[Snippet] Monster? No, I'm a Cultivator! (Percy Jackson): Chapter 18

The great Styx stared at Ocean Song for a long time.

As a son of Poseidon, she briefly wondered if it were possible to drown him.

“Would you care to rephrase?” The Goddess finally opened her mouth, determined not to get on the bad side of Hades considering the weird Cyclop’s status.

“I would like permission to enter into your river, please.” Ocean Song realized he may have been a bit overzealous.

Styx gave him another long stare. “Another fool after the same curse.” She spoke, shaking her head. “Do you not know the consequences of this curse? My river is meant for the dead to peacefully cross over.”

“I – “

“No, you don’t.” She huffed in annoyance. “Do you know how many mortals come wanting to bathe in my river to acquire the famous ‘Curse of Achilles’?” She said in exasperation. “They all think it’s some quick and easy path to become stronger. You will become something neither dead nor alive. That is the truth, the reason those who bathe in it become so ‘strong’. Their body and soul half-pass on while still remaining alive. They become some pseudo immortal spirits, but still with a physical anchor to the living world. It’s why they require so much sustenance to sustain themselves. It’s why certain emotions dull over time while others are enhanced. Your mind and psyche become disjointed from your half-living state. And you can’t be harmed because you’re already technically dead. The supposed ‘weak spot’ is the only remaining ‘point of life’ on your body.”

Normally, she would never waste her breath and let any idiots that wanted to curse to let themselves die in her waters and pass on. 

However, she was giving Hades and Poseidon a bit of face and explaining it properly.

“Well?” She looked at him, crossing her arms.

“I never intended to acquire the curse.” Ocean Song said simply. “I was already warned about the detriments.”

“....is that so.” Styx’s lips twitched slightly in annoyance.

“Yes.” Ocean Song nodded earnestly.

“....then what are you requesting of me?” She was slightly confused. 

“Please correct me if i’m wrong, but your river is the center point between life and death. Quite ltierally, one side is where the living walk, and when they pass the river, they are now dead.”

“In a manner of speaking, that is accurate.” It was obviously far more complicated than that, but Styx didn’t want to get into a long winded explanation of her existence in the Underworld.

“Can you deny the Curse to people?” He asked.

“Deny the curse?” She repeated, furrowing her brow. “Yes, I can.” It was actually quite easy to reject people trying to gain the ‘Curse’. She just never bothered because 99% of the time, whoever attempted it would die and saved her the trouble.

“What would happen if someone entered the River and you made it so they did not gain the ‘curse’?”

“....their body would begin to break down quite excruciatingly as my waters pushed them towards death as defined by the realm.” She answered rather plainly without going into much detail again.

Ocean Song’s eyes sparkled. “That’s what I want!”

“....what?”

“I want to go into the river and not get the curse!” He smiled brightly.

“There are easier ways to commit suicide.” She looked at him in confusion.

“I don’t plan on dying.”

“I am literally the river that leads to the realm of the dead.” She reiterated. “You are a mortal being, you will die.”

She looked at him like he was an idiot.

She just explained this to him yet he was still looking excited to jump into the river of death. 

“I’m confident!”

Styx stared at him for a long time again. “...and why would I do this?”

It was Ocean Song’s turn to furrow his brow. “I’ll….owe you a favor?” He realized he didn’t actually have anything to offer.

“A favor.” Styx said flatly. Though, honestly, she considered it. It was never a bad thing to have others owe her favors. And truthfully, there was very little effort on her end even needed. Besides him being noisy for a little bit, there was actually no down side.

“Would…would it be weird if I said I would swear on the River Styx?” Ocean Song asked.

The River Styx gave him another flat look.

With an exasperated sigh, she finally relented. “Very well, make your oath.”

“I, Ocean Song, so swear to the River Styx that if I am allowed to temper my body within her holy waters, that I will owe her a favor that does not impede my morals and conscience and is reasonable.”

Styx noted his particular phrases. Rather than getting upset, she thought he had the good sense to not back himself into the corner in case she asked him to do something ridiculous like kill his own father.

Maybe she would have been a bit more strict if it were someone actually worth paying attention to in her eyes, but for now, she accepted it for what it was.

Ocean Song, however, felt something link to him.

Was this the legendary Karma he had heard about? The thought danced around his mind. 

He was now bound by an oath he made, and Karma would ensure that it was fulfilled or he would suffer the consequences. 

“If I may be so bold to ask, how exactly is the oath breaker punished?” Ocean Song looked at her.

Styx furrowed her brow, she was about to question if he had the audacity to break the oath to her face. But, she stopped when she saw the genuine expression of his. She could more or less understand the question came from purely a place of curiosity.

“It depends.” She said simply, because there was no specific answer.

“How come many of the gods swear oaths and then break them without any consequences?”

Styx wanted to let out another long sigh as soon as he asked that question. Frankly, no one had ever been so bold to ask her to her face before.

“What exactly do you expect me to do when one of them breaks an oath made in my name? Do you expect me to punish the King of Gods? Maybe you expect me to punish Hades, for whose realm I live. Or perhaps your own father, the God that controls water.”

Ocean Song felt a little bad for asking now. “....you’ve had it difficult.” He said quietly.

Styx, oddly, felt the sympathy in his words and softened a little rather than get angry from being pitied by a monster.

“Hmph, I don’t even know why I was made the Goddess of Oaths when oaths made on my name mean nothing!” She threw her hands up in a rare display of anger. “Even their Children, what am I suppose to do? Punish the children of the King of Gods or the others? They’re immortal, I have no power over them!”

Ocean Song stood there quietly and let her rant. He had a feeling that she had been keeping this bottled up for a very long time.

“No, my broken oaths are only punished when it’s convenient!” She finally finished, taking a deep breath. 

She looked at him and felt a little embarrassed for going off on a small rant infront of him.

She quickly reorientated herself. “Very well, you can enter my waters. Your life or death has nothing to do with me.” She said rather quickly again, changing the subject.

Ocean Song smiled happily.

He walked over to the edge of the River while Styx watched him curiously.

Steadying himself, Ocean Song prepared himself mentally before just jumping straight in.

The first thing he realized, the water was heavy.

And as soon as he went below the surface, all light disappeared. If not for his instincts as a Son of Poseidon, he wouldn’t have been able to tell up from down in this pitch dark abyss.

Immediately as well, he felt the effects of the River Styx. His body started throbbing, and it quickly escalated. It was as if someone was grinding away his physical body on a metaphysical level.

However, The Goddess Styx overlooked one important thing.

Ocean Song was in fact a Son of Poseidon, that means that the Waters of the World welcome him. 

Just as his body was starting to tear apart, his bloodline kicked in and he began to heal rapidly in the waters.

It was less than if he was in the Sea, and of course it was by no means offsetting the damage his body was taking completely, but it was enough that he could well and truly considering this a proper body tempering session.

Floating in the darkness, he sat cross legged and began to cultivate.

The pain was intense, but at this point in his life, pain was becoming an old friend. Sure, he had just healed from nearly dying, but he also felt like this would be the most optimal time to do this.

It was about intentionally breaking down his body and building it up again.

Like continuously hammering a piece of metal to forge it, he was forging his body.

He could feel his Demonic Core pulsing with each passing moment.

Not only his cultivation, but he felt like he was gaining so mething else. Was it a moment of insight or enlightenment?

His Golden Core began to shimmer to life as well, despite focusing only on his Demonic Core.

His Third Eye opened, and both of his Cores thrummed with their full power.

The River Styx began to churn, the normally calm waters started to develop waves that hit both sides of the shores.

Styx herself furrowed her brow as she watched the Cyclops from her spot, able to perceive everything within her own waters.

She had no idea what he was doing, only that he exuded a not insignificant amount of power that was causing a bit of chaos amidst the river’s currents.

As for Ocean Song, he realized something at that moment.

He had touched on the concept before, never had he been so immersed in it previously.

Yin and Yang.

When Pangu split the primordial Chaos, it gave birth to Yin and Yang, which in turn gave birth to 3,000 Great Dao.

In this specific spot, he was at the intersections of Yin and Yang.

On one side, there was life, and by crossing to the other side, there was death.

Inside of him, he possessed a Demonic Core – Yin. He also had a Golden core composed of his Godly heritage – Yang.

His physical body broke down from the deathly currents, but the breath of life continued to fill him and keep him alive despite this.

His Demonic core was quickly catching up to his Golden Core. Before he knew it, his Demonic Core had reached the threshold of the later stages.

And not just that, his Golden Core seemed to be forced into equilibrium, and as if prompted by his Demonic Core, it began to mend at astonishing speeds.

For the first time in his life, Ocean Song was in perfect Harmony.

In one hand, his Demonic Qi gathered, in the other his Godly Qi. They both distorted and turned into two small fish, one completely black with a white spot, and the other completely white with a black spot.

The two small fish attracted one another as if they were magnets, unable to escape the pull of the other. They swam in a circle, their colors merging, like ink spilling into a body of water. 

Ocean Song kept his eyes closed as he released it upwards.

Above the River, Styx watched in confusion, then something happened that made her eyes widen. 

A gigantic circle in a weird shape emerged from the sky, pressing down towards her River. One side of it was black, the other white, and it had a lot of strange symbols in it she didn’t recognize.

But what left her utterly stunned and without words was that it forcibly quelled her river. 

The rampant waves and turbulent thrashing was immediately forced back into…..into a harmonious state.

Ocean Song shot out of the River, gently stepping onto the gigantic Tai Chi symbol that was manifested into the air.

How had he done all this?

To be perfectly honest, he hadn't a single clue. Things just….happened, and like a good Cultivator, he would take credit for them regardless.

Unfortunately, he had reached his limit, any more and he would have died.

But the gains he received, they were immense. He had actualized a concept he had barely even touched on before.

Yin-Yang, Balance and Harmony.

And through his enlightenment, he understood the path forwards to Nascent Soul.

Ocean Song clasped his hand behind his back, and if he were wearing clothes, they would have been bellowing profusely and heroically.

Truly, he was an excellent Cultivator.

And like a proper Cultivator, he jumped off, touching the ground before throwing up a mouthful of blood and face planting in the dirt as his vision went dark.

@***@

A/N

Ocean Song approaches his Nascent Soul and gains enlightenment….or something, he isn’t quite sure. He mentions some vague and ethereal terms and suddenly gains enlightenment and new abilities.

Truly, he is a proper Cultivator.