Disclaimer: I don't own Percy Jackson, just my own ideas.
To War one last Time
Hurrah! Hurrah! We march to war!
Through fire and storm we go
Only death will stop us now
Hurrah! Hurrah! Hurrah!
Hurrah! Hurrah! We march to war!
Our swords and spears we bear
To fight the fight, to fight the war
Hurrah! Hurrah! Hurrah!
Hurrah! Hurrah! We march to war!
The Spartans lead the charge
They shall fill the fields with blood
Hurrah! Hurrah! Hurrah!
Hurrah! Hurrah! We march to war!
Until the battle's done
Then we receive our just reward
Hurrah! Hurrah! Hurrah!
The fleet of ships sailed in silence. The fleet consisted of seven ships, three of them landing craft. The troops had been packed into the three ships, when the doors opened, the battle would begin. Along with the landing craft were four others. To mortal eyes they would look like large fishing boats, but in reality, the fishing boats were armed with one ballista each. Each could fire a deadly payload of explosive bolts. With a good team, several bolts could be fired a minute.
As they neared the island, Wolf looked through his binoculars. Terence's now lined the beach, barricades had been erected. He could see movement in the mountain bunkers. He pulled out his Walkie-Talkie.
"Hold position." The fleet obeyed and halted.
"Aim." One could hear the moan of mechanics as the ballista picked their targets.
"Open fire!" Four ballista let loose their deadly payload. They were rewarded with explosions and screams of monsters being sent to Tartarus in pieces. Calmly, the ballista were reloaded and fired again. For ten minutes no one moved as the beach was barraged with exploding death. After ten minutes the ballista fell silent and Wolf gave the order. The landing ships gunned their engines and drove towards the southern beach. The occupants of the landers waited in grim silence. Victory was uncertain, and the only thing they were sure of was that death awaited on that island. The doors opened and demigods poured onto the beach. They took their first steps into Hades on earth.
It is hard to describe such a battle. Those who survive such times often never talk of them. When they first stepped off the boats for a second there was silence. Then the arrows began to fly. The initial volley came from the mountain bunkers. Many demigods dove into the craters to avoid the deadly missiles. they would have remained there if it had not been for two factors. The first one was the boats. Seeing that their friends were trapped, they turned their fire on the bunkers. Many were demolished and the monsters in the others were pinned from the incoming fire. The second factor was the Spartans. In their specialized armor, the enemies arrows bounced harmlessly off. The Spartans rallied their comrades and renewed the charge. The monsters in the trenches were shocked to when demigods seemed to pop out of the ground and pour into the trenches. Thus began the most ferocious close combat that many had ever seen. It could rival the fighting in the Battle of Manhattan.
Cameron found himself right in the thick of it, fighting side by side with Bully, one of the Spartans. A Dracanae charged at Bully. The duel was ferocious but short. Cameron, busy with an enemy of his own, saw a Laistrygonian giant out of the corner of his eye, coming up behind Bully. Cameron had just enough time to yell his warning before the Laistrygonian shoved a spear into the Spartan's back. The spear was mostly stopped by the Spartan's armor, but the giant shoved the Bully to the ground forcing the spear in deeper. Cameron jumped forward and cut the spear in two. The angry giant raised what remained of his spear to smash Cameron, but roared in pain as the now the Spartan had risen to his feet and shoved his sword into the monster's leg. The giant swung his spear at Bully, sending the warrior flying out of the trench. With the monster momentarily distracted, Cameron swung his sword as hard as he could. The celestial bronze blade smashed through the giant's knee, shattering it completely. The giant roared in pain again, and fell to the ground. Cameron promptly executed him, and rushed out of the trench to find Bully. He found him lying on his back in a crater, the head of the spear still in him. As Cameron rushed to his side, the visor flipped open. Revealing the dying Spartan's face.
"Too late for me, I'm done for. Send them to Tartarus for me will you?" The Spartan closed his eyes and spoke no more. Bully would be the first Spartan to die in that battle, but sadly he would not be the last.
Cameron had arrived at Camp Half-Blood after the Battle of Manhattan, so he had never seen someone die before. At first, he was in shocked silence. Tears streamed down his face for a moment. Then, something happened, the tears stopped and he picked up his sword. His eyes showed an anger he had never felt before. With an almost inhuman cry he charged straight into a horde of monsters, without regard to himself or any monster unfortunate enough to get to close.
All this happened in a few minutes, and all with Diabolos watching from a high window. Although he had been surprised at the boat attack, he wasn't worried. Even though the half-bloods had inflicted many casualties, his own forces were inflicted casualties as well. He had many troops to spare, the Forgotten didn't. They would suffer greatly at every loss.
"I've ordered all our forces that are on the beaches to converge on the demigods, they won't last long against our full force." Custos told his him.
Diabolos smiled, victory was in his grasp. "They may have defeated Sallee's forces, but Steelskin and Warmonger will finish them, permanently."
Sarah destroyed a hellhound with a swing of her war hammer. As she moved on to her next target she heard a yell.
"Reinforcements on the right!" She was certain they weren't theirs.
"Incoming on the left!" Came another shout. The already weary forces had been caught in a pincer movement. If something didn't happen soon, they'd be surrounded.
"Use the grenades!" she yelled at the top of her lungs. Before the battle, everybody had been given a belt of four grenades. These grenades weren't your normal kind though, these were Triple H G's, or 'Holy Hephaestus Hand Grenades'. They were twice as powerful as normal grenades and were specially built to kill monsters. Grenades were lobbed at the incoming hordes. The explosions devastated the enemy ranks. The monsters began to panic, the once organized attack turned into confusion and disarray. sarah saw on the right flank one monster trying to rally the ranks into an organized assault. Sarah knew if he reorganized the attack, any hope that the Forgotten had would be dashed. With a cry she charged the monster. Seeing her coming the monster easily dodged the first attack. Sarah swung again, only to have her strike parried. She realized she was up against a real swordsman. After several failed swings, she tried something new. She took her war hammer and thrust it out like a spear. The monster had the wind knocked out of him and his head was 'knocked out of him' as well. Sarah didn't realize then that she had defeated the lycan of the iron three.
Something had gone wrong and Diabolos knew it. Warmonger's forces were in disarray. Explosions had wrecked havoc on both flanks. a worm of doubt was beginning to wriggle into his mind. He turned to Costus, they still had one more card to play.
"Lead the elite forces out of the mountain and attack, our enemy will crack soon."
"As you command." As the cyclopes left, Diabolos turned back to the window and watched the battle. Victory would not elude him for long.
Alexa sent another monster to Tartarus with an arrow to the face. She seemed to glide across the battlefield, always avoiding the enemies grasp. as she notched another arrow she turned her head towards a rumbling sound coming from the mountain. A large door opened up, and monsters began to pour out. Leading them was a cyclopes in full battle armor carrying a huge hammer. She launched an arrow but it merely bounced off his armor. The reinforcements crashed into what remained to the Greek forces. The already weakened army slowly began to lose ground, slowly being forced back towards the sea. the cyclopes commander seemed unstoppable, smashing all who opposed him. Someone lobbed a Triple H G, which seemed to have some effect, but not enough. Just as their feet began to touch wet sand, Alexa saw Knight charge forward, a grenade in his hand and two full belts slung across his shoulders.
"What are you doing!?" she yelled to him, but she was ignored. He charged ahead, ignoring all else as he raced towards the cyclopes. The monster swung, Knight dodged. In an incredible display of acrobatics he managed to get on the cyclopes head. Pulling the pin, he shoved the grenade into the monsters mouth, but instead of jumping away he gripped the monsters neck and held on for all he was worth.
"Jump away!" Alexa's scream was unanswered.
Just before the explosion of the first grenade she felt someone grab her, throw her to the ground, and get on top of her. The explosion was deafening, those who didn't cover their ears would find themselves temporarily deaf. The explosion was huge, the first grenade caused all the others on Knight's belts to blow as well. The explosion would kill dozens of nearby monsters while monsters and demigods alike were thrown to the ground. A few seconds after the explosion, the body that had covered Alexa rolled off. As it did she realized that it had probably saved her life, since she had been pretty close to the explosion. She turned towards her savior and recognized the Spartan armor, it was Wolf's.
"Wolf!" She screamed, only to realize that she couldn't hear herself. She leaned over him and tapped the helmet in several places until she found the right button. The visor flipped open to reveal Wolf's face. He tried to say something but all she heard was a dull, unintelligible whisper. Slowly, her hearing began to come back. Wolf coughed, blood dripped down the side of his head.
"You ok?" he asked her.
"Yes, but are you?"
"Yes," he winced in pain. "No, my arm…"
Alexa gasped when she saw his left arm, or, what was left of it. The cyclopes hammer had been ripped to pieces in the explosion, but a large piece had severed Wolf's arm. All that was left was a stub of his shoulder. Beginning to panic, she managed to bandage it the best she could, then she ran to get Calypso. Eventually she found her amidst the chaos and brought her to Wolf. Calypso used all her skill to keep Wolf from bleeding out or going into shock. During this time, the monsters were in full retreat. With the death of their leader they lost heart. What was supposed to be a victory, turned into a rout for the monsters. No monster would leave that island alive. Though the devastation in the monster ranks was total, the casualties to the Forgotten was devastating. In that moment of bittersweet victory, no one noticed that Mark was missing.
When the doors had opened to allow the reinforcements, Mark had rushed inside. In the depths of the mountain, his fate would be decided.
A/N: Hello! I managed to get this written a week ahead of schedule! Huzzah! But don't expect this to be a trend. I welcome your feedback, it's how a writer get's better. I have to say, it was difficult writing this chapter. I wanted it to be an epic final battle and I hope I've reached your expectation. The next chapter will be the final showdown. Meet me then! And tell me what you think!
PS: By the way, the chant at the beginning of the chapter was written by me, hope you like it. It's the chant that the Forgotten do as they prepare for war.