I glared at the pile of golden dust in front of me, more like piles of it. This is the fifth time in a week that Luke sent his monster to attack me, effectively ruin my whole week. Sighing loudly, I closed my eyes for a moment as I tried to clear my head and control my emotion. Last time, I give in to my anger, it was dark and I didn't want to go through that again, not when there's a probability Kronos inside my head. Weird enough, after last time he spoke to me, there's nothing but complete silence. That made me very uncomfortable and uneasy. I have to keep my guard up. I looked up at the sky and the sun started to set, painting the sky in orange. I have to quickly go home, I'm already tired and my source of additional power is gone.

Luke really drove me crazy with all those monster attack and I started to get worry about my mom safety. Before I could even turned my weapon back into bracelet, another group of strange woman with their equally strange dog blocked my way. I groaned at this sight, I knew that the group in front of me is the second wave of the attack.

"Do you guys know how to rest?" I asked in annoyed tone "And how many are you in Luke ship? Or did you regenerate faster than I thought you would be?"

The group in front of me started to change into their real form, three Dracaena and four Hellhounds. I quickly took a couple step back and silently thank the god that the alleyway which I'm at rather cramp, so they had to attack me one by one. But, that also mean I can't move freely and my movement is restricted by cramp space. I thought about tried to summon a few of the undead, but last time I tried that I only managed to summon a few dead stray cats and dogs. I almost fainted when I see a dog and two cats appeared in front of me, my head killing me and I almost sure that I have a nosebleed too. So yeah, bad idea.

The sun already almost set and the darkness began to settle, I quickly dashed towards the nearest monsters which happened to be a Hellhound and slashed it with my sword, when the blade of my sword cut through the hound, it quickly disintegrate into a pile of golden dust. Without missing a beat, I quickly ran to the Dracaena which stood not too far behind the hellhound. The dracaena thrust her spear towards me and I pulled my head back quickly, the tip of the spear grazed my cheek and forced me to take a few step back. I quickly grabbed the spear with my free hand and swung my sword into it, breaking it into two. The dracaena only hissed in anger, as she watched me ran towards her and I stabbed her right in her chest. I could felt that the Stygian iron began to absorb the dracaena life essence and I felt a bit better.

It's kind of disturbing that I used another being life essence to replenish my energy, but I already crossed that line when I snapped on Luke last summer. I had to learn how to use and embrace Hades power, in order to help Percy and to survive. I only watched when the Dracaena crumbled into a pile of ashes, while the hellhounds began to growl in anger and about to pounce on me. I blocked its paw and the force send me into the fence behind me, I shook my head and tried to focus on the hound, which already midway from attacking me. It managed to pin me on the ground while its claw dug around my shoulder blade, I hissed in pain as I glared at the hound. I looked at the sides and focusing on the shadow on it, my blood began to rush on my head and a headache started to appear on my head. With a flicked of my wrist the shadow began to move and enveloped the hound back feet and the shadow began to drag the hellhound into the nearest shadow and sent it into another part of the world.

"Damn it!" I cursed as I held my head "Why I always got the worse headache when I used Hades power?"

I rolled to the side and stood up slowly, my head still throbbing and my sight began to waver a little bit. Who wouldn't be, after all I had to fight two wave of monster attack and each wave consist of more than four monster. I picked up my sword and tried to focus on the rest of the monster, two dracaena and two hellhounds. I shook my head again before I dashed forward to the nearest dracaena who let her guard down. I quickly stabbed her right in the stomach area and felt her life essence flowing into my body. Without missing a beat I quickly slashed the nearest hellhound and turned it into a pile of golden dust, then I blocked the dracaena spear and grabbed it with my free hand, quickly I pulled it and the dracaena body stumbled forward me, when that happened I quickly slashed my sword and beheaded her. The last hound let out a small whimper, clearly afraid of me, I only glanced at it and the hounds let out a threatening growl while backing up.

"Go now or I'll kill you like the rest of your team" I spoke in dark tone which the hellhound quickly obliged and ran towards the empty street.

I sighed deeply and turned my head into a window which happened to reflect my reflection. My usual dark blue eyes, turned into darker shades of blue almost black, the small cut on my cheek, my messy hair, and I'm paler than usual, and I'm tired. I picked up my bag on the ground and began to head back into my apartment. Just hoping that my mom wouldn't freak out for the fifth time since, I always come home covered with cuts and bruises and golden dust for the past five days.

Also yesterday a Cyclops managed to attack me in the apartment, luckily the Cyclops clumsy as hell, so I managed to kill it quickly. But that event made me even more worried, what if one of those monster get a hold of her? Or worse hurt her? I only looked at the door of the apartment where I lived with unamused looks, my neighbor eyes went wide when she saw me on this state.

"Oh my god!" she shrieked "What happened to you Reiner?"

"I have a fight, a group of people try to rough me up a couple of days lately" I said and shook my head "Probably some kids that I used to play basketball didn't like that I always win when I play with them"

"Why don't you tell the police about it?!" she looked at me worriedly "You always came home with bruises and cuts for the past few days! I'm worried about your safety!"

I only glanced at her and offered her a small smile "Martha, I'm okay. Thank you for worrying about me, but I'm fine."

Before Martha could speak again, the front door opened with such force that made me flinch. My mom stood there, panting hard, almost looks like she ran from the third floor just to get me. Her black eyes went wide when she saw my condition, without a word she grabbed my wrist and dragged me to our apartement room. She didn't say anything the whole trip and only walked with such incredible speed. When we reached our apartment, my mom made me sat on the couch while she grabbed the med kit.

"I have a thought" she mumbled at me as she began to clean my wound "Maybe you should stay in the camp"

"What? I'm sorry, can you repeat that again?" I asked her in disbelieved tone.

"Reiner, you got attacked by monster for the past five days without a break. A Cyclops managed to sneak into our apartment and almost kill you! It's not safe for you to stay with me anymore!" she said in sad tone.

"I can handled it mom" I said sternly.

"But look at you!" she said a bit louder "You, you looked stressed and tired. And I had enough of seeing you coming home covered in cuts and bruises. I-I already talked to Chiron and he will pick you up at 8 p.m"

I sent her disbelieved looks "Am I bothering you mom?"

"Oh god, no!" my mom said and gripped my hand tighter "You are not a bother to me! It just for your own good Reiner!"

I almost scoffed "Yeah, by not discussing that matter to me. Did my opinion doesn't matter anymore?"

"I don't want to send you to the camp!" my mom blinked slowly tried to get rid of her tear "I want you to stay here! But, your safety is more important, I don't want to lose you!"

"Then what about you?" I asked her "What if Luke sent his monster to get you?! I have to be here to protect you mom!"

"I'll be fine" she said and smiled reassuringly at me "Your father, already prepared something for it. He created some protection charm for me. So the monster won't attack me"

I almost rolled my eyes when my mom mentioned Apollo, after the last time he spoke to me, he never lend me a hand when I fought those horde of monster alone. He never lifted a fucking finger when he saw his son almost got turned into hellhound chew toy.

"You changed" my mom spoke softly "I don't know, it's because of you are already a teenager or something else affect you"

I only blinked at her words "What?"

She let out a forced laugh "You are more serious now, more mature. You grow up too fast to my liking. But then, maybe because you are a demigod and there's two god who happened to claim you"

"Mom, why Hades claimed me?" I asked suddenly.

My mom looked at her lap "I-I can't tell you that. Not now"

"Mom" I grabbed her shoulder "Hades told me something, he told me that he owned my soul"

My mom eyes widened in horror "Reiner, I don't want to talk about it"

"He claimed something about owning my soul and he also told me that you, dad, and he made a promise that you seal over river Styx, about my situation" I insisted "What is going on mom?"

"He's lying" my mom answered too quickly "He's clearly lying to you"

"Mom, you are hiding something from me" I said and she froze "Tell me, why? Why Hades said that word to me?"

My mom expression turned into relief when she heard the bell to our room rang "We can continue this later"

I only could sighed in annoyance as my mom walked to the door and opened it, only to find Thalia along with Clarisse stood there in front of the door. My mom let them in and she walked towards me with a small smile on her face.

"Go and pack up your things" she said.

I quickly stood up and went into my room, completely ignored the expression that Thalia gave me. I grabbed my duffle bag and threw it into my bed, quickly I opened my closet and put some of my clothes and stuffed it into my bag, along with a few other things. I quickly swung the strap into my shoulder and pushed the door opened, only to find that silence already enveloped the living room. My mom only stared at her lap, refused to look at both Clarisse and Thalia.

"Where's Chiron?" I asked.

"Downstairs" Thalia answered

"And why you two here?" I asked again.

"To pick you up, dumbass" Clarisse spoke as she glanced at me "Chiron already told us about your situation and we tag along in case monster appear, since you are now a magnet to it"

"Why Thalia then? Isn't she the biggest magnet?" I asked

"Because, there's no one else willing to come to pick you up" Thalia answer

"Chiron think this is a good idea" Clarisse said "Masking your scent with Thalia, since Luke only ordered his monster to get you, not her"

"Masking my scent? So what, is Thalia is going to rub herself into me?"

Thalia face turned beet red while Clarisse only sighed and face palmed "I-Forget it. Its either you are an idiot or you just trolling me. I take the latter one"

I only gave her a grin "Aw, so you do understand me"

Clarisse scrunched her face "I'll just ignore you"

"Reiner" my mom called my name.

Seeing the uncomfortable expression on my face, Clarisse quickly grabbed Thalia wrist and excused herself. Before closing the door, she told me to be quick since, she didn't want to miss dinner. When they already gone, my mom stood up from the couch and walked towards me.

"I hope you understand why I'm doing this" she said while looked up at me "I'm doing this for your own safety. It's not safe for you to life outside the camp protection, not while Luke still out there"

"I can take care of him mom" I said while ran my hand through my hair "I'm not the same like two years ago. I changed, I grew up, and I'm also stronger"

My mom gave me sad smile "I never wanted you to become a hero, I only wanted you to live a normal kid. But..." she wiped the corner of her eyes, tears already formed there "I can't be selfish"

I felt guilt ate my heart up, I regretted those words I said to her earlier, my mom hand moved up and stroke my cheek gently.

"Go, my hero" she said and her tone broke at the end "Go and save the world for me"

Tears started to fall from her eyes, I held her hand that on my cheek and smiled at her.

"Thank you mom" I said and quickly hugged her "I will come back when all of this over, I will come back to you alive"

After a few minutes I pulled myself and wiped her tears away. My mother pushed my back into the door and kissed my cheek lightly, before saying good bye and closed the door softly. I only stared at the door and put the palm of my hand into the woods, stroking it slightly.

"I'll come back mom" I muttered "I'll come back to you, always. After all, I'm your son"