[Third Person’s PoV]

“So where are you taking me?” Lucian asked with an awkward expression as Hades continued to carry him.

“Where do you think? Back to camp.”

“What? Already? We haven’t even had a proper conversation. This is the first time I’m meeting you face to face, after all,” Lucian said with a hint of sadness in his tone.

Hades slowly turned his head to look at Lucian’s back as he was carrying him. He didn’t say anything else before they both disappeared into his shadow.

They reappeared in an open field, just a couple of feet away from the camp. Hades let out a sigh before putting Lucian down in front of him.

Lucian looked at Hades, who was looking at him, and the two continued to awkwardly look at each other.

Hades slicked his hair back with a hand while the other rested on his hip. He then knelt before Lucian on one knee with his arm resting on it.

“So, what do you want to say?”

“First of all,” Lucian said, raising a finger with a big, friendly, and warm smile, almost instantaneously turning that finger into a fist and swinging it across Hades’ face, which took him by complete surprise as he wasn’t expecting it.

Lucian’s danger senses then started to go haywire, causing him to take a step back. Hades’ fist came down where he once stood, creating cracks in the ground.

Hades’ aura started to slowly manifest itself, as Hades looked at Lucian with glowing eyes which made them look as if they were on fire.

…

Thalia, Luke, and Annabeth waited for Lucian near the entrance of the camp.

“How long do you think Lucian’s going to be there?” Luke asked with an unreadable expression.

“It shouldn’t be long. After all, he’s on trial. Lucian said he would have it covered, so probably in an hour if not more,” Annabeth said.

Before Thalia had anything to say on the matter, they saw Lucian appear on the hill wearing a black toga.

Their eyes widened upon seeing his arrival. “That fast!?” They all wondered with happiness, glad to see Lucian looked alright and unharmed… that is until he started walking down the hill.

Lucian slowly limped down the hill with tears streaming down his face while slowly rubbing his backside.

As he approached the entrance, they were shocked by his state of being. “What’s wrong?” Annabeth asked with worry.

“Yeah, what’s going on? What happened?” Thalia asked with the same tone of voice.

Lucian didn’t say much except 2 words as he slowly made his way back towards his cabin, “Divine Punishment,” he sniffled.

…

The Underworld…

As Hades appeared in his throne room, he found Persephone waiting in her throne with Demeter by her side, trying to start a conversation with her, while Persephone looked annoyed. Medea was by her side as well, standing like a dutiful servant.

Persephone and Medea’s faces grew excited as they saw Hades appear, while Demeter looked annoyed.

“Tell us! Tell us, how was Lucian? Those bastards didn’t do anything bad to him, right? What did you two say to each other? What were your interactions like!?” Persephone asked with excitement, forgetting her mother was right there with her, being one of those bastards she was talking about.

“Young lady, watch your manners,” Demeter reprimanded while Persephone just rolled her eyes.

Hades just rubbed his cheek with two fingers and a scowl, “That bastard punched me in the face.”

Demeter cackle with glee, “HAHAHA that’s what you get! Maybe that kid isn’t bad at all. I’m starting to see why you like him.”

Even Persephone and Medea started laughing, which caused Hades’ scowl to deepen. “It’s no laughing matter. That boy truly knows no respect.”

Persephone just giggled, “To be fair, he did send a warning with the Furies before.”

“That was three years ago, my love. I would have thought he would have forgotten about it or at least gotten over it.”

Persephone rolled her eyes, “He’s your child, and every child you had shared one trait between all of you: they all hold grudges. It’s your fault for thinking he was the exception.”

Medea then started to smirk while looking at Hade, “That look in your eyes… it’s the same one Lucian gets when he’s beaming with pride at one of his creations. You’re proud of him aren’t you”

Hades then scoffed before sitting on his throne not even bothering to answer her question.

“You totally are, now I’m curious what else happened” Persephone said looking at Hades with a teasing smirk.

Demeter just looked at Hades in distaste before muttering, “It’s probably about when Zeus was about to kill that boy”

Persephone and Medea snapped their heads towards Demeter and with a cold voice they slowly asked, “What? What are you talking about”

Persephone then looked at Hades coldly, “Explain”

Hades let out a sigh, as he started to explain with a small smile unexpectedly creeping up on his face.

“You should have seen the boy…” Hades started in a proud tone, a tone he didn’t know even realize he was making, “as Zeus said he was going to strike him down, he was brimming with fear, but even with that he looked at Zeus in the eyes and just said, ‘Do your fucking worst’. Hahahaha what a brave child”

“More like foolish” Demeter scoffed.

Persephone and Medea just looked at each other and grinned.

…

Back at Camp…

Annabeth was seen on the ground of Lucian’s basement…

She was rolling laughing with tears in her eyes, “Hehehehehehehehe, you got spanked”

“I swear to the very gods themselves Annabeth if you don’t stop laughing I’m stopping this whole operation” Lucian growled with his eyebrows twitching.

Annabeth started to softly apologize while wiping the tears from the corner of her eyes, “Sorry, sorry, but how do you expect me to react upon hearing that you got your cute little butt smacked around by your dad, out of all people.”

“Just give me your freaking blood already, so we can get this over with.” Lucian grumbled

Annabeth nodded her with and went towards a bowl where she proceeded to cut her wrist over it.

Lucian did the same in another bowl before he started recreating the ritual he did the previous year.

As he was done he grabbed Annabeth’s bowl of blood and started writing symbols in ancient Greek with them. The symbols made the target of the ritual be towards Annabeth’s blood.

When he was done Lucian sat in the circle, and as he did Annabeth looked at him with confusion, “I thought I would be the one performing the ritual?”

Lucian just shook his head, “We’re using my Intuition to do it, it wouldn’t really work if it did it”

Annabeth nodded in understanding, which then Lucian motioned her to back away a little which Annabeth did as instructed.

Lucian grabbed a bit of her blood from the bowl and ran it down his forehead before he started chanting in Ancient Greek.

“Ἐν σκότῳ βαθέι καὶ ὀφθαλμοῖς σαφεῖσι, ἐπιγίγνεται ἡ ἐνάργεια, ὁ βλέπων φαίνεται. Εὑρίσκων τὰς εὐθεῖας ὁδοὺς τοῦ αἵματος ἔμπροσθεν αὐτοῦ.”

(“Amidst deep shadows and visions clear, intuition grows, the seer draws near. Unveiling the blood’s straight pathways ahead.”)

Compared to his previous ritual this one went a little different, Lucian didn’t grow a third eye or go crazy, his black eyes turned red before glowing bright, almost a little too bright, like headlights from a car.

Lucian’s hands then started to move across the notebook rapidly and Annabeth saw the first words written down.

‘Sequence 9: Librarian’

****************************************

A/N: So I may or may have not created a Card of Blasphemy for Lucian… I can’t show you the official one I have planned since it has the sequence 0 pathways name on it and I don’t want to spoil it, so here’s a semi official one.

(Image)

Source: Webnovel.com, updated by NovelKeep