AN: Hey ladies and gents, probably only gents since idk if girls read this, but regardless Hello! I hope you enjoyed the last chapter, and I want to give a special thank you to Atomicplane94 for his advice on the Silenced Mana Pistol. I appreciate all help concerning things like that since I have no clue myself. Honestly I should've figured it wouldn't sound like a 9mm silenced pistol but it's still good to know. Onto Chapter 14!
P.S. No duplicate votes. That means YOU v! Stop voting for calypso every chapter!
The Top 7 girls will be chosen for the harem!
Candidates:
Artemis- 59
Hestia- 52
Zoe- 47
Calypso- 45
Thalia- 42
Chaos- 42
Hera- 42
Piper- 19
Bianca- 14
Reyna- 6
Aphrodite- 6
Nyx- 5
Bast- 5
Annabeth- 4
Silena Beauregard- 3
Mallory Keen- 2
Hecate- 2
Rachel- 1
Athena- 1
Nico- 1
Apollo- 1
Jason- 1
Clarisse- 2
Athena- 1
Lupa- 1
Last comment counted: Aion God of Eternity
Include Hera as a Default Harem Member
Yes- 20
No- 11
Last Time~
That Night In a Dream
I sat at a large round table. In a well lit room that reminded me of some of the older Victorian Era dining rooms. Nothing too fancy, but not plain either. "Hello Perseus." I heard from behind me. I stood up and turned around. Seeing some people I never expected to meet.
"Well hello Lady Nemesis."
Now (Still in the dream)~
I recognized Nemesis from my encounter with her in my previous life. She wore that same black leather biker jacket, a whip strapped to her hip as well. I decided to use Observe on all of them.
Nemesis, Goddess of Balance, Retribution, Revenge, and Vengeance
Health- ?
Mana- ?
Race- Minor Primordial
Lvl- 190
Hecate, Titaness of Magic, Crossroads, and Witchcraft
Health- ?
Mana- ?
Race- Titaness
Lvl- 250
Hebe, Goddess of Youth
Health- ?
Mana- ?
Race- Goddess
Lvl- 105
Karmanor, God of Harvest
Health- ?
Mana- ?
Race- God
Lvl- 110
"It is an honor to meet you Lady Nemesis, Lady Hecate, Lady Hebe, and Lord Karmanor." I told them, bowing at the waist. "So it is true, you can identify gods just by looking at them." A feminine voice said. I straightened up and discovered it was Hecate who had spoken. "Yes, truly fascinating. Tell me, demigod, how can you do such a thing?" The only man in the group, Karmanor, asked. "I am able to see and sense the auras of all divine beings. Using that ability allows me to identify immortals based on my knowledge of Greek myths." I lied to the best of my ability.
Lie Successful!
A few raised eyebrows and what I would have to guess is a mental conversation later, Hebe spoke next. "We asked Morpheus to bring us here tonight to thank you. I'm sure you know that as gods we cannot directly interfere in the lives of our children. Most of us minor gods do not truly see a reason to claim our children, since there is nowhere for them to go besides my half-brother's cabin anyways. We speak on behalf of all the minor gods who have children at camp when we thank you." Hebe told me, with obvious distaste to the monicor as a minor god. I was honestly surprised and couldn't keep a small blush off my face. When I had told them their parents I did not expect a thank you.
"You are welcome. I did not expect any thanks for doing what I did. I just hate seeing innocent people suffer. And in the future, even though you may not see a reason to claim your children, it gives them closure. I myself know what it is like to not know who your parents are, you are just left wondering whether or not they know about you, or if they hate you." I replied respectfully. I got a smile from Hecate. "Such confidence, you are truly fascinating. You speak to us as if we are from that camp, as if we could not wipe you off the face of the earth with a snap of our fingers. You are an interesting demigod Perseus Jackson." She told me. I gave her a lopsided smile. "I do not feel any hostility, so why would I be worried? Plus I can tell you are all here for genuine reasons. I myself do not agree with what the Olympians have put you all through. That is one reason I told your children who their parents were. After all you are anything but minor deities." I told them honestly.
Hebe spoke next, "You speak with such conviction. You truly do not see us as minor do you?" She asked curiously. I smiled wider. "Why would I? Nemesis is above even the Olympians in importance, being a goddess who maintains the balance of the mortal and immortal world. Hecate helps give people choices along with the god Janus. Karmanor helps Demeter in regards to harvests. Iris relays messages throughout the entire godly world. Many so-called minor gods have jobs just as important and taxing as that of the Olympians. But you are not recognized for it. It is something I hope to someday change." I said inhaling deeply after my long winded speech.
"So I was correct." Nemesis said, walking forward, stopping just before me. Her eyes bored into my very soul. And I saw straight into hers as well. I saw everything wrong with the world in her eyes, everything she had witnessed and done to try and maintain balance. The loneliness that came with having to be impartial, even to your own children. "You will finally restore balance to this world. You will rectify the wrongs immortals have done which have caused the slow destruction of the world. I can feel that you are free of the Fates. You have the power of choice. I can feel it inside you, the all consuming desire for change. To rectify the mistakes of the gods." She said, I didn't know how to respond. Luckily I didn't have to. "F-free of the Fates! How is that possible!" Karmanor nearly screamed. Nemesis herself shook her head. "I do not know Karmanor, all I do know is that this child is exactly what I have been looking for." She said cryptically.
I gave her a confused look. "What do you mean I am what you have been looking for?" I asked her. "For too long I have had to clean up the mess of the fates. It is because of them that the world is the way it is. While the gods themselves do choose whether or not to act on their own selfish impulses, it is ultimately up to the fates to allow these things to happen. They have grown lax in their duties, using mortals and immortals for entertainment, letting the careful balance of the universe fall apart. A being the fates have no control over, someone desiring change and justice. I look forward to seeing what you will do. It is time I take my leave now, goodbye." She said, disappearing into smoke.
"I must tend to the harvest now, I shall be taking my leave as well. Perseus, it was nice to meet someone who cares about us minor gods and our children. You have my deepest thanks." Karmanor said before vanishing into the same form of smoke Nemesis did. Hebe walked up to me and kissed my cheek, which was kind of weird since she looked like an 8 year old. "I will give you my thanks once more as well. Thank you for giving our children someone to look up to, and letting them know we care." she said in her small voice before dissipating into smoke. Now the only one left was Hecate. We locked eyes and just stood there for a minute. Her eyes widened slightly, "For a son of the sea I sense immense magical potential inside of you. You have such a high affinity for mana manipulation, as well as elemental mana manipulation." She said walking over to me, swaying her hips as she did.
I tilted my head in confusion. "What is the difference between elemental manipulation and mana manipulation? Aren't they the same thing?" I asked her. She smiled slightly and shook her head. "Elemental mana is created from pure mana. Pure mana is produced by all beings, although most cannot use even the smallest amount of mana, pure or not. Pure mana is also produced by the environment, or more specifically, the primordials. Then your body processes the pure mana into elemental mana, allowing you to manipulate the world around you. But some beings, such as certain gods or even mortals, can manipulate mana in its purest form. It has a wide range of applications from making objects more durable, to boosting your own physical abilities." She explained. I put my chin in my hand and started thinking about it. If I could learn to use pure mana, then I could match opponents stronger than me by augmenting my own strength, fighting luke would be a cinch then. I thought to myself. "How do I learn that?" I asked.
"It is something that cannot truly be taught. It can be learned in a variety of ways, from being born with the ability like I was, to learning it through life or death experiences, or even through meditation. It just depends on you." She replied. "I know it is a lot to ask, but would you be willing to teach me magic?" I asked her. She smiled widely, "maybe once you learn to manipulate pure mana, I will think about it. Well until then, goodbye Perseus." She said as my dream started to fade away.
That morning (after dream)~
Gradually opening my eyes and glancing around, it seemed as if I was the first one up. Which was surprising since today was the day of capture the flag. I looked over at one of the clocks. 6:23 AM, it read. I yawned and stood up, cracking my back. I looked around my small sleeping area. I kept a small backpack full of clothes just not to raise suspicion, although anything even remotely valuable was in my inventory.
I krept out of the cabin, making sure not to wake anyone, and headed over to the forge. It took a minute or two but when I arrived I was greeted with the familiar sound of hammers hitting metal. I took a peek inside and saw only Beckendorf, hammering on a small band of metal. "Hey Beckendorf!" I shouted out to get his attention. He glanced back with a bored look, until he recognized me. He gestured for me to come over. "I just got done with your order Percy, come take a look." The buff man told me. I walked over as he took the band that was previously on the anvil and placed it on a table I just noticed, with three other bands on it. "Here they are, two for your arms and two for your ankles. Getting the enchantments on it was a little more complicated than I had anticipated but it worked. You can change them to any weight under 10 tons. They are size changing so they will grow with you, and I made them look like normal bracelets so they do not stand out too much. Here, give them a go." he said, handing them to me. I took them and used Observe on them.
Enchanted Weight Bands
Weight bands created by Camp Half-blood's greatest forge master, Charles Beckendorf. These bands will shrink/grow to accommodate the size of your arms and ankles. They have the ability to change their density, thus increasing their weight.
Current weight- .1 Pound(s)
I placed two on my wrists and two on my ankles. "Now just think of how much you want them to weigh." Beckendorf said. I concentrated on the bands. Five Pounds. I said in my mind. I immediately noticed the difference in weight, as my arms dropped a little. I smiled at the burly blacksmith in front of me and put my hand in my pocket. I made a show of digging around before pulling a drachma out of my inventory. "Here, a little extra for going above and beyond." I said flipping the coin to him. He caught it and cracked a rare smile. "I am to please. Come to me if you ever need anything more custom than what you can get at camp." he said, returning to the forge.
It was an interesting trek back to the Hermes cabin. Walking with 20 extra pounds on your limbs certainly made things more difficult, but not impossible or anything. I sat back down on my sleeping back and waited for everyone else to wake up.
That night by the stream(during CTF)~
After a full day of activities with my weighted bands on I managed to get +4 Str, +2 Vit, and +2 Dex.
Str- 31(+3)=34
Vit- 20(+2)=22
Dex-28(+2)=30
I sighed and looked around the clearing I stood in. I knew Clarisse was coming, and I also knew Annabeth was watching, hidden by her invisibility cap. I could sense the divine mana coming from the cap given to her by Athena, so I knew she was on the opposite side of the creek from me, hiding in the tree line. While I waited for Clarisse to come I sat down and began to meditate. Let me tell you, it was HARD. It was nearly impossible to clear all my thoughts, but eventually I managed to do it. I started searching deep inside my soul, trying to see anything I could. I needed to learn to manipulate pure mana so that Hecate would teach me. Then a small light lit up my vision. I focused on it, and it slowly got larger and larger. It was a ball of swirling colors. It had a multitude of strings coming out, going in every direction. Just as I was about to delve deeper into what I assumed was my source of power, I was brought out of my meditation by angry shouts.
Sighing to myself I opened my eyes to see Clarisse and four of her siblings. I recognized Brandon and Jessica from the last time I saw them. "There you are prissy." Clarisse snarled. I smiled cheekily at her. "Here I am." I replied simply. "You are gonna pay for embarrassing us, we are gonna make you regret ever being born." She yelled, practically foaming at the mouth. I laughed. "If that will help you sleep at night then continue thinking that. Now let's get this started." I said, clearing my face of emotion. I uncapped Riptide and held it at the ready. She thrust her spear towards me. "Cream the punk!" She roared as her siblings charged. Something welled up inside me, threatening to burst forth. I felt adrenaline rapidly pump through my system and I couldn't keep the sadistic smile from forming on my face. Battle. War. I relished that feeling. The only place I felt free, where I felt unstoppable. Where I felt in control. So, I stopped controlling the feeling, allowing myself to embrace the fighting spirit bursting forth.
Third P.O.V.
The instant Clarisse told her siblings to charge, she knew she fucked up. It was instantaneous, as the unclaimed demigod in front of her lowered his head, hair cascading over his eyes, a sadistic, animalistic smile formed on his face. She could feel his bloodlust, it was so thick you could almost cut it with a knife. When he looked back up, his iris flashed a deep crimson red. As her two unnamed siblings got to Percy first, as they had no clue first hand how strong he was, they were the first to fall. A thrust of a spear and slash of a xiphos was swiftly dodged by the strange demigod in a feat of insane acrobatics. Jumping into the air and twisting his body in a way that the spear and sword passed under and above him respectively. Then swung a leg out and knocked the spear from the wielder's hand. He dashed forward, not even bothering to use his sword, and slammed his fist into the Celestial bronze helmet his opponent had on. Clarisse thought he was insane, that is until her sibling went flying back about five feet and landed on the ground unconscious. Her eyes nearly popped out of her head. That armor had to weigh about 50 pounds, in combination with her larger siblings' own weight. And he was thrown.
The sword wielder was the next to go. He had almost no time to react as he tried swinging his sword. But Percy was faster, much faster. He appeared in front of the son of ares, sword hilt on a collision course with the boy's helmet. "M-monster-" the unnamed son of Ares managed to stutter out before having his helmet slammed into by a sword hilt. The now unconscious demigod dropped unceremoniously to the ground.
The three remaining children of ares took a step back as Percy looked over at them. The sadistic smile ever present on his face. It felt like being stared down by a xenomorph. Like a god looking down on a human. An alpha predator to prey. "C-come on you two! It's three on one, we can beat him!" Clarisse yelled out, though it sounded like she was trying to convince herself of that rather than anyone else. Regardless of that, the three siblings charged at Percy. Clarisse took point while her two younger siblings tried to flank the closest thing to a monster in human form the three had ever seen. On an unspoken que the three charged. Clarisse' spear wielding sibling reached percy first. Having her spear smacked away by the flat of his blade and punched in the liver, right between the straps of her armor. She collapsed, gasping for breath while holding her side. Percy spun around and smacked the other boy's sword away, forcing the boy to overextend and trip. Percy slammed his hand on his opponent's back, basically slamming the son of Ares into the ground. Turning Percy saw that Clarisse was nearly on top of him, her eyes seething with rage.
Defeating her was not going to be as easy as the other four. The son of poseidon lept backwards, over the demigod he previously defeated, and inched closer to the stream as he dodged Clarisse's thrusts. He parried and blocked a few of her blows, never getting a chance to get in close. Finally, he thought he had an opportunity when she overextended a thrust. But as he got close she launched forward and smashed her fist into his nose. He backed up and grunted in pain, holding his nose and blood flowed freely. He stumbled back into the river, falling on his butt. "Ha! You think you are so strong don't you?! You think you can do whatever you want just because you defeated the minotaur! You are nothing but a weak little kid who couldn't save his mother from a monster!" Clarisse shouted, grinning madly. Percy looked up, as unnoticed to Clarisse, water tendrils begin snaking their way up the inside of his clothes. "What did you just say?" He growled lowly, the previous near insanity gone, with only anger showing through. Despite his knowledge that his mother was fine, he did not like Clarisse brining it up and trying to rub it in his face. "You heard me prissy. I said you couldn't save your stupid mother! Because you are weak!" she screamed once more only to take a step back as she noticed water tendrils rapidly healing his nose. He stood, refreshed and once more in peak condition. He launched himself forward and slashed downwards with Riptide. Clarisse, not expecting such an action so soon after sustaining an injury and in shock of seeing it healed, could not put up a proper defense. She hastily raised her spear, Maimer, and tried to block it with the handle. Anaklusmos, being as close to a godly symbol of power any object can be without actually being one, sliced through the wood like butter. The sword cleaved right between her breasts, leaving a small cut in the armor between the two points of outstretched metal.
Just as he was about to knock her outLuke came running from the forest holding the enemy flag with arrows flying past him. Dodging said arrows he crossed the stream and a horn was blown. "Blue team wins!" Chiron called out. Clarisse collapsed on her ass and glared at the boy in front of her for breaking her prized weapon. Chiron galloped over, observing the victims of Percy's assault. "What happened here?" The ancient teacher asked. "Percy did. He defeated four Ares campers and even managed to knock Clarisse down after getting punched by her." Annabeth said removing her invisibility cap. "But what is most interesting is what happened when he got into the creak. The water looked like it healed his nose." The inquisitive girl said, looking the demigod before her up and down. Just being near her made Percy uncomfortable, too many memories boiling up inside his mind. Chiron was about to comment when, a little later than last time but still not too off schedule, a holographic glowing trident appeared above his head. Multiple gasps echoed from the crowd around them, then all at once, they knelt.
"Hail Perseus Jackson, Son of Poseidon, The earthshaker, the storm bringer, and father of horses!" Chiron shouted out, bowing his head.
AN: Sorry this took so long to get out. And I also know, to my discord members, I said this would be starting the quest. Weeeeeeeell, I got too caught up in the forest fight for that so sorry! It will most likely be the next chapter though. I started my new job and its pretty intense so I am really tired when I get home. I will try to keep up a decent schedule but I also have college so be prepared to get 1-2 week updates from now on. Sometimes maybe less or maybe longer. It just depends on how much energy I have. Thank you for your support tho, it really means a lot to me. It is amazing to have something to be proud of like this and it helps boost my own confidence knowing I can actually succeed if I put my mind to something. So once more, thank you! I love you all! Even the weirdos.