The screen freezes on Percy's face, his red eyes shining with an unbearable brilliance in the midst of the carnage he has just caused. The Archbishop faces the assembly, an enigmatic smile on his lips. He crosses his arms, waiting for the tumult of hearts to calm.
— Archbishop: "You have seen the symphony. You have seen blood and darkness obey his baton like lovers to their master. So, tell me... what is your new theory? What has Percy Jackson become? Grade out of 20."
The Council of Theories
Nyx (voice trembling with an emotion she does not understand):
"This is not magic. It is a resonance. The darkness he manipulates... it does not come from Tartarus, it comes from me. He moves as if my own blood flowed in his veins. I theorize that he stole a part of my essence while he crossed my realm. He has become a primordial parasite."
Archbishop's Grade: 04/20. "A parasite? You are blind, Nyx. One does not command primordial darkness by theft, one does it by birthright... or by something far more intimate."
Zeus (foaming with rage and terror):
"He is an anti-god! He made a pact with the Void itself to humiliate us! Look how he saved us... it wasn't heroism, it was a demonstration of power to show us that we are nothing! He is the end of Olympus incarnate. He is a monster of the Abyss!"
Archbishop's Grade: 00/20. "Still so self-centered, Zeus. You think everything he does is related to your little throne. He didn't save you out of hatred, he did it out of habit. And this 'monster' is the only thing keeping you from disappearing."
Hades (observing the sleeping Percy with strange deference):
"This is not a monster. It is an architect. The way he structured that symphony... it is a creation from chaos. I think he has become the incarnation of a new order. A bridge between us and the Primordials. A sort of 'Third Way' necessary for the survival of the universe."
Archbishop's Grade: 09/20. "You're warming up, Hades. He is indeed a bridge, but you have no idea which two banks he truly connects."
Chaos (staring at the screen with an intensity that seems to want to pierce reality):
"I feel a call. When he raises his batons, my own inner void quivers. My theory... is that he is no longer an individual. He has become a cosmic catalyst. He has merged with the fundamental laws of existence. He is not a god, he is the Echo of what I was before I created the world."
Archbishop's Grade: 15/20. "Magnificent, Mother of Things. You feel the connection, don't you? But even you refuse to see the obvious that hides behind this connection. You seek a metaphysical explanation where there is... a belonging."
The Master's Silence
The Archbishop walks back down the steps of the platform, stopping right in front of the floating body of Percy. Inside himself, he smiles. If only they knew... If only they knew that this "monster," this "catalyst," is in reality the Primordial Soulmate of two of the most powerful entities in this room.
In a way that defies all divine laws. A double bond, a sacred anomaly that explains why their respective powers respond to his every sigh. But the Archbishop keeps this secret warm. The shock will only be greater later.
— Archbishop: "Your theories are... entertaining. But none touch the truth. You try to understand his power, but you do not understand his identity."
He snaps his fingers and the image on the screen resumes. Cronos is alone facing Percy. The rest of his army has become a scarlet mist.
— Archbishop: "Watch carefully the end of the King of Titans. Because this is where Percy Jackson's mask definitively falls."
The vision resumes. Cronos, cornered, tries to speak, but his voice chokes. Percy approaches him, his conductor's batons smoking with black energy.
The cinema screen saturates with a dying golden light before plunging into a deep purple. The symphony changes tone, becoming a lullaby from beyond the grave.
The End of Time and the Exile of the Savior
On screen, Cronos does not scream. Under the influence of Percy's batons, the Titan unravels like smoke. His eyes, once full of rage, close with an expression of infinite gratitude. He does not die in pain; he is gently erased from the fabric of existence.
As soon as the last particle of gold disappears, the music stops. The silence that follows is more terrifying than the war.
The Rejection of the "Bloody One"
Percy turns to the Gods and demigods he has just freed. He takes a step toward Poseidon, his hand outstretched, his red eyes seeking a glimmer of recognition.
But what he receives is a blade of hatred.
— "Back, demon!" shouts Zeus, crawling away from him.
— "You are not my son..." murmurs Poseidon, his face twisted with terror. "You are evil incarnate."
— "Murderer! Monster! Cursed one!" cry the demigods, huddling together as if Percy might devour them.
Percy does not respond. He had prepared himself for this void. In a swirl of blood and liquid shadows, he evaporates, leaving Olympus forever.
Cinema Reactions: Shame and Shock
Poseidon collapses in his seat, hiding his face in his hands. "I said that... I said that to him after he saved me from my own father?"
Hestia growls, her voice vibrating with rare divine anger: "You broke him. You took his light and when he used his darkness to protect you, you threw him away like garbage."
Chaos and Nyx say nothing, but an aura of death emanates from them. They stare at the Olympians with a contempt that promises bloody retribution.
The Sleep of the Wanderer
The image changes. We find Percy far from everything, in an isolated, damp, dark cave. He is pale, his clothes are torn. He lies down on the cold floor and closes his eyes. His body trembles with fatigue.
As he sinks into a deep sleep, his memories rise to the surface. We see little Percy, fleeing reality, seeking to understand this magic that inhabited him. We see him creating little blood flowers that wilt, or destroying rocks by sheer thought to release his pain.
The Forbidden Meeting
In the memory, a man appears at the entrance of the cave. He wears an outfit that seems to exist outside of time. His aura is so powerful that even through the screen, the cinema spectators feel oppressed.
The man approaches young Percy and says in a calm voice:
— "You have a magnificent gift, little one. But this world is too small for you. I will teach you to conduct the orchestra of your soul."
The man introduces himself. It is the........
Archbishop.
The Final Shock of the Cinema
The silence in the room is broken by the crash of a throne overturning.
Zeus points a trembling finger at the man standing next to the screen: "YOU! It's you... you corrupted him from the start! You are the master behind the monster!"
Athena stands up, eyes wide: "It wasn't a coincidence. You are not an observer, Archbishop. You are his creator."
Nyx and Chaos turn to the Archbishop, their gazes burning with a silent question: Why him?
The Archbishop does not blink. He looks at the version of himself on screen teaching Percy how to manipulate the threads of destiny.
— Archbishop: "I did not corrupt him. I simply helped him accept what you refused to see. He was already an unfinished symphony. I just gave him the baton."
The screen shimmers, moving from the cold cave to the supernatural warmth of the Archbishop's manor. It is a place that defies geography, a cathedral of knowledge and music where time seems to stop.
The Refuge of the Broken Soul
We see Percy, still a child, then a teenager, wandering through the infinite corridors of the manor. It is not military training. There are no shouts, no duels. We see Percy sitting in a colossal library, reading works whose titles make the scholars of Olympus shudder. The Archbishop is there, often silent, a protective presence who forces nothing, but offers direction when the boy gets lost in his own darkness.
Cinema Reactions
Athena grits her teeth: "He didn't teach him magic... he taught him to understand himself. That is far more dangerous."
Hermes murmurs: "Look at his face in that manor. It's the only place where he doesn't seem to want to tear off his own skin."
Hestia looks at the Archbishop with a gratitude mixed with mistrust: "You gave him the home that we refused him."
The Drama of the Bet: The Poison of Innocence
The image changes radically. We are in a mortal school. Percy, about fourteen years old, tries to go unnoticed. But his aura, though repressed, attracts attention. We see a group of young girls laughing in a corner. A bet is made.
One of them approaches, feigning shyness, and before Percy can react, she places her lips on his. It's a mundane adolescent gesture for the world, but for Percy's essence, it is an atomic assault.
We see Percy's face freeze. He does not push her away violently out of politeness, but his red eyes light up for a fraction of a second before he forces them back to blue. He finishes his school day, a trembling hand on his mouth, looking like a condemned man.
The Five Days of Agony
As soon as he crosses the threshold of the Archbishop's manor, Percy collapses. The reality of his body rejects this foreign contact with unheard-of violence.
For five days, the screen shows an unbearable ordeal.
The Blood: Percy vomits liters of black ichor and purple blood, staining the manor's silk sheets.
The Acid: His lips are swollen, burned, as if he had kissed molten metal. The skin on his face peels under the effect of a fever that would boil the ocean.
The Fever: We see hallucinations emerge from his body — specters of music and shadow that scream in the room as he delirious.
The Archbishop stays at his bedside, placing fresh cloths that evaporate instantly upon contact with Percy's heat.
Cinema Reactions: Horror and Guilt
Aphrodite lets out a cry of pure agony, clawing at her face: "No! Stop this! Love shouldn't do that! It was just a kiss... why does his body treat it like monster venom?"
Ares, for once, does not laugh. He recoils, disgusted by the boy's raw physical suffering.
Poseidon is on the verge of madness. He strikes the cinema floor with his trident: "ENOUGH! Why does he suffer like this for a simple touch? What did you do to him, Archbishop?!"
Nyx and Chaos rise simultaneously. Their auras resonate with Percy's suffering on screen. They feel every burn, every spasm.
Chaos thunders, her voice making the foundations of the universe vibrate: "It is not a kiss he received. It is a contamination. His essence is so pure, so tied to us, that mortal flesh is a biological insult to him. Every second spent among you is a sacrifice that none of you deserve!"
The screen shows Percy at the end of the fifth day, skeletal, eyes glassy, looking at the Archbishop with infinite sadness.
"Why can't I be normal?" murmurs the child on screen.
The Archbishop closes his eyes for a moment before answering the assembly.
— "Do you see now? It is not he who is a monster. It is your world that is too toxic for him. And yet, he continued to protect you after this."
The screen changes tone. The warmth of the Archbishop's manor becomes oppressive, charged with static electricity that makes the spectators' hair stand on end in the cinema room.
The Quest for the Forbidden Remedy
We see Percy, his face still emaciated by his five days of agony, frantically searching the manor's forbidden library. He throws parchments, knocks over millennial grimoires. He is looking for a way out of his own nature.
Suddenly, he stops. His trembling fingers rest on a ritual engraved in a language that even Athena struggles to decipher. It is a "Desensitization of Essence" spell.
The Archbishop appears in the doorway, his shadow stretching across the floor.
— "You decide your life, Percy. But you cannot do this. The result might be worse than the evil."
Percy turns to him, tears in his eyes, a wild determination in his gaze.
— "No, you don't understand! Thank you for everything, but you don't understand... I am sick! This world is impossible for me! My pain never stops... I have to fix this myself."
Cinema Reactions
Nyx grips the arms of her seat, an inexplicable anguish twisting her entrails. "Why do I feel like he is spiritually committing suicide?"
Chaos stares at the screen, the void in her eyes churning violently. "He is trying to break the bond that ties him to the Origin... He doesn't know that you cannot tear out your roots without killing the tree."
Poseidon murmurs: "Don't leave, Percy... stay with him. Listen to him..."
The Ritual and the False Freedom
The image shows Percy alone in an isolated clearing. He traces circles of blood and ashes. The sky seems to groan. The ritual ends in a flash of dull, gray light.
Upon waking, Percy seems transformed. He runs to a tree and touches the bark. Nothing. No burn.
He goes to a mortal city.
He orders a pizza. He eats it eagerly. Nothing. No nausea.
He enters a crowded cinema, lets himself be jostled by strangers. Nothing. No acidic pain.
We even see him talking to a young girl, brushing her hand. His face lights up with pure joy. "I'm normal," he murmurs on screen.
"I'm finally free."