10 ‘Cruel Sun!’

Ílios POV

As we passed through the gates I felt a rush of energy coursing through my veins, it's hard to describe but it felt like I was being destroyed and recreated anew but only better. "What is this feeling, what's happening to me right now?" I ask turning to Khnum.

"What you are feeling right now is the sun's, meaning my cycle of rebirth. My journey through the Duat is not simply for battling Apophis, it also serves the purpose of renewing my power, every night when I enter as Khnum, the sun sets in the mortal world, entering a sort of death-like state, I then exit as Khepri and am renewed and rejuvenated, this cycle not only helps me but affects the entire land of Egypt, every time I go through this cycle our lands are enriched with power." Explained Khnum.

Looking closer at him I noticed something, his form wasn't as solid as it was before, he looked sort of like a semi-translucent being. His form steadily started to glow with intensity causing me to avert my eyes. 'I assume this is him switching into his morning form.' I think to myself.

The light gets brighter and brighter until finally an explosion of power costumes the boat just as we exit the gate, bursting onto the Nile. I look to my side and see an unfamiliar figure before me. He had a human-like upper body but with green insect arms and for his lower body he wore a white and brown shendyt skirt over green insect legs, his skirt was held by a golden belt adorned with a blue orb, he held a golden staff in his right hand and a golden Ankh in his left, and finally atop his scarab face was a striped blue and gold names headdress. 'This must be Khepri, I gotta say he looks kinda badass, in a creepy alien insect kinda way.'

"Allow me to formally introduce myself young one, I am the Spirit of Rebirth, the Last Scarab, The Divine Beetle, I am Khepri God of the Morning Sun, it is my pleasure and honour to be your teacher." He says to me.

"If anything it's my pleasure to be taught by someone like you. I am eager to start our training for the day." I respond.

"Good, I'm glad you're so eager, but be prepared I will not go easy on you today." He tells me.

"Perfect, I wouldn't like you to hold back." I respond.

We floated over the Nile for a few more minutes before dropping Set and Sekhmet off.

"You did good tonight Ílios, though you're still pathetically weak I see promise in you." Said Set before vanishing in a swirling storm of red sand.

"I think he likes you, he's never this dramatic with his exits, usually he'll just run back to his palace in the Red Land or flash there. I think he wanted to impress you, his future rival." Said Sekhmet. "Well, I'll be heading off now, you surprised me tonight, you were a lot more competent than I gave you credit for, you will certainly surpass me one day, and when you do maybe there'll be a reward in store for you." She whispered the last part in my ear before turning and walking away with a say of her hips and flashing back to her palace.

'Well, I guess I have even more motivation to get stronger now.' I think to myself in amusement.

The boat took off once more into the air, sailing through the winds before stopping above a deserted area in the middle of the desert.

"This is where we will be training, there are no humans in the vicinity for miles and no gods to snoop at us during training. We will come here every morning to train you in your abilities until noon, then we will head to the capital where you will observe Ra hold court, you will watch and you will learn how a king rules and deals with issues from both mortals and gods, understood?"

"Yes, perfectly clear." I answer.

"Good now unto training, follow me." He says as he floats off the boat and into the air. I concentrate and flex my shoulder blades trying to use the wings on my back, it was clumsy and awkward but I somewhat managed to fly after him into the open sky.

"Nice job it looks like those wings on your back aren't just for show. Now, before you can start really using your power, you must understand what it means to be a sun god, a deity of light. Right now you are a god without domains, but you are destined to be a Sun and light God, that's why you were able to travel here by light, but to claim your domains you must be able to understand yourself as a God, reach deep within yourself and unlock that aspect of yourself." Explained Khepri.

I closed my eyes focused while Khepri's voice guided me. "Think of yourself at your strongest, focus on your personality traits, feel your power and release it." He said slowly.

I open my eyes to see myself glowing slightly, I felt stronger, though still not on Ra, Set or Sekhmet's level I was certain I had grown in power. "I think I did it." I tell him.

"Yes, you did my young apprentice. Now, re-introduce yourself to me, who are you, young one?!" He asks loudly.

"I am Ílios God of The Sun, Light, Life, Hope, Destiny, Rejuvenation, Devastation, and Innovation." I said to him with conviction and surety I'm my voice. 'It's like I just suddenly knew exactly what my domains were., I think to myself.

"Perfect we can start the real training now." he says with a sadistic smirk before firing a blast of light from his staff sending me hurtling towards the desert ground.

~ Time Skip ~ 1 Hour Later

"Concentrate Ílios, your attacks are flashy but they hold no power behind them, I've told you this already focus on what the sun represents." Yelled Khepri, slapping away a beam of light I'd thrown at him.

"And what does that mean exactly?! You've been repeating it for hours now and I still don't understand!!" I asked him, frustration in my tone.

"Fine enough come here I'll explain things more clearly for you." He said. "I want you to look up at the sun, look at it very clearly what do you see?"

"I see a giant ball of fire." I tell him.

"Look again but this time I want you to focus on the name Helios." He tells me.

Still confused but willing to give it a try look up at the sun, reciting the name in my head. I don't notice anything at first before I see the sun shifting into a mist-like state before getting smaller and with a tiny flower-like shape growing out of the bottom.

"You see it now don't you, for every Pantheon the sun represents different things and takes different shapes, all these suns orbit the earth in the same space but in different layers, when you think of Egypt and look up you see through the different layers and see the sun of Egypt . For the lands of Egypt, the sun is the most important thing it is the source of all creation and life, it is both the beginning of everything and the end, it holds the most power in the land, that is why our sun is so much larger than yours and that is why I am so powerful for I am the sun itself. For the Greeks though, the sun is simply a source of light in the sky created by the Titan Helios to make the day brighter, it gives your people a sense of hope and healing, it helps the crops grow yet can cause great amounts of destruction. That is what you must focus on, the feelings of Hope and Healing, the image of a sun that can help things grow yet destroy at the same time, focus on what the sun means to the lands of Greece. Earlier you were just imagining an attack and firing it without anything behind it that's why your attacks held no weight, now I want you to focus on what I've told you and unleash your power." He explained.

I closed my eyes again, I focused on all the things Khepri told me. I reached for the power within me and focused on what the sun meant to the Greek world. 'A force of hope and healing, a source of life life and destruction, that is what I need to focus on, that is what I am.' I think to myself.

I build all this power into my hand and a miniature sun appears in it, it steadily begins to grow before reaching the size of a small couch. 'Not as large as I wanted but I can tell this has way more power in it than my former attacks.' I look at Khepri and smile before launching the attack on him, I utter 2 words in my mind as my attack lands on him 'Cruel Sun!'

The attack explodes in a fury of power, heating the air around me and turning the sand below us into molten glass. 'Thanks for the move Escanor, it's fucking badass.' I think to myself before the smoke clears and Khepri appears with his clothing torn and a few scratches but other than that unscathed. I frown slightly disappointed at the lack of power in my attack.

"Do not be discouraged Ílios, what you just did was not an easy feat, especially for someone only a day old, my clothing is made of some of the strongest materials in Egypt, to be able to reduce it to this state and scratch up my body is nothing short of impressive, you should be proud, you have done something amazing today." He says smiling proudly at me.

"Thank you, although I'm still dissatisfied with my level of power ill take your word for it." I tell him.

"Well, if you are dissatisfied by your accomplishments, the best way to improve is more training, prepare yourself!!" he yells before flying at light speeds before me and whacking me with his glowing staff sending me flying towards the ground.

I get up from the ground groaning in pain. 'Sigh, this is gonna be a long ass day." I think to myself

A.N : I hope y'all like the way I'm handling his training so far, there should be 1 or 2 more chapters before a time skip. Also, I wanna know if u guys like my explanation on the sun, I never understood how there can be hundreds of sun Gods on earth in the Riordan verse, it always made me wonder "do they share the sun or something?" this was my way of explaining how Ra can be the primordial sun God of Egypt yet Helios can also be creator and titan of the sun, so I thought of the idea of every pantheon having their own sun that's just a part of the magical layer of suns, just like how in comics alternate earths are all in the same spot they just vibrate at different frequencies. This is also my explanation as to how there can be multiple moon gods.

And as always give your feedback and if you can leave some positive reviews.