Chapter 15: Deception with a Hint of Worry

As Ezekiel's consciousness slowly emerged from the depths of the Mind's Abyss, he found himself lying naked on the hard ground, his body still tingling with the remnants of the otherworldly experience. Gripping the sword in his hand, he surveyed the scene around him with detached indifference.

The lifeless bodies of the fallen demigods lay scattered around him, their eyes blank and their limbs twisted at unnatural angles. But Ezekiel felt no remorse for their deaths, no twinge of guilt for the violence he had wrought. To him, they were nothing more than obstacles in his path, obstacles that had been swiftly and efficiently removed.

As he lay there, contemplating his next move, Ezekiel's gaze fell upon Chiron, who stood nearby, his expression a mixture of concern and confusion. The centaur mentor was busy inspecting the corpses, his brow furrowed with worry as he took in the scene before him.

Sensing an opportunity to avoid the inevitable confrontation, Ezekiel decided to feign unconsciousness. Closing his eyes and relaxing his body, he allowed himself to go limp, hoping to give the impression that he was still unconscious from the ordeal.

With bated breath, Ezekiel listened intently as Chiron approached, his footsteps echoing in the silence of the clearing. He could feel the centaur's gaze upon him, could sense the weight of his scrutiny as he examined the fallen demigods and the naked figure lying among them.

For a moment, Ezekiel feared that his ruse had been discovered, that Chiron would see through his deception and confront him with the truth of what had transpired. But to his relief, the centaur merely sighed and shook his head, turning away from Ezekiel to continue his investigation.

As Ezekiel lay there, feigning unconsciousness, his mind raced with a flurry of thoughts and emotions. He couldn't help but feel a sense of resignation wash over him as he contemplated the gravity of the situation.

"This is going to be a real hassle to explain," he mused silently to himself, his thoughts a jumble of anxiety and frustration. "Why does everything have to fall on my shoulders? I'm just a young boy, after all. This should be someone else's problem."

Despite the chaos swirling within him, there was a tinge of sadness lurking beneath the surface. He couldn't shake the feeling that he had been thrust into a role he never asked for, forced to bear the weight of his actions even though he would rather do anything than take responsibility. 

A smirk played at the corners of his lips despite the gravity of the situation. He couldn't help but find a twisted amusement in the fact that it had taken a total of seven demigods of Ares to even come close to satisfying his thirst for battle.

"Seven," he thought to himself, a dark chuckle bubbling up in his throat. "Seven sons of Ares, and they still couldn't scratch the surface of what I'm capable of."

The absurdity of it all struck him as both comical and pathetic. Here he was, a mere newcomer to Camp Half-Blood, and yet he had bested seven of the camp's most skilled warriors with ease. It was almost laughable.

Chiron surveyed the scene before him with a mixture of concern and bewilderment. The corpses of the fallen demigods lay strewn about the training grounds, their lifeless forms twisted and mangled in a grotesque display of violence.

What troubled Chiron the most was the unnatural manner in which the bodies had been mutilated. It was as though they had been toyed with, their lives prolonged for the sole purpose of inflicting further torment upon them.

"These wounds..." Chiron muttered to himself, his brow furrowed in deep thought. "They're not the work of a typical battle. It's as though... as though the killer was toying with them."

The fact that the victims were children of Ares, the god of war himself, only added to the gravity of the situation. Trained warriors, seasoned in combat from a young age, they should have been formidable opponents. And yet, they had been dispatched with a level of brutality that was both shocking and unprecedented.