章節 106: DA : Chapter 106: Anthem of Anarchy II
"Maybe …" he sighed before wrapping both arms around her as she glanced up at him to see his sad smile. "Let's get out of here," he said just as his wings extended.
...
With a powerful kick he launched them up, holding her with practiced ease as they ascended hundreds of meters in seconds before he leveled off and glanced down. She watched as he flexed one free hand, pointing down at the frostbitten island as an orb of pure darkness formed at his palm.
Quickly it grew as the very air around them became heavy and cold, the light seemingly drawn into the manifested void. She felt the power condense around that orb, knowing that it already contained more power than that of a minor god and enough pressure to crush iron if it merely got too close.
Without a word Percy flicked his wrist, as if doing nothing more than casually tossing a soft ball. The orb of darkness fell as if shot from a gun, hurdling towards the island. She watched in rapt attention as it collided at the center of the courtyard, plowing throw the frozen grounds as if it was wet sand.
Barely a second or so passed before it detonated, the tiny orb suddenly expanding to encompass the entire island with a resounding boom as the wind buffeted them even from a distance. Then, like a rubber band it collapsed with a last shockwave as the sea churned around it.
Where once an island was now nothing more than a crater, again surrounded with the paradox of steaming waters and frostbitten dirt. Quickly the displaced water rushed in, hiding the last evidence of what was the results of mortals facing forces beyond them.
Andromeda couldn't help but muse that if any scientists came to the area and scanned the trace energies left, they would find traces of what amounted to a cold fusion bomb going off.
"Well, that's finished," Percy sighed before looking at Andromeda, the goddess still rather comfy within his hold. "… What happened with Amphitrite?"
"Will, the wild medical god has her already," Andy replied before grimacing slightly. "The damage was pretty bad and she'll be out of it for a while."
"I could imagine," Percy replied with a growl as he looked at where the island once was. "Was she …"
"No, thankfully," Andy answered, wondering if Percy held any affection to what amounted to being his step-mother.
Considering she could detect some familial protectiveness, if even the bare minimums, it could do him some good. He always did respond best when focusing on helping others and both Triton and Amphitrite might find sympathetic understanding with him in regards to what Poseidon has done.
"What of Jason and Hyperion. I was pretty out of it but I'm sure I felt the sudden absence of presence," he continued getting a sad frown from Andy.
"Yeah, about that …" she started, wondering how Percy would respond to the near disaster unleashed with that battle.
"… Let's go home first to see Rhea and Hestia," she said while thinking, 'Otherwise you just might beat the ever loving crap out of Jason without those two holding you back. Granted I'm pretty sure they are tearing into him too,' she thought as Percy pulled her closer, the golden glow encompassing them before they were gone in a flash…
...
( Percy POV )
Three Days Later
Percy sighed from his throne as his eyes watched several screens floating throughout the throne room as he and his fellow council members watched with sad eyes. Some occasionally glared at the responsible party.
Jason for his part looked the most afflicted, siting rigidly as he watched each and every screen, taking in every ounce of misery seen as a form of morbid self-punishment. He was sporting a freshly busted lip, added to his newly scared left eye and arm currently in a cast.
Percy had been angry with how Jason had lost momentary control but he couldn't blame him, otherwise it would be the height of hypocrisy. Just like he nurtured his own hatred and became ruthless, Jason contained a broken heart ever since he left camp Jupiter along with a buried rage.
A heart that had started to yearn for Amphitrite without the primordial's knowledge and in seeing her so broken, had unleashed a wrath like no other as Hyperion and sadly, the mortals now knew.
Only Percy himself, his queens, and Andromeda knew though, deciding that this was something Jason needed to figure out for himself and judging by how he visited Amphitrite's hospital ward several times a day, he may be on the way to figuring it out.
Sadly that did not spare him the council's displeasure and of all people, Hestia had been the angriest. To feel the very hope leaving the afflicted mortals, some abandoning each other in a mad dash to survive the sudden upheaval of their city, and all the pointless death had both disgusted and angered her.
She was one of the most empathetic to the mortals, her domains reflecting their state of mind and will meaning she suffered with them. Once she, along with Rhea had provided the support they could and the council had gathered, she challenged Jason to a fight in Tartarus to make her wrath known.
Jason accepted and then took it all without complaint, even seeming eager to suffer for what he did. He didn't try to dodge as Hestia broke several of his ribs, didn't utter a complaint as she shattered his arm or burned one of his wings.
They watched as Hestia proved why she was the embodiment of Fire and Lady of Dragons. She'd challenged him again the next day again, breaking his arm again, and literally kicking him through the coliseum of the Pit until she finally tired and broke down crying. He along with Rhea and Andromeda had held her for the whole night, trying to soothe her.
She'd finally fallen asleep barely a few hours ago and all three of his Shadows were with her up in the House of Primordials to watch over her.
Hell, Ladon had been more than ready to try and fly up to the house just so he could curl up protectively around his mistress but Percy had been able to convince the mighty beast to remain put on the mountain. Now they could hold another session after Percy had taken his one shot to give Jason that new busted lip but otherwise the physical displays were done and over.
He knew Jason was more than repentant about his actions, especially considering it was all because he didn't finish Hyperion the moment the titan had assumed his divine form, the strongest and most vulnerable state a deity could assume. But the past was just that, past. Now they needed to focus on the present and plan for the future. That was why they were watching several different news outlets at the moment.
News coverage had gone global within 24 hours and mass hysteria had been narrowly avoided due to what was found and the late intervention of the Mist. Hecate had been a vengeful demon thanks to the mess. Thanks to her influence still being closer centered to the Americas and their intent to slowly reduce the Mist, she'd been too late to truly cover up the event as some freak of nature, what's more, there were pictures and recordings.
Normally mystic beings unconsciously thicken the Mist around them to the point it even interferes with mortal technology while the mortal minds rationalize what they do see as something else. However, the aspect of faith influences just what they see and like demigods becoming aware, where once was just odd people were now monsters in crappy disguise.
A heavily religious city and land witnessing an 'angel' slaying a pagan god with proof, two deities literally burning away the Mist with their presence as they fought and engraving their presence onto the mortals that witnessed it.
Even Typhon had been constantly surrounded by storm clouds and Hecate had kept a constant coat of the Mist for miles around the titan as the Olympians tried to fight him. Mortal Manhattan had been put to sleep for a reason and much of the evidence had been hidden or repaired long before the mortals could find anything.
Not this time though. Oh no, the internet and the shockingly open-mindedness of frequent visitors, combined with overexposure, hard proof, conspiracy theorists, and lacking government reasoning for the event made sure of that. They'd even gotten samples of ichor left at the sight which 'mysteriously' disappeared after Percy sent Medusa.
Last thing they needed were mortal governments experimenting with what could be considered liquid power even if they were centuries away from having technology capable of understanding the elements present within divine blood.
Still, the fact of the matter was that the world at large was aware of something beyond their current understanding existed and thanks to Jason's uncanny resemblance to a biblical creature, the conversion to Christianity was on the rise… and coincidently, prayers of confession. Apparently seeing a real angel lit a fire under the less than scrupulous followers.
Styx, Phoebe, and Nico were morbidly amused by how people started praying about their broken oaths and promises, Fate, and Judgement into the afterlife respectively. Percy also felt the change in nature of dreams within the Night along with a significant increase in nightmares for those who saw the angel as a very bad thing.
"So …" Nico started, breaking Percy out of his thoughts as he and the others focused their attention to the god of evil. "… What's the plan now?" he asked while tapping a foot.
"I'm not sure," Percy murmured before looking at Andromeda. "How are things with the mortal governments?"
"Well I had to think fast while talking to both the Canadian and British prime ministers," Andy replied with a sigh. "They were pretty nervous about the fallout coming from such destruction. Now they're getting scared about what might happen if we reveal ourselves and claim Canada as our residence. Not to mention Great Britain is now allied to us too so they could face some backlash for it."
"Gods save the queen," Thalia muttered.
"Already on it," Styx replied to some snickers before she got more serious. "But really, we've given a valid reason for the mortals to be very weary of us now. At least our current allies were given notice to what's coming and we didn't sugarcoat the aftermath that could come of our war."
"Yeah but dive-bombing a historically and religiously significant city and racking up a death count in the hundreds might have given them a more realistic idea of what wars between gods entails," Thalia cut in. "Hecate already said it. With belief comes awareness to the mystic and sadly battles like that could happen again if Pontus' forces gather near mortal cities or even use mortals."
"You don't think…?" Rhea started but Phoebe cut in.
"Most likely," she said while her eyes flashed green. "Atlas used mercenaries even during the early stages of the modern man and did it again in the last Titan War. I don't doubt that Pontus will make use of mortal forces and even if he doesn't make them join him through blackmail or fear, he could instigate them to attack us."
"In fact, we can be almost certain he will," Percy said with a frustrated sigh. "That island was proof of that but now the question is, which country?"
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Don't forget to throw some power Stones, to keep the story going.
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