A clacking of hooves approached from behind, startling me out of my thoughts.
"Are you alright, child?" Chiron asked, announcing his presence.
I hummed. "Just saying my goodbyes. Why do you ask?"
"I worry for you, Mikael." The centaur admitted. "Lady Hera will not stop until she believes you are sufficiently punished. You going on this quest is very brave of you, and while I may want to credit it as a testament to the respect you hold for your friendship with Perseus, I fear that is just not true. Whatever your reasons, you must stay vigilant. At all times."
I smiled slightly at Chiron. "Don't worry, I will. And should Hera send another god, I will deal with them even more swiftly. I am quite powerful as well, you know."
"I do indeed." The Hippocentaur chuckled. "On other news, your father has commanded the wind gods to look for Heracles, so he may be properly punished. He has not been seen from since the day you two destroyed the city."
"Hey, don't throw me in there. If anything, Hera should be held responsible for that. Stupid goddess should've known better."
A growl, low and hurt, made both of us turn to the side. There, standing with all his visible eyes giving us 'The stare', stood our camp guard Argus.
"What?" I frowned. "Innocent lives were lost you know? All because of her pride and stupidity. You can't excuse that, even for your creator."
All the eyes on his body blinked rapidly, as if trying to stop themselves from crying.
I cringed back, realizing I may have fucked up slightly
The giant was known to cause floods when he starts crying. It wasn't good for your health to upset Argus.
He could drown a city in tears and still have plenty to spare.
"There there, Argus." Chiron comforted the emotional giant. "Mikael didn't mean it, I'm sure. No one truly believes Lady Hera to be stupid, I promise you."
The centaur nudged me slightly, and I realized what he wanted.
With a reluctant sigh, I nodded at the Giant, muttering half-heartedly. "Yeah yeah, what he said. I was just joking."
"...You could've just explained the plan and I would've listened..." Percy's snappish voice greeted our ears and we turned to take his and Annabeth's figure slowly climbing up the hill, scowls of discontent stark on their faces.
I sighed, disappointed at the girl's presence. "Well, it seems our time has come. If you see aunt Hestia around the hearth, tell her I'm off to another quest. Tell her I miss her and love her and all that, alright?"
"I will, do not worry." Chiron promised, smiling.
As they both reached our position, Percy's eyes took in Argus and stayed stuck.
"This here, is Argus." Chiron introduced promptly. "He will drive you all to the city, and, err, well...keep an eye on things."
I snickered at the unintentional pun, which was wiped out clean the next second as I saw Luke running towards us with a pair of basketball shoes in his hands.
"Hey!" He panted, coming to a stop. "Glad I caught you."
"...Hi." Percy greeted him uncertainly.
I said nothing, neutral eyes observing as Luke presented those familiar pair of shoes to Percy.
"Just wanted to say good luck, and I thought, you know," He gave a hesitant shrug. "maybe you could use these."
Percy held the shoes up, badly failing at hiding his unimpressed feelings.
Then Luke exclaimed out, "Maia!" and the shoes grew twin white wings, similar to mine but with none of their beauty and majesty (like, obviously), and started flapping off on their own.
A startled Percy let go of the shoes, and the wings gave a few excited flaps before folding back into disappearance.
"That's...wow." Percy muttered, suitably impressed.
I observed the shoes as Luke explained it's functions to his one-man audience,
[Winged Shoes (Unique): A replica of Hermes's Devine Winged-shoes. The shoes are enchanted to forcefully take the user into Tartarus once they enter Underworld]
I sighed, letting my eyes climb up the sky in disappointment, staring forlornly across the world.
This, more than anything, confirmed that Luke was definitely involved in this plot.
'What a cruel world. The boy fell right in front of my eyes, and there was nothing I could do.'
Well...that wasn't entirely true. Perhaps had I been more active in my efforts to drag him away from his path, he could've been salvaged.
I wasn't too beat up on it though. What problems did he face in the camp? I had half the Olympus after my head, if anything it makes more sense for me to stand in his place.
No, while I could've helped him maybe, and that's a big maybe, the blame for his decision falls solely on his own shoulders.
He didn't even have the excuse of immaturity anymore. The boy was older than my mortal self. And I doubted I would've joined the freaking Titans even then.
So with a slightly heavy heart, I bade goodbye to the one whom I once considered friend.
'Should I just kill him now?' I wondered. '...Nah, the aftermath would be too time-consuming.'
Not wanting to waste time explaining my actions, I simply opened my inventory and let one of the six bugs to fly out under the cover of my mist. The small 1 inch hornet-sized killing machine discreetly circled back to Luke, slowly climbing inside the back of his shoes, where it shall lay hidden and inactive, awaiting my command.
The bug might not be able to kill a minor god, but a tier 4 demigod had absolutely no chance of survival. As soon as I gave the command, Luke was a goner. A dead goner.
"Well..." A clap of my hands got their attention. "It's time. We gotta go."
Luke waved us goodbye as he climbed down the hill, and I gave him one last parting nod.
"I won't be able to use this, will I?" Percy muttered in disappointment.
Chiron sighed. "Luke meant well, but taking to the air will not be good for your health."
"I thought so." The boy nodded despondently, before his face lit up and he turned to Annabeth. "Here, you take it. As an apology for...well...beating you up."
I shook my head at the blunt boy, wondering if I should just confiscate the cursed thing.
'...Nah, let them have their fun.' I waved them forth, making for the van. 'I'll destroy it later.'
--------------------------------
In no time, all three of us were seated in the vehicle, tearing down through the country side. Argus was supposed to drive us till the Manhattan terminal, after which we were on our own.
The only entertainment I received was from watching Percy and Annabeth taking verbal swipes at each other, with Percy losing most of them. That got dry soon though, especially when I had to sit in the middle to prevent them from murdering each other before our mission even started.
Aside from that both the kids spent their time gawking at the passing city as if it was their first time in the outside world.
I sat quietly, like a war veteran joining civilization, bored out of my mind and barely a second away from becoming the-god-of-pathetic deaths. Yeah, dying from boredom seemed like a god worthy achievement.
The speed at which we were travelling was literally as fast as an ant compared to me.
My mood lifted slightly however when Argus drove us past the country side. Because then started the city in which I fought off Hercules.
Or more specifically, the ruins that were left of a once standing city.
While I didn't take any pride in killing defenseless mortals, I was quite thrilled to realize I was capable of destroying cities now.
And stunned to realize exactly what it meant to carry such power.
There was a clear trail of destruction that cut through the city, dividing it into two. Bulldozers and trucks were hard at work to recover any lost bodies from the rubble. And gods was there rubble. The entire city was littering with pieces, big and small, of stone, metal, and concrete. Naturally, the city was held as a restricted area for now. Not that it mattered to us.
This sight, more than anything else, told me I wasn't in some badly written fantasy world, but in an actual reality where my actions may have very real consequences, and not always the good kind.
'And this is all just from my lightning storm.' Chilling shivers spread through me in incredulously.
I could only wonder the destruction I would've brought, had the god given me time to launch my divine Lightning storm, or hell, the Celestial lightning bolt.
...Did that mean I wouldn't use those techniques if pressed?
I snorted. Of course I would. Innocent or not, other lives simply did not matter to me before my own. Even should I need to sacrifice an entire city worth of it.
I wasn't superman. I wasn't a defender of good and innocent. I wasn't a hero.
No point in behaving like morals meant much to me anymore. The old me was dead, the current me wasn't mortal and wasn't bothered by most of the things that'll have made me puke in my past life.
I was a Greek god, and the only morals I had were saved by my mortal wisdom. And the last bit of decency that I clung onto stubbornly.
And hiding from the fact was simple cowardice.
1 Wis
I sighed. The easiest yet most undeserved point gain of my life.
"...How did this happen?" Percy's shocked whisper broke me out of my reverie.
I noted with amusement that his eyes seemed to take in every destroyed McDonald's stand in utter horror.
As if destroying one of them went against everything he'd believed in.
Annabeth on the other hand, was smart enough to connect the dots. "Was this...is this where you fought Heracles?"
I nodded, releasing a soft sigh. "It is."
"Wha...this is because of a fight? A single fight?" Percy exclaimed out, turning in his seat to face me completely. His eyes got even more saucer-like with a sudden realization. "Wait...by Heracles, do you mean Hercules!? You fought Hercules? The Hercules!?"
"Way to state the obvious, seaweed brain." Annabeth quipped, but the same astonishment was present in her eyes as well.
She was simply better in hiding it.
"Oh yeah?" Percy scowled at her, his horror disappearing quickly. "Well sorry that I don't spend eighteen hours a day inside a book like you, wise girl."
"...are you calling me a...a book worm? Seriously!?" A storm, dark and foreboding, began brewing behind Anna's grey eyes as she turned to Percy.
Percy though, looked like his Christmas came early. "Way to state the obvious, wise girl."
I gave a low snort before snapping my fingers. "Alright. Both of you shut it and pay attention. This is important."
My grave tone caught their attention.
"You two may be strong, but you've never been in a true fight. Ever. Yes, even you Anna lite. Watching the aftermath of a war is simply not the same thing."
I could see Argus opening multitude of eyes together, blinking at me with rapt attention.
"You both have no about idea the strength and power you possess. This journey will show you exactly what you are as a being and who you are as a person. And you have to accept it, accept yourselves; both good and bad. Cause in hell, you won't have time for self pity and moral righteousness."
All three of them hung on my words like a gospel.
I nodded outside the window, the death and destruction that we passed.
"What you are seeing right now? This will be a regular occurrence once the actual war starts. And there will be a war, believe me." I stressed, hitting the point home. "And you will be in the thick of it. You will cause destruction, your powers will kill innocents, and you have to accept it. If you can't? Leave America and never return."
As the melancholy mood consumed our vehicle, I leaned back with a sigh, wondering if I should go on.
But they needed to hear this. I can't have a couple of inexperienced brats with knightly morals at my back. I wanted a team of utter badasses who won't hesitate to kill.
Was it wrong to manipulate a couple of 12 year olds? Probably. But if they wanted to survive, they'll be practically forced to adapt.
Thus, I continued. "Cities will be buried in the ground, entire states toppled, all the while our non-divine neighbors go about their lives cluelessly."
"You can see this as an excuse to have some mortal-life crisis of course," I snorted, letting them know exactly what I thought of it. "or you can use this as a motivation to grow even stronger. So that when the time comes, you won't be forced in this position. Ever. So that you can defeat your opponents before they have a chance to cause this type of scenes. And if you don't? Nothing will change but the cause. Now you will be the reason behind things like these. Your powerlessness will let them run amok, and you shall be able to do nothing. Nothing but watch sadly, as your world burns black."
1 Wis
Wisdom: 16/35 (Immortal's Wisdom)
The kids were grim and silent for the rest of the ride, and I wondered if I overdid it a little.
Though after mulling over my own words however, I realized how true they really were.
The world was full of powerful monsters, and destruction will always follow in their wake. If you are strong enough to stop it? Good for you. If not? Watch as they ruin your world.
Cause all you shall be able to do is escape.
I may have given the speech to jolt the kids out of their safety-net mindset, but it was accurate enough that they'd do well to heed it.
The grimness in the van was soon broken when Argus dropped us by the Greyhound station on the upper East side. It wasn't far from Sally's apartment, and I wondered what happened of the Ugliano man now that Sally wasn't around. Will my spell be broken or will he become a vegetable without sally to control him?
Not that I cared about the man of course.
I then noticed a picture of Percy stuck on an announcement written in bold letters over it; HAVE YOU SEEN THIS BOY?
The boy in question quickly ripped it down and looked at Annabeth and me to see if we saw his 'dirty little secrets'.
'Well, that answers my question.' Gabe must've been back to normal, cause no one else would make a criminal out of Percy.
Argus removed both of my companions bags, before driving off, back to the camp.
"C'mon, you two." I waved the two kids to follow. "I have a better idea than a public bus."
In no time, we were speeding down the 9th Avenue in a comfortably large SUV, a wonderful feeling of adventurous excitement spreading from me for the first time in quite a while.
Finally, I was going on a real quest again. A quest that was guaranteed to be written down in the annals of Greek history.
As satisfying as rescuing demigods was, it wasn't a true quest. And I'd longed for a real quest since forever.
The quest to retrieve Zeus' lightning bolt sounded as grand a venture worthy of the likes of Hercules, Theseus, and Achilles. A quest to stop the brewing of war, a quest that balanced the weight of the entire Greek future upon its shoulder...a quest to be remembered by.
While I usually wouldn't consider myself a glory hound, there was definitely a part of me that thirsted for recognition. To have my power acknowledged.
I needed to create a legend worthy of my power.
Whoever sent me to this world, whoever gave me the system...I hoped to prove that I haven't squandered it. And this quest shall be my way to do so.
Everyone will now know the name of Mikael Gabrielson, the youngest god to grace the Greeks.
The Mortal God of Olympus.
-----------------------------
AN: And the prologue's done! Now onto the actual quest!
I know things have been a little slow and calm for the past couple of chapters, hope no one's annoyed by that. We'll have some action in the next chapter, no worries (though the main action is gonna come in Ch.29 which I've just finished posting on Pat reon, so just be a teensy bit patient).
Second, I'm roughly following the lightning thief plot until my changes take effect and everything goes to shit. The climax of this arc will tell you exactly what the overarching plot for this fic is, and how dxd ties within it.
Third, I know some of you might get worried so I'm clearing this now: don't worry about Mikael thinking he'll need a full crew to brave the sea of monsters. I'm not gonna waste too much time on it.
And last, I just know again, that some more of you will be annoyed by Mikael not straight up killing Luke, but it wouldn't have worked either way due to spoiler reasons (it has something to do with Khaos Brigade)
Well, that's all for today's chapter. Hope all of you enjoyed!
My discord: discord .gg/9wpfysDGsz to discuss fics and chill.
My Pat reon: www. Pat reon com/ Robs511 (No spaces and a dot before com) for anyone who wants to read upto the next three chaps of all my fics.
I'll see you all in the next post. Until then, take care and peace!
P.S: Next chap is for SOW on 2nd April (though I might take an extra day for this cause I'm writing the climax of world cup arc), while the next MGO chap will be on 8 or 9.