p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-size: 12.5pt; line-height: 107%; font-family: 'Arial Nova',sans-serif;"Even the gods were scared of Perseus Jackson. Since Annabeth had been killed in Tartarus, he dissolved into madness. He hunted the gods, starting with Akhlys, the goddess of misery, killing her./span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-size: 12.5pt; line-height: 107%; font-family: 'Arial Nova',sans-serif;"Gods couldn't be "killed", but their essence could be drawn so thin that they fade./span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-size: 12.5pt; line-height: 107%; font-family: 'Arial Nova',sans-serif;"Usually, people need to stop caring about, worshipping and remembering gods, to fade. The other option was worse. If a god's immortality was pushed far enough, it will stop working in they will be rendered thoughtless and brain-dead./span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-size: 12.5pt; line-height: 107%; font-family: 'Arial Nova',sans-serif;"That's what happened to Akhlys. Percy – now going by "Perseus" – choked her with tears, suffocated her with poison and boiled her blood. Then she snapped, her immortality broken, and fell into the pit of Chaos./span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-size: 12.5pt; line-height: 107%; font-family: 'Arial Nova',sans-serif;"Since this incident a decade ago, tsunamis, earthquakes and hurricanes had destroyed cites, erupted hundreds of volcanoes and killed millions of people./span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-size: 12.5pt; line-height: 107%; font-family: 'Arial Nova',sans-serif;"But it wasn't all Perseus./span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-size: 12.5pt; line-height: 107%; font-family: 'Arial Nova',sans-serif;"There was one person worse. Fully human but "blessed" by Hecate with magic./span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-size: 12.5pt; line-height: 107%; font-family: 'Arial Nova',sans-serif;"Willow Rosenberg./span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-size: 12.5pt; line-height: 107%; font-family: 'Arial Nova',sans-serif;"She had stopped trying to end the world but when Perseus started, so did she./span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-size: 12.5pt; line-height: 107%; font-family: 'Arial Nova',sans-serif;"Something had triggered her, and her hometown, Sunnydale, had been obliterated. There were no survivors… not even the Slayer./span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-size: 12.5pt; line-height: 107%; font-family: 'Arial Nova',sans-serif;"The gods had panicked and retreated to Olympus, Tartarus and Chaos./span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-size: 12.5pt; line-height: 107%; font-family: 'Arial Nova',sans-serif;"Camp Half-Blood had been burnt to the ground by Perseus, and while only trying to get Sunnydale, Willow had destroyed most of California, including Camp Jupiter./span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-size: 12.5pt; line-height: 107%; font-family: 'Arial Nova',sans-serif;"The gods still had enough to make sure the never met, but it was going to happen one way or another – they were only delaying the inevitable./span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-size: 12.5pt; line-height: 107%; font-family: 'Arial Nova',sans-serif;"Zeus paced the floor of the Olympus throne room. "We could kill him," he muttered./span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-size: 12.5pt; line-height: 107%; font-family: 'Arial Nova',sans-serif;"Athena snorted, "And how exactly do you plan on doing that? My daughter-"/span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-size: 12.5pt; line-height: 107%; font-family: 'Arial Nova',sans-serif;"Zeus glared daggers, "emYour /emdaughter started this problem!"/span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-size: 12.5pt; line-height: 107%; font-family: 'Arial Nova',sans-serif;"Athena flickered to Minerva and back. "By dying?"/span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-size: 12.5pt; line-height: 107%; font-family: 'Arial Nova',sans-serif;"Hecate smiled, "Well," she said, "emmy /emprotégé is much more successful – though not good. I mean, she is killing gods left and right!"/span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-size: 12.5pt; line-height: 107%; font-family: 'Arial Nova',sans-serif;"Zeus shook his head, "We could just ask Hades to bring Annabeth back…"/span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-size: 12.5pt; line-height: 107%; font-family: 'Arial Nova',sans-serif;""Hades's dead for not bringing Tara back. Remember?" Demeter reminded him, "And so is our daughter."/span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-size: 12.5pt; line-height: 107%; font-family: 'Arial Nova',sans-serif;"Demeter broke down, sobbing into her palms. Poseidon placed a hand on her shoulder. "I'm not proud of my descendency, either, but… Percy's got a point. We don't care enough."/span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-size: 12.5pt; line-height: 107%; font-family: 'Arial Nova',sans-serif;""It takes dying for you to realise that?" asked a voice./span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-size: 12.5pt; line-height: 107%; font-family: 'Arial Nova',sans-serif;"The gods turned to see Perseus gripping a blood-stained sword, Anaklasmos – Riptide – the most dangerous current. /span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-size: 12.5pt; line-height: 107%; font-family: 'Arial Nova',sans-serif;"A riptide looks harmless on a beach, but it pulls you away from the shore. You can't fight one, it will carry you away until you tire and drown./span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-size: 12.5pt; line-height: 107%; font-family: 'Arial Nova',sans-serif;"Perseus' smile Poseidon of Kymopoleia one of his other children. The goddess of violent sea storms, also dead./span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-size: 12.5pt; line-height: 107%; font-family: 'Arial Nova',sans-serif;"Poseidon shivered, "Percy, son…"/span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-size: 12.5pt; line-height: 107%; font-family: 'Arial Nova',sans-serif;"Perseus turned and looked surprised, mockingly, "Son? That would imply you were ever a father."/span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-size: 12.5pt; line-height: 107%; font-family: 'Arial Nova',sans-serif;"Poseidon took a deep breath, "Let's be rational. I'll be here. I answered prayers. All I want is for our family to be happy."/span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-size: 12.5pt; line-height: 107%; font-family: 'Arial Nova',sans-serif;""I guess we're both disappointed, then." /span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-size: 12.5pt; line-height: 107%; font-family: 'Arial Nova',sans-serif;"Perseus laughed and stepped forward to his father. He raised the sword and Poseidon tensed, but to the gods' surprise, he wasn't killed./span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-size: 12.5pt; line-height: 107%; font-family: 'Arial Nova',sans-serif;"Instead, Perseus wiped the blood on Poseidon's white chiton. The gods relaxed but then there was a slicing and the sea god's decapitated head rolled to a stop at Demeter's feet. She screamed./span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-size: 12.5pt; line-height: 107%; font-family: 'Arial Nova',sans-serif;"The gods ran, there was panic everywhere. They exited the palace, only to be greeted with a gruesome sight. Gods, nymphs, satyrs and monsters had been slaughtered. Bodies littered the streets./span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-size: 12.5pt; line-height: 107%; font-family: 'Arial Nova',sans-serif;"Artemis fell behind and when the others turned to see why, there she way, holding her hand over her mouth. A silent tear traced her cheek. Apollo and Leto lay, dead, on the ground./span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-size: 12.5pt; line-height: 107%; font-family: 'Arial Nova',sans-serif;"She was frozen, still, as Perseus rose behind her on a tidal wave. With every body the water washed past, the colour became a darker shade of red./span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-size: 12.5pt; line-height: 107%; font-family: 'Arial Nova',sans-serif;"Artemis turned, only to be swept up in the water. The water got darker, yet again. It evaporated, leaving a sour, gory stench in the air. Perseus began walking towards the gods./span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-size: 12.5pt; line-height: 107%; font-family: 'Arial Nova',sans-serif;"Hecate was running away when a sword point jutted out of her chest. The squishing noise as Perseus drew Riptide back, made Athena squirm./span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-size: 12.5pt; line-height: 107%; font-family: 'Arial Nova',sans-serif;"Blood was splattered across Perseus' face and his previously blue shirt and jeans were now a rich purple – the colour of royalty and the destroyed Roman legion. His arms were stained red. His toxic green eyes reflected light from the smashed streetlamps. His black hair had grown out and now partially covered his face./span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-size: 12.5pt; line-height: 107%; font-family: 'Arial Nova',sans-serif;"Zeus grabbed Athena and Demeter's arms and they disappeared into the elevator to the Empire State Building. There was only one elevator so it would buy them some time./span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-size: 12.5pt; line-height: 107%; font-family: 'Arial Nova',sans-serif;"The elevator music was a simple Ancient Greek rendition of "Sweet Home Alabama" by Apollo. Zeus' heart fell into his stomach. Then Aeolus' voice came over the speakers./span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-size: 12.5pt; line-height: 107%; font-family: 'Arial Nova',sans-serif;""Poseidon's storms will be raging across California. Wait, those aren't Poseidon's storms! Hold on-" then there was a scream and hurried footsteps. The recording went crackly./span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-size: 12.5pt; line-height: 107%; font-family: 'Arial Nova',sans-serif;"Then Sweet Home Alabama started again, halfway through. It appeared to be on loop./span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-size: 12.5pt; line-height: 107%; font-family: 'Arial Nova',sans-serif;"There was a ding and the doors opened. Athena pushed a body with a slit throat off a chair, which she shoved between the doors to prevent it from going up, leaving Perseus trapped./span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-size: 12.5pt; line-height: 107%; font-family: 'Arial Nova',sans-serif;"The three gods ran outside to cars smashed and on fire. The ashfelt rippled like water and a tornado appeared with a figure at the middle./span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-size: 12.5pt; line-height: 107%; font-family: 'Arial Nova',sans-serif;""Perseus?" Athena gasped disbelievingly./span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-size: 12.5pt; line-height: 107%; font-family: 'Arial Nova',sans-serif;"There was an echoey female laugh and Willow's face came into view. Her magically black hair whipped around her face. Black, bulging veins showed through her pale skin. She had purely black eyes with heavy black eye makeup. Her tight, black, leather suit was shimmering and almost glowing in the moonlight. On her fingers were various silver rings. One of them had a skull design… Nico's./span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-size: 12.5pt; line-height: 107%; font-family: 'Arial Nova',sans-serif;"She looked as if Nico di Angelo and Artemis had an evil god baby that grew up isolated but still mid-city./span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-size: 12.5pt; line-height: 107%; font-family: 'Arial Nova',sans-serif;"Lightning cracked around her, splitting the sky and illuminating the wreckage./span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-size: 12.5pt; line-height: 107%; font-family: 'Arial Nova',sans-serif;"A fireball shot from Willow's outstretched hand, narrowly missing Zeus but instead hitting a tree. A nymph appeared and she screamed as flames devoured her. Charcoal and ash were all that remained./span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-size: 12.5pt; line-height: 107%; font-family: 'Arial Nova',sans-serif;"Willow lowered herself to the ground and placed her hands on Athena's face, "Goddess of wisdom? And you didn't think that I'd get Perseus back?" Willow laughed and jerkily twisted Athena's head, snapping her neck./span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-size: 12.5pt; line-height: 107%; font-family: 'Arial Nova',sans-serif;""You know," Willow said, "my biology teacher said that owls could turn their heads around 270supo/sup, evidently the same cannot be said for their goddess."/span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-size: 12.5pt; line-height: 107%; font-family: 'Arial Nova',sans-serif;"She shrugged and turned to Zeus. "Someone like you killed my girlfriend…" then to Demeter, "I'll count to ten and when I open my eyes, then you better pray that you hid well. Otherwise…"/span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-size: 12.5pt; line-height: 107%; font-family: 'Arial Nova',sans-serif;"She ran a finger across her throat./span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-size: 12.5pt; line-height: 107%; font-family: 'Arial Nova',sans-serif;""Wait, I forgot," she laughed, "there's no one for you to pray to," she covered her eyes./span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-size: 12.5pt; line-height: 107%; font-family: 'Arial Nova',sans-serif;"Zeus raised his lightning bolt but even with her eyes shut, Willow grabbed it. She opened her eyes and snapped it, drawing the energy to fuel her own power. "That was naughty."/span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-size: 12.5pt; line-height: 107%; font-family: 'Arial Nova',sans-serif;"She laughed and rose into a hurricane. Then there were two hurricanes. One with Willow and one with Perseus. Zeus and Demeter were swept up and soon killed./span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-size: 12.5pt; line-height: 107%; font-family: 'Arial Nova',sans-serif;"Demeter fell to the ground, her neck skewered, Riptide poking through. Blood spilled from her mouth and out of the wound, running in dark streams down her neck. Her shirt was soon soaked and torn… and she was dead./span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-size: 12.5pt; line-height: 107%; font-family: 'Arial Nova',sans-serif;"Zeus was torn apart by Willow, pieces flying in the storm./span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-size: 12.5pt; line-height: 107%; font-family: 'Arial Nova',sans-serif;""Time to end the world?" asked Perseus./span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-size: 12.5pt; line-height: 107%; font-family: 'Arial Nova',sans-serif;""Nah. Time to make it our own," Willow replied./span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-size: 12.5pt; line-height: 107%; font-family: 'Arial Nova',sans-serif;"Purple lightning struck between the two and the earth exploded. Shockwaves knocked the planets out of orbit and piece of earth floated around./span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-size: 12.5pt; line-height: 107%; font-family: 'Arial Nova',sans-serif;"Willow made sure that they could breathe in space./span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-size: 12.5pt; line-height: 107%; font-family: 'Arial Nova',sans-serif;""Let's try again on another planet."/span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-size: 12.5pt; line-height: 107%; font-family: 'Arial Nova',sans-serif;"Perseus shrugged, "We can be the gods, this time."/span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-size: 12.5pt; line-height: 107%; font-family: 'Arial Nova',sans-serif;"Willow laughed, "Make the rules."/span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-size: 12.5pt; line-height: 107%; font-family: 'Arial Nova',sans-serif;""Be worshipped…"/span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-size: 12.5pt; line-height: 107%; font-family: 'Arial Nova',sans-serif;"They floated away./span/p