The kneeling body of the archon trembled with fear, anger and amazement in front of Asterion, behind the polemarch an eye of light observed the situation in the distance.

  -Jason... Damn you!

  An arrow immediately buried itself in Silaus leg, who reacted just slightly to the pain.

  -Don't kill him yet Lita, we need him.

  Another arrow shot out of her bow, this time hitting the defeated man shoulder.

  -Laconia.

  The thumb under the bestiary foot was crushed and roasted but could still be grafted back on.

  -I will give you this toe and then you will undo your fifth favor, that in exchange for a quick death.

  The archon received a third arrow in his hand as he lowered his head, the tips of the arrows made wood grow inside his flesh and even his bones slowly began to fill with painful splinters, yet the warrior did not give a single cry of pain, he only greeted them with a horrible laugh.

  -How did you do it?

  -Hmm?

  -Was this also Jason plan?

  A fourth arrow impacted against the femur, the archon veins seemed about to burst; although he could hide his sounds, his body was clearly in terrible agony.

  -The plan has long deviated since its original path Silao I only decided to adapt, when one of your minotaurs almost killed me Jason decided to watch over me with his light.

  -That bastard, watching our fight even while facing Theseus.

  -At that moment I just waited for your overconfidence to burst out, something I see you are used to doing. Release the favor Silao.

  The horde of controlled minotaurs kept coming towards the labyrinth even with the favor of the severed archon while his laugh kept echoing off the walls of the place.

  -I never thought of a way to free them Asterion, they are already dead, but you already know that, don't you? Why are you doing this? Just kill me.

  -... No.

  A fifth arrow buried in the chest of the archon, but his heart did not stop and at that moment he realized the true purpose of the arrows.

  -WAIT!

  - Κυπαρ?σσσι -

  Lita hoops glowed while from the tips of her arrows slowly grew a hard and thin wood that buried itself in the bones of the archon as he could no longer contain his cry of pain, the suffering continued without being killed until finally when his screams ceased he was aware of his situation.

  -Get up.

  Hearing Lita words his body immediately rose up in a completely unnatural way, the wood inside his body twisted bones, muscles and tendons simulating the movement of an animal, he had become a puppet of logs and flesh.

  After a few moments all the minotaurs controlled by Silao fell to the ground, once the blessing finished its effect their brains and nerves were melted by the archon discharges, without any minotaur capable of creating protective katadesmos to evade the favor the only solution was to be controlled by Jason fifth favor, however this can only imitate favors with half of its strength which means that half of the cynocephali perished. Lita slowly approached the archon with tears in her eyes.

  -You will receive an arrow for each being you have enslaved, year after year until you have paid for each of their lives, heleny.

  Asterion put his hand on the cynocephalus back.

  -Your people are already free Lita, go with them.

  His bow now pointed at the polemarch as Laconia stepped in between.

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  -Was this really the only way?

  The cynocephali were already few before they were enslaved, they got used to being displaced from their lands by the minotaurs and then imprisoned and used by the heleny, because of them their population had been halved in exchange for a new freedom that doesn’t promise them a favorable future if they did not receive blessings like Lita.

  -I'm so sorry Lita.

  Niko rose with his last effort and knelt in front of the archer.

  -I'm... sorry.

  Lita slowly lowered her bow and her gaze.

  -You and only you guys... are forgiven.

  -Ha...ha...ha...ha.

  The defeated archon was still laughing despite being covered in his own blood.

  -You cut off a claw... Now how are you going to cut off the head... Asterion?

  Laconia and Asterion turned to look at Silao.

  -I know very well what your plan is... You and I want the same thing and look... Look how it will end up.

  A sharp blow to the archon jaw almost destroyed it completely as Laconia prevented her enemy from speaking any further.

  -Let's go Asterion, before time runs out.

  Niko and Lita were taken aback, Laconia who was by far their most focused and composed member was now enraged and a look full of determination filled her eyes. Asterion crouched down to stand face to face with Niko.

  -Thank you my friend, take care of yourself, we won't see each other again.

  -Huh?

  Another blow in the jaw this time from Asterion towards Niko left the latter knocked out, Lita raised her bow once again by reflex but didn't shoot any arrow when she saw that the polemarch laid with the utmost gentleness his thracian on the ground.

  -What are you doing?

  The minotaurs who were previously fighting the slaves seeing how their opponents all fell to the ground walked around the side of the phalanx straight to help their leader, they didn't even give a single glance to the dead as their work was not yet finished nor was Asterion and Laconia.

  -I don't know if we have time to discuss this, but you don't need to get involved.

  Asterion and Laconia walked alongside the minotaurs, all of them had the same look in their eyes. All of Theseus warriors attacked Jason who had yet to receive a single blow from the minotaur, the only wounds on his body had been caused by Silao but Theseus did not seem to back down no matter how many cuts and thrusts he received, it was a battle of attrition and his soldiers did not come close to fighting fair, against an enemy of this caliber there were no luxuries like honor or justice and even though minotaurs are quite clumsy when it comes to throwing their blessings they accumulated large chunks of stone or bronze in their palms slowly forming javelins that they threw with all their might against the archon of light.

  -Aren't you going to help him?

  Lita followed her companions who stopped just behind the wall of barely fifteen minotaurs, the phalanx had no intention of attacking them.

  -You only used “forge” right?

  -Yes, I still have three favors left.

  -I'd tell you to attack as soon as he lets his guard down, but we both know he'll never do anything like that, I’ll give us chance.

  -Asterion... Be careful.

  -If I have it I'm sure it won't work.

  The polemarch walked under the rain of javelins as Laconia ring glowed slightly. Lita watched the battle confused. Why didn't the minotaurs attack the heleny?

  -Why do the mycenaeans seem to be allied with Asterion?

  Laconia slowly raised her sword pointing it at Jason.

  -Asterion seems to be liked by Theseus, I don't know why.

  -Are you going to betray the archon?

  The archon right now had in his control a large amount of cynocephali in his control by copying the fifth favor of Silao, if he died the rest of the cynocephali that were enslaved would die as well. Lita pointed her bow at Laconia.

  -You don't know what you're doing, little doe.

  Despite being aimed the bestiary eyes did not stray from their target.

  -Convince me, big lizard.

  Embers came out of Laconia mouth as she spoke.

  -I'm not good with words like the polemarch so I'll tell it to you straight, Jason was never on our side and we were never on his.

  Lita thought she understood the situation.

  -Same objectives, right?

  -No, we don't even have the same objective.

  The cynocephalus face clouded with doubts.

  -Then why?

  -Fun. I don't know if your people will be saved or not if we kill him, but it will be better than the fate they suffer right now.

  -What?

  -Open your eyes.

  Hundreds of Jason light controlled cynocephali were walking towards Helena, if all the marked by Silao were controlled by his favor now half of them were stolen by Jason favor and now these were marching silently over the pile of bodies.

  -What is he doing?

  -Choose which side you want to be on, doe.

  Asterion was slowly approaching through the ruins of the temple towards the center of the fight, both warriors were throwing slash after slash at each other like a bloody dance, the archon of light dodged every javelin, every slash, kick or blow as if he was seeing the future, his unsurpassed skill only stopped when he heard the voice of his companion.

  -JASON!

  The archon turned his gaze for just a moment as he cut off Theseus right hand.

  -Asterion?

  Lita ring lit up to its fullest and a small sphere of fire on the tip of her sword pulsed steadily.

  -I'm also sorry doe, but it's too late for regrets now.

  - λ?γχη -

  A huge fire spear was heading towards Asterion who had his gaze fixed on Jason, the latter seeing how the favor would murder the polemarch had no choice but to save him while fighting Theseus.

  - Αρμον?α -

  From the light of the fleece that covered the back of the archon of light came an exact copy of him completely white, contrary to the illusions of light that before generated the ruler this copy cut Theseus again and again, his sword burned the flesh of the minotaur avoiding the pink fire with an impossible precision and while this favor fought against the bull Jason with his sword cut in two the favor of Laconia as if it were a piece of paper, the fire covered every possible view and there were more and more embers coming out of Laconia mouth.

  -Go to the Hades.

  A second flare from inside the bestiary mouth was heading towards Asterion and the archon blade moved at such a speed that it redirected each flame away from both of them as he walked forward and when the last flame finally disappeared a terrible pain was felt in his neck, when the archon put his hand on his throat an unexpected obstacle was in the way, a small blade buried from his nape to his throat filled his whole mouth with blood as he turned his gaze.

  -I forgive you Jason.

  Asterion bloodied hands removed the dagger from the archon neck to direct it towards his heart, the blade struck full impact shattering the organ as they both stared into each other eyes.

  Each favor has a divine name that is given to the blessed to sing it to their god in order to receive their strength, the five fingers are the link between the blessed and their god while the voice is their prayer, having five fingers allows you to control the blessing but without voice you cannot sing a favor, Asterion dagger had completely destroyed the archon throat and the face of the polemarch had a sad and sweet smile full of rage, regret and satisfaction.

  -Farewell archon.

  When the polemarch tried to withdraw the dagger from Jason chest he grabbed his arm with such force that it destroyed his radius and ulna like tree branches and forced him even closer.

  Javelins of stone and bronze were flying towards the archon, Laconia was running with all her strength to join the combat and Lita bow stopped drawing as she watched without making a decision. When Asterion looked Jason in his eyes again he smiled back and the polemarch left ear heard the archon voice even though the archon was not moving his lips.

  -You finally took the offensive, Asterion.

  The polemarch had seen hundreds of times how Jason sword was so fast that when it cut the air it seemed to whistle, but for the first time in his life he had seen how the sword was “speaking” to him, cutting the air and generating sound waves exactly like the archon voice.

  -Let's keep playing.

  Jason fleece shone as if it was the brighter star in the middle of the darkest night.

  - Δελφο? -