AN: This chapter was beta'd by...me! Yep, give me your thnx!
Seriously though, if anyone's willing to beta for this story, pls let me know.
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I looked at the sauntering god with a frown, irritation assaulting my mind.
'What the hell is he doing here?'
And his stats….damn, I expected better. As he was, I could likely bully him to oblivion. He would still stronger than me physically in his Divine Form—though not for long, hopefully—but he may be the second weakest True god in the Greek pantheon. Which just did not make sense. Sure, he was usually sent away running in embarrassment in the stories of old, but I hadn't thought it to mean he was actually just shit.
He was the firstborn of Zeus and Hera, the king and queen of all Greek gods. Born from the coupling of a Supreme and Elder god, shouldn't he be at least the strongest amongst the True gods?
Whatever. All the more easy to embarrass him, though that will have to wait for now. I may be stronger than him currently, but I didn't wish to take any chances. Heracles' example was still fresh in my mind, and even as strong as I've gotten, I was still no match for the Olympians in their divine form.
'Hmm…whatever form he's in though, my spirit will still be more than his when wielding Stormbreaker. Perhaps…?"
…No. There was also his Godly domain to consider. It would be foolish to fight an enemy for no reason when I wasn't certain of my victory.
One thing was certain however; everything I needed for my armor was simply falling into my lap, as though Fates had deigned it so themselves. Which was impossible considering they wouldn't even give me a freaking Prophecy; let alone a Divine rank Armor.
Still, I wasn't one to look the gift horse in the mouth. Whatever the reason for my high luck, after four years of helpless searching, I knew my Armor was now finally within reach. And knowing how awesome my weapon turned out to be—thoroughly living up to its Divine Status—I was excited as all hells for Hephaestus to work his magic again and make me nigh invincible.
One of the reasons I didn't even try to make some shabby armor for myself any longer—even having unlocked Magical-item Creation— was due to the passive anticipation brewing in my heart at directly upgrading to Divine ranked artifact.
"Everything's coming together…" I murmured, tracking my target.
With nary a care for the world, Ares came to a stop against the food counter beside us, his passive godly presence extending out to dominate the room—making it hard for the customers to breathe. I could see it affecting even Annabeth and—to a lesser degree—Percy.
The busty waitress—whose throat seemed to have dried up suddenly—gave a forceful 'ahem' and turned back to us, subdued. "...Ah, I'm sorry I forgot to take your order. What was it again?"
I sighed, giving her a half-lidded stare.
The girl flushed, eyes down to her feet. "I-I'm sorry…"
"Just bring over three cheeseburgers and whatever drinks you have." I waved her away, dragging my companions to find a seat.
Percy was glaring at Ares the whole time, while Annabeth was prodding him from behind to move on.
His glare wasn't entirely unreasonable though. Anyone would be annoyed if Ares butted his enormous size into their cramped space.
"Hello there, little brother." The god greeted me with an ugly smirk, the chair groaning in pain under him as the oversized god plopped down.
He idly glanced at Percy, his red sunglasses flashing with fire. "Ah, and of course, you must be the old seaweed's kid, huh?"
"What's it to you?" Percy snapped back.
I shot the boy a look. He already had Dionysus after his life, entangling with another god would be begging for a painful death.
Percy wasn't me after all. And even I had enough common sense to not show my hostilities stark upon my face to an Olympian.
"Ares." I finally replied with a nod. "What do you want?"
"Nothing much, kid." The god said with a lazy smirk. "Heard you were in the town and–"
"Ares...you are Clarisse's dad." Percy cut him off, looking surprised.
We both turned to the green-eyed boy in annoyance, though Ares wasn't content with staring. He leaned down at the boy, lowering his sunglasses to pin him under his fiery gaze. Literally: for the god had no eyes to look at, only two empty holes that burnt with an unholy intensity, sporting twin red flames dancing in the sockets like chaos incarnate.
Percy involuntarily backed off from the flames, taking a short hitched breath in.
"That's right, punk." The war god grinned, enjoying the boy's reaction no doubt. "Heard you broke her spear."
Harsh of breath and sweating though he was, he still managed to mouth off the war god, "She was asking for it."
Thankfully the god didn't take offense, leaning back with a snort.
"Probably. That's cool. I don't care, my children fight their own battles. What I'm here for today,"
He turned to me. "Is to give you a proposition."
Now, this had 'suspicious' with a capital S written all over it. And I knew I should stop to consider all manners of plots within plots, and whatever traps Hera could've conjured—with my superhuman intelligence I would've likely landed upon the correct conclusion—but in reality there were only two thoughts running wildly in my mind. A request from a god means quest. And the meaning of a free quest?
More levels! Let's go!
Of course, I had enough presence of mind to not accept immediately.
"What kind of proposition?" I asked, a little proud at the perfectly 'puzzled' tone in my voice.
Before the god could do more than smirk at me, we were interrupted by the hasty arrival of my new favorite voluptuous waitress—whose jiggling cleavage was peeking at me even more now—with a tray full of cheeseburgers and chocolate milkshakes in her hand.
"Thank you." I smiled widely, knowing what effect it would have on her.
My eyes roamed across her figure as she bent down to place the tray, and my fingers lightly caressed the back of her palms when I tried to 'help' her with the tray.
"T-Thank you." She stuttered out, flushing crimson again. "I-I mean, you're most welcome."
"Oh?" I cocked back my head, shooting a teasing smirk. "Welcome to what exac—?"
My beautiful start at seduction came to a sudden and tragic end at the clinking of coins hitting the table, as Ares, the dumbass that he was, threw a couple of gold drachmas at her.
Her bashful smile now gained a shaky edge as she nervously glanced at the hulking man. "Sir, these aren't..."
The war god suddenly whipped out a long hunting knife and started cleaning his fingernails. "Problem sweetheart?"
Annoyed—and now completely ready to beat the divine punk's ass to kingdom come—I slapped his knife away, quickly creating a hundred dollar note.
There was a limit to my tenability. And cock-blocking me was akin to tearing apart that limit completely.
Hoping to salvage my day's pleasure prospect, I gave the hundred bucks to the girl. "Please ignore my brother. He is a bit behind the times."
She took the note with clammy hands, though doing an instant doubt take as her eyes fell upon it. "Um...y-you don't have a twenty dollar note, sir?"
"It's a tip for you." I shot her a smirking wink. "As an apology for the earlier rudeness."
Her eyes widened, disbelieve washing away her fear. "B-but it's too much..."
I hummed, blatantly looking her up and down. "I guess you'll just have to compensate me somehow."
Her breath hitched, a sly little smile lighting her face up. "…I guess I can think of something."
When she turned to leave, her body moved with a far more pronounced grace; a noticeably seductive edge to it. My eyes roamed around her swaying behind, drinking in the sight of that tight ass straining against her jeans. She may not have the sheer beauty of the Aphrodite kids, but she was just as stacked as the best of them. She was even a touch bustier than Anastasia of four years ago.
'….Though nowhere near Gabriel.' A part of my mind whispered.
But then again, that was an unfair comparison.
I couldn't really help it though. Lately, I've found myself comparing every beautiful woman to Gabriel.
"I don't like to be disrespected like that brat." Ares suddenly growled at me, snatching back his knife and placing it inside his leg holster.
My attention turned to the table, only to find two out of my three table-mates giving me annoyed looks—one jealous, one miffed. Annabeth on the other hand, was glaring after the girl fiercely.
I sighed.
"So those rumors are true, huh?" Ares mused. "Going around impregnating mortal women are you now, little runt? You got to be more careful with that. Or you might find yourself whelping some unwanted litter."
I rolled my eyes. "Like you gods are one to talk. You do know I was the one to bring most of your kids to camp, yeah?"
The god seemed to hesitate, the fire in his eyes dying down a little as he turned away in visible discomfort.
Annabeth and I exchanged looks.
'Now, that was a little weird.'
The weirdness didn't last for long though, and soon his 24/7 sneer was back on his scarred face. "Anyway, back to my proposition. I need a favor from you. Two favors actually."
I nodded, opening my mouth to reply—
"Why would a god even need us?" Percy cut in from the side snarkily.
My right eye twitched. 'This boy needs another harsh lesson soon.'
"Because his time is more precious than yours." Ares sneered. "It's nothing much. I left my shield at an abandoned water park here in town. I was going on a little…date with my girlfriend. We were interrupted, and I left my shield behind. I want you to fetch it for me."
I stayed silent, waiting for the quest to officially pop on my screen.
"Why don't you go back and get it yourself?" Percy asked.
Ares stared the boy down, the fire in his eyes brightening to uncomfortable degrees.
"Why don't I turn you into a girl and have my way with you? Because I don't want to. A god is giving you a chance to prove yourself, Perseus Jackson. Will you back away like a coward?" The war god leaned forward, his sneer widening further. "Or maybe you'll once again hide behind your cousin here, letting him do everything in this quest while simply leeching off of his success."
Ares was just goading Percy now, and the poor boy didn't even realize.
"What's the other favor?" I interrupted their staring, realizing the boy was a second away from being incinerated for doing something hilariously stupid.
'Can't let that happen on my watch now, can I? Not without breaking the oath.'
The god stared at Percy for another long second before turning to me, his annoyance quickly getting replaced by something else.
For just a moment, the god seemed hesitant...almost ashamed, but that was stupid. Ares wasn't the type of god to be shamed by anything other than losing a battle or getting trapped by Hephaestus.
"... My friend wishes to meet you." He finally answered, pushing a small slip of paper. "You just got to go and check him out. Here's the address"
"So this is a quest?" I pressed.
"Sure, whatever. A quest it is."
[Quest Received: Ending What Was Started]
Meet Ares' Friend
Rewards: 5 Levels
I blinked. Then blinked again.
So surprised was I that I paid no attention to Percy's words absently entering my ears ..."We're not interested. We already have a quest."
'5 full Levels to meet someone?' My mind started whirling.
The system was generous but it wasn't completely bonkers. Five levels were equivalent to rescuing 10 demigods for my 'Heroes collector' quest. It didn't take super intelligence to realize something was fishy here. And as I quickly calculated through all the possibilities, my mind settled onto the most obvious conclusion.
A trap.
My senses absently registered the growing aura of Ares. It was the same kind of aura that Zeus and Hestia were always shrouded with; similar in its origin but quite unique to every god. The aura my senses picked up on was a combination of blood and gore, smoke and fire, stench of rotting corpses, piss and sweat…and rage. Sheer, unadulterated, battle rage.
And yet I found myself completely unaffected, ignoring them in favor of continuing my troubling line of thought.
So a trap. But by whom? Most likely Hera. Ares was known to be her darling little boy—Zeus hated him, and Hera was the only reason he was still an Olympian—so it wouldn't come as a surprise to know that the god was here to lead me to my death.
The quest that he delivered rewarded me with fifty percent of the big quest 'Protect Percy', and all that just to go to this location and meet his friend? Yeah, it didn't take a genius to come to a specific conclusion; Ares was sending me to a trap.
A meeting dangerous enough to grant me 5 levels can't be anything else.
Will I still accept the quest? Fuck yes. Because I had another realization soon after. Ares called his friend 'him', while my quest's name was 'Ending What Was Started'. Once again, a genius was not needed to figure out who this mysterious friend was….and even if it did, my prodigious intellect sufficed quite well for the time being.
'So Hercules wants another around, huh?' I felt a smirk forming upon my face. 'Well, the god might just be in for a nasty surprise this time.'
Plus I will know exactly how much I've improved since the last time. Sure I had the system to always reassure me of my progress, but nothing beats the sheer experience of a task becoming laughably easy after you've struggled with it in the past.
And unless the god of strength gained some stupid anime-type power up, I had no doubts in my mind that it'll be laughably easy to put him down this time.
"I know all about your quest, punk." Ares' voice reached my absent ears. "When that item was first stolen, Zeus sent his best out looking for it: Apollo, Athena, Artemis, and me, naturally. If I couldn't sniff out a weapon that powerful...well... if I couldn't find it, you guys got no hope. Nevertheless, I'm trying to give you all the benefit of the doubt. Your dad and I go way back. After all, I'm the one who told him my suspicions about old Corpse Breath."
Just when I was about to let loose a mental laugh of superiority, Ares' last few words managed to break through my web of thoughts, gaining my attention with a start.
"You told him about Hades stealing the Bolt?" I asked, eyebrows shooting up.
Was Ares somehow mixed in with Kronos' plot? Holy fuck…this will put a huge twist to my theories.
"Sure." The war god shrugged easily. "Framing somebody to start a war. Oldest trick in the book. I recognized it immediately. In a way, you got me to thank for your little quest."
"Yeah, right. Thanks." Percy bit back sarcastically.
"Hey, I'm a generous guy. Just do my little job, and I'll help you on your way. I'll arrange a ride west for you and your friends."
I snorted, dismissing the god to focus on my cheeseburger that was dripping with sauce.
"We're doing fine on our own."
"Yeah, you sure are." Ares barked out a mocking laugh, and I bit into my burger along with Annabeth. "Leeching off of your friend's abilities while standing around like the useless seaweed that you are. Sure you are doing fine. Some in Olympus are even starting to wonder, whose quest is this really?"
Percy's cheeks burnt red, and I decided to interrupt before the boy lost his cool again.
"Alright, enough. We've agreed to do your damned quests."
The boy stared at me with a dismayed scowl, and I pushed his head down towards his burger to stop further quips; forcefully.
"Shut up and eat."
Ares laughed. "Cute. Well, the water park is a mile west on Delancey. You can't miss it. Look for the Tunnel of Love ride."
"What interrupted your date?" Percy took a last dig at the war god from beneath my hand. "Something scared you off?"
I sighed, leaning back.
As expected, Ares bared his teeth in annoyance—his Authority starting to envelope the entire fast-food point. When it tried to settle over me, I used my own Authority—weaker though it was—to resist his power, my mind simply willing a loud 'No!'
"You're lucky you met me, punk, and not one of the other Olympians. They're not as forgiving of rudeness as I am. I'll meet you back here when you're done. Don't disappoint me."
With a flash of power, his divine authority put everyone to sleep.
The culprit turned to me then, not looking surprised at my exception. "A warning for you, little brother. Don't go expecting to make friends on your quest."
Then with no more last words, the Greek war god stood up and made for his Harley outside.
'...Did Ares just warn me about the trap directly?'
"Why?" I called after him with a frown. "Why help me?"
The god glanced at me. "I'll be honest here brat— I don't like you. Pretty things like you tend to catch Aphrodite's attention, and dad wouldn't take it kindly if I offed you for such a reason. The other gods wouldn't either, you are way too valuable a piece to discard easily. But I'm not an ungrateful god, Mikael Gabrielson. Never think I am. You saved dozens of my kids when I can't myself. Think of this as a favor in return."
The god mounted his Harley, kicking the bike to a roaring start. "Stay away from Aphrodite and we won't have any problems. For now."
And then the god was gone, leaving behind a curtain of dust and smoke.
"Well..." I muttered, chewing upon the last bit of my burger. "...That happened."
The people around me were still in a trance so I willed my own authority to disperse Ares' already weakening one. It was certainly more difficult than I'd expected; I could feel an invisible wall of power resisting my will. But thankfully, without Ares actively governing his authority, I finally succeeded in rousing everyone faster than they would have otherwise.
"...Tell me that was a dream." Percy groaned out, squinting his eyes slightly.
"I'm afraid not." I chuckled. "It seems we've a quest to complete."
The boy was quiet for a moment, simply staring out of the window. Annabeth, on the other hand, was still massaging her head.
"Why did you agree to his quests?" The boy asked suddenly, turning to me. "They're probably just some kind of trick. Let's just forget Ares and go.
"We can't!" Annabeth piped in. "Look, I hate Ares as much as anybody, but you don't ignore the gods unless you want serious bad fortune. He wasn't kidding about turning you into a girl, Percy."
I hummed. "And I can't miss this quest. If you really want to continue, you'll have to go ahead without me, Perce."
The boy sighed, looking down at his cheeseburger.
"Why does he even need us?" he grumbled, but accepted the situation all the same.
I shrugged, having no intention of revealing my suspicions in an open space like this.
"Maybe it's a problem that requires brains." Annabeth suggested. "Ares has strength. That's all he has. Even strength has to bow to wisdom sometimes."
"But this water park…he acted almost scared. What would make a war god run away like that?"
Annabeth glanced at me, worried.
Again, I shrugged. "I guess you two will have to find out."
My favorite waitress soon came back again to take our empty tray and give me our receipt. On the back of the receipt was a simple phrase. 'Back of the restaurant'.
"Well, I have some preparations to make before I go." I said, standing up. "I'll see you guys later."
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I left the diner and searched for the back of the building, finding it just under a downward slope from the parking lot.
The girl was nervously peeking around as she stood at a shielded corner between two walls and the last parked car. Quietly, I crept up behind her before cupping her body in a tight hug from behind.
She gave a squeal as my hands roamed across her body.
"Did I make you wait?" I whispered, enjoying the pleasurable sensation of grinding against her behind.
"N-no." She stuttered out, before gasping as my hands kneaded into her breasts. "I-I mean yes! I've been waiting for so long! So make up for it now."
"Naughty girl…"
I wasted no time in tearing her clothes off after that.
I might be about to fight a bitter battle with Hercules very soon. But for now...
I had another war to wage.
A much more pleasurable kind of war.