Chapter 33:

As Markus kissed Silena, he was well aware of the embarrassment, mortification and impulsiveness of his decision. Funnily enough, he couldn't find himself caring. He didn't know if it was because of his runes, or his own desire, but he didn't regret his choice to kiss her. He admitted that he had a crush on her since he first met her, but Markus chalked that up to teenage hormones acting up around a pretty girl.

Now, though, after all his experiences with her - excluding him being angry at her - he found himself falling for the daughter of Aphrodite. He never voiced his feelings largely due to how confused he felt. He couldn't deny having feelings for multiple girls, which he knew personally wasn't right.

Markus decided to put his dilemma to the side and continue kissing Silena. From her face, she seemed shocked. And rightfully so. Markus was thankful for this until he was pushed back slightly from Silena, who gathered enough of her wits to focus. "Markus, w-why did you..." Silena tried to ask, but failed due to her blushing and stuttering in a cross between embarrassment, shock and nervousness. But Markus didn't find himself caring. His libido was out of control, and all his trying to control it vanished, leaving only unrestrained lust.

Making her squeak from him grabbing her shoulders, he pushed forward again, connecting their lips again and this time being a little rough about it. She tried to fight back but it was futile. After resisting for a moment, Silena gave into her desire and slowly returned the kiss. All thoughts about what had happened a few minutes ago left her mind, replaced by her wanting to kiss him. She was hesitant, but decided to give in.

Markus was no expert on kissing, but he gave into his instincts. His tongue darted forward inside Silena's mouth, licking and probing at every crevice inside. The daughter of Aphrodite moaned as Markus' tongue and her tongue met. Their hands didn't stay idle, however. Both of their lusts were at a high, causing them to grope and paw at each other. Markus' hands went to her breasts that he groped through her shirt. He cupped each one in his hand and squeezed, making Silena moan in pleasure and Markus to grin mentally. Silena's hands went from his shoulders, then slowly slid to his midsection, feeling his abs against his own shirt.

Wanting more, Markus pushed her down onto her bed, startling her slightly. This gave him enough time to straddle her, connecting their bodies together. Markus could feel his dick connect with her nether regions through their clothes. He leaned down to instigate their kiss again.

Silena's hands slipped themselves inside his pants, rubbing against his covered groin. Not wanting to be the only one receiving pleasure, Markus slipped his hands under her shirt, reaching for her bra-clad breasts and pawed at them without stop.

But before they could continue, they were interrupted by the door of the cabin opening. "Hey, Silena, are you alright? Did that asshole do any-" Michael asked as he opened the door. Though he stopped as he saw the scene before him. He saw his sister making out with the 'asshole' in question, and it looked like they were about to do more.

"Get out!" both Markus and Silena yelled at the son of Aphrodite with red faces, one embarrassed and the other furious. Michael promptly made his way out quickly, slamming the door behind him in fright.

Having been interrupted from their session, Markus growled at the feeling of blue balls. It was definitely not a pleasant feeling. Markus felt like going out and killing Michael, but he refrained. Now that his haze of lust was cleared, he could fully concentrate on what happened. Taking a look at Silena, he could see that her shirt was half-way off. Her lips were swollen, and he could see the black lace that she was wearing.

A wave of desire overcame him, but this time he managed to push it away this time. While he could see the desire in her eyes too, but he could see it clear slightly. Sighing, Markus spoke.

"I'm sorry about that," Markus apologized. "I... I never meant to... to do that. I-"

"Don't apologize," Silena interrupted. She smiled, and Markus was reminded about how beautiful she was. "I... didn't expect that. But it was good. Very good."

"Yeah," Markus nodded, grinning slightly.

"So what does that make us?" she asked nervously. Markus couldn't blame her. He didn't know where that left them. They clearly couldn't go back to being normal friends. So... boyfriend and girlfriend? That was definitely likely, but Markus still had feelings for other girls. Something that he was guilty about but wasn't willing to let go. And he couldn't ignore the offer of the two of them together. It'd be very stupid and wouldn't get anywhere. And he did feel strongly for her. Not on the level of love, but... beyond crush-level.

Sighing, he leaned forward, their foreheads touching. "I honestly don't know. But I like you. And I don't plan on letting you go." Before she could say anything, he kissed her, lightly this time. And she responded back. When they separated, they ended up curling up with each other in her bed, Markus not willing to leave. This was because he was both lazy and unwilling to escape Silena's embrace. And she didn't tell him off. They both ended up resting there, both of them emotionally drained and tired. The two ended up sleeping with huge smiles on their faces.

XXX

As Markus woke up, it took his groggy mind a while to wake up fully. So used to sleeping in his cabin, he was surprised about waking up with another body next to him. And then the events of last night swam into his head, and he remembered what happened. Him forgiving Silena, the wave of desire, the kissing, the groping... Markus sighed as it all came back to him.

He felt the body next to him move slightly, and he turned his head to see Silena rubbing her eyes to wake up. Even waking up, with how messy she looked, she still looked beautiful. Markus smiled at the sight.

"Morning," he greeted silently, making Silena's eye drift towards him. Then she smiled.

"Morning," she whispered back, leaning forward and kissing his forehead. Markus responded by pecking her lips lightly, making her giggle silently. Markus felt a rush of giddiness overcome him, and it wasn't due to the runes. Was this how it felt like? Having a... well, potential girlfriend? Markus never imagined it. Simply because the scenario never occurred to him. It had always been him that he looked out for mainly. He never thought about leaning onto someone, having to rely on someone. It had always been him that he relied on, him that others relied on to be strong. Finding someone else to lean on was... a bit odd, but not unwelcome.

Markus never thought about his future that much. He didn't focus on if he ever lived long enough to reach adulthood, which was depressing. He never thought about getting a girlfriend, marrying, having kids... the thought never entered his head. It had always been about himself, his family, and power. But now, with him lying in bed with Silena, it made him feel happy, a little at peace. He now had something to fight for personally, something to look forward to.

And he would've enjoyed this feeling, if it weren't for the fact that his heart ached slightly. His mind still drifted to Annabeth - who, even though he hadn't forgave yet, still felt attachment to - Katie and possibly Thalia. Why, why, why was his heart so confusing? Why couldn't he be content with staying with Silena? Why was his heart yearning for different girls when he had a perfect girl with him right now? Of course, Markus knew the answer, and he hated it. His greed. He wasn't content with just one girl he liked. He was too selfish to let them go. He wanted them all. Markus sighed. Sometimes, at times like this, he really hated his fatal flaw.

"Markus?" Markus blinked as his name was called. He looked to Silena, who was pouting. "You were deep in thought again, weren't you?"

Markus blinked again. "I don't always do that."

"Yes, you do. Either when you go training, learn magic, think of new and ridiculous ideas, watch anime-"

"Okay, okay," Markus grumbled. "You're right."

Silena smirked. "Of course I am. Girls are always right."

"I call bullshit on that. Not all of you-"

"But you admit I'm right, don't you?" Silena asked, voice laden with charmspeak.

Markus' eye twitched as he fought against the charmspeak. While had no immunity to it, he spent enough time with Silena to notice it. So he was able to slightly resist it. His mouth moved to slowly agree, before he covered his mouth.

Silena playfully glared at him. "That's cheating."

Biting the inside of his cheek harshly, he retorted back. "And using charmspeak isn't?"

"I don't know what you're talking about," she replied innocently, though Markus didn't buy the act for a second.

Though instead of arguing with her, he just chuckled to himself. She joined him too.

After a silent moment, Silena looked nervous. "M-markus? About... about what I did-"

"Shh," Markus interrupted, moving to kiss her slowly. When he released her, she looked like she was about to argue, but he just pecked her lips again. This continued for a while before Silena gave up. "Will you let me finish?"

"I told you," Markus said. "I already forgave you. It's water under the bridge. I don't agree with it, obviously, but I'm done being angry with you. I know you won't do it again. And that's all that matters." Bringing her close to his chest, Markus held her in comfort, like a teddy bear.

Sighing, Silena gave up. "Fine." Nuzzling into the crook of his neck, she made herself comfortable. After a moment, she spoke. "You do know it's against cabin rules for you to be here, right?"

"Fuck the rules," he responded dismissively. "Wanna sleep. Like it here. So I'll sleep."

Smiling knowingly, Silena drifted back to sleep. After a while, she spoke again. "Can you stop poking me with your thing?"

"Hades' soul-damned underwear, woman, let me sleep!"

XXX

In the end, Markus eventually left the Aphrodite cabin, but not before giving Silena a big kiss before leaving. While this made her happy, this also made the other children of Aphrodite cheer in happiness. The reason was because they were happy that the two were finally together. Or at least kissing. One of them even stated that it was good that they could finally get rid of the awkward sexual tension between them, making both blush.

Fortunately, Markus was able to get to the Poseidon cabin by going invisible with his jacket and phasing through the walls of the Aphrodite cabin and other cabins until he reached his cabin. And no one noticed.

Not wanting to sleep, Markus just laid on his bed, thoughts swirling in his head. Many of them centered around Silena. Markus could admit, he did like the daughter of Aphrodite. She was beautiful, smart, down-to-earth, not afraid to speak her mind, empathetic, and different from the normal child of Aphrodite. The list went on. And he sort of knew that she felt the same way with him. And the giddiness of having a (maybe?) girlfriend made him want to run around camp and screaming his head off in joy. In fact, Markus felt like doing that right now.

For the first time in a while, he was happy. A good kind of happy. And he liked it. Maybe the runes actually helped him out for once.

Markus stood up, heading out of his cabin towards the mess hall, wanting to get some food. However, before he could do that, he was interrupted by an Iris-message appearing suddenly. Calling on the other side was Hecate, dressed in her usual Greek robes. She really needed to switch up her wardrobe.

Markus sighed. "Hecate," he greeted, not exactly eager to talk to the goddess. It wasn't that he hated her. it was just that he had a lot on his mind. And when she usually called, it was for a quest.

"Markus Henderson," Hecate spoke, her voice clear and baritone. "I have need of your services."

Shaking his head, Markus responded, "Okay, seriously. You call at the worst times." Ignoring the narrowing of her eyes, he continued. "So what do you need me to do this time, Hecate?"

"I want you to perform a somewhat dangerous quest for me: I need you to recover the fangs of Zerith."

Markus looked at the goddess for a moment, but she didn't elaborate. "You need to be more specific. First of all, I have no idea who Zerith is, or why you need a fang from this Zerith."

"Zerith is, to put it blunt, a Duke of Hell," Hecate said simply.

Markus blinked. Then blinked again. "Duke of Hell? You mean the Underworld?"

"No, I mean the actual hell, the Christian hell. Something that is considered very real."

Markus was actually a bit shocked. Hell, like hell hell, was real? At first he wasn't surprised, since he was used to the revelation of either a dangerous secret or another pantheon. But to know that hell was real? It was a bit of shock. "Hell is real? Does that mean that God, capital G, big guy in Heaven, is real?"

"Yes," Hecate answered simply. "Hell and Heaven are real, just as the Christian God is also real. The truth is not revealed to you demigods because Zeus, in all his arrogance, decreed it forbidden to discuss the topic, believing that Greek mythology should be more important than what he deems unnecessary."

Markus rolled his eyes. He wasn't surprised at another sign of Zeus' ego and arrogance at play. The fact could be considered a running joke on Olympus. But he decided to focus on the matter at hand. "So you want me to retrieve a fang of a demon from hell? I'm up for the challenge, but why do you need its fang?"

"Zerith is related to Astaroth, a Great Duke of Hell in demonology. So he is considered by many to be an all-powerful demon, but in reality that is not true. He can be defeated. As for his fang, a demonic fang from a demon as powerful as Zerith is bound to have magical properties. I would need it as a conduit for a ritual to ward off evil."

"You're the goddess of magic," Markus said. "Why would you need an ingredient for a ritual when you could do it without one?"

Hecate smiled lightly. "'Tis not that simple. I am the goddess of magic, true. But using my full powers for a simple ritual would not go well. It would be overpowered, and possibly destroyed with my godly power. So I would need to use mortal means to go about it. Besides, the ritual is very delicate. One slip up of power and it could have disastrous consequences."

Markus nodded, hearing all of this. So, slaying a demon and retrieving a fang? Sounded simple. But nothing ever was. Besides, while he had no fear of the quest itself, he didn't know exactly how powerful this demon was. It was descended from a Great Duke. Markus wasn't exactly knowledgeable on demonology, but he knew that the demon was stupidly overpowered. And he didn't want to die from a suicide mission.

"So, how exactly do I take down a demon from hell? Will light spells work? What about celestial bronze? And how do expect me to stand up against a powerful demon?" he asked.

Hecate narrowed her eyes, glaring at him. Her expression shocked Markus. He knew that he didn't say anything offensive, and he asked a valid question. So what was her problem? "I expect you to handle it because I know what you have done, Markus Henderson. I know you have performed a forbidden and branded your body with runes."

Markus flinched at her words. How did she know? He wasn't exactly discreet, but he still-

"I know because you are my disciple. And I am the goddess of magic. Sensing your state, I could tell that your magic has increased dramatically in a short amount of time. Even now, I can sense the ambient magic literally rolling off your skin from your runes." Hecate's eyes glowed with power, and Markus grew tense. "I am very disappointed in you, Markus. I thought you were able to control your greed, but it appears that I was wrong. You have fallen prey to your fatal flaw. You are weak."

"Weak?!" He felt a little guilty at her berating him, but her calling him weak? He refused to accept that! "I am not weak! That was the whole point of me doing the ritual! So I could become stronger much faster! Do you even know why I did the ritual?! Because I knew that against Kronos and his forces, we would be slaughtered. I performed the ritual so that I could gain more power-"

"You may be strong physically and magic-wise," Hecate interrupted coldly, "but mentally, you are weak. To fall so easily to your fatal flaw shows that you are weak in character. In spirit."

"If wanting to be strong to destroy Kronos and his forces and protect myself and my friends," Markus hissed, "then so be it. I'll be an absolute scumbag just to become the most powerful being in the world and crush Kronos. Wanting to protect those I hold dear is considered being weak? Being selfish? Then so be it."

"You are not doing it for others, you are doing it for yourself," Hecate accused. "Your selfish needs are motivating you. Not your care. Not your love. Just your anger and greed. You are doing all of this because you are a coward. You cannot stand on your two feet to face a problem. You hide behind false power just to bolster yourself and only yourself."

Glaring at the goddess for calling him a coward, Markus continued arguing. "You think you know me? You know nothing! I am selfish, no doubt, but I fight for my own needs, which include those I call friends and family. If I'm to become a coward, then I'll become the biggest coward that walked the face of the Earth. If false power is the only way to stand and face my enemies, then I'll accept it. Your words mean nothing, Hecate. I know what I want, and I will fight for that. You will not tell me otherwise!"

Hecate glared at him heavily. Even if it was an Iris-message, he could feel the power behind her gaze, but Markus refused to back down. He was no hero. He just wanted to save himself and those he loved. Simple as that. He could receive a thousand curses and still have the same drive. He wouldn't change just because someone told him to. He was his own damn person with his own reasons.

"Fine," Hecate bit out. "If you want to continue walking the path of a fool and a coward, I won't stop you. You'll be damned on your own. Know that you ignored my warnings and fell to your own damnation."

"Noted," Markus sneered. "And since I'm risking my life to face a powerful demon, and am apparently a coward, I would like a reward that would equate to a coward's plight."

Hecate continued to look at him in distaste, but knew that he wouldn't budge. "What do you want?"

"I want a sort of thought-process spell," Markus requested. "I should be able to speed my thoughts equal to someone training for years. Essentially cutting training time in half. So I can train for learning spells and weapon training, which would take me years to learn, and learn them in a matter of days, if not weeks." This idea came from Naruto. Specifically, the Shadow Clone Technique. He read in the manga that Naruto could use his clones to basically chop training time in half by using his clones to learn the Rasenshuriken. It was a stupidly broken power that he immediately wanted. What better way to achieve this than with magic?

Hecate nodded stiffly for a moment. "I can create such a spell. It shall be done. The demon's hideout is in Boston. I trust that you will be able to locate it. The demon's presence can be sensed in central Boston. You won't miss it."

Markus nodded. "Okay. But I want the spell upfront, I know that you'll keep your word. In return," Markus spoke, seeing Hecate's eyes light up in fury, "I swear on the Styx that I will carry out the quest without question."

The sky outside thundered, signifying the oath.

Hecate calmed down seeing the oath. "That is acceptable," she said calmly. She clicked her fingers, and a scroll appeared in his hands. "Inside is the details to the thought-process spell you wanted. I will leave the naming to you. And light spells are very effective against demons from hell, as well as celestial bronze. Good luck." And with that, the Iris message faded.

Markus sighed, cradling his scroll. He knew it was not wise to pressure a goddess like that, but he didn't care. He was paranoid, and he had a right to be.

He walked across his cabin, getting his supplies. Not wanting to leave without the others knowing, Markus created three speed clones and quickly drew magic battery runes on them.

Pointing to one of the clones, he commanded, "You, go to Silena, Katie, Thalia, Percy and Beck that I'm on magic duty. Give Silena a goodbye kiss as well" He then pointed to the second clone, ignoring the big grin on the first clone's face and the looks of jealousy the others had. "You go to Annabeth and apologise for being an ass. Use those words. And if she cries, comfort her. You," he pointed to the third. "Give a note to Chiron saying I'm on a job and tell the Hephaestus cabin to keep working on the Hestia cabin. Got it?"

"Yes, sir!" they all saluted mockingly.

"Now get out of here you sarcastic bastards!" With that, all of them sped out of the cabin, the original speeding towards the mess hall and packing tons of food, apologising to all the nymphs in a blur.

Then he sped out of camp, creating a sonic boom from the centre of camp, alerting almost all its residents.

As he ran, Markus was heading towards a local train station. He didn't know the exact way, so he planned to snoop around the controls for directions towards Boston. He could run the whole way. He was wearing his goggles and a helmet, the kind sports drivers wore. Maybe he should look into creating a speedster suit out of kinetic energy. It would look much cooler than what he was currently wearing.

As he reached the local train station, he promptly used the Mist to distract the guy at the counter and ordered him to tell him the quickest routes to Boston. He sluggishly responded that it was roughly north-east from here, about 220 miles. It would usually take a train 4-5 hours. He planned to get there in roughly half an hour, possibly less.

Leaving the station, Markus dashed in the direction, using the Rolex watch that was disguised as his shield from Tyson to check the time occasionally. He wasn't on a time-limit, but it was nice to know the time.

As he ran, he could feel the muscles in his legs working overtime as he used kinetic energy. With his ritual, he never really tested the full limits of his speed. Grinning, he applied more energy, creating another sonic boom. Markus now loved doing that. Made him look so much badass.

Wanting to keep himself occupied, Markus hummed the 'Super Sonic Racing' song aloud. Speaking of Sonic, he planned to purchase the Sonic the Hedgehog that came out this year. He'd seen the trailers and wanted to play the game. Maybe it wouldn't be that bad.

Then his mind went to the thoughts about the demon. He really had to stop being surprised at this kind of revelations. God and heaven and hell being real shouldn't have been a real shocker. But that did leave a lot of questions to be answered. Like how did some souls go to the underworld but others go to heaven or hell? He guessed that it was the belief system. He was born a Greek, so if he died, he'd go to Elysium, hopefully. A Shinto would probably go to the Shinigami or their version of hell or heaven. Hindus could go for reincarnation. Or was that Buddhists?

Shrugging, Markus put the thoughts out of his head, and instead focused on the task ahead. Thankfully, he learned quite a lot of light spells and developed his photokinesis quite well. And from what little he knew of actual demons, aside from manga, movies, TV shows, etc., he didn't planned to get cursed, or die so that his soul would be trapped, or other kind of nonsense that he knew. Maybe he should've read up on demonology before going on this quest.

Coming back to his senses, he quickly saw the sign post saying 'Welcome to Boston!' Sailing past it, Markus checked his watch and realised that he'd spent ten minutes running. That was probably a new record or something.

Heading into the city, Markus stopped running, skidding as he did so. Ignoring any mortals watching, he waved his hand, using the Mist to spread out broadly and make the mortals look away abruptly and walk off as normal.

Before he stretched out his senses, he opened his backpack, snacking on pieces of fruit and barbecue. Due to him running, he wore himself out a little. His body, with him being a demigod, was able to withstand the speeds that he ran at, but his metabolism was affected by his run. Meaning that his stomach demanded food due to the high speed run.

Scarfing down his food but still wanting more, Markus saved the remaining food in his backpack and went to a McDonalds to eat out. Walking to the counter, he ordered ten Chicken McLegends with bacon and salsa, fifteen Big Macs, fifteen packs of fries, three McCafe milkshakes and four large Cokes. He used the Mist to confuse the server and paid the amount, which totalled to $247.52 (A.N. - Don't know how much that would all be, but roll with it).

Sitting at the table, he took out his green Nintendo DS and played Super Mario Bros to pass the time. He bought the game console on the internet along with his Xbox and Playstation. He took it with him from his apartment - which wasn't broken into, thank the gods - so that whenever he was on the run, he wouldn't miss his precious game time.

After ten minutes, several staff came to carry the food to his table. Thanking them, Markus smiled and dug into his food. Chowing down onto his Chicken Legends, devouring his Big Macs, and tossing his fries into his mouth, Markus ate like a pig, with no concern with how others looked at him. Several staff, as well as some customers, looked at him with awe, disgust and concern. Markus paid no attention to them. Several of them tried to record the whole thing. Markus planned to use the Mist on them later.

After five long minutes, he burped loudly, slurping his milkshakes and Cokes with content. That was good. He didn't even know he could eat that much. At least he could eat practically anything he wanted and not get fat.

Finished with his drinks, he waved his hand, using the Mist to control the mortals to delete everything that they saw. As he used the Mist, he felt some disturbance in the air. Not anything evil or interfering with the Mist, just... something. It was like the Mist, only of a different... flavour, was what Markus thought. Must have been a supernatural veil belonging to another pantheon.

Exiting the shop, Markus widened his magical senses as he walked briskly, passing monuments and buildings. He felt a divine aura around a statue that had - were those ducks? Another divine presence, which didn't belong to a god but more like a hidden place, that was roughly east of him. But no demonic presence. Markus figured that the presence would feel evil. And he was right. After walking for several minutes, he could feel a giant wave of bloodlust that felt inhuman. But it wasn't aimed at him.

Trying to locate the area, Markus applied a steady amount of magic to his eyes using his magic control. This had the effect of making his eyes lighting up with a white glow. This ability allowed him to see things that his normal eyes couldn't see, allowing him to see through the Mist and illusions with ease, as well as magic itself. Scanning the area where he felt the bloodlust, he saw a large cave that was littered with what looked like human skeletons and dried blood.

If Markus hadn't known that it was a demon from hell that he was killing, he would've felt a little queasy at seeing the scene. But he steeled his features an, holding onto Wavebreaker in figurine form, he walked forward and entered the cave.

As he stepped into the cave, the bloodlust increased drastically, but Markus didn't break face. The feeling was slightly affecting him, but Markus had been in the presence of gods on a number of occasions. Their natural presence was much stronger and a little more ominous than the bloodlust.

His shoes stepped into several skeletons, not on purpose, though. It wasn't like a cheap haunted house or anything. The skeletons ranged in size from human, to animal, to others that he had no idea about. The human-sized ones varied, from grown adults to small children. And they all had dried blood. Small creatures, maybe spiders or something else, crept across the surface.

On the walls, several crude drawings were shown: words in a language that he didn't understand. Maybe demon speak. Along with that were images of demons: one image showed a demon with wide eyes - literally wide, with the eyes taking up half its face - and a large mouth showing giant teeth. The teeth looked normal, with canines, molars, premolars, etc., but were stained black. Another image showed a giant wolf with red eyes. It was similar to a hell hound, only this one looked more dangerous and intimidating. Another was in the form of a little girl, but with spider pincers on her back. She looked the least disturbing of the images, but also the creepiest. The other pictures at least looked like what you would expect from demons, but the image of a supposedly girl with an evil expression was fucked up.

The thing with these images were that they radiated an evil aura, as if they were actually real. Markus stared at them some more, but ultimately decided to move on.

Surprisingly, he faced no resistance. He expected to be swarmed by demons the moment he stepped in the cave. Maybe they were waiting for him at the centre. Or secretly lurking in the corners of the cave. He sensed no presence, though. Maybe human and godly magic was different than demon magic. Markus wanted to light the place up to see better, but decided against it. He didn't want to attract more attention to himself, and he could make himself a sitting duck. The lighting he had was enough.

After walking for what felt like half an hour, Markus entered a large clearing. The clearing had crevice in the wall with runes and iron chains wrapped around it. The chains didn't look normal despite looking like it. Markus could feel several heavy amounts of magic rolling off the chains. The floor was littered with the biggest pile of bones that Markus had seen in the cave. It looked like Zerith had scraped the flesh off the bones and dumped them around the place.

Apart from those features, the cave looked relatively normal, which surprised Markus. He'd imagined brimstone and hellfire pouring from holes on the walls, and hordes of demons swarming to rip him apart. Seeing the real thing was kind of a letdown.

"Who approaches my chambers?" a deep, dark voice spoke out, the voice reverberating across the whole cave. The vibrations rang out from behind Markus.

Markus refused to show any fear, even if he was a little unnerved. "Well, aren't you a wonderful guest," he responded sarcastically. "If you're going to welcome someone, at least start with the simple 'Hello. How are you?' spiel. Such bad manners."

"I have no patience for pathetic jokes, mortal. Speak of your identity or perish," the voice threatened.

Markus scoffed. "Kind of hypocritical when you don't do the same thing, isn't it? Why don't you stop hiding and show your face, Mr. Big Bad Demon?"

The voice was silent for a moment, before movement was detected from the crevice. The runes glowed brightly before fading. The chains rattled, before snapping without any outward movement. Loud footsteps echoed out from the crevice, while Markus looked expectantly from his point.

Clawed feet stepped forward, followed by the limbs of an animal. Then the torso followed. The bottom half looked like a panther, whereas the top - which Markus examined without puking - was practically held together with its bottom half by hardened entrails. The torso, arms and head was a pale peach colour with purple lines running through it. The stomach had an opening, like someone carved into the flesh of the stomach. No blood flowed from it, only teeth, hardened entrails and saliva. Its arms were thin ans scrawny, with talons equipped on each digit. Its face was round and gaunt. Its eyes showed tiny red pupils that were indented into ridges of flesh. The mouth was, as expected, filled with rows of sharp daggers for teeth (A.N. - Think of Lord Loss from the Demonata by Darren Shan, because that's where his image comes from with a few added features).

"Damn, on second thought, go back into your hole in the ground. Maybe my stomach might not be so upset," Markus muttered, holding his mouth in to keep his lunch down. He regretted eating all of that food now.

"What do you require of Lord Zerith, mortal? Be thankful that I have not consumed you yet?" the demon spoke, its mouth opening and closing, resembling a wave of daggers.

Markus could feel the demonic power rolling off of him. The previous presence was nothing compared to now. Markus unconsciously saw images of his own death playing in his mind, each in gruesome detail. His body was shaking without him knowing. To stop his shaking, Markus bit his hand, biting hard enough to draw blood. The pain forced him out of his fear. "So you're one of those demons? That just makes it more satisfying to kill you. And I'm your slayer. You don't need to know my name. Doubt you care," Markus spoke, free of any residual fear in his body.

Zerith threw his head back and laughed loudly, entrail juice flying everywhere. "Hahaha! It has been a while since I've seen a mortal with such bravado! I'm going to enjoy eating you the most out of all my victims. I haven't seen this kind of arrogance in over two thousand years."

"Don't you just love hearing yourself speak?" Markus taunted, walking forward slowly to prepare himself. "And don't worry. I'm make sure that your ugly-looking ass is dead for another two thousand years."

Zerith roared, his aura flaring in fury. Markus took that as his cue to reveal Wavebreaker in its full form. He dashed forward at super speeds, sword raised.

Just as he reached half a centimetre towards him, Zerith unleashed a condensed ball of energy that pushed Markus back, with the intention of sending him sailing. Markus dug Wavebreaker deep into the ground to keep himself from flying. Moving at even faster speeds, Markus performed a Sonido and instantly appeared at Zerith's feet. Slashing in quick strikes, Markus cut at his feet, hacking and slashing. He had enough sense to narrowly roll out of the way as Zerith swiped at where his head used to be.

Holding out his hands, Markus spoke. "Επικαλούμαι: Δεσμευτικά χέρια! (Invoke: Binding Hands!). Sky blue ribbons wrapped around Zerith's leg. He poured a sizeable chunk of magic to keep the demon restrained. Zerith almost wobbled, roaring in pain and frustration from Markus' slashes from before, almost tripping over his feet.

Casting another spell, Markus spoke again. "Stella Inspiratione!" The giant light bomb sailed towards the demon, connecting successfully with him. As smoke was formed from the collision, it was dispersed by a roar of pain from Zerith. The demon had large burns on his body where his stomach-mouth was. He was now cradling his wounds with care. Guess light spells were super effective.

Before Markus could cast another spell, Zerith broke his Binding Hands spell. He held out his hand, a large crude-looking blade appearing in it. Lunging forward, the demon swiped at the demigod. This was intercepted by Red Queen appearing into Markus' hands from his keychain, Wavebreaker disappearing. However, the blow was so powerful that Markus could only deflect it. The tip of Zerith's blade was heading towards his shoulder. Thinking quickly, he vibrated his body, phasing through the attack and delivering a strike towards the demonic blade. Despite his injuries, Zerith had enough skills to block the attack.

His arm slightly shook from the blow despite blocking it and having increased strength. Breaking the stalemate, Markus pulled the lever on Red Queen and revved the blade, producing a giant spark of flames across the blade that allowed him to push Zerith back slightly. Boosting forward and sliding under the demonic blade baseball-style, Markus swung the heated blade into Zerith's side.

The flesh where the demon was struck was burnt heavily, the blade continuing revving and burning into the demon's side. Zerith let out a screech of agony as he was burnt from Red Queen. Furious, he swung his blade towards Markus' blade again. This time, though, Markus performed a quick vapour travel, escaping the swing of the blade and sending his vapour body to the other side.

Roaring, Zerith waved his hand and darkness formed from his fingertips. The darkness coalesced into a large wall, allowing dozens of smaller demons to jump out of the darkness. Some of them were identical to the images Markus saw from before: the giant wolf, the wide-eyed demon, along with a small green demon with tiny mouths on its palms and other creatures that belonged in nightmares.

"Devour him!" Zerith ordered. His minions marched forward, eager to feast on the demigod.

Wanting to get rid of them in one swoop, Markus summoned four speed clones. He ordered them to keep the minions busy while he concentrated. His Ionioi Hetairoi spell formed behind him, only this time, instead of launching them straight away, he mentally formed small cluster bombs out of light using his photokinesis.

The demons made to interrupt his spell, but his speed clones did their work, slaying demons by the number. Unfortunately, many more came spilling from the darkness created by Zerith. The demon in question tried to heal himself from his wounds, but the light properties from the Stella Inspiratione still burned him.

Binding the light cluster bombs to the formed weapons, the Mist weapons were now brimming with light. Markus had come far in manipulating light and his own spells. This was one of his improved versions of his Ionioi Hetairoi spells. He had a darkness one made as well. But this one was designed for demons.

Waving his hand forward, he cast his spell. "Ionioi Hetairoi: Gōrudokingu-Ban! (Army of the King: Gold King Edition!)" The light-covered spell sailed towards the demons, skewering them faster than they were forming.

When the final wave of demons were destroyed, Zerith abandoned the wall of darkness. "You will pay for this insolence, you pathetic morsel!" Zerith shouted in anger. The demon then waved his hand.

Markus didn't even bother waiting to find out what he casted. He immediately moved, dodging a giant pillar of hellfire. Even when he dodged, Markus could still feel the unholy heat coming from the flames.

Holding his hands out, Markus activating his Vερό runes on his palms. Water shot forward from his hands like two firehouses. However, the water dispersed as it came into contact with the flames, being evaporated.

At his shocked face, Zerith laughed. "Your pitiful water magic is no match for hellfire. Now burn and begone from my presence!"

The hellfire moved, acting as it had a mind of its own. Not trusting his phasing to hold up against hellfire, Markus dashed towards the walls, running across it. His speed clones, however, weren't so lucky. The hellfire acted like a snake, coiling and zipping towards the clones, devouring them and causing them to disperse.

The hellfire kept on chasing Markus as he ran across the wall due to his speed, the flames not leaving his trail. Zerith laughed as he watched the struggle, it being similar to a cat-and-mouse act.

Markus cursed loudly. Why the hell weren't the flames leaving him?! He was not eager to be burnt to a crisp. Maybe even more burnt, considering it was hellfire.

Having enough, Markus dashed to the ground, having an idea. His Kράτοσ rune lighting up, as well as making his arms vibrate slightly, Markus waited for the flames to come towards him.

When they were almost ten inches away from him, Markus clapped his hands. The power behind his hand created a shockwave powerful enough to disperse the hellfire. It didn't fade away completely, but embers and flickers landed on the ground away from him, still burning.

Thankful for his idea of creating a thunderclap, Markus quickly equipped Beowulf. Channelling earthquake energy into the gauntlets, Markus took off at super speeds towards Zerith. Meeting his charge, Zerith swung his sword towards Markus' head. Markus met the charge by punching the blade.

Due to his overall strength and striking power from his Kράτοσ rune, Beowulf and his earthquake energy, Markus able to break the sword, making it shatter. Zerith's shocked expression allowed Markus to land a nasty right hook to his face, right where his nose was supposed to be.

The demon screeched, trying to hold his nose, but Markus didn't give him any reprieve. He followed through with another hook to his face, followed by another fist to his face. Wanting to continue keeping up the strike, Markus dismissed the earthquake energy within him and decided to apply kinetic energy instead. And so started punching in rapid success, breaking Zerith's face even further. Markus' strikes were so fast and powerful that, not only did they keep him suspended in the air due to each strike, but instead of two fists punching, it looked like multiple were hitting the demon, due to the speed that they were travelling at (A.N. - Like Luffy's Gum Gum Gatling from One Piece).

The light runes on Beowulf activated, causing Zerith to screech in even more agony as he was practically pummelled. The strikes were so powerful that Zerith was pushed into the ground from the force, creating an indent with his shape. Markus didn't let up for even a second. His fists crashed into the demon, creating bruises and breaking skin and drawing black blood. His stomach-mouth was being crushed, with black blood flowing into it.

Feeling slight exhaustion, Markus decided to finish with one final strike. Pulling his arms back, he fell towards the downed demon and struck with all his might (A.N. - Like Luffy's Gum Gum Bazooka).

Hopping off the giant crater that he made, Markus panted as he inspected the damage he caused. Zerith was practically destroyed at this point. Dismissing Beowulf, Markus summoned Wavebreaker and prepared to finish it.

But before he could, Zerith surprisingly had enough strength to quickly raise his hand and summon a small ball of hellfire. Shocked, Markus was able to quickly dodge, but not without getting slightly burned on his left arm from the hellfire.

Markus roared in pain as he cradled his burnt arm, the flicker of hellfire burning through his aviator jacket and trying to burn his arm. Quickly removing it, he threw the article of clothing down on the ground. He watched sadly as the hellfire devoured the jacket, burning it to ashes.

He was surprised that the flames were able to burn through his jacket, but he was more worried about his arm. Thankfully, the wound wasn't that serious, his jacket protecting him from the worst of it. However, there was a large burn mark there, and it kept giving Markus slight burns even if he didn't move his arm. Summoning water from the slight vapour in the air - which wasn't much - Markus was shocked to see that, despite the water doing its job in healing him, the wound was slowly healing. What the fuck? What was wrong with his arm?!

Zerith's chuckles broke him out of his thoughts. "I don't know how you're still alive, but say goodbye to that arm. Wounds from hellfire don't heal. It'll keep burning you for the rest of your life. I may not be able to kill you, but I can at least cripple you, you filthy mongrel!"

"I'm not the one who got his ass handed to him by said 'mongrel'," Markus sneered as Zerith growled. "And taking out my arm isn't going to stop me from destroying you. But first."

Forming a speed clone, he made it zip towards the demon and yank out a fang from his mouth, making Zerith weakly snarl but do nothing. The speed clone then dashed back to its creator, helping put the fang in his backpack.

Nodding, Markus made the speed clone disperse as he held his good arm out. What he was performing was his strongest light spell to date. And the good thing was that it required no words to form. Just magic.

An orb of superheated light was held in his hands. It was small at first, but then grew larger. Markus took his time as Zerith couldn't do anything but watch as Markus held an enormous ball of light with embers of fire flickering off of it.

Markus grinned, seeing the look of fear in the demon's beady eyes. "It's not the original, but it'll do." Walking forward, Markus' spell lit the whole cave alight, destroying any shadows in the surroundings. Breaking into a light jog, Markus ran forward, thrusting his spell forward. "Forbidden Sun!" (A.N. - Yes, the Forbidden Sun from Dark Souls, but with light instead of fire).

Zerith screeched as the spell made contact with his body, disintegrating him and the ground that he laid in. A loud BOOM echoed across the cave as the demon Zerith, legacy of Astaroth, Great Duke of Hell, was destroyed.

A shockwave struck the walls of the cave. Markus had to lightly look away from the light show, which slightly faded. After a while, the light that filled the room was dispersed, leaving only a gigantic crater that was superheated, turning the stone into liquid sludge. Slight embers flickered around the cater, the hole looking like a volcano with the heated sludge looking like lava.

Satisfied, Markus grinned widely. "That was fucking awesome. I knew it'd work. Slayed some demons from hell and looked badass while doing it. As well as made out with a hot girl and got a girlfriend out of it. Today is a very good day." Cradling his burnt arm, Markus walked out of the cave and vapour-travelled to camp, feeling too exhausted to run.

XXX

Markus was now in his cabin, his burnt arm in a bandaged cast. He was currently writing down an idea that he had, a hypothesis.

A day since returning from his quest in slaying a demon from hell, he mailed the fang to Hecate. She seemed pleased with him, even though she acted frostily with him. The goddess said nothing as she nodded, disappearing in Mist.

When he came back to Camp Half-Blood, he immediately went to the lake and submerged himself, wanting to heal his arm. But it was no good. Despite healing only slightly, he burn remained.

So he went to the med bay, which came as a shock to Will Solace, who ran the med bay. Markus had never been in the med bay - except when he first arrived - for any injury, due to his broken water healing. But he told him that he had a burn that wouldn't heal.

However, nothing he, or the Apollo cabin, worked. Ambrosia healed it even further, but only slightly. Hymns to Apollo had the same result. Herbs didn't do anything. And everything else failed.

So the Hecate children had to step in. The two groups of demigods worked together to create a cast that had protective and healing runes applied. The bandages were also soaked in nectar as well. Markus thanked them profusely for their help.

His friends were worried about his injury, and were alarmed that his water healing wasn't working, but he told them that it was fine. Silena was especially worried, but he told her that he was fine. Of course she offered a kiss to make him feel better, which Markus gladly accepted.

Although, as happy as he was with her, the two had a talk about his mixed feelings about the other girls. He didn't want to do that, as he was perfectly content with Silena, but he refused to lead her on and hurt her in any way due to his selfishness. Markus expected her to slap him, hate him, be disgusted by him, anything of the sort. And he would've accepted it without complaint.

But surprisingly, instead of doing anything like that, she smiled and said that she already knew. Markus was shocked, but Silena just responded that, as the daughter of Aphrodite, she could sense the love of people, and feel how strongly that person felt towards people. Markus didn't know about this empathic ability, but it made explaining much easier. Silena said that, because of this, she knew that he felt strongly for her, as well as the other girls. She said that she wasn't mad or angry. She understood that it was mainly due to his fatal flaw, but also because he loved the girls in their different ways. Markus was shocked, but allowed Silena to continue explaining.

When Markus talked about his runes, she took a while to process that, but still accepted him, making Markus feel like the happiest person in the world. When he talked about their relationship, he admitted that he refused to let her go, making her heart soar. She also said that they were still very intimate, but the subject of boyfriend and girlfriend was still touchy. They could still call each other that, but decided that he needed to get his feelings checked before it was official.

When Silena jokingly brought the idea of forming a harem, Markus admitted that he was fully on board with the idea, but that was mainly his runes talking. Though a tiny part of him wasn't against the idea.

In the end, he was so thankful for her not hating him that he kissed her, starting a make-out session that left both of them happy for a few hours.

With Annabeth, his speed clone did its job. He went up to her and forgave her again, hugging her when she cried for forgiveness. Markus continued rubbing her back as she sobbed. Percy, who knew the whole story, was happy for the two. Although he looked at them with extreme jealousy. Something Markus caught.

Since then, as a gift, he offered her the chance to help finish the Hestia cabin, which was almost finished. That may have seemed like he was using her, but it was something Annabeth enjoyed immensely. She was so thankful and honoured - since she was one of the few who knew about the project - that she gave him a small kiss on the cheek in excitement. Which caused both of them to blush immensely and for everyone to tease them about it. Though Percy, during his teasing, was able to hide his extreme jealousy at the scene.

Onto his thought-progress spell, Markus was extremely satisfied. It had only been a day, but he had devoured multiple spells in one sitting with ease. The spell did its job perfectly. How it worked was that Markus cast the spell on himself. This caused his thoughts - meaning his learning process, memory, etc. - was boosted when the spell was applied. If he doubled the effects of the spell, his learning and thought speed doubled. If he tripled it, it would triple. Though he was careful not to overdue it. He could possibly get brain damage, something he didn't want (A.N. - If it sounds confusing, think of it like this: Naruto from Naruto could make a thousand clones to help him in training. When he dispels them, he would get a thousand times the experience rather than the normal experience. The same applies depending on the amount of times Markus increases his thought process).

With his new 'Speed Thought' spell, things in the magic books that he previously struggled to read and understand he could now understand and cast fully with almost no difficulty. He was already started on potion-making and transfiguration now, and it had only been one day. Imagine what he could do in a week. Or a month.

But now he was focused on the task at hand. Pushing his thoughts away for later, Markus continued writing ideas under a word that meant something that he wanted. Devil Bringer.

FINISHED! Thank God.

So lemme start my summary: Hecate found out about his runes, Markus stands up to her accusing him, he slays a demon from hell, finds out God and heaven and hell are real, learns a broken spell, and is in the process of learning something new, which is the Devil Bringer from DMC 4. A cyber cookie to anyone who figures out he gets it.

And Markus gets the first member of his harem: Silena Beauragard. Woohoo! I'm so happy! Over 200,000 words and we have our first harem member. Wonder how many words it'll take to add the others in.

To add the others, I'll try to keep it realistic when they join, but at the same time a little OOC. Silena is understanding because she's the daughter of Aphrodite, goddess of love. Love is an emotion on the emotional spectrum. Therefore, she understands emotions better than any other demigod. She sees that Markus cares for her and the other girls, but refuses to give any of them up due to his selfishness and greed. So, she's somwhat on board with harem. Yay to progress.

Also, Annie is forgiven. Awesome. Nice to see that everyone is forgiven and it's all water under the bridge. Thank you Hestia. So the production of the Hestia cabin will increase thanks to the future architect and her cabin.

Also, the last part in the fight with Zerith with the Forbidden Sun was something that I wrote with glee. Just saying.

A big thanks to all those who favourited, followed and supported the story. Love you all, and I'll continue saying that.

Responding to Guest who gave the idea about controlling sand: I'm not sure, since I never thought of that. I'll give it thought.

As well as the other Guest who commented recently: thank you very much for the praise as well as the comment on my editing. I know my grammar is... let's say somewhat shaky. Hopefully I can improve with almost no mistakes in future chapters.

Next story update: Technopath Madness. Toodles! Read and Review!