"Umm, one moment please…" Tyson politely asked for a second as he patted around his robes as realization dawned on him. "I forgot the papers." He whispered to Nessie.
Nessie leaned in. "Bawhooo?"
"I don't remember what to say. Big Brother said to write it down so I could study it, but I forgot it back home." Tyson looked like he was about to cry.
All the while, both Ares and the demigods just stared at him, his low voice clearly heard by everyone present.
"Bawhooooo." Nessie nudged him.
"Okay, I'll try." Tyson nodded, and then he did what his brother taught him. He stood up straight, letting his big stature cast an imposing image. "T-this lowly Cyclops is Tyson. I have arrived to assist you, f-fellow Daoists?"
He looked at Nessie, and the sea creature gave him a nod of approval.
Percy and the others looked between themselves.
"Alright." Percy said casually. "Hey, do you know my brother? Three eyes, kind of goofy, likes to dress like a pimp? And he flies on a sword for some reason?"
Tyson's eye lit up. "You know, big brother? He's my big brother!"
"Wait, he's your brother too; does that make us brothers?" Percy asked excitedly. "Poseidon?" He pointed to himself and then at Tyson.
Tyson's smile grew big, and he nodded enthusiastically. "I have another brother!"
Before Percy realized the implications, he had already been scooped up in a hug by Tyson.
"Seriously, you're doing this now?" Ares asked in disbelief. "Yes, your dumbass father fucks anything that moves, so you have a bunch of siblings all over the place. Is it really that big of a deal?"
Though, despite everything, he was still being rather casual; he was in no rush.
However, Tyson and Percy sort of lost the brotherly moment as Tyson gently let him down, feeling awkward at that point.
"Bawhoooo!" Nessie bellowed, looking at Ares.
"What did you just say about my mother!?" Ares' eyes widened, taken aback by being insulted by a random monster that popped up.
"Holy shit, that's cold." Percy muttered.
"Nessie!" Tyson covered his mouth, his young ears turning red at hearing such language for the first time.
"What? What the hell is going on? Can you actually understand that thing?" Annabeth asked.
"It's a water creature; they're children of Poseidon; it's obvious they can understand it. And Ares is a god." Malcolm chimed in, giving his sister a disdainful look, wondering why it was such a weird concept to her.
"Right, you know what? I'm done. I was going to play around a bit, maybe let you twerps do a runner so I could 'chase' you and have a bit of a laugh at your expense, but now I want some dinosaur sushi." He growled lightly.
"Not a Dinosaur." Percy pointed out.
"Percy, you're not helping!" Luke hissed under his breath.
"And that's my cue to end this little meeting." Ares snapped his fingers. "Get them, boys."
The surrounding 'bikers' all pulled out their weapons and charged at the group.
"Fight!" Malcolm yelled, drawing his own sword and charging at the nearest biker, cutting off his arm.
He noted earlier that there seemed to be no blood or anything of the sort, but he didn't stop.
Percy pulled out his pen, clicking it, and it transformed into his own sword as he quickly deflected a spear that was stabbed at him.
Despite lacking 'experience' to him, the movements of the biker he was fighting seemed a bit slow.
Luke's eyes widened as he saw how easily Percy and Malcom took care of their first opponents. He had a smidge of trouble at the sudden sword being slashed at his chest, but as a son of Hermes, speed was his forte.
He quickly slid to the side and swung his own sword up, locking it with his opponent for a moment before breaking his guard and kneeing him in the chest. The biker fell over, and Luke quickly stabbed him in the chest before rolling to the side as a spear narrowly missed his head.
Annabeth joined him, jumping onto the back of one of the bikers attempting to sneak up on him, stabbing both of her daggers into his back, and making him fall over as she gracefully landed on the ground.
Both Annabeth and Luke had trained and fought together multiple times at this point. Their coordination, while still a bit immature due to their age, was enough that they were able to take down several of Ares' henchmen in short succession.
Quickly, bodies began to pile up on the ground around them as their breathing picked up, and their stamina was starting to take a hit.
As Luke pulled his blade free from the stomach of one of the strange bikers, he shot Annabeth a grin as they had a moment to catch their breaths.
Unconsciously, their eyes turned towards their companions, who had also been fighting a bit away.
Annabeth was about to tell Luke that they needed to help Percy and Malcolm, but the words seemingly died in her throat.
Percy and Malcolm were working together, if it could be called that, and there were perhaps four times as many bodies piled up around their area.
Not only that, while they were clearly exhausted to the eyes of Annabeth and Luke, they were still able to go strong. Showing strength and speed that would have made most demigods in camp jealous.
The two of them were confused; these two were new, they had just arrived in camp recently, yet why did it seem like they were the ones who lacked training?
"Not bad, kiddos, not bad at all." Ares gave a casual clap amidst the sounds of battle. "Have to admit, I'd have thought you all would have folded by now, but I'm genuinely impressed."
He still hadn't gotten up from his seat.
In all truth, he was disdainful towards the idea of dealing with them himself. Likewise, as the God of War, he simply couldn't just snap his fingers to route them. It went against his pride and his divine disposition.
Ares was the God of War, the aspect that represented bloodshed, violence, and death. The part that needed a fight to happen rather than winning through schemes or tricks. Not that he's incapable of the latter, but it went against what he stood for.
As easily as he could have dealt with the kids, he was bound by his own nature to let them fight.
"Hermes brat, not bad. You've definitely been training that sword arm of yours. Even the little girl from my sister, you know how to exploit an opening." He praised them just as well as he would kill them when the time came. "Barnacle Beard's kid, credit where it's due. I thought you were a complete novice, but look at you. If I wasn't going to throw you under the bus, I'd almost be impressed enough to grant you my favor. You're still utterly green, but by my father's beard, you got the instinct."
Percy was nearly caught off guard by his words that one of the bikers he was fighting nearly ran him through.
In that moment, Percy gathered the sweat from his body and splashed it over the visor of the biker, blinding him, and went low to slash at his legs.
Ares wasn't even upset; he just nodded towards Percy for a good show.
Lastly, his eyes landed on Malcolm.
"And you, I don't know what to say."
Malcolm gracefully sidestepped a powerful spear thrust, and his sword quickly and precisely found the owner's neck with the barest effort before moving on to the next enemy.
"Definitely my sister's kid, but hot damn, that's some exquisite swordsmanship." Ares gave more genuine praise. "The other three, I could accept, but who the heck are you, kiddo? Even your sister over there—I know her because she's the loudest of my sister's kids at camp. Even Hermes' kid too—he's the so-called 'Head of his cabin,' so I had an inkling of who he was before. But I have no idea who you are, and that's a bloody shame."
Malcolm didn't answer. Instead, he grabbed the collar of one of Ares' henchmen and swung his sword through his neck, severing his head. It would have been significantly more gruesome if there were actually blood or gore involved, but it was concerningly clean. Despite this, Malcolm tossed the head through the air, and it landed at Ares' feet.
The God of War just let out a bark of laughter.
"Good kid, that's the kind of mentality you need when you're in a fight. Be graceful, be aloof, or be elegant if you want. But you need to know when to be savage." Ares grinned, stomping his foot on the severed head at his feet.
The head dissipated into black smoke.
"Do you like to hear yourself talk?" Malcolm snorted, letting out a breath as he jumped back into the fray.
"Yes." Ares didn't deny it. "First lesson, kids, gods are capricious and proud. We're arrogant and self-indulgent. The smallest slight, well, we answer it tenfold, like this." He snapped his fingers, and the number of 'bikers' doubled in an instant.
"Guys, they're not real." Malcolm called out. "Some type of construct. They might have a weakness!"
"Hooh, maybe you're right. You got plenty to play around with to fight out." Ares taunted. "You know what, let's add some more." Ares snapped his fingers again, and like that, a couple hundred more manifested around them. "I'm a generous god after all."
"Bawhoooo." Nessie retorted.
"You got some balls on you, seafood." Ares' attitude immediately did a 180 as he glared at Nessie.
"God damn, that was savage." Percy gasped, looking towards Nessie.
However, Ares, while quick to anger, wasn't someone who acted irrationally in the heat of the moment like this. He preferred a slow and methodical grinding down of people who angered him.
The god, though, was confused; he looked at Nessie and Tyson. "Aren't you both going to help?"
Nessie also looked at Tyson.
Tyson was just casually watching. "I haven't been told what I'm supposed to help with yet."
There seemed to be a moment where everyone just stopped, looking his way.
Luke took that chance to grab Annabeth and jump over the heads of dozens of bikers and land next to Tyson and Nessie, and the two exhausted demigods nearly collapsed.
Malcolm too saw the bad situation and grabbed Percy as the two managed to break through several of Ares' henchmen and took up position on the other side of the Loch Ness Monster.
Now though, there were hundreds of those bikers surrounding them, closing in slowly.
"Uh…Cyclops Bro, mind lending a hand?"
"Is this what you wanted help with?" Tyson tilted his head.
"Yes, very much yes!" Annabeth all but cried out.
"Oh, is the little baby monster going to join in? Have at it, big boy." Ares was still treating it all like a game. "Let's see what you've got."
"Don't worry, I remember what big brother taught me for this!" Tyson smiled happily, and he grabbed at the large sword sheathed on his back. "Heaven Bears Witness"
Tyson swung his sword horizontally, and a hurricane answered, sweeping up dozens of enemies and hurling them through the air. The demigods present, they all braced themselves as the turbulent winds nearly knocked them off their feet despite not being swept up within them.
Everyone, including Ares, froze as the harsh winds subsided. The simple-looking Cyclops now having earned a new status in their hearts.
The sunglasses on Ares' face nearly fell off before he caught himself. "What the actual fuck?" The god blurted out in absolute confusion and disbelief.
"Bawhoooo."
"Oh right, I almost forgot. Thanks, Nessie!" Tyson, oblivious to their stares, also had to do the most important thing. He held his sword in the right position, then posed properly as his robes billowed in the wind. "Am I doing it right, Nessie?"
The Loch Ness Monster raised her flippers in confirmation.
"I don't know what's going on, but I'm digging it." Percy was the first to speak up among their group.
"Thank you, Senior Brother!" Malcolm called out.
"Senior Brother!?" Tyson's eye sparkled. "Did you hear that, Nessie? I'm a senior brother now! I can't wait to tell—"
His words got cut off as a hand grabbed his face and threw him several feet across the ground.
Ares had stood up, and clearly his patience had run out.
"I said I was done before, but now, I really am done. Alright, no more games. I feel like I'm getting treated as a joke." He cracked his neck.
Malcolm was the first to attack, and the others quickly followed suit. His sword was aiming at the god's right eye, only to be casually flicked away without so much as a blink, causing Malcolm to go stumbling and falling to the side.
Percy had tried to go low, aiming at his legs, but Ares gave him a hard kick that sent him sliding across the ground.
Luke and Annabeth had tried to attack together, but he grabbed both of them by the necks and threw them just as easily as he did the others.
"No." Ares intoned as Malcolm tried to sneak attack him from behind.
The God of War barely gave him a spare glance as he grabbed the boy's hand that was clutching the sword and then delivered a swift punch to the gut.
Malcolm, who had been introduced into the path of cultivation, fell to the ground gasping as he felt like his chest had been shattered.
"Damn, you can take a punch, can't you? I thought I killed you there for a second." The God of War said casually as he then kicked Malcolm away, to the younger boy's continued painful gasps.
Ares then casually brought his hand up to block a powerful stream of water aimed at his face. He sent an annoyed look at Percy, who was breathing a bit heavily, and then picked up the chair he was sitting on a moment ago and threw it with enough force that it knocked Percy up off his feet and into the air for a moment before he landed again, groaning, onto the ground.
"Don't bully them!" Tyson roared as he got back up onto his feet and charged at Ares.
The God of War scoffed, holding his hand out as he summoned his own sword, blocking the slash from Tyson.
"I admit, you got some power there, little Cyclops; I could almost feel that." He grinned. "But this is far from enough." He twisted his hand and casually deflected Tyson's large sword to the side and threw a punch into his gut.
Tyson nearly keeled over, but his teeth clenched and he refused to fall. He instead grabbed his sword with both hands and swung it at the god again.
With as much power and speed as he could, he kept swinging.
Each swing was met with a cataclysmic clanking of steel that echoed across the park.
Each had enough force to shatter rocks, yet the God of War used one hand to block and didn't push back even an inch.
Tyson slammed his foot down, his last swing; he gathered everything he had and swung his blade horizontally towards the god of war.
Ares held his hand up and caught the sword.
A moment later, as if catching up, an explosive sound of wind erupted, and hundreds of trees all around them had been cut cleanly in half.
"You know, you're not bad. You definitely got that spark that most demigods don't even have these days. But little Cyclops, I am a god." Ares scowled slightly and plucked the sword from Tyson's grasp, throwing it off into the distance.
He followed it up with another punch, landing right on Tyson's cheek with equal if not more force than Tyson's swing just a moment prior.
The sheer force was enough to cause an explosive eruption of wind that sent Tyson hurling across the park, hitting dozens of trees before his momentum finally stalled and he hit the ground.
"And now, it's your turn, seafood." He looked at Nessie.
"Bawhoo." Nessie responded, and Ares' head snapped towards where Tyson had been sent flying.
To Ares's honest surprise, Tyson came stumbling out of the wreckage of wood and stone that led deeper into the forestry area of the park.
"I won't let you bully my friends!" Tyson shouted, running back at Ares.
The God of War let out a small sigh and sent another punch at Tyson's gut, making him fall over this time.
"It was a nice effort; I'd be proud if one of my kids could do half as well, but know when to stay down." Ares raised his leg up and stomped on the back of Tyson's head, cracking the ground beneath them.
Tyson tried to push himself up, but Ares just put more weight down, forcing him further into the ground.
"Bawhoooo!" Nessie roared at him.
Ironically, the Sect Protecting Divine Beast didn't actually have much combat capabilities.
Ares scoffed, letting up on Tyson but kicking him away. The others were slowly climbing to their feet as well, and Ares just shook his head. "You kids just don't get it, do you? I'm a god."
"Hey…is the reason that all your minions are fake because you don't have any friends?" Percy asked, his legs trembled slightly as he did his best to stay standing.
"..."
"Really, Percy?" Malcolm asked.
"What, can things get somehow worse?" Percy returned.
"Fair." Malcolm nodded. "You're right, I doubt he has any friends."
The God of War felt his eye twitch, and a moment later he was grabbing both of them by the throats. "Do you think you're special, that because you're demigods that I won't kill you? Demigod, monster, none of that matters; at the end of the day, you're still only mortal. And before a god like me, all mortals are just ants!"
Just as he said that, a flash of light soared across the sky.
Ares' eyes widened, and he let go of both the kids and grasped at his sword again, summoning it in time to deflect the flash of light coming at him.
The resounding clang sent the God of War skidding across the ground as the earth was split open.
"Who!?" The God of War exclaimed in surprise and anger, looking up to the sky.
An ethereal voice carried over the horizon as all other sound ceased.
"The Imperial Sword arrives with the wind, eliminating evil from Heaven and Earth.
Mountains bow, seas part, and ghosts flee when the blade is drawn.
With one eye I saw the Truth of Yin and Yang.
The Dao flows like tides through the Universe, echoing an eternal melody.
I am Ocean Song, the Sect Leader of the Sword Heart Sect."
Ocean Song lightly stepped in front of the others; the faintest whisper of the sole of his footwear touching the ground gave the signal that the world was allowed to utter sound again.
Ocean Song's eyes met the God of War's.
"Fellow Daoist, I heard you say that all of Mortal Origins are ants?" Ocean Song said with a frown as he raised his sword up, pointing it at the God of War. "Today, I would like to see if I, with my mortal origin, look like an ant in your eyes."
[Line Break]
A/N
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