Land Of Shadows Is The Goal

Once Constantine finished devouring the essence of the Giant he felt his muscles, bones, and flesh swell with power. He clenched his fist and felt boundless strength coursing through him. It was as if his Asuran Biology had consumed the essence of a Giant to empower itself and him. 

As he felt that, he smiled to himself as feeling his power swell with every one of his actions fed his pride. It also began to make him desire for the day that the end of the Olympians who deserved it would come. 

The day he would siege to Olympus itself was coming closer. He would leave nothing but a crater and a memory of those parasitic so-called gods. As he was mid-thought he felt Medusa approach him. He turned around to gaze at her blindfolded face.

She reached around and took his right hand into both of hers. 

"You ok? You started to go all scary again. When you get focused you start radiating pure malevolence that is unnerving."

He took a breath to calm himself as he just hated the Greek gods out of principle. That and what better way to prove his superiority over those man-children? 

"I am ok, merely a side effect of the remnants of Alcyoneu's resentments, I am good now." 

Medusa let go of his hands as she could feel he was back in control. 

"So how strong are you now?" 

Constantine wasn't sure, really but more than strong enough. 

"Enough for now. Vritra, Solomon, let's get going." 

Vritra slinked over shrunk down and returned to his favorite place around Constentine's neck. Solomon though trotted to his side with his face looking like he was smiling. He nudged Constantine with his head as he was asking if he did good. 

Constantine smiled as he hugged the large horse's head. 

"Yeah, you did good. Burning him from the inside was the cherry on top." 

Solomon began to chortle and neigh as he looked at Medusa. When she heard what he said she frowned. 

"He just said I didn't do anything." 

Vritra flicked his tongue as in reality, she had just been watching. 

"You didn't do anything if I am being honest. Not a fault of your own, just that Constantine keeps getting into duals. Don't blame yourself just blame Constantine. Now let us claim our prize." 

With a smile, Constantine teleported them all to Hubbard Glacier where the Giant had hidden the 12th Legion Standard and all the Imperial Gold Weapons of the 5th cohort he had killed. In the Books of Heroes Of Olympus, Alcyoneus had chained and imprisoned Thanatos which the heroes had to save. 

That would no longer happen since Constantine had killed Alcyoneus and would claim the treasures of the 5th legion of Roman Demigods for himself. When his group appeared at the top of the glacier they did so in an exact replica of Camp Jupiter which Alcyoneus used as his base. 

If he was being honest, it was lame as Constantine would have just built a castle from blackened Dragon Steel. Not only would it be incredibly hard to damage, but through his magic, he could bind souls to it to make it sentient. 

Everything here was just made of ice which was lame. Constantine quickly lost interest as he just wanted to find his treasures and get out of there. 

"Let's hurry up and get out of here." 

He began to deeply smell the air as he used a unique dragon power to sniff out precious metals. Magical ones were even better so he and his group quickly found the stockpile of Imperial Gold Weapons, Shields, and other items. 

On top of that was the large Eagle Standard which contained a portion of Jupiter's Power Inside. It allowed the Demigods even Percy who was hated by Zeus to blast lightning. He reached out and dragged everything into his shadow except the Eagle Standard. 

He grabbed it and lifted it off the ground holding it in his right hand. He was already thinking about how to make use of this thing as it still had some of the essence of the Greek God King which could be useful. 

As he was thinking about it, from the glacier dead spirits began to gather around him drawn in by his Necromancy. Among them was Michael Varus the Demigod leader of the 5th Cohort who had led them to their deaths. 

He also had done so against the recommendations of his Augor, and in his failure had shamed his Legion. Not just that he had lost the Standard which in Roman times was seen as an extremely shameful thing, but Constantine wasn't giving it back. 

It was his spoils of war and his Draconic Greed would not allow that. 

"What do you want?" 

Michael and the other Demigods looked at him both expressions of jealousy and thankfulness. 

"Whoever you are, you killing that Alcyoneus freed us. Whoever you are, I beg you, return the standard to Camp Jupiter, you shall be rewarded by the Roman Gods I assure you."

Medusa, Constantine, Vritra, and Solomon all looked at each other before they started laughing. It was hilarious that these undead ghosts were asking The Black King, The Ashborn, The Bane Of Olympus, and the Slayer Of Gods, to seek a reward from his prey. 

Constantine himself was holding his stomach as he was laughing without control. 

"HAHAHAHAHA! Wait, you were serious, let me laugh harder. HAHAHAHAHA!" 

Michael seemed apprehensive. 

"What is so funny? The Eagle Standard and the weapons belong to Camp Jupiter, as a-" 

Constantine cut him off. 

"I am going to kill Zeus and the rest of your Pantheon. This is my spoils of war, just like I killed Alcyoneus I will kill your parents. Plus, the souls of Demigods are quite valuable commodities." 

He held his hand out and one by one he began to drag the Undead Legionaries into his hand which caused the rest to try to flee. It didn't work because a Necromancer like Constantine had a Divine Claim to the Dead. 

Not just because his Mother was Hecate, goddess of Magic and Necromancy, but he had consumed Alcyoneus the Bane Of Hades who would take his place. He was now, a Necromancer God which completed his title as The Ashborn of Shadow Sovereign of this world. 

Once he had all their souls he dropped them into his shadow where he could use them later. Along with that, he dropped the Eagle Standard into his shadow where he would use it later. 

With that, his job here was done and it was time to go. 

"Let's go." 

He waved his hand and he teleported back to his island where he left Satella, Charybdis, Scylla, and The Wil of The Dark. When he arrived at the island In the Sea of Monsters he saw that Satella's gigantic tree had extended all the roots for hundreds of miles. 

They had bitten down on different islands and were dragging them through both physical and magical means. That meant her roots had to cut the islands from the sea floor as all of them were connected to it. 

Once they were severed and slammed into his island, the magic of Satella absorbed and bound them to his growing it in size. From what he could see, the Nymph was currently sitting on one of the branches of her tree directing her tree to do this. 

It had just been an hour and her tree was now way larger than before. From what he could see it was around 200 feet(60 meters) in height. The funny thing was that Satella's tree was still not as large as the largest Red Wood Tree ever recorded. 

It would get there and surpass it very soon, but until them more time needed to pass by. 

"Well done Satella." 

She turned around with a smile. 

"Thanks, it is honestly not that hard. I just had to cut the island's bases from the ocean floor, drag them over, and use magic to bind them to the island. I do recommend you find a way to ward off the Sea Of Monsters to prevent pesky intruders from entering." 

Constantine began to think about that as without Scylla and Charybdis standing guard at all times anyone could enter through their straight. However, he had an idea that would completely seal off the Sea of Monsters. 

"The Ruin Storm." 

Hearing that Medusa was curious. 

"What is that?" 

"A powerful ritual that I would need to create. I will explain it later, but I think I will be hitting my books and speaking to my Mother. Having her and my sister Cercy on board should make casting that much easier to seal off access to my territory. 

As it stands, Satella's tree is still too young and needs more time to mature to it's full size. We also need a place the gods will never be able to enter and I have just the place to visit." 

Vritra flicked his tongue in understanding. 

"Ah, The Land Of Shadows with Scathach?" 

Constantine snapped his fingers. 

"Bingo." 

Medusa, Satella, Charybdis, and Scylla were looking at him wondering what he meant. As for his ship, the Will Of The Dark, it and it's Machine Spirit just spun to face him. Seeing how he had to explain that he did so. 

"I forget how you are all not so well informed on other Pantheons. From what my Mother told, me Scathach is and was the first mortal to Slay a God. Not only that, she caused the complete extinction of the Celtic Gods. 

Since she could not be killed, she was sealed away in the Land Of Shadows in Scottland. A Dark place where all of the things she has skilled and worse are located. Her prison where many great warriors have gone to learn from her. 

Including the legendary Demigod Champion Cú Chulainn The Child of Lugh The Sun God of Celtic Mythology. My plan is to enter the land of Shadows both to learn the Runes Ancient Runes and to learn from Scathach herself. 

By defeating her in battle, I should be able to claim the Land Of Shadows for myself which I could then use to bind to the Sea Of Monsters. Creating a deadly mixture with the aid of my Mother, Sister, Vritra to create a land free from the influence of gods." 

Scylla and Charybdis who had been monsters for thousands of years barely knew anything outside of Greece. So hearing of other pantheons was just interesting. Scylla was curious about something. 

"How did this mortal woman kill gods?" 

Constantine smiled. 

"Pure deadly skill, a cursed spear, and the original Norse Runes. That is the whole reason I wanted Satella in my service to create my own World Tree. Of course, since she is so young her tree has yet to even reach a percentage of the Yggdrasil." 

Medusa nodded her head. 

"You sure know your mythologies. How many are there really." 

Constantine smiled. 

"If people can think, mythologies will continue to exist and I like to know things. Just like how each mythology has its legendary figures who are extremely powerful. Karna, Heracles, Cú Chulainn, Sun Wukong, King Arthur. One should never think they have reached the peak without defeating those at the peak.

For now, get ready because before we go to the Land Of Shadows I have to make a pit stop at the Underworld. I need to see Hades to inform him of the good news, and I know a useful power up waiting for me and I need to see my Mother."

Vritra wanted to say that Constantine didn't want to miss his Mother's Booty Call, but he didn't say that. It was both pleasure and business as after he spent time with his Mother, he would go to Tartarus to deal with Kronos. 

Sometimes, plans could be hurried or a prophecy killed early.