Arcane Chaos

by Kronium345

A boy who leads a dark path, different than his siblings. Cut off from familial ties at a young age, he seeks power. Power to protect himself and those he cares about. This ambition, this greed, will drive him to great lengths to attain this power and become a maelstrom in the world of gods, monsters and demigods. Son of Poseiden! OC. Harem. Somewhat Dark!/Grey OC. Godlike! OC

25. Chapter 25

Chapter 25:

"You are in so much trouble," Clarisse said.

They'd just finished the tour. with the three runaways. Markus assumed Clarisse was trying to unnerve or mess with the other demigods. The soldiers kept staring at Annabeth and Percy. In Annabeth's case it was with pleasure as it turned out the daughter of wisdom was from Virginia and so was technically a Confederate like them. In contrast, they really hated Percy, calling him a dirty Yankee since he was New York born and raised. Markus knew the feeling. Tyson was especially freaked out by the dead soldiers, even asking Annabeth to hold his hand, who did so reluctantly and unhappily.

Finally, they headed to dinner. The CSS Birmingham captain's quarters were about the size of a walk-in closet, but still much bigger than any other room on board. The table was set with white linen and china. Peanut butter and jelly sandwiches, potato chips, and Dr Peppers were served by skeletal crewmen. The new arrivals looked reluctant to eat anything served by undead, but their hunger seemed to win over their fears and they dug in.

"Tantalus expelled you for eternity," Clarisse told them smugly. "Mr. D said if any of you show your face at camp again, he'll turn you into squirrels and run you over with his SUV."

Markus rolled his eyes. "You don't have to worry about Tantalus, though. I banished him to the Underworld, so it's fine." The two demigods looked confused on that part, but ignored it for now. They just chalked it up to magic.

"Did they give you this ship?" Percy asked sounding oddly wounded.

"'Course not. My father did."

"Ares?"

Clarisse sneered. "You think your daddy is the only one with sea power? The spirits on the losing side of every war owe a tribute to Ares. That's their curse for being defeated. I prayed to my father for a naval transport and here it is. These guys will do anything I tell them. Won't you, Captain?"

The captain stood behind her looking stiff and angry. His glowing green eyes fixing Percy with a hungry stare. "If it means an end to this infernal war, ma'am, peace at last, we'll do anything. Destroy anyone."

Clarisse smiled. "Destroy anyone. I like that."

Tyson gulped.

"Clarisse," Annabeth said, "Luke might be after the Fleece, too. We saw him. He's got the coordinates and he's heading south. He has a cruise ship full of monsters-"

At the part about Luke, Markus almost spat out the Dr. Pepper he was drinking. His eyes gained a fire in them, a vengeance. So, that piece of shit was around? Markus smiled coldly, ignoring Tyson's whimper of fear. When Markus found him, he was going to cut his head off. After finding out that he was a traitor, as well as trying to poison his brother, Luke was going to pay. In blood.

"Good! I'll blow him out of the water."

Annabeth turned to Markus with a careful, yet angry look in her grey eyes. "He confessed to doing it, Markus. He said he p-poisoned Thalia's tree."

After a minute, Markus smiled coldly, creeping the others out and pleasing Clarisse gladly. He turned to the daughter of Ares slowly, a maniacal gleam in his eye. "Clarisse, I will owe you for life if you let me kill the bastard brutally. Please."

Clarisse offered a bloodthirsty grin of her own. "No way, Henderson. I want dibs on him as well."

"Fine, we share then," Markus offered. Contemplating it, Clarisse nodded. "Fine."

All three of the Birmingham's new passengers looked aghast at this bloodlust.

"You don't understand," Annabeth said, as she shook of her shock. "We have to combine forces. Let us help you-"

"No!" Clarisse pounded the table. "This is my quest, smart girl! Finally I get to be the hero, and you two will not steal my chance."

Annabeth's face grew understanding, Percy though just grew furious at Clarisse's rejection of their offer to help.

"Where are your cabin mates?" The son of Poseidon asked. "You were allowed to take two friends with you, weren't you? Why is it that only Markus here?"

"We don't have one." Clarisse reluctantly admitted.

"No one else wanted to join you?" Percy asked snidely.

Looking away unhappily, Clarisse reluctantly said, "They didn't … I let them stay behind. To protect the camp."

"You mean even the people in your own cabin wouldn't help you?"

"Percy," Markus warned tersely, indicating that his brother was crossing a line that he shouldn't.

The child of Ares looked ready to fling the china at his head. "Shut up, Prissy! I don't need them! Or you!" Her fist slammed on the table, shaking it.

"Clarisse," Percy tried a different approach, "Tantalus is using you. He doesn't care about the camp. He'd love to see it destroyed. He's setting you up to fail."

"Well, it's not as if she has to worry about Tantalus now," Markus muttered under his breath, but the others didn't hear him.

"No! I don't care what the Oracle-" She stopped herself.

"What?" he said. "What did the Oracle tell you?"

Markus, not wanting to sell Clarisse out - huh, who knew that he actually cared about her? - chose to keep silent on the matter.

"Nothing." Clarisse's ears turned pink. "All you need to know is that I'm finishing this quest and you're not helping. On the other hand, I can't let you go…"

"So we're prisoners?" Annabeth asked.

"Guests. For now." Clarisse propped her feet up on the white linen tablecloth and opened another Dr Pepper. "Captain, take them below. Assign them hammocks on the berth deck. If they don't mind their manners, show them how we deal with enemy spies."

Markus rolled his eyes at the girl. "Good to see that you know common courtesy."

"Shut up, Marcie."

"Screw you, Piggy."

"Good to see you two have bonded," Percy muttered sarcastically.

"Shut up!" both of them said at the same time. They turned to each other, angry at both of them saying the same thing. "Stop copying me! Stop it!"

The group laughed, including Tyson and the undead sailors. They quickly clamped up at the stink eye the two were giving them.

XXX

The day had just gone past noon. Markus Clariss,e, Annabeth, Percy and Tyson all sat around a table with a map of the Bermuda triangle on the table and were preparing for the entrance to the Sea of Monsters.

After Percy, Annabeth and Tyson had joined the ship the day before the rest of the day was very quiet and very little happened.

Both Percy and Clarisse kept to themselves and stayed out of each other's way. During dinner they didn't say a word to each other, which was a good thing. The others didn't want to deal with them fighting with each other almost all the time. Markus and Clarisse weren't like that because... well, they barely tolerated each other and didn't exactly hate each other. Plus, Clarisse hated Percy because she humiliated her with toilet water the first time they met. The same could be said about Markus, but he beat her in hand-to-hand combat, which Clarisse could deal with. So, yeah.

"So when will we arrive at the entrance?" Percy asked as he examined the map with Tyson beside him enjoying his peanut butter sandwich.

"Within the next hour or so," Clarisse said. "We want to be ready for when we get to the entrance since this will be a very difficult part of the quest. Plus it's guarded by two of the worst of the oceans monsters."

"Charybdis and Scylla right?" Percy asked getting a nod from the everyone.

Annabeth took it upon herself to explain the story of Charybdis and Scylla, because why not. "Scylla was a child of Phrocys and Keto and was once a very beautiful nymph. From what I read Scylla was once a beautiful nymph. The fisherman-turned-sea-god Glaucus fell madly in love with her, but she fled from him onto the land where he could not follow. Despair filled his heart and he went to the sorceress Circe to ask for a love potion to melt Scylla's heart.

"As he told his tale of love about Scylla to Circe, she herself fell in love with him. She wooed him with her sweetest words and looks, but the sea-god would have none of her. Circe was furious, but with Scylla and not with Glaucus. She prepared a vial of very powerful poison and poured it in the pool where Scylla bathed. As soon as the nymph entered the water, she was transformed into a frightful monster." She finished all this with one big breath, making Markus, Percy and Tyson nod.

"Charybdis however was a child of Poseidon and a water nymph. She was known to be very loyal to her father and helped him during his endless feud with Zeus. She would ride the hungry tides after Poseidon had stirred up a storm, and led them onto the beaches, covering whole villages, submerging fields, drowning forests, claiming them for the sea. She won so much land for her father's kingdom that Zeus became enraged and changed her into a monster forever."

Markus and Percy frowned at the information given to them. Both of them felt sympathy for their sibling, even if she was a monster. It must've been horrible dealing with that. Percy felt especially sympathetic because his treatment of Tyson flashed into his mind, making him wince slightly.

"So they were forever cursed for something that out of control?" Percy asked angrily, making Markus look at him with an understanding look.

"The gods can be cruel at many points. This is an example of that," Markus said to Percy. He frowned at what he said. It made him sound like Luke. Sure, he could understand why he was doing what he was doing, and he was right. Still, he hated the bastard.

"Is there nothing that can be done to remove the curse? Surely the gods would not just let them remain as monsters for something that was not their fault?"

"If they did then I doubt we would be worrying about which of the two we would need to pass Percy," Markus answered, silencing Percy. Percy then turned to him with a hopeful look in his eyes. "What about you? You know magic, so maybe..."

Markus shook his head. "Nope. I dunno how to. Even if I did, the amount of magic needed for that might kill me. I think only Hecate can perform magic like that." He said that because he assumed that no one could reach Hecate in terms of magical prowess. Well, no mortal could.

Percy looked down, and Markus couldn't blame him. Hell, he wished that he could do something about it. Alas, he couldn't.

"So which will we be trying to get passed?" Annabeth asked though, Percy looked in confusion.

"Why do we have to pass either of them? Can't we just find another way in? Surely there is one unguarded entrance, right?" he asked, confused.

"It does' not quite work like that, Percy," Annabeth answered. "They are at all the entrances to the Sea of Monster. There are multiple entrances but at all of them Charybdis and Scylla will appear."

"Oh, okay then," Percy said, feeling a little stupid.

"The answer is simple," Clarisse said taking the map into her hands.

"Charybdis is a giant whirlpool that we have to pass while Scylla lies in wait on the said of the cliffs. If we try to avoid Charybdis then we have to fight Scylla ad if we avoid Scylla we have to fight Charybdis any way you look at it. Therefore I think we should take on Charybdis."

"Clarisse," Percy said, "Charybdis sucks up the sea. Isn't that the story? I don't think it would be wise to try and take her on. She could destroy the boat completely."

"If we get too close, then Scylla and her snake heads will come down and start plucking sailors off the ship."

"Then choose Scylla then," Percy said. "Everybody goes below deck and we chug right past. We will be safe that way. It is easy."

"Percy, nothing is that easy and nothing is that simple. Just because we will be below deck, it does not mean she will not be able to get to us. Don't know about you, but last I checked, monsters were very strong and could tear right through the metal," Naruto answered. Clarisse then spoke up.

"If Scylla doesn't get her easy meat, she might pick up the whole ship. Besides, she's too high to make a good target. My cannons can't shoot straight up. Charybdis just sits there at the center of her whirlwind. We're going to steam straight toward her, train our guns on her, and blow her straight to Tartarus!"

Markus sighed. "I can't believe I'm saying this, but Clarisse is right. It's a direct approach but it's our best shot. Plus I can use magic to hit her in the eye or something to distract her. So there's that." He got understanding nods from everyone.

They all knew that getting passed either of the monster duo was going to be difficult. After all only a handful of people have done such a thing.

"Let's get the last of are things and then everyone meet up on deck. Shortly we will be at the Sea of Monsters."

The six demigods quick broke apart and all headed towards their rooms and prepared.

Markus went to his room and checked his supplies. He had Wavebreaker and Beowulf on his key chain. (A.N. - If you want to ask, it's simple. Magic). He put on a grey shirt with black jeans, along with hi-tops. Both his Chimera and Lamia knives were in holsters at his waist, tucked under his belt. Both of them were sharpened and in top condition, with the Lamia knife still having its poison.

He sighed, mentally preparing himself. He wasn't naive. He knew there was a chance that things could go wrong and that someone might die. He knew that he couldn't save everyone, but he would do his hardest to prevent any of that happening. Sometimes he wished that he knew healing magic to ease his worries. The only option he had as healing runes. While effective, they weren't the same as healing magic.

As he exited his room he found Annabeth, Percy, and Tyson already outside waiting for him. They all were wearing their armour and having their weapons strapped to their sides and on their backs.

"We're just waiting for Clarisse," Annabeth answered.

"I'll wait for her," Markus offered. "You guys head up on the deck. I'll bring her up when she's out."

They all shrugged and did as told.

Markus leaned against the wall beside as he waited for the daughter of Ares. Though it did not stay silent for long when he heard a crash from within Clarisse's room.

Eyes widened, Markus zipped to her room, worried. He still wondered when he suddenly started to care for Clarisse, but pushed it out of his mind for now.

He was about to open the door before he heard voices coming from within. He pressed his ear against the door.

"I don't want excuses, little girl!" an angry male voice growled which caused Markus to narrow his eyes and a snarl rip out of his throat. He knew that annoying voice. What the hell was Ares doing here?

"Y-yes, father," he heard Clarisse mumble and could hear her shuffling. This caused Markus to raise an eyebrow in surprise. He'd never heard Clarisse whimper, let alone sound afraid. As much as she annoyed him, he knew that she was strong-willed.

"I will succeed!" Clarisse promised, her voice trembling. "I'll make you proud."

"You'd better," he warned. "You asked me for this quest, girl. If you let that slime ball Jackson kid and that Henderson punk steal it from you-"

"But the Oracle said-"

"I DON'T CARE WHAT IT SAID!" Ares bellowed. "You don't want to see me mad, do you? Because you know what will happen if you do."

"No, father."

Markus' eyes widened when he heard a loud smack come from inside the room and he heard what Ares had to say "No, father," he mimicked. "You're pathetic. I should've let one of my sons take this quest."

Markus took a moment to contemplate on what he should do. He could turn around, walk away and not look back. No one would know. It wasn't his business, it was Clarisse's. Besides, why should he care? It wasn't his problem. And Clarisse was always such a bitch at times, and Markus wouldn't deny that a part of him - a small, vindictive part - enjoyed hearing Clarisse squirm like that. So he should have no problem leaving.

So why the hell was he still rooted in place? No, a better question is why was he so angry, so concerned for Clarisse?

The truth was because she was a, ahem, friend. And he should - Markus almost choked on the spot at the thought - h-help her. Besides, he was jaded, but he wasn't cruel enough to just ignore Clarisse in this situation.

So with that, he kicked down the door. Ares, who looked the same since Markus last saw him, looked over and saw Markus standing in the doorway his glowing green eyes looking directly at him (A.N. - Think of Hulk's eyes when he's in his World Breaker form). "Get lost punk. This is some father-daughter bonding. This doesn't concern you."

Markus looked over and saw Clarisse was hiding the right side of her face and hand her hand covering as well. For some bizarre reason, this made Markus even madder than before. He went forward and got in Ares face.

"Leave, Ares," Markus warned silently, his eyes practically neon green in rage. "You aren't welcome here. Leave now."

"You dare, you little shit. Give me one good reason why I shouldn't kill you right now. Your daddy isn't here to save you-"

This made Markus grow angrier the longer that he looked at him - due to Ares' natural aura doing that - and so with that, he moved at speeds that left Ares with wide eyes, and decked the god in the face, right in his jaw. He didn't add earthquake energy in his hand, but his surprising strength pushed Ares forward. The god slammed into the wall behind him, going through it and leaving an Ares-sized hole in the wall. The god of war was on his back, but quickly got up, looking more shocked than hurt. He was about to say something, when Markus appeared in his vision, his whole body bathed in a sea-green light. His pupilless eyes bore into Ares' firey gaze.

"I. Said. LEAVE!" Markus roared in anger, his voice reverberating across the room. Clarisse looked at the scene in shock, still holding her cheek.

Ares snarled and spat on the floor in front of Markus before he teleported away in his godly form which made both demigods cover their eyes. When they opened their eyes Ares was gone and it was silent.

Markus panted, his aura and glowing eyes disappearing. He turned to Clarisse, who was trying not to look him in the eye.

"Hey," he said slightly, walking towards her gently. He wasn't good at these kind of situations. He didn't know if he should give her a comforting hug or try to help her stand up. "Clarisse?" he asked gently causing her to turn her head away from him. He went in front of her and gently tiled her face towards him. He saw that on her right cheek was a red mark from where Ares had hit her. But in her eyes he could see them beginning to glaze over slightly.

Wanting to do something to help her, Markus decided to work his magic. Literally. Holding up his index finger, he concentrated slightly. After a moment, a pin prick of blood squirted from the tip of his finger. His blood control got better the more he practised, like a muscle. Holding his bleeding finger to Clarisse's cheek, he saw her wince. "It's okay," he assured her. "I'm not going to hurt you." Seeing her relax slightly, his bloodied finger touched her cheek.

Tracing the Greek rune 'Θεραπεύω' for 'Heal' on her cheek in small letters, Markus sighed in relief. "There. It's no Apollo-level healing, but it should do the trick. Just put a patch of ice onto the wound - ah." Looking around, he saw a tap. How convenient. Walking towards it, he turned it on. He concentrated on the running water, and saw as a stream of it collected itself out of the tap and solidified into an ice block. Holding it in his hand, he carefully handed it to Clarisse, who took it gingerly. "There. That should help."

Clarisse just nodded, still having the dazed look in her eye. Markus didn't want to interrupt her inner debate, but he had to ask. "Uh, Clarisse?" When she focused on him, he asked his question. "Does this happen often?" he asked but felt a little relived when she shook her head.

"Only when he is really mad," she whispered, speaking for the first time. "He never hit me when I was younger, mainly over the last few years since I came to camp. I just don't think he likes having daughters. He does not see girls as worthy fighters."

"Well, then he's retarded," Markus said firmly, getting Clarisse to focus on him. "While we may be at odds many, many, many times, I'll admit that you're one of the strongest fighters in camp."

Clarisse nodded, still not responding.

He sighed. He didn't know what to do. She still wasn't responding. He wasn't used to this type of thing. He almost wished that Clarisse was more... Clarisse.

Regretting what he was going to do, he walked towards the girl slowly, not getting a response. Hesitatingly, he wrapped Clarisse in a kind of hug, getting the girl to flinch. He patted her back awkwardly, then decided against that. Markus rubbed her back like he would to a baby, or a person in pain.

Pushing his awkwardness aside, Markus whispered, "You can let it out. There is no one here but us and I promise you I will not tell anyone what happened here."

He felt Clarisse nod her head a little into his shirt and felt her arms wrapped around him tightly like a lifeline. He could see little traces of water going down her cheeks. Markus' heart nearly broke. He never knew when he grew so caring or considerate, let alone to Clarisse, but he knew that the girl needed someone to hold onto. He suddenly realized that not all relationships for demigods with their parents were like his dad. Poseidon, once he got over his hate for the god, was chill once you got to know him. And Markus knew that he loved both him and Percy dearly. He could tell.

On the other hand, Clarisse had to deal with Ares, the biggest jackass that Markus had ever seen. He was terrible as a god, and he balked at the idea of him being a father. Was that how it was for most demigods? Maybe not meeting their parents was better rather than seeing them and knowing the monsters that they can be. Markus knew how cruel the gods can be. But he didn't think that cruelty could extend to their children.

Markus pondered this as he held onto the girl. This was the first time he had ever seen Clarisse so vulnerable before and it was strange to see the normally tough as nails girl in such a state. He understood she had a tough image but like he had thought before; there was a lot more to Clarisse then being tough, strong willed daughter of the God of War. The shocking thing was, she was willing to show that side to him.

She broke the hug and he saw her eyes were a little red with a few tears stains down her cheek. She quickly wiped them away.

"Thank you, Markus," he heard her mutter.

He smiled lightly. That was probably the first time that she had said his name. "No problem, Clarisse," he whispered.

It was silent for a moment. It was nice, just with the two of them. Markus thought that this was the kind of thing that a boyfriend and girlfriend do. But he quickly perished the thought. Clarisse needed comforting. He didn't need to be her boyfriend to do that. Besides, he didn't feel that way towards Clarisse. She was a comrade, the kind that he would allow to watch his back in a battle, or in general, despite their attitudes towards each other. Markus would probably feel that kind of mushy way with someone different, maybe with Silena, or Katie, or Ann-

He blinked in surprise. Where the hell had that come from?

His thoughts were interrupted when he felt Clarisse punch arm. Hard.

"If you tell anyone what happened here I will kick your ass. Magical powers or not, I make it look like an accident."

Markus just stared at the girl that he had comforted not even a few seconds ago. And then he laughed.

Clarisse looked ready to slap him because he was laughing at her, but he just patted her shoulder lightly. "I would expect no less from you, War Girl. Now come on, we got two monsters that need a good ass kicking."

She patted his shoulder as well, making Markus smirk. The two exited the room and made their way back onto the top of the ship, where the others were waiting.

Not much time had passed since Markus had went downstairs. When they arrived on the top deck they saw Percy and Annabeth were leaning over the side talking while Tyson was tinkering around with some kind of watch. They didn't notice them appear.

Leaving Clarisse alone for a bit to get rid of what happened a while ago, he went and stood by Tyson and watched him tinker around with his new project.

He stayed like that for the full hour and made idle chat with Tyson and found Tyson's child like behaviour was a breath of fresh air with all the seriousness and boredom over the last few days. Markus even asked if he could show him a little bit of tinkering, making Tyson extremely happy. So much so that he wrapped Markus in a bone-breaking hug. Almost literally.

Once the hour was up a horn sounded out throughout the ship which made everyone jump.

"That's the signal. You know what that means," Annabeth said getting a nod from everyone else. Everyone gathered together while Clarisse used a pair of binoculars.

Everyone looked in the same direction as Clarisse was, but they could not see much couldn't see much. The sky was overcast. The air was hazy and humid, like steam from an iron.

The engine groaned as the boat increased in speed.

Tyson muttered nervously, "Too much strain on the pistons. Not meant for deep water."

"Don't worry buddy," Percy comforted. "We are going to make it through this. The ship will hold."

"Let's hope," Markus muttered. He wasn't that well versed in ships, just how to operate them, but he could tell that groaning sounds coming from the engine wasn't good.

After a few more minutes of observing and preparing, dark splotches became visible ahead of the boat and began to come in to focus. To the north, a huge mass of rock rose out of the sea - an island with cliffs at least a hundred feet tall. About half a mile south of that, the other patch of darkness was a storm brewing. The sky and sea boiled together in a roaring mass.

"Hurricane?" Annabeth asked in a hopeful tone but she saw the stoic expression on Clarisse's and Markus' face.

"No," Clarisse said. "Charybdis."

"Well, here we go," Markus muttered, everyone tense.

"Captain set sails for Charybdis and get everyone on the cannons!" Clarisse yelled.

"Aye Aye Captain," he shouted back as the cannon on the ships began to get manned by the skeleton Confederates.

The ship got closer to the monsters, the sound of Charybdis got louder and louder - a horrible wet roar like the galaxy's biggest toilet being flushed. Every time Charybdis inhaled, the ship shuddered and lurched forward. Every time she exhaled, we rose in the water and were buffeted by ten-foot waves.

Tyson seemed to clutch Markus' hand on instinct. Markus returned the grip to his brother.

However they could feel heat coming from beneath them and knew it was the engine the heat was coming from. A burnt out engine was not something that would help them in fighting Charybdis.

"Tyson, do you think you could go down to the engine room ad keep the engine cool?" Percy asked.

Everyone looked to Tyson who had an inquisitive look on his face before he grinned.

"Tyson can help. Tyson can keep the engines cool. I go work on that now," he said getting a nod from everyone and a thumbs up from Percy and Markus before he sprinted down the stairwells and towards the engines rooms.

"Percy, Markus, can you control the oceans and give us a hand?" Annabeth called out as she clutched her knife that she brought out of instinct.

Percy closed his eyes and began to feel the ocean around him but the whirlpool in front of them as well as the roars from the monsters and the shouting from the skeleton crew made it too difficult for him to fully concentrate.

"I—I can't," he said miserably. "There is too much interference. I can't focus properly."

"Lemme try," Markus offered. He went to the rail and closed his eyes. He felt the ocean around him, felt every drop of water in the whirlpool in front of them. He tried blocking out all sound, all noise, and concentrated. He grit his teeth as he did his best to control the oceans. He was better at Percy than manipulating water, but that was purely out of experience, not power difference. He was having the same problem as Percy.

He shook his head. "No good. It's the same reason as Percy's. Plus, I'm not sure our powers could completely stop the whirlpool."

"We need a backup plan," Annabeth said. "This isn't going to work."

However before she could explain the ship lurched forward and threw most of their feet. The ship began to rock in every direction signalling that they had been sucked into the whirlpool.

"Full reverse!" Clarisse screamed above the noise. The sea churned around them, waves crashing over the deck. As she shouted the demigods got a good luck at Charybdis.

"Damn," Markus said aloud, seeing the black maw at the bottom of the whirlpool with long teeth the size of row boats that was sucking in everything possible.

"She's just a giant mouth," Percy said in disgust. The others agreed with his statement.

"Lady Clarisse," the captain shouted. "Starboard and forward guns are in range!"

"Fire!" Clarisse ordered throwing her right arm down.

Three rounds were blasted into the monster's maw. One blew off the edge of an incisor. Another disappeared into her gullet. The third hit one of Charybdis's retaining bands and shot back at the,, snapping the Ares flag off its pole.

Not sad to see that go, Markus thought to himself.

He held his hand out, concentrating. "Stella Inspiratione!" he shouted out, a giant bomb of light erupting from his palms and headed towards one of the long teeth and disintegrated it. Charybdis roared out.

Not being deterred, he continued his magical onslaught. "Sagitta Spiram Verberare!" he shouted, dozens of magical arrows shot towards Charybdis' teeth, trying to make it feel pain.

Charybdis continued to roar out and it looked like it was getting closer or they were getting further swallowed.

"It's not working," Markus concluded, cancelling his spell. He turned to Percy. "Help me."

Percy blinked seeing his brother turn to him for help. "M-me? What do you want me to do?"

"We're going to control the water to turn it to ice, see if that'll do anything," Markus said. The others looked stunned at his idea. Percy also. "I can't manipulate ice," he said.

Markus rolled his eyes. "Well, today's the day, then. Now come on!" He yanked his brother and both of them went to the front of the ship. The guns were reloading while all of this was going on.

"It's easy. Just imagine a river of water, then slowly solidify it until it turns into ice," Markus instructed. He held out his hands, his will washing over the oceans. He couldn't wrestle it into submission but he could at least use it to attack Charybdis. Since they were in the ocean, Markus had much more water to work with and so was able to draw more of it.

A huge pillar of water rose from the ocean in front of the ship. The others, Percy especially, were shocked at this display of skill. They were further shocked when the pillar formed into a giant spear of condensed water, and then slowly turned into ice. With a wave of his hand, Markus sent the humongous ice spear towards the mouth of the monster.

It disappeared into Charybdis, but not before taking out a couple of more teeth on top of the ones he already took out. A loud roar echoed from the black maw, though whether it was of pain or annoyance, Markus wasn't sure.

He turned to his brother, who's mouth was hung open at the display of water control. Markus was panting, having used a large body of water and then turning it into ice taking its tole on him. "See?" he said, panting. "Easy. Now you try it."

Percy continued to look shocked, until his mind registered the sentence. "I... I can't-"

"Oh, for fuck's sake!" Markus shouted, annoyed. "I just told you: use the water and imagine a stream of water slowly solidifying into ice! Now hurry!"

Nodding quickly, Percy joined his brother in commanding two giant pillars to rise from the churning ocean. The one Markus was controlling quickly solidified into ice, but Percy's one struggled, showing that he was still struggling with control.

Splitting his concentration in half, Markus took his brother's hand to help him while his other hand was used to control his own water pillar. "Here," he said, voice strained. "Like this."

Percy's pillar slowly turned into ice with Markus' help. When Percy worked with his brother together, the now two ice pillars were formed, turning into giant javelins. With their mental command, they both sent it to Charybdis mouth, destroying row after roar of giant teeth and disappearing down the monster's gullet.

They could hear the great ocean monster cry out in pain as the ice froze around and inside her mouth. Its teeth were destroyed and frozen solid. and began to turn an ugly shade of grey and black from and the attacks.

Both brothers panted in exhaustion, mentally tired from using that much power. The whirlpool around them calmed a little and allowed the captain to get better control of the ship. The pain could still be heard in Charybdis' roars and cries.

"That was great, guys," Annabeth shouted." Keep it up. "The ice is hurting her."

"In a, huff, minute," Markus wheezed out, getting his energy back. He commanded a small geyser of water to erupt from the ocean, then controlled it to spray the two. Immediately the felt rejuvenated, like they can control the whole ocean.

The cannon fire seemed to stop for a moment. Annabeth helped reload the cannons with Clarisse while several skeletons did the same. They had taken over from a skeleton that had fallen in the ocean and been sucked in by Charybdis.

They could feel the heat beneath them get cooler signalling that Tyson was managing to keep the engine cool and in order.

"Good job," Markus commended towards Percy, a smile on his face.

"Yeah," Percy said, voice alight in wonder. "How do you do that?"

"Practice," Markus said with a cheeky grin. "Lots and lots of practice."

The giant mouth then shut surprising everyone which made the ocean go back to being calm and the whirlpool slowly dissipated.

"Is it over?" Percy asked in a hopeful tone but saw the solemn looks Markus and the others had who simply shook their heads.

"No Percy, that just round one," he said as he prepared his magic again while Annabeth and Clarisse aimed their cannons.

"Everyone get ready!" Markus called out the mouth exploded open, spitting out a wall of water, ejecting everything inedible, including the cannonballs that had been fired from the ship.

Markus, seeing all the debris, knew that they couldn't deflect all that. And his defensive barriers weren't strong enough for all that. Summoning almost all of his magic, Markus called out his spell. "Inoioi Hetairoi: Girisha Kaze!" Immediately, multiple weapons appeared behind Markus out of white mist. There were over two hundred Greek weapons, which surprised everyone. With a roar, he sent all of it towards the incoming debris, intercepting it. Many of the weapons shot the cannonballs out of the air, while the others hit most of the debris. When the barrage of attacks were finished, the debris was destroyed, its momentum halted by the barrage of magical weapons. They fell harmlessly into the ocean.

The ship was thrown backward on a wave that must've been forty feet high. Percy took over for Markus, who was now exhausted, and used his powers to control the water around them and managed with great difficulty and willpower to calm it down and keep the boat from capsizing.

"Keep it up, guys. Keep us afloat," Annabeth said before the skeleton next to her suddenly disappeared into the air by something brown and green.

Everyone looked over only for Percy to suddenly feel himself being lifted up into the air.

"NO," Annabeth and Markus shouted as Annabeth grabbed his legs. The others all saw this and did the same and grabbed him. Markus made a big leap, despite his exhaustion, and managed to grab Percy's waist. Looking up they saw a big reptile mass with multiple heads that had grabbed hold of Percy backpack.

Feeling his grip on his brother loosen, Markus summoned his remaining magic to perform another spell. "Inoioi Hetairoi: Ten no Kusari! (Army of the King: Chains of Heaven!)" Immediately, chains started sprouting from white mist, wrapping around Percy's waist, nearly halting his ascent completely. These chains were based of 'Enkidu: Chains of Heaven' from Fate/Stay Night. They even had the same design, though not the same power.

Still, the spell did its job as the reptile heads struggled heavily to pull Percy up. "Percy slip out of the backpack," Markus called as they struggled to keep Percy down much longer and could feel their grip loosening and Scylla getting stronger.

Percy wriggled around before he managed to slip his arms out of the straps and falling back onto the deck of the ship. He had Annabeth fussing over him a little but motioned he was okay.

Markus panted, releasing his spell. He fell to his knees, making Percy and Annabeth reach out to catch him. Annabeth brought out a square of ambrosia to feed him. Markus chewed on the god food as it did its job, filling up his reserves, though not completely. "Thanks," Markus warbled out to Annabeth, who nodded.

Hearing a screech from above them they saw Scylla hissing down at them with their tongues sliding out and rows of teeth gleaming.

Seeing that it was going to snap its jaws, Markus quickly raised his hands and performed another spell. "Geminae Sagitta Spiralis! (Twin Arrow Spiral!)" Two bolts of arcane magic erupted from his palms each hit the same eye of one of the heads. Scylla reeled back and roared out loud in pain. However their attention turned to the other side when the whirlpool from Charybdis started up again and the large black mouth of the monster could be seen again.

"Shit," Markus said, summing up everyone's thoughts. He called upon another small geyser to the deck and was practically bathed in the water (A.N. - His strength and magic are returning like how Natsu from Fairy Tail eats fire to regain his strength and magic). Markus and Clarisse went back towards Charybdis while Annabeth and Percy faced Scylla as Riptide was now visible in Percy's hand.

"Come on. Bring it!" Clarisse shouted trying to stay positive and manning one of the cannons again.

The door behind them was open and they could see Tyson come out covered in black soot. "Engine cool and fixed for now," he said before noticing their situation and joined Percy's side against Scylla.

The whirlpool got louder and the hisses from Scylla got louder and everyone believed the two monsters were going to make their move.

But then the strangest thing happened which caught everyone off guard and rendered everyone confused.

The whirlpool around Charybdis suddenly slowed down add dissipated returning the water to being calm and silent. The black mass that was Charybdis could just about be seen by the people of the ship before it suddenly began to roar, though whether it was pain or annoyance they weren't sure. Pretty soon it began to move away from them and disappeared into a cavern beneath the cliffs.

"What the hell?" Percy voiced out, agreeing with what everyone was thinking. Suddenly, they heard a loud whimper like noise coming from Scylla. They looked to see Scylla's multiple heads were low down whimpering with their eyes looking all over the place before her body began to back up and disappear back into her cave in the cliffs.

The demigods all looked around confused not understand what just happened. "Did we win?" Percy asked not getting an answer from anyone as they looked over to where Charybdis ad Scylla disappeared too.

"No way," Markus denied. "It can't be that easy."

While some of the skeleton crew broke out into cheers and the captain seemed pleased with himself, the demigods knew something was up.

"They just disappeared. Markus did you do something?" Annabeth asked wanting to know if Markus used some sort of magic ability to scare them off.

"No I didn't do anything. I don't understand it. They had us cornered and then they just left. Have you ever heard of them doing that before?" Markus asked.

"Never. Charybdis and Scylla are notorious but yet they looked... scared."

"Scared. They looked scared. Did you hear Scylla whimpering? Whatever it was it had her freaked out big time and I don't know any monster that could scare them both like that..." Clarisse said before she noticed both Markus and Percy looking over the side of the ship.

"Guys?" Annabeth asked as they all walked up to them. They wwere just leaning over the side of the ship looking down at the water with a frown on their face and saw their eyes scanning the water.

"Feel that?" Markus asked cryptically. Percy nodded, continuing to frown.

"What is it?" Annabeth asked trying to look them both in the eye.

"The fish. They have all swam off. Normally I can feel and sense all the sea life in the water but I can't feel anything. It's like they just swam off and swam as far as they could go. I can't sense anything," Percy answered.

"Same. It feels like... like something big is coming," Markus mutttered, making the whole crew seem on all looked at each worryingly before they all leaned over the side of the boat. An eerie silence rang over the area.

"Something not right. It can't be that easy. What had them freaked out?" Clarisse whispered to them all harshly.

However they got their answer in the form of a loud roar coming from beneath the boat that caused all the demigods to cover their ears and drop to their knees. The sound caused the entire ship to vibrate and shake while the windows began to crack and shatter.

From beneath the ship a giant silhouette that looked roughly the size of the boat hovered and lingered beneath it with a bunch of beady eyes looking at the hull of the ship and began to push the ship away from the entrance to the Sea of Monsters.

Everyone on deck held onto whatever was close to them when they felt the boat being pulled away.

"What the hell is that?" Annabeth screamed out, but no one answered.

Suddenly, both Percy and Markus felt a strong pull from beneath the boat.

Along the rim of the ship, the water began to bubble. The two sons of Poseidon looked down at the water, taking notice of that along with a large mass of dark scales that started to break the surface.

"Have a bad feeling about that," Tyson swallowed.

Markus nodded slowly. "Me too, buddy."

The mass of dark scales seemed to be getting bigger. Suddenly, the ship lurched again, throwing the occupants on the ground.

A loud roar and an explosion of water occurred from beneath the ship. The demigods stood up and looked over the edge of the ship. They were able to see a massive, clawed and scaled hand with four fingers slam into the hull of the ship, making a giant indent and making the ship groan.

Markus followed the hand to the rising body coming out of the sea. The scaled head of the creature was easily seventy feet off the surface of the sea. It looked like an ugly evil monkey, with fins on either side of its head. The eyes were white, without pupils, and its mouth was contorted in a snarl that revealed layers of sharp, glowing yellow teeth. Four massive, scaled arms sprouted from its torso and a powerful build led down to a large serpent-like body that disappeared into the water. The underside of its arms and clawed hands were suckled, like octopus tentacles. It was truly a magnificent and terrifying creature.

"W-what the hell... is that thing?" Clarisse asked, fear creeping into her voice.

"I don't know... but we're going to have to fight it," Markus said. A little fear creeped into his mind as well.

The monster stared directly at the ship, and roared.

And that's this chapter done!

For anyone curious on what the monster is, it's the Cetus from Greek mythology, the one Poseidon sent to attack Aethiopia because he was angered at the insults given to the Nereids from Queen Cassiopeia, who boasted about her daughter Andromeda. And yes. I knew that without looking it up.

If the Cetus looks a little big and different from what it looks like in mythology, this is how I would imagine it to look like. Lemme know what you think.

Hope you enjoyed the chapter. And as for the little moment with Clarisse and Markus, that was something I added because I felt like it. Plus, I would like some character development and a touch of emotional comfort in the story. It's nice to have. And even though the situation with Clarisse and Ares seems a little unrealistic, that's how I imagine a situation with Ares would be for his children. Since he's both a god, most Olympians are dicks in the story and I can't deny that, and an ass. That's how I see it play out.

Now hopefully I can update Celestial Ascension as frequently as I can. Compared to this story, it's quite lacking, but I'll still work on the story. So show my baby some love, will ya? Pretty please.

Thank you! Read and Review!