Chapter Three
Crossing The Hunters
What was he to do? He was going to die, he was sure of it. He'd just been kissed by the Goddess of the Hunt.
There was no possible way that he could escape this one alive, not without the support of maybe half of the Olympian council.
He and his father could not solely fight them all. Zeus would want him dead. Athena would want him dead. Apollo would potentially want him dead. He knew for a fact that Ares didn't want him dead, but wouldn't get into a fight to support him.
Aphrodite would most likely fight with him, or at least for the chance to be with him, and that wouldn't happen with Artemis openly after him.
He was in the worst situation right now, his mind oblivious to the outside world. He just sat in the moon chariot making plans for his last battle.
Hera may support him, based on the fact that it was Artemis who had kissed him, not the other way around, plus the fact that Artemis and Apollo were a constant immortal reminder of Zeus' lack of marriage integrity.
Hephaestus was a God that accepted Percy for who he was and vice versa. They were both broken to a high level. Hephaestus socially and Perseus emotionally. They understood each other well. But was it enough?
A sudden thought had occurred to him, snapping him out of his visions of grandiose and inescapable death. He was in the moon chariot.
The actual personification of the moon itself. He shook his head and looked at Artemis who avoided his gaze expertly. He gave her a sad frown but didn't dare say anything. How was it possible for someone to be so conflicted.
"The fates are cruel." he muttered under his breath.
Artemis heard this with her impeccable senses and gave him a confused and sad smile. She couldn't tell what he was thinking, even in the moon chariot where she was at her strongest.
He was as strong as an Olympian and one of the more powerful ones at that. She could sense his critical energy, it was at a divine level, just below that of his father and uncles.
Artemis knew straight away that disregarding the big three, he was then the strongest being there was, the ex-Demigod who had refused immortality multiple times now.
"Perseu- Percy…" Artemis' voice was soft and caring. He found himself literally unable to deny her of what she wanted. He obediently granted her his attention.
'I guess there's only one way to go forward now. I stand by my ideals that this is an incredibly bad idea.'
"I know what you're going through. Aphrodite told your father and I. It's directly under her domain Perseus. You must realize that I never meant for any of this to happen. You're stuck in a triangle where each person has returned feelings." Artemis explained softly.
Percy suddenly realized that she was in her lunar Goddess mode. She was around his age and had a long silken dress on. This was what she turned into when appearing as the Goddess of the Moon more dominantly than the Goddess of the Hunt.
A rather drawn out sigh later and Percy was finally ready to try his words without fear of his voice betraying him.
"I know." Was all he managed as he looked down at the world below him. It was beautiful.
The way the moonlight just reflected off of the oceans. He knew for a fact that if he jumped from here then he would be alright if he landed in the ocean.
He could just go to his father's palace and live out the rest of his life in the care of Atlantis. Poseidon would be more than acceptant for that was what he had tried to convince Percy to do for a long time after his repeated refusal of godhood.
Even Triton had shown a rare moment of care for his half-brother and tried to convince him to join them as a family in Atlantis.
What had shocked Percy the most was that Amphitrite had sworn on the river Styx that they would all accept him without malice. She badly wanted to have another son and with Percy around she knew that they could be a better family.
Poseidon looked at his son in such a way that made him proud and for that reason he knew that he didn't need any more children with other women. That was one of the main reasons that Amphitrite had accepted Percy.
"I'm going to admit everything." Percy whispered as he slumped back down against the moon chariot. Taking in a deep breath he felt that it was time to start.
"I started to have strong feelings for you when I first met you, I thought they were just admiration and because of the fact that aside from my father, you're my favorite Goddess. I love Thalia for what she is, my best friend, but again, I'd be lying if there wasn't something deeper. I think that might be Perseus more than me though." Percy admitted, a strange glint had overtaken his eyes and for a brief moment, he seemed bigger, even slumped against the side of the moon chariot.
Artemis recognized what this was now, she knew for a fact that it was Perseus in control of their body.
"Hey, what can I say? I like the bad girls. She's something special, I'm telling you that, and because this bozo is still in denial, I stepped up to the challenge of unleashing our power against the Bane." Perseus grinned wickedly before it faded and left Percy sitting there once again, not looking at discomfort about being taken over anymore.
He had really come to terms with having another aspect very quickly.
"I guess I just freaked out when she turned around and admitted it first. The nymph? She accepted me without question. Of course she knew that I was the son of the God that directly oversees her domain, but she ignored that and spoke to me like a regular person, and I admired her for that, but like you said, Aphrodite and her damn circles." Percy grunted.
He wasn't sure whether or not he held a deep admiration for the nymph, but regardless of all that, he was certain that at this rate, he was going to love her like a true friend, even if that was all it was.
"Triangle." Artemis corrected him automatically but frowned when she realized what she had done. Now was a terrible time to be doing that to someone who was trying to get something off of their chest.
'If you include us as a person involved then it's a bottomless three pointed pyramid with us at the peak. You know, us, then three points below us being Thalia, Artemis, and Esther. But you know, triangles work as well I guess.' Perseus added. It was a shame that Artemis couldn't hear him at this point because Percy was not going to repeat that one.
"It's a little more complicated than simply a triangle, but you know, we can stick with that for now." Percy retorted with folded arms.
There, he had said it, indirectly he had admitted his interest for Artemis, Thalia, and Esther. What was Aphrodite expecting of him next?
The whole situation was killing him because Artemis clearly had something going for him, a male, the one thing that her entire life had revolved around hating. Thalia, Artemis' own sister and Percy's best friend. Esther, the nymph that he had only just met, yet could tell he had a long life involved with. He sighed, knowing that his luck was that of pure shit.
"Fuck my life." Percy cursed as he stood and summoned his trident. The green glint in his eyes only glowed brighter when the sea green trident was once more in his hands.
"Time to find this witch. I've got some people to defend." Percy muttered to nobody in particular. He gave Artemis one last glance.
"I'm sorry, I'm just not ready to face any of this yet. Please, please just give me a little bit of time, at least until I solve this whole immortal water witch thing." he told her.
It wasn't a question as they both knew that she couldn't stop the Demon-God. She nodded and a moment later the only man that Artemis had truly ever had an admittance of affection for in thousands of years, had shot towards the world from the moon chariot.
The trident in his hand leading his descent into the oceans. A silent tear left her eye and streaked down her cheek for the second time that night.
The water exploded when Percy hit the surface with the speed and ferocity of an atomic bomb. Using only his will, he dived straight down to the bottom of the huge depths and continued to go until he got to where he naturally knew his father's palace would be.
Perseus was the prince of the seas alongside Triton and was even stronger in his father's city. No need for his trident any longer, he was safe under the water. His body was facing a natural buff this far under the surface.
Walking casually through the hallways of his father's palace he found himself face to face with his brother. "Hello Triton." he commented casually.
"Brother." Triton nodded. The two of them had gotten along a lot better ever since Percy had made it brutally clear just how much stronger he was than Triton, and just how little he cared about his father's throne.
He had sworn on the Styx that he would serve loyally beside Triton and not dispute his claim to Poseidon's throne when the time came. Triton was shocked by the show of bravado and returned it with the respect that Percy deserved.
"Have you seen father? I have a rather dangerous path ahead of me." Percy sucked his teeth quietly. It would have been inaudible to anyone other than the two sons of Poseidon and the God of the Seas himself.
"He was in the throne room last I saw him. What dangers have you gotten yourself into Perce? Who do I have to punch to get you out of trouble?" His brother laughed, the water currents moving around the two princes with respect.
"I don't know if this is a simple knock on the jaw and everything will be alright kind of day Triton. I have to face an ancient water mage that has long since been dead. Glenda or something." Percy told him.
Triton's eyes narrowed and he quickly looked around the hallway to see who else may have been hearing their conversation.
"If you truly face Glenda then things are far worse than you realize. There is an ancient prophecy that one day a truly powerful warrior will bring about her downfall." Triton straightened up and started to laugh.
"Well, I should have guessed that it would be you. Come, let's find father, once we get everything straightened out I will go with you and we'll kick this witch's ass." Triton pulled Percy along and within moments they were in the throne room kneeling before Poseidon and Amphitrite.
"Percy I-" Poseidon started but Percy quickly cut him off.
"The water mage. Really dad? You couldn't tell me that I was involved in yet another prophecy?" Percy looked on with discomfort.
"It's not that simple. It is not merely a prophecy given by Apollo or the oracle. It's a prophecy that was given by Aphrodite." Poseidon explained.
"Whey hey." Triton giggled immaturely as Percy went white face.
"Oh no, not again!" Percy screamed in pure defiance.
"I'm afraid so, my son. To the east the water mage lives in a small cavern that was until recently thought to be an impossibility. The rage of the seas cannot reach her homestead, and the entrance to it is guarded by a Leviathan that I do not have any dominion over." Poseidon explained sadly. There was a magnificent beast and he had no control over it whatsoever.
'I can kill it. Get us there and I'll burn it from the inside out, really fuck it's day up.' Perseus grunted happily. Percy had no idea how he was planning on doing that, especially as he was certain that Perseus couldn't breathe under water, so instead he just decided to ignore the Demon for a while.
"Fine, where is it, I'll tear it's heart from it's proverbial chest." Percy sighed as he summoned his trident. The entire throne room hummed and buzzed with divine energy.
"Do not take this lightly son, it is not the Leviathan that you have heard about in our history, but rather a literal Leviathan. Legend speaks of a beast, three hundred miles from its tip to its tail." Poseidon stood and waved his hand. The entire throne room panned outwards, revealing the seascape beyond them. They could all see for miles upon miles.
"None have seen it yet all know its name, like the Ark of the Covenant or the Holy Grail." Poseidon continued.
'Weren't those Christian things? Why the Hell is Poseidon referencing them?'
"We're to set out on a quest, in search of the lair where Glenda doth dwell. On a mission to bring back her head." Percy added. In the distance a faint light had begun to show them the way. A beacon of where the two sons of Poseidon were needed.
"Our journey will take us to the depths of the sea." Percy grimaced. Poseidon nodded and used his powers to show them what the Leviathan looked like.
"His eyes shone like the rays of the morning and his mouth is as a burning flame." Poseidon told them in mild awe.
Triton looked on in amazement, "Leviathan." he whispered in the hushed silence.
Setting out on their mission, leaving the safety of their father's kingdom behind, they began to find a good rhythm as they traveled to the east.
After a long time of moving through the ocean depths, Percy and Triton had finally found themselves with some results.
A faint disturbance caused them to stop and bunker down in a nook that overlooked a huge crater in the sea floor. There looked to be some sort of tunnel entrance at the very bottom of it, but when they focused up, they realized that it was actually a gigantic head.
The head of the Leviathan was in sleep around them. It's body curling up and hugging the sea floor well over three hundred miles from their position.
"Cresting the waves." Percy sucked his teeth.
"Leading us all to the grave." Triton added with a bemused smile. He would happily take on the world right now, as before they left; Poseidon had used a lot of his energy to give his second son, his current heir, a master weapon.
It was a sea green and ocean blue whereas Percy's was sea green with tints of silver flashing throughout the magnificent weapon.
"Leviathan." Percy explained quickly with a dark tinge in his voice. Both boys knew straight away that they would have to fight a legendary creature this day.
A unit of Poseidon's most elite fighters had all gathered to mount an assault on the beast but before long, the Leviathan had risen from it's slumber and begun decimating the mermen warriors.
"Slaying all foes who dare to oppose." Percy was about to rush in and save the mermaid warriors but truly, nothing he could do would help, they would just get in his way and cause him to limit his power for fear of hurting them as well.
"Tearing bodies limb from limb, eviscerating on a whim." Triton reasoned, the battle wasn't going their way at all. The two sons of Poseidon were camped out upon a rocky outlook watching the carnage unfold.
They truly were powerless to intervene unless the army retreated. Born of the sea, they were too stubborn to admit defeat where it was evident.
"The seas are turning black." Percy noted. The Leviathan had a large gash on it's jaw, someone had gotten lucky, but there was no one left to celebrate this victory.
"The oceans are dead. No voice left to cheer." Triton frowned. So many dead, so little progress.
Something else was happening however, the princes cupped their ears from the oncoming onslaught of their eardrums.
"Out of the darkness with a thunderous roar, Leviathan is rising up from the depths below!" Percy shouted over the absolute carnage that the beast of such a size was causing.
A new battalion of warriors had just arrived, this time they all had heavy armaments with them. Cannons of all shapes and sizes.
Percy didn't understand how such primitive weapons would work this far underwater or underwater at all, but his best guess was that everything born of the sea had some extent of power and influence over the depths of water.
"Cannons are firing and their swords are finally tasting blood!" Triton shouted in amazement. The army was finally finding some result in their favor.
The cannons were reaching the intimidatingly huge creature's head and those unlucky enough to be within sword range of the thing were performing kamikaze-like attacks. Straight in with a sword and back out again.
"Right, time to fuck shit up." Percy announced, his trident grew as did he slightly. The powers emanating from the two sons of Poseidon was truly awe striking.
"I think the only way is if we allow ourselves to be swallowed and then take it down from inside out." Triton commented softly.
"Game on. See you on the other side brother." Percy announced the retreat for the army as himself and Triton got into the Leviathan's field of view and started to aggravate the beast immensely.
This was where Percy would rather be, fighting a creature of untold power and the possibility of death, not elsewhere with multiple women to handle.
Percy let out a very Texan scream as he rode his trident like a bomb. Good old Dr. Strangelove had influenced his wild ride throughout the throat of the Leviathan on this day.
"What's up with you?" Triton's voice called out some distance behind him. Had they truly both succeeded in getting swallowed whole by the Leviathan? Percy had admittedly thought that to be well and truly badass.
"Brother, join this wild ride of mine. Soon we will be in the beast's stomach. We can destroy everything as we see fit!" Percy shouted in joy as the two brothers continued their forced march through the body of the Leviathan.
This was the first time that he was actually feeling pretty decent, here he was with Triton, the only two of them anywhere near, and he could pretty much go all out in terms of destruction.
The problem wasn't the danger presented with a beast of this size, it was the size of the beast itself. They had no idea the true biology of the Leviathan, how many hearts would they need to destroy to put it down permanently?
Was it immortal and unable to truly be killed? These questions needed answers as soon as possible if the princes of the sea were to truly succeed in their quest to find Glenda.
Finally the two princes came to a stop. The water receded and they were in the stomach of the Leviathan, which given the circumstances, was surprisingly dry.
"So, are you going to tell me why Aphrodite has taken interest in your life? Again." Triton grinned as he eyed Percy for any reaction that the stoic and calm prince would give him.
"A Gods damned love triangle is what has come upon me. I can only name two of the three involved because the third would cause war among the Gods if it ever surfaced." Percy continued, carefully edging his way around the subject, though judging by Triton's face, he's already figured something out.
"No way! You've got a Goddess trying to get their hands on you?" Triton almost squealed in delight at the daily dramas involved with Perseus' life.
"Be quiet Triton, it is a serious matter. Zeus would execute me if he ever found out!" Percy tried to hush his brother, but Triton was having none of it.
"So it's a daughter of Zeus, and no doubt a Goddess. Artemis, Athena or the muses. That's all I can think of." Triton was loving every second of this.
"Actually now that you mention it, there's two daughters of Zeus." Percy sighed, knowing that there was no winning with his brother over matters such a gossip of such a magnitude as this.
"Oh Gods. What have you gotten yourself into Perseus?" Triton sighed happily at this.
"The other is a nymph, so yeah, it's pretty fucked up." Percy commented at last. Triton just looked at him before laughing like a moron.
"Well, you might as well tell me who the nymph is. And the non godly daughter of Zeus. And you know what? While you're at it, let's make it a trifecta, just tell me everything baby brother." Triton told him with a cracking laughter peering on the edge of his voice. Percy sighed one last time before giving in.
"I'm stuck in a love triangle that includes a nymph called Esther, Thalia, and Artemis. This combination is threatening to make Aphrodite stronger than the Titans because of it's occupants. Happy now?" Percy asked as he turned to a jaw dropped Triton.
"A-a-a-a-a-"
"Yes! Artemis, now what of it?" Percy turned away from his gobsmacked brother and continued onward. His trident began to take on an overpowering glow as he coursed his power through the pronged spikes of metal in his grip.
"And Thalia? Wow, the fates just hate you dude." Triton said at last. He wasn't even laughing anymore.
"Like, that's not even funny, that's just tragic. Oh well, I'm satisfied that I know, though I think given this particular set of circumstances, that ignorance may have been better, but let's get on with this anyway." Triton concluded as the two of them purged through the remaining tunnels before landing roughly in the pit of the stomach.
"That's not even the worst part, turns out, and I haven't told father about this yet as I'm not sure exactly how to tell him. I'm not even a Demigod anymore, I have another aspect from my mother's bloodline. I'm half Demon and half God." Percy explained, earning yet another confused look from his brother.
"Prove it." Triton told him, pointing his trident towards his brother without thinking. Percy shrugged for a second before his eyes changed color and he bulked up immensely.
He was tall before, but now he was flat out just monstrous, someone who Triton would not like to fight with.
"Sup? I'm a Demon, check this out." Perseus grinned mischievously before extending his arm to the right, a jet of fire erupted from his palm and scorched a soft fleshy wall they were walking near. A roar of pain erupted all around them.
It had only taken a second before the transformation was reversed and there stood Percy once again.
"Fair enough." Triton managed to utter through sheer shock. His little brother really was half Demon and half God.
"This place looks and smells like Tartarus and shit had a baby." Percy said casually as he scrunched up his nose in a feeble attempt to protect his senses from debilitating him completely.
"Yeah, it really does. Well, let's bust out of here." Triton said with a smile. Percy narrowed his eyes at his brother. Why was he so happy?
"What's put you in an annoyingly good mood?" Percy asked quickly.
"Your life sucks man, I thought I had it bad being the underdog out of the two of us, but seriously? You've got the fame and all, but you've also got things like this happening to you on the regular. Hands down I wouldn't trade for anything. Like, no offense brother, but all things considered, I'll be happy to finally settle down with a nymph one day. I don't need to have the choice between nymphs, Demigods, and Olympians." Triton laughed.
Percy had already given up with everything in that area so instead he just launched his anger infused trident into the soft flesh of the Leviathan's stomach lining.
A terrible tremor erupted around them from the point where Percy's silver and sea green trident had struck out and ripped through the flesh of the beast.
"Huh, that's actually working rather well. Let's do it again." Triton commanded. Percy nodded and within minutes the two princes had shredded a lovely set of paths and tunnels out of the stomach of the Leviathan.
They could feel themselves moving through the sea at a much slower pace. The Leviathan couldn't keep up with it's usual speed with this many internal wounds.
"Lets find some sort of vital organ and fuck it up." Percy grinned. Triton emulated the grin and they soon realized exactly how similar they looked and how prominent their father-side features were.
They both kept moving through the main tunnels that had been formed out of the stomach and soon enough they decided that if they kept going, they would find themselves in a colossal sized ass hole.
Though it would take them quite a few days to cover that many miles on foot without the air of the sea.
"The heart?" Triton asked the question that had been plaguing both of their minds for a long time.
"Let's rip it out and then find that damn witch." Percy nodded. He made a mental list of things that he still needed to do before he could finally resume a normal life.
Kill the Leviathan was the most important and imminent thing that he needed to do, but after that the witch's life had to end. He then had to figure out a way to please three women and not get himself sent to Tartarus by an angry Goddess slash hunter.
After a grueling hour of crawling around the body of the beast, they found the heart alright. Three of them in fact.
They destroyed each one and kept trekking and carving their path through the body of the Leviathan. If they could feel the currents moving outside of it's body after they destroyed something then they would continue to destroy things.
"I'm getting really annoyed with this now. I say we just let our most powerful attacks slice through this thing. I don't see it being able to live without a head." Percy spat as he looked around.
If they could find out where they were inside it then they could easily separate it into two parts.
"Agreed, I'll take the lower part and you take the upper section." Triton nodded. Soon enough both brothers were in position.
"Ready?" Percy asked, knowing full well that Triton would have been able to hear him.
"Ready." Triton responded. It didn't take long before they could literally feel each other's rising powers. Another disturbance among them appeared though.
Was it outside help or another one of Glenda's plots? The water mage obviously knew of Percy's dilemma and saw it as a way out. She was after all, the cause of all of this.
"I see that you've met my door guard." An old but still decidedly feminine voice called out.
"Door guard meaning that you're nearby?" Percy asked with a smirk. He stabbed his enlarged trident into the skin of the beast, gaining streams of water in return. He had pierced the skin, that was good. He was met with nothing but silence after that.
"I'm taking that as a yes you old hag!" Percy laughed, slicing through the last remaining parts of the Leviathan's skin. He found Triton doing the same and with one last joint blast of godly energy from their trident's they managed to separate the Leviathan.
The sea bed shook with tremors as the Leviathan died out, slowly but surely. They'd destroyed organ after organ but nothing could live without a head.
The two sea princes were finally freed from the belly of the beast and as they returned to their natural habitat they saw the body of the Leviathan slowly fall down the hole it had emerged from.
"Here's betting that the sea hag's house is at the bottom of that pit." Percy grinned.
"Yeah, but we'll need a lot more power to get rid of that carcass." Triton pointed out.
"Dad! We need to get rid of this thing. You said the Leviathan didn't fall under your power, what about now that it's dead? Can you move it for us?" Percy called out to nobody in particular.
If he got an answer; it wasn't a straight forward one but then the Gods weren't ever straight forward beings. The earth vibrated ever so slightly.
"Sooo does that mean he wants us to cause earthquakes? OK, I'm game." Percy shrugged, slamming the hilt of his trident into the sea bed. Cracks jumped up from the floor immediately.
He did it again and they continued to expand. Triton joined him in perfect synchronization, and soon enough a huge radius had opened up around them, some five miles across in which the Leviathan's body started to slowly elevate out of the ground.
"Let's give it a helping hand shall we?"
Triton nodded and soon both of the boys plus the unseen Poseidon managed to pull the entire remaining half of the Leviathan out of the now huge canyon in the very bottom of the sea floor.
"Looks like we're trick or treating." Triton grinned as they found what they were looking for at the bottom of the hole.
Back on land, far away from the machinations of the princes of the sea, a much less volatile exchange was taking place between two daughters of Zeus.
"You wanted to see me milady?" Thalia asked with a strained voice. She watched her mistress through tired eyes. The past twenty four hours had been extremely brutal on her, both physically and emotionally.
"We need to talk. I need you to promise on the river Styx that what I tell you stays between us." Artemis demanded. Thalia swore to those terms and went completely wide eyed when Artemis explained it, all of it.
"So you know about how I've felt since the start, and you know there's a connection between him and the nymph. How does this all turn out Lady Artemis?" Thalia asked.
The sadness was already growing in her voice for she knew that if it came down to it, she couldn't best a Goddess, especially not for someone like Percy.
After a moment of silence, Artemis managed to devise a plan worthy of Athena.
"If we can convince the Gods or maybe just Poseidon, to release Esther from her lake all together, then I can offer her the immortality of being a huntress and we can bring Percy back to the Hunt and actually work on it, together." Artemis suggested.
"That may just work, if he was ever interested in being here on his own accord." Thalia responded flatly.
There was no way he would willingly come back to the Hunt, he knew he was a risk to everyone there, but would that be the case after he'd found the water mage and dominated the latest prophecy?
"But if she's a nymph, how could she possibly become a hunter?" The Goddess' lieutenant asked the vital question. It was something that had been playing across her mind. Her silver eyes flickered as her mind worked at the speed of Athena in unraveling the solution to their shared problem.
"I am a Goddess. With Poseidon's permission, our shared power could relocate her tie to the sea into Percy himself. He would become an essential part of the Hunt. It will all pan out Thalia, you will see." Artemis reassured her sister, but truly she wasn't so sure, rather she was just hopeful that her plan would work.
"I must go, father will be able to sway Poseidon's view on this if need be. Perseus could become a powerful guardian." Artemis grunted before turning into nothing more than a quick blaze of silver that left Thalia standing alone on the patrol route of the hunter's camp.
Far away from anything Artemis related, the two princes of the sea were diving down a lengthy hole that burrowed through the seafloor and further into the mantle of the earth.
"Are we knocking, or not extending her the liberty?" Triton asked. Percy glanced at his brother before extending his trident ever so softly before a blast of bright blue and white plasma bolted towards the huge steel dome that rested comfortably at the bottom of the hole.
The power managed to break through it effortlessly, leaving a gushing fountain that was spreading through the other side of the piece of carnage that had been created.
The two princes moved past it with incredible ease before finding themselves standing in a cave that was not filled with water. Slowly the water was retracting itself and the broken entrance was rebuilding.
'Oh goody, air! Now I can actually function.' Perseus said, making sure to force Percy to be aware of the fact that on the inside, Perseus was harboring a hugely mischievous grin.
"We are not dealing with just any mage, brother. This witch has incredible power, come, let's put an end to Aphrodite's prophecy quickly." Triton grinned as he led the way through the cave.
They came across the most bizarre thing that either sea prince had ever seen.
'I think I'm getting a murder-on just by looking at that thing. I mean come on, it's practically begging to be killed. Damn, this bitch loves making abominations, and that's coming from one of the most mentally complex Demons in history.'
"I combined the cruel claws of the crab, the killing instinct of man, and the pure essence of three hundred walruses!" A shrill voice that belonged to an aged hag, sounded off behind the huge, walrus man thing that blocked their paths.
Both boys dived out of the way of a huge white blast of pure energy that looked almost as destructive as their own godly energies.
"Then how the fuck can it breathe like an anime character!" Percy shouted from behind the rocks he'd dived into. Angry that he now had to fight this new abomination he readied his trident.
"Fuck you, that's how." Glenda grinned immaturely at her comeback. Percy scowled before feeling a new sensation of warmth wash over him.
"Perce, you're… Silver?" Triton seemed to be asking him more than telling him. Why in the name of the Gods was he silver?
"Oh dear." he said as he figured it all out.
Back up on Olympus Artemis had told her father of the important things that he needed to know. She very expertly excluded telling him about how two of his favored daughters had fallen in love with the son of his rival.
That was a can of worms that if she absolutely had to open, she would do so with Percy present. There was nothing else she could say or do, it was just something that she and Thalia would have to tackle when it became unavoidable.
She felt a jolt of electricity pass through her being and when she focused she almost gasped in horror at the sight before her. Percy and Poseidon's other son, Triton, were fighting against yet another of Glenda's abominations.
She focused and then Percy was engulfed in a silver aura, she had given him her blessing, something that Demigod males had never been gifted before, but then again, Percy was not merely a Demigod male, and he'd set himself apart from all of the others anyway.
"Oh dear." Percy sighed before readying himself. Another blast shot past him which brought his attention back to the mediocre power of the ugly walrus man in front of him.
"Hmm, I should probably deal with that." he muttered before casting his trident away, he wouldn't need it for what he planned on doing next.
He stood and put on his most stunningly attractive face. "What are you doing!?" Glenda asked in a surprised outrage as the Demon-God strutted up confidently, ignoring the immense danger that should have been present.
The Walrus-man-crab let out another burst of godlike energy that would have easily disintegrated a coach full of party ponies in mere seconds.
It hit the son of Poseidon dead on, creating a ball of extremely volatile energy that encircled him, blocking Triton's view of the situation.
"Percy!" Triton shouted in shock. Had he just witnessed his brother's foolish death? The smoke cleared to reveal the one from before, the version of Percy whose eyes were not the same shade of emeralds but of a thousand beating hearts.
The one whose stature was intimidating, whose aura spoke volumes about the sheer amount of destructive power that was held within his finger tips.
"Guess again bro. Percy's sitting this one out, he promised to let me take the wheel for at least a little while." Perseus grinned, clenching his fists, allowing a bright fire to grow from within, this was going to be extremely fun.
'You can do what you like as long as you don't endanger Triton, he's your brother as well.' Percy told him sternly, being the voice inside the head for once. Perseus mentally agreed without any hesitation.
For a Demon, he had shattered any and all preconceived notions Percy had about demonology. He was pretty sure that Perseus was simply an exception because of who he was, but it still didn't serve to do any justice to the legends of extremely evil malevolence that the Demon 'mythology' had set up for themselves.
He was more or less just a 'bad-boy' version of Percy that wielded fire instead of water, or at least, that was the only difference that had presented itself to Percy so far.
Glenda and Triton shared the exact same look of confused amazement at Perseus' extremely powerful antics. He jumped gracefully over a swipe that the Walrus-man-crab let out at him. Perseus ducked and rolled before repeatedly punching the beast in the back.
"Kidney punch." he said, every single time his fist made contact with it. Before long he'd finished up with his new plaything and let the lifeless and somewhat burnt carcass of the abomination fall to the floor.
"Now for the sea bitch." he grinned, seemingly turning into a total psychopath on a power trip.
'That was... Satisfying, I might have you take over a lot more.'
"With the sea mage dead, father will gain more control over the seas than that of Oceanus, he will become the most powerful Olympian. Think about the balance Percy. He cannot be allowed to have thoughts of overthrowing Zeus. I am the heir and do not crave power, so when she dies, I am forcing you to engage everything that is given to you." Triton told him rather strangely.
"Well, seeing as I'm a Demon and have no interest in power governing water, I'll be going now." Perseus announced, followed by a faint flash of a yellow magenta in the air as the son of Poseidon changed from Demon to God.
The instant that Percy was himself once again, his trident was sailing through the air, a sickening crunch filled their ears only a moment after that, the sight of Glenda impaled by Percy's trident was the next thing that Triton registered.
The middle prong of the trident had run straight through her neck and pinned her against the rocky wall. Her corpse degraded immediately, her essence had morphed into a stream of ocean blue energy that bit by bit flowed into the trident.
At least they didn't have to worry about an imbalance of power as it had all immediately chosen it's killer's weapon.
"Well, let's get back to Atlantis, I'm sure father will want to know how it's gone. Plus, I have nothing else to use as an excuse for not telling him about my demonic blood, let's be off." Percy announced before retrieving his trident.
Both princes of the sea promptly left the rocky cavernous home of the now dead sea mage who had instilled a brutal curse upon a nymph.
A nymph who was now located in Poseidon's palace.
Poseidon's palace was eerily quiet ever since the two princes of the sea had returned. Amphitrite had said nothing to either of them as they marched into the throne room.
Poseidon was sat in his throne, deep in thought about how he was going to help Percy's situation, he had been for quite some time, and that was why he had gotten into a huge verbal debate with his wife that had turned sour.
Poseidon was not really bothered by that, his marriage was one that was stronger than ever nowadays, but everyone had fights, this was just a little bump that they would both get over, after all, Amphitrite was starting to actually like Percy for who he was.
The God of the seas was thinking about the nymph that was now inside the vastly downsized lake inside his east wing, the part of the palace that held no water due to its function as a party wing for when he invited guests from Olympus.
"Father, we have succeeded, the curse has been broken and Glenda the sea mage now ceases to exist, I must say, Percy really has an incredible storage of power, were you aware?" Triton announced, casting a sly glance at Percy, pushing him straight into what the younger prince believed to be a whole verbal pile of shit.
"Yes, Artemis informed me of everything and I vowed to back her if she chose to continue down her seemingly decided path. The only one I am weary about is Zeus. If he refuses to see sense then there will be war. A decidedly one sided war considering the amount of support I have already secretly sealed for Percy." Poseidon responded, getting up to properly greet his sons.
Triton was mildly crestfallen, that was meant to be his chance to poke holes in Percy's plan and watch him squirm as he told their father that he was a Demon, but Poseidon had already figured it out by his own means. That was a lot less fun.
"Unfortunately, I cannot seem to track down your grandfather anywhere. He seems to be the point of origin for the Demon in your bloodline. It seems like your Demon is all alone now, but maybe that's for the best, I'd heard that they were pretty brutal." Poseidon shrugged.
The conversations went on for quite some time before Percy decided that he needed to go back to Artemis and the Hunt, he was still their guardian after all, and as of recently, he'd not been doing his job very well, and that was something that he needed to make up for.
He promised to come back and visit Esther when he could, but right now, there were more pressing matters, like exactly how he was going to apologize to Artemis for jumping out of her moon chariot to go off and fight a literal leviathan.
'We need some more style, we can't just go around by swimming all of the time, I don't like it. I want a car.' Perseus whined immaturely.
"In what world will a car be sensible for us if we're going to be the guardian of the Hunt? We can't park a car in the forest." Percy responded, more bewildered by Perseus' thought process than anything else.
'We totally can, you know that fire isn't my only power right? You also don't seem to understand that since our fight with Kronos, I'm not the only thing that has changed. Because of my lack of dormancy inside this mind, my blood has mixed with your blood and we have both been through a forced ascension.' Perseus continued to not make much sense.
"What's your point?" he asked suspiciously, stepping onto land. He had no idea where he was, but he was never that far from New York whenever he left the shorelines, and as far as he was aware, the Hunt was still in their last location.
'My point is, I'm taking over, teleporting somewhere that I can find the kind of car that I want, taking that car and if I need to, I'll create a spatial dimension that we can use as a garage. Now move over, the big daddy is in charge now.' Perseus laughed immaturely as he forced control of the body.
Percy was strong enough to deny him but honestly he didn't mind letting Perseus have control as he seemed to have very good constraint in terms of what he did.
If the Demon was ever going to harm an innocent, then Percy would take over and leave very quickly, but that was just never the case with him.
The transformation was almost instant now and the Demon Perseus looked around. It was the dead of night and no doubt Artemis already knew where he was, so he'd have to move fast in order to pull this off.
He flicked his fingers in a strange series of motions that left a fiery imprint in the air before a Perseus sized rip in reality had formed out of the fire that had expanded, it seemed to be a portal.
'Oh God, where are you taking us?' Percy asked in genuine fear.
"Kansas." Perseus responded with glee as he stepped through. He was loving every minute of his true freedom, it was brilliant, especially as this was the first time he was in control and not having to fight something.
'What? Why are we in Kansas, what could you possibly want in Kansas.'
Perseus clicked his fingers, disappearing in a flash of flames and reappearing a few streets over from their initial entry point.
"That." He pointed at a long sleek black car that looked like it was worth quite a bit if you managed to find a vintage buyer.
'I don't see anyth-... No. You are not stealing that car, it belongs to someone.'
"Yeah, me. I'll replace it with another car, they won't even know the difference because of the magic I'll place over it." Perseus shrugged as he snapped his fingers once again, this time appearing inside the beautiful vehicle.
'If you're willing to replace it with another car then that leads me to believe that you very specifically want this one. Why?'
"Well, they don't produce this car anymore and as far as I'm aware this is the last one left." he reasoned innocently.
'No, really, why this one? Without the bullshit this time.'
"Really, that is the reason why. I like this car, now let's get back to the Hunt, they're probably eager to shoot at us again." Perseus laughed as he sped down the midnight streets of Kansas back towards New York.
On the way to New York, and the hunters in that respect, the two aspects had talked a lot. Percy had found out a remarkable amount about his fiery counterpart.
Perseus had complete control over fire, he could summon it, dispel it and do just about anything he wanted with it, including increasing the intensity of it's heat.
The Demon was also capable of creating rifts in reality that could transport him long distances, and by snapping his fingers he could teleport short distances in a very similar way to that of the Gods.
Sure enough they had reached the point where they were far beyond the capabilities of Perseus' new car. He got out and made an over dramatic show of saying goodbye to the car before opening a pretty wide rift that enveloped it.
Snapping his fingers he managed to teleport directly to where the hunters were, having locked in on Artemis' energy signature, besides, it wasn't hard to pinpoint thirty two immortals all in the same place.
They might not have been that overly powerful in the grand scheme of things, but an immortal was still an immortal regardless of that.
They were making progress as only one single arrow flew his way, fortunately he'd been expecting it and he turned towards the projectile, staring the implement down in mid-flight.
Artemis watched in horror, frozen in time as she recognized the unmistakable scene of an arrow flying straight at Percy, no, Perseus' head.
"Ignis!" he bellowed. The arrow never reached him, instead it had been turned to cinders that now graced the ground, slowly blowing away from the slight breeze around them.
Artemis came up to him silently, just analyzing him. Yes, that was definitely Perseus, there were so many dead giveaways.
The hair, shorter and messier, the eyes, no longer green and emblazoned with hope instead they were a deep red, burning with rage, the muscles, no longer lightweight like a swimmers but big and incredibly lean like a true warrior.
Most of all, the one thing that indistinctly set them apart was the fact that Perseus had two narrow horns swept back against his hair, they were the same color so it was easy to miss them, but Artemis knew what to look for.
"I take it that none of you missed me?" he asked them rhetorically. They all regarded him differently, yet each of them still had a trace of fear in their eyes. This was, at his core, Percy Jackson, the strongest Demigod ever, and he'd been given yet another upgrade.
'Are you done? You've exercised enough today, I'm coming back, plus, we've got some duties to perform tonight, and I doubt you want that responsibility.' Percy reasoned before forcing himself back to normality. Everyone watching this transformation, it was quick but they definitely all saw it and understood it's significance.
"Hey everyone, sorry for that sudden entrance, he's being a handful at the moment, but hey, I got a car out of it so it's not all that bad." Percy chuckled before seeing the extremely angry expression a certain Goddess had.
"Come on guardian, time for you to be briefed." she muttered darkly before snapping her fingers. To her utmost surprise, he didn't move, not a single bit. She slowly looked from her hand to him, why couldn't she teleport him?
"Too powerful ma'am." he said casually before following her to a quiet spot away from the prying gaze of almost every hunter.
There was one who was included within this conversation, it was also one that was promising Percy a long and difficult life filled with literal and metaphorical lightning strikes.
"Firstly, whose car did you steal?" the Goddess asked with a heavily pained sigh. He'd disappeared from her view for a few hours and he'd already stolen someone's car and left a trail of mischievous energy from across the country.
"I dunno, though Perseus was very specific about which car it was." Percy shrugged effortlessly.
'Hey, it was just chance that I picked Kansas but once we were there I felt something odd in that region so I went to investigate. I have no idea who actually owns that car but I figured out halfway here that it reeks of the scent of Angel.' The prince of the sea already knew that Perseus was doubtlessly expressing a huge grin. He'd more than likely pissed off an Angel, that was just bad news for everyone around him.
"Are you kidding me? Are you actually being serious, Perseus?" Percy asked him incredulously, seemingly ignoring the two huntresses in front of him. Dealing with his Demon took priority in pretty much any situation at this point.
"What, what is it?" Artemis asked him, a faint trace of genuine fear of how badly Perseus had damaged their situation. She hid that fear remarkably well though.
'Yeah, I'm not giving it back and if the Angel comes to find me then I'll just rip it's wings off and make it a flightless bird.' Perseus chuckled quickly, his whole answer being completely nonchalant.
He genuinely didn't care whether or not any Angels came to hunt him down. He'd gladly face off against each and every one that was brave enough to step up to him, after all, between the two of them, they were a Demon-God, an extremely powerful entity.
"That's pretty savage, perhaps you don't have to fight them just because of this little mid-understanding." Percy reasoned, only continuing to get stares of confusion from Artemis and Thalia, who at this point realized that he was talking to the demon inside his mind.
"Percy, what did your bad-boy alter ego do?" Thalia's voice didn't even seem to register for a few moments as the son of Poseidon listened to the Demon's reasoning.
'Nah, you're talking about the fact that a Demon has just stolen a vintage car belonging to an Angel. Smelled like he had a considerable amount of power as well. It could be fun, I mean, they have no chance to take on us but it could still be fun either way.'
"The car Perseus stole belonged to an Angel." Percy told them, seeing both of their eyes widen and their mouths go slack.
They probably didn't even know about Angels, which admittedly neither did he until Perseus had mentioned it moments ago. They were apparently no threat to him though, so it was far less of a serious situation.
'I never said it belonged to an Angel, just that it smelled like Angel. The car holds the scent of humans, and it's stronger than the Angel's, which in fairness isn't good because any Human that smells like they have enough power to be as pronounced to the nasal as an Angel, usually means that they've been through some serious shit and lived to tell about it. We could be dealing with some sort of supernatural hunters.' That wasn't good.
Perseus had single handedly turned everything up on its head in that one sentence. So, while the car stank of Angel, it actually belonged to a pair of hunters that would no doubt specialize in Demons.
"I swear to Zeus that one day I'm going to seriously hurt you. Fine, whatever. So I'm expecting some sort of hunters that specialize in the supernatural to come after me sooner or later, but right now, I have some guardian duties to attend to, so, Artemis?" he asked, turning his attention back to the Goddess.
The Goddess that he knew for a fact had a longing for him that she wasn't allowed to have.
A certain craving for the son of Poseidon had worked it's way inside her mind yet she could never satisfy that crave because of who she was. No doubt she was going to be getting a surprise visit from Aphrodite pretty soon.
Thalia on the other hand was quickly finding that her attraction for the son of Poseidon was very rapidly becoming a specific set of things, or to be more specific, a certain aspect of him.
That Demon had almost everything that she saw in Percy, except there was more, he had a bad-boy attitude and genuinely seemed to not care about his actions. He may now have been being hunted by an Angel yet he didn't even care. It was right up Thalia's alley.
"You're on perimeter patrol until sunrise, don't screw this up, I'm eager to receive your report in the morning." she told him before flashing away to the moon chariot.
She was going to be watching him, ensuring that not only he did his job the way she knew he could, but also to make sure he was safe, she couldn't have him blowing up halfway through his first task.
She watched Thalia say something that he promptly ignored. She was in no better position to reach the son of Poseidon than Artemis was.
It was sad to see him just start his rounds, establishing his preferred perimeter to the camp. He vigilantly marched around, not stopping for anything and not uttering a single word.
There was no doubt that inside his mind there was a ferocious verbal debate happening over their next move. Something that no-one but them knew about.
One thing was for sure, there was a big confrontation coming, and the Demon couldn't wait, after all, it's not so outlandish to believe that Perseus may have actually known about the true identity of the hunters and was in fact using them as bait to lure out an extremely dangerous individual.
Revenge was going to be sweet. The truth was hidden, from everyone but Perseus and luckily nobody had questioned him on certain things.
Like what he'd been doing for all the years that Percy had been simply Percy. It wasn't like Perseus hadn't always been a part of him.
He'd just been busy, fighting his own battles in Hell, in a very special place beyond the nine circles of Hell. Under the icy depths of the Cocytus, a place that only Demons could go.
Where Percy had fought his years against Kronos, Perseus had been fighting all his life against Satan, a Prince of Hell. He had only toppled the Prince of Hell with the help of his grandfather.
The one who had given him his existence. Things had quickly turned south from there, after he had tried to erase Perseus's existence.
Revenge would be sweet.
What was going through Thalia's mind? Whatever it was, it was traveling at a million miles an hour. It was him, Percy Jackson, the man that she'd joined the eternal Hunt because of.
He hadn't exactly left her heartbroken like most would assume, but rather that she'd fallen in love with him since first opening her eyes after dying.
His were the first eyes she'd seen in her new life, he was the only reason that she was alive today, and yet she found that her attraction for him was quickly sliding south, it wasn't any less about him, but it was more about Perseus.
The Demon had managed to fully capture her attention now, despite his very rare occasion where he'd been in control.
In fact, she'd only seen him for a few minutes collectively, but she couldn't help but be enchanted by those vibrant blood red eyes and that sheer aura of authority and power that flowed over him in droves. It was the polar opposite to that of the usually stoic and calm presence that followed Percy.
All of these things were plaguing Thalia's mind as she sat in the perch of a tree, watching Percy march the perimeter, running a small knife over a stick, carving out the perfect shaft for a single arrow.
Artemis was far less impressed by the Demon, in fact she was quickly starting to become aggravated by everything he said, yet even she couldn't lie to herself about him.
He was something new to her, he encapsulated everything she liked about the son of Poseidon, but he came along with a very laid back and carefree attitude with seemingly no care in the world about his own safety.
It promoted a strange projection of who he was. Powerful, despite it being so easy for him, whereas Percy was almost the opposite.
Unfathomable power hidden behind his constraints.
There was no doubt that Percy held incredible droves of strength, he had even before Perseus was a thing to them, but he was stoic and more reserved in the things he said and did.
Right now for instance he was silently marching around the perimeter of her hunters encampment, constantly keeping up a solid vigil in his duties.
He'd been placed here on Zeus' orders, and now he was over his explosive episode where she'd been forced to hunt him down with paralyzing arrows.
She so badly wanted to go straight down there, force him into a chair and get a real answer from him. She'd taken initiative, she'd put her neck out on the line when she made the first move forwards and tasted his lips for herself.
He hadn't denied her of it, he was just not ready to let his mind think about it while he'd been hunting down the sea mage, but now... The mage was dead, and his only focus was the safety of her hunters, and her, though she hadn't known that.
Percy was passing a tree that was larger than most, etching another tally mark into it to signify another completed circuit of his perimeter, there had been no changes to the defenses that he'd set up at the beginning of the night.
A young hunter had followed him out, seemingly not scared of him as the man he was, despite knowing that he was a prince of the sea, son of Poseidon, a wrathful God and above all of that, a Demon that they really had no information about. All they had was his word that Percy was in control of it.
She came right up to him, wearing a pair of dim silver combat trousers tucked neatly into some black boots. It was the current hunting garb of the girls when winter rolled around.
"What can I do for you milady?" Percy asked, kneeling down in the dirt so that the girl didn't feel like she had to constantly look up and strain her neck at the tall man.
"I wanted to apologize." she replied timidly, catching the sea prince off guard completely. She'd come out of nowhere asking to apologize to him? He couldn't remember her name let alone what she was supposedly apologizing for.
"What for? You haven't done anything to me." he answered her with a small but warm smile. Up above them watching from the confines of the moon chariot, Artemis was on edge, this girl, she was the one she worried about the most.
Aside from Tania because of her blatant problem creating skills.
But this girl, her past was horrendous, it was by far the worst out of anyone in her Hunt, so she had no idea what she was doing willingly going up to Percy, on her own no less!
"I've put more arrows in your body than anyone else here, and really I had no reason to do it, aside from Lady Artemis telling me that we had to prevent you from killing yourself." she told him, keeping her eyes glued to the floor.
Percy suddenly realized that this girl was far wiser than she appeared to be. He had to wonder how long she'd been in the Hunt because of the way that she appeared to be very young, maybe a few years younger than Thalia, yet she held such wisdom in her eyes.
She may have been a daughter of Athena, but he couldn't say for certain, but one thing he knew for sure was that her levels of knowledge were far beyond her years.
"Silly hunter. You don't need to apologize for that, I'm not like other boys, I can take being shot by a few arrows every now and then." he chuckled lightly, managing to get eye contact with her for the first time since she'd arrived. She slowly but surely managed to turn her frown into a small smile.
"You're right, you are unlike any other male on this planet, you and your Demon. You're both completely void of any malice, it's no wonder that my mistress has taken such an... Extreme level of acceptance for you." The girl's eyes glinted with a trace of mischief causing Percy to worry.
If the hunters were aware of what had happened between himself and Artemis then they were no doubt already planning his execution, and that was going to be extremely painful.
"What do you mean?" he asked, expertly masking his worry. Up above them, Artemis was far less collected about it having muttered a string of curses in ancient Greek as she watched with incredible anticipation as to what her most damaged hunter was trying to tell the man she was falling for.
"My name is Jolene, and what I mean is that throughout the past few years, whenever your name has come up, and it has from time to time because you seem to be kind of a hotshot for the Gods, she was only ever capable of speaking highly of you. It was no surprise to a few of us older hunters when she practically jumped at the chance to bring you back from suicidal tendencies." Jolene, explained carefully.
She had worded it sufficiently enough that her hidden meaning had gone over Percy's head, but then, it wasn't even meant for him. Jolene was sending her message to the Lady in the sky whom she knew for a fact was watching them.
The Hunt, or at least the older girls, the ones who were far more in-tune with Artemis, knew what was going on. Or at the very least, they knew somewhat what was going on, she highly doubted that they all knew the ins and outs of everything that was happening between them, but they knew something, and that was bad enough.
Percy sighed, he was getting pretty tired of walking the same route around the camp, yet he knew better than others that if anything was out there planning to attack them, then they'd do it when Percy slipped up, so he was going to continue his boring march out of principle.
"Well, thank you for actually apologizing for filling my body up with that ghastly paralyzing formula. While my body is incredibly resilient, I can still feel pain just as much as anyone else, and that thing hurt like Hades." Percy chuckled lightly at the memory of himself and Perseus bellowing every curse under the sun inside their shared mind as the arrows were being pulled from his body.
"Hmm, don't get used to it Percy, I'm only making things even, do your job well and maybe you'll be able to turn this Hunt around for the better. I know you're already having an effect on us older ones. Thalia smiled when you first came here, Lady Artemis isn't having to do everything by herself anymore, Hades, even Phoebe isn't as bitter as she used to be before you came along. Just keep that in mind." Jolene told him quietly before walking back towards the camp.
It wasn't that Percy didn't appreciate her words, but damn, it was about time she left.
He couldn't face the quickly approaching energy signature if she was still around, and he knew it had to be someone powerful because he detected it, yet she was none the wiser to it. An extra pair of eyes, watching him from a shadowed version of reality.
'Think that's the Angel? It feels powerful and by the looks of things, not even Artemis has felt it yet. Let's call him out.' Perseus offered, seeing only one way that a meeting between themselves and the Angel could possibly end, or perhaps that was just how he hoped things would turn out.
Suddenly, before Percy could do anything, he registered another life form, this one appeared instantly, and right behind him.
He heard the click of a pistol cocking it's firing hammer. He casually stood and turned around to find himself face to face with a smaller but well built man in jeans and boots, a simple jacket over his torso, looking incredibly angry with the prince of the sea.
'I bet fifty souls that this guy is the pissed off ex-owner of my car.' Perseus laughed hysterically.
"Fifty souls, I thought you were more of an easy going Demon, damn dude, you better not be using my soul as currency. Though, if you'd have said fifty drachma, I'd raise you for that." Percy responded out loud, earning an estranged look of confusion from the smaller man.
'Well, from my past experiences, we traded the souls of the damned, you know, assholes that were serving an eternity for their sins? That sort of thing. Pretty much worthless to anyone who could perceive souls anyway, it was just the only thing we had.'.
"What?" the man with the gun asked at last after fully taking in his appearance.
There was another man, a much taller one but definitely the younger of the two by the looks of it.
"Sorry, I was talking to an annoying little voice in my head, he bets that you're the one who he stole the car from and I agreed, though I don't think you're the Angel that was making the seats smell like idiocy." Percy told him, grinning at the minute insult in the later half of his sentence.
"So he was right, you are a Demon. Lucky me, unlucky you, see the bullets inside this gun are going to give you a fast travel straight back to Hell." the smaller man told him before firing a bullet point blank at Percy's face.
There was the faintest flash of light as movement trembled in their vision, all before it ceased. They had no idea how to react when they saw him reach out and grab the crumpled bullet that had been rejected away from his skin, falling to the ground with no effect whatsoever.
'The fuck's he using, a potato gun?'
He sighed, "I'm not the Demon, I'm the God." he explained, summoning his trident as if to reinforce that point.
"That's OK, we've killed Gods before, everyone has a breaking point." the small man replied, never once letting his aim falter from Percy's face, despite seeing how little it had done.
That was something that shocked Percy. Only nights ago he'd been subjected to celestial bronze arrow tips that had managed to break through his flesh. He healed very fast but they were still only arrows, he'd just been shot with a bullet that had done nothing more than bounce harmlessly off of his forehead.
Surely he wasn't becoming even more powerful than he already was? Or perhaps that was something that was happening alongside the mixture in his biology. Perhaps his body was finally catching up with the fact that he was a Demon-God.
'Pfft, as if. By the sounds of things they've never really even killed a Demon stronger than the dreggs of Hell.' Perseus added, completely disappointed by the hunter in front of him.
"No, you've killed pseudo Gods, but you've never even met a real God. Well here I am in all of my glory, the one and only existing Demon-God. My name is Percy, but the one you want is Perseus." he explained far too politely for the hunter's liking.
His logic was solid if he could provide any genuine evidence that the Gods they'd encountered in their travels were just shams.
"Like it makes a difference! You still stole my baby!" he shouted.
Thalia appeared out of the shadows, bow drawn and pointed at the hunter who merely regarded her as an insane teenager.
"Really, a water gun?" he asked incredulously.
"A water gun, that's what you see? Damn, the mist is really losing it's edge these days." Thalia grinned knowing full well that he was in for a shock if he thought she was really holding a water gun.
They all heard the rustle of feathers before there was a bored looking man in a beige trench-coat standing in the middle of all of them.
"Hmm." he hummed before clicking his fingers. Percy felt the mist around them disperse immediately. He was only proven right when the hunter quickly changed targets, pointing his pistol at Thalia, who he could now clearly see was holding a silver bow, an arrow at the ready to add a particularly nasty hole to his lungs.
'I'm taking over, there's something about that human that seems off to me.' That was the only warning Percy got before the God became the Demon, complete with the horns and the blood red eyes, that and the lazy grin that seemed to constantly be at ease on his lips.
Thalia's heart began to beat a little bit faster and her body felt warm.
Perseus walked right up to the one with the gun, ignoring the Angel completely who looked dumbstruck that anyone would do such a thing.
Perseus crushed the hunter's gun in an instant but instead of striking out against him, he merely sniffed at the air for a brief moment.
"You and I are both descended from the same person, there's quite a gap in generations for you compared to me but it's definitely there." Perseus announced in amusement before turning to the Angel.
"I think you and I ought to have a little chat, we've got a lot to discuss if everyone is going to get out of this alive." Perseus grinned before snapping his fingers.
Twenty feet away there was a large blood red rift that opened up just above the treeline, causing a car to fall out in mid air and become impaled by the trees themselves before crashing down to the ground.
Everything was silent before the Demon hunter slowly turned his gaze towards a sheepish looking Perseus.
"Son of a bitch!"
Without any warning whatsoever, time had come to a complete standstill.
'I am anger.' Percy's voice came softly at first, echoing through Perseus' mind. Time was at a standstill, everything around them stood frozen in a vortex that they had once before been subjected to, though last time, it had been Kronos' doing, not their own.
Neither of them had any idea exactly how they were exercising any sense of control over the threads of time, but they knew for a fact that it was them.
'Under pressure, lost in my cage.' Percy continued to talk, realizing that much like Perseus had been doing all this time, he was reading his counterpart's body language and mental reactions.
No words had ever really been needed from the one in control for them to have had a conversation.
"What are you gassing about?" Perseus asked after a moment had gone by where he just couldn't understand how time had flowed to a standstill.
Not even the Angel in the dirty trench-coat was showing any signs of indifference to the current time freeze.
'A prisoner. The first to escape.' Perseus had no idea what his godly counterpart was talking about, so instead he decided to analyze the situation further.
The Angel, looking as stoic as ever, was gazing off into the distance as if none of this had taken his interest whatsoever.
The Demon hunter had been winding his fist back, about to attempt to sock Perseus in the face for the pretty extensive damage that had been done to the stolen car.
Perseus snapped his fingers, summoning the other man next to the first Demon hunter. This one was taller, he almost looked like a deer caught in headlights.
'I am wicked.' Perseus sighed heavily, he doubted that Percy was ever going to actually let him know what he was talking about.
Not that it really mattered anymore, he had shifted his focus onto pretty much everything else. Casting his gaze skyward it seemed that he had more than likely frozen the Goddess above them as well as he was certain that she would have intervened at the first instant that Thalia was being aimed at with a pistol.
Either way, she wasn't on the ground with the rest of them.
'We were legion.' Something about that last sentence seemed to sound familiar to the Demon. Legion... Like the Demons of Hell that were rebelling against the Princes and Lords.
The Demons that were actually worth a damn in the whole war. The Demons like him, or, similar to him. None were the same as him, none were as powerful, and none had a second aspect that was a God.
'Strength in numbers, it was all a lie.' It was... All of it. There was nothing about their numbers that made a smitt of difference when they were led into an ambush by the Fallen Angel.
Who had let him out of the cage?
That was a fate that he wouldn't wish upon his worst enemy, yet he found himself wondering what would be worse.
Lucifer's cage, or Tartarus' personal chamber, a place that he only knew existed because he had personally translated the words for it from an ancient prophecy written on a wall of tainted souls down in Hell.
A prophecy written in Hell about something from Ancient Greece, it could only have ever involved himself and Percy, no one else fit the bill.
He just hoped that he didn't find himself personally subjected to meeting Tartarus face to face. He wasn't sure that he was mentally prepared for that, not yet at least.
'There's only strength in one.' Yeah, that was the truth. That explained exactly how he had been the only one to escape Lucifer's ambush with his essence intact, a personal insult to the Fallen Angel himself.
The big question was; who let him out?
Perseus cast his glance towards Thalia, she was doing fine. She was looking even better than fine as well, especially with her black eye-liner and makeup, completed by her attitude that she carried around so well.
He was especially fond of this huntress. Behind Thalia by a mere spec of meters was Jolene, the huntress that Percy had been talking to only minutes before this whole ordeal, she too had her bow wielded and aimed perfectly at the Demon hunter, neither of them seemingly bothered by the Angel who looked distracted by the night's sky.
'Everything that I see is for me.' Things were starting to make more sense than he had initially realized.
Percy wasn't just spouting random shit, no, he was talking cryptically but he was wording something very specific, something that Perseus had been thinking about this whole time.
'Yes, I am giant, I'm a monster.'
"What are you doing!?" he demanded at last. He didn't need to ask, it was that final moment, that final sentence that switched the light on inside Perseus' mind.
Percy was reciting the Demon's acts inside Hell. Everything he'd done to survive, to rise up among the ranks to become the dreaded heir their grandfather.
The grandson of the most feared Demon. It was a slow ascent for Percy to understand his less than holy heritage as well.
'I was reading your past. You've been through a heck of a lot down in that fiery inferno. I'm surprised that you came back with any sense of sanity, though that being said, you are me.'
Before Perseus could respond, time continued and a fist collided with his jaw.
The punch tickled somewhat though that wasn't the case for the hunter who was now cradling his hand, streaming a load of expletives that would have made a nun wail.
The Angel hummed something and then the Goddess made her entrance, standing at an impressive ten feet tall, leaving both hunters slack jawed.
The Angel was apparently less thrilled by Artemis' theatrics as he'd instantly appeared in front of both mortals. So, he'd managed to dispel the mist around them but Perseus concluded that they were more than likely clear sighted mortals to be Demon hunters, it must have just been an overwhelming intensity because of the amount of immortals surrounding them.
"You would dare to threaten any of my girls!?" Artemis bellowed, her huge bow already drawn and threatening to turn the Angel into a smoothie inside that beige trench-coat of his.
"What about me?" Perseus asked, making sure that he'd picked the absolutely worst time to open his mouth, after all, this was only happening because he'd had the ingeniously terrible idea to steal a prized car from a very efficient pair of Demon hunters.
"You're expendable." she answered immediately, not daring to look at him for fear of him being him and making her blush in front of everyone.
"Yeah, you keep telling yourself that silver Goddess." Perseus muttered before getting in between everyone.
"Truth is, I knew whose car it was from the start, I just needed them to come along with their guardian Angel. Everything is under control my dear lady, you should return to camp with the girls." Perseus bowed, winking just before his face was out of sight. Artemis was going to make him pay for that later, he was playing with fire that was beyond his confines.
She gave him no verbal response, instead disappearing, taking Thalia and Jolene with her. They would probably mobilize the Hunt and move on. It was about time that they actually initiated a new hunt anyway, a fresh hunt if they could find any decent monster trails in their next travels.
"What the Hell is going on!?" the taller one asked, shocked by the fact that he was no longer hidden by the shadows.
"You, me, and this dumbass are all descendants of my grandfather, the worst of the lot back down in Hell. He helped me to overthrow a Demon Prince, whose domain I now have partial control over, but then he stabbed me in the back. Literally." Perseus explained, giving them a few moments to let it all sink in.
'You're a Prince of Hell!? Don't you think that was something you should have told me about before making plans to ally yourself with Demon hunters to hunt down someone that wronged you!?' Percy demanded, enraged that Perseus had managed to organize all of this by himself without so much as a single word that could have shed some light on it for the son of Poseidon.
"It never really came up before, now quit your bitching, I know for a fact that you're only eager to end this meeting so that you can run back to your favored one." Perseus grinned, not speaking to either of the hunters nor the Angel.
"What the Hell is going on?" the smaller hunter asked, looking just as confused now as he had when their whole debacle had begun.
The Angel regarded the human carefully as he chose his words.
"This is the Demon and he can change into a God at will. Despite him being a Demon, I don't think he's evil." the Angel explained carefully. That wasn't quite it, that was just the closest thing to the truth.
"Well, as far as you're concerned and in regards to taking down that bastard. Whether I'm evil or divine, I'm the last in line." Perseus grinned before opening a rift and motioning for the three of them to follow him through it.
None of them knew where it was going to take them, but if they wanted answers, they were going to have to trust the Demon-God.
The Demon-God who hadn't been entirely truthful with them. He only needed them to lure their grandfather out, once he was there, he would do the rest and instill a righteous punishment from the hands of the current Prince of Ire.
Percy was incredibly aggravated by this entire charade, so imagine not only his surprise but Perseus' when they found that after an instant of immediate thought about returning to Artemis, that Percy was standing tall inside the empty moon chariot, except there wasn't two minds in one body, it was just Percy even though he could still feel Perseus inside his mind, they had split to two bodies.
"Well, that makes this a lot easier." he announced, knowing that his voice would be the hook that brought Artemis back to the chariot.
"What in the name of Hades-" Artemis began but was stunned speechless when she found she'd been cut off by a pair of lips that tasted like fresh water, caressing her own.
She wasn't sure whether she wanted to strangle him or do something entirely the opposite. Regardless of what she wanted, she found herself unable to do anything other than passionately melt into his kiss and reciprocate it with just as much fiery determination not to be outdone.
"You know," Percy began with a huge grin as they both struggled to regain their breathing, "For someone who has an incredibly long standing vow against the company of men, you are an exceptionally good kisser." he laughed.
"Shut up and give me your lips again." she muttered before pulling him back into it. This was something she'd waited far too long for, and she wasn't about to give it up willingly.