Chapter 16: Unlimited Rage

Percy's POV

"Kian….if you're in there if you can still hear me…give him hell!"

Kian smirked and turned back just slightly, both pairs of his wings fluttering. "Just sit back and enjoy the show!"

"Mia, barrier now!"

"On it!"

Around us, a golden sphere shield formed from nothing and covered us in its warm light. Marcel, Mia and Harry and the rest of Kian's friends moved in front of us slightly.

"Shall we begin?!" Kian stood in front of Rashomon confidently. "Or would you like to get some hostages first?!"

He scoffed. "Turning your hair red won't stop-"

SCHOCLK!

Annabeth's hands went over her mouth and I almost threw up on the spot. The reason? Kian had run his bare arm through Rashomon's chest, his arm now covered in dark blue and sparkling blood behind his victim.

"Jesus Kian…" Harry whispered.

"You can't run if you can't use your lungs right?!" Kian laughed condescendingly. "Go ahead and try to kill my friends now, you might find breathing extremely difficult!"

Rashomon pulled himself free of Kian's arm in his chest and threw up a pool of blue blood in front of him. His bright blue eyes stared up at Kian, filled with only rage and bitter hatred. "You dare touch a god of speed, you filthy mortal?!"

"Addressing an Archangel like that?" Kian tutted. "You must be wanting to be punished!"

Rashomon slowly but surely stood up, his breaths hard and painful as his wound started to heal in flashes of lightning. Kian waited for him confidently, waiting for the next move that he knew would come. As he expected, Rashomon rushed towards him, a trail of blue lightning behind him as he ran forward with a sonic boom. Kian stood still and blocked his attempt, holding his fists with his hands as the ground cracked behind him.

"You can't beat me!" Rashomon roared loudly, his eyes glowing like orbs. He tried but failed to overpower Kian. "I am a god, you cannot kill a god! That can only be achieved by the Mistress herself!"

Kian smiled widely. "Let's test her technique on you shall we?!"

The pair vanished into high-speed blue and red streaks of lightning that covered this small street of Seattle in a bright light show. Even though I was behind a shield, I felt the high-speed winds generated by the pair. They tore up lamposts, sent stray cars into the sky and the buildings around us started to break and crumble. Glass and concrete flew all around us bouncing off the golden shield in front of us, leaving large ripples behind as the area around us slowly disintegrated.

"Do you see it?" Harry had sheathed his sword somewhere. "This is what happens when a god fights against an Archangel."

"Yeah, we've seen it," I said casually.

"You what?!" Harry turned around so hard, that his spiked-up hair fell over his forehead.

"We saw him fight Ares, almost killed him if Percy didn't snap him out of it," Annabeth explained. "He had this red aura around him and-"

"What?" Harry asked. "You saw him go into the Reaper State?!"

"The what state?"

"It's-" He quickly glanced at the rest of his friends before us. "Imagine your most awful moments, memories that made you sad, angry, every bad thing that someone has done to you. Every rejection, all your bad days. When you want your enemy deader than dead, Kian channels all of those powerful emotions into his body. That is the Reaper State, his unlimited rage. Once he's in that mode, it's hard to get him out of it."

"You say it like you've seen him do it before," Annabeth said.

"The last time this happened-"

An explosion in front of us distracted us and we looked at what caused it. A building in front of us had been decimated and Kian stood over a bloodied Rashomon, blue hair covered with his sparkling blue blood. An arm was torn off his right side and left a stump that was bleeding blue. A broken lamppost stuck out of his stomach, Kian holding it with his hands.

"IT'S OVER!" Kian screamed. He pushed on the telephone pole inside Rashomon's stomach and he screamed so loud that I was sure the Olympians could hear him.

"Let's see if her technique is the real deal!" Kian crouched and put a hand over his victim's face. His wings moved with high speed, stabbing through his legs and pinning him to the ground. A wispy blue aura started to spill out of Rashomon, only getting thicker and thicker as Kian kept this up.

"NO!" Rashomon screamed. "H-how are you doing this?! STOP!"

He floundered on the floor, his remaining arm and both of his legs kicking out as he tried to get out of Kian's strong grasp. His once confident eyes were now filled with fear, the possibility of dying evident in his eyes.

I saw the look of rage, the look of murder in Kian's eyes. His mouth was held in a cruel smile, red eyes glowing brightly. What Hades told us in the council, his words echoed in my ears and suddenly, what Empena said about him was starting to make sense.

If someone hadn't stepped in, I would have started fully believing her words.

"You're done Kian." Harry had stepped out of the orange. "Come on.."

"I'm done?!" Kian looked at Harry. I made the mistake of seeing into his eyes again and I saw the same visions of death, destruction and suffering of the people I cared about. I sharply looked away and quickly forgot what I saw.

"HE. HAS. TO. DIE!" Kian roared so loud that I felt it inside my bones. "What he did to those young women, what he almost did to Bella, this bastard murdered Karin, he put a hand through his chest! You want me to let him go, Harry?!"

"I'm not asking you to let him go! We need him to get to Empena, we need him to talk," Harry answered calmly

"We know enough. Empena has the gate, she could invade any time. It's all my fault!"

"It's not," Harry said softly. "If we know the time of her invasion, then we prepare for it. I activated the Invasion Protocols, the Warmind is preparing for her possible invasion. If we knew her exact plan, we can fight back. And one more thing, won't the Celestial High council like to see a war criminal that supported Empena? Won't that be better instead of killing him?"

Kian looked at the barely living god of speed under his foot, then at Harry and then at us, his red eyes fading into purple.

"You should listen to him.." Rashomon laughed painfully. "Reaper.."

Kian turned to his victim on the floor below him. "Have you done anything to her?"

Rashomon laughed. "I tried so hard to make her mine, everything but she almost killed me every single time! I'll keep trying, she'll learn to love me and give in to my advances."

Kian let out one last guttural scream and knocked him out with a strong punch to the head that cracked the ground around us. He walked off his opponent's torso, his wings removing themselves from their target and Kian and looked at Harry.

Kian looked at his almost dead opponent and scoffed. "Pathetic weakling, call yourself a god but you scream like a child."

Kian's aura faded and his hair returned to normal as he took a knee on the floor. His pair of wings vanished and I immediately felt at ease and I felt like the Kian I had known, the Kian that was so adamant against defending mortals from the Olympians was back.

Harry patted his back and stood beside him. "Nice to you have you back."

Kian chuckled and stood up but his legs buckled. Harry caught him immediately and supported him via his shoulder. Mia undid the orange barrier around us and we all ran towards Kian. "Are you okay?!" she asked. "Kina-"

"I-I'm fine.." Kian started. "I'm just-"

"He's almost out of juice," Marcel said."I can sense it. Did you seriously fight with that holding you back?"

Kian chuckled lightly. "You know what happened that last time I used all of it, I'm not making that mistake again."

"This isn't the time to be holding back, Kian."

"What was holding you back?" I asked him. "Come on Kian, what aren't you telling us?"

"It's nothing." Kian waved it off. He tried to stand up but he wasn't making any progress and leaned further on Harry's shoulder.

"I'm glad you're okay. What were you thinking facing Empena on your own?!" Mia shouted at him. "We do things as a team, not alone!"

"I was so close to killing her!" Kian lifted his head to look at Mia. "So close…if she-if she hadn't turned up…"

"I don't think it's a coincidence that the moment she was about to be killed, she turned up," Varahard said. "She'll play any dirty trick to win. That damn blood-sucking bastard!"

"Who?" Annabeth asked him.

Kian's friends looked at him. "I'll explain later." He turned to us. "I would introduce you to my friends but I guess you've already met them.

"They're heroes like you, right?" I asked.

"You could say that," Kian looked down at the floor before looking up again. "We have to get out of here. I don't want a repeat of Operation Broken Veil."

"What's that?"

"When all of Seattle learned that they weren't alone in the universe." Harry quickly said. "When-"

"Yeah, we know," Nico told him quickly.

"What?!" Harry's brown eyes widened at what Nico said. "That was supposed to be top secret information! Who told you?!"

"I did," Kian explained. "They were getting pushy."

"We kind of made him do it," Annabeth shrugged her shoulders slightly. "He looked like he was anxious to be in Seattle."

Harry shook his head. "Doesn't matter anymore. We have to leave, now! We don't need SHIELD or the FBI trying to capture us again!"

The area around us looked like it a small tornado had gone through it. Buildings were broken, lamposts torn from the ground and debris thrown all over the place. The sky was dark grey and I knew it was about to rain at any moment

"How did you manage against the Dark Moons?" Kian looked at me.

I explained what happened, how Split told us how he knew about him, how Nico used his shadows to restrain Nivan and how we froze Split in place. Kian smirked but it vanished soon after.

"They severely underestimated you 4. It won't work again. I knew I could count on you to defend yourself."

"Trust me on that, they nearly killed us when we fought them," Varahard said. "You're lucky that Nivan didn't blast you with radiation."

"He could have done what?!" Thalia shrieked.

"Harry, how did you get here from Asgard?" Kian asked him. "The Bifrost shouldn't be working?"

"We have a Warp Gate back on Asgard. Violet's on the other side." Harry raised Kian on his shoulder slightly.

"Where?" Annabeth raised an eyebrow. She massaged her temples. "If we do need to get out of here, why don't we go back to that safe house you showed us?"

"Safehouse..?" Harry blinked. "That safehouse?!"

"That's the one." Kian agreed. "I think I can stand up now."

Harry let him go and he started to stand on his own but he was still shaking. His blue suit was in tatters, bright red blood coloured the broken pieces. The cuts on his face were healed but still fresh. This didn't seem to have bothered him as he looked around and then back at us.

"Sirens. I count at least 30 cars. All converging to where we are We really have to get out of here!"

"What about our stuff?!" Annabeth complained. "You can't expect us to leave them there!"

"Don't worry, I have it."

Marcel dropped our luggage in front of us and gave us a friendly smile. He looked at Kian. "We need to go to Locus, if she's got the gate then…"

"What's Locus?" Nico asked him. "Don't you mean Locust?!"

"No, he doesn't, Nico," Kian explained to him. "The planet that I went to school on, the planet that I told you about, it's called Locus. Now she's got what she wants, she's going to bring havoc upon the planet."

"She won't for 3 days. That's the highest level of lock I could have placed on it. I'm sorry I couldn't have done more."

"Harry, you gave us time to prepare a counterattack," Kian gave him a pat on his armoured back. "She may have the Warp Gate but she won't be able to even touch the Genesis System for that time."

"What about Mr Speed God over there?" Varahad asked him. We all turned to see the still body of Rashomon.

"The Warp Gate will take care of it, we'll send him straight to Locus," Harry answered. "Can't leave him here!" He tapped something into his wrist and he looked up. He turned to Kian and then to us. "Ready?"

"What about them?" Nigel looked at us. "Do we need to take them?"

Kian turned to us. "The mission has changed, we need to go to Locus to prepare for Empena's attack. If you don't want-"

"Are you kidding me?!" Annabeth said with a smile. "Of course, we would like to go!"

"Annabeth, what?!" I asked her.

"Think about it Percy, when do you have the chance to go to a different planet?!" She turned to me quickly.

"I mean," I shrugged. "It's a good point."

Annabeth looked at Thalia and then at Nico who agreed half-heartedly. She turned to Kian. "We want to take down Empena too. If she wins against you, then she'll just come back here and kill our parents."

"One more thing.." Annabeth said. "Why did they all call you the Reaper? They said it like-"

"Like I was all the embodiment of evil in the world?" Kian finished her sentence. "I've been fighting the Grigori nearly all my life, so has everyone here and when you constantly get in their way for universal domination, they don't like it."

"What about all things Split said.."

"What things?"

"He said you were a monster. About your blood being only destruction and rampage."

Kian sighed and his shoulders dropped. "He's right."

Annabeth's eyes widened. "What? That can't be right?!"

"I'll give you the full explanation later. Harry, we're ready!" Kian turned to him. "Do it!"

"Violet, we're ready!" Harry shouted in thin air.

"You might feel a little tingle…" That was the last thing Kian said before the scene changed in front of us. Instead of the disaster scene where we once stood, we now stood in an open space. Around us, many pillars held up the roof, the sunlight from outside bringing light into the large golden hall around us.

"Where are we?"

"Asgard, the centre of the Nine Realms," Harry explained. "We've been given special permission to stay as long as we would like."

"Kian!"

I snapped my attention to the girl in a fancy blue robe. She had chocolate-coloured skin and bright blue eyes that made her stand out. "What happened to you?!"

"Empena happened." Kian groaned.

She sighed and turned to the others. "Why did you let him fight alone?!"

"Violet, we were busy training!" Harry said. "We only knew that something was happening when Heimdall told us about it!"

She sighed and looked at Kian, opening his eyes and placing a hand on his heart. "Your lucky to be alive. Your heart…it's at 220 bpm, your energy…is almost drained."

"Yeah, I could have figured that out myself," Kian quipped. "I'm fine now."

"No, you aren't,"

"Yes, I am!"

"You're about to collapse."

"I'm no-"

Kian buckled and would have fallen flat on his face if Violet hadn't caught him. "That's….new."

"You were fighting with that Seal, didn't you?" She asked. "Without your full power-"

"I can't use it!" Kian breathed in and out rapidly. "After-"

She sighed. "We're lucky that we got to you in time. Here, I'll fix you up." Her hands started to glow and Kian was covered in a blanket of golden light.

"Um, hi," I said while everyone else was staring at Kian. "I'm Percy-"

"I know who you are." Violet turned to me. "I'm Violet, nice to meet you."

"You told them about us?!" I asked him. "About-"

"Yeah," he nodded. "And don't worry, we won't tell anyone."

"Honestly," Violet started. "It didn't surprise me. We've met all sorts of gods so it's nothing we aren't used to. What's strange is that there's a camp for people like you."

"I see," Annabeth said. Suddenly her eyes picked up on something. "Wait, did you say that you met other gods?!"

"Oh yes plenty of them," she explained. "See him over there-" she pointed to Varahard -" his dad is the God of the Sun!"

"Like Apollo?" I asked him.

"Close. It's complicated to explain how the Hindu gods have demigods. Both my parents are human, but my powers come from my spiritual side. One of them is human, the other half is from Surya." Varahard explained. "Hindu God of the Sun."

"Nice guy, loves Inception," Harry commented.

"Who are the other gods you've met?"

A pattern of footsteps forced my attention on a tall blonde man with a red cape behind him. His hair was long and reached his shoulders and he wore silver armour with little circles on them.

"Kian," he said with a smile. "Did you do it?"

"No," Kian sighed. "I was so close, she managed to get away"

"How?!" he asked, his right hand holding a hammer. His voice was hard to place, a mix of British and Australian and he sounded like he came out of an old-fashioned Shakespeare play. "And why did you not ask for my help, you know I would-"

"No!" Kian said sharply. "She would have killed you!"

The man laughed like the very idea of that was impossible. "I would have loved to see her try.

Kian wiped his hair that had drifted to his face. "The Nine Realms need their protector, I can't risk your life for my mission."

"Kian," Annabeth asked him. "Who is this?"

"Oh right," Kian turned to us. "Meet Thor Odinson, Prince of Asgard and Protector of the Nine Realms, this is Percy Jackson, Annabeth Chase, Thalia Grace and Nico di Angelo."

"Hello, Son of Jack," Thor shook my hand which I was surprised to find was very soft.

"Wait…" Annabeth's eyes widened. "No way…Thor…that Thor?"

"Yes?" Thor chuckled.

Annabeth studied him carefully like she was trying to answer her mystery. "Nice to meet you."

"Yes you too young lass." he turned to Kian and his friends. "You must be tired after this fight, stay as long as you like, Asgard welcomes you all."

"I wish we could stay as long as we want to Thor," Harry started. "But we have to leave soon. "Empena has the Warp Gate and she' 'll invade Locus in 3 days."

A sad look passed over his eyes. "That is unfortunate. When do-"

"Tomorrow morning," Harry said sharply. "Sorry."

"Don't apologise. I understand your actions. If Asgard was under threat, I would do the same. Why don't you stay for the night? I can have the cooks prepare you a small feast, the servants a bad and a hot bath."

"Yeah," Kian smiled slightly. "That would be nice." He looked around us. "Where's Leo, Sakura and Chris?"

"They're in their rooms," Violet announced. "What exactly happened?"

"I can show you the footage later but we have a problem. A big problem."

"What?"

"It's Bella."

"Bella, but she's-"

"She's not dead." Kian raised his head to look at Violet. "I thought so too, I mean I saw it happen but Bella is apparently a lot tougher than she looks. Empena rescued her. Right now, she's her puppet."

"How?!"

"Some kind of brainwashing."

"Like the Manchurian Candidate?"

"Eh," Kian grunted. "Something like that."

"Why didn't you call us?!" She smacked his back. "Come on Kina, we-"

"She could have killed us," Harry said. "And I'm starting to agree with Kina there, Rashomon would have killed us if Kian didn't use it again."

Violet looked at Kian. "Reaper State?"

"Yeah.." Kian sighed guiltily. "I had to. If I didn't-"

"I know you had good reasons. I'm just glad the two of you are alright. Kian, can you stand now?"

"Yeah…" he got up on his feet and turned to her. "Thanks."

Violet hugged him tightly. "Don't ever fight on your own ever again okay?!"

"Fine, fine." He complained. He handed Violet a small device from his broken suit. "This contains the video footage of the fights."

"We should all relax now," Harry cut in. "Thor, can you ask the servants to make 4 more beds please, just for the night? Everyone who fought back on Earth with us, take a break and then meet for debriefing."

"I will but I have urgent matters to discuss with you." He looked at Kian. "Can you stand?"

"Yeah, just about."

"Good, my father would like to have a word."

Kian rolled his eyes and looked at the rest of us. "I'm in trouble…"

Asgardian Throne Room

Kian's POV

"What have you learned of the Greek Gods?" Odin sat on his throne flanked by his ravens, Munnin and Huggin. In his right hand was Gungnir and he looked at me with one blue eye of his.

"Arrogant, Self-Absorbed and incredibly selfish. They care nothing for mortals except as tools and objects." I answered. "Especially Zeus, Hera, Aphrodite and Ares. What else do you want to know?"

Odin took a moment to think. "If that is true, then why did you bring their children to Asgard?"

"Because they were in need of some rest, the battle against Empena….it took a toll on them, they are yet to see it and I fear if I left them on Midgard, they would have taken a further toll."

Odin took a moment to think again before speaking again. He sighed and looked at Thor who was to his right.

"Kaliel…" he addressed me by my angel name. "We have not been in contact with the Olympians in over millennia. The last time any of us visited the Omnipotent City, our relationship with the Olympian gods was stable but now, I am concerned that if they knew if their children are with us-"

"They don't have someone as powerful as Heimdall monitoring every soul in Midgard," I explained. "Half of the time, they can't even keep track of themselves. Rest assured Allfather, there won't be a war between Asgard and Olympus and if there was, I would fight alongside Asgard's soldiers to keep this realm safe."

"Very well," Odin banged his spear on the floor. "I will allow the Greek Demigods to stay in Asgard for the night at your request."

"May I ask that they be allowed to be taken through the gardens." I requested. "It's a beautiful place, it might be nice to take their minds off the coming conflict and the use of one of the banquet halls, especially by the sea."

Odin nodded. "Very well. I shall let the guards know about our new visitors."

I bowed in respect. "Is this all?"

"Just a word of advice, Kaliel, you judge the Olympians too harshly," Odin explained. "Even yourself."

"How?!" I asked him, careful to come across as a fair argument rather than disrespect. "Allfather, they would only help Midgard if it endangers them, not out of benevolence. All the stories that have been told about them show one thing, they think they're meant to be worshipped as idols."

"You judge them based on your laws, your code of honour," Odin started. "The reason why we have a treaty between Asgard and the Celestials is that we have similarities between us. We both fight to help those that are weaker than us, we both see the value in allies and we see the action of hurting the innocent as something that must be stopped."

"That's why I hate the Olympians! They don't see any reason to be like us!"

Odin took a moment to look at Huggin and Munnin. "Ask yourself this question Kaliel, why would they be like us? They are immortal. They cannot die, they exist without having a reason to. Can you imagine that, living like that for eternity?"

"They're gods!" I repeated. "They've been living like that for the last 6000 years. Possible insanity doesn't give them a right to act like a bully!"

"Then think of them like this? To them, humans are just like a gust of wind, a simple speck of their time in their immortal existence. You see them like they are just like you, you were raised with them, lived with them, they didn't."

"What's the point you're trying to make?"

"You should look at their perspective, Kalilel," Odin stated. "Understand the reasons why they act the way they do."

"Why should I?"

"Because you'll see how damaged they are, how they've lost their humanity."

"Humanity?" I blinked. "They had that?"

Odin nodded slowly. "Zeus wasn't the man you see today. A long time ago, he was a warrior, a fine one. Proud, confident and full of justice."

"Where did the greed for women come from?"

Odin chuckled which I found jarring. "Yes, the reason why there are so many demigods. Unfortunately, I believe it worsened after his marriage to his wife. He spent so much time with other women that he started getting bored of her."

"That's a shame," I said sarcastically.

"It is indeed," Odin agreed with me. "That is the curse of immortality."

"Well, good thing that I'm not," I said. "I can't imagine just…existing forever."

I understood what Odin had said: immortality was a curse, not a power. Zeus had gone from someone like me to a paranoid god that couldn't keep it in his pants when he saw a pretty girl. From Alveus's memories, I saw how the gods had this glazed look in their eyes like they were existing in a never-ending loop all the time.

I wasn't immortal and I never wanted to be. Believe it or not, vessels were not immortal, just able to live long lives. Mum and Dad were over 5000 years old, their arrival on Earth a long time ago created the Abrahamic religions. I never told this anyone but I never wanted to live for that long, especially without friends or family. If they died, I would be alone in this universe and the thought terrified me.

Maybe that's why the Greek Gods looked like they were just waiting to die in Alveus's memories. They hated the person who they had become, they didn't want to live anymore, the only people that could live like them were other Olympians and given how messed up they were, I wouldn't blame them. The tragic thing? They couldn't die, they had to maintain the world order out of responsibility rather than out of benevolence. Maybe the reason they fought was that a small part of them were still their original selves, the self that wanted justice because they didn't want the world to suffer from the titans like they once had.

"Head in the clouds?" Odin asked me.

"Just thinking of what you said," I replied. "Were all of them like that? Honourable and willing to defend the innocent?"

"I can assume they were," Odin answered. "Midgard needs your help, this lust for bringing the Olympian gods to justice should be focused elsewhere. Your mere presence should be enough to deter them from behaving like fools."

"I never really wanted to kill them." I started. "I never wanted to kill anyone! It's the only way that they'll listen, take responsibility for their actions!"

"And they have," Odin announced. "Heimdall will always be watching but we cannot interfere. To the Olympians, we are a story that has drifted into legend and myth, they have almost forgotten us, we cannot reveal ourselves."

"I think you should," I said. "If they knew that there were gods like them, gods who are dedicated to protecting Midgard, then they might revert to their once true selves."

Odin nodded, thinking what I said through. "Very well, we shall consider it. The matter is concluded."

I bowed in respect and headed off to meet my friends but Odin had more to say.

"This fight against this God Slayer, how long have you been fighting against her?"

"Since I was 12," I turned to answer him. "My parents…more than that."

"You should use all your resources to fight her and bring her conquest to an end."

"I am."

"No, you are not."

"What?" I asked him. "What do you mean?!"

"Your allies. They are some of the most powerful warriors that all of Asgard has seen. You, Kaliel, can bring down lightning just like my son, your best friend, the mortal boy called Harry can craft weapons that can match your abilities and finally, the sorceress you call a friend has been taught by me and Frigga."

"Your point?"

"Your friends are powerful and they will serve you well in this war. Ask for their help and they will gladly offer it."

"That's the problem," I chuckled. "I led a lot of them to their deaths like that. It's my fault that they died."

"I have seen many soldiers of Asgard give their lives to keep the peace. I mourned for all of them, I remember each of them." Odin continued. "But I do not let one death stop me from leading the armies of Asgard when the nine realms are threatened."

"Even if their deaths are your fault?"

"They understood the dangers of war and they followed me into it. They died because of the enemy, not because of me. I simply led them into battle."

"What are you trying to say?"

"Fight her with your allies, they will help you to claim the victory you crave."

"Sure," I agreed half-heartedly. "I have to leave, my allies need my information."

Odin nodded. "Take care, Kalilel."