Chapter 477

Theseus landed gracefully near the fringe of the battle, having clearly chosen this spot to place himself for his own benefit. He looked around and noticed that he too was locked onto by hundreds of machines, most of them a mixture of all kinds.

The Demi-God rose to his feet and looked around seriously, raising his hands in a gesture of peace. He had hoped that their situation might still be salvageable, but a quickly fired shot from one of the Guard Androids made their stance on negotiations clear.

It was not that the Miranda AI subroutine was incapable of parleying, even in this situation. The problem was that the likes of Achilles and Medea had already started attacking, so any chance of a peaceful resolution had been killed in the cradle.

Theseus formed a shield of water to stifle the blast, but it simply tore through and struck his shoulder. His face changed when he felt the searing heat and the pain, realizing that if he suffered more of these attacks, he might actually die here.

Filled with seriousness, he stomped his foot on the ground, calling up waves and upon waves of water that formed a lake-like pool around 50 meters from his person.

Theseus was the son of Poseidon, Augeus, and Aethra.

At the time, Aegeus, one of then Athen's primordial kings on Elysium, had been childless. Desiring an heir, he had traveled to the Oracle of Delphi for advice.

Channeling her powers, the Oracle had given him the following prophecy: "Do not loosen the bulging mouth of the wineskin until you have reached the height of Athens, lest you die of grief."

Aegeus, after hearing this, had been unable to comprehend the prophecy, leaving disappointed, thinking that he might never have an heir.

Driven by desperation, Augeus had asked the advice of his host Pittheus, king of Troezen, in order to help him decipher the meaning behind the prophecy.

Fortunately, Troezen's king had understood the prophecy straightaway and sighed. After having gotten his buddy Aegeus slowly drunk, he had convinced his most beautiful daughter Aethra to lay with him.

Aethra had also been willing, as Augeus had been a handsome man and the King of Athens no less. The two had done the deed, but after Aethra had fallen asleep, Athena had sent her instructions in a dream.

Aethra had snuck out and gone to the nearby shore to pour libation for Poseidon, and the rapacious God had emerged with excitement. He had then seduced Aethra and lay with her as well, causing Theseus to be of double parentage.

Aethra had soon become visibly pregnant, yet it had been time for Aegeus to return to Athens. Before he had left though, he had placed his own sandals and sword beneath a huge rock.

Athen's King had then told Aethra that if his son were to become heroic enough, he should move that rock and come seek his heritage.

In Athens, Augeus had soon married Medea, who had just fled Corinth after killing her children with Jason and embarking upon the path of witchcraft.

Thus, Theseus had been raised in his mother's land. The future Hero had grown up to be a brave young man, one confident in himself. As such, he had easily managed to move the rock to recover his father's tokens.

After doing so, his mother had revealed to him the truth about his father's identity and the task of taking the sword and sandals back to King Aegeus to claim his birthright.

To journey to Athens, Theseus could have chosen to go by sea - which had generally been regarded as the safest way - or by land - following a dangerous path around a gulf - where he would have encountered a string of six entrances to the Underworld, each guarded by a supernatural enemy.

Young, brave, and ambitious, Theseus had opted to go alone via the land route.

His encounter with the six Underworld entrance had later been termed the Six Labors, and had become the archetype that would be used for later Heroes like Hercules in their own journeys.

The first site had been called Epidaurus, a place sacred to Apollo. Theseus had been ambushed by a powerful supernatural bandit.

'Club Bearer' Periphetes had been so strong that he had been renowned for always beating his opponents into the earth while leaving their heads popping out.

Theseus had fought valiantly using his father's sword and had managed to turn the tables on the fellow, taking from him a stout staff.

At the second entrance to the Underworld, there had been a robber named Sinis. He would capture travelers, tie them between two pine trees that were bent down to the ground, and then let the trees go, ripping his victims in half.

Theseus had watched him do this from the bushes and he had waited until the fellow had gone to sleep before exacting the same treatment upon him.

As a young man, he had become enraptured by Sinis' sensual daughter Perigune, and had seduced her. She had eventually given birth to a child called Melanippus long after Theseus had left.

At the third entrance of the underworld, Theseus had fought with and killed an enormous pig, the Legendary Crommyonian Sow, bred by an old crone named Phaea.

At the fourth entrance of the underworld, a robber named Sciron had forced travelers along the narrow cliff-face pathway to wash his feet. While they would be kneeling to get the job done, he would kick them off the cliff, where they had been eaten by a giant turtle.

Theseus, as cautious as he had been smart, had never rushed into these kinds of situations and had observed the situation from afar.

Having approached Sciron he had been forced to do same, but when the fellow had been about to kick him off, Theseus had dodged, leading the robber to slip and fall, only to suffer the same fate as all those travelers he had fed to that giant turtle.

At the fifth site, there had been Cercyon, King at the holy site of Eleusis, who would challenge passers-by to a wrestling match and, after he'd beaten and exhausted them, would kill them out of disdain.

Once again, Theseus had surveyed this happen beforehand, yet he had managed to wrestle and beat that King, before slaying him instead.

At the sixth and final last entrance to the underworld had been Procrustes the Stretcher. This man had possessed two beds, forcing passersby in the plains of Eleusis to choose between which one they wanted to sleep in.

Since he had two beds of different lengths - one far too small and another far too big - no one person would fit normally. Choosing the former would have Procruster cut off their feet, while choosing the latter would have him stretch the person out, both scenarios leading to their deaths.

It was obvious by this point already, but Theseus had watched this horrific scene play out from afar, only to ambush the Strether in his sleep. The Hero had tied the fellow to his own small bed, forcing him to fit by cutting off his legs, before decapitating him with his axe.

After completing these, Theseus had arrived in Athens. Cautious as ever, he had not outright revealed his true identity. King Aegeus had offered his son hospitality but he had remained suspicious of the young, powerful stranger's intentions and his unwillingness to reveal himself.

On the other hand, Medea had recognized Theseus immediately as Aegeus' son and so had worried that he would be chosen as heir to Aegeus' kingdom instead of her own son Medus.

As such, she had made the necessary arrangements to get Theseus killed by asking him to capture the Marathonian Bull, an emblem of Cretan power.

Theseus, full of himself after completing those Six Great Labors and creating history, had agreed.

On the way to Marathon, Theseus had taken shelter from a storm in the hut of an ancient woman named Hecale. She had sworn to make a sacrifice to Zeus if Theseus were to be successful in capturing the bull as it had been a menace to the people there.

Theseus had ultimately captured the bull by using his wits and a bit of creativity, but when he had returned to Hecale's hut, he found the woman dead.

He had only been able to sigh, but had continued on his victorious way back to Athens where he had sacrificed the Bull before the crowd, his fame reaching a peak.

Aware that if he revealed his identity now, he would receive the support of Augeus and the people to become king, Medea had tried to poison him.

Fortunately, Aegeus had recognized the sandals and the sword on his son at the last second, knocking the poisoned wine cup from Theseus' hands.

Thus father and son had been reunited, and Medea had been banished to Asia, where she had been murdered by Theseus and Jason on her way.

The Hero had learned his lesson and would not allow a vicious woman like her another chance to recover and scheme against him.

On his return, he had revealed his identity, his reputation had been explosive as a result of him having traveled along the notorious coastal road from Troezen and slain some of the most feared bandits there as well as his deed of having purified the six underworld entrances, not to mention his action of capturing the bull.

The Pallantides' - the sons of Pallas and nephews of King Aegeus, who had been living at the royal court in the sanctuary of Delphic Apollo - had hoped to succeed the childless Aegeus, yet they had suddenly been in danger because of Theseus.

Afraid of what could happen to them, they had set a trap for him.

Yep, a bunch of mortals had dared to set a trap for Theseus.

Their plan had been for one band of them to march on the town from one side while another would lay in wait nearby in ambush. Simple stuff really.

The idea had been to force Theseus, Aegeus, and the palace guards out the front by the first band's appearance, allowing the other half to surprise them from behind.

However, dreams were beautiful but reality was cruel.

Informed of the plan by a herald named Leos, Theseus had crept out of the city at midnight and had surprised the Pallantides. The mortals had naturally stood no chance against his superhuman power.