser and more vibrant. The sky boasted a blood-red hue as the sun sank below the horizon, casting long, ominous shadows across the terrain.
Ahead of them, the mountain peak seemed much closer, shrouded in charged clouds that swirled in spirals of storm and raw energy. The path was singular and inescapable, leading directly to a landscape of supernatural beauty: the Gardens of the Hesperides.
If it weren't for the enormous sleeping dragon, the place could be considered paradise. The grass shimmered with a silvery glow, reflecting the last rays of dusk, and lush flowers bloomed in colors so intense they seemed luminous, as if possessing a life of their own. A path of gleaming black marble tiles snaked through the field, leading to the center of the garden, where a colossal apple tree stood, imposing as a sacred temple.
The tree was gigantic, the size of a five-story building. Its sturdy branches were laden with golden apples that weren't merely yellow fruits—they were pure gold, shining with a magical, tempting light. The aroma emanating from them was irresistible, as if promising the most divine taste imaginable.
Thalia stopped beside Ikki, staring at the scene with a mixture of fascination and apprehension.
"The apples of immortality," she whispered. "Hera's wedding gift from Zeus…"
Ikki felt a primal urge to step forward and pluck one from the tree, but something held him back—the dragon.
It was there, asleep, but its presence dominated the garden. Its serpentine body was as thick as a ship's hull, covered in copper scales that reflected the twilight. But what impressed most were its heads—countless, intertwined with each other like a network of giant pythons. Each possessed long, sharp fangs, and although its eyes were closed, the threat it exuded was palpable.
It was then that the shadows around the garden began to stir. An ethereal, almost hypnotic melody floated in the air, like voices calling from a deep abyss.
Before them, four silhouettes shimmered into existence. They were young women, beautiful and mysterious, each wearing white Greek tunics that fluttered gently in the breeze. Their skin had the warm tone of caramel, and their silky black hair fell over their shoulders in perfect waves.
Ikki blinked, surprised. He had never stopped to notice how beautiful Zoë was until he saw them. The four resembled her—beautiful, yes, but there was something more. Something dangerous.
"Sisters…" Zoë said, her voice laden with conflicting emotions.
One of the women tilted her head slightly, her obsidian-black eyes fixed on her.
"We see no sister," she replied, her voice cold as ice. "We see two half-bloods and a Hunter. And you shall all die soon…"
Ikki stepped forward, his posture firm, his gaze challenging.
"You're mistaken," he said, his tone filled with conviction. "No one is dying here today…"
The Hesperides turned their gazes to him, their dark eyes analyzing him with interest.
One of them tilted her head slightly, as if recognizing something.
"Ikki Phoenix…" she whispered, as if his name held special weight.
The Hesperides, aware of Ikki's importance and what he represented to their father, began to approach him with an elegance that bordered on provocative.
The first sister, the most imposing, approached Ikki with slow, calculated steps. She looked at him as if studying him, with a calculating glint in her eyes, as if she saw a weakness in his soul that she could exploit.
"Ikki Phoenix… The hero who went to the underworld to retrieve his father's symbol of power," she whispered, her voice sweet but with a touch of malice. "I've heard so much about you, no one told me you were so handsome. How about spending a night with us?"
She moved even closer, almost touching Ikki's arm, and the glint in her eyes was clear: she was offering more than just words. Thalia, seeing the scene, tried not to look, but her face flushed with embarrassment.
"Sister, please! Have some manners, leave him alone." Zoë also felt the tension in the air and, with a low sigh, stepped forward, trying to block her sister from approaching Ikki.
But she received no response.
The second sister took this opportunity to approach. She smiled with a mixture of mischief and attraction.
"Leave those little girls behind and come have some fun with us…" She leaned slightly towards him, her voice seductive. "I'm sure you wouldn't regret it…"
"We know what you want, Ikki. Isn't it time for you to leave these battles, these scars, behind? Come with us and discover what's truly important. What truly makes you feel alive." The third sister continued without waiting for a response, her eyes fixed on his.
The fourth sister, who until then had been observing silently, approached Ikki with a more penetrating gaze, almost as if she were studying him.
"Come enjoy yourself, Ikki, we'll give you much pleasure and make you forget your pain," she whispered, the provocation evident in her words.
Thalia, unable to ignore it any longer, let out a muffled sigh and looked at Zoë, who was trying to maintain her composure but seemed almost as uncomfortable as she was. The situation was becoming increasingly strange, and the tension between the sisters and the demigod was palpable.
Ikki just stared at them with a poker face, gave a slight smile, and spoke.
"I'm not easily seduced. And I won't fall for these games."
The Hesperides, realizing they wouldn't get what they wanted, backed off, but the mischievous smiles remained on their faces, as if they knew the temptation was never truly about victory, but about the game itself.
The leader of the sisters looked at Ikki with a playful smile, tilting her head with an expression of superiority.
"Zoë, Thalia… you can go. There's nothing more for you here," the leader said in a soft voice, yet full of venom. She then looked at Ikki, her eyes gleaming with a predatory glint. "But Ikki… You can stay, we'll give you much pleasure tonight…"
The other sisters nodded with a smile, their eyes fixed on Ikki, waiting for him to succumb to the temptation they offered.
"Enough of this! No, we won't leave here without Artemis," Zoë said, her voice firm, almost defiant. She looked directly at the leader of the Hesperides. "We must continue towards the mountain."
The Hesperides' leader gave a sarcastic smile but didn't move. "You know he'll kill you," she said. "You're no match for him."
"Artemis must be freed," Zoë insisted, unwavering. "Let us pass."
The eldest sister shook her head, a malicious smile on her face. "You have no right here anymore. We only have to raise our voices, and Ladon will awaken."
Zoë, without flinching, replied, "He won't harm me."
"No? And what about your so-called friends?" The sister taunted, with a look of disdain.
Then, to everyone's surprise, Zoë did something no one expected. She shouted with surprising force: "Ladon! Wake up!"
With that, the dragon Ladon stirred, its immense body lighting up with a metallic glow, and the sound of its hundreds of mouths hissing filled the air. The roar was so powerful that the Hesperides recoiled, as if the dragon's presence were the only factor controlling them. The leader of the Hesperides looked at Zoë with a mixture of frustration and astonishment.
"Are you mad?" she said, her gaze hardening.
Zoë, unperturbed, replied firmly, "You've never had any courage, sister. That's your problem."
As the sisters retreated, the dragon Ladon began to move, its gigantic figure now more menacing. It was confused, as if the orders it had received over time were being challenged. Zoë, with surprising calm, began to take steps toward the golden tree, speaking in a serene voice: "I used to feed you by hand, Ladon. Do you still like lamb's meat?"
The dragon's mouths shimmered, and the tension in the air was palpable. But then, something strange happened. Ikki felt a strange influence in the air, something affecting the dragon's movement, it wasn't fate, it seemed related to Kronos? He noticed that one of Ladon's heads was moving towards Zoë, ready to attack her.
Immediately, Ikki stepped in front of her, blocking the path with a force that surprised even Zoë herself, holding Ladon's enormous head with one hand.
"I'm sorry, Zoë," Ikki said, with a serious look. "But I'll have to kill the dragon."
He quickly punched the head and threw it away, manipulating the wind to blow Zoë towards Thalia and form a barrier to protect the two while he moved.
Ikki watched Ladon, the enormous dragon, snaking towards him with its hundreds of hissing heads and its venomous tongues flicking out threats.
Without hesitation, Ikki channeled his authority over [Lightning].
His eyes shone with an intensity that reflected the lightning about to manifest. The electricity concentrated in his hands, rapidly transforming into a blade made entirely of blue lightning, emanating a light so intense it seemed to illuminate the entire environment.
The energy blade was pure destruction, and Ikki wasted no time. With a movement as quick as thought, he shot towards Ladon. His speed was incomprehensible, leaving only a trail of electricity in the air as he moved. Ladon tried to react, but it couldn't keep up with Ikki's movement. The dragon, with its enormous body, was too slow.
With a single precise strike, Ikki severed one of Ladon's heads with the lightning blade. The impact was so intense that the dragon's head instantly disintegrated in an explosion of light and energy. The dragon roared in pain but didn't have time to recover. Ikki, with the speed of light, severed another head, and then another, the lightning blade slicing through the dragon's heads like a knife through butter.
Ladon, weakened and unable to react, had its heads cut off one after another. With each strike from Ikki, the dragon seemed to lose more and more of its essence. The dragon's roar echoed, but its strength was fading, and it wasn't long before it was completely defeated.
With a final move, Ikki pierced Ladon's central neck, the lightning blade piercing its scaly flesh with ease. The dragon, with no more strength, finally crashed to the ground with a dull thud, its multiple heads now inactive and lifeless.
His [Conceptual Void] seemed to come alive again and quickly swallowed everything around him; the dead dragon vanished as if turned to ash, and even the Apples of Immortality were sucked towards him due to the hunger of his soul, as if caught in the crossfire. Since they were the apex of the concept of [Immortality], it made sense they would be attractive.
As soon as everything was sucked into his [Conceptual Void], his consciousness was pulled into that infinite staircase, where concepts and laws of the world were etched into his soul. He'd been there before, but now it was different. He climbed the steps without hesitation, absorbing knowledge so distant from mortality that logic itself seemed to lose meaning.
Concepts like [Immortality], a concept so absolute and unattainable for mortals, were now within his reach. He understood its essence, its structure. It wasn't just about not dying, but about remaining unchanged by time, independent of the laws of the universe. He achieved total mastery over this concept; he could make people immortal and even remove the immortality of immortals. Everything became possible.
[Poison], something Ladon carried in each of its fangs and corrosive breath. But it wasn't just a physical poison. The dragon possessed toxins that transcended common biology, inducing eternal sleep, a state between life and death that trapped those who dared invade the Garden of the Hesperides. He understood this concept deeply, feeling its structure intertwine with his own existence, able to create and mold this type of poison easily.
But what caught his attention most was the concept of [Serpent Dragon]. He had gained such unexpected understanding, being able to transform into a dragon similar to Ladon, but on a different scale. He could even alter his limbs to those of a dragon.
And most importantly, these three concepts had reached 100%, increasing the fulfillment of his [Conceptual Void] by another 1%, to his surprise. This was great news; he could feel the universe much more clearly in his essence; a myriad of laws and concepts dancing in a cosmic dress.
While he was in his state of "enlightenment," which lasted a brief moment, Zoë, Thalia, and the Hesperides were stunned. They watched with shock and disbelief at what was happening before their eyes. The battlefield, once filled with tension and threat, was now silent. The fallen dragon and the vanished Apples were no longer a threat, and the garden seemed, in its essence, untouched.
But the Hesperides were silent, their gazes fixed on the spot where the dragon and the Apples had been. They felt the loss, and the feeling of helplessness hung in the air. The leader of the sisters' gaze was a mixture of anger and helplessness, while the others just watched, as if the reality was hard to believe.