Last time…
"My my, what a funny boy you are, always full of ideas and plans. I do have to admit however, that this was very entertaining."
Everyone turned around looking for the strange voice that said such words. That voice was filled with power and even the gods shivered a bit after hearing said voice.
Suddenly the shadows around the area seem to become darker and focus on a single point. As that happen a huge aura hit Percy and his friends hard as some people fell to their knees. The shadows kept shifting and moving until they settled in the form of a man. Then out of the shadows came a man that had a black tuxedo that was the darkest black everyone had ever seen.
The man was pale but incredibly tall while still hum size, his eyes and hair seemed almost indistinguishable as they mixed with the shadows. Everyone got into a battle position as they sensed that this was no ordinary man.
However the man just casually stood unmoving with a smug smile on his face locking eyes with the only other person that didn't seem afraid of this presence, Percy. It was he who was the only person able to speak, but he only said one word.
"Erebus…"
Now…
Everyone was still unable to move or say anything even after Percy's clarification of who was in front of them. The tension in the air was almost unbearable as everyone waited on guard to see what this primordial wanted.
However Erebus himself was everything but tense as he smile at Percy as if they were long time friends seeing each other for the first time in a while. Percy himself had a different expression, he wasn't scared or on guard he looked annoyed more than anything.
"What are you doing here?" Asked Percy in a less than friendly tone. Everyone else nearly gasped at the way Percy was addressing this primordial and almost expected Percy to be disintegrated on the spot.
"Tsk tsk tsk… Is that really any way to address the generous man who taught you how to control that toy of yours?" Erebus pointed at Percy head forcing the his shadow mask to appear on top of his head.
"We both know you didn't do it out of compassion. You were simply bored and decided it would be entertaining to see me get killed battling the giants." This comment caused a small chuckle from the Primordial of darkness.
"Well I can't deny that boredom was my original motivation and I was looking very much to see your little plan fail. But after today you have proved yourself to be a higher source of entertainment that I could have ever expected so it will be an incredible waste to have you die here after such a performance."
"Gee, thanks. I am glad to be your personal source of entertainment but what do you mean by dying here?"
"Ah well that's why I am here right now! To warn you that reinforcement from Tartarus and earth are coming here right now. I mean even with me telling you your chances of survival are slim but who knows? You seem to have a talent breaking my expectations. Oh one last thing, if they do capture you, don't tell anyone I warned you ok? It would be awfully inconvenient for me if the other primordial found out I helped you. So goodbye Percy Jackson, I hope that you survive and bring me more entertainment…"
With that final statement the primordial of darkness vanished into the shadows leaving a very confused group behind. Before anyone could ask question Percy quickly took control of the situation.
"Look I know you all have questions but now is not the time. Despite the fact that I am not very fond of Erebus I doubt he is lying. Based on that we need to get out of here as soon as possible. Uncle do you think it would be possible for you to make a one way portal out of the underworld to any place on earth?"
Hades was brought back to reality from the question and frowned before answering.
"It can be done; I can do a temporary shadow portal as long as I know both locations."
"Hmmm, that's going to be a problem. Wait if I focus on the location into your mind could you still make the portal?"
"I could, but that would mean you need to control the shadows as well. I am not sure how long it can be maintained, a few minutes tops."
"Good enough for me. Everyone get ready to leave as soon as possible! Come on uncle lets get working on that portal."
Hades nodded as Percy shook his hands and tried to focus in his training cave and all the shadows around the area trying to bend them to create the portal. However this proved to be very difficult for Percy as shadows were his weakest element, despite this he kept focusing trying to imagine a tunnel being made from where they were to their destination entirely of shadows.
Soon enough a black vortex appeared in front of them just as they heard roars in the distance.
"Everyone get through the portal NOW!" Percy ordered in his loudest and most commanding tone that left no room for hesitation.
Percy and Hades stayed behind maintaining the portal as everyone else passed through. Finally only Percy, Hades calypso and the rest of the rescued gods remained as the noises got louder and louder. Percy turned to the other two.
"You all go in first, I have a little surprise for these reinforcements to make sure they can't take back the underworld so easily. But to do this I need you to trust me and give me a good amount of your godly aura. Trust me it will be for good use."
Artemis was the one who looked the most skeptical at this proposal but after this battle she had grown to the very least to respect Percy as a warrior and leader and so she was the first to trust him and give him a good amount of her godly aura surprising everyone else present.
"You better not die in here we still have unfinished business." Without another word she went through the portal. Everyone else did the exact same thing until only Hades and Calypso remained.
"Once I leave the underworld the portal is sure to collapse soon after even if I try to maintain it from the other side. I say you have about two minutes to do whatever it is you want to do. So try to be quick about it and good luck." After said warning Hades passed through the portal and immediately the portal started to flicker a bit.
"You heard the man you better get through that portal soon. I will be right behind you."
At this point Calypso had learned it was best not to argue so she simply kissed him the cheek, said goodbye and went through the portal. By this point the reinforcement were already in sight and even though he would never admit it, he was glad Erebus warned him about it.
He could feel strong auras in that group no doubt a good amount of Titans and some powerful monster that would be hard to take down.
However he emptied his mind of all thoughts except on performing one last technique. This would be impossible without all the extra energy from the gods but even with said energy there was no guarantee his body could handle the burden for very long.
The first thing he did was change his aura that up to this point had been focused purely on water. He shifted the focus so that all energy was poured into his control over the earth. As a result of this his area shone brightly once again as his armor and gauntlets shifted to match the pure earth aura Percy was emitting.
Once he was done Percy felt his aura more solid and dense. His senses over the earth heightened immensely allowing him to sense all of the enemies perfectly. However he didn't have much time to ponder on his abilities as simply being on this mode was draining enough for him so he need to end this fast.
He spread his legs to shoulder with and put his arms at his waist as if in a martial arts stance. As he did this the army finally came into view. However Percy didn't pay them any attention as he kept his eyes closed and aura focused.
"GET HIM!" yelled someone who appeared to be the general as the army immediately obeyed and launched at Percy who kept his stance. He then opened his eyes and the world seemed to freeze for a second as no noise was heard except for Percy's voice.
"Earth Shift"
He then drove his fist deep into the ground and then chaos followed.
His aura spread throughout the earth beneath him and towards the ceiling breaking the earth as it snaked along. Soon the entire underworld seemed to be shaking as the ground broke unevenly changing the entire landscape.
The new army was completely confused and couldn't do anything as their footing literally crumbled beneath their feet. The ceiling also began to collapse crushing several monsters. Mountains and canyons started to rapidly appear out of nowhere completely changing the landscape.
Percy didn't have much time to admire his work as he fell like he could pace out any second. Using his remaining strength he jumped through the portal just before it closed. As he went through the portal vanished but the effect of Percy's technique continued as new cracks and elevation distortions kept happening over the entire underworld leaving it in absolute chaos.
From the shadows Erebus was looking at the scene with a big smile on his face as if he was watching the great street show. Once the trembling stop and the underworld as left completely unrecognizable the primordial let out a booming laugh.
"My goodness this was even better than anything I could have hoped for! Percy Jackson… you are most definitely very entertaining." He then vanished into the shadows thinking of all the entertainment ahead of him observing his little champion.
Line Break. Give me Ideas people! More info at the bottom.
As soon as Percy passed through the portal his body gave up on him. He would have fallen had Calypso not been there ready to support him. He gave her a thankful smile before taking a look around.
"We… we did it." He said mostly to himself, trying to get his head around what he had just accomplished.
"We sure did, but I think there are few individuals here who would love some explanation." Calypso pointed at Nico and Hazel who had their arms crossed and were tapping their feet impatiently alongside Hades and Persephone.
"Alright, an explanation is in order but let's get out of this cave first and let everyone know that this mission was a success."
Everyone quickly existed the cave and it wasn't long before Calypso informed Iris, Hecate and from there word quickly spread about the successful mission so everyone was quickly seated in the main plaza.
All of the rescued demigods and heroes were amazed around the city around them. It took a bit of time to get used to seeing monsters interact with mortals in such a friendly fashion but after a quick warning from Percy everyone decided to not question it.
Once everyone was seated Percy took his place in the elevated stone as he addressed everyone.
"Attention. As you call already tell our mission to the underworld has been successful. We managed to rescue Hades and his family as well as all the imprisoned heroes that were wrongly put in the fields of punishment. However our attack did not go unnoticed, had it not been for a warning that we received we might have all been captured." He paused for a second to let that sink in.
"If the giants didn't know of our existence before they definitely do now. This means that missions will just get harder from now on and that big rescue missions like the one we just did will be harder to do. However let us not dwell on this, today was a great victory that showed the giants what we are capable of! So let us celebrate for the liberation of Lord Hades and the fallen heroes!"
Everyone cheered in agreement and soon enough thanks to some magic from Hecate a full blown feast was underway. However Percy couldn't take it easy as he was bombarded with questions from all his old friends.
Once he finished his story Luke was the first to speak.
"Damn Gaea, to be able to pull something like that…"
"Let's not dwell on the past. For now let's celebrate your liberation."
"But Percy what will happen with us now aren't we supposed to be, you know, dead?"
"Well, I don't know. I think the world is in too much chaos for ancient laws to apply. I am going to have to speak with Hades about it… Well speak of the devil."
The mentioned god was approaching Percy with a rather serious face.
"A word with you Percy if you please." Percy nodded and turned to his friends.
"It was nice to catch up, please enjoy yourselves to whatever you please, you will get information about where to stay soon."
"Before we talk let's grab Calypso your family and Artemis. I think they should all here this."
Hades nodded and so they both went around looking for said individuals. Once they were all found they were consumed by shadows. Once they repapered they were in the small hill that overlooked the city where Percy and Calypso liked to rest.
"I still can't believe what you have accomplished in so little time. This city is something that I couldn't even picture in my wildest dreams. I guess Hestia and I made the right call trusting you all those years ago…" Said Hades in awe.
Percy's face stiffened at the mention of Hestia but he hid it well and stayed silent as Hades continued.
"But I have to ask, how did you become so powerful? And don't say that you aren't because even I am not sure I could beat Alcyoneus even if I was at full strength and from what I could tell in your fight you weren't giving it your all."
Everyone was paying attention as this was something that even Calypso didn't know the details about.
Percy stayed silent as he thought how he should answer the question. It was secret that he hadn't told anyone but he decided that he owed these people an answer.
"Well, do you remember what I was trying so desperately to get that night before you were captured?"
Hades thought for a second before realization dawned on him.
"The golden apple… but that's only suppose to make a person immortal not give them the power to rival and even surpass the big three."
"Hmmm I wonder about that. You know the myth behind the tree? It is said that it was a gift from Gaea, but don't you find it a bit odd that she will give a gift to those that just overthrew her precious children?"
Everyone had confusion written in their faces clearly not knowing where Percy was going with this. After nothing but silenced Percy continued.
"Well, what if it wasn't a gift for the gods? What if it was a gift for humans to give them a fighting chance? A chance to defend themselves and to even oppose the gods? Of course that didn't happen because the apples were guarded but after meditating I somehow managed to connect with Gaea's mind and I found the apples' secret,"
He paused for dramatic effect as everyone present was completely focused on Percy wanting to a secret that they had never heard about before.
"If eaten by a god it's only a delicious snack. Sure it will give them a temporary power boost but that's it. However if eaten by a mortal or half-blood not only does it give them immortality but also the ability of evolving, getting ever stronger after every battle without any real limit. That's the secret."
Everyone was completely shocked by this statement and they all looked at Percy a bit differently.
"So does that mean that you have infinite power?" Ask Nico still having his ADHD tendencies.
Percy chuckled at the question as he shook his head.
"Not at all, far from it in fact. In a way you could say I have infinite potential. But growth is slow as my body needs to be able to bare the power so I am not much stronger than your dad at the moment." It was then Hazel's turn to intervene.
"So does that mean that in time you are going to be the most powerful being in the universe?"
"It's not that simple. Simply sitting around won't get me stronger. I need to train, to battle with being of similar level in order to grow. The catch is that I need to survive those battles, and as you can image the higher on the power scale you go the harder that becomes. So I seriously doubt I will even get to Primordial level."
"Oh I would be so sure about that…"
Everyone jumped at the new voice. They turned to see Erebus casually leaning against a tree.
"I hope you don't mind the intrusion, but since you were speaking about your powers I thought it might be a good idea for me to hop in into clarification. Now Percy here is a very special case since he holds control over three elements. Now this wouldn't be a big deal except that his control over water is now the greatest from all deities even primordial. I verified that today."
"Now that doesn't mean that you can win a fight against a water primordial, oh no. You will probably be stomped without much trouble. But that is only because; as you said your body simply can't keep up with your power. However if you were able to significantly increase your stamina then it would be a completely different story."
"Why are you here Erebus? I am sure it isn't just to give a lesson on my powers."
"Well yes you are correct. In fact I want to talk to you about the mess you made in the underworld. Tartarus is quite angry you know? I mean such a strong distortion that even he felt it. It was such an event that even primordial are talking about it. You have become quiet famous you know? I only came here to warn you that if you keep causing such troubles you might primordials against you. Of course only I know your real identity, and don't worry my precious champion, I intend to keep it that way. Until next time." He then disappeared into shadows.
The rest of the night Percy briefly explained how he meet Erebus and how it was him who gave him control over shadows. However it was obvious that Erebus saw Percy as more of a source of entertainment than a champion.
He then also went into detail about his 3 godly weapons, to Nico's request. After that was done the group went back to the party leaving only Hades and Percy behind.
"I cannot thank you enough for rescuing me and my family but what now? We can't go back to the underworld and I have no idea what to do about all the fallen heroes."
"Well I intend on rescuing most of the Olympians but doing another big assault is out of the question as the risk of getting captured is too high. If you are willing I will like to do small missions comprised of simply gods, to reduce the risk to a minimum."
"I will help you with whatever it is you have in mind, I owe you that much."
They both shook hands and then the shadows consumed them returning them to the party.
Line Break
The next few weeks were rather eventful as the entire world heard about what happened in the underworld. The titans that had gone as reinforcements simply said that that it was a single masked man that caused the destruction of the underworld.
This information didn't sit well with the titans as they thought that only her mother had such control over the earth. After hearing this news the giants decided that this was a declaration of war and that this man was to be found and captured as soon as possible.
Soon monsters and titans all over the world were on the lookout for this masked man. However no matter where they look they could never find him. As he was hidden in the frozen continent where nobody ever bother to look.
Deep within Antarctica if it wasn't for the protective barrier it would be possible to hear all of the activity that was going on inside of the refuge.
Ever since the rescue mission in the underworld the fallen heroes have become trainers for everyone in the refuge to get them prepared for anything. It wasn't something never before seen as some of the greatest heroes of all times taught the usage of different weapons and hand to hand combat.
However they weren't the other ones that were training as in another section of the refuge the sound of clashing blades could be heard as Percy and Artemis were in the middle of sparring. Since the missions would be getting riskier and more difficult Percy decided that it was time for the gods to train as well.
At first Artemis was reluctant to accept, her pride clouding her better judgment. So Percy decided to challenge her to a spar saying that if she won she didn't have to train. Needless to say after a crushing defeat Artemis became the most diligent in her training if to nothing else than to defeat Percy.
As they crossed blades Percy was impressed by the fact that she was actually making progress when it came to her technique. The one problem with gods is that progress is not really a possibility for them. They are born with an incredible amount of power but they can never go beyond that. That is one of the reasons the gods envied humans, they envied and feared humanity's ability to adapt, and evolve.
However that didn't mean that the gods were always at their peak. Without training they were unable to use their power to their full potential, and since Artemis never really had a sparring partner to polish her technique this very much applied to her.
Despite all the progress she was making she still found herself unable to beat him as he grew alongside her, always one step ahead, much to Artemis' irritation.
After exchanging blades for 10 minutes Artemis overextended a swing allowing Percy to get within her guard and disarm her putting his twin blades at her neck.
"Yield?"
She glared at him but nodded slowly as he retracted his weapons.
"Very nicely done, your technique is improving a lot. I think you are reaching your peak."
"Yeah yeah, but you always seem to always be a bit better than me."
After living around him Artemis has learned to swallow her pride and accept the fact that Percy was stronger than her. This was made easier by the fact that the he wasn't boastful about it and never really acted like he was superior.
"Trust me that's only because you push me to my limit. These sessions help me as much as they help you."
Artemis smiled about at that comment before moving on to other training. Percy then went with Hades to train his use of shadows. Hades himself had improved, or rather unlocked the true potential of his abilities while being in the refuge. He was now extremely proficient using shadows as deadly weapon showing his might as one of the big three.
Percy himself had improved significantly in his use of shadows now that he had a partner to practice with but he was nowhere near Hades' level.
They both faced each other inside Percy's training cave as Percy pulled out his shadow mask and put it on activating his powers. Immediately Hades launched a series of shadow spears without moving a muscle. Percy quickly reacted by putting a shield in front of him effectively blocking the attack.
However Hades wasn't finish as he mixed into the shadows to get behind Percy and throw a kick. Just before the kick connected Percy also vanished into the shadows. Hades smirked as he went back into the shadows chasing Percy. Eventually Percy was caught and thrown out of the shadows.
Once their training was done they were both sweating except that Percy was in the floor panting hard while Hades was on his feet with sweet pouring down his face but otherwise looking in better shape.
"Man you are good at this." Said Percy with the remaining of his strength. Hades chuckled at the remark.
"In no small portion thanks to you. I don't remember the last time that I have trained to tune and polish my power. And you should stop with the modesty; if you were fighting with your element you could easily defeat me."
"I am not so sure about easily, but yeah I would probably kick your ass." Said Percy jokingly which earned him a shadow punch sending him rolling in pain.
"Ow! I was kidding!" Hades smirked triumphant before saying goodbye to Percy and leaving the cave.
Once Percy was alone he sat up and closed his eyes trying to think on his progress and what his next move should be. There was no doubt that this training has made everyone sharper and more prepared for battle but it also gave the enemy a chance to prepare as well. The difference was that Percy held the element of surprise and the fact that his location was unknown.
However these two things alone wouldn't be enough to rescue his dad in Atlantis let alone everyone that was trapped in Tartarus. If he wanted to do that he would need something else and he had a good idea of where to start but he wasn't sure whether or not his plan would work.
Line Break give me ideas! More info below.
After a long day of training everyone was assembled in the plaza enjoying a relaxing and invigorating meal. The city was growing nicely and it was lot more livelily now with all the new people going around. Space wasn't a problem at all as there was still plenty of room for more people but it was starting to feel like a real town.
As everyone was eating Percy was talking with Nico and Hazel simply chatting about anything that came to mind. Both of them have also been doing training and become fearsome warriors. Nico had control over shadows almost as good as his dad's while hazel could control metals and even the earth and go toe to toe with Percy for a while.
"So I know this may me sudden but since Calypso is out of camp doing some recollection I was wondering if the two of you would like to go on a mission with me?"
Both of their faces lit up and they immediately said yes, exited to finally be able to leave the refuge for once.
"When are we leaving?" Asked Hazel.
"As soon as possible, if it's alright with you after you finish your meal go get whatever you need and wait for me at the entrance of the refuge alright."
Both of them nodded and focused on their meals furiously wanting to get this mission going right way. Percy laughed at their antics, but his faced quickly turned serious as he tried to think of a way of convincing Hades to let his children go on this possibly dangerous mission.
Two hours later Nico and Hazel were suited in light leather armor and ready to go as they waited for Percy. Soon enough they heard yelling and once it got louder they saw Their dad and Persephone yelling at Percy while he seemed to be trying to defend himself.
"Please unders-"
"There is no way I am letting you take my children on a suicide mission!"
"It's not a suicide mission! It will be some basic diplomacy!"
"DIPLOMACY?! How do you expect to achieve such a thing with-"
"HEY!" Yelled the siblings stopping the yelling Percy was getting and getting all three of their attention.
"Why are you two yelling at Pery? What's wrong with us going on a mission with him?"
"There is nothing wrong with going on a mission dear but this is suicide." Said Persephone
"If you would just let me explain you would see that its nothing of the sort!" argued Percy.
"Wait, so what's the mission anyway?" Asked Nico curiously.
All eyes turned to Percy, Hades and Persephone glaring at Percy.
"We are going to talk to Gaea…"
A/N: O.o Well that was unexpected…
So I have gotten pretty positive feedback on last chapter which I am really happy about so expect more battle like that one in the future.
Now we are getting to the point in the story were I am kind of running thin on ideas so please if you have a suggestion throw it my way! Like I know how the story will end and several events that need to happen. It's just these filling spaces that I need help with so please send all your suggestions my way, much appreciated!
Also, tell me what your opinion is on Percy saying his attacks out loud? It was mostly just an inspiration from anime but I did have plans to have it be explained in the story but what do you people think? Does it bother you? Do you not care? I rather like it but it is ultimately up to you my wonderful readers.
Anyway as always if you have any questions or suggestions PM are always welcomed and rapidly replied to. So anyway I just stayed up all night writing this so I am going to go collapse in my bed now. Bye!