I Don't Own Percy Jackson
It took all of ten minutes after I got back, barely being able to speak to Silena at all about what all I've been doing with my own words, when the wine fucker appeared, and promptly banished Silena off somewhere, I just pouted as the god in question gave me a very heavy look. So I just ended up sighing and getting up to have this conversation.
Well, I made sure first to double check on Silena, she was fine, just had a rough landing in the strawberry fields, once she was standing looking annoyed, I just moved her, much more gently than Dionysus had to her cabin. Creating dark spots around places I wasn't even close to wasn't really dark, darkness was kind of all interconnected and shit, distance didn't really matter with my level of control anymore, and things like powering it was now trivial.
Anyways, Dionysus looked close to pissed.
"Nicolas King, you have done something not even the gods have dared to do" I just shrugged.
"What? Was Prometheus really that big guy that him dying is even a big deal?" Dionysus did not a all seem pleased with that, maybe I should handle this a bit more smoother? I was kind of still riding the high the titan kill and my spike in power, it hadn't even been a full hour since it all happened.
"We do not kill each other for a very good reason Nicolas, do you know why?" I just shrugged, that seemed to not help his mood in the slightest, "Because the second a god kills another god or titan, it sets a precedent, that it is fine to kill one each other. Olympus has survived the last three thousand years because none of us has ever crossed that line, because if a single one of us did, we all would end up dead. Even Ares for as foolish as he is, knows better than to attempt an actual kill on a fellow god. Even Titans, gods themselves in their own right, can not afford to fall, only be sealed or trapped away, because if they do die by a god's hand, then their power goes in the air for the killer to grab, clearly you know that yourself given you recent... growth"
He said it with such distaste, it was almost insulting. I just shrugged, I honestly didn't really care to be honest. I mean, I got what he was saying, if killing, or well, perma-death-ing deities was suddenly on the table, then the power-loving gods and titans all around would instantly go straight for the throat of anyone around them hoping to expand their own domains. Sure, not all of them, but enough that everyone would be dragged into it soon enough. And if the entire Pantheon went at it, there was very little chance the Earth would be able to survive if just one minor titan's death was enough to nuke a fair sized mountain, without a fight taking place, imagine what it would be like if there was one?
"So? I'm not there yet am I? I'm just a demigod still... Probably" I honestly didn't really know, I hadn't gotten any notice saying otherwise but...
"You took in that titan's domain, I can see it rolling off you, it's barely a spark of his real power, but it's there. You have divinity of your own now, not borrowed from your family or given to you by your benefactors. You may not be close to the steps needed to be a true god yet, but you are no longer some simple demigod even if that is still the flimsy title you hold. I'd put you more on the same rank as that pathetic angel you seemed to have kept as a pet"
I could feel the way March lashed around in my cloak's shadow at the insult, as I just frowned.
"March is good companion, and so what? You knew what I was planning on, everyone does, it's not some secret" Dionysus just sighed, after a long moment, before looking away, annoyed clearly over the conversation that he didn't want to have, before finally continuing on.
"You are a case that has never happened before brat, as much as it wounds ones pride to admit, we simply didn't know what to expect of you or your actions, nor how to contain it. A god is not simply made by their own will, even those that have ascended have done so with the help of others, no deity has ever been a mortal who claimed power by killing a god or titan and simply stole their divinity from them. They have to be given the right to ascend, not to take it by force, otherwise they would never be accepted among the others of their pantheon. You have done many, many things to break what was once thought to be the rule of law of our world, and every day you keep on this path, the harder it will be for those to continue to ignore you. It is not only the gods who would kill each other if one of our kind falls, they would target you first, above all else, for this sleight against our very nature. It is only because of the Night Mother that you are not already dead, but even she can not protect you for long. Prometheus was an after thought of a titan, but a titan all the same, Zeus will not look favorably on you once the titans are finally handled"
Yeah... that sounded about right. I just shrugged.
"Then the two of us can talk it over once the titans are all defeated or killed, in my case"
"You still plan on continuing on this path? You truly are quite mad" He sounded almost impressed.
"Of course, I'm a stubborn bitch like that you know?" I paused for a moment, before saying softer but infinitely more dangerously, "Zeus can try whatever the hell he likes, but tell him this yourself, if he dares to try a single thing against me or my friends before we have time to talk, I will make it my life's goal to raise Olympus to the ground and have him become my personal bitch. Fate can't control me, and he can't kill me just yet, you said so yourself, I'm still to much of a demigod for him to kill with without a motion being passed up there on that fancy building, and we both know that won't happen, to many of those gods owe me"
Dionysus just leaned back slowly, he did a good job not looking at all bothered by the sudden change in my demeanor, but I could still see it, could feel it, the faint hint of fear rolling off him that he couldn't fully mask.
Because for as powerful as he was, infinitely still stronger than I was at the moment, that didn't change the simple fact I've killed a titan and ripped their own domain from their exploding corpse, a feat no other being has ever even dared to think of doing on the Greek side of reality, and that counted for so much more than Dionysus could hope to be able to not be ruffled in someway by.
Divine Killer, my newest perk, wasn't something that could just be ignored, no matter how powerful you were. No, it was because he was so powerful, that it meant that much more to the god.
"Mad, perfectly insane. I will send the word along Nicole, but I hope you know, when the day comes, I will not interfere when the gods come to strike you down for being much to powerful, and infinitely more dangerous" I just smirked and said back.
"Then let's hope that when the day comes, it'll be soon enough that they can still handle the consequences of making such a decision against me" Dionysus just hummed before in a flash of light, vanished, I didn't bother to look away, it would burn any normal mortal, but to me it looked like simply energy now, powerful energy sure, but energy all the same.
[Notice: Perk [Dionysus' Blessing] has been revoked, you will no longer gain the benefits of this perk from now on]
[Skill [Madness Manipulation] has been locked]
Right...
I promptly took in a long, shuddering deep breath, my chest shaking as I slowly moved to sit down to think over what the actual fuck just happened.
Holy... Shit, I just... Fuck!
It took a long moment for me to regain my composure, a feat that normally was second nature, as I took the moment to just... exist, getting the thrumming... ball of frantic emotions to just calm the fuck down. It was harder than I thought it would be, but it was fine, I was fine, I wasn't dead yet, but holy shit it could have been close.
If I hadn't...
No, not thinking about this right now! I'm alive, that's the only part that matters and the only part I need to get myself under control and to put my big boy pants on.
Still, fucking shit, this was bad, like, really fucking bad. I knew this would happen, I knew something would happen! It was obvious, but... still, this was something else. Olympus itself basically said I was next on the hitlist after the titans, which was horrible news! I was hoping that I'd at least have the extra year or so after the titans to deal with the Giants before the Gods got up in my face, that cut down my time hard.
It also meant new things were opened up to me, more chances, things were... well, in motion. So many plans I needed to rethink now because everything from the last few weeks put everything in order in my head in startlingly detail.
The first and most important thing being, I needed to get stronger, like, much stronger. All stats being at five hundred minimum stronger, if I wanted to have a chance against even a minor god as I was right now, if I wanted to stand a chance against their true form.
The second thing, I needed to work on finding a way to get a frankly put, shit ton of exp and divine points through means outside of killing titans, because, I knew this would happen, sort of, and I just could not fight another titan right now without coming out so very dead.
Like, sure, maybe Atlas would be an easy enough kill, but I needed him for my Mana farm, as well as he was kind of holding the sky in place, and if he dies then the world might end cause I sure as hell ain't doing that for him.
So that means... That just means I have to do some re-planning, right, that's fine, I'm good at planning just... Holy fucking shit, I need a moment here, this is a lot to try and work around, I honestly had thought my precautions with Olympus were enough for a bit more time damn it! Fucking annoying as shit is what this is!
Whatever, still, this was fine, I hadn't really thought to much about being a god, or whatever the hell it is that I'll become by the end of this, but that doesn't mean I wasn't aware of it being a possibility for a while now. It was actually... what was it? Plan K? Probably something like that. Sure, my main goal had mostly been forcing Olympus to make me a guy because they were the only ones strong enough to overpower my Gamer's Body since this annoying female body was my base line...
But that didn't mean I was that uncreative to have no other plans, the real and only main goal was just to fix my body's gender to the side that I had wanted since the start of all this shit. Frankly put, I honestly really didn't give a shit on just how I managed it to be honest, be it me just losing my human form and becoming a god so I could just chose my appearance would be fine with me, though who the hell knows just what my domains of power would be given... well, everything.
Fire, obviously, I already had my stake on that after Prometheus, but anything else? I didn't really now how this worked, and since I'm literally the first one ever to be awesome enough to try, I was wandering in the dark, nothing really new there to be honest though, so whatever.
The main thing was I just needed to get stronger, like, a lot stronger, and really fucking quickly, but while I could probably destroy a city block right now without much issue by just unleashing an unholy mix of hell and sun fire, neither mass murdering monsters nor large acts of terrorism wouldn't do much for me. At my level they were just way to weak to give any kind of exp worth spending the time on.
I could go down to hell and recreate DOOM, but, like, then I'd have to deal with that, and March was promised to not have to go there for a while, not to mention I really did want to spend some time at camp, so something that could give me a ton of potential power without having to put in a time sink to be able to work towards it. So of course it was a simple enough thing to be able to figure out what to do.
I mean, my intelligence was nearing the three hundreds now, I'm kind of literally incapable of being dumb, no matter what anyone else thinks.
Meaning, the obvious course of action was of course to, after about a month past it's 'creation', to get my cult up and properly running, and yes I was most certainly going to be calling it a cult. Cults and religions are basically the same thing anyways, and I'm kind of fucking sick of the religious stuff right now after all the Christian and Greek stuff I've dealt with over the last few weeks.
...Though now I have to actually think about how to run a cult... Eh, I'll just leave that to the followers, I just mostly need my following itself to expand, I haven't actually gotten anything from them at all yet, even with nearly a dozen souls literally pledged to any single one of my desires, I haven't gotten anything from it. So I probably needed a lot more than that to get anything good out of it right?
Eh, whatever, I can leave that to Max and then do some light 'indoctrination' to whoever he brings in, shouldn't be to hard with the Mist and my literal godlike powers.
"What the hell was that Nick?" I blinked away from my thoughts as I turned around and watched as Silena walked over towards me, looking annoyed as I just shrugged.
"Wine dude wanted to have a chat" She just huffed before slowly to a stop in front of me before asking.
"Everything ok? And did you move me to my cabin?" She sounded a bit confused so I just nodded and said in explaination.
"Yeah it's all good, just some shit that's going on, but that's not exactly new. And yeah, I figured you'd prefer that over having to walk back from the fields"
"And since when can you just move people around?"
"A while, since the thing with the Fates, as long as I know where you are, it's like opening a door, just, with your mind because spooky dark magic and all that jazz"
"I'm sure... Whatever, come on, we're finishing our talk"
"Alrighty. Oh! I have a few questions! How easy is it to talk people into joining a cult?"
"Why... Why are you asking me?"
"Because your cabin is running, like, three gambling rings and a fashion underground thing you don't want everyone else knowing about, which is really cult like" Silena looked decided a bit unnerved about me bringing that up.
"I... How do you even know about that?" I just shrugged, deciding maybe I shouldn't say that when I was learning my scrying over the last few days, I spent a fair bit of it watching her and some of my other friends day to day activities out of boredom. That was probably more creepy than she needed right now.
"God thing, I can sort of just know stuff if I want to" I mean, that's really all Scrying is.
"So... Are you like... from killing...?" Oh, right, should probably explain that more, Silena looks... well, confused would be a very large understatement, so I shook my head.
"Nah, kind of jump started the process to being one, but I'll need a proper worship set up in my name and some more personal divinity to manage that. Kind of like a car, the followers are like spark plus, and the divinity is the battery that makes the engine turn over" I think that's how it works, I know how to drive real well, but not much else about cars. Clearly Silena didn't either cause she just looked lost but ended up just saying.
"And is that why you want a cult? To just... become a god? Why?" I shrugged.
"Why not? Plus I'm in Zeus's shit box at the moment, so this is probably going to be the fastest method in the long run to get my body all fixed up" Silena just sort of stared at me for a long moment, before finally just sighing, with a long deep breath, and finally said.
"You are so fucking insane, you want to become a god, just for the ability to look like a guy?" I thought about that statement, saw nothing wrong with it, and then proceeded to nod.
"Yeah, sounds about right. Why?" She looked ready to shake me like a rag doll, instead she just sighed again, before asking.
"And are you going to do this with or without me?" I nodded.
"Yep! I already have a cult actually from when I was looking into how to summon hell beasts and angels"
"Of course, because it's you... Right... Fine, sure, cool, my best friend has a cult, honestly that's not the strangest thing I've heard you say! So what have you got so far?" Silena was either way to used to my shit after everything she saw me do during Fate's trail, or she was trying really hard to not blow up right now and be supportive to the things I was going to do with or without her help.
Either way I really appreciated it as I gave her a big grin, a quick hug, and then proceeded to gush about my stuff so she could help me out.
After all, interacting with gods, titans, ghosts, and fallen angels were all super easy, but humans were weird, so any help on how to properly talk to them to get them to do what I wanted was pretty important, and Silena was, like, a master at being able to do that.
Everyone was lightly terrified of March, well, most of everyone, apparently he was scary and since he had no basis in Greek Mythology, I gave more than a few of the smarter kids, and the entire Athena cabin, a small break down over March's existence and it's implications.
And then there was the other kids, the younger ones, who saw big fluffy dog and no other thought was able to enter their heads. It was interesting to watch a Fallen Angel, ruler of legions of demons, and nobleman of hell, having no idea how to react to being asked if he could be pet or be given belly rubs. The big dog baby even full on ran away into my shadow when he got to much innocent attention directed at him.
He just wasn't used to not dealing with demon royalty or the hellish parts of living in, well, literal Hell, that anything actually nice pointed at him made him... I wouldn't say scared, but he was certainly uncomfortable and had no idea how to handle it. It was a bit sad to be honest, so I didn't push him to hard, but at times I did push him out of my shadow, forcing some good old fashion social interaction on him at times.
He wasn't used to it, but it was clear he didn't hate it either as much as he growled at me at times when he was being pushed a bit to far out of his comfort zone.
Nico liked the angel well enough, the kid finding the wolf insanely cool for the most part really, though he was a bit miffed still about the whole teleporting situation, once I explained it a bit, he seemed to understand the whole thing a bit more which was nice. I wasn't really a fan of my friends being angry at me, obviously.
Silena mostly just didn't bother acting like this was something that surprising, her being much to used to my normal shit to even think an angel was something wild anymore, especially after the whole god murder and cult advice thing, but that didn't mean she wasn't surprised as hell to learn about March's nature in general, and we had to have a fairly long conversation about the other pantheons among other things, but that was mostly just us finally getting on the same page.
I didn't mind, she just thought it was mostly interesting as well as a bit intimidating, but I'm also pretty sure I'm the most terrifying person she's ever met, best friend or not, and so she was pretty damn good at keeping herself from being scared these days.
Max wasn't sure where he was, he wasn't sure of anything, everything was to foggy in his head, like a weight holding his mind down, not letting him to be able to properly make real thoughts. Leaving him to only stand look around in the infinite void he found himself in.
He should have been scared, this lack of control, of being not even able to do something as simple as move his own limbs, of being in a space that he was clearly never suppose to see as a human, the darkness was to great, it was like being in space, of being in a place with no boundaries, floating in a nothingness that was all consuming and light eating. He wasn't though, instead he just felt a pleasant warmth, like a comforting and protective blanket was all around him.
Max felt safe, without thought and without worry.
Then they appeared, one after the other, around him, in a circle, in a pattern that was recognizable even in his muddled mind.
To Max's right was Stacy, a fellow follower of their new subject of worship, the one he managed to convince right after his own pledging to the King, then the next one, Markus, then again, and again, over and over, until in a perfect circle the nine of them stood, cloaked already in place on their bodies.
Max must be wearing his own cloaked outfit as well, though he couldn't feel it resting on his shoulders, it was strangely comforting to know.
He couldn't think much more about it, or anything, because anything he thought he could think about ended the second they appeared.
His King, in that royal black cloak standing shorter than all of the cultist present, and yet infinitely bigger, like some kind of insane illusion of perspective, seeing something close that was small, but in reality it was giant and just far away, only it was something his mind couldn't quite comprehend, with his fellow cultists around, giving a forceful scale to the King, it hurt to think about, about how reality bending simply existing was for the King, so Max decided it was best to not think at all as the near blissful cloud fogged over his brain once more as the being of untold power spoke.
"Hello there" The words echoed around the infinite space, and a shudder rushed through Nax's body, as the world of darkness around him and the others exploded, for a brief second in color, it took a second for Max to realize just what they were with his brain fuzzed over, stars, motes of burning white plasma like fire, burning all around, some close by, others what looked like real stars, light years away it felt like from where they were in this void.
Max wanted to say something, anything really, but his voice was frozen, would it even travel in this space? Perhaps not, perhaps it shouldn't matter and he should try anyways, but he couldn't, his King didn't want him to talk, and so he couldn't, his voice literally couldn't form the words, and so he was content.
The others must have been having similar issues as the King moved, looking around them all, but somehow always having their eyes directly on Max, or at least it felt like it, must have been that way for everyone else there, as the King spoke.
"I thinks what you nine have done here is... cute" The King said it with such amusement, like they saw them as the children, when it was the King who was the one taking the body of one, like they all were just kids playing adults, it made Max's blood squirm with want to be recognized, to have this powerful being see him and realize just what all he could offer, wanted it more than he thought he could want anything.
"Having my own followers, such a novel concept. I don't prefer to care much about you human's interest in the divine or demonic, but you all seem to have taken an interest in me" The being, though Max knew not of their real nature, demonic or divine in their own words, seemed amused, like the idea was of mild interest, and Max felt his heart pound in his ears, he had been rewarded once, he knew it, by this being, for his work, and now he was to be shown just what would come next.
This was so much better than conjuring an imp or two and never being able to do anything of any real value, forced to deal with near fad or phase that was the normal cultists out there, talking about the devil and it's wishes, but never being actually told anything.
This was direct, this was too the point, this was an entity so far outside of Max's understanding, willingly talking to him, rewarding him, showing him their power, simply because he and his fellow followers had been the first to take notice of the King for a being to deserve worship.
"King of Darkness... What an interesting title, not completely inaccurate, but it could use some work" The King looked away then, staring out in the distance, softly staring out into the void as the star like spots seemed to burn brighter, before glancing back, and it felt suddenly like he was only string at Max, like he was telling him something, Max wasn't sure what it was, but he would figure it out once his brain was working.
The King simply smirked, seemingly aware of what was going on in Max's head, better than even he could at the moment, as the being simply looked away for a moment before saying, with a defining air.
"I don't care much for the satanic mess of gore your little groups usually go for, nor am I all that interested in brainless devotion, that's no fun now is it?" The King sounded bored with the thought of death and destruction, it made a small part of Max's chest untighten, for all his big words, he wasn't sure he was ready to kill just yet, he would have though, if he had been asked, but it felt relieving to know it didn't seem to be on the table at all.
"No, that brings little interest to me, it can be quite fun at times when I'm doing my own... plans, but you little humans? It would be like watching ants trying to wrestle, it's just not interesting, nor is it productive, so what can you do for me that I can't do myself?" The being sounded like they were honestly asking a question, but it was clear they were only musing to themselves, a curious almost innocence to the way they spoke that belayed their true nature.
If it wasn't for the way their form seemed to not be contained by their own body, the ease and control of this place, and the rightness within Max's own chest, he never would have believed this was the being that had in seconds mollified and simply walked away with a demon bound and captured. The level of danger, of fear, of everything Max had seen just wasn't quite present, like the humans here were being guarded against it when before this being hadn't simply cared enough to even think about them being around.
It shouldn't have made Max feel as special as it did, but it did all the same, seeing this powerful being, the one he sold his life to, just exist, being almost normal in a creepy and horrific way. This wasn't like Satan and his followers either, not some unattainable being that no one had even heard from. This felt... real, grounded in a floaty kind of way.
"Live normally I suppose, with your strange boring existences... But that's no fun either... Let's spice things up huh? See how the chips may fall" It sounded like they had come to a decision and a strange part of Max wished it wasn't about to be over, it really way to bad, as the King spoke their last few words to the group.
"Recruit more, and build yourselves up in my name, let me see how far you can rise with nothing more than your short lives and my attention" And just like that, everything... faded, somehow, some way, just faded from the black and darkness to something else.
And then Max gasped awake, his heart pounding so hard in his chest, he was sure it was a sign of a heart attack, it was painful as it was startling as he stumbled, trying to flail his arm to the side, reaching desperately for his phone, to call someone, anyone, he lived alone and the idea of dying alone made his already pounding heart strain even worse.
Only, when his fingers finally found purchase on something, ripping it to his face to see in the dim moonlight barely shining through the single window in his apartment bedroom, it wasn't his phone that shone back at him.
It was a business card, a stack of the really, and at the front, in sweeping black font read out 'The Night King's Foundation' while underneath it, in smaller but still noticeable text, read Max's own name, his full name even, as well as his number, with the words above it reading out 'Head Founder and CEO'.
It was like something clicked into place, the second he realized just what it was he was holding, of what it meant, it was like magic that his straining and burning heart simply faded back down, into a calm, slow beat, as Max stared down at the words on the card for a long, long minute...
And then the texts came in, one after the other, lighting his phone up from where it had actually been, just a bit to far on the dresser for him to reach.
The texts all from his group, all describing the same thing.
A card for a foundation, with their own names and numbers written on them, with some kind of position listed.
Only, all of theirs missed one thing in particular. Max's said Head Founder, and everyone else's only said Founder, it wasn't much, it was nothing really, but Max couldn't help but find himself laughing loudly into the night air, his eyes turning to look out at the dark and starry night shining back down at him.
This was his chance, his time, and his King had seen that and rewarded him for his quick and just service.
It was... almost discouragingly easy to get a cult moving. Like, for real, it took a single Mist induced dream on the cultists in my 'circle', which was incredibly easy I must mention cause I literally own their souls so their minds are kind of just... open to me I've learned, which is really fucking weird, it's like scrying, but not, because I don't even have to actively think to hard about it, it's just there for me to know about them if I wanted. I just assume it's a god thing and moved on to be honest.
Anyways, one shared 'dream' on them all at midnight exactly, and just like that they were spreading my 'word' and looking to recruit as many people as possible into their little cult, under the guise of a charitable foundation. I had already had the idea before I chatted with Silena, but it was apparently a really good idea to get people to believe in my 'name', since it's linked with what will hopefully be a superpower of an charitable organization.
I mean, with my Luck and Intelligence, it would be really hard if they failed with me clearing the way for them, and with that, it means there are going to be hundreds if not thousands of people giving their support and best wishes for the foundation in my own name, which should, hopefully, be enough to draw in more than a fair number of people in to help, and then work to promptly indoctrinate them all into my name properly, and then I'd have more worshipers who would then get more people to join, and then repeat.
I basically just made my cult into a multilevel pyramid scheme to get more followers. Of course, the charity itself was going to be real, once my cultists work in getting everything set up that is, it'll be more rewarding for them to see the efforts that they are making while not having to be directly evil. As well as it bringing in more people, it can also bring them a lot of cash themselves if they work hard enough.
Of course I'll be doing some behind the scenes stuff in my free time to make sure everything goes smooth, but it's on them to really handle the main bulk of it, mostly because I couldn't without compromising my imagine in their eyes, and because I literally just couldn't do it all myself, which fucking sucked, but it would hopefully work out in the end, so I didn't mind to much. Though the idea of not doing something directly was certainly a very strange experience for me.
And as well, there was the whole name thing. I didn't mind the Darkness motif, it wasn't that bad, I didn't mind it really, it was even kind of cool for how overly and unnecessarily edgy it was, but I wasn't all that interested in being limited to just one thing, and since one of my... longer term goals is to get even with my great grandmother for the shit she did in Mexico, I figured it would only be fitting to take on title, the Night Mother, and make it into my own.
It did more than just talk about darkness, it talked of the sky, the earth, the stars, and everything in between, the night just had more than simply darkness, and so I picked it out for myself and I figured it would also work well with my domain over fire, since, well, stars, big flaming balls of gas. So yeah, that's that.
Plus, you have to admit, The Night King is just so much more badass, totally doesn't really fit my own imagine, that makes me sound so much more regally in control and not feral madman, but I didn't really give a shit to be honest. The cult was interesting, like an amusing idle game, a secondary thing to focus on when you had the time, but not something I was at all devoted to myself, I just didn't care about them that much to be honest.
So I built up a persona that would make the most use out of their interests with the help of Silena, since she was an expert on manipulating people, even if she herself didn't like to phrase it that was, and left things be on their own from there, the cult can handle themselves without my direct interactions for a while, just until everything was set up, and then I'd probably send out another message or something to get some more souls pledged to me.
I had about a year and a half until Percy turned sixteen, since I was still allowing that bit of Fate to be untampered with, so that's how long I had until I was at war with Olympus if Zeus keeps with his word on trying to nuke me at that time.
I had... things I needed to work towards in the mean time, after all, I wasn't much for fighting to be honest, it was obviously in my nature, and something I was very used to doing, but... Well, I was more of a talker and manipulator than a meat head kind of guy, always have been and always plan to be. Just because I'm preparing for war, doesn't mean I can't work on thinking up a way to simply... work around it.
Of course that required a plan and scheme so great that not even Zeus himself can turn me away, and it wasn't like with the Fates, I could cause infinite chaos if I so chose, and it was staving off Zeus himself for the time being along with the pervious motion by the court to keep me alive, simply because he couldn't afford it right now with the titans rising, but the second that was up, I'd be fucked.
So, just a bit of pressure to make a grand plan to be able to truly outwit the god of gods himself.
No big deal right?
Fucking hell, this was going much faster than I thought it would, but still, it wasn't quite as horrible as it could have been, so that's something at least.
Heh, at least it was interesting if a bit stressful to think about, but then again, since when as anything I've done not been stressful in some way? Normally I just don't give a shit and do it anyways.
Damn high Intelligence and Wisdom making me much too aware of how fucked I'll be if this goes wrong, it's annoying, my thoughts were just moving to fast for me to not process those variables before I could even stop myself from doing so. I like it more when I'm impulsive and don't worry about shit.
I'm going to get back in that headspace now, everything is more simple like that when I don't even think about failing, just what I need to do to get shit done. Makes planning easier as well.
With that in mind, I'm gonna go bug the Hephaestus cabin over seeing if I can make them confess to making sex toys when they think no one is looking. Obviously most don't do that, but it would be hilarious if there was one.
[Adriel: What will happen if you succeed?]
I blinked, in mild surprise, at the message that popped up in front of my face as I stared out at lake in front of me. Adriel wasn't much of a conversationalist for the most part, suiting his role as a watcher and more a guide when I needed a sound board or two, but never one for conversation usually, unless he was bored.
"What do you mean?"
[Adriel: If you ascend to godhood? What will happen?]
"Uh... Honestly? Don't really know, I'm not exactly up to date on what is suppose to happen when it happens, don't really know what to expect since the system kind of makes things for me a bit different than a normal person, and this isn't really one of those things I can just look up for a normal example either" Sure, people killed gods all the time in mythology as a whole, but Greek mythology, in which my own rules were contained, clearly didn't have many examples of something like this happening.
[Adriel: Will we still be partners if you lose your humanity?]
That... was a question I hadn't thought about yet, and honestly didn't have an answer to to be honest, because I had no idea. I mean, the only reason I could hold Adriel was because I had a mostly human soul when I got him, but I don't even know if that's even the same case anymore, I didn't really have a humanity gage, and Mr. D. was always vague as fuck on what I was so...
"I mean, I don't know to be honest buddy, but I don't think I'll lose you. For one, you're not just apart of my soul, you're apart of my system now, and I doubt it would just remove you, and even if it does some how get rid of our connect in one way... Well, I'll be a god, I'll just like, I don't know, make a butterfly body for you and then stick your soul in that and you can just fly around me in a real body"
[Adriel: You'd just do that? Even if you lost our connection?]
"Of course, you're my friend, you've literally been with me through some of the worse moments of my life, it would be pretty shitty of me if I didn't want to keep you around"
[Adriel: I see]
I just hummed and waited for a moment, but the butterfly seemed to be content with whatever I had said, so that was something. Glad I seemed to help his nervousness about whatever it was going on in his little head, I turned my attention back to the lake, enjoying the faint moment of peace while I had it given it's tendencies to go up in smoke.
"...Nah, I'm good, have fun though"
"Great, glad you-" Silena sort of just froze in place, like someone hit pause on her existence, that thought didn't bring up great memories for me, but she seemed to regain herself quick enough, as she said quickly, seemingly in shock, "Wait, what?!"
I just blinked before saying it again, since apparently she went deaf for a moment. Maybe I should take a look at her ears later?
"I said I didn't want to compete" She was still staring at me, before blurting out.
"Who are you?" I just blinked again.
"Nicolas King, nice to meet you" I held out a hand just to show the point, she did not look amused.
"No, seriously, what the hell you mean you don't want to compete? Since when have you ever not wanted to compete in anything?" That... was a good question, I didn't bother thinking about it though, instead I just shrugged.
"No point to, no exp from it that would be worth it, plus it would be boring. No challenge in beating up the other team" She didn't seem convinced so I tacted on, "And since I shouldn't torture them because you like the campers, I'll just have to make sure I don't accidently kill them and that sounds tedious" Normally the idea of curb stomping a bunch of kids would be enticing, it was certainly fun with Nico, but... I just wasn't into the idea of it right now.
"Are you sure you're Nick? The sadistic asshole who loves to fuck people knowing consequences don't affect him?" She tried to make it humorous, but there was a genuine note of concern in there now, I just shrugged.
"Pretty sure, I could kick a ten year old if you want me to prove it... You can go, seriously, I'm fine. Just... All contemplative and shit but it's nothing you need to worry about" I gave her a wide smile, it was fake, she knew it, I knew it, she didn't say anything though, just moved to sit besides me instead, asking.
"What's the issue? Seriously, because I think it was you who said, and I quote, that we need to work on communication like we're an old bitter couple" Did I say that? Probably, it sounds like something I would say, must have happened off screen though. Still, she had a point, I may be a trickster and a killer, but I do on occasion try to not be a hypocrite and especially not to be a liar.
"Nothing much, just... some things are on my mind, making plans and all that. I wanted to stick around here some more, but I'm pretty sure I'm going to have to head out soon, probably within the next week or so to go and deal with some shit" I needed to go out and look into some more information, a lot of it, mostly in book form, but said books were books that I had no idea how to find because I didn't know what the fuck they were yet, so I couldn't just scry them.
It was a pain in the ass.
Silena looked decidedly disappointed in that, before stopping, her face turning thoughtful for a second, before finally asking.
"How dangerous is it for you to go out there?" I paused at that, having to take a moment to actually think about it, before saying.
"For me? Not really dangerous, March is good at the protection detail and strong enough to handle basically everything himself, and that's without counting me, the titan killer, so no real danger for the most part" It was very fucking hard to kill me right now for a lot of reasons.
"Then I'll come with you" I- what?
"Really? You sure?" It was the quest thing all over again, sort of, not as surprising to be honest, but still not expected, for much the same reasons, she just wasn't much of a natural fighter, and unlike Nico, who was at this point about as strong as any average Ares kid these days and a hell ton of magical power to both back it up and just be stronger than them in general. Sure, Silena wasn't weak, but she wasn't Nico strong either, and he constantly got hurt all the time on my trip.
... To be fair, that's because I was the one hurting him since any monster that actually harmed Nico properly was eviscerated in the seconds afterward they tried.
"Of course I'm sure, I don't think it's a good idea for you to be in your own head for months at a time" Such little faith... To be fair, she's the only one who knew exactly just what that kind of thing did to me, since she's watched me be on the verge of multiple break downs over the whole hell that was the Fate's trail which was... bad, admittedly.
"I have March now! And you know about Adriel" She just huffed.
"One is an dead butterfly of a person that I can't see, and the other is a fucking ancient fallen angel who you've known for less than a month in total!" She sounded slightly conflicted about that, I just shrugged. I liked March, he was good company, and I'm pretty sure I was even warming up on him. Adriel just popped up a message saying he was better than that, I just snickered before replying.
"I mean, sure, if you want to tag along, I won't say no. Just... It is dangerous, maybe not for me, but in general and you're kind of the only person I don't want to see hurt" Wasn't that a strange thing to admit, but it was strangely true. I'm incredibly sadistic, it's one of my bigger flaws, I can admit it, I like fucking with and fucking up people, anyone, I'm not really picky, even friends.
It's fun to punch Percy in the face, to smack Nico around a bit, it's just how it is, it's entertaining for me, and yeah, that's fucked up as shit, but everyone who actually knows me knows just how fucked up I am anyways so whatever. But with Silena? I didn't want to see her hurt at all, ever, sure I'll fuck with her head on occasion, say something weird or whatever to see how she reacts, but... She's the only person in my life I never want to see hurt at all. It made something in my chest hurt a bit to think about actually, it was very strange.
"Well thanks for the compliment I guess, but I can handle myself" Silena sounded a bit stiff, I didn't think she was insulted, more flustered from what I was getting off of her emotions, which was a bit weird, but I ended up just shrugging.
"Alright, well I guess you should get everything in order then so you can head on out at the end of the week then. I don't really need to have to bother with that because I'm awesome" Silena just gave me a look at that.
"You mean you have no responsibilities in the camp so you can just leave whenever you want" I nodded, because that's basically what I had already said.
"Yeah that!" She huffed, but I could see a smile small on her face as she gave me a another, more exasperated look, before saying.
"Alright, well, I'll have my boring responsibilities all sorted then before we go, how about that?" I just gave her a grin, it would be really nice to have her around though, even if I was about as worried as I can ever be about the smaller things, I honestly really missed her at times, in a way that also was just strange to me given my penchant for vanishing for months at a time.
Even our some what frequent calls over the last few months while I was out with Nico hadn't really done enough to keep the feeling away, which was even more strange when I used to be able to go nearly a full year without her without much issue. It was really weird.
I wasn't sure I liked the feeling yet. It was new and unfamiliar, and not quite in a good or bad way.
Fire was... Interesting. I could still remember being burnt, of the feeling of my own conjured flames blistering against my own skin in the beginning before I learned how to forcibly direct the heat away from me so I didn't constantly crisp my skin to bits, it was painful as fuck to learn, and it only sort of worked back in the six month Fate game, but I learned it, and it helped for the most part.
Now? It just wasn't needed, I've already lit my entire body on fire and walked around like it was nothing, half to just test the flames out and to make sure I really was immune to every kind of fire possible, which I was to every flame I knew I could produce, and half as well as to fuck with literally everyone I came across.
It was hilarious how many people got into a fit when they watch a teenager walk around in the middle of an inferno.
Anyways, I was immune, I went around and stuck my head in a few forges as well just to double check, and it was true. Might have traumatized the Hephaestus kids from doing so, but that's hardly a new thing from my time in camp so was it really a big deal at all? I thought not at the very least, but apparently my opinion doesn't count for much which I thought was pretty rude.
Then there was the thermal sense thing I had, it was pretty cool, I'm pretty sure it's tied or scaled to my Perception skill or something, but the main jest of it now that I've had time to really mess around with it, was I could sort of feel the currents of heat around me, since, well, fire is hot. It was a fairly big range given just how jacked my Perception was, about a hundred foot radius, which I could sense anything above a certain heat threshold, which made finding human bodies really easy.
It was a bit hard to work at first, like learning how to use your eyes for the first time all over again, but I was a very smart cookie so it wasn't that hard after some practice with it, though it was obviously a bit unreliable in it's own ways, and it was very distracting if I focused in on it, like how a person can suddenly notice their blinking or breathing and it suddenly just stops being automatic, it's like that, but with, like, heat drafts in the air or whatever was around.
It didn't really mix with ADHD well is what I'm saying, but that was fine.
Beyond that, playing with fire was not at all surprising in how fun it was. I've been an arsonist for a while now after all, like, seriously, first week alive I burned down a library because I didn't like it, fire has always been a thing for me, even if I still think darkness is more handy, given it can do everything from transportation, healing, defending, and attacking, while fire really only had straight up murder and burning going for it, for the time being until I can figure out a way to do the before mentioned things with it, cause I'm sure I could, that doesn't really mean fire wasn't awesome in it's own right.
It really was just so fucking powerful, and it's cost was near trivial to me to be honest, with the insane reduction rates on my fire magic as well as just how much I could produce with an insane temperature to match, I could honestly brute force my way through anything I had to deal with for the considerable future by just literally nuking my enemies with holy/sun/infernal fire until it was charcoal.
It was honestly fun as well, just creating bright lines of fire and tracing them through the air across the lake at night, making weird patterns and shit, admittedly my shadows weren't as great for that kind of fun, given darkness and lightshows don't really go together on a fundamental level.
I was never against fire, obviously given my history with the stuff, it's just... It felt weird for it to be one of my primaries now with darkness. It was a weird hang up, the two didn't exactly mix and even though I've been using the two for so long, the fire had been so... secondary, one note even, just blasting whatever was in front of me while I used the shadows to do the more... finesse typed things when needed.
It was still the case now, but it didn't feel as... right before, maybe it was because of what I said, my domain over fire just meant my connection with the dark wasn't as... strong as before and that worried me. Or at least made me feel kind of like disconnected with my own powers now that they were actively pushing against each other, which fucking sucked.
It was like a part of me, part of my energy, just... didn't mesh with each other anymore, pushing and rubbing against one another in an uncomfortable mix of faint repulsion that was there every time I tried to pull on one or the other, and given my whole gender dysphoria thing I had going on for the last forever, it was a feeling I was unfortunately much too familiar with just in a new form.
It was very uncomfortable, and it only really managed to reinforce my desire to get all this speed up so I can fix my domains, or at least get new ones so my divinity would get itself all sorted out. It was quite the pain in the ass to be honest, but if I can handle this body for going on three years, then I sure as hell can manage dealing with this weird squirming in my chest.
Still, it was fucking annoying, like there was just to much in there, and given the size of my fucking tits, you'd think that there would at least be enough room for all the annoyances they gave me.
Apparently not.
[Annoyed retro-placed author note before the other stuff: The numbers mentioned area all always correct, stop telling me there are errors or mistakes, the game system is the only damn thing in this story I make damn sure to keep perfect account of. Like, I got full on color coded excel spread sheets and everything on it all. Still, to break it down for those that don't have any idea what I'm talking about-
The issue is the following: The total last chapter that was label as Mana: 33,415, and then I had it said earlier in the chapter that Nick had at his disposal a little under 40k. Both of these numbers are correct, his stat sheet only shows his baseline, it doesn't reflect all his bonuses, and those bonuses happen to also increase his power points. As of this time, without all his items that 33,415 is accurate, but with them and all his perk boosts that buff his stats, which in turn buff his mana count, as well as the other two power counts, to a much higher number, which is how you get the count from before. As of this moment with all his boosts active, his total mana is 43,173 if anyone was curious btw. Hope this settles stuff, my math isn't wrong, you people just don't read when I mention in the story that Nick is much weaker without his items and boosts and how they have a big impact on his everything. Now then, back to my original notes!]
I could have added more, but this was a nice weird ending for this chapter which I think worked well enough, it could have been more detailed, but it had everything I thought was important after what happened last chapter. Nick getting a very clear warning about what he did and how he's basically signed his own death warrant, as well as his own companions, new and old, in the form of March and Adriel getting their own moments with Nick in different ways, March getting used to not being in Hell anymore, and Adriel wondering just what his purpose is suppose to be in a world where Nick just doesn't need him anymore. As well as some fun talks with Silena as a whole, and dealing with the cult, which... I'm honestly still not really sure how I want that to turn out to be honest, but it's more a side story thing, with Max being the main character in his own little world. I figured I'd just mention whenever the cult did something interesting in terms of a game system perspective on Nick's end, and on occasion catch up with Max through the third person narrative I have going on here.
The cult is actually very important, I just... don't know how they are going to be important to be honest, I just know Nick having a following is funny as well as incredibly practical for future plans even if I don't really know the state of the cult whenever we get to it.
Oh! Fun thing! I haven't mentioned this in ages, like actual years, but way back when I used to, when I made characters, make playlists or finding songs that got me in the mood and the proper headspace for writing for them, it helps since I literally can't do anything without background noise and music is best for that. Anyways, this site isn't a big fan of music stuff, but I found, or rather re-found this song in one of my many five hundred plus playlists, that perfectly matched Nick in general, it's Living Legend by Club Danger. There are other songs and shit as well that fit this little shit as well, but this one when I found it again just hit me in the chest, like, damn. I'd recommend it if only cause it's a fucking hype song. There is honestly a bunch I could recommend, all fucking gold, another for example of different musical energy is Everything or Nothing by Willyecho, which is fucking awesome.
I'm done ranting about how awesome music is now, but do know it's an ever present thing with me, just been a bit since I actually talked about it anywhere in my end notes so I thought I would mention it, felt vaguely appropriate. Anyways, See ya.