The Demon Wars

The Swordsman Trainer Must Be From Hell

"Agh." *Pant* *Sigh*

All you could hear inside the arena were cries of exacerbation and exhaustion. "Why are you all lying on the floor already? It's only the end of the second exercise. We still have three more to go," came an almost melodic, yet still demonic in the ears of the campers, voice.

It belonged to none other than Perseus, the new camp swordsman instructor. The same one everyone seemed to enjoy learning from. It was only the second week of training. The first had been entirely basics, relearning their form. The second...well the second was to condition their muscles in response to possible prolonged fighting or engaging with someone that had larger endurance than them. The kids were totally unprepared for the change in teaching style.

Even the Ares kids were no longer having fun. It seemed only Annabeth, Perseus' daughter, could keep up. And to make matters worse, when they tried to complain to Chiron, the old horse just shook his head and told them to keep at it. By this point, the campers were filled with a sense of hopelessness and nothing could drag them out of it.

The campers struggled, nearly crawling, through the last three exercises before Perseus finally let them go for the day. The moment they were given the go ahead, they hobbled out of the arena, sore and tired. "Tch. They are a lot weaker than I expected." He disappeared in burst of Hellfire.

-/-

Perseus reappeared in Hell, seated on his throne. In front of him stood his father, someone he had not expected to see. "Father. I see you have come to visit. How may I help the esteemed, Former, Demon King?"

Lucifer's eyes narrowed at his son. "Don't play with me boy. I know you've been in the mortal realm quite a bit as of late."

"I don't see how that's of any concern to you. You see, unlike someone, I wasn't going to interfere with the mortal realm at all. My daughter wanted to meet her mother, so I decided to give her that opportunity. A few things happened and now I'm splitting my time between there and here. You know, speaking of which, a little birdy told me of my conception. How it wasn't just abandonment by my mother. You wouldn't happen to know anything about that would you?"

Lucifer's aura flared. "Watch your mouth! Don't think I can't take that throne from you at this very moment. You have no idea what happened back then. You mother was terrified of what you would become and what the other gods would think of her, so she put up no resistance when I took you and brought you here. That's as good as abandoning you."

Perseus nodded. "I agree, and I told her the very same thing. But, her conseiving me wasn't a mutual thing. Odd considering that's one of your rules when it comes to creating children with other immortal beings."

"You think I care about that?"

Perseus' smile turned dark and sinister. "No, father I don't. But that's exactly why I asked that question. I know you don't give a shit about the rules you made. It's also why you're interfering with the mortal world even now, preparing to help that pitiful Titan over throw the Gods, just so you can weaken her and force her into a position that suits you taking her. That's not love. That's creepy, but by all means, I don't give a shit.

"Lucifer, of the House of Wrath, you are here by charged with breaking the law by which you enacted declaring no intervention in the mortal world. I here by sentence you to imprisonment. Enjoy your stay in MY dungeon."

Lucifer snarled and leapt at Perseus as his Demon Guard flooded into the throne room. Without the power of being the Demon King, though, Perseus was capable of standing toe-to-toe with his father and win. Perseus backhanded the former Demon King and sent him flying into the wall, before casting a spell to drain away his magic.

"Just you wait until I get free, boy. I'll have my throne back and there won't be a single one of you obnoxious little Demon Lords capable of standing against me."

"Yeah, yeah. Good luck with that." Perseus turned away to one of his most loyal guards. "Make sure you link his chains to me. That way as they drain away, no other House can make an attempt on my throne, and so I know when he breaks free."

"My Lord? You aren't even going to believe we can keep him imprisoned?" he sounded slightly hurt but also as if he knew they had no chance.

"Dariuth. I'm not questioning your abilities, or any of that of the Demon Guard. I just know my father. He is not someone we can keep contained with just our House. And as the other Houses will be more than happy to use him to gain power, they won't help imprison him in a manner to help us. I do believe your men can hold him longer than the other Houses could though, so rest assured that I have quite the confidence in you. All of your men are above the Baron level, have a bit more faith in my own faith in you."

Dariuth looked at his king with pride and a slight confusion at his ending sentence, as it was definitely a brain twister.