Chereads / The Thread Nicker (PJO OC story) / Chapter 8 - A Nick in the Threads

Chapter 8 - A Nick in the Threads

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" Normal Text"

~Thoughts~

[System]

King woke up the next day before everyone else and stepped outside and just took in the rising sun. ~Grandfather, please watch over me today. I am going to do something stupid.~ King prayed and it seemed Apollo heard because he felt a little warmer like the light was hugging him. He took out a vial of liquid that he had bought from the player store last night and put it in his pocket along with the 3 beans. Then King went back to his room and ordered room service for everyone. Luke and Grover woke up once they smelt food and entered the room, "Hey King are you sure you still want to do this? It's not too late." Luke asked. "Too late for what?" Asked Thalia as she entered the room with Annabeth. "Too late for me to pay which I already said that I was more than fine with doing." King answered before Luke as he shot him a look. Luke said nothing. King handed a glass of juice to both Annabeth and Thalia and said, "Eat up before we make our way to camp, it's not too far away." Both girls nodded happily as they drank and ate their fill.

Time skip 3 hours later

The group made their way to the strawberry fields of CHB. King heard the noise of the system.

[PING! New quest available! Legendary Quest!

Will to Protect!

Changing Fate is something that can be done with the power of the system and now is your chance. Prevent Thalia from becoming encased in the tree.

Rewards: $1,000,000, 25,000D, 10 level 10 skill disc, ?xp, ?, ?, ? Loss of: ?

Failure: possible death of everyone, Thalia becomes the tree, the fates get their way.]

~So even if I win I still lose something huh. This is kinda worrying. I can very well die here, too bad I'm not going to let that happen.~ King snapped out of his thoughts taking out two items from his pockets. "Hey Thalia, Annabeth I want you to hold on to something for me okay?" King asked the girls and they both turned to look at him. For Annabeth he tied the Nemean Lion fang necklace around her neck and slipped the bracelet on Thalia's wrist. "What are these for?" Annabeth said with a pink hue. The thought of a boy giving her a gift was something that made her happy. "Yeah Lazy what's up with the bracelet?" Thalia asked. "They are from the fangs of the Nemean Lion, the first real monster I killed when I made my way to camp. I need you two to hold on to them I'll get them back once I'm in camp." "What do you mean on- '' Thalia was cut off by Annabeth seemingly falling asleep where she was standing. "Annie!! Guys something happened to her help me. '' Thalia yelled to the boys . "Wait a minute I feel tired too. What's wrong with me? Guys?" King looked at Grover and Luke and nodded to them. "Guys it's time take them to camp." Grover picked up Annabeth while Luke grabbed Thalia. A barely conscious but very confused Thalia spoke. "What is going on?" "The group that was hunting us is after you Thalia and I'm not going to let them have you so Grover and Luke are taking you and Annie to camp while I stall them." King explained. "This morning I put some sleep medicine in your juice to make it easier for them to take you guys and so I don't have to worry. I know you probably will hate me for this but it has to be this way they can not get their hands on you they will kill you." Thalia was furious. "No we can fight them together!!" She yelled trying to stay awake. King chuckled, "No there are too many, just go I'll take care of them. Enjoy your nap sparky !" Both Luke and Grover took off towards camp leaving King behind.

A few minutes later the three furies and an army of hell hounds appeared. "You have caused us so much trouble for such a young boy." The center fury announced. "We will have the daughter of Zeus." The leftmost fury said. "Stand aside or parish the right one finished off. "The only ones dying today will be you three!" King yelled. "Perfect cube!" -4500mp A massive cube surrounded the army of hellhounds, the furies, and King. "This cube will be your coffin!" The furies hissed! King unsheathed his Elucidator and readied for the fight. ~Observe~

[Alecto Anger

Level: 66

Hp:14,500

Mp:9,900

~Str: 63

~Dex:70

~Vit:58

~Int:66

~Wis:61

~Luck:65]

[Tisiphone Avenger

Level: 62

Hp:13,000

Mp:7,350

~Str:57

~Dex:47

~Vit:52

~Int:49

~Wis:63

~Luck:56]

[Magara, Jealousy

Level: 58

Hp:12,000

Mp:7,650

~Str:53

~Dex:47

~Vit:48

~Int:51

~Wis:61

~Luck:57]

[PING! Fight 3 Legendary Creatures have activated your title!]

[Str:39(+15) >54

Dex:60(+15)>75

Vit:44(+15)>59

Int:50(+15)> 65

Wis:50(+15)> 65

Luck:33(+15)>48]

King ate a Senzu Bean to restore his Mp. He scanned over all the hell hounds they had brought and saw they were about as strong as the one he faced almost a year ago in his demonstration to the Gods all sitting around 1,500 health level 20, and there were one hundred of them. ~Mute system Notifications.~ "Spirit Sword Chastiefol Fifth Configuration: Increase! Bumblebee!"

[-500mp! 4,450/4,950]

75 daggers went flying at the hellhounds dealing 920 damage to about 50 percent of the pack, 25 percent barely got nicked causing about 150 damage, 15 percent of them got away untouched while 10 percent died instantly due to critical hits. "Well then only 90 more to go!" King said. " Again Bumblebee!"

[-500mp! 3,950/4,950]

The daggers flew once more taking out all but 18 hellhounds. " Spirit Sword Chastiefol First Configuration: Chastiefol" Now armed with his second sword King took off faster than the Furies could see slicing at the hellhounds evading and parrying their claws with the twin blades moving in blurs. Alecto took an arrow, notched it and fired at King while he was fighting. King moved his head at the second thanks to his [Future Sight] he saw it coming the arrow pierced through 2 hellhounds killing them. King smirked at the fury and told her, "Just sit down, I'll be with you in a moment." He went back to finish off the last 5 hounds without taking a single hit. King, a little exhausted from the brief fight, took a knee. Out of nowhere he was punched hard in the face making him go flying across the cube.

[-225 Damage! 3,100/3,325]

He looked at the fury that hit him to see Tisiphone with a fist extended. "Not so tough now are you little boy!" King stood up and charged at Tisiphone engaging in a fight of Swords versus claws. They both traded blows and nicked at each other. After a solid 3 minutes of their fight King got hit in the leg with an arrow.

[-500 Damage! 2,600/3,325]

Alecto had a smirk on her face as she had hit the boy. "Spirit Sword Chastiefol Second Configuration: Guardian!"

[Guardian

Level 111

Hp:44,250/44,250

Mp:3,150/3150

~Str:162

~Dex:225

~Vit:177

~Int:21

~Wis:21

~Luck:16]

King sent Guardian after Magara while he reengaged Tisiphone. Now with only one sword in his hand he took out a familiar Hunter's Silver Knife and used it as his secondary weapon blocking with the knife and slashing with the sword the mix up and addition of the knife threw off the Fury long enough for King to land a massive blow on the Fury. Swish! Argh!!

[Tisiphone 5,108/13,000]

[Harlequin 650 /3,325]

"Burn in Hades Child!" Tisiphone yelled as she threw a massive black fire ball at King in hopes to kill him. "Full Counter!" The ball turned around at full force and doubled the power.

[-750 mp 3,200/4,950]

[Tisiphone 108/13,000]

King took the Hunter's Knife and threw it at Tisiphone's head making her fall to dust. He walked away from the pile of gold dust and saw Magara dodging and blocking Guardian's hits as Alecto kept shooting it.

[Guardian Hp: 30,027/44,250 Mp 0]

[Magara Hp:10,000/12,000 Mp:5,000/7,650]

[Alecto Hp: 14,000/14,500 Mp: 8,900/9,900]

Before either of the Furies spotted, King unleashed his [Vertical Square] sword skill

[-1500 Mp! 1700/4,950]

Swinging the Elucidator, he landed 3 of his hits on Magara. Only the first two were clean hits, however. Argh!!! Magara yelled as she was hit by King swinging her claws at him trying to kill him only to get flung across the cube by Guardian.

[Magara 750/12,000]

King ate one of his 2 Senzu beans and recovered his health and Mp. Alecto was furious at this point; she made her way to her sister and asked. "Who are you children!" King slammed his sword into the ground. "I am Harlequin Liones, Child of Demeter and Legacy of Apollo, Slayer of the Nemean Lion!" "YOU WILL DIE!" Alecto yelled as she kept firing arrows at King Guardian just swiped them away. Out of nowhere Alecto Slammed her hands on the ground, expending all her mana points. A shroud of Darkness came out of the ground. King was greeted with more Creatures coming out of the Shadows; he could make out at least 15 figures. 14 of them were smaller; the last one was huge, however. He was greeted with 10 cyclops, 4 hellhounds and the Legendary Cerberus.

That morning on Olympus

The Olympian Gods sat in the throne room bickering about Chaos knows what. Apollo sat on his throne as he had his chariot on auto pilot flying for him when he heard King's Prayer. He straightened up right looked at Demeter and the openly said, " King is about to do something stupid." This caught the attention of everyone in the room especially Hermes, Zeus and Athena. "What do you mean?" Apollo sighed and spoke, " King was watching the sun rise today and he prayed to me. Something about watching out for him and doing something stupid." Demeter was angry. " Why isn't he in camp! He wasn't issued any quest!" This time it was Artemis who spoke. "I just saw Harlequin maybe over a week ago. He was traveling with a boy, two girls, and a satyr. They seemed to be heading to the Camp when I saw them last. The boy will be fine after all he bested Zoe in a spar." Everyone looked Wide eyed at Artemis. " He bested your strongest hunter. He's only 7 the possibilities of that happening are incredibly low did he set the standard for the fight that's the only logical reason for such a thing happening." Athena questioned. Artemis sighed and explained what happened to the group. Everyone was shocked at what they were told. "Well let's see what the Child is doing then it could be great to see some entertainment." Zeus announced as he clapped his hands. They all watched the exchange between King and the two girls. Athena and Zeus were angry that their children were drugged. The anger quickly changed once they saw Luke and Grover carry the girls away and King enact his "Perfect Cube" they watched in awe at the boy's skill as he took out all the hellhounds and fought the furies. "The runt is Skilled I'll give him that. Also is that a Hunter's Knife he is using?" Artemis Stared at the knife that King was using and then spoke, "It appears Zoe allowed him to keep the knife he plucked out of the air in their fight that is interesting he knows how to use it well." They saw the last to furies on their last limbs then they saw Alecto summon the creatures. Some of the gods were nervous for King , others held stone faces. " What will you do now, Harlequin Liones? " Zeus muttered to himself.

Back with King

[Cerberus, 3-headed Dog, Level???]

[Hp 75,000/75,000]

"Spirit Sword Chastiefol Fourth Configuration: Sunflower! Beam!" Sunflower Bloomed and fired killed all the creatures but Cerberus Instantly.

[-39,000! Extra Damage for using a light-based attack on a shadow based Creature!]

[2,475/4,950 Mp]

Using wood manipulation, he made a massive ball and spoke to Cerberus. "The furies are not your master boy, you don't have to listen to them." He moved the ball and then said, " Ya see the ball boy it's all yours you can take it and go back home and nap off that nasty bruise what do you say?" Cerberus looked at the ball with glowing red eyes and let out a bark the size of a tank going off. "Want the ball boy go fetch!" King threw the ball as far as he could, and Cerberus took off after it grabbed the ball and then disappeared in shadows not before growling at the Furies. King, not looking at the furies, tried to take advantage of that Magara sliced at him and Alecto shot an arrow at his shoulder. Magara's punch was met with a slice of Elucidator while Alecto's arrow hit in the right shoulder making it useless. Magara Vanished into golden dust as King pulled the arrow out of his shoulder and looked at his Hp.

[1,200/3,325 Hp]

~She did over half of my health!~ He thought as he went to eat his last Senzu bean. Seeing the action Alecto Lit an arrow in black flames and shot it at the Bean destroying it. King was wide eyed at the aim of the arrow and destruction of his trump card. ~Oh no.~ King spoke words quickly "Spirit Sword Chastiefol: Pollen Garden!" A green dome wrapped around King draining him of his Mp.

[0/4,950. Hp 2,438/3,325]

"Chastiefol!" With a shimmer the green dome vanished and in his hands he now wielded both swords. "This is the end of the Line for you Boy!" Alecto shouted as she charged at King. King ducked down under her blow and sliced at her leg with Elucidator and it seemed his luck had finally been on his side.

[Weapon Bonus Activate! Inflected Paralysis! Due to the opponent's resistance, Paralysis is only active for 30 seconds!]

[Alecto 3,000/14,000hp]

Without missing a moment King placed both swords on either side of Alecto's head and beheaded her, finishing the fight. King fell down laying there looking up at the sky with a smile on his face not caring about the condition he was in. He carefully took out the flask of nectar he was offered yesterday and drank the slip. He instantly felt some of his strength come back to him. "Man, I need a nap. I hope Annie doesn't sneak on to Chastiefol with me or one of her death grips will kill me for sure this time." King took a peek at his health.

[1,348/3,325 Hp 1,000/4,950Mp]

"Woah that nectar stuff is good. I usually only have it when I'm unconscious." King looked up into the sky and said with a huge smile, " I hope you enjoyed the show!! Lady Athena and lord Zeus, your girls are okay, it just puts them to sleep. Also Lord Hermes if you made any bets I want some of the winnings. I don't do a show for free! Thank Zoe for the Knife lady Artemis, it really came in handy!" King said out loud then he got really pale. "Oh Gods Thalia and Annabeth are going to kill me!! I should have just left with Cerberus." King shouted crying anime style tears with a dark cloud raining over his head.

Olympus before the end of the fight

"Holy Chaos the boy definitely still causes damage!" Hermes shouted as they watched King kill all the summoned Monsters but Cerberus.

Demeter watched in fascination at his manipulation of wood, "He is very skilled with using wood based moves but what is he making?" They all sweat-dropped watching the scene with Cerberus and the ball. Seeing Hades' loyal guard dog turned into a playful pup.

"The brat is good with those blades, surprising seeing he has Apollo's genes." Ares noted King's superior sword skills. Watching the ending of the fight they were all a little confused about the burning bean and the reason Alecto just randomly stopped moving.

The confusion turned to surprise when he turned his head and was seemingly looking at them. They heard what King had to say and a round of laughter erupted at the poor boy's situation. Hermes suddenly snapped his fingers and sent a bag to King. "The boy put on a good show, the least we can do is pay him for it. Also he did get my Son to camp so it's the least I can personally do." Athena found herself nodding her head. "He is a very interesting mortal maybe I'll reward him as well." She said with a thoughtful face. Zeus just stared at the screen with a small frown on his face thinking about his daughter. All of the sudden he snapped as well and summoned the master bolt to his hand. That got everyone's attention. Before anyone could say anything he fired off a shot down to earth from the throne room.

Back to King

King had let down the Cube and sat on Chastiefol waiting for the divine punishment of the two mad girls. He saw Thalia coming first. He heard a clap of thunder and widened his eyes. "Chastiefol!" He yelled, flinging the pillow at full speed at Thalia; it smacked her out of the way of where a lightning bolt would have hit, taking the blow instead. In an explosion of light too bright for anyone to see Chastiefol was destroyed and the iconic massive fur tree took its place forming the strong magical barrier. King could tell this one was stronger than Canon because of the power of Chastiefol. King looked at the sky again this time with cold deadly eyes. " I have stopped your attempt at punishing her for your mistakes. Be a man and admit you were wrong damn it! Don't you see what you would have done to your daughter!!" King yelled to the sky the rumble of thunder was heard. King stood up and made his way to the downed Thalia who was looking at the tree.

"Thals are you okay?" "He tried to turn me into a tree. He tried to kill me?" She said in shock. King wrapped her into a hug and said "It's okay he won't get you. He only had one chance to get you because of the Oath he took on the Styx now the only person that can go after you is Lord Poseidon but he's a rational god. You're okay Thals I got your back." He finished still soothing the older girl. "Thanks for saving me twice now." She said with a pink hue on her face noticing that he didn't have a shirt on and she was pressed against him. "It's all good let's get back to camp okay?" He said as they turned their way to camp. He turned around and placed his hand on the tree grown from Chastiefol. He tried to pull Chastiefol out of the tree and bring it out in any of its forms but he couldn't.

[Ping! A curse has afflicted your weapon. All skills based around Chastiefol have been locked until the player can get it cured in any way!]

~Looks like I need a new weapon again. I swear every time I'm on this hill I lose a weapon!~ King thought to himself following Thalia to the camp before he could make it too far; he passed out.

Dream scape

King was confused on why he was getting a dream the Gamer Mind prevented.

[Ping! Due to an important dream the system has let it go! This is the cause of your changing fate!]

King saw three figures running around in dark cloaks and said, "The boy has defied us!" The first voice said, "He has nicked the thread that controls this timeline we must repair it!" The second voice said. "The boy is strong, it is his fate to be here!" A third said. "Yes but the daughter of Zeus is supposed to be a tree!!" Second said.

These are the fates!! King put the situation together in his head realizing that they were talking about him changing fate or to them he nicked a thread.

"We shall do what we must. The girl must not be running around." One said, "The boy will stop us from harming her even if it's for the right of the timeline!" three said. Second spoke again, "He rested from his fight! Even he cannot stop fate in his sleep! We shall do this now! We must trap the girl. It has been ordered on to us by An- he is here!! He listens to our conversation!" Second bellowed. Three spoke out loud. "Harlequin Liones you have defied fate and we the Fates must fix it. Thalia Grace will be put to slumber for at least 6 years, and you will not stop us! She will have her destiny! It is too soon for the Crooked One to rise!" King yelled, "No she is just a girl you do not have to do this!" "It is already done!!" The three fates spoke as one with a boom King woke up from his nightmare.

CHB infirmary

King woke up and started with a bandage wrapped around his chest. He struggled to get up using the Elucidator as a crutch. "King, you're awake!!" Grover said coming into the Infirmary. "Is Thalia okay?" King asked Grover. Grover looked down at his question. "What happened? How long have I been out!" King spoke "You've been out for a week Young Harlequin as for what happened come take a walk with me." Chiron said, peeking in the room. King made his way out of the hut and towards Chiron they both walked to Zeus' cabin. "What happened, Chiron?" King asked. "Something we can't explain the first couple days after your fight everyone had been on edge because of the fact that The lord of the dead's army was after you all and then on the 5th night after the fight so 2 days before you woke up. We noticed something about Zeus' cabin." Chiron explained. While they walked to The cabin in question King kept walking as Chiron stopped. He was determined to get to see Thalia. He was met with an invisible force. "A barrier?" King asked. He took one hand and placed it on the ground trying to control the plants on the inside of the barrier. All he could see however was roots barely sprouting at a snail's pace. "A barrier that slows down time in it like a preservation barrier?" King expanded his idea more. "Chiron, how did this happen?" "We have no idea the Hecate Children just report that there were strange ruins for a seal around the house and then boom we cannot enter it at all. "So Thalia is trapped? Damn those old hags!!" King yelled. "King?" A voice spoke behind him. He saw Luke and Annabeth run up to him. "We're glad you're okay King." Luke spoke. "What old hags where you are yelling about. King you shouldn't be out of bed." Annabeth said. "We just lost Thalia to that barrier, we don't need to lose you too. "Annabeth told him. King looked at Chiron and the two kids and told about his dream leaving out the part about Kronos and anything else he felt wasn't needed. "So Zeus tried to zap Thalia, you sacrificed Chastiefol to protect her, had a dream about the Fates and they put this barrier up." King nodded. " I have heard about people causing nicks in threads before. The fates take those people very seriously. After all, the power to go against the sisters is a strong one to have. You must be careful, Harlequin if you cause too much trouble for them they might try to snip your thread."

"You said they used ruins to put this up. Maybe I can learn to break it down using ruins." King said. Chiron nodded. "Perhaps but for now you still need to rest. King, you did a good job. It's not your fault what happened to Thalia." "I stopped her fathers attempt then the fates took it into their hands. I should have stopped them." King walked away going to his cabin laying in his own bed. Not looking back to see the scowl of Luke, and the frowning faces of Annabeth and Chiron.

Making it to the Demeter cabin took longer than he expected once he did, he noticed something on his bed. A bag and a Snowy Owl?

He picked up the notes included with these items. "Good show King here is a little something for protecting my boy. -Hermes" King muttered Αποκαλύπτω to see the contents of the bag. 500,000D, 1 Hermes Delivery catalog, pair of feathered shoes. He was content with what Hermes had given him and threw the bag into his inventory. He then turned his attention to the Owl. "Thank you for protecting my Daughter Harlequin. I am most appreciative. This owl will serve you in any way you need messaging, scouting and even a companion. I am sorry about your friend.- Athena" King petted the owl on its head trying to think about a name for it.

[PING! Quest Complete!]

[Will to Protect!

Rewards: $1,000,000, 25,000D, 10 level 10 skill disc, 117,000 xp, 4 level 25 skill disc, one pot of luck, one S class weapon Blueprint. All rewards deposited into inventory!]

[All monster drops in Inventory as well!]

[Loss of: Chastiefol due to Curse!]

[Allocating Rewards!]

[Items added to Inventory

+10 level 10 skill Disc

+4 level 25 skill Disc

+1 pot of luck

+Blue print for Weapon Sword of the Thunder God!

+37 hellhound pelts

+14 hellhound teeth

+2 cyclops clubs

+Alecto's Bow

+1 Tisiphone's Claw

+1 Magara's wing]

[Player has leveled up! 17>25! Title Level has increased as well!]

Harlequin Liones

Age:7

Level:25

Legendary beast hunter(4)- +30 stats when fighting any legendary creature or figure as more is slayed the bigger the boost

Hp:5,325/5,325

Mp:5,750/5,750

Xp: 1000/14,000

~Str:47

~Dex:68

~Vit:52

~Int:58

~Wis:58

~Luck:41

Point(s):8

$:1,029,300/ 527,410D

~Well, I achieved this mission but what's the point when Thalia is stuck in the cabin practically frozen in time. Percy Comes in 5 years. I need to start preparing and figuring out a way to bust Thaila out of there. The Fates are determined to make sure I do not mess with their perfect timeline at all. I hope Luke does not make the same mistakes.~ King thought to himself as he laid in his bed thinking about the years to come.

—————————————————————

The fates got their way. I understand it may seem cheap in what happened, but it will push King to get stronger and learn some ruins and other forms of Magic which are kind of like seals from Naruto. (I got this idea from other stories I read.) This also means Kronos Cannot reform too early and gives Percy a chance to enter the books.

Next Chapter will be a time skip to May 1,2005 around the time Chiron Goes to Yancy to observe Percy. And before people ask Yes Chastiefol will be making a comeback in a huge way!

Let me Know what you all think about how this one is going. I honestly loved writing the fight scene! Leave comments and suggestions about the series and show some love.