Perseus the Conqueror

54

Nico POV

I emerged from my shadow travel in the fields of punishment in the underworld, where I knew no one worth saving would be hurt. Whatever was going on with me, I couldn't risk hurting anyone else. The image of Will's agonized face still stung in my mind, filling me with regret.

The pain had finally subsided, leaving my body changed drastically. I was now covered in pitch black fur from head to toe. My legs had grown in both length and thickness, as well my feet, now stretched out like a wolfs, they felt like they were made for speed and power. My arms hadn't gone through as much change, besides the fact that my biceps were now bigger than my former head.

Speaking of heads, I reached up with my newly clawed hands and felt my head, and tensed up when I felt two fuzzy ears standing tall. Not only that but my nose and jaw were now elongated a bit and filled with razor-sharp teeth. My chest and torso were also bulging with power. As a demigod, it was almost impossible for me not to be fit, but even so, I always had a simple four pack, a bit scrawnier than most demigods.

I sniffed the air a bit and found I could smell my step mother's pomegranates from here. Not only that but I could hear the joyous laughter of those in Elysium through all the screams of pain surrounding me here.

I took a step forward, only to feel myself propelled far more than I had intended, leading me to fall flat on my face, providing some cheap entertainment to the tortured souls around me. Even for a body like this, this power was impossible. it was like a magical enhancement that I couldn't turn off. I picked myself up carefully and tried again, focusing on holding myself back. This time I walked normally, or as normally as a wolf-like man could. As I practiced this, I tried to figure out how this happened. People don't just turn into wolf men, not even werewolves, they shift between large wolves and very hairy men. There was no in between. I then remembered yesterday, when Percy was being weird and scratched me with his claws on "accident" I know he did it on purpose for some reason, but I couldn't figure out why at the time. Could this be the reason?

I shook the thought out of my head. Percy wouldn't do this on purpose he probably didn't even know that he could do this. He may have done a lot of growing lately, but he was a still an idiot. A tall, muscular, kind, dark haired... idiot.

I barked in annoyance with myself. Literally, I barked, it surprised me. I still couldn't shake my feelings for that seaweed brain. Despite all that's happened since we first met, I still had a crush on him. The confrontation with Eros didn't change anything. It was still there, if not as strong as before. It still hurt, especially since he knew it would never work. The man was as straight as they came, he had a harem for chaos' sake.

His thoughts were interrupted by the sound of wings flapping towards him. He turned and perked up at the sight of the furies coming towards them. They were rough around the edges, but they were always helpful to him because of his father, maybe they could help him somehow.

Those thoughts faded when he realized they were flying full speed at him with their claws outstretched.

"Alecto!" he called out with his arms outstretched. He noticed his voice was much deeper and grizzly, "It's me! Nico!"

The leader of the furies snarled, "Lies! Nico is much shorter and far less impressive. I don't know what you are creature or how you got in here, but you will pay dearly for intruding in the realm of Hades!"

He didn't have time to think as the furies hurdled towards him, so he simply stepped back and held his hands up defensively waiting for the strike, but it never came.

He lowered his hands to reveal enormous spikes erupted from the ground and piercing each of the furies through the stomach. Alecto managed to wheeze out, "What...are you?" before dissolving into dust.