A Dishonored Demigod

A Pleasant Fight

Perseus makes the first move, charging forward with his fist cocked back and charging the entire arm with traces of Empathy's power. The goddess barely sidesteps but the force of the air cannon generated by the punch makes her stumble but she quickly gets her bearings and launches a flurry of arrows that glow silver with divine power. None of the arrows actually hit Perseus but the area around him is destroyed and a cloud of dust obscures his vision. He stays calm and his nose twitches before he bends his back parallel to the ground and his feet fly up to make contact with Artemis' chin as she suddenly appears, lunging towards him,"Got you!"
The goddess is thrown into the air and Perseus springs after her and throws his hand out,"Sho!"
The goddess is blasted even higher and faster, but Perseus still manages to pass her using his wings and punches down with both hands as hard as he can,"Hah!"
Artemis plummets towards the ground and Perseus Blinks under her while a creeper's head appears from the shadow created by her. It heaves and the handle of Excalibur pops out of its mouth just in time for her to slam down onto it, breaking her spine with the sound produced resembling something akin to a dry stick being broken. Her lips open in a soundless scream and Perseus calls on the shadow underneath her.
A single red eye opens up and the spikes erupt from it to pierce her back and exit a few inches out her front.
Golden ichor slides down the solid darkness and Perseus pulls Excalibur out of the creeper's mouth before setting it over his shoulder,"Usually this is where most villains would gloat about their victory. However," and he flicks his hand forward,"I don't waste time. Víaii Kataigída!"
A gust of wind flows around Perseus' arm and creates a mini tornado that slams into the goddess and rips her off the shadow spikes and creates thin cut lines all along her body as she skims the top of the solid shadow. She rolls across the ground and slams against the barrier, staining it red from the blood trickling down her back. She coughs and her breath rattles while Perseus scoffs,"Is this all an Olympian is capable of? I mean, I knew you were stronger when mankind still believed in you but this is just sad. How you survived Kronos Ill never know."
The goddess glares at him with bleary eyes,"Shut up."
Her voice is a rasp and Perseus glares down at her while moving towards her,"This seems familiar. Hmm," he rubs the handle of Excalibur against his head for a second before his face brightens,"oh, I got it now! You looked down on me just like this when you condemned me. It actually feels quite nice thought now that the positions are reversed."
He sighs and his tattoos thicken to cover most of his face and half of his exposed skin while his fangs lengthen and his hands become claws. He swings Excalibur in sideways and stops it on Artemis' neck. Everything goes silent while a drop of ichor runs down the middle of the blade,"Give up."
The seriousness in his voice makes Artemis swallow before she explodes in golden energy as she assumes her divine form. Perseus adverts his eyes to avoid being blinded and is thrown back by a blast of godly energy. He recovers in the air by opening his wings and feels Avarice stirring within him before clicking into his soul, temporarily replacing Thrafsma. His body quickly drops and he slams into the ground while his skin turns gray and he feels something cover his head.
When the dust clears from his landing Artemis dashes forward with a hunting knife in each hand and tries to stab him in the heart, only for them to break in a shower of sparks. A fist slams into her cheek with enough force to send her spinning backwards and rolling across the ground. She gets to her feet with a look of surprise on her face,"How?! In my divine form my knives go through a foot of olympian silver!"
She gets a good look at Perseus and his voice comes out smooth and deep,"What?"
He's fully covered in a dark gray substance molded to his skin and two red lines creep over his shoulders, ending just above his chest. The mask covering his face shows the first four teeth of his upper and lower jaws while a fang sticks up from his lower jaw on each side of his mouth. His eyes are exposed while two red lines run under his lower eyelid, intersecting two other lines that nick the corners of his eyes and crawl over and behind his head. He flexes his claws and his mouth opens,"Those were knives? They felt like toothpicks!"
Steam hisses from the sides of his mouth while he steps forward and seemingly teleports in front of Artemis,"Speed," and his fist crashes against the side of her head to send her into the barrier, cracking it in the process,"power," and stands tall as a volley of silver arrows disintegrate against his chest,"and my defense is maxed out. Nicely done Avarice."
The aspect hums with happiness and Perseus brings his sword down so the point is barely resting on the ground. He grins before vanishing again and the only warning Artemis receives is the faint whistling of Excalibur cutting through the air as she narrowly dodges a slash that would've cut her in half. Perseus vanishes once more and appears behind her with his sword resting horizontal with his side,"Invincible Sword:" and he blitzes past her,"scarring of the old world!"
His sword shines for a moment and ichor drips off before hundreds of paper thin cuts open up on Artemis' body, forcing her to her knees from the pain. Perseus hums while admiring the sword and runs a hand over both surfaces, absorbing the ichor as he does so,"Hurts don't it? Normally an attack like that wouldn't hurt you nearly as bad, but this sword is special. This sword was made to kill gods."
He turns his head and grins at her fearful look,"The Lady of the Lake was a nymph that created this sword. Blessed by the goddess Nike to bring victory to any human who wielded it, this was created in case the gods who roam this world would try to destroy humanity."
The goddess struggles to her feet but the sword flashes and a fresh wave of pain forces her to the ground. Perseus lumbers over to her and Artemis tries to crawl away from the the aura the sword is emitting while the monster chuckles,"I suppressed it with the sliver of divine power granted to all monsters that keep us immortal. Now though it's tasted yours, and apparently it wants more!"
He grabs the sword with both hands and places it a few inches away from the front of his body with the tip upwards,"Divine Blade: God Eater!"
The sword hums and becomes covered in a sheen of golden light that slowly snakes out towards an immobile Artemis. It hovers in the air like it's trying to find its target before stopping and zooming towards the goddess. The moment is strikes her she lets loose a bloodcurdling scream as bulges of silver energy travel down the connection and into Excalibur. After a few moments of drainage the tendril of energy detaches itself and goes back into the blade.
Artemis remains on her knees for a moment more before her eyes roll back and she falls flat on the ground. Perseus hums,"That's enough out of her."
He snaps his fingers and the barrier is lowered to let the demigods rush to Artemis' side and Phoebe darts towards him,"You monster!"
He avoids a sloppy punch and knocks the wind out of her with a quick jab,"Enough girl. I was not the one who initiated our fight, and I gave her a chance to surrender. If anything it's her fault for not taking my offer of mercy."
Thalia glares at him,"Still, you didn't have to be so brutal!"
Perseus laughs while Greed lets Thrafsma take his rightful place in his soul,"Now Thals you know that she was gunning for my head. I was simply making sure she wouldn't be able to move to kill me."
He looks at Ignitus and Mia before using his eyes to gesture to Artemis,"Take her back to Olympus and place her in one of her temples. She should recover her lost power in a few days."
The two nod and grab the goddess before vanishing from sight. This leaves Perseus alone with the demigods and he sighs,"Sorry about that. It just makes me mad that some gods are stuck in a simple mindset of punishing people so severely."
Reyna nods hesitantly,"I can see why. There are many cases of that in mythology."
Phoebe glares back at her,"Name one time where lady has done so!"
"Adonis," Perseus voices while lowering Excalibur into his shadow,"your mistress never told you the full story did she? Course she wouldn't but I had to ask. You see, Artemis was actually in love with Adonis."
At this both girls seem ready to yell at him but he glares at them,"Silence."
Their mouths snap shut and he continues,"She was taken by his love for the wild and hunting, but he rejected her as he was not interested in a relationship with anybody other than Aphrodite or Persephone. In anger she killed him by making his arrow miss the eye of the boar he was hunting and then empowering it."
Both turn pale as he finishes with,"I swear on the Styx that everything I just said is true."
Thunder booms overhead and nothing bad happens to the monster, but the two girls are in shock. He sighs and motions to Mia,"Take them back to their camp. They'll be out of it while their brains process what they just heard."
The female nods vanishes along with the huntresses, leaving only Jason, Annabeth, and Reyna left. Perseus motions to them,"Come with me. There's one last thing I need to show you before you go back."
He walks away and the three follow until he calls back,"Reyna, come up next to me. I need to ask you something."
She does so and increases her strides to catch up with the monster and stay next to him,"What is it?"
"The legion...how have they fared?"
She gives him a half-hearted glare,"As well as can be expected. Being forced to fight one of their former leaders, who also commands his own army of monsters, has left them rather depressed."
Perseus nods,"I see. Perhaps...I can come by sometime soon and smooth things over."
Upon seeing the disbelief in her eyes he sighs,"It's true that after our battle at Hubbard I severed the connections I had with many people, but the one I have with Camp Jupiter won't be broken until I make sure they're fine."
Reyna falls silent,"Is that what you really want? To cut all connections you had as Percy?"
He nods,"More than anything. My soul is not the same. My body is not the same. Even my mind is not the same as when I was...human. Even now when I think about how I was human at some point I can't help but feel disgusted with myself. My mentality was so flawed. My views were so narrow. My life was so short. Humans truly are fragile creatures."
They reach a clearing surrounded by trees and the monster speaks so all can hear,"This is a training spot behind my house. If I'm right then June should be-" and the ground rumbles beneath their feet,"right here."
The four move past natural wall of branches to see June in full armor blocking spells sent her way by Hetalia while Lucy and Anna animatedly chat with Naruto. Alex is sunbathing in his wolf form while some of the smaller diclonius are using him as a pillow,"This is what I wanted you to see. We truly don't want trouble up here, and most of these children are rescues from human laboratories or from their own people for being different."
He turns and the three are rooted to the spot as his red eyes glow with absolute dominance,"But tell Zeus that if he ever, ever, tries to hurt any of us here, then he will be facing a war he cannot hope to win."