[Third Person Pov]
Lucian blinked once, then again, staring at the tall, bald man with deep tan skin whose tight suit did nothing to hide the dense muscle packed underneath.
A wide, delighted grin split his face.
"Atlas! My man!" Lucian called out, already walking forward with one hand pulled back for a casual dab.
Atlas froze, completely perplexed by the absurd familiarity. Almost against his will, his own hand rose to meet the gesture.
Their fists met in a solid dab. Lucian immediately pulled the Titan into a one-armed embrace, clapping him on the back like they were old gym buddies.
"Look at you, man. It's been how many years now?"
From a short distance away, Artemis's voice cut through the clearing in pure disbelief. "Huh?"
Her gaze flicked rapidly between the two of them, struggling to process what she was witnessing.
Lucian pulled back and began openly examining Atlas, patting the thick arms and solid biceps with growing approval. His grin stretched even wider.
"So, looking at these muscles… I have to ask. Have you been lifting?"
That single question snapped Atlas out of his stunned haze. Veins bulged across his forehead. Without a word of warning he launched a vicious hook.
"Woah—!"
Lucian stepped back just in time, weaving under the first barrage of fists. He managed to block one strike with his forearm and catch another against his open palm, but Atlas was already pivoting. A powerful kick slammed into Lucian's torso and launched him through the air like a ragdoll.
He crashed hard into the ground, tumbling chaotically across the dirt before smashing into a distant tree. Deep cracks spider-webbed up the bark from the impact. Lucian finally came to a stop face-first in the dirt, a long, pained groan escaping him as he clutched his stomach.
"…Okay," he wheezed. "I deserved that."
…
Back with the quest group, both Annabeth and Thalia suddenly burst into loud, unrestrained cackling. The others turned to stare at them in confusion, completely lost as to what could possibly be so funny.
Thalia had to wipe tears from her eyes while waving a dismissive hand. "I'm sorry—I'm sorry—but it's just the kind of thing you had to be there to see."
Annabeth was still giggling as she caught her breath. "Hehe… Lucian and Atlas have a bit of history together. After what happened during Luke's quest, it's no surprise the Titan has it out for him."
She launched into a quick, animated summary of what had gone down during Luke's quest years ago—the insults, the pure unfiltered chaos, the absolute refusal to take the Titan of Endurance seriously for even a single second. By the time she finished, most of the group looked varying degrees of horrified and impressed.
Artemis's expression shifted into a weary, knowing smile. "Their interaction is starting to make much more sense now."
Percy looked genuinely disturbed. "…He's a monster. What is wrong with him? No wonder Atlas wants to kill him."
Markus simply shook his head in long-suffering exasperation. "You know, at this point I'm not even surprised. That sounds exactly like something Lucian would do."
Artemis cleared her throat and continued her tale. "Anyway… as I was saying…"
…
"Lucian! Please focus!" Artemis called out as she loosed a rapid volley of arrows at the Titan. "This isn't an opponent we can afford to take lightly!"
"I know… just give me a second to catch my breath," Lucian groaned, summoning his scythe and using the long weapon as a crutch to push himself upright. "That motherfucker hits hard… ow."
In the next instant he vanished from where he stood and reappeared behind Atlas in a burst of black-and-red smoke, already swinging the scythe in a vicious arc.
Atlas ducked low and drove an elbow backward, but Lucian was already gone again. He continued to flicker in and out of existence—appearing, striking, and dissolving into smoke before the Titan could fully counter—wielding the scythe with fluid, expert precision.
At the same time Artemis circled wide, flanking Atlas while charging her arrows with brilliant divine energy. Silver light blazed along the shafts as she prepared to unleash them.
Atlas moved with terrifying skill and strategy, somersaulting between attacks and leaning impossibly far back to avoid the worst of the strikes. Spotting an opportunity, he seized one of the fallen trees with both hands and swung it like a colossal club with every ounce of his strength.
Lucian shadow-stepped away at the last second and reappeared balanced atop the massive trunk. Artemis, however, was caught off-guard by the sudden reach of the improvised weapon and was sent flying through the air with a sharp cry.
Lucian leapt high into the air, body twisting in an elegant mid-air twirl as his scythe shifted form. The blade elongated and the shaft unraveled into a long, flexible chain of dark metal. The links whipped outward with perfect precision and wrapped tightly around Atlas's thick neck.
Lucian dropped straight down into the Titan's shadow and vanished. A heartbeat later he erupted from the darkness a short distance away, already rocketing skyward. The chain went taut. Atlas was yanked off his feet, dragged through the shadows after Lucian, and then both of them burst into the open air high above the ruined clearing.
With a powerful heave Lucian flipped the Titan's massive body over his head and drove him straight down. Atlas crashed into the forest floor with bone-jarring force; a towering cloud of dust and shattered earth exploded upward from the impact.
Atlas recovered almost instantly.
Even half-buried, the Titan's hands shot up and seized the chains. Veins bulged across his forearms as he pulled. Lucian was yanked out of the air like a hooked fish. Atlas rose to his full height in the same motion, one enormous hand clamping over Lucian's entire face. With a snarl of pure hatred he drove Lucian's head straight down into the dirt hard enough to crack the stone beneath.
"You stupid brat!" Atlas snarled, voice thick with long-held hatred. "I have wanted to bash your skull in ever since the day I met you!"
"This level of obsession isn't healthy," Lucian managed to tease from beneath the crushing grip. He grabbed Atlas by the collar, yanked the Titan closer, planted one foot firmly against his solar plexus, and kicked with everything he had. Atlas was launched skyward once more.
Artemis was already sliding in underneath the rising Titan. Arrow after arrow left her bow in a continuous silver stream, each shaft punching deep into Atlas's shoulders, chest, and torso.
Lucian reappeared above him. His weapon shifted again, the chain scythe collapsing into a solid bo staff. Drawing on his authority over the earth, he called every particle of dust and dirt swirling in the air. The grit converged around the end of the staff and hardened into an enormous hammer head of compressed stone and shadow.
The downward strike was catastrophic. Atlas was driven into the ground once more. Lucian teleported to Artemis's side in a flicker of darkness, staff already lengthening into a spear.
"Cover me!"
"What do you think I've been doing?!" Artemis shot back in sharp annoyance, already reaching for another arrow.
Lucian surged forward. Every swing of the spear distorted the air around it; every stab and slash was accompanied by a howling storm of shadows and black energy. Atlas could feel the weight of his own body increasing with each exchange, as though gravity itself were turning against him.
"Hahaha! Stupid boy!" the Titan roared. "I am the Titan of Strength! What are you hoping to achieve here?!"
He deflected the majority of the strikes with the backs of his hands and open palms, the force of each impact still enough to drive him backward step by step.
Lucian suddenly spun the spear and slammed the butt into the ground. Vibrations rippled outward through the dirt; the solid earth liquefied into churning quicksand beneath Atlas's feet. A wave of intense heat followed immediately, flash-hardening the mire into solid stone once more and locking the Titan in place for a precious few seconds.
"I am the strongest there is!" Atlas bellowed, veins standing out across his neck. "The earth cannot hold me!" With a single explosive surge of strength he shattered the stone prison and overturned the ground around him in a violent upheaval.
But Lucian had never intended to imprison him—only to slow him down.
The spear transformed again, this time into a long, elegant bow. Lucian aimed the weapon downward and, with a flicker of malevolent power, crafted an arrow composed entirely of concentrated curse energy. He planted one foot against the bowstave and drew the string back to its absolute limit, shifting his entire weight onto a single leg until the weapon groaned under the tension.
Artemis's eyes widened.
As the Goddess of the Hunt and Archery, she had witnessed countless forms across millennia. None had ever looked quite like this. The pure, predatory elegance of Lucian's stance—the absolute economy of motion, the lethal intent distilled into a single frozen moment—stole her breath for half a second.
The curse arrow left the string at supersonic speed. It struck Atlas dead-center and detonated in a cataclysm of malevolent energy. Darkness stained the air and the earth; for a moment it looked as though a giant skull had opened its jaws and swallowed the Titan whole.
Atlas was hurled backward by the blast. He tumbled violently across the clearing before forcing himself upright once more. The snapback of the shot sent the bow spinning through the air; Lucian caught it smoothly and transformed it into a single-edged sword.
He vanished—not by teleportation this time, but by pure, overwhelming speed. In the next instant he was already in front of Atlas, blade flashing in a relentless barrage of cuts. The lingering curse energy had softened the Titan's legendary durability just enough for the sword to bite deep, carving thin but bloody lines across that once-impervious skin.
"That. Is. Enough!!"
Atlas's roar shook the clearing. A massive wave of raw Titanic energy exploded outward from his body, blasting Lucian across the field. He landed hard beside Artemis, rolling once before she helped him back to his feet. The golden power burned away every trace of the curse, sealed the sword wounds, and restored the Titan's strength in a single overwhelming surge.
"I'll show you, bastard of Hades," he snarled, "exactly why you do not mess with me. Your juvenile little pranks will be the greatest mistake of your short, miserable life."
Artemis hauled Lucian back to his feet with one arm. He wiped a smear of blood from the corner of his mouth, still grinning that same maddening grin.
"Heh. My greatest mistake," he said, voice rough but defiant, "was not making you cry harder last time. I could've really used the extra tears."
Around them, the shadows began to move as Lucian chuckled.
They stretched and deepened, pooling unnaturally at the edges of the clearing. One by one, dark shapes rose from the blackness—dozens of them, hundreds. Armored silhouettes. Flickering forms of every size and shape. Lucian's entire shadow army answered his call, materializing in perfect silence until the ruined forest floor was filled with a waiting legion of darkness, every pair of eyes fixed on the Titan who had just made the critical error of underestimating their master.
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