Chapter 21: Eternity's End
As the demigods and the titan grew closer, Percy drew his sword back, failing to see the blade end of Kronos's scythe moving away from his side. Thalia spotted the threat and swung her shield to meet the blade. Sparks flew as the metals collided just as Riptide drew nearer to Kronos's head when he seemingly disappeared into thin air. Instinctively, Percy turned around to see the blade of the scythe once more inches away but was knocked away by Thalia's bash to Kronos's torso. The titan flew back from the force of the blow, landing at the edge of the platform as the demigods got back into their fighting stance.
"You held back, didn't you? When we dueled at Olympus?" said Percy, breathing heavily as he twirled his sword so that the tip faced Kronos.
"Yes, I thought I could hold back for it's just a measly demigod" said Kronos. He twirls his scythe and points its blade at the duo. "But not anymore. No more underestimation." growled Kronos as he disappeared again. "Left!" cried Percy as he dodged the blade by a hair's breadth.
Thalia lunges her spear at Kronos but he used the shaft of his scythe to deflect it. Taking advantage of his distracted state, Percy slashed upwards but Kronos parries the attack using his scythe and simultaneously directs Thalia spear shaft to block the blade. Kronos swings his scythe from the side and Percy lifted his shield to block. Regaining her composure, Thalia attempts to impale Kronos again but the titan, having foreseen the attack extended his will over her. Immediately, Thalia's usual agility was replaced with a slow motion. Taking advantage of the Thalia's delayed movements, Kronos lifted his scythe and attempts to slash her. His blow was met by Percy's sword and hits the shaft as the scythe came close in contact to Percy's forehead. Percy lunged forward with his shield, prompting Kronos to quickly jumped back. By now, Thalia has regained her normal speed once more and was astonished that Percy was in front of her. "Percy when did you…" started Thalia, confused.
"Thalia, be careful, not only he can teleport but he can also cast temporary distortion on us. And of course, he still has that scythe of his." cautioned Percy.
"Great. Just freaking fantastic." His cousin rolled her eyes in frustration as she swung her spear.
"But, on the bright side he can only delay one of us at one time." added Percy.
"Are you done with your strategy talk?" taunted Kronos. "Just finished, thank you for waiting. Now, let's send you to your end. Here and now" said Percy as he and Thalia charged forward.
As the battle between the titan and the demigods took place, the Chief and the Arbiter were picking off the Flood and Sentinels one by one with their weapons. But all too soon, their weapons ran out of ammunition and energy and the enemies were closing in fast. Master Chief, pulled out his shotgun and blew off the first few Combat Form approaching him. Having ran out of energy in his gun, the Arbiter picks up Percy and Thalia Plasma rifle and held off the Sentinels.
"Arbiter, cover me" the Chief said as he reloaded his shotgun. Just as the Arbiter's Plasma rifle was about to overheat, a Tank Form approach the Arbiter. The Chief emptied a slug at its legs and pulled his own leg back and diverted all his strength at his leg to give the Tank Form a tremendous kick that sent it flying back to the back breaking few Carrier Forms. "Thank you for the assistance" said the Arbiter.
"Don't thank me yet" the Chief grunted back as he pulled out two HE Grenade and throws it into a group of Ranged Form which exploded before they could evade the attack. He emptied his shotgun at another group of Flood. Again, just as he ejected the last slug from the shotgun, his shotgun ran out of ammunition. Discarding his shotgun, he pulled out his submachine guns. Eventually, the Arbiter's Plasma rifle ran out of energy and he abandoned them. Seeing his comrade running out of arms, Master Chief throws him an extra Assault Rifle. The Arbiter snatched it from mid air and simultaneously empties a clip at an incoming Tank Form. Seeing the usage rate of the gun, Chief also tosses him some ammo he has.
"Chief I'm sensing big movement coming through now" said Cortana. True enough, two Enforcers came in with the Monitor floating right on top of him. "Looks like we have a hard fight ahead" said the Arbiter grimly, looking at the huge movement approaching them.
Percy tries to stab Kronos but Kronos deflected Percy's blade away from him. He tilted his head up to see Thalia lunge from behind Percy with a spear going straight to his face. He quickly ducks and swings his scythe downwards as Percy and Thalia jumps back. Rather exasperated now, Kronos quickly gets back on his feet and runs towards the demigod. Rather exasperated now, Kronos quickly gets back on his feet and runs towards the demigods only to disappear in a flash. Wary, Percy and Thalia stood back to back. As quickly as he disappeared, Kronos manifests randomly on both Percy's and then Thalia's side. Suddenly Kronos appears in front of Percy and brings his blade downwards. Percy raised his shield to defend the attack but the titan disappears and appears in front Thalia. Thalia reacted as fast as she could and pushed herself back, barely avoiding the blade and grazed her chest plate.
"As expected from the Lieutenant of Artemis, you have impeccable reaction time." taunted Kronos.
Feeling her anger grow at his taunts, Thalia's spear sparkled to life with electricity and aimed a bolt at Kronos. Laughing, Kronos teleported out of the way as the bolt hit the wall of the structure. Before she knew it, Kronos reappeared behind Percy and attempted to stab Percy repeatedly. Desperately avoiding the attacks, Percy blocked them with his shield to the point where his vision of Kronos blurred. Kronos swung his scythe upwards, effectively sweeping Percy's shield out of his hands and rendering him defenseless. The blade immediately changed its direction and went in for the artery below Percy's chin but Thalia shot another bolt at the menacing blade. Percy quickly turned sideways while swinging his sword at Kronos's head. The titan teleported out of the way and reappeared once more not far from them.
"Not bad, you two fight pretty well together." commended Kronos mockingly.
"Yeah. Funny thing about anger and revenge; It adds to the blood lust for your life." replied Thalia darkly.
"This is seriously going to be a PG18 gore movie soon." said Percy coldly as he raised his blade.
Nearby, the Chief emptied his submachine guns at a group of Combat Form and before long his ammo counter on his HUD reads zero. The Enforcers, on the other hand, were still firing missiles and pulse beams at them. "Cortana, can you do anything about the Sentinels?" asked the Chief as he took cover from the attacks the Enforces were aiming at him.
"I might if that Monitor is down and I'm in the control panel of the Ark." Cortana suggested.
The Chief stole a glance at the squad of Enforcers and knew he had to resort to heavy weapons soon. He discarded the submachine guns and pulled out two more grenades, tossing them at a group of Flood. He then pulled out a Spartan Laser and targets an Enforcer. The laser broke through the shield, destroying it at the same time. Just then, the Arbiter assault rifle ran out of ammo. Running out of weapons, he picked up a downed sentinel fired on to the oncoming group of Flood. The laser sliced clean through the Flood.
"Unacceptable, the Ark must be activated to contain the Parasite infestation" the Monitor said.
"Not while I'm around" the Chief replied back as he destroyed the last Enforcer. He trailed his sight on the Monitor and saw that it was about to fire its beam at the Chief. Apparently seeing the same thing, the Arbiter scooped up a Fuel Rod Gun one of the corpse and fired at the Monitor. The plasma burst obliterated the Monitor's shield, distracting it as it glanced round to find the culprit. By the time the Monitor looked back at the Chief, the Chief laser was already charged with the same settings he had used to take down the ships back at the invasion. The energy gauge of the laser turned to zero as it fired the last of its energy into the Monitor. Severely damaged by the blast, the Monitor fell to the ground before exploding, leaving behind no trace.
"Now I know why there is no Monitor" Cortana interjected after a moment's silence.
"Because I took it down way before the battle of the Ark." the Chief muttered as realization dawned upon him and explained the oddity of his future battle.
"Master Chief, go help the demigods. I will deal with the Flood." The Arbiter interrupted the monologue as he discarded the used sentinel beam and drew out his energy swords.
"But you will be overwhelm." the Chief protested.
"We can't let this go on any further. At the rate we going, we will be out of weapons and then we are all dead." reasoned the Arbiter.
The Chief admitted the Arbiter has a point there. They are running out of weapons fast. "Alright, I hope you could hold on for another few minutes" the Chief relented as he sprinted for the platform. The Arbiter looked at the Flood and Sentinels incoming. Rallying his spirits, he charged forward.
Percy grunted from the effort of pushing as Kronos forced him back. Thalia fired another bolt of lightning at Kronos but to no avail. Percy quickly utilized the opportunity to turn while slamming his shield towards Kronos. Kronos teleported away in time before the shield come into contact with him and appeared between Thalia and Percy. Thalia charged up another lightning bolt in anticipation for another attack.
"You never learn do you? You know well I can deflect it very easily" laughed Kronos.
Paying no heed, Thalia fired a bolt at Kronos, who just merely sidestep. The blot missed him entirely. "Tut tut tut." The titan clicked his tongue provokingly. "The warrior who loses their patience first loses."
"I know. The Chief told me that. For the record, the bolt wasn't meant for you." said Thalia smirking.
"What do you…?" Kronos was about to ask when he just realized the answer. Behind him, Percy had used his sword as a conductor to store the bolt. As Kronos turned around, Percy swung the sword, simultaneously unleashing the bolt which hit Kronos square in the chest. Kronos staggered back, his position meant he failed to see Percy coming raising his sword and from the back Thalia charged with her spear. Percy slashed downward with all his might breaking the front part of Kronos armor while Thalia's spear impaled Kronos through the abdomen.
"Impossible…two demigods just defeated me." whispered Kronos, gold ichor still spilling out from his torso.
"We learn to pull something impossible from someone." said Percy motioning to the Chief walked up the platform and placed his hand on the console. With a beep, the Halo Rings was deactivated. The Chief then plugged Cortana into the console.
The Arbiter was exhausted and his energy swords had all but run out of energy. The Flood was still coming relentlessly and the Sentinels were still down. Suddenly the Arbiter heard sounds of blasting laser as the Sentinels fired the laser on the Flood. The Arbiter smiled, knowing that the children and the Master Chief did it. He turned and let the Sentinels did the rest of the work and continued to the control platform.
The Master Chief walked to Kronos and for a moment Kronos felt a sliver of fear seeing the Demon up close. Making no move to attack, the Master Chief bent down and picked up the scythe.
"I'll be taking that." the Chief said as he walked away.
"Demon, do you really want to serve the gods?" called out Kronos.
The Chief stopped his pace at the question. "I have no intention on serving gods or whatsoever but I am leaving this with the campers once I am done with it. They will decide what to do not me" said the Chief without turning around.
"In that case, join me and I shall give you a much better cause" offered the titan.
"Like what?"
"I could help you stopped the war you were fighting before it even happens saving billions of lives. Yes, I know about the war hundreds of years from now because you let some of your mind expose when we first met"
Percy and Thalia looked at the Chief with doubt. They knew that if he turned on them, he could take them out easily. The Arbiter could do little to stop it. "And I also can prevent you from becoming the Demon you are called" added Kronos.
The Chief gripped the scythe tightly. He remembered what he talked about with Chiron. The Chief turned to give his reply. Using his free hand, he drew out the Magnum Handgun containing the bullet from Jake and aims it at Kronos forehead. "Not a chance" said the Chief as he squeezed the trigger. Inside the barrel, the bullet worked its way out and exits the gun, connecting with Kronos forehead. On contact, Kronos fell limp and collapsed backward while dissolving in golden smoke. The Chief looked at the console and saw Cortana.
"I glad about the choice you made, big guy." Cortana smiled as the Arbiter walked up to the Chief.
"Is over isn't it?" said the Arbiter.
"Yes it is" said the Chief. Master Chief looked at the demigods.
"I loved the way the bullet when through his head." Percy grinned.
The Chief shrugged in response. "Jake told me to put the bullet in him, so I choose the head where he will be dead for good" said the Chief.
"Chief, you can't kill a Titan. You only sent him back to Tartarus where he won't be back for another hundreds of years." Thalia corrected.
"At least, you guys will be ready for him." said the Chief.
"Chief I have automatically set the Sentinels to deal with the remaining Flood and clean things up. Once they are done with that, they will go back to the storage and I have set the Ark get back into its original location, setting everything the way it suppose to be in the future." Cortana spoke after she finished the programming.
"So… Chief, can we go back now?" asked Percy, eager to return to camp.
"Everything is done here and I'm sure you want to get back into your own time." added Thalia.
Master Chief looked at the Arbiter and then looked back at the demigods. "Alright, let's go home." the Chief agreed. The Chief took out Cortana from the platform and the group leaves the control room to the elevator. At the entrance, the Chief stalled for a moment to take one last look at the control room for its never set foot again in a few hundred years later.