13 The Might of Ddraig(Edited)

Considering Mark got permission from Ares himself, Mark was committed to his role. It reminded him of one time when he became a gardener for a politician for over 3 months before he got the kill. Or when he became a cook, a dog groomer, a private trainer, and several other fake identities he used when on a mission.

All of Mark's 'siblings' gathered outside the cabin as they surrounded Mark and Clarise. He rested the bronze sword on his shoulder as Clarise held her spear in two hands. Mark unzipped his jacket as he grinned.

"Alright, first one to no longer be able to fight loses."

Clarise gripped her spear tighter as she agreed to the rules.

"Bet, I got an idea. If I win you give me that jacket and if you win I give you my spear. It was given to me by father."

Hearing that made Mark curious.

"Now I can't lose. This jacket is my favorite."

From among the demigods, a very tall and robust guy came forth. He was almost as big as Mark which was saying something.

"BEGIN!"

Mark sent some Mana into his sword which caused it to ignite in red flames. He rushed toward Clarise still restraining his true might, but he had no chance of losing. None of these campers could use mana consciously.

They had subconscious use of it, but that was it while he was actively using Dragon Mana. Clarise stabbed out with the spear which Mark deflected with his sword. Clarise grinned as she focused on his sword causing it to become extremely heavy.

The balance was thrown off, but Mark used that weight to parry the spear which became electrified. Though the flames he coated the sword with caused the fire to be useless. He got in close to Clarise and pointed the sword right at her throat.

"Seems that I win."

Seeing the blade in front of her made her sigh.

"Yeah, yeah."

She was going to hand her spear over, but Mark actually declined it.

"I am good. Dad gave it to you so keep it."

Inwardly he grinned as Ares was not even his dad. As for Ares, he was cackling that the Red Dragon was calling him dad. He would never let Mark let that one down in the future.

Clarise grinned.

"Fine. Be ready for capture the flag. We always have to win."

[Still happy you faked being a son of Ares?]

'Nope, but it's not the worst infiltration I have had.'

---

Following this, Mark was dragged around by the sons and daughters of Ares. They all wanted to spar with him which was fine with him. He might as well do Ares a favor to train his kids a bit more.

Later that evening all the demigods, Percy and Mark included met up for dinner. Here, Mark sat with the Ares kids while Percy sat alone at the Poseidon table. Everyone was staring and talking about him as he was the son of one of the big three.

As for Percy, he was feeling a little alone as he had no one to sit with him. The feast included a variety of side dishes with barbecue brisket being the main focus. Everyone got magic glasses to pick any drink they wanted so Mark went for blue Gatorade.

Mark looked to his left hand as he spoke to Ddraig.

'I wonder how long I will have to stay? Poseidon better be ready to pay up big.'

[Don't worry, he will. I bet whatever he offers will make it worth it. Though, what will you do about the debt.]

'I will have to find loopholes. He can't make my life hard, but I better get strong enough to deal with any requests he makes.'

[I agree.]

While this went on Mark stood up with the rest of the Ares kids to offer a piece of his meal to Ares. Once everybody had returned to their seats and finished eating their meals, Chiron pounded his hoof again for attention.

Dionysus got up with a huge sigh. He really hated being here.

"Yes, I suppose I'd better say hello to all you brats. Well, hello. Our activities director, Chiron, says the next Capture the flag is Friday. Cabin five presently holds the laurels."

All of the kids at the Ares table cheered and roared which Mark did not join in. He just raised his cup high.

"Personally I couldn't care less, but congratulations. Also, I should tell you that we have two new campers today. Peter Johnson, and Mark Anderson."

Chiron murmured something to him in his ear.

"My mistake, Percy Jackson, That's right. Hurrah, and all that. Now run along to your silly campfire. Go on. And try to not bother me or cause too much chaos."

Mark went along with the following sing along which surprised Ddraig at how well he could fit in. He looked through more of Mark's memories and saw just how many infiltration jobs he had done.

[Plummer, dog groomer, exterminator, Butler, lover, what have you not acted as.]

'Teacher. I don't go after kids.'

That night when he was assigned a bunk he waited until everyone fell asleep before he left. He walked out of the cabin and warped back to his home in New York. He was good at long-term infiltrations, but for the moment he wanted to talk to Runeas.

When he arrived in front of his house he opened the door, but he walked into the normal house. Not the lava castle which was weird. He closed the door behind him and called out for her.

"Runeas, I am home."

Suddenly he heard a thud as Runeas had fallen out of bed. She scrambled to get off the floor as she rushed out of the room to meet him. When she saw him she rushed into his arms.

"MARK! Your back."

Mark hugged her which showed just how short her form was.

"Mind showing me your milf self?"

She pinched his cheeks and pulled them hard.

"No. Not yet."

When she let go of his cheeks he grinned.

"Not yet? So I will get to see it?"

She frowned as she pulled out of his arms.

"Not if you keep up like that."

From one of the rooms, Sally came out wondering what Percy was like.

"How is my boy?"

Mark sat down on the couch with Runeas sitting next to him.

"He is fine for the moment. He is situated in the Poseidon cabin while I am acting as one of Ares' kids. Ares himself gave me permission for some reason so now I am stuck in the act as one of his demigod kids. Turns out, most of the Ares kids dress in either camo or leather so that works."

Hearing Percy was ok made Sally relax.

"Thank you."

"No problem. I like the kid and hope to see him go far. But for the moment, I need to get to training."

Runeas nodded.

"Come on, I will take you to the castle. I moved and upgraded the mana and time formation for you now it works 10 times faster."

Hearing that made Mark more than happy as time was just what he needed.

"That is great."

Runeas teleported them both into the firey castle where she had made a big training area just for Mark. When they arrived, Mark noticed how the whole room was actually a really nice training room.

"Wow, you really went all out."

Runeas nodded. '

"Demonic Power is really good for making buildings and stuff."

Mark walked toward the magic circle in the ground and noticed she had expanded it. It had more runes than before and some of them were much more complex. Mark walked inside and sat in the middle before turning to Runeas.

"Activate it."

She nodded as she sent an infusion of Demonic Power into the circle. As it was made from Mark's blood, it worked perfectly and instantly began to draw Mana toward him. All the while time sped up inside the circle which would give him time to begin maturing his bloodline.

"Ddraig, let's begin."

[Right.]

Ddraig began to send more of the leaking aura of his blood into Mark's body. Like before he felt his bloodline begin to mature faster while his body turned a bright shade of red. Though a black and silver glow mixed in with the red coming from his heart.

Smoke began to leave his pores as his blood purified itself. Runeas did not know what he was doing, but she still stuck around in case he needed something. Ddraig kept on sending more and more into his body.

With each beat of his heart in this state the more purity he received. This actually began to cause Mark to feel like his back was itching. He felt something trying to push out from his shoulder plates while his tailbone also felt the same.

Even his skin itched like ants were crawling on him. With each passing hour, the discomfort grew so bad he took off his jacket and shirt. Runeas stared at his body for two reasons, one, he was just nice to look at.

But the main reason was that she was seeing lines begin to form all over his body. They took triangular shapes all over his body.

'Scales?'

She walked around to look at his back and she noticed how the area around his shoulders was being torn open. She noticed how something was wriggling underneath which almost made her think something bad was going to happen.

However, Mark did not move from his spot as his back tore open from which emerged two at the moment small wings. They were dragon wings, but they were not the same color. The main color was red, but black and silver scales dotted their shape.

The same happened as a small tail spiked tail emerged from his tailbone. Meanwhile, two horns began to emerge from the side of his head.

[I see your wings, tail, and horns are finally coming in.]

'They hurt.'

[Well, your body is baseline human. It has to change to become a dragon. This is just the first part of the change.]

'Well then, I better see this through. I am not leaving this formation then.'

[Good idea. I will send bigger waves of energy from now on. I was holding back, but no more. You will need more, but the pain is only going to get worse. You read.]

"Born ready."

Runeas held her breath as a massive wave of burning crimson energy flowed through Mark's body. Instantly his body turned burning hot like metal in a forge. Even his innate resistance to fire and heat was doing nothing.

He had to bite his tongue to not scream in pain. This reminded him this was just the aura that leaked from the vial which was made by a god. Meaning that way more power was contained in just a single drop of Ddraig's blood.

While the pain was extreme, he felt his strength grow at the same time. With each wave of power his wings, tail, and horns grew larger and stronger. His Dragon Heart began to absorb more and more to grow stronger.

Even his bloodline began to grow more draconic causing his muscles, bones, and flesh to begin to tear apart no longer able to support the power of his blood. As a result, Mark himself began to grow stronger when his regeneration kicked in.

He grew bigger and stronger which caused him a great sense of euphoria. As this went on he asked Ddraig some questions.

'How will I turn my soul draconic?'

[Like how you made your Dragon Heart. You will need to remake your soul into a Dragon Soul. You will need to infuse your soul with Dragon Mana when your body reaches a limit. For now, that won't be a problem as long as we do this often.]

"Then we better be ready for the long haul."

How long he was going to stay in the formation depending on how much he could endure.