DISCLAIMER: All the characters except the OC's, belong to Rick Riordan.
Chapter 10: I am accused of a grand theft
It was a clandestine operation, but he blew it out of proportion.
Percy crouched behind a thick, vegetative shrub on a hillside road and observed the stretch of unmanned coastal grassland below. Some large tents on one side looked like stars sprinkled around a large plaza. At the center, there was an army of hundreds of monsters assembled in the clearing, getting ready to storm one of the three most powerful empires in the mythical world, Atlantis.
Watching the size of the army, his scalp turned numb. There were several thousands of monsters standing in neat order.
The most attention-grabbing troops were placed in the center. There were hundreds of them. Looking closer, they were similar to humans but they had frog legs, and black lines covering their heads. They were about two meters tall, their auras evil and bloodthirsty. They held bone forks and the look in their eyes revealed their arrogance as if they were looking at dying prey.
Another branch had monsters similar to lizardmen. They were bipedal crocs covered in scales and had snouts for noses. They covered the scars with rags around their torso and yellow grass coats on their scaly shoulders.
There were several other branches of monsters among the troops. And every one of them had a similar ability to fight underwater. Some had fish-like scales along with their entire bodies. Some had fins and gills to breathe underwater. Some had webbed feet to traverse the marsh and some even held weapons similar to crab-pincers.
How could this be considered an advanced squad? This is surely a legion prepared to launch a frontal attack on the empire unannounced.
It was the winter break in their sixth grade. Percy and Piper had been planning to surprise their parents with a trip to France. They had been busying themselves with work and the new responsibilities thrust upon them, so the kids made arrangements for a break.
Before they could proceed with the plan, they were given a huge surprise. Rather than feeling surprised, they both felt benumbed.
During a lesson on the mist manipulation with Piper, Elaine suddenly doubled over and collapsed on the ground. This sudden change freaked them out so much that they had failed to catch her in time. Once they had recovered and rushed forward, the naiad had stiffened and opened her eyes.
The usual gentle and calm look on her face was replaced with a majestic and overbearing gaze that demanded absolute subservience. She opened her mouth, only to speak in a sonorous tone.
"Perseus, pardon my intrusion." Elaine had said. "I didn't have any other alternatives to summon you. This is an urgent matter."
The kids realized that someone had possessed Elaine to contact them and pass on some confidential information. And the only being capable enough to bypass the divine protection on any sea creature imposed by the lord of the sea was the lord himself.
Poseidon's voice was urgent—and panicked even—but he tried to cover it up as much as possible for Percy. From him, they had learned the general outline of the situation.
One of the noblemen in the empire had betrayed Atlantis and had joined hands with some unknown enemy to overthrow his rule—which sounded ridiculous. They had planned everything in secret and were currently opening the path to attack the empire discreetly.
Poseidon had estimated the target of the attack was to hamper him from attending the Winter Solstice meeting on Olympus. They were trying to lock him in his empire and declare his absence as a revolt against Olympus.
Percy had almost laughed out loud in his father's face for such a silly cause. Who would fall for it? Any person with an ounce of the brain can see through this plan.
"That dunce brother of mine would fall for it and take some dramatic action." Poseidon had lamented. Percy has to grudgingly agree to that. Considering his temper, Zeus might take drastic measures against Poseidon for this impromptu.
So he immediately volunteered to mobilize and join the forces to fight the enemies on the land. He had proposed to obstruct the forces on land before they could storm the empire. The collateral damage was not something Poseidon could bear to watch. To bring the fight to them would be a surprise and reduce their damage.
But Poseidon had directly vetoed his idea as too dangerous.
"You said the sea has already been at unrest due to the old sea spirits. Could they be behind this, waiting for their chance to swoop in to take the prize?" he had once more probed the god for more information, but Poseidon was tightlipped about it.
The Lord of Sea had informed them the scale of the invasion was insufficient to attack the empire head-on unless they had an insider with them. To covet the riches and resources would be one thing, but the size of the enemy was still insufficient to gain anything in return. The only thing Poseidon could think of was to create some unrest in his empire to hide something, an even more, bigger scheme.
There were also many royals and nobles present in the court. Abduct any one of them and it'll lead to civil unrest among the others. Create some disturbance in his empire with a sudden invasion, and it might cause mass panic among the citizens. Any random move from thereon could cause a lot of damage to the empire.
This was a headache.
The Lord of Sea had tasked Percy to perform an espionage operation on the enemy base before the reinforcements from the empire could come and report the status and findings to the leading commander before withdrawing from the battleground.
That had been an hour ago. Percy had reluctantly accepted the task and with some minuscule preparations on his part, he had arrived at the location with Piper.
It might sound easy to spy on the enemy base but it must be a covert operation. They cannot reveal their whereabouts during the operation and definitely cannot reveal any information once caught. So many lives depended on his report and he couldn't make random errors. Poseidon couldn't just hand it to anybody and be done with it. It required skillful handling of the information gathered and high-end observational skills. Most importantly, it required trust.
While he was observing the troops and their advantages, a disturbance occurred in the clearing. The main tent flaps separated and a group walked out to the edge of the ocean. The man leading had a noble bearing to him. He looked similar to a human, but with fish scales on his face and arms. He was dressed in scaled armor and a shell helmet.
He was surrounded by two groups of people. One had similar clothing and appearance to the nobleman. They covered their features with large hooded cloaks while the other group had regular combat outfits. The mist only obstructed the former confirming the latter as mortals, mercenaries, to be precise. Their guarded expression revealed that they were armed with all kinds of hidden weapons, but were unable to confirm the identity of their allies.
Under the leadership of the leading man, the first group began to draw a large circle in the clearing, filled with runes and symbols Percy couldn't recognize while the second group encircled them to avoid ambushes.
A transportation circle. So this was their plan, all along. This conclusion threw their initial suspicion and investigation to waste. It doesn't matter a noble had some treacherous thoughts about the empire now. With this, the whole army could be transported to the core of the empire, unimpeded.
Looking at the speed of operation, the transportation circle would be completed before reinforcements from the empire could arrive. So Percy wracked his brain for ideas to disrupt the plan and throw the army into chaos. He looked around for anything he could use.
"Pipes, listen closely," he said while dragging a dried tree stump behind the shrub. "I've got a plan. We need to destroy the circle at any cost before the dawn break."
Then he pointed at the lighthouse on the hilltop. "Get up there as fast as you can. Use your skills to bypass the security, if needed." Then he handed another bag to her. "Set these things in tree trunks on your way."
Piper hefted her bow and took the bag with a grave expression. The bag was filled with explosives Bill had left with them for emergencies. Now they were using everything in their stock in one go. They were completely in the dark about their range and explosiveness.
"Once inside, take cover and be ready to support me from a distance. I'll take over from there." he nodded in encouragement.
"What about you? You'll be in the open. What if you're caught?" she asked anxiously.
"I'm going to use my charm and make them submit to me." he winked at her.
"How dislikeable! you sound like Isabel now." Piper scoffed at him. She loathed Isabelle, their snotty stuck-up classmate who thinks the world revolves around her.
Piper ran up the hill while Percy crouched along with the trees and neared the clearing. It was still a hundred meters away from his position. Once they both were in attack position, Percy waited for the explosives to go off.
BOOOM!
A loud explosion rocked the clearing, startling the monsters. Within a few breaths, every monster brandished its weapons and got into position.
Percy sighed. These troops weren't the brainless monster type who charged out with a minimum provocation. They were drilled to follow the commands and fight to the death. While he was complementing the troops, the second trap set off, making a loud conch horn sound, which echoed the clearing.
"Enemy attack!" the scaled-armor man yelled. His command was sharp and grating. The troops split into groups and charged in the direction of the explosives.
Percy had placed a conch horn behind a hollowed dried tree trunk to reverberate the sound in all directions. The conch horn was the call of the ocean, the signal of Poseidon's reinforcements. But Percy had played the advanced troops with misdirection to scatter them.
BOOM!
Explosions continued from the tree trunks, reverberating the camp and throwing the monsters into a panic. The large armored man commanded the troops to attack and engage the enemy head-on while urging the group to complete the circle at a faster pace.
BOOM!
Percy let out a breath and silently prayed to Poseidon to quickly send the reinforcements. No matter the disturbance, hundreds of monsters remained in the clearing, guarding the transportation circle.
He pulled out a few blades as thin as cicada wings and targeted the group working on the circle once the army was out of earshot. The palm-sized blades whizzed past the vegetation silently and sliced the group. Their physical bodies must've been too weak for the blades to easily tear off their limbs.
Psst!
The light circle dimmed once it was contaminated with foreign blood and was thus destroyed. Percy let out a breath. He has been wracking his brain for follow-up attacks.
"Who's there!" the scaled man raged. "Show yourself." everyone turned in his direction, their weapons ready.
Psst!
Percy appeared in their blindside and stabbed the last person, who was furtively working on the transportation circle. He was the last person in the group to have known about the transportation circle formation. With no one else to create it, their mission now has turned from difficult to impossible.
"That blade!" muttered the person, before breathing his last. He was similar to the armored man, covered in scales on his face and arms. Even in death, he failed to realize who had killed him.
Everyone turned to Percy, who was standing with his back to the ocean. With the last person to draw the formation circle dead and the sea behind him calmed Percy considerably. All he had to do was to stall until the reinforcements arrive.
"Brat! Who're you? Do you know what you've done?" the scaled man barked. His eyes spurted flames and his expression was as if he could swallow Percy whole.
"No matter who you are, you'll die a miserable death. Once your identity exposes, you're going to bring calamity to those around you!" raged another armored man. He was bulky with bulging arms, a thick waist, and a full beard. His face was cruel and bloodthirsty.
This person looked like the leader of the group. Taking his lead, the rest of them added their lines of threats to Percy. Only the mortal mercenaries looked at him vigilantly.
Percy nodded in praise. The mortal intuition was very sharp and they gripped their weapons in caution.
Drip. Drip.
Their attention was drawn to the sword in Percy's hand. The mercenaries flanked him in caution while Atlantean's caution evaporated like a morning fog. Their eyes were soon filled with mockery and their mouths contorted into sneers.
"My my, looks who's here! And what he's carrying with him!" one of them mocked.
"Goodness, my fins are quivering!" they guffawed and the clearing was burst into jeers.
Percy looked on incredulously. His expression would've been a sight to behold, had it not been for the peculiar-looking mask covering his face. It was a demon mask, making it hard to ascertain his facial features and gender. His last attack sprayed blood on his mask and outfit, making him look even more fierce.
"Brat, do you know the background of the sword you carry? You'll be a dead sword slave!" sneered the bearded man. He was an old veteran from the royal court in Atlantis, who after his tenure in the army, retired to work as a personal guard for the nobles.
The new generation in the army and the empire might have failed to notice Percy's sword. All along, Bill had sparred with Percy with wooden swords. Only during intense training sessions did their main weapons face off each other.
But the old veterans from the court immediately recognized the blade and jeered at Percy for being a sword slave.
Percy eyed Hurricane in his hands carefully. Even after stabbing the last worker, the blood had slipped off the blade and it remained in pristine condition. A cold light flashed out of its edge.
A Sword Slave!
The legend has it that a very few of the swords were highly temperamental that instead of submitting to their wielder, they turned them into slaves. They were the demonic weapons that gained sentience at birth and were influenced by their first masters.
No matter how talented the following wielder was, those swords had refused to accept them and turned them into mindless slaves, devoid of emotions, turning them into slaughter machines.
The sword actively commands the wielder and forces them into submission. They had brought endless carnage in their wake along with their wielders and were thus sealed.
Absolute silence regained the clearing before bursting into taunts and jeers. The noble and the henchmen failed to notice the sword tremble and snickered at Percy. They taunted him for soon being turned into a mindless zombie; it was neither a dead nor alive state.
"That sword was a defective trash discarded centuries ago. It had rejected too many wielders and enslaved them before their ultimate demise. Yours won't be any different, brat!" Not just the sword, for carrying it, Percy too was mocked and included in the taunts and jeers.
The scorn and derision seemed to have blinded the mercenaries since they too joined in the mockery. "You cocky brat, you don't know who you're dealing with! You're still wet behind the ears!" they laughed.
"Hahaha! You're just a piece of trash in front of me. Your power is like that of an ant's!" laughed the bearded man and brandished his broadsword.
A gust of wind blew, with the bearded man at the center. A dense murderous aura erupted from his sword, which caused the henchmen around the noble to shiver and cautiously step away.
"Are you surprised? Did you think you were unrivaled just because you killed some of my men? Let me tell you, anyone of my men can make you tremble and kneel before them. They could take your life before you can raise your sword. There's a fundamental difference between your powers."
"My men were selected from Atlantean community outnumbering thousand to one. They're born to spread the word of justice. But while they're the foundation, they're not the main characters. At most they're emissaries. They're the servants of the empire. Although the empire gives them some benefits, they're still servants."
"To put it in an uglier way, servants are slaves. They have to listen to their master for everything."
Percy coldly stared at the bearded man, not saying anything. He calmly listened to his bragging. He wanted to know exactly why he was bragging.
Watching Percy not say a word, the bearded man continued, "Do you see? Your power cannot be compared to a slave, while I'm the master of these slaves. I am someone who represents the empire. I am in control of such power. Unlike slaves, I don't need to borrow the power of their master. I can crush you like an ant."
After a moment of staring at the bearded man who was looking at him like a king looking at a commoner, Percy said, "Looks like you've done bragging. Aren't you the same? You're just a dog of Atlantis; a mere servant of a nobleman from the empire. How could a dog represent the entire empire and its people? If you're trying to make to laugh to death, I'll have to concede to you in that regard. You're the master!"
Percy threw a thumbs-up in his direction. He sneered internally. Despite the constant jeering, they had him quickly surrounded and closed in slowly. An ignorant fool would only think about their taunting but they've successfully closed off his retreat path. All the taunt was a front to capture him alive.
"Foolish trash, you'll pay a painful price for your disrespect!" the bearded man was irritated that Percy hadn't even batted an eye after he had said so much. His goal had been to shock Percy, but he had just wasted his saliva. Percy was like a duck who heard lightning. It was like he didn't even understand what he said. He brandished his sword and lunged at Percy.
"Hey, wait a moment!" Percy cried out suddenly.
Seeing Percy not even move to block, the bearded man jumped in shock. If Percy didn't try to block, his strike would blow him apart. There would be no way to capture him alive. He had to know the motive behind Percy's arrival before he decided to torture the kid.
He hastily held back his strike, but his power wasn't so easy to hold back. As a result, he continued flying toward Percy.
Pow!
Percy slapped him across the face. The bearded man was stuck hard and flew out of the encirclement, slamming into the nearest tree.
"Nice. We have good teamwork," Percy praised, once again giving a thumbs-up.
"You little bastard! I'll tear you to pieces!" the bearded man's eyes turned scarlet, and his face was twisted. With a sinister wail, he charged at Percy. All his previous intentions to capture Percy alive were thrown out of the window. He had to kill Percy to wipe out the earlier disgrace.
Percy's eyes slowly turned cold. There was no stopping himself now. He slowly hefted his sword, ready to strike.
The mere act of brandishing the sword had made the surrounding temperature suddenly drop. The surrounding temperature had started to resemble what one would experience during the twilight hours of the evening though it was nearly daybreak.
It seemed like the tip and edge of the sword were sending out cold flames.
Percy moved his finger along the blade, and a clear, impassioned roar emitted as a result. It seemed as if a cruel and blood-thirsty dragon that had been asleep for hundreds of years had woken up from its slumber, and had roared out thereafter.
For some odd reason, Percy felt inclined to soothe Hurricane. He spoke as if it was alive, though he knew it was unlikely.
"What are those glorious sharp weapons in front of you? You're a king among swords. A Monarch of Swords!"
The sword's roar suddenly filled the air. The temperature dropped to a chilling degree.
"What a strong baleful aura. Just how many lives did it slaughter?" he could now sense the endless baleful aura coming from it. That wasn't power, but the result of all the resentment of the lifeforms that had been unwillingly slain by it.
The people within a radius of over thirty-meter heard it and they couldn't help their hearts throb heavily as a result. Countless monsters stationed nearby went mad with fear and howled loudly. They felt as if an ancient demon had descended amongst them. The terror they felt was indescribable.
The bearded man was shaken and hastily stopped before he could attack recklessly. The reason he had been played this time and slapped was that Percy had seen through his goal of capturing him alive.
He hastily tried to pull back his attack aimed at Percy's head. Disregarding the incoming attack, Percy lunged forward and slashed at the man's waist. It was a suicidal move. Percy's eyes were cold and dispassionate, like the life that was about slip away was not his. He continued with his attack.
The bearded man was given a huge fright. He was unwilling to exchange life for a life with Percy. At the last moment, he changed his attack to block Percy's strike.
Unfortunately, he was a second too late. He had to pull back his strike at full force and then change the direction from offense to defense in split second. He had been old and turned rusty with a lack of experience for many years.
Percy sneered. By the time he tried to block and dodge the attack, the sword had already torn his thick waist like a knife cutting through butter. His severed body lay waste on the ground. His eyes still held the unwillingness to leave the world.
Percy didn't even glance at him. He was busy staring at the mark on the back of his left hand; A red-colored eight-star pattern encircled in Atlantean runes. As soon as it formed, it faded away, but Percy could distinctly sense the sword's emotions through the seal.
The sword trembled a little. It didn't move, but a strand of red light moved along the mark on the seal. It seemed like the soul of a bloodthirsty serpent was moving back and forth...
The others stood their ground, despite the fear. Their legs trembled and they hastily prayed for all this to be a dream and they could wake up from this nightmare soon.
Percy was quite surprised by the turn of events. Even he didn't know that he possessed such absolute power to dominate his enemies. He quickly hid his excitement and drew out several small daggers. Each blade was thin as paper, emitting a cold light.
"Careful!" someone hastily screamed, but it was already too late.
Quick as a flash of lightning, the daggers left and flew towards the enemies surrounding him. The formation to trap Percy from escaping turned into their death trap.
Bodies collapsed to the ground and their expression was full of regret before their death. But there was no medicine for regret in this world.
The monsters standing at the back were horror-struck and fled in all directions in panic. If they had been ordinary monsters, they would've charged at Percy without any fear for their lives. Unfortunately for them, they'd retained their instincts and were the type who bullied the weak and feared the strong.
After joining stronger troops where they bullied their enemies with numbers, their will to face death had long since been ground to dust. They didn't care about their higher-up orders and fled all directions in panic.
The only ones standing in the circle are the mortal mercenaries that the noble had employed. They tried to act bravely by brandishing their weapons, but it was impossible to hide the terror in their eyes.
Whether or not they were fortunate was left unsaid. Because Percy had already grasped the crux of the matter. The flying daggers he used were made of celestial bronze, which had a single fatal flaw; it was unable to harm mortals.
Rather than calling it a fatal flaw, the material considered it beneath its dignity to harm lower lifeforms. It was a material born to slay immortal and evil beings. It disdained to harm mortals, innocent or not.
Percy didn't share the same compassion. The only enemies who can threaten him are dead ones.
In the winter morning, filled with haze and fog, this moment in time when the world slowly began to brighten, the godling from another world bared his fangs for the first time. This was the first time that he would reveal his artistic killing techniques to this world.
Once he turned to the mortals, every one of them felt like being stared at by a bloodthirsty devil, demanding their blood to sate its thirst.
"Formation!" the one at the back shouted anxiously. Even though they were filled with trepidation, they quickly formed into two four-man and six-man squads. This was their ultimate technique to overwhelm their opponent with numbers.
Sadly...
Percy showed no hesitation as he moved in with lightning speed, smoothly pulling out the flying dagger from the forehead of a corpse. It was the same steel dagger he had commissioned with a mortal craftsman in New York. They turned out to be quite brittle when facing a strong monster and were reduced to being one-time usage weapons. Thankfully, he had retained quite a few.
Percy changed his pace, from one to two. He rushed towards the two men who had fallen prior and viciously stabbed one of them directly in his heart!
Although these two men had suffered no small amount of injury, it was not enough to be instantly fatal. As of now, they were at a loss due to fear. however, they still possessed a certain level of combat capabilities. Percy cannot allow them to live, even if they were on the verge of death.
He gripped the flying dagger tightly, the tip of his feet positioned outwards. At the same time the dagger had stabbed into that man, he started moving. The hand used to stab earlier loosened as he turned towards the other person. Like a cyclone, he launched his other hand downwards, forming a cleaver form, hacking into the man's throat.
This series of actions were performed in quick succession, enough to cause the average person to miss out on it. The very moment that the darts flew out, Percy's fleeting figure had already moved outwards. When the four men cried out miserably, Percy was already pulling out one of the flying daggers sticking out from their heads. Even before their four dead bodies fell flat onto the ground, the flying dagger had already found its way into the heart of the first survivor. At the same moment, his other hand also cleaved the throat of the second and third survivors.
The man who was pierced in the heart by the dagger did not even have the luxury of making a single noise as he died on the spot!
Finally, the 'crack' sound from the last target whose throat was fractured resounded at the same time that the sound of four bodies hitting the ground was heard.
The man at the back issued several commands to the squads to attack Percy before their target mysteriously disappeared and reappeared at the front. In the span of no less than a blink of an eye, four mercenaries had died.
Their backs were drenched in a cold sweat. They had faced so many tougher opponents and had been in all kinds of miserable situations, but they had never dreamed of such an enemy.
The rest of them were staring at him in awe and fear. Four well-trained and cold-blooded mercenaries were vulnerable beyond words in front of this child! He killed the four of them without borrowing any support from his sword!
Who in this world is capable of killing such experts in one swoop?
The man at the back, who was likely the leader of the squads quickly issued another set of orders to guard against his methods. He was lean and tall like a bamboo shoot with cold eyes and a hook-like nose.
Percy's senses tingled and warned him of the danger levels posed by the hook-nose leader, who was staring at him vigilantly. He silently disappeared before others could reach him.
"Stay vigilant!" the hook-nosed leader commanded.
A ghostly figure suddenly appeared behind him. The leader turned around, only to find two, long slender fingers approaching his Adam's apple.
Chuck!
The eyes of the leader froze in shock while his hands trembled twice as his feet recoiled backward under the effect of his collapsing body.
Since the appearance of this figure was too ambiguous, the one beside the leader was unable to spot it. All he saw was his collapsing companion and was unable to understand why his captain would choose to drop to the ground for no reason.
"Captain, what are you doing?" he asked as he extended his hand to assist him.
As the palm of his hand came in contact with his deceased captain's body, the remaining fifteen or so of his companions hastily screamed. "Be careful."
They were too late. The man felt a cold object pointing at his neck as he heard a crisp 'crack' sound of a bone-breaking.
The man was left with a blade sticking out of his throat.
His body collapsed to the ground while his dead fish-like eyes continued to remain glued to his captain.
This man was quite fortunate, especially when one considered the fact that he died a painless death.
However, his companions weren't destined to be as fortunate!
As the light from the daggers continued to shine in the dim sky, almost everyone experienced an incredible but frightening torrent of terror; an erratic figure suddenly appeared in between the squad of six, almost like a ghost.
No one saw where the figure came from. No one has heard any sound of its approach.
Is he a god or... a monster?
Like a devil from a nightmare, only their eyes could see but hands couldn't touch, the monster leisurely cut their lives short. Helpless, they only stood there in passive acceptance of their fate!
My bloody god! Being called out for a mission, I had almost finished it and was about to return. And now I just casually met someone who turned out to be the stuff nightmares are made of. What f*cking luck do I have?
Another bolt of light shone from the dagger, and this mysterious figure instantly disappeared and reappeared amid another squad of six. In a span of no less than a second, these six were already dead as well!
Is this the skill of a god, or the apparition of a monster? He was able to kill off six highly trained killers in the blink of an eye. How? It takes the human mind a while to switch between confusion and shock, and then it requires more time to process everything in between. Although those well-trained experts were capable of doing all this in just a few tenths of a second, this time was enough for Percy to complete his task!
In just a few seconds from the arrival of the mark, all the experts surrounding Percy has been dealt with. His efficiency was even more remarkable than a highly-skilled assassin.
Percy's sword let out a roar. It was unwilling to be left out of the fun. As luck would have it, the low-level monsters that had been sent to scout the surrounding areas were returning to the clearing. They turned berserk once they glanced at the carnage.
It seemed Piper too was unwilling to be left out. She had taken care of the monsters that had fled the battlefield and rained her arrows on them. The space between Percy and the monsters had already been turned into a deathtrap.
Watching the monsters charging at him, astral winds erupted out of the swords and blew the monsters apart. Percy charged at them, completely forgetting the overwhelming numbers of the monsters.
In fact, his worries were unwarranted. All the monsters were specially summoned to launch a covert attack on Olympus and were thus carefully picked to perform specific tasks. They were skilled in traversing marshlands and underwater but their defenses were rather poor.
Percy was genuinely disappointed with the outcome. With each monster killed, the sword's aura grew stronger and the range of its attack increased. The sword flashed and all one could see was a streak of light illuminating the path traveled by the sword. Astral winds blew the monsters along the way. It was a cycle of destruction.
Just as he approached the mark of a thousand, the remaining troops abandoned the idea to attack him and fled in all directions. This had been under Percy's estimation. All he wanted was to kill a chicken to scare off the dogs and it worked according to his plan.
Now he can wait for the reinforcements to clean off the battlefield.
He returned to the circle while leaving any strays to Piper. But before he could reach the circle, Percy collapsed on the ground and wildly coughed up a mouthful of blood. He felt like his body was being torn apart.
After a brief period, he climbed up as he gasped for breath. He felt as if his whole body was out of energy. With his current state, completing those movements earlier to kill the mercenaries was quite a difficult matter. If not for the constant exercise and the breathing techniques to draw out his potential, there was no way he could have managed the earlier series of actions.
Even so, the time limit for him was simply too short and the action was akin to borrowing an overdraft from the bank. Once he relaxed his breath, he was bombarded by the backlash from the violent movements made earlier. He felt pain assaulting him from every part of the body, his muscles and bones felt as though it was about to break apart; a heart splitting and lung jerking pain.
Moving around, Percy retrieved his flying daggers. At the same time, he also searched their bodies. Percy's action's were natural, his heart undisturbed as though he was merely checking his own pockets, completely disregarding the fact that those twenty men were dead.
His experience in the assassination of the executive in his previous assignment had embedded within him a calmness, which cannot be broken even if mount Olympus were to collapse before him. Besides, Percy had witnessed far more situations that were brutal and savage than this...
OoO
His first assignment from Poseidon was also a clandestine one—and similarly—Percy had blown it out of proportions.
There had been an executive named James Douglas, from a renowned conglomerate. He had been raking in profits by endangering the marine life near the shore in Poseidon's jurisdiction.
And an even more heinous thing was this opportunistic scumbag managed to bribe a nobleman from Atlantis by selling various marine migration route coordinates for a huge sum of money. The warning went to Atlantis and even shook Poseidon.
The god would've left the issue and turned a blind eye considering the noble's loyalty and greed if not for the nobleman to smuggle a servant mermaid to the executive for his entertainment.
This was not done for mere profits. This was a plain betrayal. Poseidon couldn't tolerate this but he couldn't send in his forces to deal with mortals. The ancient law forbids supernatural beings to interfere in mortal affairs. The laws have their repercussions on the gods for getting involved in the lower life forms.
When Percy asked about this, Poseidon had been rather tense to respond and refused to answer his question. so he didn't ask about it either.
By the time Percy took the assignment to save the merfolk, warn the instigator and reach the secret location under a basement of a huge building, his blood had boiled at the sight before him.
The servant merfolk was tied to a chain and was hanging in the air. Her kelp-woven clothes were in rags and only managed to cover her privates. She was bleeding all over and her face was withered from loss of vitality. A huge container filled with boiling water stood behind her.
The executive, James Douglas was a fat, middle-aged man with a bald head and a handlebar mustache. He was so fat that his neck was invisible. He relaxed on a couch, marveling at his work. A bloody whip lay beside him, dripping with blood.
Obviously, the executive had taken the merfolk as a captive to torture and to satisfy his sadistic pleasure. From his expression, it was plain as a day that he intended to whip her to death and discard the remains.
"You're not bad. But the girl before you had a scream that really drove me wild!" he had leered at her while enjoying his masterpiece.
Percy had materialized at the location a while ago. It took all his will to stop himself from snapping the executive's neck. He quietly appeared behind him and asked the fatty in a bone-chilling tone, "So hitting people brings you pleasure, is that it?" he didn't wait for the fatty's response and kicked the couch, hard.
He stepped on the fatty's back, and despite being filled with fat, managed to hit the tailbone to elevate the pain receptors.
The wide hall reverberated with the fatty's screams. Once his voice turned hoarse from pain, he groaned and climbed back on his knees to curse his attacker. All he managed to was a kid holding a demon mask.
"Urgh! You bastard! You won't get away—" before he could finish his threat, Percy had landed a fierce kick to his face till it disfigured and half of his teeth fell off.
"Now then, I feel there's no need to spare your life after what I've seen." his tone was devoid of emotion. "It seems fit you should die here."
"No! N-no! Why are you doing this?!" the fatty begged. Percy's face turned overcast at that. In light of everything he had done, he didn't realize he deserved to be brought to justice. Despicable!
Watching his face turn gloomy, the fatty quickly added. "No, please. I'll give you anything. Just name your price. I'll pay you double, no triple the amount." his expression turned frantic. "I can make you richer than you can imagine. I can get you anything. Money, women, resorts, whatever you want. Just name your price." he begged.
The executive was a businessman to the core. Since his threats hadn't been effective, he changed his tune just like that, and offered riches, fame, and even women, despite knowing Percy was still a kid.
"This is what it means to be truly unworthy of life." Percy's rage had reached its peak. All his pent-up anger came crashing on the fatty head like a swift kick. He had killed the executive with a simple kick to the cranium and left with the merfolk. Only after he left the merfolk in the sea did he realize he had taken a life in his fit of anger.
The realization had made him keel over and empty his stomach. He had felt sick all of a sudden. No matter, it was the first time for Percy to kill another life form, despite him being a leech of a human being. He had felt nauseous and remorseful. It took him more than a month to get better, but the scenes had drilled into his mind.
OoO
After cleaning up the battlefield, he was about to send a signal for Piper to get down before pausing. He turned to the ocean and watched as a large army approached from the sea. The undulating sea erupted in chaotic waves as more than a thousand beings surfaced just about a hundred meters from the coast.
They were all riding muscular horse-like creatures with two black horns. The man in the lead urged his horse forward and dismounted on the land. He was followed by two of his subordinates. They were all dressed in full-scaled red armor.
Before the three could come close, Percy turned around and let out a breath.
After a fierce battle, one would give out a unique breath. This breath would make an ordinary person feel uncomfortable when made contact with it. And an experienced person would immediately know what that person had just done.
What Percy was doing was disperse his breath.
Before the trio could call him to question, he deftly walked up to the nobleman, who was already breathing his last. There was repentance, and unwillingness on his face as he struggled to stay awake.
This was the same noble who had betrayed his empire and endangered marine life to fill his own pockets and had almost caused the death of an innocent mermaid. He had even accepted a large sum of money for his betrayal. The wealth from the mortal realm was considered garbage in the supernatural, but to go as far as betray their kingdom, even if one used their toes to think, it would be obvious that there was someone controlling everything behind the scenes.
"You—" one of the subordinates from the army raised his voice to get his attention, only to be stopped by his superior. They all calmly watched as Percy searched the bodies once more. He found a small cube with a lot of engravings on the cover to seal off its aura.
Once the cube was discovered, the expressions of the trio behind him changed drastically. Their bodies tensed and were ready to draw their weapons. One of them opened his mouth to demand Percy hand over the cube before he tossed the cube to them.
He had felt a kind of summoning from one of the mercenaries; that was the reason behind his quick attack. He had wanted to see what their end game was. But he had grossly overestimated them.
The cube was the seal to the entrance to the ancestral lands in Atlantis. The nobleman had somehow managed to steal the ancient seal from the empire. Incidentally, this seal was the same thing that gave him away. If the ancestral land was occupied or even destroyed, even Poseidon would have to remain in a passive stance against the invaders.
They had stored the sealed cube with the mortals to wisely avoid being implicated by supernatural beings and divert their attention elsewhere. The ancient rules have duped the non-mortals instead of assisting them, considering the non-involvement with the mortals.
Percy sighed and glanced at the land before him. This peaceful stretch of land has turned into a wasteland filled with potholes and cracks. The vegetation has been completely destroyed by the explosives. He turned to the nobleman and sighed.
Only after obtaining the ancestral seal did the commander and his subordinates glance at the battlefield. They came out fiercely to fight to the death with their enemies only to find an empty wasteland. They were horror-struck with damage done and the number of monsters lay in heaps.
"Tell me who set you up and I'll personally send him to you to settle this debt," Percy asked the nobleman icily. The trio's ears perked up.
The noble was only able to muster enough strength to spit out "A..Alabas..." before he took his last breath. His expression remained unwilling but his eyes stayed on Percy, conveying his gratitude. Percy's words were like salvation to him.
Deafening silence filled the area.
Percy had no idea if this was some secret code for an organization or a person. But it doesn't matter. He firmly etched the name in his heart and recorded the debt. One day, the dark hand behind the scenes would stand before him to settle everything personally.
He nodded to the commander to take charge of the battlefield and turned around to walk away. Just as he turned around, his peculiar-looking mask cracked. It broke away, revealing a tired-looking twelve-year-old boy. Percy immediately vanished from the area before the commander could call him back for questioning. Thankfully, he had avoided revealing his identity.
One of the vice-commanders cautiously approached the mask and picked it up. It was a demon mask, filled with grime and blood. This mask made it hard to ascertain Percy's features and age. It had also added a layer of dangerous charm to his features and a natural camouflage to his identity.
"Commander, what do we do? He left without any explanation. Do you know him, sir?" he asked his superior.
The commander shook his head and ordered his troops to clear up the battlefield quickly. He then ordered a few to carry the nobleman's corpse back to the empire for cross-examination. They had heard everything about the coup and needed to report it to their higher-ups.
Once everyone was busy with the spoils, the commander turned in the direction Percy left and muttered to himself, "It's worthy of the name 'The Divine weapon with Demonic edge'. I finally got to see it again."
oOo
Percy woke up with a jerk. Another nightmare. He glanced at his surrounding to find himself in his room. It has already been three days since the coup in Atlantis and Percy was worn out. Piper was better off than him, but the mental strain was equal on both of them.
Percy carefully investigated his physical body to see his inquires have healed. He knitted his brows as he observed the changes inside him. The fluctuations regarding his aura seem to have gone haywire.
His first thought was that it was some kind of backlash from his last fight. So he carefully checked his physical body once again. Finding no problems internally and externally, he ascertained the origin of the problems. He thought about it for a while and observed his situation internally. The plausible reason he came up could be some big movements in Poseidon's domain.
Those big fluctuations in the sea were being reflected in his aura. It only meant one thing: something had aggravated Poseidon to a level that he was losing control of his domain.
He quickly stepped out of the apartment and noticed a fierce aura approaching him. It could be a powerful random monster targeting his aura. It was fluctuating from weak to strong. He randomly entered an alley and disappeared from the location. Even after he arrived at the warehouse, that powerful aura has still locked onto him.
"Percy!" Piper came out from her practice ground. She stopped and stood by his side silently after noticing his grave expression.
Within a few minutes, a huge silver ball of light rapidly approached the warehouse and struck the entrance. The aura storm caused the demigods to cough up blood.
The light faded to reveal a twelve-year-old girl in a silver robe and auburn hair in a ponytail. She had cold and bright silvery-yellow eyes like a winter moon. She was the most beautiful girl Percy had ever seen his age. But her expression was icy.
"Lady Artemis!" Piper immediately recognized the girl and bowed in greeting. Before Percy could greet her, the goddess turned to him.
"Perseus Jackson, return what you've stolen and I shall leave you with an intact corpse!" she hissed at him.
xXx
A/N: And the plot thickens. We're about to dive into the Lightning Thief canon, albeit differently. How's it? Don't forget to tell me about it.
