"Hello, Perseus. Welcome to Atlas, and more specifically, Alsius, our main military headquarters for Atlas."
"Hello, James," Percy greeted back with a smile, as he stepped off the bullhead, "Thank you very much for this kind welcome." The two of them met, and grasped each other's forearms, smiling amicably. And yet, both of them knew what they had to do to show the strong bonds fostered between kingdoms: They had to play the part and play it up for the media.
Cameras flashed, and they paused for a second, holding the position, and letting the numerous media reporters around the exchange take photos. Around them, numerous reporters had cameras set up, and were already live casting to their networks. Percy was sure tabloids about this meeting would be all over the Atlesian news network in just a couple of hours.
Mercury and Neo followed behind him, as they too hopped off the bullhead. Well, only Percy and Ironwood really knew they were there. They were disguised, with Neo's semblance of course.
The cameras were on the second that the bullhead doors had opened, and Percy didn't want any word of Neo and Mercury getting out. Firstly, he needed to keep Neo and Mercury as aces in his pocket. No one could freely learn of their identity. Secondly, if the press did see them, they would think that he was bringing bodyguards because he felt unsafe and would jump on it like starved dogs to the fresh meat. He couldn't afford to take any risks right now.
Of course, that would normally mean ensuring that the pilot didn't leak anything, but James had promised him that the pilot would keep his mouth shut. Percy had chosen to take the General at his word.
"Come, Perseus," the General said in a quiet tone that the reporters, who were being kept at a distance by the guards, couldn't pick up on, "I'd like to do that scan on your body, to determine your exact body composition. Of course, you'll be attending the SDC Charity Banquet tonight, so I promise I won't take too long. Oh, and you and your teammates' suits are almost finished, so Atlas will ship them by express to you all as soon as possible."
"Of course, General," Percy smiled, as he felt Mercury and Neo sneak out of the vicinity of the landing pad, and towards the building in the distance.
They walked towards the military building, ignoring the reporters and the flashing cameras. It might have been hard for Percy once upon a time to do so, but the newfound experience of fame had taught him like no other to ignore everything and everyone.
The answer was always "no comment".
Still, it amused him to listen in sometimes on the questions that the reporters asked.
Some asked if he was a god or not, some asked if he would smite the world and sink it to its watery depths. Percy supposed he might if something pissed him off enough, though that was him just joking. Or part of him, at least.
Some asked about his private life, about his love life. Percy snorted internally. It was ludicrous.
"We're here," Ironwood interrupted his random train of thought. They had made it into the building, and Percy couldn't help but smirk as he watched Ironwood breathe a sigh of relief.
"Not used to handling this many reporters?" he asked knowingly.
James chuckled loudly, finally himself indoors, "Of course. I'm adequately used to the feeling of getting swamped with reporters normally, but today was absolutely a different beast."
Percy hummed knowingly in agreement, as they entered the elevator. He had left instructions for Mercury and Neo to stay behind in the lobby of the building; what he was about to do wasn't for their eyes to see. Even if they had fought with him together on the bullhead against the hybrids, it didn't mean they had bonded. They had bonded to him, but the inverse wasn't necessarily true.
"Will we start the body composition tests, now?
-----
Pyrrha reached deep inside herself, trying to bring forth that candle that she felt in her soul. She could almost feel it, and its warmth and power. It was on the tip of her finger, just slightly out of reach.
She tried again, trying to envision the instructions that Percy had given her. "A tug in her gut," he had described it to her over encrypted texting, "Envision the weather changing, and it will. Feel it. It comes naturally."
Still, she couldn't feel the tug in her gut. Though, she felt a change in the weather. It was miniscule, but still noticeable. One could feel a slight alteration in the wind, as the thinner trees in the forest began bending.
Her emerald green eyes began glowing slightly. The wind whipped up, rushing through the trees, as she could hear the leaves rustle slightly. The clouds above darkened, and one could see fleeting flickers of red lightning between them. Fire came out of the edges of her eyes, glowing green. She began levitating off of the ground slightly, as she felt herself grow more and more powerful.
Although the logical side could tell that it was a far cry from what Percy could do, it still felt ethereal. The wind rushed through her hair in a frenzy, and clouds brewed, darkening even further. There was a rush of power, almost addictive, with this Maiden power. One could easily get drunk on power, Pyrrha knew.
And then the face of that man flashed in front of her again.
The dead man.
The man that she had killed.
She faltered.
The fire in her eyes went out, and the gales of wind stopped altogether.
That man had a job, and a family. And she had killed him.
She knew he had tried to take her life, but the guilt of it stuck with her.
She had taken a life.
A human life.
She hadn't told anyone about it, not even Percy.
She made up her mind to tell him once they met again. She couldn't hold secrets like that.
Her family knew, but no one blamed her. The Mistralian Council had ruled her completely free of guilt, but still...
Her instincts suddenly flared in warning, and Miló teleported into her hand. She rolled forward, avoiding the Beowolf that had been stalking her. There was no time to be thinking about guilt right now. She had drawn Grimm to her location because she'd been careless about practicing her Maiden powers, and now she Grimm to kill.
Immediately launching back, she thrusted Miló's javelin form three times in quick succession, but the Beowolf backed off quickly.
Pyrrha frowned, watching the Beowolf carefully. All of those strikes would have killed a normal Beowolf. The Grimm in question only looked at her, standing still, silently.
She could see a gleam in its eye, almost a gleam of... intellect? That didn't make sense... They didn't exhibit tactics like this...
It must have just been an alpha Grimm that was unusually intelligent. But alpha Grimm were physically much larger...
She didn't have more time to ponder the question when it suddenly lunged at her again, its jaw open, and ready to tear her to pieces.
Pyrrha knocked it away with Akoúo̱, before thrusting back at it with Miló. It leapt back again, but this time, Pyrrha used her semblance to boost her speed with her armor, and she thrust her javelin. It slid in between the white bone plates of armor, and straight into its torso. She pulled upwards, and with a heave, the Beowolf's head was decapitated.
More Beowolves poured into the vicinity, grouping up. Pyrrha aimed and fired at them with her scope, rapidly squeezing off shots, and trying to inflict wounds on the larger ones first. The smaller ones she could easily kill with Miló; they weren't any real threat to her.
And yet, they were being smarter. The smaller, weaker ones raced in front of the larger ones, acting as meat shields. She could see the largest one at the back, acting as the leader. Its intelligent, red eyes gleamed at her, almost tauntingly.
She growled in frustration, switching Miló into its javelin form. She wanted to keep these more... intelligent things at a distance. She didn't want to make any mistakes here. She had to kill them and move before her negative emotions drew even more hungry Grimm.
She breathed deeply, closing her eyes, and centering herself. Drawing the candle in her soul forward, she felt it ignite into her aura.
She opened her eyes, fire coming out of her emerald green eyes.
She burst forward, Miló leading the way as it cut through the air. Akoúo̱ came from the left, bashing a small beowolf's skull in. Pyrrha manipulated her shield, making it weave throughout the ranks to cause discordance and chaos, and just confusing the more intelligent Grimm in general.
She pushed forward with Miló, expertly slipping the javelin into the vulnerable, black flesh between the Grimm's white bone plates, like she had done for years. She embodied her own style, the style of the Invincible Girl, but also the some of Percy's unorthodox style that he had taught her.
To always be unpredictable, because she had been too cookie cutter, too standard. She sliced a beowolf's head clean off with her xiphos, as she mechashifted Miló back to its javelin form, thrusting and slicing into the torso of another beowolf.
To not be afraid to endlessly use her semblance and try new things. Akoúo̱ came back to her, and she sent it whirling at the small horde of Grimm again, separating their formation.
She thrust with a particular strength at the biggest beowolf of them all, the leader. Part of her aura felt like it was going right through her weapon, and not in the way that all of them instinctually reinforced their weapons with aura.
No, when Pyrrha thrusted forward, she felt that same power flow through her weapon. It surged through her hand, and into Miló, and out the end of Miló came a red flash of lightning.
The Grimm roared in pain when she made contact, as the electrical discharge surged straight into the Grimm, and Pyrrha took the chance to thrust her javelin straight into the beowolf's vulnerable parts. She pulled up, lopping its head off, and finally dispatching the head of the pack.
Without a leader, the beowolves tried grouping around the larger ones, but Pyrrha sent Akoúo̱ at them again, and they scrambled.
She smirked. Divide and conquer, another tactic Percy had taught them. Simple, but evidently effective.
She pushed again, relentlessly firing and swinging with Miló. Without a strong leader, the beowolves were just beowolves. They ran around like headless chickens without their leader, only trying rudimentary tactics like distract in front and pounce from the back.
Without the leader, Pyrrha cleaned them up with her normal routine, spinning and pirouetting gracefully, all while stabbing, cutting and thrusting Miló, combined with quick bursts of speed that overwhelmed the beowolves.
When she was finally done cleaning up the last one, she relaxed.
It was time to head to that strange meeting that she had been invited to. The Eastern Holy Church of Apollyon, or Percy's cult that Percy himself didn't know had been set up in Mistral. They were already expanding across all of Mistral, and temples had been set up, with great marble statues of Percy. They were an officially recognized religion, too, according to the Mistralian Council.
Still, Pyrrha didn't really know what to expect.
Oh well. Might as well give it a chance, she thought. Really, what was the worst that could happen?
-----
Pyrrha pushed the great golden double doors open, stepping into the room. She awed at the sight. The great golden ceilings, the sea green accents, the shining silver, the black theme that tied it all together. It was truly a church worthy of a god. And really, he almost was a god, at his strength as a demigod.
It was filled with people from all parts of Mistral, all of them with their eyes closed, and in deep prayer. The congregation of people was truly massive, and even faunus were there, praying as well.
What in the world was going on? Was this the meeting she had been invited to? She thought she would have had some upfront meeting with the head of the church, but this...
"And, in the year of our lord 1 AA, After Apollyon, unto Remnant did the Wrath of Apollyon unleash. Book of Righteousness, Section 3:1."
"And, in the year of our lord 1 AA, After Apollyon, unto Remnant did the Wrath of Apollyon unleash," the hall full of voices chanted back, echoing and overlaying onto each other.
"Very good, students" the prophet heading the ceremony, clapped his hands loudly, drawing the attention of everyone to the podium, "Please direct your attention to the person in the isle. The Eastern Holy Church of Apollyon now fully recognizes Pyrrha Nikos, Heir to the Nikos Family, as Consort Nikos, also known as one of the Eight Seraphs of Apollyon! She is the Holy Consort to the Great Perseus Apollyon, our Lord and Savior from Above!"
"Holy Consort Nikos!" the room cried back, chanting fervently, as if they were possessed.
Wait... what!? C-Consort?
T-That kind of c-consort??
She went bright red, her face closely resembling a red bucket of paint.
C-Consort to P-Percy... that wouldn't be such a bad thing, would it? She bit her lower lip uncertainly, before her tongue ran over it, thinking. She could still be with him...
She shook herself out of her little daydream.
"Wait, wait, wait!" she shouted, and the entire hall went quiet. The people began turning their gazes onto her one by one, and she grimaced, trying to stand strong in front of all of the unwanted attention.
"What is it, Seraph, or Consort Nikos?"
"I..." she trailed off.
What was she supposed to say? That she objected to being a Consort, when she really didn't? She couldn't call herself a queen either, especially when there wasn't anything officially linking her and Percy.
"Why is Percy your savior?"
The people in the room began mumbling amongst each other, as they shot quick looks towards her.
The mumbling grew louder, and it soon turned into outright shouting, as they argued amongst themselves.
"Silence!" the prophet at the podium cried, and the room followed his command, growing silent. It was as if the people in the room wholeheartedly trusted this man, who claimed to be the Prophet of Apollyon.
"He is the Savior of Remnant, and the Promised One! He holds the Mantle of Responsibility!" the Prophet proclaimed, "Apollyon, divine ruler of the High Seas and the Sky, and the rightful God-King of Mistral! The Eastern Holy Church advances His divine will, and we the Prophets, as well as Priests and High Priests spread His influence!"
"Lord Apollyon will grant us salvation!" the others chanted fervently in response.
It really was a cult, Pyrrha realized.
"Our true enemy is the Covenant! They worship the false goddess Salem, who has never saved us like Lord Perseus Apollyon! The upstart Western Covenant of Salem must be eradicated!" the Prophet at center stage cried, receiving agreement from the others.
Wait... false goddess Salem??
Pyrrha widened her eyes in alarm, even as the Prophet continued shouting in jubilation about the great glory of Apollyon.
And they were fighting against her... church, or covenant?? Pyrrha's mind felt like it would absolutely detonate at any moment. She had so many questions, and so few answers.
What was this, a cult war!? A cult war between Percy and Salem?? By accident, or on purpose? Did Percy know about this!?
What in the Grimm was going on here?
-----
They'd finally made the trip across the Tranquil Sea to Mistral.
Thankfully, Jaune hadn't thrown up boots this time; the ocean between the continent of Sanus and the continent of Anima was relatively calm, hence its name.
Yang smiled at the memory. Coming to Beacon seemed like ages ago! She didn't regret going to Beacon, not one bit. Meeting new friends, getting new experiences, and kicking ass! She loved every bit of it.
And, here they were.
Camping and fending off Grimm was the new normal for them as a group, with Qrow and her dad watching over them carefully.
The shattered moon of Remnant cast its white light into the forest, shining between the gaps in the foliage of the trees. The stars could be seen high in the night sky, scattered against the blanket of the dark night.
She wondered what Percy was doing right now.
Yang sighed, pushing herself off the tree trunk she'd been leaning on, sauntering over to the campfire that they had.
"Yo," she greeted, getting a wave back from Ruby.
"Hey Yang-"
The ground shook, and she stumbled, trying to find her balance.
"What was that?" Jaune asked.
"A test," Qrow got up, shrugging as he yawned, "Tai and I will supervise."
"How are you supposed to supervise when he's literally sleeping!?" Ruby pointed to her dad sleeping soundly, snoring away. Zwei was beside him, adorably curled up and fast asleep, like the lazy, cute dog he was.
Qrow yawned, "Semantics, semantics. Jeez, kids these days, I swear. Just go do the test."
"Are you serious? Another one??" Yang groaned in pure exasperation. They'd already had so many supervised "tests", that they were basically second nature by now, but they'd never had one during the night.
"Yep! Punishment for that guy," Tai pointed to Ren, who blinked innocently, "Not keeping his little cloaking semblance up."
"Ren!!" Nora looked at him, narrowing her eyes.
"Okay, okay I'm sorry!" he threw his hands up.
Nora retracted her head, and blinked, "I was just gonna say thank you~", she whooped instead, grinning, "Let's break its legs!"
"We don't even know if it has legs yet," Ruby countered.
"She does have a point," Yang commented rather uselessly.
"Shshshshhh~" Qrow flicked his hand at them, pointing at her sleeping dad, "Tai's trying to get his beauty sleep. Less talking, more fighting."
"But... wouldn't fighting annoy him anyway?" Jaune scratched his head.
"Shut up and go kill the thing," Qrow grumbled, as he wiggled into his sleeping bag.
"But-"
The trees overhead broke in half. All of them ducked as a massive rock flew over their heads, breaking the tall, thick trees, and leaving a clearing in the middle of the forest.
"What the FUCK was that!?"
Qrow yawned, completely unconcerned, "Damn my bad luck charm. Oh well. Change of plans, kiddos, pretend like we're the useless civilians that can't fight, and you need to protect us from the big bad Grimm. Good luck!"
"Uncle QROWW~" Ruby was cut off as she rolled away from the Grimm, and burst into rose petals, zipping away.
Yang leapt back, and not a second later, a massive boulder struck the spot where she just was.
She flew back from the force of the impact, and skid, trying to regain her footing. If she had still been standing there, she would've been flattened to a pancake. She looked up, noticing that it was a geist. A geist with the body of rocks, and one arm a tree.
Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Nora and Ren flank, trying to regroup with them, as they got separated from the sudden impact.
Jaune was the only one who actually followed instructions.
He stood protectively in front of the two "chaperones", who were on the edge of the clearing. One of the geists arms came down at him, but he took the brunt of it on his shield.
It looked like Jaune was about to be crushed, but the blond held strong, his aura flaring as he pushed back.
Damn!
Yang was impressed, she had to admit. Just a few months ago, Jaune wouldn't have even been able to put up a mere token of effort against this geist, but now he held strong! He'd grown leaps and bounds in physical strength.
"Uhh guys! A little help here!" Jaune cried out, as his knees finally began buckling under the pure force. His shoulders shook, as he struggled to hold out. Behind him, Qrow looked unconcerned as ever, and her dad snored away.
"Coming!" Nora cried, as she gave the signal to Ruby. Ren sprinted towards Jaune, firing off shots with his automatic pistols. More than a few hit near the geist's face, and the geist had to use its other arm to block its face.
Ruby shot an electric dust bullet into Nora's back, and Nora grinned, as the blue electricity turned to pink lightning, spreading all over her body, before dissipating.
She sprinted towards Yang, jumping onto her arms, and Yang fired her gauntlets twice, boosting Nora off.
Ruby burst into petals, and intertwined with Yang, and her sister carried her towards Jaune, shooting across the clearing.
One second, it looked like Jaune was about to crumble, and the next, Nora was there.
She swung her hammer with force, the hammer soaring through the air to meet the geist's other hand.
The resulting collision sent a small shockwave throughout the area, shaking the trees. The geist's body went flying to the opposite side of the large clearing, tumbling as it caused additional quakes.
All of them were blown away from each other, as Jaune dug his sword into the ground, coming to a stop next to her.
Yang grinned in anticipation.
"I guess blonds really do have more fun."
"Huh?" Jaune turned to look at her, but Yang was already gone. Shooting Ember Celica to propel her forwards, she went straight for the Grimm's head, her fist rearing backwards for the blow.
She shot her gauntlets and slammed her fist straight into the geist's head... or so she thought. The Grimm had brought its hands up to protect itself, and her strike collided with the boulder of an arm that it had, creating an indent in it.
Yang immediately fired again to propel herself backwards, wincing as she landed on the ground. Her hand was fine because she'd reinforced it with aura, but it still hurt.
Yang paused, watching as the others began tackling the behemoth. Ruby ran circles around it, firing Crescent Rose, and the others did the same.
"Guys!"
She turned, seeing Jaune wave his arms frantically, jumping up and down, even as he avoided the geist that was actively trying to kill him. What was that all about?
"It's protecting its face! We need to hit it harder so that we can distract it from its face, and then we can kill it! Target its joints so that it loses its limbs, and then we can grab its face!"
Huh. Leave it to Jaune to come up with a pretty viable strategy. Percy really drilled Jaune to the limit. A job well done.
"Let's go! Team JNRRY!" Nora whooped excitedly, mechashifting her weapon back into its hammer form.
Juniory? Yang smirked at the name, as she reloaded Ember Celica, the pellet shells falling onto the ground.
Ruby burst into petals, bolting towards the geist, and Yang did the same, using Ember Celica to propel herself towards it. Bullets from Jaune and Ren slammed into its face, causing it to jerk away, using its large arms to protect itself.
She went straight for the left leg, and Nora mirrored her on the right leg. Fist met rock, and rock shattered before it.
The Grimm roared in agony at the feeling of its legs being crushed off, the sound shaking the trees of the forest.
All of them began to distract it, pulling at its arms, or whistling at it.
"Yo dumbass! Over here!" she hollered, grinning as it turned to her. She avoided its arm, flipping over it, and grabbing it.
She tried to hold on desperately, digging her boots into the dirt, but still, she was sliding. Jaune saw her, however, and he bolted over, targeting the small piece of black Grimm flesh that was being opened from the tension. As she continued to pull, he sliced downwards, chopping its arm off.
Next, Ruby zipped up the back of the Grimm, unnoticed by it, and she hooked her scythe around the Grimm's white face.
The Grimm did not take very kindly to this, and tried to use its remaining arm to get rid of Ruby, but Ren and Nora were there, and with their combined teamwork, they smashed the thing to pieces.
Ruby yanked forcefully, before the geist finally came out. Defenseless, it immediately tried running, but none of them were gonna let that thing get away.
All of them opened fire, raining bullets down on the geist. Not that it needed that much anyway.
A single bullet was enough, and, with a screech, the geist dissolved into nothingness.
"We did it!!" Ruby and Nora cheered instantly, as the rest of them had grins on their faces. Yang grinned herself. They did pretty well for a bunch of first years attacking a higher-class Grimm, compared to things like ursai and beowolves.
Ruby hugged Jaune enthusiastically and the blond returned it, smiling contently. Nora jumped on Ren, toppling him over onto the ground.
"Am I playing fifth wheel here, or what?" Yang teased, grinning. Predictably, Ruby turned red, and Jaune choked. Nora began stammering out denials, about how she and Ren were together, but not "together-together", only widening Yang's grin. Ren was the only one who was unfazed, only sighing.
"Come on, kiddos, what an absolute waste of bullets..."
They turned to see none other than Qrow walking towards them. The guy still had the audacity to keep yawning. He deserved to be sued for negligence!!
Just as Yang was about to chew her uncle out for napping away, she was interrupted by another voice.
"Uh... hello?"
A small boy stood at the edge of the clearing, clearly nervous, and frightened.
He couldn't have been more than fourteen, wearing a white shirt and brown pants. His eyes were hazel, and he had dark brown hair. He looked eerily familiar, in a way, although Yang was sure she had never seen him in her life before.
They all stared at him, bewildered. What was a kid like him doing here? Right after a fight, in the middle of nowhere on Anima?
The silence stretched on for several moments, before Qrow spoke.
"You know, I don't think they allow pipsqueaks in here."
-----
"Raven!"
Raven Branwen turned around slowly, as she saw Vernal in her tent. Her eyes were wide, and her posture was strangely stiff. That usually meant bad news.
"What is it, Vernal?" she asked tiredly.
"Cinder Fall and another woman are demanding to see you!" she blurted out quickly.
Cinder Fall. An international fugitive who almost certainly had the Fall Maiden's powers.
Raven's senses went on alert as she thinned her lips, "How'd they get in??"
"I- I don't know!! They just ran through all of the guards so easily!" Vernal cried, frenzied, "I- we couldn't do anything, I swear!"
She sighed. Why had she expected the tribe to be able to stop them? Granted, they weren't half-bad... at least at the level of a Beacon second year, with the constant drilling in the wilds they did, but no one could stop a maiden... except that boy- or man, she'd met twice already.
Apollyon.
Why were they here, though? They couldn't possibly know... right? Right?
If they were here to extinguish Ozpin's deserted eye... she would have to fight. She would be thrown into that war again, whether she liked it or not.
And yet, she had trained Adam Taurus, she reminded herself. Why had she done that? All of that to prevent another... silver-eyed warrior from falling into her hands, and she had failed.
She'd taken part in that war, whether she liked it or not. The whole thing was a huge mess.
She shook herself from her thoughts, as she grabbed Omen. The handle felt as sturdy as ever in her hands, soothing her nerves slightly.
Raven took a deep breath, readying herself. She couldn't afford to show weakness in front of the tribe, much less a maiden like Cinder Fall. Then, she stepped out.
The tent's covers were flung out, and she stepped out onto the wooden podium with authority, looking down at her guests.
An amber-eyed, black-haired woman stared back at her. She wore a long-sleeved red dress, and an eyepatch over her left eye, and she had a cruel smirk which sat perfectly on her ruby lips.
Cinder Fall. Someone who was not to be trifled with.
And yet, the woman next to her was the one Raven was worried about.
The first thing she noticed were her eyes. They were a brilliant, shimmering gradient of purple, seeming to change hints and shades, forever alternating.
The next thing she noticed was that they were cold.
So very, very cold. Still, they seemed to have a hint of interest, as raven locks framed her face.
The next thing Raven noticed was that the woman's skin was a pale, white. Unnaturally pale, almost as pale as... her.
She wore an elegant black wrapped top, with shimmering hints of purple that crossed across her entire body, creating a mesmerizing pattern. She had black combat pants and armored heeled boots with the accents of purple. On her back, Raven could see a polearm, a midnight glaive, that seemed to stay the same, pulsing dark purple, no matter how much sunlight hit it.
Still, something about her was... strange. Raven could feel it in the air, the aura of someone truly better than her. Not an air of superiority, but an air of someone who could crush her like an ant beneath their feet. It felt like there was a heavy weight on each of her shoulders.
"What do you want?" Raven stated coldly, with an air of authority.
She was thankful for the mask that the entire tribe wore, so that they didn't see her unease.
"We know you have the Spring Maiden."
Raven Branwen faltered.
Cinder stepped forward, smiling, but the woman next to her held a hand up. The Fall Maiden stopped in her tracks, frowning slightly. Cinder turned to the woman, but she ignored her.
"Lilith..."
"Hold your tongue when you are told to."
Cinder thinned her lips in response. The woman turned her gaze back to Raven.
Raven instinctually shivered under the woman's gaze, as she took a step forward, her purple eyes glowing slightly. There was something... familiar about her. She couldn't place what it was, exactly, but it was... similar to the feeling of seeing a stranger too many times for it to be a coincidence...
She looked at Raven.
"You do remember, right?"
Her heart pounded.
Images flashed across her vision, ephemeral and flitting.
Darkness. Grimm howling. Summer, face down, impaled by her own spear. Red blood pooled from underneath her, spreading. She did not know if she was dead or not.
A teenage girl, crying and screaming out for help. Hundreds of other children bawling out in fear, shrieking. There was one who stood like a statue, silent. Uncaring.
Raven was too frozen to move.
Pools of blackness, bubbling, sentient. Tentacles crawled out of the pit, grabbing the girl, bawling and crying. And the girl drowned in the black.
A black tree, limp corpses hanging from thorns, which protruded from its barren, cold branches, which shifted and twisted and turned and reformed... There were no leaves.
The corpses, they were human. At least, they looked human.
Other branches had other bodies. Not all were human, though vaguely man shaped.
The world was on fire.
It was burning. It wasn't that it had just started burning, no.
It had been burning. Eternal flames danced without remorse, neither growing, nor shrinking.
Forever content.
And she felt a gaze boring into her.
A pale, black-veined woman staring at her, red eyes glowing. The woman's lips curled into an amused smile.
And Raven ran back through the portal.
They stopped.
And Raven let out a shaky breath.
An amused smile began to spread across the woman's lips. Uneasiness pooled in Raven's stomach.
"What are you going to do, when there's blood in the water?"
-----
"No... impossible. I- I couldn't have-"
Percy stumbled, his eyes wide with pure shock. Ironwood looked at him, the General's eyes alarmed.
"It is as it says, Perseus. Your muscles have a higher strength to volume ratio than the average huntsman, in other words, relative strength. Lighter bones, and yet, much higher density than the average huntsman. Your neural responses are several times faster than the average huntsman's, which contributes to your immense reflexes."
"And your body composition is forty percent human, sixty percent unidentified. You said previously that it was a one-to-one ratio, but not anymore. Previously, you said your blood was red. Your blood is now filled with numerous flecks of unidentifiable golden substance, ichor. And it is increasing, slowly," Ironwood continued.
No... impossible. No, no, no... he denied, it couldn't be. He fell onto one knee.
"People are worshipping you all across the world, Perseus, whether you like it or not. You are a symbol of hope for all of the desperate people in need, a guardian that chooses to protect, rather than to destroy. Twice you saved Vale, first at the Breach, then at the Fall. Face it. People trust you to protect them. You are Remnant's impenetrable shield. Eternal. Infallible."
It couldn't be...
"Apollyonism is an official religion in Mistral now, and as news and video evidence of your power spreads to villages beyond the CCTs, your worship only increases further. Your body composition is slowly but surely augmenting," Ironwood looked grim, and his eyebrows were drawn together, but he still continued, soldiering on.
"If you are worshipped as a god, then you will become the god. You are worshipped as the god of the seas and the sky, and so you will become him."
No... this wasn't how it was supposed to happen...
Deep down, though, logically, he knew it made sense. It was why he could call down bolts of lightning with precision, which he could never do before. That was exclusively Zeus' power, and now he had it. It was why he had been feeling strange recently, and why he had been coughing randomly, starting a couple weeks after the Fall of Beacon.
It was why he had gathered assets... whether he liked it or not, he saw Mercury and Neo as tools, rather than people. Even if he got along with them well enough, he had begun to see himself as above them.
The old him would have been more like Ruby, trying to naively make friends with everyone. But he was a mere shadow of the twelve-year-old, optimistic boy that he had once been. He had seen too much of the world to believe it was a fairytale. He was jaded, and broken. And yet, he was only seventeen.
His teammates were the same age as him, he reminded himself. And yet, they were only children. It was astonishing, when he thought about it. And they were fighting against the Queen of the Grimm.
Percy had never wanted this. He had wanted to live the rest of his life out, before he stepped foot on Remnant. And he thought he was free from all of this immortality nonsense.
Gods were cruel, at best chaotic good, and new gods gradually grew distant from humanity. He had never wanted to become a god.
He had declined it twice before, and now it was to be forced on him, wasn't it? And he couldn't do anything about it.
Suddenly, Ironwood's face faded from his vision, along with the rest of the world. Or, not that it faded from his vision, but it had been faded from his vision, and Percy had just managed to notice it.
There were two beings in front of him, a being of pure, golden light, brighter than even Apollo's, the sun god, and a being of pure darkness, darker than even Nyx's, the protogenos of the night.
In unison, they spoke, their voices intertwining, reverberating throughout the white space that they were in.
"Son of Poseidon."
Vivid images of his life were flashing in front of him. Him discovering his heritage, him fighting the minotaur, fighting Ares, holding up the sky...
"Bearer of the Sky."
"Bane of Kronos, King of the Titans."
He saw himself duel Kronos on Mount Olympus, trying to stall him, as Luke tried to take back control.
"Bane of Kronos, King of the Titans."
"Survivor of Tartarus."
More images flashed in front of him, bringing him back to that... place. The place of his nightmares for several months.
"You bested the protogenos of Misery and Pain, Akhlys, and tricked the protogenos of Night, Nyx."
"You continue to carry on our legacy, as the last of your kind, and undoubtedly the greatest demigod to ever walk the face of Gaea."
"Accept this Onus that is placed onto you, and Rise, to your Ascension," the two beings in front of him continued, their distorted voices finally blending into one, harmonious voice.
"For you are Apollyon."
AN: And Percy is ascending to godhood! Shoutout to the people who predicted this back when Chapter 23 was released!
Obviously, Salem will be much more powerful than what she was in canon (canon was weak anyway), to make her a real threat.
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'til next time!
Next Chapter: February 17th (2 weeks)
-thann3