"When I kick your ass and look you in the eye,

With a smile and a cheerful heart I'll turn to you and wave

Goodbye."

Casey Lee Williams, War


Beta'd by PraetorFable

Co-Written by Vanadium Oxide


Chapter XVI

The Seventh of June

Thirty Two Days A.B.M

Percy blinked, staring down at his desk.

This was some sort of mistake, right?

There wasn't a single paper on his desk. Not even a note, or anything of the sort for him to fill out.

"Uh, Lacey? Is there a reason there's nothing on my desk?"

Lacey, who had been waiting for him in his office, didn't seem nearly as miffed as he was.

"There's no more paperwork to do, your majesty. You've delegated full authority of the military to Supreme Commander of the Empire Allerano, the new civilian government is now receiving all petitions, and you've assigned full control of your royal guard to Lady Grace. I've taken it upon myself to deal with any local matters dealing with the management of the building itself. The only meetings you have today are with four representatives of the congress."

Percy paused, and shrugged. "Fine by me. Which representatives?"

"They were the selected representatives from the leading parties in the senate and house, your majesty."

"Parties?" Percy raised an eyebrow. They were already getting partisan? It could be more or less expected a year from now, but he really didn't think that it would have happened already.

"Yes, your majesty, for a lack of a better term. There were two distinct mindsets in the senate, as well as the house of lords."

"Those being?"

"One is that we should purely be a theocracy. You rule absolutely, with only other demigods in major positions of power, or at least having oversight."

"And the other?"

"The other party," Lacey frowned "doesn't question your right to rule, or that of the gods, but argue that mortals should be mostly self-governed. They walk a fine line of treason, and advocate for no actual reduction of power or authority on your part, they just… don't want demigods to have many extra privileges, and want to rule themselves."

Percy hummed. Honestly, he was more in favor of the second party than anything. He had no right to rule them, and neither did any other demigod. He mostly wanted to sit back and let them manage things. Sure, if things got too out of hand or if something was absolutely troubling then he would step in to fix it, but otherwise he was fine to let them sort themselves out.

"You also need to appoint a prime minister to represent you in the senate and government." Lacey listed off, and Percy groaned.

"Can't I just let the senate elect someone?"

"You… could, however it would set a precedent. Even if you don't have anyone in mind right now, a year from now and ten years from now they will have the expectation to be able to choose their own prime minister."

Percy grunted. It was a fair point. For the most part, he didn't care who the prime minister was, and he was unlikely to care any time soon. But if he did care at some point, he'd rather avoid ruffling any feathers.

So for now, he would have to exercise his power — if only to make clear there would be some boundaries to the power structure. That made sense in theory, but it was a bit strange to Percy when he thought about it. He was forced to do something he didn't want to do so that he could give the appearance of doing whatever he wanted to do.

He snorted. On second thought, he could do whatever he wanted. He didn't have to worry about any sort of rebellion, because what mortal force could possibly cause problems for him?

"I'm appointing the leader of the party which holds more seats in the senate." Percy decided, without a second glance.

"Your majesty, I'm not sure—"

"Which party has more seats?" Percy asked, not really caring.

Lacey pursed her lips. "That would be the pro mortal faction, your majesty."

"Then start making preparations," Percy nodded, before taking one final pause. "Also, one other thing. It's not much of a problem now because the empire consists of a single country, but soon I'd prefer almost everything be done locally. Start organizing a system, I want one senator for every region in the empire, effective as soon as we actually make some headway into other nations."

Lacey nodded, and started scribbling notes. "Who will decide the regions, your majesty? Assuming you won't simply be going off of countries."

"I'll have the final say-so for now, but I need you to gather me a group of people. Cartographers, demographics experts, historians, et cetera, that would be good advisors on such a project. I'll speak to them personally."

"As you wish, your majesty."

"Now, when's this meeting with the party leaders?"


Three hours later, Percy stepped into his throne room from behind his throne. He had found there was actually a passage from the elevator up to directly behind his throne, so that he wouldn't have to climb the steps in front of his subjects. It was one of those artificially prideful things for monarchs, it seemed.

As soon as Percy came into view, the four people at the foot of the throne, who had been speaking amongst each other, kneeled. He would have been here to meet them when they came in, but an emperor did not wait for his subjects, it was the other way around, which is why he had twiddled his thumbs on a couch in his back room instead of on his much more comfortable throne.

"Your majesty," They chorused awkwardly, the timing a bit off for all of them. Percy forgave them; they hadn't had been trained for synchronicity like his guards had in the military.

Taking his time, Percy sat in his throne, readjusting himself to a comfortable position. He wore his crown on his head, but he was otherwise in jeans and a t-shirt.

"You may begin." Percy said, lounging on his throne.

The one on the middle right was the first one to begin. He wore a toga, and Percy guessed he was either a senator from New Rome in the house of lords, or he was a senator from America who had taken the whole senate thing way too seriously.

"Hail your majesty. I am Marcus Antonio the eighteenth, descendant of the right hand of Gaius Julius Caesar, Mark Antony, and the leader of the Optimates party." Percy withheld a groan. Roman party names would be the death of him. "I would like to petition you at once to stop the impertinence of the mortals, your majesty. They already question our divine right to rule, which many of our own died for."

The young woman on the far right spoke up next. "And I'm the leader of the populists, your majesty. I would debate the petition put forth. The populists propose no reduction of authority of your majesty, only that mortals be treated as equals in society."

Percy grinned at the familiar voice. He hadn't realized that Piper was here until she spoke up, considering she was currently kneeling. Schooling his features quickly, Percy sighed.

"I didn't have a constitution written up so that you could ignore it." Percy shot a stern look at the Roman senator, letting an infinitesimal amount of his power leak through. Just enough to make the hairs on his neck rise from the power coursing through the air around him. "Debate this before each other. There are processes for this so that I don't have to deal with it. And you two, who are you?" Percy turned his gaze towards the other two kneeling before him.

"I am Maria Sharpe, your majesty. Leader of the populist party in the senate." She was tense, practically shaking. He could feel that much. He couldn't quite tell if that was nervousness, adoration, fear, or some mix of the three, but he did know that she had an extreme reaction to his eyes being on her. Not that the other mortal was doing any better. He didn't know if they just hadn't met a demigod before, and tried to imagine what that would be like. He did, to a pretty hefty extent, have control over their life and death, and where they would go in the afterlife. With a word they could spend the rest of time being tortured, or being fed grapes by servants.

Even the most powerful mortals couldn't control where you ended up when you died. He supposed that would be rather daunting, to be honest. Besides that, there also had never been a mortal to wield as much power as him. Absolute power over the most powerful country on the planet didn't happen often. Even the original Caesar had to play political games. Percy could do as he wished.

Moving his gaze, he looked expectantly at the fourth one before him.

"My name is John Fox, your majesty, the leader of the Optimates party in the senate."

"Anything to add, either of you?"

Both of them froze. "No, your majesty."

"Then we should be done here," Percy nodded in dismissal, allowing the four of them to get their feet back under them. "Oh, Ms. Sharpe, if you would stay a moment?"

The doors behind the representatives opened, and they all sent the senator a mix of pitying and envying glances before leaving.

Sharpe stayed silent and returned to kneeling.

"I hereby appoint you as our first prime minister. On your way back to the senate floor, my assistant will fill you in as to your full list of responsibilities, but until then you are as of now in charge of my administration." Percy announced, gesturing toward Lacey who had just stepped out from behind the private hallway to his elevator. "We'll be having weekly meetings, so that you can fill me in as to the goings on of the government."

The senator just gaped "I… your majesty… I… me?"

Percy quirked an eyebrow. "You're the leader of the largest party in the senate are you not? Would you be expecting someone else to be put in charge of it? I'm seventeen. I hardly have too many people I trust that would be ready for the position."

Standing, Percy stretched. "As I said, Lacey will fill you in. I have other matters to attend to." And like that, he walked behind his throne, leaving the gaping prime minister kneeling on the floor.

He was aware that disinterest in the government was generally not a good thing when it came to monarchs, but if he just let it be run as a democratic system, it couldn't be that bad, could it? If every responsibility he could possibly have was delegated to someone else, it might as well run without him, which was more or less what he was after. If he could never intervene again, he'd be happy.


The Twelfth of June

Thirty Seven Days A.B.M

Percy stood on the landing pad outside his office, allowing the biting wind to move through him.

He felt the presence of a body still in his bed, and was oh so tempted to join her, but he did have something he'd been meaning to do for some time now.

Whistling for Blackjack, he spent the next few seconds just double and triple checking that this wasn't an incredibly stupid idea in his head, before deciding he didn't care that much anyways.

"Where to, boss?"

Hopping on his steed, Percy gave Blackjack a mental nudge, not really feeling like talking.

Blackjack took off, and within minutes he was at his destination. The middle of nowhere.

Not just some desert or something similar, but truly nowhere. The middle of the Atlantic was completely abandoned with the exception of a ship or plane every few hours, so he had no qualms about letting loose here.

Slipping off of Blackjack's side, he called the water up to make a platform under him. He wasn't stupid enough to think that if he actually did it in the water that his father wouldn't notice, or that Zeus wouldn't notice if he went high into the sky. So instead, he found a happy medium a hundred or so meters above the sea, holding himself on a platform of water.

Waiting until Blackjack was out of sight, Percy sat down and let out a sigh, concentrating for several seconds to make sure that everywhere for a few miles was cut off from the gods' sight.

And then he let loose.

His aura exploded, coming out of him in waves which he hadn't felt before. Since Manhattan, he had always had to hold back. But now, he could finally let loose. It was relaxing, freeing, like taking off a pair of tight shoes after a day on your feet.

The area around him didn't share his opinion. Water, even hundreds of feet below, was evaporated by the heat radiating off of him, the air miraged, heat waves being created from the sheer energy he gave off.

The platform of water below him evaporated instantly, leaving him to fall to the water below if he didn't hold himself up with the rapidly heating wind.

Percy looked at his glowing skin in wonder, and then at the rapidly boiling ocean in all directions, and then up at the clouds miles above, where even they were being further evaporated and pushed away. Anything that got within a few miles of him would combust, of that he was sure. Within a mile, there wouldn't be a trace of their existence. Within ten feet, he wasn't sure anything was very capable of existing.

Well, there went his plan of Zeus and Poseidon not knowing. He was sure the cat was out of the bag now — not that it bothered him too much. They had to both be pretty acutely aware of how powerful he was at this point.

But he wasn't a god. He couldn't change his form, he couldn't teleport, he couldn't read someone's mind, or affect reality in a plethora of ways. He was just a demigod capable of wielding incredible power. Sighing, Percy felt his power retract back into him. He was even more powerful than the titans now, he was pretty sure. He would have no problem dealing with the other pantheons, at least. That was certainly a positive. If push came to shove, he could simply stop holding back. The most frightening part was that Percy wasn't even expending any energy.

Sure, he was sending energy out in waves, but it's not like he was using energy on it, it was just his presence affecting his surroundings. His presence alone could turn every other pantheon on the planet into a pile of ashes.

The Greek gods, at their highest point, were worshipped by about ten million people. It gave Zeus the power to cast Kronos down from Othrys, to defeat Typhon, to battle the giants and a fully awake Gaea (even if she was holding back a bit) and win. To control the seasons and weather as if they were omnipotent.

Percy had dozens of times that coursing through him right now, and it was an astounding feeling for a demigod to have.

Letting out a deep breath, he slowly covered up his being again, only just realizing that he had physically changed. Not just his skin beginning to glow, as it had at the beginning, but from what he could tell his entire body had been chipped away to reveal a being of light, of pure energy beneath it. A star in the shape of a human. He wished he could see what the rest of him looked like. If only a mirror could survive for more than an instant in his presence.

It felt uncomfortable to cover himself up again, to restrict himself. Letting himself back into the water, he adjusted himself.

He felt… something. Like an itch he couldn't scratch, now that he had let himself out of his cage.

Gods, this was going to be annoying.

Percy shrugged and checked his watch, glad that for some reason it hadn't melted off, unlike, looking down, the rest of his clothes. More than likely, because it was celestial bronze. He'd have to actually try to melt something that tough. He only had about a half hour until he was expected at a summit with 20 of the worlds largest superpowers. It would be a good idea to get a move on.

Percy rolled his eyes and decided to make his way back to the shore himself. At the speeds he was capable of reaching, he could be there in seconds if he really wanted to. It might cause a tsunami or two, but he could. Instead, he took it easy and reached shore in a few minutes.

Reaching a relatively abandoned coast, he reached out to the nearest shadow. Instantly, Nico was there with his arm clasped around Percy's forearm, and then a moment later they were in his bedroom.

Nico tried to look anywhere but at him. Percy was confused for a moment. Sure, him being naked was a bit weird but Nico had so far given the impression that basically nothing could bother him.

Percy pondered as he threw on some clothes, until he remembered what Nico had admitted to him before.

Oh.

Okay, yeah, Percy was kind of an asshole. It was pretty easy to forget that Nico had a crush on him. Really easy, actually, considering Percy had never seen Nico as anything but a little brother. It hadn't come up since his confession, but Nico was just... living with it. Was that why Nico had been so eager to swear himself to Percy?

Percy considered another timeline, one where he knew he loved Annabeth, but the feeling was far from mutual. Would he do something so drastic just to stay near her?

Yes. Absolutely.

Maybe he didn't know Nico as well as he'd like to think. Or at least, he didn't know what it was like to be Nico. He had forgotten a lot about his cousin. They'd need to sit down and talk at some point, no matter how uncomfortable that might be.

Percy pulled on his shirt, sending Nico's back an apologetic glance, before glancing in the mirror. He was about to move on when he did a double take.

Why did it not seem like it was his reflection in the mirror?

Reaching up, Percy touched his face. It just didn't feel… right. He knew it was him, but it was like he was wearing a mask, or a prosthetic.

Who was he then? Who did he see himself as?

Thinking to himself in his mind's eye, he imagined himself, and a blank face made of light and energy stared back.

Percy glanced back at the mirror, and was once again reaffirmed that it felt as though he was covering himself up.

Fuck.

He never should have let himself turn loose like that. It was too freeing an experience to go back to looking and acting like a normal mortal.

Percy shook his head. He would figure out his… feelings later. Sending a glance at his bed, Percy stepped past Nico and the unconscious Sasha onto his balcony, taking in the fresh morning air.

Nico followed behind him silently as Percy leaned on the railing.

"Sorry." Percy said after a couple minutes.

"Are you sure this is a good idea?" Nico ignored him.

Catching the hint, Percy glanced back at Nico and quirked an eyebrow. "Am I sure what's a good idea?"

"Sasha."

Percy internalized the question. "No."

"Do you… care for her?"

"Not really." Percy turned back to the railing. "I mean, I like her, don't get me wrong. But do I love her? Definitely not. Do I think I could come to love her? Maybe. Not really. I mean I don't know her that well, and I'm kind of recovering right now."

He gave a lazy shrug.

"So why? I know you loved Annabeth, there's not a doubt in my mind. It just…"

"Seems way too fast? Like I'm disrespecting Annabeth? Like she's a rebound?"

Nico nodded hesitantly.

"I don't care. I don't think Annabeth would be angry, really. And besides, we both know she went for rebirth the moment she got to the underworld, so what does she care?" Percy laughed, and Nico took a step back. Percy knew from the start that his dreams of spending eternity with her in Elysium was a joke. She wouldn't settle for anything less than perfection, and she'd expect nothing less of him either. There was a reason he hadn't marched down to the underworld to demand her revival yet, despite how hopeless it might be. "She seems like a rebound because she is. I know it's fucked, and I don't care."

Nico frowned. "That's not—"

"Not me? What is me, Nico? I don't think you know who I am. I don't even mean this in some edgy way, I've completely accepted my lot in life. I'm not complaining anymore, but part of that is no longer denying who I am. I don't think you know who I am because I didn't myself until a few days ago. I'm enjoying the power — the control. I don't really care about the people I've killed, not most of them. If people in China half a planet away died to one of my waves then who cares, really? I don't, to be completely honest with you. And I like doing what I want, because it's not hurting anybody. Sasha for one seems completely on board with it."

"And what about when it does hurt her? She's happy now, but what about when you finally decide to tell her you've been leading her on. Will she not be hurt then? You may not care about people half a planet away, but I know you still care about those around you. That is you."

Percy shrugged, throwing a twisted piece of grass off the balcony. "That's what dating is, Nico. I'm seventeen. How many seventeen year olds do you know that are in love with whoever they're dating? Really in love, I mean, not just infatuated. Not many, I can tell you that. Who knows, maybe in a few years I'll come to love her and we can live happily ever after, but for right now I'm just having fun. She knows that, too. I mean, I'm still trying to work on her inferiority complex towards me. She practically worships me, and we're dating Nico."

Nico just stepped back and inclined his head. "I understand. Apologies, your majesty."

Percy huffed, frustrated. The worst part was that Nico wasn't even just being sarcastic, like Thalia might in his position. He was genuinely falling back into his role. He really was worried for his little cousin. It seemed that every time conflict came up, his default response was to drop it and fall back into his role as Percy's infinitely loyal left hand.

He had to have a long conversation with Nico one of these days. Nico hadn't had a parental figure since Bianca, and it really hadn't helped some of his worse habits. It just sucked that Percy would be the one that had to talk to him about it.

Checking his watch again, Percy frowned. He would have to deal with this later.

Turning around, Percy brushed past Nico, who dissolved into shadows behind him. He'd use his elevator instead of Nico, for once.

Percy waited patiently in his elevator for the few seconds it took to get to his destination. Eventually, he arrived at the throne room.

"HAIL, YOUR MAJESTY!"

The chant was expected, and Percy just walked in front of the formation, inspecting each row, before nodding. As far as he could tell, they were flawless. At the end of the formation and in front of it stood Thalia, hands behind her back at a parade rest position, in her classic black jeans and a t-shirt from some rock band or the other. Beside her stood Lacey, tablet in hand.

All in all there were about thirty of his royal guards before him who would be responsible for his protection in Rome.

Percy nodded, and Nico was before him for a mere second before they were transported through shadow.

The first thing Percy noticed was that, for the first time, he had cameras shooting him rather than guns as soon as he came out of whatever the shadow realm could be called.

Thalia nodded at the platoon leader, and his royal guards quickly and silently spread around the premises, individual squad leaders moving to speak to other security. As much as Percy wanted to guarantee his safety, he still wanted to play within the rules for now. He was here to cooperate, after all.

Commotion erupted immediately after the camera flashes, his arrival garnering attention. According to his time table, he should be on time for the first evening of talks. Or at least, fashionably late.

Spotting what he assumed was the entrance to the conference, Percy made his way through, allowing an organizer to point him in the right direction. Nico followed on his right, Thalia on his left, and Lacey directly behind him.

Walking up to the double glass doors, the two suited guards in front of the doors sent each other nervous glances before opening the doors wide for him.

Percy strode in like he owned the place, Nico and Thalia still flanking him. They paused in the middle of whatever talks they were having (likely introductions, Percy figured, considering how recently they had started.)

A hush fell over the room as Percy made his way to the one empty chair, near the middle of the table filled with 20 of the most powerful and influential people on the planet. Percy for one remained completely calm, perfectly aware of how little any of these people could actually affect him should push come to shove.

Sitting down, Percy put on the translation headset and stared expectantly at the Italian prime minister, Nico and Thalia taking up positions a couple feet behind him, while Lacey stayed at his shoulder.

"Now that his majesty has joined us, we may finish up introductions. I would like to introduce Perseus Jackson, the unrecognized emperor of the former United States."

Percy narrowed his eyes. He wasn't a fan of the hostility, but it's not like they could afford to publicly recognize him, either. Not without getting something out of it.

"The first topic of the agenda of this emergency meeting of the G20 is the civil unrest caused by the declarations made by emperor Jackson. France would put forth a request that the emperor order his followers in foreign nations to remain peaceful. All in favor?"

Almost every hand in the room went up. Percy noted very specifically the ones that didn't. Greece, Bulgaria, and Italy, the president of the committee. The three nations who would seek to gain the most, by far, should he be successful in taking over the planet. A Greco-Roman centrist government in charge of the planet was obviously an enticing proposal for them.

"Your response, your majesty?"

Percy leaned forward into his microphone. "I will make no such order to peoples in nations without complete freedom of expression, or those who are suppressing the Hellenic religion. At this point in time, that is every country in this room." Percy looked around at them all.

It was the prime minister of the United Kingdom that spoke up, so Percy removed his headset. "Surely, you can't be accusing free nations such as ourselves, France, and Germany of suppressing voters?"

"Of course I can. News censorship, blatant lying, protest suppression. Would you care to inform me why a large majority of almost all of your nations are in favor of my gods, and yet almost no members of any of your governments are?"

"We do not operate based off of mob rule—"

"No, you operate off of democracy, supposedly. Unfortunately, however, that does not seem to be the case at the moment. At this rate, I could just wait a few years until your voters vote all of you out of office—"

"Ordine!" the Italian prime minister called, and Percy put his headset back on. "There will be order. We are here to cooperate, so that our people recover from the drastic reduction in quality of life we've seen recently, and all of our economies can recover."

Nodding grudgingly, Percy leaned back in his chair. He was being honest, though. If he thought the gods would give him the time, he'd just wait for each of the men before him to be voted out of office or overthrown and their countries integrated into his empire.

"I am willing." Percy began. "To sign trade agreements under World Trade Organization terms with every nation represented in this room, in exchange for a non-aggression pact."

Of course, the pact would be ignored the moment he figured he could safely take over every remaining nation in the room, but that might take some time.

"Does anyone find these terms unfavorable?"

France was the one to speak up. "He has said he will only sign non-aggression pacts with those represented in this room, how do we know that he will not invade nations not represented here?"

"You don't. But if you want to stave off economic collapse for much longer, it's the deal that's on the table. The United States was the world's economy. It is the largest consumer base on the planet and it is my jurisdiction. I can find any other country on the planet to provide the goods that any one of you can give to me. But you don't have another America. There is nobody to sell your products to without me around."

A few leaders shared looks around the table. There were countless reasons for them to doubt his word, however, it was obvious there was nothing they could do except trust him. Slowly, everyone grudgingly nodded.

"Are there no further objections?" The Italian prime minister waited several seconds. "Then the proposal may be drafted for each nation. Germany would like to bring up the presence of military bases in foreign nations, and their subsequent closing."

Percy nodded. "Those bases are my property, inside your nations. I'd be glad to close them, but I expect to be paid the approximate value of the base if you want it back."

There was some grumbling, but generally a military base was a drop in the bucket for the richest nations on earth, and a small price to pay to keep potentially hostile forces away.

The meeting went on like that for several hours, often less smooth than it had been going. Fine details were hashed out, and dozens of issues from humanitarian aid to what rights 'Americans' now had were discussed.

By the end of the day, Percy was about ready to just head back to his tower and relieve some stress. But he did have a few more meetings he had made sure to arrange, ones which would likely be less frustrating than the one he had just been in.

Now was the time for private meetings with most of the individual nations attending. There he'd discuss things which had to do with their nations specifically, rather than general concerns. The summit lasted for two days, so he should be able to get through about half of them today.

Percy resisted the urge to stretch as he exited the general conference room, not used to sitting down so long even with his daily paperwork.

"Who am I meeting first?" Percy fought back a yawn, glancing over at Lacey, who was messing with her tablet beside him.

Thalia and Nico followed dutifully behind him, having gotten some weird looks for being the only body guards not only not in uniform but also actually following him around at such a close distance. The fact that they looked like kids in their early teens going through a goth phase couldn't have helped.

"Greece, your majesty. After that is Italy, then Macedonia and Bulgaria. It seems that they've requested to meet with you before the others."

Percy held back a snort. Well, this would be interesting, at least.

Lacey directed him towards a room, and Percy noted the Greek prime minister entering, no guards entering the room with him. Percy followed behind, entering the room several seconds later.

What he walked into, however, was not what he expected.

"Your Majesty." The Greek prime minister knelt at his entrance, and Percy raised an eyebrow. He had expected a more welcoming approach than the general populace, but not… this.

Percy shrugged, moving past the old man and sitting in one of the chairs which was meant to host discussion between the two, picking up a glass and willing the water in the pitcher next to him to fill it, taking a sip and relaxing.

"Let me guess, you wish to swear loyalty." Percy said, taking another sip of his water. He didn't blame the man. If you genuinely believed Percy was of divine heritage then there was only one way this conflict could go. Whether a religious zealot or a pragmatic man, serving Percy was the way to go in the end.

"I already have your majesty. Myself, my cabinet, and my general staff have all sworn ourselves to yourself on Zeus himself."

Percy snorted. Figures, they were used to swearing by God, the leader of the religion. Well, Percy wouldn't bother correcting them. He wasn't going to risk pissing off Styx because of some mortals.

"You've done well, then. Come, kneel before me." From the sound of it, the president would have been couped and replaced if he didn't support Percy or his empire, but loyalty was loyalty. If he didn't reward those that made this whole thing easier, it'd be much less likely to happen in the future. The prime minister of Greece had just potentially saved thousands or millions of lives by getting this over with now.

Percy put down his glass of water, waited a few moments for the prime minister to kneel before him, and then Percy stood.

"As of now, you are no longer the prime minister of the republic of Greece. You are named viceroy of the province of Greece in the Olympian empire. Serve in my name, and see to it that my will be done."

Percy nodded at Lacey and stepped out of the room. She would take care of the details he didn't have the patience for. Checking his watch, Percy groaned at the time. He still had almost a full hour until he was supposed to meet with the next head of state and nothing to do. It's not like he could actually do anything in that hour. He couldn't even properly train any of his more godly abilities. All he could do was wait around.

Apparently, Tyche didn't agree with him, because just then he felt a vibration in his pocket.

He frowned. Very few people had his actual phone number. Considering Thalia was standing next to him, it was either Sasha, Sadie, or Reyna. He wasn't sure he was a fan of what a call from any of them would mean.

Pulling out his phone, he saw it was a text from Sadie. Opening it, he felt adrenaline pump through his blood stream. It was time.

Meeting is in a few hours. Didn't know until just now. They kept Zia and me in the dark until it was already happening. They have magicians in posts all around the city of Cairo, and skeleton guards at their nomes. Map is attached with all nome locations. Remember, take prisoners, and be careful.

Percy clicked off his phone and turned to his cousins. "Thalia, get the royal guard ready. Leave a skeleton crew defending the Empire State Building, composed mostly of those sworn in. I want all hands on deck. Nico, I need Sasha and whoever you have heading the former CIA at the spire ASAP. I need a lift there as well."

Nico nodded, and wordlessly reached his hand out. Percy grasped it, and a few moments later he stood in the command center of the spire.

He was noticed almost immediately. It was the head of the air force, some officer that he vaguely recognized, that saw him first.

"Hail, your majesty!" The officer kneeled, quickly followed by the rest of the room.

"Hail, your majesty!"

"On your feet. Reyna." He turned to the rapidly standing supreme commander. "I need every joint chief here, as well as the head of all of our special forces on deck now."

She nodded, turning to aides at the edge of the room and barking orders.

Percy took his seat at the head of the long table akin to a situation room, sitting impatiently for a few minutes as officers filtered in hastily. The usual din of reports and communications resumed in the background, but it was silent at the center table.

Reaching into his pocket, Percy pulled out his phone and opened the map, waving over some random aide standing around the edge of the table.

"I need an overlay of this map on the main screen," he said, and the officer took his phone with a nod, rushing to get the map ready.

Percy tapped his arm rest impatiently, even as Nico appeared with Sasha and who he presumed was the head of the former CIA. Percy tried not to notice how Sasha was wearing the same clothes as she had yesterday when they… best not to dwell on that at the moment. They both took their seats quickly, Nico moving to stand besides him.

Finally, after a few more uniformed and highly decorated men sat down at the oval table to the point that it was entirely full, Reyna stood up. "Your majesty, all requested personnel are present. We are at your service." She sat down, and Percy nodded and stood up himself, noting that the overlay he had given the aide was indeed on the map just as the aide came back to hand him his phone.

"We will be assaulting each of the positions marked on the map. There will be a compound at each of the marked locations which we are going to take tonight. Who are my directors of the former CIA, and special forces?"

Two men stood up, the man that Nico had brought, and an officer he vaguely recognized on his left at the end of the table.

"I'm Vaughn Bishop, the deputy director of the Office of Royal Intelligence in charge of operations, your majesty."

"I am General Ferrando, your majesty, the new head of JSOC after your assault on Washington." His voice came out raspy, like he was involuntarily whispering. Percy recalled he had been one of the officers in his command during the assault on Brooklyn.

Percy nodded. "Organize raids on every one of those positions. The Office of Royal Intelligence will deal with the compounds in G20 nations. I want it discrete, no evidence. The rest can be taken care of by special forces, and can be as loud as you like. Sasha."

Said girl stood up. "Your majesty?"

"Is your new project ready?"

"Mostly. I should be able to provide enough for each of the teams, but almost no extras. If someone screws up…"

"That's good enough." Percy turned back to the head of the ORI and JSOC. "These compounds are mostly empty, but they are magical. They may be hard to find, or have magical barriers, or some ancient defense mechanism. Sasha will be providing each of your teams with an ancient Greek tablet which should be able to nullify any magical barriers, which will at least give your men a chance. I want no casualties, and no destruction of property, and I want this done quick. By the end of the day I expect we'll at least have eyes on every position here. Understood?"

"Yes, your majesty!" They both chorused.

Percy nodded. "Then you're dismissed. As for the rest of you." Percy pressed a button, and the map zoomed in on the northern half of Egypt. "We're invading Egypt. You have less than an hour, and I'll be preoccupied. This is the most rushed invasion in modern history, but I expect success from the greatest fighting force so far known to man."

The officers around the table all glanced at each other in the silence that followed, having a silent conversation, before Darlton eventually stood up. "Your majesty, not that I wish to question you, but an invasion of this magnitude… is not viable on this timetable. The coordination between branches alone would take days. Loading men onto ships, airdropping them in, setting up supply lines... These things all take longer than an hour, your majesty."

"This is what I need done. Execute it to the best of your ability. I don't care if you have to land in Israel and march across the Suez, we will have Cairo within the day, or the fate of western civilization might not be so certain."

Darlton nodded. "I understand. We'll begin right away, your majesty."

Percy nodded and turned to Nico. "Is Thalia ready?"

Nico nodded. "She's waiting for you in the training room with the fully assembled royal guard, your majesty."

Percy frowned. "Remind me to buy up some land for an assembly ground. Take me there."

Nico nodded, and moments later he appeared on the same balcony he had been on just days before, located above the royal guard training 'room'.

Percy took in the sight. Thousands of men in golden armor stood rigidly in formation before him, a single bronze armored man leading each of the groups, looking for all the world like the elite force they were. It was the first time Percy had seen them all in formation together, so he took a moment to let it sink in.

Thalia was pacing up and down the line, a scowl on her face. Doubtless, she had been whipping out the smaller imperfections in the men while waiting for him to arrive. She had been put in charge of his royal guard less than a week ago, but she had been doing a great job so far if he had to say so himself.

Thalia must have noticed his arrival (likely through movements in the air or some such thing — he would have to make it a mission to learn more about her powers soon) because she turned and kneeled.

"Hail, your majesty."

The thousands of other royal guards in the room, sworn in and not, all followed her example and kneeled.

"HAIL, YOUR MAJESTY!"

Percy let the chant echo for a moment throughout the room before he began speaking.

"Today is the day of your final trial, for many of you. You will be baptized in blood, and earn your way into my service like those before you. Today you will kill, you will fight, and you will die. Only then, will you earn the right to serve me. Thalia?"

Thalia nodded and stood. Getting a running start, she leaped and pulled herself up onto his balcony.

He turned to speak softly to her. "We're assaulting Egypt, and the Egyptian pantheon. I'll need you and Nico fighting the gods with me, while the royal guard storms the nome and takes the rest. How long will you need?"

Thalia blinked. "Oh, wow. Okay. I'll put Beason in charge on the field, so I should just need a few minutes to brief them. Do we have maps, or…?"

"No. We don't have any existing maps of the nome."

"Going in blind. Just the way I like it." Thalia huffed before swinging herself back over the balcony and gathering the different platoon leaders around her.

"There will be a lot of death today." Nico mentioned needlessly.

Percy closed his eyes and let out a long sigh, bracing himself for what was inevitably to come. "Yeah, I know…"


"ON YER' FEET, DEVIL DOGS!"

Conversations around the tent suddenly halted, marines standing at attention.

The sergeant major looked around at the state of the marines, shirtless and fooling around, and scowled. "Ya'll are an embarrassment. Yer' an embarrassment to yer' platoon commander." The lieutenant which had entered the tent with him winced. "Yer' an embarrassment to yer' emperor, but more importantly, yer' an embarrassment to the CORPS! PO-LICE YERSELVES!" spittle flew from the sergeant major's mouth, landing on a nearby corporal, who grimaced and resisted the urge to wipe it off. "Now normally, I'd be drillin' all yer' asses, but the emperer' has decided different. Get ready devil dogs, we move out now!"

30 men stared back at the sergeant major.

"Did I whisper? GET A MOVIN' ON!"

30 marines burst into action, shirts thrown on, weapons picked up, checks done.

The sergeant major moved on to the next tent, leaving behind a platoon of rapidly preparing marines.


"I just don't understand. For weeks we're told to keep to ourselves, to avoid the Europeans and make sure that under no circumstances are we to start anything. Then, all of a sudden we just hop in our humvees, and we're on our way to Egypt with half a briefing."

"Shut up."

"I mean really. We've been having supply issues back at the airfield, but at least we still had food and water. Now we're supposed to drive 300 miles into hostile territory across the desert in less than a day. How does that work? Do we even have a supply chain through the Suez? Because it sure doesn't feel like it."

"The Germans did the same during world war two with some panzers."

"Man, the Germans always do better. I bet your ass their tanks had working guns, too. They couldn't even bother giving us a full meal before telling us we had to drive across the desert and fight some Egyptian dude's military across a canal."

"These orders come from the emperor himself, Ray."

"Yeah, yeah, I know. I'm just saying, couldn't the guy afford to give us a heads up or something? Just a day is all I need."

The sergeant shifted in his seat in the humvee to look at his driver. "'That guy' is his majesty, and his majesty has asked us personally to secure Cairo for him. The marines won't let the emperor down if we have to stay awake all the way down the Nile. Now shut up and drive." He turned back out the window to look down the scope of his rifle.

The humvee kept trucking down the road, at the head of a column of dozens of humvees, all driving towards Egypt.


"Ready?"

Thalia had just climbed her way back onto the balcony with him. It had been a few hours since he got the text, and everyone in the royal guard appeared to have received general plans a while ago. Now, they were just waiting for the military to be able to be close to properly assaulting Egypt so that they could push on the nome without fear of Egyptian reinforcements from their flank, or fleeing magicians.

One of the few dozen formations before him would stay behind to maintain security while the rest came with him directly outside the first nome. It would be… It would have to be a bloodbath. Percy wasn't sure how many he expected to survive, but it wasn't many. They probably had the numbers, sure, but in the end it was hundreds or potentially thousands of magicians and mythological figures facing off against a few thousand mortals with spears and shields. Percy, Thalia and Nico would have to even the odds by quite a bit to stand any chance of victory.

"Alright. Nico?"

Nico nodded, and thousands of people were absorbed into shadow.

It had begun.

Percy landed on hard sandstone when he emerged. Looking to his left he saw Thalia, while Nico came out on his right.

"The guards?"

"Outside. They should be storming the place now." Nico nodded behind him.

The hallway they had ended up in was underground, and completely abandoned. Well, that wasn't true. Everyday items sat sprinkled around, a broom floated around sweeping up the floor by itself, and torches lit the hallway for as far as he could see. (how they did that without suffocating down here Percy had no idea, but he assumed magic.)

Percy nodded, hearing muffled voices from the large stone doors several feet in front of him.

"Well, let's get this show on the road. You both remember your jobs?"

Thalia raised an eyebrow. "Kick ass with as few casualties as possible?"

Percy snorted. "Wait until my say-so, but that's your job, yes. Nico?"

Nico dipped his head. "Get those on the list to devil's island safely before rejoining you for the rest of the fight."

Percy nodded. "Alright, then let's go."

He strode forward and shoved open the stone doors. Thousands of people greeted him on the other side, all in some sort of assembly hall. At the end were stairs leading up to a wide platform, upon which sat a throne.

Carter was there, hundreds of feet away. He sat in his throne, surrounded by various people which Percy could only guess were other gods.

Sadie was there. As was Zia, and a lanky guy he could only assume was Walt.

Some gasped, some called out in shock, but everyone at the back quickly noticed his appearance. The ripple spread up the crowd as Percy made his way forward, flanked by both of his cousins. They parted before him like… well, like the Red Sea. Whoever was speaking at the front quickly stopped, and everyone on the platform had eyes on him within seconds.

Soon the muttering became silent as everyone got a good look at exactly who had entered the room, Percy's feet on the laid out carpet echoing loudly in the room filled with thousands.

Percy observed those standing on the podium, searching for possible threats. There was an array of all sorts of cultures, from a weird man with blue skin who held a bow and quiver, to a lady with east asian features in a Japanese dress. There were a few who held spears surrounding a large man holding a hammer, and an old guy who seemed to be made of water that Percy couldn't feel, shifting constantly between a dragon and his human form.

All in all, there were dozens of them, and it was an absurd looking lineup. Meanwhile on Percy's side, they had a teenager from Manhattan wearing full Greek armor, with two goth kids.

He stopped when he reached a few feet from the foot of the stairs. The magicians and various other beings around him didn't really concern him. He could feel and control their blood rather easily; it wouldn't be more than an annoyance if they all attacked at once. The problem were the deities in front of him; he wasn't sure what they were capable of.

"Carter." Percy gave his classic lopsided grin as Carter met his eyes.

"Percy," he responded carefully.

"You didn't tell me you were having a party. I thought we were friends."

Carter narrowed his eyes. "No, we aren't. Not since you threatened my home and my people."

Percy rolled his eyes. "I was trying to warn you, friend to friend. So that this—" Percy waved his hand around the room. "—wouldn't happen."

"Enough of this useless banter." The blue skinned dude from before stepped forward, and Nico gripped his sword. "This convocation is under the protection of the creator Vishnu. Leave at once."

Percy raised an eyebrow. "What, so that you can just come march on me when you feel like it? Nah, I think I'd like to nip this at the bud."

Someone from the side grunted. "Then there was a rat. Who told him?"

Blue guy shook his head. "It doesn't matter. As an avatar of Vishnu, Rama, all of these gods are under my protection as long as they are here. They have the blessing of Vishnu, you will have no fortune with a fight here."

Percy snorted. "What, Vishnu couldn't bother showing up himself?"

Rama snarled. "The creator deity does not concern himself with dealing with petty squabbles such as this personally. I shall be more than sufficient."

Percy hummed. "How many people worship the hindus, now that I've stolen a few followers from you. A billion? Less? I have no doubt that should Vishnu himself come to fight me it'd be a challenge and a half. But you're not Vishnu, you're an avatar, and I think I can match those numbers. All of that considered." Percy smiled, raising a hand up to run a finger along the edges of his crown. "I think I like my odds."

And then he snapped.

Nico disappeared into shadow the moment before, appearing at the side of the Egyptians, using some creative positioning to touch all three at once, and then he disappeared again.

Every person surrounding Percy collapsed with the exception of Thalia, knocked out cold. As he had told Sadie, it would likely cause some long term brain damage, but they would be alive. It was more merciful than he'd have normally given, if he were blatantly honest with himself.

Unfortunately to his dismay the same did not happen with the gods in front of him, nor did they dissapear in a puff of red smoke like he had hoped. In fact, Walt, Zia, and Carter still stood where they had before, even as Nico reappeared next to him. Percy figured it wouldn't be that easy, but he wasn't sure why not. After all, he could do the same to the Greek gods if he caught them off guard, why not the weaker Egyptians or norse?

The answer was smirking right at him.

"I told you, Vishnu has placed his blessing upon this convocation. You will not be able to use your powers on these deities."

Percy reached his hand into his pocket. "Nico, occupy blue man group over here. Thalia, you take left and I'll grab right and the Egyptians."

As much as he hated to admit it, he wasn't sure he could take a direct shot from Rama. Most of the others he could at least stop with brute force — he should be physically stronger than most of them. He just wasn't the best at tanking hits. He could take a tank shell to the face only because he could stop it before it left the barrel with the twitch of a finger. If it actually hit him, then even a sword made of divine metal would permanently put him out for the count.

But Nico was equipped to avoid hits instead of stop them. Nico would be the best chance they had at occupying Rama until everyone else was dealt with.

Percy took in a deep breath.

And then let it out.

And then he moved. With one fluid motion he dashed to the right and pulled Riptide out of it's pen form, a 3 foot Xiphos taking its place instantaneously into the torso of a Japanese deity he wasn't sure he knew the name of.

Wide eyes stared back at Percy as ichor poured over his sword hand, the life slowly draining from his first victim. Silence stood for a few moments before there was a sudden bevy of motion. He hardly had time to notice Nico draw his sword, or Thalia pulling out her spear and shield before he was dodging attacks from the woman in an eastern dress. Percy avoided her swings, managing to strike back for every few hits she missed, slowly bruising her.

Feeling someone come up behind him, Percy swung on his heel, putting as much force into Riptide's swing as physically possible, watching as the daring god was decapitated nigh instantly.

Percy barely had time to think for a long time after that, spinning in and out of combat with dozens of gods was exhausting, to say the least. There seemed to be an almost never-ending horde of them. He was used to that with monsters and other grunts, not gods, with powers that made fighting them a lot harder.

Socking one in the face and presumably breaking his nose (though you could never really be sure with gods), he turned and curb stomped a god on the ground in the knee, shattering the joint and causing said god to cry out in pain.

The half-man half-dragon thing came diving for him, and Percy leaped out of the way, bringing Riptide down in a strike which went straight through his watery body, doing absolutely nothing.

"Hey, Thalia?" Percy formed several whips of water in the air, sending them at a group of gods charging him and halting their advance.

"Yeah?" Thalia ducked under the swing of a large axe, swinging up and stabbing the deity through the bottom of their chin, up through their skull.

Percy cursed as he dived out of the way of the water dragon again.

"Remember that VW we drove in San Francisco?" He formed a line of water to trip a god coming at him from behind, kicking a god in front of him in the chest and sending him back several steps, shattering his ribcage if Percy had any luck.

"Yeah." Thalia affirmed, rolling out of the way before a thrown hammer could put her down for the count.

"You remember what happened to it?" Percy leaped out of the way of a rock spire which suddenly pulled itself from the floor, impaling the ceiling.

"Yeah, what about it?" Thalia grunted, headbutting a lady with a spear and tossing them backwards.

"I need that again." Percy cursed as the water dragon once again made a pass at him, this time nicking his arm and giving it a small scar.

"Got it." Thalia affirmed, leaping back from her engagement and turning to her right before they could react.

Percy dived in front of her right as the man-dragon took another dive right above him.

Thalia let loose, allowing a storm's worth of energy to come out of the end of her spear and hit the dragon right on the nose, turning him into vapor instantly. Thankfully, he didn't immediately reform.

Percy pushed himself to his feet and used the very brief respite to check in on Nico. He was in the shadows more often than not, hopping from minute shadow to minute shadow, popping out to take shots at Rama, almost none of which hit.

Rama was fast. Really fast. But Nico was faster with his shadows, and he managed to score some glancing blows which stood to slow down the avatar of Vishnu.

Percy turned back to his own thinning crowd of gods, counting them up. He didn't have too many left (there were only so many gods which still retained distinguishable power, after all), he just had one major concern.

Well, three.

Carter, Zia, and Walt all stood in that crowd. Carter had his crook and flail ready, Zia held her hand out in some weird shape, a symbol made of fire floating in front of it, and Walt stood seemingly bored, shuffling a few items in his hand.

Percy sighed. He may as well get this over with so that he could take care with those he actually cared about surviving.

Percy reached below him to the water table and pulled, causing the ground to erupt below him. He used the water to launch himself at an angle, reaching the nearest god at tens of miles an hour and spearing Riptide into their stomach, bisecting them with the speed he was going.

He landed several feet behind the now dead god, swinging around and bisecting another from behind. The floor was slick with ichor, the blood of the gods covering him and everything around him.

Percy flicked some blood off his sword to see that he had no non-Egyptian gods left. That didn't mean, however, that he was done killing.

Who Percy presumed was Sobek based on the fact that he was a walking crocodile with a Khopesh charged him. Percy cleanly sidestepped, slicing open his side and leaving him to bleed out behind Percy.

Percy slowly walked forward, calmly stepping over motionless bodies towards the five 'gods' left.

Carter's hand gripped his crook and flail. Walt's fists tightened, stopping the fidgeting with whatever was in his hand. Zia drew her second hand back, almost as if she was holding a bow with her spellcasting hand at the end of it, Sadie stood beside them all, nervously handling a boomerang like object he had come to learn was a wand, and another goddess in a leotard squatted to the ground, claws extending from her fingers. He figured she was some sort of cat goddess, based on the attire. Percy paused a few feet away from them, letting his sword fall to his side. He wasn't sure where to go from here. He didn't want to kill any of them, as a favor to Sadie if nothing else.

"Bast, no!" Sadie called.

The cat goddess leapt at him. Keeping one foot on the ground, he kicked her in the torso and sent her flying across the room, feeling the crack of her ribs under his foot.

"No!" Carter called out in panic, following up her attack with his crook and flail.

Percy raised Riptide, deflecting the crook. The flail wrapped around Riptide and Carter pulled.

Percy let go of his sword to avoid being pulled along with it, and smacked his watch to deploy his shield just as he felt an enormous force hit it, knocking him off his feet and sending him flying a good two dozen feet.

Percy stood up quickly to see Walt and Zia with their hands extended, fire curling around their fingers. She launched the fireball before he could react further, which collided with his chest.

Percy clenched a fist and consolidated water out of the vapor in the air. A wave appeared in mid-air behind the Egyptians, coming down with force and knocking them forward. Percy charged towards them full tilt, determined to knock each one of them out cold before this could be taken any further.

He leaped mid-sprint, feeling like an Olympic long-jumper as he came down on Walt, his shield less than a foot from putting Walt out of the fight when a large, glowing Kopesh intercepted.

Percy backpedaled quickly, eyes widening as he took in the form of Carter at the center of a large, glowing avatar. It had the head of a bird and the body of a man, like the paintings of the Egyptian gods you might find in a pyramid. Walt and Zia rose as well, the slowly flickering form of a golden bird appearing around Zia while Walt's hands glowed a dark purple.

Percy cursed at the array of gods still preparing to square off against him. Nico was still occupied, and Thalia was still cleaning up the Norse on her end.

Taking on what he had come to associate with his true form would kill them all, so that was a no-go. He couldn't control the blood inside of them to knock them out, and there wasn't nearly enough water in the air to contain a fire god or a giant avatar like Carter was in. Percy was running out of options if he wanted to keep this from turning into a massacre.

Percy didn't want to have to do this, but Carter had turned push to shove, so he would too.

Egypt was very dry above ground, yes, but beneath their feet? The ground-waters of the Nile spanned wide through the valley. Percy clenched a fist, and the ground exploded.

Water erupted from below as the very earth they were standing on tilted off its axis, sending combatants all around the hall stumbling. Dozens of the people covering the floor would be drowned or buried in rubble, and there wasn't too much Percy could do.

"Bast!" Sadie ran over to the injured cat goddess, and Percy diverted a piece of rubble from slamming onto her with a flick of his wrist. Kitty was down for the count, if Sadie wanted to keep her alive then Percy would gladly oblige.

Turning his focus back to his opponents, he clenched his fist even harder. Water rushed at them from all sides, trapping them. There was nowhere they could run from there, forcing them into an ever growing ball of water which was slowly freezing over.

Excessive force from Horus, blasts of fire from Ra, and devastating beams of death from Anubis all did nothing to the rapidly growing sphere of water. The water that evaporated quickly re-formed back into its liquid state at it's master's will, but didn't close in to crush them. He would keep them alive, for Sadie.

The entire water table of southern Cairo had been disrupted, and the consequences were quickly making themselves apparent. The ceiling began to crumble, the floor which had been tilted before now completely falling apart, crumbling away beneath their feet. Percy had a flashback to the Italian parking lot where he and Annabeth had fallen into Tartarus.

Looking over to Thalia, he flicked his hand. Water rushed to her few remaining opponents and slammed them against the wall. He was content to hold them there until they drowned or died of the pressure, but Thalia thought differently. She hit the torrent of water with a blast of electricity, evaporating a great amount and sending the shock through the remaining stream, straight into the bodies of her former foes.

"ENOUGH" Percy froze, rapidly turning to Nico's fight with Rama.

Luckily, the worst hadn't happened. Nico was alive and well, if panting heavily. Aside from a cut on his forehead, Percy couldn't see any blood. He let out a sigh of relief.

"This has gone on for too long. Vishnu has tasked me with eliminating you, and I will succeed in that task no matter who I take with me." Percy's eyes narrowed as Rama's bow began to glow a fluorescent red. "You are formidable, I must admit. The first, I think, deserving of this weapon."

Percy took a hesitant step back as Nico appeared beside him. Even now, Percy still had some quarrels with wiping Cairo off the map, but the look of blue dude's determined gaze spelled otherwise. This was for the fate of humanity.

"Get Thalia and Sadie out of here." Percy muttered, eyeing the vibrantly red glowing bow.

Nico nodded slightly, shadow travelling to grab Thalia before travelling to Sadie and pulling her up. Percy raised an eyebrow when he saw that instead of the goddess Bast, a purely black cat lay unconscious in her arms.

But Percy couldn't afford to pay attention to her, he had to find out exactly how much of a danger this was.

"And what exactly is this weapon that only I'm worthy of?" Percy asked cautiously, circling around Rama, looking down every now and then to make sure he was stepping on solid ground.

Percy dodged out of the way of a falling piece of ceiling as Rama responded.

"Pashupatastra. It is not allowed to be used against inferior warriors. Luckily, I believe you are skilled enough," Rama drawled, drawing back his bow.

Percy glanced at Nico out of the corner of his eye. He couldn't see what they were saying exactly, but he knew that Sadie was fighting against leaving. Percy sent Nico a harsh glance to make sure that she was out of the building, soon.

Percy hopped to another island of stable floor.

"And this Pashupasta. What does it do?"

Rama smiled lightly. "You believe that if you know what Pashupatastra does, you will be able to defend against it."

Percy shrugged. "That saying about curiosity killing the cat? I find that not knowing what your enemy is capable of ends up with you dead."

"Then I will indulge in your curiosity," Rama brought the weapon forward. Even from across the room, Percy could feel the suffocating power emitting from the bow. "Pashupatastra is the incarnation of destruction. It is the power that destroys all, annihilation that vanquishes the essence of creation itself. I can see in your stance now, your light-footedness. You hope that once I release this arrow, you will simply move to the side and escape its path. It is beyond that way of thought. It is not an arrow that is shot, but a force of destruction incarnate. Even a force of nature is naught compared to such a primordial force."

"It can't be all that—"

"There is no chance to survive; no path to escape. No shield or barricade you can hide in. Once I strung its string, I have allowed the force of destruction to exist. I know where that teleporting boy is. Once you make this next move, I release. There will be no tomorrow for you, or anything else in this room."

Percy pursed his lips.

He glanced towards Sadie one last time to see that she was being dragged up the stairs almost literally kicking and screaming by Thalia and Nico. She was far away and Percy couldn't hear exactly what she was saying, but it didn't take a detective to figure it out.

Percy closed his eyes and lowered his sword. Rama was right, there was no point in trying to fight him. He lowered the sphere of water surrounding the Egyptian gods. Sadie at least deserved the chance to say goodbye, even if from a distance.

"Why not shoot now?" Percy asked.

Rama smiled. It could almost be a kind smile if he wasn't pointing an incredibly dangerous weapon at Percy at the moment.

"That crown on your head. It is a very, very old Greek artifact. Any application of Pashupatastra will be enough to erase all of us from creation, but that crown? It requires more effort. It needs to be erased, though. Just like you."

Percy felt Nico shadow travel Sadie and Thalia out of the area. He doubted she did it willingly, but the distance from Rama must have weakened or broken the protection he had placed on the various gods.

Opening his eyes, Percy glanced at the confused gazes of Walt, Carter, and Zia.

He raised his fingers to his mouth.

And whistled.

Rama let go of the bowstring, and Percy lost his bearings. He saw red, bright, bright red. And then something hit him, sending him hurling what seemed like dozens of feet. Then he saw black, and he felt cold, and… wet. He was definitely wet.

The next moment, he was hit by brightness again, like seeing the sunlight after hours of being inside. When he realized that's exactly what had happened.

Percy heard an incredible explosion in the distance, and looked towards the noise from where he had landed laying down to see half a dozen city blocks erupt in a flash of red. Dirt and concrete was sent flying into the air, even from where the first nome was located far below Cairo. And then the buildings on top imploded inwards, crumbling in on the sudden space beneath their buildings and killing thousands.

Percy felt a wet, sandpaper-like substance running up his side and shoved his arm out to stop it. "Yeah, yeah. Good girl." Percy muttered, sitting up and willing the saliva to vacate his body. Mrs. O'Leary panted into his ear, her hot, dank breath moving his hair like a stiff breeze.

Rockets and artillery shells landed in the distance, close air support flying overhead and laying waste to any military in the city. Apache helicopters levelled buildings while M1 Abrams sent shells into priority buildings. Looking out at the ruins of the once great city, Percy figured resistance would give within the hour.

Percy wanted to hug his dog and tell her what a good girl she was, but he couldn't do that right now. Scooting himself to the right, Percy sat next to Sadie, letting their shoulders touch.

Sadie sat hunched over her cat — who Percy presumed was Bastet — crying. Sobbing, really. Percy really couldn't blame her. Percy hadn't been any better when he had just lost Annabeth. To lose her boyfriend and her brother? That was… It wasn't good.

"The cat still has broken ribs. It seems like Egyptian gods aren't quite so durable as the Greeks." Nico muttered behind him.

Pulling water vapor out of the air, Percy rested a hand against the cat's chest. The water pressed against it gently, slowly healing the ribs at its master's beckon.

Percy let his arm circle around Sadie's shoulders, pulling her into his side. She leaned into him, sobs slowly turning into sniffles as her tear ducts dried up.

They didn't speak, even Mrs. O'Leary remained silent and still as they sat cross legged on an Egyptian rooftop.

Percy let out a soft sigh and rubbed her arm reassuringly. Sadie had lost a lot today; more than he had recently, even. Her entire way of life, everyone she truly knew had just been lost. As all five of them sat there on the rooftop, Nico and Thalia keeping vigilant guard over the two, Percy knew one thing. He wouldn't give up on her, like she hadn't on him.


Merry Christmas.

Next Chapter January 30