Retribution

"Why have you not dealt with that nuisance?" asks Salacia as she watches Ambrosius turn his trident back into a ring.

They currently are in The Lake, and have just finished his lesson for today, which mainly consisted of going over military strategies and a spar.

"It has been a year since your induction into the legion and her successful slight on your person. Why has that praetor not suffered your retribution yet?" continues Salacia.

Ambrosius simply raises an eyebrow as he answers "I find her attempts at making my life difficult rather amusing. She fails to realize that when she makes things difficult for my cohort during the war games, that she's also making it difficult for the third and the fifth, thereby helping me in the process."

"And how exactly does that help you?" asks Salacia with an intrigued expression on her face.

Having known her for a year now, Ambrosius can easily tell that she isn't asking because she doesn't know, rather to see if he is in fact thinking tactically.

"While the third, the fourth, and the fifth have never really had a problem against each other, they also have never really allied with each other. Her actions have given them a common enemy to ally against, and since I'm the target of her actions they have no qualms about befriending me just to spite her. In the future most of these legionnaires will be senators, thereby giving me allies in the senate. She's also making a mortal enemy out of Azula, the daughter of Jupiter that Rome as a whole favors."

Salacia nods her head, an expression of pride making itself known as she hears the boy she has come to see as a son explain himself.

"While that is true, your inaction has sparked whispers in your father's court. The water deities are, whether they be god or naiad, wondering why you, a prince of the sea, put up with her disrespect."

Ambrosius frowns as he asks "While I know that the gods pay attention to the legion's actions, I did not think that they paid such close attention. And even if they pay attention that closely, I do not see why my inaction has caused trouble since, ultimately, I will benefit in the future when I become a praetor."

"You do not honestly believe that once the upcoming crisis is over you will remain on the surface do you?" asks Salacia.

Ambrosius quirks his head to the side, a puzzled look on his face.

"Is that not my duty? To help Rome survive the upcoming crisis and serve as a praetor until I am able to retire should I survive."

"Do you truly think so lowly of your father and I?" asks Salacia.

"What do you mean? I hold the both of you in the highest regard." replies Ambrosius.

Salacia sighs and swims closer to her son.

Gently placing her hand on his cheek, she tilts his head up to face her, and gently strokes his cheek.

"Child you are far too important to the sea to be left rotting as a servant of Rome throughout your lifetime. When this crisis is over you are expected to join the family in Atlantis as a god."

Hearing her words, Ambrosius' eyes mist over as he fights back the tears.

"I…" he begins "I didn't think you cared. I just thought that the reason father sired me and the reason why you tolerate me is because I'm supposed to be Rome's weapon and nothing more."

Salacia once again sighs and gently envelops the child in a hug as the tears begin to fall.

"We care child, we care. It's just not in our nature as Roman gods to show affection." she says.

They stay there for a few seconds, until Ambrosius stops crying and slowly retreats from the hug.

"I will take care of the praetor, mother. I will do it soon and she will regret disrespecting the sea." claims Ambrosius.

"I look forward to it, son. Now go. Your lesson for the day has ended." replies Salacia with a smile.

Ambrosius bows and swims his way out of the lake.

Walking out of the lake, Ambrosius is met with the sight of Azula waiting for him by the lake.

"How did training go?" she asks.

"The usual" Ambrosius answers as he wills himself dry and begins to make his way to Temple Hill, where all the temples to the Roman gods are located.

"Why are you going to Temple Hill?" asks Azula as she follows next to him.

"I'm going to pray to mother."

Azula merely nods and they continue their walk in silence, enjoying the nice, sunny day.

While Ambrosius isn't as close to his mother, Bellona, as he is with his father, they still very much care for each other. Using dreams, she is the one who thought him how to use his abilities of telumkinesis, the absolute control and authority over weapons, and his all his abilities pertaining to war, such as his power over feelings and emotions, and his power over all forms of conflict whether they be mental, physical, or conceptual, with it he can start or escalate conflicts and draw power from them.

Arriving at the massive red crypt decorated with human skulls on iron spikes, Ambrosius can't help but wonder who was the idiotic architec to come up with the horrible design.

"What are you doing here?" a familiar voice says, interrupting Ambrosius' train of thought.

Recognising the voice of his most hated praetor, and the poor fool who's slated to feel his retribution, Ambrosius easily slips into his princely persona, and turns to face her as he puts his hands in his pants pocket.

"To pray to the gods of course. Why else would I be here?" condescendingly answers Ambrosius.

Alex can't help but sneer at his answer, never noticing the slight tinge of red that appears in Ambrosius' eyes.

"Oh? Have you finally come to beg for forgiveness for your slight against Rome?" questions Alex.

"Begging?" questions Ambrosius.

"I leave such degrading acts to plebeians like you. A prince of the sea does not lower himself to the standard of the lowborn." he says in contempt as he turns his nose up at her, the red in his eyes slightly increasing.

"Prince of the sea?" spits out Alex in a whisper "You are a bastard at best, maybe even an accident. All children of the sea, and even Neptune, are the same. Walking calamities waiting to destroy Rome. I don't know why Salacia puts up with your existence. She must be weak and reliant on her husband to live, like all of these goddesses that let their husbands cheat on them. At least Juno gets retribution whenever her waste of a husband cheats on her, unlike Salacia who takes it lying down, like a whore getting raped. Heck I don't even know why Jupiter hasn't already smitten Neptune, Rome doesn't need him."

By the end her rant the previously sunny sky has been completely covered in storm clouds, enveloping the world in darkness. Lightning flashes and thunder rumbles in ways never seen before in recent times, and the ground begins to shake.

"What are you doing?" questions Alex as she notices the shaking ground.

"Stop this immediately!?" she commands.

"It's not him." speaks out a feminine voice as the earth stops shaking, and the lightning and thunder ceases.

Turning towards the voice Alex, Azula, and Ambrosius see Lupa standing there looking at Alex with pity in her eyes.

"Congratulations child, you have managed to accomplish what none have accomplished before you." says the wolf goddess

"What?" asks a confused Alex

"You have somehow managed to anger not only Jupiter and Neptune, but also their spouses. As such, it has been decreed, for your offense against Neptune and Jupiter, you shall be punished."

Alex's eyes widen at the realisation of what she previously said and the repercussions of her words.

"I-I-I" stammers Alex, her mouth opening and closing in an attempt to speak, however her voice fails her and no sound escapes her throat.

"Jupiter and Juno have decreed Azula as their champion to decide your punishment, while Neptune and Salacia have decreed that you shall face Ambrosius in one on one combat tomorrow at noon. Should you win, you will be exempt from their punishment however, should you lose your punishment shall be decided by him." explains Lupa.

Her message delivered, Lupa begins to glow, prompting the demigods to avert their gaze, and leaves.

Alex stands there, dumbstruck by Lupa's words. Her previous sense of dread has been completely replaced with glee as she realizes that the ones to punish her won't be the gods, rather two eleven year old demigods that she believes won't be able to do her any harm due to her being more skilled than them.

She turns to Ambrosius and Azula with a smirk on her face.

"Since the gods have decreed it, I shall see you two tomorrow in the gladiatorial arena." she says as she turns to leave.

"And where exactly do you think you're going?" asks Azula with a sadistic smile on her face.

"I have yet to give you your punishment."

Hearing Azula, Alex stops walking and turns with a frown on her face.

"Fine. Let's get this over with. What's my punishment?" asks Alex.

"I noticed that you took pleasure in humiliating Ambrosius when you denied him the right to be awake when he received his tattoo. How about we make sure that you never feel pleasure again." says Azula

"You can't do that. Jupiter has no power over pleasure." says Alex.

Azula simply chuckles and walks towards Alex as her eyes begin to lightly glow pink.

"Alexandra Saxa you take pleasure in the pain and humiliation of others. For this, and your transgressions against the gods, I hereby curse you to never feel pleasure, whether it be sexual or otherwise, you may never feel it again, and may your heartbreaks amplify to unbearable levels."

With a rumble of thunder Azula's curse on Alex is finalized, and her fate is ultimately sealed.

Having said her piece Azula walks past a dumbstruck Alex towards the barracks, a snickering Ambrosius following behind her.

"That was surprisingly lenient." says Ambrosius

"I had to be. We wouldn't want her to commit suicide and escape her punishment."

"Hmm. True. I just wonder how I'm going to top your punishment." he replies.

"Good luck. What I want to know however, is how did you know that she was going to be there." says Azula.

"What do you mean?" asks Ambrosius.

"Don't play me for a fool. I know you well enough to notice when you're planning something, that look was on your face on our way to Temple Hill. I also notice you use your powers from your mother to make her blind with anger and bring her feelings of hatred to the surface. If it weren't for that there's no way that she would have spoken with such disrespect for the gods."

Ambrosius sighs "I honestly can't keep much from you after all."

"The truth is that I memorized her schedule."

"By the way, do you know why she hates anything related to Neptune so much?" asks Azula.

"As far as I can gather, one of her ancestors died during the earthquake caused by Shen Lun's earthquake in 1906. Apparently her ancestor had a child with Nemesis that swore vengeance on the children of Neptune." answers Ambrosius.

Azula stops walking and looks at him with an intrigued expression on her face.

"How did you even find that out?" she asks.

"When I use my abilities on others I don't just see whom or what they hold negative emotions towards, I also see why." replies Ambrosius.

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The next day the entire Legion assembles at the Coliseum to witness Alex's battle against Ambrosius.

The Coliseum is a five story tall building that gleams in the sun next to the Circus Maximus, the horse racing arena.

As the members of the legion gather in the Coliseum, most of them, members of the third through fifth cohort, are surprised that it took this long for her to do something that resulted in a battle. While the members of the legion know that the praetor did something that resulted in her facing the son of Neptune in combat, none of them know how truly serious the situation is, which is why they are shocked when Lupa herself teleports into the arena between the two combatants.

"Legionnaires, you are gathered here to witness the trial of one of your praetors. For her transgressions against the gods, it has been decreed that she shall face their champion in combat. Should praetor Alex win, she shall be absolved of her crimes and receive no punishment. However, should she suffer defeat her fate lies in the hands of Ambrosius Son of Neptune."

Lupa's words immediately cause an uproar. The legionnaires can't believe that she would commit an act so egregious the gods would lay her fate in the hands of the one legionnaire who has a reason to make her suffer fates worse than death.

Before the crowd can become too loud, Lupa growls, quitting them.

"Combatants, you may begin." she says as she teleports out of the arena and into the upper stands designated for VIPs.

Alex looks at Ambrosius and can't help but frown. While she wears the standard legionnaire armor, with the exception of long pants and combat boots instead of a tunic and sandals, he's wearing black and ocean blue full body armor made from what seems to be an aquatic creature's scales.The armor consists of a tight and sleeveless blue upper body with black accents which outline his muscles, and on his arms are vambraces with fins over black sleeves that start from his biceps and end at his knuckles.The lower body of the armor consists of black armor padded pants that have two blue straps on his thighs, and greaves over his black footwear that stops just below the knee. Paired with his trident in his right hand, it's easy to tell that he's a prince of the sea.

Putting his choice of attire out of her mind, Alex rushes her opponent, sword and shield at the ready. Before she can get close enough for her sword to be effective, she is forced to block an incoming stab with her shield. Unfortunately her shield doesn't hold, and the trident spears through it and into her arm holding it before being withdrawn. With a pained cry, Alex unstraps the shield and discards it. Before she can return her focus to the battle her feet are swept out from under her by the trident, and a foot is slammed into her chest causing her to once again cry out in pain.

Looking up into the son of Neptune's contempt filled eyes, Alex can't help but feel like an insignificant ant.

"Truly, you are a disappointment. To reach the position of praetor and not know the basic rules of combat. What fool are you to ignore your opponent to discard your shield? While it may not have helped much in a head on confrontation with my spear, it could have easily been used to deflect it. I cannot believe that I have sullied my trident against a worthless fool such as you."

As Ambrosius speaks, his words resound throughout the arena, prompting many of the legionnaires who have never seen him act like this flinch. His demeanor has changed from what most of them have come to know.

Throughout his year as a legionnaire, many of them have seen different facets of his personality. When they are on duty he is the model soldier, from his stance to the way he responds to the superior officers, it is always how a soldier should act. When they are in battle, whether it be a spar or a war game, Ambrosius is always calm and collected, never letting the outcome affect his judgement. They have also seen him when they are off duty, then he is a nice person to hang out with and talk about comics and other pieces of fictional media.

This demeanor however, only Lucas, Kyle and few other legionnaires have ever seen it, and they secretly promised each other to make sure that they never incur his wrath enough for it to come out. They call it his ruler persona, due to it reminding them of how a king, or an emperor, would act. The one time they saw it was due to a retired legionnaire insulting his father, and Ambrosius proceeded to verbally tear the man down in a ruthless fashion, somehow knowing the man's every flaw and insecurities and using them to reduce him to a pile of tears.

"Yield mongrel." commands Ambrosius as he points his trident at her throat.

Alex however, has no intention of yielding, and attempts to use her sword to stab him. Her effort is met with a stab through the shoulder.

"Very well. If you will not yield I shall enjoy disfiguring you until you die screaming."

Hearing his words Alex's eyes widen and she immediately yields.

With a scoff Ambrosius steps off her and watches as she picks herself up from the floor.

Once she is fully standing, Ambrosius points his trident at her and dolls out her punishment with glowing sea green eyes.

"Alexandra Saxa, for your crimes against the gods I hereby curse you to never die by suicide with a weapon. Should you try to commit suicide with a weapon, or attempt to die by weapon in a suicidal manner, you shall fail. When you are on the verge of a victory in a battle that is personally important to you, your weapon shall fail you. I brand you an enemy of the sea and all creatures affiliated with it and Neptune."

With a rumble of thunder the curse takes hold.