Just a Little Longer...

Hades triumphantly approached you, looking down as you slumped against the trunk and slid down to the ground. "You've lost." He chuckled, gloated over you. "And your harem will be mine for eternity..." He unintentionally gave you an inspiration: the girls were his because of Grodd's mind control. 'So what if I beat him at his own game?' you thought.

"You can beat me down," you secretly goaded, "break my bones, but you'll never break my mind. My spirit."

"We will see," he quipped. He clutched his huge hands on either side of your hand, prying into your mind with his eyes closed. You did all that you could to defend against him, using your newly realized Martian powers to battle on the mental plane. Your blue astral form kept Hades's red form at bay, the projection of his true self: armored with three spikes on each shoulder; his long, flowing black waving against an absent wind.

"You're not getting in here!" You were determined to succeed as you stared into his eyes, black as coal like his mane.

"Yield, mortal! You will fall before my might." He added the flames of his godly strength around his projected self, which illustrated him having amplified Grodd's mind-controlling powers. You struggled to keep him out of your mind, and in the material world, you grasped his wrists. 'How can he resist me for this long?' he thought.

Your spirit conjured your medieval suit, as if it was real. Complete with a light-blue broad sword. "Have at thee, fire demon!" you declared. Hades found you amusing as he chuckled, and breathed his flames at you forcefully at you. You used your sword to slice through the flames, splitting it in half past both sides of you. You trudged through the heat, pushing through with a sword ironically as your only defense.

If you tried summoning a shield, he'd blow you away!

Hades was a bit taken aback with how you had the fortitude to continue ahead, so he leaned his head back briefly, and shot it forward determinedly as he put more oomph into his flames! He succeeded in forcing you back, and against a proverbial wall. 'I need more strength...' you thought to yourself. And the nanites answered your plea as they called upon the essence of Superman. With that done, their signature red shield appeared on your chest, all aglow in contrast to the color of your armor, and your demeanor improved, too.

"You can take it. Can't you, big man?" Your voice merged with Clark's, and then you swirl your sword around. You both watched as the sword seemed to absorb every speck of fire thrown at you until there was nothing left. The blade itself became enflamed, and you ran towards Hades.

Despite his sincerest efforts, Hades's spirit couldn't hurt you now, absorbing more and more flames he blasted at you. You returned fire, literally his, and it somehow wounded his spirit; his fire made you stronger! As you closed the gap, you swung your sword, only for him to catch your wrists. "You put up a most valiant battle..." he taunted, "but it ends here." You then smirk at him.

"I couldn't agree more, lordship." You swing your legs back and then forward, kicking his chin roughly! He retreated due to the impact, and then you finally stab your blade into his head! Using your spatial construct and Hades's flames, you gave his astral form a taste of his medicine, blasting the energies through his form. His projection started forming ever-growing cracks as the energy couldn't be contained any longer, so with the ensuing explosion, there was a bright flash!