It Just Got Old Testament

All right, we are back! I have played through the DLC and watched lots of lore videos, and so I think I have working idea on how things are going to go:

I am going to finally finish this story. It has been going for over seven years now, and it is time to bring it to its conclusion. Then I am going to take down Dragon Princess in order to rewrite it with more respect to the new lore introduced in the Land of Shadow. I have big ideas for Messmer, Bayle, ghostflame, Marina, and more. Stay tuned to find out what!

As for Voidlwaker, it may get the Sea Devil treatment in that it's going to be summed up with one chapter and finished prematurely. I really can't think of where to go with it, and there's really nowhere to go with it. It's just…Percy, Bianca, Thalia, and Luke all have Void powers. And that's pretty much it. Unless I decide to go way off canon and come up with something absolutely crazy.

So Voidwalker is on the chopping block.

So is Promised Year. There's really not anything to that story besides dimensional hijinks with Shin'en and co., and it just ends with Shin'en ending the genjutsu and the elderly Persephone dying in the hospital bed per Backup Plan: Armagedon. The point of that story feels moot to me given that I finished Remnant of a Backup Plan already, showing Prime Shin'en as a happily married man with kids.

Chaos War is still very much on the table, probably going to be set in the same continuity as Piper's Untold Story, as is that Star Wars crossover I started working on a while back. I have a clearer picture for that story now, and how I want it to go.

Lots of big things coming up. I only hope I still have the time to do them.

Disclaimer: I don't own PJO or AC:T

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Inspired by historical events and an over-active imagination, this work of fiction was designed, developed, and produced by a single-cultural team of one religious faith and belief, sexual orientation, and gender identity.

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When Percy emerged from the woods, he found Lou Ellen sitting in a plastic chair, sipping water from a red solo cup. She saw him, bolted to her feet so fast the chair went flying, and sprinted to him, jumping at him and wrapping her arms and legs around him as he caught her and supported her weight by clasping his arms under her butt.

"You're alive! You're safe! You're here!"

"Was there any doubt about me being alive and safe?"

"I woke up on the beach here and you weren't with me. I couldn't find you around camp, and I couldn't find you with my magic."

"I see. I was down in Atlantis. I helped my father secure his city, and brokered peace between him and Oceanus. The Titan has been unhappy with how Poseidon has been operating as the god of the sea these past decades especially, and sought to take matters into his own hands. I ended it, and now they are working together to clean and conserve the oceans. We shall see how it goes."

Percy set Lou Ellen back down.

"You think it'll last?"

"It will so long as they don't want me to go back down there," Percy said grimly.

Lou nodded. "So…how are you feeling? Did you live your Sixth Life?"

"I did, yes."

"A Templar in WWI?"

"Konrad Richter was his name. A textbook sociopath with delusions of grandeur. He joined the Templars with aspirations of becoming the General of the Cross, the highest position of the Order, and died at the age of 20 during the zeppelin raids of 1914. A bullet through the window got him in the head. He died instantly."

Lou Ellen made a face. "That's…remarkably underwhelming."

"Agreed. But I'm fine with it. Unlike the other Lives, Konrad was of no impact."

"I guess that explains why I couldn't see anything about him as clearly as I could see Faris, Virgil, Jake, Cheyenne, and Peter. They were important. Konrad, er, wasn't."

"He was not, no. How have things been here?"

"Uh, quiet. It's literally only the morning after we left last night."

Percy blinked. "Oh. I figured a few days would have passed by now or something and we would be crutched for time."

"Well, we still kind of are," Lou Ellen revealed. "Kronos has already rallied his army, and they're already heading for Manhattan. From what I saw in my scrying, they'll be marching down the bridges and tunnels in ten hours."

"And it'll take us almost three just to travel there from here," Percy said heavily, not having to put into verbiage that the demigods still needed to suit up and get ready, which would obviously take even more time.

Lou Ellen nodded.

"Well," Percy chirped, making the witch girl flinch with how happy and chipper he suddenly became. "Good thing we have the Labyrinth and can get the whole camp to Manhattan in just a couple of seconds."

Lou Ellen blinked. "Oh. Yeah. We can just do that."

"Yep. Let's rouse the kids, then. Can't march off to war on an empty stomach, after all."

Percy went walking towards the Big House, intending to sound the conch shell himself to wake everyone up and get things going.

Lou Ellen caught up to him. "Are you okay? You don't seem to be concerned with Kronos, his huge monster army, the demigods he's swayed to his side, the massive threat he poses to all mankind, and the general evil that he is."

"Of course I'm not concerned. Kronos is just one more bad guy. We'll be fine."

"But-"

"Lou Ellen," Percy cut her off, his voice sharp. "Do you, or do you not, believe in the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob?"

The witch girl swallowed. "I do. You baptized me."

"Yes, I did, and baptism means that you have faith in the Lord Jesus, correct?"

"Yeah…"

"Cool. I met the Spirit of God in the woods. In short, He's going to be with us during the coming fight."

"Oh," Lou Ellen blinked. In that instant, all her doubts and worries were instantly squashed, and she was just as relaxed as Percy. "We really are going to be okay, then."

"Yep. Now let's get some breakfast. I am famished."

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If one were to look at Percy, you would never think there was an impending battle for the fate of the world on the line today. There was no hint of worry, concern, or his typical no-nonsense, get-the-job-done attitude. Instead, the potential savior of the world was casually munching on waffles with some bacon, eggs, and chocolate milk.

Beckendorf came over. "So…uh…I take it the mission went good enough last night?"

"Sure did," said Percy.

"You killed Kronos and wiped out his army?"

"No. They are on their way to Manhattan as we speak."

Beckendorf's eyes widened. "Then why aren't we getting ready for battle!?"

His panicked shout brought all conversations to a close as everyone tuned in to listen.

"We will not be engaging in battle," Percy said casually. "We will be going to the city, though, so I will need everyone ready to go no more than 30 minutes after breakfast is over."

Everyone, the 100 or so demigods from the various cabins, all stared at Percy in disbelief.

"I did not stutter," Percy said loudly, meeting the challenging looks. "After breakfast is over, I need everyone moving with a purpose. Going to the bathroom, brushing teeth, putting on armor—the works. We will be leaving in precisely 30 minutes after breakfast is over, and breakfast is over whenever I finish eating. I've got only one section of waffle left, two strips of bacon, less than one scrambled egg, and half a glass of chocolate milk. Y'all'd better eat fast."

Percy went back to eating his breakfast.

Everyone besides Lou Ellen went running for the cabins to get dressed for war.

The witch came up to her boyfriend. "How many of them are going to calm down when you tell them that God's got our back?"

"A few. There are those that do believe, but most are still on the fence. Questions like What makes God any different from the gods and Why should I follow God when I know Olympus and the Underworld are real hold many of them back."

"You think what's going to happen will be enough to convert them?"

"Absolutely. These kids will be given a rare blessing. Many these days say that they would believe in God if they were shown an undeniable example of His power. A miracle, if you will. Well…these kids are about to see many miracles."

Lou Ellen had a pensive look on her face. "What about the demigods working for Kronos? It's not like they're all a bunch of evil maniacs that want to cause death and destruction. A lot of them are just lost and confused, thinking they're doing the right thing by trying to take down the Olympians—which, to be fair, it's not like the Olympians are upstanding members of society in the first place."

Percy swallowed his mouthful of eggs. "Judgement will be fair. Those children who lost their way will be shown the correct path, and if they refuse to take it, then it will be on their own heads what happens next. As for the Olympians, the same olive branch will be extended unto them as well. I gave Poseidon the chance to redeem himself for his centuries of malpractice, and will give this same chance to the rest of them. If they fail, I will be hold them accountable."

Lou Ellen looked even more pensive.

"What's on your mind?" Percy asked.

She hesitated before responding. "For reasons I don't know, Mom…er…gets around, shall we say. Of all the demigods that make up Kronos's army, the majority category are the children of Hecate. My brothers and sisters. On the Princess Andromeda, I ran into my brother, Alabaster. He's not on my level, but he's still strong."

"The explosion on the ship," Percy surmised.

"When two children of the magic goddess fight," Lou Ellen confirmed. "They make a lot of good, if not stereotypical, unoriginal, and borderline antiquated, points. You know, the standard stuff: uncontrolled crime, greedy corporations, corrupt politicians, broken economical systems, the gods are bad, and so on."

"So the things the Assassins actively fight against, and the thing I am going to directly address?" Percy asked with a knowing smile. "That's the fun thing about the Assassins: we're not superheroes who think that killing people is wrong, and we're not mercenaries for hire that kill anyone and everyone for the right price. Yes, we recognize that there are people who are beyond salvation and repentance, people out there who deserve death and need to die in order to protect others, and we use a strict criterion to determine who lives and dies, and then we go do what needs to be done. Criminals, greedy corporate executives, crooked politicians—the bread and butter of the Brotherhood.

"Really, my goals align quite well with the supposed goals of the Titans. Seeing evil and wicked people punished, and good people are allowed to prosper and live freely. Only I know that Kronos is full of shit. He even told me so himself. He is a liar, manipulator, and deceiver, and only spoke a wonderful game in order to sway the demigods to his side and secure their loyalty. To that end, this is why we fight against Kronos instead of joining him. He says everything that I agree with will and will do myself, but he cannot be trusted to stay true to his word."

"Kind of like the Assassins and Templars," Lou Ellen said. "We both want world peace, but we don't agree on how to do it. The Assassins are content with being a blade in the crowd, striking when and where necessary, while the Templars want to enslave people, thinking they can rule better than anyone else."

"Hm, almost," Percy said. "The Templars are genuine in their motives and ideals. Kronos is just a straight up liar."

Lou shrugged. "Yeah. Anyway, I'm gonna go get ready now."

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"Annabeth, are we going to be okay?"

Annabeth looked down at her little brother, her blonde locks shifting slightly.

Young Mark was seven years old, the same age Annabeth was when she first made it to camp, and had the same dark grey eyes as most of the Athena kids, though his hair was dark brown instead of blonde.

Annabeth gave his head an affectionate rub as she smiled kindly. "We're going to be fine."

"Does God…like…the God…really have…is he really going to save us? Like Percy says?"

"Yeah," Annabeth said with a confident nod.

"Do you believe in God? Like, that he really is the God?"

Annabeth nodded again. "I do, yes."

"Why?"

Annabeth considered it. "Because I've been doing my research. The history of the Bible, the authors, cross-referencing things with extra-biblical sources—verifying everything I can about the historical veracity of the Bible to confirm its authenticity. So far, everything I've found checks out. Still working on the science aspect, though. Evolution and deep time don't seem to fit. Granted, given the history of the Greek pantheon, even the Theogony doesn't match up with evolution and deep time. I'll have to do more research on that."

At some point in her monologue, Annabeth had looked away from her little brother and adopted her Thinking Pose, consisting of a hand on her hip and her other hand on her chin.

Hearing Mark giggle brought Annabeth's attention back to him. "What?"

"You're in your Thinking Pose again."

"I do not have a Thinking Pose!" Annabeth said indignantly.

Everyone in the Athena cabin stopped and stared at her.

"Do too," Mark returned with a cheeky grin.

Annabeth blushed. "Shut up and get ready for war. And go to the bathroom one more time. I don't care if you already went, go again. There won't be any potty breaks in the heat of battle."

"You go potty again," Mark said, blowing a raspberry at his big sister before he scampered off.

"Well, as it so happens…" Annabeth muttered.

A few minutes later, and she was washing her hands in the cabin bathroom after having taken care of business. As she was drying her hands off with the towel, she happened to look up and see that she wasn't alone in the bathroom anymore.

In a textbook example of demigod reflexes, as soon as she saw the breathtakingly handsome man standing a few feet from her, she flung the towel at his face and yanked her dagger from her belt. The towel was ignored in favor of him blocking her wrist with his forearm, smacking against her so hard she dropped her dagger. In a move too fast for Annabeth to follow, he snagged the dagger from the air, grabbed her offending arm, twisted it in such a way that she was forced to spin around, and he placed her own dagger against her throat.

All while that towel was plastered on his face.

"Peace," he said in the perfect masculine voice, and Annabeth actually calmed down.

He released her and offered her dagger back. She took it cautiously. "Who are you? One of the gods that joined the Titans? An adult demigod? An Olympian loyalist here to deliver a message?"

"I am a messenger, yes," he said, removing the towel from his face. He folded it nice and neat and set it on the sink counter. Annabeth noted it was completely dry and clean. "But not of Olympus, nor am I of any of the pagan religions."

"Pagan—you're an angel?" Annabeth breathed. "From heaven?"

"Correct," the angel said, smiling.

Annabeth faltered, not knowing what to do in this situation. So, she did the first thing that came to mind when it came to meeting higher powers: she bowed.

The angel smiled a little more warmly. "I'm more than just an angel, though, you could say. In fact, Ms. Chase…I am the god of this world."

Annabeth's head snapped up so fast it was a wonder she didn't get whiplash. "Y-You—I-I-I-I don't know what to say."

"You needn't say anything. Only listen to me: Behold, I have come to put you to the test. Your success or failure in this test will determine your victory in the coming battle-"

"But Percy said you'll be standing with us," Annabeth blurted before she could stop herself.

"And I will be, given you pass your test."

Annabeth swallowed. "A-Alright. What's the test?"

"A test of knowledge and faith," he said. "Pledge your soul and your life to me, the god of this world."

And Annabeth blinked. The hairs on the back of her neck were now standing on end, the same way they had so many years ago when she, Luke, and Thalia fought the den of cyclopes. The voice she thought was Luke coming around the corner of a hallway turned out to be a cyclops using its ability to perfectly mimic the voices of others.

Why was she feeling this way in the presence of…you know…God?

The god of this world, he had called himself. Who else was the god of this world if not God?

Though, a test of knowledge and faith, he had said. Knowledge and faith. Percy had already said God was going to be marching into battle before them, so if God had told Percy one thing, why was God saying he would only do that thing if Annabeth also did a thing? Unless this was some kind of determinism thing, and Annabeth had technically already pledged her soul and her life to God from the out-of-chronological-time perspective idea.

Which implied that Annabeth hadn't already done so herself prior to this moment. As in, after all the research she claimed to have conducted on the historical veracity of the Bible, she still hadn't confessed herself a sinner, and hadn't yet called upon the name of Jesus as her Lord and Savior, and accepted him as her God. Which she hadn't.

Not in the idea of she was still on the fence and living a life of uncertainty, but simply because she simply hadn't done so yet.

This must've been it, then. God had come to her personally in order to hear the confession of her faith in order to affirm his promise to Percy of his divine assistance.

And with that thought in mind, it was like a dam had broken in Annabeth's mind. A surge of scripture ran across her mind, and she fixed the god of this world with her hard, cold, piercing grey eyes.

He returned her stare, his eyes adopting a malicious gleam, his lips curling into a smug grin. "Well? I'm waiting."

"Deceiver," Annabeth growled. "Satan."

"Yes," the devil answered smoothly. "What gave me away?"

"God would never appear in person in order to extract a confession of faith. If He did, I'd be vaporized by His presence."

"Something like that, I suppose," said the devil. "Well, you've passed the knowledge part of the test God said I was allowed to present to you. Now for the faith part."

"The test God allowed—what are you-?"

"Are you not familiar with the Book of Job?"

Like a striking serpent, the devil's finger pricked Annabeth faster than she could react to. Suddenly, her voice was gone and her whole body was racked with pain. She fell to her hands and knees, and she saw as the skin of her arms broke out in hives, boils, and sores, and she could feel as similar hideousness broke out across her legs, under her shorts, underwear, and shirt, and on her face. Her mouth suddenly welled with blood around her gums, and to her utter horror, her teeth up to the roots slid right out of her gums and cascaded from her lips, clattering into a pile under her in a pool of bloody saliva.

"Uhhh…uhhh…" Annabeth moaned, bloody drool spilling down her chin.

"Truthfully, you are quite fortunate," the devil said. "The Father did not allow me to put you to the test the same way he allowed me to test Percy."

"Uhhhh…!" Annabeth moaned again.

"Yes, yes. Now, let's see how many of these children remain faithful after they see what God allows me to do to them. All in the name of seeing just how faithful they really are."

Annabeth grabbed her dagger, the simple movement of just that causing several of the boils to split open, spilling pus and blood down her arm, sending her nerves on fire all over her body as her skin was pulled in different directions. The act of throwing her dagger at the devil's face caused her even more pain, and ultimately resulted in just pissing him off.

The dagger stopped in midair and dropped to the floor. "Now that was rude. I guess I'll have to teach you a lesson in manners."

The toilet lid and seat flipped up on their own, causing Annabeth to lose whatever miniscule respect she previously had for the prince of darkness. Satan grabbed her by her ponytail and dragged her to the toilet. Annabeth was able to take a deep breath before her face was submerged, her nose getting smashed against the bottom of the bowl.

'You've got to be kidding me,' Annabeth thought as the toilet water spun around her face. 'This is the ultimate evil? He's more like a juvenile problem child. Barely more than a playground bully.'

Annabeth's head was yanked up, and she took a precious deep breath of air.

Then the door to the cabin bathroom was busted in, and a very unhappy Percy Jackson was there. He arched an eyebrow.

"Wow, you are pathetic. A swirly?"

"Yes," Satan said stiffly.

"Get out of here," Percy growled, raising the Sword of Destiny at the devil.

Satan hissed and fled from the cabin.

Annabeth made a pained moan, and Percy was by her side. "You look horrible."

She managed to work her hand in such a way that her middle finger was extended and her other fingers were curled.

"I take it you don't want to move?"

Annabeth shook her head, her wet hair plastered all over her face.

Percy first looked at the toilet, because water, thought that would be insulting, and instead turned on the sink. In the cabin proper, the Athena kids were all worried and alert.

"What happened?" one of the girls asked.

"The devil," Percy answered honestly and seriously. "He played a nasty trick on Annabeth, but it's going to be okay. She's going to be okay."

Using the tap water, Percy began attending to Annabeth. He commanded the cold water to flow over form, starting with her arms and legs. Annabeth let out a relieved sigh and comfort embraced her, the water serving to clean up her skin. The hives and sores faded away, and the boils were drained of pus and bacteria.

Once Percy got to her shorts and shirt, he paused. "May I?"

Annabeth nodded.

The water went under her clothes, causing her to stiffen a little at the foreign feeling of her private areas being ministered to in such a way. Like her limbs, her torso and crotch area were cleaned and soothed by the water, and then finally her face.

After just a few minutes, Annabeth's complexion was back to what it was before she was afflicted by the devil. As for her mouth…

Percy gingerly picked up one of her bloody teeth from the pile on the floor, looking understandably perturbed to be holding such a thing, forked roots and all.

Annabeth couldn't help but smirk a little.

"Don't do that," he said. "That looks weird."

Indeed, being devoid of teeth, Annabeth's smile was exactly like that of a newborn's, which was really creepy and disturbing because she was a sixteen-year-old girl and not an infant.

"Michael Yew will have to look at this," Percy said. "The exact arrangement of teeth is not something I've familiarized myself with, and I'm not sure I can just put these back in your gums."

Annabeth gave a thumbs up.

Percy collected all of her teeth within the confines of a clean towel, a black one, so that they were all easily visible and accounted for. He helped her to her feet and made sure he kept the towel closed.

On their way out the cabin, the kids were understandably concerned and asking questions, and Annabeth's response was to tap her throat and shake her head.

"Satan took your voice?" a little girl asked.

Annabeth nodded.

"Do you have to kiss Percy to get it back?"

Annabeth blushed and shook her head.

"Are you going to get turned into a mermaid since Ariel was turned into a human?"

Annabeth shook her head again.

"Then how are you going to get your voice back?"

Annabeth shrugged.

And then the little girl asked a very bad question. "Is Satan going to take all of our voices too?"

Dead silence was brought to the Athena cabin with that one. It wasn't just about voices, but was the devil somehow going to come for all of them? The demigods all knew of Satan, obviously, and some were more well-versed in scripture than others, but all of them knew that he was the enemy of God, and all of them had the basic idea that he went after the people that followed God.

And now they were faced with the question of whether they wanted to be targeted by the devil or not on account of choosing to follow God themselves.

Just as Satan has intended.

But he wasn't going to win this battle.

"He might, yes," Percy said, bringing all eyes to him. "But there is nothing he can do to you that God can't fix. None of you saw it, but Annabeth's skin had been covered with boils, sores, and hives. I got rid of them using the powers that God gave me. Now we're going to the Apollo cabin to talk to Michael, and see if there's anything we can do about getting Annabeth's voice back."

"Is this one of those The devil works hard, but God works harder situations?" someone in the back asked.

"No," Percy said. "That implies that God has to work harder than the devil to do something, which isn't true in any circumstance. Now, all of you keep getting ready. We will still be leaving on time."

With that, Percy left the cabin, Annabeth right behind him, eager to get her mouth fixed.

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Alright, good news first: I finally got a job! Two months after graduating college, and I can finally say I've got a career on the horizon!

Bad news: the job involves between 70 and 80% travel to various locations across Texas, Louisiana, and Arkansas, and sometimes even further depending on where the job sites are. Means my writing time is about to get very limited.

Echoing what is above, the aim is to finish this story and then rewrite Dragon Princess with more respect to the DLC. I've got some big new ideas that I'm excited to share with you guys!

Still haven't decided what to do with Voidwalker and Promised Year, though. I'm simply just not feeling those stories anymore.

Anyway, things are rolling right along now. Annabeth had a brief run-in with Satan and Percy was there to get her out, and the next chapter is the Battle of Manhattan, featuring a special guest star:

The Wrath of God.

Fav, Follow, and Review please!