20 Change of Mind and the Lightning Bolt

It's been a few days since Percy, Annabeth, and Grover left for their quest. Lucifer could be seen in the forest laying down thinking about his punishment for Hestia. He was looking at the sky in deep thought, not noticing the other animals and nature spirits looking at him.

'Was my punishment too light? I feel that slut can't suffer if I only took her positive emotions. I should change it....No. That should be enough for that bitch,' he then sat up and stared blankly at one direction where he could feel a godly presence.

After a few seconds, Lucifer could feel the presence running towards him and saw Artemis dashing towards him with hunting knives on her hands. He looked at her and laughed at the pitiful amount of killing intent that she was realizing and waited until she arrived in front of him to counterattack.

When Artemis' knives were only a few inches away from his eyes, it suddenly started melting due to the heat that was coming out of his eyes. He then smirked at her and grabbed her neck and raised her body. He could still see her glaring at him but the intensity of the glare decreased when she started to need air.

Lucifer's eyes turned into blood-red with a weird pattern within it and moved Artemis closer to his face, "So what does the little princess of Zeus want with little old me?" Artemis gave him a death glare and punched his face and wheezed out, "That was for Aunt Hestia! Turn her back!"

Lucifer raised an eyebrow and laughed mockingly at the weak punch that he received and said, "Was that really for Hestia? Then you must've not cared about her too much if you only punched me that weakly," and threw her a couple of meters away from him.

Artemis glared at him and summoned her bow and notched an arrow, "Turn Aunt Hestia back, or else!" Lucifer laughed hysterically at her threat and stood up, "You can't even hurt me even when I was sitting down and 'defenseless'. What chance do you think you have when I'm now fully alert and standing?"

Artemis seemed not to care what he was saying but still notched her arrow at him. Seeing that she wasn't responding or giving anything as a sign of response, Lucifer rolled his eyes and walked towards her and menacingly said, "You don't want to mess with me little godling. I have a very particular set of skills, skills I have acquired over a very long career, skills that make me a nightmare for people like you."

After saying that, Lucifer stopped dead on his tracks and said, "Wow! I always wanted to say that!" Artemis, on the other hand, looked dumbfounded seeing Lucifer act like that, unlike his previous actions. Artemis then shrugged off what she saw and released the arrow that she was aiming at him.

Seeing that the arrow was finally released, Lucifer caught the arrow when it was a few distances away from him and gave Artemis a death glare and menacingly said, "You're going to regret that, kid," and proceeded to run towards her and punch her in the gut in a split second.

After getting punched, Artemis lurched backward and spotted out a mouthful of saliva and was thrown a couple of kilometers away from her previous spot and kept knocking down trees during her 'flight'.

Seeing that they were finally away from camp, Lucifer appeared above her and pushed her again and kept pummeling her in the ground. After a few minutes of drilling her in the ground, Lucifer grabbed her neck and looked at her straight in the eyes and let her see Hell for a few seconds.

When Lucifer was in the process of showing the screaming Artemis Hell, Apollo and Hermes finally arrived and tried to separate the two. Keyword: tried. Seeing that they can't remove Artemis from Lucifer, they then looked at him pleadingly and was then ignored.

Seeing them after the 'showing', Lucifer looked at the two and raised an eyebrow, "You two here to attack me too?" Apollo and Hermes paled at his insulation and vigorously shooked their head while Hermes said, "What!? No, no, no! We were supposed to take Artemis back before she could cause any trouble but it seems that we're too late."

Lucifer scoffed at his answer and threw the unconscious away and mockingly said, "For the God of Messenger, I expected you to be much faster than her Hermes." Hermes looked embarrassed at his words while Apollo quickly went to his sister and started healing her.

Hermes scratched the back of his head and nervously said, "Well, we were kind of told at the last minute. So we had to drop everything we were doing and get here as fast as we could. When we finally arrived, you were already choking Artemis or.....ummmmm....torured her."

After a few seconds when Hermes said that, Apollo cried out, "I can't heal her!!" Hermes looked at Apollo in shock and said, "What!?" Lucifer chuckled at their distress and said amusingly, "You definitely couldn't heal something like that. I inserted a small amount of Hellfire in her. That kind Hellfire is only unique to me and only I could dispel it. Every time you heal her, the Hellfire will damage her even further."

Apollo and Hermes looked at Lucifer in horror and looked back at the unconscious Artemis who was groaning in pain. Apollo ran over to Lucifer and started begging him to dispel the Hellfire but he seems to be adamant about not doing so. After a few minutes of Apollo's begging, Lucifer grabbed his and Hermes' color and dragged them towards Artemis and stepped on her stomach, and teleported in the throne room of Olympus.

Lucifer looked at all the gods that were there and noticed that they were all present and smirked, 'It seems that they were all called by Zeus after Artemis attacked me.' He then kicked Artemis towards Zeus' legs and mockingly said "Well Sparky, it seems that your daughter is really weak for a godling. Couldn't even handle a couple of minutes of beating from me."

They all looked in shock as Artemis was tumbling down towards Zeus' feet and looked back at the group of three. Lucifer then let go of the two and teleported them to their chair and smiled warmly at Poseidon.

Poseidon looked at Lucifer and scratched his head in nervousness and said, "Couldn't you have gone easy on the poor child, Lucy?" Lucifer raised an eyebrow at him and said, "You took a few hours of beating from me when I was training you on how to wield a trident back in the day. You should have questioned the kid why she can't take a beating from me Squid Head. Zeus even took days worth of beating from me when he tried to flirt with Hera back then if I quite remember it well."

Poseidon and Zeus looked embarrassed at his words while the others looked shocked at the fact Poseidon learned how to use the trident from Lucifer. Hera, on the other hand, looked sad at the mention of him beating up Zeus for the sake of her and knew that he won't do that anymore now.

While the gods were going through different emotions, Lucifer scanned the throne room and saw Hestia at the Hearth and smirked. Seeing Lucifer's smirk, the gods looked at the direction he was looking at and saw Hestia. Seeing him smirk at Hestia, many of the gods tensed as if they were prepared to battle him.

Not caring about their reaction, Lucifer slowly walked over to Hestia and stopped behind her and sarcastically said, "Life's pretty good, right Sweetheart?" Hestia looked back and saw Lucifer's mocking gaze and glared at him and said, "What do you want? Is taking all my positive emotions not enough for you?"

Lucifer made a chair and sat on it and said, "Well I was thinking about giving some of your emotions back or even all of it but there will be a side effect." The gods looked quite happy at the first part of his sentence but when he said the words 'side effect', they looked at Lucifer in vigilance, even Poseidon.

Hestia continued to glare at him and said, "Well, get over with it then!" Lucifer chuckled maniacally at that and manipulated her soul again to return all the emotions he took back but Hestia seemed to be crying when he was done. Looking at the crying Hestia, the gods couldn't help but be happy to finally have the kind and caring Hestia back.

Seeing their happy looks, Lucifer smirked at them devilishly and said, "I returned all of her emotions but when she sees me or even hears a mention of me, then she keeps getting more depressed every time I'm mentioned to the point where she wants to fade willingly. You guys will have your kind and caring Hestia back but it won't be the same anymore. The guilt will eat at her until none of you can help her anymore. So I suggest that you won't mention me or let her see me ever again, if not, then don't blame me for her situation."

The gods looked at him in shock Athena narrowed her eyes at him and said in suspicion, "Then does that mean that you being here will start the process?" Lucifer looked at her in mock shock and said, "Oh!? So someone did get that! Tick tock ladies!"

Zeus looked panicked at that moment and immediately teleported Lucifer back to the Big House and let a sigh of relief. After Lucifer was teleported out, Hestia walked over to Demeter and cried on her shoulder, knowing that Hera was still quite angry at her.

With Lucifer out of the throne room, Artemis started to wake up and screamed in pain as if she was being tortured. Apollo and Hermes looked alarmed at that and remembered what Lucifer told them. Apollo looked at Zeus in panic and said, "Father! Artemis still has Lucifer's Hellfire inside of her and if it isn't dispelled, she'll die!"

Now Zeus seemed even more panicked and looked teleported Lucifer back in the throne room and noticed that Hestia was still there when her wailing's increased. Athena immediately shouted, "Get Aunt Hestia out of here now!"

Hermes quickly ran over to Hestia and started to drag her out of the room but she seems to be struggling. Hephaestus quickly summoned chains and wrapped her around it and helped Hermes get the struggling Hestia out of the room.

With Hestia out of the picture, Zeus looked at Lucifer with so much hate that Lucifer was sure that if it was made into a solid object then it could fill up the whole city of New York. Zeus angrily thundered, "Dispel the Hellfire now!"

Lucifer looked at him with a raised eyebrow and said, "And who are you to order me, Sparky?" Zeus then produced lightning that was dancing around him and angrily said, "I am the King of the Gods! And I will not be taken for a fool! Even if it is you, Lucifer Morningstar!"

Lucifer laughed mockingly at him and said in a crude imitation of Zeus' voice, "I am the King of the Gods! And I demand respect from you even if I don't give any to anyone." And quickly switched to his normal voice and menacingly said, "I don't give a fuck if you were father, Sparky! You don't order me around!"

Poseidon just sighed in defeat and thought, 'It seems that I must be the mediator for these two again,' and quickly said, "Lucy, please. Just take the fire out of Artemis so we all can be done here."

Lucifer looked at the haggard Poseidon and sighed, "Squid Head, I know you're tired right now and want to go home already, but Artemis deserves this for attacking me! You know how I punish people, so why are you even asking me of this?"

Seeing that Poseidon could handle it, the rest of the gods, bar Artemis, left the throne room. Seeing the four of them were alone now, Lucifer produced a seat and narrowed his eyes at Poseidon, "This will be her punishment for a week. No other bargains Poseidon. I value our friendship so I cut off two-thirds of her punishment. And if you push it any further then you're straining our relationship."

When Poseidon was about to talk and Zeus was ready to blow up, someone came inside the throne room. Seeing that someone entered the room, all of the people that were conscious turned towards the person and saw none other than Percy Jackson.

Now Zeus looked even angrier than he was before, and he looked like he was going to turn into a cloud when Percy kneeled in front of Poseidon first. After that, Percy then walks in front of Zeus and explained his side of the story and gave him back the lightning bolt.

After receiving the lightning bolt, Zeus caressed it like it was his baby, completely forgetting the suffering Artemis on the ground. After Zeus coddled his lightning bolt for a few minutes, he then looked at the groaning Artemis and blushed in embarrassment and picked her up.

Zeus the glared at Lucifer one last time and teleported towards Apollo's temple to have him help Artemis. Seeing Zeus leave with a glare, Lucifer just rolled his eyes and said, "Drama Queen."

Hearing another voice in the room, Percy looked at the other person that he didn't greet and saw Luciferafter looking at where the voice originated from. He then paled at the thought of not greeting him as he remembered what Lucifer did to him when he ignored him.

Percy quickly ran towards Lucifer and stopped in front of him, "Lucifer! I didn't see you there! What are you doing here?" Lucifer deadpanned at Percy and said, "I was taking care of some business. And what do you mean you didn't see me? I wasn't hiding my presence or anything!"

Percy looked quite embarrassed at his words while Poseidon just looked at the two of them in shock. Poseidon then turned to Lucifer, "Ummmm, Lucy? Why are you so close to my son?" Lucifer faked a surprised look at Poseidon said, "Didn't I tell you a few days ago that Percy was my apprentice?"

Poseidon looked adamant at that and said, "Of course you didn't! I only knew of it when one of the river nymphs mentioned it!" Now Lucifer looked genuinely surprised at that, "What? Really? Huh, I guess I didn't. Well, then I'm telling you now that I took him as a protege," and smiled devilishly at him.

Poseidon then looked back at Percy and put his hand on his shoulder and gave him an I-pity-you look, "Good luck on your incoming torture, Percy. I'll just let you know that; although his training feels like Hell, the results that it shows is quite worth it. Imagine the toughest training regimen that a person can endure and multiply it by a billion."

Percy looked at Poseidon in shock and looked at the evil-looking Lucifer and back at his father, "Dad! Aren't you going to help me!? We just met and you're ready to see me die?!" Poseidon shook his head and said, "I'm letting him teach you because I know the fruits of his teaching. I was once his student, son. So I definitely know how hard he is making you go through."

Lucifer laughed at his words and walked over to the father and son duo. He then stopped in front of Percy and said, "Just because I trained you billions of years ago doesn't mean that the training will be the same Poseidon. I'm going to train your son to the ground and the intensity of his training is a million times harder than yours. You can join us if you want. You should try it, to see if it is a million times harder than the one you had."

Poseidon turned ashen white at his words and looked at Percy one last time and said, "Son, I pity you so much right now. The only help that I can give you is my blessing and the only warning I can give you is this; don't you dare complain, because if you do so, then the training will be much harder."

After saying those words, Poseidon then magically disappeared and left Percy and Lucifer in the throne room. Percy looked at Lucifer in fright and nervously said, "Mercy?" Lucifer chuckled at his reaction and said, "Don't you worry, 'Seaweed Brain'. I'm letting you rest for a week and after that, your torture begins," and then teleported back in the Big House.