It's late I know, midterms n stuff happened so was busy. Sorry. I will honestly be trying to stick to a bi-weekly schedule, but when big stuff comes up that will usually get interrupted.

In regards to what I think I will do for the time skip: There is a little too much honestly for me to give a fair interpretation of it through a single chapter or so, so I will probably be jumping back to certain events maybe here and there if it is required. That, or I can do what I'd prefer to do and simply write a prequel of what happened in the time between once I've finished this story.

IMPORTANT: I'll put a poll up on my profile regarding those two choices, please vote on what you would prefer!

Thank you so much to the couple of people that did review last chapter, I love you all.

Here is your chapter, hope you enjoy this little bit of a skirmish and set up - though I know it can get dull.

Chapter 7

On the Styx

To be fair, you could have probably been a bit smarter about this. Percy thought to himself as he went toe to toe with the titan of light.

He surprised even himself upon the discovery that he was able to keep up with the titan, in fact, he was meeting the ancient being stride for stride in their little personal battle while his men and the hunters fought the monsters around them. The fight had been going for a rather long time now, and while it did help that Hyperion had been honourable and shrunk down to his size to meet him he supposed, even with that in play Percy was tiring and couldn't keep this up forever.

He quickly ducked under a swing of the titan's spear and countered with a stab to the right leg. It was deflected with ease, yet Percy wasn't done his assault yet. He rolled to his left and stabbed upwards instead of down, cutting a small gash in Hyperion's sword arm and causing a spurt of golden ichor to pour from the wound. The titan roared in a fury before backing away to assess the mark whilst releasing a wicked growl.

"You fight with skill I have not seen in a demigod before, I will give you that Spartan." He twirled his spear into a ready position again before smirking. "Yet I grow tired of this game, I believe it is past time that I ended it."

Hyperion launched himself at the prince after that with a seemingly renewed vigour, and at this point, all Percy could do was try to stay alive. To anyone watching from afar, the exchange between the titan and himself would have looked more like a dance than your average clash of warriors. The speed with which these two masters of the blade and spear demonstrated their prowess bore an uncanny resemblance to a fight between the gods themselves, though Perseus would never grow vain enough to consider himself an equal to them.

At this point however, even from the outside it was clear to see the prince's resolve was starting to waver. Every now and then he would make a mistake because of his mounting fatigue, and it would result in a new wound being formed at the tip of Hyperion's spear somewhere on his body. His time was drawing near unless by some miracle a god; one that was not trying to kill them at that, appeared out of thin air to their assistance.

He twirled his sword to catch Hyperion's spear tip moments before it would have punctured his shoulder and responded with a hard bash of his shield to send the titan sprawling backward. Using what time he had he turned to the closest Spartan he could see, which happened to be Alekos.

"Alekos!" He called to the man as he went blow for blow with two of the many Dracaena Hyperion had brought with him.

"A little busy!" The Spartan officer called out over the noise of battle that surrounded him while proceeding to behead one of the snake women.

"When your brother arrives, get the men together in formation. Once this fight has ended don't be surprised if another one is required!"

He didn't have time to pay attention to whether the man responded with an affirmative as he turned back to meet the now rising Hyperion once more. Percy cracked his neck twice and banged his shield with his sword once before charging the titan, hoping to catch him off guard as he found his bearings. He threw himself into the air with a mighty roar and actually managed to gouge another large cut down the ancient one's side before he was violently hurled back into a building by strength only a titan could possess. He felt his arm dislocate upon impact, and was certain he had at least a few broken bones from the amount of brick he had just smashed through. It was all he could do to groggily raise his head as he watched the titan of light descend upon him with a spear raised high.

"For all your mortality you have been a worthy adversary demigod. I shall make your death a swift one, unless you're ready to pledge yourself to our liege?" Hyperion asked, poised to kill.

"Your liege can suck my cock." Perseus spat out with a bloody smile before he spread his arms and beckoned his end. For all that he was still needed for, this had been a long time coming.

"Pitty, you could have made things so much easier for us."

Perseus, ever the brave Spartan leader he was born to be stared down death defiant as if it were just one more obstacle to conquer. Before the titan could bring down his spear, however, a flash of light appeared right behind him, and the prince breathed out a sigh of relief he didn't know he'd been holding.

~LB~

As loathe as she was to admit it, the leader of the group of would-be assassins impressed Zoe greatly with his fighting skills. Not only was the man standing toe to toe with a titan and not dead, but he was even managing to get a few cuts in of his own on the immortal being. The fact that he and his men had charged the agents of the enemy as soon as they saw them meant to Zoe that at least the two must not be working together, and so the rational part of her brain had grudgingly forced her to side with the humans against the monsters rather than sitting back and killing them all. So much was going through her head however that she hardly had time to process anything before she had stabbed a dracaena three times in the chest and hurled some of the golden ashes it became into the single eye of one of the large cyclops.

There was a living, breathing, and very much not dead titan standing among them at that very moment. Everything she had been told by the gods over the years pointed to the fact that none but the peaceful ones should be walking the surface of the earth right now, and even those ones had their cages. Yet here stood Hyperion, the titan of light and one of the most powerful of Kronos' generals of old. It felt so surreal that Zoe had almost forgotten to pray to Artemis when the encounter began'.

Almost.

Her mistress had informed her that she would be there as soon as she could, but pressing matters with the council required her attention first. Zoe had been instructed not to take any risks and to await her goddess' arrival before making any kind of actions. It was only natural that the first thing she had done was instruct the hunters to attack, for had they had let the men attack alone then once they had been finished off the hunt would stand against the titan with no allies.

Her heart sunk a little as she watched the leader of the men be sent flying into a building, breaking a wall in the process and likely many bones. A shame to be sure, but it wasn't like she had expected any different outcome. Even for all his skill, a mortal could not stand up to a titan and live. She continued her fighting, yet out of the corner of her eye kept watch over the titan. When a flash of light appeared behind him, she quickly averted her eyes and a smile grew on her face. Artemis must have arrived.

As she turned back though to look again, she realized that the figure that had appeared was most certainly not her mistress. He was a towering man, broad of shoulder and decked from head to toe in traditional hoplite armour. In his hands, he wielded a massive blood red broadsword with a boar's head pommel, its blade was embedded in the torso of the titan of light.

The titan was laughing, rambling on about how he wouldn't be gone long or something along those lines as if he were a cheesy old movie villain before he vanished. As the man who had struck the blow lowered himself to inspect the body of the assassin leader, realization his Zoe like a truck and she quickly sent another prayer up to Artemis to arrive with haste.

Flashed in appearance, sending a titan into retreat, boar's head symbols - this could be none other than lord Ares. And if he was assisting the assassins... Well, it didn't bode well for the hunt.

Salvation came in the form of a higher pitched female voice however, as the recognizable childish form of Artemis appeared on the battlefield as well.

"What is the meaning of this Ares!" The goddess of the hunt called out with her bow knocked yet unraised.

Looking around the street Zoe could see that the monsters had apparently disappeared with Hyperion, and now the hunters faced down the black coated men once more with weapons drawn.

"Ah dearest sister, what a welcome surprise!" Ares beamed with clearly fake joy as he moved towards her with arms spread wide.

It was then that Artemis decided to raise her bow, stopping Ares' advance rather quickly.

"Interference in this matter by any other god is against the ancient laws, you cannot be here." She growled.

"Oh well forgive me for saving your hunters, I felt there was a battle going on through my domains and decided to have a peak. Luckily for you I had, Hyperion was here."

"You.. You lie! He couldn't possibly be among us again." Artemis' tone gave away nothing but disbelief, however in her eyes Zoe could see the slightest tinge of fear.

"He tells the truth my lady, the titan was here." Zoe spoke up.

The goddess turned to her before slowly lowering her bow and frowning.

"This is something that must be brought to the council immediately then. Zoe, have the girls restrain these men then I shall bring us all to Olympus. There is much to be discussed on this night."

At the goddess' words Zoe turned to look at the men in question. To her surprise, not a one had moved to flee or attack after what they had certainly just heard. Indeed, beneath the veil of one's hood she thought she could just make out the barest hints of a smile. Seemingly unaffected, one from among them lowered his sword and shield and gestured to their wounded leader, and two of them went to pick him up using their shields as a makeshift stretcher.

"There is no need for that, you're all going to the same place." Zoe called out with slight venom as she and a few of her fellow hunters surrounded the mysterious men.

"Actually little demi titan, you might not be fully correct on that account." Ares grinned from his spot leaning on the side of the building in a casual stance.

Zoe looked to her mistress confused, who in turn raised a brow at Ares.

"What do you mean by that, Brother." She spat out the word brother as though it were a venomous substance upon her tongue, which only served to bring up a jolly smile from Ares who had strolled over now to stand with the men.

"Oh, simply that these men will be coming with me instead. Can't have our drama queen of a father or owl bitch discovering my little side project. You understand of course." He shifted his broadsword in a seemingly meaningless manner to stand on his shoulder, though Zoe knew in truth this was a gesture that meant he was ready to fight.

"Do you plot against Olympus? Have you fallen so far as to betray your own kin Ares?" Artemis growled, and Zoe took a few steps back to be out of the way of the inevitable godly battle that was about to take place.

"My kin betrayed me the day Sparta fell Artemis, do not lecture me as though betrayal is some foreign concept in this family." The god of war retorted. "However as much as it is deserved, no I have no plans against the council. These men are simply under my protection."

Zoe's mistress had seemingly had enough however and had pointed her arrow right at Ares' head by this point.

"Once I have killed your pets I will personally bring you before the council to answer for your treason. There we will see if you speak the truth." She was about to let her arrow fly before Ares gave a high pitched whistle and more men dressed in black appeared along the rooftops on each side of the street, effectively surrounding the hunters.

Within moments the hunters all had bows drawn and pointed, however this didn't seem to affect any of the men on the rooftops - all of whom stood deathly still and with a wide variety of weapons from an ancient Greek short sword to a medieval flail. Zoe was not sure who would come out on top of this fight, but either way it went many hunters would die. And if these ones fought anything like the few they had briefly combatted before…

"My lady, these warriors are skilled.." She cautioned her mistress, who didn't acknowledge her statement though it was apparent she had heard.

"She is correct Artemis, at least in the broadest of terms. Each of my warriors is just as old if not older than your eldest huntress there and possess the fighting skills and powers one can only attain through such long lifetimes of training. My young captain here stood toe to toe with Hyperion himself for a long while before either of us arrived, gave him a few scratches as well."

Artemis looked to Zoe to see if Ares' last statement was true, and all the lieutenant of the hunt could do was nod. Ares had the advantage here and he knew it.

"Now, there are two ways this can go down." He spoke with his former fake smile. "Either your entire hunt dies here, or you swear on the styx and your immortal soul itself that you will tell no one of what you have learned about my little organization on this night and we can all live happily ever after."

Zoe grimaced. While she was willing to die for her goddess, she knew that her old friend valued the lives of her hunters far too much to allow the deaths of them all just to report some shady group Ares ran in the shadows. Her prediction came true as Artemis let out a frustrated growl before nodding her head.

"When this does eventually come to light know that I will take great pleasure in watching your punishment play out Ares. I, Phoebe Artemis, daughter of Zeus of Leto, swear on the Styx and my immortal soul to your terms. May you choke on them."

"Good, good!" Ares sheathed his sword and clapped his hands. "That wasn't so hard was it? Suppose we should be going now. Until next time Art."

The air of tension surrounding all those present was impossible to miss as the hunters, angered by this embarrassing surrender glared into the cowls of the seemingly emotionless dark figures of Ares' cult. Zoe had to place a hand on her fellow hunter Atlanta's shoulder when she saw the look on her face to ensure she wouldn't do anything rash. She didn't like the idea any more than her sisters did, however she also recognized the skill these men seemed to possess after watching them and their captain fight, and she would not have any of the hunters die out of a matter of petty pride.

Ares and his men seemed to have melted into the shadows when she had blinked, for as she looked around her she could see none left. It appeared that not a single one had fallen in the battle with the monsters, as she could not see any of their corpses scattered among the golden dust-covered concrete. She shook her head at the complete shame they had brought to their goddess this night and turned to face said figure with head hung low.

Not only had they failed in their mission to stop the group of assassins that had been targeting demigod children of Athena, but they had been utterly shown up and had their abilities snubbed by the god of war and his lackeys. Worst of all though was the losses of three different hunters this night, two to the arrows of the men, and one to a cyclops' club. Zoe knew Artemis would not take this well, so she followed the goddess as she stormed away from her handmaidens with some offhand excuse of wanting peace to think.

She followed her for some time, trying to keep low and out of sight. Alas, it was to no avail when Artemis sighed and turned around to look directly at her hiding spot.

"Zoe, I taught you everything you know. Did you truly think you could sneak up on me?"

The lieutenant cursed and rose from her position, then made her way closer so that she could make better conversation.

"If you don't mind me asking my lady, with all that has happened, are you well?" She asked the goddess with concern.

All the girls of the hunt called each other sisters. There was an inexplicable bond that formed among the "daughters" of the moon that seemed to come with the blessing of Artemis making them inseparable and loyal to one another. Artemis was the one they all looked up to, the mother figure that most of them had never had and the hero they worshipped with their every breath.

Yet to Zoe, Artemis was truly a sister. The two had been through so much together over the last 2000 years or so and forged a bond so close that they might as well have been true kin. As the eldest of the current hunters, Zoe had seen the goddess at her worst and her best, and she had been the shoulder to cry on whenever she needed to simply embrace her woefully mortal emotions. She would march on the doors of death themselves if Artemis asked it, and she liked to think that she felt the same way.

"I cannot say just yet, losing three of the girls in one night has been.. Hard." A single tear ran down her face as she spoke. "And having such a threatening group to Olympus out there that I'm now unable to do anything about.."

"Nobody said we couldn't do anything." Zoe pointed out, a plan beginning to formulate in her mind.

"I swore on the Styx and my own immortal soul Zoe, I am bound tighter than a hog before the slaughter."

"You swore not to tell anyone, but you didn't swear not to take action."

Realization took hold on Artemis' face as Zoe's words finally began to make sense to her. A slight tinge of pink rose to her cheeks in embarrassment at not having understood the idea beforehand. It was so simple and yet she hadn't even considered it until now.

"You would have us take actions against them alone?"

"Not all of them, we know that might not likely turn out in our favour. However, if we could maybe get one and bring him before the council…" Zoe trailed off, allowing the open ending to set in.

"Then our job is done for us and I need not break my oath." The goddess finished, a delicate smile beginning to shine through her formerly gloomy exterior. "Well then there is no time to waste, we must gather as much information as we can before we set out to find-"

"My lady, we've found something!" She was cut off as her second eldest hunter, Pheobe, came rushing up towards her and Zoe with something in her hand.

"Well, now this is rather interesting indeed.." Artemis said as she tentatively took the object in her hand.

~LB~

"You couldn't have let us just kill them, father?" Alekos asked the god of war back at one of their main gathering halls.

"The oath was easier, Artemis would have gone to the ends of the earth and back to kill every one of you who was there tonight had her hunt been destroyed there. Let it not trouble your brain boy, your brother was always the thinker." Ares joked as he patted his son on the back and made his way over to where Perseus was laying on a medical cot with Flavian seeing to his wounds.

The dimly lit room around them was actually quite spacious. This building served as one of the many headquarters Ares had built that Percy refused personally to ever stay in for too long for fear of detection, yet there were always some Spartan operatives coming and going. The large foyer just outside lead into multiple different rooms containing barracks, a training room, lounge areas, and an armoury. All state of the art and with loyal mortals acting as staff whose families had served Ares for generations, the facility and all those like it were effective locations to house Ares' men.

"You did well today prince of Sparta, very well." the war god said as he beamed down as his prodigy.

"I lost." Was the only response that came from the demigod as he stared into the blank ceiling, refusing to meet Ares' eyes.

"To a bloody titan boy! The fact that you're still alive is a testament to your skill, your modesty is sharpened to a point of annoyance." Ares' voice rose slightly in volume.

"Perhaps."

All the god could do was shake his head. This man had been his greatest asset over the past two thousand years and yet he was always trying to prove something to himself when he wasn't putting the lives of his men as his top priority. Perseus was the greatest warrior in Greek history, of that Ares had no doubt, but he never stopped reaching for the impossible. Both a blessing and a curse in different lights he supposed, but by Hades is was frustrating.

"My son informs me you ran into a ghost of the past?" Ares decided perhaps it was best to change the conversation lest this become hostile.

He worried this might be an even more touchy subject however, as the moment it was mentioned Percy visibly bristled and his expression became darker. It was only now that he lowered his eyes from the ceiling and cast them in his patron's direction, the anger held within sending a blended feeling of curiosity and intrigue down the god of war's spine.

"The girl is nothing to me now. If you're worried whether I can kill her or not, my answer is happily."

Ares nodded at this fact, pleased that there was nothing to worry about. Of course he knew what part the hunters had played in Sparta's destruction and therefore the reasoning the remnant Spartans held such ire for them, however, he also knew the feelings the prince once held for Artemis' lieutenant. It was good to see they were no longer there, or at least not something to worry about. He wanted to press the subject a little further but was cut off by his son from the door.

"Hey uh don't mean to alarm you paps and bossman, but we might have a problem."

Ares simply raised a brow to motion for him to go on.

"Hyllus may or may not have had his necklace cut off in the fighting, and he can't find it."

"Explain to me the relevance of this situation boy." Ares said with a hand pressed to the bridge of his nose in exasperation.

"His Spartan necklace father, bearing the symbol of a people Olympus had long thought dead until now. Our symbol."

"Ah. Shit." Perseus spoke from his cot.

That's putting it mildly. The god thought to himself.

Please remember to let me know what you think in the reviews! I'm now putting up updates on my profile a few days before I intend to update the story so be sure to tune in there every once in a while! Apologies for the filler, had to set up the feud better between the Spartans and hunters before being able to move forward into the canonical phases of the book.

As always, I hope you all enjoyed! Much love and gods guide you, for the night is dark and full of terrors,

Chrome.