Chapter 20
Arthur:
I chuckled as I flicked some excess ash from my cigar, "So technically he's not the result of a broken oath."
The Iris message in front of me flickered while the god on the other side chuckled as well, "I suppose he is not indeed. Rest assured you and the boy will have continued safe travel over my domain. I owe you that much for the services you have done for myself, Olympus, and the friendship you share with my son."
I nodded gratefully to Poseidon. Not that I had ever been really worried in the first place, he never seemed the type in the books to just start icing Demigods for existing, but it was better safe than sorry I suppose.
It's also not like Nico or Bianca was a threat to the prophecy anymore. Both Percy and Thalia were the front runner for it currently after all. And since Thalia might not be joining the Hunt anymore because of me basically destroying the events that set up the 3rd book…
Technically in a month or two, the prophecy could kick off on her birthday. Though I doubted it.
From the events, I could remember it was very clear that it was connected to Percy, Luke, and Annabeth's blade. Percy, it seemed was always destined to be the Demigod that "Reached 16 against all odds."
So funnily enough Thalia might have joined The Hunt in the books for nothing.
"Thank you, great uncle." I said and cut the Iris call and put my cigar back in my mouth. The rainbow mist cleared to show me the beautiful view of the Pacific Ocean that we were currently sailing on.
It would take about 2 weeks to reach Japan from California on the cruise ship, far slower than air travel. But that was fine, that gave me plenty of time to work on my new padawan.
"Aren't you too young to smoke?" Said padawan spoke up from beside me.
Looking over at his frowning face I chuckled, "I'm too young for a lot of things that I do. Hasn't stopped me yet though. Enough about me though. How goes your reading?"
"I just finished the chapter on Vampires." The Italian boy said, "Can they really mind control people?"
"They can indeed. Different types of Vampires have different methods though. The Lord I fought was capable of enthrallment by eye contact. Weaker ones need blood contact. Others can use rituals." I explained, "What did the book say about Asian Vampires?"
"U-uh they're weak to Peach Wood, fire, and... a rooster's call?"
I nodded, "That last one also works well on Basilisks as well."
Good progress. Unlike Percy, Nico could actually sit down and pay attention to a book. He was no Annabeth, but then again no one else was.
"Do I really need to know all of this stuff?" Nico mumbled.
I ruffled the shorter boy's hair, "You'll normally not need these things, our powers and access to divine metal let us cheat in a way. But should you ever not have access to either for some reason, knowledge of these beasts may just save your life one day. But that's enough studying for today. Follow me, we're going to the gym. It's time for your first combat lesson."
I flicked the rest of my cigar into the ocean and beckoned for him to follow me.
"Really?!"
Nico was practically vibrating with excitement as he followed me away from the deck of the ship and into the lower levels.
Making our way into the ship's fitness room, I took us onto the empty basketball court. It wasn't the camp's arena, but it would have to do.
The gym was empty right now, as it was happy hour in the bars and restaurants on the cruise. Just in case though I threw up walls of light around the court and focused until they turned from shining silver to translucent.
!
Ignoring the notification of my invisibility leveling up, I focused instead on the preteen in front of me as he marveled at my display of magic.
Yeah, that's right. I could make zones of invisibility now instead of just myself or people touching me.
And it didn't even cost lots of mana for me to do so. Practice makes perfect with the system at your disposal.
Nico was practically jumping out of his shoes, "So what are you going to teach me? How to use swords, guns, or hand to hand?!"
"In a way hand to hand." I said and summoned a knife with my quick selection, "Do you know the difference between us Nico?"
Looking at the silver blade in my hand, he tilted his head in confusion, "Uh no?"
Without a warning, I took the knife and plunged it straight into my hand. I barely flinched as my health bar dropped slightly and blood poured from the wood.
Nico on the other hand gave a startled yelp and almost fell backward.
"You stabbed yourself!"
"I did indeed." I agreed and ripped the knife out. Turning my hand towards him I showed the hole through my palm as it began closing, the skin and bone neatly stitching themselves back together, "The difference between us is that I can heal incredibly fast."
"And I can't?"
"At the level, I can? No." I explained, "But you will heal far faster than normal mortals, even more so if you consume Nectar or Ambrosia to help. Still, it won't be anywhere near fast enough to help you in a fight as it does me. This is why in addition to me teaching you basic boxing and wrestling…"
I left that sentence hanging in the air as my fist lashed out towards Nico. The fresh crunch of cartilage breaking underneath my fist and his cry of pain told me I struck home.
The Son of Hades fell backward on his ass while his hands went up to cover his now bloody and broken nose. I could see tears already pricking at the corners of his eyes.
"Y-you broke my nose!" He whined out in pain.
"I did indeed." I nodded, "Your first and probably most important lesson in fighting will be to work and focus through the pain."
Nico looked bewildered, "Why!?"
I reached down and hauled him to his feet, "Because you'll be dead in a fight faster than you can blink if you don't. If you fell backward and cried like you did right now and it was monster or a rouge Demigod instead of me you'd be fucked. Being able to push through injuries and pain can and will save your life. Someone stabs you through the chest? Ignore that pain and use it as an opening to kill your opponent since they'll have their weapon stuck in you."
"Wouldn't that kill me though?" Nico sniffled.
"You're a Demigod of The Big 3. You're tougher than most and can heal from just about anything other than your brains getting splattered or scrambled. Though you might need some Nectar and Ambrosia on hand for the more serious ones. Now that nose will be fully healed by tomorrow, tonight if I give you some Nectar. But until then ignore the pain and learn to focus while experiencing it. I'm going to show you a basic boxing stance now."
Months ago I thought of a little hypothesis that I wanted to test. A question that had been itching at the back of my mind for a while now.
My question was simple enough: How fast and far in terms of power could you push a Demigod of The Big Three with proper training?
The origin of said question was undeniably Percy. More specifically, how Percy in this world compared to his cannon self.
Percy was powerful in cannon. So powerful that anyone who met him and saw him fight generally concluded on their own that he was the most powerful Demigod in modern history, if not all of history. The power he attained through fighting strong enemies, battles, and simply getting older. Yet the only time the books ever implied that he seriously trained was in the first book when Luke was basically his personal trainer in the beginning.
Here in this universe, because of my changes to cannon and my friendship with him, Percy trained regularly. From duels with me too apparently experimenting with his powers and finding new ways to use them.
Just based on him the results were pretty obvious. In terms of timelines, we were only about a month off from the third book, yet Percy was more powerful now than he was at the end of the series. As such it seemed that actual consistent training and putting them against powerful monsters seemed to skyrocket the power of The Big Three's children.
Of course, no good hypothesis and testing of said hypothesis was ever concluded on just one test subject. For this test cannon Percy was the baseline, the Percy I was friends with was test subject #1, and Nico was now test subject #2.
And I had to say, Nico seemed intent on giving me positive results.
I blocked an incoming fist with a simple arm guard and while I barely felt the blow, such a punch probably would've shattered the ribcage of an adult human. Incredible progress for someone who 2 weeks ago had trouble benching just the bar of a weight set without any weights on it.
Grabbing his lashed-out arm before he could withdraw it, I used my much greater strength to take him off his feet and throw him like a fastball. Though I might have done it a bit too hard, as even I winced when his body impacted an old tombstone and made cracks in the stone.
And yes before the question is asked, I was training him in a graveyard. One that I found once we arrived in Japan and didn't get many visitors. A bit on the nose but fitting nonetheless for training a Son of Hades.
Nico groaned and crawled back up to his feet, the only visible damage that showed was the slight nose bleed that was pouring down his face. A very good sign that his durability had improved greatly as well.
"You good?" I called out, "If not we can stop for today."
Nico spat some blood and salvia on the ground and shakily stood up, "I-I didn't hear no dang bell."
I frowned at the word "dang". I had gotten so used to my corruption of Percy's vocabulary (and Annabeth's to a lesser degree) that it was weird being constantly in the presence of someone who didn't cuss like a sailor.
Well, I guess I just had to try harder. I couldn't in good conscience not prepare his vocabulary for the rigors of the 21st century.
"Well then get your ass over here and punch me already you anorexic little fuck."
Nico's face did a good impression of a tomato. The Italian boy seemed to have a trigger at being referred to as small or scrawny. So much so that the first time I made fun of him for it he triggered his first usage of his powers. Which was the intention.
Though the frost he generated was definitely a surprise.
Truthfully it was the only way I knew how to get him started with learning how to control them. I couldn't just tell him what to look for or how to focus on it, as everyone's powers were called upon differently.
Percy's water for example was a tug in his gut and he had told me his power over earth felt like a deep vibration in his muscles.
For me, my light felt like excited buzzing underneath my skin, my wind a pressure that built up in my lungs, and my lightning a tingling sensation that went down my spine.
So I had no idea what Nico's shadows, ghost summoning, hellfire, or death frost would feel like to him. But just like with Percy, anger seemed to allow him to tap into it. Which in turn would allow him to figure out how to use it normally.
I almost didn't dodge that claw of shadows that swiped at my face. Stepping back out of its way I blinked in confusion at the angry kid that was now right in front of me. Hmm, Nico wasn't that fast yet and I hadn't even seen him run at me. But the claw of shadow was definitely new…
A small smile made its way onto my face while I continued to dodge his frenzied strikes. Short burst Shadow Travel and Umbrakinesis. Very good progress.
I caught his arm again but didn't throw him this time. Instead, I held him still with my far superior strength.
"Focus on your power, Nico. What does it feel like?"
The rage drained from him as did the shadows he was commanding, and instead, the young boy tried to concentrate on what I was telling him. It was honestly a bit of a surprise to me, I didn't know of many adults, much less children, who were capable of reigning in their anger so effectively.
Nico's eyes were closed in concentration, "It's sorta cold I guess?"
"Sorta cold?" I echoed.
"Yeah, it's not like the actual cold. Like how a low temperature would feel like, but what you feel when you're scared I think."
I nodded. Cold dread, that seemed right for something like controlling darkness.
"Good. Focus on that feeling where it comes from. That's how you'll be controlling your powers from now on until it becomes second nature to you."
Nico had already let go of his concentration and instead seemed to focus on the dregs of writhing darkness that poured off of his hand, "Wow… I have superpowers!"
"You do indeed. Now face in the dirt brat and give me 60. That punch should've at least given me a bruise." I ordered.
With a groan, my protege did as he was told and started his next set of push-ups while I turned away.
Reaching into my inventory I pulled out a brand new purchase that I had gotten a few weeks ago. A brand new smartphone that had only been released relatively recently. It wasn't anything that I sort of remembered from my world, considering the smartphones that we had were much further along, but it would do for now.
Well kind of. Honestly, this thing was kind of useless all things considered. Phones sent out targeted GPS signals to monsters on a Demigod's location when used for some weird reason. I both remembered that from the books, and what had been told to me at my introduction to camp. How that worked I had no idea, especially since Hermes apparently created the internet and was a pretty chill god for the most part.
So unless you wanted a horde of monsters coming after you, using one was a big no-no as a Demigod. Plus with Iris messages, you really didn't need one anyway.
But that was with old phones. Smartphones had access to the internet, which made them much more useful. Still the same risks as old phones, but it seemed in my inventory the signals were blocked from getting out and letting monsters track me constantly. Which meant I could use it in short bursts as long as I threw it back into my inventory and changed locations after. Or if I was feeling partriculy cocky and wanted a fight with some monsters without tracking them down, it kinda acted like monster bait.
My own little monster farming device.
Not that I knew if that rule applied to Shinto/Japanese monsters or if they were even interested in hunting Demigods of another pantheon. But with Nico around and not being ready for that sort of thing, I wasn't going to risk it and was still going to move us after I finished up a little research of something I had been dreading as soon as I thought of it.
Opening up the search bar of the device, I imputed the name of a simple Japanese city. A city that hopefully wouldn't exist.
My hopes were dashed when the city not only popped up from my search, but an option asking me if I would like to see it on a map also appeared.
Fuck.
This raised the power ceiling of this world by several uncomfortable factors.
I let out a string of curses mentally. It was on me for not seeing the signs earlier. The politics on the underworld from the book my mother gifted me, the power scaling of the gods and Demigods being higher, and Uriel confirming that God wasn't in the picture.
It wasn't one-to-one in terms of pure comparison, but it was close enough to see where my random option had changed things.
"Hurry up and finish Nico. We're leaving now for what I need to collect now and then we're going back to the states as soon as we can."
This solidified my choice of training Nico to try and get him to reach the power threshold of Percy and I. Hell if it works as well as I want it to I might see if Biannca and Thalia will be up for it as well. The world more than likely just got a lot scarier, and I would need strong allies to help.
I let out a huff and threw my phone back into my inventory.
"Why couldn't they have just been eldritch abominations instead of sexy?"
You know, I had to give it to the people of Nagoya Japan, they certainly knew how to make some damn good food. It was practically an explosion of flavor inside my mouth as I bit down on my last piece of sushi. So much so that I think I had a new favorite food.
"I don't understand how you can enjoy eating raw fish." Nico muttered while we walked towards our destination, "That can't be healthy."
I offered a shrug and swallowed the last of my meal, "Billions of Asian people have been doing it for longer than even you have been around for. Obviously, it's safe enough."
Despite the calmness I was exuding outwards, my eyes were glowing a bright silver behind my aviators. My magic sight was taking in our surroundings as we passed underneath a large gate.
The sword I intended to take was one of three Japanese national treasures and had been passed from Susanoo to Amaterasu, and finally to her mortal descendants.
While history said the blade hadn't been used in centuries, I didn't quite trust what the mortal version of the myths said. Who knew what was guarding it in terms of the supernatural.
As such, I already had a plan on how to keep Nico safe in case things popped off and I couldn't protect him fully.
"You remember the activation words?" I asked him.
Nico nodded and thumbed the silver necklace around his neck, "Yep."
It was the same necklace Richard had given me during the attack at the airport to teleport me to camp. Originally it had only one charge. But with some runes, I had learned and the help of some of the Hecate kids at camp, I had been able to recharge it.
"Rember, if I tell you to use it, you use it. No arguments."
"Yeah, I know." Nico grumbled.
"Go-"
!
Mental intrusion blocked.
My attention hyper-focused on my surroundings. We had arrived near the main structures of the shrine and I saw auras that definitely didn't belong to mortals dotting the rooftops and covering behind various trees.
If it weren't for enemies trying to mind fuck me, I would have gladly taken a picture of the beautiful traditional Japanese architecture mixed with the small forest it was in the middle of.
I chuckled, "It seems we have someone's attention, Nico."
When I didn't get a response, I looked over to see a dazed and faraway look in the boy's eyes as he stood there nonresponsive. Hmm, perhaps for our next lesson I'd have to see what I could teach him on resisting mental attacks. Percy as well considering Leto just about knocked him out at the dinner from one.
Nevertheless, Nico was no longer in any state to be around the battle that was about to happen. I know he wanted to stick around with me in Japan for a little longer, as he was pretty interested in seeing modern Japan, but I'd make it back up to him later when I went back to camp to pick him up.
Leaning over I grabbed the necklace on his neck and channeled power into it, ""Ianuae Magicae."
Silver light flashed over his form and Nico was teleported away.
With that done I let my eyes go back to pinpointing all the foreign auras that surrounded me, "If you are done with the cheap party tricks, you can stop trying to hide. I can see all your auras clear as day."
There was a movement of silence. Then one by one the auras flickered from their hiding positions with a burst of speed and into the open.
My eyes scanned the forms that now surrounded me and I realized that they were a mix of teenagers and young adults. Some wore what I assumed was traditional Japanese battle armor, others I'd peg as very high-grade cosplay of Shinobi if I didn't know any better, and a couple of the females were wearing some sort of shrine maiden outfits.
If that and the location didn't give away as to what they were, then what my magical sight could see definitely did. Their auras were very much not human. A male to my far right had a blazing red aura radiating inside him while the girl next to him a soft blue one emanating quietly. Some of their auras even seemed to shine brighter than others.
Just like the camper's auras did.
And just like most of the campers, if I focused hard enough, I could see flecks of gold circulating in what I assumed was their circulatory system.
Ichor.
"Shinto Demigods…" I muttered and flicked my attention to the brightest one among them.
A young woman in armor with a soul that flared with gold and black fire. I could practically feel the power and determination rolling off her. That combined with the pitch-black hair and crimson eyes reminded me of some sort of warrior princess.
She was quite the looker too, but my gaze fell lower to the sword on her hip. For if she was powerful, then that sword was downright godly.
I practically knew what it was from just looking at it, but I still hit it with an observe.
!
Ame-no-Murakumo-no-Tsurugi:
I didn't bother reading the description, I'd have plenty of time to do that later.
This made it far more convenient for me. Instead of having to look around and search the area or having to break into underground vaults, it was practically brought to me.
"American or British?" The young woman asked in almost flawless English.
I raised an amused eyebrow, "And what makes you think I'm either of those?"
"American than." She deduced from my obvious accent, "It makes sense. Only you imperialists would have the gall to storm into a Shinto Holy site as if you own the place."
Imperialists?
Well, she wasn't wrong, and I was in fact here to steal one of their most famous treasures…
But honestly, I didn't really feel that bad about it. Especially considering this was a pot calling the kettle black situation. It was astonishing how much history people could conveniently forget about when it suited them.
"Ma'am, can I remind you that this country was literally called Imperial Japan not even a century ago? And said county was so brutal during their last war that a literal Nazi had to step in to save hundreds of thousands of people from your massacres." I said dryly.
A look of irritation flickered across her face, "Why are you here American? I doubt you came to one of our holy sites to debate history."
"I'm looking for a fight." I shrugged, "Figured I'd rile someone strong up if I went to enough supernatural-related places."
I wasn't going to let them know I wanted the sword attached to the leader's hip. Depending on how the battle goes, they might just decide to run away with it if they know I'm after it.
Wisps of fire built up into her hands, "Then I suppose you came to the right place gaijin. Unfortunately, it may just be your last as well."
Izumi Sato, Lvl: 55
Title: Daughter of Amaterasu
[HP] - 16000/16000
[MP] - 12000/12000
A quick glance at her and everyone else's stats confirmed that she was the strongest by a wide margin. And while I wasn't very thrilled that her stats were in the ballpark of Percy's about 6 months ago, it did make sense. Amaterasu was the leader of the Shinto, the equivalent of Zeus almost. Of course, her child would be a cut above the rest like the Greek's own big three.
At least she wasn't a freak like Percy. She was older but still seemed a bit weaker stat-wise than him, which was probably what normal stat growth for a Demigod of a major deity looked like.
Overall it was a fight I was semi-confident I could win… if it wasn't for all of her backup and the legendary sword she had on her hip. I had no idea what the abilities for both the former and latter were.
But I had been working on a move that could probably help with the number of people surrounding me.
"A bold prediction Izumi." I said with wry amusement when her eyes widened at me knowing her name, "Unfortunately I have far too much to do before I die."
Lighting ran through my veins as the world slowed down around me and I summoned a mass of it into my hands and aimed it at the sky. In response, lighting crackled above.
And then I brought it down, "Kirin."
With a mighty crack of thunder and a mighty roar, a dragon so big that would have put a 747 to shame roared down from the heavens as it dove down towards us at blinding speed. Through slow motion, I watched as the Shinto Demigods tried to scramble out of the way, but it was for not. Before they could ever hope to move though, the dragon's head impacted the earth around us with pure explosive force.
And before you say it, I know. I stole another move from a certain emo Ninja. But after I had already stolen the Chidori, why not complete the set. Besides I didn't get a scroll for this one. I actually had to learn how to shape lighting on a massive scale and then bring it down with precision to do it.
My vision temporarily went white, and I had to throw up a light shield to avoid taking any damage myself. I thought I had underpowered the Kirin, but apparently, my calculations were a bit off considering the spiderweb of cracks I could see that had formed along the surface of my shield.
Eventually, the blast settled down and I set out a blast of air to clear the dust that was obscuring my vision.
"Yikes." I muttered as I took in the surroundings.
The shrine and surrounding area had pretty much been decimated, I saw the bodies of Shinto Demigods strewn all about and under the wreckage.
None of them seemed to have died from it. They all still had names and health attached to them and my XP hadn't gone up any.
Which was good. I didn't come here to kill anybody.
Huh, I wonder how the mortals are going to explain this one. A freak thunderstorm rolls through the area and catches the shrine on fire?
'Duck'
Leaving my train of thought behind, I dropped to my knees as danger sense pinged and avoided my head getting taken off by a sword. A very particular certain sword I might add. With my enhanced perception I saw my future blade swing over me.
Uriel's description of it was pretty correct. It was indeed a straight sword that looked like its Nightverse version, complete with the ethereal writing and runes that decorated it.
Rolling out of the way I avoided the next strike that tried to cut me in half. Looking up I saw Izumi looking no worse for wear except for her armor being covered in some burns and her golden eyes that had tomoe spinning in them.
Wait a second.
Closer inspection did in fact reveal that her previously crimson eyes now held fucking golden Sharingan in them.
What kind of bullshit was this? It was bad enough she was already close in level to me, had some higher stats, and a legendary sword. But she had some kind of special Sharingan as well?
Please tell me she didn't have the evolved versions. I don't think I had any way of dealing with a Susanoo if she pulled that out of her ass. Well, the Kirin could probably smoke it, but that was a mana dump at its current level.
Something I should probably rectify later in case I ever came to blows with the Egyptians as well. I think they had some sort of Susanoo/Avatar that they could create with their magic?
Problems for later though. The current problem was that she had a very broken set of eyes right now that at the very least, gave her precognition. They were also possible some kind of divine quality as well considering they were golden and not red.
Well… at least she couldn't genjutsu my ass.
"I see my initial assessment was correct. You're not a magician." Izumi stated as she stared at me with those spinning golden eyes.
Ah, an observant one.
"And what makes you think that?" I asked.
She frowned, "You created and controlled natural lighting when you brought down your attack. Human magicians no matter their nationality or type normally just magically create it. Which itself is a lesser version of its natural counterparts. They have to be either extremely powerful and as such older or have a pact with some sort of divine being to control nature in its most natural form."
Well, that answered the question I had thought of when I first arrived at camp and started using my powers. It seemed I was using and somehow creating the natural versions of my elemental abilities. Which made sense, as my powers were tied to the domains of my relatives.
It still left the question of why my light was slower than real light. But maybe just like how I hadn't been able to use light to speed myself up like I could with lightning, it was a simple matter of me not having enough power to do so yet.
"As such, you are a Demigod like myself. Which makes you even more foolish than I initially thought." Izumi stated.
"Correct on the first part." I admitted, "But I'm not quite sold on the foolish part. This is quite calculated for your information."
My opponent tilted her head in confusion, "So you decided attacking and desecrating a holy shrine was worth bringing the wrath of an entire pantheon onto your head."
"Yep." I replied, "Nasty little secret about gods is that they can't step in. As long as I don't attack them directly, they can't directly attack me."
It was the greatest hack of the Riordanverse. Demigods had to be the ones to engage a divine being in combat first, otherwise, they were off-limits to the gods. The workaround for it was that the gods could still put curses on you or send monsters without needing justification first I believe, but curses couldn't affect me and I had to deal with monsters anyway.
Honestly, I was pretty sure it was a rule to set up specifically for the plot of PJO. After all, if the Gods could attack Demigods and mortals willy nilly, then Luke and his rebels would have been smoked instantly.
"I see." She said, "Then it falls upon me to bring you down."
With that, she raised her sword high, and the world became enveloped with black and golden flames.
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