It would be a lie to say he makes quick work of the rest of Elysium—the shield continues to be a relatively slow weapon—but he does manage to get to the coliseum largely unscathed. Which is a first, for him, he's always more battered than this.

That, plus the spring that still hasn't left his step since his encounter with Thanatos, gives him a good feeling about this fight.

And just like that, he wins.

Theseus is his usual arrogant self, and Asterius is his usual taciturn self, and for a moment he feels discouraged—but then he remembers he's happy. He remembers everything is going to be fine, and Thanatos loves him, and even if he loses now he'll win eventually. So he walks to the center of the coliseum with his spine straight and his gaze high and his shield on his arm, and he smiles at Theseus and waits for him to start the fight, without dignifying his inane taunts with a response.

He's starting to appreciate this strange idea of waiting for the right moment to strike.

The bull is implacable, but Zagreus can tank him. The King is cunning, but Zagreus can outwait him. The match drags long, the combination of his blocking and dodging meaning the Champions have to fight for every scrape, every bruise. And at the same time, he can watch for the openings they inevitably leave, the moments of asynchrony, and in a flash he's through, quick as lightning into the window of opportunity.

Every blow of his is worth twenty, thirty of his opponents'. He waits with the patience of a god, a virtue he's never really practised, and he wins.

Just like that, he wins.

Watching the King dissolve into darkness, the battle calm melts from around him, and he once again hears the crowd chanting his name. And to the one shade, the one that's been there rooting for him every single time, he bows before leaping up to the stands and offering them a little trinket.

He's not sure how he learned to do this, but in that moment he just knew, and his godly powers coalesced into a small pendant with a blood-red jewel encrusted in a golden setting. It seems like the done thing, for gods to show their favour in this fashion, and this one shade has believed in him all along, so it's the least he can do.

(He's pretty sure if the shade were alive they'd expire in the spot from excitement.)

But then he drops down to the floor and makes his way towards the Temple of Styx. He still has a ways to go.

Through a door, past hallways and gates, Zagreus steps back up to greet his dog and see if he can keep his success streak going with the satyr rats.

Someone notices immediately, because she keeps half an eye on him while he's off adventuring, and is so excited that she completely forgets she's still supposed to be awkward about Zagreus.

"Eeeee you did it you did it!" she says the minute he crosses the threshold of the Temple of Styx, flinging herself at him for a hug. Hey, there's an employee entrance here, and she's allowed to use that now. Sure, all of her work is in Asphodel, but she's still allowed to use the faculties all the same.

Zagreus is—very surprised, he was not expecting her to show up, but after a second of telling his nerves to calm down and definitely not stab her he hugs her back while grinning. "I did it! You should've seen Theseus's face, he's not going to forget this—did you know this technically makes me Champion of Elysium? It did that last time too but then it was both of us being co-champions and after Theseus killed me next we lost it."

"Ha! That's a ridiculous system, are you supposed to go back and stop anyone else from coming up, now? Was I supposed to? Because I'm not doing that."

"Nah, Elysium has a bunch of standing Champions, I have a suspicion that Theseus was just the only one who agreed to try to stop me at my father's request. I also think the others might... be very bored of fighting."

"Who would have guessed!" she snorts, then pulls away from the hug to grin at him. "Well, congratulations, Champion of Elysium."

He might now perhaps notice that she looks different! Properly Cthonic, hair up and everything.

He was about to say! "You sure look different. The Underworld treating you well, I see? And I'm seeing something of Nyx, there."

"Oh, um. Yeah, it's been treating me well, I think? I like it down here, anyway, there's lots of things to do. And um, turns out there was a whole nesting set of communication issues with my previous appearance and anyway I wanted to fit in a bit better."

She steps away to fidget self consciously, because of course she does.

"—right, what were they called again, 'pants'? Oh and I suppose the hair, too. You look very proper."

"Thank you, yeah I don't... really want to be communicating with sex hair. At all."

"I don't think it's that bad, Achilles has his hair down all the time."

"See that was what I said to Than, but apparently things are different for men and women!" She huffs, then crosses her arms. "It's fine, I've fixed it, it's all fine. I just have to live with my eternal embarrassment over cultural miscommunications. Forever."

"Forever is a very long time."

"Don't you start with that too, let me be as dramatic as I want to about my declarations without squinting too hard at them."

"I see Thanatos has been giving you his thoughts."

And there's—something—to the way Zagreus says Than's name, almost like a hiccup or a skip, as if he's bouncing in place even without moving.

"He has, yeah!" And then, before her brain can dump unhelpful complicated emotions on her: "Turns out I can steal people from him, too."

"...steal?"

“Save the life of. So. Stealing from death himself.”

"—wow! And he—well I don't think he'd mind, really, would he. That's amazing."

“I’m pretty proud of it! And no, he doesn’t mind. He was a bit worried about it at first, but I think he kind of likes it, honestly.”

"I think he's pretty mad at Athena and Ares for this war. He hasn't said anything of course but..."

“Yeah. I’m mad at them, too. People aren’t… playthings.”