Hey guys!

So sorry for the long wait, but really bogged down and stressed about JC and yea writing is more of a luxury now than anything else. The holidays are coming though, but I will still be studying for exams so uh I would update faster of course, but still not very fast.

Please understand!

Enjoy this chapter! MOre information about Tartarus.

~Kuntakintae

Nico's POV

"…What?" Hades' rarely heard stunned voice echoed across the huge office room we were both residing in.

"He went to Tartarus, survived and is still alive today right here," I repeated my sentence again, quickly recovering from the shock of seeing my dad well…being shocked.

It was very rare that he got surprised. Most of the time, he had already anticipated what would happen and would immediately have a plan to resolve the issue.

I guess even he had a limit to how far or how imaginative he can be. It wasn't exactly a very common thing for a person to enter Tartarus when he is only around seven years old.

"So you're telling me," Hades started after a few seconds of recovering from his initial shock. His voice was back to the usual stony and emotionless one, as was his face, but I could tell he was still a little bit taken aback by the new information I had divulged to him.

"Perseus Oceanus Jackson, the boy that I have been searching for the past ten to fifteen years, had actually been right under my nose for the past six years?" Hades confirmed. I nodded, snickering a little on the inside- Hades made himself sound like a fool.

It struck me that he was probably laughing at himself as well.

"That's…convenient. May I speak to him soon?" He asked, his tone holding a hint of curiosity in it.

"I don't know whether he wants to come here to talk," I replied simply. There never were many openings to have small talk with Hades- especially not when we were on this topic.

"He survived Tartarus…a feat not many has managed to complete, especially in their younger days," Hades seemed to be talking to himself, his finger tapping the smooth, polished glass surface of his humongous desk as he pondered.

"What exactly is Tartarus?" The question spurted out of my mouth before I could stop myself. I mentally berated myself for losing control- but I really wanted, needed to know.

I needed to know what exactly had my best friend- whom by then I have come to realise I knew, really knew nothing about- had been through.

Thalia, Mr Brunner, Percy and I had had a short conversation about his past in the afternoon when we had visited Annabeth and found her unconscious.

Percy hadn't exactly been very open about it, but he had reluctantly spilled out a few things we hadn't known before- things like how he was the heir to one of the top companies in the world, how his parents had died in a fire when he was young and he had gone to Tartarus.

We would have talked a lot more, but at the mention of Tartarus- actually, at the question of what happened after his parents died- he had immediately shook his head and refused to let us know any more.

"Maybe another time. I…don't exactly wish to think about those days. Not right now, at least," He had told us in a tone that shut us up.

After that, Thalia, Mr Brunner and I had left Percy alone with Annabeth. Mr Brunner had also refused to tell us anything more, saying that it was up to Percy to tell us.

"The very fact he told you that much means that he's finally opening up. It'll take time. Give him that time- he hadn't had a very easy journey. One of the worst journeys amongst all humans, I daresay," Mr Brunner had said, sadness and grief clouded his eyes like a fog as he talked about Percy before he turned and wheeled himself towards his office.

After that, Thalia and I decided to go our separate ways. We needed time to digest the revelations we just had.

Once I digested it, it led to Hades.

A slight frown appeared on his face, but he didn't seem to be too perturbed by the interruption.

"Do you truly want to know? It is not for the weak-hearted," Hades said. His tone held no hint of mockery or contempt- he was truly warning me.

It shook me to the core. The fact that Hades himself was warning me told me enough- whatever Tartarus was, it was undoubtedly something truly terrible. Truly dark and horrifying and utterly despicable and unthinkable.

"Yes," I said in a determined voice, standing my ground.

If it helped me to understand Percy a little more, to be able to help him just a teensy weeny bit more, I would not back down.

Hades stared at me with contemplative eyes, observing and scrutinising me. I stared back at him with eyes filled with resolution.

After a few seconds, he seemed to have found what he had been looking for and nodded.

"I will show you some pictures of Tartarus. Prepare yourself- they aren't very pleasant to the eye. Take a seat," Hades said, pointing at the huge leather couch at one corner of the room.

Once I was seated, he nodded and clicked.

The first picture that appeared on the screen almost made me puke my breakfast, lunch and recently eaten dinner at one go.

Revulsion and pure disgust filled every nook and cranny of my soul as I tried to keep my eyes on the disembodied head. The eyeballs had been gouged out, the teeth were all over the place and blood flowed out from everywhere- the neck, the nostrils, the eyes, every single wound and the mouth.

Hades clicked again, and again, and again.

A stadium, executions, two people clashing swords, a person in the process of beheading another, bloodied and mangled corpses, terrified and pained faces, deformed bodies and maniacal, evil jeering faces of the audience, naked men and women fleeing from hungry lions and bloodthirsty bears and the likes.

Each picture got worst and worst. Hades seemed to know how I was feeling and stopped just when I was about to puke.

"Please do not puke on my couch," which, in Hades' amazing and totally obvious logic, meant "Are you okay?"

"S-sorry," I gasped, my eyes wide and my entire body numb. A mix of emotions raged inside me- anger, fear, revulsion, pity, hatred- and a thousand more all clashed against each other inside me.

"Tartarus is an underground entertainment arena managed by Kronos, boss of the successful Kronos clockwork's. The audience are businessmen- his associates- as well as terrorists and the likes. He earns millions from this arena per year due to overwhelming popularity. The people who fight inside are usually the ones that Kronos have a dislike for or just random abandoned and unimportant people he picked up from the streets."

"How could anyone-"

"There are many cruel and sadistic people in the world, Nico. I have protected you from them, but Percy apparently had not had the same protection," Hades cut in, reminding me of the original reason why he showed me Tartarus in the first place.

"How could Percy survive in a place like this? What job or profession could he possibly had done in a place like that?" I asked, though as soon as the question left my lips, the answer crashed into me and caused my insides to twist and turn in horror.

"By being one of the fighters. By killing and surviving. Down there, it is either kill or be killed. The fact that he is alive today means that he has killed many," Hades laid that cold, hard fact on the ground, refusing to beat around the bush.

I just sat there, still and motionless as his ghastly words slowly sank into me.

"So that's why Luke…" I whispered. The room was so silent though, that my whisper had managed to reach Hades' ears. He immediately stood up, his huge chair crashing loudly onto the floor as he made his way towards me.

"You crossed swords with Luke? Luke Castellan, the 'Killer of thousands'?" He raised his voice as he grabbed my shoulders and lifted me up from my seat.

His outburst of emotions surprised me so much I was at a loss for words.

"Answer me? Did you cross swords with him?" My mouth tried to form words, but I felt like there was a ball of yarn stuck in my throat- no words could make it through.

After a few seconds, Hades finally realised how he was acting- blazing eyes, deep and monstrous breaths and ferocious face and all that- and let go of me.

He and I both took a few minutes to settle down, trying to calm our breathing.

"N-not really. He was about to kill someone, and I rushed in to stop him. Mr Brunner stopped the fight before things got serious," I replied.

"You should never spar with Luke Castellan, understand me? I do not want you to lose your life," Hades emphasized on the word 'never'. I was slightly taken aback by his straightforward and honest caring words, but knew that it wasn't exactly the time to harp over that.

"You said he was the 'Killer of thousands'. What does it mean?" I questioned, though I could guess why Luke had that title- and how he attained it.

"Luke Castellan has never been defeated once in his time in Tartarus. He was given that title after never losing a single fight and slaughtering every single one of his opponents. No one had ever held a candle against him before," Hades stated in a cold voice.

"...Every single one of his opponents had been killed? Not a single one survived?" I asked.

"You are indeed very, very lucky to be alive right now. Tell me, has Percy and Luke made contact yet?" Hades inquired.

"…They had a small spar. Luke tried to kill a very close friend of ours, and Percy was there to protect her."

"And he is still alive?" Hades' said incredulously. I nodded slowly.

After hearing what Hades had said about Luke Castellan, I slowly started to realise the magnitude of what had occurred that morning.

Percy Jackson had managed to survive against the Champion of not only the 'moral' world, but also the 'immoral' world, which was the underground arena Tartarus.

Not only that, he had managed to actually fight on equal footing with Luke.

"Percy cannot be just some unknown person in Tartarus then. He would not have gone unnoticed with the skill that can match their current champion- the so called undefeatable. There must be something…" Hades started to talk to himself again as he made his way purposefully back to his desk and went through a thousand files again.

"There is only one other 'person' who I can ever imagine can stand up against Luke. Everything will fit if this is indeed who Percy was," Hades said before looking up at me.

"What do you mean?" I asked, wanting to know more.

"Not yet. I want to be sure before telling you anything. You can, however, help to confirm my suspicions, and then I will tell you."

"What should I do?" I prompted eagerly. I was ready to do anything that could lead me to more information about Percy. Hades shook his head at my eagerness, openly showing his disapproval at me breaching about this topic.

Nevertheless, he did not try to dissuade me. He knew I would find another way if he didn't provide one.

"Help me find out if Percy's title during Tartarus was 'the Slaughtering Knight'."