The One Who is Free (Percy Jackson - Maki Zenin & SI-not-MC Chapter 11)

I felt light.

And as I ran toward the arrows of Artemis, my body was air and my muscles were iron and fire.

Divine arrows were parried, slapped away with a palm or the back of a hand.

Even if Artemis used divine bullshit to control the trajectory, even if she tries some kind of trick show, I stopped it.

I saw the Mist in its entirety and I saw through it all.

Thus the moment I made contact with the arrows I felt the null within me, the humanity that filled it and struck down the will of divinity with my own andwon.

The arrows fall, even if they were still divine, they didn't hit the intended target. Neither me nor my dad. They fell to the ground and stayed there.

And when the Goddess of Archery started to fire the arrows like rain, I laughed and dived into the hail of death.

I dodged, jumped, twisted between the arrows, grabbed them out of the air and used them to defect or parry others.

I could feel the air, the temperature, the pressure, the world around me.

I knew were each arrow was going and I knew how to make them harmless, make them not hit dad or me.

The goddess would at times do these burst of moments where she blended into the background and go somewhere else to fire at me, or rather my dad.

I spun the moment my feet touched the ground and burst into motion at her new location.

Artemis' eyes were wide in shock and bafflement for a moment, before she changed her approach.

She fired her arrowed into the sky and as they fell hitting everywhere but me, the fired...

The fuck? Did she hit the falling arrows to ricochet off of them and the environment, so the arrows would hit me or dad from unexpected angles?

Gods are bullshit!

I dashed toward dad, only to see an arrow coming right at my face. At my eye.

There was no choice. Either I deflect this arrow or I continue running to catch the one aimed at my dad.

Out of my shadow something, a staff shot out and smashed into the arrow. My eyes widened.

It was a three-section staff connected by three rings between the joints of the weapon.

Playful Cloud!

No. It was made of celestial bronze. A recreation!

I grinned.

I looked at my dad to see him smiling back at me.

The arrow heading to dad was blocked by three layers of shadows that sprung up.

First layer the arrow pierced through with it shining moonlight. The second layer deflected the arrow bleeding momentum and force. Third layer of shadow absorbed the divine arrow.

I changed directions, charging at Artemis with the Celestial Playful Cloud.

Fuck, even the balance and everything was perfect. And dad recreated it just from hearing my story? Awesome!

It probably didn't have the ability of Playful Cloud, so I'll have to compensate with my own strength.

Another hail of arrows came, and with one might swing sending shockwaves just from sheer speed and force I broke the arrows momentum letting them rain uselessly on the ground.

I felt like I could do anything. I was free once more.

"Granddaughter. For your monumental feat that no demigod in history had ever managed, would you give me the honor of bestowing my blessing upon you?"


Artemis was feeling a lot of things at the moment.

She had arrived at the Burning Island (as it was called after Vincent visited it) feeling a lot of irritation and annoyance.

Twice.

Twice in one day had Vincent revealed that he had a moon chariot of his own, modeled after the new moon. Meaning one based on the days she didn't drive her chariot. Ingeniously stealthy she would say, if she wasn't absolutely pissed off right now!

Or at least she was, because now the only thought dominating her mind was:

Vincent, I know you always wanted a family. You loved the idea of family so much that even Hestia blessed you, something she rarely done, but by my father's beard, WHAT THE FUCK HAVE YOU BEEN FEEDING THIS CHILD!?

The little murder machine was dodging divine arrows. Dodging!

The Goddess of Archery and the Hunt doesn't miss.

Yet the impossibility that was Maki Goodman just seemed to defy how reality worked.

The girl was someone Artemis felt sorry for. She had been there, under Athena's request to aid in the twin girls' birth along with Hecate.

Maki was destined for a short painful life. Yet Athena was relieved by the Fates prophecy, and explained to Artemis what possible future would be for Maki.

Godhood.

In Maki's future Quest, her mortality would have burned away like Heracles, and her divine part would ascend to godhood.

After that Athena would have all the time in creation to spend with her daughter, getting to know her and teach her.

The other one, Artemis tried not to think about it. It would be against the rules allowing peace to continue in the West, to interact with the other one. Artemis didn't envy Athena's position. Another reason she was wiser to have never had children.

And right now a child with a celestial bronze three-section staff was batting away her arrows like they were flies.

That's not to mention that the girl, Maki felt completely off, even with all her power. Artemis couldn't sense a lick of divinity in her, even with all her power.

Wait. Why can't I feel any divinity within the girl?—No, where is her scent!?

And as if the bizarreness and chaos of the situation couldn't get any worse, a new god's presence arrived.

"Granddaughter. For your monumental feat that no demigod in history had ever managed, would you give me the honor of bestowing my blessing upon you?" The voice of the God of the Dead boomed out.

"HADES, WHY?" Artemis inadvertently shouted out of frustration.


"I accept!"

I'm not sure why grandpa was asking for permission rather than just giving me his Blessing, but maybe it's some divine rules, or it's something else.

I could feel the connection, the divinity slither in through my blood like a backdoor. As if my being wasn't accepting divinity anymore and defied it, but this way allowed it through the connection of my father to my grandfather.

And suddenly I felt more.

I could feel it in my gut. Body, strength, speed, reflexes were all more. I was definitively stronger than even my peak of my past life. And I was still only eleven. What the hell would I be when I reach sixteen again? Or my physical prime? I couldn't wait to find out.

But more than that I felt an extra sense. An ability that slotted into my being and laid there perfectly to compliment what I was.

I saw death. The weakness the exists even within impenetrability.

The truth that all things end as Entropy becomes inevitability.

The next rain of arrows that arrived my way, I swung my staff and smashed them.

"What!?" Artemis shouted in shock and outrage.

I felt the presence of grandpa upon dad, and then the shadow under dad exploded in expansion.

The whole island was now black, and the shadows seem expand further and further.

Artemis began firing her arrows once more, now burning up the atmosphere from how fast they moved, while power seemed to roll more and more within her.

She... wasn't gonna use her Divine Form, right?

I mean I'm winning (maybe, kinda) but she's being too much of a sore loser now, isn't she.

I moved and sound broke behind me.

Celestial Playful Cloud was dancing in the wind, growing hotter and hotter. It was starting to glow from the heat it amassed breaking arrows.

The arrows would now disappear once the hit the ground.

I felt the bubble of laughter and excitement grow more within me.

I couldn't help but smile at how joyous I am at life itself.


For one single moment between the storm of arrows, Artemis saw Maki's happy grin, and an old memory came to her mind.

The memory of a boy, nine summers. He was running away from a losing battle with the Nemean Lion.

He looked so happy, so joyous and excited upon seeing her Huntresses, thinking reinforcement have caught up to him.

In his hyped excitement he ended up defeating the legendary beast.

A boy who despite being a child of the Big Three, inherited so little of his godly parent, that he could only pick up rare metals from the ground. Yet while blessed for an easy life, he chose the life of a warrior.

That boy upon realizing the Hunters never helped him, looked so heartbroken.

It was that moment that culminated into him leaving the Hunter's safety all together a year later.

While the arrows fell, Artemis charged arrow into a power shot. One that would bring devastation if she normally used it.

Yet against these two demigods they would surely survive.

Vincent's Achilles weak spot should still be between his sternum and below his throat. Artemis aimed there.

She knew he was more than strong enough to survive being stabbed there.

The mythical weight of his being had already increased much more with his latest impossible feat of beating the Master Bolt.


The arrows were falling endlessly.

Yet as I broke them, smashed them and beat them aside. Standing in front of dad, I stopped all arrows, and as they fell into the ground, they were absorb by the shadows and fired back at Artemis.

However dad seemed to be focused on something else. He wasn't giving it his all in this fight.

Doesn't matter, I'm sure its important.

The goddess was completely mobile, never stopping or pausing, yet she had been nocking that last arrow for quite a while now.

It was glowing a bit too much for my liking.

My grin widened.

The arrows stopped.

I spun Celestial Playful Cloud faster and faster with all my might.

Artemis fired the arrow, the world seemed to scream.

I swung the staff with all it's momentum as it glowed from heat and air burned around it.

The two objects collided.

A clash of sound and fury that seemed to split the world from the shockwaves.

The arrow exploded and I sliced through the explosion.

Celestial Playful Cloud was broken, only one of the three-sections, the one in my hand, was left.

I pushed forward through the pain of fractured bones, cuts and bruises along my arms from the kickback of the clash with familiar ease, and prepared to throw the staff at Artemis' face before she could regain her bearings.

"Aim at her bow, not at her." My dad's words came to me as my arm was pulled back.

BOOM!

The threw the staff, making a sonic boom, following my dad's words.

Artemis hands were thrown to the side, her finger's losing their hold over the bow.

I was right in her face with my fist pulled back.

I punched and the goddess blocked, looking shocked as she was thrown back.

All this time, she never once hand an injury, never seemed even pushed. Yet she flinched in at least noticing pain, when I punched her arms with all my might, as they blocking me.

"Alright! You and me. Just hands. LET'S FUCKING GOOOOOOOOOO!" I shouted as my soul was screaming to carry on this momentum of battle.

"Yeah, no. At this point that would just be irresponsible." Dad said.

The shadows grabbed both me and Artemis.

For one instance, Artemis was held in place before she broke free.

Dad and I vanished from the island.


"VINCENT! GIVE BACK MY BOW!" The Goddess of the Hunt shouted as her bow had vanished into the shadows.

"It's in one of your places. You should probably go get it, before someone gets curious on why its there." The voice of Vincent said through the shadows as he and his daughter were completely gone.


Within Camp Half-Blood, in Cabin Eight, a bow suddenly appeared on the ground.

It will be a while before the Goddess Artemis thinks to look there.


Hades had reward Vincent for his accomplishment with a massive boost to the Domain of Shadows, and enough power to refill his strength and stamina, and heal most of his injuries. His hands were still gone though.

That was fine, the two had already talked about what Hades would grant his son, should his insane endeavor work.

Vincent, with the boosted powers, stretched his shadow all across the United States of America.

He connected to every shadow of every person, building or living thing. He had one goal, one person to find.

And he found her.


When dad an I emerged from the shadows we found ourselves in a forest and—

I saw a face I didn't think I'd see anytime soon. I was so happy I cried.

"...Maki?" Mai asked in slow and slow creeping joy. She looked ragged. Like she was homeless for a long time, or had been fighting wild animals.

"GREEKS!"

I noticed a giant wolf behind my sister. A wolf with red fur and silver eyes. The wolf had a divine presence.

"You dare step onto Roman grounds! Leave now or die!"

I lunged forward and mule kicked the wolf in her stupid snout.

The wolf jumped back, only to realize it went further than intended and smashed through a tree. It blinked out of surprise, looking actually confused at me.

And I heard my dad sigh and shake his head.

What? What did I do?