[Third Person Pov]
"Um… excuse me," Reyna interjected, glancing between everyone with a flicker of uncertainty in her eyes. "Why exactly does that boy want us as a prize?"
"Why even bother asking?" Hylla scoffed, crossing her arms and glaring toward Lucian's direction. "Isn't it obvious? It's because he's a pervert." Her tone dripped with disdain, her expression a perfect mix of irritation and disbelief.
"As much as I would love to agree with you," Thalia said dryly, "and blame this entire fiasco on Lucian's questionable tendencies—neither of you are actually his type. So I doubt that's the real reason." Her eyes remained fixed on Lucian and Circe as the two unleashed waves of volatile magic against one another, the ground trembling beneath the power they were throwing around.
"They're not?" Annabeth asked curiously, tilting her head as her gaze flicked between Reyna and Hylla. "They're both clearly beautiful…"
The two girls exchanged smiles at the compliment, murmuring their thanks, while Annabeth blinked, suddenly realizing what she'd said. "Wait… hold on—what is Lucian's type, then?"
Thalia raised a brow, giving Annabeth an incredulous look. "You seriously haven't noticed? Lucian's totally into girls that are way older than him. That's, like, clearly his thing."
Clarisse grunted in confusion. "But isn't Annabeth younger than him?" she said, jerking her thumb in Annabeth's direction.
Thalia rolled her eyes. "She's the only exception he's ever made. It's pretty obvious he likes her for her, not just her looks."
Annabeth immediately covered her face, giggling in that shy, bashful way that only made everyone else stare at her more. A faint blush rose to her cheeks as she tried to suppress her smile, but it was no use—her reaction said everything.
Meanwhile, Thalia turned her gaze back toward the battlefield, her brow furrowed. 'Lucian's not really the pervert type,' she thought, narrowing her eyes at the scene below. 'So why would he be interested in them in the first place?'
Lucian, however, couldn't have cared less about what anyone was saying. He was too engrossed in the fight unfolding before him—too exhilarated by the sheer challenge that Circe presented.
Circe stood at the center of the storm like a goddess commanding the elements. The sand beneath their feet rippled as if alive, swirling at her command. With a mere flick of her wrist, the grains coalesced into the form of a faceless giant, towering above them. Its massive arm transformed into a hammer, which came crashing down with terrifying force.
Lucian barely had time to react before the impact sent him hurtling through the air. He hit the ground hard, the shockwave scattering dust and debris in all directions. Blood splattered across the sand as he groaned, forcing his body up just enough to see Circe now seated gracefully atop her sand construct's shoulder, legs crossed, an almost amused smile tugging at her lips.
'She's protecting herself from my foresight… I can't read her next move,' Lucian thought, grinning despite the pain. 'How fun~'
In a flash of motion, he vanished—using [Shadow Step] just as the giant's colossal fist came crashing down again. He reappeared over its forearm, sprinting along it with impossible balance, each footstep leaving behind a trail of flickering darkness.
Energy crackled around his hands, black light twisting and bending before suddenly bursting into radiance. With a sharp clap, the shadows inverted into a blinding brilliance. The sand giant raised its arm to defend itself, but it was too late. Lucian leapt skyward, spinning through the air as light poured from his body like molten gold.
The moment he descended, the world was swallowed by a flash so intense it turned the upper half of the giant's body into shimmering glass. The creature froze mid-motion, fragile and glittering in the sunlight—before Lucian crashed straight through it. The entire construct shattered like crystal, fragments scattering across the battlefield.
When the dust settled, Circe was gone. Lucian's eyes darted around until he spotted her standing calmly on the ground below, staring up at him with one brow raised as if mildly impressed.
Lucian exhaled and dove toward her like a falling star, his body cutting through the air at the speed of light. His foot connected—only to pass clean through her as her body dissolved into a swirl of light-blue mist.
The ground erupted as his strike landed, sending shockwaves through the sand. Lucian crouched low amid the wreckage, blood trailing from shallow cuts along his face and mouth, black and faintly luminescent.
He straightened slowly, scanning his surroundings—only to realize he was now encircled by dozens of copies of Circe, each one smirking knowingly. Their hands lifted in unison, and before Lucian could move, a torrent of magic energy rained down upon him.
Lucian raised his hands, conjuring a barrier of pure darkness around himself. The blasts collided with it in a relentless storm, each explosion shaking the shield.
'This might be a good chance to test something I've briefly mentioned before…' Lucian thought as the world trembled around him, Circe's relentless bombardment hammering his barrier. Sparks and fragments of sand exploded outward with every hit. 'Using my own element to mimic the others—if I can channel darkness to replicate lightning, I might just pull this off. I've fought Thalia enough times to understand how her lightning behaves, how it feels in motion.'
Lucian's focus sharpened as his hands shifted back into the familiar embrace of shadow—dark, fluid, and alive. The barrier around him groaned and splintered under Circe's onslaught, faint cracks spider-webbing across its surface.
Circe smirked, her voice laced with taunting amusement. "Are you a witch or a turtle, boy? What's with all the hiding? I've seen stronger displays from apprentice sorcerers. Honestly, I'm not very impressed!"
Lucian's lips curled into a grin that was half amusement, half defiance. "Then let's see if this impresses you," he muttered under his breath. The darkness gathering around his arms began to spark violently, unstable arcs of raw energy hissing in the air. His aura flared, black and wild, each pulse shaking the ground beneath him.
The chaotic power coiled around his forearms, alive with motion—darkness consuming itself until it began to spark, thin veins of electric-black threading through the darkness. The air crackled sharply, dry and metallic.
"Then how's this for a change?!" Lucian roared as the barrier shattered outward in shards of shadow. "How impressive do you find my Black Lightning!?"
He slammed his palm into the earth.
A deafening surge of black lightning burst from the impact, tearing through the battlefield in all directions. The air flashed as the dark current traveled along the ground like a living storm, turning sand to glass and air to static.
From the sidelines, Annabeth gritted her teeth, throwing her arm forward as she reinforced her own magical barrier, the blast roaring against her defenses. "He's insane…Its force is too destructive" she muttered, squinting through the glare. Meanwhile Thalia's breath hitched as she grinned ear to ear.
Circe's clones didn't even have time to react. One moment they stood confidently; the next, they screamed in unison as the black lightning tore through them, consuming their forms.
"AHHHHHH!!" Their cries echoed as each clone dissolved into a burst of shimmering blue mist, one after another, until only the original remained.
The real Circe was hurled backward, tumbling through the air before hitting the sand and rolling across it. She rose gracefully, brushing dust from her arms with an unbothered expression. "That was quite good, you little brat," she said with a faint smirk. "But tell me—was that seriously all you can do?"
Lucian's grin returned, sharp and confident. "You're so impatient."
He was about to say more when something cold and crushing wrapped around his waist. A tentacle of solidified water surged up from the sea, glistening under the sun, and hoisted him into the air like prey caught by a sea monster.
"It's not impatience," Circe said sweetly, her eyes glowing with power as the construct tightened its hold. "I simply want you to show me everything you can do. Stop holding back, Lucian. Entertain me properly."
Lucian groaned as the pressure intensified, his armor creaking and cracking beneath the strain. "This is the second time in less than twenty-four hours I've been grabbed by tentacles!" he yelled, grimacing. "What is it with you people and tentacle play?! I'm not into it!"
Circe laughed softly—just before Lucian's body burst apart into a storm of ravens, each bird a fragment of his essence. They scattered into the air, slipping free of the water's grip.
A heartbeat later, Lucian reformed on solid ground, shadows swirling around him like smoke. But Circe was ready—already mid-cast.
A flock of fiery phoenixes erupted from her hands, each one a streak of blazing orange and gold. They shrieked through the air and crashed into Lucian with explosive force.
He was thrown back violently, his armor scorched and dented, smoke rising from his form as he rolled across the sand. His face was streaked with soot, faint burns marking his skin.
Lucian coughed, pushing himself to his feet with a shaky grin.
Circe's constructs lunged again—tentacles of water whipping toward him—but Lucian moved like a shadow on instinct, flipping and weaving through the air, every step punctuated by bursts of darkness as he used [Shadow Step] to blink between strikes.
While dodging, he focused on his palm. A faint flicker of black flame ignited, small at first—then growing with every heartbeat. The heat distorted the air around it, bending the light like a mirage.
Lucian landed in a crouch, sliding across the sand, his eyes glowing with excitement. Slowly, he lifted his finger toward the sky. Hovering just above it was a swirling mass of dark fire, dense and alive, its surface rippling with unstable energy. The air shimmered violently around it.
He smirked. "I hope you've got my mother's sunscreen in stock," he quipped, voice low and daring. "Because you're going to need it."
With a flick of his hand, the dark orb shot upward, expanding rapidly until it resembled a small black sun suspended above the battlefield. The world dimmed beneath its shadow.
Circe's expression hardened as she raised her arms, summoning a shimmering dome of magic to shield herself.
The Black Sun fell.
It struck her barrier with a low, resonant hum—then exploded outward in a cataclysmic flash of dark light. The shockwave tore through the beach, flattening dunes of sand, pushing back waves of water, ripping through the air like thunder.
The explosion's light faded, leaving behind a tremor that shook the earth for miles.
Her shield shattered like glass under the sheer pressure of the blast. The wave of heat that followed swallowed the battlefield in a roaring inferno—sand fused into molten glass, the air rippled with blinding light, and for a moment, it seemed as if nothing could have survived.
Then, from the storm of fire and smoke, Circe emerged.
She stepped through the haze with her cloak singed and a faint scorch mark painted across her cheek. Her once-flawless composure had cracked, but only slightly. The water construct that had guarded her moments before lost its cohesion, collapsing back into the sea in a torrent of hissing steam.
Circe calmly wiped her cheek with the back of her hand, her eyes glowing faintly as she exhaled. "As impressive as that was," she said coolly, "it's not really something that impresses me, especially. I know you can do more than that."
Lucian tilted his head, catching his breath, the faintest smirk tugging at his lips. "You know," he said between breaths, "For someone that initially said my magic potential was wasted on me you sure seem to think highly of me."
"Oh, don't mistake me," Circe said, her expression hardening. "It's just my personal belief that you would have gotten farther in your abilities if you were a woman, given your bloodline." She raised her hand and snapped her fingers. "But since you're not, I want to see how far you've come given your limitations. However it seems like you need… a special kind of motivation."
The air trembled.
Twin pillars of fire erupted beside her, shooting high into the sky like volcanic eruptions. The flames twisted violently, forming spirals of red and gold before taking on shape—humanoid outlines forming within the blaze. The ground quaked as two immense figures stepped out of the fire, their bodies radiating heat and menace.
Lucian's eyes widened, his grin faltering for the first time. Their skin was blood-red and textured like hardened magma, each of their steps leaving molten footprints behind. Jagged horns curled toward the heavens, and their eyes glowed with an infernal gold. Thick, muscular tails swayed lazily behind them as they loomed beside Circe, towering over the battlefield.
"Are those…" Lucian began, his voice barely a whisper. "Demons?"
Circe smirked, clearly delighted by his astonishment. "Impressed?"
Lucian's expression shifted immediately—from shock to unrestrained fascination. "How did you do that?! Where did you find them?! Can I find my own pair of demons? I want one! I want one! I want one!"
For a second, Circe simply stared at him. "…Wait," she said slowly, the amusement fading from her tone. "Are you seriously unaware of how to access the domain of Hell?"
Lucian froze mid-bounce, blinking. "Can… can you teach me?" he asked, vibrating with excitement like someone being offered their dream toy.
Circe's expression went completely blank before twisting into disbelief. "You're seriously unaware…" she muttered, rubbing her temples. "Unbelievable. Absolutely unbelievable. How are you a creature wielding the power of darkness, yet so utterly ignorant of its true potential?! What have they been teaching you all this time!?"
Lucian's only response was a confused stare, his head tilted slightly like a curious puppy.
Circe groaned loudly, pressing two fingers to the bridge of her nose. "Unbelievable," she muttered again under her breath before exhaling slowly to regain her composure.
"Alright, let's start with something simple," she said at last, folding her arms. "Clearly you already know how to Shadow Travel, correct?"
Lucian nodded, cautious but curious now.
"Then you must have been warned about the dangers that come with it?" she pressed.
Another nod.
"Good. Then you should also know the true nature of the realm you pass through whenever you do it."
Lucian frowned. "Its… true nature?"
Circe sighed, pinching the bridge of her nose again as though she were explaining basic arithmetic to a stubborn child. "Lucian," she said with a long, patient breath, "every time you or anyone Shadow Travels, you're not merely slipping through space—you're passing through the Primordial Darkness itself."
Her tone grew heavier, each word echoing through the air like the tolling of a bell.
"It is the darkness that was born during the dawn of creation—That same darkness separates—and connects—every realm in existence. It is infinite, ancient, and alive in ways you cannot begin to comprehend."
Lucian blinked, his usual smugness gone. Even the air seemed to still around him.
Circe continued, her voice lowering almost to a whisper. "That is why you are warned to be cautious. Because when you move through that space, you are not unseen. You are traveling across the boundaries between dimensions… and sometimes, those that dwell near the Primordial Darkness take notice."
For a moment, silence reigned. Even the roaring sea seemed to hush.
Lucian turned toward the others. All of them—Annabeth, Thalia, Clarisse, Percy—stood frozen with their mouths slightly open, their eyes wide with the same expression of stunned disbelief.
Lucian stared, expression blank, before muttering softly, "…That's actually kind of awesome."
Circe gawked at him, her composure finally cracking. "Awesome?! It's terrifying! You could have been devoured by something older than time itself!"
Lucian shrugged with a crooked grin. "Yeah, but now I kind of want to meet whatever's in there."
Circe's jaw dropped as she pointed at him in utter disbelief. "You—You're completely hopeless!"
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