Pythian Games (Part 1)

A/N:The first matters of business. did any of y'all play Kid Icarus? Yeah, that Icarus look the same as the Icarus in my fic and Kid Icarus is dressed the same as my Icarus. So one can say they're the one and the same. Oh! And Athena will look the same as the Athena in Kid Icarus. So, she'll have Green hair instead of Brown like I've said.

Now, on another matters, Many people have confused this current Icarus to the sociopath Icarus in my first Novel. I'll like to put that to rest ICARUS IS NOT A SOCIOPATH! he's a Normal guy, so don't be surprised if he cries and laughs or he's scared of something. That's normal, he's a normal human.

Now, PLEASE REVIEW, COMMENT AND GIFT POWERS STONES!

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A/N: Should I set up Patreon? it'll be one or two chapters ahead of this one. If there's more than 5 people saying yes then I will, if not then...meh *shrugs*

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'I'll spend 10 years getting stronger then for the rest of the 20 years, I'll complete Athena's quest.' Icarus thought. It's not a fixed plan because everything can happen or he'll finish the quest earlier, or he'll run out of time and Athena will be cross with him.

Icarus sighed. As he walks past some merchant selling paint brushes, fans and horse's.

He paused and backtracked. 'On another note, traveling by foot is exhausting.' Icarus thought.

He won't walk all over Greece, that'll be just exhausting. Icarus doesn't want to die tired. Imagine dying because you're physical tired.

"Sir, how much is this horse?" Icarus inquired of the merchant before him.

The merchant, seeing Icarus wearing fancy clothes with luxurious silk, grew greedy. It really doesn't help that Icarus has that Noble grace, charm befitting of his status and eloquence of one.

The merchant looked like a young man, a teenager if Icarus has to guess. But he's so malnourished that Icarus is slightly concerned for him, and it doesn't help that his little constitution made him appear more young than he actually was.

"10 drachma, My lord." The merchant said with a sleazy smile.

Icarus's eye twitched. Although he feels pity for the boy, it wouldn't do for the boy to daylight rob him like this.

"Your horse better have wings and have the ability to spit fire, dear sir." Icarus responded coldly.

The merchant quivered and shrank back in terror.

"M-my lord! Although it doesn't have the things you describe, it certainly is an excellent horse." The Merchant squeaked out. He went into his stall and rummaged for a minute before coming out.

He came back disarrayed.

"My lord, when you buy this fine horse. I'll give you a paper fan of excellent quality and a paintbrush. Seeing as you're a person of fine status, these things will look excellent on you and they'll be useful to you." After his long speech, the merchant took a deep breath and tried to smile at him.

(A/N: Did paper fans exist in Ancient Greece? Aren't paper fans chinese things?)

It only came out as a watery smile like he's on the edge on crying.

"Perhaps I judged you harshly, young one."

Icarus' eyes softened a little. He sighed, 'Curse my bleeding heart for children.'

Icarus is a sucker for little kids.

Icarus' eyes widened slightly.

'N-no! I mean not like that! They're cute and all but no-' In his head, there is a cartoonish Icarus with a label of 'Thoughts' on top of his head and another is another Icarus, the real one.

'What the fuck, bro!' Icarus shouted.

'I know, I know but...' Here, Thought Icarus gave him a wink and a suggestion wiggle eyebrows. 'Thi—'

Real Icarus punched the hell out of him. 'N*gga, Stfu.'

In the real world, Icarus shook his head to clear all his indecent thoughts.

He took ten dramae and gave them to the boy.

"I won't come here again because you gave me faulty things, do I?" Icarus threatened.

"Certainly not, my lord!" The boy scrambled and bowed to him.

"Get up." Icarus sighed.

'This...is going to be a long year.'

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A little while later, Icarus was on horseback travelling to the kingdom of Delphi. His steed has a white beautiful mane. Icarus sighed as the horse trotted. 'I'll probably age faster than father if I keep sighing like this.' Icarus thought. It's not that he consciously sighs, it's a bad habit that he engraved in his mind. To sigh at every moment and every troublesome things.

Regardless, there's one thing that makes Icarus uncomfortable. His lack of awareness.

Icarus had never entered any fight and the 'fight' he had in Athens —If it can be called that— wasn't physical or that his opponents had an opportunity to fight for themselves. So Icarus lacks a situational awareness that will be needed in any battle that he may have.

And get this, he will have fights. Athena isn't considered a goddess of heroes because she's kind to them, even if she doesn't do anything the rest of the Gods will.

Another is... Instincts. Only a warrior or a person who survived high end fights can develop instincts. Icarus lived his life lavishly, it won't be out of place to say Icarus was born with a silver spoon in his mouth.

So, he needs to develop his situational awareness and Instincts. Better have them and not need them than not having them and needing them.

Although it's a mission for the future Icarus to handle as the current he doesn't want to fight any people he meets just so he can develop instincts and situational awareness.

He's stumped but he has a temporary solution for that.

Icarus needs a technique that lets him scan his surroundings passively. A technique that lets him scan the life forces near him.

Although he doesn't have a teacher to teach this stuff or a '101 Guide To How To Create Magic Spells' he can do that through trial and error, and a healthy dose of logic.

Though using logic is a fool's endeavour when it comes to magic. That thing is called 'Miracles' for a reason, it doesn't comfort the universal laws and logic.

Icarus felt his head burn just thinking about his problems.

Sigh~

'Oh..what I couldn't give to be just like the clouds, so boundless and free. Why didn't I reincarnate as a cloud?' Icarus wondered.

His odyssey to Delphi will take 2 weeks at the least and a month at most.

'I'll take this time to create the techniques necessary for my development. Especially the mental one's.'

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The sands of time wait for no man.

Days pass by and Icarus arrives at the kingdom of Delphi. Although not literally as he's a day away from Delphi but he can already see the massive high walls of the kingdom from afar.

Icarus was walking on foot, holding the reins of his horse as he trudged. Riding continuously on horse is exhausting, Icarus can barely feel his butt and waist. They're quite wasted, heh, get it? Wasted?.....yhea *Ahem*

Icarus is bored, like really bored. Two weeks without talking to anyone can take a mental toll on anyone, although he passed a lot of people going to and fro, Icarus didn't talk to them for a prolonged period of time. It was 'Hey, you good?' only.

Icarus sighed.

As he walked, Icarus saw silhouettes of people further ahead. 'Oh? People?!'

Icarus was excited, Icarus increased his pace.

"Greetings!" Icarus hollered.

As he gets closer to them, Icarus finds out they're a team of four people, all of them holding weapons. Kopis, spears and Xiphos.

The xiphos was a short but durable, two-edged sword with a leaf-shaped, straight blade. The blade was always sharp on the edges, making it a perfect weapon to stab with.

Kopis was a one-handed, single-edged sword used by the Greeks. It measured around 36 or so inches with the blade curving forward and widening near the tip.

Icarus stopped dead at his tracks and the cheer in his voice died down, as did the smile upon his face.

"Uh, dear sirs. So wonderful that you take it upon yourself to protect the kingdom and its inhabitants." Icarus quickly made it like he doesn't know what's going on.

"Now, if you may excuse me. I'll be on my way, I don't want to disturb your diligence." Icarus tried to go around them but a sharp xiphos stopped him.

The person who Icarus just now realised as a bandit saw his sack of dramae around his waist and said, "En. Good work requires payment, so if you'll, my dear lord, a few coins won't hurt, won't they?"

Icarus laughed nervously. "That may be a problem, dear sirs. You see, my son got sick some days ago, so I'll be going to buy some medicine for him. Please have mercy, sirs." Icarus played it to their sympathies. Here in Greece, a teenager may appear to be a man, physically. They age quickly, it must've been the magic and the ever-present mystery, Icarus had once thought.

So, him saying that he has a son, no one is going to say otherwise because of his physical appearance. Only those who know him can validate what he just said.

Seeing as they're still standing there, blocking his path. Icarus quickly said, "I'm sure you understand what I'm going through, right? You great sirs must have children so you'll do anything for them, right?"

Icarus can't give them his money when his journey is still mystery to him. Who is he going to teach? Who is going to be the oh so 'perfect' king of Athens? It's a mystery and until Icarus gets a lead on what he's doing, he can't in good conscience allow these people to rob him. He's literally hours away from Delphi, what is he going to eat if they rob him? What, eat his shit? And what is he going to sleep on? Under whose roof? What he's going the rocks outside?

So no, Icarus can't allow them to take his coin.

"It's because of our children that we do this, my lord. Now, hand over that sack."

Icarus only showed a pained expression. "I-i'm sorry." Icarus found himself swallowing the great lump on his throat, "I'll have to kill y'all if you do this. Please, allow me to pass and we'll all forget this ever happened." Icarus pleaded them.

Icarus isn't a murder, a person with little to no Eq? Yes but never a murderer. Is there a person who came from the 21th century who claimed to be a killer? Unfortunately, it's those sociopaths, psychopaths and the authorities that can claim that they ever killed a living person.

And Icarus, as much as Greece influenced him, it didn't kill his morals. It lowered them though, because they're loose. Even though they're loose as they are, but he still has them.

The bandits' expressions darkened. "Force it is, then."

Icarus' hand rose hesitantly but it still rose nonetheless. His expression stilled and his eyes frosted over.

Icarus hasn't entered any fight and he doesn't have any techniques to use if a person got in his personal space, so...

'I'll take them where they are.'

Icarus' hand that was in the air rose until his open palm was facing against the heavens. The air around them got colder and colder until their breath misted over. As it was getting cold, Icarus heated the air and condensed it until water drops appeared above him. They floated gently as they circled around Icarus.

Icarus looked at the bandits and saw them cowering in fear, some hesitating. Everyone and their dogs fear a magic user but of course there are exceptions. Seeing them cowering, Icarus gave them a chance.

"I'll give y'all a chance to rethink your options." Icarus warned them.

As if Icarus words broke them out of their fear, they gathered themselves until determination shone in their eyes. The fear long forgotten, they rushed to Icarus. Two flanking his sides and another two rushing straight at him.

Two water drops placed themselves before Icarus and he made a finger gun pose. The two water drops rotated and Icarus fired them.

When people say magic in the age of the gods is miracles, people think they don't mean that literally.

Magic in the age of the Gods is miracles, literally.

The water drops disappeared from their place and the two bandits that were rushing straight at him, dropped to the ground. A hole appeared on their foreheads, blood and brain matter oozed from the holes.

Icarus hastily created a man's shield that'll shield his left side from the kopi that was centimetres away from him.

Icarus turned to his right side to see where the other bandit is, only to find a spear that was right before him. The sharp blade of the spear glimmered in the sun as the spear was one breath away from poking his ribs open.

Icarus could of course cast another mana shield but he's afraid that it's too late, by the time he cast the shield the spear would've by long made him a fish on a roasting stick.

'Fuck.' That was his only thought. Icarus is not physically strong enough for him to evade the spear, he's not skilled enough in martial training for him to evade the spear in fancy footwork. He's fucked either way.

Time came to a crawl in his eyes. Hundred thoughts flying around, clashing and colliding, sometimes merging, sometimes crashing into each other.

Though one thought stood upon all the rest.

'Why don't I use my teleportation magic?'

Icarus realised that it'll be dangerous as he didn't further progress in its testing stage. He doesn't know what'll happen if teleportation is mixed with the complex thought process of a human being.

It's either he uses the magic or he waits for Death, Thanatos, to drag him down in the Underworld.

Icarus decided to just use his teleportation magic. If it doesn't work as intended then he'll be dead either way, so that's nothing new.

So... Icarus used the Teleportation magic.

"τηλεμεταφορά"

There was no fancy lightning, no magic circle, Icarus just manipulated the mana around him with high-speed divine language.

Icarus just... disappeared from his original place. He appeared a few metres away, unscathed.

Although that soon got proven to be false as Icarus had a nasty gash on his ribs, proving that he was not fast enough.

Icarus touched the red line on his ribs and hissed.

"Damn." Icarus nearly died.

Icarus twitched his pinkie finger and the water drops that are still floating around him disappeared. The two last bandits dropped on the ground, eyes lifeless and hollow.

Icarus stood up from the ground and walked over to the bodies of the bandits. "May the Underworld have mercy on your souls." Icarus prayed.

Unlike his previous life, life has no value in Greece. Because hell exists, well, the Underworld. So, it isn't exaggerating to say that dead people may reincarnate and live again. And the Underworld itself is a second chance in life, if you die in the mortal world then your soul will live in the Underworld.

You can live peacefully in the Underworld if the The Three Judges deem you worthy to live in the Field Of Heroes. The Elysian Fields, also called Elysium, is an area of the afterlife in Greek mythology where the souls of heroes and those who lived virtuous lives are sent.

Icarus sighed, 'Another life wasted.'

Icarus looked at the bodies and found himself disgusted by the blood and brain matter splattered on the ground.

Icarus turned and whistled loudly and his horse came trotting to him.

Icarus held the reins and climbed over it gracefully. After looking at the bodies for the last time Icarus urged his horse to go.

"I ripped parents from their children."

Icarus noted melancholy.

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A/N: PLEASE READ THE ABOVE AUTHOR NOTE! I REPEAT PLEASE READ THE ABOVE AUTHOR NOTE.

Now. I didn't update yesterday because my internet connection was lacking. Oh wait, There wasn't any network around the Hood. *Shrugs*