Chapter 31: Leo
"Gods," I groaned out. The inflammation rising up through my torso, feeling like it was incinerating my insides. I felt as if it was progressively getting worse. My whole body was overcome with uncontrollable fits and convulsions. It was by far the worst I had ever felt. Every time that I would try to move, even to a minor degree, another spike of agony erupted through my skeleton. Well. It was a painful experience. To put it mildly. The scariest part? I felt the power coursing through my veins during every spike of pain. It didn't feel right. I had tried to suppress these conditions and these symptoms. But it was getting to a point where I doubted that any amount of willpower would be able to control my body. Well, control my body from the true effects that these symptoms were foreshadowing.
It was now affecting my vision. My eyesight was blurring. I felt my words begin to slur, but it was minimal. It had gravitated from occasional twitching and miniscule distresses, to constant, perpetual convulsions and muscle spasms. In addition to warm and cold disparities and a fluctuating temperature.
I felt even worse that I was basically abandoning my friends and my family. My family needed me, and I failed them when they needed me most. They needed my help while fighting this battle, and here I was. Sitting down, and battling some unknown illness.
A familiar figure sprinted in front of me and I recognised it as the daughter of Athena who scared me to Kingdom Come.
"Annabeth?" I asked, worriedly, scared that I maybe mistook someone else for her. Thankfully, Annabeth turned around and stared at me inquisitively. She was grasping her Yankee's cap and her face was streaked liberally with grime and clay. "Where are you going?" I asked, my words slightly slurring. I doubted she noticed, she looked so worried and preoccupied already.
"Just getting my hat to help," she confirmed. "It'll just provide me with an advantage."
I nodded but gave her a scrutinising look. Getting her hat? She had the hat in her hand. This was Annabeth. She'd never be wrong about something like that. Was it stress? Or was she hiding something? There was a way that her face was aligned that literally spelt out I'M TERRIFIED AHH! It was hardly surprising, given that a huge creature had just emerged out of the forest. But, I knew something was up. Maybe it was just my stomach being infected, or just my gut feeling.
"Get better soon," she uttered, before slapping on her cap and running off. She was invisible, but I knew I had to follow. There was something up. Immediately, I stepped out of this makeshift cot. I placed my bare foot on the muddy soil. I felt jolts of pain shoot up through my leg. I gritted my teeth and placed my second foot on the dirt. I felt a similar impulse of pain reach up and through my leg. My leg's buckled slightly, as my weight was shifted forward, I nearly avoided falling on my face. Which would've been horrible considering the mud. I barely managed to stumble forward, awkwardly placing my feet forward. I ambled out of our medical encampment and it was by sheer luck that no one stopped me.
Around sixty meters in front, there was the familiar daughter of Athena, enveloped by a group of empousa.
"KRAAAA!"
A call erupted to my frontal right, and I saw a hideous figure. It was like a cross-breed of a gorgon, a dragon and a human all combined in one horrible compact mix. How did I not hear her at one point or another? I was probably too busy writhing in pain. Speaking of writhing in pain, well, here it was. My body was wracked with a fit of pain. The pain was so intense: it was like someone was pressing a hot poker against my skin. Normally, heat wouldn't bother me, but recently it seemed like it was getting worse. I screamed gutturally in agony, and the burning sensation resided. Juxtaposed immediately, was a surge of vigour. I mustered the strength to pick myself back up and trudge forward, my feet squelching in the mud. I closed the gap between Annabeth and myself.
Only, around half-way there, the pain returned. The intensity seemed to have increased, but I tried to fight through it. I clamped my hand shut, squeezing with unbelievable force. I tightened my jaw, and ground my teeth to the point where they were no more than a paste. I was taught that relaxing and taking deep breaths was something that relieved pain, but I was running on pure adrenalin. These thoughts didn't come to me. All I did was try and fight through the eternal torment on my body.
Again, I pulled myself off the ground. I saw the fight erupt between Kelli and Annabeth. I knew that I had to intervene. I ran at top speed, and instead of interfering, I collapsed and went skidding through the slick mud. I only made ten meters at best. Time was running out. I leapt off the ground, and immediately, when I drew myself to full height, I was hit with the worst spurt of pain yet. The duration and sheer magnitude had increased by an unfathomable amount. I hit the deck, and this time I wasn't moving. It was like someone had driven a thousand hot nails into my skin at once. Not just pushed in, it was like they had taken a run-up and slammed them in with full force.
My muscles felt like they had gone into a state of paralysis. I couldn't feel my extremities, yet the odd thing was that I could move them. The pain was probably so intense that it was simply overloading my nervous system and my brain simply couldn't handle it. I felt slightly light-headed. I had fallen on my front again and cast my eyes forward.
Annabeth was now lying helpless on the ground, the impeding empousa troupe looking on in earnest. I opened my mouth to shout, maybe get their attention. However, no sound came out. It truly was a nightmare. I tried to force myself up, and bit by bit, inch by inch, I began to rise off the ground. I couldn't feel anything, the pain was overloading my senses. My vision was beginning to blur, my breathing increased, but it felt like no oxygen was actually being inhaled.
I just threw myself forward. I flung myself forward. Thankfully, there was a slight slope and I travelled the distance, landing between a very surprised looking Kelli and Annabeth.
"Who are you?" Kelli began. I didn't know whether to be ashamed or relieved. She had most definitely seen me, she just probably didn't care. "Oh wait, I don't care," she breathed out. She was in the process of slashing me when I let out a guttural scream. The pain returned full force, and this time it was easily more painful than before. I don't know why I was feeling pain now when it overloaded my body earlier. Well, maybe the Fates thought I deserved an especially painful death. Somehow, through sheer willpower and strength, I managed to stay upright and shielded Annabeth, who was staring up at me, her grey eyes piercing me.
"What are you doing?" Kelli asked, perplexed. "I haven't even hit you."
The pain subsided, and the surge of power returned. It was inflaming and irritating me, and I felt the urge to stop caring and release. But, I forced it down. This was a mistake, however, as almost instantly, I was greeted by an agonising slash to my torso, ripping through the flimsy fabric of my shirt and drew blood. I screamed loudly and the surge returned. The rush of adrenaline was overwhelming - it overrode my instincts and senses. I barely opened my eyes to see the empousa raking her claws across my body and agony wracked my senses. I could barely feel my body and my limbs were numb with pain. The strength ran through my body and panic began to set in. My thought of caring and being compassionate was immediately deleted, my only thought was
What could I do to survive?
And my answer was to conserve energy, and I stopped caring about the control over power – and it exploded.
Percy:
"Let's go!" I roared, as we charged down the hideous creature in my path, with Hazel, Jason and Frank around me we dashed towards Kampê. The creature let out an unrelenting roar and extended her body, extending well past twenty-five feet, but we didn't stop. The four of us and Kampê collided, in a clash of sparks. Kampê swung her whip forward in an over-arching arc which cut a swathe in our ranks, sizzling the air around us. All four of us attempted to land an attack on her, but she quickly retreated, ascending far above our range.
Frank was the one who took action, the archer immediately backpedalled and drew his bow. With lightning speed, he nocked an arrow and effortlessly let the projectile fly. The arrow arched straight into Kampê's shoulder, but the former gatekeeper of Tartarus barely acknowledged it. She continued in a downwards arc, her whip cracking an inch away from Hazel, who collapsed to the ground to avoid it.
"Now Jason!" I yelled.
Jason responded, conjuring up a fork of lightning and sent it rattling towards Kampê from the heavens above. The momentary shock provided just the moment that I needed to strike, and I leapt forward, extending my sword arm and provided a slash to her leg. The monster roared, and with unbelievable speed closed the distance on me and stabbed with her scorpion tail. I noticed it coming, and parried her initial swat with the tail and rolled away, forcing Kampê away. Meanwhile, while I was duelling Kampê, Hazel had summoned her equine friend: Arion and was now galloping through the night.
"Percy!" Hazel called, her hair blowing in the chilly night wind, "Summon your hellhound, we can distract Kampê with their mobility!"
I nodded briefly, not knowing whether or not she had seen me, but I whistled. From the ever-present shadows, my faithful hellhound materialised once again and I leapt onto her back. I turned back to the fight with Kampê and saw Frank peppering her with arrows, Jason flying around and summoning bolts of lightning, while Hazel (obviously riding Arion) was generally distracting Kampê with insults, and every now and then, send a particularly accurate metal streaking across the sky.
"Go, Mrs O'Leary," I whispered.
The hellhound bounded forward, barking with enthusiasm and all the while I was basically hurling insults at Kampê. At one point, she must've been so distracted that even from her impossible height, and all the distractions, that she basically stopped moving in midair, began to float down and shrunk in size.
"Yes!" Jason called, as the monster plummeted.
The son of Jupiter drew his gladius and entered close quarters with the creature, but it was painfully obvious that Kampê was completely out of his league. Her whip disappeared and was replaced by two smoking scimitars, both frothing with acid green venom. Jason was forced onto the defensive, and could barely block all of Kampê's attacks, I knew that he would get tagged, but there was no way I could help. I looked hopefully at Frank, who looked lost as well, the arrows he was sending up doing little to no damage to the flying monstrosity. With a lost expression on his face, Frank closed his eyes, and I saw his form change. He grew shorter, while his arms grew longer and wider, while his feet changed and warped. He was becoming a bird!
After the conclusion of his transformation, Frank took to the skies, but instead of attempting to duel Kampê, he ran straight into Jason and nudged him the other way. Kampê looked enraged and swung at Frank's wing with her scimitar but Frank's agility was far superior. Jason bolted the other direction, while Frank was a bit slower, while proved to be his undoing. Kampê's scimitars faded away, to be replaced with her whip, and her whip cracked outwards extending to an impossible length and nailing Frank in the back of the head.
Frank the bird plummeted to the ground, his body motionless in the air, and I saw him morph back into a human as he descended.
"NO!" We all called in concert. Jason flipped around and summoned a tremendous gush of wind, which slowed Frank's descent, and Arion blurred over to his position, along with Mrs O'Leary and I. Frank landed, almost softly into the space right in front of Hazel, and I looked at her. She looked determined, but her eyes were glassy with defeat.
"Get him back to camp, he needs to get treated," I explained, and Hazel quickly nodded, before Arion galloped off, with the two demigods on top.
Despite that treacherous experience, it seemed like we were winning this war of attrition, Kampê was slowly getting closer to the ground and was shrinking in length, only till about fifteen feet at this point.
"Jason, the more damage she gets hit with, the shorter she'll get, we need her to shrink to a size where we can beat her in close quarters!"
"Percy, I just got my ass handed to me by her just a few minutes ago, we can't do that!"
"This time, we'll double-team her!" I shouted. Jason didn't respond, so I just assumed that he agreed with the plan. Soon enough, I saw a blast of electricity emanate from his hands, and I began to aggress, with Kampê slowly coming further towards the ground, when Mrs O'Leary jumped up or managed to get a correct angle, I was able to jump upwards, and get a hit, but it was the Jason show right now. He would alternate between blasts of lightning from the sky and streams of static electricity from his palms. However, what was probably most useful was his ability to summon venti. These storm spirits were undeniably useful, not only for providing distractions so that Jason could work his magic but also to put distance between Kampê and him whenever the going got tough. It got to a point, where him and Hazel (now back from helping Frank), where the only ones doing anything. The only water was a couple hundred meters, away, and removing myself from the fight for that long would be treacherous for my friends.
Instead, I opted for a different approach. I closed my eyes and concentrated, and I felt the tug of the ocean in my gut, the pressure building to immense quantities, urging to be released. I felt power course through my veins and I pushed my arms forward, and an immense quantity of the liquid materialised. Instead of feeling drained from summoning the water, I felt strangely invigorated and a primordial power washed into me. I coalesced the water in each arm, and blasted the force of the water downward, rocketing myself higher into the air.
With this new altitude, I created a disc of spinning water and launched it at Kampê. The disc arched through the air and sliced into her wing, and she let out a roar, clearly feeling the pain and turned to me. She charged in my direction, but the water raced back and formed in front of me, creating a sort of barrier. The monster charged, oblivious to the barrier and smacked into it, head first. Clearly confused, the creature shook her head, and water droplets flew from everywhere. This played to our advantage, this momentary distraction gave Jason enough time to summon the winds. Just like he did with Gaea, he created another wind container, which encased Kampê's entire frame. Just like before, I manipulated the water into a plethora of discs and sent them streaking out towards Kampê. Just before they hit, Jason released his grip on the container and dropped to the ground, and I did the same. The disks of water exploded upon impact and Kampê roared in agony and plummeted straight into the ground. The once gargantuan figure had now shrunk to about seven feet tall. Kampê's proportions looked all skewed as if someone had tried to stuff her body into a tiny space. Her wings looked even more dishevelled and disproportionate than ever, and her belt of animal heads looked far less scary. I immediately stopped controlling the water around me, and they formed a puddle slightly to my right, but my attention was brought straight back to the nightmarish fiend.
The now seven-foot tall Kampê roared, and her eyes glowed a deep red. I quickly turned around and saw that Hazel had abandoned her fight with Kampê, and was now zipping around on Arion, cutting into the enemy lines. Mrs O'Leary was doing her fair share and was simply walking about as legions of monsters disintegrated around her.
I felt a slight nudge on my shoulder, to see Jason standing side by side with me. Kampê (now far less intimidating) had drawn herself up. Gone was her whip, replaced once again by her dual scimitars.
I tightened my grip on Riptide, and Jason drew his gladius, shining in the pale moonlight. I took a brief moment to survey my surroundings. Oh god, where's Annabeth! I instantly thought. I turned my back to Kampê, to search for my girlfriend, and that proved to be my mistake. Just as I saw an explosion of red, a rush of pain exploded in my back and I was forced to the ground. I tilted my head; my eyes going blurry with fatigue and pain and saw Jason being assailed by Kampê. I arched my back and another fit of pain wracked my body, but I stood up. Water was my only thought, and I controlled the water from that puddle and splashed it onto my face. The burning sensation in my back reduced, and while my reflexes and movement wasn't top notch, I had to help Jason.
I launched forward, and slashed upwards with my blade, trying to cut into Kampê's wing, but was instantly parried by a scimitar. All the while, Jason was being driven back by the other arm. I knew that she could basically fight independently with each arm, but I felt helpless, every strike was blocked. That was when I decided to change it up.
I lunged towards Jason's side, and we both attacked the left arm, and for a tiny moment, it looked like the battle was swinging in our favour. I heard a booming voice echo out from behind me, but my ears had turned off, trying to spare themselves from the sounds of the ensuing battle.
We fought relentlessly, taking turns at blocking the strikes from Kampê and lunging forward and taking the offensive – until a mistake was made. Jason was a little to slow on his lunge, and the transferring of his weight forward left me to defend. I backpedalled, and barely deflected the strike with the edge of my shield, the force denting the engravings that Tyson had so meticulously made. Deflecting the strike, instead of locking down the blade left Jason open, and it looked like he was about to be cleaved in half, yet the Son of Jupiter rolled slightly to his left dodging the scimitar.
Instantly, Jason sprung up, adrenaline coursing through his body and he attacked with a newfound ferocity. Jason kept his centre of gravity low and lunged forward with one leg, planting his other in mud. This angle allowed him to swing brutally into Kampê's lower half, driving his gladius deep into the belt of heads. Jason's aggressive manoeuvre elicited an ear-piercing shriek from Kampê, and almost in a panic, the monster lashed out – not with her scimitar but somehow with her whip. The crack of the whip exploded on Jason's armour, which shredded and collapsed like paper. The armour didn't look destroyed, but I could clearly see the effect of the whip taking its toll on Jason.
While he didn't writhe in pain, I could tell that he wouldn't last long. I let out a roar and charged at Kampê, a mistake. The former jailer of Tartarus' whip abilities were even more polished than her ability to wield scimitars and I knew it would only be a matter of time before I was overcome. Kampê jumped backwards, trying to make space to hit a final blow with the whip, but I couldn't let that happen, leaping forward and jabbing upwards into a bear head.
I watched the bear's head wither and disintegrate and I had a spark of realisation. The heads were what connected her two halves. If all of her heads were destroyed, she would literally fall apart and turn to dust.
I continued to whirl around, desperately trying to get a jab onto the head, but Kampê was no slouch at basically kiting me around, wearing me down. I kept trying to keep the fight in close range, while Kampê wanted a further ranged duel where she would completely outclass me. I had a feeling she was toying with me, it would've been easy to whip out her scimitars and finish this right now, but something was holding her back.
I dashed forward, cutting a swathe upwards and knocking her whip further away. With my left leg, I kicked firmly off of the ground and straight into Kampê's torso and from this range, it was impossible to not land a damaging blow. I drove Riptide forward, thrusting through her crocodile head, and piercing her reptilian skin. Kampê let out a deafening scream, and in sheer desperation flung her whip at me. I dodged her initial swipe, and stabilised myself, only to feel an agonising pain burn through my right leg. I was immediately sent flying throughout the ground, and almost poetically landed next to the squirming Jason. I chided myself for letting my guard down. I shouldn't've underestimated the devastation of her whip, it was all well and good dodging the initial swipe, but I wasn't fully rooted to make a solid stance against her followup.
"Well Jason buddy, it's been an honour," I spat out, my mouth full of dirt.
"Yeah, you too Perce. It's been great knowing you," he replied, his tone laced with the residual burning pain.
I closed my eyes, waiting for the agonising pain of Kampê's whip or scimitar to ring across our flesh. One… Two… Three… I counted in my head, waiting for the ultimate release.
"I'm sorry Annabeth…" I breathed out, just before my final moments ended. The release was near, the anxiety was peaking. Where was it?
I dared to open my eyes, and saw Kampê staring off in another direction, and the battlefield had gone strangely quiet. The moon shone onto the bank of the lake, almost like a spotlight, illuminating the lead role. The lead role soon emerged, as a colossal figure emerged from the dense foliage.
The twenty-foot tall behemoth ambled slowly forward, the figure had wild Einstein silver hair, that stuck up in every direction, like Harry's untameable hair turned up to 11. Its beard was scraggly and messy and seemed to mimic his hair, being long and untamed. What really struck me was his eyes though, a pure silver colour. Power radiated from his iris' and his thin frame made him look even taller. He had an aura of pure primordial power, one that could only belong to a god or a titan. Was it?
It was.
What confirmed my suspicions, was his uniform. He was wearing a janitor's uniform.
"Bob…" I breathed out in utter disbelief.
Bob was really here, wielding his fearsome janitor's broom and his spear.
I was snapped out of my stupor as Kampê let out an almighty roar and jumped towards the lake, towards the incoming Titan. As she was flying, she began to regain her ferocity, her body increased and her proportions no longer looked squished and odd, and returned to their terrifying original appearance, along with gaining back her size to match Bob's.
The titan bounded towards Kampê but didn't initiate a strike, waiting for the first move by Kampê. Instead of fighting, Kampê rumbled along in an ancient language that was foreign to me, but Bob spoke back in the same rumbling language. The message was loud and clear. You've sealed your fate. It seemed like all the battle around us had completely stopped, everyone mesmerised by the sudden appearance of a titan to fight off this behemoth monster.
Nico:
Werewolves. I hadn't seen Lycaon and his pack since we were transporting the Athena Parthenos back in Evora. He and his pack were about to pay for their insolence. I removed my helmet, stroking the black plume feather slowly. I slowly extended my hand back over, capping the helmet over my head, my head clear.
I turned slightly to my left, Reyna was glaring at Lycaon with furious anger, her brown hair cascaded carelessly down her right shoulder, unkept and untamed. Reyna had sheathed her sword and drew out her Silver Pocket Knife.
The knife gleamed a pale white, reflecting the moon's rays and casting an eerie light around the base. Silver was the only thing that could kill a werewolf apparently, I was willing to test that claim.
I looked to my right,
Damn, Piper and a couple of legionnaires aren't going to be able to do much. They don't have weapons made of silver.
"Piper, you can't hurt a single one of the werewolves, nor can anyone from Camp Jupiter," I exhaled.
"I know they can't, but I might just surprise you," Piper cryptically replied, a smile dancing on her face.
"Whatever, I'll tell them to get out after we start," I shrugged. "Reyna, you ready?" I asked.
The daughter of Bellona didn't respond, only barely inclining her head in agreement and gripping her blade with growing ferocity.
With no warning, Reyna bounded forward, her dogs: Aurum and Argentum materialising around her at will. Piper and the legionnaires let out a guttural yell, but just before they charged…
"GET OUT YOU IDIOTS! YOUR WEAPONS CAN'T HARM THEM!" I shouted, determined to minimise casualties. I didn't stay around to survey the results but instead charged to back up Reyna. Piper ran alongside me, brandishing the futile Katoptris.
I shadow-travelled ahead, directly into the middle of the pack. Yeah, it was a stupid idea.
I materialised from the shadows, and stabbed forward instantly, striking from the shoulder of the wolf to the base of their shoulder. The brutal swing turned the wolf to an instant golden powder. The wolves were most comfortable on all fours, and I knew I could exploit that. The wolves kept coming at me, but I cut them down just as quickly. Groups of three to four would rush me at once and I fell into a sort of rhythm.
Stab the first one instantly, causing a painful entry wound and let the blade exit, ripping up their innards and turning them to life force essence of the blade. I never understood how that worked. I would dive backwards, creating enough space between the animals and myself to maybe solidify the darkness in front of me and to send sharpened edges of the black ricocheting towards them. The third would always foolishly rush forward and would meet the edge of my blade. I always knew that Stygian Iron would kill them, I just needed something to test it on, and this was perfect. The fourth, if it wasn't intimidated enough already would rush and possibly get a swipe. But a swipe was all it would get, as a merciless stab forward and a brutal swing upward would end the creature.
I was granted a small reprieve and turned around to see a horde of wolves surrounding Piper. Piper seemed so oblivious, staring at Katoptris and dodging the strikes of the wolves with a mystical nature. A serene look of concentration was on her face, her brow furrowed and her armour bobbing up and down as she dodged. She never made eye contact with me, but never made contact with anything, dancing backwards leading a troupe of wolves away from the main fight. I ran slightly forward, towards the Daughter of Aphrodite, when a sharp pain erupted in my lower back.
My legs nearly buckled as I whipped around, flinging the Stygian Iron through its figure. The wolf was reduced to mere essence, and I strode forward, picking up my blade. I flicked around, and another spike shot up in the same location, but I knew it wasn't a wolf.
Ignoring the stabbing pain, I shadow-travelled behind Piper.
Immediately after reappearing, I kicked a hunched over wolf backwards, sending it sprawling. Instantly, the target went from Piper to me. Ten werewolves all charged me, completely ignoring Piper, who looked slightly miffed that her plan had been cut short. Well, she wouldn't be able to do anything against these, so she turned tail and ran, presumably towards Reyna. I trusted Reyna enough to not constantly need to check up on her, I think she'd appreciate that.
Well, duelling ten basically wolves was no easy task
I rolled backwards and conjured a wall of inky darkness forward. Using this shield as cover, I effectively split the wolves into two distinct groups. Taking on less than ten at once would be preferable.
I dashed to the right, having a feeling that fewer wolves would be on the right. I met the first with the hilt of my blade, smacking it right between his eyes. Slashing down, while weird, proved to come naturally, fighting a shorter opponent generated me more power with each swing. After swiftly cutting down the first, I continued forward, only to be met with eight of the remaining wolves.
I instantly slid off to the left, moulding the darkness around me into a barrier, so I could freely pursue the remaining one. I rotated around the shield and saw the lone lycanthrope hunched down with its back to me. I dashed forward and sunk the black essence into the wolf's back.
Two down, eight to go.
This is where it got tricky, I had no information on them, other than the fact that there was a group of eight lurking around here.
I dispelled the shield, eliminating the opaque darkness and clearly seeing all eight. A spark of realisation dawned on them and they all simultaneously rushed me.
Why couldn't they come in one on one?
I rushed forward to meet them.
I neatly dove forward, rolling onto my front and connecting my gloved fist with one's mouth. The slight disorientation caused a break in their ranks. This, in turn, allowed me to move forward and finish the stunned one off with a clean stroke across the neck.
While in this motion, I was struck slightly on the right shoulder.
I roared instantly and sent mud flying in my haste to turn. I struck downwards with brutal force, sucking in the remains of the wolf.
The wind was knocked out of me, as two wolves pounced me, turning the front of my armour to paper. The absolute shredding power contained in the wolves' claws was a sight to behold. I landed on my back, sliding back through the mud.
I bounded up instantly, and my hand streaked in a horizontal line, creating a solid block of pure energy. I sent the object flying, and it instantly collided with the two wolves at the front, while the remaining five all had the general common sense to stay out of the way. The scattered forces now allowed an opening, I didn't know if the energy would harm me, but I somersaulted over it just in case, landed in front of one of the wolves and slashed downwards.
Somehow, the canine dropped his head further back, avoiding the slash. This momentary stall forced my hand. I brought my gauntleted fist upwards, smashing the wolf upwards. This linear movement allowed me to line up a strike. Decisive it was, as the life force of that wolf was also drained. But the punch had taken its toll. With the combined pain in my stomach, my lower back and my right shoulder, well, let's just say it hurt. My sword arm was fine though, so… that was a plus.
I dropped my sword for a moment and raked my hand across my forehead, and a thick layer of sweat was on my gauntlet. I exhaled slowly and picked my sword back up,
"Four more."
The remaining four wolves had a terrified look in their eye, but they continued to fight. I couldn't help but have an admiring feeling about these wolves, willing to serve Lycaon till the very end.
We constantly stared at each other, waiting for one of them to make an error.
And soon they did. The wolf on the far left dashed towards me and I took one singular swing and the energy coalesced into the blade. The Stygian iron was cold to the touch, and the odour of death was strong, emitting a smell that only a sated sword could radiate. Despite their comrades' mistake, the remaining three sprung on me, leaping an incredible distance directly onto me.
And I mean directly on me.
"Get off!" I shouted as one had my armoured right arm in his jaw.
The pulling force of the jaw was incredible and my already weak shoulder felt like it was about to pop out of its socket. I tried to bring my left hand around to slice its head off, but the second wolf had brought that arm down as well, forcing the blade out of my grip. The third wolf just sat there, mockingly almost like he was saying,
That's it? I expected more from you
I couldn't concentrate on anything except the terrifying force that was being exerted on my arms, and it was unbearable.
The agony almost felt electric in nature, moving its way up my arms and into my neck area, paralyzing it, as I was paralyzed with fear.
I closed my eyes and concentrated, the shadows would aid me. I leaned back as far as I could, without breaking any bones and slipping into the welcoming shadows.
I was trapped again.
I was surrounded by endless darkness.
"Back again?" A voice echoed from behind me, echoing around from what seemed like solid shadowy darkness.
The voice was oily, but it was dripping with a sense of pride and almost honesty? But there was only one person who could speak like that, and I recognised it.
"Hi Dad," I breathed out, exasperated and tired.
"Hi Nico," Hades replied.
"Why are you here?" I asked, curiously. A tense knot was building up in my chest, and I knew where this conversation was heading.
"I just needed to check up on you, and to make sure you're going to be going through with this plan of yours."
"Well, really it's your plan, you made it."
"Yes," Hades scoffed, "I suppose that's true."
"Has it ever been used before?"
"No, but I'm an expert on death, so they trusted me."
"Yeah, whatever," I shrugged.
"Oh, and a bit of advice Nico," Hades remarked. "The power contained in that blade of yours, absolute untapped potential. Not your skill or anything. But, the power of the souls trapped in the blade. Draw strength from them."
"That it?"
"Oh, I'll prepare your room for you. That too almost forgot."
With that abrupt ending, I faded out from the darkness, ending about twenty feet from the wolves that were previously mauling me.
Only know had I realised how blissful it was talking to my dad, no not the conversation, that was underwhelming, but the relief from the pain that greeted me when I was being mauled. It returned in full force, and both my left and right arms felt like putty. I stood up, my legs were fine but the pain that shot up through my shoulders and arms was horrible.
I faintly pushed out my left arm and called for my sword. The blade zipped through the night and gently was placed back into my hand. By some sheer luck of the fates, the blade zipping had nailed the wolf on the left's neck and cleaved it straight into two, leaving only two.
I had no energy left, but what had Hades said? Draw strength from them? It couldn't be worse than my current position.
I kept my eyes wide open, but I cast my mind back, reflecting on the strength of the opponents that I had cut down, their souls eternally trapped within my blade, but I felt a certain peace that pertained to each special memory. Their souls finally being put to rest. Well, not really, since they were still float-…
Yeah, it wasn't working.
But I turned to my reflex, and flailed my arms around in a funny manner, trying to summon skeletons to do my bidding. Soon enough after about, six seconds (yes I counted) two skeletons clawed their way up from the ground.
"Kill these wolves!" I shouted. But then it hit me. These skeletons didn't have silver, they had nothing that could harm them.
"Urggg..." I grunted out and charged after the skeletons. Needless to say, trying to swing a sword was pretty damn difficult, but with no pressure on me, and the skeletons basically trapping them, all I had to do was to connect two clean blows. And that I did.
For the first, I brought my sword up in a leftwards arc, slicing through the torso of the wolf, but having to reach around the skeleton was difficult. Next, I had to switch to my right hand, and stabbed downwards, slicing through the spine of the wolf, and the essence retreated into the Stygian Iron. I relaxed all my muscles, and felt like sitting down, but couldn't, there was still a battle.
I looked up, Reyna was duelling Lycaon, the first lycanthrope. Her dogs, Aurum and Argentum, while looking slightly beat up, looked better than me at least. Piper, apparently on orders from Reyna was staring at Katoptris and shouting incoherent things, I knew I wasn't going to be much use like this, but I had to try.
I dismissed the skeletons and ran to Reyna, she didn't appear to have some trouble, and I wanted to make sure. I ran next to her and gave the image of being okay.
"You good?" I asked, she didn't respond but nodded back, staring down Lycaon, breathing heavily.
Lycaon cackled, and simply stopped talking once he saw me and blurred out my sight, running circles.
"Right NICO!" Piper shouted.
"Right? What do you mean by – oof…" I said as I was punched in the shoulder. That pain was enough for me to collapse.
"Yeah, that right," Piper sarcastically repeated.
"Got it," I gasped out. Thank god he didn't rake his claws across me, I'd probably black out from that.
I clawed myself back up to an upright position and Reyna took this time to duel Lycaon. Lycaon was trying to get under her guard and strike her with the claws while she was dancing around, all it took was one good strike with her silver knife and it would be over. Lycaon was a bit too risky with his left armed strike and was intercepted by Argentum, the dog's silver teeth dug into the lycanthrope king and he roared in agony. In his disorientation, he didn't notice Reyna advance and stab him with her pocket knife.
He collapsed in agony, his furs now drenched with congealed blood, making the horrible smell magnify.
"You want to take the honours, Nico?" Reyna asked.
"With pleasure," I said, smiling.
I walked up slowly to Lycaon and raked my blade from the right to the left, effectively slicing him into two. He was immortal, but immortals could still be injured badly.
"LUPA!" I shouted to the skies, "Lycaon has been your enemy for aeons, here he is. Take him as a thank you for everything you have done for all the demigods over the years!"
"You got anything that could start a fire?" I asked.
"I have matches?" Piper interjected.
"Sure, pass them."
I struck the matchbox (which I had no idea why she was carrying around) and burned the corpse of the lycanthrope king. A fitting end to the struggle between the wolf god, and the lycanthrope king. Killed by demigods.
Just when I thought I'd have a moment of peace, the ground began shaking.
Piper and Reyna immediately turned to me, as if I was causing the earthquake.
"Not me," I said briefly.
I turned to Percy, but he was just lying on his back, a few feet away from Kampê, he didn't do it.
I turned to my right even more. I saw a blazing ball of fire. Was that Leo?
Whatever, it couldn't be him. I looked even further, peering out towards the barren area by the lake.
It was a figure I knew too well…
"Bob!" I breathed out.
Hello, yes, I haven't died. I know it's been three goddamned months since I updated this story. The truth is I've been strapped for time. And, I wrote about the whole chapter, but it didn't save and I rebooted my laptop. So boom! 5000 words gone. That caused me to suffer from some serious writer's block.
I think I did well on this chapter, but I'm not too sure. Well, next chapter should be out in a week, maybe sooner as I have a bit of time.
Thanks,
~RedGods