God of War: Daughter of War

Kratos and Flurry spent the majority of the trip to where the Hydra was located between resting and preparing for what was about to happen, since this was a creature on the level of Charybdis, or a level before Alecto's other form, though neither of them knew what to expect this time around. Both knew that the last time they had fought a giant sea creature Flurry had been a little girl, in fact she had done everything in her power to be ignored by the Furies and only succeeded in having one of the sisters hurt the other while she was latched onto her back. This time around she was old enough to join her father in battle and not be forced into the situation she had been forced into the last time, and, if she was being honest with herself, she was a little eager to face such a monster and use all of her skills to take it down. The downside to all of this was that the monster had no doubt killed all sorts of people in the area that Poseidon had spotted it in, resulting in far more loss of life than she deemed necessary, and so she ended up spending some time convincing her father to save as many people as they could when they found the Hydra.

Despite it not being a command from the gods, and might result in more time wasted, Kratos agreed with Flurry, that they would do everything in their power to save the people that were being attacked by the Hydra, and the other monsters that were no doubt in the area as well.

"Shall I continue to guard the ship?" Albis asked, though part of her hoped that the pair would allow her to come along for a time, since she was usually hanging around near their vessel, using her stone gaze to turn attackers into stone and either shattering them with her tail or leaving the statues to be collected and hauled off by the servants of the gods.

"That would be wise. The Hydra has likely created a hazardous area that you wouldn't be able to navigate." Kratos replied, as it made sense to have someone like the gorgon, who their crew knew and even fought beside, as there were a couple of soldiers aboard the ship as well, guarding the ship from anything that might seek to do it harm while they dealt with the very creature the gods wanted them to kill.

Flurry knew that Albis wanted to do more than just be the guardian of the ship and found it somewhat amusing that there could be a monster like her that wanted to be a champion of the gods, but she had to agree with her father, there was no telling how much destruction the Hydra had caused and if there was a path for Albis to use. This was, unfortunately, the best division of responsibility, as she and her father would take to the field and defeat the Hydra, while the gorgon and the rest of the soldiers would defend the ship, not to mention anyone they were able to save during their time in this area. She knew that the Aegean Sea would be chaotic, especially the portion that happened to be where the monster was lurking, so while she understood the gorgon's opinion on the matter, that she wanted to join them for once, she knew that this was simply the best way to go about things. Flurry did, however, hope that whatever came after this would be something Albis could join them for, if even for a short period of time, but knew it was likely a wasted thought, since most of the places that had been to over the years weren't for beings like her.

Eventually she and her father were proven right, as their ship sailed close to what appeared to be a shipwreck that seemed to be the domain of the Hydra, as there were plenty of ruined ships and even some that looked like they had been pulled in rather recently, since a number were still intact. In addition to that there was a storm raging over where the area, like either Poseidon or Zeus had found a way to trap the Hydra here, so the pair could track it down without actually having to chase it down, which was a blessing they weren't expecting to discover, even though Flurry did pull her wings in since this wasn't the time to use them. Kratos ordered the crew to set them up near the outskirts of the storm, because based on what he could see there appeared to be a path from the nearby ship and seemed to head straight to the storm's heart, so if they followed it he reasoned that they would be able to reach the Hydra in no time. The one thing he did regret was the fact that he could no longer call upon the powers that he and Flurry had gained during their last adventure, the magical powers anyway, but his daughter did have the Efreet's container, the Sun Shield, and the gem Charon gave her in her pouch, though despite that fact she could still use those powers with ease.

It was one of those rare times where he was a little jealous of her abilities, where she was able to retain magic with ease, and he recalled Hecate telling him that it might be due to her unique nature that allowed for such a thing, before he turned his attention to the other ship as he found undead legionnaires on the deck.

"It would seem that we're expected. Come, let us send them back to the depths of the Underworld." Kratos stated, where he drew his blades for a moment before leaping over to the other ship, hacking into a couple of monsters that lacked armor, as if they were the weakest of the lot, leaving Flurry to make sure the soldiers and Albis had their orders before joining him on the other ship's deck.

Flurry found that the undead legionnaires were far less effective in battle than the ones they fought during their last quest, as their attacks were easy to read and avoid, where she slashed out with her sickles and cut down her opponents with ease, just as her father did since there were a few downed monsters around him. While that happened a cargo hold that had been chained down, likely by a few sailors before they were slaughtered, burst open as more of the legionnaires crawled out of the floor below them, causing the pair to glance at each other for a moment before attacking the undead once more. She disarmed her foes, by either cutting into their arms to make them drop their weapons or just removing the arms in question to leave them defenseless, before cutting down those who dared to stand before her and her father, all while her father even beheaded one of the legionnaires with his blades. While they did that, however, they heard the sounds of the Hydra off in the distance, no doubt attacking some ships or whoever dared to stand before it, meaning as long as it was preoccupied they had a chance to catch up to it and take it down, just as the gods had commanded.

Once they were sure that there were no more undead legionnaires in the area, and Albis confirmed that since she had a far greater view of the area than they did, Kratos left the area in the control of the soldiers on the ship as he and Flurry continued on their way, lifting the door to the cargo hold and jumping down into the lower deck.

Sure enough they discovered that some of the walls of the lower floor were broken, thus Kratos and Flurry had to carefully break down all of the wood that happened to be in their way, before they found a larger portion that happened to be the location that one of the Hydra heads decided to attack them in. Flurry stared at the large serpentine head that had a fair number of sharp teeth in it's mouth, plus it had fins on the side of it's head, almost like two halves of a beard, though as it attacked them the pair raised their weapons to block it's attack, as their weapons were more than capable of such a thing and allowed both warriors to push the head backward. What they discovered was that it just tried to bite them repeatedly, without changing up it's routine, meaning it was either a dumb head, if the heads were separated from each other, or the main head wanted it to do something else besides bother the main body. When an opening revealed itself to them both Kratos and Flurry latched onto the head with their weapons and swung their arms, forcing the head to move and slam into one of the walls around them, before doing so a few more times to weaken it, and when it rested on the walkway both warriors stabbed it in the eye, causing it to shriek in pain before pulling back.

"Reminds me of the basilisk." Flurry commented, as they had fought the beast in question once before hitting it again with siege weapons before coming to a final battle with it, and right now it sure seemed like they would be repeating that event with the Hydra, though she wasn't about to question it since monsters worked in mysterious ways.

"Yes, and like the basilisk the Hydra is causing havoc and needs to be put down." Kratos replied, though at the same time he started to walk across all of the wreckage that was in front of them, since the creature had done some damage to the part of the ship they were passing through, but he could see more Hydra heads attacking more ships thanks to a hole in front of them.

Flurry found that her father moved across the beams with ease, he had made sure his own training was ready for anything the gods might ask them to do, though she quickly crossed over them once he indicated that there were no enemies, not that she was expecting any after coming into contact with the Hydra, before they found what appeared to be a holding cell of a shattered ship.

"No, stay away!" a voice said, where they found a male figure locking himself in the cell, either because he thought it might be enough to save him from the Hydra or because he didn't trust them, even though Flurry found that he was looked like a merchant, likely someone who had been transporting items before being attacked by the Hydra, "I know who you are, Spartan, and I know what you've done!"

"You mean saving the world and chaining the titan Atlas to hold the world up?" Flurry inquired, because while she knew that many people knew about her father's reputation before he met her, the whole 'Ghost of Sparta' story that he told her about when he felt that the time was right for her to know the truth about his ashen skin and the fact that Ares forced him to murder his own wife and child, she was hoping their recent quest had made waves.

"What in the world are you talking about?" the man asked, his confused expression telling Flurry and Kratos everything they needed to know, something that annoyed both of them when they thought about what they had seen in the past, as some people still looked at her father like he was a monster, despite everything that happened in the Underworld during their last quest.

Kratos growled for a moment as he thought about this, as the gods had denied him the release from his nightmares that he wanted, the very thing he had asked for countless times and continued to serve them with no end in sight, and now he was learning that no one knew of their victory over Persephone and Atlas. He understood not wanting people to know of Persephone's role in everything, but it was annoying that the gods had decided not tell anyone that they had chained the titan in his new prison, though he found that Flurry was shaking her head, silently telling him not to react. It was times like this that he was glad to have her around, as she made sure he didn't explode with rage when things like this happened, to which he nodded his head before they headed down the path that was nearby, leaving the man to his fate, even though Flurry did tell him about the safety of their ship. Kratos said nothing to that, as he always found it interesting that Flurry tried to get people to see that their lives were worth living, worth valuing even in the most dangerous of times, as if talking with Persephone had caused something to snap in her and changed her approach to things.

The door at the end of the path brought them to the deck of another ship, where they found the crew of the ship under attack by both harpies and several small Hydra heads, causing Flurry to switch to her bow as she loosed a few arrows into the air, hitting the flying enemies as Kratos ushered the crew to safety before lashing out at the heads with his blades. As that happened, however, one of the larger Hydra heads, sensing that they were attacking some of the smaller heads, just burst through the center of the deck and attacked them without wasting time, meaning it either wanted to keep the other heads safe or it wanted them both dead. Either way Kratos and Flurry turned their attention on it, using their weapons to defend themselves from harm while lashing out when an opening was revealed to them, where Flurry realized that their primordial weapons, as the Blades of Chaos were said to possess primordial fire and hers seemed to be primordial death, seemed to form a shield of sorts that repelled certain attacks. It was the only way for her to explain how they were able to deflect a giant serpent's mouth and teeth without being devoured, or even severely hurt, but her father didn't care about explaining it as he focused on hacking into the head's side, causing her to do the same thing.

This head, however, they just brutalized as Kratos carved off scales and Flurry sliced through it's defenses with ease, as it offered no opening for either of them to slam it into the ground or the rocks around them, and when it had taken enough damage it fled with a weak roar, leaving behind a hole in yet another ship.

With no other path forward available to them the pair jumped into the hole that the head had made and found that they could, in fact, swim into the ship and seek another path, which involved locating a net that they could use to pull themselves up onto a damaged deck that had more legionnaires for them to fight. Fortunately none of the undead noticed them arrive, so they were able to climb up onto the deck with ease before lashing out at their enemies, both hacking the limbs off of their enemies before Flurry spotted some flyers and knocked them out of the air with her bow. Once the undead were dealt with Flurry found that a few masts had fallen near the front of the ship, one for this ship and two from other ships, forming a new path for them to take, so Kratos started to move across it first before she followed after him, finding that they were walking above some rather sharp rocks, which had no doubt crippled some ships as well. She also noticed a few crew members off to the side, trying to fight off a Hydra head on their own while using oars, though Flurry braced herself and loosed an arrow into it's eye while it was distracted, causing the head to retreat in pain before she used a bit of magic to move the pair to a safe area so they could retreat.

When they reached the end of the masts, however, they found a number of crew members under assault by several archers, undead ones using fire arrows no less, though while a man rushed up to speak with Kratos, about how their arrival had been foretold by the gods, Flurry counted her targets, readied her arrows, and rapidly loosed them, taking down the archers in a matter of seconds.

"There, the coast is clear... your salvation has arrived, just as foretold." Flurry remarked, causing the man and the rest of the survivors that were on the deck below her to stand there with a stunned look on their faces, as if none of them could even comprehend the fact that she, a fourteen year old, could take down an entire group of archers with ease, especially while in the middle of a storm.

Kratos resisted the urge to chuckle at the scene, as it was amazing to see when people were surprised by his daughters' vast skills, though he kept his usual expression as he followed her in jumping down onto the deck below them, only to move one of the crates that were on the deck to the side the archers had been on. The path they found happened to lead into the ship for a short time, coming out to the backside where a locked door was located, likely one leading to the quarters of the man who served as the captain of this vessel, and on the other side Flurry could hear ladies rushing to hide. Such a thing meant that they would have to track down the captain and retrieve his key, since their ship would be much safer than this, to which Flurry sighed as her father climbed a ladder that was nearby and then followed him without delay, since the Hydra wasn't going to kill itself. The path, as she discovered, meant climbing up the net that was above them, where she found that there were a number of legionnaires climbing down to attack and she raised her bow, loosing a couple of arrows to make sure her father was able to reach the peak without anything stopping him, and once he was in position she rapidly climbed up the net before reaching the peak.

At the peak they discovered a rope that happened to connect to a ship off in the distance, where the pair rode down it and landed on another deck, the backside of one, before smashing their way through a blockade that was in their way, allowing them to enter the ship's interior, only to discover a chamber with two statues of what looked like Poseidon and a wall of magic blocking the way forward.

"Lord Poseidon." Kratos and Flurry said, because as they entered the area both spotted what appeared to be an offering area of some kind off to the side, knocked over by the Hydra's attack no doubt, meaning that the crew likely made some sort of offering to the God of the Sea before the attack stated.

Kratos, Flurry, your skills are admirable, but you will need some assistance in taking down this Hydra... take the power I am offering and take down this beast. Poseidon stated, his voice echoing from the magical wall that was in front of them, though at the same time a surge of power rushed into the pair as they stood there, where it was like some form of lightning based on what Flurry felt.

After the rush faded the pair found that some undead legionnaires walked down into the chamber and attacked them, a fact that allowed both warriors to test the power that Poseidon had granted them for the duration of this quest, since the pair knew that there had to be more after the Hydra. Kratos stepped forward and found that when he channeled his new power it generated several bits of lightning, or electricity he guessed the scholars would call it, that stuck the area around him and shocked his enemies until nothing was left, while Flurry raised an eyebrow as she stood near the statues. It was a power to use when they were surrounded by overwhelming numbers, or if they wanted to do great damage to a single foe to bring it down quicker, though she had to wonder if there was a way for them to channel their new power into either of their weapons, something she'd have to test later. A second wave of undead legionnaires came at them after the first set fell, to which Flurry switched out with her father and channeled it at her foes, shocking them into submission with ease, and once both of them had a chance to test it out the magical barrier dissolved, indicating that Poseidon was pleased with them learning how to wield this new power and that they were allowed to move on.

On the exterior of the ship they found another net to climb and discovered that it brought them to a new deck, one that had two of the larger Hydra heads that they had fought so far, tearing into what remained of the crew, before discovering a larger one that seemed to be the main head, which ended up eating the captain who had the key.

"Well, that makes things easier for us, as now we can complete two objectives with one death." Flurry said, where she and her father shifted their stances for a moment, drawing their weapons and holding them at the ready as they stared at the heads of the Hydra, where all three turned and faced them for a time.

Kratos had nothing to add to that remark, as killing the Hydra would fulfill the quest that the gods had given them and the key would allow them to free the ladies in the locked chamber, though as he thought about that he beckoned to Flurry for a moment and she nodded her head, as there were three heads and two of them. The plan was rather simple, they were going to take different heads, him the left and her the right, where both would deal damage to their targets and hope that they knocked them down, into an unconscious or stunned state, because there were spikes that could be dropped into both of their necks. If that happened to both of the heads that were actually attacking them, as the largest one was simply watching them right now, Kratos assumed that it would cause the larger one to come down and attack them, which might end the entire beast if they were lucky, and he was pleased to see that his daughter knew the plan without being told what to do. Since neither head seemed to do anything different in the grand scheme of things, they had the same attacks that the pair had witnessed earlier, Flurry and her father were able to knock around their opponents and then, after climbing up a few crates, dropped the spikes into the necks of the heads, pinning them down before they climbed up to where the prime head rested.

The pair found that the prime head had a powerful roar, which they stood their ground against, and it tried to bite into the platform they were standing on, the latter opening the way for both warriors to wail on him with their weapons and their new electric power, shocking the creature in the process. Flurry found that it was rather foolish for the beast to do such a thing, lower itself down to where they could attack it, even if it was trying to eat them she reasoned, though she decided not to question what was going through the monster's mind and focused on the battle. They did find moments where one of them could latch onto the Hydra's prime head and slam it into the top of the broken mast that was above them, which ended up breaking it several times as well and opened the way for them to use it as a stabbing weapon. Kratos utilized it as he latched onto the head's eye, pulled himself onto it's head, and then propelled himself off in a way that allowed him to pull it down with him, allowing him to force the head down into the ruined platform as Flurry got out of the way, only for them to find that the spiked mast went right through it's jaw and an eye.

Flurry moved onto the creature's head and slashed into the top of it's head, unleashing the power of Poseidon's gift into the Hydra's head as she shocked it to death, leaving it's mouth open with the tongue out as all of the other heads perished as well, causing the pair to sigh as Kratos headed inside to see if the captain was alive.

Surprisingly the man was still alive and, despite being absolutely terrified of Kratos, he handed over the key without even a word, allowing him and Flurry to track down another rope that they rode down to the deck of the archer ship, leaving the captain to return to their intact ship on his own. It took them no time at all to return to the locked door and found that a few of the ladies had been slain by undead legionnaires, something that triggered Kratos as he slaughtered all of the foes he could find, all while Flurry did her best to make sure the others were still alive. Sure, some of the ladies wondered who she was, before realizing that they heard the tales about her and the assaults on Attica, how she turned the tides against the Persians with her father, causing them to follow Flurry to safety, even though she did use her magic to form a far safer path for them and the other survivors to use. Of course she and her father had to explain that things were fine when they noticed a few looking at Albis, worried that they were going to be turned into statues, but upon hearing that she was also a servant of the gods they embraced her existence before boarding the ship.

Once everyone was accounted for, and that included the captain who held the key earlier, they departed from the section of the sea that the Hydra had been terrorizing, though as Flurry started to unwind she found that her father had several of the female survivors gather around him.

"Of course... father gets thanked, and I get ignored. Sounds about right." Flurry remarked, though by this point in time she knew what sort of reward the ladies had for her father and understood why Albis had ushered her away from the scenes when she was younger, as it was basically him having sex with those they either saved or those they assisted in some way, like right now, causing her to sigh as she sat on the deck and looked at the sky.

"Aren't you going to go below deck?" Albis asked, as it worried her that Flurry would do this, sit on the deck in the middle of a storm, even though she guessed that it might be something unique to her, like she was doing this to help train herself in some manner that only she knew about.

"Not for a while... just have to wait until father comes storming out to talk to the gods." Flurry replied, gesturing to the lone statue of Athena that was a core component of their ship, as her father and others prayed to her every so often, especially when something caused her father's rage to surface, so while he might enjoy himself for a time she knew he'd be out here in no time at all.

Albis said nothing to that as she coiled around Flurry and positioned herself like she was shielding her from the rain, due to the fact that she didn't want the young lady to get sick from all of the rain, only to find that they didn't have to wait very long, as not ten minutes later Kratos emerged from the lower deck and approached Athena's statue, where the gorgon let Flurry out as she backed away from the pair.

"Athena, the quest you gave us is complete: the Hydra is dead." Kratos stated, though while Flurry could tell that he was a bit pissed by what they had discovered, about no one knowing about them saving the world from Atlas, she knew there was something else eating away at him and suspected that it was the nightmares, "We have survivors on board as well... shall we bring them to Athens?"

I am afraid that my city is no longer safe... my brother, Ares, is attacking my city as we speak. Athena replied, which was news to them, since none of the gods had said anything to them on the way to the Hydra's domain, save for Poseidon before the battle with the beast.

"Ares... let me guess, you want the god-killers to kill another god?" Flurry asked, though at the same time she was sure that the God of War had broken one of the main rules of the Olympians, that they weren't supposed to manifest like this, ready for battle, unless backed by their followers, or at least that was Zeus' rule on the matter, and that Athena was asking them for aid thanks to what she did to Persephone.

Yes. I cannot challenge him directly, since that would break another of Zeus' rules... but you two, the champions of the Olympians, can fight him in my stead. Athena said, where Flurry noticed that her father tried to remain straight faced as they listened to the goddess talk, even though his rage had to be burning as he imagined bringing Ares to justice for all of his crimes against him, especially the loss of his late wife and daughter, Seek the Oracle of Athens, for she will guide you on your path. Do this for us, Kratos, and the very past that you are haunted by shall be forgiven.

Kratos acknowledged the order before marching off to tell the crew to make way for Sparta, so they could drop off all of the survivors in a safe haven, as Ares wouldn't attack a city that worshiped him, and made sure that once they were done with that visit they would make way to Athens, all while Flurry wondered what the near future had in store for them and the God of War.