Disclaimer – I don't own PJO, or Claymore or any thing or character from either universe… I just own the plot and my own OCs.

We know that no one seizes power with the intention of reliquishing it. ~ George Orwell

Third Person POV:

The bandits had absolutely no idea of what was going on. Their minds had gone totally blank. They were seeing what they were seeing, but, at the same time, they weren't. They were all completely lost, and not even one of them was courageous enough to speak up and ask.

What had started off like a normal raid for them had gone so far south that they could literally feel the warmth of Mucha. Or maybe that was just the heat of the fire that was around them… Anyway, back to the bandits. At first, none of them had been able to understand why their leader had accepted a challenge request from a stranger that they had just met. Wouldn't it have been so much easier to just swarm him? Even the best warrior couldn't stop 50 people… But none of them had dared to question their leader's actions or motives.

Then, the battle had started, and at that point, the minds of the newer bandits had drawn blank. Their leader, who was renowned amongst the bandits as the 'strongest one' had been overpowered by this young boy in less than a minute and a half. Only the elders in the group – those who knew the leader well – had been able to understand, by this time, why their leader had opted to fight personally. He had seen a warrior, and he wasn't one to back down from a fight. But the inexperienced men couldn't understand that at all.

And then there was the thing about the fire spear… that had seriously freaked some of them out… Once again, only the oldest of the bandits – the ones who had followed their leader from the very beginning – hadn't freaked out. They had known about the spear, and they had all kept their mouths shut about it. So, naturally, the newer bandits were thunderstruck. To think that such a powerful weapon had existed… and that it had been right under their noses all this time… it amazed them to no extent. Quite a few bandits had just fainted in shock upon seeing the fire, and quite a few others had been openly drooling as they looked at the flames rolling off the spear.

However, the shock that they had felt back then from seeing the fire, was meaningless in comparison to the fear they were feeling now. Apparently, the old saying was true. The sharpest blades were indeed made from the hottest fires… and they were about to pay for holding the lighter.

-Linebreak-

(A few minutes earlier)

Percy POV:

I was in a very weird state… and not knowing why was putting me in a very bad mood.

As I sat there, covered in flames, I could feel the heat, but I couldn't feel pain. Instead, the fire felt almost… natural. That was all I could sense as I sat there, engulfed in flames from head to toe, watching the bandit's dead body burn and crumble away. I had just opened my eyes to see what was going on, and that allowed me to relish in the feeling as I watched the dead fool below me burn to ashes.

Then, my concentration shifted to my surroundings. Everything around me was either burnt or burning. The grass was burnt to a crisp, the bandit boss' body was a charred, flaming mess, my sword's handle had melted into some goop, and even my clothes had been taken by the fire.

The only things that were left untouched were me and that spear – which was still spewing fire. Oh, and the bandit's now-blackened hand was still grasping it. But apart from that, everything else was just… gone. I couldn't figure why I wasn't gone as well. I had underestimated my opponent, and I had almost paid for it with my life. But I hadn't because I was apparently fireproof.

Then, it suddenly hit me. I recalled Leo's fireproof ability and the conversation about being blessed by ALL the gods. So, I had inherited the powers of Hephaestus… and I was now fireproof. I had to admit… that was pretty cool. Another power to add to my list, and another advantage.

But I had to do something about my current situation. I couldn't just sit there, waiting for the fire to stop, because it was looking like it would never stop. So, I turned my attention to the fire spear, and to the hand attached to it. I reached out and grabbed the spear by its shaft, and then proceeded to remove the charred remains of the bandit's wrist, palm, and fingers.

Even though I had removed all that remained of the previous owner's hand from the spear, it didn't stop gushing out fire. At this rate, the heat would literally manage to melt the mountain. So, I had to find a way to control the spear and make it stop blowing out fire. 'Maybe if I just drop it?' So, I let the spear go, and almost instantly, it stopped making more fire.

But the fire around me was still there, and it was still very, very hot. And it had gone on for a very long time now. I could literally see some liquid red goop forming in some areas… and it looked very much like melted rocks. 'Great! Just perfect! Now there's lava here too!' I thought sarcastically. If I didn't do something quick… this place would become a literal volcano. Then the lava would destroy the cities on all four sides of this mountain.

'Well… there's only two ways to put out a fire…. And I don't see no water here…' And the thought brought me back to the time on the Argo II after the Shrimpzilla had attacked, when Jason was going around putting out the green flames that had begun to eat away at the ship.

Taking inspiration from my dead friend, I decided to honor his memory by using that power right here to save 4 cities worth of people. "It shouldn't be too hard. If I can sense the air… then I'm literally this close to controlling it." I said to myself, while making a gap of around the width of a hair with my index finger and my thumb.

I surveyed the destruction around me one last time, and then I closed my eyes and went to work. I focused on each and every memory I had of Jason… and I did my best to remember every single time that I had watched him move the air around him. Then, I lifted my hand up and moved it downwards very quickly.

I had sensed the movement of air that my hand's abrupt motions had just caused. So, it wasn't very hard to replicate the image in my mind. Along with a familiar tug in my gut, I felt a strong wind blowing against my feet… and it caused exactly the same feeling as when I had actually moved my hand.

The success brought a smile to face and I opened my eyes. I pushed my hands outwards at one point on the flames around me, and the air all around me shot towards that spot with the speed of a bullet. No matter how hot the flame was, it would die out if a gust of that speed were blown at it. The speed at which I had forced the air to move was WAY greater than the speed of the flame front, allowing me to starve the fire of its fuel source.

On the other hand, this method was quite ineffective, and it would require tons of time, energy, and effort. And my current situation wasn't one where I could afford to waste any of those things. The better method was to simply starve the fire of oxygen completely, and that could be done by creating a small dome inside which there was no air.

Since I had the basics of the operation down, I figured that I would be able to make a few leaps and bounds now. And I wasn't the kind of guy who particularly adored making baby steps. With a chuckle, I thought of a silly metaphor, 'Being a frog is better that way… you would always be moving in leaps and bounds.' And with that, I took in a deep breath, and I made an outwards pushing motion with my hands, with my hands pointing in opposite directions this time – one to each side. The tug in my gut this time caused a slight tingle of pain, but it was practically nothing compared to the previous things that I had experienced.

In my head, I made a mental image of how the world should look after I had done this move, with a small bubble of white around my head, and a whole area of pitch black around it. And the air obeyed almost instantly. In a fraction of a second, all the air around me for 50 meters in each direction moved out of the area.

And then the fires went out, all at once. I had removed all the combustible substances and the combustion supporters from the environment around me. And it felt… incredible. Seeing how easily the air around me obeyed my will was a fantastic feeling. It made me feel powerful… and free.

All of a sudden, I understood exactly why Zeus was so paranoid. Nobody would EVER want to lose this feeling…. And anybody who knew of it would thirst for it and hunt for it with all that they had. It was simply too good. It was so similar to when I had controlled water, and yet so… different. It was so much easier to control the air than it was to control water, and that gave a whole new experience. It made you feel so much more powerful. To be able to control the wind with such ease… it made one feel as if there were no limits to one's powers.

Moreover, it also gave the feeling of freedom. All of a sudden, I realized that I could basically control the whole sky without opposition here. There was no Zeus… and no Ouranos here. There were no Gods to control me… nobody to force me into running some tasks for them. And yet, I had the powers of the all of Olympus, and if I remembered correctly, the blessing of a Primordial and thus, the powers of all the beings who worked under him.

So, on this planet, I was the God. I didn't even need to get more power or anything to do it. I already was a God in comparison to all these humans. I had learned to outclass them, and then… I had gone even further than that. If I could perfect everything around me, I would basically gain full elemental control… I could become the first mortal to be able to wield all the elements. However, I didn't even need to do that here. There was no need to perfect anything here. Nothing on this planet could even hope to stop me.

For example, that fire that had been such a trouble to deal with until a few seconds back… that wasn't a problem anymore. I now realized that I hadn't even needed to use the air. I could have used a thousand different methods to put it out. The blessings of Hestia and Hephaestus would've given me direct control over fire, and I could have just used that to turn off the blaze with a snap of my fingers. Or I could have summoned water from within myself like I had done at Mt. Saint Helens.

The feeling this newly discovered power gave me was just… exhilarating. And addictive… it hadn't even been 3 minutes since I had controlled air for the first time, and I was already determined to never let it go. In less than 3 minutes, the power – or rather, the revelation that I had such power, had changed my entire mindset. I recalled a quote that I once used to believe very firmly in, and almost laughed at how wrong it sounded to me right now. It had suddenly become so controversial.

Throughout my past life, and for most of this current one, I had thought of Charles Celeb Colton's quote as if it were Law, and that belief was shattered so quickly. He had said, "To know the pains of power, we must go to those who have it; to know its pleasures, we must go to those who are seeking it: the pains of power are real, its pleasures imaginary."

Only in my current situation did I realize how incredibly wrong this approach was. The concept was just so… incorrect. There was no other way to describe it. It was just… wrong… it was not even controversial, simply wrong. But I understood why someone would argue that it was controversial – Any person who sought power would, upon getting it, only see its benefits, and any person who had been thrust into a position of power that they didn't want would only see it as an inconvenience.

People would argue about it, and, at the end of the day, they would just pass it off as an 'opinion-based matter'. And that was one of the worst failures of the basic human mind. To the human mind, it was all 'subjective.' There was no ONE clear answer to the question because it was always just a 'difference of opinion.' A so-called 'controversy.'

In reality, power was neither a pain nor a pleasure. It was the very thing that you functioned on… It was actually the thing that this whole universe thrived and functioned on. Power was a concept, and it was older than time itself was. Time had popped into existence as Chronus when Chaos had made the universe appear. But Chaos had used power to do even that, and that made one thing clear – Power was older than this universe, and it had been directly involved in the universe's creation. So, behind all the science, power was the only true factor that was keeping this universe in existence. It wasn't 'bad' or 'good', it was just THERE.

The only problem was that power, and in an extension, success, came with sacrifice and responsibility. And the weak human minds could not accept that as a good thing. So, they had gone ahead and classified power as 'bad', as a 'corrupting agent.' Instead of concluding that power was why they were alive, they went and proclaimed that 'power consumes all.' They had officially termed the real Creator as the Destroyer, and that was the most foolish mistake I had ever seen. I mean, who in their right minds would literally show the finger to the one thing that was keeping them alive?*

But I was not currently in the mood to criticize the mortals. I already considered myself as an entirely different species, and I thus found it pointless to waste more time thinking about human stupidity. It was endless, and even they had realized it. Albert Einstein had an all-famous quote in which he had stressed its infinite capacity.

So, my mind drifted off and started to think about my priorities of life. There was a HUGE part of me that just wanted to settle down here and rule these petty humans as a God. It would mean the end to all my suffering… no more wars, no more stupid vengeance. But there was another, equally huge part of me that just wanted to rip a certain Primordial's throat out.

I was conflicted with a life-changing choice. In some random place in the mountains, once again, I was forced to choose between two plans for action. Once again, I was forced to make a choice that I neither wanted nor asked for. And once again, I had to choose the path that would lead me towards death and destruction. Due to the circumstances, I couldn't just sit back and leave Chaos, the murderer of my friends, run amok.

And that REALLY pissed me off. If there was only one thing that both halves of my brain could agree on, it was freedom. I was tired of this endless cycle of pain, death and destruction. It was so relentlessly endless… I would have someone I love taken away, and then I would go and fight to either bring them back or avenge them, causing retaliation from the enemy. Then, someone else would die in that battle, and the cycle would keep repeating forever.

The only way to break that cycle, I realized, was to be removed from the fight. The only way to do that was to kill off every enemy and successfully protect every friend and loved one. For any normal person, that wouldn't be possible. Some loved one would always fall. Luckily for me, all of my friends and family were dead. From both my old and new life. So, I would be able to fight it out. And then, when I was done, I would finally be free.

And that allowed my mind to settle into my choice quite easily. My first priority was still to kill Chaos, but my reasons for fighting him had changed. Now I didn't just want to avenge my friends, I wanted to kill the bastard so that I could be free. Free of the Fates, free of Chaos, free from the plans of some maniacal immortal and free from everybody else. I knew that I'd always hated being controlled, since the sea hated to be restrained, but only now did I realiz how deep these feelings ran within me.

I was just DONE being pushed around. I was done taking quests, going on stupid expeditions and giving gifts to some people who didn't even care about me after it was all over. While I had spent my time in that camp, I had been literally unable to avoid quests for more than a few months. Then some stupid God or Goddess would come along and decide that I needed some work to do. 'Oh look! Percy doesn't look like he's doing anything right now! Let's give him ANOTHER job. Something NEW to trouble him with.' – That was the single most accurate way to describe my previous demigod life.

When I was 12, I had been forced to run all across the country to find a stupid bolt for a rather obnoxious King of Olympus because his son, Ares had stolen it while under the influence of his father, Kronos. When I was 13, Hermes had sent me along on a LOVELY trip in the sea of monsters. Then, when I was 14, Annabeth had been captured by a damned Titan, and so, I had had to go all across the country once again, to go and free her. Just before I had turned 15, all my friends and I had been pulled into a full-fledged battle because of those Gods once more, and we had been forced to suffer terrible losses. Then, all hell had broken loose around my sixteenth birthday because of one crazy Titan grandfather and his stupid feud with his kids, the Gods.

Once again, we were forced to suffer massive losses in that war as well. And then there was the war with Gaia. I had been stolen from my home and dumped on enemy territory by another Olympian – Hera. Then, I was forced onto another quest by Mars – the other personality of Ares. When that succeeded, we had to fight an even bigger army! And another Giant! Then, one by one, it just got worse. Me and my girlfriend, Annabeth had then fallen into Tartarus. That was the most harrowing thing I had ever been through, and it had been almost impossible to just get out alive, much less sane.

Then, there was the battle with Gaia herself. Instead of any reasonable support, those stupid Olympians had strapped us onto our ship, the Argo II, and slapped us across the world back to Manhattan. Then, we had fought a war against the Romans, the monsters and Gaia herself, thus creating the biggest death count so far. But even that was nothing. Between all these major events, my life had been constantly interrupted by gods and goddesses looking for demigods to give quests to. My entire life from when I was 12 to when I was 18 had been quests, quests and more quests.

Then the Chaos thing had happened. One day, without any prior warning, the goddamn 'Creator' himself had just woken up and decided to wipe the planet clean. He just could NOT have done it before. Nor could he have waited another 70 years. NO! HE JUST HAD TO DO IT WHEN I WAS THERE. Then, after watching all my friends and family (except the Gods and my mortal parents) die, I had been killed in the worst, most painful way ever, because the Fates thought it was the best plan of action. Nobody ever asked for consent. Nope. 'If you're there, then why not just use you?' – That was the immortal logic.

And I was sick and tired of it. These last 18 years of my new life had been SO much better. Here, there were no gods. Well, there were some, like Teresa and Clare, but they just didn't interfere with my life. Nobody interfered. It was wonderful. But I knew it wouldn't last. Just a few hours ago, the Fates had themselves declared that all this was part of their plan. So, even when I had thought that there was nobody to control over me, I had been living a lie. Thinking that I wasn't currently being used as a pawn had been a mistake…. And a big one at that.

I wouldn't be used anymore. This was enough. Starting from now onwards, I would do anything and everything I could to defeat Chaos, but I would do it on my own volition. I would go to see the two people anyway, and then I would take whatever help they could give me in one way or another. But after that, I was never listening to another person again. After that, I would settle down and be the God for a change.

I would kill Chaos… I would murder that son of a bitch and I would do it in the most painful way possible. Then, I would kill the Fates just to get rid of them, so that they couldn't control me ever again, and then, finally, I would kill ALL of the Primordials. I just didn't care anymore if it were possible or not. I had a plan for action now, and I was sticking to it. If I killed everyone who was a threat to my freedom, then there would be no threats to my freedom, and I could finally be free to do as I pleased. As simple as that. That was my new end goal, and I would do ANYTHING to get it.

But all of that started with me killing Chaos. And all that started from me going to meet Dae and Rimuto and taking away whatever power they had on them. And to do that, I had to actually go East. So, I returned to my surroundings and found 40 bandits staring at me.

-Linebreak-

Third Person POV:

The bandits were feeling mixed emotions as they stared at the man in front of them, most of them revolving around fear and confusion. They had been unable to see what was going on because of the fire, ever since the flames had surrounded the two combatants, but they had been absolutely sure that if anyone were to walk out of there, it would be their boss.

They had seen how easily this man had destroyed their boss in hand-to-hand combat, but it would have been impossible for him to come out on top since their boss had a flaming spear, right? WRONG! Once again, with terrifying ease, the man had shown their leader who the real boss was. He had crushed him once more.

Then, in a last stand, their leader had fired the flames straight at the other guy's chest at point blank range. There had been no time for him to react, and no space for him to run to. It wouldn't matter where he ran, those flames would have burnt him to a crisp anyway.

At that point, the bandits had been too shocked at the turn of events to even dare open their mouths. Their leader, and their prey, were both now burning in the largest, hottest pyre that the bandits had ever seen. The heat had been so much that the bandits had been forced to back up to 30 meters from where their leader had once been standing.

They had all observed roughly 5 minutes of silence, before it had been broken by something else. Suddenly, all the air had been sucked right out of their lungs, rendering them all breathless. It had been like that for 30 whole seconds, and quite a few of the bandits had blacked out because of it.

When they got back to their feet, all they could see was the naked outline of one body, and the charred remains of another. The flames were all gone. Poof. Just gone… just like that. Nevertheless, they had been hopeful at first, believing strongly that this was their leader, but none of them had been brave enough to call out to the male figure.

They hadn't dared because this guy – whoever it was – was incredibly strong. This guy was so strong that he was practically indestructible. All of the experienced bandits there knew that if that fire hadn't killed this guy – whoever it might be, then nothing could, and it was best if they didn't engage the person. Not until he showed his face, anyway. Their captain and the other guy had extremely similar features. They had the same swimmer's build, and long black hair that fell down in bangs, hiding the face. So, there was still a chance that this guy was the victim and not the boss.

Then the guy lifted his head, and a wave of panic flushed through the few experienced bandits that saw it. The moment they saw that sadistic smile on his face, they knew that they wouldn't get out alive. However, the younger generations of bandits were much more inexperienced, and that smile only served to infuriate them.

'How could this guy smile! How dare he! He had just killed their boss! He killed one of us! That was sacrilegious!' These were the thoughts running through the heads of the newer bandits. They were all furious, and that led to their deaths. All it took was one idiot. One idiot who stood up and charged, screaming, "KILL HIM!" Just the one guy.

Like a coiled spring, all the rest of the newer bandits charged at once. It was 27 against 1, and nobody had ever seen a more one-sided fight.

As the bandits were rushing towards him, Percy reached behind him, and picked up the spear that was left behind by his opponent. 'Guess it's mine now…' he thought. And with that, he stood up and went to town on those bandits.

The bandit who had initiated the charge arrived first, and, unfortunately for him, Athena's blessing had not taught Perseus how to wield a spear. So, Percy just used it like a sword. At a super high speed. With a ton of force.

Gripping the spear from a point near the rear end, Percy swung it like a normal longsword. And it hit. Due to the sheer force that had been put behind the blow, the kite-shaped tip of the spear sunk into the bandit's flesh and tore out like it was paper. Three seconds later, the bandit and his guts were lying separate on the floor, both leaking a certain red-colored fluid. Another minute later, the bandit died a very, very painful death from organ failure and blood loss.

Meanwhile, Percy had just turned to his next assailant – without even checking on the first one. The ax-wielder swung the single-edged weapon downwards in an attempt to cleave Percy in two, but Percy just turned and avoided the blow. While turning and pulling his left foot back, he thrust his right arm out at the bandit. Apparently, having a 5-foot-long pointy stick in your brain can kill you very quickly… and Percy proved it right there.

He ripped out the spear from the bandit's head and buried it into the back of a third guy's thigh after easily sidestepping his sword attack. The third guy shrieked in pain and dropped onto his knees. As the guy fell to his knees, Percy started to spin around to face the next bandit, while grasping the spear in one hand, and pulling it along with him.

Due to his momentum, his extreme physical strength, and the spear-point's shape, Percy managed to pull the spear right through the other guy's leg. The spear tip's kite-like shape allowed it to have some seriously sharp edges, and that, along with the fact that the spear tip was still red hot, allowed Percy to rip the spear straight out of the bandit's backside. Leaving him permanently disabled, Percy moved to his next enemy.

Using the pole of the spear to block a sword strike – as if he were wielding a normal sword and not a polearm, Percy pushed the next guy back, and made him stumble. Which, in such close quarters, was terrible. The guy ended up getting impaled through the stomach on another bandit's machete. Percy took this chance to snatch up the broadsword from the ground and shoved it into the skulls of both the bandits at once. Then, he moved on.

He spun in a circle, avoiding all the various blades that were directed at him, and held his polearm out, thus creating a deadly whirlwind. An unfortunate bandit got in the way of his polearm and then he never got in anyone's way again. Then, Percy noticed the flat of a blade coming at his feet, and he took the opportunity. He jumped up and landed straight on the blade, causing the respective bandit to lose his balance and tip forward. Percy then proceeded to use his spear like a vaulting pole.

He used the newly created gap in the ring around him to vault over the guy's head. Then, he spun around and slammed the back of his spear into the bandit's solar plexus. He was hit so hard that he fell dead right there. Percy then reached for a dagger in his cloak… before realizing that he wasn't wearing his cloak. He wasn't wearing anything at all. Which would have been very embarrassing for him, had he not been about to kill anyone and everyone who saw him.

Frustrated, Percy began to use the spear like a sword again. It was a rather weird spear after all… the whole thing was made from metal, and it hadn't even got a single dent on it, even though Percy had directly blocked a sword strike with the pole. And the whole thing was as light as a feather, even though it was made from high-quality metal.

He swung the makeshift sword into a bandit's chest, but since the spear didn't have a sword's edge, this move only caused the bandit to shuffle back. He then tripped over one of the dead bodies, but Percy continued fighting. He thrust the spear into someone's heart, and then used that someone as a shield against the next ax strike. While Percy was manhandling the bandit, he got plenty of time to shuffle out his spear with a real sword, and he took the opportunity.

Then, he went on a rampage, leading to vast varieties of bloodshed. Dismemberment, disembowelment, decapitation, and plenty of others. Suddenly, the 10 experienced bandits who had joined the group of 27, in hopes of winning in a mass battle, all found themselves regretting their decisions. Well, some of them did, while Percy just didn't give the others enough time to think.

It was an all-out massacre, and the 12 remaining bandits who were waiting to see the results all fled as soon as they saw what was going on. They took off running down the first path they saw, as fast as they could. But it was quite hard to run when your legs were trembling like jelly. Nevertheless, they managed to make it a whole 300 feet away by the time Percy finished off the bandits.

But that was 300 feet more than Percy liked. "Well, I guess it's time to test out a new skill, isn't it?" He picked up his spear once again and pointed it at the sky. Focusing hard on his memories, he screamed and turned the polearm to face the scurrying group of rats. Then, his scream was extended by the intense pain he felt in his abdominal area.

The next time he looked up, all he could see was a HUGE ash cloud around the area where the bandits had been. It had clearly worked. Percy had summoned a lightning bolt to take out the bandits. But the only problem was that Percy wasn't experienced at all in making lightning bolts…. So, he had been unable to control the size of the thing.

And judging by the size of that dust cloud, he had managed to flatten the whole mountainside with that bolt. Which gave him a very painful twisting sensation in his abdomen from the power overuse. Percy knew that he could've just run and caught up with the group, but he was already tired from all of that strenuous activity – dragging a spear through flesh was unbelievably hard – and he needed to experiment with his powers anyway. So why not?

Besides, the bandit group hadn't been any fun to deal with at all. He had been fighting bandits since he was 9, in this world. The fights had always been gruesome and bloody, and one of the parties would ALWAYS end up becoming blood splotches on the floor. If you were good, you turned the bandits into dust, and if you weren't good enough, then you got turned into it.

And that way of fighting eventually got boring. Especially if that was all you did for 9 years straight. But, on the bright side, the constant practice had forced Percy to build up his body. He still had a swimmer's build, but now he had immense strength. So much so that he could now bisect a human down the middle by using a sword in ONE hand. But anyway, the point was that he needed a new fighting style. Preferably something less… bloody. And the lightning strike had given him just that opportunity.

All he could do now was hope that the bolt hadn't caused TOO much damage.

Percy POV:

The lightning bolt had done too much damage. I realized this as soon as I walked into the next town. Except for the stone marker that said, 'Town of Rien'**, nothing remained of the place. Instead, all I could see was rocks and dust.

My stomach plummeted as I realized why there were no buildings around here. I had caused a landslide with that stupid lightning bolt trick. Inadvertently, I had killed a whole town's worth of people while using that bolt. The worst part was that I had been trying to 'honor' Jason's memory. I had failed, and these poor, innocent people had paid for it with their lives…

Then, an intense mental argument started. There was a part of me – the part of me from my previous life, that wanted to sit back and weep for days over these men, and there was another, larger part of me – the part of me that had been created when Annabeth had died, that wanted me to move on and continue eastwards. The 'Percy Jackson' part of me was desperately trying its best to convince me that I was a monster who deserved nothing more than death, while the other part of me just wanted me to get up and move on already.

The Jackson part of me was overrun by panic, confusion and hopelessness, and al that guy wanted to do was lie down on the road and cry till death. He had murdered some innocent people and he figured that he needed to die for it. Meanwhile, the warrior just told me to get up and move. He explained my own philosophies back to me, and that was extremely convincing. Especially the part where he said, "All success comes with sacrifice."

-Linebreak-

Percy Jackson said, "You are a HORRIBLE person, you hear me? HORRIBLE! YOU MURDERED A WHOLE TOWN OF INNOCENTS!", and warrior Percy replied with, "So what? It's the same thing as with the bandits. They all ended up dead… so, why didn't you argue back then?" "No, that was different! They deserved it!" "Who the hell are you to judge that? They are all humans, at the end of the day… they're all the same. They all crave power… it's just that the bandits were courageous enough to stand up and fight to get it!" And that successfully ended that conversation.

The Jackson side of me just couldn't come up with anything else anymore. It had been at least 6 hours since the bandit raid, because the sun's rays were just starting to shine on the land, and I was totally mentally exhausted. As a cause of this, my mind just stopped functioning entirely, and that stopped the mental duel I was happening.

As I watched the beautiful sunrise stretch out beyond the horizon of rocks and stones, I could not help but awe at the sight. Even though it was a place of death, I could not help but stare in amazement at it as the sun's first rays touched the rock formations in front of me. The landscape had been completely changed. A sudden landslide had taken away man's intervention and replaced it with an area of natural beauty. Instead of having plaintive buildings all around me, I found myself staring at several beautiful rock formations.

And that really helped me clear my mind. As the sun's rays caused streaks of light across the landscape, my mind was filled with a disturbingly natural peace. Yes, I had murdered around a hundred people, or maybe even more. Yes, there was high chance that they had been innocent. But I had done it unintentionally. It was my fault indeed, but I could not be blamed for it. And I was perfectly fine with that. My whole life, I had been a murderer. Killing people was nothing new. What was unavoidable… was just that. It was unavoidable.

So, I stood up once again, and I wiped my tears off my face. What was done, was done. You couldn't change the past. Just the future. And that was my goal. I still had to kill Chaos and get my freedom. I couldn't just sit back and cry over an accident.

I had a job to do, and places to be. I couldn't just waste my time. And I had already made up my mind to do whatever it takes to achieve my goals. If I couldn't get over an accident like this, then how would I ever get anywhere? Hadn't I just made up my mind to kill around 50 gods and goddesses? How was I planning on actually doing that if I couldn't shrug something like this off?

I knew I would have to leave behind that one part of Percy Jackson who was a crying mess, and that's what I would do. If I wanted to get what I wanted, then I'd have to give up on a LOT of things. So, I would only carry on the parts of Percy Jackson that would be helpful to me in the near future. After I was done with everything, I would have all the time in the world to show emotions and feeling, but until then, I would have to be as heartless as I could.

With that thought in mind, I walked on straight ahead into the ruins of the town, towards the first streaks of the sun as they painted the landscape golden.

AN – Oh wow… that was 6.8k words right there without the AN…. One loooooooooooong chapter… my word doc shows legit 14 whole pages with basic Calibri 11 font…. Wowwwwww

Anyway, guys, what are your thoughts on the power thingie? (*)… and on Percy? Seriously though… so much emotion and character development and stuff… (like 5 or 6 out of the total 14 jeez)… man, that was hard to write…

Also, did anyone catch the symbolism with the town name(**)? Think French people… Think French…

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