Chapter Twelve.

I stared at my handiwork with a weird sense of emptiness.

The Nemean lion, the mighty beast, was reduced to nothing but a whimpering mess in front of me. Its eyes, previously ferocious, filled with anger, defiance, and superiority, now held nothing but fear as it tried, and failed to get away from me due to its broken limbs.

"I think that's enough, my boy."

A hand fell on my shoulder and I glanced at Chiron, who looked like he had gone through hell. Small cuts battered his human body, the only part I could see clearly, his breathing was heavy, indicating that the lion wasn't the only monster that was sent to the camp.

I looked back at the vermin that dared to attack my camp. Brushing the old man's hand off, I walked forward, getting another whimper from the almost-dead cat.

Lightning danced on my hand, intensifying by the second as I got closer, taking the slightest bit of satisfaction at the look of fear that crossed the lion's disfigured face.

Crouching right in front of its head, I stared into its eyes silently and placed a hand on its body.

This time, it wasn't a roar of pain that responded to my actions, there was no sound as I tortured the beast until it finally disappeared into dust, leaving behind a brown leather jacket.

Walking forward and grabbing the piece of clothing, I changed its form into a red cape, securing it around my neck. Walking up to the silent Chiron, I looked around, seeing the injured campers.

I narrowed my eyes, those fucking pathetic excuses of divine beings.

I raised my arm, I didn't care anymore. This camp was under my protection.

My divinity seeped out of my body, locating the bodies of the campers who lost their lives prematurely. They were young and had their whole lives ahead of them, the least I could do was to make sure that they got to live it to the fullest.

I felt the effect of what I was doing on my body. I was effectively sacrificing my own lifespan to turn back time on the bodies of the deceased and bring their souls back forcefully.

Lightning boomed overhead which I ignored and did not stop what I was doing.

Messing with time came with a cost unless you had an endless supply of fuel, which in my case would be divinity, which I did not have enough of at the moment.

"Leonidas, what are you doing?!"

The lightning that came down into the camp was aimed at me but before it could reach me, it impacted the barrier I constructed with my divinity.

That's four.

I cared little about who I offended by doing this, I would take care of them as they came, but the children would live.

Soon enough, I dropped my hand back to my side and sighed in relief when I heard quick intakes of breaths and uncontrollable coughing.

A quarter of my lifespan was gone, just like that.

I watched as the stunned teens went to check on their newly revived siblings.

Sparing a glance at the darkening clouds above, raising an eyebrow at the lightning that threatened to strike again, and waved a hand absently.

The clouds parted like they were never gathering and I singlehandedly offended Zeus and Hades at the same time, maybe even the Fates.

"Do you realize what you have just done, Leonardo?"

My head snapped to the side, and I felt my lips curl into a scowl when I saw Dionysus walking up to us like he had no care in the world.

"You want me to tell you, or show you how many fucks I do not give?"

I asked genuinely, tilting my head to the side. His response would decide if he got to live or not.

"I see, just making sure."

 The alcoholic nodded and looked at the revived children for a second, and sighed in annoyance. My eyebrow twitched and I restrained myself for the moment.

A plan was being put together in my mind, slowly but surely. I needed to make a barrier around the camp, restricting communication, teleportation, and sensing.

I sighed, taking off my helmet and propping it on my hip. I was about to get back to directing the campers to make the repairs, or putting it off until everybody got a rest while letting the destroyed cabin occupants take shelter in other cabins. Still, I felt a pair of strong hands on my shoulders.

"What did you do, Leonidas?"

I raised an eyebrow at Chiron, rolling my eyes at the urgency in his voice.

"I offended, Zeus, Hades, Artemis, and probably the Fates, in under fifteen minutes, why do you ask?"

Chiron seemed horrified, his hands were trembling something fierce and life slowly left his eyes.

"This is bad, the camp might be doomed, and if not, the gods will come after you, do you realize the consequences of your actions, Leonidas?"

He shook me slightly. Shoving his arms from my shoulders, I rubbed the bridge of my nose.

"Tonight, I killed a minotaur, was turned into a fucking rabbit, turned back, teleported back to the camp without that asshole Apollo's help, tortured a monster, revived people, and pissed off the gods, so forgive me if I don't really give a shit right now."

This time, instead of staying silent, the old man went on.

"You don't understand boy, while your actions saved a lot of campers, you have doomed us all!"

This time, I scowled and glared. He was acting like a coward, if these idiots died, nothing would happen, there were other pantheons out there, the sun would not implode on itself, the moon would not disappear, and the seas would not rise all over the world.

"Let them come, will all of their might, they seem to have forgotten that they need us for their existence. The people outside read about them, but they do not believe them! We are the only way they can make a significant impact on the world while they sit up there, lazying around, being fucking idiots!"

Lightning boomed over us and I looked up to see that while I was venting, the clouds had gathered again. I scowled as thunder boomed and another strike of lightning came down on me, specifically.

Scowl deepening, I raised my hand and slapped the pathetic excuse of an attack back into the sky.

Things were going to change around here, and I would be damned if any more children died on my watch.

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Shameless P-atre-on plug here: p-atreo-n-.com/-user?u=-79594910.

Just delete the "-" and it will work. If it doesn't then my name there is ItsaMeMario.

My apologies for the lack of chapters, it's midterm week and we didn't get a break to prepare for them, but as soon as they are done, I will be posting chapters again.

Thank you for understanding