Backup Plan: Phase 1: Final

And it's only at the end, after more than 25 chapters, do people start asking about the arm. For those who said something along the lines of 'Danzo,' congratulations.

Anyway, this is probably going to be another monstrous chapter of many thousands of words, I don't know yet. I only know these things after I'm done writing the chapter.

In other news, the poll is closed, and it is Assassin's Creed: Transcendence that is the winner! After this, I'll begin work immediately, so the next AC:T chapter should be out sometime tomorrow.

Disclaimer: I don't own PJO or Naruto

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Atlas was in front of Shin'en with a speed that would've had any Raikage impressed, but now the demigod was ready. He knew what to expect, knew what was coming for him, and he was already moving, diving to the side. Atlas' fists came crashing down on toppled pillar, crushing it and kicking up dust.

Shin'en was back in the fray, leaping over the bent form of Atlas, twisting in midair, and brining both hands down on the Titan's head with a thunderous crack. Barely phased, Atlas grabbed Shin'en, only for him to burst into lightning, shocking the Titan, making him scream.

Lightning Style Clone.

It took more chakra than what Shin'en would ever admit, but it got the job done. His sword was out, and the blade was shooting out at several hundred miles an hour, aiming right for the spot on Atlas' spine that correlated to where the red stone was. Just when the blade was a foot away, the Lightning Chakra assaulting Atlas lost its charge, and the Titan of Endurance, in this enhanced form had enough reflex and speed to dodge the sword that was moving faster than the average bullet…when it was less than a foot away.

Now that was some speed.

Shin'en had to drop his sword to bring his arms up in time to block Atlas' punch, and the force behind the blow definitely cracked his bones, and sent him smashing through a statue. Instead of pressing his attack, Atlas decided to inspect the blade that almost killed him.

With his massive hand, he picked up the sword, a veritable toothpick compared to his size. The blade hadn't shortened, so it was still over a hundred feet long.

"Hm, interesting. I don't recognize this make."

The sword suddenly glowed blue, and Atlas dropped it on reflex. Instead of falling, the blade hovered and then instantly spun, aiming to decapitate. Atlas dodged easily enough, but the blade still continued its arc, carving through the solid granite of Mount Tamalpais like it was butter. The blade wasn't long enough to go all the way through, but it did leave a thin, deep trench.

The blade shortened to its normal length, blade still glowing, and it shot off into the distance, straight into a dust cloud and beyond. But Atlas was there, appearing in a burst of extreme speed, and Shin'en was there, crouching in the rubble of a collapsed statue with his hand outstretched, summoning his sword to him.

Atlas' fist came down hard, splintering the black marble and tossing dirt and dust everywhere. Shin'en had dived to the side to avoid taking any damage, but he hadn't managed to catch his sword in time, and now it was being held in Atlas' other hand.

"I think I'll keep this as a trophy."

"Like hell."

Shin'en sprinted forward, and when he was feet away from Atlas, he vanished in a burst of speed and reappeared behind the Titan. He latched onto his back in a position that Atlas couldn't reach, no matter how much he thrashed. He never let go of the sword though, which is why Shin'en was able to make a half Ram sign, causing the sword to go up in smoke. Atlas paused, and brought what was in his hand up to his face.

"What the hell are these?"

"Exploding Clone Jutsu."

The string of paper bombs and the explosive clone detonated together, engulfing Atlas in an explosion of heat and force that would've put the average Jonin in the hospital for third degree burns, which was saying something because, due to the amount of chakra a Jonin had, they could take a lot kinetic punishment without feeling anything.

Shin'en had never been in the rubble, and the sword that came flying out of the dust cloud was a fake.

Where he was now was anyone's guess.

Atlas emerged from the from the smoke cloud, looking no worse than before he was attacked. He brushed some imaginary dirt off his shoulders, and looked around with a smile. "Where are you, demigod?" he sing-songed melodiously. He didn't expect an answer of course, but instead opted for a different approach.

He closed his eyes and focused, feeling the area around for the essences of those otherwise beyond human. He felt the waning essence of Artemis, he felt the essence of Luke, valiantly dueling all three daughters of the eldest gods, his former younger brother figure—now younger sister figure, Atlas would imagine—all while putting up the satyr's pathetic nature magic and his traitorous daughter's arrows. Now that was some serious skill, and Atlas didn't mind giving the boy some praise for it. The Titan also felt the essences of the army slowly making their way up the mountain side from the Princess Andromeda. Now…where was Perseus—oh!

There he was.

Atlas was instantly next to the boy, and it was the real one, too. Shin'en grunted when he blocked the punch using both of his hands, the force behind the blow racking his body. The same went for the next consecutive series of punches, each one bringing with it bone-chattering force. Shin'en hadn't felt blows like this since his battles with the Raikage.

Atlas raised both hands over his head for what would've been a rather devastating blow, but Shin'en's reflexes saved him this time. His sword was in his hand and drawn then sheathed faster than the blinking of an eye. Atlas stumbled back, his severed arms going bye-bye. Shin'en rushed forward, his intentions being to rip that stone out of Atlas' chest and depower him.

What he did not expect was for the Titan's arms to effortlessly regenerate like something out of science fiction when his hand was less than an inch away from the stone. Shin'en actually screamed in pain when he was subject to the double grip of Atlas, the Titan's monstrous strength threatening to crush his bones. His sword clattered to the ground.

Atlas chuckled. "Such wonderful screams you make, boy. I wonder of your sister will make the same when I impregnate her with my new children."

The Mangekyou blazed brightly.

Atlas balked when his tight grip was suddenly split apart by a dark emerald ribcage. Then there was a skeletal arm that nailed him right in the head, sending him straight to the ground.

The rest of the Susano'o formed, the rest of skeleton, that is, and it began to furiously whale on the downed Atlas, its arms blurring into afterimages from the amount of speed. That what to say nothing of the impact waves. The entire mountain shook and rumbled from the force, and this rumbling gave Thalia the opening to knock Luke off the edge of the cliff, sending him tumbling several hundred feet below.

A steadily growing crater appeared under the Susano'o's furious assault, with cracks and fissures spreading out at a rapid pace. The statues and pillars trembled, threatening to topple, and many of the weaker walls already had.

Atlas, under the intense assault of the chakra skeleton, found his body beginning to ache, and it wasn't from overuse of the stone, but from the forces being put on his body. Whatever that bloody thing was, it packed some power, and Atlas was now annoyed.

The red stone glowed, and the Titan vanished just as the next punch came down, splintering marble all the way down to the underlying granite of the mountain in an explosion of dirt and small rocks. The Susano'o swiped its hand, clearing away the dust cloud. Atlas was right there, his fist cocked back and glowing with red energy.

With a roar, the Titan punched the Susano'o's ribcage, and he broke through. Shin'en's eyes widened in shock at seeing his avatar shattered like that. Itachi's and Sasuke's and Madara's, sure, but his? And he wasn't even being arrogant about that. Fundamentally, due to the chakra that it was made of and his status as the Storm God's champion, his personal Susano'o was stronger, bigger, and harder than the average Uchiha's, even more so than Indra's. So, to see it shattered like this was shocking.

And it also displayed just how strong Atlas was using the power of Jashin's gift.

The Titan grabbed Shin'en's head, the skeleton dissipating, and he began to relentlessly beat the demigod, rupturing organs, tearing muscles, splintering bone, breaking skin, and reducing the son of Poseidon to a bloody, unrecognizable pulp. Such was the punishment doled out by Atlas to those who annoyed him.

With a final blow, the Titan buried Shin'en into the mountain top in an eruption of dirt and earthshaking force. The shockwaves were felt all the way out in San Francisco.

Atlas stood over the broken body of the demigod. "Any last words, boy?"

Shin'en, barely unconscious after the beating he just took, weakly raised his hand, two fingers struggling to remain erect as they reached for Atlas' face…then Shin'en twisted his wrist and pointed to his left. Atlas followed the fingers' direction, and he froze.

There, sitting on the reforming Black Throne, was none other than Shin'en. He was just calmly lounging there, slouched, with his right arm held in the crook of his parted cloak, the wrist held by his left hand, his sheathed sword laying across his knees, a cigarette in his mouth.

There wasn't a sign of any kind of battle damage on him.

Atlas looked down at the Shin'en beneath him, and was startled to see his eyes were hollow sockets. Then, a frigate bird tore its way out of his mouth, and the rest of his body was torn apart by the frigate birds. Atlas stumbled back when he was assaulted by flapping and feathers and the cawing of frigate birds.

He stumbled back until he hit a wall. Wait, this wall, here, had been destroyed…hadn't it? Atlas whirled, and saw that, to his shock, the wall he had made crumble was fully erect. The Titan whipped about, wildly inspecting the battlefield. There wasn't a scratch. Not a single pebble out of place.

It was as if nothing had ever happened.

Atlas looked back at Shin'en, and he shuddered under that gaze. In the dark of the night, those twin stars shined brightly, staring apathetically at Atlas, staring at him with twin pools of neon blood.

"What…is…this?" Atlas asked, transfixed by the crimson glow. "Our fight…the mountain…destroyed…"

"Look at yourself," Shin'en said calmly.

Atlas looked down at himself, and he made a panicked noise. His skin was coppery again, and he was back in his mortal clothes. "W-What!? How is this possible!?"

"My eyes see everything, Atlas. They see what you cannot see. They see a being that has been flailing around for the past five minutes, punching and beating at the scenery, making a mess of his uncle's mountain palace."

Atlas took unconscious steps backwards. "What—I don't-"

"-understand? Clearly. Do you remember when you possessed Dr. Thorn several days ago, in Maine? Yes, of course you do. You did that by projecting your essence across time and space, overriding Thorn's consciousness and filling him with your very being? That is when I did it. That is when I foresaw your defeat at this very moment."

"You tricked me!" Atlas accused. "Your genjutsu-!" the Titan paused, his eyes widening. "Your genjutsu…"

Atlas adopted the look of one lost in thought…then he smiled cruelly. "I've figured it out," he declared calmly. "I know how you can use those eyes to induce genjutsu on someone in this world, someone that does not have chakra. You're a few thousand years too early to be using Mist against me, boy."

Atlas roared, a wave of red energy surging from his body. In that flash of red, the world became as it once was, damaged and ridden with craters. Shin'en had disappeared from the Black Throne, and he was no longer in the crater Atlas had left him in, but the Titan knew where he was—he could sense the divine essence of the boy.

He also knew exactly what happened.

Yes, Shin'en had used genjutsu on him all the way back in Maine, but he had only chosen to activate its effects after Atlas had given him a royal beating. So all the damage done to the demigod was real…or had been. During this whole stint, when Atlas fell prey to the genjutsu' effects, Shin'en had hobbled off, and used the ambient water vapor of the area, salt-laden vapor at that, to heal himself.

Atlas gave the son of Poseidon points for divine prowess. There hadn't been a child of Poseidon in all of recorded history that could use mere water vapor to perfectly heal damage that severe.

As it was, Atlas was now pissed. Pissed at having been duped, pissed at having been tricked, pissed at being made to look like a fool, pissed at his moment of weakness when he felt fear under the gaze of those orbs, and pissed at Shin'en.

That boy was going to die up here, and nothing short of the Fates was going to stop Atlas from taking his life…especially when he was still at full power.

In that burst of red energy, the Titan reentered—well, he had never left that form, but still—his power-up form, his skin going blech white with veins of red sprouting from the stone.

For Atlas, it was time to exercise patience and kill some half-bloods…and he was all out of patience.

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The battle was short from there. Atlas, in all his rage, bore down on Shin'en with literal divine fury, and since he could sense divine essence and had broken free of Shin'en's genjutsu, there was nothing the boy could do in terms of illusion, something that cost him dearly.

Atlas was relentless in his assault, never tiring and never faltering, the gift of Jashin granting him power beyond anything any Titan, even Kronos, once held. Shin'en, for all his power, found himself overwhelmed by the sheer physical prowess of Atlas, and he found that for all he had healed himself for, he received all most double that damage.

Just like a few minutes earlier, Shin'en found himself in a deep crater, battered and beaten, his cloak in so many tatters it was about to fall off him, only this time, the crater was probably fifty feet away from the rest of the quest was. Not exactly the best thing for your sister to see, your bloody body.

Atlas smirked at the shocked faces of the half-bloods. "Like this form? I do. I'll have to thank Jashin one day for helping us in this war. Speaking of war…"

He reached down, picked Shin'en up by the neck, and casually tossed him at the feet of his sister. Persephone turned whiter than chalk, her brain and body going numb. No one else fared much better.

"Yes," Atlas said, "the first blood in a new war. Granted, this may very well bring the sky crashing down around us, but I'm sure this body of mine will hold up."

Atlas extended his hand, palm facing the Greeks, and a glowing red orb of energy appeared in his palm, aimed directly at Zoё.

Shin'en was not as broken as he seemed, for he had enough left in him to mutter a single word, "Izanagi…"

Atlas grinned cruelly, and he discharged the beam. The red laser streaked across the thirty-foot distance between him and those around the sky, melting the ground and creating an adjacent jet stream around it that blew away structures. The beam was about as wide as the average basketball goal, but it packed enough power behind it to level the average city.

However, in the scant few microseconds between the beam discharge and when it hit the quest, many things happened.

One, the blood on Shin'en's body disappeared. Two, his cloak was completely atomized. Three, all of the internal damage was healed. Four, the reality-warping power of the Izanagi also healed Shin'en's chakra coils and cardiovascular system, temporarily bringing him back to full strength—no, beyond full strength. Five, the bandaged around his right arm evaporated. Six, Shin'en stood, wreathed in emerald chakra. Seven, he extended his chakra-coated left hand, and took the beam head on. The eighth and final thing that happened, was that the attack of Atlas splintered around Shin'en's palm, breaking into several ramrod straight lasers that shot up and out into the night.

Atlas saw none of this however. He only saw his red laser fire, and then detonate in a halo of fire and light…which was why, when the dust cleared, he was equal parts outraged and terrified to see Shin'en standing there, arm outstretched, looking severely pissed off.

"How in the blood-soaked Grecian hell did you do that?"

"Fuck you, that's how."

Previously, it was Atlas that could faster than Shin'en could react, but now, in classic anime fashion, it was Shin'en that now moved faster than Atlas could react. The main difference was that where Shin'en was accustomed to high speed/strength opponents, Atlas had no idea how to handle something moving faster than he could.

What happened was that Shin'en punched Atlas in the nose with such terrifying force, the powered-up Titan went sailing clean off the mountain and straight to the ocean itself, somewhere between Mach 3 and 4.

Seph stared at her brother's right arm, as did everyone else. For Seph, it wasn't the face on his shoulder, nor the strange texture, it was all the eyes that lined his forearm. All of them red, all of them rolling around, all of them with those commas around the pupil.

"P-Percy…what-?"

"Compensation from one Danzo Shimura for supplying the masked ninja that helped kill my orphaned sibling years ago. Using its power, I can cast an illusion on myself, one that does whatever I want it to do. Danzo used this power to erase his injuries and cheat death, Madara did the same. I'm doing something similar, only I'm not dead. However, this technique is only temporary, and after a certain time, I'll revert back to normal."

Yes, that certain time being a full twelve minutes.

Izanagi, all techniques, is affected by the user's chakra, namely, its potency. Danzo, in order to max out this technique to its fullest, had used not only ten Sharingan, but DNA from Hashirama Senju as well, however even with both pieces of the Sage of the Six Path's descendants on his arm, the old man could only use the powers of Izanagi for a full sixty seconds, and after each use, his chakra took a major hit.

Shin'en had that exact arm, with Uchiha and Senju chakra in it, only his chakra was beyond those two bloodlines, and so much further beyond Danzo's old ass it was unreal. Shin'en's chakra had been given to him directly by Susano'o himself, and the infant Shin'en had managed to unconsciously draw out bits of Susano'o's own divine chakra. His new chakra mixed perfectly with the benefits of the demigod body, giving his chakra a potency and quantity beyond anything seen since the time of Hagoromo and Hamura.

As such, his techniques were naturally superior to just about anyone's, especially when they were boosted by the chakra of the Sage's descendants, like the Izanagi was.

However, there was something vastly different with Shin'en, and he knew exactly what it was too. When he almost destroyed himself that day, over a year ago, his body had taken major damage, which affected how much chakra he could output. In simpler terms, he had gone from 100%, down to probably 23%.

Over the past year, he had travelled across the Shinobi World, accumulating things to get himself back on track. He had the Zero-Tails' Dark Chakra, the Power of the White Snake from Orochimaru, and the power of the Three-Heads from the Village Hidden in Dreams. All of that came together, and Shin'en would give himself an honest estimate at being about…eh, call it 64% of his full power.

Now though, with Izanagi active, with his body completely healed, he was back at 100%...only with all his extra power still added on, making him not so much at 100%, but at 141%. In laymen's terms, Shin'en was stronger now than he ever had been, baring Awakening.

Speaking of Awakening, well, more of the power it brought, the Izanagi did have a time limit, granted it was a whole twelve minutes, but it was still a time limit. He couldn't afford to waste any time, which meant he needed to go all out against Atlas. Now, Awakening would be nothing short of overkill—and it would mostly split a tectonic plate clean in half at this point—but Shin'en did have something else in mind, something just as good as Awakening…almost as good as Awakening.

It was a technique that, in theory, could give a genin all the power necessary to lay waste to a Kage. In theory, it could give the likes of Sakura Haruno the power to shit all over the Third Raikage. The only drawback to this technique was certain death. However, Shin'en learned, from a dream of course, that he could use his Dark Chakra for a body-modification technique powerful enough to handle the awesome power of the formerly described jutsu.

This was the perfect opportunity to test this body-mod technique out.

"Body Activation Jutsu."

Dark Chakra erupted through Shin'en's chakra coils, making his eyes widen at the feeling of raw power that coursed about him. On the outside, a violent wave of black, mist-like energy exploded from him, threatening to knock everything that wasn't forced on the mountain to go flying away. In fact, most of Mount Othrys did get sent toppling into oblivion from the shockwave.

The quest would have gone flying away, had they all not conveniently get pushed under the sky. Now Artemis had help in the form of five relatively fresh half-bloods, all of them very powerful half-bloods with strong essences, and a satyr…who was destined to find Pan and become the new Lord of the Wild, so he needed to be kept alive at all costs.

Anyway, back to the good stuff.

The Dark Chakra receded back into Shin'en's body, it purpose served well. In another timeline, an old man by the name of Shinno used the power of Dark Chakra to perform his own Body Activation Jutsu. He went from a white-haired old twig, to a hulking, muscular beast with a huge black mane in his prime.

No, Shin'en did not put on 300 pounds of muscle, and no, his hair did not lengthen or get spikey. His hair remained just fine, but his muscles were a tad bit bigger, a tad bit more defined, like he had spent a whole month in the gym. But the demigod did not pause to admire this form or marvel at this new feeling of power.

Fifty-two seconds had passed already since Izanagi's activation.

"Eight Gate of Death: Open."

Personally, through training with Ay, Ei, and Bee, Shin'en only managed to get through three gates before heading for war, and being an assassin hadn't really afforded much time to use the Inner Gates Formation. Still, with a roar and an explosion of chakra not unlike that of a rampant Jinchuuriki, Shin'en Gates were opened nearly all at the same time, and that created a shockwave so great that the mountain splintered.

It wasn't completely erased, but most of it was sheared off in an instant.

When Might Guy used the Eight Inner Gates Formation, he was enveloped in a red aura of his own blood, which also caused his hair and eyebrows to erupt in bloody flame. Of course, he was limited only to normal civilian-type chakra, and he would've died if not for the timely intervention of one Naruto Uzumaki.

What we had here was a simple difference in chakra resulting in a difference of technique. Dark Chakra and the properties of Shin'en's own chakra were fundamentally different than anyone else's chakra, and, just like with Izanagi, Shin'en's Eight Inner Gates Formation was vastly different.

His eyes turned pure red, with no sclera visible, his body steamed as every last molecule of fat was burned away, leaving only pure muscle on his body. Like with an Awakening, his black hair stood straight up, now becoming a spikey mess. His heart beat did increase beyond human levels, which would have killed him regardless of the Body Activation Jutsu and Dark Chakra, without Izanagi healing his body.

Atlas arrived just in time to witness his opponent become engulfed in green flames so thick he could no longer see the boy…but he could sense the power. Power more than twenty-fold that which was used to punch him to the ocean. The emerald inferno faded, revealing the red-skinned, unnaturally toned, red eyed, spikey-haired form of Perseus Jackson.

It was at this moment that Atlas knew…he was fucked.

In his base form, this time yesterday, Shin'en could generate enough force in his backhand to make Ares move faster than sound. Then, just moments ago, after Izanagi healed his body, causing the chakra in his body to change and match this new level of physical capability, Shin'en punched the powered-up Atlas with enough force to make go flying to the ocean at over Mach 3.

Now, though, not only was Shin'en using the Body Modification Jutsu, which only further increased his physical prowess, he was using it in conjunction with the fucking Eight Inner Gates Formation, the same technique Might Guy used to almost kill Six-Paths Madara…and Shin'en, in this form, was way beyond the Hidden Leaf's Noble Gentleman, and this form of Atlas wasn't anywhere close to Six-Paths Madara.

At least, that's what the author's interpretation of the situation is.

An aura of black, smoke-like energy shrouded the boy, and Atlas turned around to run, only to come face to face with that same boy, and a pair of displeased red eyes.

"I think this is the right angle," Shin'en muttered.

Atlas didn't get what that meant, because he was suddenly shooting across the state of California, sights and sounds blurring, the g-force on his body threatening to snap off his Titanly-enhanced limbs and the less said about the heat from air friction the better. Atlas felt something break when he slammed into something unbelievably hard, something that yielded to his kinetic energy and buckled underneath him, and he went slamming down into another hard surface, and went digging through that as well before he lost enough momentum to come grinding to a halt.

It was with great struggle, but Atlas managed to crawl out of trench he had just dug with his body, and he blinked at the scenery.

"Rome…?" He panned his head a little, and saw some kind barracks. Then he realized where he was. "Oh…"

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Reyna still wouldn't call this place home. Hell, she barely talked to anyone. After Circe's was trashed by those pirates, and she and her sister were captured by them, she and Hylla quickly learned how to fight. Reyna thought they were going to make it together…until Hylla left for the Amazons after telling Reyna to go to some place in Sonoma Valley called the Wolf House.

Then Reyna ended up finding New Rome and Camp Jupiter.

She wasn't going to say she had friends here, but Jason Grace was a nice boy, kinda cute too-

A sound like an exploding mountain boomed over the entire valley, as well as what could only be described as an earthquake. Reyna, like everyone else, scrambled to put on armor and find a weapon—she was pretty sure someone grabbed their pillow—and bolted outside to see what on Gaia was going on, and if it was a threat that needed to be dealt with.

What she found, along with everyone else, was a white and red giant of a bald man with what looked like a rock in his chest, a smashed up face, and seemed to be completely disoriented. Reyna didn't doubt that someone would've asked the guy if he was alright, if not for the unsettling aura he radiated.

All of that paled in comparison to the black comet that came shooting out of the night sky, and landed with such force that the ground cratered beneath it, sending massive chunks of solid earth flying, causing a dust cloud half the size of Camp Jupiter to rise into the heavens.

Reyna almost fell when she saw who walked out of the dust cloud.

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Luke groaned quietly as he stirred awake. He knew the Achilles Curse was good, but he did not know that it was that good. Seriously, it gave him the stamina and reflex necessary to handle four demigoddesses at once, three of them daughters of the Big Three, and the other the daughter of Athena, along with Grover's dumbass nature magic, and an expert Hunter's arrows.

That was a lot for one man to handle, and it only that sudden tremor that distracted Luke long enough for Thalia to literally push him over the edge. The impact had hurt, which proved that even though the Achilles Curse made you invulnerable, it did not make you impervious to pain.

He got up, and whirled around at the voice, "You are a fool, Castellan." It was Perseus, in pristine condition, smoking. "Kronos ate his own children alive to save his skin. Do you really think he's going to care for his great grandson, or any of his great grandchildren? Once he's done with you people, he'll either wipe you out and enslave you."

"Then what would you do, huh? The Olympians have gone and screwed everything up. They've had their chance, and now it's clear they're all too lazy to keep doing their jobs correctly. They can't even be bothered to keep up with all the flings they have anymore. They need to be dethroned."

Perseus took a drag. "Unfortunately for you, that's your decision to make, it's mine. You also never answered my question: do you think Kronos actually cares for you?"

Luke glanced off to the side, grimacing.

"Ah, so you are not completely delusional after all, and are smart enough to realize the true nature of Kronos. Tell me then, why remain loyal knowing that he cares not for you and yours?"

"Because he's the only one willing to do something about the Olympians and their negligence."

"Even if that means the end of humanity, the enslavement of half-bloods, and the potential eradication of all gods?"

"…"

Perseus looked at Luke out of the corner of his eye. "You're not a villain, Luke. You didn't have the right upbringing to be evil, nor do you have the stones big enough to kill someone close to your heart. Face it, you don't want the Olympians gone, you just want them to be held accountable for their actions, to take responsibility for their children. You just assist Kronos because he's the only that has the power to do something similar to what you want."

"What choice do I have!?" Luke roared. "No else will stand up to the gods, and no else has the power to!"

"Dumbass, I'm right here. Technically, I'm also killing Atlas too, but that's not important. What is important, is that I have a plan, a better plan than Kronos, a plan that fits your ideals and mine. Better yet, it's a plan that'll result in almost no casualties."

Luke weighed his options. No, he didn't want all of humanity to perish; no, he didn't want the demigods to be slaves; no, he didn't want the Olympians killed or worse; and he for damn sure did not actually want Kronos to rise. Kronos was evil, and cared for nothing and no one but himself and his power. It's just like he said though: there was no one else willing to do something about the Olympians and their errant ways, nor was there anyone with enough power to get anything done, but Kronos.

Then there was Perseus. He was powerful, that was proven, he was frightfully intelligent, that was also proven. He also apparently had a better plan than Kronos that fit more to what Luke wanted. The problem here was two things: one, could Perseus be trusted, and two, what would Kronos do if he found out about this?

Luke weighed his options…and he took a leap of faith.

"What do you have in mind?"

Three black commas spun. "Listen…"

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Shin'en wasn't as mad as he had been in the past. He had been madder than this, but he had also been a lot calmer than this as well. The point trying to be made here was that Shin'en was not so blinded by anger that he couldn't strategize. Currently, his strategy was simple: show off a little muscle to the Romans so that Hera/Juno would have to come up with something different than an exchange program.

His stint with Nereus a few hours ago was the backup plan in case Persephone did end up having to face Alcyoneus.

Of course, a few eye contacts would ensure the Persephone had more than just Reyna as a friend here in the future. The augur was the most operable choice, but genjutsu and puppet control would have to be put aside for now. Showing some muscle, remember?

The gap in power between Shin'en and Atlas was so large right now that the boy didn't give a care in the world when he walked right up to the Titan. Atlas had enough presence of mind to scream and throw a punch. His fist met Shin'en's head, and his entire arm more or less exploded, with his forearm bones ripping clear through his arm.

Shin'en barely felt that punch.

As Atlas whimpered and literally began crying at his mangled limb, Shin'en's own arm snapped out, and his fingers dug deep into the Titan's chest. With a loud squelch, he tore out a massive chunk of flesh and bone, ripping out the stone that gave Atlas his power. The Titan was engulfed in red energy, energy that was sucked into Shin'en's hand. The demigod clenched his fist, and everything in it was crushed into nonexistence.

The fading of the energy revealed the depowered Atlas, still whimpering, still with a fucked up arm, but now he was wearing that mortal suit from before.

Three minutes of the Izanagi were up.

Shin'en reared his fist back, and the black mist around it increased in its fluctuations and thickness, obscuring his entire limb. The fist came forward, a cone of compressed air surrounding his wrist. With a thunderous sound, Atlas took a fist right to the jaw, and he went flying.

He went flying through Terminus' border, he went flying straight through Temple Hill, and he went flying all the way through the opposite side of the Pomerian Line, all in less than a full second, and he kept going after that.

Shin'en took the time to cast a quick glance at the crowd, his eyes darting from person to person. Then he was gone, and he took off from the ground with such force that he further caused the earth to buckle underneath him. The top half of Temple Hill came crashing down.

The Romans were so beyond shocked they didn't even know where to go from there.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Luke gaped in shock. "And you can ensure all of that happens?"

"Yes."

"How long have you been planning that?"

"Since I stepped foot on the snow of Maine."

"Gods…to be able to plan like that…what happened to you in that world?"

"War."

The Shadow Clone dispelled into smoke, and then Luke seized up, the genjutsu taking hold and locking away the memories of this talk so that Kronos wouldn't find out. If you're asking what was the point in making a conversation that just ends with genjutsu, and just using genjutsu in the first place, the answer is simple:

The answer will be revealed in time.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Shin'en instantly appeared directly in front of Atlas, and backflipped midair, sending Atlas shooting into the exosphere of Planet Earth in three seconds flat, up where the oxygen was barely existent and the satellites orbited the planet, and Shin'en was already up there, waiting on Atlas.

His fist came down, blowing a hole right through the Titan's gut, impaling him up to the shoulder. Then raw force took over, and Atlas went shooting down to the planet, a cone of fire encircling his body as he descended, the pull of gravity and the cylinder of pure transcendental force bearing down on him assisting in his downward acceleration.

He came down upon Mt. Diablo at over Mach 40, completely destroying the rock and causing tremors across the state. It was only due to Atlas' power as the Titan of Endurance that he survived…if only barely. That problem was fixed however, when Shin'en appeared, body still wreathed in Dark Chakra, skin still red, eyes still blazing, hair still standing, defying the laws of gravity by merely stepping on the air, his body generating enough force to where the air molecules pushed back with enough force to keep him aloft.

Shin'en held his hand out in front of him, palm facing the ground. He hadn't performed this jutsu in a long, long time.

"Gale Style: Focus Laser."

His hand glowed with chakra, before a laser the width of a basketball was discharged. It shot down to the gigantic pile of rubble that was Mt. Diablo, and then night became day. Then almost everyone within earshot went deaf.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

The rest of the quest could honestly be doing better right now. Granted, it was either huddle under the godsdamned sky, or get blown clean off the mountain. It could've been worse, though. All of them could've been dead tired, or Artemis could not have been there. This probably would've been dreadful if the goddess wasn't here.

Instead of feeling mild discomfort at sharing the weight of the sky, they could all be crushed right now. Everyone was panting and sweating, but nothing major, not yet. They would all be sore in the morning though. At least they had some entertainment, with Perseus kicking Atlas' ass. It was also a bit scary, watching a fourteen year old boy blow apart mountains and demolish a millennia old divine being, but still.

The rumbling and exploding stopped, and then Percy was suddenly there. He was cloak less and his pants had seen better days, but at least both of his sandals were intact. He was also skinnier than what he once was, because he had burned off all his fat. Speaking of, he was no longer red and ripped. His muscles had deswollen and his hair was back down.

Seriously, he almost looked like a muscular anorexic.

Which was kind of disturbing.

"You need to eat a sandwich," Persephone said tightly.

Shin'en's stomach audibly rumbled. "Agreed. I am famished. For now, let's figure this out."

"Can't you just put Atlas back under here?"

"I don't think atoms are going to hold up the sky."

"Oh, Percy," Persephone groaned. "Did you kill Atlas?"

"No. You cannot kill an immortal."

"Percy. Did you send him to Tartarus?"

"Technically speaking, no. I did not send him to Tartarus."

"Did you cause him enough harm to where his essence went to Tartarus to reform?"

"Yes."

Persephone gave her brother a deadpan look. "Thanks."

"You're welcome. Now, let's test a theory. Is Ouranos trying to get back to earth because he wants to reconcile with Gaea…or is he trying to cause her harm?"

Shin'en reached out and put his hand on the sky, connecting with it. He heard a voice.

'I am trying to beat this woman's ass like a drum for what she got our own children to do to me.'

'Excellent. In a few years, I'll beat her ass for you, but only if you get back up there where you belong and stop trying to crush my sister and her friends.'

'Fair enough.'

And just like that, the Greeks all gasped and fell over when the oppressive weight of the sky was suddenly not there anymore. Shin'en watched with a raised brow as the tube-like thing that was the 'sky' was pulled back into the heavens. Soon enough, there was no more Titan's Curse…and all it took was a promise to Ouranos to kick his wife's ass when she got cute and tried to resurrect.

Shin'en looked at Artemis. "Solstice meeting. Olympus. Transportation. Now."

"Percy, we are a day early."

"Don't care. I am hungry. Let's move."

"I will buy you some McDonald's! Can't we just rest a little?"

"No rest for the weary. Artemis. Moon Chariot."

"Artemis. No Moon Chariot. Rest time."

"Moon Chariot. Now."

"Rest time. Now."

Artemis slapped her face. "Children, please. We can all rest on the Moon Chariot on our way to Olympus."

"Will there be food?"

"As much as you can eat."

"Excellent. Let's go."

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Olympus

Day before the solstice, but who cares?

Artemis summoned her Chariot, transformed it into a small bus, and everyone loaded up. Shin'en had unsealed yet another cloak from his palm, and was wearing that. On the way to Olympus, he had indeed been fed all that he could, and Persephone was pretty sure he just gained twenty pounds in one sitting.

Of course, what no one knew was that the Izanagi was still active. Shin'en had taken less than five whole minutes to deal with Atlas and the sky, and entering the Moon Chariot had been a pocket in space and time. In laymen's, the clock had stopped during the ride, and resumed at the throne room doors. Shin'en pushed them open with more ease than when he had first been here.

Perks of having his body back at full strength.

Artemis grew to her godly height and took a seat on her throne, and the quest all gathered in the middle of the room.

"For the love of all that is sacred, please tell me you're all going to start preparing for war."

Athena nodded. "We have voted to act. Apollo and Artemis shall hunt the more powerful monsters. Poseidon will visit his full wrath on the Princess Andromeda, and the rest of us will make sure the prisons are still holding, on the other gods remain loyal."

"Terrific, but I have another question that will make you all feel dumb: did you sense them?"

The Olympians looked around, confused, as did the quest members.

"My son, what 'them' do you speak of?"

"Perfect, so you didn't sense them," Shin'en sighed. He straightened and looked around. When he next spoke, he was clear, loud, and heard by all.

"There is another threat in this war. During the mission, there were unwanted eyes on us at every civilized area. Kanopolis, Cloudcroft, Hoover Dam, and San Francisco. These eyes did not belong to anything monstrous, mythical, or magical, but something even worse: mortal. Keep a closer eye on your children, because the last thing I need on my plate is to plan a rescue mission to some secret facility in the desert to rescue kidnapped half-bloods."

Athena snorted. "Surely, no mortal government would know of our existence. The Mist protects our half-bloods."

"Fine then, do not heed my words at the peril of your children's lives. Just know that of the mortal government decides to get cute, I will blame you…and you saw what I did to Aphrodite and Ares. You really want to ignore my warning?"

Athena coughed. "We'll consider what you say."

"Uh-huh. Well, my warning's delivered, Olympus is gearing up for war, and Artemis is rescued. I take my leave, then. There are things have to do elsewhere."

"What!? You're just leaving!? Just like that!?" Suffice to say, Persephone was not happy with her little brother just up and leaving her.

Shin'en looked at her. "Let's take this outside."

He turned around and started heading for the door, and Persephone was right there with him, but a certain sky god wasn't having it.

"Stop there, now!"

Shin'en wasn't having any of this either. He turned around and let his Killer Intent loose. Immediately, fear swallowed the entire throne room whole. The ceiling faded away, and a massive, black dragon was there, bigger than the sky. It had thirteen necks and heads, and a wingspan bigger than a planet. The dragon roared viciously, shaking Olympus to it foundations, the shockwaves threatening to throw the mountain from the sky.

The roar faded out, and then everything was normal again. The cold disappeared, the impending feeling of death vanished, the impossibly tight grip of fear relinquished, and the constellation-covered ceiling was back.

Shin'en continued on his way to the door, his sister behind him, everyone else was too petrified to move.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

"You're just going to leave me!?" Persephone yelled, almost on the verge of tears. "After everything's that's happened, you're just going to go back to that place!? Why can't you just stay here, with me, and Mom!? You-You're the one who said that the government's after us, you need to be there if they try, so you can beat them up!"

"You can beat up the government just fine without me. You're the daughter of Poseidon; mortals are beneath you."

"What if they get lucky and knock me out and take me somewhere?"

"Then I'll have a dream about it, know exactly where you are, and I'll be there to save you."

"Not if you're in that other world you're not!"

"If a situation like the one you described occurs, the Fates will bring me back to save you."

"You don't know that."

"You are the only person that ensures I do what they say. If anything happens to you, the Fates know I won't do a thing they say, so they'll make doubly sure you remain unharmed at the hands of mortals."

"What, so I'm an insurance policy now?"

"More or less."

"You butt!"

Of course, that was exactly what Persephone was. Shin'en discovered it when he was six, the sole purpose for her existence. She was insurance, the Fates insurance that Shin'en would have someone to get attached to, someone to be grounded to, and go to great lengths to ensure she remained safe. He had tried to resist that, but the damned girl chipped her way into his heart, and refused to leave.

"If we're done here, I'll be going now."

"Oh, we are so not done here, mister!"

Persephone glomped her brother, and refused to let go.

"Let go of me."

"No. I just got you back, I am not losing you again."

"I'll be back for our sixteenth birthday, you know that right?"

"I don't care. You're not leaving me."

"I have to."

"Why? So you can kill more people to change the world or whatever? Not happening."

"Because me staying in this world would be so much better. What, you expecting me to go to school with you? Sorry, I'm a few years behind on this place's curriculum."

"Don't care. Summer school."

"You don't have the money, and neither does Sally."

"Mom, Percy. We call her mom."

"You call her mom because you have lived with her your whole life. I have not, therefore I will not call her 'mom.' I will call her Sally."

"She'll be hurt to hear you say that."

"I do not care."

"That's mean, Percy."

"It is, and you are stalling. Let go now."

"No, going back to kill people isn't a reason I'll allow you to go back."

Shin'en grit his teeth, frustration overcoming him. "Sephy," he said through grit teeth—Persephone froze at the nickname— "you don't get it. You almost died tonight. If I didn't have this arm, you would be in the Underworld right now."

"Yep, but you would've been there with me."

Shin'en couldn't take this anymore. He snapped.

"You don't get it!" he roared. He broke free of his sister's hug, and swept her off her feet. He straddled her, pinning her arms down.

"You don't get it," he said softly, tears in his eyes. "I almost lost you tonight. I've…I've lost too many people already. I can't lose you too. I need to be stronger, to get my full power back. I can't rely on my arm. That's…that's why I need to return to that world. Please, Sephy…let me go back…"

Persephone gasped, gasped at the tears hitting her face, gasped at the distraught look on her little brother's face, gasped as the full weight of her brother's psyche came crashing down on her. She realized now what his drive was, what motivated him: the pain of loss.

He had lost the orphans he grew up with, he had lost the blonde woman, Yugito, whom he had grown to see as a mother, and he had lost more than that. Whatever happened in those missing two and a half years incorporated more loss and pain than what she could imagine. But now here she was, the last person Percy had.

And he had almost lost her tonight.

She realized now that that thought terrified him, drove him to extremes to make sure he didn't lose her, motivated him to do whatever it took to ensure her safety. She realized that if she was captured by mortals or something like that, that her baby brother would rip the planet apart in searching for her.

She realized that he believed he wasn't strong enough to protect her from everything, and that he needed his full strength to make sure she was always safe, to make sure he never lost the one last person he cared for in life.

Persephone also realized now just what she meant to her brother, how important she was to him, and how devastated he would be is she died. He would lose his last shred of humanity, and become something monstrous. As his big sister, she could not let that happen.

"Okay, Percy, okay. You can go back to that world…on one condition."

"Hm?" he wiped his eyes and rolled off her, lying down on her right.

"You have to promise me, that after we're done with the Titans…you'll spend a year here, with me, and Mom, in this world, doing this world stuff. Promise me, then you can go."

"I promise."

"Pinky promise?" The twins shook pinkies. "Cross your heart and hope to die?"

He crossed his heart.

A tear escaped Persephone's eye, even though she was smiling. "Okay. I love you, Percy."

He craned his neck and pecked her forehead. "Love you too, Sephy."

Persephone must have fallen asleep, because when she opened her eyes again, she was on her bunk in her cabin, and Percy was gone. She was still wearing his Akatsuki cloak. She sat up with a smile.

She had so much to tell her mom!

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Shinobi World

Land of Grass

December 21, 1014 A.S.

"—to do after we're done with the Blood Prison?"

Shin'en stopped dead where he was. His arm was bandaged up again, and he could feel the damaged flow of chakra through his body. The Izanagi was inactive now.

Kisame looked back at him, eyebrow raised. "Hey, you okay? Your eyes are wet."

Shin'en reached up and wiped away the tears. "I'm fine. What were you saying?"

"I was asking what are we going to do after we're done with the Blood Prison?"

The answer was immediate.

"We're going to the Uzumaki Mask Shrine in the Land of Fire…I need to have a chat with a goddess."

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Wow, that was a lot of words.

So, yeah. Shin'en has Danzo's arm, has a better Izanagi, can us the Eight Inner Gates Formation without dying, given special circumstances. Atlas is dead, the sky is no longer something heavy, the Romans lost most of their temples, and Persephone has friends in case Hera decides to play exchanger. And Shin'en's back in the Shinobi World, ready to get his power back.

Now, there will be two parts to the Reclamation of Power arc, and they will be interchanged based on my whims. The first part is my inner fanboy, in which Shin'en will be popping in on whatever anime dimension needs fixing for whatever reason I think of. Like Eren was killed by a Titan, or Acnologia wiped out Fairy Tail, or Priscilla killed young Clair. You get the idea—feel free to leave suggestions.

The second part is grueling seriousness regarding various PJO dimensions, such as rapist Gabe, abusive Sally, evil Poseidon, evil Zeus, cheating Annabeth, etc. There's also one particular idea, involving an alternate Xenomorphic, that select people know the significance of…if they remember.

But before any of that can take place, Assassin's Creed: Transcendence gets an update tomorrow! Yay!

Fav, Follow, and Review please!