Chapter 32: Percy
"Bob…" I mumbled out, my head feeling weak but my heart burning with intense happiness. "You survived," I choked out, tears glistening on my eyes from the happiness of seeing an old friend. I fully expected him to not hear me, but he turned ever so slightly towards me and I swore he gave me a slight wink, before turning his attention back to Kampê.
They continued to speak in their rumbling language, but their message, just like earlier was clear as day.
"You're goin' down."
The cacophony of battle had faded away as the two behemoth figures began to move, everyone terrified yet in awe of the ensuing battle. Jason and I ran forward, as close as we dared, edging past Hazel and Frank (who had stabilised to a point where he was able to walk) and straight next to Annabeth.
I crushed her in a hug, thankful for her safety.
"I'm glad you're okay."
"Me too."
"Who's that?" I asked, indicating the fireball sitting on the ground, with an impish grin. "That can't be. Leo?" I questioned.
"Yeah what Perce?" The fireball responded back, Leo's voice laced with mischievous delight.
"Why are you a fireball?"
"I don't have to be," he responded, as the flames died down and Leo stood there, in his shirt instead of armour."
"What happened?"
"It's a long story, let's just watch," he said, indicating the face-off between Kampê and Bob.
"Sure, we've got the whole gang here," I said, just as Frank and Hazel sat down, beside Jason and Piper, who were next to Nico and Reyna.
Just before I could say anything else, the fight broke out, Kampê threw her whip forward, with blinding speed aimed directly at Bob's head. With equally unearthly speed, Bob dodged to the left, dipping under the whip and drawing his broom. He jabbed forward, at the torso, and Kampê fell back, winded.
After regaining her composure, she once again took to the skies, flying slightly higher than Bob but abandoned her whip. Instead, she drew her scimitars once again.
Dripping with acidic venom, she flew forward, her wings flapping maniacally and creating a sound similar to that of a chainsaw trying to go straight through concrete. She sliced in a downwards arc, the flat side of the blade aiming right for Bob's head. Bob, however, brought his broom up instantly, blocking the strike. He twisted his broom around like a helicopter rotor and smashed her backwards with the cap of his broom. Kampê stumbled backwards but continued her assault. Bob seemed to grow tired of this petty fight and drew his spear.
It was his namesake, and he was very very good at using it. His spear erupted in a silvery fire, that of which meshed perfectly with his general colour scheme and the overall colour of his hair. This time, Bob didn't even bother blocking the strike, instead he jabbed his spear upwards instantly as she connected with both of her scimitars. The blades sliced into Bob's torso, but he almost seemed unaffected by the pain. Kampê, however, had a completely different reaction to being speared through. Bob had managed to hit one of the remaining five heads on her 'belt' and it disintegrated instantly, leaving her halves dangerously unattatched. She screamed loudly, and dug her scimitars further into Bob, who continued to drive his spear through her. As Kampê was being skewered, she closed the distance, but Bob was ahead of her, after his spear and run her through, he drew it back and sliced through another head, but she got closer still. Yelling in pain.
I noticed it a second too late, and so did Bob. As he destroyed the third head, they were next to each other. The scimitars seemed to be ineffective, but Kampê drew her tail back and struck Bob in the stomach. The scorpion tail was loaded with venom, dripping acidic green. Instantly, once the stinger was buried through Bob's uniform, an unbelievable amount of venom was pumped into his blood.
Surely that amount of toxin would kill a demigod, maybe it could kill a titan.
"NO!" I screamed at the top of my lungs, as golden ichor began to pour from Bob's wounds, mixing with the excess venom leaking from the wound in his stomach as he fell backwards away from Kampê. The gatekeeper of Tartarus' face was contorted in agony, but Bob looked to be incapacitated. The ichor didn't look rich and thick but rather runny, almost as if someone had mixed it with water.
Kampê backed away, surveying the damage, as the blood of the gods leaked from his stomach and his shoulders. She moved her draconic claws downwards, touching her belt of monsters, caressing the remaining two heads, a bear and a wolf. The two heads rotated to the front of the belt and looked down at Bob.
Kampê turned around, and roared triumphantly turning her back to the broken figure of Bob.
I stood up and walked forward to face her. I indicated my friends to join me and we lined up, staring down the former jailer of Tartarus.
I had lost him once, I wasn't going to lose him again.
Silently, without any communication we walked forward, and Kampê floated forward, before landing on the ground.
I drew Riptide once again and heard the rapid unsheathing of weapons. I debated about whether I should call Mrs O'Leary, who randomly seemed to disappear, but I wouldn't come to terms with anything if they hurt my dog.
"Jason," I said, my voice hard. "Remember what we did earlier? Yeah, make an air container then we bombard her with everything we've got.
"Sure Percy," Jason said, his voice one edge.
"No," Annabeth said, her eyes glowing with merciless rage. "We hurt her first, if we make an air container instantly then we have no chance of containing her. Percy and Jason, you first have to immobilise her, and we all have to play to each other's strengths. Nico, manipulate the shadows around her, force her into a less comfortable position, after wearing her down, then," she paused "MOVE!" she screamed, as she rolled to her right, straight into Piper and shoved her down to the side. I did much the same, except for shoving Leo out of the way.
By some miracle, none of us were skewered on the spot by her tail and we were able to retaliate.
"Frank," Hazel shouted, "Take this," indicating a precious gemstone centred in her palm. I had no idea what that meant, but it must've been important since Frank took it instantly and drew his bow. Frank rained arrows down of Kampê, but they were much slower due to his injury to her. It was a miracle that he was back in commission so quickly.
"But Frank, don't take it too hard yeah?" I said.
"Yeah Percy, I'll be good."
We were much closer to the lake, and it would be much easier to use my abilities. I felt the tug of the ocean in my gut as a wave of water rose from the lake, I fashioned a drill-like object out of it and threw it, full-force at Kampê. The monster, currently duelling Jason in a sky battle couldn't stop it and it slammed into her, coating her a clear sheen of water. She was knocked sideways and momentarily immobilised. Jason sent a spear of lightning flying into her torso and she was instantly shocked. Before she was able to recover, Leo sent some form of contraption up there, how and when he made it was a mystery but once it came in contact with her skin she went up like a blazing bonfire. The crimson flames licked her wings and forced her much further downwards. No doubt she was in unspeakable agony, but this was our chance.
"GUYS!" Annabeth shouted, "It's now or never!"
Instantly, I turned to Jason, who was floating slightly forward. He slapped his hands down to his sides then tensed them and struck them outwards at right angles to his shoulders. He merged his hands down in a cross and arced them out in an 'X' shape. This highly-compressed air expanded into a ball, and lengthened these balls into long bungee cord-like objects. He spent several seconds tinkering before he seemed happy. He thrust out the strange object, which looked to be vaguely familiar to the one he used to hold Gaia.
It zapped forward, completely encapsulate the flailing Kampê and began to shrink, constricting her wings. The flames looked to be dying down, but appeared to be absorbed in her eyes, as she struggled for her freedom. Jason landed on the ground, and locked eye contact with Piper and Annabeth, who nodded.
"What are yo—" I began, before he lifted the two of them upwards. He looked to be struggling under the combined weight of two people. Not to say tha—ah forget it.
After reaching some position that looked dangerously close to Kampê.
"Ready?" Frank called, an odd looking arrow firmly nocked in his bow. He turned to Hazel and whispered something, and she called up some golden spike or something.
"Leo?" I asked, turning promptly to him.
"Thought you'd never ask," he said, grinning maniacally as he burst into glowing light.
"Reyna!" I called, locking eyes with the praetor.
"I'm ready Percy," she said, her eyes stern and angry gazing up at Kampê.
"Nico?"
"Yup."
"3, 2… 1!" I yelled, summoning forth the cumulative water in the lake. It formed into a topwards spiral, and I made a smashing gesture with my fist. Jason did something, and Annabeth and Piper both made a throwing gesture. I saw a glint of bronze through the air but dismissed it. Leo sent forth a barrage of flaming cylinders, while Nico simply ordered the shadows to compress even further around Kampê, snuffing out her oxygen. Frank and Hazel shot their arrow with a gold spear on top to the top of the inky figure.
Jason descended and dropped the two girls off, before channeling a lightning strike. The mauve coloured bolt hit the tops of his hands, before channeling forward like an electrical conductor, and sending a monumental amount of energy forward, burning Kampê to cinders.
Everyone hit the ground, drained of energy. That was, before the scream returned.
"KRAAAAAA!" it called, the scream intensifying as the air container surrounding Kampê was shattered and the beast emerged, tired but looking more terrifying than ever. I saw only one head remaining, and celestial bronze sticking out from her gut.
"Annabeth, please don't tell me you chucked your knife up there," I stressed.
"Calm yourself Percy," she snapped, "It did the job right?"
"Not good enough," I groaned, as one head was still swivelling.
Another roar was elicited from Kampê's mouth and this caused my hair to stand on end. The sound probably shattered all the glass in Hogwarts, probably even broke the mist barrier that Hazel had fashioned.
"Oh we're screwed," Leo added, now no longer burning.
Kampê took even further to the air, and I saw a hurtling ball running into the ground, intent on destroying everything within two hundred feet – easy.
"KRAAAAAA—Urh ruhr," As the roar collapsed.
A spear was jutting out from the backside of Kampê, going right through the wolf's head, impaling Kampê and disconnecting her two halves. The wolf, the final connector, holding both her dragon and human halves. The surrounding light around Kampê began to glow a faint mauve, with the light creating a hoop-like shape around her belt.
The spear, still impaling her was yanked out, and a silvery fire burned the wolf away, completely making her halves fall apart. The light began to glow a darker purple, like an angry bruise on your leg that wouldn't go away. As Kampê began to plummet into the ground, the light began to bubble and morph changing almost instantly from angry purple to a golden pink colour.
The light began to fizz and turn just like one of those potions that Snape loved to have me make.
The mystery of the spear took a backseat, as my eyes buggered out of their sockets in fear.
"HIT THE DECK!" I screamed.
It was a testament to our trust that no one debated my instruction and hit the ground.
The light exploded in three different directions, lighting up the fading light like a firework show. The three-pronged explosion of colour radiated into the night sky. The prongs blended together, into a fading lightshow, a bumbling mess of colours in the night sky.
A shockwave exploded outward, and a surge of wind erupted from the epicentre. The leaves of trees, and even the water from the lake looked to be surging backwards, and flopping uselessly like all their energy was drained. My hair stood on end, and my armour reverberated against my bones, clanking against and sending shoots of discomfort up my spine. The wind displaced from the blast was shooting past my eyes and I shut them, almost to the point of pain (I was squeezing them so hard). I clasped my hand to my ears trying to stop them from rupturing.
Immediately after I cupped my hands, I heard an all too familiar sound, it was Kampê's roaring, but magnified to a level that would probably disintegrate me. I knew that if I unclasped my hands from around my ears, well, that would be the end of me; so I squeezed even harder, shutting out all the background noise I could.
After several seconds of intense anxiety, I felt the air cool against my skin, the thick bullets of sweat evaporating and cooling my skin from that intense heat.
I dared to open my eyes, and I saw carnage everywhere. Any trees around the area had been stripped of their vitality, twigs and branches being flung easily thirty to forty feet away from their original destination. Despite being about fifty feet away ourselves from where the blast started, surveying the carnage, we shouldn't be alive.
I heard Annabeth mumbling on the ground,
"The explosion definitely had a high explosive yield, no radiation, thirty meters away, minor injuries, fireball," yadda yadda.
What I knew, the thing that went boom should've sent us back to Hades and I really didn't want that.
I stood up, my legs shaking briefly, before steadying and drawing myself back up to full height. I glanced slightly to the right of where I was staring, and saw the silvery silhouette of Bob.
The titan was hunched over, clearly in pain.
Then it clicked. Bob had taken the hit for us, that's why we weren't a pulp on the floor right now.
"Bob?" I breathed out, surveying the silvery Titan.
"Hello Percy," he rumbled, his deep voice contorted in pain.
"You alright?" I asked, humbled and worried about the titan's actions
"Bob is fine," Bob breathed out, heaving heavily.
"Bob… did you take the blast for us?" Annabeth squeaked out.
"Bob did."
I wondered how much strain he was experiencing. He was very clearly stabbed in both shoulders, and pumped full of toxin in his stomach, and now he had taken the brunt of a blast. He clearly wasn't fit for more fighting. But by some miracle, Bob stood up.
It hadn't really seemed real that Bob was here, until he drew himself up to full height and surveyed the surroundings. And at that point, I was so terrified, I couldn't resist the urge.
I dashed forward and wrapped my arm around the friendly titan's hip. I had to strain to even be able to reach that, but I managed it and forced all the affection that I could into that embrace.
I felt the faint hand of Bob on my back as I exhaled deeply and relaxed.
Jason:
Bob, what a guy.
He had saved our lives. 'Nuff said.
Percy and Annabeth ran up to him and collapsed while hugging him, overcome with emotion. And I can't really blame them, can I? He saved them once in Tartarus, and he saved us once again here.
Annabeth gasped rapidly in disbelief, before gesturing towards the wounds on Bob's shoulders.
"How are you doing that?" Piper said, exhibiting disbelief.
I couldn't contain the gasp that escaped from my mouth.
I watched Bob with intrigue, as the wounds on his shoulders and stomach began to knit together, the muscle and destroyed tissue stitching back together, the broken fragments littering the entry point slotting back into place and the destroyed sinew knitting back into place.
"He has amazing healing powers Piper!" Annabeth exclaimed, "He touched his wounds and they simply healed themselves!"
"That's pretty incredible Bob," Piper responded, smiling happily.
"Bob is incredible, yes!"
"Bob?" Frank asked, groaning, "Could you help me?"
Immediately I felt bad. Frank was fighting his own battle, barely coping with the pain, despite it fading he must be feeling terrible, and his effectiveness must've been compromised.
Bob immediately waltzed over, Percy and Annabeth standing beside him, beaming and touched a finger to the back of Frank's head.
"Ooh, Big Owie," Bob exclaimed.
I could see Frank's head visibly relax, as the pain faded into the back. The colour returned to his face, and his mood seemed to lighten.
"You know what?" Reyna said, her stormy eyes surveying Bob with slight confusion and worry, "We're all pretty beat up, could you heal all of us?"
"Yes, Bob could!" Bob chirped happily. Everyone immediately removed their armour, and mine clunked heavily against the moist dirt, probably soiling them to a great extent but I felt much better without the additional pounds weighing down on me.
The pain in my torso and stomach seemed to lessen with the reduced pressure on it, but nonetheless, not having to deal with it would be much better. One by one, Bob touched us where he detected pain, I had no idea how he knew where we were hurting and how he did it, but I wasn't complaining as the pain flowed out replaced with renewed vigour.
"Thanks, Bob," I sighed out, feeling much better and more relaxed than I had been all night. But there was one thought that was still nagging me.
What about Krios? I had definitely had dreams about him, and there was also that dream about monsters rising from Tartarus. Was that referring to its jailer? Or something more sinister. Percy had noted having a vision of Hyperion, and they hadn't turned up yet.
Nico was just finishing getting healed. He was visibly uncomfortable – he hated physical contact.
Once Bob touched Nico, he recoiled slightly and gazed at Nico with his eyes crinkling.
Bob muttered something to Nico under his breath.
Nico exhaled slightly and closed his eyes. He then leaned in and whispered back to Bob.
Everyone was looking on them with slight bewilderment.
"Nico? You 'right?" Leo asked, slightly worried.
"Yeah Leo, I'm feeling much better," Nico said, and just to emphasise the point, began running on the spot.
"Kay," Leo said, his worries dispelled, but I thought there was something more. Eris had clearly contacted Voldemort, and told him to kill us and then Harry would be ours.
"Oh god," I gasped, shocked.
"What?" Reyna asked, her eyes narrowing on me.
"Nico? Do you remember what you said to us when we met you and the rest of Camp Half-Blood?"
"Yeah…" he said uncertainly. "Voldemort would lead Harry aw—oh," he said with spontaneous realisation, "Harry's been lured away…"
"We've got to help him," Annabeth said, stepping forward.
"We can't go now," Percy said, with slight worry for Harry.
"Why?" Hazel asked.
"We've got to rest, then we'll go," Percy said, gesturing behind us to the last remains of battle winding down, with a bunch of demigods, versus like 100 monsters. He then gestured back to the makeshift infirmary. "Bob and the Apollo Cabin, no, everyone has got to help and get anyone back into tip-top shape. We owe our help to our own before we can help Harry, Ron and Hermione," Percy explained,
Annabeth looked at him in an admiring way, as if realising how much Percy had matured over the course of this quest.
"I agree with Percy," Piper and Reyna both said in unison. They then stared at each other, and laughed slightly.
"So do I," Annabeth said, before putting her hand on her boyfriend's shoulder.
Percy smiled gratefully, before continuing.
"Harry still needs the help, so we've gotta hurry up," Percy said, before clasping his hands together.
I glanced away towards the now concluded battle, and we dashed to the infirmary, with Bob leading the charge, his stride about a million times larger than ours.
We got to work, almost everyone was injured, and I wasn't very good at bandaging people up, my job was to basically help bandaging people and to run around and fetch tools for people. The Apollo Cabin was leading the charge, with them all carrying out serious medical procedures to extract shrapnel, blades and all sorts of nastiness.
Percy was carrying ambrosia and fresh cloths everywhere, and Annabeth was helping with the actual procedures. Piper was also comforting them with her charmspeak, and trying to suppress how bad it really was. Leo was cauterising the wounds and was rushing around like nobody's business. Hazel was helping with setting everything up, levitating the metal tools around to help people that needed it the most. Frank helping Hazel do her job and Reyna was attending to some people with the help of the Apollo Cabin. Nico was helping Will, and the two of them worked well together.
The two of them dating had definitely helped both of them to become more outspoken and come into their own.
"There you go Annabeth," I said, delivering some bandages to her as she was strapping someone from the Ares Cabin's wrist.
"Thanks Jason," she said absentmindedly, completely engrossed in her work.
"I backed up, to get another set of bandages, when my head went foggy.
It was completely unexpected, but it felt like my head was in a head-on collision with a freight train. I was instantly sent into a fit of nausea, and almost toppled instantly, I backed out and collapsed into the mud. By shirt was definitely soaked but that was pushed to the far corner of my mind as I slipped away.
"Hello Jason," A metallic voice echoed, and I instantly knew it was Krios. "Me and my brother are waiting for you and your friend."
"We're in the forest clearing. You know where. This time," the voice seemed to come closer and speak directly to me. "And I will smash your bones into a pulp."
I tried to come back with some witty and intimidating comeback to intimidate the titan, but my tongue was tied, I couldn't speak, whether it was from fear, or from the rules of this vision. My field of view zoomed out, and I saw Krios and Hyperion standing side by side.
Krios was twenty feet tall, just as tall, if not taller than Bob and was wearing his black armour with his ram's head helmet. He was leaning on his sword, a behemoth of a weapon that was about ten feet in length. A wave of darkness seemed to ooze from his armour, and enveloped him.
Hyperion was the same height, but his armour was golden in colour, and he was wreathed in light, almost like if Apollo's light had become much much harsher and unforgiving. He was also wielding a sword, but it was golden, was that imperial gold? Despite that, I felt that I was inherently drawn to this duel, and there was nothing that I could do that would let me avoid it.
"OI! JASON!" A voice shouted, and I jumped.
"Nico?" I asked, confused. "Did you -?"
"Yes," he said impatiently, biting his bottom lip.
"Percy!" Nico exclaimed as well, and Percy jumped up, startled.
"Nico?" he asked, confused. "Did you -?"
"YES!" he said, even more impatiently than before.
"Woah, calm down," Percy said, placing his hands in front of him.
"Okay," Nico said, deeply exhaling. "We're in the Forbidden Forest, and Krios and Hyperion said something about the clearing.
"Do they mean the clearing that we trained in, and where we met Nico and Camp?" Percy asked.
"Yeah, probably."
"Sure, let's go," Nico said, and began walking, but Percy and I just stood still. Nico turned around and looked at us puzzlingly. "Are you not coming?"
"It's not that Nico," I started, speaking feverishly with nervousness, "It's just that, we're definitely walking into a trap."
"I know that, but it's never stopped us before."
I looked at Percy, and tried to look confident and shrugged and turned to walk after Nico.
"Nico? Why aren't we getting help?" Percy nervously chirped.
"Because, it's just us three. No one else can get hurt. Besides, you two beat them before, we'll do that again."
"Yeah, but Nico, I only won because of Grover and the Nature Spirits," Percy said, exasperated.
"I only won because of how much help I got from the Legion," I said, reflecting back onto the day and flinching.
"No, you both won on your individual merits, compounded with the support you got from your friends, you two were basically both made unbeatable. But now, you don't have all your friends, but your individual powers have grown. Plus," he said, grinning slightly in the barely lit forest. "You've got me," and with that, Nico grabbed both of our arms and faded us through to the clearing.
We were thrown out of the shadows, and despite multiple shadow travelling I was still nauseous after the fact.
The first thing that hit me in the clearing, was the absence of the titans. The area was dimly lit with the amber flames of a multitude of torches.
The torches were arranged on top of brick structures, arranged in a circle, marked around by a thick layer of chalk. Nico's eyes and face grew dark, while me and Percy's eyes shot up in confusion. It sort of seemed like a darker, more sinister and primordial way edge to the ceremony meant to let Gaia rise.
"It's a trap?" I asked carefully, trying desperately to keep the edge of panic out of my voice, but could feel it creeping in.
"Yes," Nico said, his voice taking on a steely edge. He was dead serious, and there wasn't a hint of nervousness or anger present in his voice.
Without warning, Nico walked across the circle, and Percy and I blindly followed. I looked across to Percy, and saw a faint level of fear in his eyes, but a greater edge of confidence and power. His sea-green eyes seemed to pulse and bulge outwards, and Nico's dark brown eyes seemed to mirror his, emitting an aura of power.
I obviously couldn't see my eyes, but I felt a faint tingling behind my eyes, as if there were large lamps behind them, and someone had turned it up to a hundred.
We lingered in the chalk circle for about forty seconds, and nothing happened. Abruptly, the torches around the circle flared upwards, far, far higher than the canopy of the trees, like a crimson flare.
The sudden rise in the levels of the torches prompted me to draw my sword instantly, my action mimicked by Nico and Percy. I silently thanked myself that I was paranoid enough to keep my armour on. Percy and Nico, along with Reyna and Annabeth had shared our sentiments, but absolutely everyone else had let their guard down, except probably Clarisse.
I knew what was happening, and I instinctively closed my eyes, despite my eyes plunged into darkness, there was still an undeniable and unavoidable amount of light.
"Hyperion," I heard Percy sigh out in exasperation.
After about fifteen seconds, I felt like it was safe to open my eyes, and to my surprise, it was bearable.
I hadn't seen Hyperion before, but he had an uncanny resemblance to Bob, just change his colour scheme and then boom, you'd get Hyperion.
Hyperion was a tall and muscular guy, with skin glowing an antagonising faint gold, like a polished penny. His eyes were made of pure gold, similar to Hazel's. Except, unlike Hazel's which was comfortable and made her seem easy to approach, Hyperion's light was harsh and unpleasant. He wore golden armour, accompanied with his ten foot long golden sword. Was that Imperial Gold? Percy stared at Hyperion with furious anger, but with a strange caution, as if he knew something worse was coming. Well, something did come.
Hyperion's armour burst out in the same golden flames, licking around the metallic edges of the armour and wreathing himself in the fire, as Lord of Fire I suppose it makes sense.
After Hyperion's demonstration, Krios coughed quietly, and Hyperion stopped, and looked backwards annoyed towards his brother.
"Let me have the spotlight," Krios whined, "You're always getting more exposure."
"Yeah, that's because I'm more fun at parties Krios," Hyperion retaliated. "All you do is sit in the corner and –"
"Yeah, yeah, we've had this conversation already. Let me be intimidating already," Krios grumbled before stepping forward. During this well, corny conversation, I had already taken the time to look at Krios. I couldn't say that he changed much since the last time I saw him.
Krios still had his black armour, with the stars that decorated the night sky decorating his armour, with the constellation of the ram, which he was probably very proud of. His helmet, was continually decorated with stars across it, with a tiny slit down the middle, with the ram horns towering out from opposite sides before curling downward and pointing slightly upward back towards the top of the helmet. Krios was neglecting his sword, but I could still admire it. Despite it about to be cleaved or atleast attempted to be cleaved through my body, I couldn't help but be impressed by its craftsmenship. It wasn't dissimilar from Hyperion's, both about ten foot long blades, except Krios' was black, while Hyperion's was gold.
Krios was rambling on and on, before Nico stopped him.
"Why are you here?" He asked sternly, before glancing slightly at us to back him up.
"Why else Son of Hades?" Hyperion spat, before laughing heartily. "Our leader must rise," he cackled, before spreading his hands out.
"Didn't Tartarus destroy you for failing to kill two broken demigods in Tartarus?" Percy asked questioningly, with a mocking undertone.
Krios appeared to flinch, before clearing his throat and speaking. "Well, we're on a very special mission, and Tartarus ordered it," he mumbled out.
"Krios, let me do the talking," Hyperion grumbled.
"Well, to answer your question Perseus, Tartarus felt us to be the best for the job, and also there was incentive," Hyperion spat, before glaring intimidatingly at Percy.
"What is this job?" I asked, trying to wiggle something out of them.
"Well it's –"
"SHUT UP!" Hyperion roared at his brother. "It's none of your business, demigod," Hyperion spat.
"Tartarus is rising," Nico said, deadpanning.
"HOW DID YOU K—" Hyperion roared, before stopping himself. "That is ridiculousness demigod."
"You gave yourself away Hyperion. Like the clumsy old oaf you are. I guess your time as a tree affected your mind," Percy snickered.
"Tartarus is going to kill us isn't he?" Krios said, his voice gaining anger.
"Yup."
"No need," I muttered, as I felt confidence ooze back into my body.
"We'll kill you for him," Nico exclaimed, his devilish smile coming back.
"That certainly won't happen, will it brother?" Hyperion asked, the flames around his body increasing in intensity.
"Definitely not, Tartarus can kill us himself. Not to these idiots."
"That not what I meant Krios," Hyperion said, shaking his head. This momentary distraction is when we started. Nico leapt forward, closing the gap instantly, and sliced upwards in a brutal arc, impacting Hyperion's armour and slicing through it.
It was pretty clear, that it didn't hurt Hyperion, but it startled him enough, ripping through his golden armour, which I was pretty sure was Imperial Gold, would've been easy for a Stygian Iron blade, but actually hurting the Titan, that'd be much harder.
I dashed straight for Krios, and in his absence of mind, I stabbed straight into his foot, yeah I know, not the most vital organ, but hey, when you're in a battle against a far stronger opponent, you've got to take whatever advantage you can. Krios' foot protection didn't stop the golden blade and it etched deep into his foot.
Krios roared in pain and swatted at me, sending me flying backwards. By some miracle, I managed to land into a clump of shrubs, while it didn't save any pain, it certainly stopped what would've been a fatal hit and turned it into mild pain. Meanwhile, Nico and Percy were trying to get another shot onto Hyperion, but whenever they attacked, he'd just burn brighter and they'd have to back up even further.
"PERCY! YOU'VE GOT TO KILL HIS LIGHT!" I screamed.
I couldn't see Percy well, but I was faintly sure he nodded. Nico pulled the darkness around him, somehow and encased Percy in some form of pure shell. I had no idea what purpose that would serve, but whatever. I was more concentrated on the giant ram plowing towards me. I had barely an instant to recognise it, but I dived instantly to the right, rolling on the ground before pushing myself back up. I kept low, making it harder for Krios to hit me, and for me to search for a crack or any point I could exploit in his armour. Krios swung twice at me with his sword, and tried to cleave me in half, but I dodged each time, making sure to keep myself low and able to dodge to each side effectively. I was so much shorter that Krios, that he wouldn't be able to block my strikes, definitely it would be much harder.
Krios struck a third time, this time stabbing forward instead of hacking down in an arc. I took the opportunity to dodge the strike, and his overextended arm made it easy to get under his guard. I smacked his arm to his right, and jumped up. Using his knee for leverage, I boosted even higher and stabbed him directly below his hip. It seemed to feel like his armour was less suited for defensive natures as he clearly felt the pain of the stab, my sword buried hilt deep into his skin. I barely yanked my sword out and fell to the grund with a resounding thud before hit other hand tried to the punch me.
This tactic caused him to just aggravate the injury even more by touching it.
But that fall hurt. Falling seven feet, and not landing properly wasn't exactly painless. I staggered back up and risked a glance. Hyperion's light behind his eyes, and the flames around his armour seemed to have died down, and flickered faintly instead of intense flames. I turned around just in time, and ducked under Krios' blade, but this time, he made contact. He grazed the side of my cheek, and the gash was deep. It didn't feel like a normal wound, almost as if my energy was being sucked out through the blade and the wound.
I ran backwards, right to the edge of the circle, the torches and totems would provide cover. I hopped out of the circle, and Krios looked outraged, as if I was meant to stay in the circle. I dug into my pockets and wolfed down a small pack of ambrosia that was taken in emergencies. It tasted amazing, and wasn't like the roman bakeries anymore, but instead of the cake that Piper had cooked for me on after our return to Camp Half-Blood.
I relished the taste, before touching the wound briefly. It already felt like it was mending, but it wouldn't be better for at least an hour or two.
"GOT YOU!" Krios screamed, and he brought his sword down on the right of my torch. Krios didn't leave the circle.
Was he even able to? I had learned a long time ago, that these arenas and stuff had weird laws. I was pretty sure I had already violated one by stepping outside of the circle, but who cares. I survived.
"No you haven't!" I said, and dashed out from behind the torch and made a beeline straight to Percy and Nico.
"PERCY, NICO, MOVE!" I shouted, as I barrelled out towards them with a screaming titan after me. I was planning to get them into the same place, and then Nico and I could try and trap them, and then bombard them.
The first part went off with a hitch, the two of them leapt out of the way of a confused Hyperion and I barely hopped off to the side before I ran into Hyperion and the two titans collided into each other. Krios ran into Hyperion, but unluckily, he didn't drive his blade straight through Hyperion's armour. Instead, he knocked Hyperion to the ground before stopping.
"You're an ABSOLUTE IDIOT!" Hyperion yelled as he staggered back up.
"Yeah, Yeah my fault," Krios said, somewhat apologetically.
The fire in Hyperion's eyes turned up to eleven, and Percy retaliated almost instantly with a surge of water, which came from absolutely nowhere. Whenever Hyperion tried to power up, Percy instantly quelled the fire and light from his eyes.
I dashed right into battle with Hyperion, using my superior agility to dance around him and land quick, safe jabs at his body.
The subsequent hits caused him to do something that caught me off guard. Krios yelled loudly and I was propelled backwards fifty feet. Thankfully, I skidded to a stop on some mud, which for once I actually appreciated, right on the edge of my circle. I glanced to my right, and Percy and Nico were also sent flying by the same move, this time performed by Hyperion. They were around the complete other side of the circle. I wobbled myself back up to an upright position, but my legs felt like unset jelly. I almost collapsed, but held myself up. I knew I couldn't dodge anymore, and I had to stand my ground.
I sent a jolt of electrical energy through the air, I watched it dance towards Krios, granted, the voltage wasn't high for me to like, incapacitate him, but it was enough to cause him discomfort. I didn't feel as if a lightning bolt would do as much as sustained painful shocks, and it would leave me more drained.
I kept up the onslaught of shocks, and Krios roared, not in pain, but in constant discomfort, which constantly slowed his ascent. I simply saw him stop a few feet ahead of me, and his grip on his sword was incredibly lax. The look in his eyes made him look defeated and exhausted. I took this moment to call down a thunderbolt.
I looked up to stars, and raised my right hand, with my left still clasping my sword. A bolt of electricity shot down and impacted Krios instantly. The direct flow of electricity pierced through his armour, and worked its way into his body, more than likely frying everything contained within him to a cinder. This bolt, I made sure to be extra powerful, just to confirm the KO.
The action left me drained, and I could barely stand, and just to save a bit of energy, I collapsed back down, watching the writhing form of Krios spasm uncontrollably. I dug out my last packet of ambrosia, and attacked it, wolfing it down within seconds. I felt some feeling return to my legs, and I stood up again.
I continued to watch Krios, who stopped spasming, but continued to stand upright. His knees sagged down towards the ground, but managed to support his weight. A feeling of dread began to form a lump in my throat.
The titan's eyes opened from the slits in his helmet, and they glowed a murderous cold blue, like his eyes were turned up to eleven.
He gazed up to the stars, and dropped his sword. I would've capitalised on this opportunity, but I wouldn't close the gap.
Krios was the Titan of the Stars. And well, he started to draw energy from the stars. I sent a spinning bolt of electricity towards him to disrupt him, but it didn't work. He closed his eyes, and while he looked to be in discomfort, he strengthened to it. I gazed at Nico and Percy, who looked to be doing fine. Hyperion hadn't regained his fire, and Nico was landing solid blows on him, shadow-travelling around and digging his blade into the chinks of Hyperion's armour. I watched them faintly and smiled.
There was one day, when there was a monster I couldn't beat. That day was today. I gazed back towards Krios. I crouched down, determined to power my way out of the blast that was imminent.
The celestial energy glowed around Krios, blazingly around him in a blinding light.
The light around him pooled into his centre of mass.
He cupped his hands around the ball of light and he threw it. I tried to dodge to the side, but I knew I wouldn't make it. I closed my eyes and dived as far as I could to the left, dropping my sword to get maximum distance. I felt a pair of hands on my hip and I made it an impossible distance.
I landed so far away from the blast, I wondered how.
The light was blinding, and it took several seconds before I could see again. The blast had left a mini-crater, and everything was flattened, anything close to the centre would be blown away.
I glanced right on the circumference of the circle. Percy was on the other side, but right next to me. The person who saved my life. Nico Di Angelo, strewn on the edge of the circle. Broken.
Another chapter completed. Did you like it?
It was chock-a-block full of a bunch of action. Bob vs Kampe, Kampe vs the Seven, Krios and Hyperion vs Nico, Percy and Jason.
Well, we'll get to the ending of this chapter and yes. Nico saved him, but Jason couldn't save Nico. You'll see how this affects the next chapter. Some of you will be devastated, and I am one of those, but it had to be done. All will be revealed.
Thanks,
~RedGods