Chapter Four
Entry To Perdition
Sat against the edge of the moon chariot, the prominently light side of the Demon-God looked over at the Goddess of the Hunt.
Both of them had become completely oblivious to the flow of time. Artemis sat with her head against Percy's shoulder.
"All of this... It's come along so quickly and yet, I don't feel disturbed by that, I'm genuinely happy with my choice of company right now." she admitted, keeping her eyes glued firmly on her hands that would usually be twitching, but right now they were calm, a sign of her ease near Percy.
"Excellent, now perhaps you can tell me the entire truth about what's really going on around here? I can't speak for Perseus and his intentions at the moment but he's off gallivanting about with those Demon hunters and that weirdly stoic Angel." Percy responded casually, his eyes casting a firm gaze on the finer details of the moon chariot.
It was so unlike the sun chariot. Where Apollo had opted for a sports car, Artemis quite literally had a silver metal chariot. It was quite long, long enough for Percy to lie down comfortably, which was quite an impressive feat for any kind of vehicle.
Artemis sighed. The truth? That was a big thing to ask for all things considered. She didn't even truly know where to start yet she was undoubtedly the most appropriate person to ask, especially after Aphrodite's last visit where the love Goddess had revealed everything.
"Well, here goes." she muttered quietly before shifting from his side, she sat over his legs, looking him directly in the eyes. He found himself completely unable to tear his emerald eyes away from her perfect silver stare.
"I've fallen for you Percy, that's as simple as I can make that. Thalia... She's, according to Aphrodite, found herself having quite a large admiration for Perseus, the Demon who never rejected her by dating her best friend. I think that her affection is going to shift towards him. Speaking of which, how in Hades have you managed to split into two bodies, because I know for a fact that us Gods can do that but it's incredibly difficult and requires a lot of power." Artemis demanded, suddenly finding that little factor to be an incredibly important detail.
As far as she knew only true Gods could achieve such a feat, and while Percy was technically a God due to the elimination of humanity in his blood, he was a God without a domain, it was merely a title and a technicality.
"I have no idea, but I don't really want to have to focus on that for a while, just let me enjoy my current company without the Demon. So you were explaining this current situation." he prompted her to continue but there was a small thought in the back of his mind that at some point he'd end up fighting his own Demon. Real 'duel of the fates' type thing.
"The sea nymph, Aphrodite tells me that your 'love' for her is platonic, thus finishing this whole complex circuit you have evolving around you." After she'd put it into words, it really wasn't that difficult to comprehend, and she'd been right, what he felt for Esther was something different, it was a sisterly bond that he felt towards her.
"Fair enough. I wonder what Perseus is doing with those Demon hunters." Percy spoke his mind, not realizing at first that he'd vocalized the second half of that sentence.
Artemis just stared at him for a moment, wondering what kind of things went through his head. What had he been through when Kronos had tortured this man?
"The Hunt is on the move again, Percy, we've found tracks that look suspiciously like a Minotaur. I thought you might want to be at the head of this hunt. Thalia thinks that it's going to take us just a few miles outside of Camp Half-Blood." Artemis continued, watching for his reaction.
He'd had his fair share of troubles with the Minotaur in the past, but there had come a point in the last few years that the Minotaur was just an effortless chore to him, even before he'd become this powerful.
"Maybe, I'd have to see to it that Perseus is OK doing whatever it is that he's doing, it might benefit us to be together on this one." Percy looked up into the eyes of the woman that he was finally coming to terms with falling in love with.
It had been a long but subtle process hidden away at the back of his mind for years, but after everything that he'd been through, it had finally pushed it's way to the front of his subconscious, an epiphany, as Artemis was sat over his legs, just staring at him.
'I think that between myself and the Angel that I should be able to handle dear old granddad, but it wouldn't be a bad thing if you were to come back, heck, even better if we can maintain this whole two bodies situation, especially if I have to fight him in an underhanded situation.' Perseus spoke inside Percy's mind.
The prince of the sea realized that no matter what they were, they would both be able to communicate because they were the same person, regardless of what aspect and what body.
"Well, he says he should be able to handle it, though it wouldn't hurt to have me there. I'd explain in detail what he's planning, but frankly I don't want to. It hurts my head just thinking about it on the sheer basis that it involves murdering our evil Demon grandfather in cold blood." Percy told the now wide eyes Artemis.
"Well, go right ahead, come back to me in one piece, you hear me?" she asked, grabbing his collar to make sure he understood the necessity for him to not get himself killed, either of them.
'Hah, your girlfriend is ginger in this lighting!' Perseus managed to get through, obviously increasing his power enough to see inside Percy's mind for a few seconds.
"Firstly, I don't exactly know what we are to each other, but regardless of that, you and I are both included in that, so I don't know why you're laughing dipshit. Secondly, good God what in Hades' name is that?" Percy did the same thing as his Demon and looked inside the other's mind, effectively giving himself a perfect view of everything that Perseus was seeing and it was horrifying.
"What did the idiot say?" Artemis glared but was promptly ignored, Percy was far too preoccupied by the monstrosity he could see through Perseus' eyes.
'It's a type of Demon entrapment circle, very powerful magic, very old magic actually.' Well that can't have been good, especially not with Perseus around it. The son of Poseidon had to wonder whether or not a Demon trap would actually work on Perseus though, he was a unique Demon after all.
"Didn't peg you as the type to be chummy with Demon hunters." Percy grinned, showing Artemis a glimpse of a smile that sent a wave of warmth through her body, destination southbound.
'You heard the Angel you sea cucumber, I'm not an evil Demon, I'm unique, now if you're coming over to give me help in killing our grandfather, then kindly separate yourself from that Goddess, who's doing a fantastic job at upholding her man forgoing oath by the way, and teleport yourself to my location.'
"I'd love to see you say that to her face." Percy challenged his Demon, knowing full well that he wasn't likely to randomly say anything bad to anyone, he just wasn't like that.
"What did he say?" Artemis looked ready to hunt the Demon down and destroy him a thousand times over.
'I'm alright thanks, don't have the balls for that kind of thing.' Perseus admitted with a chuckle.
"Yeah that's what I thought, I'll be there as soon as I can." And with that, Percy had returned his focus to Artemis.
She noticed his eyes literally take on a whole new level of intensity after he was no longer speaking to his chaotic counterpart.
"Percy." Artemis' tone was dangerously edgy, she was just waiting for him to say something wrong, so he thought he'd temporarily throw her off before he disappeared on her yet again.
"Sorry Luna, got to go." he announced as he stood up, much to her displeasure. She'd been greatly enjoying his company in the moon chariot on this night, of course, up there, it was always night.
"Luna? You can't seriously be mistaking me for her can you?" she asked him incredulously.
"What, there's really a Goddess called Luna? I was just trying to come up with a nickname for you." Once again Percy gave her that smile, it served to cause the Goddess' cheeks to tint a perfect shade of crimson against her normally pale complexion.
"Fine, Luna's out the window, but I've got to go, see you soon beautiful." he whispered the last part, then he was gone, leaving behind only a faint sea-breeze that caressed Artemis' skin softly, leaving her yearning for his gentle hands once again. Gods her emotions towards him were moving at such a fast pace, and honestly?
She loved it.
Perseus stood back in the old warehouse, watching the two Demon hunters construct the huge trap that was supposedly going to be strong enough to keep his grandfather trapped.
The Demon-God was left alone with his thoughts, his mind forcing him to reflect on how he'd come around to being in this situation. He was born to their mother, but elsewhere. Hell.
His first conscious thought had come about when he'd opened his eyes to find himself being carried by his grandfather. They were in none other than the fiery depths of Hell.
Perseus' body had become a very real thing in this reality along with his mind when Percy had faced off against Kronos in the throne room of Olympus a few years before, so it hadn't been a fast process.
It had taken years for Perseus to be able to manifest himself as anything more than simply a voice at the back of Percy's mind, but here he was, having broken through the thin veil that was keeping him imprisoned in Hell.
There was no reason for him to be there, he'd accomplished his set task of battling with Satan, now the only loose end from his business here was their grandfather.
There was a sensation of shadows whipping around them before Perseus felt another presence joining them in the old warehouse.
"Ooh, that's a nasty one, nicely hidden as well." A suave man in a black suit nodded with satire towards the Angel who regarded him neutrally before the Demon hunters came striding over. It seemed that they made a habit out of getting friendly with Demons.
"And just who might you be?" he asked, turning his full focus towards Perseus who merely sneered at the stench he carried with him.
"Someone that can and will destroy you with a snap of my fingers if you annoy me." This was the first time he'd felt the need to act coldly towards anyone but he could tell straight away that this Demon was bad news.
"Big words from a so far unknown contender." This Demon sneered. It was clear to Perseus that whoever this was, he thought of himself as a big shot.
"So who is it that you're pretending to be?" Perseus shot back, having held nearly all of his power nicely compressed away and not sending signals in every direction.
"King of Hell." he said, keeping it short and sweet.
"Lol." Perseus almost giggled the acronym.
"Apparently it's an empty title considering you're pathetically lacking in power to hold that mantle. My name is Perseus. I'm a Demon-God, don't believe me, go ahead, try your very best to kill me." Perseus held out both of his hands.
The unknown Demon looked flustered and incredibly pissed off. He raised his hand to try and swat Perseus away but they were all caught off guard by the faint salty breeze of the sea as the warehouse they were in suddenly gained an intense humidity to it.
"Wouldn't try that if I were you." Percy's voice reached their ears. There he stood next to Perseus with his silver trident in hand. They were both letting off a considerable amount of steam, as was expected for two aspects of the same being who controlled fire and water.
"And just who are you supposed to be!?" the Demon demanded, clearly not happy with a second damn near identical being coming along.
"He's the Demon, I'm the God. Now are we catching a bastard or not?" Percy asked the straightforward question, uneasy to have finally met a Demon that matched the description of the douchebag stereotype.
It wasn't more than an hour before everything had fallen from bad to worse, with the Demon-God feeling the brunt of the offensive efforts heralded by none other than their grandfather.
"You ungrateful bastard!" An older man screamed, a sleek black horn about a foot in length was firmly jammed into his shoulder blade.
"Dude, did you no other options than to rip off my fuckin' horn!?" Perseus bellowed, holding his head in pain.
The Demon hunters could only look on with hitched breaths, blood covering both of their faces. Neither the Angel nor the Demon could be seen, both having been conveniently elsewhere as it was 'not their fight'.
During their fight, they'd witnessed Perseus pump himself up, scald and scorch Cain with a fire so potent that the other one, the God, had to vanish and reappear multiple times.
They'd seen them both become a single being, taking turns to be the dominant one in control of the body before finally splitting again.
Now they'd witnessed Percy, the God, rip off one of Perseus' narrow horns and stab their grandfather in the back of the shoulder with it.
"I raised you in Hell! I brought you up, I showed you the path to taking down Satan and you had no objections when you killed the Demon Prince! Why now have you sought to betray my trust!?" Cain spat, weakly getting up to his feet.
"Are you kidding me!? You literally stabbed me in the back with a cursed blade made from Satan's spine! You betrayed me you damn Judas!" Perseus' voice had reached dangerous levels, much like the temperature in the room, a sure sign for Percy that he needed to protect the mortals, the ones who were highly susceptible to early deaths, especially at the hands of thousand degree fires.
Luckily, with his trident in hand, he could form a shield around himself and the boys that would be able to survive against whatever Perseus was doing.
Which turned out to be a rather savage purging that was effective enough to burn their grandfather out of existence completely.
The fiery explosion erupted all around the bubble of water that Percy had been reinforcing. The only thing that alerted him to the fact that it was now safe to bring it down was the fact that Perseus had been brought right back inside his mind, completely exhausted of his power due to the intensity of the flames that he'd summoned.
"Is it over?" One of the Demon hunters asked, unsure of what he could even see past the bubble of water in front of him.
The entire warehouse had been leveled all around them, nothing but the burning ashes of an inferno stood before them.
'It's over, he's nothing more than a blackened pile of ashes that were once his bones. I had fun doing that, I'm gonna take a nap now, I'm done with Demons, forever. Wake me up when we're with our Goddess again.' That was the only thing that told Percy that Perseus had returned, and then, just like he'd said, there was nothing but silence as the Demon started his lengthy period of recuperation.
That left Percy to deal with the Demon hunters, though he'd never been planning anything sinister for them anyway.
"Come on, let's get out of here, there's a small walk to the place that Perseus left your real car. I'll explain everything on the way, just so that you know when to not kill something in the future." Percy explained with a slight grin before helping the hunters to go on their way.
He wasn't sure whether he'd see them both after tonight but he was sure that as long as it didn't involve Angels or Demons, that he truly didn't care.
Something made Percy realize that when Perseus came back to the land of consciousness, that he was going to directly challenge Artemis on something, he wasn't sure what, he just got the horrible feeling sitting at the back of his mind, right around the same place that Perseus usually was.
It all happened in the instant that the Demon-God arrived in the midst of Artemis' camp after having been away for the day.
Percy had been dealing with a few other things on his mind over the past week, ever since he'd helped Perseus' mission of vengeance in taking down their grandfather.
The Hunt all watched through a mixture of horror and macabre fascination as the two aspects split, a fiery image of carnage throwing himself forwards as he advanced on the Goddess.
"Fight me, bitch!" Perseus bellowed at the top of his lungs. Fire engulfed him from head to toe and was raging in spirals where his broken horn was.
He grinned maniacally as he openly insulted and simultaneously challenged Artemis to a fight.
Ever since she had rained on his parade when he was having a bit of fun with the Demon hunters, he'd been looking for any reason to directly come to blows with the silver Goddess.
For the past seven days he'd been sitting at the back of Percy's mind because he quite simply couldn't find a suitable reason to start throwing punches.
Percy face palmed when his counterpart came out with his incredibly stupid outburst, "An entire week of nothing but silence and literally the first thing you do is call Lady Artemis a bitch?" Percy just sat down next to a small fire that he'd made earlier.
The night was upon them and they, as the Hunt, had been on the trail of a band of Empousa's that had recently been making a meal out of mortals. Hunting them down had come as a direct task from Zeus, one that Artemis was only happy to undertake.
"Someone's gonna get it." Thalia sang to herself. She was sat a little bit further behind Percy, masked mostly by shadows of the night as she constantly fletched more arrows for her deadly arsenal of silvery precision.
Jolene, the smallest yet wisest of Artemis' hunters, sat next to Percy on the floor by the fire. She didn't have any duties for that night so instead she was the one who had decided to show Percy how to properly skin, gut and cook an animal of the forest, after praying to Artemis for the sacrifice that was to be made out of a creature of her domain.
"Very well." Artemis sighed half heartedly. She stood up and immediately her hand had been a blur. The next moment had gone past like time had slowed to a complete standstill before everyone had understood what she had done.
Perseus' fire just immediately ceased and he fell to his knees, very slowly his hands reached up to the jagged remains of his broken horn. Artemis had flung a throwing knife at him so fast that it had taken yet another layer off of his already incredibly emasculating horn.
"No! My fuckin' horn!" Perseus' fist pounded the ground before he disappeared completely. Percy, by the fire, seemed to adopt a somewhat healthier glow when Perseus had disappeared, a sure sign that they were both inside one body yet again.
"That didn't take long." The God without a domain chuckled slightly before letting his gaze fall upon Artemis who simply shrugged at him.
They had been very neutral with each other over the past week, mostly they focused on Percy's training, after all, his attendance to guarding the Hunt had started out as mostly a rehabilitation program designed to stop him from hurting himself, and so far it had been going well, but there was only so much repetitive jobs he could do before he would snap, so Artemis had a few of her girls taking turns each night to teach him something.
Artemis herself was teaching him, teaching being a very loose term, some basic skills in archery. He had so far managed to get a simple enough stance to allow him to fire an arrow in the rough direction that he wanted it to go.
Thalia took a lot of time some days to teach Percy, and Perseus, what she liked to call 'camp-craft' which in her own terms ranged from weapon smithing all the way to creating fires, which Perseus believed himself to excel at, and even some basic camp construction.
Atalanta and Phoebe were doing a joint effort in teaching the Demon-God how to hunt, all weapons and techniques included.
They were both pleasantly surprised that despite his absolutely abysmal skill level with a bow and some arrows, that he wasn't half bad with throwing knives and was actually quite competent at hunting.
Nobody expected him to be stealthy, and he was. If he didn't want to be seen or heard then the only one who usually could detect him was Artemis herself.
Jolene, the hunter that had warmed up to Percy the most out of the other hunters, taught him how to cook using open fires.
"He's an idiot." Artemis muttered before standing and stretching out. They were getting pretty close to the last known location of this band of Empousa and she didn't want to lose sight of them once again.
'Well that's not very nice. I only wanted to give her some entertainment.' Perseus sulked inside Percy's head. The things the Demon came out with sometimes made Percy laugh out loud, which often in turn made him look insane.
"Well she's not wrong, you are an idiot, Perseus. Jolene, I don't think this rabbit is cooking properly, fire might be too weak." Percy announced casually, he hadn't realized that this would be the catalyst to starting yet another 'Perseus' moment of stupidity.
"Don't sweat it, I got you covered." Perseus announced, having formed his own physical body once again, this time inside the actual fire that had been made.
He was laying on his side, using one elbow to hold his head up, looking as casual and comfortable as anyone could be from lying inside a fire.
He casually snapped his fingers and slowly more and more heat started making it's way towards the rabbit that had been put on a spit over the flames.
"Hmm, he's actually useful for something, who'd have known." Jolene whispered to Percy with a small smile.
"He's quite entertaining if you douse him every now and then." Percy whispered back, going almost unheard by the Demon.
"I can hear what you're saying Percy, we share a head you dildo." Perseus glared from within the fire, absolutely content on pushing Artemis to fighting him, though he'd been having second thoughts since having his broken horn shaven down even further.
He could take a lot of physical damage, but his horn? That was a sensitive subject. Because it had been Percy that had broken the horn, it was taking an extremely long time to reconstruct itself.
"Perseus, don't be crass in front of my girls or I'll castrate you." Artemis threatened, her tone suggesting that she wasn't playing around with him.
"Yeah whatever, I'm going to..." He began but then stopped as he thought of something to do. Everyone subconsciously stared at the Demon, waiting to hear whether or not he was going to endanger everyone.
"Train. I'm going to train my mental prowess. Percy, it's been an honor, I'm going to Hell." Perseus announced with an overly dramatic flair and a completely out of character salute.
"Why, what's in Hell that you can train with that you can't train with here?" Percy asked with wide eyes. He'd thought that Perseus hated Hell yet here he was, willingly going back.
"There's tonnes of shit for me to do in Hell. I'm going to steal Satan's gauntlets and recover the blade that was made from his spine. I think I'll turn that into my sacred weapon. Princes of Hell, other stuff." Perseus had completely gone off on a tangent leaving Percy only just managing to hang onto his words.
"Princes of Hell?" Everyone had gone silent as they listened to what was possibly one of the only genuine sources of information they would ever have on the dimension that put Tartarus to shame.
The pit of torture was one thing, especially to the Demigods of the Greek pantheon, but Hell was, well, Hell.
"Children of the Demon Lords and special exceptions. I'm a Prince of Hell." Perseus told them as casually as ever. Percy glared at his counterpart, a Prince of Hell, and that wasn't something that he'd thought was important enough to share previously.
"You're a Prince of Hell? But, wasn't Poseidon your father as well?" Thalia piped up from behind them, still hidden pretty well by the shadows but constantly sharpening shafts of wood.
The more she had, the more monsters she could kill, and that was why she spent hours everyday stocking the Hunt with munitions.
"Nope, I was born through an excessively painful tear in the fabric of Hell's reality, I share genetic makeup of mine and Percy's mother but that's it, there's absolutely no ichor in my veins." he explained quickly.
"Or liquor, which is just insulting." he added quickly with a devilish grin.
Quite frankly, he just wanted to get to the point where he could go back to Hell, he'd gotten strong enough that he could confront quite a few Demons down there, he did make a note that he was going to outright avoid the Seven, especially Asmodeus, she could never keep her hands to herself.
"You know what? This is so far beyond me, go to Hell, enjoy your time wrecking shit for a while, just you know, don't get killed, I'll feel it too." Percy turned back to the rabbit that was now bubbling within it's own juices hanging nicely above the fire as he slowly turned the spit.
"If you're that worried then why don't you come with me? It'll be great, we'll have a field trip to Hell for a day." Perseus grinned, looking like a child in a sweet shop.
"You can do that?" Percy raised an eyebrow, somewhat interested in the aspect of at least seeing what true Hell really looked like.
"I don't see why not. Give me the body and I'll take us to Hell." Perseus told him with a shrug. Artemis was about to interject but found that they were too far into their conversation for her voice or presence to be recognized anymore.
"I don't see any immediate way that this will backfire on me so why not. Artemis, ahem, Lady Artemis, I apologize but I'll be gone for, probably a few days in all realistic measure." Percy told her before he glowed and Perseus had disappeared from sight.
"I'm out bitches." Perseus, now in control of their body, waved casually before stepping into the fire once more and falling through it, seemingly using the flames as a portal to the worst pit known to man.
"That prick!" Jolene burst out, stomping her foot on the ground.
"What!?" Thalia asked in shock, jumping forwards, thinking that they were in danger.
"He took the rabbit!" Jolene fumed, crossing her arms and sulking. That was just about ready to eat and it had been looking like a great piece as well.
Artemis sighed to herself, that was the very mentally conflicted man that she had fallen for, or at least, more specifically, that was the incredibly care free idiot that Thalia had fallen for.
"So, did you know that Ozzy is a son of Hades?" Perseus' voice was the only thing that was heard when he emerged from a hole in a blood red rocky wall.
They were in some sort of cave that expanded out into a huge dome that belonged to some kind of barren wasteland of blood colored dirt. Spread around the place was more rocky formations that were shrouded in pillars of eternally burning fire.
'As in, Ozzy Osbourne? Huh, makes sense.' Percy responded neutrally from inside Perseus' mind.
He wasn't really that surprised to hear that the self titled 'Prince of Darkness' was actually a prince of darkness.
Perseus walked forwards, willingly allowing himself to be seen in the vast open wastelands. High above them was nothing but a dark abyss. This was what true Hell looked like.
"I love the smell of napalm in the morning." Perseus announced with a grin as he stood tall and proud atop a rocky output.
'Pretty sure that's the smell of burning flesh, not napalm.' Percy responded. Far below them, there were many different monsters, very few of which Percy had ever seen before.
They all seemed to look up and regard Perseus in many different ways. There was a red trail of smoke before a somewhat familiar looking older man stood before them.
"So, you really are a Demon." he muttered before looking Perseus over, visibly wincing when he noticed the damage done to the horn atop the Demon-God's head.
"Fuck off, I've neither the time nor patience for your shit. I'm looking for Satan's tower. For... Reasons..." Perseus looked almost comically suspicious.
"Hey, I've got something for you." he told the 'King of Hell' before reaching into his pocket. He closed his fist around nothing and pulled it out before uppercutting the Demon and jumping off of the rocky output into the pit further below.
'Did you really have to make an enemy out of the man who calls himself the King of Hell?' Percy asked with a sigh, only being heard by his counterpart, the counterpart who was incredulously strong in Hell.
"Pfft, guy's a pussy. He's not even the real Crowley. If we'd have actually run into Alistair Crowley, a very brutal Demon Lord, then we'd be in some real shit. Anyway, we'll get a bit closer to our destination then we can split or so-Shit!" Perseus bellowed when he was engulfed by a pink cloud of raw energy that sent him rocketing into the wall of the sheer cliff he'd just jumped off.
"No. Do not have time for this." Perseus grunted through heavily gritted teeth. When he peeled himself away from the cliff and finally reached the bottom, there was a woman standing there waiting for him, hands on her hips and a seductive glance totally fixed on him.
"Why are you here?" she asked him, voice as sweet as sugar yet lined with extreme danger. It was at this point that the two of them split from each other, Percy immediately feeling overwhelmed by the heat.
He snapped his fingers, summoning a small stream of water from his own body. It ran its course over the surface of his skin before returning where it had come from. The whole time he'd done that, this woman's gaze had been firmly fixed on the son of Poseidon.
"You smell different, who are you?" she asked, though from her tone shift, it was definitely a command that he gave her his identity.
"Perseus, who's this?" Percy asked, looking at the Demon who was feeling immensely guilty. Had he wronged her in the past?
She'd obviously been the one to thrust the two of them into the side of the cliff, which had been painful even to Percy while he was inside Perseus' mind.
"That's one of the six remaining Sins. Asmodeus, the sin of Lust, lucky for us, she's weak as fuck-" There was already the beginnings of a mischievous grin working it's way across his face as he said that.
"Excuse you!?" she looked genuinely offended. This was one of the Seven Deadly Sins, the strongest Demons that inhabited Hell in all it's entirety.
"Compared to us she's weak as fuck, which unfortunately means there's a great chance that she's working on someone else's orders. Can't be Satan, that motherfucker's already dead." Perseus grinned from ear to ear having successfully gotten a serious rise out of the woman in front of them.
"And that's only the case because someone felt the need to gain the title that Satan held. You won't become a Sin, Abaddon would never allow it." Asmodeus' hand swiped through the air as she denied the very concept of Perseus taking over the domain of the devil that he had slain with his own hands.
"Haven't you heard, Asmody? I'm a Prince now and not just your average offspring of a Demon Lord, I earned my title through killing Satan and as soon as I have achieved what I came here to do, then I will be the seventh sin as is my right as the one to defeat Satan." Perseus' fist was engulfed in fire, daring Asmodeus to challenge him on it.
She regarded him differently, had he really thought it all through? It was true that he had far more of a right than anyone else as he had been the one to destroy Satan meaning that the throne that belonged to the sin of Wrath wouldn't exactly reject him.
Asmodeus also realized that Perseus really was above her in power by absolute leagues.
"Fine, so you're a random Prince of Hell, what makes you think that the other sins shall stand by idly while you vie for Satan's throne?"she demanded, not even paying any attention to Percy who had just been watching the exchange stoically. He was pretty far out of his element while they were in Hell.
"I'm not merely a random Prince, don't be so fucking insulting. I'm the Prince of Ire. Satan's direct next in line as it were. I'm going to Satan's tower, I'm going to take his gauntlets and reclaim my sacred sword which was wrongfully stolen from me, then I'm going to claim my rightful place in this shitbox when I reach the top of the malicious bastard's tower. If you'd like to stop me then I highly suggest gathering the rest of your brethren first." Perseus told her with extreme pride in his words as he stepped forwards ever so slightly.
By the time he'd finished saying his piece, his entire body was engulfed in flames that were so potent that Percy had to back up. Steam arose from the son of Poseidon's skin as the heat began to scorch him even from the distance he was standing at.
"No, I won't directly stop you, I'm eager to see whether or not you've really got it in you to claim that spot for yourself. Know now that there will be many others in Satan's tower that will all seek to gain that same position on top of all that, I wouldn't be surprised if Lucifer or perhaps another were to step in to try and stop you personally. Goodbye Perseus." With those last words echoing around them, Asmodeus had disappeared, seemingly for good.
"Well that was intense." Percy sighed as the flames surrounding his Demon's body had faded into nothing.
There they both were, standing at the base of a cliff looking over the stretched horizon that held many tall towers in the distance.
There were small towers, all scattered around randomly then there were the seven taller towers that stood in a pattern at the lower half of the giant mountain in the distance, then there was the single tallest tower that stood with it's base at the very peak of the mountain.
Percy didn't have to ask for him to already know who was in that tower yet even without the actual need to ask about it, Perseus had noticed his counterpart's gaze and decided to impart some information.
"The smaller towers, belong to Princes and Demon Lords, the taller towers belong to the Sins." Perseus told Percy very grimly as the two of them started their long march towards the towers that belonged to the seven sins. Perseus made it abundantly clear that they were going to Satan's tower for whatever it was that he'd said he wanted.
The two engaged in small talk as they made their way closer to the only tower that seemed to constantly be burning atop its stone constructs.
"Is your horn ever going to grow back?" Percy asked out of the blue, genuinely curious as to whether or not Perseus' symbol of shattered dignity would ever be repaired.
"It may eventually grow back but I've got something much better for the health of my horn as opposed to father time." Perseus grinned.
Percy immediately knew that no matter what, someone was going to end up on the receiving end of a shit load of chaotic madness issued out by none other than the Demon himself.
"You're so incredibly vague yet at the same time I'm one hundred percent certain that whatever you're planning is absolutely going to get someone killed." Percy sighed, at least he was never this erratic when they were back on Earth.
"I don't even have to tell you, but you're right, someone, I'm not sure who, but someone down here is going to die and it won't be either of us. Now let's get this moving, I'm sure there are lots of other Princes and Demon Lords that are all going to be tracking us, after all, nobody else in this entire hellish realm has the title of Demon-God!" Perseus' booming voice echoed all around them.
Percy was sure that after that particular show of power that they were definitely going to be hunted by damn near every creature and Demon that was inhabiting anywhere near the towers of the higher Demons, but of course, that had been Perseus' plan the whole time because nothing was as good as it could be when there was an abundance of enemies to fight tooth and claw against, that was just his way of thinking.
"You know, I can definitely see why Thalia likes you, there's that whole bad boy, no fucks given attitude that you've constantly got." Percy told him with a smirk. He wasn't expecting to get a response that nearly burned him from the inside out.
"I can see why Artemis is madly in love with you, when it comes to the big boy tasks like traversing Hell, you're just another pussy, and I've believed for quite a long time that seeing as she only takes on girls, that she loves pu-"
"Say another word and your other horn is the next appendage I rip off." Percy growled, grabbing Perseus by the collar to reinforce the point that no matter where they were, if he disrespected the silver Goddess that he'd become rather partial to, that he would beat his own aspect into a bloody mess.
"Jeez, calm your shit, I was only joking and you know it." Perseus laughed it off despite his only remaining horn being directly threatened.
He would really rather his horn remained in place as it was exceptionally painful to lose even one, which was Percy's fault in the first place.
"Please don't rip out my other horn, it was tremendously excruciating the first time." Perseus muttered.
"We had very little options at that point so don't be a bitch, besides, I felt it too." Percy then snapped his fingers. A light took shape within his fist before he was holding his shining silver trident.
With one extended finger, he pointed to the three points that aligned the head of the deadly yet symbolic weapon. The far left, or right, prong depending on how Percy was holding it was cracked straight through. It was still there but looked like any over exposure to combat would break it clean off.
"Woah" Perseus whistled expressing how impressed he was, "Just goes to show exactly how deeply we're connected. Especially in a place like this, I am your weapon. The damage done to me will always reflect in yourself." he nodded with amazement.
"You know, I'd much prefer to go with some extremely over-sized great-sword, like, just a huge slab of wrought iron, something that just screams 'Damn, that guy must have guts to carry that thing around!' you know?" Perseus looked on with an idiot savant expression about him.
There was silence before Percy spoke up again, "You've been reading those dark mangas again, haven't you?" he asked through a squinted glare.
"Yeah, it's taken me most of the past week but I finally managed to get up to date with my new one. It's seriously some dark shit." Percy continued to glare as he listened to Perseus' response.
"Is that why you've been silent for seven days?" Percy boomed, shocked that the only way he hadn't heard a single stupid comment in the last week was simply because Perseus had been engrossed in a manga.
"Pretty much, don't fret though as we've got more important things to worry about, like how we're going to get past the Dragon that's lying in wait behind the grand door to Satan's tower. I think we should become one and give me the reins, I'm fireproof and that's a Dragon." Perseus reasoned with a shrug. Percy gave off an almost identical shrug before he dissipated.
'How do you know there's a Dragon behind those doors?' He asked, once again just the voice inside the head.
Perseus let out a soft laugh as he continued to walk right up to the doors.
"Because there was a Dragon here when I came to kill Satan. Our grandfather distracted it for a while when I ran past and killed Satan. This should be fun, Dragons are badass after all." Perseus laughed maniacally before letting his fist pound down upon the doors, sending both of the ten feet slabs of chiseled marble flying down the corridor behind them before smashing into rubble after hitting something large.
Correction: something large and scaly. This was where the first real fight was going to begin for the Demon-God.
The resulting fight from a Demon-God and a Dragon had resulted in a lone man stood hunched over covered almost entirely in blood, most of which hadn't even been his own.
Behind him, a Dragon's carcass was happily burning away from the inside out, a solid symbol of what had happened when they had come up against one another.
There were dozens and dozens of now decaying lifeless bodies that had once belonged to fairly low ranked Demons that had heard the raging battle and had either come to spectate or put their efforts in towards taking down the infamous Prince of Ire.
Word traveled fast in Hell and once they had heard that not only Satan had fallen to the hands of the Prince of Ire but that he had finally gotten his revenge for his grandfather's betrayal, he was quickly finding himself in the favor of certain groups.
He was even becoming known by the Seven Deadly Sins with having killed Satan and proclaimed his intention to claim the throne for himself.
"Well that was fun." he announced with a heavy sigh as he almost waded through the piles of bodies at his feet.
'If you can avoid something like this in the future then I'd greatly appreciate it. I may be a God but I'm one without a domain. I'm also fairly certain that my power won't do a great deal down here so you're pretty much on your own.' Percy announced clearly inside their shared mind.
Perseus shrugged for a moment, not really having a suitable answer for his godly counterpart. There was a single door at the end of the grand hall.
He hadn't noticed it before but these towers were all warped from the interior to the exterior. They were all existing on their own planes which meant that Satan's tower was huge in size compared to the tower that rested on the outside.
With a solemn kick, Perseus had booted the door down revealing a dimly lit room with many different showcases inside it. The big stand in the center of the room held two immaculate golden cuffs that seemed to have a liquid form about them.
"This is one of the reasons I'm here for. These are Satan's sacred treasure, the Gauntlets of Ire." Perseus explained as he neared the ornate stone stand. They sat on a blood red cushion looking so innocent yet holding such a malevolent air about them.
'But they're just metal wristbands that look like slave cuffs, what's so special about them?' Percy queried, unable to understand how these tacky metal bands had gotten Perseus so interested.
"Because they bond to anyone that wears them almost in a symbiotic way. The angrier the wearer, the more powerful they become. It would actually devour anyone else but I'm the Prince of Ire, I can wear these without any negative effects. Brace yourself, this probably won't be nice." Perseus' gave the shortest of warnings before thrusting his hands above the gauntlets.
The metal immediately swarmed around his wrists, burning themselves into him permanently.
'You're right, that sucked balls.' Percy sounded out of breath and rightly so, he had to concentrate in order to not be burned out of existence by the cuffs.
'Evil fucking things.' he muttered before going silent once again.
"Sorry dude but that's the worst of it, next stop, the throne room. I'm going to get that sword then I'm going to sit on that throne. Probably gonna be fighting some top notch assholes once we're there." Perseus admitted with a sigh before walking towards the door at the end of the room.
From there he planned on scaling the wall from the stairwell in order to circumnavigate the labyrinth within the tower. He didn't have that kind of time and really he just wanted to get this whole ordeal over with.
Moving through the tower at an incredible rate, the Demon-God quickly found himself standing in a vast open room that didn't look like it could possibly fit within the dimensions of the tower's exterior.
'Where are we?' Percy asked. The son of Poseidon could see everything that Perseus could and it made for a few interesting sights.
There was blood on the walls and everything was dimly lit so the few bits of light that were cast were all running sickly reflections off of the pools of blood that were situated around the floor.
The sounds of breathing were heavy in the air, like people had been fighting and only stopped to have a bit of rest before continuing.
"We're in Satan's court. Usually, someone wouldn't be saying that with any content but this is going to be mine. There's going to be so much cleaning up to do in here." Perseus frowned.
He subconsciously ran a hand over the jagged stump that was once his horn. Further along the large court, there was a raised platform above some steps with a throne on the top. Sat on the throne was a limp body that could only belong to one person.
'I assume that's...' Percy let the question hang in the air. Perseus made a grunt in confirmation.
The Demon had to carefully assess the situation that they were in. Between themselves and the throne there were multitudes of Demons all lazily standing around the pillars of marble that lined themselves parallel to the side walls of the huge room.
They were all just standing there watching Perseus as he looked around the room. They knew what he was and they didn't want to have to fight him unless he was absolutely certain in his chosen path of going forwards to claim Satan's throne.
"Hello there." A young looking woman revealed herself from the nearest pillar to them. She came over ever so casually with her hands held pleasantly behind her back and a genuinely happy smile on her face.
Percy could feel an extremely dulled sense of emotion from Perseus almost all of the time whenever he wanted to and at that exact moment the only thing that he felt from his Demon counterpart was extreme caution yet there was no change to his outwards emotion.
Perseus clearly knew who this woman was and it was evident that she was under no circumstances to be underestimated.
'Who's this? She seems... Strong.' Percy announced inside their mind.
'She most certainly is.' Perseus answered silently. His voice inside their mind was only a whisper yet it echoed all around with the force of a malevolent wind.
"Oh? Are you monologuing? That's not like you." she frowned. Was this woman just simple or could she actually hear the conversation between the two of them?
"No." Perseus answered slowly before Percy appeared next to them, instantly fabricating himself from the water moisture in the air. It was a new trick for him but one that he was very quickly coming to master.
"He was talking to me." Percy told her, looking at her with the same cautious expression.
They were in Hell and she had obviously gotten past the Dragon that they killed in the entrance to the tower so she couldn't be taken lightly.
"What are you doing here Myrna?" Perseus asked at last, breaking the sudden silence that had fallen over them. This woman, this Myrna had just cocked her head to the side and continued to blankly stare at Percy.
"Who are you?" she asked, finally looking towards Perseus and noting that they were almost identical. Percy sighed ever so briefly. He was thankful that she'd finally given him a reprieve from her overwhelmingly tense stare.
"I'm a God." he answered proudly. He was still struggling to comprehend how he could be a God without a domain.
In the week he spent with the Hunt in peace from Demon hunters, he'd been requested to go to Olympus by not only his father but Zeus himself.
He was asked to split his aspects to show the council but Perseus had been dead silent and Percy found that he couldn't force Perseus out when there was no will for the Demon to do so.
The fates had appeared after Zeus had summoned them, explaining that Perseus had ascended his own mortality through his own merit somehow.
The fates announced that Percy was genuinely one of a kind and formally recognized him as a God. An unbound God, someone that wasn't tied to their ancient laws. There was a lot of leeway for Olympus after hearing that.
"A God of what?" she asked, suddenly looking far more curious about Percy than she did before.
He regarded her as someone that seemed like she was trying to lull them both into a false sense of security before striking out at them, especially in Satan's court where Perseus had specifically told him that they were more than likely going to fight lots of Demon's that were all vying for Satan's throne.
Percy decided that he would reinforce the thought inside her head that the two of them were people not to be fucked with.
With a snap of his fingers, his shimmering silver and ocean green trident manifested itself in his hands. As ever, it had a crack in the tip of one of the outside prongs.
"I'm an unbound God but I'm centrally tied to the sea." he answered her. Some of the Demons that were watching intently shifted uncomfortably upon hearing that. A God, in Hell no less?
"Oooh, like Poseidon?" Her voice was sweet and innocent, it was almost throwing Percy off but judging how Perseus had never once lessened his internal guard against her, he knew that he too should be more wary.
"No, Poseidon is my father. Perseus, I'm getting bored here." Percy announced, throwing his glance back towards all of the figures standing by the pillars.
"Myrna, why has no one yet claimed the throne?" Perseus asked, slowly walking forwards with Percy by his side.
"Hmm, well, that would be because of the fact that the throne has already rejected Absalom and nearly burned him entirely. Wouldn't happen to be a problem for someone like you though, would it?" she asked coyly. Percy saw it, it was only there for a fraction of a second but he still caught it. Myrna was a lot smarter than she was letting on.
She clearly knew about at least some of Perseus' capabilities, it made Percy wonder just how infamous he was down there.
"Absalom fell to the throne? Where did it send him?" Perseus asked with a genuine look of shock on his face. Absalom was one of the top contenders for taking Satan's throne.
He was not an enemy to Perseus though. He certainly wasn't an ally but he wouldn't have had to fight against Absalom to have a fair chance of taking what was his.
"I think he's stuck in an eternal sleep of fever dreams." she answered with a casual shrug, not really caring what happened to her fellow Demons.
"Damn, that's harsh, well, better get this show on the road." Perseus sighed, stretching his arms and clicking his neck. "Listen up dickwads!" he shouted, not that he needed to as all eyes had already been firmly focused on the three of them in the first place.
"I am the Prince of Ire. I was strong enough to actually kill Satan in the first place and now I'm permanently bonded to the gauntlets of Ire, that makes me more powerful than any of you can imagine. When I am in one body with my godly aspect here, we are literally known as the Demon-God. Demon. God. So, anyone that's brave enough to try and stop me from getting to that throne, step forward now, the rest of you get lost or I'll incinerate you anyway." he announced. The sheer power that was echoing around the room was astounding, it was like a tunnel of overwhelming pressure pushing down on everyone.
A man in an old ragged prison uniform stepped forwards out of the shadows alongside two others that were standing near the throne.
Percy felt the strangest chill emanating from the shadows, a woman in a black robe that was covered by darkness was quite content with simply watching them but she wasn't the only one.
There were two people watching from above. Asmodeus, the sin of Lust, sat on a marble platform twenty feet above their heads.
She'd mentioned that she was curious to see if Perseus really could pull it off.
"Riveting speech!" She shouted, getting their attention before hooking her thumb at the man that stood next to her on the platform. She had the biggest grin on show when Perseus had scowled at the seemingly new arrival. He had medium length hair the purest shade of white. It matched his emotionless gaze well, nothing but just a bland and neutral stare.
"Stay out of this Sammael!" Perseus bellowed threateningly. Sammael continued to just stare blankly.
"Relax Prince, I merely wish to spectate, at least today." he answered in an incredible monotone.
"Perseus, do you feel that?" Percy whispered quietly. Naturally the only people to hear Percy were the two Sins near the ceiling and Perseus himself.
Perseus nodded casually. He hadn't been ignoring it but he'd needed to ensure Sammael didn't involve himself in this next fight.
Percy swiped at the air with his trident which launched a hugely pressurized jet-stream of water towards the woman that was hiding in the shadows.
There was the sound of shadows whipping in the air like whenever Nico shadow traveled anywhere. The next thing they knew, that very same woman was standing with her arms folded in front of the pillar.
"Well that was needlessly rude!" she told him. She was evidently not impressed with Percy nearly getting her wet. Myrna sniffed at the air for a second before spacing herself from the boys.
"Oh, who's this hottie?" Asmodeus asked from above them, staring down intently.
"My name is Death."
Percy cursed under his breath. Anyone that could willingly venture into Hell with the name Death was probably a big deal or immensely powerful in their own right.
Percy had to remember that despite him being one of the strongest people in the mortal world and even among the Olympians, there were always others that were much stronger than him.
"Did she just say she's Death?" Sammael's voice registered surprise, a visible reaction of shock was written across his face.
"Did he just have an emotion!?" Perseus pointed with a badly muffled laugh.
He had wanted to fight Sammael for some time despite knowing that there was an immense difference between their power. That gap would almost become extinct once he fulfilled his self made promise to become the Sin of Wrath.
"Know your place Prince or you shall be fighting a Sin much sooner than you thought." That pressure that had expanded through the room when Perseus had issued his challenge was back but it was coming from Sammael and it was huge.
"I must admit, I am very interested in the Demon-God. One side is a God unbound by law and the other is a Demon contending for being the Sin of Wrath. It makes for a very powerful asset. I'll be watching you both." Death told them with a wink before disappearing.
There was silence before Perseus looked at everyone and did the one thing that only he would do.
"Guys, I'm totally going to fuck Death." he grinned before deciding that now was the time his advance began.
"Alright, time to cull these retards." he laughed insanely before cracking his knuckles and staring down the enemies.
Myrna happily skipped over to the people that were going to get in the way of what Perseus wanted.
"Got a statement to make Myrna?" Perseus asked her with a raised eyebrow. He expected a knife in the back, but earlier, he was surprised that she'd taken this long to reveal her intentions, not that she was particularly hiding them in the first place.
"Sorry Prince but I want that throne and I'm not about to let the likes of you take it from me." she answered with a smile. Her hands left their place behind her back for the first time since they saw her. She splayed them out and with a flash of light they turned into something reminiscent of the Dragon they slew downstairs.
"OK then. Percy, Myrna is a Dragon, maybe should have mentioned that earlier, be wary of her breath. Probably not a good idea to tell her that we annihilated the one guarding the doors, probably part of her coven." Perseus pointed, noticing the rapid change in Myrna's face from happy to wrathful.
"Right, and what's his deal, the prisoner?" Percy pointed at the scruffy man who had patiently waited for this fight to begin. He had an air of extreme malevolence about him.
"Remember Crowley?" Perseus' head craned slightly.
"Yeah?"
"That's the real Crowley, nasty piece of work. No idea what those two rimjobs in the back are but they look like pushovers. Let's do this, I've got a date with that throne." Perseus' words were the signal that kicked the fight off.
Percy lazily raided his trident before slamming it against the ground. The whole place shook uncontrollably, throwing their enemies completely off balance, or so he'd thought.
When he looked up to start the fight in a more personal manor he saw that he had about half a second to move out of the way of Crowley's fist that was aimed straight at his face.
With no time to react on anything other than instincts he instantly pushed his body forwards and rammed his trident through Crowley's guard and impaled him entirely.
"Wow, that God just demolished Crowley." he heard Asmodeus whistle from above.
With Crowley's limp body bleeding out the floor, Percy ran over to help Perseus who was fighting off the other three enemies.
He was mainly blocking against the two random Demons while absolutely sponging damage from where Myrna was rushing around him like a tornado filled with razors that were all slashing down at his body.
"Well he is a God, you mustn't underestimate people, Asmodeus, much like the Prince. I believe he may actually succeed in claiming that throne. Satan never liked him but he respected him and recognized that he was the next rank in Ire." Sammael responded, giving a solemn glance at the body belonging to Satan that sat on the jagged throne of frozen fire.
The throne would revive and become alive with flickering flames once again after it's owner had returned.
"Gotta make this quick, I'm running out of patience. Percy, hide." That was the only warning that Perseus was giving the God. Percy instinctively dived behind one of the pillars a few seconds before the whole court was filled with fire.
The two unnamed Demons were nothing more than a pile of ash and Crowley's body had been charred pretty badly. Myrna was struggling to breath.
She'd put her guard up just in time to defend against the fiery inferno but it had taken the fight out of her. She just hung her head and looked on.
"Nice. Do your thing, I wanna go home soon." Percy pointed at the throne, hurrying his Demon up. With a quick nod, Perseus found himself standing upon the frozen throne that held Satan's body, exactly how he had left it when he slew the Sin in the first place.
From Perseus' presence, a faint glow fell over Satan and he seemed to be revived if only temporarily.
"Oh? So you came for my throne after all? I expected as much." Satan's voice was hollow, he was not alive once again but temporarily being held up like a puppet from the power of the throne. There needed to be an owner at all times.
"Of course, I did tell you that was my intention from the very beginning." Perseus shrugged.
"Well, I'm not surprised but you have to take something from me, something that can fit you as the new Sin of Wrath." Satan's blood red skin was slowly returning to color the more Perseus stood near him.
"I've got just the thing." Perseus grinned sinister before slamming Satan's head against the headrest of the throne and violently ripping off the Sin's left horn.
Satan's horns were far larger than Perseus' and instead of being sleek and black, they were slightly curved and were a very dark red with streaks of black adorning them.
Having ripped the horn from Satan's head, he held it just above his own broken one. A light filled the room and when it had gone, the scene had changed completely.
Perseus sat atop the throne that was no longer frozen. Satan's body was gone forever, the only thing left behind was the horn that had fused perfectly with Perseus' broken one, and the sword in Perseus' hand.
"Is that his spine?" Percy asked with a raised eyebrow. Perseus had mentioned that he was going to rip out Satan's spine and make it a sword but literally in the blink of an eye?
That was pretty intense even for Perseus. The Sins who'd been watching from the ceiling were now no longer there, they'd seen what they needed to see and now they were in the tower that belonged to the new Sin of Wrath.
"Yes it is, my consolation prize for finally achieving what I set out to do. I have become one of the Seven Deadly Sins; the Sin of Wrath." he smiled, finally he'd done it, finally!
"Very nice, now can we go home? I've got a lot of explaining to do to Artemis when she figures out that in our one little trip to Hell we have irreversibly tipped the balance of power among the higher ranks of devils." Percy told him sarcastically with a smile that matched that of the Demon's.
"Fine, we shall go." Perseus agreed. Percy dissipated, returning to Perseus' body once again.
"Here we go, it'll only take a snap of my fingers to return up to where we left." he said, snapping his fingers. It was instant, just like he said it would be. They were once again in the mortal world, except, there was a difference.
It was barren, all of it, it was all just a ruined wasteland. Everywhere as far as the eye could see was just the remnants of an old world.
"What?" Percy deadpanned. There were no traces of humanity left anywhere near them, there was just... Nothing but destruction.
"The fuck?" Perseus finished. The two of them were just standing in a stunned silence as they looked at the decayed carcass of their world. It was all just...
Dead.