Betrayal

10

"Ha...if it isn't the Great Perseus Jackson, the Monster Slayer."

In front of Percy stood what could only be described as a demon. It looked like a classic demon from Christian folklore. Dark grey, almost black body, pitch black bat-like wings, red eyes, ram's horns adorning his head, and longer than usual canines. "Who are you supposed to be, Satan?" Percy asked.

The creature growled. "You think you're so funny don't you demigod? Well, I guess that isn't the case anymore now is it? How does it feel to be one of the things you used put down?"

Percy rolled his eyes. "Is that supposed to be a taunt? I'm not feeling very irritated by it. I can give you some lessons in pissing people off. I have a natural talent for it. Just ask my uncle. I piss him off just by walking into the throne room. Now that's talent."

Without a doubt, his ability to piss off anything and everything was second to none. Percy grinned as the creature ground it's teeth in frustration. "I'll kill you, and end any resistance my mother would face in above world."

Percy frowned inwardly. That indicated that this thing's mother was involved in the plans to take over the world. As there was only one female deity that was worthy of looking out for, he could rightly assume this was a lesser known son of Nyx. Probably one she had long since abandoned for it's lack ability to carry out her schemes or tasks. Which means she probably wouldn't know anything about what it's doing now. He wouldn't have too many issues should he kill and absorb this freakish thing.

With that he casually uncapped Riptide and nearly cursed in Ancient Greek. The thing hurt to hold in sword form. Almost like holding a near scalding hot cup. He narrowed his eyes, knowing that this was probably the last time he'd ever be able to use his famous and trusted sword. Percy turned towards the son of Nyx and glared, intending to take this new found frustration out on it.

"I'll grind your bones into-" the creature was saying.

"Yeah yeah, shut up and die." Percy appeared in front of it without it even noticing, and swung his sword at its neck. Only by sheer luck and instinct was the creature able to avoid getting it's head loped off in what would have been a lackluster fight for it. Still, it lost an arm for it's troubles as it had attempted to block the strike with it's forearm.

The creature screeched and it's wings propelled it backwards, in an attempt to escape the highly irritated son of Poseidon. It didn't get far as Percy again, moved dramatically faster than it had anticipated, and struck again, this time with a diagonal cut, instead of the previous horizontal slash he had made. This time the creature couldn't avoid death, and it's head was barely attached to it's torso which also was nearly split in half.

But it didn't disappear. He would have to eat the creature in front of him if he wished to gain it's powers. A sudden ravenous feeling came over him and his mouth salivated at the sight of the body in front of him. Tartarus, though, sensing his hunger, snapped his fingers and the body disappeared. As part of the training, he had no intention of letting the former demigod gain power between fights. he would save the bodies of the monsters that Percy killed, and allow him to eat portions of all of them after he was finished.

This served two purposes. One, so that Percy would be forced to use his own stamina to get through fights, as once he went back, he may not be able to stop and eat to regain his strength. And, he would have a massive influx of power that he would have to learn to control the next day. This was in case he came across a powerful ancient monster and was able to kill and eat it. He would know how to handle the boost in power and not let it consume him. Because the creatures he ate could fight back if they had a strong enough consciousness. But unless they were on the godly level, they were unlikely to be able to do so, or have significance enough for Percy to notice. But many of those weak consciousness' together? Maybe just enough for Percy to learn how to fight back in his head to control the new power. It would be useless to go through all this to gain power only to have his mind rested from him and controlled by another being.

Percy turned and glared at the box seat that Tartarus sat in. "Give me another weapon. I can't use this one any longer." He looked at Riptide reverently but knew he could no longer keep it. "Give it back to Zoë Nightshade."

Tartarus just waved his hand and Riptide disappeared from Percy's hands. In it's place was a demonic feeling sword. It looked no different than Nico's Stygian Iron sword other than its pommel. But the sword gave off an even more intense feeling of death than Nico's sword ever did, and that thing absorbed a piece of the souls of the monsters he killed with it.

An unsettling and almost evil grin graced the son of Poseidon's face. "Send out the next one." He had a feeling this sword would be something as trusty as Riptide once was to him.