Chapter ΙV

Time to Try and Learn To Kill Some Gods

Disclaimer: Once again, this be unowned by me, but by now you've figured that out

Sorry it took me so long to update, but I've been crazy busy, there's been a few, um, issues. Most of them involve my brother falling off the roof and his wife being pregnant; hopefully his back will heal quickly! So, here you go, new song, country rap, sort of weird, but Jason Aldean can afford to experiment. After all, he has the dedicated fan base of desperate girls with my sister at the heart of it.

Dirt Road Anthem

Jason Aldean

Yeah, I'm chillin' on a dirt road,
Laid back swervin' like I'm George Jones.
Smoke rollin' out the window,
An' ice cold beer sittin' in the console.
Memory lane up in the headlights,
It's got me reminiscing on them good times.
I'm turning off of real life, drivin' that's right,
I'm hittin' easy street on mud tires.

Back in the day Pott's farm was the place to go.
Load the truck up, hit the dirt road.
Jump the barbwire, spread the word.
Light the bonfire, then call the girls.
The king in the can and the Marlboro man.
Jack'n'Jim were a few good men.
Where ya learned how to kiss and cuss and fight too.
Better watch out for the boys in blue.

And all this small town he said, she said,
Ain't it funny how rumors spread.
Like I know something ya'll don't know,
Man that talk is gettin' old.
Ya better mind your business, man, watch your mouth,
Before I have to knock that loud mouth out.
I'm tired of talkin, man, ya'll ain't listenin',
Them old dirt roads is what ya'll missin'.

I'm chillin' on a dirt road.
Laid back swervin' like I'm George Jones.
Smoke rollin' out the window,
An' ice cold beer sittin' in the console.
Memory lane up in the headlights,
It's got me reminiscing on them good times.
I'm turning off of real life, drivin' that's right,
I'm hittin' easy street on mud tires.

I sit back and think about them good ole days.
The way we were raised, and our southern ways,
And we like cornbread, and biscuits,
And if it's broke round here we fix it.
I can take ya'll where ya need to go,
Down to my hood, back in them woods.

We do it different 'round here, that's right,
But we sure do it good, and we do it all night.
See, if you really wanna know how it feels,
To get off the road with trucks and four wheels,
Jump on in, and man, tell your friends,
We'll raise some hell where the blacktop ends.

I'm chillin' on a dirt road.
Laid back swervin' like I'm George Jones.
Smoke rollin' out the window,
An' ice cold beer sittin' in the console.
Memory lane up in the headlights,
It's got me reminiscing on them good times.
I'm turning off of real life, driving that's right,
I'm hittin' easy street on mud tires.
That's right.

Yeah, I'm chillin' on a dirt road.
Laid back swervin' like I'm George Jones.
Smoke rollin' out the window,
And ice cold beer sittin' in the console.
Memory lane up in the headlights,
It's got me reminiscing on them good times.
I'm turning off of real life, drivin' that's right,
I'm hittin' easy street on mud tires.
That's right.

This place rocked.

The void was not what you would expect, the place looked like a luxury beach resort, it made Circe's island seem like a hobo hut.

It was a small island in the middle of an ocean; again, I could tell it was salt water. It had a whole bunch of individual houses that looked like vacation houses, with those appliances that were smarter than their salesmen. The water was clearer than I'd ever seen, like pollution never happened, and there was a coral reef like the kind you see in Australia. But then, what do I know, I've never been to Australia. The sky was a blue at the moment, but there were clouds in the distance, but they didn't look threatening, they were those kinds of clouds that would just deliver enough rain to wake you up and refresh your senses. The place seemed to have those same kinds of invisible servants as on Calypso's island, which you would only notice because here and there a some stacks of towels were straightening themselves.

"Wow," I said, "no wonder you don't visit often, I wouldn't want to leave either."

Chaos smiled, "It does have its charms, but you wouldn't believe how boring it gets after a few thousand years."

I saw his point, leaving on occasion was probably necessary for this guy, after all, he was related to me. He couldn't exactly be mellow, or I would accuse him of lying.

"So," Nico said, "when exactly does this training start?"

Chaos looked up at the sun, which had just reached its apex in the sky.

"It begins now."

We were sweating bullets, pretty literally, because I was trying to get six rounds off a Mossberg 500 in less than a second.

You see, Chaos wanted to see our proficiency with all weapons before he taught us anything, and I was having a little trouble with the ranged weapons. I think Apollo must still be out to get me; because I had almost killed someone a few hundred times. That's unnatural; normally it doesn't go over a hundred for at least six hours when I start trying.

"Come on, Percy, focus." Chaos said while dodging a bullet that had somehow ricocheted off the wood backing of the target, even though it should have torn through it.

"I am focusing; long range just isn't my thing."

"Hmm." He started rummaging in the seemingly endless trunk of weapons he had brought out. "Ah ha!" He exclaimed, holding up two sniper rifles, about 5 feet long, with an extended handle so it didn't always need a stand, although it had an attached tripod anyway. They had small rapid fire discs attached as well, they looked like they could hold about 20 bullets each.

"What kind are those?"

"TAC-50, .50 caliber, extended handles so you can afford to shoot them without the stand. Specially refitted to fire my own, rather special bullets. Each one is a mixture of stygian iron, celestial bronze, imperial gold, and silver. They can kill any monster on contact, and these have enough power to even cut through drakon hide."

I looked at them, they seemed a little showy to me, but if I could shoot them without it being counted as attempted suicide, I was all for it.

I grabbed them both, figuring that using two meant I had twice the chance of hitting something. I carefully aligned my shot, surprised that I almost did it automatically, these felt much more natural in my hands than anything else. They were lighter than you would expect, they felt like they weighed five pounds. I squeezed the trigger, they had a bit of kick, but I could easily handle it, and they only let off one bullet whenever I squeezed the trigger. I was grateful for that, they would be easier to control. I was a little sad I couldn't pick them up and start machine gun firing, mobster style. Both bullets hit the padded target perfectly in the dead center.

Everyone looked a combination of shocked and impressed, myself included.

Chaos nodded, "I wondered about that, sometimes the natural born ability to use the blade translates into targeting. It's a lot easier with sniper rifles, they're much more accurate. You seem to have a gift for accuracy, but your lack of skill with stopping the kickback throws you off. Apollo's curse probably didn't help either."

I nodded, not surprised or insulted, in Apollo's place; I probably would have done something worse. "What was that metal you talked about, imperial gold? And why would you put silver in it?"

Chaos grinned, seeming happy with the questions. "Imperial gold is a special metal, more powerful than celestial bronze, but also more dangerous, it's very unpredictable, and attracts monsters like crazy. As for the silver, that's just in case you happen to run across some werewolves."

"Werewolves?"

"Lycoan and his minions, they would happily kill you on site, but they're easy to kill with silver."

I nodded; I'd heard the story of Lycoan before.

"Is it safe to come out?" Nico called from the nearest house.

"Safe, Percy found something he can actually shoot." Chaos yelled back.

Nico and Thalia came out of the house, Thalia had arrived pretty quickly after we had; she had seemed exited to learn from Chaos. Maybe she had heard how he had beat up her dad and Ares. They hadn't had any trouble with their weapon evaluation, but then again, they didn't have an archery god after them.

Chaos handed Percy two specialized holsters for his TAC-50's, which he could put on either side of his body.

"Now," Chaos said with a feral grin, "it's time we get down to the most interesting training."

He grabbed ahold of them, somehow grabbing both mine and Nico's wrist in one hand, Thalia's in the other. Small, multicolored, insubstantial tendrils snaked up their arms and into their mouths. They didn't taste like anything at all; I couldn't even tell it was there.

He let go of our wrists. "That was a small part of my powers, you are each more powerful than any of the individual gods now. If you strained yourself, you could probably even take three of them down at once. You also have the ability to kill them if necessary, but hopefully it won't come to that. More likely, you'll be able to permanently kill monsters and the more evil immortals."

I didn't feel any different, but I knew I was going to enjoy this.

"Let's get going, I've gotta get back and kick Ares into his own statue."

Now who wouldn't want to see that, hopefully the next chapter will include more godly injuries? Who else wants me to rip Ares to pieces? New chapter be here soon.