Chapter 361: The Slayer’s Ascent
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I tend to upload drafts of early chapters on there to get people's opinions of them so you can read up to 20 chapters ahead as a bonus.
I would like to thank my beta, Awdyr, for his help in this chapter.
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14 April 1995, Olympus Academy, Greece
Perseus was used to being worshipped in the halls of his school. He was the scion of the old ones, rumoured descendants of the gods themselves and that alone would have brought him enough prestige to make him part of the upper nobility in magical Greece. Nobility had ceased to be a thing in Europe and in a way, it didn't exactly exist in his country. However, power mattered, and the old families had power to spare.
He, himself, was probably the most powerful student in school, the Archon of the house of Hera, essentially the most prestigious rank in the school, however, it came with more than its share of responsibilities.
The houses a student was part of could change in their first three years of schooling. Instead of some weird personality test to sort them, which was weird at age thirteen, they used the nature of their magic mixed with their ambition. Each school had a different ambition and took different classes altogether. For example, the House of Apollo was where the students who showed an aptitude for healing went, the House of Ares tended to have the martially inclined, the House of Athena was where they had their researchers and artificers, and the House of Artemis previously focused on training expert hunters and trackers, honing skills in archery, stealth, and survival in the wilderness. It was a bit of an old-fashioned specialization at this time, so it was changed to train potioneers, herbologists, and beast hunters.
And of course, there was the house of Hera, where those who were deemed exceptional and suitable for leadership roles went. Students were chosen in their third year of schooling, and sometimes even afterwards, when they showed some kind of exceptional aptitude. Perseus himself spent his first three years in the house of Ares before transitioning into the house of Hera.
Still, he walked with purpose towards the headmaster's office, hoping to have a talk before the Sixth Task of the European school tournament began. The event was announced a few days prior while he hadn't been present in the school, something that, thinking back now, was probably planned.
He wasn't exactly thrilled about them joining the tournament. No one really cared about their international relations. They needed no allies as Greece was mighty, and they held Olympus' divine protection. Magical Greece had remained isolated for thousands of years, even when the rest of Europe burned, and there was no reason to bring foreigners to their slice of heaven for just some bragging rights. Hell, even the delegation they sent to compete was mediocre, so winning didn't seem to be the point. Still, even for mediocre students, their being in joint second place was more than disappointing. They brought shame on Olympus, and Perseus fully expected them to be punished for their performance after the tournament ended. Even if it wasn't by the staff, their cohorts would do it for them.
Still, he simply didn't see why the headmaster entertained the idiots from the ICW who believed they could force them to do anything, but he didn't care for it. And by the Gods, the sixth task, allowing foreigners to enter Mount Olympus, to witness its secrets, and the world to watch as well, what was he thinking?
Perseus entered the room without even bothering to knock and flung the door open. The room was as he remembered it, surprisingly spartan for a man of the headmaster's station. There were just a few moving statues, and a couple of paintings, a wooden desk and some shelves lined with ancient scrolls and dusty tomes. Behind the desk sat the headmaster, his piercing gaze already fixed on Perseus as if he had been expecting him. The air in the room was thick with unspoken tension, and the faint ticking of an ornate clock was the only sound that broke the silence.
His rant was frozen in his throat when he was actually confronted with the headmaster and the older man spoke up wisely, "You have returned, Perseus."
"Yes, I have. The threat around Corinth has been neutralized. I traced the attacks back to a nest of Chimeras nearby. I have taken care of it."
It was a job that was beneath him, but he couldn't help but feel like it was a nice bit of stress relief, from the pressure he felt during his stay in school. He had been responsible for preparing much of the task's elements, including where the vendors would be set up, where the spectators would stay, including their accommodations since the task was expected to take some time while making sure that the school's secret remained intact.
The logistics had been exhausting, requiring him to oversee security, ensure the safety of both participants and the audience, and coordinate with local officials. Handling the Chimeras had been a welcome distraction from the endless meetings and planning. Now, with the threat neutralized, Perseus could see that it was obviously a ploy from the headmaster to stop him from interfering in the task's announcement. To be fair, he would have been outraged if he had been there.
The headmaster nodded, "Ah, that is good to hear. Now, I don't believe you came all this way to just speak of your tasks. I suppose I knew that this would be coming. Speak your mind, my son."
Ah yes, one final detail, the headmaster was Perseus' father. He sometimes forgot that little fact, as the man was often more concerned with running the school than raising him. The younger wizard had been raised entirely by his mother before she fell ill, and he wanted to honour her by becoming the best wizard he could be. The healers had no idea what was wrong with her. There was no sign of a curse or illness. She just got progressively weaker before falling asleep and just never woke up afterwards.
He knew long before that that he would never be a healer. He was a destroyer, like his namesake, and over the years his foolish attempts at healing proved that his mother was right to name him that. Names did have power, he supposed.
Still, it had come as a bit of a surprise for the headmaster of Olympus to visit him after she fell into her coma and tell him that he was his father. He'd been a bit glad at first, at the thought of such a prestigious man helping him to achieve his goals, but the man had always been a headmaster first and a father second. He gave Perseus every opportunity he could and helped him achieve greatness, but he did so as a teacher, not a father.
Perseus stifled years of pent-up anger and spoke up with an even tone, "A golden apple? You're giving an opportunity for foreigners to win a golden apple as if it were some kind of prize for a competition. This was supposed to be a quest, one of the biggest ones in our generation. We should have gone to the Oracle, not made our legacy into some kind of farce."
Perseus' voice got louder as he kept talking, the rage and betrayal seeping into his skin as he repressed the hurt, he felt. His father knew that a Golden Apple had grown, a chance he could heal his mother, save her from her endless sleep. And yet, the man chose to parade it around as a prize for foreigners instead of issuing a quest that would have his son have a chance at saving his mother.
"That's enough, boy," the man raised his voice, and a loud crack of thunder almost shook the entire building. There it was, Olympus' headmaster, the strongest Storm Elemental in history, a person who could wipe out a small village in minutes. In Magical Greece, society was built on power, and there was no one stronger than the Storm bringer himself.
The ground stopped shaking and the noise disappeared as suddenly as it appeared. Sometimes, he still marvelled at the man's control over his magic. Perseus hoped he would never develop such a mastery over his magic one day.
"I did go to the Oracle, boy. This is what was decreed," the man stated calmly, "I knew that you'd object and that I'd be forced to silence you, removing a lot of your authority in the school. I didn't want to do that publicly."
That little fact just made Perseus freeze in his tracks. That made a disturbing amount of sense. It was obvious that the headmaster wasn't really thrilled with the prospect either, but the words of the Oracle were law. A golden apple was the highest prize any Greek would wish to have. It was a Panacea in a bite and even rumoured to make whoever ate it all completely immortal with a permanent place in Olympus.
He had his doubts about the immortality part, especially since only one man had ever eaten an entire apple on his own, Heracles, and from the little he could tell, he disappeared after climbing Mount Olympus. There were a few songs of him joining the gods at their table or something, but it was all just supposition at best.
Still, something was wrong about that, "Then why not just tell me beforehand?"
"Because you would have tried to oppose it. I didn't wish to risk it, so I removed you from the equation entirely."
"What about my mother then? Did you not consider that I might have wanted to know that there was a chance that I could heal her, that a Golden Apple has grown in Hera's Garden."
The man nodded, "I did, but it is the will of the Gods. One does not simply defy them. The Oracle has spoken, and there is no changing that."
"Then I will join the delegation, I will find the Golden Apple and use it to heal Mother."
Unexpectantly, the headmaster nodded, "You will. This was why I put your name as one of the Champions representing our school."
That just took him a bit to register that. He didn't know how to really reply and just said, "Thank you, Father."
"I know that I have been distant, but I am not cruel. Do me and our school proud, my son."
Perseus choked up but he steeled himself and asked, "Father, there is also the matter where you're letting strangers enter Mount Olympus, a sacred ground, for a school competition. I don't see this going well, from both our nation and the foreigners. We're both making a mockery of our legacy, of our beliefs, but we are also putting their champions in danger. This is Olympus, father, we cannot protect them there. You and I both know the manner of beasts there, the strange magics and enchantments. The chances they could get hurt, even killed, are quite high. And considering that the other tasks were relatively harmless, the school is going to have a lot of backlashes from both sides."
His father slumped slightly, "And that will be my burden to bear, but the will of the gods is absolute."
"Father…" Perseus started.
He was interrupted by the man's jovial tone, "Don't worry about this old man, I have handled more than my share of political issues, I'll manage. Now, I believe you have a quest to prepare for, and a mother to save. Give me a list of your chosen teammates by the end of the day."
Perseus nodded and left the room, his mind entirely on the task ahead. He had a few candidates in mind. He wasn't going to take any risks with his mother's health being at stake. Regardless, from what he could see of the other champions' showing so far, he wasn't that concerned with them getting ahead of him. Most were weak, sometimes even a bit clever, but the only one who had stood out was the Potter boy, but he'd disappeared during the Third Task and was assumed to have died.
It was a shame; he hadn't had a worthy opponent in a while. Then again, Mount Olympus was more than challenging enough, and a quest for a golden apple was bound to be filled with dangers. He did feel bad about his fellow champions. They had no idea what they were in for, probably too blinded by the prize, not that he could blame them. After all, what a prize that was. He hoped that there wouldn't be any deaths, but he wasn't that optimistic. His father was probably going to get a lot of heat from the task, but the man's hands were tied. One could not simply deny the will of the gods.
Either way, he was going to win this thing. It was his chance at finally saving his mother and he wasn't going to let that go, ever.
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AN: Alright, this is the last chapter before the start of the sixth task. I'm pretty excited about that one. I have something pretty special prepared, and things are about to be eventful after this small streak of fillers. I'm not sure if this chapter did a good job of introducing Perseus and I'm not even sure if it was a good idea of adding a new character like this. This was supposed to happen somewhere in the last two tasks, but since I decided not to do them, I decided to do it like this. He'll be very important in the next task, which is why I introduced him. As usual, I don't mind rewriting it depending on your feedback, but the pace should start to pick up starting with the next chapter, so be prepared for that. As usual, please let me know what you think and if you have any recommendations.
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If you want to support me check out my patréon at https://www.patréon.com/athassprkr
I tend to upload drafts of early chapters on there to get people's opinions of them so you can read up to 20 chapters ahead as a bonus.
Thank you guys for your support in these hard times.