The One Who is Free (Percy Jackson - Maki Zenin & SI-not-MC Chapter 5)

Deep in the heart of Minnesota's forests, within its oldest forest, an ancient being had made it his home.

He was Picolous, a Gigas, one of the children of Gaea and Tartarus. He was the Bane of Nike, the one meant to stripe victory from the Olympians, and help his mother Gaea bring forth a new order to the world.

Yet when the moment of truth came, he... strategically retreated. He saw the battle was not going in the Gigantes' favor. He wanted to fall back and reassess the situation. To make better plans, but No. Enceladus called him a fool, and Porphyrion called him a coward.

They were wrong. He wasn't any of those, he was the only one who saw the powers they brought, their own strength alone wasn't enough. He tried to rectify that. Show his siblings that he had a vision and a means to his actions. He sought to steal the strength of some of the minor gods or even demigods. To bring a new unexpected power into the Gigantes' strategies.

He attempted to slay the witch Circe, yet her father, the traitorous titan Helios struck him down. Thus he died before he could enact any plan. Yet he was as fast as his brother Hippolytos. Thus the moment he reappeared in Tartarus he managed to sneak and quickly escape.

He had been quietly laying in these lands for millennia planning his revenge. To finally bring the down fall of Olympus. He just needed to gather more information.

There aren't anymore demigods of the Big Three, right? There shouldn't be any, other than that Thalia girl who was killed in the dispute between Zeus and Hades. That was a shame, her power would have been most useful to him.

But still he would just have to plan and plan some more and—

Picolous smelled the air, a new scent had entered his forest. The scent of a demigod.

He grinned and prepared his traps. He stuck to the shadows as he made an illusion of himself from the Mist to stand tall and imposing in the middle of a large clearing.

"Was it foolishness and misfortune that brought you here, Demigod?" "Picolous" said confidently, not looking around for the demigod obviously trying to sneak up on him. "To think that you'd be so unlucky as to cross my path. You don't even know what you stumbled into, do you?"

As Picolous spoke through his illusion the demigod... walked right into the middle of the field. A tall man, looking like a clean shaven biker with sunglasses.

Picolous snarled without a sound. Even for a demigod that survived till adulthood, that was extremely arrogance.

"How brave." "Picolous" spoke. "Not many are so brave, or rather so foolish as to walk right up to me like that. Do you even know who you face child..." Then Picolous took a deep sniff and grinned savagely at his finding. A grin copied on his illusion. "Of Hades." He couldn't believe such valable prey had fallen into his lap. He thought all demigods of the eldest gods had died in that massive world war some decades ago. "Oh, this really is an unfortunate day for you. For before you stands the Bane of Victory, the Anti-Nike, Picolous of the Gigantes! A child of Gaea and Tartarus themselves!" He said dramatically, even raising his hands in the air as he said that, before leaving his arms spread, as if ready to lunge at the demigod afterwards. "Tremble in despair for having met me, and chosen to willingly face me."

For a while the demigod said nothing. He looking up into the illusion's "eyes" with boredom in his own.

"Do you honestly think that the gods don't know you exist? That you had fled Tartarus call those millennia ago and no one noticed?" The demigod spoke, and suddenly the daylight filtering through the forest's trees seemed dimmer.

Picolous frowned but ignored this, offended by the demigod of Hades' words.

"Of course they did! Over the centuries none have learned of my lair. No demigod, nymph or satyr had learned of me, and those who did never lived. I had been planning Olympus' demise with them none the wiser. My machinations lay undetected for eons!" Picolous shouted, ready to unleash the elements he had stolen and built of the many demigods over the centuries. Yes, what he could steal was partly stuff, but every bit helps.

"No. No." The Son of Hades said with a sighed as he looked down, closing his eyes in thought. "You simply weren't important enough to be worthy of being a threat." Picolous snarled but held in place. Not willing to be baited into anger. However, he was so focused on the demigod, he didn't notice the shadows encircling the whole grove they were in. "You stayed in one place. One forest. The only people you killed where those you fell into your traps. Olympus just considered those people to have committed suicide from excessive stupidity." Picolous' eyes widened. How dare this half-blood! "No one deemed you worth the effort of hunting you down. But you can be glad." And then the Son of Hades looked directly at where Picolous was hiding. "Someone finally found a use for you, and now you can be reunited with your siblings." The demigod's eyes glowed red like the fires of the Punishment Fields.

Picolous launched every single bit of magic he had to make the ground spike, thunder fly, fire erupt, and water rush from a nearby river, all aiming at the demigod, and he began to run.

The sky turned black, as though night had suddenly come.

Walls of shadows erupted around the grove forming a wall.

"No, Picolous." He Gigas looked behind him to see all his attacks missing, as the demigod stepped out from Picolous' own shadow. "You don't get to run anymore. No man nor god can escape his end."


It's been ten days since the heavenly court case for the civil dispute of the claim over the demigod of Athena took place.

The court case looked like it might take months, if not realistically years to process and finalize, as it opened the floodgates to many other concerns and grievances.

What if a different god wanted to look after or show favor to a demigod not their own, and was left undetermined for a long time?

What if a minor god took claim over a demigod, and then their divine parent of a higher status later wanted to claim them after their achievements made their god parent see them as worthy?

What if a major god wanted to make a claim over a demigod of a minor god who already claimed them?

What if two gods of similar rank wanted to lay claim over a demigod they are not the parent of?

Should the divine parent have any claim to a child they left undetermined for a long time, when a god of similar rank claimed them first?

And on and on the debates when, and there was also the central question of what to do about Hades claiming Athena's child, since he does have a reasonable claim, due to being the girl's grandparent.

And since he did claim her first which cabin should she live in? There was no Hades Cabin.

And no, the Athena Cabin wasn't an acceptable answer since it would imply that Athena had a stronger claim over the girl.

The topic of should a Hades Cabin be built came up since if Hades was going to be claiming his grandchildren, and since Vincent Goodman was still alive, there would be a reason to build said cabin, as that unique scenario circumvents the Great Prophecy, at least when it was pointed out on why a Hades Cabin haven't been built in recent time. (Ignoring all the times before when it wasn't build.)

Athena argued that she wasn't given a chance to claim the girl, which opened the discussion should there be a time limit for a god to claim their child before anyone else could step up to claim them.

And so on and so forth.

The Hunter of Artemis, Phoebe didn't care about any of that.

"Are we getting closer?" Asked Naomi, another huntress.

"According to the nymphs, this is the forest that suddenly had night sprout in the middle of the day. So we're on the right track but," Phoebe looked at the forest, the traces and signatures of demigod power, and frowned. "It's likely he's long gone. Looking at the damage here, I'd say we're five days behind."

"I can't believe this guy is arrogant enough to call himself with the same name as the Złoczyńca." Hanna, a relatively young huntress that made her oath to Artemis a decade ago, frowned at the mention of their target.

Her grandparents had fled Poland during the second world war, thus the Hero of the Second War, Vincent Goodman, was considered a national hero of Poland for being the one who shot Hitler dead. Well, that was the mortal side of things. For the supernatural side, it was a long protracted battle that lasted days.

"We are hunting the actual Vincent Goodman, Hanna." Zoë Nightshade spoke. She was the lieutenant of the Huntresses, second-in-command to their goddess Artemis herself.

"W-Wait, what?" Hanna lost her scowl. Her the bowstring, once holding taut with the arrow nocked, loosened. "You're joking right? He'd have to be a hundred or something by now."

"He's a son of Hades and ate one of Hesperides golden apples. He's immortal like us." Zoë Nightshade said, looking at the battlefield on her own, while occasionally looked toward their best tracker Phoebe to see if she noticed anything she missed.

The very day the court case began, Athena had asked Artemis for aid to track down Vincent and detain him as he was likely the instigator of this whole thing. Also she wasn't sure what he was using the case as a distraction for, and wished to have him in a place the gods could keep an eye on him.

Artemis agreed but couldn't leave Olympus as her position as a Goddess of Childbirth and protector of children, she has to provide her expertise in the case. Thus she sent her Hunters to find Vincent in her place.

"The trail is cold." Phoebe sighed. "Then again tracking someone traveling by shadow isn't exactly a simple thing. What was he doing here? What was he fighting?"

"A Gigas." A stag with a divine present walked into the grove. The huntresses kneeled upon recognizing the avatar animal form of their goddess. "There's break in the court proceedings right now, so I came to see what you have found thus far."

"My lady." Zoë Nightshade and the other huntresses gave a similar greeting. The Hunter lieutenant gave a report of their findings to their patron goddess.

While the others took a moment to process and be shocked at the answer Artemis gave them, Zoë Nightshade had a different concern.

"My lady, how could one walk the earth? Haven't they all the Gigantes been sealed into Tartarus?" Zoë Nightshade asked.

"Picolous, the giant that lived in these woods was considered a non-threat. His cowardness was such, if even two demigods walked into these woods he wouldn't attack them, as he overthought himself into non-action. He was seen of such low importance that it was considered a joke to actively hunt him." The Artemis-Stag walked around the battle scene, before leaning her head down to stare at a particular bloody spot on the ground. "However I suppose if cornered he would put up a fierce fight, However I see none of Goodman's blood." She raised her head and looked around a bit more. "He went south-east from here. That's as much as I can discern. I leave the rest to you, as I need to foucs back to matter on Olympus."

"Thank you for your aid, my Lady." Zoë Nightshade said, bowing once more, as other huntresses did the same.

"Very well, then." The Artemis-Stay nodded.

But before she could leave, a young huntress stepped forward.

"Wait! L-Lady Artemis?" Hanna stepped up, making Artemis pause and smile at her. As much as a stag could smile.

"Yes, Hanna?"

"Is..." Hanna seemed to struggle with her words. Not wanting to be presumptuous nor wanting to offend her goddess, yet this question burned at her curiosity. "Vincent Goodman, he's... a good guy, right? We're just trying to find him for like, court formal legal reasons, right?"

"Hanna, don't bother Lady Artemis with such trite questions." Zoë Nightshade rebuked the young Hunter.

The other huntresses looked at one another with discomfort. Opinions on the Son of Hades varies. He wasn't someone hated or looked down upon by the Hunters, even if they did distrust men. However, while he does hold some respect for his actions during the first and second world war, that doesn't mean he's universally loved.

Some huntresses saw him as a respected hero. Other saw him as a man with too much power and not enough loyalty to the gods, or rather not the right gods. A few saw him as a danger than needed to be contained or... put down. His duty as a hero being long over.

While some huntresses may not have even liked him on principle that he was a man, thus untrustworthy by nature, none of them felt so cruel as to disparage the girl her hero.

"He is a man, Hanna." Artemis finally spoke. "And men are made by their circumstances. He is one that unleash great fires and horrors. Its a good thing he was on our side." She gave an answer that didn't satisfy the girl. "If you do meet him, you'll see for yourself, I suppose." She ended her words, to which young Hanna nodded while looking conflicted. "I'll see you all victorious at our base." She said as her form broke into motes of silvery light.

"Yes, Lady Artemis!" The Hunters cried out.


Upon a desolated and empty island in the Sea of Monster the son of Hades emerged from the shadows of abandoned building.

This island was a place he could reach at anytime, due to his power still having a hold over it form the last time he visited.

He found an isolated patch of greenery with lost of sun.

He dug a small hole, place a moly seed within it and covered it. Then he brought out a container filled with the blood of the slain giant, and watered the seed.

With the task done he turned and left, giving the seed time to drink the blood and bask in the sunlight.

One last thing left to do.

AN: Ladon fight in 3D next.