[center][u][b]December 25th, 2:36 AM
Mount Olympus[/b][/u]

This wasn't going to work.

Before now, she had always had the backup of Ted and his friend, but now Karen was all alone against a [i]literal God.[/i]

He, ironically, didn't seem to want to be here any more than she did.

"Just stand still already," Ares grumbled under his breath. "It'll be much less painful for you that way."

Swinging his divinely constructed xiphos sword down at her in an effort to cleave her vertically in half, Karen only narrowly avoided such a fate with a well-timed leap, a few strands of her blond hair notably being less fortunate as they parted with her. Leveling the flats of her palms at the God of War, a wave of red-hot flames poured forth over Ares, which he dully strode through as if he had just been hit with a mildly annoying gust of wind.

"Really now," he said, "what's the point of all this?"

[color=orchid]"Oh, I don't know, how about [i]saving the world?"[/i][/color] Karen snapped, turning her flames on the golden floor at his feet. It softened around him, and he sank down into it. Even as it began to harden, however, he simply ascended into the sky, forcibly ripping himself free in the process.

"Gaia's doomed," he stated flatly, "you're doomed. Your friends, too...as am I, all thanks to that [i]horrid bitch[/i] you met in the throne room."

Karen was rather surprised to hear the vitriol lacing his words when he referred to his apparent wife. Just what had she done to him, exactly, to make him loathe her so and yet simultaneously refuse to turn against her?

[color=orchid]"If you hate her so much, why do you-hgghk-k-keep fighting for her?"[/color] Karen asked, not-quite-dodging a horizontal strike, which sliced into her shoulder, staining the gleaming floor beneath her red as small globules of blood poured from the wound. Raising her hand to it, a heavy shiver of pain ran up her spine...words couldn't describe how much she missed her invulnerability.

"She has the [i]God Wave Spark[/i] from Tartarus," he said, shrugging. "She's invincible--took out the whole pantheon, father included."

He cast his eyes towards the incapacitated forms of the Gods nearby, each suspended in midair by five silver lances--one through each of their limbs and a final one through their torso. Zeus' situation appeared to be unique, however: the lance through his torso was obsidian in color, and from the end that protruded from his chest shot a wide, almost blinding bolt of lightning into the roof of the palace and presumably into the infinite cosmos beyond it.

"She also made some very...[i]compelling[/i] threats towards my person, should I either harbor thoughts of betrayal or disappoint her," he finished, eyes briefly falling to his crotch. It was covered by what could only be described as a very ornate piece of black armor that seemed partially designed to draw ones gaze to that particular region of his body.

Having found out far more about their marital relationship than she had ever wanted to know, Karen once more partially dodged a slash from Ares that bit into her waist. By this point she had several gashes across her body, and was starting to feel light headed. There didn't seem like much hope for her achieving any kind of victory against this guy.

As much as she hated the idea, she may just have to flee and regroup with the others. Maybe with Ted and his friend back on Earth, they could all figure something out now that they knew who was behind everything that was happening.

Resolving to do just that, Karen steadied herself and prepared to sprint with all her might for the exit. She needed Ted to teleport out of here, so hopefully he would still feel up to it. There was no telling what he and his friend had been put through by this point at the hands of this guy's wife.

Turning away from Ares, he seemed to have not yet grasped her plan, instead thinking it was yet another ploy to delay the inevitable. Good, that meant he would probably--

[color=orchid]"Uh?!"[/color] Karen gasped, reaching up to clutch at her head as a bizarre and overwhelming sensation washed over her. So strong was it that she felt her knees betray her as she collapsed onto the floor, her stomach doing cartwheels. She would've surely been easy for Ares to kill in this moment, if he didn't appear to be having the exact same problem, if not worse.

What was going on? It felt like something had...[i]changed[/i], but she couldn't pen down what exactly that meant.

"S-somebody has altered the flow of hypertime," Ares growled, still trembling. "Eris, not even [i]you[/i] would be so foolish, surely?!"

He seemed transfixed on the exit, as if trying to figure out if his wife was the culprit behind whatever was going on. Despite her own queasiness, however, Karen couldn't help noticing that he seemed rather vulnerable right now. As much as he ever was, in any case.

Extending the middle and index fingers of each hand towards that ridiculous section of armor, she focused not on producing the biggest blast of fire she could managed, but rather the most [i]concentrated[/i] beam. Sure enough, two tight--almost laser-like--lances of crimson flame shot towards his crotch, the black armor soon beginning to glow red.

It took him only a moment to feel the growing heat, his focus on the temporal event violently broken. With a horrified scream, he began frantically trying to remove the armor. Using that opportunity to dash past him with every ounce of augmented speed she possessed, Karen encased her left arm in the hottest fire she could produce before slamming it into the black central lance impaling Zeus.

Shattering like glass beneath the power of her blow, the lightning pouring from the King of the Gods vanished in an instant. Her lips turning into a smile, she was suddenly able to understand [i]exactly[/i] what had happened just then: somebody had rewritten history, and--
they erased Jimmy Chong from it!

Why would they bother doing [i]that?[/i] Why [i]him?[/i] And who was this so-called "Velocity" who was trying to take his place in her memories?

[color=orchid]"HUGHH--!"[/color] Karen gagged, a searing pain lancing through her gut and rapidly working its way through the rest of her body. Carried forward and off her feet by the force of the attack, she noticed--as she fell--the blood-stained sword that now protruded from her stomach.

Shit, she had gotten too caught up in the revelation, just as Ares had earlier.

Slamming hard into the golden floor, she was almost immediately staring up at Ares, having discarded his protective armor and looking pretty livid to boot. Harshly tearing his blade from her gut, Karen vomited up a river of blood at his feet.

"You insolent little [i]worm![/i]" he snapped. "How [i]dare[/i] you seek to mar the perfection of a [i]God![/i]"

She had never felt this kind of pain before. It was almost maddening. When she had been shot, she had hardly felt anything--that was anything but the case here. Worse, she was passing out from the blood loss...but neither of those things mattered, not anymore.

Leveling his sword at her neck, Ares sneered down at her. "Do you have any last words before I extinguish your pathetic existence, brat?"

[color=orchid]"Yeah..."[/color] she replied, staring up at him with the best grin she could muster.

[img] http://txt-dynamic.static.1001fonts.net/txt/b3RmLjcyLmNkYzMzNy5VMmhoZW1GdElRLCwuMQ,,/budidaya.regular.png [/img]

A white lance of spiraling lightning instantly fell upon her, causing Ares eyes to go wide in horror. Glancing up at Zeus, he only then realized what had happened:

"The lightning blocking her signal...!"

[color=orchid]"It's gone,"[/color] Lady Arcana said, stepping forward as the light faded. [color=orchid]"And I'm [i]back[/i]."[/color]

Her uniform was [i]mostly[/i] the same as before, but she realized it was just a little different--rather than purple, it was now a more reddish-violate, and around the hem of her bell sleeves there was now an orange-yellow flame pattern. Reaching a hand down to her stomach, she was happy to feel that her wounds had completely vanished.

"D-damn you...!" Ares hissed, raising his sword again. When he swung it down at her, however, she merely raised her hand to catch it as it fell, her fingers coiling around it. A moment later, the shards of the broken blade clattered to the ground as the God of War staggered back in horror.

[color=orchid]"Alright, Ares,"[/color] Lady Arcana said, smiling, [color=orchid]"Let's see you walk off [i]these[/i] flames!"[/color]

Leveling only a single palm towards the War God, a blinding wave of pure blue fire engulfed his screaming form, the gold beneath them immediately liquefying. Rising high into the ceiling above, it--too--melted instantly as Ares was sent howling into the heavens with burns so severe that even [i]his[/i] godly healing factor would take a good long while to bring him back to fighting condition.

[color=orchid]"Now,"[/color] Arcana glanced to the pantheon, [color=orchid]"Let's get you guys down."[/color]

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