Again, I don't own these franchises. Moving on...

February 25th

Reyna, Praetor of Camp Jupiter was a leader. Some legionnaires say she was born to be one. Others, born to wealthier families, envy her success since joining the legion. Among friends and enemies, she was a figure to be treated with respect. After all, how many times have she seen the legion through difficult times? She deterred Atlas' advance into San Francisco at the Golden Gate bridge just a few weeks after she joined the legion. In the months afterward, Reyna, with the help of veteran demigods from New Rome's reserves, smashed army after army of monsters in the Bay Area. It was of little wonder the Romans raised her up to be Praetor.

Reyna Ramírez-Arellano on the other hand, was just a broken girl. Her childhood was ruined by the specter of her insane father. Her early teens wasted as a handmaiden employed by Circe. Then taken aboard a pirate ship as a slave. Her life was a continuous series of train wrecks, one disaster after another.

Through it all she had her older sister, Hylla.

Hylla was much different from her. Perhaps she was just born with more resolve, perhaps it was because Hylla remembered a more peaceful time before their father went mad. Regardless, she took care of her.

After their father's death, Hylla was the one who attracted Circe's attention. While Circe only wanted to take the older of the two, Hylla negotiated to have the younger sister to come along, though virtually as a slave.

Life on Circe's island, wasn't particularly awful, but Reyna couldn't look back on those days with joy. The sorceresses on the island never treated her poorly, perhaps because of her sister's rising reputation among the Enclave, they never tried to come particularly close to her either. The other servants didn't acknowledge her, bitter about her better treatment from her sister's performance. Even Hylla didn't interact with her much, being too washed up with her rising position on the island.

So Reyna's dull life continued. She picked up a few things while serving the sorceresses, like developing an immunity to the powers of suggestion and learning a little on how magic works, though she was likely to never gain any proficiency with any kind of spell-work. Occasionally new recruits and lost seafarers turned up on the shores, but nothing changed. She transitioned from a child into a young teen. And then he came.

Perhaps the Son of Poseidon never considered that when he released the pirates, he was ruining the livelihoods of hundreds on the island. Reyna could forgive him for not realizing the consequences. But she didn't forgive him for indirectly bringing an end to her boring life.

Even now, she didn't completely forgive him. After all, holding grudges, even after generations and decades was very Roman. One only had to read about Hannibal and Scipio to learn that.

Huh, maybe that was why Pluto was so much more popular than Hades.

After escaping the Pirates thanks again to Hylla, Reyna and the rest of the captives arrived on the continent with no clear objective. Some of the sorceresses wanted to head to New York, where the Enclave owned a small store. Several of the recruits entertained thoughts on joining the Greek Demigod Camp, the Handmaidens of Diana, or even the rumored armies of Saturn.

But two of the captives in the group were different from Reyna and the rest. Most of the other captives were picked up by Circe as orphans with nowhere else to go. But that wasn't always the case apparently. Apparently some of the other supernatural groups sent their girls to Circe's Enclave for training in the magical arts. One of them professed to be from a minor family from the Amazons. The other claimed to be from New Rome.

Since the two demigoddesses (or perhaps more accurately legacies, if they had divine blood at all) came from a an actual society that was built on the backs of knowledge of the supernatural, they were able to secure funds from New Rome and the Amazons to make the journey West.

There, Reyna experienced the next large turning point of her life: Hylla simply abandoning her at the train station in Sacramento.

To this day, Reyna wasn't sure exactly why Hylla decided to abruptly leave. Was she tired of taking care of Reyna? Did she simply not care anymore? Did she abandon her because she was weak?

Reyna didn't exactly have time to mope around though. The legacy from New Rome and the few other girls that chose Camp Jupiter over the Amazons had to move.

At Camp Jupiter, Reyna finally found her purpose in life, a talent in which she excelled at. Though initially taken into the 12th Legion with suspicion, she quickly found a place in the 3rd Legion through her success in war games. From there, she became Praetor in a matter of months.

Then came the next phase of her life: fighting against the Titans.

The siege of Mount Othrys, or present day Mount Tamalpais, was a long and grueling affair. Siege engines had to be constructed, ammunition had to be hemorrhaged, and even then the fortress simply refused to fall. It was a miracle that the 12th Legion of 300 campers and 400 veterans with the 500 women strong Amazon contingent were able to break the siege, topple the Titans' seats of power, and slay Krios at all. Even then, the casualties were immense. More than half of the siege force never returned home alive.

Since then, Reyna was able to fool herself into thinking perhaps now her life could be normal. She could spend her next few years rebuilding the legion, home-school herself something resembling a proper education, maybe even woo Jason, and then go to college in New Rome. Perhaps she could finally move on with her life.

But the gods were unforgiving. Reyna was once again standing alone with the 12th Legion. The hero of the legion was sent away by the gods with no apparent explanations of any kind.

And then Percy Jackson came back into her life.

Reyna really wanted to hate the Son of Neptune, but then again he ended a life at Circe's Island, a life in hindsight wasn't what Reyna wanted. There were plenty of other reasons. He was disrespectful, a bit full of himself, and seemingly unconcerned of the consequences behind his actions.

Simply put, he was unbelievably infuriating.

Kinda like Jason, but in the complete other way really.

And then after essentially staying over for a week and rising to Praetor faster than anyone ever, he essentially decided to give the middle finger to all of Rome, and leaving her with the mess of a 12th Legion completely behind war against the Greeks.

His girlfriend, Annabeth wasn't much better.

Reyna barely remembered her from Circe's Island. After all, she was simply one of the girls that she attended to. She was smarter than Percy, but still seemingly unconcerned with problems they caused.

At the very least they could have paid for the property damage their flying warship inflicted on New Rome. The Romans still haven't received a proper apology.

And then the two idiots told her to effectively commit political suicide and risking civil war, one of which Reyna could've still stalled against for another few months, by taking part in their harebrained idea of a quest. Worst of all, Reyna had no choice but accept.

And then when the entire mess was over, Reyna had to work with Frank Zhang as her co-Praetor.

Don't get her wrong, Frank was a plenty decent guy. He was loyal and fierce in battle.

But he had no true leadership or political experience or talent. Quests didn't exactly count as "leadership" experience. After all, when the traveling group was only three large, there usually no clear leader. Honestly, though Octavion was power hungry, he was at the very least competent, had leadership experience, and was loyal to Rome.

Frank, while he had good intentions, came from a backwater family and only a month of training at Camp Jupiter. Even Hazel would have made a much better choice, despite her heritage, with 6 months of experience.

Furthermore, his claim to Praetorship was shaky at best, and outright scandalous at worst. Percy and Jason, for all their downfalls, were at the very least elected by the Legion and proved themselves to the Legion. Frank was given emergency powers by a Praetor that was declared a traitor that turned his back on Rome during a quest several thousand miles away from the 12th Legion. Needless to say, Frank's legitimacy as Praetor was almost nonexistent.

Perhaps that was why the Empires of Europe and the Middle East were more successful than Rome in the long term. Having titles be inherited could lead to ineffective rulers, but at the very least it provided stability. Stability that the Roman Empire never really had.

6 months later, Frank graduated from "stumbling around in the dark" to "tolerant" in Reyna's eyes. He learned how to weave through politics, to command the legion, to actually listening to New Rome's Greater Republic (which was made up of adults).

Reyna's life started to look up again. New Rome was rebuilding its former power under its Golden Eagle. Relationships with the gods were stronger than ever. Their cooperation with the Greeks was starting to be fortuitous.

But then something happened again.

It started small, mere rumors. The Lares, Roman ghosts whose abilities to keep their mouths shut wasn't reputable, started whispering. They whispered of Spirits and Heroes. Of Monsters and Men.

Reyna dismissed them of course, nothing but rumors. Frank wasn't as sure, but trusted the Greeks to deal with whatever situation turned up.

And then Hazel came back, panting from Shadow-traveling, and reported of an alliance in Brooklyn. Between Circe's Enclave and the House of Life.

Reyna knew of the existence of the House of Life of course, something that shocked Frank and Hazel. The library in Circe's Island cited them often in history. In fact, New Rome has a (secret) mutually beneficial relationship of exchange of materials with the 32nd Nome of San Francisco. One only known of by the higher-ups in New Rome and certain key officials.

Ever since the failed Alaska expedition, the 12th Legion was always short on material. And since Octavion's family had an effective monopoly on the creation of Imperial Gold, another way to find effective monster slaying weapons was needed. And what better seller of enchanted metal was there but the nearby group of magicians?

In fact, the 360 Nomes of the House of Life scattered across the world usually had working relationships with the locals. However, they never had straight-up alliances. Before now, they were always nuetral, never taking a side, not even against the hordes of the pit.

But it seemed that it now made an alliance with Circe. Just what was going on?

That was the reason why Reyna ordered to have Hazel transport them to the the Enclave's shop in Manhattan to find out just what was going on.

And that was how Reyna got into her current predicament.

"Percy and Annabeth never really ever mentioned you guys existed, you know?" remarked Carter Kane, who stretched out his hand in a handshake while smiling.

After visiting the thrift store, she and Hazel were guided by the staff to the First Cavalry Cemetery.

The cemetery was completely devoid of life. No cars were parked and the gates were closed. To the mortal eye, it would've seemed like there was nothing to see.

The scenery shifted once the Romans entered the cemetery. Scores of magicians and sorceresses roamed the marble slabs and pillars of the graves. The apparent ages of the participants varied. Some looked as young as 16, while others looked well into their 60s.

But Reyna knew apparent ages meant virtually nothing to those who wielded magic. Mages often lived up to twice the lifespan of a normal human. Those who augmented their body often lived much longer. Even then, those who were experienced in magic for centuries often found ways to adjust their outer appearance, so who knew who was how old? But Reyna could tell one fact despite their apparent age.

All the mages in the cemetery were immensely powerful. From the very basics of magic that Reyna was able to scrape by with told her at least that much. Hazel on the other hand, who was just starting off with learning magic with no real teacher was oblivious to the danger.

The two demigods were led to the church, or more accurately in front of the church, where a group of people were gathered around a glowing map of the surrounding area hovering in the air.

Reyna knew Circe by sight. Miranda Dawn took her a moment to actually recognize. The other five: two blacks, one older and one younger, a blonde with dyed hair, an Arabic girl, and a lady with dyed blue hair, she didn't recognize.

Hazel of course knew none of them save one.

"Hi Carter," greeted Hazel.

And so started introductions.

Reyna eyed Carter's outstretched hand and made no attempt to reach for it. "We aren't friends just yet. But about Percy and Annabeth-don't worry, they never mentioned you at all either."

Carter's smiled cracked. The blonde face palmed. The older black magician sighed in exasperation, muttering. The Arabic girl sniffed. The Circe and the mysterious sorceress with the blue hair laughed. Miranda paid no attention to the new arrivals, deciding to fine-tune the settings of the holographic map. Hazel winced.

"It's nice to see you again, Reyna," smirked Circe. The women still hasn't changed. Power flowed out of her words as she spoke, inclining all in her presence to listen to her, to follow her demands. "It's been too long."

But Reyna wasn't one of them. She was resourceful, a quick learner, and learned to ignore the sorceresses' words. "Clearly not long enough. Now tell me, what is going on here?"

Class cards, soul containers, heroes. It was an outrageous explanation. Objects which contained the souls of ancient men of power.

It was absurd. The idea that anyone could craft one in the first place. Objects containing souls weren't unheard of, but they were usually the objects of myth and legends. After all, the soul is the sacred "engine" that powers a living organism. Without one, an individual cannot be called human without one. To tear one apart to create a device like the supposed "class cards" the Egyptians and Circe told her apart would be taboo in virtually any society, either then or now.

But once done, it was feasible. After all, the mechanics of allowing, no forcing the soul to possess the user to gain the soul's powers wasn't impossible. Eidolons, a kind of ancient spirit, were capable of possessing a victim and using the host's skills to their full extant. Not dissimilar to what the hypothetical class card would do. So mechanically the class card Circe and Medea described would be perfectly plausible. But was it practical?

Reyna watched the mages erecting a barrier spell over the center of the cemetery, an intersection of paths, as she gathered her thoughts.

The barrier wasn't like the one to hide the supernatural activities in the cemetery, but rather to contain a powerful being that will appear. Four large statues of various deities were erected 20 meters from each other facing the cardinal directions. The various geometric shapes in the magical circle were drawn in blood to increase their potency. Magicians and Egyptians collaborated with each other to enhance the barrier's effectiveness.

For the -nth time in her life Reyna contemplated how her life would've changed if she could use magic.

After all, who hasn't as a child fantasized about being able to use a new and strange power to overcome one's obstacles? For Reyna, that fantasy was reinforced by the existence of the supernatural. Even now she wondered. Could she use her imaginary power to make a better life for herself? Perhaps save more legionnaires during the Siege of Mt. Othrys? The possibilities were endless.

But for Reyna that fantasy was quickly squashed. The existence of a world of magic, gods, and monsters was nothing to yearn for. For even if you had power, something you were not likely to have even if you were involved, the world was full of monsters that could crush you underfoot. Beings so old that they cared nothing for humans. Other humans who towered over others.

After all, though demigods capable of wielding the elements or possessed other special boons from their lineage were well known, more often than not most demigods, even those born from the Olympian Gods, were born with none of the advantages of divine blood. Only the disadvantages of both the mortal and supernatural worlds.

Reyna glanced at Carter and Sadie Kane. Apparently they only discovered the existence of the supernatural less than two years ago. Since then, they have risen to become powerful mages, at least in combat.

Carter was well built for a teenager his age. He was no Frank or Jason, but he was decently in shape. He was obviously wading through unknown waters, but seemed confident. Reyna could tell there was some serious power located in that suitcase he carried with him. But what kind evades her senses.

Sadie on the other hand seemed much duller than others made her out to be. Oh, Reyna knew that the girl was capable of advanced magic from what the others told her, but she always seemed to be distracted by something else. Perhaps something happened to her recently?

Regardless, they were the lucky ones. Those prodigies who had their lives laid down before them by the fates before they even try. Oh, Reyna knew the effort they put through to get where they were, but she couldn't help but feel a little resentful. After all, it seemed they haven't faced the true horrors of the world yet. Sure, they "saved" the world, but they knew little of conflicts which the Greeks and Romans went through. They wandered into the supernatural late, and haven't seen what those introduced to it at birth like Reyna or most of the Romans have.

She then glanced to the women with the partially blue hair.

Apparently her true identity was Medea, the Witch of Colchis from the tale of Jason and Argonauts. Most accounts of the witch weren't positive, and from what Reyna has heard about her since the rising of Gaia, her actions since her reincarnation weren't pleasant. But so far she led no action to lead Reyna to think of her as an enemy. A threat? Definitely, but Reyna would tolerate her. For now.

"It looks like you have done this many times," Reyna remarked.

"We have had centuries of experience in capturing the gods," replied Amos Kane. Unlike the Kane siblings, this elder Kane was clearly in familiar territory. The unique leopard skin cape singled him out from every magician as the Chief Lector of the House of Life. "Defeating the gods is nothing simple. After all, a single deity could overpower hundreds of magicians. So we developed certain strategies to combat them." The man paused, and spoke pointedly to the Kane siblings and the Arabic girl, now named as Zia, "Single combat with gods are not encouraged."

Sadie turned her head and muttered something indecipherable.

"Why do you guys think this 'class card' will appear here?" asked Reyna.

This time it was Miranda who responded, "We don't." Still staring at the hovering map in front of her, she continued, "But we do know that there is something right there. Something that wasn't here two months ago. The presence has been significantly growing for the past few days, and if our calculations are correct, it should've appeared by sundown."

Reyna eyed the twilight horizon. The sun had long passed below it. "Maybe you should reconsider your evaluation."

Carter shrugged, "Well, Miranda is right: there is something there. And it is growing stronger. It is this black murky thing in the Duat. However, whenever we try to get closer to it, we are stopped by this invisible wall."

Reyna thought about the situation for a moment, and opened her mouth to speak-

CLINK

All eyes were turned to the barrier set up. In it, distinct among the white pavement and the surrounding grass was a literal crack in the air.

CLINKCLINK

Instantly, Reyna and Hazel drew their respective weapons, a pilum and a Roman cavalry sword. The Egyptians not supporting the barrier whipped out their staves and rods. Carter, interestingly enough, took up two decorated, but oddly shaped sticks. The sorceresses in the graveyard prepared their various foci.

As every armed themselves, Reyna took the time after preparing to study the anomaly. The crack wasn't huge. In fact, it was just the size of a golf ball, but was growing larger and larger with ever passing second. The dark blue of the world behind the crack was a stark contrast with the vibrant colors of reality.

CRASH

Reyna would later say that she, along with all the younger participants absolutely did not flinch. Older participants wouldn't blame them. The sight, while not exactly horrifying, wasn't pleasant.

A long black arm reached out from the crack, pointed skywards. The arm flailed in the air for a second before stilling.

BAMCRASHKABAM

And the arm doubled back on itself, gripping the edges of the fabric of reality and pulled-

SMASH

And the crack doubled in size, then tripled, then grew large enough for a grown man to climb through.

The arm was joined by another, and both of them pulled the being whom they belonged to from the void.

The being wasn't grotesque, but rather humanoid, yet Reyna couldn't identify it as the same species as her. The Mist swirling around the figure didn't help.

"What is that thing?" snarled Zia in disgust.

The being wore no shirt, instead choosing to go with only a black rag tied around his waist. His entire body was black; his clothes, skin, everything; save for one feature: his mask.

The mask wouldn't have been out of place during Halloween: A white skull positioned over his face. But in February, it looked completely out of place. And in late winter, the white skull mask made the figure look even more menacing.

And the moment it pulled itself out of the void, it dropped to the ground like a sack of potatoes, the crack in reality closing behind it.

"Is that it?" asked Hazel.

The other mages supporting the barrier obviously were having the same thoughts, but Amos snapped them back into attention, "Don't let up!"

True to Amos' words, the being picked itself back up and glanced at its surroundings. Reyna wondered what it was thinking. Was it like Basilisks or Hellhounds, which only had a primitive intelligence and instinct to work off of? Or did it possess the intelligence of where it was?

Any semblance of the being having intelligence were thrown out the window when it charged into the barrier at a mind-boggling speed, and was promptly blocked and thrown back to the ground.

Even then, the force behind the monster was strong enough to have several of the magicians supporting it to stumble, the barrier literally vibrating from the shockwave. Reyna even observed a large crack appearing in the Mist, a testament of the being's strength.

The monster stood up again, and started attacking the barrier again. Spellcasters around the graveyard rushed to help reinforcing the barrier. After a few minutes, the cracks on the barrier gradually fixed themselves faster than the monster inside could create them. Soon enough, none of the monster's attacks did any damage.

"So," said Circe, "This is 'Assassin,' right?" Medea nodded. "I'm not impressed."

"With all due respect Aunt, the Assassin class card is supposed to be the weakest," replied Medea, "but it is supposed to have some special ability."

The class card stood up, and then in front of everyone's eyes, multiplied. Suddenly there were 10 of them. Then 20. Then well over several dozen.

None of the "copies" were identical. Rather, each and every one of them were unique. Several of them shared the same body type, but most of them deviated from that. Some were far larger than others. Several were small, one as small as a child. Around half of them were female. All of them shared the black skin and clothing, with a white skull mask.

"Interesting," said Circe. "I am curious to see just what this ability is. Illusions perhaps?"

As if to answer her question, the "class card" charged the barrier again, but now split into many different facets, the beings hit the barriers on all sides.

Unlike before, where the class card was able to ever so slightly damage the magical barrier, the many beings didn't seem to majorly affect the barriers at all. They punched, kicked, and with various blackened weapons even attempted to cut or stab through the shield. Behind said shield, the various spellcasters desperately tried to keep up with the barrier. But the beings slashed quickly, easily a match to any trained demigod. Honestly, the mob that made up the class card could take on two of her Cohorts. Sowly, the barrier started to thin.

This sort of power...frightened Reyna. After all, Assassin was supposedly the weakest class card, yet it was this powerful? That sort of power got you onto high places. It would get you ancient families in New Rome offering adoption into their families, treasure hunters from every corner of the continent looking for it, maybe even powerful enough for gods to look into. And if Assassin was the weakest, what about the purportedly stronger ones?

Suddenly the affair, which Reyna thought over the top, made sense. If the class cards were so powerful, it only made sense that no expense was spared to neutralize the threat.

The other parties realized it too.

Hazel only stared at the shapes with a disturbed look on her face. Reyna didn't blame her. While she went through several very intense quests, Reyna doubted Hazel faced anything quite like the Assassin class card.

Sadie looked on in shock, almost dropping her wand and staff watching the class card. Carter on the other hand only gripped his chosen weapons, the oddly shaped sticks harder. Zia's staff burst into flames, though it didn't hide the girl's shaking. Amos Kane unlike his kin only stared on, not responding in any meaningful way. The other magicians, like Amos, had a deceptive aura of calm while keeping up with their reinforcement spells.

The sorceresses on the other hand took the situation very differently. Several of them remained stoic in the face of the abomination, continuing to provide the Boundary Field with magic. Some, which Reyna identified as relatively new or have never been in combat were clearly disoriented by the appearance of the class card, were struggling to keep up with their spells. The three with her?

Well, Miranda dispelled the map she previously had with her, and was now furiously typing into a tablet she carried in her hands, occasionally glancing up, only to type a few more lines of notes. Medea stood tall and straight, her mismatched blue and brown eyes scanning the Assassin class card. Her fingers twitched, as if itching to cast a spell, but she restrained any such action. Circe, the oldest out of everyone in the graveyard, seemed almost bored.

"Honestly, I was expecting more," Circe proclaimed. "When I heard about these relics from my dear niece, she made it seem that these would revolutionized the world." Circe sharply turned her head to face Medea, a stern look on her face. To her credit, Medea didn't flinch at all, but merely smiled.

The smile worried Reyna, made her want to run away from the witch. After all, unlike Reyna, which every death in her hands were of accidents and necessity, Medea was nothing like that. Every one of her carefully planned kills and murders were done with the utmost of murderous intentions. After all, wasn't this the woman who not only killed her own brother, but chop him up in many pieces so that their pursuers had to slow down to retrieve every piece? The one who murdered her own children? The one who attempted to murder Theseus?

While the smile instilled a sense of unease in all the younger members of the crowd, Circe simply sighed. "I hope the 'Saber' and 'Lancer' cards are more impressive. Frankly, this encounter is simply... boring."

It wasn't an incorrect statement. By now, most of the younger sorceresses and magicians have recovered from the class card's initial appearance and multiplication ability, and were now imparting their efforts wholeheartedly. Instead of the barrier steadily losing ground against the horde of darkness, the barrier was now the one gaining strength with every passing second. The mob of assassins now had no hope of breaking out.

Compared to how ferocious the class card seemed before, it now looked very tame. Like a bug struggling against the wall of a jar of glass, ignorant of how pointless it was.

"I can dispose of it, if it isn't to your liking, Auntie," said Medea, her entire frame lighting up in a faint blue color. In that moment, Reyna's magical senses went into overdrive.

Before, Medea's aura of power was similar to a very strong demigod, roughly on Percy's or Jason's level. That alone indicated how dangerous the ancient sorceress was. Demigods on that level only arrived a few times every decade.

Demigods like them were akin to walking natural disasters: if rumors were to be believed, Percy was single-handedly responsible for storms, tidal waves, even volcanic eruptions. If regular demigods usually stood above mortal men, then demigods like Jason and Percy stood even taller than them.

But spellcasters on even Miranda's level usually stood even taller than most demigods. After all, they usually lived much longer than them: most demigods only lived up to the natural age expectancy, if they weren't cut down at any point sooner. The most powerful of spellcasters measured their ages in centuries. In myths, heroes usually only trumped spellcasters with special items that could counteract magic or took advantage of their limited physical prowess. But even that small advantage was diminishing: while back in the Classical period, they usually forfeited their physical abilities in exchange for their magical prowess, most modern spellcasters exercised and took some lessons in basic combat.

After all, Hylla's ability to fight didn't come out of nowhere.

But since Medea's aura was similar to Jason's, and Jason did survive their encounter during his quest in Camp Half-Blood, Reyna expected them to be of a similar level. But now Medea's aura filled the graveyard.

Most of the older magicians and sorceresses who previously stood firm in their fight against the deterioration of their domed shaped barrier now turned their head and gawked at the ancient's power. The Kane siblings were very visibly shaken by the exertion of power, wide-eyed and ready to bolt. Amos Kane remained a sea of calm, but a flicker of worry betrayed his face. Miranda was very much the same. Zia didn't seem to know how to react, only staring wide-eyed at the human shaped mass of energy standing a few meters away from her. Circe was merely resigned.

Reyna wanted to slap herself for not realizing it sooner. Medea likely stood heads above heels among other spellcasters. When she was serious, even Jason and Percy likely stood no chance, without perhaps another decade of training and a variety of magical items. After all, she was of such renown and ability that her feats were labeled into legend itself. If not for her, the Argonauts never would have finished their quest. And it was her that removed Hera's induced madness on Heracles. Any spellcaster capable of fending off the greatest Greek Hero and undoing a curse imposed by an Olympian Goddess likely placed her well above regular spellcasters.

And according to Piper, Medea apparently foresaw Gaia's eventually rise, and conspired to join the protogenoi while being a ghost in the underworld. That alone spoke volumes of her abilities.

It reminded Reyna of the absurdity of the mythological world. Why was it that demigods like herself had to be the ones to stick their necks in for the Olympians. After all, they were perfectly capable of handling their own conflicts, so why do their children have to take the responsibilities over them? According to the Seven of the Great Prophecy, when the gods did arrive, they put down the Gigantomachy so easily it was debatable whether or not they were that much of a threat in the first place.

Hazel seemed to be aware of the difference as well. Reyna knew that the girl's mother was apparently a small time practitioner of fortunes who inadvertently summoned the Roman God of the Underworld, and Hazel even started practicing magic in her spare time, but it was clear that she never really encountered pure power like what Medea was emitting.

Only Circe remained unaffected by Medea's display of power. It made sense, after all, wasn't Circe the mythical teacher of Medea? And unlike Medea, she had literal millennia to train and hone her sorcery. After all, she was a sorceress so powerful that others sometimes mistake her as a goddess rather than the demigod she was. The number of magic users that were on the same level as her in the world who weren't gods likely numbered in the single digits.

"Get that hideous thing out of my sight," declared the ancient sorceress.

Medea's immediate acknowledgement of her teacher's command was to raise a delicate hand decorated with blue nail polish with her palm raised up- before she closed her fist, as if crushing something.

In that moment, the already enormous pressure in the atmosphere doubled, and every spellcaster in the vicinity, barring Circe of course, all collectively winced at the spike of magical energy to their senses.

In that moment, the ground beneath the circular dome surrounding cracked, and then collapsed in a dome shape that made the area beneath the barrier concave. The mobs of black assassins didn't escape the spell. They were forced to heel by it. And then their arms gave up the futile struggle against gravity and let their body be pressed upon the ground. Even then, the bodies still struggled uselessly under the enhanced gravity of Medea's spell.

And then one by one the assassins started disappearing. At first Reyna thought that the gravity spell was killing the different wraiths one by one, but once they started disappearing en mass did Reyna recognize what was actually going on.

The assassins weren't disappearing, they were recombining.

When the last duplicate disappeared, only the original, the one which crawled out of the hole in reality, remained. It laid down in the middle of the dome, still. And then a raised an arm. The arm faltered against the ever enhancing gravity that Medea projected, and came down, palm against the cracked pavement. Another arm rose, and joined its brother. The pair of arms pushed against the gravity, and despite all odds, the body rose. A leg was picked up, until the assassin was kneeling.

And then it finally stood straight up, still feeling the effects of the pressure placed upon it by Medea.

It took a step, and then another, and yet another at an accelerated pace, though the effects of the spell were clear. It approached the barrier, and then-

"Ατλας,"

As the reincarnated sorceress spoke those words, Reyna vaguely translated the Ancient Greek into the English. Atlas. The Titan which held up the sky. The greatest of the Titan warriors. The Titan trapped by its burden of the vast expanse of blue.

The incantation was fitting. Just before Assassin was able to touch the barrier, it seemed as if time inside the the barrier simply froze. The class card wasn't the only object incapable of moving: several spellcasters within a few meter's distance from the Boundary Field found themselves incapable of any movement. Some of them managed to escape the spell. The majority didn't.

They were all trapped by this seemingly simple spell.

The spell was very dispiriting to Reyna. An enemy caught it in would find himself unable to escape, permitted only to move at their enemy's leisure. Watching the class card continue to struggle against the spell was downright depressing.

It seemed that Amos thought the same. With a sigh, he raised his staff, and casted a spell, "Ha-Di."

The words were unfamiliar to Reyna, but what it meant spoke for themselves.

A set of hieroglyphics appeared on the ground beneath where the Assassin stood. A moment later, the symbols flared in a bright, crimson red and exploded. There was no flames, no smoke like the bombs and explosives Reyna would witness from Greek Fire and the siege engines New Rome held for training. The explosion was instead a pure shock wave of Kinetic Energy emanating from the blood red runes on the pavement.

The effects were absolutely devastating.

The shock wave tore through the class card, which stood on the epicenter of the blast. The class card was swept away by the force, the magical energy that made up Assassin instantly dispersing with only a brown card floating briefly in the air where the class card once stood before dropping to the ground.

The spell didn't stop with the class card. The shock wave continued and hit the barrier that was no longer supported by the spellcasters who were all too mesmerized by Medea's display of magical prowess.

The barrier that stopped the hideously strong Assassin's attacks cracked, and then was blown apart, the pavement and ground where it stood torn apart by the sudden dispersal of the magical energy reinforcing the barrier.

When the dust cleared, the results were plain to see. A depression of crushed pavement and dirt 20 meters wide stood at the crossing of paths. The 4 statues of Egyptian deities that Reyna supposed supported the barrier were all knocked down by Amos' spell. Torn up earth surrounded the barrier.

The Kane siblings looked a bit surprised at their relative's skill in magic. The sorceresses looked impressed. Zia seemed to regard the Chief Lector's display of power as ordinary.

And Reyna and Hazel? They were shaken. Very much so.

Had writers block. This is literally my third version of the Chapter. Had a storyboard, but problems with how to implement it.

In the end, this chapter was the result. I'm not totally satisfied with it, but I doubt I can come up with something better for quite a while.

Well, the focus of this chapter was Reyna. I love her character, but felt like she wasn't given enough backstory. We know who her family was. We know she was an attendant on Circe's Island. We know she arrived at Camp Jupiter and served for 4 years, somehow becoming Praetor in the process. Went to Charleston at some point, and talked to Venice for some reason. But that was kinda it. For a character that is honestly the only reason I was able to sit through the 4th and 5th installments of HoO, she feels underdeveloped. Well, it was interesting writing as her.

I was considering doing the same for Hylla and the Amazons, literally got half a chapter of backstory for them ready, but it simply wouldn't have worked in the fic.

And as always, please review when you finish reading, and feel free to ask questions. Just no more "is _ going to show up and going to use the _ card." questions. Make no mistake, class card will be used by demigods, but which ones will be a secret.

Until next time.