Chapter 30: Percy

I was awfully aware of all my surroundings. I felt the cool breeze, ripple across the field and lick the land; I heard the sharp, deep breaths of my friends all standing together, ready; I saw the green canopy, home to a plethora of animals and plants.

I did a last-minute check of the armour. Yes. It was all good. One thing I found interesting, was that we had very minimal protection around our shoulders and neck. Everything else was protected well though.

I was ready.

I closed my eyes, and imagined the battle that was about to unfold. I inhaled sharply, before exhaling slowly, calmly. I flicked my eyelids open and a rush of light entered. I looked at my friends, locking eyes with each and every one of them, determined to stay together – till the very end.

"You ready?" I muttered, my voice beginning to shake.

"Yes," they all responded, resonating with my cause, all except Leo. He was too busy looking around, staring at Reyna and the legion. Staring at Nico and camp.

I too found my eyes drift across. No. I chided myself. I had to keep concentrating. I sighed out, and stared at the forest. My pupils began to shrink in the dying light. I took one last look at the sun, and turned my head upwards. Quickly, I snapped my neck back to the woods and braced myself for the call.

"KRAAAAAAAAAAAAA!" was all I heard. It was the most hideous sound that would probably be heard for centuries to come. It sounded like metal scraping, slowly and agonizingly up and down a chalkboard. The sound sent shivers of discomfort rattling through my bones. I cupped my hands to my ears to nullify the sound, and I saw chaos erupt around us as many of our comrades tried to do the same. All except for Leo, he seemed to be confused, but after all, it was Leo.

Soon, the sound subsided, only to be greeted by a loud yell from the forest, it sounded human-like, but I couldn't be sure. Whatever it was, it couldn't be as bad as that previous noise.

I heard Reyna distinctly shout something in Latin, and I saw the response. A battalion of arrows were drawn, and bowstrings were drawn taut.

From the edge of the forest, I saw a black mass erupt from the foliage. I saw dracanae, telekhines, hellhounds, and many creatures, too innumerable to name and identify began to surge out of the forest.

"Surculus!" Reyna screamed, power coursing through her voice, encouraging and inspiring her comrades. A wave of arrows soared through the air, an arc of destruction with the power to annihilate these monsters.

The first wave of monsters were cut down by the projectiles, but they were only succeeded my another group. They marched valiantly forward, and congregated at the entrance to the forest, only to be disintegrated by the columns of Greek fire. The green substance exploding upwards, and torching anything in the nearby area. It scorched the treetops and charred the ground and we still hadn't moved. We watched motionlessly as the next chain succumbed to the power of the fire. One by one, these terrors kept wading forward, only to be incinerated by the emerald inferno.

Thousands of monsters must've died, and the traps seemed never-ending. We watched for what felt like lifetimes, seeing the rise and fall of the blaze that ravaged the Greek fiends.

The monsters kept strolling to their demise. Why? I thought to myself. Why would they do something like that? My train of thought was extinguished by a triumphant roar emanate from the forest. I saw a behemoth of a Laistrygonian Giant, who towered far above the canopy thunder in excitement? I couldn't place the emotion. On either side of him were two others, identical in height and stature next to him. Their skin was an ugly brown, and their hair was disheveled and tangled. What probably disgusted me most was a tattoo on the middle one's arm. It read J.B. luvs Babycakes, followed by a picture of a monstrous hellhound. What would he have told the guy at the tattoo parlour? I smacked myself. J.B. not Joe Bob. He had tried to tear up my school, and well, he succeeded. Oh god. Were those. Oh yup. That was Marrow Sucker and Skull Eater. Accompanied with similar tattoos, just their names substituted with their hellhounds' names. M.S luvs Swagdude. I mentally facepalmed and cringed at their names.

"Percy Jackson!" Joe Bob bellowed. "It has been a long time. You remember dodgeball?" he roared out.

"Yes. Vividly," I sighed out.

"Well," Marrow Sucker explained.

"Let's play!" Skull Eater concluded.

Without further ado, the three giants plucked up a random monster and threw it at us. Joe Bob flung a random dracanae at me. Marrow Sucker threw an innocent telekhine at Hazel. And Skull Eater shunted a hopeless gryphon at Jason.

My muscles responded and I slashed riptide in a sideways arc, splitting the dracanae into two clean halves. Jason ducked under the gryphon, dodging its talons and impaling it in the gut with his gladius. Hazel, awkwardly stabbed with her cavalry sword, still exhausted from her previous ordeal of creating a mist curtain. By sheer luck, she smacked the telekhine with the side of her blade, straight into Frank, who shot an arrow. Killing it instantly and all three monsters dissolved into golden dust.

This didn't discourage the Laistrygonians, instead they plucked up another monster and proceeded to send them flying in our general direction. Continually, we stabbed, slashed and impaled dozens of airborne terrors.

"Why are they mad at you Seaweed Brain?" Annabeth asked. "You know them?"

"How do you not remember Annabeth?" I chided. "You were the one that saved me. Well along with Tyson," I added as an afterthought.

"Which time?" Annabeth said, smirking towards me.

"Watch," I said, my eyes darting towards the poor ventus and I cleaved upwards, dissolving his form into golden dust. I cast a quick smirk towards Annabeth, who returned one with equal vigour. We were slowly gaining inch by inch in the general direction of the mammoth creatures.

Soon, we were only meters in front of them. I cast a quick glance to my left and right. I saw Nico dueling a Scythian Dracanae, and Reyna fighting a pair of Giant Badgers. The fight appeared to have turned to melee, except for the Apollo campers, who continued to rain death, destroying legions of monsters.

"Finally, a fist fight," Joe Bob breathed out.

"Stop," I said. Marrow Sucker, who was in the middle of his swing stopped, and blinked awkwardly in my direction.

"Just a quick question," I asked. "Where is Babycakes?" I wondered.

"Oh," Joe Bob said, grinning evilly. "My pet hellhound is never far away."

"I know. I'd just like to meet them. That sound's glorious," I sarcastically said. However, he must've not been familiar with sarcasm, or he just wanted to kill me. Probably the latter.

"I'd like you to meet them," he said, his grin widening.

The three giants all clapped, and before them, three hellhounds materialized. They were large. even for hellhounds. Most hellhounds were about two meters in height, but this triplet were easily three to three and a half meters. Still, they probably looked like a slightly large pet to these giants. The most disturbing part? A collar fashioned out of bone spelling out their names. I didn't know which was scarier: the collar, or the hellhound themselves.

Hazel cast me a look like you just had to. Didn't you? I looked around, and that looked seemed to be pretty popular with everyone.

"Chill guys," I said. Smirking inwardly I put my hands to my mouth, just as the giants called for attack. I blew sharply, and instead of a whistle that I wished for, I spat onto my fingers. The saliva was splattered all over

"Percy?" Frank asked.

"Don't worry Frank!" Annabeth exclaimed, promptly, definitely realizing what I was going for. She seemed to trust me. Well, she did before a hellhound toppled her.

"ANNABETH!" I screamed. I bounded off of the hellhound's leg and spun like a top. I situated myself in an awkward position, to be expected from just flipping. I gripped Riptide hard, and sliced into the scruff of her neck, and I felt the bone crack from my force. Babycakes promptly disintegrated, not before howling in pain. This howl was superseded by the howl of Joe Bob.

"YOU KILLED MY BABYCAKES!" He bellowed. In a rage, he toppled towards me. He was about one and a half to two times my height and was definitely intimidating. I stole a glance at Annabeth, to find her glaring at me. I saw that the skin on her arm was beginning to peel. It didn't appear to be shredded by the hellhound's claw.

This time, I put my fingers to my mouth and blew sharply twice. On the second time, the sweet whistling sound trumpeted from my lips and I knew she was coming. In a few seconds, Joe Bob closed the distance but just before his strike could connect, he was greeted by a dark shape, the size of a large garbage truck.

"Mrs O'Leary!" I shouted. My hellhound headbutted Joe Bob, sending him tumbling in the opposite direction and a whole colony of telekhines disappeared under him. She was clad in armour, and looked like she was bred for war. Immediately after, she jumped towards me and covering me in a thick layer of her slobber, her shaggy coat bouncing on my skin. Thankfully, the metal didn't come into contact with my skin "Yeah yeah, I love you too," I responded.

"Do ya think you can keep him occupied?" I asked, glancing around, seeing the rest struggling with the combination of their giant and his hellhound. She woofed loudly, and bounded towards the tiny giant (in comparison). I rushed to the aid of Frank and Hazel, while Annabeth ran to Jason and Piper's aid.

Frank was dueling the hellhound by transforming into a Grizzly. Canada. I thought to myself. However, while a normal grizzly would be about the same height as a hellhound, these were taller and Frank was getting slapped about. His fur was grimy from rolling in the mud, but he looked slightly tired but not really worse for wear. Meaning, that the hellhound hadn't landed a solid chomp. Hazel was kiting the giant and pestering him with insults. She looked anxious, and I could sympathise. However, right now, I believed that Frank's situation was more dire. Not because he was more injured. Really because after we could three man the giant.

"Percy!" Frank shouted. I snapped my head towards him, indicating to him that I was listening.

"Yeah?"

"Blind the hellhound, then I can kill him!" he said. He was pinned under the hellhound, with his bow drawn.

I nodded, and jumped towards the hellhound. I extended my arm, and raked it across the hellhound's face, and I turned down and did an epic landing.

I heard a howl, but I also heard Frank's angry groan. I flicked around, and saw that I had blinded the hellhound. Sorta. It's left eye was unable to be used anymore, but its right was as good as ever. All I had seemed to do was aggravate it even more. This was proven, but the hellhound cleaving it's claws across Frank's face.

Frank managed to choke through the pain of a claw to the face and drew his bowstring. He let his dart fly. Subsequently, the hellhound shrieked in pain and drew away. Frank bounded up, and quick as a cheetah, his hand went to his quiver and drew another arrow. He released his in a heartbeat, and it hit just under the hellhound's collar. Immediately, the dog-like figure withered away, into a golden heap.

"Frank!" I exclaimed. "Are you okay?" I apologized.

"I'm fine," Frank said, tilting his head, exposing a single scar, shallowly cutting into his cheek. I breathed a sigh of relief, between Annabeth and Frank, both of them had been so nearly severely injured because of me.

"Hey Percy," Frank said, looking at me. "I'm fine."

"Percy! Frank!" Hazel shouted. I whipped around, to see Hazel and Marrow Sucker engaged in a duel, cavalry sword on fist. It was clear that Hazel was going to lose.

Marrow Sucker back handed her, Hazel flew a few meters, and collapsed into a heap.

"Hazel!" Frank screamed. He bent over and morphed into an eagle. He took off at breakneck speed towards Hazel. However, a blur went and snatched her up. Frank morphed back into a human and pulled another arrow from her quiver. This one looked slightly odd, it had a heavy pointed tip, and looked similar to a hydra arrow. However, instead of a nose-cone of a rocket's tip, it was liked a barbed arrow, with imperial gold tendrils protruding from its sides. It appeared to be designed to imbed in the skin.

Frank let the arrow fly, and it embedded itself in the giant's skin. The giant roared in agony, but his volume only increased. I saw the arrow push itself further into the skin and completely disappear.

Frank then ran towards him and drew his gladius. The imperial gold blade was just about to enter the hide of the giant, safe for the fact that the giant had already frozen in place, and was in the process of crumbling into the familiar monster dust. Behind his body, Hazel emerged, covered in the collapsing monster dust. Frank ran towards her and knocked the wind out of her in a tight embrace.

"Air," Hazel choked out.

"Oh yeah," he sheepishly said.

"What happened?" I asked.

"Well, a friend helped me out," she said, pointing behind her. Her friend? It was the mighty horse Arion. His brown coat was scraped liberally with grime. His black mane was flicked around and licked his ears.

I heard his voice in my head, and it was plagued by swear words to the point where I was severely tempted to wash his mouth with soap.

I basically tuned out because of this, and engaged in a conversation with the profane horse.

The general point that I got across was that Arion saved Hazel.

A loud crack erupted behind us and I saw Jason raising his arms upwards. The lightning reduced Skull Eater to a smoking crater. So Skull Eater and Marrow Sucker were both dead. Joe Bob? Well, I saw Mrs O'Leary whaling on him, and he followed his mates to Tartarus.

"Finally," Annabeth breathed out. "Does anyone have some ambrosia?"

"Yeah, I think that we all basically need some ambrosia. Frank had a thin cut on his cheek, but Annabeth. What? Her skin was shredded, I swear that it wasn't that bad. Annabeth took a piece of Ambrosia that Piper brandished, after she took one herself, passed it to Frank who wolfed down the golden slice.

"Wheres Leo?" I asked, as we were backpedaling, to get more in line with our compatriots.

"Behind us," Piper said, indicating Leo on the ground.

"You okay Leo?" Annabeth called, talking to Leo who was a good twenty meters behind us.

"Yeah I'm fine, my leg just hurts."

Annabeth nodded, before opening the packet of Ambrosia given to her by Piper. She sprinted backwards, and passed a square to Leo.

"Don't move, we can't risk a broken foot. Trust me I know," she said, wincing. Probably remembering the catacombs under Rome I thought. "Just stay off of your foot for a while."

Leo nodded, and I breathed a sigh of relief.

I swept my head around the battlefield and took a moment to observe the battle. It wasn't going too poorly. The Camp Half-Blood forces were thinning, but anyone who was injured was at the back, and was receiving medical assistance from some of the Apollo Cabin.

The enemies were scattered all over the place. There were small skirmishes erupting everywhere. Clarisse and her Apollo Cabin friends were whirling through a horde of Earthborne, the remainder of the Apollo Cabin, that wasn't busied with healing, were shooting Sonic Arrows into the thick of the mayhem, and disorientated and destroyed a mass of telekhines. Connor and Travis, accompanied with a few of the Hermes' Cabin were dashing about the enemy, slashing, stealing and generally disrupting and causing mass mayhem. I caught sight of Reyna and Nico, back to back dueling a set of Hyperboreans. Hyperboreans? How did I miss those?

"Frank!" I exclaimed. Frank's head snapped around, and he had a puzzled expression.

"Yeah?"

"Do you think you could ping those Hyperboreans? Reyna and Nico look pinned down!"

No more words were exchanged, Frank nocked an arrow to his bow and let it fly. While in its flight, the arrow split down into the middle, into two distinct arrows. They pierced the Hyperborean's icy flesh, and the thirty foot monster staggered. Frank had nocked a second arrow, of similar nature but, before the arrow was let loose, a lightning bolt descended from the heavens, and struck the second one. However, this was less than fortunate. The giant, disoriented, began to slowly fall forward. Reyna stared up into the giant's face, and dove to her right. Nico, unaware of the five ton creature descending upon him, continued to hack at the firsts' legs.

"Nico!" Reyna shouted. Nico whipped around, his black eyes widened. Instead of shadow-traveling or diving away. He planted his greaves into the slippery, muddy soil and gripped his Stygian Iron sword with both hands. He twisted slightly and drove his blade into the pale blue polar region embedded in the Hyperborean giant's chest. The blade sliced through its skin like butter.

Nico then dived to the side, and let the giant collapse on its brethren. The first giant collapsed under the weight of the second Hyperborean, which was subsequently turned into dust. The initial giant, now covered in monster dust, began to rise, but Reyna and Nico leapt onto its chest.

"Ow!" Nico exclaimed, as he slipped on the frigid and slippery surface of the giant's skin. Reyna extended her hand and Nico grasped it, pulling himself up. After a brief nod, they both brandished their swords, contrasting in colour.

Nico's onyx blade exuded a black aura of death, and it was true, any monster vanquished was consumed by the obsidian field and had no chance of returning from Tartarus.

On the other hand, Reyna's sword spread a golden hue, almost enchanting any object in the nearby vicinity. Reyna's eyes flashed. Her sword transformed into a long thin spear, yet again comprised of imperial gold – safe for the tip, which appeared to be comprised of imperial gold shards, combined with something else. Maybe celestial bronze? Maybe it was like Backbiter.

As the giant looked like it had adjusted to the foreign weight began to rise once more, but was halted by Nico and Reyna's conjoined attempts to end him. Sword and spear both pierced his vulnerable, squishy eyeball. The result turning him into a pile of dust.

I flashed a smile at Nico, which he returned, before dashing off. The enemies seemed to be mimicking him, dashing away.

"Wait." I said, befuddled, "Guys, why are they dashing away into the forest?" I waited for someone to contradict me, but no one did, instead silently observing the retreating monsters.

I wasn't complaining, this gave us a chance to recuperate and tend to our wounded.

"A bit of help?" I heard Will shout. Immediately, I turned and began to walk at a brisk pace, my feet sloshing awkwardly against the moist soil. The rest followed. Leo, who appeared to have crawled back to this makeshift medical facility was on a provisional stretcher, structured of fronds of trees and long, straight branches of the surrounding trees.

A healer was on him, and I approached them.

"How is he?" I asked to the fair boy. I doubted he was from Camp Half-Blood as he was in Imperial Gold armour.

"There seems to be nothing inherently wrong with his leg, but he is burning up. I would recommend that he just sits down and takes it easy. If he is determined to re-enter the fray, he should probably keep his distance," he explained, gesturing to Leo, who was grinning awkwardly at me.

"You alright Perce?" he asked.

"I should be the one asking you that one," I chuckled out.

"I'm fine. Really. I think I'll just st—" he said, making a move to stand up

"No no no," I said, pushing him back down. "You need to rest. Only come back when we say so," I uttered, in a stern tone.

"Yeah yeah, whatever," he muttered, before relaxing.

"I looked around, and saw Nico helping Will around tending to the wounded. Almost every person was wounded in some manner, except for us seven. Katie had bad scrapes and bruises on her arms and legs. She began to spin a tale about how she was ambushed by a set of dracanae, and was elbowed by a demigod, but she was cut short by a scream.

I knew that scream anywhere.

"Annabeth!" I shouted, running in the general direction of the scream. I saw Annabeth huddle around something, accompanied by almost the rest of our group. "You alright?" I exclaimed, sliding next to her, soiling the pants that I had changed into.

Annabeth was sobbing, but she managed to shake her head. I looked towards the centre on this huddle, to see three Apollo medics rapidly rushing about, healing someone.

I saw his sandy blond hair, grey eyes, and immediately noticed it was a son of Athena. However, what differentiated this person from the rest, and was how I noticed, was the band that he wore around his arm. Unlike most campers, Malcolm Pace, being the genius that he was, wasn't satisfied with just having beads of the events. He had managed to create a slideshow on a wristband, depicting all the events that were shown on the beads. Right now, it was showing scenes of the Battle of Manhattan I thought it was fitting.

"Malcolm," I whispered "What happened?" I asked.

"Oh Percy. I simply took a knife to the back," he joked, but his tone was devoid of his usual mirth, instead he sounded like he was in pain.

"That's a mild way to put it," one of the healers said, gruffly. "Percy, he took a spear through the arm. Not just any spear. A poisoned spear."

"What happened Malcolm?" Annabeth sobbed out.

"Well, this is a nice role-reversal. Well, you see there was a troupe of Scythian Dracanae fighting us. We were drastically outnumbered, but the leader. Oh the leader. This leader was unconventional. Instead of having a sword or an axe, this one had a spear. A twelve-foot-long one," he said, trying to emphasise by moving his arm, but wincing with every movement. "It was going to impale Christian over here," he exclaimed, gesturing to another Athena camper. "But I jumped in front of him, and took the spear. It wasn't a full throw or anything, but it went straight through the skin, and the poison tip is still embedded in my arm."

"Move!" A voice shouted from behind me. I cleared a path and saw Will Solace barge through the crowd. "Someone get me some nectar!" he shouted in desperation. Instantly, the three healers that were working before catered to Will's need and brought him a flask of nectar.

Will cleaned out the wound with nectar, and handed an ambrosia square to Malcolm. However, instead of its usual golden colour, it was coated silver.

"Don't worry Malcolm," he sternly asserted. "It's just lathered in healing paste. Eat." He ordered. Malcolm grudgingly took the square and devoured the godly food.

"Someone get me a set of tweezers!" I immediately lunged and grabbed a set of tweezers. Will accepted the tools and began to work. He plunged the metal device into Malcolm's arm, and wiggled about, before shaking his head.

"It's too far in Malcolm," he said, referring to the poisoned barb. "I need more nectar, and a small dagger!"

"Will this do?" Annabeth asked, gesturing to her knife.

"Yes. Thanks Annabeth," Will said.

Will then poured more nectar into the wound, and cleaned out any residue with the godly liquid. After, the gripped Annabeth's knife, and motioned to dig to bullet from the arm, before preventing himself.

"Malcolm, you'll want to bite down on something. This is going to hurt." Malcolm then picked up a random piece of cloth, and bit down hard into it. Annabeth then extended her hand and clasped Malcolm's. He began to squeeze, in anticipation for the pain. Will then proceeded and inserted the knife into Malcolm's arm. The Athena camper moaned and screamed into his towel, and his hand, looked like it was going to snap Annabeth's into two. After several painstaking seconds, punctured solely by Malcolm's incessant screaming, Will had managed to dig the barb from Malcolm's arm.

Malcolm breathed out a sigh of relief, as the barb was extracted from his arm.

"You'll be fine Malcolm," Will said, finishing up by applying some silver paste around the wound and applying bandages in and around the entry point. "Just stay down for a while. Don't get back on your feet for a few hours at least. Normally I would cauterise the wound, but we're fresh out of fire."

"Yeah. Thanks Will," he muttered.

"Yeah, I've got a lot more to do. I doubt that we'll have more than half an hour. We've spent already twenty minutes. We need to get ready for another onslaught," he said, before wandering off to help around a bit more.

"You alright Malcolm?" I asked, optimistically.

"Better Percy. Not alright. But better."

"You'll be fine Malcolm," Annabeth exclaimed.

"I know," he responded, "Go bother someone else," he finally said. "I've had too much attention. Go! Shoo!" he exclaimed.

I looked at Annabeth before shrugging.

For the rest of the time, we walked around and talked and sympathised with some of the wounded and devised new strategies for defending.

Annabeth:

"Get ready!" I called.

We were arranged for a second assault, we were arranged in a similar formation, with us six (seven, minus Leo). On the left stood the Twelfth Legion, their Imperial Gold armour. The light from the weakening sun had finally dispersed, leaving an almost miniscule shimmer emitted by the silver moon – now a crescent shape. Their armour glittered feebly, even in comparison to the rays from the dying light. It almost looked as if they were starved of their power. The same held true for Camp Half-Blood. Their Celestial Bronze armour, while still glittering in the pale moonlight, seemed to have lost its lustre. It was almost non-existent.

I turned my head to the frontal-most figures. Nico stood tall, his onyx armour seeming like the perfect camouflage, in the dull dark environment. He unsheathed his sword, and the aura given off from the Stygian Iron was intimidating. It seemed to drink in the darkness surrounding, and I fully expected Nico to shadow-travel much more. Even in the dying light, which cast long shadows, the night would cause his abilities to come to the forefront.

Reyna seemed to be much the same, safe for her now having Aurum and Argentum at her sides. Her dogs always unnerved me, their translations Gold and Silver were reflective of their appearances. I was also told that they could discern lies, and Reyna demonstrated this first hand. I was never really sure where the canines went once Reyna dismissed them, but I hadn't bothered to ask.

"KRAAAAAAAAAAA!"

The battle-cry and screech pierced through the still night air. I resisted the urge to drop to my knees and clutch my ears upon hearing that terrible sound. The Hephaestus Cabin had scrounged Greek Fire and lined the forest with as many traps as they could muster, and their efforts were fruitful, with the initial onslaught from battalions of insignificant enemies. However, our calm before the storm was short lived.

"KRAAAAAAAAA!"

The scream erupted again, stinging my eardrums. This time, after the traps and our Greek Fire had been extinguished, I saw – not legions of dracanae and telekhines, but legions of greater threats: Hyperboreans, Gryphons, Venti, Hellhounds and even Manticores. However, the thing that bothered me the most was that initial scream. It made my stomach curdle. I felt like I had heard it before.

Before I could think about the situation further, the five demigods surrounding me leapt into action. Jason charged a pack of Venti. He leapt into the air and flew in a streamlined position, alternating between slicing the air with his gladius, and summoning crackling bolts of energy, sizzling his opposition. Frank and Percy charged together, Percy running at the forefront with Riptide drawn, and Frank staying slightly further back, his bow drawn and several arrows nocked towards the sieging Hyperboreans. Percy whistled, and Mrs O'Leary materialised from the shadows, and leapt into action, gnawing, knocking and generally causing mass panic among the Hyperboreans.

Hazel drifted towards the right and whistled for Arion. Arion, similar to Mrs O'Leary blurred into existence and Hazel mounted him. Hazel charged forward, drawing the attention of several hellhounds and gryphons. Arion easily outpaced the hellhounds, and Hazel made quick work of the ones in her immediate reach. She simply extended her cavalry sword, and the hellhounds began to disintegrate, in the dozens.

That left Piper and I, from the main pack that charged at us, all that was left were a pair of manticores, that were taking shots from long distance. They were currently being occupied by Clarisse, Connor and Travis. Despite this immediate threat, the two manticores seemed to be more focused on attempting to assail the forces further back, dealing with major threats of their own. Thankfully, those were the only two manticores.

Piper and I charged them, moving in tandem towards the great threats. Within a few seconds, we were dancing the manticore dance, along with Clarisse and the Stoll brothers. This 'dance' consisted of ducking the poisonous spines, and dodging the elongated tail. The manticores finally seemed to shift their attention onto us, and dodging the jabbing from their tail, and the spikes shot from them, well, it was difficult.

"Annabeth," one of the manticores drawled. "We meet again."

"Who are you? I've never seen you before?" I said, while dodging a poisonous spine from the chatty manticore.

"You don't remember?" he said, his drawling voice picking at my brain. "Oh well, I will enjoy killing you."

The nostalgic manticore darted forward and jabbed at me with his spine. I leapt to the side and ended up sprawling on the ground.

"Remember yet?" he snarled. "AHHH!" he screamed, jumping away, howling from the dagger now stuck in his shoulder.

"Get away from her!" Piper roared, no charmspeak present, simply anger. Piper offered me a hand and I leapt up, and faced him.

"Tsk," he said begrudgingly. "I thought you would be sharper daughter of Athena. After all, how could you forget the manticore who kidnapped you?"

"Dr. Thorn," I muttered out, clenching my fists behind my back and grinding my teeth.

"Yes. Me. Last time we fought, you had all your friends with you. What are you going to do now?"

"Her friends are here idiot." Clarisse grunted. I turned slightly to the left and saw Clarisse standing over a pile of golden dust.

"H – how how?" Dr. Thorn mumbled out.

"It's not that hard," Connor said, showing off a pendant that was dangling off of Thorn's neck. I assumed that the other Manticore was a protégé or family possibly.

"There's a lot you can do with a scary daughter of Ares," he exclaiming, indicating Clarisse, who looking amused. "And two incredible sons of Hermes," he said, indicating himself and his younger brother by placing a hand on latter's shoulder.

Dr. Thorn let out an annoyed shout and lunged towards Clarisse.

Without warning, I lunged towards the manticore. I brandished my knife, the celestial bronze tip glittering faintly from the moonlight. Clarisse, clad in her battle armour deployed her shield, which absorbed the blow, but took a heavy blow that left a dent in the Celestial Bronze.

I stabbed downwards, slicing into the lion torso. Dr. Thorn let out a blood-curdling scream and whipped around. Connor and Travis blurred next to Thorn and both spent an instant in the danger zone. In this singular instant they brandished identical celestial bronze daggers. They were slightly longer than mine, possibly an inch or two longer. They thrusted the daggers up into the underside of Thorn's humanoid face. They attempted to zip away, with Travis dashing towards the left of Thorn and Connor rushing past his right. However, Thorn's tail doubled back around and hooked Travis around the midriff. Manticores were fast too, Connor was pinned down under Thorn, and from first hand experience I knew the power of those claws.

"Don't move." Thorn proclaimed, his eyes shifting around from Clarisse to me. "One move and I will shred this one, and sting this one."

"I agree," Piper blurted out. "Don't move," she said, smirking slightly. "Impedimenta!"

In an instant, the manticore was frozen and reared up backwards. His grip on Travis, and his weight on Connor was released – allowing the two brothers to dash away.

"No!" Thorn shouted, once the charm had worn off, but the damage was already done. In a fit of anger, or a determination for revenge he lunged in Piper's direction. In an instinctual reaction, I charged in Piper's direction. Mid-way through his jump, the lion's torso twisted. This allowed me to slide under his frame, easy considering the muddy soil everywhere. While sliding under the lion, I gripped the underside of his coat, and propelled myself upwards. I kicked off of the ground, but, the mud that made it easier to slide made it harder to find a good spot which would provide me with the momentum to flip over. As a result, when I flipped backwards, I landed slightly forward than I would've like. My legs were positioned on opposite sides of his torso, much like I was riding an animal. The sudden weight caused him to fall to the ground.

"Déjà vu," he muttered. He brought his tail down in an arc, the tip of the stinger pouring with venom. I rolled to the side and off of his torso, but rotated under him, with my head to his right, and my leg inching forward, barely avoiding the sting.

"Foolish girl," he muttered. "I thought that you were intelligent," he chided. "I hope you know that a scorpion's sting doesn't harm the scorpion itself? I am immune to my venom."

"Oh I know. I didn't do this for you to sting yourself," I said, smirking. "I did it for you to disable your own stinger."

Without further ado, I flipped back around from this position and placed myself spread-eagled on the manticore's back, my chest and stomach pinning down the stinger. My legs were right around the back, and hooked around the base of the scorpion's tail.

"Déjà vu."

I stabbed my dagger downwards into the lion's mane, and Thorn screamed out in pain.

"Clarisse! I need your spear!" It was a testament to how much more she trusted and respected me these days that she didn't need any further encouragement, but simply passed me Maimer. The electrically charged spear hummed with power. I had to catch it with my left hand, and pushed it downwards into his mane once more, albeit with less force. The electricity coursed through the manticore's body, sizzling him. Finally, after more electricity had been released, Dr. Thorn's limp body fell to the ground.

"Well done Annabeth," he croaked out. "Good plan… however, not good enough to put me down."

Dr. Thorn's stinger whipped around slowly, and sunk into my shoulder, releasing the venom into my bloodstream. However, after delivering the first sting, the second was about to be administered into my agonising shoulder, before SCHING! I saw the stinger be severed from the rest of the tail, the venom covered tip separated from the body. I saw Connor and Travis standing there. Piper then walked in this direction.

"Next time stay dead," she said, this time with charmspeak. But, her smile faded as the drove Katoptris deep into the mane of the manticore, followed suit by Connor and Travis' blades. After no more than three seconds of silence, the monster let out a final groan before succumbing and joining his protégé in Tartarus.

"AHHH!" I shouted, gritting my teeth from the pain. I knew that manticore venom wouldn't incapacitate or kill me, but it would cause a few hours of burning pain. Not excruciating pain, like back in the catacombs of Rome. But, it was bad enough to stop me from fighting at best capacity.

"Piper, do you have any ambrosia?" I asked.

"Yeah, let me get it," she said, digging into her pockets, hard to do with her armour. Eventually, she gave up and brandished her wand. "Accio Ambrosia!" she chanted, and the packet of godly food whizzed out. She prised open the packet with her fingers and dug out the food. I devoured my slice, and I felt the throbbing pain fade slightly into the back. "I think you've had enough Ambrosia Annabeth," she said, picking up her knife from the pile of monster dust. I nodded, I wasn't a fan of spontaneous combustion, following the daughter of Aphrodite.

Having dealt with my own threat, I took a minute to survey our surroundings. Percy and Frank, who had obviously finished dealing with their Hyperboreans had gone and began helping Hazel. Frank, along with Jason was helping with the swarming Gryphons. Mrs O'Leary was wading through packs of hellhounds, while Percy and Hazel, were both mounted of Arion and were helping Percy's hellhound by defeating any of the canines that shadow-travelled behind them. I looked to the left, and saw Camp Jupiter in trouble. Reyna, along with Dakota was duelling a Hyperborean and Laistrygonian combination, and were narrowly avoiding getting frozen by the former's breath and being pummelled by the latter's fists. However, what worried me most was the legion. They were attempting to stay in formation, but were constantly assailed with barrages of rock and earth hurled at them by the battalions of Earthborn, and were even worse at dealing with the hellhounds that were shadow-travelling and harassing their archers in the back-line.

I believe that Camp Half-Blood would be in the exact same situation, except for one difference: Nico. Nico was an absolute battling machine. Under the cover of darkness, he was even more proficient. He was shadow-travelling around the battlefield, and was whirling like an unstoppable tornado of death.

He was wading through legions of dracanae and telekhines, destroying dozens with every strike, all the way, his Stygian Iron blade drinking in the power of his enemies.

Without hesitating, Piper, Clarisse, Connor, Travis and I went to aid the Twelfth Legion. Clarisse and I launched into action and began destroying legions of Earthborn. We whirled around, keeping back to back. Whenever, and Earthborn came to close, or was too slow to react, I dashed forward, and sliced at them. Instead of dissolving into golden dust, everytime we vanquished an Earthborn, it left behind a mound of clay. After several minutes, I was coated in a mixture of clay, which mingled with the sweat that clung to my face. Soon, it looked like we had helped, the hellhounds that were harassing the archers were being cut down by Connor and Travis, who had an eye for that sort of thing. Piper was causing mayhem with her charmspeak, asking many to lay down their weapons. Once they did, either she, or the legion charged in and cut them down.

"KRAAAAAA!"

Again, the call came. I turned around, and the monsters did the same. However, Nico didn't. Instead, he shadow-travelled and began to turn the tides even further in Camp Jupiter'. He mercilessly destroyed the remaining monsters in the blink of an eye. I turned back around and faced the forest.

"A-ROOOOOOOOOOOOO!"

Another sound exploded from the forest.

From the forest, poured out a troupe of werewolves. Nico, who was standing beside me, shadow-travelled next to Reyna, who was looking at the werewolves with a burning hatred. Piper again ran through the legion, and stood alongside Nico and Reyna. I drifted back towards the centre – in between Camp Jupiter and Camp Half-Blood. I stood next to Percy, and to his right were Jason, Frank and Hazel.

"KRAAAAAAA!"

The sound emanated again from the forest. I had a nagging suspicion that I had heard it before.

"Wait Percy. Is that? —" I began, before a colossal creature flew out of the forest.

It was the most hideous creature I had ever seen. She had a human head, with snakes for hair, and the parallels that I drew from her with Medusa were justified. She had a half-human body, similar to a centaur but lacking the majestic appearance. She instead had reptilian-like skin and a dragon half, accompanied by claws that probably could cut through solid steel. She had gigantic reptilian wings, which were dark in colouration. Like a manticore, she had a huge scorpion tail, dripping with venom. Where her halves meet, there was a horrible bubbling and morphine area, which produced heads around her, constantly changing and shifting; like a gruesome belt.

In addition to her morbid appearance, in her right hand, she brandished a whip. This fiery whip was barbed and studded with sharp, serrated edges. According to legend, a singular hit with the whip was able to incapacitate the Elder Cyclopes for several hours. In her left hand, she was holding a poisonous scimitar. The blades were glowing with a deadly greenish hue, and wisps of green vapour drifted across the battlefield.

"Kampê," I finished. I hadn't seen this despicable creature since the Battle of the Labyrinth. In addition to Kampê and the werewolf pack, out poured what seemed like the last horde of beasts: hellhounds, telekhines and dracanae and an all manner of monsters.

"KRAAAAAA!" Kampê roared. A similar roar went up from the monsters and they charged at us.

"GO!" Percy roared, his voice projecting all around the battlefield and deep into the night sky. Just like Kampê's call, the remaining campers gave a tremendous roar and charged. Percy, Jason, Hazel, Frank and I charged at Kampê, accompanied by some of Camp Half-Blood and Camp Jupiter. Nico, Reyna, Piper and about ten of Camp Jupiter faced up to the werewolf pack. The remaining ten or twenty demigods from Camp Jupiter ran all the way around us to help the remainder of Camp Half-Blood's forces fend off this monstrous army. Mid-way through my charge towards Kampê, I saw a distinct figure on the far right. I stopped and turned ninety degrees. There. I gritted my teeth. Kelli and her empousae friends were on the far right. They weren't even fighting, but simply watching the carnage begin to erupt.

I began to run in her direction, but I stopped myself. I saw the encampment way behind us. I didn't bring my Yankee's cap, but Malcolm brought it. I could use it to get the drop on them. I sprinted towards the encampment.

I ran up to Malcolm's beside and picked up my Yankee's cap. I dashed around the right.

"Annabeth?" someone asked. I turned around and saw Leo. He had moved from his bed on the extreme left. "Where are you going?" he asked.

"Just getting my hat to help," I confirmed. "It'll just provide me with an advantage."

Leo nodded, but he gave me a scrutinising look. "Get better soon," I said, before slapping on the cap and running towards the empousae. It was about sixty meters away, and I got there within ten seconds. I whipped off my hat.

Kelli slowly turned, and her form burned away, literally. She revealed her true empousa form and her flaming hair seemed to incinerate her human form.

"Well Annabeth. What is it?" She taunted.

"I'm here to kill you Kelli," I exclaimed. Immediately, I dashed forward, intent on slashing through her form. However, just before my Celestial Bronze dagger connected, one of her friends jumped in front of her and took the blow, and disintegrated.

"Well, if you say so. Don't interfere!" she added.

"Your funeral," I muttered.

Kelli this time lunged at me, and I stabbed upwards. Kelli dodged my blade and blurred behind me. She dug her claws deep into the surface of my skin, right on my shoulder. It was slightly above where Dr. Thorn had stung me, but it was close to the area and it reignited the pain.

"AHHHH!" I screamed out. I grunted loudly, as I elbowed Kelli in the hip wit my left hand. I twisted back around and stabbed at her with my dagger, but she literally teleported behind me. I thought that the wall of fire trick only worked to escape. But since it was Kelli, I should've seen it coming. She already had found my shoulder as a weak spot, and she continued to exploit it. Once again, she looped right around my back and dug her nails into my shoulder. This time however, I was too slow and she sunk her fangs into my shoulder. I howled in pain again. I somehow called on the power to turn around. I turned around and swept her legs out from under her. But, the slippery mud had caused me to topple down. Now, in excruciating pain, I was barely able to stand, and it was only through sheer willpower that I did it again.

Kelli disappeared in a wall of fire again. I anticipated this move, and turn around to face her. I thrust my dagger in the direction where she would appear. Sure enough, it worked. Just as Kelli materialised, my dagger sunk straight through her white skin.

"Third time's the charm," I muttered.

"No, not really," Kelli gasped out, her voice still taunting me. Kelli's arm reached out and clawed me in the face, and the sudden burst of pain was too much. I collapsed on the ground. The mud clung to my hair, and the back of my armour probably looked horrible.

"Good try Annabeth," Kelli taunted. "You almost killed me. But, you just weren't good enough."

This was the long-awaited battle sequence. As you can see, the sheer volume of the troops that are attacking Hogwarts is immense, to say the least. Well, you can probably draw a lot of parallels to the Last Olympian, and I made it that way on purpose. I also brought back a lot of familiar faces. Dr. Thorn, the Laistrygonians, which I thought were really cool. It's a shame that they weren't really involved much more. Of course, there's Kampê, who I also love as a villain for this. Then again there's all those expendable monsters that no one cares about. The confrontation between Kelli and Annabeth was also cool. Was it good? I hope so.

I really developed Reyna and Nico's relationship. I see them as basically two of the most influential individuals from each camp and after the events of Blood of Olympus, I really think that they'd share sort of a Partners in combat.

Well, this story is nearing its conclusion. Only two or three more chapters left. I hope you guys enjoy this. I know I had a lot of fun writing it.

Thanks,

~RedGods