Arthur:
"How's Annabeth doing with the whole Roman integration thing?" Percy asked me as he put on the dark vision sunglasses I had given him years ago, "Last time I spoke to her she looked ready to strangle some Roman secretary that was arguing about their weapon stockpiles."
"She's stressed, but that's when she does her best work." I answered with a shrug, "And before you ask no, I'm not giving you a firearm."
"Aww c'mon Sparky!" Percy pouted, "So I almost shot you once. Big deal, you can regenerate."
"Percy I wouldn't trust you to not accidentally shoot me even if I was directly behind you and you physically weren't able to turn around." I said, "Your aim might truly just be the worst I've ever seen."
"Oh, but they get guns?" He said gesturing to the 15 Demigods who stood behind us and were watching on with slight amusement and exasperation as they readied their gear.
All of them were decked out head to toe in modernized armor that was stuffed with a ballistic weave of mixed kevlar and celestial bronze plating, the helmets that protected their heads slotted with the same bronze glass that let Percy's sunglasses see in the dark, and strapped to their sides and backs was their choice of either side arms, swords, or battle rifles.
When Zeus said I had a blank check, he probably didn't realize how far I was going to go with it. He might have given some more thought to it if he had. But I wasn't going to complain about it and neither were Uncle Hephestus or Posideon's Cyclops forge workers when I approached them both about specialized weapons and armor I wanted help designing and making.
The armor was still mostly a prototype, but the guns were ready to go since they were based on the ones I had been using and tinkering with for years. Celestial Bronze bullets in guns were a force multiplier that I was exceptionally happy about getting into the hands of my Demigods. After all, why resort to swords and spears right off the bat when you could thin monster numbers at range before engaging in close quarters?
"Yes, because I've seen them all shoot. They, unlike you, can actually aim." I said as I reached into my inventory and pulled out my own rifle. My tried and true SCAR fell into my waiting hands as I put a fresh magazine of monster-killing munitions into it.
"Whatever." Percy huffed as he uncapped Riptide and nodded towards the castle in front of us, "Ready?"
Looking behind us to see all the Demigods had finished arming up I nodded, "Time to get this show on the road. Hit it, Percy."
The Son of Posideon took a deep breath and I saw a bead of concentration flicker through his eyes. He brought his right hand up in a fist and punched the air toward the massive doorway of the building. With that movement a giant hand made of earth and stone rose from the ground and mimicked his previous motion, smashing into the doorway. The doors crumpled like wet paper before the massive fist.
"We have our opening. Remember boys, kill everything that moves." I said as I broke into a sprint towards the castle.
I could hear everyone behind me rushing to keep up, but Percy was the only one who could remotely do so. Even then I made it to the smashed entrance long before anyone else did. Which was fine, because it meant that I could start clearing the way of the Norse monsters and soldiers that had started to fill the entranceway before the others got here.
The first round of enemies that encountered me was met with the roar of my rifle firing full auto into them. Monsters, guards, and soldiers alike were all killed and in some cases dusted as the celestial bronze rounds tore through them. Dozens were dead before they even knew what was going on.
When the magazine went dry and the enemies kept pouring in, my hands lit up with holy fire and lightning. A sphere formed in my hands as I filtered in the two volatile elements together. Forcing them to mix and compress despite both of them wildly fighting against such actions. Only once it wouldn't allow any more power to be pushed into it did I unleash my holy attack.
Both the entranceway and enemies that had been rushing towards me were vaporized as the ball of lightning and flame exploded outward in a raging inferno of electricity.
It briefly overwhelmed my vision for a moment, the destruction only becoming clear when the attack died down.
I heard footsteps coming up behind me and a snort following them, "Couldn't leave some for the rest of us?"
"There's plenty more throughout the castle." I told Percy and nodded to the others, "Everyone else split into teams and clear this place out. I want every wing, dungeon, and room devoid of monsters. Percy, you're following me."
I received words of confirmation as they did just that. Percy and I meanwhile began walking down the main hall towards our destination.
"So we're taking the big guy by ourselves?" Percy asked, "He's a tricky bastard from what Annabeth's mentioned. I assume you and her came up with a plan other than us just beating him into submission?"
I smirked, "Just wait and see."
The halls we made our way through were devoid of any enemies, unlike the front entrance I had blown down. Whether that was because we were wanted for an audience or we had truly just caught them with their pants down, I wasn't fully sure. But I had a feeling it was the forming, considering I could hear the sounds of gunfire and the screams of battle echoing through the halls from where I had sent the other Demigods.
If they wanted to be cocky little shits then that was just fine. It would make the plan go smoother than I expected.
Coming up to another large door that was carved with various runes and Norse images, I lazily raised my hand and formed another ball of holy flame and lightning. The volatile combination was quickly becoming a favorite method of attack for me. With a flick of my wrist, the door disintegrated as the lightning and flame devoured all before it. We were met with the sight of a lavish dining room and the man we were here for was on the other side waiting for us with an expectant smile.
Percy must've noticed it as well because I heard him sigh, "I take it he knew we were coming."
"What gave it away?" I snorted.
"Indeed I did boys." Loki answered with a smile, "You almost caught me by surprise I'll admit. I only got word of you once you lot stepped onto this land. A good try though, just not good enough I'm afraid. Now, what can I help you gentlemen out with? I'm sure you didn't travel all the way here just to try to sneak in and say high to little ole me now did you?"
I don't know if it was the combination of the smug expression with the hint of madness in his eyes or just his overall demeanor, but I'll admit that Loki was one of the few divine beings that freaked me the fuck out. Not in a terrifying way though. More of the fact that even compared to other gods, this man was practically chaos incarnate. It was nigh impossible to actually prep for a fight against him.
But impossible had never stopped me before.
"Once chance." I told him, "That's all you're getting. Surrender and come quietly. If you do then we'll hand you over to Odin and that's that. He's dealt with your bullshit before and you're still around, so I assume despite even working with a terrorist organization and foreign gods, you'll only be locked up for a couple hundred years. Good behavior depending of course."
"Oh, I see. Negotiations." Loki clapped happily, "And here I thought that you were just a swing now and ask questions later kind of brute like Thor. The reports Kronos shared on you certainly painted you as such."
While it wasn't unexpected, I certainly wasn't a fan of my great-grandfather sharing reports on me.
"But even if we both know where this is going I must ask Arthur." Loki continued, "What is my second option should I not come peacefully? After all, I couldn't help but notice that you said I'd only be handed over to Odin if I surrender."
"That's just me being nice." I shrugged, "If you're not going to be a pain in my ass then I have no reason to fuck you over. However, if you want to drag this out with a fight and waste my time, then I'm going to drag your ass down to the Underworld personally and have Uncle Hades flay your ass for the rest of eternity. Or at least until Odin decides to take pity on you and makes an offer for bail."
"I see, I see." Loki nodded at the choices as he stood up from the dining table he sat at. With a snap of his finger, a dozen other Loki's appeared and the world itself started to warp, "I'm afraid despite the conquest of the latter option, you will find that I will not be going quietly. As not only do the goals of the Khaos Brigade line up with my own for now, but one does not betray its current leader with consequences greater than you can imagine."
A huff of annoyance left me. To be fair to Loki, he was right. One didn't fuck around and find out with Ophis.
Still, a fight with Loki was going to be more than a little annoying. He was the ultimate tricker god. While mental illusions wouldn't work on me, physical ones would and Percy didn't have nearly the same protections as I did. And that still wasn't factoring in Loki's ability as a sorcerer.
The castle we were in started to break apart at its seams and I could hear the screams of eldritch horrors begin making their way to my ears as Loki's illusions continued to weave themselves around reality.
"So what was the plan that you didn't want to share again sparky?" Percy asked with the slightest hint of worry in his voice as his eyes darted around the space we were in. No doubt experiencing his own personally crafted set of illusions and mental attacks, "Because I think a fight like this is a little beyond us."
"That's the thing, Percy. Never planned to fight him in the first place." I said.
Percy shot me a look that showed he was highly questioning my sanity and went to say something. Only whatever it was died in his throat as the clicking of chains and cuffs closing washed over us and the room that had been breaking apart into a different plane of reality snapped back to normal.
I turned my head back to where Loki had been originally. Instead of standing there with that insane smirk plastered on his face, he was on the ground with a look of sheer confusion marking his expression and celestial bronze chains bound around him.
And a Son of Hades standing right behind him.
"Good job Nicky." I said while giving him a thumbs up and a smile.
The young Italian boy flushed at the praise and gave me a shaky thumbs up in return.
"You're kidding me. That was the plan?" Percy asked with wide unbelieving eyes as he fixed me with a look, "You planned a confrontation against a major god of the Norse pantheon on the fact that the Nico could shadow travel and hit him with divine cuffs? What if that didn't work?"
I shrugged, "We'd probably be fucked. You and I are physical and elemental-based fighters. We'd have no real counter to fight someone who's a master of illusions and sorcery."
Percy arched an eyebrow, "Did you tell Annabeth that this was your plan? Because there's no way she'd sign off on something that stupidly risky."
"You're one to talk about risky plans, Percy." I shot back.
"True, but I don't have a girlfriend who's worried about my safety." Percy replied as he took out a gold coin from his pocket.
I realized immediately what he was about to do, "Don't you dare Percy."
Without another word, the son of Poseidon took off down the hall and I could already see a watery mist forming around him as he pulled vapor out of the air.
I almost made to take off after him, but then I remembered that I had a chained god resting on the floor. With a sigh I let him go off and make the call I knew he was going to and turned back to Loki, who was looking rather abashed. A stark contrast from the rage and barking madness I had been expecting.
"So… is there any chance that you might still turn me over to Odin instead of ole death breath?" He asked rather hopefully.
My silence on the matter was rather deafening.
"Ahh, thought so."
"Arthur."
"Miss. Leviathan."
There was a bit of terseness in Satan's voice as she greeted me. Not that I could blame her. The last time we met I threatened to destroy the Underworld's entire economy if she didn't hand over a noble. That alone was enough to probably make her job hell in the short period I had given her.
Probably didn't help that when I came back the next day to collect on the deal we had made, I killed Raim right in front of her as soon as he had been handed over. The blade of light I had shoved through his chest seemed to have gotten my point across. Control their entitled and shitty nobles themselves, or I'd do it myself.
The month after Annabeth had given me a report similar to the one she had compiled beforehand on devil activity in the Americas. The only difference being this time devil activity had dropped to basically zero. Even amongst Europe soul and cursed item deals had practically plummeted to all-time lows.
Who knew putting fear into a class spoiled nobles who had never actually been threatened would get them to fuck right off?
"I take it that Sirzechs and Ajuka are ready to talk?" I asked.
She nodded, "They are. Along with several other leaders of our Underworld."
A frown immediately made its way to my face, "I said I'd be willing to meet with your fellow two Satans. I understand if you and your fourth colleague would also like to join, but somehow I think that's not who you are referring to."
Serafall sighed, "You would be correct. I'm not sure of how much you know because of your amnesia, but the fallen and devils have become more intertwined than ever. We even live side by side and have our children go to the same schools outside of Lucifuge Academy. As such, if you want to make any deals that would have massive impacts on our Underworld as a whole, at the very least the Fallen Governor and a few others from various factions will be sitting in for this meeting."
I bit back a smart-ass remark and simply nodded. I had already pushed as far as I was comfortable with playing hardball with the Biblical Underworld. I might have had massive leverage over them currently, but there was only so much I could push before they became outright hostile.
I was in the right in demanding they hand over Raim and executing him, even if they didn't want to admit it. But even I couldn't snub multiple of the leaders wanting to be in a room for a deal that might affect them all.
"Alright." I agreed, "If you're ready then lead the way."
The Satan of Foreign Affairs nodded and grabbed my forearm as a magic circle sprang to life below us. A flash of light filled my vision and it felt like I had been temporarily compressed down and launched through a vacuum tube. A few seconds passed and I found myself in a meeting room with most of the seats already filled. I vaguely recognized most of the faces from my faded memories, though there was one who I didn't. It was a woman with glowing white hair and burning crimson eyes.
I would have written her off if she wasn't giving me a megawatt smile.
I used a quick observe and my own eyebrows went up slightly.
Huh, it seems I had finally met the last member of my immediate family. I figured I'd meet her eventually, but I wasn't expecting it to be in this very meeting.
"Greetings everyone." I said as I sat down at one of the empty seats, "I assume by being here you're all in agreement that you want the Old Satan faction gone."
Various heads around the room nodded.
"Indeed." Ajuka spoke up first, "The Old Satan faction has been a thorn in the Underworld's side for far too long. Their extremist positions and actions have had us teetering on the edge of a 2nd civil war for decades now and have undermined any relations we have tried to foster with the other pantheons. Getting rid of them in a way that would avoid another civil war would be preferable."
"The problem is that we haven't had much of a reason to go after them yet." Sirzechs added, "Despite their actions, they haven't done anything that we can prove that violates their part of the peace treaty. If we started going after them openly-"
"It would paint that your side would be the one violating the treaty and thus drum up support for them." I finished for him.
"Right on the money Mr. Winchester." Sirzechs nodded.
I sighed and looked at the two super devils in front of me pointedly, "Judging by the fact I'm even here, I'm sure you've already discussed and discarded the option of just saying fuck it and just obliterating them yourselves despite what the public backlash would be?"
Despite asking the question, I already knew the answer. Just as I had mentioned before, Ajuka and Sirzechs had become far too good-natured in this age. While I'm sure the ruthless generals and warriors they had been during the Civil War were still buried in there somewhere, they had both actively chosen to leave those aspects of themselves behind.
Personally, I didn't agree with it, but how they choose to rule and conduct themselves was ultimately their choice.
"You would be correct." Ajuka confirmed, "The long-term stability of the Underworld is of the utmost importance to us. While simply solving this with our might would cure our problems short term, it would set a precedent that Satan's don't have to follow the laws that we have helped set in place. Thus having our people lose faith in us and the offices of leadership we hold."
Just as I thought. I had hoped maybe that they would resort to some good ole fashioned violence, but I suppose it was a good thing I came prepared either way.
"Well alright then. If you yourselves aren't willing to go in guns blazing, then review this proposal and tell me what you think of it." I nodded while taking a folder out of my inventory and passing it to the crimson-haired devil in front of me.
Sirzechs nodded and wordlessly began reviewing the documents that I had handed over to him.
"Not to get off track, but I thought that the kid was supposed to be Richard's youngest at 15. So how come he looks as old as Cadius?" Azazel spoke up for the first time since the meeting began.
I gave the leader of the fallen a dull glance, "Is how old I look really pertinent to this meeting."
The elder fallen gave me a lazy smirk, "Just curious is all. I expected a brat whose balls had barely dropped. Not a young muscular Greek god."
Was he coming onto me? If so I didn't know whether to be disgusted or annoyed.
"Olympian Demigods have accelerated puberty to get us battle-ready as fast as possible." I said with a sigh, "It's to make up for the fact most of us get killed young."
"Sounds like a rough life." Azazel hummed.
"Sometimes." I shrugged, "But being over 6 feet and built like an Olympic athlete at 15 is a pretty nice perk. Now back to the topic of this meeting. Sirzechs?"
"This is an interesting proposal." Sirzechs muttered while his eyes continued reading through the folder.
"Care to share with the class Zech's?" Serafall asked.
"An extradition treaty." Sirzechs said aloud, "Clever Arthur. Very clever."
"Ah, I see. If we can't do it fast, then we do it slowly." Azazel chuckled, "So you get the evidence on who's working with this Khaos Brigade you are currently at war with, and then we extradite them to you."
I nodded my head in confirmation, "By having an official treaty I figured we can avoid the need for the gun pat diplomacy I used last time. Plus it gives you all an official reason to be able to process them as criminals. Are we in agreement of this?"
"We are." Sirzechs said in a rather pleased tone.
I couldn't blame him. If I had just been given a way to get rid of something that had been a major pain in my ass for centuries I'd be happy too.
"Well, that was more productive than I hoped it was going to be." I said before standing up, "If there's nothing else to discuss then I'll be on my way. I have some other business to attend to."
"There was one more thing Arthur." Azazel spoke up, which stopped me from opening a portal, "I'll be blunt, what would it take for the Devils, Fallen, and our Underworld as a whole to perhaps join the alliance your pantheon is a part of."
I arched an eyebrow, "You're asking me? That seems like a question for the leaders of the three pantheons."
Azazel smiled at me knowingly, "You happen to have the ear of two of those leaders and have relations with us. You are the preferred diplomatic channel, especially with Athena as busy as she is."
Checking the watch on my wrist for the time I nodded, "I'll pass it along, though I can't speak for how agreeable Zeus and Micheal will be about it."
Looking over at my grandmother I could see that she wanted to talk to me. I imagine she was waiting for the meeting to be over so we could talk alone, but unfortunately, I was in a bit of a time crunch and had places to be. Though the very fact that I was so busy and had stuff to do on a level of importance that far outshined an opportunity to talk to Lucifer was an odd feeling.
"I'll see you at the Winchester estate in a month, gran?" I asked with little care if all in the room knew of her and Richard's relation. They might have wanted to keep it a secret for the most part, but that wasn't my problem, "I'd love to talk now, but I have another very important matter to attend to."
I saw a flicker of disappointment in her eyes but she nodded non the less, "I understand. From what I've heard you've become a very important and powerful young man. Be safe and I'll see you in a month. Oh and Arthur?"
"Yes?" I asked.
"Thank you for returning Lilith to me. It's been millennia since I've seen my lover. You've done me a great service by bringing her back." The fallen angel bowed her head in thanks.
I nodded my head towards my grandmother in acknowledgment of her thanks.
"See y'all later." I said and with a flick of my wrist, my blade appeared in my hand and slashed through the air. A dimensional tear opened in reality and I walked into my next destination.
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