Chapter 16

Greetings viewers! I hope that all of you enjoyed the previous chapter!

In response to Shadowhunter2077's review, with all due respect, may I know why you thought you would hate this arc? I am just genuinely curious. Nevertheless, I am delighted that you are liking this arc! I am glad that the interaction between demigods feels natural, it's hard to achieve that, especially since one of them is an OC but I'm very glad that it's working!

Yeah, Selene is just an awesome character and I have really enjoyed writing and exploring her character in great depth across this trilogy and that's why I decided to not follow canon which had her fade away. I am trying to keep the fights as divine and flashy as possible because as you pointed out, we got none of that in either PJO or Greek Gods. No, the other pantheons don't really exist in this Alternate Universe because I wanted the focus to be entirely on the Greek pantheon. And done, you'll see a great showdown between Ares and Menoetius in future arcs. You read my mind actually when it came to that. Thank you for your continued support!

Responding to J's review, I am glad you liked the 14tg chapter. I really did my best to bring out Percy's emotional vulnerability in that one and I'm glad to see that worked. Thank you for your continued support!

In response to Ben's review, you spotted it perfectly. I happen to be a huge Bond fan as well and I got the entire idea as well as inspiration for this arc when I was watching License To Kill. That movie really is an underrated gem and I really loved every part of it right from Timothy Dalton's gritty portrayal of Bond, which is probably the closest we'll ever get to Ian Fleming's James Bond, to Robert Davi's sublime portrayal of Franz Sanchez. So I took major themes from it especially for the final part of this arc. Thank you for your continued support!

In response to the guest reviewer, my update schedule is now at eight days, give or take a day. In chapters like these which are more fast paced, I can release them a day earlier while it is full of emotional scenes, it requires some more time to write and may take another day. Normal chapters which are balanced usually take eight days. I know this makes it a bit harder to follow so I'll try my best to go back to seven day updates. Thank you for your continued support!

I would like to thank Nice for your continued support!

I would like to thank the emoticon using guest reviewer for your continued support!

In response to John's review, yes, I think it's for the better that I take a day or two extra, if required that is, to come out with a chapter because that lets me keep track of the quality. And this chapter was fast paced which allowed me to write faster without sacrificing on quality. I am very honoured that you like the quality of my work. I know it's just fanfiction but I really do put in my best effort for this and I am very glad to see that people enjoy it! Thank you for your continued support!

In response to Kronosbluehairbrush's reviews, it actually wasn't even intentional to have Artemis fight practically her entire Titanic family but in hindsight, it looks nice and lent itself into the plot rather well. I don't know about whether I should have Leto be a baddie. Doesn't really seem like that sort of a Titan in my opinion. But a reunion with Asteria could be good in the Atlas Arc. Thank you for your continued support!

In response to the guest reviewer (the one who reviews frequently), the warning was because I really don't want to promote a habit as dangerous as smoking but I had to use it for the sake of entertainment. The fake defection was actually inspired by a Bond movie called License To Kill which happens to my favourite Bond movie. Yeah, Percy's backstory is just a combination of the worst memories of his and Achilles' life and I purposely kept it that way to give another layer of emotional depth to the fake defection. The Jackson surname was a call-back to canon and something I thought would be nice.

I am really glad that the scene between demigods provided some comic relief. The previous and this chapter are very intense so a light-hearted scene is a must in order to break that tension and give the readers some breathing space. Ethan's just an old school baddie. I needed a guinea pig character for what I had planned and I sort of disliked Ethan so I utilized him for that. Oh you'll be seeing Astraeus very, very soon :) I am thrilled that you enjoyed the previous chapter, I hope you enjoy this one as well and thank you for your continued support!

I would like to thank HellRaiderS for your continued support! I hope you like this chapter as well!

In response to Ryan Fowler's review, yes, normally I stick to one theme in my chapters, be it romance, action, plot progression or especially a light-hearted chapter to give readers some breathing room. But with my chapters getting longer by approximately twenty percent, I realised that I need to utilize one main genre and at least one or two other themes to bring in more diversity to the chapter and maximize the reading experience for the viewers. I have been trialling that for the past few chapters and I hope it's working well!

You know, the idea of a daughter of Aphrodite being a master of disguise is awesome. I'll tweak it a bit to fit the plot but I think I know the perfect canonical candidate for that. And I could include a certain son of Hephaestus as well with her if you know what I mean :) Yes, you have been a part of this trilogy since such a long time that you most probably know which way I'll go with Zoe :) Thank you for the awesome idea and for your continued support!

In response to Jubby1905's review, Aunt Selene is just badass. I mean she is one of the few actually good figures in Greek mythology but got no prominence in either PJO or Greek Gods. And I was really disappointed by that so I wanted to use this Alternate Universe to give her as much prominence as possible. Well Percy's disguise is based almost entirely on Percy and not only in a physical way. It's a manifestation of his inability to come to full terms with Achilles' death. Thank you for your continued support!

Finally, coming to Arden2709's review, I am thrilled that you enjoyed the previous chapter! I hope you like this one even more! Thank you for your continued support!

Warning 1 – Smoking is extremely injurious to health and as the author, I am in no way endorsing or promoting smoking through my characters. In this chapter, any and all instances of fictional characters smoking are in a world of fantasy where it means nothing and is done purely for the sake of entertainment. Doing the same in the real world will lead to an early grave.

Warning 2 – The part of this chapter after the second last line break has a lot of violence and some mild gore. Enough for it be M rated. However, there is no usage of any strong language or any sexually explicit scenes.

All credit for the characters goes exclusively to Rick Riordan.


Neither did Ethan like nor did he trust Percy Jackson. As he mildly glared at the tall, muscular, blonde twenty-nine year old son of Thetis smoking his sixth cigar of the day, he could not help but feel something was off.

As suggested by Jackson, Nero had started to shift most of his weapons and blueprints to his Los Angeles base secretly along with going there himself because Jackson believed that the Seattle base would be under attack tonight. It was an operation that had involved only Nero, Jackson and himself as they transported all the weapons on a high speed railway while the three of them had a luxurious coach all to themselves.

"Brat, no matter how much you glare at me, I won't just disappear." Percy stated as he exhaled a deep cloud of smoke.

"I don't trust you Jackson. Your entire story and character seem too good to be true. You somehow not only save Lord Nero at the perfect time but also have complete cognizance of the gods' actions. You seem like a master spy and brilliant strategist who just conveniently happens to hate the gods. And not only that, you also bear the Curse of Achilles and are very adept at combat. It cannot just be sheer luck that you fill an extremely important vacancy in Triumvirate Holdings that just opened up." Ethan narrated with his eyes narrowed dangerously at Percy.

"It isn't sheer luck that you found me. You only have me working here because I wanted to. If I didn't want to, you would have lived and would have been slaughtered by the gods without ever knowing that someone like me even existed. In our line of work, the Fates are more often against us than they are with us. Nothing comes to us for free. We have to take what we want." Percy responded with as he huffed a plume of smoke that hit Ethan right in the face, causing the demigod to succumb to a fit of cough.

Once he stopped coughing, Ethan angrily sent a right hook at Percy's face but the immortal disguised as a blonde demigod easily caught before crushing Ethan's fist as he stood, causing Ethan to scream in pain as he fearfully gazed at Percy who towered over him.

"Listen to me very carefully, boy. I will let you brood in your own corner as long as you don't piss me off. However, the moment you become a thorn in my side, I will snuff the life out of you faster than you can blink. If you really annoy me, I will break your back and throw you in the desert, allowing the vultures to eat you when you are alive." Percy warned in a dangerous tone that set off all alarm bells in Ethan's head. There was no way the man in front of him was just a demigod. His voice had too much power for that.

"Enough! Jackson, let go of his hand." Nero strictly and forcefully ordered as he stepped next to Percy.

He had made his way here when he had heard some commotion in the back, but he had not expected to see Percy seemingly an inch away from beating Nakamura to death. Percy complied, albeit reluctantly and Ethan dropped to his knees, groaning in pain as he nursed his mangled right hand.

"Mr Jackson, I hired you to eliminate the demigods who worked for gods, not those who worked for me." Nero chastised with a small sneer.

"Apologies, Signor Nero. Responding to force with even greater force has become a habit that has been enshrined in me. I shall ensure this doesn't happen again." Percy replied in a cool and crisp voice.

Nero accepted this half-hearted and totally insincere apology before signalling an Empousa to take Nakamura away and treat him. Once the son of Nemesis was out of sight and earshot, Nero's demeanour completely shifted.

"But I must admit that I am impressed by how quickly you assumed dominance over Nakamura. While he is just the son of some minor god, he's no slouch by any means. In fact he could kill two well trained demigods, a son of Ares and a daughter of Apollo all on his own. But you made him look like a mere mortal." Nero stated with an impressed look on his face as he offered Percy a glass of his favourite Scotch before taking a seat in front of the son of Thetis.

When he mentioned that Nakamura had killed two demigods, Nero felt like he saw a wave of fury erupt in Jackson's dark emerald eyes but it was gone as fast as it had come, making Nero think he was imagining things.

"Signor Nero, he is neither the first nor will he be the last overconfident blockhead to underestimate me. I may not possess any significant elemental powers but what I lack there, I more than make up for it with my endurance and tactical acumen. After all, it's not only demigods whose backs I have broken." Percy declared with a predatory smirk as he accepted the drink before revealing another cigar.

"If that's the case, who is the most powerful enemy that you have defeated?" Nero asked as he curiously leaned forward and lighted the cigar for Percy.

"A rogue sea god." Percy coldly responded before he deeply inhaled.

"A sea god?!" Nero voiced his spooked disbelief. He knew Jackson was strong but for a son of a minor sea goddess to actually defeat a god was unheard of.

"Only a minor one, Signor Nero. And it was because he got overconfident and underestimated just how dangerous I really was. It was a mission I got shortly after I turned partially immortal and after a long arduous battle, on land, I managed to break his back and destroy his physical form." Percy lied as he fabricated a story.

He was getting tired of doing this. His hands itched to just shoot out and strangle Nero and then throw Nakamura under the train as revenge for what they had done but he had to bide his time because he had already informed Athena and his DSS agents of his location. So it was only a matter of waiting for their attack.

Then, he would save Nero once again, along with Nakamura this time, and once they reached Los Angeles, he would make Nakamura look like the traitor. In parallel to this plan, he had set a timer on the explosives of the missiles which he had secretly strapped to two of the lowest floors of the weapons factory in Seattle in the past few days.

To top it all off, he would then set up the Los Angeles base to fail and with one swift and brutal swoop, he would shove Nero's dagger down his own throat as the Divine Secret Service and Hunters of Artemis destroyed the Los Angeles weapons factory. And he didn't have to wait too long as his plan was put into motion when an explosion rocked the entire train.

"Signor Nero, we are under attack. Get to the helicopter in front, I will grab Nakamura. We cannot wait until any demigods infiltrate our coach and put you under danger. Let the monsters stall the demigods." Percy stated as he faked a sense of urgency into his voice.

"But we are supposed to deliver these to the Titans, they will be furious. Not only that, I will lose an excruciating amount of money and influence with the Titans. It's just a few demigods, why don't we fight back. You told me you defeated a sea god, a few pesky teenage demigods shouldn't be a big issue for you." Nero countered as he loathed the thought of having to abandon this goldmine of a coach.

"If it's only a few demigods then it won't be a problem. But they could be followed by the Hunters of Artemis, led by the goddess herself. And Chaos forbid, if even Athena shows up, we will be powerless. Signor Nero, you have to decide what's more important – a temporary setback or an utter and crushing defeat that will result in an extremely painful punishment. There is nothing wrong about wanting to live to fight another day." Percy persuaded in a suave way with seemingly perfect logic and Nero hesitantly caved in before nodding at him and rushing towards the helicopter.

Percy then ran into the infirmary and unceremoniously hefted a confused and screaming Ethan Nakamura on his shoulders like he was a sack of potatoes before making his way to the helicopter.

Percy then dropped Nakamura on the floor and sat next to the pilot, a mortal mercenary, as he assumed control of the helicopter. Nero blasted a hole in the roof of the carriage and Percy wasted no time as he took off vertically. As they flew away, Nero could only bemoan in anguish as the Divine Forces destroyed his train in a rain of missiles. This was an insurmountable loss.


Percy was sitting in a chair under a lone, amber light and Ethan Nakamura, who was in a similar state next to him as Nero murderously glared at them while pointing his Celestial Bronze gun at their heads.

"Signor Nero, I can infer that this is not a social call. But I must inform you that I do not like a gun being pointed at me as I may react rather violently to any threats." Percy warned in a calm yet steely voice.

"Are you threatening me Jackson?" Nero furiously questioned.

"You can interpret my statement however you want, Signor Nero." Percy replied in a nonplussed manner.

"The gods should not have known that we were going to transport the weapons in the Seattle base to the one in Los Angeles. Only five people, including me, knew about that. And even more shocking is that they knew the exact location of our train which only three people knew and all three of us are in the room. Plus, one of you carried out an inside job and used my own weapons against me to destroy my Seattle base." Nero snarled in rage as he banged the desk with enough force to break it and splinter the wood.

"Lord Nero, it must be this man. I have had my suspicions about him but isn't it awfully convenient that he has been around to save you every time the gods have attacked since he joined Triumvirate Holdings." Ethan accused as he glared at Percy.

"If that was really the case, why did I risk my life saving you twice, Signor Nero. Not to mention, I could have misguided you and let you fight the demigods while the Hunters of Artemis showed up and made pork chops out of you. But I didn't do that, did I?" Percy argued, rather convincingly as Nero couldn't find himself to dispute that logic.

"If you are innocent, Nakamura must be guilty. How do you prove that?" Nero intensely interrogated.

"I don't think that it is just coincidence that the gods attacked us the exact moment when Nakamura was not under anyone's supervision. Plus, I have very little knowledge of the insides of your bases and even if I did have a photographic memory, which I don't have, it would be impossible to signal the gods with so much accuracy and know exactly how I have to destroy the Seattle base. The Seattle base was destroyed because Nakamura knew its weaknesses. He is a spy who is working for the gods." Percy falsely accused as he laid out his fabricated logic in a meticulous way.

His answer sowed the seeds of suspicion in Nero's mind. And that was when Nero saw the cap of a small, thin golden coloured pen sticking out of the pockets of Nakamura' jeans. Unbeknownst to both of them, Percy had placed that pen there when he had hoisted Nakamura back on the train.

"Is that a new pen, Nakamura? I don't remember seeing it with you earlier." Nero suspiciously questioned as he pointed at the pen, causing Ethan to jolt in shock and slowly remove the pen out of his pocket.

"No sir it must have been-" Ethan started and stared at the pen but he was cut off by Nero

"Give the pen to me, Nakamura." Nero stated with a growl as he snatched the pen from Ethan's hands.

As soon as Nero opened the cap, a three dimensional holographic image of the entire Los Angeles factory materialised in front of him and in a barely noticeable frequency, the blueprints of the building were sent, undoubtedly to the gods. Nero's eyes darkened considerably as he crushed the pen in his hand before punching Ethan, sending the demigod tumbling.

"Lord Nero, I have worked for you so many years-" Ethan tried to argue but it was futile because he was cut off by a brutal left hook that Percy delivered.

"Silence, you do not deserve to talk to Signor Nero, I will award you an excruciating death for this betrayal." Percy growled as he grabbed a hold of Ethan's neck, choking the demigods as he dragged him out.

"Mr Jackson, show him what happens to those who oppose Triumvirate Holdings. The gods are sure to attack us now so, let me call for some backup." Nero ordered in a low, angry voice.

Percy complied and dragged Nakamura through the hall and into the roof of the factory with a stranglehold on the son of Nemesis' neck as the other mortals, legacies and even monsters fearfully gave way to him.

Once they reached the roof, Percy let go of Ethan before roughly kicking him in the chest and sending him straight into the concrete slab at the edge, breaking a few of the demigod's bones, leaving Ethan coughing up blood. He was given no respite as Percy picked him up with one hand and held him over the edge of the roof.

"This is for Mark and Erithea. Enjoy rotting in the Fields of Punishment, Ethan." Percy announced in a vengeful voice as he revealed his true physical form.

Ethan's eyes burned with hateful recognition but he couldn't do anything as Percy decided to give him a one way ticket to the Underworld by smashing Ethan into the concrete edge enough times to completely break it before throwing Ethan's already mangled body into the ground below him with enough force to cause a crater.

A few minutes later after getting a partial hold on his emotions, Percy reverted to his disguised form and made his way back to Nero's room but his mind was so preoccupied with the notion of completing his revenge that he did not notice that a rather powerful Titan had materialised in the base and Percy simply barged into the room.

"Astraeus, this is the man I have hired and you'll find that-" Nero started when he saw Percy walk through the door and when Astraeus turned, he roared in shock when he saw who was standing in front of him.

"Diaboles?!" Astraeus roared in shock and anger and a moment later, Percy's true form became visible. Astraeus quickly recovered from his shock to fire a beam of sky blue energy at Percy which caught him off-guard and sent him through the wall.

Percy got up a fraction of second to block Astraeus' double edged sword with his shield as he glared back at the Titan of the Dusk and winds, the Consort of Eos and the father of the four wind gods. He had long, wavy black hair and a very tall and muscular stature. His eyes were a deep orange-red, resembling the skies at dusk. However, his most prominent feature were his large feathered wings that were completely covered in gleaming Imperial Gold armour. Percy's observation was cut short when he had to push Astraeus away to block Nero a strike from Nero's gladius.

"You-" Nero started but Percy cut him off with a punishing right hook that sent him through a few rooms. He didn't have time for chit-chat.

Astraeus charged towards Percy with a horizontal slash, with a remarkable amount of speed and Percy barely blocked it in time with his shield before thrusting his spear at Astraeus which the Titan blocked with one of his armoured wings before using the other one to smash Percy away.

Percy roared in anger and slammed his spear against his shield causing a powerful radial shockwave that propelled both Astraeus as well as the recovering Nero through the side of the building. Percy then used his rage to channel his full power and slammed his glowing foot down on the ground, collapsing an entire part of the building on Astraeus and Nero .

Astraeus shrugged the rubble off and shot into the air but he was not prepared to be tackled back to the ground by Percy who slammed into him with the force of a freight train and their impact on the ground reduced large pieces of concrete to rubble along with kicking up a cloud of dust into the air.

Astraeus recovered a few seconds later and stood up before he swung his sword sideways with his free hand but Percy blocked it with his shield and followed that up by sinking his knee into Astraeus' gut, causing the Titan to kneel over. But before Percy could cement his advantage, his power derated the slightest bit, causing him to be hit by a beam of energy that was fired by Nero which sent him careening.

Astraeus joined the former Roman emperor and fired his own beam of orange-red energy at Percy, hitting the Hero of Olympus squarely in the chest and sending him flying into a large pillar of concrete and causing it to break in half when he collided with it.

Astraeus then covered the short distance in the blink of an eye and brought his sword down in an overhead strike but Percy evaded that slash and hit Astraeus with his right elbow. His attack disoriented the Titan enough for Percy to recover his footing and he thrust his spear forward but Astraeus blocked it with his armoured wing before engaging Percy in a fierce duel.

Nero did not get involved because he saw that the warships and war chariots containing the Hunters of Artemis and demigods had arrived. Thankfully, the metaphysical barrier that Astraeus had set up meant that no other full immortal could enter. But still, he would not stick around and wait until the Hunters made baloney out is him.

Nero made the decision to ditch Astraeus and escape the Hunters and mainly escape Diaboles' wrath. Astraeus was a very strong Titan but without back-up, all he would be able to do was stall Diaboles. Staying alive was the most important thing for Nero right now. He could figure out other things later on.

So acting swiftly and decisively, he ran towards one of his stationed attack helicopters and through the window, he shot the pilot as he took control of the helicopter and attempted to take off but unfortunately for him, Percy destroyed the helicopter's engine with a shockwave, trapping Nero under the broken remnants of his own helicopter.

Before Percy could pursue Nero, he was forced to block a dive bomb from Astraeus. He dug his heels in and let his shield made out of the special alloy of Celestial Bronze and Imperial Gold absorb the kinetic energy behind the Titan's lunge, giving the shield a slight purple hue and he then thrust his spear at Astraeus, who blocked his spear with one of his wings.

Percy then followed up his spear thrust with a shield slam which Astraeus defended with his other wing. However, Astraeus had failed to account for the fact that Percy's shield released the stored energy and was blasted back a few feet by the impact of Percy's shield against his wing.

"I am good friends with your sons, especially Boreas and Notus. And as such, I dislike having to fight you. Make no mistake, I have no qualms about destroying your physical form if it comes to that. But I would rather not. Astraeus, you were neutral during the First Titanomachy and the Gigantomachy. Stay that way. Take a solemn oath that you will never go against Olympus or the gods ever again and I will let you walk away right now." Percy calmly offered as he stalked towards a panting Astraeus.

"My sons are foolish weaklings. As long as they get their corner of the world, they are willing to grovel under Zeus' feet. But Lord Kronos has promised me that I will get control over the entire skies. I will be the next Ouranos. And I will cement my status as the overlord of the sky by killing you." Astraeus loudly declared as he rose to his feet.

"You do not have what it takes to challenge me, Astraeus. Trust me, you do not want this fight. You will not walk or fly away from this place with your physical form intact if you decide to fight me." Percy warned as his dark emerald eyes glowed with anger.

Rather than replying, Astraeus took to the sky in one giant flap of his wings. He had realised he was seriously outmatched by Diaboles in close combat but from afar, he could just bombard Diaboles with energy constructs. And that's what he tried to do as he unleashed a rain of disintegrating beams and energy spheres, carpet bombing the entire area.

Percy responded in kind as he unleashed his own arsenal of linear and radial shockwaves, constructs of solidified water that he had created from condensing the air and a variety of sea green coloured energy beams.

This barrage resulted in fierce explosions that shook the entire factory which buried Nero under even more rubble. However, slowly but surely, Percy started to gain the upper hand in the barrage and found that he could avoid his power from derating as long as he used his rage to fuel himself.

Soon, after a few minutes, Astraeus was forced on the defensive and Percy's relentless barrage continued and much to Astraeus' shock, he found Percy closing down on him by flying through the air, using the special winged boots that Hermes had given him over three millennia ago.

Percy finally reached Astraeus and hurled his spear at the Titan of the winds, forcing Astraeus to deflect it with his sword. He was then forced to engage Percy in close combat in air, a situation that he found was far from favourable.

Down below, Nero emerged from all the rubble and coughed out dust as Ichor dripped from his forehead. He saw that the Hunters had scythed their way through his forces in his base and the flying warship and war chariots relentlessly battered his base with an endless barrage of explosive shells fired by powerful ballistae.

Using some of his limited metaphysical abilities, he materialised one of his modified supercars, a Bugatti Chiron, which thankfully was barely damaged and hopped into it before driving away at full speed.

Percy noticed this and threw one of his sea green pearls on the car, to track it before back flipping mid-air in order to avoid a stab from Astraeus' swords before kicking the Titan in the chest. Astraeus retaliated with a wall of force that propelled Percy backwards before soaring higher into the sky but unfortunately for him, Percy was on him a moment later, forcing Astraeus to defend a slash from Percy's spear with his double edged longsword.

Being in the air and fighting in close combat was far from optimal for Astraeus as he had to use his wings to fly which meant that he could not use them for combat. And every time he tried to put some distance between himself and Diaboles, the latter pushed forward relentlessly and at times, even at the cost of injury.

That approach started paying of for Percy as they violently clashed across the sky, soaring across it at such speed that they were practically invisible to anyone who wasn't an immortal. Their clash left shockwaves in the sky, making it seem like the sky itself was shaking under the force of their fight.

Both of them picked up injuries at an astonishingly fast rate, with Astraeus picking up significantly more than Percy but the other point of difference was that those injuries considerably slowed down Astraeus while they had a noticeable but much lesser impact on Percy. And finally, Percy found the opening he had been looking for.

In a bid to try and go on the attack, Astraeus had left a part of his left side exposed just enough for Percy slam the edge of his shield into him, temporarily forcing all the air out of Astraeus' lungs.

Percy followed that up by firing a monstrous linear shockwave at point blank range, blasting Astraeus back to the ground like meteor. Percy didn't let up and continued his assault by diving down like an eagle and slamming his seismokinetically enhanced shield into Astraeus' right wing, breaking it with a loud crunch.

He then broke Astraeus' other wing in a similar way, crippling the Titan and preventing him from taking to the air once again. He sensed that Astraeus was about to take his divine form and before that could happen, Percy hit Astraeus' face with his ethereally glowing fist, cracking all the bones in the left side of Astraeus' face and sending him into a state of temporary disorientation.

Devoid of any mercy, Percy decisively pinned the Titan's arms down with his knees before slamming his brightly glowing, almost white fists into Astraeus' armoured torso, releasing a potent internal shockwave that liquefied Astraeus' insides and caused him to cough up a copious amount of Ichor.

Unfortunately, not for the first time in the past few weeks, Percy's rage got the better of him as then started to pummel Astraeus with his fists to prolong the Titan's suffering rather than finishing him off quickly.

That proved to be a very unwise decision on Percy's part as Astraeus used the little energy he had left to slam his knees into Percy's back, sending the Champion of Atlantis tumbling forwards. And before Percy could do anything, Astraeus dropped his metaphysical barrier around the base and took his divine form as he teleported, forcing Percy to protect himself in a dome of energy.

Rather than wasting time pondering, Percy immediately vanished in a blue mist as he chased after the trail that had been left behind by the pearl he had threw on to Nero's car. He had one last thing to do in his mission.


Thalia was getting bored on her latest mission. At first, she had been very excited that the assault on the Los Angeles base would involve only the hunters and the DSS agents, at least initially. However, when they came here, it turned out that they were only providing air support to the Hunters.

"The Hunters should be providing cover to us. Not the other round." Thalia huffed in annoyance as she shot down a battalion of hellhounds with the twin ballistae at the front of the warship.

"Thals, you're just salty that you aren't the one doing all the impaling. And what is it with children of Zeus and their weird craving for battle." Nico light-heartedly jibed as he turned the warship, Percy's warship to be exact, to avoid a deadly payload fired by a group of Cyclopes manning an onager who Thalia made quick work of a few seconds later.

"Says the emo boy who spends more time talking to ghosts than actual people." Thalia retorted with a snort of sarcasm.

"I am a moderate goth. Not an emo guy." Nico proudly shot back.

"There's no such thing as a moderate goth." Thalia dryly replied.

"Sure, barbie." Nico stated with a teasing smile on his face.

"Call me that one more time and I am going to barbeque you." Thalia threatened as she glared at Nico.

"Bring it on, barbie." Nico egged her on with a challenging smirk on his face.

"Damn it you two. This isn't the time for you to flirt in your own weird way. Why is it that everyone's romantic side shines through when we're on a mission?" Annabeth chastised them with an irate huff.

"We're not flirting." Nico and Thalia retorted simultaneously, before blushing at their synchronicity.

"Sure... You both are engaged in only friendly banter and nothing else." Leo retorted with his voice dripping with sarcasm.

"Quiet all of you. Focus on the job." Reyna strictly interjected.

Leo was about to say something but he quickly went silent when he saw that Athena and Artemis had shown up on the RADAR. He also noticed that Percy's, Nero's and Astraeus' signature weren't on it anymore. It seemed like their mission had reached its endgame and as such, his face took on a serious expression as he focused on his part in the mission.

Plus, he had learnt his lesson the last time he had joked on a mission with Annabeth while Athena was listening. She had shot glares at him for an entire week after that little incident.


Nero was racing away from his base and had covered a dozen leagues in just a little under half an hour and had managed to reach one of his safe houses that were in the countryside near his Los Angeles base.

He parked his car and went underground and the lights switched on with a snap of his fingers as he walked towards a fighter jet, the same spec as the one that Caligula had had in his main fleet.

Nero hastily embarked the jet and with another snap of his fingers, the roof of the warehouse split in the middle and spread apart and with a roar. A second later, the jet took off vertically and reached an altitude of a few hundred feet. He was about to fly away to Alaska, with an intent to never leave that place ever again. But his plans did not live to see the day.

Just before the aircraft could fly away, Percy rammed into the side of the aircraft like a living ballista, critically damaging the aircraft and causing the jet to spiral downwards at breakneck speed. In the time it took for Percy to regain his footing, Nero hit him with a beam of energy and ejected himself from the aircraft as it crashed into the ground violently a few seconds later, instantly being engulfed in a fiery explosion.

Nero jumped from the parachute and landed on his feet a few dozen feet away from his Bugatti Chiron as he made his way towards it once again. But Percy materialised in front of him looking absolutely undamaged from that explosion right before Nero reached his car and decked the immortal across the face with his right fist.

As Nero shook his head in effort to clear the cobwebs in his vision, he realised how dishevelled his appearance had gotten. His expensive Italian suit made out of the finest purple wool was in taters in multiple places and his face was covered in bruises and cuts that oozed Ichor while his brown, curly hair had been roughed up.

"You should not have picked a fight with me, Nero. You shouldn't have picked a fight with the gods in the first place. But you made an even bigger mistake by killing Mark and Erithea. Before, I would have shown you some mercy but now, I will make you suffer tenfold for what you did to them." Percy stated with a low, guttural growl as he dropped his spear and shield.

"You are a monster in every aspect, Diaboles. You have no right to levy moral judgements on others because you are nothing more than a cruel, ruthless general. You may think you are better than me but you are not. And your killer intent only proves that." Nero stated with a sneer as he unsheathed the gladius that he had hidden inside his suit and lunged at Percy, trying to surprise him.

Unsurprisingly, Percy saw his attack coming a mile away and caught Nero's hand mid-swing. He then flipped Nero over his shoulder, with little exertion and slammed the former Roman emperor into the ground with enough force to create a small crater.

"I am not attacking you because I am the Hero of Olympus. I am attacking you because I am avenging the death of my nephew and niece. I stopped being the noble and virtuous hero long ago. Now, I am the destroyer who brings damnation. And you just invoked my wrath." Percy whispered in a tone that was saturated with fury as his dark emerald eyes turned into green fireballs, utterly terrifying Nero.

Nero unsheathed another dagger with from the sleeve of his other hand and tried to strike Percy's forehead but Percy caught it with his other hand and violently crushed Nero's forearm, causing Nero to scream in pain.

As stated, Percy showed absolutely no mercy and twisted Nero's arm in an unnatural way breaking it even further before, much to Nero's horror, driving the dagger into Nero's own stomach as Nero experienced excruciating pain.

Percy then broke Nero's shoulder blade to pieces with his left knee before raising the vile man into the air with a chokehold, suspending him there with his right hand. Percy then cocked his large, left fist back and slammed it right into the middle of Nero's face, breaking his nose with a sickening crunch and flattening it, splattering his fist with Ichor.

"Can you feel that excruciating pain? This is what Mark and Erithea felt." Percy roared in rage as he let go of Nero before immediately burying his knee into Nero's chest with enough force to not only break most of Nero's ribs but also send him straight through an entire line of trees.

"You mutilated them. They did nothing to you. They were newlyweds. They had an entire life of bliss ahead of them. But you cruelly robbed them of that opportunity. Of the opportunity to start a family. The opportunity to live happily ever after. You took everything away from them." Percy stated with anguish and wrath dancing in his eyes as he slowly made his way towards Nero.

"I ab sowwy pweab lew be go." Nero croaked out nonsensical gibberish due to his inability to speak properly as a result of the pummeling he had received as he grovelled in front of Percy.

"Let you go? No, I have something far worse in store for you." Percy darkly declared with an unusually cruel chuckle.

He squatted in front of the crippled partial immortal and grabbed Nero's fallen gladius and as Nero watched on with helplessness, Percy swiftly and brutally shoved the gladius deep into Nero's mouth and then down through his throat, causing Nero to scream in pain but all that did was push the sword further down.

"I will let you suffer here slowly and watch as your pathetic existence nears its end. And then, I will obliterate you inch by inch and disperse that immortal essence of yours forever. This is for Mark and Erithea." Percy announced as the blade sliced its way down Nero's gut.

However, Percy did not get to prolong Nero's suffering as Athena showed up a moment later and obliterated Nero's physical form with a concentrated beam of stormy grey energy. And her eyes held equal parts anger, disappointment and concern as she rested her fierce gaze on Percy.

"Percy, you promised me that you would not let your rage get the better of you. But look at the savage levels you were willing to go to in order to enact your revenge." Athena angrily shouted at Percy.

"I was doing the same thing to that monster as what he had done to Mark and Erithea. The Fates weren't going to avenge them so I decided to take matters into my own hands. I failed to avenge one nephew. And I promised myself that I would not fail to avenge another." Percy rebuked with an equal amount of anger in his tone as the winds around him started to pick up.

"Don't you see that by doing all this, you are turning into the very monsters you are fighting?" Athena accused him with disappointment evident in her voice.

"I do not care about that anymore. All I want is revenge against fate. Revenge for being forced to undergo pain again and again and again. And I have no qualms about giving monsters like Nero the punishment the deserve. I will fight fire with even hotter fire." Percy roared as he rose to his full, intimidating height.

"This is not the Percy I fell in love with. No, this is a man so afflicted by his past that he cannot understand that he is losing his present and future by succumbing to rage. You have turned into what Achilles had become after Patroclus' death. You exiled Achilles, banished your own nephew from the House of Poseidon for this very reason. And that's what led to his death. Which ultimately led to your own three thousand year old coma. Do you want to history repeat itself? Do you want me to cry over your limp, lifeless body for another three thousand years because you were too caught up in your own rage? Will that finally extinguish this fire of violent vengeance that burns so powerfully within you that it has overcome all your other emotions, including your love for me?" Athena snapped at Percy, due to the emotional stress of the situation. But even though she was right, she immediately regretted it.

In an instant, Percy's eyes morphed from a dark emerald green filled with fury to a morose sea green filled with gut-wrenching pain and all-consuming guilt as every word spoken by Athena caused painful memories to erupt in Percy's mind, overwhelming him with mental flashbacks as he collapsed to his knees.

"ACHILLES! NO!" Percy screamed in anguish as he relived the worst memories of his life in a hallucination before managing to wrestle back control of his own mind through sheer willpower. Athena rushed forward to steady him but Percy rapidly pulled away from her.

"Stay away from me, I am a monster." Percy hoarsely whispered as he was flooded with the pain and guilt of having abandoned Athena for three thousand years as soon as she came near him.

Before Athena could say or do anything, Percy disappeared in a blue mist and Athena cursed herself for getting caught up in the heat of the moment. She had chosen the worst possible time and an even worse way to talk to Percy about his rage without even considering all the problems that his emotional trauma which had been amplified by Mnemosyne was causing.

A sombre expression made its way onto her face as she remembered the traumatized horror in Percy's eyes when he realised what she had said was true. Those eyes which had given her a direct gateway into gazing his shattered soul would forever haunt her.

However, a determined expression soon replaced the sorrowful one on her face as she disappeared in a grey light to find Percy and bring him back. It didn't matter to her that Percy's soul was shattered. She would fix it piece by piece for the rest of eternity. That was a promise.


Hey guys! Finally, after so many weeks, I managed to finish this chapter in just seven days without compromising on the quality and length of this chapter and I am super stoked about that!

With this chapter, the espionage arc and the second arc of this story has been completed, which paves the way for the third and most awaited arc of this story - the Atlas Arc. I have waited one and a half years to write this arc and I am extremely excited to get started on it.

This chapter is primarily meant to wrap up Triumvirate Holdings while giving an emotional insight into Percy's state of mind. But I have also included some light-hearted scenes with the demigods to ease the flow along with giving a rather emotional confrontation between Percy and Athena.

That last bit was included because I felt that the Percy X Athena pairing was getting too fairy-tale-y and I wanted to inject some gritty realism into it and give it more depth. It's impossible for any two different individuals, even those who are deeply in love, to agree on everything and there's always bound to be some heated and emotional disagreements, which is exactly what I intended to portray. And it also highlights the extremely volatile state of Percy's mind very well.

Lastly, a shout-out to the guest reviewer for nominating Astraeus as the baddie for this leg of the arc. I hope you liked his portrayal!

Read and review, I hope that all of you enjoyed this chapter! Have a fantastic day!