Percy's POV
Kronos gasped as Percy struck his heart with Riptide, effectively killing Kronos and sending him back to Tartarus. Annabeth and Grover were on the floor breathing heavily after Kronos punched them in their guts.
"It's over," Percy said, his body littered with cuts and bruises.
Slowly all the major gods flashed in. Zeus's eyes widened in shock, he truly expected them to be all killed by Kronos. The other gods just awed at the sight, Riptide sticking out from Kronos' chest, while Percy had his foot on Kronos' head.
"How could you possibly kill Kronos?" Athena questioned. All of the gods nodded except Poseidon who fully knew Percy was capable of such things. Percy simply looked up at the goddess, heaving, with golden blood all over his face.
"Kronos' was weak, I simply took advantage of that" Percy answered, all the gods shuddered even Zeus.
"Enough, Apollo they are in need of medical attention and I believe a meeting must start concerning Perseus' fate," Zeus commanded, Percy smirked at the power-hungry Olympian.
Apollo ran over to Grover and Annabeth, force-feeding them ambrosia then took them to his personal hospital. All of the Olympians took a seat on their thrones, while Percy took a celestial-bronze chair to sit on.
"Perseus it has come to my knowledge that your powers have quadrupled since you killed Kronos," Zeus said as all the Olympians nodded at this in agreement.
"Yes, but what does that have to do with anything? Am I not trusted after all of these life-threatening quests I have gone through for all of you?" Percy said glaring at all of the Olympians, causing them to flinch.
"They may have their reasons, but I do not trust you Perseus. For any demigod to get as powerful as you have should not be trusted, let Hermes' blasted child serve as an example!" Zeus yelled at the top of his lungs, some gods were taken back by this, however, Percy just smirked at the foolish Olympian, causing Zeus to get even angrier.
"We shall have a vote on this boy's future, raise your hands if you agree with me and think this foolish boy should be dropped into Tartarus?" Percy knew none of the gods would raise their hands, and not be as arrogant as Zeus.
What happened next shocked Percy to the core; all of the Olympians with the exception of Artemis, Poseidon, Hestia, Aphrodite, and Hermes raised their hands. Zeus smirked at the shocked demi-god and with a snap of a finger, they were all teleported to the entrance to Tartarus in the underworld.
"Any last words, boy?" Zeus mocked. All of the gods were practically holding back Poseidon from attacking Zeus.
A large amount of power began radiating from Percy. His fists, clenched and his eyes in a fury of emotions.
"Yes, when I come back, all who decided to betray me by voting against me will face my wrath, especially you Zeus," Percy said in a demonic voice; before anybody could respond, Percy willingly jumped down into the pits of the infamous home of monsters, Titans, and evil, TARTARUS.
Artemis' POV
I watched as Olympus' now-former Hero and my savior jumped down to his doom. I knew this wasn't right. Zeus has done this plenty of times before, getting rid of people he thought too powerful, but this felt personal. I suppose it was because I actually got to meet and get to know Perseus. After the banishment, I teleported to my palace- exhausted mentally and physically from today's events.
I jumped on my bed and all the pent emotions came up; I began to sob. I figured the sobbing was because of everything that happened today, but I had a feeling that Perseus was the main one. I couldn't be crying for a male, right? After what seemed like an eternity of sobbing, I managed to stop myself. Immediately after, an IM appeared before me with Thaila on the other side.
"Artemis, ar- are you crying?" Thaila questioned.
I quickly wiped the tears from my face and lied, "What? No, I uh- what do you want?" Thalia slowly nodded, not pushing any further.
"Okay sure, whatever. What I was going to say was that Thorn the manticore that nearly killed Percy is back." At the mention of Perseus, my face saddened. However, at the mention of the Manticore, I steeled myself.
"Where is he?" Thaila moved the IM showing a familiar monster stalking in a forest a few miles away with the hunters on trees watching it.
"Alright, I will be right there, don't attack it until I am!" she nodded and closed the IM. I summoned my hunter outfit along with my bow and teleported to Thalia's location. As soon as I got there, I saw the Manticore and my hunters attacking.
"Thalia I said not to attack it!" I yelled. She and the hunters smirked at me then went back to fighting. Deciding I'll reprimand her later, I aimed my bow at the monster and started shooting, two celestial arrows were launched each time. He roared in pain and launched five spikes at me. Utilizing my godly instincts, I managed to dodge all the spikes.
"Hunters get on the trees and shoot at him from there!" I yelled, they nodded and started climbing trees near them and, in five seconds, reached the top and started shooting at the raging Manticore. When I was about to climb a tree, I felt a sharp pain in my left leg. I howled in pain.
All the hunters stopped shooting and looked towards me. I lifted my leg to see three Manticore spikes sticking out. I fell to the ground, feeling the poison doing its effect, immobilizing my body.
The Manticore then ran at me at full speed and right when he about crush me with his sharp talons he exploded in not golden dust but, instead, dark red, that's when I fainted.
Percy's POV
As I fell, I slowly started to realize what I said, how could I possibly survive? I thought, tears falling from my eyes. I had to survive for Annabeth, I couldn't leave her alone, to suffer. But as I thought about my predicament more, I truly realized I wouldn't be able to survive long. Sorry I failed you, Annabeth. After what seemed like hours of falling, the ground slowly became visible, it was a dark red color filled with guts and other grueling stuff that a kid shouldn't see.
I closed my eyes, preparing for what was about to happen. Then out of nowhere, I felt myself being grabbed midair and my flight slowed down immensely until I could feel the cold and rough ground on my skin. I opened my eyes and looked up to see a hooded figure wearing all black with long, flowing, black hair to match, coming down from his or her hood.
"Do not fret young one, you are now safe." The hooded figure said, Their voice, ancient. I started to gain hope, seeing as I was not alone anymore. I blinked my eyes to try to see whoever it was better, but after closing my eyes and re-opening them everything was different.
I quickly got up, extremely confused, I looked at my arms to see that they were see-through like a ghost from one of those cheap horror movies. I saw three hooded women in grey cloaks, instantly realizing that they were the Fates. Thinking I was dead I walked up to them, but they just ignored me like I was not there.
"Uh, hello? Am I dead?" I asked them but they just continued to sow, then after waiting two minutes with no response I yelled, "HELLO ARE YOU THERE!?" One of the fates looked up and then around with a face that showed confusion.
"Sisters, do you hear that?" She asked both of her sisters, who looked at her with blank faces.
"Clotho you must be going crazy, for I do not hear anything in this wretched place," One of them said, Clotho just shrugged and they all went back to sowing. I was now very annoyed and confused, and so I yelled again but now louder.
"I KNOW YOU HEAR ME, WHY AM I HERE?" The sisters jumped and dropped what they were doing.
They pulled out daggers and looked around, "Who are you?" Clotho asked, questioningly and perhaps a bit scared?
I started to realize somewhat of what was happening now, so I went to her ear and said not too loud this time, "It's Perseus Jackson, and I think I died after I jumped into Tartarus." The Fates eyes widened at what I just said.
"The Alcea curse!" One of them gasps out. They instantly put their daggers away and put on a set of shades, which were capable of seeing Percy.
"Young Perseus, you have been given the curse of Alcea, which means, for eternity you will be both dead and alive. At daytime, you will be teleported back to the land of the living, but, at night time you will have to stay in Tartarus. You will be immensely weak in Tartarus while your powers on land will be five times of that of each and every Olympian. You will also be granted the gift of immortality and you will never be able to fade." Clothes said. I was going nuts now.
"What!" I managed to say in my shocked state, while the Fates just smirked at me.
"Take it as you will but I believe it to be a blessing," One of the sisters said. I started to calm down. Then I felt myself being teleported as the Fates just waved bye to me, I appeared in a forest and I felt like how I thought a Primordial would feel, with the amount of power entering me. I looked around slowly then I heard a familiar roar, so, like the fool I am, I ran towards it.
3rd Person POV
The Manticore roared as all of the hunters were shooting at him from the trees, they were unreachable. The monster was about to retreat when he saw a defenseless Artemis and took his chance to finally kill an Olympian, he charged up and released five of his most toxic spikes at her. Three spikes landed on her thigh, managing to immobilize the goddess.
Artemis fell from the tree and onto her back, she looked at the Manticore running at her full speed ready to stomp her face in. Then something amazing happened, a red laser shot from afar going straight towards the Manticore's heart.
The monster blew up in red dust. Artemis fainted by now leaving a bunch of highly confused and worried hunters.
"Phoebe go take Artemis back to camp and heal her!' Yelled a worried Thaila, Phoebe nodded and carried away an injured Artemis, bringing along the rest of the hunters with her.
"Whoever killed the Manticore, thank you," Thalia said running away with the hunters.
Percy's POV
I watched Thaila run away back to her mistress, I sat on a rock thinking of the power I just summoned. How was I able to kill a Manticore with a blast of power? I thought to myself, excited.
I slowly walked to where the Manticore blew up, red dust covering the entire scene. Suddenly with a poof of red, the Manticore stood before me, looking way stronger than he did before, his body was covered in obsidian armor head to feet.
I reached into my pocket for Riptide to find it gone, leaving me defenseless with a powerful Manticore in front of me. Then I realized I was invisible so I started to walk away but then the Manticore called out.
"Master, what are my orders?" I spun around to see the monster looking directly at me, I walked back in front of the beast, now curious as to why he just called me Master. The beast saw this and realized why my face showed confusion.
"You destroyed my old self, I am now back to the original state of when I was all-powerful, and for that, I am forever in your debt." It said as I realized how powerful that power I used on the Manticore was.
"How do you see me, beast?" I asked him as he just shrugged leaving me without an answer. I started to sense that night was almost upon us, so I had to make this quick.
"Meet me in Tartarus," I said, sternly. The beast nodded then vanished in a poof of red dust, I gave him teleportation powers too? Suddenly I felt a tug in my mind. No master, you have the ability to allow me to teleport anywhere, seeing as you are a Primordial, The beast said, Telepathy as well, I thought, chuckling to myself.
I sat back on my rock watching the sunset, I looked at my arms as they started to dissolve, Tartarus here we go.
3rd Person POV
A weak and frail old man appeared out of nowhere deep in the depths of Tartarus, the man fell to his knees, he appeared to be at least seventy-years-old. He got up and looked around, that man had a very powerful scent as well; monsters started stalking him from the shadows.
A mighty roar could be heard and all of the monsters turned to see an angry Minotaur come out from the shadows, ramming into the old man, throwing him a couple of miles away. The man groaned in pain, but he got back up and started to talk to himself.
The Minotaur got angry that such a heavy attack couldn't kill a weak man, and so this time he mustered all the energy he could and tried to ram the man again this time with his horns.
Then out of nowhere, a red mist surrounded the Minotaur, stopping him dead in his tracks, the mist seemed to get thicker until he couldn't be seen, the monsters that were in the shadows were taken back by this while the old man smirked, he seemed to know what was happening.
Suddenly, something could be seen dropping down onto the mist, the Minotaur could be heard screaming in pain, this lasted for a minute until everything went dead silent.
The mist started to evaporate showing a very gruesome scene. The Minotaur laid lifeless on the ground whilst a Manticore had one of his sharp talons in the Minotaurs skull, he was covered in dark blue blood from the Minotaur.
The Manticore roared, scaring off all of the other monsters away. The old man walked up to the Manticore smirking.
Percy's POV
I walked up to Manticore smirking at him as he still had his leg in the Minotaur's skull. The Manticore turned towards me, took his leg out of the Minotaur and bowed to me. I nodded and he went back up, I climbed onto him and patted his fur.
"Do you know of any place here, in which I can remain safe?" I asked him. The Manticore grunted in response.
"Yes, I have a cave a few miles from here that you can stay in, while I can stand guard outside" I nodded, and patted his head, signaling him to go onward.
Hyperion's POV
"Kronos!" I laughed with joy, as Kronos finished reforming, looking better than ever. He smiled and walked over to me, shaking my hands.
"Hello brother, has the plan worked?" He asked me as I nodded. You see, the Kronos Perseus killed or at least thought he killed was just Iapetus in disguise, while another demi-god was transported to Tartarus to revive the real Kronos which, as you can see, finally finished.
"Yes, the foolish Olympians think they won the war" I laughed, Kronos joined in and started to laugh as well.
"Mother would be proud of our plan" I smiled, Kronos nodded. I was so happy that I grabbed the nearest Hellhound and ripped his skull out and raised it in the sky, Kronos did the same.
"We shall destroy every one of those Gods!" Kronos roared.
I smiled, gave Kronos one last nod and walked back to my temple as I was getting horny from excitement.
I kicked open my golden doors revealing two naked women, they nodded knowing why I came here and walked over to me. I shall take Artemis's virginity when we take over Olympus, I thought, the pleasure was overwhelming.
Kronos' POV
I flexed my muscles getting familiar with my old body, I felt like I could crush in my son, Zeus's skull. I decided I would go visit my favorite Manticore as I sensed he was here in Tartarus, so he must have reformed.
As I reached the Manticore's lair I could smell the stench of a demigod which got me confused. I saw Thorn at the entrance like he was guarding it or something.
"Thorn, what are you doing?" He turned towards me and growled like he didn't know me.
"Back away Titan leader or I shall destroy you" He growled. This motherfucker thought he could talk to me like that, I am going to make sure it'll take centuries for him to reform after this. I took out my platinum scythe from my back and aimed it at him.
"You dare insult me?" I roared, ready to strike down the monster, but in turn, he roared back somehow fiercer than mine.
"Goodbye Titan leader" and with that, he jumped at me, claws leaving long cuts on my torso.
Third Person POV
The Ancient Manticore jumped on the unprepared titan, Kronos, leaving tons of deep cuts. The titan tried to land a blow on the creature with his scythe but failed, as it simply bit the hand that was holding the weapon, this caused him to drop it.
Kronos then with all his might threw the Manticore off his body and grabbed his scythe, this time more prepared. He threw his weapon at the Manticore who was running at him, the weapon spun in a deadly arc that could chop off about anything. The Manticore opened his mouth and ate the weapon.
"My scythe!" Krono bellowed, the Manticore used this distraction to his advantage and jumped a full mile, so fast, with his tail shooting deadly spikes at the titan. Each spike hitting him in his chest. The Manticore opened his mouth, allowing Kronos' head to in it. The Manticore bit into the neck, a terrible crunching sound could be heard.
The Manticore jumped off the now headless body of a titan and grabbed the titans leg dragging him into his lair.
Percy's POV
I laid on the cold floor trying to sleep, my body was constantly cramping leaving me with terrible pains. So I just sat up and sighed seeing as I was not going to be able to sleep on this rough floor with this weak body.
Just then I heard a noise coming from the entrance of the cave to find the Manticore dragging in a headless body, startling me. The body looked really familiar, Kronos? I thought to myself.
"Yes master it's Kronos, he stumbled upon my cave so I had to take him out," The Manticore said like it was nothing. I just stood there surprised that the titan reformed this fast, not possible. I got up and walked towards the body, I was currently wearing torn clothes so this was a better time than ever.
I took the golden cloak off of the titan's body and put it on, it instantly changed its size to fit my frail body, and it also changed from golden to black. The Manticore nudged my arm with a mirror in his mouth. I took it and looked at myself.
I had a black beard that was trimmed along the sides, a scar going down from my left eye giving it a dull color. But my right eye was really interesting, instead of its sea green self, it now looked like there was an actual thunderstorm in it. My hair went back giving it a slick look, the cloak also fit nicely on me. It matched my leather boots which were also black (Just think of the old Ezio from AC but with a scar from the eye).
I put the mirror down and looked at the naked body of Kronos.
"Dispose of the titan," I said, the Manticore nodded and with just a few bites, he ate the titan. I am very lucky I had the Manticore on my side or else I would have been killed by the titan and would have to reform in the pit, I thought, admiring the monster.
"Master, I believe you are planning something?" He said smirking, I started smirking as well.
"Yes, from this point on I will command a personal army of monsters, so I can exact revenge, and finally destroy those who betrayed me. I will form my own empire down here in Tartarus" I said, the monster smiled, his canines showing from his mouth.
I felt my body starting to vanish. It was daytime on land meaning I would be able to go back up.
"Come to me when I call your name," I said, the monster nodded as he was going to sleep, and with that, I was gone.
Percy's POV
I appeared sitting on the rock from last time. I stretched, happy to be in my powerful body again. I looked around and saw the hunters inspecting the red dust with two Olympians with them. Artemis was talking to Thalia asking her what exactly happened, and Hades had the red dust in his hands inspecting it.
"This monster was not killed," Hades said intently, all of the people stopped what they were doing and looked at him.
"What do you mean, the Manticore was clearly killed before my and the hunter's eyes!" Artemis exclaimed. Hades just shook his head put the dust in a ziplock bag that seemed very tough and flashed it away somewhere. He looked back at the Huntress.
"The monster was reformed to his ancient state, in other words, he was destroyed then reformed with the power of an Olympian. What scares me is that this power was only used by the Primordial by the name of Alcea." Hades said. The hunters were instantly confused.
"I never heard of a Primordial by the name of that" Artemis said. Hades smirked at her. Who is he! I thought, and like if he read my mind, Hades spoke up.
"He was a failed creation of Chaos, so instead she created a curse that had good and bad ends to it and it was only obtainable by demigods and humans." Artemis nodded and motioned him to go on.
"Supposedly it was only obtainable by jumping into the pit of Tartarus but the chance of getting it was one in a trillionth which is about impossible," Hades said knowing what Artemis was thinking about, but gave her a face that said not in front of her. Artemis nodded.
"So how does it work?" Asked Thaila, Hades turned towards her and smiled.
"Well, at night the being is invisible and could only be seen by a set of shades only the Fates can use. It was told that being would be given the powers that the Primordial would have gotten if he survived which would be the one used earlier today along with complete control over each and every monster." Hades said as all of the hunter's eyes widened at this.
"Sweet" One of them said, causing Hades to smirk. Suddenly the barbie girl theme song could be heard, from Hades' pocket. Hades, awkwardly, took out his smartphone, immediately shutting the phone off.
"Don't even say a word!" Hades commanded, the hunters began to laugh, and with that, he teleported away.
"Well then, hunters go back to camp I'll meet you there!" Artemis said, all of the hunters nodded, and ran back to their camp. Then once Artemis made sure they were all gone, looked at where the laser went off from the last day.
"Perseus, are you… here?" Artemis asked. I was about to say something to her but I felt hands cover my mouth. I looked to see the human version of the Manticore or at least a very better looking version then he last looked from all those years ago.
"Master, if you are to set out on the plan of yours then you cannot alert the maiden goddess of your presence." He said. I slowly nodded, seeing he was right. Taking one last look at the Huntress, I teleported myself and Thorn to a very secure location in New Zealand where I decided I would build my HQ at.
The Manticore transformed into his monster form and sat by my legs. Now how do I make this base? I thought, the Manticore looked up at me.
"Just think of what you want to be created and it will happen," He said, I nodded and started to think of a fortified building made of the strongest materials. Suddenly a building started to form, the shape, changing to my command.
"This is going to be fun," I was going to create the greatest base and home of all time.
Artemis' POV
There was no answer. I sighed and flashed myself to my camp. As I was nearing the entrance, I heard Thaila call my name, I turned around to see a hunter that looked like she was full of questions.
"Not right now Thaila, I just want to rest okay?" She nodded, seeing as she was not going to be able to ask any questions until tomorrow.
I got into my tent and fell onto my bed huffing in frustration.
"Perseus where are you?" I said out loud. That's when I heard someone shuffling by the entrance of my tent. Thaila.
"Thaila, come in," I huffed, the entrance opened revealing a blushing Thaila. She walked over to my bed and sat at the end of it not looking at me.
"Artemis, did you say Perseus? Is he okay?" She asked, damn.
"Yes he is fine I was just wondering how he was doing on his quest we sent him on," I answered, secretly sighing as I just lied to my lieutenant. Thaila immediately sensed that I was lying.
"Artemis..." She looked at me, worryingly.
"Zeus- Zeus sent Perseus to Tartarus..."
AN: I hope you guys enjoyed the chapter. Please review, criticism welcome. 2/21/18 AN: I made some changes to the chapter, primarily how Artemis reacted to Percy's banishment.