The Seraphic System
Chapter: 30
Pa/ t reon details at the bottom of the chapter if you're interested I'll keep posting regardless.
(God Of War)
{Name: Bianca Di Angelo}
{Title: Child Of Hades}
{Race: Demi-God}
{Power Level: 5100}
Found one.
{Name: Nico Di Angelo}
{Title: Child Of Hades}
{Race: Demi-God}
{Power Level: 4920}
Found two.
I grinned at the two unsuspecting demi-gods.
Okay, now I have my alibi. Meaning the Gods' bullshit lie detector won't detect me lying.
I briefly considered actually putting something on them, maybe some magical explosive I could buy from the system's shop to make my threat real before deciding against it.
When this was over, I should be able to smooth over any ruffled feathers by telling him it wasn't true after. Maybe an apology along with that. I feel like I would make a new powerful enemy if I actually threatened his children's lives.
Which was also a dick move, and totally not angelic of me. I'd have to pull a Dumbledore greater good act. Plus it wasn't like I actually planned to threaten his children's lives, just their existence to his Godly siblings.
This was also a last resort if all other negotiations failed.
Turning around, I quickly started making my way through the crowds of hypnotised humans. This place had a mean-time dilation effect if memory serves me right, I would rather not risk staying longer than expected if I could avoid it.
I was walking only to be stopped by a man in a suit, who had two men standing behind him. All of them wore the butler suits which meant they were staff for the Lotus Hotel.
Oh, father damn it.
"Hello sir, I'm going to have to ask you to come with us," he politely informed me.
Had they noticed their little magic effect not working on me? Probably, and since my aura was restrained somewhat for good measure, they probably thought I was a normal human.
I nearly rolled my eyes as I gave him a polite smile back.
Waving my hand, I sent a small burst of wind that sent all of them flying back. It was almost funny how no one around us reacted to the obvious use of magic. I knew I could save everyone if I wanted. But currently, that wasn't a good idea.
I was focused on getting this quest done.
Continuing my way through the crowd, I caught up with Percy and the others. Annabeth and Percy's eyes had glazed over even more, which prompted me to drag them both out.
"Sir, please stop—"
"Yeah, yeah," I replied somewhat flippantly, blowing out of my mouth, and using wind manipulation to blow the poor Lotus woman through a window with a massive stream of wind.
A moment later, everything around her was swept with her through the window.
I had to admit, my usage of wind manipulation had improved significantly. I was enjoying it, finding it much more destructive than my basic light manipulation when it had been at this level.
I felt a bit bad about leaving the two children of Hades there, but taking them with us would cause unnecessary problems. They were safe inside the Lotus Casino even if it was against their will.
Bursting out the front doors, I looked up at the rising sun with a click of my tongue. We hadn't been inside the Lotus Hotel long, and yet the night had seemingly passed already.
At least we didn't spend as much time as the original trio had; we still had time. Canon was a tad messed up since we hadn't met up with Ares like we had originally meant to.
Annoying, but I could work around it.
"Hey! Why are we leaving so soon?" Percy asked with obvious annoyance.
"I was still eating," Annabeth grumbled along with him.
Their eyes seemed to be slowly clearing up. The cloudiness swirling in them slowly disappeared at a visible rate. However, they also seemed to be somewhat inebriated.
"Did you get what you needed?" Medusa asked, walking beside me with a small smirk on her face.
I gave her a grin.
"Yep, thanks for looking after them. They aren't quite as immune as I am to these sorts of things," I thanked her. She was already proving her use, and she hadn't complained a single time along this journey.
"I'm at your service." She curtsied with a cheeky smile, making me laugh.
I was starting to like her.
"Hey, don't ignore us," Annabeth whined almost drunkenly, completely unlike her normal self.
I sighed.
"Let's go get some food, shall we?" I said, ignoring the two whining demi-Gods with practised ease.
It was best to let them get this out of their system so I could make fun of them later when they sobered up.
-Scene Break-
Sitting in the old-fashioned booth, I snickered at Percy. Who seemed to be experiencing some sort of hangover. We had plates of food in front of us that Annabeth and Percy slowly picked at.
Percy scowled.
"Shut up Kai." He grouched, rubbing his head.
Annabeth was rubbing her temples next to him.
We had found a quiet little diner to eat at, Annabeth and Percy had sobered up by the time we entered with a rather painful headache according to them.
"It's not fair, how do we get affected by it and you didn't? An airborne sedative that decreases your perception, I'll have to look into countering it somehow. Also, why didn't you tell us?" Annabeth asked calmly, with a glare.
I shrugged.
"We weren't in there for long, my bad though. I should have told you." I admitted. I wasn't used to trusting people so it was my fault.
I'll need to break some of those nasty habits, I was a bit of a loner at heart.
It's why I kept my angels stored away. I didn't really know how to handle them at the moment. There was also the fact that it was easier to move around without five overprotective angels who worshipped the ground I walked on.
On that subject, I should probably let them out to stretch their wings and spend some time with them.
I also needed to introduce them to Medusa. Which shouldn't be too troublesome since she was one of my subordinates now.
Medusa was sitting next to me, not eating anything since apparently she didn't need to eat. I mean I don't think I did either but that didn't take away my urge.
"Why didn't we even go in there if we were just going to get food somewhere else anyway?" Percy grumbled.
"I needed to do something that may help us in regards to retrieving your mother." I calmly replied.
Percy perked up, looking a bit more awake as he registered my words. A small smile crept onto his lips.
"Good then, I trust you." He responded.
I felt a bit conflicted as he said that, simply giving him a nod of thanks in response.
"So, what's our game plan?" I decided to ask.
Percy shrugged helplessly. Grabbing the orange juice lying next to him and taking a long sip.
"Well, we need to get your mother. Who, we have no idea of the location of." Annabeth started.
A slight thunderous rumble in the distance made my eyes widen just a tad, I guess some things don't change no matter the location.
"I have a feeling that'll change soon," I muttered, much to the confusion of the others. Looking out the window just as the obvious thundering roar of an engine came into their hearing range.
Rolling into the relatively empty diner parking space, was a man sitting on an absurdly massive bike. That made the windows shake from the sheer noise.
"Compensating much?" I vaguely heard Percy mutter.
Sitting on the massive bike was a large man wearing a classic leather biker jacket stretched over his broad, muscular frame.
A rugged face framed by a wild mane of dark hair bore a perpetual scowl, his eyes held a red glow with a fiery intensity. Tattoos could be seen up his arms, depicting scenes of war and chaos.
He had an aura like Dionysus, yet where Dionysus felt like a monster of madness hiding in human flesh. He felt like unrestrained bloodlust and destruction.
The bike itself, a monstrous chopper with flames painted on the sides, roared beneath him. As he sat there, surveying the scene with a look of mild disdain for everything around him.
The very air around him seemed to crackle with power, the scent of smoke and metal hanging heavy in the air as he arrived.
Medusa's eyes widened and she paled. Her composure truly broke for the first time since she had joined us. She pulled on my arm.
"We need to go." She whispered.
Ares molten red eyes that shined under his dark glasses looked at us through the window, a wicked grin crossing his face as we met eyes. Stopping the roaring of his bike, he got off.
'Appraisal'
{Name: Ares}
{Title: God Of War}
{Race: God}
{Current Power level: 13,200}
{Power level: 45,300}
Wait, hold on. He was weaker than Dionysus. That didn't make any sense. Wasn't Ares meant to be stronger? I was confused. I couldn't exactly speak since my progress had slowed down lately, but he wasn't as strong as I would have thought him to be.
Or maybe, Dionysus is stronger than he lets on. After all, he's pretty chilled out most of the time.
Medusa desperately tried to pull me up, but I didn't budge.
Scowling for the first time, she reluctantly sat down next to me. Seemingly ready to face the God of war even needed, which was heartwarming. The God walked in and both of my demiGod companions instantly sensed something was off with him judging by the way they tensed up.
Ares's boots met the ground with a thump with every step he took. Walking straight up to us, with an aura even I had to admit was intense. His broad muscular body came to tower over us.
The waiter looked at him in fear, and I noticed a white mist starting to cover up the building. Which I was pretty sure had a mortal-repelling effect so that only magical beings could enter.
I took a sip of my drink, acting composed even as I was ready to throw my hands at a moment's notice. I would have to throw Annabeth and Percy into my pocket dimension along with Medusa.
"Can I help you?" I asked calmly, leaning back with a smirk. Something he mimicked.
"Actually you can scoot over kid." He said, not waiting for an answer and sitting next to Percy. Who was forced to move into Annabeth's personal space for the God's large body.
"Hello, little cousin." He said, his voice deep and rumbling.
Annabeth's eyes widened, seemingly piecing it together instantly. She sent a fearful look my way.
"Do I know you?" Percy questioned.
Ares smirked.
"I believe you had a run-in with some of my children." He said, tapping his finger on the table.
Percy went to speak but I interrupted him.
"What do you want, Ares?" I questioned.
Annabeth and Medusa both sent me baffled looks at my blatant disregard for his status.
Ares turned back to me.
"You must be this angel I've heard all about." He said with a grin.
So he had heard about me?
"And you must be the God Of War, nice to meet you." I calmly replied.
He leaned forward.
"You heard of me up in that little silver City of yours brat?" He questioned with a proud grin.
I don't like him.
I smiled friendly.
"Yep, we get a list of Gods we don't mess with." I started.
Making Ares's proud grin spread.
"You're on the list below it, which is a ranking of the top ten stupidest Gods in existence." I finished.
His grin dimmed a bit. He merely opted to chuckle.
"Got quite the mouth on your for a brat, aren't you feathered lot meant to be pure?" Ares asked as everyone stared at us in pure shock.
"Of course Lord Ares, I would never lie. I am merely transmitting the facts to you." I replied with a pure innocent smile.
His lips twitched.
"You know, I was curious as to why those other brats were after you. Why would they bother chasing down a singular child? Especially bothering to risk the king of the feathered assholes himself to kill one of his broods. I think I'm starting to understand now." Ares commented, making me narrow my eyes in thought.
So someone was after me? Annoying.
"I'm glad you've got some spunk though, much better than talking to that feathered asshole Michael. Prancing around with that holy attitude." Ares remarked.
He raised an eyebrow when I didn't react.
I wasn't really connected to any of my so-called brethren who didn't even know of my existence. There was a reason I didn't simply go up and hide in heaven with the rest of my kind.
Firstly I would be controlled, forced to blend in and listen to the commands of the angelic leaders. Secondly, I would have to explain how I exist. Which while doable I would rather not have to keep up a lie.
Thirdly, I wouldn't be able to keep my multiple powers and insane growth hidden for long without crippling my own growth. There were a few other reasons but those were the main deal breakers.
Okay, time to rein in the snarky attitude before he seriously gets annoyed. I was mostly testing the waters. I didn't want to be an idiot and keep antagonising the God
That would be idiotic. Despite what it may seem like this was a calculated move on my part. If he had shown signs of exploding I would have stopped immediately.
"What can we do for you, Ares?" I asked, relaxing back into my seat.
"Heh, enough of the foreplay and down business? Here I was curious about the story about your alliance with little Medusa." Ares replied, looking at Medusa. More specifically her curvaceous figure.
Medusa shifted, looking truly frightened. I wasn't surprised given the Greeks' pantheon representation. It was less than ideal for one of them to be attracted to you.
"If we could get back on topic." I regained his attention.
"I've got a deal for you brats." He started.
"And what exactly can you offer us?" Percy snarked, and I shot him a warning glance.
"How about information on where your mom is located?" Ares grinned.
Percy immediately quieted down, gritting his teeth.
"Where is she?" he demanded.
"Now, now, if you want my help, you'll need to help me first," Ares said.
I knew exactly where this was going. I already knew where Percy's mom was, but revealing that information outright wasn't an option. By playing along, I could retrieve the divine weapons and explain how I knew where to find his mother.
"What do you want us to do?" I asked before Percy could speak.
"I need you to retrieve my shield. I was on a date with my future girlfriend, ya see, and I accidentally left it on the seats we were using," Ares said with that annoying smirk of his.
"You want us to get your shield? Go get it yourself—" Percy began, but Annabeth cut him off with a pinch, making him yelp in surprise.
"Yes, Lord Ares, we will happily accept this task," Annabeth said, bowing her head respectfully.
"I see, at least one of you brats knows how to show a God some respect," Ares replied with a nod of approval. "It'll get you far girl."
"Where is your shield?" I cut in before Percy could retort, my tone not outright disrespectful but not respectful either.
"In the Las Vegas Colosseum nearby. It's the only one around, so you'll find it relatively easily, I'm sure. I left it on one of the columns," Ares informed me.
A Colosseum? Seriously?
"What does this shield of yours look like?" I asked.
Ares leaned in, his eyes glinting in amusement. "It's hard to miss. A celestial-bronze bullet-riddled shield. It's got the marking of a bull on it. It's hard to miss."
I kind of wanted to ask why it had bullet holes in it but decided I didn't care in the end.
"Okay," I replied simply.
"A bit of a trash design if it's got holes in it. Doesn't that defeat the purpose of a shield?" Percy piped up, earning another, harder punch from a glaring Annabeth.
"It looks pretty badass if you ask me," Ares admitted.
Percy nodded as if confirming something.
"What are you nodding at, brat?" Ares demanded.
"Did you know in the standard testing humans do to determine if their kids are retarded, there are twenty questions? You've currently ticked over fifteen boxes. Congratulations. It may be the only test you ever do well on," Percy snarked.
I felt oddly proud, but I realised I might need to have a talk with Percy about the timing of his jokes and who makes an acceptable target. Ares actually seemed pissed off.
There's a difference between calculated prodding and blatantly pissing the war God off. It seems the hangover he was going through wasn't helping with his basic judgmental skills.
"Well, we'll be going now. Thanks for dropping by," I said with a smile.
For a split second, Ares' aura became visible, radiating pure bloodlust and rage before disappearing. He gave Percy a derisive snort.
"I'll be waiting. Don't waste my time, or I might finally run out of patience," he warned with a sneer.
Ares got up, the table groaning as he used it to push himself up. Not sparing us a second glance, he stalked his way out, his steps fading as he left the diner.
Annabeth scowled. "What was going through that seaweed-infested brain of yours when you decided to pick a fight with a God?" Annabeth furiously whispered, as if Ares could hear her.
Percy scratched the back of his head somewhat bashfully. "My bad. This hangover isn't making me think clearly, and I'm just worried about my mom. He's got information, and yet he's obviously playing around with us."
Annabeth sighed, before turning to me with her glare. "And you, while not nearly as bad as Percy. Why did you go out of your way to disrespect him, and what did he mean by 'silver city'? Also, why did he keep referring to your family as 'Feathered'? He's a God, Kai. You may be strong, but they are on a different level from us."
"Calm down, it was a calculated move. I knew what I was doing," I replied, purposefully not answering her question about heaven.
I blinked as I suddenly realised I was holding someone's hand, more specifically the fearful Medusa's hand, which seemed to be gripping onto mine for dear life as she stood frozen.
I gave her a small nudge and she seemed to snap out of it. I gave her a reassuring smile, something she hesitantly smiled back at.
"You okay?" I asked, and she nodded. She was still shaken up, probably from old memories of dealing with Gods.
"If you don't mind, Percy, I have a plan," I announced, and he actually looked relieved. Instantly he nodded.
"I'm going to go get this shield alone. It'll be easier to move alone and I'm not expecting this to be as simple as Ares is telling us it is," I started.
"What? No! Why do you have to always try doing things alone?" Annabeth instantly protested.
Percy nodded along sagely. "You don't have to fight everything alone, you know?"
Medusa stayed silent, but I could tell she agreed.
I sighed. "Look, I'm stronger than you both. If there's something I can't handle, I'll be able to escape much easier without lugging three people along with me."
Percy scowled. "We will stay out of the way then," Percy said.
"No, stay here and I'll be back soon. It'll be quick anyway. I've dealt with a lot of shit involving Gods lately. It's best if I go alone," I replied, shutting him down.
Percy slammed his hand, the table shattering. "I'll get stronger, Kai, I promise. I won't allow you to keep doing things alone," Percy promised, that infamous loyalty shining.
I had always liked Percy, even before I met him, and his words hit deeper than I would have liked to admit.
"I'll hold you to that," I replied, somewhat taken off guard.
Annabeth gawked, her hands waving up in disbelief. "We aren't really letting him do this again?" Annabeth harshly protested. She pointed a finger into my chest. "You can't keep running around alone and making us wait. You do realise we can fight too, right?"
"I know, and that's why I need you to do something for me while I retrieve this shield of his," I replied with a smirk.
She crossed her arms. "If you think by giving us another task that we will just let you go prancing off alone, you have seriously misjudged my character," Annabeth responded.
"What's the task?" Percy asked.
Annabeth spun around. "You can't be serious," she growled.
Percy raised his hands. "What? I trust him. I don't like the idea of letting him go alone either, trust me. It goes against everything I believe in, but if he thinks it's best we split up for the time being, then I trust him," he said, with a conflicted tone. I winced a bit.
Annabeth threw up her hands. "It's not like I don't trust him, and I can see the benefits of travelling, but there are also downsides. What if he's attacked by something he can't defeat alone? We may not be as strong, but we certainly aren't weak, even if we haven't had a chance to show it yet," Annabeth responded.
Percy backed down a little at that, sending an uncertain glance my way.
It wasn't that I was bothered with them coming, it just made more sense to split up. I needed them to get me something that would help with the underworld while I go get the shield.
I would admit I was a bit of a loner, well, maybe a big loner, but this was genuinely tactical. They hadn't been able to show it yet, but they were strong in their own right. So I trusted they would be fine.
"I need you both to go to the Canyon River and contact your father," I said, and they both stared at me in bemusement.
"What?" Percy asked confusedly.
"I need you to obtain three pearls that can teleport us back into the sea," I replied.
Annabeth and Percy both looked at each other in confusion.
"I have a feeling that since Ares is making such a big deal about the information of where your mother is being held, we will need a getaway," I explained.
Percy started nodding as he thought about it.
"What if we don't need them?" Annabeth questioned with her arms crossed.
"Then we would have simply over-prepared and we can be happy that things are turning out well," I replied with a shrug, getting a thoughtful nod from her.
"I can go along with that." She smirked.
"Medusa will be going along with you," I informed her, smiling innocently as she started
Just before I went to leave I pulled Percy to the side for a private conversation.
"Hey, you good?" I asked, and Percy nodded.
Giving him a grin, I held up my fist and he gave me a tired smile back as he bumped it.
"By the way, what did Are— he mean when he mentioned a silver city? Also why did he keep making remarks about feathers?" Percy asked, correcting himself before he said the God's name.
I scratched my head awkwardly. "He was talking about my home," I said in a way that could be seen as a question.
"What, like Dubai?" Percy asked curiously.
I sighed. "No, Percy, like heaven. I'm an angel," I informed him with a pat on the back. He froze.
Giving them all a wave, I started my mission to retrieve Ares' shield from a coliseum of all places.
Hopefully, it wouldn't be too annoying.
Oh, who am I kidding? The God of War just told me to go get his shield from a coliseum. Obviously, subtlety isn't his strong suit.
-END-
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