Disclaimer – I own neither the PJO series, nor the Claymore series.

I did what I felt, and I felt what I did, at all costs ~ C. Richard

Third Person POV:

Teresa was crying.

She had never thought it possible…

A Claymore like her – a woman raised in pain and suffering; a girl surrounded by scorn and hate. She'd always imagined that she'd seen enough of the true nature of life to cry, that she had become immune to pain and suffering from prolonged exposure to it. Apparently, that was not the case.

And yet, for some reason, she wasn't too surprised. Maybe she, herself, had known all along. She'd undergone betrayal after betrayal; punishment after punishment, and she'd tried to take it all in her stride. Somewhere deep inside her, she must have known that she wouldn't be able to shrug it off. That, no matter how hard she resolved herself against the world, the scars she carried underneath would eventually burn through.

But it still stung.

'This little girl, who's not even half my size, taught me that tears can flow even from these silver eyes.'

And wasn't there a wicked sense of irony in that?

This one, young child…. Not even half her size…. Less than half her age…. She was comforting her. The girl had followed her through all that forestry, away from safety, away from people who would probably care for her to comfort HER. She'd accepted her kicks, and she'd kept coming… she'd followed her for an entire day even as the sun beat down on the dry path, even though Teresa had pushed on…. A full day, without food and water… And then, she'd rushed in recklessly to protect her from a Yoma?

It was supposed to be Teresa's job to protect young human children… when had it started working the other way around? When had it become right for frail, weak and downright squishy humans to fight with their lives on the line to protect Yoma like her?

'Doesn't it hurt?' The girl had asked. She'd only considered the pain that Teresa had felt – she'd never even stopped to think how she might have gotten killed if she interfered in matters so far beyond her level of capability. She'd taken a stick and tried to fight off a Yoma with it, all for the sake of Teresa's safety. And no ordinary Yoma, either.

She'd tried to fence away the most dangerous type of Yoma on the planet… with a stick the size of Teresa's forearm. 'For me…' she thought, hugging the girl a little closer.

But the thought brought another question to her mind. Why had he let her live?

-Line break-

Two days later-

"Thank you, Teresa. The Organization is pleased with your performance. These are the details of your next mission."

Having handed over the small pamphlet that included the information, Orsay pulled his hand back under his black cloak, and waited silently as the silver-eyed witch in front of him read through it. When she was done, she nodded politely and wordlessly left for the next village, a young girl in tow.

It was only after the two had left his sight that he showed any sign of life. Looking at the Claymore's fading form, Orsay let out a long, disappointed sigh, before shaking his head in a moment of sadness.

Reaching under his cloak, he pulled out a thin, white, rectangular device from the inner pocket and pressed a button on it, causing the little thing to light up like a candle. He pressed down on the multi-colored lights a few times, causing the glow cast on his face by the device's light to change in color and intensity.

Then, a white glow shone on his face as he handled his device, pressing the light ten times more. Having already looked around to ensure there was nobody else near them, Orsay lifted the device to his ear and waited in silence.

'Such a ridiculously simple piece of technology,' he thought, waiting for the call to connect, 'and yet so complicated all the same…'

The ringing tone coming from his phone ended with a click, as the receiver picked up the call on the other end of the line. "Orsay…" The deep, gravelly voice of his superior spoke through the speakers, "Why have you called?"

"There's been a complication, sir. We may have an issue regarding our current number 1 – Teresa of the Faint Smile."

"Oh? And what issue would this be?"

Orsay sighed once again, feeling remorseful at what he knew was sure to happen to the poor girl, before replying to his boss, "I believe Teresa has Awakened, sir…"

There was a second of silence there, before the reply came, "And how do you know this, Orsay?" He made sure to note the tone with which the question was asked – it was as calm and collected as ever, and Orsay took that as a good sign.

"She just gave me a report of her last two missions, sir. It was… bizarre, to say the least."

"Oh? Do tell, Orsay… What did she report?"

"Most of her report was usual fare, sir. The interesting part was when she reported having fought off a Yoma in the middle of the woods."

He paused – for both reasons: to see if his superior wanted to add any words, and to reconsider his own words, then continued a moment later, taking the silence as permission to continue, "She…. She reported having fought Perseus, sir."

A choking sound came through the speakers – clearly, he'd caught Rimuto unprepared with that little tidbit of information.

"Could you… could you repeat that for me, Orsay?"

"Sure thing, sir… She reported to me saying she fought Perseus." Before the boss could start screaming, however, he forged on, determined to let Rimuto's calm and collected behavior continue for as long as it would, "She gave an accurate enough description of him, sir – Sea green eyes; black hair; six-feet tall; male, but I believe she was lying."

The last sentence seemed to have calmed the man down, because there was a nice, long period of pin-drop silence on the other end of the call. Finally, after a good, long minute, Rimuto's voice came back through the 'mobile phone', calm, collected and reserved as it usually was, "While that is almost certain, Orsay, I would like to hear your reasoning… Why do you believe she was lying?"

"Sir, she claimed to have fought him sword against sword. She claimed he fought her using a Claymore, and that he had blond hair and silver eyes at the beginning of their fight. She also claimed that he, upon defeating her, let her live. She… I believe she said it was an act of mercy."

Orsay heard Rimuto's snort through the speaker, even through the boss' best attempt to conceal the sound of his uncharacteristically informal behavior. And yet, he wasn't really surprised at the break in character… The idea was just that ridiculous. "Exactly my thoughts, sir. From what I remember of him, Perseus was a stone-cold killer. He certainly never showed mercy…"

After a few seconds of silence, Orsay continued in a whisper, "He certainly never showed us mercy when he invaded our Headquarters… I… I remember that clear as day… he continued killing for hours after he fell unconscious…"

"True, Orsay. Completely true. The man is as compassionate as a rock… Our men even named him after death… they named him 'Nex' and he LIKED it…"

Orsay felt himself shudder at the idea of being named after death…. Names had power. Naming yourself death was like inviting a curse to land upon you. Then again, considering that the person in question was Perseus – a man responsible for the destruction of entire cities, a creature single-handedly responsible for more human deaths than the five generations of Yoma after him… the name made sense. It was a perfect fit for that walking calamity…

To keep his fear in check, Orsay opened his mouth and continued speaking, hoping to use the conversation itself to distract his mind, "Moreover, sir, according to our records, he was last sighted heading North. Or assumed to be heading North, at least. Either way, his path would have taken him straight to Isley and his Northern Army. Since we've already… scoured all the cities before Pieta, it should be safe to assume that he did, in fact, run into them."

A hum of agreement from the other side was his indication to go on, "And then, the only ways back to the West from the lands beyond Pieta are through Toulouse in the central lands – through Rabona – and through the Zakol Mountains in the west."

Without a stop, he continued, "Since we know Rabona would never let anyone pass through their gates without a proper check, Perseus would have had to pass through the Empress Riful's lair after having successfully fought off Isley's entire army. Now, sir, I know the man is quite strong and dangerous – I've seen him fight… but I heavily doubt he could have fought an army, two Abyssal Ones, and then the strongest number 1 claymore – one after the other, and still somehow escape as unscathed as the girl claimed him to be."

"Then her story is a lie. But that was to be expected the moment she claimed that he showed mercy. She shall have to be questioned regarding her story and her intents… and perhaps stripped of her rank for attempting to mislead the Organization, but we cannot assume she has Awakened simply because she is lying. If there is more to this tale, Orsay, then I encourage you to speak it now… for I have a council meeting in 5 minutes…"

"Yes, sir… I shall explain my thoughts… Contrary to what our conclusion would entail, Teresa of the Faint Smile had clearly had a fight before we reached her. She was reeking of blood; her uniform was in tatters and her clothing was covered in red stains. She, however, seemed to be in perfect condition. No scratches, no cuts, not signs of any injuries on her person."

"You think it's someone else's blood? That's an interesting analysis, Orsay. And probably incorrect, too. Her Yoki would have healed any cuts and injuries for her."

"While that is a completely plausible idea, sir, there's still a lot more to the story…." He waited for a response and continued after he heard the short 'go on' over the line, "When she said that she had fought Perseus, she included that she'd found him feasting on some humans near where she'd been walking. I'm standing at the site of their supposed 'battle', sir, and it's pretty clear this was not the work of any Yoma."

"…"

"All the humans – they were bandits, I believe… they all have weapons and pouches full of money. Regardless, sir, the humans all have sword wounds. Some of them have had their heads cut off, some have mere slices on the neck, and some have holes – or gashes, rather – in their chests. I'd say it was a knife that did the damage, but for the fact that you can't behead a man with a knife."

"You're saying that she killed these men, then… that is unfortunate…"

"She hasn't just killed them, sir. Some of them have massive holes in their torsos… to be a bit more precise, most of them have been disemboweled. And their intestines aren't lying on the floor either, sir…"

A heavy sigh came from the other end, followed by some muttering and something that sounded like "They always go down like this."

"So, it's clear that she's Awakened, sir. We can't even excuse it by saying it was a Yoma who did the killing, because large sword wounds are clearly visible on each and every bandit. The only other plausible scenario is one wherein her story is actually true, and she did fight a Claymore-wielding Yoma…"

"Yes, yes, Orsay. I get it. Don't mock me now…" There was a pause in the sentence and then, a short sigh. Rimuto continued, however – although, it did sound more like he was mumbling to himself rather than speaking to Orsay at that point, "And to think this one had such potential… purest Asarakam flesh we've used in seventy years…. But there was that other girl, too… Maybe this is an opportunity to test her skill level…"

After waiting for a whole minute for further instructions, Orsay interrupted his superior when it was clear the man had forgotten that he was still there on the other side of their call. "What are your orders, sir?"

Snapped out of his thoughts in a rather sudden way, Rimuto asked in a surprised and confused tone, "Orders? Wha-? Orders regarding what, Orsay?"

"Your orders on the girl, Rimuto-san. The Claymore… Teresa of the Faint Smile. What should we do about her? She seems to be content in continuing her servitude to the Organization, but we've all seen how poorly it went the last time we got an Awakened Being to work for us…"

"What? NO! Orsay!" There was a sigh from the other end, before Rimuto continued, in a tone that slowly changed from exasperated to deadly serious, "Send an execution team to kill her, Orsay… If she willingly accepts her death, then, this all ends there, and if she doesn't, take numbers 2 through 5 and get them to kill her. As it is, she's broken our Organization's cardinal rule – she's killed humans. We cannot let her live."

"Yes, sir. I will get Ermita to aid me in the task right away. If there is nothing else, sir, may I…?"

"Sure, Orsay. Thank you for your report. When you can, type in a more detailed version of it for the file access logs on our servers. We'll be having some inspectors coming over next week from the mainland, and I'd very much prefer having all our observations and research documented and filed away correctly before they get here. It is painful enough to deal with them when we have all that they want. I do not wish to see how it would be, without that."

Orsay nodded his head to show that he understood, before realizing that Rimuto couldn't see him over a voice call. He hastened out a sentence of assent, apologized for calling without prior notice, thanked Rimuto for his advice, and let his boss cut the call on him.

Looking over the dead corpses, he sighed. Rimuto wanted a report. That meant he would need to take pictures. Rest was never going to come now… Another sigh followed as he switched to the camera app and started to take evidence of Teresa's Awakening.

"If only that girl could have stayed obedient to the end…"

She'd been a decent enough girl when she'd started off as a Claymore. Not very strong, and not very efficient, either… but obedient. VERY obedient. She had hated the Yoma so much when she had begun her career, that she would follow orders to the letter. She had hated the Yoma more than she had hated her own townsfolk for having sold her off, and she'd hated them more than she hated the Organization for buying her and implanting Asarakam flesh in her. Seeing them as the lesser of two evils, she'd decided that if she could, she would put her weight on their side and help tip the scales against the Yoma.

It really was sad that the two were on the same side in this war… Having that knowledge, Orsay knew that the girl's ideology was stupid. But when he'd brought himself to think of it, he had realized that for a girl in her situation, who only knew as much as she did, that choice was one that showed great character. Unfortunately, she'd never been the same after that mission with Rosemary and the black card.

His mind perked up at that thought. She'd come back from that mission with tattered clothes, too. Even when the mission should have been a harmless one. Could it be that she'd Awakened then, and that the bulging of muscles that the Yoki-induced transformation caused had torn the clothes? Maybe she'd Awakened to fight off an Awakened Rosemary… That seemed a plausible theory. With the girl's extremely high control over her Yoki – for reference, she ranked an 'S' in the category – it seemed entirely possible that she would be able to control her Yoki in a way nobody would have realized she had Awakened…

He sighed and shook his head. Now, he was just thinking too much. 'It doesn't matter anymore, anyway. Come day after morning, and she won't have a head. I'll put the theory in the report Rimuto requested anyway, but it would do me a hell of a lot of good to stop overthinking this…'

-Line break-

A few days later-

Third Person POV:

Life was a rather long means to an end. Percy knew that.

He also knew that, in his own case, life was a very, VERY long means to an end. What he didn't know was the end that he needed to bring about… At one point, he'd been set and ready to do nothing but rush off and fight Creators. No plan, no real chance of victory – just rushing in, thinking it was the fight that mattered, and not the end result…

That was a rather stupid end to bring about after such a long life, he'd thought. Not many men crossed the age of 100, after all. At least, on Earth. The one where he'd originally come from. The Earth that didn't have cyber-augmented people like Rimuto and Yoma-augmented researchers like Dae. The Earth where people lived nice, peaceful long lives and died at the age of 75, in a serenely inconsequential manner, while some poor demigods fought back against an endless tide of monsters – who were looking to bring about the end of the world – somehow managing to save the planet every single day, and postponing the apocalypse by some short period of time.

Not this…. He couldn't even call it Earth. That was something that had really peeved him. Nobody had really bothered to name the planet. On the maps of the world that he'd seen while working with the Organization, the titles would be listed as 'Map of the World,' or 'Continental Map.' Nobody had really bothered naming the islands, either… The mainland was labelled as 'The Mainland,' and the island – which he'd taken to calling Claymore – was marked as 'R&EF – I1.' And when he'd confronted Rimuto regarding the ridiculous name, the man had just explained it was an anagram for "Research and Experimentation Facility – Index No. 1."

The lack of naming sense grated on his nerves; it really did. Nobody seemed to understand how much easier life would be if you could call everything with a unique and easy-to pronounce name. Take the name, 'Earth,' for example. The mortals of his planet had named their planet – the land they walked on, and the water bodies that divided it – as Earth. It was short, sweet and simple. It made life so much simpler to understand. Every piece of land visible on Earth's surface was Gaia, and this land was divided into seven uniquely named continents. Then, the continents had individual countries on them, each with their own unique names.

If somebody wanted to go from the United States to Canada, then they could SAY THEY WANTED TO GO FROM THE UNITED STATES TO CANADA. They wouldn't have to charter flights from The Mainland to the Research and Experimentation Facility of Index 1. Then again, they wouldn't have to deal with Yoma in their everyday lives, either, or a corrupt Organization trying to use them as test subjects and lab rats so that they could make a superhuman gene which they could then use to fight back in their rather one-sided war. Nothing about this place was normal, now that he thought about it…

But that was a whole different topic he didn't care enough to deal with at the moment. It was a topic that was completely unrelated to what he'd been thinking, too… honestly, sometimes, he really wondered if he hadn't been reborn with ADHD. There was a pretty good chance he had…

Regardless, the point was that Percy, for all his faults, knew that life required a purpose. And at the age of 106, Percy was as clueless about that purpose as he'd been back when he'd been 16.

And thus, being a man without any real aim or responsibilities in life, Percy had reverted to doing the natural thing to do: seeking out entertainment.

Life, in itself, was a pretty boring thing. And, Percy supposed, it probably wasn't meant to be interesting, either. After all, it was like he'd said before – life was nothing more than a means to an end. But most people didn't get to experience the true boredom that was life. No, they would find themselves buried under the weights of their own goals and duties. But Percy was free of that lifestyle. He didn't need to work to put food on his table, and his only long-term goals were to eventually defeat the Organization and then the Asarakam as well, becoming the strongest creature to ever walk… whatever this planet was supposed to be called.

But those were long term goals. As in LONG term goals. Percy had no intention of fighting them until he was completely confident in his capability to defeat them. As of right now, he wasn't. Not at all.

Defeating the Organization implied fighting a battalion of Claymores, a legion of recruits, over 400 soldiers armed with Assault Rifles and whatever other defense systems they had in place – all at the same time. It would seem that his attack on the Headquarters had really taught them the value of security. It was more than easy to see why he wanted to avoid that fight for the longest possible time…

He knew that he would be strong enough eventually…. But he just didn't know when he would be. Hell, he could have even been strong enough right then and there, as he was thinking this, but the problem lay in the fact that he just didn't know if he was. In all fairness, with the range of powers that he had, he should have been able to rip through that defense like it was paper. He technically held control over all the elements – air, water, water, darkness, light, land, and everything else, too… He even had a little magic control under his belt from Hecate. But most of that would be useless fare in a fight, because he'd never truly been able to master all those powers effectively anyway.

For example, he had next to none of the powers of what should have been one of his strongest domains – darkness. He'd been blessed by the Primordial of the Pit, and all he had to show for it was a little strength boost in the dark. Well that, the ability to shadow travel – very inaccurately – and a love for black fabric. On the other hand, what should have been a minor power – Air – was actually one of his strongest. Basic wind manipulation went a long way against anything with wings, arrows, and bullets. It may not have been very useful against a Claymore, but the complimentary power to summon lightning – as painfully power consuming as it was – helped in that regard.

Still, he wasn't about to enter that kind of a mess without a proper plan, and an absolute certainty that he would emerge the victor. Registering a loss on that scale of combat would be lethal. Or worse, depending on what Dae and Rimuto decided was to be done with his defeated and captured self. He'd seen what insanity those two could get up to, and he didn't want to experience that first-hand…

And thus, Percy found himself out of things to do. Now, being stuck with the mind of an ADHD-influenced teenager, Percy had nearly been driven mad by the lack of things to do. He'd managed to save himself, however, just when he'd been at the brink of going insane – by finding some entertainment in some of the nearby towns. Unfortunately for those towns, though, Percy's definition of entertainment was not the same as that of any normal human.

Where most people would have loved to watch a movie, Percy instead adored creating his own horror films. And in an attempt to escape both his boredom and his own thoughts regarding a certain incident that had occurred less than a week ago, Percy had decided that 3 rather small villages in the neighborhood matched the criteria required to become the sets for his next blockbuster.

They'd been razed to the ground before they could really figure out what was going on, because, as any good Samaritan would tell you: 'Waste no food, spill no drink, leave no survivors.'

And it was thus that Percy had managed to make his way to the nearest bar, to get a drink to water down more than nine months' worth in food. He was there for the drinks only, having already quelled his hunger while visiting 3 villages and a pack of bandits. He'd also thought to get a couple hours of rest to ease his mind in a proper bed, when he'd entered the local inn. He'd certainly not expected any fighting.

Imagine his surprise, then, on feeling a familiar Yoki walk straight through the doors of the inn he was currently sitting in. He'd only had a minute's warning to hide himself in a dark corner of the room before a certain duo walked through the door, with one of them wielding a Claymore in hand. He'd sensed the fight outdoors, and that had probably saved him. Or saved his cover, at the very least.

He'd been sitting at the counter of the bar, which was in perfect view of the entrance. Had the Claymore not fought right outside the door, Percy, in his rather woozy and half-drunk state of mind, would never have sensed her coming. Then, with his Yoki not fully suppressed, and his hood down, she would have recognized him the moment she opened the door. Sea green eyes made for quite the distinctive appearance, after all.

As it was, Percy only let out his breath after the Claymore and the child – who was still following her, apparently – had disappeared up the stairs to the inn that was located just above the bar.

Percy crept his way over to the counter once more, slinking back into his seat and picking up his drink as gingerly as he could. The man behind the counter gave him a pitying look, and muttered something about not trusting 'those monsters' either, claiming them to be 'every bit as bad as the flesh they're made from.' Outwardly, Percy smiled at the man, looking for all the world like he understood and agreed with the sentiment.

As soon as the man turned around to make Percy's drink, the easy, understanding smile on his face morphed into a cruel and downright sadistic smirk.

-Line break-

Percy didn't know when the situation had gotten so far out of hand.

He'd just been sitting at the bar counter and then, some five ladies and a child had decided to ruin his little period of relaxation. After the appearance of Teresa and her… child? Tagalong? Follower? Maybe companion was a better word for the situation… After the appearance of Teresa and her diminutive travelling companion, Percy's plans of staying the night had been dashed. Instead, he'd decided to order one last drink and leave the area before the two upstairs could get a chance to notice him.

But before he could do that; before his drink could even arrive… he'd sensed three Yoki auras coming from the North. That had been his cue to leave the place at once, but somehow, after a confusing set of interactions and mix-ups with another drunken customer and the barkeep, a half-drunk Percy had found himself detained until the three – no, four – Yoki auras were across the street from where he was.

At that point, he'd just found it a better option to sit down and wait for them to pass by – which they hadn't done. Instead, Percy, along with everyone else in the inn-cum-bar had been thrown out onto the street, before one of the three new Claymores burst straight through the ceiling of the bar with her sword, breaking through the poor wood planks into the room above.

It hadn't really gone uphill from there.

The inn had been left completely wrecked, and then, the five women had taken to fighting on the streets. Stones and pebbles were constantly flying, as their Claymores ripped out chunks of the cobbled streets while they fought. The surrounding buildings were being destroyed, too, as two of the four newcomers swung their blades without any particular care for collateral damage.

The third one – a near white-haired Claymore whose fighting style prioritized speed over strength – was down – defeated quickly enough after having engaged Teresa in a one-on-one, and the fourth seemed to be tending to her. 'Huh,' Percy thought, 'falling out of combat to talk to a downed fighter while your allies are losing… what stupidity…'

There were only 3 other people left on the street now… There was the girl who kept following the apparently rogue Claymore, the man who once owned the inn, and himself. Everyone else had taken the first chance they could to run into whatever buildings they could see. And now, looking at the destruction being waged to the surroundings? That seemed to be a really wise choice…

Unfortunately, Percy couldn't back into any of the buildings, because he, just like the barkeep, was caught between a rock and a hard place. All he wanted to do was to leave the town, but there were two pesky Claymores in the way. The exit to the place was across a narrow bridge, and if he walked that way, he would be walking within a meter's distance of two clearly high-ranking Claymores. Now, while the sub-species of half-humans was pretty incompetent, Percy knew that there would be no way they wouldn't sense his Yoki from that close.

That second girl, especially. The one with the short hair… She seemed to be extremely skilled…. Her Yoki control was off the charts! Percy hadn't even sensed her coming until she was standing across the street… And Percy didn't feel the need to alert five already enraged Claymores to his presence while he was half-drunk and could barely even stand straight.

Meanwhile, he couldn't backtrack and hide away till the threat had passed because of the whirlwind of blades behind him. The fighters engaged in combat behind him had absolutely no respect for property whatsoever – they were wrecking buildings and smashing through walls like it held no consequence. He almost pitied the city's mayor. The poor guy would have to fix all this after the fight was over… Well, at least his life wasn't in imminent danger…

Percy was dragged out of his session of self-pity as a Claymore went flying above his head. The fight – or rather, the massacre, had ended. Teresa of the Faint Smile was standing victorious over the other four Claymores, blade held to the side in her right hand. The three Claymores who'd been fighting her were kneeling on the floor, wounded and bleeding out, with their Yokis pushed to the uttermost to try and save as much blood as possible.

Percy watched as Teresa hefted her Claymore and poised it above the short-haired Claymore's, ready to end the girl's life in a single swing. Clearly, she had also sensed the power simmering under the child's skin. She was far too young to have realized it, being fifteen years old at best, and definitely too inexperienced to be able to use her Yoki effectively, but there was immense potential there. The latent abilities laying locked within the girl were frighteningly powerful, even to Percy. Her case was similar to the long-haired Claymore he'd fought that night – Theresa. If she could unlock those abilities through Awakening, she would easily surpass both Isley and Riful – or even naturally, perhaps, by learning through experience in time. Right now, however, she was a frail child.

From what he'd already seen of the girl, she was pretty much useless in a fight, and nothing short of a full Awakening would make her a real threat. It would take years of practice for her to learn to properly use her Yoki. But Percy could see why Teresa wanted to kill the girl right now – the child would surely pose problems in the future.

There was a fairly good chance that she would surpass the current number one through practice and then, she would be unstoppable. Since Teresa had now apparently gone rogue, that would be a fatal turn of events for her. To maximize her chances of survival, she (and Percy, too) would need to nip this in the bud, right here. Just like Percy should have done with Teresa. But just like Percy had done with her, she stopped her blade halfway in the act.

As he watched her leave with her young companion – whose name was Clare, if Teresa's words were anything to go by, he couldn't help but think to himself about how everybody made bad decisions.

Shaking his head, he started following in the ex-Claymore's tracks, deciding to leave the town and head off in a completely different direction after finding the gates, so that he could leave these five to kill each other as they pleased. If they planned to take each other out and save him the effort, then there was really no point in getting involved. With this recent development, he could watch from a distance and just wait for them to serve each other's heads on a silver platter to him. When they were done, he would sweep in and rob the corpses of their Yoki, making himself stronger without having to exert much in the way of effort…

But, as was usual for him, his demigod luck ensured that his plan was not to be. The moment he felt that massive surge of Yoki right behind him, he pumped his legs full of Yoki and dived to the right, in a completely instinctual manner.

He rolled on the cracked ground, caught his footing on a more stable stone, and stood up, brandishing his Claymore in front of him. And just his luck, he'd caught the attention of all the five Claymores in the area with that little move.

Stiffening his pose, he slid his left foot back, preparing himself both to fight, and to run. The young girl was in front of him, leaking colossal amounts of Yoki, muttering something incomprehensible under her breath.

She was clearly not in control of her own body – her inexperience was showing. She was easily at 60 percent of her Yoki already, and the size of the power radiating off her was still increasing. If she hadn't been a problem a few minutes back, then she sure as hell was becoming one now.

A little beyond her, around 200 feet away, were the three other Claymores. The white-haired one was still injured and thus, would likely not be a problem. On the other hand, her two companions were mostly uninjured and had already narrowed their eyes and set their stances. However, he'd seen how easily Teresa had dealt with those two – they wouldn't be much of an issue either.

What would be an issue was the massive Yoki aura that he felt behind him. It had stopped moving away from the town… Why had it stopped moving away from the town!?

A loud scream alongside a Claymore to the face brought him back to reality, and with barely any time to react, he could only bend backwards to try to avoid the blade. It didn't miss him, though. He hadn't had enough time for that. The blade passed just over his left eye, cutting open a thin wound on his forehead, causing blood to start flowing in sheets.

Grunting with pain, Percy used his position to his advantage, and rolled back, away from the crazy girl, agonizing over having wanted to drink earlier that day. Muttering out a curse, he hastily pulled his Claymore over his head to stop the girl's, before delivering a kick at her shin to push her back.

However, before he could capitalize on the few seconds that he'd bought for himself, he sensed that ever-powerful aura behind him, with a cool wind rushing towards his neck.

Pure instinct took over, as Perseus rolled backwards, into his attacker. The massive silver blade passed just over his head, ever-so-narrowly avoiding hitting him. Long, curly blonde hair filled his sight as he slammed into Teresa's legs, knocking her off-balance.

Even as inebriated as he was, Perseus wasn't blind enough to ignore the chance. He picked himself up and darted straight, in the direction of freedom. But luck wasn't on his side, as usual. That goddamn woman, even as she had been knocked down, had managed to grab a hold of his ankle.

His failed attempt at running gave him tons of rotational momentum, and his face slammed straight into the ground before him, cracking both the bridge, and his forehead.

Having pumped most of the Yoki in his body into his legs to escape, Percy was completely unable to stop himself as he slammed into the ground and was just only barely able to stop himself from being knocked unconscious.

Luckily enough, however, the impact had caused Teresa to lose her grip on him, and thus, bearing with the pain, Percy desperately rolled out of the way as a Claymore slammed down into the stone.

Percy pulled himself off the ground, only to find himself cornered. His back was against a wall, and his exit blocked by four Claymores – and the four strongest of the current generation. It should have been a non-issue. He had, after all, wiped out entire generations systematically in the past. And yet, Percy could not help but be worried as he looked around himself.

Blood was blotting out his vision as it flew from the wound in his forehead, and he felt completely nauseated, due to the alcohol and then, the constant flipping and flopping he had undergone. The last Claymore would be healed and ready to join combat in another minute or so, and to top it all off, the current generation of Claymores was the most fearsome batch the Organization had made in well over 70 years, and every single one of them felt like a hyper-drugged up version of those that had existed in the past.

Yeah, his odds were not looking good.

AN – Alright, so….. let me just quickly say a few things:

I will try to restart my publication schedule, but a lot of things have happened since I went off, and even currently, I have exams going on…. I already had the basic idea for this chapter down, so I'm putting it up, but immediately restarting the publication is probably not gonna happen.

I stopped writing because I hit a major writer's block with how I wanted to approach the next part of the story, and especially the RWBY crossover thing… I still don't know if I want to do that, but I'll see to the end of this story first.

I'm working on a separate RWBY x PJO crossover right now – as a different project – I'll run that along and publish it later.

Lots of stuff has happened in my absence, and I'd just like to apologize for being off for so long, but it was just one hectic period to another, and I absolutely did not have time to come back to review this story and write out the next few segments. I'm still busy, and will be for another 6 months at least, but I'm going to try continuing this story regardless.

Well, that's all, folks.

So, as usual: Anyway, follow, fav and review!