Chapter 14: The End...Psych
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The golden doomsday device ascended high above into space until it was far enough away that it looked like any other star, where it then expanded into a mass of golden coils and pipes until it eclipsed the previous one Hades took away. It dwarfed the base.
It hung above the world like an executioner's sword ready to come downwards.
And then it fired.
From the tip of the construct came a beam of rainbow light.
Kronos, who watched from a safe viewing distance, laughed maniacally with his arms spread out. "YES! Look at it all, grandson. The day we've dreamed of has finally arrived! HAHAHAHA!"
Finally, Olympus would finally get what's coming to it, and the gods will do nothing but remain powerless.
"…" But Perseus… Perseus did not respond.
He had done it. He had completed the goal he swore upon when the gods locked him on that island. But if he were to be honest, he didn't care about that anymore. He hadn't for a very long time. It was during the battles he participated in on the front lines that he came to an epiphany.
The silver demigod knew the fighting would never end. The demigods and nonaggressive monsters who were under him would never live their lives in peace as long as they were under his leadership. After all the destruction that happened, Gods from other pantheons would not sit idly. This war of his would never stop. Not unless he did something drastic.
That's where the Ultimate Weapon came in. By firing it straight down on Olympus it would prevent the gods from coming back permanently, ending the war, and sending a message to the other pantheons to stay away.
After that, he would leave the pantheon and live in isolation for the rest of his life. Maybe forever.
Tyson stood to the side in stunned silence. His eye, wide with horror, overflowed with tears that hissed into steam the moment they touched his burning cheeks.
"Wha-what have you done?!" He roared, collapsing on his feet. "Big Brother…" The words choked in his throat, barely audible over the tremors and bright flashing of the beam.
Kronos turned to meet the cyclops, his expression a mixture of pity and disdain. "Fool. Can't you see?" Kronos turned back to him. "This is the ending your brother chose to walk towards. You just didn't notice it till now."
But his Cyclops grandson wasn't having it. "That capital B bullshit!" He snarled at the Titan, getting an amused smirk from him. "This… none of this is what Percy wanted—never! He secretly cared about people. You've never seen it, but we did." He wiped away the tear in his eye. "That idiot! He should've come to us!"
At that, Kronos let out a derisive scoff. "Maybe, maybe not." He shrugged. "Either way, it doesn't matter." His next words hit harder than any divine strike. "At the end of the day, he chose to learn under me. Me! The guy who ate his kids." He chuckled in dark humor.
"You son of a—" But he was cut off by a resounding cracking sound echoing out of nowhere.
*CRACK!*
"What!?" Kronos recoiled. Perseus, too, eyes widened in disbelief.
The Ultimate Weapon stopped firing entirely, and in its center, cracks in space began to appear like someone had smashed a mirror with a mallet.
*CRACK!*
More and more of these cracks began happening as something beyond their imagination took place right in front of their eyes. Kronos himself had a bewildered look.
Tyson noticed it too. "What's going on?"
The titan looked on in stunned silence, at a loss for words. "Kronos, answer me!" Tyson shouted.
"Reality is…shattering." The Titan replied.
Instead of obliterating Olympus like they planned, the focused divine beam bent the laws of existence itself. At its center, the very fabric of reality tore open as a white wormhole appeared.
*CRACK!*
"Oh, shit!" Kronos cursed as he brought out his hand and concentrated his divinity over time to prevent something worse from happening, but he wasn't fast enough.
*VOOOOM!*
A rift of white light opened up, and tendrils of light—thousands of them—slithered into their world at unbelievable speeds.
They shimmered hot white as the swerved all over the place, but there was something grotesque about their movements, like they were trying to greedily grasp whatever was for the taking. It was, for lack of better words, unnerving.
The tendrils of light broke away anything that touched them, disintegrating upon contact. It was no wonder they took immediate hold of the structure, as it was the nearest physical object in the vicinity.
At the same time, creatures began popping out of the crevices of the dimensional gap in swarms.
These otherworldly entities, who were the size of large vehicles, emerged in droves, screeching as they swarmed the base like a hornets' nest, causing further destruction that the white tendrils of light missed.
One of them stood in front of Kronos, their bug-like wings flapping as their teeth clattered. It was a true monstrosity out of a child's worst nightmare. It was an awful sight to look at with their vibrant purple and black carapace and their alien features.
"Screech!" The outer world creature let out a screech as it went to attack the titan alongside a few more behind it.
They made their way to Kronos and attacked him only to end up burned into nothingness. Though they seemed tough on paper, these small fries were as strong as the average child of a minor god.
"What in the world are these things!?" Tyson sent out a burst of magma above him to kill them in masse.
Hades summoned skeletal soldiers all over to shield himself as they fight those creatures. In his injured state, it was the most he could do.
At the same time, Poseidon was back in action, shielding himself with a whirlpool of water that cut down any of these insectoids that got too close as he walked to them, having barely healed his wounds.
Zeus, on the other hand, still remained unconscious, but was being protected by a veil of water.
"What did you do?" The Sea God glared at his father.
"If I had to wager a guess, I'd say we punched a hole in reality, and in doing so may or may not have opened up our world to another dimension. Sorry, not sorry." Kronos said, receiving a frown from all three.
Before another conflict could arise, his grandson stepped in. 'Switch with me.' Percy told, receiving a nod from his grandfather.
"Sure, I've had my fun." Kronos replied and closed his eyes, and when they opened again, they revealed a pair of silver eyes, signifying that Perseus had returned to the fray.
The face of Silba broke apart to reveal the ashamed face of the silver demigod, looking on at the catastrophe he brought. "This… This wasn't supposed to happen…" He put his head down with a regretful expression.
Not in his wildest dreams did he think he would open a wormhole and bring such danger to his world. He wanted to end Olympus and their reign so the rest of his subordinates wouldn't have to continue fighting his war.
Poseidon looked to his son, but the latter only kept his head down. "I'm… I'm so sorry."
"Big brother." Tyson called out, holding his arm as he limped to his brother's side. "It's you right" He asked, receiving an apologetic nod.
He paused for a moment before speaking. "Tyson, I—"
*PUNCH!*
But he couldn't finish that sentence as he was without warning decked across the face by his younger brother.
The silver demigod's face whipped to the side, even if it didn't do much. "Tyson!" Poseidon shouted as his other son grabbed Perseus by the shoulder. He was getting closer to stop them but was held back by a skeletal soldier.
"That's for not listening, you idiot!" The red-eyed cyclops gave his brother an enraged look the latter thought not possible.
*SCREEE!*
Another one of those creatures flew to them, but it was promptly dealt with by Tyson, who ripped it with his own hand. "I can't believe you!" He began as yet another rushed to them.
*KICKED!*
But Tyson simply kicked it away like a football. "You should've come to me or any of us before things got like this!" He sent a wave of fire at another.
The Cyclops then turned to his brother and grabbed him by the shoulder. "You have a lot to answer for when this is over, but that can wait. Right now, we need to stop this thing." He pointed at the wormhole in the distance.
The tear in the space was feeding off the weapon's power and would only get bigger. How long would it take before it reached their world and engulfed it? Not to mention those weak creatures were popping out like flies. To them they might as well have been as weak as insects, but they came from a different dimension. It only stands to reason that something stronger was bound to appear any minute.
They couldn't leave it up to chance. That wormhole could not be left open.
"You're right, I'll take full responsibility for this incident later." He then looked upwards to the crack in the sky. "I promise I'll fix this mess." He gave his word, getting a smile from his younger sibling.
"You'll need my help too." Poseidon raised his hand. "My divinity over water may not work so good in space, but I can work with ice and my Trident."
"Count me in too." Hades spoke from the floor with a hoarse voice.
"I'm not so sure that's a good idea, Uncle. You look…not well." He stared at the burnt body. Poseidon took a moment to look at his brother's injuries and winced at the sight.
"Like Nashville chicken." Kronos snorted.
"No shit, Sherlock." Hades replied dryly. If he could roll his eyes, he would've. "Just use your time power BS on me. What are you waiting for?"
At that, Perseus sighed but did as he say and summoned a golden fire in his hand before tossing it at Hades. The flames consumed the King of the Dead before disappearing and leaving a restored Hades clear of any damages, he's sustained prior. The power of time was truly miraculous. It even restored the immortality he burned away.
Hades stood up, stretching his body. Burning yourself to a crisp really tightened the joints. "Ah, much better. Thank you. So, any idea on what we need to do?" Hades asked, not questioning why his nephew hadn't done the same for Zeus.
The King of the Dead knew why, of course. Zeus would never agree to work with his enemies and would just be a total liability. At the moment, the king of Olympus was better off benched. That's why he brought out some creatures of darkness to protect him from these otherworldly insects.
The silver demigod thought for a moment, having a deep-seated discussion with his grandfather in his mind, which, while lasting for a while, only took a second outside.
"We've just discussed it." He tapped his temple. "The Ultimate Weapons reserves might as well be infinite. It's what's keeping the wormhole stable for so long."
"We obviously can't keep it like that. Who knows what will come out?" Tyson added, getting nods of agreement from all three. No one wanted some eldritch deity of insanity and chaos let loose in their world.
"That's why I'll take it down myself by getting close to it with Deeney." He finished, showing his spear.
His divine weapon was forged with the waters of chaos and made solid with his silver water. Because of that, it carried chaotic properties that can attack through anything, including aspects of reality like space or time. From his discussion with Kronos, they surmised that it should be possible to counteract the Ultimate Weapon that is keeping the wormhole open by getting close and striking it.
"Wait, what? We can't let you do that!" Tyson exclaimed firmly.
"Perseus, this is crazy!" Poseidon added. "We don't know what will happen."
"I'm of the same mind." Hades added. "Isn't it better to just throw it instead?" He asked, to which his nephew shook his head.
"It wouldn't do much. That might stop the Ultimate Weapon for a moment but not permanently. Think of it like this. The wormhole is the door, Deeney the key, and I the hand. Without the both of us doing it at the same time, it wouldn't do anything to fix our situation." He explained and Deeney glowed in affirmation.
"Then we break it down alongside them. Problem solved, right?" Tyson hit his fist in his palm.
"Wrong. Metal-wise, Deeney is made out of nearly the exact same material as the Ultimate Weapon—"
"Meaning it's the only thing that can stop it, and you're the only person in the world who can wield it." The sea god finished, receiving a nod from his son.
In truth, that was not true. Deeney could be used by anyone as long as they had the creator's permission. But Perseus kept that secret to himself. It was going to be a cold day in hell before he was going to let others take his place.
"Give it up, Tyson. I started this mess. I'll fix it. End of story, so drop it." He told his brother firmly, getting a reluctant look from Tyson. "I'll need you two to help me get in close." He said, receiving a nod from them except from the Cyclops.
"I don't like this! We don't know what might happen. Can't you use your teleportation powers?" Tyson asked, but Perseus shook his head.
"Even if I did, it wouldn't do much. Deeney is a literal tool of chaos. It can work long distance, sure, but not in a scenario where it requires all chairs to be used. It's complicated, but long story short, it needs me to use its entropic abilities in full to close it."
"Will you be ok?" Poseidon asked, his tone worried.
"I—I don't know?" His son answered unsure.
"Son..." Poseidon placed his hands on Percy's shoulder. He had to say what he wanted to say in this moment, or he'd never forgive himself. "Percy, I should've protected you—I should've done something, anything! I'm sorry my inaction drove you to this point." He spoke with tears in his eyes.
Unlike before when they fought, Perseus could only look down with a conflicted expression. "I hate you—I hate you so damn much, Dad." He trembled, placing his palm on his head.
"I know." The sea god chuckled halfheartedly. "I hate me too." He said, getting a gasp from his son, and for the first time gave him a hug.
The silver demigod stiffened as he felt his father's embrace. It was so foreign to him. He wanted to push the man away immediately, but at this point he didn't have the strength which was a total lie. "Stop it!" He seethed. "Or I'll punch you again." He said with gritted his teeth.
"That's fine with me." But Poseidon called his bluff and continued hugging his son.
Tyson. Hades and Kronos looked at the scene with varying reactions. The Cyclops looked on in joy that this moment finally happened, Hades sighed contently, while Kronos mouth felt like it was filling up with bile, but if his expression was anything to go by, he was quite enraged beyond belief.
"Get off of me!" Instead of punching him like he said he would, he forcibly pushed himself away, much to Poseidon's sadness. "Now's not the time for this kumbaya bullshit. We have a job to do."
"I understand." He raised his Trident.
"We've wasted enough time. Let's move." As he finished that, the face of his Silba transformation returned, and he flew upwards.
At that, Tyson, Hades, and Poseidon used their respective auras to do it and followed behind the silver demigod.
"Wipe that depressed look off, you unaware idiot." Hades told Poseidon, who grumbled in response.
"Shut up." Poseidon gave his brother an annoyed look. "And how am I unaware?" He asked to which the King of the Dead palmed his head with a sigh.
"Learn to read between the lines. He said, 'Now's wasn't for this kumbaya bullshit'. But later…" He paused, leaving Poseidon to fill in the blanks.
Poseidon's eyes widened. If what Hades said was true, then that means when this is done, he and his son can talk some more. This was wonderful news. "Hades, thanks you." He smiled in hope.
Hades smiled. "It's no problem. Believe it or not, I'm also quite fond of the boy. I would rather you two patch up your damaged father-son relationship than continue this family squabble." He chuckled, to which Poseidon did the same. "But seriously, your kid needs to be more honest with his feelings. His attitude reminds me exactly of you when you were younger." He commented, getting some nervous laughter from the Sea God.
A long time ago, the King of the Seas behaved almost the exact same way as Perseus. Arrogant, fearsome, haughty, and cold-hearted, but also vulnerable to open affection. Like father like son.
"Hehe, don't remind me." Poseidon rubbed the back of his head. "I've long since moved on from that stupid phase." He replied, getting a snort from Hades.
All four shot right for the wormhole. The Ultimate Weapon was in their sights, and they could see half of it stuck between their dimension and what's on the other side. At the same time, hundreds of glowing-eyed monsters were pouring out at them and aimed their beady-eyed sights at them.
"Pierce right through. We can't let them hinder us for a single moment." He shouted, his bright silver spear already crackling with silver aura now became multicolored as it activated all Chairs at its disposal.
Beside him, Hades gritted his teeth, arms scorched but raised. Tyson's fists glowed magma-hot, ready to blast these things to kingdom come.
"Here they come!" The silver demigod called out.
Hades's and Tyson's palms ignited, and they let loose their power at them. An arc of combined flames appeared in space, mowing down the enemy like a literal wildfire in a dry forest. Tyson and Hades nearly scorched one-third of them alone, creating a huge space for them to them reach their destination. It was almost too easy.
*SCREEEECH!*
Just then even stronger monsters began to appear alongside something else. A serpent-wyrm with jade green skin and aquamarine eyes slides out from the dimensional gap and attacks them. Its body was so large it would have given the world serpent a run for its money, lengthwise at least.
It dove down at them with speed that contradicted its large size.
*PIERCE!*
It didn't make it far, as a single spear throw to its head from the Silba sealed the deal in only a second. The other world serpent went down without so much as a rustle, having a hole straight through its brain. Its body collapsed and hung heaver between the wormhole.
But it seemed like other such beasts tagged along with it because a three-headed boar with corpses for eyes and glowing yellow tusks rushed out of the wormhole, pushing the serpent's body to the side as it rushed toward them.
"I got this." Tyson said, and Silba nodded before sending out an Asimi Rythmo next to his brother to teleport him ahead of them in the boar's warpath. "Bring it ooooon!"
*BOOM!*
Tyson, with his huge body stretched out, met the beast's attack head-on. "HAAAAAAGH!"
*BOOM*
The two clashed, and a giant explosion of power resounded out of them. The two struggled for a battle of endurance as they did their best to fend each other off. "Keep going without me. I'll be alright!" Tyson yelled as the boar pushed him back, but the cyclops held his own.
Even stronger creatures from other worlds appeared one after another and lunged for Hades, but each one didn't make it far as Hades, Poseidon, and Silba danced between the chaos, leaving a trail of corpses in their wake with Tyson not so far behind.
They soon reached the Ultimate Weapon. Silba pulled back his arm as he prepared to strike the ultimate weapon while Hades dealt with the last of them. Deeney flared in a multicolored aura from all existing Chairs. "Time to go."
But just before he could stab it, something else appeared from the dimensional gap. Pressure unlike any of them had felt washed over them like a tsunami. It even dwarfed Silbas. A hand came out the portal. Massive. Pale. Scarred. Fingers larger than towers. Its veins resembling rivers.
That single hand grabbed ahold of Hades, Poseidon, and Tyson in its clutches. Clenching around them as if they were little more than toys.
"...B-Big brother!" Tyson choked, crushed in its grip.
"KAAGH!…" Hades coughed, ichor spitting from his lips and mouth.
Just like they feared, something far worse than they realized had invaded their world.
Silba stared in shock before his face contorted in anger, but before he went to fight that thing, Poseidon yelled. "Don—don't worry about us!" He shouted to his son. "Close it, now!
Heeding his father's words, the silver demigod turned his attention back to the Ultimate Weapon, using Asimi Rythmo, he flash-teleported right in front of it. With all the strength his body could afford and then some, he thrust Deeny right through it, thereby also coming in contact with the wormhole between dimensions.
*CRACK!*
A hole was made in the Ultimate Weapon as a flash of golden light appeared. It was so bright that even gods would need to shield their eyes. The wormhole began closing. At the same time, the stored divine power sent a blast of divine energy that pushed back everything in its vicinity.
"GHH!" Silba struggled with all his might to keep his spear in until the work was done. Even as Tyson, Hades, and Poseidon yelled in pain.
Just as the hole to the dimensional gap began closing up. It began getting smaller and smaller, forcing the monstrous pale hand to let go of Hades and Tyson, getting a gasp of relief from the two, but they couldn't celebrate yet as the power that was getting released pushed them back.
The hole and the subsidiary cracks and white tendrils began receding back as it closed up. However, it seemed that the entity behind the other side of that dimension wasn't happy with what they were doing because a white nail appeared, running itself through Silba's body just as the tear in reality disappeared.
"Percy!" Poseidon and Tyson screamed as dark laughter not from Kronos could be heard through the wormhole.
"AAAAAAAAAAGH!" But Perseus Silba Jackson didn't let up, even as finger was between his torso. He kept the spear in place until the very end.
And then out of nowhere...
*BOOM!*
An explosion of light exploded all around them, blinding everything in the vicinity. The explosion of light was so intense it even made its way to Earth, enveloping it completely.
...
In the realm between realms, where time does not flow and stars are born from threads of possibility, the three sisters of fate and destiny, the Morai, sat in front of their loom, doing their job, knitting a pair of socks.
Millions of threads surrounded and enshrouded the area like a tent, but their eyes were locked on a particularly bright silver thread, its color flickering but its firmness still holding strong.
Clotho, the youngest of the sisters, who spun the threads of life, held the silver strand delicately between her fingers, her lips trembling with a sad smile. "So amazing, so kind. He was not meant to burn so brightly." She whispered, her voice soft as moonlight. "And yet… he did. I'm going to miss him so much."
The demigod was a fighter. A prodigal genius who rose to the status to bring gods and titans alike down on their knees all the while not getting consumed by the power he wielded.
Lachesis, the middle sister, who measured the length of every life, nodded solemnly. Her fingers paused on the measure of his fate, eyes glistening as she stared into what should have been the end.
"I feel the same way, sister. His tale should have concluded much earlier, with his perfect victory. The future where he would've been happy with his team."
Atropos, the eldest, whose shears ended all stories, held her blade above the thread—but did not cut. She never hesitated before.
"He defied the gods. Defied us for the people he loved. And still, I find I cannot sever him. His thread... it refuses to yield. It hardens even as its glow flickers." Her voice was laced with awe, not fear. "It's regrettable he didn't want a happy ending. He more than deserved it."
The Silver Demigod's name will go down in history as the greatest hero of all ages, and ironically he will never call himself that.
Clotho placed her hand on the shears, smiling beside her sister. "It's better this way. He will go on a new journey. Befriend new people and grow to love them too, I'm sure." Her eyes shimmered with tears she rarely allowed to fall. "He will laugh again. He will love again. A fresh start,"
Lachesis placed her own on the shears as well. "It's not just him who will have a fresh start. Many will too, friends and foe alike. Zeus especially. That idiot will never learn to let go along with the rest of those dumbasses." She hissed in annoyance.
Atropos also sighed in irritation. "Those fools really don't know when to give up. It's really pathetic when you think about it. A literal second chance, and most of them would blow it the moment they get a bit of power and end up right where they started."
"True, but they'll lose. They'll always fall before that genius. After all, it's fated." Clotho added, getting a smirk from the other two.
And so, the three sisters stood in silence as the strands of fate twisted anew. They had seen many heroes. They had witnessed many legends. But this one… this Perseus, born of sorrow and shaped by wrath, would be the one they would remember most. Not for how he died—but for how he lived, how he fought, protected, and shielded the helpless, and how he would rise again… this time with a fresh start.
*SNIP.*
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(Finally, I can actually get to the plot I've wanted to get into. I don't know how I've dragged this on for so long. lol. Anyhow, next chapter will come around maybe the following week. I've got BA, so I won't have the time. Thank you for holding out with me. Bye-bye.)