[Third Person Pov]

"All of the secrets of the occult will finally be mine!! Mwahahaha!!" Annabeth cheered triumphantly, her voice echoing off the ancient stone walls of the sealed tomb. She held the legendary Book of Solomon high above her head with both hands, staring up at its weathered leather cover with a mixture of reverence and giddy excitement sparkling in her eyes.

A slow, deliberate clap suddenly filled the enclosed space, cutting through her moment of glory. Annabeth whipped around toward the sound, her heart skipping a beat. There sat Lucian, casually perched on the edge of King Solomon’s ornate stone coffin, clapping his hands with exaggerated slowness while watching her with clear amusement dancing across his handsome features.

She felt a flush of embarrassment creep up her neck. Rubbing the back of her head sheepishly, she tried to play it cool. "Why are you here, Lucian? Did you just come all this way to congratulate me or what?"

"Oh, I’m not really here," Lucian replied smoothly, leaning back against the coffin with effortless grace. "This is only a magical projection I’m sending out." His gaze drifted lazily over to the dusty skeleton resting inside the sarcophagus. "Figured I’d check in on your little adventure."

With a theatrical flourish, he raised one hand toward the remains and declared in a booming voice, "Arise!"

A few tense seconds passed in silence. Nothing happened. Not even a twitch from the ancient bones.

Annabeth couldn’t help it—she burst into giggles, covering her mouth. Lucian simply shrugged with a lopsided grin. "Oh well. It was worth a try."

"Since you’re here anyway," Annabeth declared dramatically, turning back to him with renewed energy and presenting the heavy tome like a sacred offering, "you shall bear witness as I absorb all the forbidden knowledge this book has to offer!"

"You’re having way too much fun with this," Lucian chuckled, shaking his head in fond exasperation. He motioned for her to proceed. "Go on then, show me what you’ve got."

A soft silver light began to emanate from Annabeth’s eyes as she closed them afterwards and activated her rare knowledge absorption ability. The ancient words and sigils within the Book of Solomon started lifting off the pages in shimmering streams of ethereal energy, flowing directly toward her forehead and flooding into her mind like a rushing river of wisdom.

Lucian watched the process with genuine curiosity, his sharp eyes noting every detail—especially the way her brows furrowed in concentration as she rapidly digested the immense context and power contained within the ancient grimoire.

When the light finally faded and the transfer completed, Annabeth’s eyes snapped open. She looked bewildered, staring down at the book in her hands with growing disbelief. She quickly flipped it open and began frantically paging through it.

"No... this can’t be right..." she muttered under her breath.

"What is it?" Lucian asked, his interest piqued. He pushed off the coffin and walked over, peering over her shoulder as she swiped through the pages with increasing urgency.

"The information on the 72 demons of Hell—they’re all here," Annabeth said, her voice tight with frustration. She thrust the book toward him, showing page after page where sections had clearly been torn out with surgical precision. "Except for one critical page on each of them. The summoning rituals... they’re all gone!"

"Think it was done as a precautionary measure?" Lucian asked calmly, though he could see fury building rapidly in her expression.

"Fuck!" Annabeth suddenly cursed, the sharp word startling even Lucian for a brief moment.

"Here, hold this!" she snapped, slamming the heavy book into his chest. Without wasting another second, she summoned her abilities once more, reaching through the annals of history to call forth the spirit of Solomon himself.

Halfway through the summoning, as misty ethereal energy began to coalesce into a figure, Annabeth impatiently reached into the forming mist and yanked the ancient king forward, pulling him fully into the physical realm. "Where is it, old man!? Speak!"

The bewildered figure of Solomon blinked rapidly, looking around the dimly lit tomb in utter confusion. His eyes landed first on the Book of Solomon in Lucian’s hands, then on the powerful ring gleaming on Annabeth’s finger. It didn’t take him long to piece everything together.

Lucian, meanwhile, studied the ancient man with intense focus. ’She doesn’t summon the exact same Solomon each time,’ he thought, analyzing her abilities with clear interest. ’It seems to be a fresh version of him—perhaps at the peak of his legendary power and wisdom.’

"Ahh, I see..." Solomon said slowly, his voice carrying the weight of centuries as he finished processing the situation. "You managed to acquire the Ars Goetia. A most dangerous tome indeed when wielded by the wrong hands."

"Trust me, grandpa, there’s no one more worthy of this thing than me," Annabeth shot back, narrowing her eyes dangerously. "I don’t want it for some nefarious world-domination bullshit. I just want the power to help and protect the people most important to me. So skip the cryptic shit and just tell me where the missing pages are hidden."

Solomon regarded her with a calm, almost paternal gaze. "Good intentions do not always mean one is in the right, young lady. Even if I wished to tell you, I could not. Before my death, as a final precautionary measure against ambitious souls such as yourself, I instructed my most trusted vassal to scatter those summoning pages across the far corners of the world. Power of that magnitude demands profound wisdom to wield safely, and I doubted that anyone apart from myself would ever possess such wisdom."

With a casual gesture, he broke free from Annabeth’s grip, standing tall despite his frail appearance.

’It seems that any form of wisdom inevitably comes with a hint of hubris,’ Lucian thought to himself, secretly scoffing at the ancient king’s self-righteous tone.

"Yeah, yeah, I get it," Annabeth said, rolling her eyes. "Power without wisdom is a weapon that will eventually turn back on its wielder and all that moralistic crap." With a casual wave of her hand, she canceled her summoning ability, dismissing Solomon’s spirit as if he were nothing more than an inconvenient guest. "Since you don’t know where the pages are, you’re useless to me now. Off you go."

The ethereal figure of Solomon gave her one last disappointed look before dissolving into mist.

"So they’re scattered all over the world, huh..." Lucian mused aloud, running a hand through his dark hair. "Well, that certainly complicates things."

"I know, right?" Annabeth grumbled, her earlier triumphant mood souring into clear annoyance. She kicked a small rock across the dusty tomb floor with a childish pout. "How the hell am I supposed to track down all seventy-two missing pages? They could be literally anywhere—buried under some random desert, locked in a Vatican vault, or sitting in some rich collector’s private library."

Lucian held his chin pensively for a moment, his sharp mind already spinning through possibilities. "I can think of a few ways to help you. Beatrice and Edna are dealing with churches all around the world. I’ll tell them to keep an eye out for anything suspicious. I’ll even mobilize my shadows to search the darker corners of the globe. Between all of us, we should be able to make decent progress."

Annabeth’s face lit up instantly. "Ugh, Lucian, I could just kiss you right now!" she exclaimed, throwing her arms open wide and stepping toward his projection with clear affection.

Lucian scoffed, though a warm smile tugged at his lips. "Well, I’m not going to stop you."

She puckered her lips dramatically and leaned in, but just before she could make contact, Lucian raised a hand and gently pressed it against her face, stopping her in her tracks.

"Actually, on second thought, I am going to stop you," he said with mock seriousness. "This is only a magical projection, and I can already feel the real me getting jealous. So save it for the real thing."

Annabeth burst into bright, unrestrained laughter, the sound echoing beautifully through the ancient tomb. "Hehehe, perhaps only you could get jealous of yourself," she teased, pulling him into a warm hug instead.

"Alright, hugging is already more than I’m willing to tolerate from a projection," Lucian said grimly, though his arms wrapped around her anyway. "But I’ll let it slide this once."

Annabeth laughed even harder, squeezing him tightly before finally letting go, her spirits visibly lifted.

Once she had calmed down, Lucian glanced at the gleaming ring on her finger. "What about the ring? I’m sure it’s a powerful artifact, but what does it actually do?"

Annabeth looked down at the Ring of Solomon, slowly rolling it around her finger as she examined its intricate engravings. "I mostly know what it does from ancient texts and legends. I’ll need to study it properly myself to confirm everything. From what I’ve read, the ring grants the wearer authority over spirits, demons, and various supernatural beings. Not total domination over everything it encounters, but enough to command respect and obedience. Some records claim Solomon used it to bind demons to his will, forcing them to obey his every order and even helping construct his legendary kingdom. Other texts mention it allows the wearer to communicate with animals—though that feels pretty tame compared to the rest."

She let out a long, contented sigh, a satisfied smile spreading across her face. "I’ll figure out all the finer details later. For now, I’ve got everything I came for."

Lucian nodded, sensing there was no longer any reason for him to linger. "Good. I’ll start making arrangements on my end. See you soon." With those words, his projection dissolved into shimmering particles of pure magic, fading from the tomb.

Annabeth carefully tucked the heavy Book of Solomon into her enchanted pouch, then made her way toward the tomb’s entrance. As she pushed open the heavy stone door, the sight that greeted her made her pause.

The two angels who had tried to stop her lay sprawled across the ground cemetery motionless and defeated. The once pristine robes Annabeth’s spirits wore were torn to tatters, their bodies bruised and battered. Bianca and Nico looked the worst of all—covered in blood and deep injuries, leaning heavily against each other for support. Their haggard expressions and trembling forms made it clear they were barely conscious, moments away from collapsing entirely.

Annabeth stared at the sorry scene for a few long seconds before a smirk tugged at her lips. "You guys look like shit. Was it really that hard for you to take down just two angels?"

"Annabeth..." Nico sighed wearily, still leaning against Bianca for support. "I love you, but go to hell."

"Bwhahaha!" Annabeth threw her head back and laughed heartily, the sound ringing out across the ruined battlefield. Both Nico and Bianca could only glare at her with exhausted resentment while their semi-spiritual companions hung their heads low, utterly drained.

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