Coming out of the portal first, Percy got a good look to what they were up against. Since he and his brother had taken care of three drakons not even five minutes ago, that should've dwindled Kronos' fighting power a little bit. There were about 8 empousai, 4 giants, 5 karpois, 2 telekhines and 7 demigods. That was including Luke, who was standing next to the golden sarcophagus.
"What's the plan Percy?" Cyrus asked his older brother. Without muttering a sound, Percy pointed to the chains that were keeping Annabeth shackled. With a nod, Cyrus went to work on breaking the chains. It was a simple feat since he used his powers over time to do it quick enough so that their enemies wouldn't hear the chains hit the floor.
"Nice to see you again Annabeth. When we get back to Camp Half-Blood, Percy is going to tell you the truth. For now, hide somewhere safe. You're in no condition to fight right now." Cyrus whispered to her. A weak smile appeared on Annabeth's face as she slowly nodded at Cyrus. After making sure that Annabeth was completely safe, both Percy and Cyrus made their way to the middle of the expansive room.
"Well look what we have here. A traitor, a reforming Titan and the bunch of dumbasses who joined them both. Shouldn't take too long to defeat all of you." Percy called out loudly. All of the enemies in attendance turned around in surprise to Percy's voice.
"I HAD MONSTERS PATROLLING THIS ENTIRE AREA! HOW DID YOU MANAGE TO SNEAK IN HERE?!" Luke yelled in a tone of fear and anger. It was a long time coming, so Percy created a portal and walked through it, to appear right next to Luke and punch him in his face with a fierce right hook. He placed all of his anger towards Luke into that one punch.
"Does that answer your question, you traitor?" Percy asked as Luke picked himself up off of the ground.
"WHAT ARE YOU WAITING FOR?! ATTACK THEM!" Luke yelled to his allies. Coming out of their state of shock, the empousai were the first ones to attack. They were closest to Cyrus though, so they surrounded him in an effort to at least get rid of Percy's backup. However, they realized their mistake far too late. Up until that point, they had forgotten that Cyrus was a Son of Chaos as well.
"You guys really are some dumbasses." Cyrus muttered to himself out loud. With a snap of his fingers, he made the gravity around the empousai intensified and they all found themselves falling to the floor in seconds. Cyrus reached into his pocket and took out his pen that turned into a lance. He was taking his sweet time turning it into a lance and took even more time encasing it in his father's energy. He needn't worry about any of the other monsters rushing forward to attack him. As soon as they entered the range of the gravitational field, they too would be subjected to the intense amount of gravity.
Seeing that his brother was doing fine, Percy focused his attention solely on Luke. The Son of Hermes had finally gotten out his sword, Backbiter. It was a double-edged sword that was half-Celestial Bronze and half-tempered steel. It also stood at four-feet long, just managing to be a foot longer than Percy's old sword Riptide.
"We've been down this road before Luke. You cannot beat me when it comes to swordsmanship. I proved that when I was just starting out at Camp Half-Blood. Or did you forget?" Percy asked in a taunt. As expected, the taunt worked like a charm. Luke angrily swung his sword in a diagonal slash towards Percy's neck. Percy smirked as he wasn't even going to deflect the attack. He knew that the Curse of Achilles was going to protect him and he was also prepared for the small amount of pain that he was going to feel when the blade bounced off of his skin.
Luke was wondering why Percy wasn't trying to defend himself, but then found the answer when he saw his sword bounce off of his skin. He shook his head in denial as he took a few fearful steps back. Percy chuckled at how much of a coward Luke was when things didn't go according to plan. He had forgotten that one trait about Luke.
"When did you…?" Luke began to ask. With every step that Luke took back, Percy took one step forward.
"Take a dip in the River Styx? It was two years ago. When I went to go rescue my mother from the Underworld. Despite the drawbacks, the Curse of Achilles is definitely helpful." Percy told Luke. Luke continued to step back into he bumped into the golden sarcophagus.
"I heard that you had the Curse of Achilles. So you actually were brave enough to soak in those cursed waters, Jackson?" a cold voice asked. Percy already knew where the voice was coming from, but that didn't seem to stop him from shivering when the voice echoed throughout the chamber of the room they were in. Kronos must've just been listening to everything that was happening around him.
"So you're finally brave enough to speak to me face-to-face Kronos?" Percy asked in retort. The golden sarcophagus began to glow as the ground shook violently. No doubt Thalia, Zoe and Grover were having trouble standing up, along with all of Kronos' lackeys. That mere sentence was enough to thoroughly piss off the Titan of Time.
"Who do you think you are?" Kronos asked Percy angrily.
"My name is Percy Jackson. Son of Chaos. Maybe you've heard of me?" Percy asked in a chuckle. Cyrus groaned after his brother taunted Kronos. He had the time to listen in on the conversation since he had quickly dispatched of the empousai that were crushed by gravity. So far, nobody noticed that Annabeth was missing and that both Zoe and Thalia were in hiding.
"You are treading on very thin ice Jackson. Might want to watch your tone." Kronos told Percy.
"You took the words right out of my mouth. How about you hurry up and regenerate so I can finish you off for good?" Percy asked the sarcophagus. For once, Kronos was silent since Percy did indeed have the power to permanently kill him. Percy smirked as he won the verbal encounter. That was when Atlas decided to get involved.
He began to throw a left hook at Percy's head, but was interrupted when Zoe fired multiple arrows into her father's arm, thus revealing her presence to all of her enemies. Atlas growled in pain as he turned around to see who dared to attack him. Imagine the surprise on his face when he saw that it was his own daughter.
"I should've known your traitorous ass would've sided with Jackson. Now to do what I should've done centuries ago." Atlas told Zoe angrily. Zoe hopped from behind her hiding spot and nocked an arrow in her bow, before aiming it at her father's skull. After what she had seen from Percy's memories, she wasn't going to let his taunts get to her. As soon as she allowed that to happen, she was as good as dead.
"Hello….father." Zoe spoke aloud. This just seemed to further infuriate Atlas, causing him to walk towards her slowly. It seemed as if a growl escaped his mouth every second that passed.
"You lost the right to call me that a long time ago. Now you die." Atlas told Zoe. Without uttering so much as a response, Zoe let go of the nocked arrow and watched it speed towards her father's head. Her plan was to attack and keep moving, so he couldn't build any momentum to charge at her.
"You're not getting away from me this time Zoe." Atlas growled in anger. He sped up and moved to where he thought Zoe was going to be next. Both Percy and Zoe had forgotten how much of a strategist Atlas was. Then again, it wasn't that hard to forget since Atlas did much rather prefer to use brawn over his brain. It was a good thing that Percy was no longer a Son of Poseidon and that he had a brother who could use the same abilities that he could. Now he could just focus all of his attention on Luke, who was still pathetically cowering by Kronos' sarcophagus.
"You know….I was expecting much more of a fight Luke. Did my progress frighten you?" Percy asked the Son of Hermes in a taunt. It seemed as if Luke had lost the will to speak, much less fight. He knew that it was utterly pointless to try to defeat the Son of Chaos as he was now. That would just end up hastening his death. Percy actually thought for a fraction of a moment that Luke was going to soil himself and the mere idea of it almost made him double over in laughter.
"In the future, remember this moment. The moment you had the chance to fight me and possibly win, but instead chose to cower. The moment you let your master's destruction walk away without so much as an effort to stop me. If you'll excuse me, I need to put Atlas back where he belongs." Percy told Luke with a smirk. Cyrus overheard everything that Percy had said and decided now was the time to release his powers over gravity to help both his brother and Zoe out.
"ZOE! TAG OUT!" Cyrus yelled as he ran towards her. As much as she wanted to do just that, her father was just a few steps away from her. Using the agility that she had spent millennia honing, she ran towards her father and slid under his legs. While doing so, she managed to unsheathe her knife and swipe at the back of his knees. That act managed to do two things. The first was it elicited a roar of pain from Atlas and it temporarily made the Titan of Endurance and Strength fall to his knees. That was the one opportunity both Percy and Cyrus needed to proceed with their counterattack.
Using the flat part of the tip of his spear, Cyrus swung at the Titan's jaw while Percy did the same thing to the Titan's chest. By the time Atlas registered what was going on, Cyrus had scrambled his brain with his spear while Percy knocked the breath out of him. Not relenting with their attack, the brothers both kicked Atlas down to the ground to incapacitate him further.
"CYRUS MOVE OUT OF THE WAY!" Percy yelled. He pressed the button on the bottom of his hilt and watched as the sword that his father gave him turned back into a pen. Quickly stuffing the pen back in his jeans, he drew his fist back. Cyrus was wondering why Percy told him to get out of the way until he saw the stance that Percy took. He quickly jumped out of the way and went to go take care of the monsters that were foolish enough to try to protect their general. When they were training with their father, Percy decided to go even further than he had when it came to his control over the elements.
Taking a deep breath, Percy threw a right straight punch at Atlas and watched as a huge fist made out of wind flew towards the Titan. Atlas had just managed to get back onto his feet only to get blasted away with yet another attack. To say that he was angry was a complete understatement. He was fucking pissed as pissed could be. Not only was he losing in a battle, but he was also losing to 2 demigod brats.
"ENOOOUUUGGGHHH!" Atlas yelled as he picked himself up again. His body was seething in rage and it was then and there that he developed tunnel vision with only Percy in his sights. With a snap of his fingers, he summoned his sword. It was much like the sword that Ares used against Percy, except this sword was 3 feet wide instead of 4 feet like Ares' sword was. Percy was just walking up to Atlas, stopping only a mere two inches from the Titan's range of attack. In his anger, Atlas didn't realize that Percy knocked him directly in front of Artemis, who was still holding the sky.
"You're quite right Atlas. This is the end of our little skirmish." Percy told the Titan quietly. Atlas charged at Percy with death showing in his grey eyes.
"YOU FOOOOOL! THAT'S EXACTLY WHAT HE WAS WAITING FOR!" Kronos yelled out to Atlas. However, Atlas couldn't hear the words of his master. He was too blinded by his rage to think rationally or listen to anyone else. With a smirk, Percy increased the gravity around Atlas and watched as the Titan effortlessly crashed to the ground. Atlas' sword clattered to the ground as well, disarming the enraged Atlas as well. Two birds with one stone so to speak.
Percy crouched down with a smirk directed at Atlas. The battle with him was over and it seemed the entire battle in general was over. He had taken a short moment to check on Cyrus progress and he was finishing up the last monster that was dumb enough to not take the chance to escape. In the span of fifteen minutes, both of them had managed to reduce the numbers of Kronos' so-called army.
"You were supposed to be a master strategist Atlas. Why did you give in to your anger? Why did you not give up? You did know that you nor your master can beat my brother and I right?" Percy asked the Titan. Obviously Atlas wanted to answer Percy with a yell, but the intense gravity keeping him on the ground had kept him from doing so. Cyrus was whistling and walking towards his brother after dispatching of the last monster in his range of sight.
"Ready to put this guy back where he belongs?" Cyrus asked his brother.
"Of course Cyrus. Take over for me." Percy answered without looking up at his brother.
Cyrus waved his hand at Atlas, which cancelled out Percy's powers over gravity and replaced it with his own. He knew from recent personal experience that using two godly powers at once was enough to quickly make a demigod run out of strength. That went especially for Percy since he had the Curse of Achilles.
Percy directed both of his hands at the area above Artemis and closed his eyes in concentration. He didn't exactly know if this was going to work or not, but if he didn't try then he knew he was going to regret it. One thing he did know was that after this feat that he was attempting, he was going to be really, really tired. With a long exhale, Percy attempted to freeze time around the sky and instantly he felt the strain of doing so.
"Cyrus….quickly." he muttered to his brother. Cyrus looked down at Atlas and decided that Charmspeak was the best option if he didn't want to risk Atlas attacking him. That was when he remembered his father's warning. His mind flashed back to his second month of training, even though at the time it felt like 20 years had passed by.
"You and your brother must both remember that Charmspeak isn't omnipotent. Yes it is indeed powerful, but it does have its weaknesses. For instance, if you use it on a person of the same sex, they will have a resistance to it. Gold is another weakness of Charmspeak, as well as strong-willed beings. The stronger the will, the higher the resistance. This is why I must stress that if you use it on a God or a Titan, you must have a stronger will than theirs. That and it also depends on your tone and emotion." Chaos had told them. Cyrus had shaken his head and brought himself out of that flashback. He hated what he was going to have to do to successfully use Charmspeak on Atlas, but it needed to be done: he was going to have to believe he was the strongest being in this world.
"When I lift my power over gravity, YOU WILL go back to carrying the sky. YOU WILL obey me and YOU WILL NOT EVER accept the offer to have someone else hold it. AM I UNDERSTOOD?!" he asked the Titan coldly. Power seemed to radiate from his voice alone as wanted to shake his head in opposition, but instead he found that his body wasn't listening to him. His body wanted to do exactly what Cyrus wanted him to do. Cyrus snapped his fingers and the level of gravity went back to normal.
Atlas got up and walked over to where Artemis was. He wondered if she was breathing, since her body was apparently frozen when Percy had frozen time around the sky. Ever so carefully, he moved the goddess out of the way and took her place under the sky. He growled as he was unwillingly forced to re-accept his curse. Cyrus shot Percy a thumbs up and a smile and Percy stopped his manipulation of time. If he had kept that up any longer than he had, then he had no doubt that he would be right back in the Underworld facing judgement….again.
"So Jackson. You and your brother can manipulate time as well? That was far beyond my calculations." Kronos spoke up. His tone was cold, but it wasn't filled with malice. No. It was filled with intrigue mixed with a little disbelief. The intrigue stemmed from being in the presence of two demigods who had a better grasp of Temporal Manipulation than he, the Titan Lord of Time, did. The disbelief also stemmed from that realization. Both Percy and Cyrus were variables that kept ruining his plans, everywhere he turned.
"I thought you were going to kill him as soon as we got here?" Cyrus asked Percy out loud. The room rumbled a bit after Kronos had angrily heard what Cyrus had said.
"Can't kill him if he doesn't have a body. Pretty sure our father's essence doesn't work on souls. Interesting idea to try out, but not going to waste time over a theory. Anyway, we got what we came here for. Let's go home. Our quest is finished." Percy answered back. He even shrugged while speaking that first sentence. Cyrus opened a portal back to Camp Half-Blood, but before he could tell the others to walk through it, Thalia ran over to Luke and slapped him in the face.
To say the Son of Hermes was surprised would be an understatement. Total shock just showed on his face as he was once again staring at Thalia, who was on two legs instead of being a tree.
"T-Thalia? How?" Luke asked her in shock.
"Oh yeah. That reminds me." Thalia told Luke. Confusion replaced the look of shock on Luke's face before Thalia threw a fierce right hook at his face. Luke ended up falling backwards onto Kronos' sarcophagus from the impact of the punch. Kronos merely made the room rumble once again, which caused Luke to fall off of the sarcophagus. It was bad enough that he had shown cowardice to Percy, but know he was refusing to deal with a simple female. Kronos' shame was showing no signs of going down anytime soon.
"How could you do any of this Luke? How could you betray Camp Half-Blood? How could you betray Annabeth? HOW COULD YOU BETRAY ME TWICE?!" she yelled in anger. Angry tears began to stream out of Thalia's electric blue eyes. So many different emotions towards Luke that she had bottled up were threatening to escape. Percy placed his left hand on her right shoulder, causing her to turn around.
"He's already lost Thalia. Let's go home (You've got to love double meanings)." Percy told her in a whisper. As much as he would've liked to stand here and watch Thalia beat Luke until she was too tired to do so, they really needed to get Artemis and Annabeth some medical attention as soon as possible. Percy turned around to see that Cyrus was walking through the portal while carrying Annabeth, while Zoe was helping her patron goddess so she could get through the portal. All that was left for Percy and Thalia to follow. Thalia turned around and slapped Luke one more time for good measure, trying her best to put all of her feelings into it.
She turned around and headed towards the portal, doing her best to not let neither Percy or Luke see the tears building up in her eyes. She couldn't be weak right now in the middle of enemy territory. Percy watched her leave through the portal and turned his attention back on Luke. He couldn't believe that he had ever trusted this demigod again. He thought after besting Luke in combat would keep the Son of Hermes from falling down this path again, but as usual, he was wrong.
"Think about the look on her face as this so-called "war" continues Luke. Think about how much pain you've caused for your friends." Percy told the Son of Hermes before heading towards his brother's portal. Each step echoed in the empty halls of the enemy's stronghold, just proving how much of a threat both Percy and Cyrus were to Kronos and his plans. Most of his followers ran away after seeing their comrades getting slain one after another with no chance of reforming again. Luke growled at his own uselessness when it came to Percy. The room shook dangerously, clearly expressing the amount of rage Kronos felt from Percy's infiltration and his underlings' uselessness.
