Arthur:
"Do we seriously have to?" I moaned as I brushed the golden dust I was currently covered in out of my short hair.
Note to self, next time you use a 50. BMG on a monster, don't barrel stuff them.
"We've been over this Arthur. I've been lucky enough that Zeus has allowed me to shirk my responsibilities to my duties, domains, and The Hunt for these past 8 months. I was hoping he would let it go for the whole year I wanted, but in light of recent events, he has changed his mind. Now if we want to continue your training, and we will continue it, I must compromise and at least pay somewhat attention to them."
Another groan escaped me.
My mother rolled her eyes, "It won't be that bad. As long as you are cordial to them they won't be too violent towards you. You must remember, many of them have been victims of violence and abuse from men in their lives. They are not just hateful towards your sex for no reason."
I rolled my eyes, "Ah yes, and inducting them into a group where everyone else shares the same opinions as them and with no therapy to speak off has probably done wonders for healing those perceptions."
Artemis's eye twitched, "Arthur Achilles Winchester-"
"Woah Woah Woah, wait a minute." I interrupted.
The irritation on my mother's face grew as she crossed her arms, "What?"
"My middle name is Achilles?" I asked, " Why couldn't you have given me a more pretentious name like Alistair or Fitzwilliam or Thaddeus?"
The sound of a facepalm echoed throughout the clearing.
Thank god for the boost towards my perception.
Without it, I never would have caught the arrow that had almost lodged itself into my skull.
"My lady, what is this male doing here?"
I gave my mother a side-eye, "You didn't even warn them?"
Artemis gave a sheepish smile, "I may have forgotten."
I gave her a blank stare, "Humans might forget something like this. You on the other hand are a literal goddess. How did you forget about something like this?"
My mother let out a huff, "I'll have you know that gods forget all kinds of stuff over the millennium, well unless you're a god of knowledge or such."
I guess she was right. I think Poseidon even mentioned at one point in the last book of the series that Oceanus had summoned monsters so ancient that even he had forgotten about them.
Still though.
"I think your old age is just getting to you." I snarked, "You should probably get it checked before the dementia sets in."
The reaction I received was more than I could ever hope for.
"Excuse me?!" Artemis snapped, "I'll have you know I'm the youngest goddess on the council and in the pantheon."
"I wouldn't say 4 thousand years is young in any scale of time mom."
Her eyes started to twitch in a manner that kind of reminded me of myself. Huh, so that's where I got that tick from.
Then suddenly as it came my mother gained her composure.
"You know what. Your right dear, I should probably get that taken care of." She agreed with a sweet smile that didn't quite reach her eyes.
I wouldn't have been too troubled by it if those eyes didn't promise pain and retribution.
I didn't like where this was going.
"So while I'm getting that taken care of. Girls, would you please take care of my son and your newest brother? Get him settled in and show him how it works around here." Artemis ordered before she just vanished.
The sounds of dozens of bows being drawn reached my ears.
Oh no.
"So uh, what do you girls do for fun around here?"
"Castrate any man who dares come to our camp." A hunter who stood right next to who I assumed was Zoe snarled at me.
Phoebe, Lvl 50
Title: Hunter of Artemis
I vaguely recognized her from memory. She's the one who got the shirt spiked with Centar Blood I think?
"Well that sounds nice and all, but I'll have to say no thanks. So I'm just gonna head out now." I said and began backing up.
Apparently, they took that as a challenge.
In a blink, dozens of arrows filled the air and sailed towards me. Now I could catch one arrow don't get me wrong. But this many?
My perception was good enough for me to track them all, but my reflexes weren't anywhere near that fast. Normally.
'Fucks sake.' I thought and pulled on the tingling sensation that ran down my spine.
The world slowed to a crawl even more and the smell of ozone filled the air around me. While Lighting Enhancement was rather basic in principle, it was quickly becoming one of my favorite skills.
Now, I need to end this before it can get out of hand.
The world blurred before me as I rushed forward. I hadn't even released a breath before every single arrow was in my hands. Looking around I noticed the Hunters appeared to be either frozen in time or moving in slow motion.
I found it momentarily interesting that some of the Hunters seemed to be faster than the others. A little memory told me that the Hunters were supposedly stronger and faster than the average Demigod because of the pact they made to Artemis and The Hunt. Percy, Jason, Thalia, and the rest of the main ones notwithstanding of course.
I never bothered to ask Artemis, but was her blessing a flat buff or could it be increased with training or stacked with one's own divine heritage?
Perhaps a bit of both from what I noticed next.
A certain Hunter with a tiara on her head viciously glaring at me where I now stood, the rest of her body moving at a far faster rate than the others. Still not fast enough to keep up with me, but certainly noticeable as I saw her hand already pulling a celestial bronze dagger from her belt.
There also seemed to be a tad of confusion hidden behind those eyes.
A look above her head confirmed what I already knew.
Zoë Nightshade, Lvl 70
Title: Lieutenant of Artemis
Was it her age or Titan blood that gave her that boost?
Pumping a bit more power into my body I flashed behind them and cut off my power. As fast as it had come the world snapped back into motion. Leaving a bunch of confused hunters in my wake.
"What?"
"He and the arrows vanished!"
"Where did the boy go?"
"He's behind us." Zoe snapped as she alerted them all.
I hummed in interest. So she really was able to track my movement.
Once again faced with a bunch of angry hunters I dropped the arrows at my feet and held up my hands placatingly.
"Listen, ladies, I like being turned into a pin cushion as much as the next guy." I said, "But how about we keep this civil and I can just get out of your hair."
Once again, apparently not the correct thing to do.
"You aren't going anywhere until you pay for the shame you bring on this Hunt and our lady." Phoebe snarled at me, "A male being born to our goddess? Shameful. Who knows what horrors your father inflicted on her to allow you to have been born."
Ow. If I would have actually had any kind of real emotional connection to Richard that might have hurt.
I sighed. Never let it be said that I didn't at least attempt for peace.
"I think you're just mad that my old man is the greatest stud in the history of the world. As evidenced by my existence." I said while gesturing to myself.
I could practically see the hatred start rolling of most of them. Especially Phoebe, her face was turning redder than a bell pepper. Ha.
"You dare?" She snarled.
A smirk appeared on my face, "Yeah, I do. Because here's the thing, my mother cares for all of you and me. You can't harm me and I can't harm you without pissing her off majorly. So we're going to have to form a truce and simply coexist. You don't fuck with me and I won't fuck with you. We simply pretend the other doesn't exist. Besides, I won't be with her for much longer."
This time it wasn't Phoebe that responded, instead it was Zoe.
She put her fist into the air, "Stand down. The male has a point despite his vulgarity at expressing it. Our lady would not wish harm on either of us. Phoebe, take the rest of the hunt and begin to break down camp, we shall be moving soon. I shall talk to him."
Phoebe shot one last glare at me before nodding and making her way back to the tents with the rest of the hunters.
"Thou has talent for pissing dangerous people off." Zoe started as she walked up to me.
I shrugged, "That's all you get from our short interaction?"
"A bit of that and from what my lady has told me about you."
"So she has told you guys about me."
"Nay, only I have known about you. As Artemis's lieutenant, I am privy to such knowledge." She admitted.
"Fair enough." I said, "So you're good with the deal, you don't bother me and I don't bother you?"
She nodded, "As long as you don't bother us or try and peep on us when we are changing or bathing, then yes."
"Please." I snorted, "You all look like you're barely teenagers except for you and a couple of the others. I prefer to look at actual women, not children. That's disgusting."
Zoe's eyes creased in confusion, "Are you not barely a teenager yourself?"
Oh yeah, there was that. Physically yes, but mentally just, by comparison, I'd say probably not.
"Meh. No offense, but the young have nothing on a fully developed woman. Personal tastes and all."
Zoe scoffed, "And here I thought the child of my lady would be different than other men."
"I'm my mother's son, not her clone." I said leaving it at that and turning away, "Have fun packing up your camp. If my mother comes back and asks where I am, tell her I had something to check up on."
For the second time today, I yanked on the tingling sensation in my spine and sped off into the woods. It took me a couple of minutes but once I was sure that I had put a couple of miles between myself and the camp I slowed myself to a stop.
Sucking in some breath I cringed as I saw where my mana bar was sitting. I had appeared confident in front of the hunters that I could take them all, but that was a bluff on my part.
Despite all the levels I had gained during my training and the increases in my stats from it, Lightning Enhancement still cost a fuckton of my MP and it took forever to level. I'd only gotten a couple of levels up for it during the last couple of months.
While it definitely improved my ability to use it, it still left me only being able to activate it in short bursts unless I didn't want to use any other techniques or attack.
I now understood why outside of Percy, almost every Demigod throughout the series rarely used or relied on their powers. Most of them weren't mage types and even the basic abilities seemed to cost a lot of mana.
Nico seemed to be an exception like Percy, but even then the series described him as always being tired when he really used them.
That just made Percy even more exceptional in my mind. The guy at 16 was basically carrying The Battle of Manhattan on his back while summoning mini hurricanes and fighting Titans.
A wry smile made its way to my face, "And if I remember his mana bar from when I first observed him… and to say nothing of when you become an adult. The series ended when you were 17, not even close to your prime."
Percy really is going to grow up to be a goddamn monster.
I'd just have to do my best to match him.
"Status."
Arthur Winchester, Lvl: 40
Title:
[HP] - 6100/6100
[MP] - 1000/4000
[STR] - 80 (15%) = 92
[VIT] - 61
[PER] - 70 (40%) = 98
[DEX] - 99
[INT] - 80
[WIS] - 51
[LUK] - 34
Points - 143
All of my gains had been from straight training and the boost I got from being a Demigod. I made it a rule for myself to not touch the stat points I gained from leveling, both as a sort of challenge to see how far I could push myself when I needed to and as a way to keep a powerup in store in case I ever really needed it.
No one would expect my mana reserves to suddenly almost triple out of nowhere or to be able to match their strength blow for blow.
Something I might be testing out if what I'm about to do goes wrong.
Immediately I brought out Abyss Watcher and used its elemental channeling to infuse it with Lighting. Then I started burning the symbols I needed into the ground.
I had read up on my older brother Cadius, the son of Richard and Heir of the Beal Clan, he was apparently one of the strongest Devils in the underworld.
He was infamous for his mastery over hell flame and a rare ability known as dark light. From what I read it was photokentic in nature but somehow fused darkness into the light. As ass-backward as it sounds, somehow he was capable of doing so.
"19 years old and already following his father's footsteps into becoming a legend. Cadius Beal Winchester is the only Devil of the current generation to be accepted into the ranks of the Satan Class of Devil kind. His long list of achievements started out at only 16 when our first reports of him using his "Dark Light" ability and activating his "True Form" first surfaced.
See pages 700 and 901 for more information on these abilities."
Honestly, there wasn't much on his powers. This book was information gathered by the Church and Biblical Heaven after all. All it contained was reports of the few that had fought him and survived to tell the tale.
It wasn't often apparently.
He was strong and according to Artemis, he would eventually come for Abyss Watcher. Which was understandable. It was an incredibly powerful sword and he was Richard's oldest child. Unless Richard had a will, it was technically his birthright. For my own safety, I wanted to face him on my own terms. Not have him just show up randomly when I wasn't repaired.
And for that, I needed someone to give him a message.
Turning off the flow of Lighting mana into the sword I stood back and inspected my work.
Burned into the ground was now a demonic trap. According to the book, demonic traps could be used to trap and nullify any being that had even an ounce of demonic energy in them. Though it did warn mileage may vary and you shouldn't expect it to hold ones of high caliber.
But it worked for what I needed.
Pulling out the summoning paper I infused as much mana as I could before tossing it into the circle as it glowed.
I sighed and hoped this would work as I intended.
From what I read, the Biblical Underworld and Devils seemed closer to something out of DXD than say the Hell from Supernatural. As the Devils and Fallen here seemed to be human than true spirits of evil that some media went with.
They had a society, a class system, cities, political factions, and I had even read about famous schools in the Underworld. One of which was noted to have had Cadius in attendance before he graduated some years prior as well as a few other Winchester children.
Considering it didn't specify, I really hoped it just meant my three sisters and not other children.
Four siblings were enough damn it. Surely Richard wasn't that popular down there…
But back to my main line of thought, while there were in fact actual monstrosities and evil spirits that existed in the Underworld. They were basically just monsters that were either exterminated for the safety of the general population or enslaved to the great houses. There was a difference between the races. Demons and Devils.
This meant the Devils I would be dealing with was failable. If it was anything like DXD, they would just basically be sinful and supernaturally powered humans. In my opinion that would be far easier to work with instead of eldritch abominations.
I just hope for the love of God that it wasn't too much like DXD down there.
Might explain the number of siblings I have though…
As the summoning paper hit the middle of the trap it exploded into a purple magical circle and from it formed a young woman.
A long sigh escaped me.
"This is what I get for having fucking hope," I muttered to myself.
Unfortunately, the young woman in front of me was incredibly beautiful. Emerald eyes blinked at me in confusion and cascading purple hair fell down her back. Even more unfortunately, her assets seemed to strain against her entirely too small black and gold school uniform.
"Oh umm hello there!" She beamed at me as she regained her bearings, "I wasn't expecting a summon in the middle of a school day! I'm Guinevere Raum by the way. So what services are needed?"
The Devil in front of me paused after that question seemed to really study me, "Aren't you a little young to be summoning devils?" She asked before trying to walk forward before flinching back, "And am I in a devil trap?"
"You can never be too cautious." I shrugged, "I didn't exactly know who I was going to summon."
She pouted and crossed her arms underneath her chest, "Still not very nice."
My stupidly enhanced eyes caught every single way the action caused her bust to pop even more.
Perhaps eldritch abominations would've been better after all.
I pulled out a letter and flicked it towards her, "I need you to deliver this to my brother as soon as possible."
She caught it and raised one of her perfect eyebrows, "You summoned a Devil to deliver a letter to your brother?"
"What did you expect me to ask for?"
This time it was her turn to shrug, "Power, money, maybe for me to take your virginity. I don't know, something a normal teenager would want."
"Don't exactly need any of those things." I snorted as I grabbed her payment from my inventory, "Will these suffice as payment?"
In my hands were 5 ingots of Celestial Bronze.
The Devil studied the ingots in my hands for a second, "And what are those? Copper bars."
I shook my head, "Nothing so mundane. This is Celestial Bronze mined straight from Mount Olympus."
Guinevere's eyes widened, "What!? You're pulling my leg kid. How would a mortal child get his hands on such a rare divine metal?"
With a snort, I summoned half a dozen light arrows around myself and pointed them at her.
She froze as fear seemed to seep into her body. It must have been quite terrifying for a young devil such as herself to be trapped without her power and surrounded by an element that was extremely deadly to her.
"I'm not exactly a mortal." I responded before throwing the ingots at her feet, "So while those suffice as payment?"
She nodded slowly as she bent down to collect them.
I dismissed the light arrows with a thought, "Well if so then that concludes our business Miss. Raum. I apologize for the trap, if I need your services in the future, rest assured I will not use it again."
"Yeah sure." She said as she stood back up and looked relieved that the light arrows were gone, "If you don't mind me asking, why summon a Devil to deliver a letter? As you obviously just showed, you are not a mortal or are at least a magically powered one. Do you really need my assistance to deliver this?"
"Yes actually. My brother is in the Underworld currently and I have no way of contacting him."
The Raum girl furrowed her eyebrows, "And who is this brother of yours? You never told me his name."
"Just look at who the letter is addressed to," I answered.
Doing as I said she read the letter address, "To Cadius Beal Winchester."
Silence reigned in the clearing.
I swear I noticed the color drain from her face as her hands started shaking. Carefully she looked from the letter and back to me.
"B-brother?" She asked in horror.
"Yep!" I said, popping the P, "Arthur Achillies Winchester at your service."
There was another pause in the conversation before I heard ever so quietly, "By the Satan's themselves, not another one."
'Same Guinevere, same.' I thought while I agreed with her.
Finally a kindred spirit in my horror of the seemingly endless amount of fuck trophies Richard had all over the place.
"Oh and by the way, do you go to the Lucifuge Academy by chance?"
She nodded numbly.
"Well if you happen to know or run into her, can you tell my sister Michelle I said hi and that I miss her," I asked.
I hadn't exactly known her very long, but so far out of all my siblings, she was the only one that had shown me any love and wasn't apparently going to hunt my ass down for a sword.
That deserved some kindness in return.
With that out of the way, I sent a pulse of energy to a sigil beneath my foot. The demonic trap reacted and with another magical portal, Guinevere was gone.
All that remained behind was the same summoning contract.
Well with that out of the way, I just had to wait for Cadius to respond.
I just hope it wouldn't be too long, as I didn't have much time to waste on this family sidequest crap.
I don't think a lot of people realized it, but the events of each book were not separated by that much time. As of a couple of days ago it was now 2007. The events of both the second and third books would happen this year.
Golden fleeces to grab, sea monsters to slay, Titans to fight, and if I wasn't mistaken a timed quest for Hades kids that expired in a year.
It was going to be an incredibly busy year.
Hell:
"Well, isn't this interesting." The Winchester heir mused to himself while he read over the letter in his hands, "My baby brother knows I want the sword, and he's willing to give it to me."
The familiar green-haired Devil across from him raised an eyebrow, "Truly? How generous of him. While I have no doubt his mother knew of your intentions and informed him, I didn't think he would part with the blade so easily."
Cadius shifted his eyes to his former mentor, "Oh and why is that? Perhaps the little bastard just so happens to love his older brother?"
Adrian rolled his eyes, "Come now boy, you know not many beings, mortal or not, are willing to give up power in any form. Especially when such a thing was handed to him by his father's killer. It speaks volumes that he's willing to give you the blade and seek peace with you."
"Perhaps he's just scared of me. I have quite the reputation after all." Cadius said with a small smirk.
"Or perhaps he values his relationship with his older brother far more than something as fleeting as power." Adrian chastised, "You could learn something from him Cadius, for while power matters and is a great thing to achieve, it is not everything. Your little brother is offering you an olive branch, do not squander it out of arrogance and greed."
A snort left the younger Devil's mouth as he leaned forward, "And why would I need such an olive branch? Why would I need a little deadweight half-blood like him?"
"Perhaps you do not." Adrian began, "But have you ever stopped to think that maybe your brother needs you?"
"Excuse me?"
A sigh of frustration left the older Devil, "Maybe if you ever used that magnificent brain of yours for something other than fighting and politics, you could stop being an arrogant little asshole for 5 damn minutes."
Cadius gritted his teeth, "I still fail to see-"
The Winchester heir faltered a bit as the man across from him settled him with a glare.
"No you do not, so let me explain it for you. Your little brother is alone. His father is dead, killed in front of him, and his sisters have been sent away from him and their families have not allowed them back to Earth in fear that they will be targeted. He literally has no one."
"He has his Greek family does he not?"
"The Gods of Olympus do not function like us or even the Norse Cadius. It is not uncommon for a Demigod to never meet their godly parent, even one in their life. Those that are lucky may get to see them for an extended period, but even that does not last. The gods have duties and their children can never have their full attention."
The room fell into silence as both men continued to stare at each other.
"Cadius. You are head of the Winchester family now. Among its many privileges are also responsibilities. Such as to your family. Your brother does not have protections that would be afforded to him like your sisters and there is a war brewing in the Greek Pantheon, one that could devastate the Human world. He needs his older brother. Meet him like he wants you to, take his peace offering, be the adult that you now are. You had a mentor in your father and I. Why not extend that courtesy to you brother?"
Cadius took a long calming breath.
"I'll think about it."
Adrian nodded, "That is all I ask. Though perhaps there is a benefit to this situation you're not quite seeing."
"That being?"
"The boy has the blood of your father and a literal goddess flowing through his veins. He has great potential within him. Perhaps by fostering his loyalty he could help you on your quest. You're powerful no doubt, but there are certain lords not to mention those within the royal family who are stronger. Even the weakest ones could possibly overwhelm you through teamwork or deceit, as they will not all be straightforward as Vassago was."
Cadius took a moment to ponder his words, "You truly think he could be of help?"
"Once he grows in power and years? More than likely." Adrian nodded, "Of course, there are other ways to ensure his power will grow regardless."
With a snap of his fingers, a long case appeared on the desk between them. Carefully it was pried open by the elder Devil.
"Where the hell did you get that Adrian?" Cadius nearly lost his breath at the object within.
Adrian chuckled, "Oh I have my ways my boy. Perhaps with this and a bit of ingenuity on your part, you can experience true kinship with your brother in time."
Cadius slowly nodded as ideas flooded his mind.
Perhaps his brother could be useful after all.
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