Chapter 12
Greetings readers! I hope that all of you enjoyed the previous chapter!
Firstly, in response to MysteryTrident14's review, I am thrilled to hear that you enjoy the structure and writing of my stories! Whether Percy uses his swords again depends on whether he can overcome his past demons. Yes, all I can reveal is that I haven't forgotten about Calypso, if you know what I mean :)
Thank you for your compliments! I love introducing novel plotlines because even though this is a fanfiction, I feel like it gives the story an original touch. I normally update every seven days, give or take a day or two. Although recently, I have had a lot of breaks in between which disrupt my update pattern. But I do try my best to keep to my schedule. I am glad you enjoyed binging this story! :) Thank you for your support!
In response to Pertemis9669's, that was a bit of a cruel joke but the panicked response made it very fun, for me. Thanks for your wishes and for your continued support!
Responding to Numbnuts55's review, to be honest, at the height of my flu, I considered torching my nose so that my nostrils would open and my sinuses definitely felt and probably even looked like strawberry Jell-O. But thankfully, I am past that. Thank you for your wishes and support!
In response to Lorde Pedro's review, that was fun for me because it caused so much panic. I hope this chapters makes up for that scare! Thank you for your continued support!
Coming to J's reviews, glad you enjoyed the talk been Jason and Reyna in the previous chapter. It was my first step to start the beginning of the Jason X Reyna pairing. Thank you for your continued support!
In response to SavageDestiny007's review, don't worry, that was just a joke. I have no plans whatsoever to drop this story or abandon. While I am not facing a writer's block and still enjoy writing now as much as I used to fifteen months, I am unfortunately facing a lot more problems for this one so it may take a bit longer than the previous two stories. But like I promised with the past two stories, I promise that I'll see even this one through to the end. Thank you for your continued support!
In response to Shadowhunter2077's review, yes, Reyna may have been a bit harsh with Jason but I felt like it was necessary for Jason to be jolted a bit to realise that what he did wasn't right. That way he can really learn to be a better person. That's true, the minor gods were very annoying and while I wanted to sympathize with them, I just couldn't because of how horribly they treated their children. I mean in canon, even some of the Olympians felt like better parents. Thank you for your continued support!
Responding to Arden2709's review, yes, Percy will be lifting his swords again soon. I haven't forgotten about that. It'll happen at the right time. I hope this chapter makes up for the scare I gave you :) Thank you for your continued support!
I would like to thank visheshkailashbhoopalam for your wishes and for your continued support! I am very glad to know that you like my stories!
In response to Zoe Hunter Of Artemis' review, relax, I have read fanfiction for almost seven years now and I dislike authors who just abandon their stories. So when I started writing, I promised myself that I would see my stories through to the end, even if they did take longer than expected at times. So you have nothing to worry about! Thank you for your wishes and for your continued support!
Responding to the emoticon using guest reviewer, first of all, that's a great emoji. And yeah, that was quite the scare. I'm very proud of that cliffhanger :) I hope this chapter makes up for that! Thank you for your continued support!
In response to the guest reviewer (the one who reviews frequently), glad you enjoyed the cliffhanger in the AN. Yes, I want to explore the trope of Percy being a tired hero, left with energy enough for one last mission. In this mind-set of his, he becomes a very unpredictable individual. And I want to explore this some more.
Yes, I am trying to run two plots in parallel to give it a more dramatic feel and to increase its pacing. Oh, Ma Gasket is definitely not pleased. Bryce Lawrence huh? That's actually a great idea! I think I have the exact role for him in this plot. Honestly, even I don't know how this Nico X Thalia pairing is going to work out but I am willing to give it a shot and hope it goes well. Thank you for your wishes and for your continued support!
In response to Walter Ha's review, if you liked the action in the previous chapter, you'll love this one even more :) Thank you for your wishes and for your continued support!
I would like to thank the guest reviewer for your continued support!
Coming to mhutchinson791's, I guess I gave you guys a bigger scare than intended. I hope that this chapter makes up for that! I am thrilled to hear that you enjoy my stories! Thank you for your wishes and support!
In response to Ben's review, yes I am definitely exploring a darker, grittier corner of heroism that is often ignored. I want to explore and expand on the notion that everybody cannot be a hero. To be a hero is something that takes a lot of determination, willpower and extreme personal sacrifice. And that's exactly what I intend to portray. Thank you for your continued support!
In response to SonGoku76's reviews, very glad to have you back! I am stoked to know that you have enjoyed the past few chapters of this story and I hope you enjoy this one as well! Thank you for your continued support!
Responding to MegaRayquaza8121's review, congrats on finishing your exams! And I guess I did go a bit overboard with that AN. Nevertheless, I hope that this chapter makes up for that! Thank you for your continued support!
In response to NiHaR OP's review, well I thought that if I sort of dropped the atomic bomb on you first and then joked it off with the smaller reveal of a delayed chapter, I felt like it would divert disappointment away from the fact that I haven't uploaded a chapter that week. Ninja diversion tactics :) Thank you for your continued support!
Responding to Romeslayer's review, yes, this chapter is a lot more godly than the previous one :) I would love to have a lot of action in each chapter but then that will make this story a book version of Mortal Kombat which I don't want. So I need to ease in the heavy action with a strong plotline, character development and some suspense. But the next few arcs of this story will have a lot of action. Thank you for your continued support!
I would like to thank HellRaiderS for your wishes and for your continued support! It's great to be back after almost three weeks!
In response to DaoGodPrimus' review, I'll give you that one. It was a pretty cruel joke but I guess it made it easier to drop the smaller bomb of me not uploading a chapter the previous week because I had already caused a lot of panic ;) Thank you for your continued support!
In response to XXIVA's review, relax, I don't plan to abandon this story. I will definitely see it through to the end. I hope this chapter makes up for the scare! Thank you for your support!
In response to Ryan Fowler's review, I think I will include another similar scene with Percy being brutally honest with them. It would show that even though he may have changed after coming back from his coma, some things about him are fundamentally the same. Thank you for your wishes and for your continued support!
I would like to thank Darksaber14 for your support! I hope this chapter makes up for the scare in the AN!
I would like to thank Nice for your continued support!
I would like to thank John for your continued support! I am thrilled to hear that you liked the character development in the previous chapter!
Finally, coming to Jubby1905's review, I am happy to hear that you enjoyed the little moment of fluff I had written in the previous chapter. As much as I love exploring darker themes and heavy action, I know that it is very important to balance it out with some fluff and humour to not overload the readers. Oh, the Atlas Arc is going to be wild :) Thank you for your continued support!
Warning - This chapter contains a lot of violence and explores some dark themes. However, to be clear, there is no mature content in this chapter.
All credit for the characters goes exclusively to Rick Riordan.
Thalia was apprehensive. Facing her was a big, burly man with blonde hair whose eyes were a shining silver colour. And next to him was a beautiful woman who had platinum blonde hair and eyes that were a deep mahogany. Both of them were wearing traditional Greek hoplite armour and Thalia could tell that they were in their early twenties.
"Who in the name of Chaos are you? Answer me before I fry you." Thalia threatened as she took a battle stance, fully armoured, and a few sparks of electricity danced around her fingers.
"I am Magnus, son of Theia, the Titaness of Illumination and Champion of Hyperion, the Titan Lord of the East. And this is Spatha, daughter of Themis, the Titaness of Divine Law and Order." The man, apparently named Magnus, proudly boasted.
While Magnus boasted, Thalia quickly contacted Athena, Jason and Reyna through their mental link and asked them to come to their location.
"Seriously, your name is Spatha? Your parents must really hate you." Nico stated with a snort as he stood up and made his way towards the trio.
His armour had taken most of the impact from the pillar of flame but there were a few first degree burns on the unguarded parts of his arms and his neck.
"Let us see if you can laugh once I separate your head from your body with my spatha." Spatha growled as she revealed her three foot long, double edged Imperial Gold spatha.
"You can try." Nico challenged.
He then twisted his ring and his intimidating Stygian Iron sword materialised in his hands as he dashed at Spatha, signalling the beginning of a vicious duel.
Thalia immediately went on the offensive and shot a long arc of electricity at Magnus but the burly son of Theia slammed his fist on the ground and stopped the bolt with a wall of fire before pushing it towards Thalia.
Thalia took the air with one big leap and her spear and shield materialised in her hands as she dive bombed with her spear in front of her, intent on impaling the son of Theia through the head.
However, her spear was blocked by a four feet long broadsword that had flames dancing off its edges. And Thalia was caught off-guard when Magnus breathed fire at her.
She managed to block the ball of fire with her shield but then was forced to block a two handed horizontal slash from Magnus with her spear. The sheer strength behind the attack sent her flying through the window and into a building, shattering glass and giving her a dozen or so gashes.
Elsewhere, Nico was faring better against the daughter of Themis. He had gone on a flash offensive and was now engaged in a fierce clash of blades. His opponent's battle speed would have been very problematic for all his other friends but since he only used a long sword, he was undoubtedly the fastest of all DSS agents.
He parried a thrust from her spatha before kicking the daughter of Themis into a fire hydrant with enough force to break it and send a geyser of water into the air. He then noticed Magnus gathering a great amount of fire in his fist and instantly shadow travelled in front of Thalia and pulled the shadows around him to protect her from the pillar of fire.
That had given Thalia time to charge up a sizeable bolt of lightning which she shot at the Champion of Hyperion as soon as the smoke dissipated. The demititan tried to block but it was too late and he was engulfed in a small explosion that sent him flying through a wall.
"We need to get out of here. That burly freak is too powerful for just one of us to handle. And the other lady is just as strong as us. We aren't ready for this fight." Nico stated with a small pant of exhaustion.
It had taken a lot of his power to just stop that pillar of fire. They couldn't win this fight. Those two were physically superior and had much more combat experience.
Before Thalia could argue, he grabbed her shoulder and ran into the nearest shadow, disappearing just in time as a huge ball of fire incinerated everything in the ground floor of the building.
Percy was not pleased with the situation he had landed into. Caligula had turned out to be a very smart weasel. Percy didn't know how he had managed to do it but he had managed to keep eight river gods with him. And they weren't weak ones either.
The river gods in front of him were - Achelous, the god of the Achelous River who had brawled with Hercules. Alpheus, the god of the Alfeios River and a god punished by Artemis for lusting after Arethusa. Peneus, the river god of Thessaly and father of Daphne, one of Apollo's old love interests.
Asterion, Inachus and Cephisus, river gods who had ruled a judgement between his father and one of his aunts - Hera, in favour of his aunt which had angered his father and had resulted in him drying up their rivers.
The final two were Crimisus, river god of Sicily who had been punished by the gods for seducing the daughter of a Trojan settler in the guise of a dog and Scamander, the god of the Scamander river and an old foe whose physical form Percy had destroyed during the Trojan War.
"What a rotten bunch. Only the vilest of snivelling rats like you could have joined that weasel Caligula." Percy insulted, causing all the Potamoi to narrow their eyes at him.
"Watch your mouth, Diaboles. It's eight of us against you. The gods have wronged us and we seek revenge. We will only be happy to unleash our vengeance upon you but our father's orders are to first offer you a chance to surrender peacefully." Inachus growled out as a menacing bident materialised in his hands.
Percy's face gained a thoughtful expression upon this revelation, his mother had told him that Oceanus wasn't as cruel as his other brothers and was said to be more reasonable as well.
For a brief moment, he mulled the idea of actually meeting Oceanus and trying to negotiate with the eldest Titan. But he dismissed that idea because he knew that Oceanus would settle for nothing less than at least partial control of the seas and that was something all the members of the House of Poseidon, including him, would never budge on.
"How nice of Oceanus to offer that to me. But I'm not interested in surrendering. However, I am willing to acquit him of his crimes against the House of Poseidon if he takes an oath to never rebel against my father ever again. And that offer extends to all of you. I'll let all of you leave unharmed and I am willing to offer you freedom as long as you swear to never go against the gods ever again. I would advise you to take the offer because trust me, you will not walk away from a fight with me with your physical forms intact." Percy threatened as he made his own offer.
"You are in no position to threaten us Diaboles. The numbers are on our side." Scamander rebuffed with a murderous glare.
"Salamander, my old friend, you may have a numerical advantage but I have a qualitative one. The last time you challenged me, you had to rot in Tartarus for centuries. Do you really want me to cave in your face once again?" Percy casually commented but the subtle yet hardened edge in his voice displayed barely restrained anger.
"Die Diaboles." Scamander roared in anger as he charged at Percy with a huge broadsword in front him. But Scamander was slammed into the sea like a baseball by a gargantuan arm of solidified water with just a small motion of Percy's arm.
"Now, are you ready to talk or do you want to still want to fight a Prince of Atlantis in the sea?" Percy asked with a victorious smirk.
However, the river gods knew what they were here for and charged at Percy simultaneously. He surrounded himself in a cocoon of water but to his surprise, the river gods worked in tandem and managed to counteract his control temporarily, dissolving the cocoon and almost skewering him.
Percy escaped their charge by launching himself into the air in a powerful geyser and his spear and shield materialised in his hands as he launched a monstrous radial shockwave at all the river gods.
The river gods protected themselves in cocoons of water but with an angry roar, Percy wrestled back control of the sea water and the seven river gods were hit by the shockwave which shredded the outer layer of their skins, causing considerable pain and discomfort, at least temporarily.
In the meanwhile, Scamander had recovered and charged at Percy who twisted his body mid-air and intercepted a horizontal slash from Scamander's broadsword before breaking all the bones in the left side of Scamander's face and sending him careening into the sea with a shield slam.
Achelous was the first to recover from the shockwave and he sneaked up on Percy, almost striking the son of Poseidon's exposed neck but Percy blocked Achelous' club with his shield before flipping backwards to evade Alpheus who had shot through the air in a powerful geyser like human cannonball.
Due to Percy's flip, Alpheus crashed into Achelous' mid section with enough force to break a few ribs of the latter. Elsewhere, Percy blocked a thrust from Crimisus' spear with his own spear before breaking Peneus' nose with a brutal roundhouse kick that sent the father of Daphne on a collision course with the recovering Scamander.
Percy then quickly broke through Crimisus' guard and impaled the river god through the exposed part of his shoulder with his spear, sending a spray of Ichor into the air.
He then swung around the impaled Crimisus like a baseball bat and clubbed a charging Inachus, Asterion and Cephisus with their own brother. But Achelous and Alpheus had recovered in this time and fired two teal blue beams of energy that hit Percy's back and sent him crashing into the sea.
Unfortunately for them, Percy was rejuvenated as soon as he hit the sea and when he emerged, the air around him vibrated due to the raw power rolling off of him. And Percy felt alive as his full, unbridled power coursed through him.
A second later, Percy was surrounded by a huge hurricane as he charged at all the eight river gods who met him in the middle in a titanic clash that kicked up a large spray of water into the air and caused a shockwave that reverberated for about a few dozen leagues.
Annabeth felt a twinge of worry creep into her heart when Leo told her that he felt a small turbulence in the sea and when she felt the hotspot of divine energy a few dozen leagues behind her.
She knew that Percy was an extremely powerful individual. By her mother's and his own admission, Annabeth knew that at full power, he was just one level below the Big Three but she was perceptive enough to know that he was experiencing some difficulties in fighting at full power.
While Percy probably would not have any problem defeating all of them, the fact that he was fighting against eight river gods at the same time was a bit unnerving. Especially with his power deration. She was snapped out of her thoughts by Delphin's voice through the RADAR.
"Miss Annabeth, Prince Leonidas, the yachts are proving to be faster than our warships. Only your warship is catching up. At this rate, you will be dealing with the two dozen super yachts on your own. You need to do something about this." Delphin informed with a sense of urgency in his voice.
"I can try slowing them down by commanding the sea." Leo answered, albeit the uncertainty in his voice was evident.
"No, even if Percy is dealing with those river gods, you won't be able to stop two dozen ships in your own. We need to shoot them down. Lieutenant Delphin, can the missiles on your ships lock in on them?" Annabeth declined Leo's proposition before questioning Delphin.
"Negative." Delphin replied after checking the RADAR on his ship. Annabeth took a few moments to formulate a proper plan and after some quick thinking, she shared it with the other two.
"Here's what we will do. Percy's warship can go airborne. We will track them from there and once we are directly above them, we will drop the SKEAN on the armada. It should wipe out a good chunk of the ships and damage the rest of them enough to allow you to catch up and sink the rest of the armada." Annabeth stated as she shared the details of her plan.
"If you have had that monster of a missile with you all along, why didn't you tell me earlier?" Delphin asked with a small huff of annoyance.
With his own eyes, he had seen General Perseus using that missile once to wipe out a city of rebels in the seas beyond the influence of Lord Poseidon. That missile was an incarnation of destruction.
"Because Percy told us that it is supposed to be used as a last resort. He told us that it can cause unparalleled destruction and must only be used if we want to wipe out all life within a two hundred and fifty feet radius." Annabeth grimly responded.
She knew full well that nobody, mortal or monster, would survive the primary blast radius even if they were in extremely durable super yachts. But they had to do what they had to do.
"Anyway, even if it does not destroy all the yachts, it should damage the other ships enough for you to finish them off in a naval battle." Leo concluded the conversation before steering the ship up.
Once they had breached the surface, Leo pressed a button which caused the folded wings of the warship to extend to full capacity and once they reached full throttle, with a deafening roar, they took to the skies, flying at a speed that was subsonic at a height of a few thousand feet.
They caught up with Caligula's armada in just a few minutes and once they were ahead of Caligula's fleet, Annabeth opened the hull of the ship to reveal a twenty feet long behemoth of a missile.
With the press of another few buttons, the keel of the warship split halfway and widened enough to launch the missile. Annabeth waited a minute or so for the armada to get into a position and with the press of button, the entire warship jerked backwards due to recoil as the SKEAN was launched and in just a few seconds, it reached the armada with the roar of a falling meteor.
As soon as the missile made contact with the sea, a deafening radial shockwave erupted from it which wiped out six yachts within a two hundred and fifty feet radius.
That was followed by another shockwave, one that was weaker but had a radius of five hundred feet which critically damaged another six yachts. Those would sink very soon.
There was a final, much weaker shockwave of a radius of a thousand feet which then managed to interfere with the propulsion systems of the remaining dozen yachts and caused micro fractures on their hulls.
However, there was one yacht in the very front of the armada that had escaped that onslaught with only a few cracks on the hull and it was the one housing Caligula. And it had something the other yachts didn't have.
"You have got to be kidding me." Leo stated with a sigh of frustration as the yacht's deck split to reveal a fighter jet which wasted no time in taking off vertically.
"What are you waiting for? Follow the jet." Annabeth shouted and she felt her head being pushed into the headrest as Leo went full throttle, causing their flying warship to chase after the jet at its full, supersonic speed.
Jason shouted in surprise when Nico and Thalia fell out of a shadow in Athena's suite. He and Reyna had practically barged into Athena's suite as soon as he had gotten his sister's message and the three of them were coming up with a quick plan when Nico and Thalia had emerged.
"What happened to you? You look like you just completed a triathlon." Jason asked with concern as he propped first Nico and then Thalia on the sofa and gave them a glass of water.
"We just escaped from a fight with a son of Theia and a daughter of Themis. The daughter of Themis is just as strong as us. The son of Theia also happened to be Hyperion's champion and was a walking wildfire. He overpowered Thalia with relative ease and we would have been captured if we had not escaped." Nico frantically replied before stopping to catch his breath.
"I don't think we can take on Phoebe's army. Mother will be busy dealing with Phoebe while it seems like it will take at least three of us to deal with those two demititans. That leaves just one of us to deal with the other monsters, legacies and mercenaries. We may need to retreat." Reyna opined with her lips pressed into a thin line.
"You are right, daughter. We are not enough. I had suspected this even before we came on this mission. The Titans are not idiots. They have beefed up their entourage in anticipation of an ambush. For that reason, I contacted Artemis and her hunters as soon as we came here. When I checked with Artemis yesterday, they were only about fifty miles away. They will be here soon and we will have the necessary reinforcements to deal with Phoebe's army." Athena reassured them, revealing her plan.
"So all we need to do is hide and wait until then?" Thalia asked with an audible sigh of relief.
"Yes, we will wait for them and then-" Athena started but stopped mid-sentence when she sensed a sudden burst of Titanic energy outside their hotel.
"All of you, gather around me. NOW!" Athena shouted and the demigods immediately obeyed her orders and positioned themselves next to her.
As soon as all of them were around her, Athena covered them in a protective sphere of energy and a fraction of a second later, the entire building was vapourized by a monstrous beam of Titanic energy.
Percy flowed around the weapons and attacks of the eight river gods around him as he engaged all of them in close combat. They had been duelling for the past half hour and the sea around them had turned partially golden due to the amount of Ichor that had been spilt.
It had been a vicious duel that had resulted in him impaling, stabbing and slashing all of the river gods around him while receiving an equal amount of punishment. But the difference was that unlike them, he only bruised and at worst, suffered micro fractures or had slight tears in his muscles due to overexertion.
Since his command over the sea was being constantly counteracted by the pesky river gods, he could not heal fast enough to avoid injuries. However, the sea still drew out and amplified all his power, freeing him of the drawback of the sudden deration of power that had recently been afflicting him, allowing him to gradually gain the upper hand in the fight.
Also, the hurricane surrounding him helped by slowing his opponents down when they were closer and smashing them away when he kicked them into its arm.
Normally, maintaining a hurricane around himself for a half an hour while fending off so many gods would be a very tiring affair but since he was in the sea, he had used up only a sizeable but small chunk of his reserves of elemental energy.
He noticed that his opponents had started to slow down and were on their last ropes. His first chance came when Cephisus' guard temporarily lowered, due to Percy kicking him into Achelous.
Percy pounced on the chance and impaled Cephisus through the centre of his head with his spear, destroying Cephisus' physical form and splattering Achelous with Ichor and pushing him backwards where the arm of Percy's hurricane hit him with the force of a freight train and sent him into the sea hundreds of feet away.
This left an opening in Percy's own guard which Inachus took advantage of to stab the base of Percy's neck. But Percy grunted in pain as he braved the attack and allowed Inachus to overextend himself before twisting his torso and impaling Inachus through the side of his head, instantly destroying his current physical form.
Percy then blocked a strike from Peneus' sword with his shield and hurled his spear at a charging Alpheus propelling him into the arm of the hurricane which sent flying away with a severe knock.
Percy then slammed his ethereally glowing, seismokinetically enhanced fist into Peneus' gut, thereby releasing a deadly shockwave that blasted a gaping hole through Peneus' gut and blew Crimisus, who was behind him, off his feet.
Percy then whirled around to smash the left side of Asterion's face with his shield before calling his spear back and blocking a slash from Scamander's broadsword before kicking him away and impaling a recovering Crimisus in the neck with a deadly and precise spear throw.
Percy then brought his fist back and blew apart Asterion's head against his shield with a powerful right hook before throwing his glowing shield into Achelous' neck, cracking it with a sickening crunch.
Percy blocked a strike from Scamander's broadsword with his vambraces before kicking him in the gut. A bright flash erupted next to him as Alpheus took his divine form in the form of a pillar of energy which he directed at Percy.
However, Percy was prepared for this and had recalled his spear and shield as he combined his seismokinetic, atmokinetic and metaphysical powers to launch a bluish-white swirling monstrosity at Alpheus.
It was not even a contest as Percy's pillar easily overpowered Alpheus' and vapourized him a few moments later. That left Scamander as the only river god left standing and Percy turned towards him, walking on the water at a leisurely pace, dragging his spear along to create ripples of sea foam.
"I always believed that the Fates never gave me what I wanted but today, I have been proven wrong. I have been proven wrong because they have given me the chance to avenge my nephew – Achilles. Three thousand years ago, it was my destiny to be stalled by you which in turn forced me to watch my own nephew take his last breath in my arms. Today, it is my destiny to choke the life out of you and make you suffer, just like my nephew suffered." Percy declared in a subdued yet menacing voice.
His usually mellow sea green eyes darkened to a dark emerald, filled with rage and anger as his mind was filled with the heart-breaking sight of his nephew breathing his last in his arms.
"Please, I was being manipulated by Tartarus. I didn't know that he planned to kill Achilles. I was just being spiteful because my river had been polluted." Scamander blatantly lied as he grovelled before Percy.
"You knew exactly what you were doing. The victorious smirk on your face when Paris shot that arrow through Achilles' heel is a sight that I will never forget. You stole my nephew from me. No, you stole my son from me. You stole my successor. And destiny has left you here at my mercy three thousand years later as an act of providence." Percy darkly stated with a cold, ruthless edge to his voice.
"I don't need these weapons to bring an end to your physical form. You do not deserve to have your physical form dispersed by a weapon. Those are for sentient beings. No, I will award you the same fate as I would to a savage animal." Percy declared with a lifeless look in his eyes as he threw away his spear and shield.
Before Scamander could grovel again, Percy descended on him with a flurry of punishing punches. Percy attacked Scamander in a feral and unhinged way, not even bothering to use his seismokinetic abilities and instead using raw, brute physical strength to liquefy Scamander's insides. After a minute or so, Percy stopped to make a chilling announcement.
"This is not the end of your suffering. Every time you reform, I will hunt you down and beat you to death." Percy whispered with his eyes shining violently as he slammed his fist into Scamander's breastplate one final time, finally managing to tear through the Celestial Bronze armour.
"And I will do it…." Percy paused to cock his fist back before continuing.
"Again." Percy slammed his fist into Scamander's chest, breaking his ribs.
"And again." Percy slammed his other fist into Scamander's neck, crushing his neck pipe.
"And again." Percy smashed his fist into the river god's already mangled face, crushing it beyond recognition.
"FOR ALL ETERNITY!" Percy roared in a feral, predatory way as he slammed his fist into Scamander's face one final time, finally destroying the Trojan river god's physical form.
At that moment, it didn't matter to Percy that he had multiple severe bruises on his hands. All that mattered to him was that after all these years, he had finally managed to avenge Achilles' death.
Once his hands were partially healed by the sea, rather than constraining himself back into his calm, restrained state, Percy used the anger, the anguish and the adrenaline to fuel his actions. He used his mental link with Annabeth and Leo to find their location and once he found them flying over a desert in Texas, he disappeared in a blue mist.
Leo had given control of steering the ship to Annabeth in order to man the ballistae and launch missiles if necessary. While they had been chasing Caligula's jet, about two dozen of helicopters and twice as many Stymphilian birds had started tailing them and now they had to deal with that problem as well.
Leo was brought out of his thoughts as he intercepted a missile launched at them with a missile of their own. Annabeth took a hard left immediately to mimic the movement of Caligula's plane, causing Leo's neck to twist painfully.
"Could you be any brasher with your controls?" Leo huffed in annoyance as he took aim and shot down a dozen Stymphilian birds with the twin ballistae at the back of the warship.
"Zip it. Unless you want us to lose this weasel, you'll have to deal with your neck being folded like pretzel." Annabeth shot back, swerving the ship to avoid a rain of shells launched by one of the helicopters.
"We are flying at supersonic speeds. How in the name of Chaos are these birds keeping up with us?" Leo asked with frustration as he used the RADAR to lock onto and destroy four helicopters with a salvo of missiles before wiping out another dozen Stymphilians with explosive shells.
"Leo, not the time to question the anatomy of monsters. And don't just deal with the birds and helicopters. Shoot down Caligula's jet as well." Annabeth irately replied as she pulled the steering wheel up, rapidly gaining altitude to let two helicopters take each other out with their barrage of explosive shells.
"Sure, let me just focus on the weasel in front of us rather than making sure a hail of missiles and ballistae from two dozen supersonic helicopters don't wipe us out." Leo sarcastically retorted. And that was when Percy materialised on top of the warship.
"Kid, listen to her, deal with the birds and Caligula. I will take care of these helicopters." Percy seconded Annabeth's statement before propelling himself at the closest helicopter. And Leo's eyes nearly popped out of his head when he saw what happened next.
Percy just barrelled through a helicopter like a meteor, flipping it with his momentum and destroying its engine. He emerged on the other side before grabbing at hurling it another helicopter, resulting in a fiery explosion that wiped out the remaining Stymphilian birds.
He then disappeared in a blue mist and reappeared above another helicopter with his fist glowing ethereally as he brought it down and destroyed the helicopter with a powerful radial shockwave before jumping to the next helicopter and going on an unstoppable rampage.
"Are you seeing this?" Annabeth asked with disbelief as she watched Percy tear through and decimate the military helicopters like they were paper.
"Remind me to never piss him off. Ever." Leo stated with a slight shudder.
He then shot down a barrage of missiles fired by Caligula's jet before swiftly retaliating with his own barrage of half a dozen missiles. But these ones were special because they had a payload of condensed lightning as opposed to Greek fire.
The jet in front of them managed to shoot down four of the missiles but the other two sneaked their way past its defenses and struck their target – its twin engines, blowing up the back part of the jet in a big explosion and causing it to plummet down towards the ground.
Annabeth went after the crashing immediately and chased it for a few seconds, causing them to descend beneath the clouds and bringing the desert into view. Leo took aim at the aircraft and was about to shoot it down with a rain of ballistae when a helicopter suddenly dropped in front of them in a suicidal dive bomb.
Annabeth locked the steering wheel to the right as much as possible and the warship harshly tilted to the right but both of them braced for impact when they realised that they wouldn't evade it completely. But their flying warship never collided with the helicopter.
Percy had materialised in between them and was holding apart the two marvels of engineering with only his arms. He shot a predatory smirk at the legacy manning the helicopter before punching him through the windshield and turning his head into a pancake.
Percy pushed his warship away with his feet before catching the rails of the helicopter and throwing it at another one. He then disappeared in a blue mist to take care of the other remaining dozen or so helicopters.
A few seconds after that, Annabeth hastily landed the warship near the remains of Caligula's warship and got out of the ship with Leo, fully armoured and with their Celestial Bronze weapons gleaming.
The two of them carefully scouted the debris to find any remains but all they found were mounds of golden dust and they found no sign of Caligula. That was until he sneaked up behind them and almost impaled Annabeth. Thankfully, Leo managed to intercept the Imperial Gold spear with his shield and kicked Caligula away before that could happen and that's when they finally saw him.
Caligula was young, slender and lithe while being about six feet tall. He was handsome in a thin angular way, though his ears stuck out a bit too much and were too prominent. His smile was twisted and too thin and his placid brown eyes were too far apart.
He was wearing a mix of modern and traditional Roman armour that was made of Imperial Gold. He wore it with a purple cape and wielded a long, deadly Imperial Gold spear that glowed with energy.
"You have cost me billions of dollars. I will have your skins stuffed and used as showpieces." Caligula stated with a growl.
"You can try." Leo shot back as he charged at Caligula, with Annabeth just behind.
Caligula easily blocked a slash from Leo's sword and kicked him away before parrying a stab from Annabeth's dagger and smacking her across the face with the blunt end of his spear with enough force to send her tumbling along the ground.
Leo recovered and quickly engaged Caligula in single combat but was barely able to keep up with the former Roman emperor's inhuman speed. Thankfully, Annabeth joined the duel a few moments later, evening the field a bit.
The three of them went back and forth for a few minutes, with the two demigods managing to hold their own against the partial immortal. But it wasn't enough and Caligula started to decisively overpower them when he stated using his limited metaphysical abilities over energy manipulation.
He managed to disarm Annabeth and harshly kicked her a few feet away before firing a sphere of energy at Leo at point blank range. Leo managed to block it with his shield in the nick of time but the explosion blasted him away and brought him to a halt with painful landing a dozen feet away.
Caligula then pounced on Annabeth with an intent to impale her but was hit in the face by a swinging left hook from Percy, who had materialised in front of Annabeth just before Caligula could get to her.
That punch sent him flying with multiple fractures in the right side of his face. When he finally stood back up, he had to shake his head multiple times to clear the cobwebs in his vision and that was when he saw an extremely intimidating sight in front of him.
Standing in front of him, with his Celestial Bronze armour and fists completely caked in Ichor was Perseus Diaboles. And the air around him vibrated with power and the winds picked up as the General of the Divine Forces set his cold gaze on him.
"Brave of you to try and build an armada without the consent of the House of Poseidon. Even braver is housing eight river gods in it. But after one point, bravery turns into bravado and you bite the dust. You were always far too greedy for your own good." Percy commented with a deep voice as he maintained a stony expression on his face.
"I am flattered that the Hero of Olympus, the great Perseus Diaboles has decided that I am worthy of his undivided attention." Caligula tried to retort with a foxy smirk but the panic in his eyes gave away his façade as he tried to desperately reach out to the nearest Titan in his vicinity.
"Don't try contacting any of your friends, Caligula. I have set up a metaphysical barrier around us that is strong enough to deter even the General himself. Sure, it may have taken a lot of exertion but this way, I can beat the information and the location of the Golden Fleece out of you at my pace." Percy casually stated as he crossed his arms, but the icy rage in his eyes never subsided.
"I will not speak. Do your worst." Caligula defiantly replied.
"I was hoping you would say that." Percy stated with a dark, almost animalistic smirk and snapped his fingers, causing Leo and Annabeth to fall asleep.
Percy then pounced on Caligula and unleashed on him the maximum punishment he could muster without killing the former Roman emperor, showing a side of himself which he thought was long gone. But he did not care about doing the morally right thing anymore.
He was tired of always being the noble, heroic knight in shining armour. That had done nothing but bring him immense pain. Instead, he would now live up to his name and be the destroyer who brought damnation on his enemies.
Hey guys! I'm finally feeling better after finishing a long course of antibiotics which finally got rid of the last remnants of the annoying rhinovirus. I started writing this chapter last Wednesday when I was almost at the end of my antibiotic course and I enjoyed writing this one very much! I hope all of you liked it too!
First of all, full props to Ryan Fowler for suggesting the name Magnus to me. And I gave that name to a son of Theia and a Champion of Hyperion because I felt it's a bit ironic, considering that Magnus Chase has extreme resistance to fire. And naming the children of Titans based on the weapons they wield is another idea that I took from wreathr. So a shout-out to wreathr as well!
My objective in this chapter was fairly straightforward. I wanted to show that Percy is not the calm, collected hero that he was in the second story. His personality had already taken a darker turn with his new immortal essence being massively influenced by the Romans.
However, with Mnemosyne having messed up his mind, he is now as unpredictable and unhinged as the sea itself. He doesn't voluntarily punish others like he did in the first story where he was young and full of ruthlessness. This is more like a result of the extremely volatile and constantly traumatized state of his mind and his inability at times to restrain himself.
Read and review, I hope that all of you enjoyed this chapter! Have a fantastic day!
