Heart Pierced - Kayla Knowles (1)

Author's Note Eight: Blast From The Past (Asterios)

I wanted to include my own writing from my unfinished Percy Jackson alternate universe fanfic, Started From The Bottom, when it came to describing Asterios in that book compared to his description in this book. Suffice it to say, this series' version of my monster OC is as no where near as powerful as the original version, and you'll definitely see why below in this excerpt of my original writing.

Excerpt: He was at least one and a half times larger than the Minotaur I had fought earlier today to save Thalia, and judging from the hulking muscles that looked like they could just rip my head off from my neck due to the force of them alone, protected by some hybrid bone and steel armor, it was clear that he was everything he was made out to be and then some, at least visually.

At nearly ten and a half feet tall, it was a beast that was literally the personification of a towering juggernaut, a berserker if you may. Wearing armor on its chest forged out of the bones of the incarnations of legendary monsters in the past forged with the strongest metals in the realm of Tartarus and with similar armor on its legs and a small yet amazingly durable T-shaped part at its neckline to protect it from attacks aimed at cutting off its head, it was considerably well protected from practically every weapon in the camp's arsenal. While Asterios was seemingly mostly real life flesh, the signs that it was created by Daedalus were still evident, such as the entirely metal hooves it had for feet which the skin and fur on its legs tapered perfectly to.

If you think that's bad enough, let's just say, it had the body appearance underneath the armor and the accessories to match. Aside from the aforementioned muscles, Asterios had spiked bracelets on its wrists that could run completely through demigods should they be unlucky enough to be on the receiving end of one of its sharp points. Its fur was a mixture of black, red, and white, with patches of deeper red shades in places. It's face had a nose ring that was golden and yet had three spiked tip points shooting outwards, giving it a deeply menacing look. Its eyes were a very deep red, of a shade that was most commonly found in Tartarus, and its mouth had very pointed teeth built to chewing and ripping apart things. Its two horns were in a S-curve shape and at the top split off into three points, like a trident.

Asterios' weapons was no joke, either. Compared to the Minotaur's double bladed axe, Asterios had instead opted for a few weapons to compliment its unique, flexible fighting style. Unlike its much older ancestor, Asterios did not use the bull charging ability the Minotaur had almost at all, only if it felt like there was no other option. It had learned, mostly due to Daedalus' genius, from the failures of its ancestor and as such, had a few weapons to prevent itself from making the same mistakes. It had an extremely long spear that used to be one of Iapetus' spears before he had it plated with metal from Tartarus and gave it to Daedalus as a gift for the project that created Asterios, a double bladed sword, a double edged halberd, and its most feared weapon, an experimental hybrid machete. This weapon featured a handle normally found in the swords used in the Middle Ages, plated and made extremely more durable with steel and metal from Tartarus. It also had a blade measuring at least 8 feet long, with one side having a serrated, jagged edge forged in such a way that it can break almost every sword or bladed weapon used against Asterios. The only weapon that stood against it was when the host of Set was using when Asterios had awakened due to the skill level quirk.

Yes.. this version is a walking tank, something that would definitely have proven to be a tough boss for the Monster King no doubt. Thankfully, since it is a retelling of Percy Jackson, no such unique bosses will likely be encountered until probably the third or fourth books, I personally have no idea on when this happens.

Anyways, gawk and feast on the very stark contrast here between the two versions of this character!