Chapter 34:
Multitasking with learning techniques with potion-making and transfiguration, as well as performing a certain exercise, Markus had his hands full. He was in his cabin, holed up as usual. His friends were worried about his state, both injury and him staying in his cabin all the time. He just waved them off and told them that it was fine.
Since his arm was injured, he'd been experimenting with ideas, hypothesises and practices with his burnt arm. He tried channelling magic through it, but the process was painful. Markus didn't know the full result of what the hellfire had done to his arm, but he knew that it wasn't something good. He didn't let it stop him, though. When he channelled magic through it, he noticed some foreign substance rejecting it. This 'substance' must've been some ambient magic from Zerith's attack.
However, instead of being angry about it, Markus thought of a way to benefit him through this. The substance in his burn wasn't sentient, yet acted like it had a mind of its own. Like magic. So Markus thought about how he could... manipulate it, was what he tried to describe. It acted like a parasite, rejecting most of the healing elements in the cast. Not all of it, mind you. The nectar was god food, after all. And it was much stronger than the demonic substance in his arm. But the thing kept on attacking the nectar and runes on the bandages. Futilely, but it still fought.
But what if he could manipulate it? Isolate and use it like a... sort of, second source of energy? His divine core being his main source, magic the second, and the substance finally? That was the reason that he labelled the idea Devil Bringer. He wanted the substance to travel through his whole arm, but stay within the confinements of his arm.
Of course, the idea was dangerous, as usual. Relying on the demonic substance to aid him was foolhardy. He had no coils to manipulate or change it. It just kept acting like a parasite. But he planned to change that.
Looking at his cast, he removed it from his arm, showcasing the burn that was still there. The wound was lessening day by day, but still not disappearing. Concentrating, Markus tried moving the substance in his arm by will, no magic this time. There was an interesting result now. Instead of fighting, like it did with his magic, it vibrated. Not in pleasure, but on impulse.
Markus sighed. That was the best he could do at the moment. His hypothesis was slow, agonisingly slow, but there was some progress.
Markus decided to forget it for the moment and instead focused on his other tasks. With his 'Speed Thought' spell, he'd made leap and bounds in spell-crafting and other fields of magic. He had finished the book taken from Circe's island on spell-weaving and understood it with perfect clarity. He could perform spells almost successfully on the first try after reading through it a couple of times. With potions, he was already becoming adept in them after only reading about it for such a short while. The topic was similar to chemistry, although Markus didn't know anything about chemistry. His best field in school was physics, surprisingly.
Anyway, potion-making was going very well for him. He'd made sleeping potions, truth potions, strengthening potions and potions that acted similar to booster shots, although they were very dangerous. He could've learned how to brew an aphrodisiac or love potion if he wanted, but he frankly refused. He didn't want anything to do with Aphrodite's business. His runes did all of that for him.
However, he truly shined in transfiguration. It was, essentially, turning one object into the other, like seen in Harry Potter. Not to be confused with transmutation, which was something completely different. He could turn a pen into a mouse, or a ball into a spider. Markus wanted to send it to the Athena cabin for a prank, but he wasn't that cruel. He could also turn inanimate objects into live animals, which had a number of applications in battle. Or also turn inanimate objects into other inanimate objects. For example, he could turn a piece of stone into a spare bronze shield, for extra protection. Or into a spare sword for him to wield. The possibilities were endless. Markus' application for transfiguration made him excel in it.
He was really thankful for his new spell. With it, he had practically surpassed the children of Hecate in pure spell knowledge and some of them in spell-casting. The ones who did surpass him were Alabaster and Lou, although he was quickly surpassing Lou. What he did surpass all children of Hecate in was magic potency and capacity, as well as destructive force. Something that he was proud of.
A thought just came to him. Why was he only using it for magic? He could also use it for physical combat as well. He could purchase a bunch of books on hand-to-hand combat and read all of them in an instant, with the training done later. He could practically learn every martial art there was and add to his own taekwondo.
Feeling satisfied with himself, Markus stood up, applying his bandages and walking out of his cabin, eager for some sparring. He'd done his reading, now it was time for combat.
As he made his way out of his cabin, heading to a particular direction. Standing at the door of the Zeus cabin, he knocked on the door, wanting to meet its resident.
A few seconds later, Thalia opened the door. "What do you want, Barnacle Brain?" she asked curiously.
Markus had to withhold snickering at her nickname for him. It was funny every time she said it. She was wearing a Green Day T-shirt that looked a little baggy on her, along with black jeans. On her neck was a black choker with small spikes on it. She had black eyeliner and blue highlights in her hair. She was really going for the punk look. Though it did look good on her, he noted with increased detail.
"Yo princess. I want to train in using a spear again. Let's go," Markus said.
Thalia rolled her eyes. "Why are you so insistent on getting your ass kicked again?"
"Wasn't that the same thing for you?" he asked cheekily, getting her to scowl. "And I'll even sweeten the deal: you help me with the spear and I'll help you train your demigod powers."
"I don't need help, Barnacle Brain," Thalia scoffed. "I'm doing just fine on my own."
Markus raised his eyebrow. "Really?" he asked disbelievingly. "So... can you do this?" Markus held up his hand, summoning lightning into his hand. A few seconds later, the lightning increased in potency, gathering in his hand to form a sword out of lightning.
Thalia blinked, shocked at the display of powers. "Well... no, but-"
"Or this?" Markus asked, dismissing the sword and gathering the lightning in his hand to form a ball of crackling electricity. After a moment, Markus grunted, holding his hand out and making the lightning form and extend into a lance that extended for some distance, before retracting it back.
Thalia frowned at the display, almost jealous. "No."
Markus grinned. "No? Then how about this?" Forming lightning in both arms, he waved his hand, condensing the lightning and forming it to create tiny needles out of electricity that shot forward, piercing the floor and railing.
"Okay, okay, I get it! You're better at using lightning than me!" Thalia screamed, frustrated and jealous. "How the hell can you use lightning better than a child of Zeus? How can you even use lightning at all?!"
"Poseidon's the Stormbringer," Markus answered, shrugging. "Guess the title wasn't just for show."
Crossing her arms, Thalia huffed. "Please, you're just overpowered."
"Not my fault if I was born a badass," Markus shrugged. In truth the actual reason he was so good at using lightning was heavy amounts of watching Naruto, Fairy Tail, Hunter x Hunter and One Piece. The lightning-users in all those anime had amazing ideas that he cop- ahem, borrowed for himself.
Thalia rolled her eyes. "Whatever. Let's just go."
Nodding, both demigods walked towards the arena. Markus was able to fight with both hands since the bandages protected his burn from external contact. Thalia took out her canister and formed her spear while Markus took a practice spear that felt right in his hands. Mentally counting down, both teens charged, spears ready.
Despite Markus making progress in properly wielding a spear, he still fell short when compared to Thalia. Against Clarisse, Markus felt fairly confident. Thalia, however, still beat him when using the spear. Meeting each other's charge, Thalia quickly sweeped at his feet using the end of her spear. Blocking with his own end, Markus twirled his spear in his hands, going for a stab that became a feint and quickly went for a quick slash with the tip. Thalia, however, intercepted the strike and kept on pressuring him, forcing him to defend and dodge quickly.
Both of them decided against using their powers, wanting to see how their skills would fare against each other.
As the two fought, they became aware that they had gathered a crowd. Markus ignored it in favour of sparring, but got pissed when one guy, probably from Ares' cabin, yelled out, "Yeah! Kick his ass, girl!"
"Yeah!" another boy called out. "Make him suffer!"
"Beat him black and blue!"
"Kick him in the balls!"
"Skewer him!"
"Why the hell are you guys against me?!" Markus yelled, briefly throwing Thalia off from trying to get into a hold and kept moving his spear, making Thalia eye his weapon and to give him distance.
"This is payback for you kicking our asses in spars!" a kid called out, who apparently was from the Hermes' cabin.
"Yeah! We deserve the revenge of you getting your ass kicked painfully!" an Ares kid agreed.
There was cheering from the crowd, cries of "Humiliate him!" "Avenge us!" "Gain our pride back!" rang amongst the crowd.
Thalia smirked hearing the chants heading her way. "Guess I got the support of the crowd. Even they agree that you need to be humbled, Barnacle Brain."
"I'll deal with them later," Markus growled, going for a thrust that Thalia intercepted. He kept on attacking, thrusting and swiping, his strikes becoming increasingly stronger and faster as Thalia was kept on the edge. "The cries of cowards won't save you." At their angry shouts at being called cowards, Markus roared back, "Shut up! You all know it's true!"
Markus shout almost cost him the match, as he ducked, narrowly missing a strike that would've cut him in the face. Swinging his weapon, Markus made to knock Thalia off her feet, but the daughter of Zeus jumped. She tried to slam the pole of her spear on his midsection, but he managed to roll away in time.
He ended up in a crouch, his spear held firmly. Opting for a different tactic, Markus made a quick dash, not using super speed but moving faster than average, and slammed the end of his spear in the ground, pole-vaulting towards Thalia.
She was surprised, but managed to react quickly by moving out of the way. However, mid-flight, he swung his spear like a bat, cracking her upside the face a little harshly.
The crowd ooohed, but didn't say anything else. Markus made to disarm her, but Thalia was tougher than he thought. She managed to block his strike, despite having a bruise on the side of her head.
She glared, breathing heavily through her nose. "That was dirty."
"It was strategy," Markus corrected. "Although I didn't expect you to recover from that so quickly."
"Unlike you, I don't need to rely on dirty tricks to win," Thalia sneered.
"Yeah, sure."
"Kick his ass, Thalia!" a familiar voice cried out.
Markus blinked at that, disengaging from Thalia and moving quickly to see Percy cheering from the crowd.
"What the fuck, Percy?!" he called out, pissed off. Even his own brother?! The fuck?!
"I'm just cheering for my cousin," Percy said innocently, though Markus didn't believe him.
"Bullshit! I'm your brother! Where's my support, traitor?!" Markus accused.
Percy glared at Markus with annoyance in his eyes. "Do you know how many times you've humiliated me in spars?! Now I can get my revenge! With Thalia executing it!"
Thalia smirked in Percy's direction. "Don't worry, cuz. I'll be sure to whup his ass for you."
"Thanks, cuz!"
"Oh, that is bullshit!" Markus yelled, annoyed as hell. "Don't be mad at me just because you all are pussies!"
"Hey!" Percy, and the rest of the crowd, shouted in anger.
"Shut the fuck up you fucking traitors!"
"My, the mouth on you," Thalia taunted with a smirk.
Narrowing his eyes, Markus made to attack. But Thalia used his anger to her advantage. Attacking to the side, she made a feint and aimed for his chest. Markus was able to dodge, but wasn't able to avoid the spear end that cut off a piece of his shirt. The fabric at the side tore off, exposing his Uruz rune on his stomach.
"Goddamn it woman! This was one of my favourite shirts!" Markus yelled out, annoyed. Though the girls in the crowd, as well as Thalia, took great notice of the tattoo on his stomach as well as his abs.
"Damn, boy! Give me some of that!" a girl from the crowd whistled, leering at his six pack and tattoo that made him look a little more sexier. He received more catcalls and whistles from appreciative girls and Markus, slightly blushing but soaking up the praise, removed the rest of the shirt, the fabric being useless.
Almost all of the girls had blushes and drooled at Markus' exposed upper body. His arms, specifically his biceps and triceps, were a bit small but compact, packing a lot of power in them. His arms obviously had a lot of power in them. His pectoral muscles were chiselled and defined, and his abs looked large enough to fit a small hand in them, and looked sharp enough to cut through diamond. To add to the look, his runes and tattoos made him appear more sexier in their eyes. The guys looked on in jealousy.
Looking at Thalia's blushing and slightly leering face, he grinned. "You know, if you wanted a show, I would've given you one," he teased. This got the girl to splutter and blush even more. Seeing her distracted, Markus took the chance to disarm her and held her at spear-point. "Yield?" he asked triumphantly.
This got her to snap out of her trance and glare at him. "You cheated!"
"You're the one who killed my shirt and got distracted staring at my sexy self! Blame yourself! And you've won all the other spars, let me have this one win!"
Thalia growled. Whether she was angry at him or at herself for getting distracted, he didn't know. "Fine! You get this one win!" Taking a rather long look at his body and making him grin, she glared angrily at him, though this was ruined by her huge blush. "Meet me in the forest for the training."
"Okay," he said, still grinning. Quickly, she left the arena, face tomato red.
Waving his hand towards the crowd, Markus called out, "Show's over! Get the fuck out!"
There were loud groans, both from those who wanted to see him lose and from the girls who wanted to continue staring at him, but they finally left. Leaving only one person standing.
Smirking at the person, Markus put his practice spear back in the rack and went towards the person. "Did you enjoy the show?" he asked the person standing teasingly.
Silena smirked at him, but mostly staring at his upper body. "I'm already enjoying it now," she said, looking at his tattoos. Despite knowing what they represented and not liking them, she would be lying if she said she didn't like them on her boyfriend.
Using his finger to tip her head up, he smiled knowingly. "My eyes are up here, you know."
"I know," she said, reaching out and rubbing her hands against his abs, making Markus get goosebumps on his body from her contact. "You know," she said with a seductive purr, "while I don't mind the fact that you like Thalia, what I don't like is the fact that she practically undressed you and got a free show." Her purr gave way to a slightly possessive growl. "As well as the fact that you were practically a piece of meat in the eyes of the other girls. Remember, this-" Silena made a show of rubbing her body around his body, making Markus groan slightly as he liked what she was doing, "-is mine and only for my eyes until I say otherwise. You understand, mister?"
"Oh? And what are you going to do if I disobey, Ms. Beauragard?" Markus asked teasingly, purposefully pushing her buttons.
Narrowing her eyes, Silena smirked seductively. "Well, Mr. Henderson, I'll just have convince you." And with that, Silena grabbed Markus by his belt and pulled him towards her with surprising strength. Following her movements, Markus leaned down and kissed her, loving the soft feel of her lips against his.
Feeling his loins stir, Markus wrapped his arms around her waist, grabbing her perfectly-shaped ass in his hands. Silena, meanwhile, moaned and rubbed her hands around his muscled torso, savouring each feel of his body.
Before they could go any further, Markus stepped back from the kiss and practically carried Silena to his cabin using super speed, after checking that Percy wasn't there. With that, hormones ruled.
XXX
Markus made his way to the forest to meet up with Thalia, a stupid grin on his face. He now wore another shirt that covered his body and hid the hickeys on his collarbone.
When he had made it to his cabin, he and Silena basically pounced on each other. They kissed, groped, clawed, twisted and turned... Markus grinned happily thinking about it. They didn't have sex (both not ready to take that step yet, despite their hormones saying otherwise) but they did foreplay, which was enough. Markus was really glad that he had a girlfriend. He had given Silena matching hickeys on her collarbones, as a sort of payback for her giving him them, and found out her weak spots that gave her pleasure. Which Markus saved for later.
Silena had to return to her cabin, but not before teasing by swaying her hips and showcasing her big and round ass. Markus drooled just thinking about it and how it felt in his hands.
Slapping himself from his thoughts, Markus concentrated on meeting up with Thalia. When he made it to a particular point near the Fist of Zeus, he heard shouting. Concerned, he walked past the undergrowth of trees to see Thalia and Percy arguing with each other. Why were the two arguing with each other? They were fine ganging up on him before, Markus noted with a scowl on his face. The shouting made Markus refocus on the fight.
"I asked him to come help me train, Kelp Head!" Thalia yelled. "Go find someone else!"
"He's my brother! I can go to him for help if I want to!" Percy retorted back. "And since when did you two get so buddy-buddy?!"
That's none of your business! Now scram before I turn you into a fried fish!"
"Try it, Porcupine Head!"
Markus quietly snickered at that insult. Not Percy's best retort, but it was still something.
Deciding to break up the fight, Markus put his fingers to his lips and whistled loudly, getting both of their attention. "Ladies, please. You're both pretty," he spoke to the two.
Thalia turned to Markus, eyes sparking with electricity. "Tell your brother that I asked for your help first and that he should scram!"
"And you tell Thalia that she's being a bitch!" Percy retorted.
"What did you say, you-"
"Enough!" Markus shouted, interrupting the two of them. Sighing, he looked at the two. "And I thought I was easy to anger... Look Percy," he said, turning to his brother. "Thalia did ask for my help first. You can't just butt in." Percy's face fell at that while Thalia looked triumphant. "However," both of them looked up at that, "that doesn't mean I won't help you."
While Percy was happy, Thalia wasn't. "I thought you said you were helping me!" Thalia said to him angrily, glaring at him.
"I am," Markus nodded. A second later, a speed clone was formed. "That doesn't mean I can't split the job into two."
Both children of the Big Three blinked at looking at the two. Their eyes looked back and forth between the original and the clone. "Forgot you could do that," Percy said after a moment.
"Yeah, me too," Thalia admitted.
Sighing, Markus dismissed the speed clone. "I can train you individually or separately. It doesn't matter. But Percy, Thalia did ask first. So I'll train both of you together, then let Thalia have her own time with me."
Percy pouted, but relented in the end.
"Alright," Markus said, sighing. "Both of you sit down. I want to show you something."
Both teens sat down, eager to learn.
"The first thing I'm going to show you is meditation," Markus started off. The skill was a very useful one and was one of the main reasons why he could use his powers so well.
"Meditation?" Thalia asked, skeptical. "How is sitting going to help us get stronger?" Percy stayed quiet, knowing that Markus knew what he was doing.
"Meditation is important because it's good for calming your mind. But more importantly, it's good for helping you find your divine core."
"Our what?" both Percy and Thalia asked.
Markus sighed. "Divine core. It's the core that we demigods have that are given to us by our parents. The cores range in strength and size depending on who your parent is and how much you use it. For Thalia, I would imagine an electrical feeling to your core, along with a touch of wind, since you mainly use lightning. For Percy, an aquatic feeling is what I'd expect from you."
"And how would finding our core help us?" Thalia asked. "We already know how to use our powers."
"Yes, but finding your core helps you bring your powers out much easier, since you know where it's coming from and where to properly draw from," Markus explained patiently. "For example..." Markus held up his hand, drawing water from the air to form a water sphere. He changed the sphere to form different shapes, like a trident, or a shark, or a whale. He then formed the structures separately and turned them into ice sculptures. Holding up his other hand, Markus produced lightning to his palm. Clenching his fist, he made the lightning surround his palm like a glove, then turned it into a sword, then into a spear, and then an axe. Percy and Thalia were shocked at his display of skill. "... meditating with your divine core can help you become in tune with your powers and reach heights that you never even dreamed of." Markus closed his fists, cancelling his constructs.
Both of them nodded, knowing that he knew what he was talking about.
"Be warned, meditation will take some time, as with our ADHD, it'll be hard for us to sit completely still," Markus explained, "but it is possible. Also note, you can achieve what I showed you if you trained hard enough, but it'll take extremely long." Turning to his brother, Markus asked seriously, "Percy, how far have you come in water manipulation?"
"Uh, I can manipulate ice to a better degree than last time," Percy answered. "I can also summon minor earthquakes, but they take a lot out of me."
Markus nodded, proud of his brother. "Good. That's good. Can you manipulate vapour?"
Percy blinked. "Vapour?"
Markus showed him what he meant by turning his body into a cloud of vapour. The smokey trail was a faint bluish, but had a transparent sheen to it. Both Percy and Thalia were shocked, trying to look around to see where Markus had gone. He smiled in smoke form, which felt weird. Calling his molecules back together, Markus turned solid again, taking form in front of them.
At their gobsmacked expressions, Markus laughed. Oh, if they were shocked at that, they were going to be even more shocked if they knew what else he could do. "That was me turning into vapour. Vapour is basically water in a gas form, just like ice is water in a solid form. It's another form of water manipulation that is hard, but possible to learn. With it, you can pass through attacks and even travel as a body of vapour. Though the technique is very draining. Got it?"
"Y-Yeah, got it," Percy answered, a little underwhelmed with what he had to learn.
Markus smiled at this. "Don't worry. It'll be hard, but I have faith in you. And you better not let me down, baby brother."
Percy glared at him while Thalia snickered. "Don't call me that."
"Well, when you say it like that..." Markus smiled cheekily. He then summoned a speed clone. "Now you follow him so that he can train you."
Percy blinked. "I thought that you were training the both of us."
Markus sighed. "I would, but I don't have much to teach you physically that you can't gain through training. Meditation will help you a lot, but if you want weapon training, you have Riptide. If you're interested in another weapon, I can only use a sword and a spear. Also guns, but someone's too much of a pussy to use them." Percy glared at him for that but Markus shrugged. "It's true. So he-" Markus pointed to his clone, "-is going to help train you combat-wise and physically. So be prepared."
Percy gulped at seeing the sadistic grin on the speed clone's face, before it picked Percy up by the collar of his shirt and dragged him away with super speed, with Percy screaming and kicking along the way.
Thalia laughed while seeing this. "You are a cruel brother."
Markus smirked. "I know. But let's go back to you. You said you wanted to train in using your powers, right?"
"Yeah," Thalia nodded eagerly.
Smiling at her enthusiasm, Markus got to training her. "Okay. First, you're going to need to learn how to meditate. You can already use your powers very well, so you should find your core easily. Next, I want you to bring your lightning outwards, but not blasting anything. Just bring it out from your skin."
Nodding, Thalia closed her eyes and tried to concentrate. Key word being 'tried'. A few minutes after she kept twitching and tapping her arm in frustration. Following that, she threw her arms up in the air, giving up. "This is pointless!"
"And I thought I was the one with anger problems," Markus muttered, seeing her frustration.
She whirled towards him. "This doesn't work! I-"
Markus raised his hand to stop her. Surprisingly, this did its job. "Did you honestly expect to master it on the first try?" he asked with a deadpanned look.
Her anger calming down, she had a slightly sheepish expression. "W-Well... no..."
Markus sighed. He took her hands in his. "Thalia. We have ADHD. I would definitely be surprised if you mastered on the first try. Listen, think of something that interests you. Now focus on that one thing. Keep on focusing on that. And then look deep within yourself. That'll help you find your core."
Thalia gave him a wary look. "You're not going all hippie on me, are you?"
"If I was, you'd be the first to know," he responded jokingly, getting them both to smile. "But I'm serious. Focus on that one thing that you want, and look deep within yourself."
Nodding, Thalia decided to give a try. After a few moments, she sat still. She still twitched a couple of times but managed to remain still. After a few moments, Markus waited patiently for her to find her core. Pretty soon, she was smiling brightly. "I did it! I found my core!"
And that was where things went slightly wrong. Thalia seemed so excited by finding her divine core that she automatically tugged on it, drawing forth her power. But instead of bringing it out from beneath her skin, she unconsciously sent it outwards, shocking Markus.
He didn't really get affected that much. His lightning resistance was nowhere near his water resistance, but he could tank a couple of volts. He managed to channel his own lightning to cancel out Thalia's.
After his shock, his figure was slightly smoking. Physically he was alright. His shirt, however, wasn't. It was a little charred and had a few holes in it.
Seeing this, Thalia panicked. "Markus! Oh, gods! I-I'm so sorry!"
Sighing, Markus looked down to his shirt. He gave Thalia a small glare. "I know you're attracted to me, but can you please not kill every shirt I wear?"
Blushing at his sentence, she inspected his body for any damage. "H-how are you not boiled into a crisp?"
"I have minor lightning resistance," Markus explained. "It's nothing compared to yours, but it's something. Besides I can take a hit." Removing his hands from hers, Markus took off his shirt, not bothering to hide his body from Thalia. She'd already seen it, so why bother hiding it?
Thalia blushed at seeing his upper torso again, but didn't shy away from looking at it. Mmm..., she hummed appreciatively in her mind.
Raising his eyebrow, he smirked. "Sorry, I'm not a stripper. Though I wouldn't mind getting tipped by you." At seeing her face become tomato red, he chuckled. "You're too easy."
"S-shut up before I shock you again!" she argued futilely.
Markus laughed at her retort. Concentrating slightly, Markus managed to slowly form a white shirt with gold highlights on it on his body. Made fully of kinetic energy. Inspecting his article, he grinned. "Managed to get it down."
Thalia blinked as he just made a shirt out of mid-air. "How did you - you know what, I don't even want to know." Thalia had given up trying to figure Markus Henderson out. When you saw him doing one random thing, he'd surprise you by doing something even more random.
"Noted," Markus smiled. He held out his hands again. "Want to try again?"
She blinked at his hands. "You want to try again?"
"Yeah. I can take a hit. Besides, you're not finished. You managed to find your core. Now you need to bring it out properly. This time without shocking me."
Thalia nodded shakily. Markus sighed and patted her shoulder. "You can do it, Thalia. Remember, I got your back."
Smiling, Thalia took his hands again. More for support than anything else. Closing her eyes, she decided to concentrate fully this time. After a couple of minutes, she found her core and managed to bring her power. Markus watched with bated breath as, instead of sending it outwards completely, she managed to tame it, making it crackle along her skin.
Opening her eyes, she saw Markus' proud smile on his face. Smiling herself, she made to say something, but felt suddenly light-headed. She felt her eyelids get heavy, and passed out. Markus managed to catch her before she hit the ground.
He sighed. "I kind of expected that." She'd been drawing on her divine core and powers so much that she exhausted herself.
He gently put her down on the ground. Getting some slabs of trees by cutting them down by using Wavebreaker (and possibly pissing off some tree nymphs) he transfigured the slabs of tree bark into a soft pillow, a mattress and a blanket. Gently picking her up, he brought her on top of the mattress, covering her body and letting her rest on it. She curled up before he could even finish tucking her in.
Markus smiled at the display. It was nice to see Thalia like this. Most of the time she was fierce and strong and a badass in his eyes. But seeing this gentle side to her was nice as well. He couldn't deny that he slowly falling for her the more time he spent with her. Markus couldn't control it, but it was true. And his greed refused to think about one girl and forget about the others that he had feelings for. He wanted all of the girls to himself. Silena's words from last time rang through his head, but he dismissed them. Like any of them would even think about sharing him.
Sighing, he decided to train himself. Moving to give himself space, he decided against using magic. Instead, he was going to train physically.
Thinking of an idea, Markus got into the position of a push-up. Then, focusing his strength in a single arm, he decided to push himself up, strengthening the arm with magic. Then, grunting, he pushed himself on the ground with both arms, his body raised (A.N. - Basically push-ups with his body in the air).
Grunting and huffing, Markus slowly released one hand, putting all his weight into his reinforced arm. He wobbled, but roughly managed to hold himself in the air.
Groaning, Markus got to work.
XXX
Thalia slowly awoke from her nap - when did she even fall asleep? - and was resting a nice comfy bed. With a pillow and everything. She wasn't in her cabin. The slight breeze in the air told her of that. So where was she?
A grunt from beside her tore her from her thoughts. She turned to see Markus doing one-armed push-ups with his body in the air. He was slowly moving, his body caked in sweat and his face completely red.
Thalia took the time to admire his determination and his tensed arm, with his muscles contracting as he pushed himself down, and his bandaged arm behind his waist. She slapped herself to get herself together.
This time she remembered the reason that she'd passed out was because she overexerted herself from drawing on too much of her powers. But she didn't remember a bed being here. Markus must've gotten it for her.
Smiling at his actions, Thalia rose from her bed, stretching slightly. Markus took notice of her movements. Dropping his body to the ground in a heap, he panted, his body wracked with exhaustion.
Smirking, Thalia decided to take a shot at him. "Wow, you must be fat if you can't lift yourself off the ground."
"S-shut, huff, up, Thunder Thighs," Markus panted, his mind not coming up with a good insult and decided to say the next best thing that came to his head.
Thalia raised her eyebrow. "Thunder Thighs? Really? That's the best you could come up with, Barnacle Brain?"
Delirious, he gazed towards her legs that weren't covered from the blanket. He grinned. "Well, you do have nice thighs."
She spluttered at his retort, blushing cutely. "P-perv."
He continued grinning. "It's true. And if you have nice thighs, then you have an amazing as-" Markus had to pull himself off the ground to keep himself from being skewered by Thalia's spear. "How the hell did you summon that thing so quickly?!"
"Just shut up and die!" she yelled, eyes sparking with electricity. She raised her spear, ready to pierce him.
"Aw, come on. You can't have a little fun once in a while?" Markus had to immediately dodge to stop Thalia from piercing his dick. "What the fuck, woman?!"
"Oh, I'll show you fun," Thalia smirked, a sadistic gleam in her eyes.
Gulping, Markus actually feared for his health. And he was slightly exhausted from his exercise. "Would it help if I said I was sorry?" Markus quickly ran, even using super speed, to outrun Thalia, who was on a warpath. He definitely didn't want anything vital (namely his 'precious') to be skewered.
XXX
Markus had come from buying several books and DVDs on karate, kung fu, kenpō, jujitsu and Muay Thai. As well as buying videos on fencing and sword-fighting. At least, the European and Japanese version of sword-fighting. He made his way to his cabin, which had a TV and a portable DVD player.
The reason he had rounded all of these books was because he wanted to test the limits of his 'Speed Thought' spell. He could learn practically anything as quick as possible depending on the increase that he had placed on his brain. But he knew that he had to be careful. Demigod or not, the brain could only handle so much thoughts before it overloaded.
Plus, this was the quickest and greatest way he could brush up on his martial arts training. He didn't buy a book or DVD on taekwondo because he was already proficient and could watch videos online.
Heading towards the Poseidon cabin, he promptly kicked Percy out so he could focus. His brother was annoyed, but he promised to pay him a favour if he did this for him. Nodding in thanks and eager to hold him to his word, Percy left the cabin.
Starting with the books first, he sat down on his bed. Putting them in a pile, he decided to start on the karate book first. Activating his 'Speed Thought' spell, his mind sharpened and his thought process sped up drastically. Practically boosting his brain to four times the normal, he used kinetic energy to speed up his movements, basically speed-reading the whole book.
After he was done with the karate book in a matter of minutes, he moved onto the kung fu book. And breezed through that. Then the kenpō. Then the jujitsu. And finally the Muay Thai.
As he put the final book down, Markus groaned as his mind was practically assaulted with thoughts that he had read off the books. The thoughts were so vast and broad that Markus' nose bled from the influx.
"Horse, Crane, Cat and Forward Stances, Stability, Mobility, Front Twist... urggh..." Markus groaned as he speed-spoke every term of knowledge that he had read. Summoning water from the vapour in the air, he healed himself mentally of the small brain damage he had received. His mind was sharpened, his brain working overtime and his thoughts becoming more clear.
He sighed as his mind settled to normal, his spell allowing him to absorb the knowledge and add it to his own. Markus practically knew all the stances, techniques and workings of each martial art. How to fight, to train his body, how to steady his breathing, etc. He was once again in awe of the advantages he had. He learned five martial arts in a matter of minutes, when it would take normal people years.
He grinned. He was so going to abuse this power even more. But first, he was going to tone down the potency of the spell. Just because he could heal from the injuries, didn't mean it was safe to use it like that.
Putting in the DVDs on sword-fighting, he made himself comfortable by lying on the bed and opening a bag of popcorn and Coke that he had bought along the way. Pressing play on his remote, he grinned as he watched the DVDs.
XXX Roughly five hours later XXX
Markus stumbled out of his cabin, his brain fried. This time he had sped up his thought-process to two times the normal. Less than what he used before, but still enough to pick up what he had learned.
Looking at the sky, Markus could tell that he was in his cabin for quite some time. So, it was time to test what he had learned.
Heading to the arena, Markus readied himself. He didn't have a partner, so he set up several training dummies as practice. Positioning himself, he decided to go for karate first.
Focusing on the knowledge he had received, Markus attacked, striking at the dummies using several katas and moves. Age Zuki, Ashi Barai, several Ashi Waza, a Choku Zuki, etc. All of the knowledge flowing within him like a river. While his body wasn't particular trained for this specific art, it was trained heavily from physical training and combat. So it was fine.
When he finished, he inspected the damage. And he was awed. He knew that he could destroy each dummy with a single punch, so he decided to limit his strength to normal demigod standard. And yet the dummies had definitely seen better days. They weren't destroyed, but there were several dents and some pieces broken off that were the result of his strikes.
He grinned maliciously. This was so fucking amazing. He could now fight like a master when before he was a newbie. Pumping his fist into the air, Markus screamed, "I know kung fu!"
"Shut up!" a camper from the Hermes cabin yelled, trying to relax.
"Fuck you!" Markus retorted back to the kid.
Anyways, his progress in martial arts was now complete, with the additional physical training that he usually did. Now, time to get to work.
XXX
The next day, Markus was training Silena in using a weapon and physical training.
The idea came to him when the two were hanging out, this time on the roof of the Aphrodite cabin. The two were cuddling, enjoying each other's warmth. And Markus asked Silena about any other abilities she had apart from the emotion-sensing she had. She replied that she just had her charmspeak and the emotion-sensing, plus slight shape-shifting abilites.
Not satisfied with that, Markus decided to train his girlfriend. At first, she wasn't fully on board with the idea, but relented when he told her that training was good for her, and that she could discover more of her abilities.
Although while she agreed, she wasn't really eager to spar with her workaholic of a boyfriend. Seriously, Markus spent the most amount of training than any other demigod she knew.
This was noticed when Markus asked for a small spar, no weapons or powers. She agreed.
Now, she was kicking herself for agreeing. Not even five seconds into the spar, she was lying on the ground, face-first. "Ow," she mumbled painfully.
Markus quickly was at her side, checking for injury. "Oh, Silena! I'm so sorry! I didn't mean to hit so hard."
I-It's okay," Silena smiled, albeit painfully. "Just realized that I should never spar with you. Ever again."
Markus pouted. "I'm not that bad."
Silena just gave him a deadpanned look. "Really?"
"... Okay, maybe I do need to learn a little restraint."
"A little?"
Markus huffed while Silena smiled teasingly. He held out his hand, to which she grabbed onto. Lifting her up, he asked, "Don't you have anyone to help you spar then? What about Clarisse?"
At that, Silena's face fell, and Markus mentally kicked himself at reminding her about her. "She... apparently hasn't forgiven me for bring a traitor," Silena spoke, sadness creeping into her tone.
Markus frowned, comforting her by wrapping his arm around her. She nodded in thanks to his actions. "Have you talked to her about it?" He wasn't angry with Clarisse, since he was the exact same when he was still angry at Silena.
"I-I tried, but... she's still angry at me," Silena said sadly.
"I can go talk to her if-" Markus offered, but Silena shook her head.
"No," Silena denied. "No, it's my burden and my fault. I'll take responsibility. If she doesn't forgive me, then... I don't blame her." Markus made to argue but Silena just gave him a brilliant smile, making Markus wonder on how she was going to get Clarisse to possibly forgive her, since the girl was more stubborn than him. But... he was inclined to believe her.
"Fine," Markus sighed, making Silena to smile and quickly peck him on the lips, making him smile.
"Now, back to sparring," Markus said. This made Silena pout, but Markus refused to relent. "And no charmspeak," he warned her when she was about to say something. She pouted even more.
"You're a slave driver," Silena moaned.
Markus grinned. "I do it out of love, love."
Silena rolled her eyes. "So what do you want to train me in?"
"Depends. What weapons are you good at using?"
Thinking about it, Silena answered him. "Clarisse," she said the girl's name with sadness but quickly pushed past it, "taught me how to use a couple of weapons in the past, and I've kept up with using them. I can use a bow and a knife."
"Okay. There's no way in hell that I can help you with the first one," Markus said, getting Silena to snicker. Glaring at her, he continued. "And I can use a knife, but I'm not proficient in it."
Silena nodded. "Maybe you could-"
"Hey, Markus!" a voice called behind him. Both demigods turned to see Annabeth sprinting towards them. "Hey, I was wondering if- oh, hey Silena."
"Hi Annabeth," Silena greeted with a smile. "What do you need?"
"I kind of need Markus' help," she said with a nervous look on her face.
Raising an eyebrow, Markus said, "Annie, I'd love to, but I'm helping Sil-"
"Actually, I'm fine on my own," Silena interrupted with a smile, making Annabeth light up with joy and Markus to look at her in confusion. "I can train on my own. Besides, I need a break from dealing with this stamina monster."
Markus scoffed. "Said the one who ended up on the floor not even after five seconds."
Silena glared at him, hands on her hips. "Well, at least I know how to use a bow."
"Oh, you did not just go there."
Silena smirked slyly. "Oh, I did. But don't worry, Markus. You'll get better. After twenty tries."
Markus glared at her, Annabeth snickering at her retort. Turning to her, Annabeth ceased her laughter, though there was a smile at her lips.
"Fine, I'll help you," Markus agreed. Then he smirked evilly. "But not without a parting gift."
"And what would that be?" Silena asked, feeling a shiver run down her spine.
Smirking, Markus summoned a speed clone and made it head to the Poseidon cabin. After a few seconds, it came back with the arm and ankle weights that he wore pre-ritual. "I just thought that you would need a little... motivation in your training."
Silena backed away slowly, fearing for her safety. "T-That's okay," she stuttered. "There's no need to go that far."
"Nonsense," Markus smiled devilishly, the clone holding her struggling form while he quickly put on the weights on each limb. After putting them on her, she struggled to hold her body, almost collapsing due to the new weight on each limb.
He turned to the speed clone, passing his guns along to him. "You have my permission to use these to... motivate her."
The speed clone nodded gleefully. "Thank you!"
Turning to a frightened Silena, he gave a smirk so evil that Hades would approve of it. "Now," he said lowly, "run."
Silena didn't need to think twice as she ran, looking like the weights weren't even bothering her. The speed clone followed after, shooting at her feet purposefully to get her to move faster. "Faster, faster!" the clone barked as it's creator's girlfriend ran. "I've seen old ladies move faster than that, whelp!"
"... You are evil," Annabeth spoke, shuddering at the torture Silena was suffering. She reminded herself not to piss him off too much.
Markus grinned happily. "I know. So, what do you need?"
"I want you to train me in martial arts," she said firmly.
Markus raised an eyebrow. "And what makes you think I'm qualified to teach you martial arts?" He wasn't denying it, nor would he send her away. He was just curious as to how she believed him to be qualified.
Annabeth gave him a deadpanned look. "Because Mark from Cabin Five kept on complaining as to how you kicked his ass in unarmed combat. Several times."
Markus grinned. "Oh, yeah." He remembered that, brief as it was. He wanted to test out his new 'martial art' self. So, he challenged Mark from the Ares cabin to a spar, no weapons. Mark thought it was an easy win as, apart from Clarisse, he was considered to be the best at wrestling out of most of the campers. So he agreed.
He quickly came to regret his choice. As soon as the match started, Markus quickly disarmed him with his arm tied behind his back and had Mark kneeling on the ground. Furious, the son of Ares demanded a rematch, which Markus agreed to. And kicked his ass faster than before using only two moves. He'd stormed away from the arena, pissed the hell off at being embarrassed in front of dozens of campers.
"That was fun," he said, grinning. He then looked at the daughter of Athena. "So you want me to train you?"
Annabeth nodded. "Yeah."
"What martial art do you want me to train you in?" he asked seriously, since he had to know what she wanted to be taught. While he had learned all of his skills only recently, he became proficient at performing all the techniques. He was no master, as he would need experience for that, but he was very adept.
"Which ones are you good in?" Annabeth asked, curious.
"Uh... karate, kung fu, kenpō, jujitsu and Muay Thai," Markus listed, counting off his fingers, shocking Annabeth. "Oh, and taekwondo."
"H-how do you know so many martial arts?" she asked, shocked. She'd only seen him perform some taekwondo, but she'd never even seen him perform any other fighting. "It takes people years to learn just one martial art. How do you know so many? More importantly, how are you so good at all of them?"
Markus shrugged, grinning. "I spit in the face of normality."
Annabeth's eyes twitched at the vague answer.
"But like I said before: which one do you want to be taught?" Markus asked again.
"Uh, which do you think is the best one?" she asked unsure. She felt a little shocked that she was asking someone else for help. Usually, she was the one who had the answers. But when it came to fighting, she practically knew nothing. Sure, she knew how to fight properly, but she didn't know the full mechanics. Which was a little shameful, since Athena was also the goddess of battle.
Markus looked up and down her figure, getting her to blush slightly. "W-What are you doing?" she asked, embarrassed.
"Checking your figure," he answered nonchalantly. He wasn't being perverted, he was checking her figure to see which style would suit her. "You body is obviously feminine, so it's more slender and thinner than my build. I find Muay Thai and jujitsu to be my favourites, since the first one is similar to boxing and requires you to use almost all of your body, and the last one is fast-paced and awesome. But you would be more suited to karate, possibly kung fu. Your build is slender, so you can perform several of the katas. And the other ones won't seem to suit you."
Nodding her head and coming to a decision, she said, "I'd like to train in karate, please."
Markus nodded. "Okay. But first, you're going to need to train. It's no good learning the skills if your body can't handle it. So," he said with a grin, making Annabeth shudder in fear for herself, "let's begin."
Annabeth quickly came to regret asking Markus for help, as she was beaten down so many times that by the end of the day, she looked like a giant bruise.
XXX
Markus was in his cabin, playing Sonic the Hedgehog 2006. And it apparently sucked. Like, really sucked.
Now that's not to say that the game was totally bad. The music was awesome, the story was interesting and he generally enjoyed the game. But the gameplay... the glitches... Markus chose not to comment on it. Reviewers said it was bad, but he didn't think it was this bad. Like what the fuck? He'd experienced so many glitches while playing that his mood was soured.
As he played the game, Markus went over everything that had happened over the last couple of days. It seems that everyone was affected by a training bug, suddenly developing a great interest in training. Which was good.
Thalia had gotten better at using lightning. She could now form several constructs of lightning and use the element only slightly better than him. He did have better control, however, so there was that. However, she'd only made slight development in manipulating wind. The main reason was because of her fear of heights. Markus had tried to get her over it, from suggesting hovering in the air, to carrying her to the top of the climbing wall and making her look down. Each time she panicked and started hyperventilating. She was getting slightly better, though the progress was very slow.
Percy was doing well in terms of unarmed combat. Mainly because his speed clone had him spar with it, with no breaks at all. Each fight had the son of Poseidon battered and bruised so badly that he had to use his water healing every time. Which Markus took advantage of to beat the shit out of him again. But through this, Percy was getting slightly better at using his fists rather than Riptide all the time, which was a plus.
Silena had also gotten better in terms of combat. Although him leaving her to get shot at while wearing weights left her angry at him for a whole day. It took a lot of convincing to get her to forgive him. Though the image of her sweaty form wearing workout clothes was beautiful in his eyes.
Getting himself together, he got back on track. Anyway, Silena was making excellent progress with the bow. She went to some Apollo children for tips. Which they agreed to. Although they were way too happy at the offer. Markus had to step in and threaten all of them that if they did anything other than teach her - and if they even looked at her in any way - he would practically ruin them. Silena was annoyed at him being overprotective, but Markus just told her that it was boyfriend instincts.
With Annabeth, he had her training physically so that she could perform better with karate. Which consisted of her wearing weights that he had received from the Hephaestus cabin and having her do laps around the arena. It may have been considered a bit harsh, but there was no way she could fight without conditioning her body properly. At the end she was huffing and panting and cursing at him with every curse word she knew, English and Greek. But the results were evident.
After that he started teaching her the katas for karate and how they worked. Despite feeling exhausted Annabeth was thankful for the training.
Markus paused on his game to examine the new figurine on his keychain. Along with Wavebreaker, Beowulf and Red Queen, a trident figurine was added to the collection.
He had received a trident from Poseidon. It was delivered by a merman had a good relationship with Poseidon. His name was Bill, who was an ichthyocentaur. He came from the canoe lake and asked specifically for Percy and himself. Stating that he had 'overdue birthday gifts' from Poseidon. For Markus, he had given him a beautifully crafted trident and several scrolls of Atlantean spells, just for Markus.
Markus would forever deny ever squealing like a girl and thanking Bill as well as Poseidon through Iris-message. The god smirked, before saying that he would never forget that moment. Markus tried to heavily deny it, but Poseidon wouldn't agree.
Percy had received another sword with instructions on how to dual-wield. Percy was shocked, as he never even thought of the idea of dual-wielding with swords. But Poseidon had explained that, since he was a natural swordsman, the process could come easier to him. Markus had asked as to why he hadn't received a sword, but Poseidon had said that he already did. Pouting, Markus accepted his gift.
The naming of the weapons were left to them. Markus named his spear Tsunami while Percy named his Lowtide. Markus taunted Percy about his poor name choosing. Percy stuck his tongue out at him.
Markus had practically devoured all of the Atlantean spells. Some of them were essentially water-based spells. At first, he didn't see the need for them, as he could use water without magic. But when discovering what the scrolls contained, he took back what he said. There was different applications of water that he hadn't thought of. Like using rain to create flying needles. Or using hail storms for actual damage. Others contained enchantment spells that could basically boost all of his stats, similar to how when he stepped into water. Except he didn't need a water source now. And these spells only worked for sea-beings, like him and Percy.
He didn't use his 'Speed Thought' spell, since he was in no rush to read them and he was fascinated with the spells and enchantments. They were much different than normal Greek magic. Atlantean magic was much more ancient and powerful. While it didn't have much versatility, it was still powerful and very useful. Markus was glad Poseidon had given them the scrolls. Plus Tsunami was perfect in his hands, like Wavebreaker was. Must've been because it was a weapon forged in the sea and he had the power of the sea in his veins.
Turning off the game, he contemplated something. He was proud at the rate in which he was going. His knowledge on his magic and unarmed combat have increased drastically. And his use of his demigod powers increased the more he used them. And yet, he wanted to take another risky gamble. But not with the Greek side. It was time he tried another route. He knew that his idea was very arrogant and impulsive, but he was already both of those things. So why not?
Performing an Atlantean spell that he had read somewhere, he controlled the water vapour in his cabin to form a large body of mist. But instead of forming an Iris message, he chanted a spell that allowed him to contact beings who had strong ties with the sea.
Putting in enough magic, Markus contacted the one being who had helped him come so far in his water manipulation. The mist started to form an image similar to an Iris-message. The image shown was centred near Japanese waters.
The being who he wanted to talk to came into view. "Brat!" Ryūjin announced, surprised. "Surprised to see you. What do you want?"
"Ryūjin," Markus nodded in greeting. "I need to talk to you about something." Taking a breath to ask the god what he wanted, he spoke. "Do you think you can get me contact with Susanoo, the Shinto god of the seas and storms?"
Finished. God, this chapter was a lot to write.
This was really a development chapter, where not a lot of action happened. Still, I think it was pretty good. Markus learnt more martial arts using his 'Speed Thought' spell, experimented with the demonic leech in his arm, as well as got a new weapon. Not to mention the others are getting stronger as well. Yay.
If you want details on Tsunami, think of how Aquaman's trident looked in the Justice League film.
Anyway, as stated, next chapter Markus will meet with Susanoo, who'll help him for his quest for power. Not without a price, however. Along with that, Markus' training will take place in Japanese temples, and be taught Shinto magic and training from Susanoo and Ryūjin. Fun time.
Nothing really much to say here. Still happy about the progress of the story. And thanks to all those who favourited, followed, read and reviewed the story. Luv y'all.
As for the Guest reviews, for those asking for Markus and Hecate to be friends again, they will. Though not for roughly four or five chapters.
And also, two chapters or slightly more and we're at the start of the Titan's Curse. Yippee!
Thanks! Read and Review!