Chapter 23
Greetings viewers! I hope that all of you enjoyed the previous chapter! Firstly, I would like to thank the two guest reviewers and John for your continued support!
In reference to Perlypsofan's review, I am glad that you agree with my pairing choice. Thank you for your continued support!
In reference to Ryan's review, thank you for being a part of this journey, your support and enthusiasm is much appreciated! Thank you for your continued support!
In reference to Hawkeyestratos' review, I will expound on why I haven't included chain blades in the footnote. Thank you for your continued support!
In reference to ElementShots' review, I am stoked that you liked this story enough to binge it. Of course, an overpowered protagonist who receives everything on a silver platter and miraculously gets stronger is a big no-no. For that reason, even though it may seem like I am dragging this story a bit, I want to make sure that I don't miss out on any details and I am glad you liked that! Thank you for your support!
I would also to thank RageSage for your continued support! I hope you enjoy this chapter as well!
I also want to thank Hippie Painter for your continued support! I hope that you like this chapter as well!
Also, I want to thank sidaqlotay07 for your motivating reviews. This Percy X Calypso arc was partly inspired by one of your older reviews so I hope you enjoyed it. Thank you for your continued support!
In reference to ItsYaBoi325's review, I am really glad that you hold this story in such high regard. I try planting references for future chapters and arcs in my chapters in an attempt to bring a subtle continuity into the story and I am glad that you like that! I also really appreciate your final statement. I will do my best to make this an enjoyable journey! Thank you for your continued support!
In reference to ShadowThanatos' review, I am glad that you share my excitement on the matter of those missiles. To me, incorporating the concepts of missiles in the Rick Riordan universe is a salivating and unexplored prospect. I mean, just the sheer potential of this plan makes me feel excited and this chapter is filled with those technical details! Also, I am glad that you like my attempt to portray the human in Percy. Thank you for your continued support!
In reference to IceFire99's review, I really really appreciate you and all the other reviewers who take time out of their busy schedules just to share a few kind words and interact with me. This may sound a bit dramatic but I have not seen any social forum which has so many genuinely nice people and your constant support makes writing this story much easier, faster and far more enjoyable. So this speedy update is dedicated to you and all the other reviewers for being such wonderful and supportive people! Thank you for your continued support!
In reference to JoJo Jesus' reviews, firstly, I want to say that all your questions, whatever they may be about or how many ever they are are always welcome and I will definitely answer all of them. Now, let me answer your first question.
Percy does not have any mortal connections and he doesn't even consider himself to be a mortal, let alone a Greek. All his loyalty and allegiances are towards only his divine family. He sees himself as a protector of all mortals. So he will have a great relationship with the Romans, but it will be different than the one he will have with the Greeks. The next stories will be based on this.
Regarding Dionysus and Hercules, they will have a part to play but it will not be nearly as significant as the one they have in the myths. Also, Dionysus will not become an Olympian because he doesn't deserve a throne in this story and frankly, he never deserved it more than Hestia in the first place. This angle will be explored in detail in the future chapters. Hercules on the other hand, will have an arc of his own in my next story.
Answering your next question, Percy's secret will stay a secret for a very very very long time and most of the gods will probably never find out. I have an arc in my mind for the final story but right now, I can't say for certain about who will know and who won't.
Regarding your final question, I have purposely not said anything about Percy and Calypso "sleeping" together. This is because I have shown a lot of development in their relationship and they even shared a bedroom so it's not out of the question and it also seems like a natural progression. However, I have also not explicitly stated anything because I don't want to show that a deep emotional connection can only be developed by two people sleeping together. So I have not talked explicitly about it in order to let the readers decide for themselves and come to their conclusions. Personally, I feel it could have gone either way. I hope that answered all your questions. Thank you for your continued support!
All credit for the characters goes exclusively to Rick Riordan.
Athena had been brainstorming different ideas for a few minutes when Percy materialised next to her.
"Hello Perseus." Athena greeted.
"Hello Athena. I thought you had agreed to call me Percy?" Percy greeted with a small smirk. Athena did not reply immediately, taking a moment to quietly observe him.
His hair had grown a bit and it had traded its regal, windswept style for a more rugged but silkier and messier style. A short stubble had grown on his previously clean-shaven face and he was wearing simple linen sea green robes instead of his silk, royal ones. He seemed taller and more muscular than before yet, simultaneously, more agile and lithe. While he was still just as intimidating, he seemed more relaxed; unlike before, his muscles weren't in a state of perpetual tension.
His eyes had changed from a vibrant and glowing sea green to a softer, brighter and, in her opinion, a more beautiful sea green. Even his aura seemed to have changed. It had always reminded her of a salty sea breeze but, much like the threat of impending storm, there was always a hard edge to it. Now, it brought forth memories of the gentle seas and instilled a sense of comfort within her by radiating safety and warmth.
His aura seemed to be more mature, calmer and surprisingly, wearier - in direct contrast to his earlier energetic, fearless and harsher aura. But in her opinion, that only seemed to make him more attractive than ever before. However, for some reason, it also seemed to radiate deep sorrow. Before she could think about that any further, her thoughts were interrupted by Percy's voice.
"Athena, are you okay? You seemed to zone out a little." Percy questioned with his eyebrows lightly furrowed in concern.
"I am fine, Percy. Now, shall we move on to designing this weapons system?" Athena replied with extra emphasis on Percy and then questioned with a small smile. Percy nodded his head at her with a similar smile and together, they started working on their ambitious defensive weapons system.
Percy and Athena had been working for the past eighteen hours without any break and they had managed to hammer out the blueprint of this weapons systems and the projectiles that it would fire.
"This is fantastic. We have the blueprints for a defense system as well as the aerodynamic self-propelled guided bombs. Once we capture the spirits, we can build the scanner to target and integrate an automatic and specific guidance response into the system. Now, all that is left is making a more detailed version of this blueprint and Olympus' safety is secured." Athena stated with a pleased and proud smile.
However, she was puzzled by Percy's lack of response. She turned to look at him, but he seemed to be in a trance. His eyes were glazed, his eyebrows were tensely furrowed and he was clenching and unclenching his fists.
"Percy, are you alright?" Athena questioned with concern seeping into her voice. This seemed to bring Percy out of his trance.
"Yes, I am fine. I was just coming up with a different and smaller name for these aerodynamic self-propelled guided bombs. Instead, I was thinking of calling them missiles. This could become a new word. What do you say?" Percy quickly recovered and smoothly suggested. Athena shot another concerned look at him but in response, he just offered a reassuring smile.
"That is a good proposition. I like the name. Let's call them missiles." Athena complimented with a smile.
"Also, I was thinking of something else. If we can design these self-guided missiles for the purpose of defense, why don't we take it a step further? We can design and build a bigger, manually guided and mobile missile with a longer range and a more destructive payload. We can use this for assaults." Percy proposed with a twinkle in his eyes. A similar twinkle developed in Athena's eyes as she saw the merit in Percy's idea. However, before she could reply, an iris message from Artemis interrupted her.
"Sister, Perseus, the spirits are attacking Olympus. We need to stop them immediately." Artemis stated with a sense of urgency in her voice before slashing though the iris message.
A moment later, Percy's and Athena's respective armours enveloped them as they nodded at each other. After that, Percy vanished in a blue mist and Athena followed by disappearing in a flash of grey light.
When Percy materialised on the edge of Olympus, the first thing he noticed was the large numbers of the attacking spirits. In a rough approximation, he could gauge that there was an army of at least two thousand spirits. The army consisted of an assortment of different wind, nature and mountain spirits. Without wasting any further time, he took to the air in order to engage the spirits.
His javelins materialised in his hands as he rapidly hurled them at the attacking forces. In a few minutes, he had already shot down dozens of wind spirits. This not only hurt the numbers of the wind spirits but also the other spirits that were riding on the wind spirits were indirectly taken down with this barrage.
Once that was done, Percy saw that a large cluster of spirits were arriving. Instantly, his ethereally glowing pitch-black swords replaced his Celestial Bronze javelins and he sent a large, funnel shaped shockwave at the approaching spirits.
This had the desired effect as the entire cluster of spirits were vaporized by the sheer intensity of the shockwave, additionally creating a sense of panic in the other spirits, which Percy capitalized on.
He dashed forward and started cutting down spirits without giving them any respite. However, there was one major change in his fighting style. Instead of ruthlessly striking the spirits with brutal slashes and causing agonizing deaths, his attacks had become cleaner, faster, more precise and he awarded his enemies a swift and painless death. Due to this more efficient approach, in no time, he had wiped out an entire sector of spirits.
He noticed that Apollo was fending off a rather large congregation of spirits and he decided to help him out. Making use of his winged sandals, he oriented himself in the god's direction, held his swords horizontally in front of him and kicked the air behind him with so much force, that he shot through the air like an eagle descending on its prey.
This attack proved to be catastrophic for the spirits as Percy decapitated an entire line of them before coming to a halt. Before the rest of the spirits could come out of their shock, he engaged them and did what he was very adept at doing: single-handedly wiping out armies. However, Percy's seamless offense was interrupted by a mountain spirit who hurled a large boulder at him.
To the shock of the mountain spirit and everyone else, Percy reacted with the speed of lightning and cleanly cut the boulder into two. He followed this attack by pointing the glowing tip of one of his swords at the mountain spirit and then brought down his other sword on it. A bright, linear shockwave erupted from the tip and vaporized the mountain spirit. He then turned his attention towards another cluster of spirits and charged at them.
This routine continued and within an hour, the entire army of attacking spirits had been repelled. Along with that, they had also captured one mountain, wind, nature and surprisingly even a water spirit. Hephaestus had captured them in Celestial Bronze nets and with a flick of his fingers, all the spirits disappeared.
Once that job was done, all the second-generation Olympians that had fought the battle descended and gathered in the throne room with the Elder Olympians joining them . The younger gods seemed to be in a very good mood as they greeted Percy.
"Cousin, you sure know how to make one hell of an entrance." Hermes stated with a mischievous smile.
"Is it just me or have you actually become stronger in the past six months?" Apollo incredulously questioned.
"He's become sharper and faster rather than stronger. I have to say, your prowess in battle is unheard of for anyone who is not a major god." Artemis grudgingly complimented.
"Now that Percy is back, why don't we try once again to convince the minor gods to join us in this war." Aphrodite suggested. Everyone except Percy and Athena nodded their heads in agreement.
"I don't think that now is the time to try and rally them to our cause. Asking their support now will make us look weak. It will show that even with Percy's return, we are not confident in our own might. That will not help us in effectively rallying them as we will be seen as negotiating from a position of weakness." Athena countered.
"Then what do you suggest? I don't mean to demean the weapons system that you and Percy are building. But, the support of the minor gods is important to ensure our victory." Hermes questioned and then stated.
"You are right Hermes. That's why Athena and I came up with a plan." Percy proudly declared before continuing.
"Now that we have captured these spirits, our next job is building the prototype missiles along with the entire surveillance and guidance system. We will fine tune our design and with Lord Hephaestus' and the Elder Cyclopes' help, these prototypes will be operational by the day after tomorrow. Once we test the prototype missiles, we can produce hundreds of them by the next assault which will occur in a week. Both of us believe that we should invite all the minor gods to witness the assault." Percy expounded, paused and let Athena continue.
"Once the minor gods see our weapons system repel the entire assault on its own, they will be first-hand witnesses to the reach of Olympian might. This way, we will then be negotiating from a position of strength." Athena calmly declared. She was met with a stunned silence before Hestia broke it with a slow, soft clap.
"Nephew, niece, I applaud both of you. Not only have you risen to the occasion with a ground-breaking plan, you have also employed an excellent strategy. I am completely certain that we will win this war. After all, we have the two greatest strategists in the entire world on our side." Hestia proudly praised. Percy and Athena responded with warm smiles directed at Hestia.
"I just have one small question. What is a missile?" Hermes questioned with curiosity.
"You will see it at the prototype demonstration Hermes." Percy replied with a light smirk.
"We have made good progress over the past few days. But this is not the time for us to relax. Instead, it is time for us to corner our enemy and free Ares. I have faith in all of you. We will win this war." Zeus passionately declared with a determined expression before disappearing in a bright flash of lightning. Everyone followed his lead and disappeared from the throne room with similar expressions of determination. They would win this war. They had to win this war.
Percy sighed in relief as Hephaestus installed the final part of the defense system on the edge of Olympus' northern quadrant. Two days ago, he and Athena had finished designing a detailed blueprint of the missiles and the system and, in order to meet today's deadline, they had split the responsibility.
Along with Hephaestus, he was responsible for making sure that the entire system was installed by today. They had worked almost non-stop for the past two days and the result was a flawless and deadly defense system.
On the other hand, Athena had taken up the responsibility of the prototype missiles. For that reason, she had been working along with the Elder Cyclopes in Atlantis and, from what he had heard, she had been treated like a royal guest of Atlantis. She had iris messaged him a few hours ago to convey that both the prototype missiles would be ready by the time the system was built. His thoughts were interrupted by Hephaestus' voice.
"Perseus, I have to give credit where it is due. You are an ingenious inventor and a smart craftsman who knows the language of machines. Arges, Brontes and Steropes have taught you well." Hephaestus gruffly complimented.
"It is an honour to be complimented by a master blacksmith such as you, Lord Hephaestus." Percy replied with a sincere smile.
"Drop the formalities lad. Your character and skill have earned my respect." Hephaestus stated.
Hephaestus liked the man in front of him. He was brilliant, tactical, sincere and loyal to a fault. The man had helped him out during his fight with his bane and had not even asked for anything in return. He had already developed a liking to the man then, but it was over the past two days that he had really come to respect Perseus.
He had been extremely impressed by the fact that Perseus could keep up with Athena. That was an unmatchable feat of intelligence on its own. Adding to that, this weapons system seemed to be Perseus' brainchild and the details that were involved in building it were fascinating. He could proudly say that this was the most advanced piece of equipment that he had ever built. But that was not the only reason that Perseus had earned his respect.
In all their interactions, not even once did his appearance seem to bother Perseus. He had been nothing but sincerely polite and respectful. He liked the man and he could sense that they would be working together again in the near future and he looked forward to that experience. His thoughts were interrupted by a grey flash of light. When the light subsided, Athena was standing in front of them, along with the Elder Cyclopes.
"Arges, Brontes, Steropes, it's great seeing you here." Percy greeted the Elder Cyclopes with a wide smile.
"We were not planning to come but Lady Athena insisted that we had to." Arges revealed. In gratitude, Percy shot a dazzling smile at Athena. In response, an almost unnoticeable golden blush bloomed across her face.
"Has the system been installed?" Athena quickly questioned. Percy nodded and pointed at the Celestial Bronze structure behind him.
"What about the missiles?" Percy asked. Athena snapped her fingers and five metal cylinders with one pointed, conical end and a hole on the other end materialised in front of him
Four of these cylinders had a retractable side-wing along with a tail-wing. They were roughly six feet long and were about two feet wide. Their conical ends seemed to be glowing green. The other missile though was completely different from these four.
The fifth missile was a twenty-five feet long, eight feet wide metal behemoth. Unlike the other missiles, the conical end of this one seemed to be glowing with an ethereal light. Also, there were two handles attached to its body.
At that moment, all the gods materialised near them and once they saw the system and the missiles, they seemed to be speechless due to awe.
"Okay, both of you are going to have to start explaining this entire setup." Hermes excitedly stated. Percy took that as his cue and started explaining.
"Before we start, let me explain what a missile is. A missile is an aerodynamic self-propelled guided bomb." Percy pointed to the missiles and let the Olympians absorb this bit of information before letting Athena continue.
"We have developed two types of missiles. The smaller one is a Self-propelled Payload of Greek fire Encased in an Aerodynamic shell fired from a Reloadable launching system with a firing range of 50 leagues, equipped with a Self-guided targeting system and used for specifically striking Spirits." Athena paused and let Percy finish the explanation.
"Or for short, SPEAR-50SS missiles. The Greek fire has been crafted to cause a large explosion as soon as it comes in contact with air. For that reason, it has been encased in a shell made of Celestial Bronze." Percy paused at this point before continuing.
"The shell is propelled by a highly sophisticated torch enchanted by Hephaestus to burn a clean, collimated beam of fire and it also travels at two times the speed of sound. The conical tip of the shell has been fitted with a very special compass that guides the missile by setting a target for it. This compass, the wings and it's sleek and compact design ensure that the missile is manoeuvrable in mid-air. That means, once its target is set, this missile will follow it to the end of the world. To make it even more dangerous, it has a blast radius of twenty feet. To top it off, all its parts except the payload can be salvaged and recycled." Percy explained with pride evident on his face.
"But the missile needs to be launched from a proper surveillance and guidance system. That system is the structure in front of you." Athena stated before pointing at the Celestial Bronze structure in front of them.
The system was a Celestial Bronze, thirty feet tall, twenty-five feet wide and twenty feet deep structure with fifty missile-shaped barrels carved in it. On top of this launcher was a gleaming parabolic disk of Celestial bronze with a radius of approximately fifty feet and it was inclined at a forward angle. In the middle of the disk, stood a fifteen feet tall pole which seemed to be emitting multi-coloured light.
"This unit is a RADial surveillance, Automated missile launching and guiding Response system. Or for short, RADAR. It is composed of two parts, the guidance system and the surveillance system. The surveillance system contains the pole and the disk. The pole emits a certain light that is reflected by only individuals who have been programmed as targets. Once this reflected light reaches the parabolic disk, the information is passed onto the guidance system." Athena stopped to let the Olympians process this bit of information.
"The guidance system immediately loads the missiles and permanently sets the direction of the compass on the missile to be in the direction of the target. After that, it launches the missile. The surveillance system can detect targets in a radial range of fifty leagues and the response time is about half a minute. This means that any threat to Olympus is neutralized within a few minutes." Athena explained to the speechless Olympians.
"Not only that, once the first fifty missiles have been fired, new missiles are immediately loaded and launched, that is, if there are any targets left. This process of surveillance, guidance and launching goes on until all the threats within fifty leagues of Olympus have been completely neutralized. The system has been enchanted to hold a limitless number of missiles inside it and we have a plan to set up three more systems. We plan to have one RADAR in each of the four quadrants of Olympus. Together these will constitute the ultimate defense system that both the divine and mortal world have ever seen." Percy finished with a wide smirk.
"To truly justify Percy's statement, allow me to explain another feature of this defense system. Not only does it target spirits, it can be programmed to target anyone. As long as we have a biological sample, it can be programmed to target monsters, spirits, mortals, demigods, gigantes, Titans and even gods." Athena concluded and a fearful silence immediately followed. However, before anyone could say anything, Percy interrupted them.
"For that reason, only Athena and I have the knowledge to program targets into the system and both of us have taken an oath on the River Styx with binding punishments to never share or abuse that information for personal purposes. This is to prevent the potentially disastrous misuse of such a deadly weapons system." Percy finished in order to reassure the gods.
No one, not even Zeus, disagreed with him. If this system ever fell into the wrong hands or got involved in an Olympian argument, the consequences would be devastating.
"How did you manage to convince Athena to not use one of her own inventions for her personal goals?" Apollo questioned. In response, Athena shot him an irritated glare.
"This is not a joke, Apollo. Imagine this, with just one drop of your sweat, this system can be programmed to launch fifty SPEAR missiles that will seek you out no matter where you go if you show up in its range. Power of this magnitude is very corrosive. It will corrupt even the best of us. Percy and I realised this when we were designing this system and it is for that reason that we took an oath that Styx personally promised to uphold. This way, this system will never be misused by anyone, including us." Athena stated and everyone sobered up at this statement. Thankfully, Percy broke the uncomfortable silence.
"You need not be worried. Rest assured; we have employed a series of extensive countermeasures to prevent any such misuse from ever occurring. Moving on. I assume that all of you are curious about the bigger missile, so let me explain its characteristics." Percy reassured them before gesturing at the large missile.
"This is a SeismoKinetically Enhanced self-propelled payload contained in an Aerodynamic shell fired from a Non-reloadable launching system with a firing range of 100 leagues equipped with a Manual guidance system and used for causing Radial seismokinetic damage. Or for short, SKEAN-100MR missiles." Percy stated.
"These missiles contain a payload that is an unstable alloy of Celestial Bronze and a very minute amount of Stygian Iron. I have charged this payload to dangerously high levels of my seismokinetic energy. Due to this combination, the payload is extremely dangerous and for that reason it has been contained in a shell made of highly refined Celestial Bronze in order to give it some stability and prevent it from detonating. Just before impact, the shell breaks away and the payload collides with its target. On impact, this unstable combination of the payload causes a devastating shockwave of a blast radius of two hundred and fifty feet." Percy paused to take a breath before continuing.
"This initial shockwave is followed by two other radial shockwaves of reducing intensities, with a radius blast of five hundred feet and one thousand feet respectively. Also, like the SPEARs, even this missile runs on an enchanted torch, albeit on a much stronger one." Percy explained the earth-shattering capabilities of the missile to the gods.
"All of you would have noticed that there is another comparatively thin Celestial Bronze shell surrounding the missile. This second shell acts as a launcher. Unlike the SPEAR missiles, the SKEAN missiles work more like an arrow, only, they are incomparably more destructive. This missile needs to be lifted and the person who is using the launcher needs to aim the missile at the target and then must pull the handles back in order to launch the missile." Athena was about to be interrupted by Apollo, but she shot a glare at him and that stopped him.
"The missile has a range of one hundred leagues and travels at five times the speed of sound. But, the recoil of the launch is so high that it actually breaks the launcher. Also, the sheer recoil of this launch will dislocate and severely fracture the shoulder of even a god. This is also the reason why there is no mounted launcher for this missile. None of the designs we came up with were capable of handling the recoil." Athena explained.
"What is the point of having such a powerful missile if no one can wield it?" Zeus irately questioned. Percy answered this question.
"While it is true that no god can launch this missile without severe recoil, I can launch these with a moderate amount of difficulty. Due to the enhanced resistance to blunt force trauma awarded to me by my invulnerability, launching one of these will only sprain my arm. Even that side effect can be countered if I apply some Nectar and eat a large square of Ambrosia." Percy stated.
"So, you can wipe out any target by creating and launching an endless amount of these with little to no repercussions. You really know how to overpower yourself, don't you cuz?" Hermes stated in a deadpan voice. Percy chuckled at his tone before replying.
"I wish it were that simple Hermes, but it isn't. Seismokinetically charging even one of these payloads drains me of all my elemental reserves for two weeks. Also, while I can handle launching one or at the most two SKEAN missiles, after that, the side-effects will start compounding and may even temporarily put me out of commission. This missile is to be used only as a last resort or against a very large congregation of mobile enemies." Percy revealed and the rest of the gods nodded as they processed all this information.
"Now that you have explained the characteristics of these weapons. I want to see them in action." Zeus eagerly ordered.
"Of course, Lord Zeus. We will test the SPEAR missiles and the RADAR. But, the SKEAN missiles have been saved for an emergency, we cannot afford to waste even one of those." Percy replied.
Zeus impatiently nodded before gesturing him to continue. Percy and Athena nodded at each other and with a snap of Athena's fingers, the pole of the RADAR stopped emitting light. With another snap of her fingers, the four bound spirits materialised in front of them. Hephaestus snapped his fingers and the chains binding the spirits disappeared.
"Scram." Percy ordered the unbound spirits with a bone-chilling voice and a predatory look. The spirits wasted no time and immediately dashed out of Olympus with the wind spirit carrying the nature, water and mountain spirits.
Within ten minutes, the spirits were almost fifty leagues away from Olympus. It was then that Athena reactivated the RADAR. The pole emitted a mixture of blue, brown, green and azure light. A second later, the parabolic disk glowed and almost instantaneously, a SPEAR missile that had already been loaded, shot out of the launcher with a sonic boom following it.
In a few minutes, the missile reached the escaping spirits and, a second before it made contact with the wind spirit, the Celestial Bronze shell split into two and detached from the payload. A moment later, a large radial explosion of dark green fire lit up that part of the sky.
The explosion subsided almost as quickly as it had started and when the smoke cleared, there was no sign of any spirits. Some of the assembled gods and the Elder Cyclopes let out a cheer at this success.
"As you can see, the RADAR has been designed in a way such that it uses a minimum number of missiles to neutralize a maximum number of targets." Percy added and he was met with jubilant smiles.
"Perseus, Athena, both of you have done an excellent job. I also acknowledge the contributions of Hephaestus and the Elder Cyclopes. With this, we have gained a massive advantage in this war. I want the rest of the systems installed and the required number of missiles ready by the next assault." Zeus declared with pride shining in his eyes.
"Send the invitations to the minor gods. Let them be first-hand witnesses to the inescapable reach of Olympian might." Zeus ordered before disappearing in a blinding flash of lightning. The rest of them followed his lead with large, confident smiles on their faces. This was the turning point of this war.
Percy was taking a walk in one of Olympus' numerous divine gardens. He was exhausted. As soon as he had returned to Olympus, he had thrown himself back into the war by working on the weapons and he had not slept since then. Rather, he could not sleep after leaving Ogygia.
Every time he closed his eyes, he saw Calypso's tear streaked, heartbroken face and he would be assaulted by a tremor of guilt and despair. Every time he unknowingly fell asleep, the images of his days with Calypso would haunt him. He had thought that single-mindedly working on the missiles and the defense system would give him some reprieve but, he had been mistaken.
This harsh schedule had only made matters worse. Burying his emotions had resulted in him experiencing episodes. It had happened for the first time when he was discussing the missiles with Athena and he had been having an episode every day since then.
Each episode was a flashback. Sometimes he would find himself gardening with Calypso next to him, other times he would be gazing at the sea near Ogygia with Calypso. These episodes felt so realistic that for a moment, he would forget that it was just an episode.
To make matters worse, the intensity of the episodes was increasing with each one and the line between reality and his hallucinations were starting to blur. At that moment, he made the mistake of looking at the twinkling stars and his eyes glazed over as another vision started.
He found himself on the roof of his and Calypso's bedroom and his arms were wrapped around her as she leaned into his chest and they were gazing at the stars.
"I am so happy that you decided to stay with me Percy. I love you." Calypso turned and told him with love and happiness brightly shining in her eyes.
A wide smile broke out on Percy's as he forgot about the fact that all of this was only his mental construct. He leaned forward and rested his forehead against Calypso's forehead.
"Staying with you was the best decision of my life Calypso. I love you too." Percy replied with an equal amount of love in his voice and his eyes were closed in content.
They stayed in that position for a long time before Calypso pulled away, got up and headed towards their bedroom. She gestured him to follow her and in response, Percy got up and was about to follow her. But the entire scene dissolved, and he found himself back in the Olympian garden.
"NOOOO!" Percy screamed in anguish as he failed to comprehend that this sequence was only an episode.
Frantically and fruitlessly, he searched around for Calypso and when he did not find her, he fell to his knees in despair. In his current state of mind, there was only one plausible explanation for him not finding Calypso.
"CURSE YOU GAIA. WHERE HAVE YOU HIDDEN HER? GIVE HER BACK TO ME!" Percy bellowed in anger, sorrow and desperation. The intensity of the episode, his exhaustion and his draining reaction proved to be too much for Percy and his eyes rolled up as he faded out of consciousness.
However, before he made contact with the ground, a certain raven-haired goddess of wisdom caught his pale, limp form. A moment later, a bright grey light enveloped them and by the time it subsided, both of them had disappeared and a cool night breeze swept over the empty Olympian garden.
Hey guys! With chapters twenty two, twenty three and twenty four under it, the armament arc will be the penultimate arc of this story and after that, we will enter the final arc of this story.
In the attack on Olympus bit of the chapter, I have attempted to show how the change in Percy's character has affected his fighting style. So now, let me answer Hawkeyestratos' question.
I checked out the chain blades that you had suggested and the reason why I can't give those to Percy is because they will make him look like a ruthless and cold hearted killer. With this chapter I am trying to show that Percy is leaving behind his days as a ruthless pawn and is taking a calmer and less brutal approach to his battles.
As most of you would have guessed by now, I am a huge weapons enthusiast and I am especially fascinated by missiles. Of course, I hate nuclear weapons and their destructive potential makes me very nervous but, I do admire the ingenuity that is required to build missiles.
I know that the name I have given it is not really the full form of Radar. Also, unfortunately, I am not a rocket scientist and I know that the mechanism behind how the missiles and the rest of the system work is not completely scientific. However, I have tried my best to tailor it to the Percy Jackson universe.
Also, I am sorry if the full forms of SPEAR and SKEAN that I have used in the story feel a bit over the top. But I wanted to make this as authentic as possible. A skean is a type of a dagger and I have named the missiles after two weapons because they seemed cool.
Coming to the part where Percy suggests the name missiles, let me expound on that. Missiles come from the Latin word Missilus which means to throw or to hurl a projectile in a certain direction. So I have rewritten history by making Percy coin the term missile in it's Ancient Greek form, which the Romans will later turn to Missilus before we finally get the name missile in English.
Finally, the last part of this chapter was to break the technical monotony of this chapter. I want to show that Percy did not walk away from his choice unscarred and I felt that the best way to show the effects of the end of his relationship with Calypso was by giving him something similar to Post Traumatic Stress Disorder, except without the constant anxiety. The next chapters will expound on this.
50 leagues=275 kilometres=172.5 miles
100 leagues=550 leagues=345 miles
Read and review, I hope that all of you enjoyed this chapter! Have a great day!