The Nameless Heir

"So, are you going to show yourself? I'm kinda tired of all this nonsense."

"Unlike you, I have things I need to do. You, hiding your whole life. Letting your brother be killed and vanish into Tartarus while you cowered away from everything. Tucked yourself somewhere no one could reach you."

He swung his blade and rested it against his shoulder. His head turned toward the presence ahead, that pressure of godly energy mixed with killer instinct. It was strong, sure, but all he felt was boredom. Strength meant nothing if the one carrying it had spent centuries rotting in silence.

"Don't be angry now. I didn't just kill Hades. I killed Kronos too. You should've seen it. He was so angry." His sword shifted, lengthening into a scythe, the edge gleaming. "Even before dying, he reached for his precious weapon. And I took that away from him."

A voice rang out, heavy and harsh. "You cocky brat. You have some nerve talking to the first god like that."

Kael smirked. "First god? Is that what you call yourself now? I thought you were the Titan of hiding. The one who sat back while Zeus and the others imprisoned your brothers and sisters."

"You know nothing of what I am," the voice replied, cold and low. "I am Iapetus. I was wounding the world before your kind even crawled from the mud. I gave death its first shape. And now you stand here, spitting on the bloodline that bore you."

"Spare me the history lesson," Kael said flatly. "If you were half the god you think you are, you wouldn't be talking. You'd already be standing in front of me."

The ground shuddered, dust falling from the trees as the air thickened. The voice rose, thundering now. "Careful, boy. Shadows won't hide you here. I am mortality. And I will strip it from your bones until you beg for an end."

His smirk lingered. He rolled his shoulders, grip tightening on the scythe. "Good. I was starting to get bored."

The air pressed down, thick with smoke spilling through the trees. Each breath caught in his throat, the forest holding itself shut around them.

Something moved in the haze. Slow at first, just a blur in the smoke. Then the bulk of shoulders, wide and heavy, forcing their shape into view. With each step the pressure grew worse, the dirt shaking under the weight of it.

His body came together piece by piece, smoke peeling back to show pale flesh marked like stone worn by time. Ash-colored eyes glowed faint in the gloom, steady and cold.

Iapetus walked forward, and the air bent with him. Each stride pressed the truth deeper into their bones — that everything alive was already dying.

He was a giant man, broad-shouldered, his frame carrying the weight of ages. His skin was pale and rough, scarred like stone left too long to weather. A deep cut ran down his chest, never closing, always bleeding faintly as if to remind the world what he was. His eyes were cold, the color of ash, and every breath near him felt heavy, like the air itself was growing old.

Each step split the dirt, cracks crawling out from under his feet. The weapon he carried was too long for a sword, too sharp for a spear, its edge black and wet with a decay that clung like oil.

He wasn't rage like Ares or time like Kronos. He was the quiet truth at the end — the Titan who made even gods remember they could bleed.

He clapped his hands. "What a great entrance."

His gaze locked on the daughter of Hades. He took a step toward her, but Kael's shadows snapped, dragging her back into his reach. He pulled her close, smirking. "Sorry, buddy. I can't have you touch her."

Iapetus's eyes darkened, ash-colored and burning. The air pressed down, sharp with his anger. "She is not dead." His voice rolled out like stone breaking, low and violent.

Kael laughed. "Of course not. My mother would kill me if I killed her." He turned, placing the girl in Liz, Orion, and Selene's care.

Iapetus stepped forward, smoke curling off his frame, the weight of his presence making the ground crack. "I have killed countless sons of Hades, you insolent brat… you are no different from any of them."

Kael tilted his head, smirk never leaving. "You see, that's where you're wrong. I know exactly who you are." His eyes narrowed. "But you have no idea who I truly am."

He threw up a barrier around Liz and the others, shielding them from the storm of godly power about to break loose. The Helm of Darkness slid across his face, shadows locking into place.

"Let me show you why the gods fear me."

He shot toward Iapetus, scythe swinging upward in a brutal arc. He swung it like a bat, the strike heavy enough to split stone. Iapetus met it with his own blade, the clash shaking the ground.

Kael grinned through the impact and pushed harder, launching Iapetus into the air. As the Titan rose, the scythe shifted, shrinking into a shackle of black iron chained in shadow. Kael hurled it forward, the links whipping out and wrapping tight around Iapetus's legs.

With a sharp pull, the chain dragged him down. Iapetus's body slammed into the ground, the earth splitting under the weight of the fall.

He rose out of the crater, fixing his shoulder. "That was a good massage."

He wasn't scared. It was more annoyance. He turned to the others. "This is going to be difficult."

"Let us out, we can help," Liz said, her voice sharp.

Orion and Selene backed her up with a quick nod, but Kael shook his head. "See those little black things? If that smoke touches your skin, it'll eat you down to bone."

They started to speak, but the fear on their faces said enough. That feeling of being useless pressed heavy between them.

"Don't worry. This isn't your fight." Kael's voice stayed flat. "He and I go way back." He pointed at the Titan. "This idiot tried to kill me when I was a baby, so yeah… enemy since birth." His tone dropped, eyes colder now. "And he made my mother cry. That makes it personal."

A chain tore out of the smoke. Kael ducked, but it curled midair and struck him square in the chest. His ribs jolted, his body locking stiff as if iron hands had clamped around his heart. He clawed at his chest. He felt no pain. Nothing.

"What is this?" he asked.

The Titan laughed. "Your cockiness will get you killed."

He looked down. The chain lingered, faint and pale, like it wanted to be real. He swiped at it once. His hand passed straight through. His mouth twisted, jaw tight. "So… what does this do?"

"This is the mark of death." Iapetus's grin spread, sharp and cruel. "If you don't kill me in fifteen minutes, it crushes your heart."

Kael's smirk flicked back. "So what then? You going to run and hope I can't find you?"

"Once again, you get cocky," the Titan growled.

He turned toward the others. "Change of plan. I'm sending you back."

Liz started forward, but before she could speak Baal rose from the ground in a swell of shadow, scooping them into his back and flew off. Her voice carried back through the smoke, breaking with anger. "I'm going to kill you!"

Kael waved her off with a smirk. "No, you won't. You love me too much."

He turned toward the Titan. "Alright. Let's go."

The scythe shrank back into a sword as their blades collided. The clash split the ground apart. The sea heaved, the air screamed, and the forest around him came apart at the seams.

Kael drove his boot into Iapetus's ribs in a devastating arc, sending the Titan crashing through the side of a mountain. Iapetus burst free in an instant, his massive body slamming into Kael and sending him skipping across the red sand.

Shadows flared around Kael, wrapping his limbs, bracing bone and muscle against the Titan's weight. His boots tore trenches in the ground, but he didn't fall.

The chain snapped out, coiling around Iapetus's legs. Kael planted himself, sliding but holding, and with one savage pull he dragged the Titan back toward him.

He lunged, shadows whipping his body forward, sword in hand. The collision struck like a storm. The ground split open, shockwaves tearing through the island and ripping trees from the earth.

Iapetus staggered, eyes wide. "How… how are you stronger than Hades?"

Kael's grip tightened on his sword. His voice was calm, steady. "I surpassed him long ago."

His eyes stayed on Iapetus, smirk sharp and cold. "So. Are you going to fight… or hide?"

"You cocky brat."

Chains of smoke rose again, but this time they didn't strike at his body. They slid across the edge of his shadows. The black cloak shuddered, then began to rot, peeling away like dead skin.

Iapetus's grin widened. "Do you see now? I don't wound flesh. I tear down what makes you divine."

Kael watched the shadows crumble, but his face didn't change. No fear. No surprise. His smirk stayed in place as if the Titan's words bored him.

"That's it?" His voice was flat, almost mocking. "You think I need shadows to kill you?"

The chains clung to him, rotting away at his shadows, but his stride never broke. His blade scraped the earth, metal biting stone, grit sparking under the edge.