Chapter 72

[Third Person's PoV]

"What the hell did I do?" Lucian asked as they all yelled at him.

The three of them flinched as they heard a cold voice behind them, "So you lied to us…"

Which was followed by the others speaking in an equally cold voice, "Tsk, what did we expect of these 'Heroes'? Of course, they're going to be liars."

"The same thing almost happened to us as what happened with our disowned sister."

"Seriously, these 'Heroes' are really starting to bug me."

"So again, care to explain what I messed up?" Lucian asked

Annabeth quickly informed him of what went on, while the sister Hesperides looked ready to shout for Ladon to come and kill them all.

Upon hearing their recount and already guessing the sister's next action, Lucian quickly jumped out of Ashura and got on one knee.

Very subtly, Lucian controlled the mist around him and made himself look remorseful and more acceptable. "I'm truly sorry for my idiotic friends' actions. You see, this is their first mission, and leaving the camp, they simply don't know how to act.

I'll be sure to scold them later for their actions. My name is Lucian BlackHeart, and as a courtesy, let me greet and ask your names," Lucian said, closing his eyes and reaching for their hands while lowering his head.

They all lowered their guard, seeing how genuine and remorseful Lucian sounded, especially in how polite he was when introducing himself. They felt compelled to return the gesture.

They looked between each other; one of them stepped up and slid her hand into his, "The name is Erytheia."

Lucian kissed her hand, which caused Erytheia to blush, as it had been a long time since they had physical contact with a boy.

After he was done, he turned towards the others and repeated the actions, "The name is Aegle."

"The name is Hesperia."

"And my name is Arethusa."

Lucian held his lips on Arethusa's hand the longest, which caused Arethusa to blush as well.

Annabeth, Luke, Thalia, all looked between one another, unsure of what to do or say. So they decided not to say anything and see where this was headed, and intervene if anything bad happened.

Lucian slowly got up, wobbling at first but standing straight. His face looked very pale, which shocked Annabeth and the others, while the Hesperides sisters didn't notice a thing.

Lucian smiled towards them, "Can you guys not put Ladon to sleep and not get me 5 apples?"

"But of course, we would hate to do that." They turned around and walked towards Ladon. They opened their mouths, and a beautiful song filled with magic started escaping.

Slowly, all of Ladon's 100 heads started to fall asleep, while they went and picked 5 apples from the golden trees.

Annabeth and the others had their mouths wide open as they watched the Hesperides skip along and hand Lucian the apples.

Lucian just smiled as they were all in his hand, blood started running down both corners of Lucian's lips.

'Ashura, take us out of here! Quick!' Lucian inwardly commanded.

Ashura surprised the others as it took Annabeth, Luke, and Thalia all in different arms before sprinting towards Lucian and taking him on its last arm.

He turned around and sprinted away from them, causing the ground behind them to crack due to the force Ashura used.

"Lucian, what's going on–" Annabeth stopped mid-sentence and gained a horrified look as Lucian started vomiting blood.

"Lucian!!!" They all shouted, seeing him so pale and weak.

"What the hell did you do!?" Thalia asked.

Lucian didn't get a chance to answer as they heard shouting from behind them as they landed at the bottom of the mountain.

"THOSE HEROES, I'LL NEVER FORGIVE THEM. CURSE THEM!!! LADON, WAKE UP. COME ON, IT'S NO TIME TO BE SLEEPING."

Even while looking weakly pale, with bags under his eyes, and blood covering his entire lower jaw, Lucian smiled triumphantly.

"Lucian: 2, Supernatural Entities: 0," Lucian said with a hoarse throat.

As Ashura ran with them in its hands, Lucian started to explain…

"I used the mist; I created an illusion that made me more favorable in their eyes… you guys saw me lowering my head towards them, right? I was appearing vulnerable towards them by exposing my nape, which made them lower their guard. *cough* *cough*

And with their guards lower, I was finally able to use charmspeak without them noticing anything amiss. *cough* *cough*

Hey Annabeth… remember how you found me in Aphrodite's Cabin?" Lucian smirked.

Annabeth's teary eyes widened, "Is that what you were doing in there? You were learning their charmspeak!?!?!"

Lucian continued to smirk while tiredly nodding his head.

"What did you do when you kissed their hands? It now makes sense; you did something to them while kissing their hands, that's why they were acting weird towards the end and doing the opposite of what you were telling them," Luke exclaimed. If he hadn't witnessed what he did, he wouldn't have believed it.

"Hehehe, I cursed them… I cursed them with confusion. Now mix their state of confusion with a commanding charmspeak. Hehehe, due to their confusion, they were doing the opposite of what they were told without realizing it; it made the effects of Charmspeak more powerful…hehehehe *cough* *cough*

Although you may or may not have realized, I was literally scraping the bottom of the barrel for magic for that last one, which was why I took longer" Lucian admitted.

They sat there, being carried by Ashura, not knowing what to say, except to be in complete and utter shock.

"Don't let your guards down," Lucian warned them after a few minutes of silence, confusing them.

"Who knows if they manage to wake up Ladon and ride him after us and manage to track us down while we make rest stops. After all, never underestimate a woman's scorn, especially four of them."

They all nodded in understanding as Lucian just lay on Ashura's palm, taking deep breaths.

There was silence for a while before Thalia slowly asked, unsure if she truly wanted the answer to her question, "Hey… Lucian. What happened to the Mountain God?"

Lucian slowly turned towards Thalia and grinned, exposing his bloody teeth and a crazed smile before slowly running his thumb across his neck.

They all froze, feeling petrified. Their friend had slain a God, a being which had been respected and revered, all by himself.

Don't get them wrong, they didn't fear their friend. No, what they truly feared was the reaction of the other gods and the reciprocation that would follow.

After all Lucian was only 10 years old, a child that has barely been alive for a decade, managed to defeat and slay a lower God.

If he managed to do that now, what about the future, would they be able to stop him? How long before he turns his blade towards them?