It always felt weird seeing his classmates outside of a school setting. Izuku had gotten so used to seeing them in their school uniform, that he had almost been unable to recognize them. Only Kirishima's shock of red and crooked smile served to remind him that these weren't total strangers.

"Hey man!" Called out Kirishima brightly, waving over to Izuku from where he and a small group of other students were assembled. Izuku had gotten a text earlier that morning from Kirishima that a couple of students were meeting up for dinner. Izuku, always one to spend time with his friends, had jumped at the chance. So far, it looked as though Kirishima, Shoji, Todoroki, Yaoyorozu, Tokoyami, Jiro, and Tsu were there. More surprisingly, however, was Bakugo's presence, sulking pettily beside Kirishima.

"Hey guys!" Waved Izuku, as he took an empty seat beside Tsu,

"Awesome!" Cheered Kirishima, pumping his arms in excitement, "With Midoriya here, I think that's everyone, we can finally get started!"

"Get started?" Asked Izuku in confusion, "Get started with what? I thought we were having lunch?"

Kirishima flinched, and uncomfortably scratched at the back of his head,

"Yeah…about that," he said awkwardly, "We might have…maybe…lied a little about why we're here."

"Okay…" said Izuku carefully, "Then…then what's going on?"

"We're here to talk about Percy," said Shoji.

Izuku's stomach clenched somewhat. Izuku's feelings towards his wayward friend had been…complicated over the past couple of weeks. Their disagreement on the last night of his stay at his apartment had stuck with Izuku for the last several days. It was the first time since his fight with Bakugo as a child, that Izuku had had a disagreement with a friend. Especially a disagreement over something as fundamental to Izuku's own sense of identity as being a hero.

Try as he might, Izuku simply could not bring himself to understand Percy's perspective on being a hero. There was never going to be a situation in which Izuku could see himself thinking that killing a villain would be acceptable. It was just not something that heroes did. Yet Percy was so casual about it.

About death.

Izuku was sure that Percy's past as a demigod, which was as equally unbelievable as it was completely sensical, created the sense of detachment Percy had about killing. Izuku couldn't fathom having to fight for his life every day from the time he was twelve. When everything becomes a life and death battle, he supposed that the meaning of death becomes…meaningless.

But that wasn't an excuse for killing people now. Percy's attitudes, while understandable, didn't make them right. He wasn't fighting monsters any more. He wasn't fighting a war for the sake of the world. He was fighting villains. Human beings with thoughts and feelings. They had reasons for doing the things that they were doing. Some were bad, but Izuku was sure that most villains chose villainy out of sheer desperation, not because they were inherently evil.

Izuku took a deep breath, and met the gaze of his friends,

"O-okay…" He stammered, his nerves and discomfort coming back to the forefront, "What…what are we talking about?"

"About how we should be out there helping him!" Said Kirishima passionately, "He's out there on his own! Just dealing with this shit on his own and it's wrong!"

"As I keep saying," said Tokoyami, his eyes narrowing in irritation, "Percy is more than capable of dealing with this situation on his own."

"Given the…caliber of opponent that he's up against," said Yaoyorozu sullenly, "I'm not sure how much help we could really be…"

"That doesn't mean we should simply sit on the sideline and watch," said Shoji,

"Exactly!" Said Kirishima in exasperation, "I'm sick of watching this stuff go down! I don't know about you guys, but I hated just watching him fight at the Camp."

"That was so scary," said Tsu with a shudder,

"I'm with Yaoyorozu on this one," said Jiro, idly twirling one of her ear-jacks with a finger, "I don't know how we could be of much help."

"I have faith in our capabilities against villains," said Tsu, "But we're not talking about villains any more. We're talking about gods…and monsters…and all kinds of other things. It's not the same. I don't think we'd stand a chance."

"But that's what being a hero is all about!" Pleaded Kirishima, "Helping people who are in need, even when it feels hopeless! And right now, who needs help more than Percy, our friend!"

"We're not saying that Percy doesn't need help and that we don't want to help him," said Todoroki softly, "But the concern for how much help we can actually provide is genuine,"

"Even if the only support we can provide is moral," said Shoji, "I believe we have a responsibility to our friend to give him as much as possible."

"Midoriya!" Said Kirishima, "You're on my side right?"

Izuku flinched, "I…uh…"

"This is a waste of time," grunted Bakugo, as he stood up from his chair and began walking towards the exit,

"Hey man, where are you going?" Asked Kirishima,

"To Miruko's agency," called Bakugo over his shoulder, "Dumbass has been living there all week."

The rest of the group shared worried expressions before scrambling after him.

BREAK

"That fucking bitch!" Seethed Rumi as she threaded another needle through Percy's shoulder, accidentally pinching the skin a little too roughly as she did so,

"Gah!" squawked Percy indignantly, "A little less rage, a little more focus please?"

After getting over her initial shock, Rumi had gone into auto pilot. Percy was currently sitting on her couch, his bloodied shirt and hoodie thrown haphazardly on the floor and a gallon jug of water in one hand as Rumi stitched him back together.

Rumi didn't pay him any mind,

"She knows we're coming after her so she goes after my partner? I'll fucking snap her legs in half for this shit!"

"You still haven't told me who you're talking about!" Said Percy, flinching in irritation, "How the hell do you even know who did this anyways? It could have been anyone."

"Those fucking bullets, that's how!" Snapped Rumi, jabbing a finger at the discarded pile of bullets on the end table. Percy had only grabbed them out of instinct, and had shown Rumi when she had begun stitching him up, starting her entire tirade.

"Okay…" said Percy slowly, "And those bullets tell you who did this because?"

"Because how many people you know of that can fire purple, hollow-point rounds?" Snapped Rumi, as she finished up her stitching and snagged one of the bullets from the table.

"Lady-fucking-Nagant!"

"Who?" Asked Percy incredulously,

"The bitch I've spent all week running around the country trying to find!" Said Rumi, "She has a quirk that turns her arm into a rifle, and can create bullets using her hair!"

"…that's disgusting,"

"Not the point!" Snapped Rumi, "The point is she knows that you've been working with me and now she's gunning for you to get to me!"

"Bit of a high opinion of yourself there," said Percy casually, but squawked in pain as Rumi smacked him on his freshly injured shoulder.

"Don't be a smartass, dipshit. This is serious! Nagant is no joke. She's got a resume, and a fucking good one at that. If she's gunning for you, that's some serious shit!"

"Okay-okay!" Said Percy placatingly, "Serious badass with a gun arm and hair bullets, got it. But what-"

He was interrupted by the chiming of the front door. Glaring at him, Rumi got back to her feet and stalked over to the door. Curious, Percy rose and followed suit. It wasn't often that Rumi got visitors. In fact, Percy couldn't remember a time in which the woman actually had someone that wasn't him come over.

"What?" Rumi snarled, as she swung the door open. Peeking over her head, Percy blinked in surprise. On the doorstep were his classmates, with Bakugo of all people in the lead. He met Rumi's glare fearlessly for a moment before his gaze swiveled over to Percy, darting over to his injured shoulder.

"The fuck happened to you?"

"Got shot," said Percy, "What the hell are all of you doing here?"

"Percy!" Said Yaoyorozu in alarm, her hands clapping to her mouth, "You were shot? What-but-"

"Shouldn't you be in the hospital?" Asked Jiro over Yaoyorozu's frantic ramblings,

"Probably," shrugged Percy, "But seriously, what are you guys doing here?"

"We are worried about you," said Tokoyami calmly, "And given that you've gotten yourself shot…I dare say those fears were well warranted."

"No one likes a smartass Tokoyami," grunted Percy, "And I appreciate the concern guys, but I promise I'm fine,"

"Your shoulder certainly seems to beg to differ," said Shoji. In the background, Percy heard as Rumi's phone began beeping, but she was ignoring it for the time being, focused as she was own the interaction.

"Guys," sighed Percy in mounting agitation, "Not that I'm not happy to see you, and not that I don't appreciate the concern, but seriously. I need you to trust me, I'm fine. But please, for your own safety, until this entire thing gets taken care of, I need you guys to keep your distance. I don't want what happened at the Camp to be a recurring thing."

"You're a bit of a hypocrite sometimes, you know that Percy," said Tsu. The words were biting but her tone was no different than normal.

"You say that you're our friend and that you trust and care about us, but when it's our turn to try and help you for once, you tell us that you're better off on your own. That hurts, Percy."

"That's not fair and you know it," scowled Percy, his chest constricting at the accusation, "This isn't like before, I'm not hiding shit from you guys and I'm not saying I don't need your help out of some self-sacrificial sense of heroism or some shit. I'm saying to keep your distance because its objectively dangerous to be around me right now."

"And yet here you are, staying with Miruko," said Todoroki, "Surely that's no different,"

"Bullshit," scoffed Rumi, "You kids have been in school for what? A semester? I'm a full-fledged pro, it's not the same thing,"

Kirishima looked like he wanted to protest, and Percy mutely registered that he was saying something, but Percy couldn't make out what was being said. His attention was elsewhere. Once more, the hair on the back of his neck had started to stand on end, as the sky inexplicably began to turn black. The rolling of thunder began to rumble overhead, which was strange considering that there was nothing in the weather reports about sudden storms.

Percy subtly began to shift his weight so that it was distributed more evenly, as he slowly started channeling his power. Something was happening, he didn't know what it was yet, but he knew it was happening. There was another clap of thunder, and a flash of lightning, and something appeared in the periphery of Percy's vision. It was high in the clouds, well above the skyline of city and it was dropping quickly to earth.

A moment later, and Rumi, who had been in the middle of a shouting match with Percy's friends, turned her attention to her phone which was still beeping. She flipped it open, and then swore loudly under her breath as her gaze started sweeping the city.

"What is it?" Percy asked, his eyes not leaving the figure falling towards the earth,

"An alert, sighting of Muscular in the city and he's heading this way," said Rumi,

"Can't be a coincidence," said Percy, "Because we've got incoming from on high too," He turned his attention to his friends, "Guys, get inside, now!"

The students didn't have the opportunity to respond to the warning however, as several things began happening all at once. Across the street, the wall of two adjoining buildings exploded in a mass of brick and mortar as a hulking behemoth of flesh charged into the street. From the shadows of a nearby alleyway, several small creatures raced out into the street and darted towards the agency. From above, Percy was swarmed with the familiar feeling of the presence of a god channeling their power.

"Go high, I'll go low!" Ordered Rumi, as she jumped clear of the students and towards the charging behemoth of flesh. Percy hesitated for a moment, his eyes once more darting to the strange creatures that were racing their way from the shadows.

"We'll handle them!" Said Tokoyami, "Go!"

Frustrated that his friends were getting dragged into the mess, but not seeing another alternative Percy nodded,

"Mortal weapons won't work on them! And they can't be arrested, fight to kill! Not to incapacitate!" With his piece said, the wind picked up around him, and he streaked into the sky and towards the falling figure. As Percy got closer, the figure came into better focus. Percy was fairly certain that the figure was male, but he didn't have much to go on besides the sturdy looking armor and the broad shoulders. The armor looked traditional, like the kind he'd seen in old samurai movies. But that was far from the strangest thing about the flying figure.

More concerning by far, was the giant catfish that the man was standing atop of. Deep navy and with large and wide eyes, and pale brown whiskers, it was the size of a small mini-van. Snarling as he built his power more, Percy reached into the pocket of his pants and pulled out Riptide. Flicking the cap off the pen, he took a mighty swing, channeling his power into the blade of the sword and releasing it in one blast. From the blade of the sword, a razor-sharp blast of wind exploded outwards towards the figure falling towards him.

The figure pulled up on the reins attached to the fish, and tried to get out of the way of the blast. The catfish took the brunt of the attack, and screeched in agony as its underbelly was torn and ripped. Thick globs of bright red blood dripped from the wounds, and fell to the earth below.

Pressing his attack, Percy closed the distance between himself and the samurai. But the samurai had not been idle. The samurai pulled a large, black-bladed katana free from its scabbard, and held the blade high into the clouds. Thunder clapped loud overhead, before lighting flashed down from the heavens and was absorbed into the point of the sword. The samurai turned the blade against Percy, and lightning erupted from the tip with a mighty clam of thunder and slammed into Percy.

He didn't have time to maneuver out of the way, as the lightning struck him. It felt as though his very insides were being burnt and roasted. He screamed, as he was blasted backwards, the momentum of his own attack halted as he was launched through the air. His skin scorched and burned as he flew, It was as though his internal organs were liquifying. He barely even registered it as he fell to earth, several miles away from the city. He landed in a cloud of dust in the middle of a forest on the outskirts of the city.

His body spasmed as he struggled to get back to his feet. He wheezed, and pulled on his power and summoned a veil of water from a nearby stream and coated his body in it. Almost instantly, the burning ceased, as he could feel the healing process begin.

Across from him, the samurai and catfish landed. The landing of which caused a minor earthquake, which threaten to nearly topple Percy over once more.

"Who are you," demanded Percy,

"Takemikazuchi," came the deep voice from behind the samurai's face mask, "God of thunder and swords."

"And the catfish?"

"…Fish,"

"…I hate my life,"

"Then it's best that it shall be over soon!"

With a bestial roar befitting a lion and not a car-sized catfish, the fish leapt in the air, and dove towards Percy.

BREAK

Rumi heard Percy blast off into the air behind her. She trusted him to what needed to be done, so she would try and forget about his fight until it became absolutely necessary. She could see out of the corner of her eye that several strange, weasel-like creatures were racing towards the students. Rumi didn't have the ability to tackle both muscular and the monsters all at the same time. She didn't necessarily like it, but the kids knew the risk of coming to see Percy, and they would have to deal with that.

Turning her entire focus to Muscular, she bounced off of the pavement, and launched a kick at the villain. Muscular was a monster of a man. Almost as tall as All Might and nearly as proportioned, with a quirk that backed up his incredible strength, there was a reason he was feared amongst the pro community. His quirk had been activated, something about changing his musculature that made him a hell of a lot more powerful and durable, Rumi didn't know the specifics but knew enough that she was more than aware that he hit like a brick.

But at the cost of being about as intelligent as one.

Ugly too.

His quirk all but forced his musculature over his skin, effectively ripping away the flesh and forcing the bulging inner muscles over the top of the them. It left the man looking more like a monster than a human being. Not only did his quirk mean that he was strong as all hell, but it also made him durable.

An annoying realization Rumi was forced to make as her foot smashed into his forearms. It was like kicking steel.

Rumi grunted as she was forced to dodge out of the way from a heavy counter-attack.

Hopping out of the way as Muscular let out a beastial roar, Rumi used the hood of a nearby car as a springboard and launched herself back towards the villain. With a roar of her own, and utilizing her superior speed, Rumi leveled a powerful kick against the cheek of the man. She could feel bones break under the force of her strike, as teeth, blood, and spittle sprayed out of his mouth.

"Fucking bunny bitch!" He snarled,

"Real original there," snarked Rumi, dropping into a back handspring and dodging out of the way of another attack. Overhead, thunder clapped and even from a distance Rumi could hear Percy scream in pain. Rumi tore her gaze skywards just in time to watch as Percy was launched across the sky.

"Little Greek doesn't stand a chance bunny bitch." Snarled Muscular, a sinister gleam in his eye. Rumi's attention snapped to Muscular.

"So…this really wasn't a coincidence," said Rumi, flipping out of the way as Muscular tried to swing at her again,

"Of course it wasn't!" Muscular snapped sarcastically, "Are you stupid?"

"So what…" grunted Rumi, as her leg darted and slammed into his knee, which shattered from the impact, and Muscular toppled to one knee, "You got a deadbeat dad too?" She danced out of the way as one of Muscular's massive arms swiped out at her.

"What loser god went had you for a kid?"

Muscular bellowed in fury, and tried to rise to both of his legs, a new wave of musculature wrapping around his injured leg. In a blind fury, Muscular charged forward, and Rumi leapt out of the way of the attack. Muscular roared past her, and collided with the side of her agency. The force of his charge drove him straight through the wall, embedding him halfway into her agency.

Taking the opening, Rumi built up as much momentum as she could, and threw as much power behind her leg as she could. Her leg collided with Muscular's spine, as a horrible and painful throbbing reverberated from the top of her foot and all the way up to the middle of her thigh.

Muscular's body jerked under the force of the attack, before falling limp, still stuck halfway through the wall of her building. With a minor limp, she hobbled over to Muscular and yanked him out from the wall. His eyes were shut in a pained grimace, and a small groan escaped his lips.

She pressed a heel into his chest, and pressed down forcefully,

"Wake up!" She snapped, but all Muscular could do was groan in agony, "Did Amaterasu send you?"

"F-fuck…you…" spat Muscular,

"Where's she hiding!" Demanded Rumi, "Where are the plains!"

"Like I'd tell you!" Sneered Muscular, "Not that it matters, by the end of the day, the sea urchin is going to be little more than a scorch mark, that's if he's not already! And if he can't kill the sea urchin then Nagant sure as hell will!"

Rumi snarled, and kicked Muscular hard in the side of the head. He grunted, and his eyes rolled into the back of his head.

She was really starting to hate this demigod bullshit. That hadn't been helpful, and even worse, they had more problems to deal with. Nagant was a demigod? That opened up an entirely new series of problems for them to contend with.

She hated this shit. She hated feeling like she was always on the back foot, and the fact that she knew she couldn't do anything to truly help Percy. But even if she couldn't help him fight…she supposed she could help in other ways.

With one last look at the sky, she sighed, and took off back towards the kids.

BREAK

Izuku's mind fell into autopilot as he turned toward the alley and started running. Behind him, he could hear Percy blast off into the air as Miruko let loose a battle cry and jumped over to the rampaging villain.

The creatures were…horrific.

Like demonic weasels, they had thin and sleek bodies covered in thin black fur. Their heads were misshapen, and with small snouts and rows of jagged white teeth. Their pupiless eyes danced back and forth between Izuku and his classmates, as though trying to determine who should be their first victim. Most disconcerting of all though, were the strange scythe-like structures on the forearms of the creatures. They were all black, and glinted in the evening sun, and Izuku was certain that they were as sharp as they appeared.

There were nine of the creatures in all. Each split off into a small pack of three. They were pack-hunters it appeared. But what were they capable of? How strong were they, what kind of abilities, if any, did they have? Were they fast or slow?

Before he could get an answer, Bakugo was already roaring through the air in the direction of the weasels. Blasting himself over top of one of the packs of three, and launched an explosion from his hand. There was a tremendous flash of light, and Jiro was forced to slap her hands over her ears.

But a moment later, a powerful gust of wind whipped up from nowhere, and blasted the smoke away, revealing that the weasels had disappeared, and all that remained in the middle of the street was a scorch mark as a result of Bakugo's attack. There was another blast of wind, and Izuku nearly lost his balance as the two other packs of monsters disappeared.

His eyes darted around the group, his mind racing for potential avenues of attack. They might have been monsters, but they acted like pack animals. Pack animals were hunters by nature, and subscribed to predictable attack patterns. If they were as fast as Izuku was starting to suspect they were, then there was only one place for them to attack.

He whirled around, and sure enough, the three packs were leaping down on them from the roof of Rumi's agency.

"Todoroki! Kaa-chan! Above us!"

Both boys followed suit, and Todoroki let loose a blast of scorching fire at the same time that Bakugo let off his own attack, and Izuku shot a blast of compressed air. Unlike before, the attacks hit home, as the monsters were unable to maneuver in the air. One was caught in the middle of the bulk of Todoroki's fire, and exploded in a blast of golden dust under the attack. Another caught the brunt of one of Bakugo's explosions, and its smoking carcass was blasted into the wall of a nearby building, before erupting into golden dust as well.

The rest of the weasels were caught up in Izuku's blast, and were thrown high up into the air. The weasels let out a high-pitched screeching, as the flipped end over end through the air. However their tumbling came to a quick stop, as they brought their scythe-like appendages out across their lithe bodies. Using the scythes like wings, the weasels used the compressed wind created by Izuku to their advantage, and swooped into a dive bomb.

Two of the weasels at the front of the group raised their scythes out in front of them, and with a slash through the air, the weasels launched an attack of wind of their own.

Izuku grunted as he tried to brace himself against the sudden hurricane.

"Midoriya!" called out Yaoyorozu desperately. She had created a small wall, which she and Jiro were taking cover behind. "Catch!" She tossed something in his direction, and Izuku caught it deftly. It was a smoke grenade by the looks of it. Catching onto Yaoyorozu's idea, Izuku pulled the pin on the grenade and held his breath, before tossing the grenade ahead of him.

Purple smoke exploded from the grenade, as a couple of yards away, two more grenades landed on the ground. Soon enough, the entire street had become bathed in purple smoke.

"Midoriya, one to your left! Six Meters!" Jiro's voice called out over the screeching of the creatures,

"Tokoyami, Tsu, two to your right," called out Shoji, "Three meters!"

Judging the distance in his mind, Izuku began channeling One for All into his body and he activated Full Cowling. Leaping through the air, after six meters, he unleashed his power in a devastating jump kick. His foot made contact with something solid, and a moment later one of the weasel-like creatures screeched in pain, before exploding into golden dust.

To his right, Izuku heard Dark Shadow cackle maliciously as it punched another of the weasels, and a third weasel was thrown high into the air. Izuku could see what he recognized as Tsu's tongue tied around its middle. Aa moment later, the tongue launched the creature and an explosion from Bakugo reduced the creature to nothing but dust. Izuku could hear the screeching death wails as the remaining weasels were executed one by one.

When the smoke finally cleared, all of the weasels had disappeared, and all that was left were a couple small piles of golden dust.

Izuku panted heavily, wiping a small dollop of sweat from his forehead, as the familiar ache of One for All began to spread up his body.

"See!" Roared Kirishima triumphantly, "I told you we could help!"

"Congrats kid," snarked Miruko, as she hopped down onto the street, "You killed a couple of overgrown rats."

"Man, it feels way less manly when you put it like that," Kirishima ducked his head in embarrassment,

"Any of you see which direction Percy went?" Asked Miruko, only for an enormous explosion of power and energy to erupt several miles to their east. Storm clouds were billowing and swirling in the sky over the forest at the edge of the city, as a torrential downpour tore at the earth.

"…I suppose that answers your question."

BREAK

Percy launched himself into the air just in time. The catfish landed on the grass, causing an enormous eruption of earth as it let loose a roar of rage. The earth shook as soil and trees were misplaced from the earthquake it created.

But Percy had been mistaken to think he would have been safe in the clouds. Takemikazuchi raised his katana high towards the sky, as sparks of electricity danced across its blade. As though in answer to its master's command, more thunder howled overhead, before lightning arced through the air and streaked down towards him. Streaking through the air, Percy did his best to maneuver around the sudden strikes of lightning. He had no hope of outrunning the lightning, but if he could move sporadically and unpredictably then he would be a harder target to hit.

But he couldn't play on the defensive for forever, and he hated being on the back-foot. Clenching riptide tightly in his palm, he raced as fast as he could back down to earth and towards Takemikazuchi. Channeling wind into his sword's blade he swung down, releasing his pent-up energy. Blades of razor-sharp wind raced towards Takemikazuchi, forcing him to break his concentration as he hauled on the reins and forced the catfish out of the way.

Landing on the ground, Percy slammed the blade into the earth, commanding it to shake. If the catfish wanted to play with earthquakes, then Percy would show it who the earth's true master was. As the catfish landed back on the forest floor, the shaking caused it to lose balance and it toppled over, throwing Takemikazuchi from its back. He landed smoothly in a roll on the ground and popped back up to his feet, and charged at Percy. In spite of the shaking earth, he maintained his balance, as he hopped high over a tree that was in the process of toppling over.

His blade held high, he brought his arms down in a downward strike.

As this was happening, Percy remained on the offensive. Holding his hands high into the air, Percy commanded the clouds overhead to begin raining, and a deluge descended on them. As Takemikazuchi fell towards him, Percy changed the composition of the rain, turning the droplets above Takemikazuchi to turn into a deadly storm of icicles.

Takemikazuchi was forced to abandon his attack, as the hail of icicle missiles tore through his armor. Clutching the katana tightly in both hands, his body crackled with thunder and he began whirling around in a frenzy of steel, releasing his own stored up energy as he did so. Thunder clapped around them, as the icicles were destroyed, and Percy was thrown from his feet as the shockwave emanating from the attack crashed into him.

Popping back to his feet, Percy just had enough time to draw his blade and block Takemikazuchi as he brought his blade down. Grunting under the force of the attack, Percy felt his feet slide backwards on the slippery forest floor. Growling, Percy parried the blade away began an attack of his own. Blade met blade as both combatants fell into a dance of deities and steel.

After a few minutes of testing one another, Percy felt comfortable with his gauge of Takemikazuchi abilities. He was a god of swords for good reason to be sure, but Percy was confident in his own abilities, rusty as they were.

Slamming a foot into the earth, Percy commanded the earth to shake once more, just as he brought his sword down. He managed to keep his own balance, but Takemikazuchi was not so lucky. Thrown off-balance by the shaking of the ground, he was unable to stop Percy's attack as he brought his blade down. Reversing the attack at the last moment, his sword struck where Percy had calculated was a weak-point in the armor would be.

The blow hit true, as the blade of Riptide tore through flesh. Golden ichor sprayed high into the air, as Takemikazuchi howled in misery. He unconsciously fell to his knees, and Percy followed up his blow with a second to the temple. The blade didn't penetrate the armor of Takemikazuchi's helmet, but it succeeded in launching the god across the clearing. He tumbled end over end, before coming to a rest at the edge of the clearing. Percy pressed the attack, waving Riptide in front of him and summoning several javelins of water. With another wave, the javelins launched. Takemikazuchi shakily raised his katana into the air, and impaled it into the ground. A sphere of lightning chained together in sparking currents appeared around him, stopping the ballistic attack in its tracks.

"Get him!" Takemikazuchi ordered, his voice faint and weak as he pointed the tip of his katana at Percy. The catfish, which had been sitting on the sideline, roared. With another leap into the air, Percy took off into the sky, but the catfish was far more intelligent than Percy had been suspecting. Instead of landing on the ground, and causing an earthquake, it stayed in the air.

Percy had forgotten that it was able to fly.

It opened its mouth wide, and large compressed blasts of water raced towards Percy. Desperately, Percy shot a hand out and the projectiles vaporized instantly. Blasting towards the fish, Percy changed directions at the last moment, just as the fish swung its tail and tried to smack him. Maneuvering around to its flank, Percy slammed the blade of Riptide into the creature's side. It screeched in misery, as it lost its control over its flying and began to fall to earth. Ripping Riptide out of the fish, Percy clambered onto the fish's back and wrapped his hands through the thick hair on its hide.

With a roar, Percy jabbed down with Riptide and impaled the tip of the blade into the fish's eye. The sword sunk down to the hilt, as the fish screamed, and blood and liquids spewed out over Percy's hand. Sensing that the ground was coming up quickly, Percy pulled Riptide out of the fish, slicing off a massive chunk of the fish's skull as he did so. Leaping clear of the fish, he made it out of the way just in time for the fish to collide with the ground. The ground shook with the force of the impact, and Percy was forced to throw up a shield of water around him as blood, bone, and viscera flew around the forest.

Panting, Percy dropped the shield and collapsed to one knee. He glanced around the field, and expanded his senses outwards. But it was of no use, Takemikazuchi had already gone.

He'd disappeared.

Percy might have beaten the god, but he'd lost out on his golden opportunity to find a link to the High Plains. His frustration boiled over, and he lashed out. A blast of compressed air exploded around him, toppling the trees around the field.

The silence of the forest was deafening.

AN: As always shoutout to Double0Sxvxn for being an awesome Beta and dealing with my bullshit and as always if you enjoyed this but haven't checked out my other work, give them a try you never know you might find something else you like. I'm also on discord now, where I and a bunch of other writers hang out, chat and brainstorm ideas, you just have to copy the link that's in my profile bio if you want to come and hang out with us. Stay safe, stay healthy and have an awesome week

All My Love,

LilDB