Medusa’s misty island came into view as the afternoon sun was making its descent. The fortress of stone rose steeply from the sandy shores, topped with vine-wrapped ruins. Very few trees were found along the sandy base, but there were plenty of statues to decorate an entire country. Seeing the hundreds, if not thousands, of petrified people from above made me want to vomit.

All of it gave me flashbacks of my battle with Medusa and Cetus. How I almost gave into looking at her deceptively beautiful form because of my weakness with lust. I closed my eyes briefly with embarrassment.

The old dragon’s corpse was still there, a giant statue in the ocean. Looking at his incredible size astonished me. It was hard to believe that I had defeated him. Umbra shivered at the sight of his now replica.

“So the stories are true,” Cleopatra said, sitting in awe behind me. After my reverse effects wore off, I had Umbra land so I could get on top of his back. Riding on a cauldron was not preferable.

“Most of them,” I said, grinning at her.

Where should we land? Umbra said.

My mind was already ahead of him, predicting the best possible future. It was strange to still be in it, knowing what lay ahead as I looked at every possible future and then chose a course to follow. I refused to turn it off as I perpetually scanned the potential futures for the next day, afraid to have to wait for a recharge of my ability. We could not afford to wait, lest we fall asleep and lose. My decisions were depending on information I would not know save for looking further and further ahead, making my dependency on my power worse.

Case in point, Karkinos, the Crab King, and all of his hundreds of minions. Within a minute of us landing, the evil, giant thing would burst from the blue waters with its menacing, red eyes, and would swarm us with the smaller version of itself. And by smaller, they were more like the size of dogs, so bigger crabs than normal.

The open-air, temple ruins on top of the stone fortress would be the safest place for us to rest. Technically, the crabs could not follow us up there, being bound primarily to the beach and water. But they would be in the way of something we desperately needed: shrines.

“Where are the shrines?” Cleopatra said as Umbra landed on a rocky surface next to the ruins. The dragon set down the cauldron and coffee barrels carefully as we dismounted.

“So, the only one on land is in her cave below us. But it’s only Neptune.” When Cleopatra raised an eyebrow at the obvious contradiction, due to Neptune’s abuse of Medusa, I elaborated. “She holds a toxic worship of him despite that.” Cleopatra nodded, as if she understood. “The rest of her shrines are in a submerged cavern at the island’s base.”

Do I get to eat them? Umbra said, his stomach growling.

I chuckled. “Actually, that’s exactly what I was thinking.”

Umbra’s red, spiky tail swished in excitement. His joy further increased when the flood of crabs emerged from the sands and sea, their mandibles and claws clicking with fury at us.

Oh good! he said. There will be plenty for leftovers.

“Where is Karkinos?” Cleopatra asked.

“He will emerge once we kill enough of his kind. He is currently guarding the shrine room. He keeps his eggs in there, along with countless wealth.”

“Wealth?” Cleopatra said, her brows pulling together in confusion.

“From what I can see, Medusa paid off Karkinos with the loot from the unlucky sailors who came to her island.”

Too bad we can’t use any of that gold, Umbra said, huffing with disappointment, blowing my slave garment a little too high as a result. Umbra snickered while Cleopatra blushed. Apologies.

“Anyway,” I said, rolling my eyes, “let’s set up the alchemy station. It’ll take time to brew the coffee potions. Don’t worry about us, love. We will be fine.”

I gave her a quick kiss and stationed the cauldron and barrels between the massive stone columns of the once rectangular temple. Only fragments of the stone roof remained, with some table-sized bits lying about the ruins or on top of the vine-wrapped columns. I used a roof-fragment as a sort of table to place all of the ingredients on. While I worked, I had Umbra scoop up some water and branches for the cauldron. The dragon dumped the water from his mouth into the cauldron and kindled the sticks with his breath.

“Ready?” I asked Umbra while Cleopatra got to work brewing.

I am legitimately starving with my enlarged stomach. So yes, let’s get some crab.

“We’ll be right back,” I said to Cleopatra, who grabbed me by the waist before we launched to the sky. She pulled me in close and kissed me softly, her lips lingering on mine for a precious second.

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“Do not leave me behind, Maximus,” she whispered, her voice full of longing and love. Her intense desire for me made my heart race.

“I won’t,” I promised, eager to return to her.

The salty wind whipped in my face as Umbra tore through the dusk sky. “The best thing to do is to start cooking them with your fire,” I said, one hand on his spinal spike and the other on my Achilles’s Spear. Most of the futures showed he would peak his black shelled head once we started, but would be hesitant to leave the waters where he was safest.

Can do, Umbra said, diving down to the sandy shores. The hundreds of crabs clicked their claws with fury as we neared. Umbra didn’t give them any time to run away as he torched all of them.

Oh that feels good! Umbra said, swooping low to snatch a few fresh ones in his giant jaws. A sickening crunch came from his mouth, sending crab guts and shells flying past me.

“Can you eat afterwards?” I said, seeing the Crab King poke his menacing red eyes from the water.

Just needed a snack. I don’t think you realize how famished I am, Maximus. I almost thought about eating you.

“So funny.”

Not joking, he said, chuckling to himself. Am I going through a power trip, being stronger than you? Yes, I am wise enough to admit it.

“Karkinos!” I said, redirecting his attention. “Try to grab his shell and throw him onto the island.”

Will that kill him?

“No. I’ll need you to distract him while I grab my blessing.”

It would give me the smallest window of opportunity, but it was a chance I had to take. I saw it succeeding in most futures. I could only pray time would not betray me again.

Here we go! Umbra said, diving suddenly onto Karkinos and clamping down on his huge, black shell. Umbra groaned from the massive weight of the Crab King, flapping his wings with ferocity to lift the giant thing from the sea. Karkinos snipped at Umbra’s claws with his mandibles, sending dragon blood raining down onto the beach.

Curse this crab! Umbra shouted, pulling with all of his might to throw him against the rocky cliff on the island. He barrelled away, taking me to where the mouth of the underwater cavern was located. You’ll have to be quick, he cut me pretty good.

I leaped off of his back, diving head first into the crisp, sea water. The sudden temperature drop refreshed my senses as I dove to the submerged cavern. Though it was light outside and the barnacle encrusted mouth of the cavern was visible, the inside of it was not. I switched my spear for my Praetorian Flameblade, igniting it underwater once I reached its mouth. The enchanted blade sputtered at first but was able to keep a steady flame underwater, providing some much needed orange light as I descended through the swaying seaweed into the dark mouth. I would need to get to the shrine of Jupiter fast so I wouldn’t drown or be cut off by Karkinos.

The last of the eerie blue light faded behind me as my flaming sword became my only refuge in the chilling depths. Small schools of colorful fish darted past me as if sensing danger. If I hadn’t known there would only be a monster coming behind me here in the next minute, I would never have ventured this far into the cavern.

Soon golden denarii shimmered into view beneath me as I swam deeper. The staggering amount of wealth made the bottom of the cavern look like golden hills, interrupted only by Roman ceramic jars, armors long overtaken by barnacles, and silver and bronze kitchenware. In my earlier days in Antiquitus, I would have killed to take as much of the loot as possible. But now, with the world coming to a nightmarish end, it seemed so pointless.

Finally, the first of the statues emerged in the golden horde. There was a highly disfigured one of whom I presumed to be Athena, whose face was marred as if someone had attacked it with a hammer, including her shield. Next was Mars, raising a broken spear. There were dozens of others that I searched through, my air running out as I did so. At last, buried more to the back and behind a mound of rusted swords lay Jupiter’s statue.

Blessing Accepted! Curse Added.

Blessing (update):

Stormborne Ascension: Grants the ability to harness lightning and fly whenever there is a storm. A direct hit from a lightning strike could deal anywhere from 500 to 1000 points of damage.

Curse (update):

Cursed Aura: The divine blessing emits a noticeable aura that attracts malevolent entities by 25% in all environments, and reduces the effectiveness of stealth and hiding by 20%.

Thank you! I thought with relief, my lungs burning from the lack of oxygen as the rest of my body surged with power. All of my Jupiter achievements were fully restored, as evident by my electrical aura zapping the water around me with an extended reach. Since water acted as a conductor, my lightning powers would go further.

It was perfect timing, really, because the enraged clicking from Karkinos approached behind me. From the futures I knew that Umbra was injured and had held him off for as long as he could. When I turned around, it confirmed what I had already seen: the red eyed Karkinos had blocked off the cavern exit.

If I didn’t engage my Jupiter blessings, the disgusting crab would simply wait me out, watching me drown slowly. If I had taken on Neptune’s blessings, it would have tore me apart with its truck-sized claws and nearly impenetrable shell.

No, I would have to fully lean into my Jupiter powers to survive. At that moment, as my health started to decline from drowning, I was immensely grateful for leveling up during the Civil War these life-saving abilities.

The space between the giant Karkinos and I was too great to cover now that I was drowning. To fix this, I activated the first of my Jupiter blessings, increasing my stamina and agility for thirty seconds. The sudden burst of power propelled my strokes, shooting me towards the crab like a rocket. A direct lightning hit would have destroyed the black crustacean, if only the lightning bolt could penetrate that deeply into the water and if there was a storm. I would have to do without in this situation. My spear could penetrate its armor, though I would need to be alive to use it. If I simply swam with enhanced speed and thrust it into its chest, it would snip my torso in half while still remaining with tremendous health.

Good thing the ugly Karkinos didn’t account for my lightning dash. Just as I propelled within reach of the giant Crab King, who raised his mandibles to destroy me, I activated my lightning dash.