The sky split with gold.
Sun Wukong laughed as he vaulted over the clouds, his staff stretching longer than a mountain beneath him. He spun it once, smashing aside a cot of fire that scread through the heavens toward his back.
Behind him, the fire did not fade. It shaped itself. A boy in armor of red and gold burst through, his three lotus wheels spinning under his feet, leaving trails of fla across the horizon. His spear blazed in his hands.
"Stop running, monkey!" Nezha’s voice carried like thunder, sharp with fury.
Wukong grinned over his shoulder, fangs flashing, golden eyes alive with mischief. "Running? You mistake , little lotus. I’m dancing."
He sorsaulted, flipping through the air with a roar of laughter. His staff shrank to a needle, slid into his ear, and in that instant he beca a streak of gold tearing across the world.
Nezha did not fall behind. His wheels scread louder, sparks showering from their spin as he chased. The two tore through the skies of the East, past mountains veiled in mist, rivers that glowed like silver, temples that shook as they passed. Mortals looked up, pointing at the streaks of fire and gold blazing across the clouds, their voices swallowed by the roar.
The chase did not end.
–––
Across deserts, Wukong vaulted from dune to dune, sandstorms rising in his wake. Nezha carved through the storms like a blade, fire splitting sand to glass. Across seas, Wukong skipped from wave to wave, his laughter echoing as his staff grew tall enough to bridge entire oceans. Nezha followed close, his spear hurling arcs of fla that boiled the water in his path.
"Persistent brat," Wukong muttered as he swung his staff behind him, blocking another strike. The clash rang out, sparks raining into the sea. He twisted, his tail whipping through the air. "Chase forever, will you?"
Nezha’s eyes burned, his boyish face set with grim fire. "Until you bow, thief!"
"Bow?" Wukong cackled, sorsaulting into the sky again. "I am the Great Sage Equal to Heaven. I bow to none!"
–––
The world blurred beneath them. They crossed realms in breaths, fire and gold streaking across continents.
Until the sky changed.
The clouds darkened, thicker than storm, charged with weight not of the East. Below them stretched a land scarred with ruin—temples cracked, villages half-burned, rivers running thick with ash. At its heart stood a city battered but alive, its marble bones still gleaming even under smoke.
Athens.
Wukong slowed just enough to perch on the tip of a shattered column, balancing with one finger, tail flicking. His golden eyes scanned the broken city. "Well, well. New stage. Let’s see what song they play here."
Nezha dropped from the sky, landing hard on the marble steps of what had once been a temple. His wheels hissed as they cooled, his spear blazing steady in his grip. He pointed it up at Wukong. "Enough tricks. You won’t escape here."
Wukong twirled his staff back to full size, resting it across his shoulders as he leaned against it. His grin stretched wider. "Escape? No, no. I like this place. Slls of war. Slls of gods. Slls like fun."
–––
Athenians stirred below, their eyes widening as they caught sight of the figures above. They had seen gods before—Athena had walked among them days ago, her hands lifting the wounded from ruin—but these were different. One blazed with fire, a child-god wrapped in battle. The other was a monkey born of stone, his laughter carrying louder than thunder, his staff cracking the air.
The people whispered in fear. So prayed, others fled. The city could not bear another storm.
–––
Nezha’s voice cut through the noise, steady, burning. "You will return to Heaven and face your judgnt."
Wukong’s laugh shook the broken stones. "Judgnt? By who? That old Jade Emperor? Those trembling immortals who fear a monkey? No, lotus. I am free. And here—" He slamd his staff against the ground, the shockwave cracking marble. "—this world will learn it."
Nezha’s grip tightened, his wheels spinning faintly as flas rose around him. "Then they will learn through your corpse."
He lunged.
–––
The clash cracked Athens.
Wukong swung his staff in a wide arc, sparks flying as Nezha’s spear struck against it. The sound was thunder, the shockwave toppling nearby statues. Columns fell, dust rising into the air.
The Monkey King laughed even as he stumbled back, twisting in midair, tail lashing. "Now that’s spirit!"
Nezha pressed forward, his strikes relentless. His spear danced with fla, stabbing, sweeping, carving through the air faster than mortal eyes could follow. Wukong blocked, ducked, spun, his staff bending the air like a storm. Each blow rang out across the city, gods clashing above mortals once more.
–––
Down below, Athenians scread and scattered. The streets cracked, rooftops caved in as the force of battle rippled through the city. So mortals fell to their knees, thinking the end had co again so soon.
And far above Olympus, Zeus’s storm shifted faintly.
–––
Wukong flipped high into the air, his laughter wild. "Chase, fight, burn—always the sa with you little lotus. But tell , what then? You catch , you kill ? Will that quiet your gods when they see the people cheer for my na?"
Nezha’s spear blazed hotter, his young face set like iron. "I don’t fight for cheers. I fight for order."
Wukong slamd his staff against the ground again, sending cracks spidering across the marble. He leaned close, golden eyes gleaming. "And I fight for none but myself. That’s why you’ll never beat ."
The fight raged on, fire against gold, spear against staff, each strike shaking the broken bones of Athens.
–––
The city burned with battle, the gods clashed above its people, but the Spartan walked elsewhere, dragging his chains across another ruin, his vow still echoing in his throat.
"Ares..."
–––
High in Olympus, Zeus’s eyes narrowed as he felt the clash from afar. He leaned forward on his throne, sparks crawling across his hands.
The storm above Greece thickened.
Two storms had crossed into his realm.
And soon, they would et the third.
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