Percy: Leading the assault on Mount Orthys' already ruined palace
Nico's sacrifice had brought us all to this point starting with my lead. So I made sure my soldiers knew what I was getting into before I ran toward the gates of Orthys with Thalia at my side. The first thing that happened was that we came under the firepower of the Persian archers but Thalia allowed me to duck behind her shield while they shot at us. We simply brushed off the firepower of the Persian archers, which followed with the laughter of our soldiers just before they returned fire with their archers and cleared the front gates for us.
Once we were past the front gates, the assault towards the base of the mountain was somewhat easy but required some extremities. Because I bore the curse of Achilles, I could not die but I decided it was best that I didn't look like a walking pin cushion when we were under the fire of their arrows. Thalia repeatedly jabbed with her spear and even killed some of the soldiers on her side while I had my hands full on at least thirteen Persian soldiers. All of them fell before me with ease and I realized that it was mainly because of the fact that they had no actual armor but instead, were covered in a material hardly any thicker silk or polyester.
I dodged arrows and used a nearby spring to wipe out the archers shooting at me before I turned the water around to help Thalia escape from the Persians surrounding her. Soaked as she was, she thanked me for saving her life but then we wondered where Gabriel was and we saw him closing on the stairs leading to the Black Throne. "Holy crap, how did he get ahead of us while we were busy fighting Persians down here?" Thalia asked. "I don't know but I think it might be best to catch up with him and help him the rest of the way," I answered.
Thalia then improvised on how we could get there by using the wind and lightning powers of her father to temporarily clear a path for us. Once we reached Gabriel though, he told us to be prepared for the arrival of some of the Titans. "There are three Titans with Ouranos, expect two of them to be sent down to separate us from one another," Gabriel shouted over the clash of swords against swords and spears against shields. "You make it sound like a pleasantry," Thalia teased.
"If one of the Titans sent to separate us is Atlas, I don't think pleasantries will be provided dear niece," Gabriel replied. "Hey uncle Gabe, how about showing a little more optimism? The assault has been going as planned so far and I think it will keep that way at least until we reach the Black Throne," I shouted to him. "Don't count on that luck remaining for long, even if there is a chance we can reach the Black Throne before it runs out," Gabriel told me in a tone that normally would have been assuring but this time, it wasn't.
Thalia blocked arrows flying from the right, I deflected arrows coming in from the right, and Gabriel just simply let the ones straight ahead bounce off his armor. We even had a couple of spears hurled at us from certain directions and watched our step since we knew we could be surrounded at any moment. Then just after I had that thought, we were surrounded by enemy soldiers and they told us to drop our weapons and surrender. "I would be the first to gladly drop my arms if it weren't for the fact that your enemy soldiers are cutting down your men from behind and will soon undo your little trap," Gabriel replied.
A Persian captain turned in the direction Gabriel pointed to see that that was true and he ordered the soldiers to quickly forget about us and rush down to defend against the Grecians. Gabriel smiled and told us that the reason that gag worked was because souls of the dead could only focus on one thing at a time. "But you have to make sure you're giving them a big task otherwise they won't turn away from the task they're already doing. The Grecian souls fighting for us are a larger threat to them than four people and so they decided to let us go because of that," he explained as we continued our ascent.
Gabriel cut down souls that got in our way unless they reached my sword or Thalia's spear first. But as I climbed up the stairs alongside Thalia and Gabriel (we had seen to it that Nico was on his way back to camp earlier), I experienced something I had never had outside of sleep. A premonition on what was to happen possibly within the next few moments since I was still on Orthys when in the dream. In the dream, we had reached the top of the mountain as well as the doorway to the Black Throne.
Then a figure with a huge spear in hand came out and challenged me to a duel. I knew it was a Titan from the way he presented himself so I made sure to try and warn Gabriel and Thalia when I had the chance. And I accepted knowing that it would allow my friends to reach the Black Throne and find Ouranos thus finding the Sky Sword that we had come for. Just as the premonition ended, the Titan I had seen in my dreams showed up at the front door to the Black Throne.
"Gabriel Johnson, I challenge thee to a death-match!" the Titan shouted. "I speak and fight for Gabriel, if you wish to fight him you will have to destroy me first!" I replied. "No Percy, that Titan is too powerful for you!" Thalia said. "No that's Epimetheus, Prometheus' weaker brother and trust me when I say Percy can take this guy," Gabriel assured her.
"Besides, you get a chance to reach the Sky Sword without interference if you go and I fight him. Go now while you still can!" I shouted. "He's right Thalia, let's get a move on before Epimetheus changes his mind about letting us pass to duel with Percy," Gabriel told her. Gabriel rushed Thalia on while I stayed with the Titan and the fighting armies below us at the base of the mountain.
"We meet at last Perseus Jackson, he who single-handedly defeated Kronos on Mount Olympus nearly four weeks before," Epimetheus said to me. "I should assume that we've met before but I don't quite want to do that," I responded. "Well, I was briefly by the side of Antaeus before my brother recalled me if that's what you mean," Epimetheus said. Then I remembered where I had seen him, his blond hair was what had started the kick to remembering him in the Labyrinth.
"Enough talk though, I suggest we fight before my brothers think I am committing treason," Epimetheus said before thrusting his spear at me. I dodged it then slashed just behind the head of the weapon with Riptide. Unfortunately, I missed my mark because he was whirling the spear around to hit me in the back of the head. I dodged it quickly then charged at him to place a stab on his chest until I noticed that he was whirling the spear again but in the opposite direction to try again in hitting me.
Then I noticed that there was only one way for me to dodge the blow to my head: jump up and over Epimetheus. I swung Riptide over my head and made the jump on a hunch that I could dodge the blow and simultaneously strike one of my own at the Titan. The jump succeeded and I timed it just right so that I slashed up from just above his backside and ending just before I reached his head. Grunting, Epimetheus was stunned long enough for me to dive back to my feet and turn to make another blow.
Then Epimetheus turned and jabbed the spear at me with all his fury. I dodged the blow and pushed the spearhead to the ground before punching my enemy in the face. Without even realizing my own strength, I shattered Epimetheus' nose almost completely and I watched as ichor freely flowed in both of his nostrils and into his lips. But Epimetheus disregarded that injury and attempted to give me a punch to the face for me to experience.
I barely dodged by leaning back then I decided to come back by giving him a head butt. To my surprise, I hit his left temple and I watched as the injury swelled to interfere with the sight in his left eye. But the most miraculous part of that was that there was no swelling on my forehead since I used it to hit him hard enough for his whole left temple to go purple. "You will pay for what you have done, I promise you that!" Epimetheus shouted in pained rage.
"Um, you know you can heal from all these injuries in a minute with just the power of your mind right? You're a god, you can do that you know," I said. Okay, I'll admit that I was asking for it but I heard that Epimetheus was actually pretty dumb compared to his brother. It's not that I was hoping he knew he could recover from his injuries, it was that I was counting on the rumors being true to the point where he didn't even know his own abilities.
Then the funniest thing happened and it was so funny that I was laughing about it afterwards with my friends. He literally dropped his spear and began thinking about that to the point where he was scratching his head. Now I was really realizing what Gabriel meant when he said that I could defeat Epimetheus easily. It wasn't that Epimetheus was not a powerful god (he was actually the most powerful of the Titans second to Hyperion and third to his brother Atlas).
The truth was, for all his trouble, he was not a really bright one. It was truly no wonder why Prometheus was disappointed in him when he had squandered the gifts his brother had intended for man by making animals with them. Then again, I had to remember that because of that, Prometheus was able to give the greatest of all: a human heart that was similar to a gods heart. It was almost disappointing that I had to fight Epimetheus but as we all know, we do what we have to in order to insure a safe world.
While he was still thinking, I stabbed him in the abdomen, slashed him across the kneecap, then watched as he fell down to the ground in defeat. "Sorry dude but if you wish to kill a demigod, let alone your brother, you're going to have to learn about what powers you have and don't have," I told him. "I know enough to call upon a swarm of my soldiers to destroy you while I figure out how to recover from these wounds," Epimetheus replied. Sure enough, he did and I had no chance to join up with my friends like I had originally intended to do after defeating Epimetheus.
I called upon the Grecian warriors and they managed to send me three hundred Spartans, six hundred Arcadians, and about two hundred Athenians. Luckily, that was all I needed to get through the mob of Persian soldiers but by the time I got through I knew I would have to leave. But that was all right because my part here was done and Epimetheus had cowered away when his goons attempted to kill me. "You've done well soldiers now go and see if you can help our friends inside the Black Throne," I told them before heading for the exit and calling for Blackjack to take me home.
