Chapter 21 - The Lightning Thief (Patreon)

"Codex: Cardinal Worlds

People would often ask.

What exactly is the Cardinal World?

The answer is simple, yet it is also complicated.

The Cardinal Worlds are the biggest and most robust powers and the strongest worlds in existence. Each of these worlds is capable of holding easily Higher Dimensional Beings, and at the same time, it is extremely easy to become stronger in these worlds.

One of the most notable defining features of the Cardinal Worlds is the Dimensional Suppression. Which basically meant that the Cardinal Worlds themselves were strong enough to start suppressing the people, especially their destructive capabilities.

Let's make an example.

My old world, Draconic Deus, wasn't Cardinal World most obviously, and the Dimensional Laws were extremely lax, mainly due to the fact that the world itself wasn't really strong enough to suppress people.

Which meant that even someone as weak as an Elite Mage (Level 3) could destroy an entire city block at full power under the right circumstances. Something that would be considered as unthinkable in the Aurbis, due to the strong Dimensional Suppression, but at the same time, everything is many times more durable and stronger than in my birthworld.

If not, then powerful beings like Deadric Princes or Aedras would be able to wipe out entire Nirn and all of the Aurbis, but at the same time, due to the Dimensional Laws, they could not do so.

This comes with certain advantages and disadvantages.

Many would point out that this was rather dangerous because the so-called destructive prowess of the individuals would get tremendously slashed down while they were in the Cardinal World due to the Dimensional Laws.

Yet, at the same time, this was a blessing for the inhabitants of the Cardinal World because they could become stronger at an unprecedented rate, and if they were to enter a weaker world, they would be literal Gods in such a world."

- Yhwach Adnyeus on the topic of Dimensional Laws at the Magic Symposium organized by Psijic Order and Sapiarch College of the Aldmeri Dominion

***

Mount Kailash, Divine Realm of the Hindu Pantheon

"Soooo... what exactly is Poseidon paying for this endeavor?"

One of the last things that one would expect was for the Greek God to come and technically ask for help, even though he was paying for the help. Nevertheless, it was something that nobody really expected, and based on the expression of his father, Shiva did not expect anything like that.

"Actually, a lot... even though the power of the Greeks has fallen over the past centuries, their wealth is still very real. It seems that Poseidon really wants to solve this without escalating the situation to the point of war."

Shiva was surprised how much he managed to obtain from Poseidon, as the Greek God of Seas and King of Atlantis was relatively rich.

The Magic knowledge that Poseidon was able to pay was indeed rather staggering, but not that surprising, considering that Atlantis had one of the most developed magic societies on the Draconic Deus.

"Poseidon will pay with the Magic Knowledge of Atlantis, a large part of it... including some pieces from the Atlantian Forbidden Lore. Aside from that, the great number of the Divine Crystals is on the table, so we obtained a lot from the endeavor."

Shiva was rather satisfied with the things that he had managed to haggle from Poseidon in exchange for the help to the King of the Atlatis. The Greek God really paid a steep price for the help of the Hindu Pantheon.

"So when shall we depart to the America?"

Yhwach asked as everything had already been decided, and he was rather eager to get his hands on the magic knowledge of the Atlantis Kingdom because they had some really neat pieces of Magic.

Their Forbidden Lore was famous across the entire Draconic Deus, containing some of the most advanced and powerful spells that had ever been created in the entirety of the Draconic Deus. 

The Atlanteans were basically human, but at the same time, they were not.

One could say that they were highly evolved humans with an extreme affinity for Water and Magic.

Their Kingdom has developed their own branch of Magic that was based on the Calculation Magic that were used by the humans, but at the same time, due to their very high affinity, they were able to branch out as they didn't need to depend solely on the advanced calculations to perform Magic.

Their Magic was very close to the pet project that he himself was creating with the help of the [Ultimate Skill Hastur the Lord of the Unspeakable Lore]. Since he had obtained the[Ultimate Skill Hastur the Lord of the Unspeakable Lore], Yhwach was assimialting enormous amounts of Magic Lore practically every minute.

Even though his proficiencies in the various types of Magic that he had learned didn't skyrocket, the sheer amount of theoretical knowledge that he was holding in his head was astronomical.

Despite everything, what Yhwach wanted to do was to create a new Magic System that would be perfectly suited for him because he realized that neither the Angel Magic nor the Divine Magic was suitable for his needs.

They either lacked power or flexibility, and there were many countermeasures against both of them. The same thing could be said about the Space Magic that he had already mastered to the Adept-ranked Mastery due to the [Ultimate Skill Hastur the Lord of the Unspeakable Lore]. 

Yet, that wasn't enough.

'Hastur, conduct an analysis on the integration of the Atlantean Lore and Atlantean Circle Magic into the Project: Arcane.'

Yhwach said to the [Ultimate Skill Hastur the Lord of the Unspeakable Lore], as the Ultimate Skill dutifully carried out the order of his master. With the addition of the [Ultimate Skill Hastur the Lord of the Unspeakable Lore], Yhwach could perform even more amazing feats of Magic. 

During the last spars, if he used the [Ultimate Skill Hastur the Lord of the Unspeakable Lore] to the limits, he could cast the Forbidden Spells alone, which, if boosted by the addition of the Runes...

He already possessed enough firepower to obliterate most of the Level 5 beings from the face of the earth if he got serious in the fight. 

Now, with the addition of the [Ultimate Skill Hastur the Lord of the Unspeakable Lore], he was working on an entirely new Magic System that would combine the best of the best from all Magic Systems in the Draconic Deus.

Normally, such tasks would be monumentally impossible to achieve, because it was ridiculous, and even with the [Unique Skill Great Sage], Yhwach would never attempt such a thing in a short span of time. 

But with the [Ultimate Skill Hastur the Lord of the Unspeakable Lore] in the equation?

That changed all of the things.

Not to mention, if he managed to successfully create a new Magic System that was specifically tailored for him, though he also needed to take into account that it should be possible for the others to learn it, then his combat prowess would skyrocket.

Even right now, he could fight on an equal level with most of the Level 5 beings, and due to the Celestial Force in his body, he could overpower most of them in a contest of raw power.

After it was complete, his only weakness would be the close-quarter combat, which was an area that he completely neglected and held zero interest in getting better by himself.

Even though his father was one of the strongest Gods in the aspect of the martial arts and his mother was one of the most talented from the Angel Race, he didn't really inherit the aptitude for the martial arts from his parents. 

Contrary to the general thought, though, Yhwach was technically a Demigod when he was born, and one of the general rules of the Demigods and their Divine parents when it came to inheritance was that they inherited only part of the Divine parent's ability.

For Yhwach, he inherited the aptitude for the Magic, which was ridiculous to the extreme, and also the Clairvoyance from his father. Though this didn't really mean that his aptitude was bad, on the contrary, he could still be called a genius when compared to others, as his aptitude for it was only a tad lower than Valiana's.

It was just that Yhwach never bothered to develop it properly, as he considered it mostly a waste of time and rather focused on Magic and Divine Authorities, which were his dominant areas of power and his foundation.

Not to mention, this was something that his father was nagging him about a lot, because he had a lot of unused potential. The fact that he was mostly losing to Valiana in the spars when they are fighting solely using just the martial arts, it wasn't doing the situation any better.

He was able to win only when he was using the [Unique Skill Great Sage] or now [Ultimate Skill Hastur the Lord of the Unspeakable Lore]. 

Aside from them, his winning rate was pitifully low.

However, when they were fighting with everything they got, the situation was reversed, and the number of times Valiana won against him in his full power could be counted on one hand, in fact.

"Then can I go to prepare for the mission? I still have a lot of things to do..."

Yhwach said as he wanted to leave before his father would give him another lecture on why should he be giving more time to the training in the martial arts while he would be once arguing with the facts, that he had his Divine Authorities and Magic.

In the worst case, he could escape, and he already knew enough to defend himself if there was a serious need for that.

Shiva looked at his son, knowing precisely what he was thinking. Though he didn't say anything, a tiny, mischievous glint appeared in his eyes as they parted ways.

***

New York City, United States of America, Earth, Draconic Deus

New York City was one of the largest cities in the world, and for many, it was also the trade center of the world... at least for the mortals who were not aware of the Supernatural, because the mortal currency was basically worthless to anyone in the Supernatural World.

One simple spell and voa la...

Even the dumbest Magician could replicate the human money as much as they wished or even gold that wasn't enchanted and refined to be non-replicable through the specific types of Magic...

For this mission, among the existing members of the Sternritter, only Yhwach, Valiana and Bikou went for safety reasons. They couldn't take Arjuna with them, because the son of the Heavenly Emperor Indra would certainly attract a very strong and unwanted reaction from Zeus.

And if Arjuna wasn't going, then neither was Karna. 

Both of them were on standby and could be summoned through the teleportation circle at any given time if there was a need for support and reinforcements. Thus, only three of them were present for the mission as they were locating the son of Poseidon.

Perseus Jackson. 

Yhwach wasn't really thrilled at the idea of babysitting some random Demigod, that wasn't even able to defend himself.

What made the situation even worse was that they would most probably be attacked by some other groups because, apparently, everyone somehow thought that Poseidon's son had stolen the lightning bolt.

This was also the first time for Valiana and Bikou to enter the wider human world, not like they were much thrilled at the idea. At the same time, they had to admit that this place was swarming with people, and in the end, it was the most populous city in the United States. 

The overall population of New York was close to nine million inhabitants, which was a very high number. For the Bikou, this environment was deeply uncomfortable for the Monkey Yokai due to the pollution and everything that was filling the area. 

This was also one of the reasons why many of the Supernatural Races held a great deal of hostility towards the normal humans. Those who were deeply connected to nature, like Fae, Spirits, Yokai, and similar races, held a strong hatred toward humans for polluting the earth and destroying nature.

"So... where are we starting from?"

Valiana asked because she too wasn't really that fond of this place because it was too loud and too many people.

"We are going to eat something... I am hungry, and it's still early in the morning."

Yhwach said that while the cooking of the mortals wasn't a match to that of the most famous Supernatural Chef, New York City still had some of the best restaurants in the entire mortal world.

Both of his companions decided to go with the flow, as Yhwach was their leader.

So, for the time being, they went to find something to eat as they were talking about their upcoming mission. Bikou didn't really care for these things as he found the talks bout the politics and everything else rather boring and not that interesting in the first place.

"So, what exactly does the water one want from us in this mission?"

Right now, they were in some random burger restaurant that wasn't that random, as it was one of the best ones in the city.

Every one of them ordered a lot of food because the supernatural beings ate a lot of calories, and the non-magical food contained much fewer nutrients and calories than the food that was steeped in the Mana.

"Protect the target until he time is out... most ideally, find the Masterbolt during the time and be done with it. It would be tough... just in this dammed city, the amount of Monsters that are hiding are is staggering."

Masterbolt is the Ultra-Divine Tool and Symbol of Power of Zeus and one of the most powerful Divine Tools in the entirety of the Draconic Deus. It is the first and most powerful weapon that the Elder Cyclops made for the Olympian Gods of the Greek Pantheon.

And now it was stolen by the thief, and Zeus accused Poseidon of it, Poseidon's son, or both of them.

Who knew?

The sole reason why the Greeks didn't start fighting among one another was the presence of the other Pantheons and Factions in the North American continent, which would escalate the entire situation into the next Great War of the Supernatural.

"I can sense them too... but that purple thingy is doing a lot to block my view."

The Mist, which was also known as Duat or Glamous, was a Supernatural Force controlled by the Gods en masse that twisted a mortal's sight from seeing Monsters, Gods, Angels, Titans, Yokai, and other supernatural creatures or occurrences.

The Mist was replacing them with things that the mortal mind knows about and can comprehend. Some mortals can see through the Mist as well, but such cases were exceedingly rare.

For the Supernatural Creatures and other races, the Mist wasn't much of a problem as they could see through the Mist at most times. However... sometimes the Mist is strong enough to fool even some of the more powerful beings, depending on the power of the Mist itself.

"That is the Mist... it was created by the Primordials a long time ago when the Convention was signed between the major Pantheons to refrain from the intervention in the mortal matters... a great mistake if you ask me."

Yhwach, as a member of the Hindu Pantheon, knew very well how to control the Mist to his wishes, or a lot of its background, as it was deeply ingrained in the knowledge of every single God in the Draconic Deus.

However, he belonged to the smaller part of the more warlike members of the Hindu Pantheon who wanted the complete revelation of the supernatural and to rule over humans.

This was, for example, in complete contradiction with the vision of his father Shiva, who was actually rather fond of humans, though it was that fondness like how a master would be fond of the cute kitten that was in the cage.

Neverthelss, Yhwach belonged to the warhawk faction of the Hindu Pantheon that mianyl consisted of several high-profile Asuran Generals, some Gods and mostly notably... his own mother and then Goddess of Destruction and Slaughter, Kali.

Contrary to the traditional theology, Kali wasn't married to Shiva; she wasn't married to anyone at all. In the entire Hindu Pantheon, her case was rather special because she was the second strongest person in the entire persona in the Pantheon, perhaps even the strongest, yet at the same time, she wasn't.

The power of her Divine Authority of Destruction was overwhelming, but at the same time, her capability of controlling it properly was extremely low. If her powers went out of control, then there would be only a few of those who could stop her.

Due to that, she spent most of her time in solitude and in search of enlightenment so she could control her power.

"All of these monsters and beings hiding in the city would be our enemies. Not to mention, I am quite sure that this news that somebody stole Zeus's Masterbolt has already spread across the entire country, which means that we won't be dealing with just the Greeks at all."

Yhwach stated because he felt that the station would be getting much more complicated at once. He was sure that many other beings, be it the Devils, Fallen, Mythical Creatures from the different Pantheon, Vampires, Werewolves, and others, would go after the Masterbolt.

In the end, Zeus would pay a hefty price for the Masterbolt to return to his hands, and Yhwach really hoped, really, really hoped that the knowledge about the stolen Masterbolt and the identity of the alleged thief remained secret for the time being.

For the Supernatural World, the United States of America was the melting pot of all Pantheons and factions all across the world. From all of the human nations on Earth, the United States had a much higher population of supernatural beings, approximately ten times higher compared to the world standard average.

"What are the chances of that happening?"

Even though Valiana was battle maniac, she wasn't suicidal, in fact, and she wasn't in mkood fighting against an overwhelming numerical disadvantage. Not to mention, nobody guaranteed that powerful beings wouldn't intervene and try to find the Masterbolt by themselves.

In the end, the rewards promised by the God-King of the Greek Pantheon were too tempting even for far more powerful people than Yhwach or Valiana. 

"Depends... nobody really knows... it is most probably that some of them would be coming after the son of Poseidon, but if there are only a few of them, then we can deal with them. Right now, our priority would be to secure the target and bring him safely to the Camp of the Half-Blood."

Yhwach said that as they were already finished with the food, they went to the New York City Metropolitan Museum of Art. The Metropolitan Museum of Art, colloquially referred to as the Met, is an encyclopedic art museum in New York City. By floor area, it is the fourth-largest museum in the world and the largest art museum in the Americas.

He was already informed by Poseidon beforehand about the location of his son, and finding him in New York with Magic was as easy as breathing for someone like Yhwach. It didn't take long for the Asura-Seraph Hybrid God to locate the troubled Demigod Child of the God of Ocean in the New York City Metropolitan Museum of Art, which ironically wasn't that far from them in the first place.

Thus, all three of them headed toward the New York City Metropolitan Museum of Art.

***

New York City Metropolitan Museum of Art, Some Time Later

The New York City Metropolitan Museum of Art also had the Greek Section that showcased various artworks from Greek Mythology. There were many paintings, sculptures, busts, and other pieces of artwork from ancient Greece, as well as pieces made by famous artists that depicted Greek mythology.

"And here we have three brothers. Zeus, Poseidon and Hades. After they overthrew their father, dismembered his body, and banished it to the deepest pits of Tartarus, they split the world between them."

The trio of the God, Devil Dragon, and Monkey Yokai arrived at the Greek Section of the New York City Metropolitan Museum of Art as the museum was swarming with people, but for the three of them, it wasn't really hard to find their target.

Their senses were very accurate, and locating the group containing a Demigod, satyr, and centaur was...

They were like moths. 

Especially the Demigod Percy Jackson, because he wasn't concealing his Aura even a bit, and anyone who was sensitive to Auras would be able to find them.

Hearing what the middle-aged man sitting in the wheelchair was saying made Yhwach frown because they were saying it like that. The Greeks were ruling the entire world, which, in fact, was probably as far from the truth as it could get.

The Greeks ruled only a small part of the Draconic Deus, and even spoiled children of the devil nobility could see that the influence and power of the Greek Pantheon was slowly vaning into nothingness.

The man in the wheelchair who was speaking was Mr. Bruner, the History Teacher of the group of students. Though for Yhwach, Vlaiana, and Bikou, they were able to see through the Mist and Transformation Magic of the man, or rather...

Centaur.

Centaurs are descendants of Centaurus, the child of Ixion and Nephele. Centaurus brought them into existence by mating with the Magnesian Mares. Centaurs were notorious for being overly indulgent drinkers and carousers, given to violence when intoxicated, and generally uncultured delinquents.

Each Centaur was also wild and lusty, except for the most well-known Centaur, Chiron, who was rather an exception to this almost iron-clad rule

True Centaurs were born of sun and raincloud, until the female centaurs called Centaurides came from some normal horses, and centaurs started out like normal creatures, from conceived from baby to adult. 

The Centaurs were excellent archers and warriors, and they also had a strong affinity for the Divination Magics of various kinds. 

'That Centaur is Chiron... An Immortal centaur, the son of Kronos and the Oceanid Philyra, and a famed trainer of heroes from Greek mythology, including Jason and Achilles. You could sense his power from a distance even though he is doing a remarkable job suppressing it... if not for my detection Spells, then even I would miss it.'

When Ywach laid his eyes on the centaur that was masquarding as the cripple on the wheelchair, the first thing was that, he used the [Ultimate Skill Hastur the Lord of the Unspeakable Lore] on the Chiron.

He was rather shocked by his discovery.

Obviously, this was something that neither Valiana nor Bikou noticed, so he immediately told them through his telepathic connection. The Mist that was protecting Chiron was especially powerful on top of the other personal Transfariom Magic that he had cast on himself.

'The Mana inside his being his around the peak of Level 5, and his body density is several times than Valiana's... probably also at Level 5.'

Yhwach had to admit that the legendary trainer of the heroes had hidden himself pretty well at that.

'You think that he is hiding his strength from the Olympians?'

Valian asked through their connection, as Yhwach nodded his head. Due to being another child of Kronos, his position was rather shaky, and the paranoia of Zeus was legendary across the entire Draconic Deus.

Nobody knew how many talents either were killed due to the paranoia of the God of Lightning and Skies or fled to the other Factions and Pantheons in fear that Zeus would kill them one day for being a threat to them.

The God-King of Olympus didn't have the best mental state.

Even compared to the other Gods.

Or even Evil Gods.

'Look... something is happening.'

Yhwach pointed at one of the kids, the one that was actually their Demigod in question, as he was led to the next room by one of the teachers, who had Monster Aura around her..

More to be precise, she was a Fury.

The Furies, also known as the Erinyes, are spirits of vengeance who serve the God Hades. They are his torturers in the Underworld and punish the crimes of the wicked. In Greek mythology, each Fury was sometimes represented as avenging a certain type of crime, such as crime, grudges, or murder.

Ironically enough, they are often referred to as the Kindly Ones, in order to remain safe from them. They are sometimes misidentified with the arai, spirits of curses. The Furies, especially the more famous ones, are beings of considerable power and, certainly, the ones that he would like to avoid fighting right now and right here.

Fortunately for them, the one that was present in the Museum with them was just an Avatar that was very far from the might of the true body and was maximally at Level 3, judging by the amount of Mana in the body of the Avatar.

Meanwhile, the three of them were telepathically talking and went after the Demigod Son of Poseidon. Chiron became much tenser seeing this because he knew that something was wrong.

Obviously, he sensed three powerful auras entering the New York City Metropolitan Museum of Art, and one of the auras was Divine. 

Overwhelmingly Divine like that of God, but not that of the Greek Pantheon. 

Yes, it could be coincidental, as the United States was under the rule of many Pantheons, and especially the Gods from the Hindu Pantheon, Shinto Pantheon, Aztect Pantheon, and the Celestial Court or Nordic Pantheon, often frequented the continent...

It would be a pretty weird coincidence.

Three beings on the Level 4, while one of them was giving frights even to him.

***

"Give it back!!!"

A look at a transformed Fury wasn't a nice view.

Furies have leathery wings like bats, claws, mouths full of huge yellow fangs, and glowing eyes. They carry whips that dance with flames every time they flick them. One could say that they looked like deformed, overgrown bats and were not really pretty.

There was certainly something menacing in their look.

The Fury immediately charged toward the teenage boy who was on the ground, as Valiana jumped forward and kicked the Fury away from the boy, as the beast crashed into the wall.

Yhwach immediately followed after Valian and created the Sphere of Destruction with the [Divine Authority of Destruction] as he sent the Sphere of Destruction toward the Fury and obliterated it from existence.

Even though the Fury was entirely destroyed, Yhwach knew that this one belonged to the Fury Alecto. One of the three great furies under Hades and due to their special nature, the loss of one avatar was nothing.

Generally speaking, Avatar creation was rather a tricky thing for all involved because when the Avatar got destroyed or damaged, it would be a loss for the true body.

Unless the person had the means to mitigate the losses.

Which was exactly what the furies of Hades possessed.

When they lost an avatar, they didn't suffer any kind of loss and could almost instantly create another one due to their connection with the Kingdom of the Dead and the Underworld. 

Hades wasn't one of the most powerful Gods in the Draconic Deus for nothing.

After they had dealt with the Fury of Alecto, Yhwach looked at the son of Poseidon, who was lying on the ground, still shaken from everything that had happened because seeing the Supernatural for the first time, in the way like this...

It was certainly something that was rather disturbing.

Nevertheless, they had more work to do, and they needed to move fast before more of the monsters came their way. Sometimes, he forgets that most of the Demigods of the Greek Gods had no contact with the Supernatural World until they reached a certain age.

Though there were also many cases when there were some that lived in ignorance for their whole lives, which was pretty rare, but it still happened. Due to the policy of non-intervention from the side of the Greek Gods...

Everything was left to accident or fate, one could say.

"You would be Perseus Jackson, right?"

Yhwach asked after he disposed of the Fury Alecto, as the fifteen-year-old boy or something nodded his head to the question, still processing the events that happened...

Just Yhwach was going to say something, two people entered the room, from which one was Chiron and another also teenager, black skinned, who also appeared to be a cripple, using crutches to walk.

Satyrs, also known as Fauns, are creatures with the upper body of a man and the lower body of a goat, complete with hairy goat legs and hooves, as well as goat horns, and the pointed ears of a goat.

The Demigods who were not aware of their true heritage were generally assigned a Satyr Guardian, though when Yhwach looked at the Satyr Guardian in question, he noticed that he was a bit weak.

Satyrs had a very strong affinity for nature, like Yokai or Nature Spirits, and this one would be lingering in something between Level 2 and Level 3. The power of the Satyrs was rooted in two things.

One of them was like that of the Yokai, which was the strength of their Life Force, and the second was their connection to Nature. 

This meant that their power levels fluctuated greatly and were not really fixed, as the Satyrs needed to be in the area that was closest to Nature to showcase their true strength.