Everyone thought that was going to be the end, but that wasn't the case. Hermes had dared to talk filth about Nina and Arnold wasn't going to let him die so easily after that. He kept thrashing Hermes around. A sight that sent shivers down through the spine of the gods. But just when he was about to die, Arnold abruptly stopped.
"No, no, no." Arnold shook his head, "You're not going to die so easily now. After all, we are just getting started."
[The one with luscious lips is excited to see what you do next.]
[The Raging Minotaur is thinking, 'Just kill him already!']
[15 Gods nod in agreement.]
[The rest disagree and wants you to humiliate Hermes more.]
[The Immortal one is smiling.]
[The One who rules over the Sun would like to give you additional rewards for slowly killing Hermes.]
[The Ruler of the Skies demands you to stop humiliating the gods]
[Other gods laugh at him.]
Multiple notifications were flashing in front of Arnold's eyes, but he simply ignored them all. He was doing what he was because he wanted to do so, not because some god was thirsty for some action. If he could gain rewards while doing what he was, then it was just a bonus for him. But he would not go out of his way to get those rewards. He wouldn't be a puppet to their will.
"Look at you... your own fellas want me to kill you slowly so that they could enjoy the show." Arnold shook his head in disgust before pouring down a couple of large HP potions to heal Hermes, "Even humans value their species more than your people. But I guess You must have done something to them at one point in time to make them hate you so much."
"Argh..." A slow wheezing sound escaped from Hermes' mouth.
He was trying to say something, but his jaw had been shattered into pieces from Arnold's thrashing and could not form a single word no matter how hard he tried. For a second, even Arnold felt pity for the god and poured some potion into his mouth as well.
The quantity of potion Arnold had used was not enough for Hermes to be able to run away or counterattack him. But just to heal him enough so that Arnold could continue with his beating without worrying that he would die. Also, it would give him enough time to berate the gods even more.
Till, now Arnold had a consensus that few of the gods support him fighting with Zeus and the others either want nothing to do with him, or they are hostile to him. So by beating the crap out of Hermes, Arnold can accomplish multiple things.
Firstly, the gods who hate Zeus might help him get rid of him after seeing how easily he took care of Hermes and Zeus' thunderbolt. Secondly, for the gods who are staying neutral, his actions would most likely force them to either join him or stay neutral.
And finally, for the gods who would still be against him, Hermes' death would serve as a lesson to not ever try and cross him or else they would share the same fate as Hermes and Zeus.
A simple fight could accomplish so many things and that was the reason while the Immortal One didn't step in to stop Hermes' challenge. However, Arnold had a hidden intention behind killing Hermes as well.
The intention was to convert him into his summon. Talos was already a Cosmic SS ranked being, thus he could easily revive the same ranked gods and Hermes would become the first full-fledged god to join his army, whether he liked it or not.
Soon enough, Hermes' mouth healed enough for him to talk again. Arnold expected him to throw some expletives at him, but surprising that did not happen. No one had ever thought they would hear such words coming out of a bast.ard like Hermes.
"Forgive... me..."
"What?" Arnold said before kicking him over, "You're a god, don't you have any shame? You're the one who wanted a deathmatch and now you want forgiveness?"
"Forgive me... for what the things... I'll do to your wife and maybe even your sister... Haha!"
Those words of Hermes agitated Arnold so much he opened his visor so that Hermes could see his angered face before he died. However, that turned out to be a mistake. From the minute Arnold grabbed his face, Hermes realised he would not be able to take the mortal down without underhanded means.
But before he could use any as he was too busy being thrashed around like a doll. There was no hope of survival for him. But then when Arnold started to heal him, that's when he hatched a plan. A plan to fight back.
When Arnold healed his mouth, Hermes, being the cunning bast.ard he was, intentionally agitated Arnold even more. He wasn't very hopeful whether his plan would work thus he added the name of both of the women Arnold cherished the most. Just like that, his plan worked. Arnold got too angry to notice that Hermes had retrieved something from his own dimensional pocket.
It was a blinding powder that not even the gods weren't immune to. Once the particles of the powder got into the moist layer of the eye, they would start a chain reaction that will push the blood out of the eye. On top of that, the tears produced during this time only served as a catalyst for the reaction and thus blinding the target in one swift blow.
Even though Gods weren't immune to this, they could be healed with time. However, the mortals did not have that luxury. For them, it was the end. Hermes couldn't stop laughing when he saw Arnold struggling in front of him.
He quickly got back to his feet and then used more potions to completely heal himself, before turning to face the gods. Those who had been supporting the god of speed were happy to see him fight back. While those like Hera who wanted Hermes dead looked a bit taken aback.
"A god is always stronger than a Mortal!" Hermes roared thinking he had won.
"Says who?" A voice boomed over the gods and to everyone's shock, Arnold was fine!
"How is this possible-"
All of the gods have forgotten that the one Hermes was fighting had the power only a few of them possessed: Foresight. Arnold had already seen what was going to happen while Hermes was grovelling on the ground and already prepared a counter for Hermes' cheap trick.
He never opened his visor. He just reduced the opacity of the visor to 0% and everyone thought he had removed the visor. Thus when Hermes threw the powder on Arnold's face, it simply bounced off the visor. After that, all Arnold had to do was to act like Hermes' attack worked to get the gods all riled up over nothing. Arnold only did so to let them enjoy a minute of hope before crushing it with an iron fist. Now Arnold would make the gods would know what true despair felt like.
"Does it matter? You're gonna die anyway." Arnold said before ripping off One of Hermes' legs as if it was made of twigs, "And I'm going to enjoy every moment of it."