13

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'I'm going mad. I'm going mad. I'm going mad. I'm going mad. I'm going mad. I'm going mad!' I threw a right to the temple of the demon cat that was the size of a car. Its head flew back and I followed up with a uppercut to the throat. A kick to the liver, an elbow to the nose.

And to finish it off, I grabbed and opened its jaw and "SPEW!" A column of flames pour down its throat. It withered away in gold dust.

I stared at my skin, I was bleeding but it wasn't deep. I fist fought a demon cat and came out unharmed. "WRAHAHAHAHAHHAA!"

I truly was going mad. I cut off my own finger to test my strength. I cut my arms to see my defense. I let my self get eaten by a snake, the size of a small bus, to see if my skin could put up a defense against acid. And I am still alive.

I wanted more power, I needed to be the strongest. I pushed my body to its limit every day. I searched for monsters to fight. I became the hunter.

Last week I think, I came across a group of demigods and snake women, Luke's men... I had the jump on them. They couldn't make much of a dent in my skin. But my fists could make a dent into them.

I had never killed humans before but I didn't feel remorse. I would slaughter Luke with my bare hands if it comes to it. An evil smirk comes across my face as I thought of ripping apart Luke.

As I was relishing in the idea of killing Luke, my stomach grumbled. Knowing that it was time to eat, I hop on top of a building and began to run to the Wendy's that was near my base.

(Whats yalls favorite food at Wendys?)

My order was the spicy nuggets and Large fries. I quickly rushed over to my base and began to eat. It was simple but all I could afford.

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It had been months of just non-stop slaughter. With the amount of blood I shed, it would be a miracle if I go to Elysium. I used my sword to cut through monsters and demigods alike.

I truly was becoming a monster. But would this be enough?

No, I needed to harness this strength that I found. The strength that makes me a monster, mentally and physically. But I quickly was knocked out of my train of thought.

I was nearly stabbed through the liver by one of Luke's men in one of my fights. If I was stabbed at that moment, I would have died. I knew from previous clashes that I wasn't invincible. Every great armor has a weakness. And mine was my armored skin could be worn down. 

It would recharge but it didn't recharge fast.

I suddenly dropped my sword because one of the Apollo kids shot my hand and I accidently dropped my sword. Luke had tens of demigods at his command. I wouldn't be surprised that he has a couple from every cabin.

The Demigod with a sword lunged at my throat with his sword. If I was stabbed here, even if I did ended up killing them, I would still die. I need to avoid this.

My fingers began to tingle and against my better judgement, I brought them up.

To my shock and amazement, my fingers grew into 5 inch black claws. I easily blocked the attack and went on to cut their throats.

Another interesting development was me learning that I had wings and a tail. This happened when I was just living. No event happened to cause them. They just appeared.

My wings were similar to that of Kampe. That's a name I haven't spoken about in a while. Large black bat wings. They could cover my entire body if needed. They also shared the protection that my skin held.

My tail was that of a refined weapon. It was long and sharp, sharp enough to cut a monster in half. It was red in color but shifted from red to a white. It was red during day and white during night. Or it can shift in combat .

And due to some tests, my tail can create a poison. It was strong enough to make a snake lady eyes bleed due to the effects. But I can turn on and off the poison on my tail. So I don't accidently poison myself.

But that is another thing. I had found out due to another weird creature spewing poison into my face. At first I thought that was the end and prepared to use the potion that Apollo gave to me. But it turns out that I was immune to poison. So turns out I don't need to worry about poisoning myself.

I truly was becoming a monster, one that will make Luke scream...

But among the prosperities of my power, something that I couldn't control would make living harder. Winter was coming. And even though I could just live off of my fire, when I run of energy that would be the days that I suffered in the cold.

And I preferably don't want to freeze to death. And since the fact that I ran out of money buying Wendy's whenever I was hungry.

"Mommy can I have some hot chocolate?" A little girl, about 6 says. She had on a winter coat and a pink hat. Her mom, about 26 I would say, had on the same winter coat and hat. She also had a canteen of what I suppose was hot chocolate.

"What's the magic word?" The mother asked with a smile.

The girl thought for a moment before bursting into a wide smile. "Please?"

The mother laughed and gave her the canteen. Was that what a mother supposed to do?

If anyone else looked at that, they would feel happy and warmth. But to me all I felt was despair.

'Where was my mom? Why did she leave. What did I do wrong.' I thought while holding back tears. I had lost everyone I cared for. Bill. He pretty much was the only person I considered family.

Conner and Travis were my friends but Bill was there with me for my whole life. It felt as if I was losing apart of myself. It felt horrible.

I been trying to push it to the bottom of my heart but I can't. I can ignore the fire but it will burn.

I may be able to hide my emotions, even to myself, I can't get rid of them. The only way I can is by killing Luke.

He took everything from me. And I will take everything from him. I suddenly felt something. A tingle coming from my back, more specially my tail bone. I quickly jump forward.

"Ahhh Puny demigod!" A weird creature shouts as its claw misses me. It had the body of a lion and a head of an owl. I seen multiple of these before but this one was larger.

My heart pounded in preparation of battle. "Come on then you overgrown house pet."

Its growled and leapt towards me in an attempt to bit my head off. I grew my talons from my fingers and charged at it. But just before we could clash. I jumped over it.

Now I had a clear shot at its back. With my right hand, I created a volley of flame balls. My left hand scratched the back of its neck and I launched the volley of flames towards the scratched spot.

"GURA!" It shouted in pain. It turned around and now we were face to face again. I fully activated my tail and wings in preparation to end this fight as fast as I can.

It once again charged at me. And I jumped back, creating violent winds to cut up the creature. It managed to bear through it and continue towards me. I flapped my wings to change my direction. It went from me going backwards to forwards. I shot my tail at its forehead and managed to pierce it.

It exploded into golden dust and I used wind to avoid getting it on me.

I looked at my hands as they slowly deformed back into human hands. I look on with a blank face as my wings retrack and tail retrack. I was a monster...

"Wrahahahahaha. So what if I am one?" I laughed. I figured it was probably time to move places. I smiled, revealing my teeth. They became sharp as knifes.

I walked towards my "house" and began to pack all my stuff. 'Two Blankets, a compass, three bottles of water, four dollars, and the camo hat that I found.' The camo hat. It had a story.

It was when I was still living in the park. Little bit before Apollo came and gave me the quest for the potion that can resurrect a person.

I was just walking when I felt something on my head. I lifted the hat off of my head. It reminded me of Bill's hat so I kept it. And after awhile I found out that it will repair after damage and will return to me if lost.

Pretty nice if you ask me.

I kept it with me ever since.

I smiled as I thought of this. Sometimes I thought I was crazy but this hat always seemed to make my eyes set on a goal.

I finished packing and remising and began to walk on a side walk. Snow started to fall as I walked. I used all of my clothes to make sure that I wouldn't freeze to death, but it still seemed to send a chill throughout my body.

I had to push onward though. No one was here to cheer me on as I pushed through my struggles. It seemed so easy to just stop here and die. No one would miss me.

But one thing just kept me going. It was the same small thing that made me strive towards strength.

'To kill Luke' My body and mind shared that goal. And until I mange to solve it, I won't ever give up.

I was crossing a Walmart parking lot. I was about halfway through. It was mostly quiet expect for some people and cars. Speaking of cars, there weren't a lot of them in this parking lot.

Overall it was peaceful. And when it is peaceful, it always means there's war lurking. So I had my guard up. Suddenly, when I was walking, a bright beam of light shined on me out of nowhere.

I stopped in my tracks as I stared at the car who stopped blasting full beams at me. I was about to just walk away when a brown haired boy stepped out.

'Who was he?' I thought. He felt familiar but I couldn't just place it. He had these sea green eyes- 'Oh it's Percy.' 

He stared at me before speaking. "Uh," Not the best way to start but ok. "Atem, Grover asked for our help with some demigods and he asked for you to come along."

He stared at me while shuffling his legs. I was fidgeting too but not this much. I guess I did change, looks wise.

I had long white hair, to the end of my neck. I guess I was about 5 inches taller than Percy then when we last met. My skin was bronze and I guess I did addon some muscle to my figure.

I stared at Percy for another 3 seconds before deciding on my answer. "Fine." A simple short answer. I would have just said no before but my gut tells me I should go along. I always trust my instincts. They have saved me in the past.

Percy smiled slightly before waving me over. Reluctantly I came over. I sat in the back with who I can assumed is Thaila, due to her hair and spear. And Annabeth with her Blond hair and stormy gray eyes.

Percy sat in front with who i can assume is his mother. The way that they looked at me, I just knew this would be a long ride.

Taisho secret

Right now the way that Atem decompresses and just let out his emotions was through fighting. This is a bad habit for him but don't worry since he will get over it.