DA : Chapter 6: Et tu? III

Percy opened his eyes again only to meet a pair of pitch black swirls looking back at him. Nyx sat before him, watching him intently as he tried to focus on his internal powers … only to go down memory lane again.

"Percy," Nyx nearly whined as she huffed at him, "Focus. We've been at this for a year now."

"I know," Percy sighed as he straightened his back and focused on the space between his palms.

So far a year had passed since he'd jumped into Tartarus … or about two and a half months in the upper world since time passes five times faster down here. In that time Nyx had explained to him her goal and why she needed him to achieve the Law of Succession. 

As it turned out, the law had two ways to pan out. Either through a primordial willingly naming an heir or through conquest which allowed him to permanently defeat Gaea though she wasn't completely gone yet. 

For lack of better terms she is in a state of limbo and will only truly fade once her heir claims her domain but Percy had decided that he didn't want it.

With Nyx's help he'd removed the 'core' of Gaea's power from himself and now she stored it away, telling him that it was his right to choose who would inherit the power and domains. 

Once he'd disconnected from it Nyx dropped a bomb on him that he didn't expect … granted when she said 'our successor', he should have seen it coming.

Nyx wanted him to inherit her domains along with those of Erebus, her late husband. She had his 'core' and by channeling it, she'd given Percy the full blessing of Erebus along with her own. In response to the blessings, Percy's appearance had changed again to match the new power. 

His irises had become midnight black like Nyx but actually looked like a swirl of flaming darkness sucking in the light while his pupils glowed a beautiful, icy blue. With it his hair mirrored Nyx's and his tan became lighter though still noticeably darker than Nyx.

Aside from his changes he'd gained an incredible control of shadows and darkness itself that could attack and snuff out any source of light or heat. 

He noted that any shadows he controlled became significantly colder and when shadow traveling, he left a trail of frost on the entrance and exit. But now, Nyx wanted to see him mastering the darkness and to do that, he needed to generate pure darkness rather than control a shadow.

So, for the last three months, he'd been training. Every morning he would battle hordes of monsters with a variety of swords. Claymores, sabers, machetes, katana, and any other blade design he could think of, all for the goal of making him a master of swords. 

Then he would rest for a few hours only to fight monsters again but this time solely with his powers and fists … which lead to fascinating discoveries such as forming shadow claws capable of slicing through even some of the toughest monsters. 

He occasionally used Hestia's blessings as well, usually in the form of Greek fire to bombard particularly stubborn monsters. It got to the point monsters now had to be threatened to even dare face him.

Still, the last segment of his schedule, meditating while trying to form the pure essence of his powers, was showing little to no results. Sure, his control and stamina when using his powers was only getting better but he still couldn't generate darkness and it was frustrating him. 

His brow was already trickling with sweat as he glared at the empty space between his palms.

"Focus," Nyx said softly as she gazed at his palms as well.

"This … isn't … working," he ground out as his hands nearly trembled from strain.

He kept at it for several minutes before releasing a defeat sigh as he dropped his hands on his lap while Nyx frowned.

"This doesn't make sense," she muttered as she looked at him. "Your control is nothing short of making you a prodigy but you can't manifest your element."

"I don't know," he replied as he gazed at his hands, "It's like … my power is pulling in different directions and trying not to mix."

Nyx quirked an eyebrow at him while motioning with her hand for him to go on.

"Maybe … let me try something different," he said with narrowing eyes as he looked at his hands.

He then separated them, pointing both palms up as he focused on channeling his power. This time he simply called on it but didn't try to control it … simply letting it flow as it wished through him. 

He closed his eyes as he felt the atmosphere cool around him, the sound of frost forming below him. He remained like that for several minutes until he heard Nyx gasp making his eyes snap open to see his palms … and it left him dumbstruck.

In his right palm floated an orb of fire … a black fire with small streaks of icy blue that gave no heat. In fact, Percy was sure that the fire was burning at temperatures well below zero in either degree type. 

Then, in his left palm floated a crystal that seemed to be formed out of shadow with similar icy blue streaks in it. Both seemed to suck in light and warmth.

"Incredible," Nyx whispered as she gingerly reached for the fire and slowly poked a finger into it.

However, she frowned when her finger was in the flame but there was no reaction or anything happening to her. She then looked at him before saying, "Percy, try to hurt me."

"What?" he asked, taken aback by her sudden request.

"Think about hurting me," she said as she gestured to her finger still in the fire.

"But …"

"Just do it," she snapped.

He sighed as he nodded before thinking of the flames harming her. Barely a second later she gasped in pain as she pulled her finger back and looked at it. 

Her index finger looked like it had frostbite but in the pattern of a burn with her pale skin turning a sickly mix of icy blue and black. She brought her other hand up and tried to focus her godly energy into the finger to heal it … but nothing happened.

She frowned as she focused more of her power to the point her entire frame radiated shadows. Slowly her skin regained its pale tone to the point it didn't look frostbitten but the scaring remained.

"I can't believe it," she sighed as she wiped off some sweat while looking at his confused expression. "You managed to create the polar opposite of Tartarus' most deadly invention."

"And that would be?" he asked with a quirked eyebrow.

"Hellfire," she answered gravely, making his eyes widen.

He'd never had the displeasure of experiencing it himself but he'd seen the results on some monsters. Anything burned by Hellfire permanently keeps the burn marks, even after reforming and feels the ghost pains for eternity unless healed by Tartarus himself. 

The burns are incredibly hard to heal to the point even the Phlegethon cannot fully heal its burns in one sitting. But now, he'd created the opposite. A fire that was so cold it burned and left the victim frostbitten. He even noticed that Nyx grimaced as she twitched the finger.

"But how did I make it?" he asked as he looked at the flames in his palm again … and wondering if these flames had a similar curse to them. He'd need to figure out how to remove the curse if it did.

"My guess," Nyx started as she studied his fire, "Is that the blessings and linages in you each left aspects to fuse with your new power."

Seeing his confused face she rolled her eyes before continuing. 

"It seems Hestia's fire and your rare trait of Ice control from Poseidon mixed with the darkness to form this … Voidfire. And, much like Hestia, your flames will not harm those you consider family or precious unless you willingly do it." She then pointed to the crystal in his other palm. 

"And that is what's left of Gaea's power in you. Not only did you become partially immortal the moment you defeated her but you also gained a rare trait from her, the control of natural crystals. I'm guessing that the crystal has a similar affect to the Voidfire of yours."

"Wow," he said in awe as he looked at the manifestations of his power making Nyx giggle.

"Well, this has been an eventful evening but your luck ran out," she said ominously.

He looked at her as a cold shiver ran down his spine … odd, he couldn't remember the last time the cold bothered him.

"Now we can train with this new power and by the looks of it … I might have to pull one of my favors with Tartarus," she finished as lightning cracked behind her making her eyes glow maliciously.

'Where the hell did the lightning come form!?' he thought as he did the only thing a true man could do in this dire situation … he whimpered for mercy.

...

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