Republic of Heroes
Table of Contents
Prologue Chapter 1 Chapter 2 Chapter 3 Chapter 4 Chapter 5 Chapter 6 Chapter 7 Chapter 8 Chapter 9 Chapter 10 Chapter 11 Chapter 12 Chapter 13 Chapter 14 Chapter 15 Chapter 16 Chapter 17 Chapter 18 Chapter 19 Chapter 20 Chapter 21 Chapter 22 Chapter 23 Chapter 24 Chapter 25 Chapter 26 Chapter 27 Chapter 28 Chapter 29 Chapter 30 Chapter 31 Chapter 32 Chapter 33 Chapter 34 Chapter 35 Chapter 36 Chapter 37 Chapter 38 Chapter 39 Chapter 40 Chapter 41 Chapter 42 Chapter 43 Chapter 44 Chapter 45 Chapter 46 Chapter 47 Chapter 48 Chapter 49 Chapter 50 Chapter 51 Chapter 52 Chapter 53 Chapter 54 Chapter 55 Chapter 56 Chapter 57 Chapter 58 Chapter 59 Chapter 60 Chapter 61 Chapter 62 Chapter 63 Chapter 64 Chapter 65 Chapter 66 Chapter 67 Chapter 68 Chapter 69 Chapter 70 Chapter 71 Chapter 72 Chapter 73 Chapter 74 Chapter 75 Chapter 76 Chapter 77 Chapter 78 Chapter 79 END ExtraChapter 74
On top of the ruined and destroyed roof is an eight-foot-tall woman. Her buzzed-cut hair and eyes along with her muscular frame are sight behold, surprising everyone who witnesses her appearance altogether, especially coming from the daughter of Demigod.
"Herculean! What intrusion befalls you to come into my time of place?!"He roared with indignation, demanding his grand daughter to leave his territory before he forces himself to make her leave. "Or is it that you also wished to share the same fate as these insects who denied my benevolence?"
Extending her hand towards the magical mace he threw, it then floated and landed back at her palm in rapid speeds, clutching the handle in her hand, which had a black handle and a silvery-white head that was covered in runes that gleamed with mystical energy.
With a firm hand, she points the mace in his direction—the Serpent's Fang, a weapon forged from the remains of a fallen star and gifted to her by her father. It is capable of destroying worlds and stars alike with the mere strike of its blunt edges.
One of the few known weapons known by the gods to be capable of hurting him, let alone killing the mighty Zeus that has a reputation for being fair but cruel and often unreasonable, "not intending to intervene in your dispute," she declared her position with all seriousness, "but judging from what I can tell from here, it seems to me that you are abusing your power on these innocent people," declaring her opinion of the whole ordeal.
He scoffed and smiled, finding this situation to be quite amusing even if there was a serious tension in the air. "I am alive," he said, glancing at Karen, who also had the same contemptuous expression on her face. "If I do not act, then mankind will continue to commit these crimes while abusing their power for their own selfish gains. Isn't it why I was appointed to reign supreme amongst the pantheon?" He argued the validity of his existence and role.
Lowering her mace, Herculean glared daggers at him with deep animosity. "Do not try to fool me with those excuses, grandfather," she announced, her voice hardening as she continued. "You are no more than a tyrant like the rest of the gods." Despite her, Herculean made her true feelings known to Zeus as his smile disappeared.
Sweating his brow, his forehead grew tense, and the corners of his mouth were pulled down from his chin. "How dare you accuse me of this? My very life's mission is to protect and provide justice to those who deserve it." His eyes burned in fury at the accusation.
"By attacking us?" Karen intervened, folding her arms with disgust all over his form. "Your the biggest hypocrite, a false god that abuses his own power at a simple whim," her words sent a sharp, icy glare from Zeus as his brows furrowed with malice and his veins throbbed with blood boiling in rage.
A mortal and a demigod alike are making him a laughing stock to the people he protected, cared for, and was rewarded for. The audacity these two have is beyond ridiculous that he swore to punish them in such a horrible way: "Your nothing but cockroaches in my eyes," barking back with disdain, "disrespectful insects that need to be eradicated from the earth to wipe away the stain of existence on it, making this world orderly," he cursed those two for having this courage in showing a level of disrespect.
Though Herculean had the exact opposite opinion about the tyrant, "This world isn't for you to dictate!" Taking a battle stance in case things go awry, "If you wish to fight with the both of us in your injured state, then come at me and face the wrath of my fangs!" Prompting the mad god to unleash his true power in this encounter.
He wanted to kill the both of them, forgetting to capture the mortal to be his breeding slave; she is better off dead at his feet, but looking down at his own innards that dripped out of his stomach while they were being held with one hand, he knew that he was in no shape to be fighting. He is still weakened, and his injuries haven't healed enough for him to continue fighting them.
Gritting his teeth in disbelief of having to escape at this manner, he gave one look at the both of them before departing with the final message, "I will have you punished for your impudence; make no mistake about that." Lightning then came down to him and his throne, teleporting the mad god somewhere else while leaving all his army behind to be slaughtered by these defenders.
Growling her frustrations at not being able to kill the bastard, she cursed herself for letting him escape in such a state, swinging downwards on the concrete floor, creating a crater while destroying it in the process. "Dammit...!" Her other fist clenched from the utter humiliation she received for failing to avenge the death of Heracles.
Her true and real father that Zeus had slain in a one-sided duel years ago over disagreement, "to think that you would flee like a coward..." Disgusted of a god abandoning his own soldiers in a time of crisis, seeing this to be even more cowardly than facing her with his true strength, "even your followers are starting to wonder what kind of person they follow."
Silence was all that the two individuals gave each other as Herculean and Karen just stared at the remaining survivors. Akito and Yasuke were grievously wounded but will nonetheless inevitably survive after undergoing proper medical treatments.
Taking a step in her direction, Karen was curious to know why another god would decide to assist her in places when they were on different sides. "Herculean, hmm?" She squinted her eyes as she muttered the demigod's name: "Why do you bother interfering our battle in the first place, knowing that you would suffer the same fate when I make you regret the day your his grand daughter?" She questioned the demigod's motive behind her interference.
Looking at her, she frowned at this threat. "I'm not like them," Herculean's face became stern as she clenched her fists. "Nor do I condone the abuse of power for whatever reasons," she said, holding the mace over her right shoulder. "That is why I interfered," stating her own belief in having to prevent others from abusing their power against the weak or defenseless.
Tilting her slightly, she took another step forward and another until she was close to the newcomer, looking up at her face despite their height differences. "And why would I believe you?" The idol challenged her venomously, not believing a single word of her intention.
"Is this a threat?" The Amazon didn't want to fight, but if she had to defend herself, then so be it. She is a warrior after all. "I'm not going to ask twice; I will never be like them and hadn't have any intention of doing so in the first place," she said, speaking in a hard tone.
It took a moment of staring each other down and having to gauge the other person's strengths and weaknesses before Karen finally smiled and sighed with relief, "I guess that settles it then," turning around while the wind blew past them and stretching her arms as she yawned tiredly.
All the fight took a toll on her, and she wanted to go home and get rest from this annoying fiasco. "Then I guess my job is done here," as she said. In other words, the egoistical idol collapsed on the ground, laying unconscious as the amazon can tell that she's only tired and needs rest.
Staring at the scene in front of her, Herculean could not help but admire her for fighting this long with her grandfather. "You got some spirit there, that's for certain," he commented, commenting on the mortal's tenacity and willpower. She respects her for being a fighter even though they just met.
Suddenly, running footsteps can be heard all around, gaining her attention. What she sees are identical clones of the armed forces with orange visors aiming their firearms at her. "Attention to all forces of the LCL division; prepare to fire upon my orders!" The captain yelled at his men, their weapons locking in a firing mode as the gun barrels were pointed in Herculean's direction.
What they didn't expect was her dropping the mace and raising her arms in a surrendering motion, while her facial features showed no hostility or sign of aggression whatsoever. "Wait, stop!" The captain yelled with his right hand waving in front, "Hold your fire; do not engage under any circumstances; this is not the target; repeat, not the target."
Getting this opportunity, she began to turn in the direction of the clone who was giving orders to his brothers. "I had simply come here to help," she said, glancing at the fallen Karen, "although I am afraid that I was too late in saving all of you from danger," mentioning the unconscious heroes that fought their hardest.
Lowering their weapons, they whispered to each other what to do next until the captain of the team called out to them, "Alright brothers, bring these injured heroes into our base of operations; I just heard word from the original that he wants to form a meeting with them," gesturing the clones to follow his words and obey his command.
A large portal appeared not far behind her, catching Herculean in surprise as she instinctively grabbed the mace encase to see if it was one of her grand father's minions again. This time, however, what stepped out of the orange glow was none other than men wearing the same white lab coat with vest and tie. Some are moving the stretchers to recover the dying superheroes.
Every single one of them also shares the exact same face, bewildering the Amazon to the extent that she thought it was an illusion of some kind. "What...?" She has no words to describe her current situation or comprehend what is going on in front of her.
Who are these people? Exactly what are they? It doesn't matter either way; she was rather interested to know if these look like humanoids, if there are any humans at all. Wondering what these scientists or doctors would have in store for the injured heroes, she watched as the clones moved in and lifted her allies onto the stretchers while heading inside the glowing gate.
Meanwhile, Misa and Koyoshi, with their group of officers, rushed in their direction after a long transversal of defending their homeland from these attackers, holding their individual weapons in their grasp before abruptly halting when they finally saw them.
Many look alike. Carter and I were walking beside each other, carrying the survivors stretched into the portal with great care. The sight of this greatly confused them when they saw this scene, and their eyes darted all over the place, observing and analyzing their environment.
"Is this their doing, sir?" A fellow cop asked her superior while her eyes also widen, never seeing anything like this in her whole life, "Maybe illusion or magic?" Pointing in the direction of their commissioner, who wore the exact same appearance, making them easy to identify by others.
Shaking his head in denial, he decided to make themselves known by alerting their presence: "Hey!" Koyoshi shouted, demanding every clone's attention as they all stopped what they were doing and looked in their direction. "Who are you people?" Asking directly in a suspicious tone, unable to identify their loyalties.
Even Herculean shared the same sentiment: confused by this surreal situation, she decided to end it for the time being by dismissing the clones with a wave of her hand. "Mind explaining the question?" She directed her attention to one of them, asking him for her own reason as well.
As the LCL soldiers depart, the captain of his team moves directly to their spots before stopping, looking at the Amazon, and then the officers, baffled by this occurrence. He nonetheless spoke, hoping they would listen and understand everything firsthand.
"This is going to take a long time to explain, and we're only going to do this once." releasing a sigh, the clone removed his helmet, revealing another complete copy of Carter. "I'll need you all to follow me; there is much to discuss about what just happened." He gave them no option but to agree to his request.
Find your way!
Resources
WHO WE ARE
LEGAL
Get the news
Listen to our Podcast
Our Allies
