Here we go, everybody. The second part of the final battle of Book Four is HERE! Hope you all enjoy! There will be one chapter after this and that will mark the end of the Pit Of Fire. A bit short, yes, but I think it's been a pretty good ride.
Disclaimer: I do not own any of the characters (except the OC's) Percy Jackson & The Olympians, Heroes Of Olympus, or Trials Of Apollo. All of that belongs to Rick Riordan.
On with the thirteenth chapter.
13. We Shine Light Into Darkness
Harper
I never really paid much attention to Christmas.
Most wonderful time of the year, yet I don't really get involved with it. Sure, I understand what it's all about, to many people, it means different things. But one thing that most people can agree on, is the spirit of giving.
And miracles. That too. In my opinion, a lot of amazing things can happen at any time of the year, and a lot of bad things too.
I'm not much of a believer in miracles. Crazy things have happened, that's for sure, but they're rarely good.
However, when I saw everyone coming together, united against our enemy, I couldn't help myself. Maybe this was what a miracle looked like.
I ignored the knife in Tartarus's leg, too wary to walk up and grab it myself. I figured I'd find a way to get it later. For some reason, I felt safer joining everyone else in that moment than holding the knife.
I walked over to where Matt stood, on near bended knee. He was crouched in some kind of disbelieved state. As if he may be seeing things.
But he wasn't. I put a hand on his shoulder, and together we watched everyone come from the smoke.
They all walked out horizontally, side by side. Malachi, Sera, Talon, Percy, Annabeth, and that tall woman who I still don't know the name of.
At first, the walk looked badass and in uniform, but once they cleared the smoke, they sort of stumbled out and looked around curiously.
When they all saw us, a lot of eyebrows were raised. But then they're faces lit up.
I don't think any of them cared that Matt was in nothing but his boxers, or at least, Malachi, Percy and Talon didn't. The Demi-Primordial came up to embrace him, pull back quickly and scan him up and down.
"You're alright, then."
Matt laughed silently, "Yeah."
Sera looked a little red in the face at Matt's lack of armor, but she didn't comment on it. "W-We were very worried. We came as fast as we could."
Percy was just happy to see him, speechless.
Matt looked to Talon, "Partner."
Talon was holding back a smile, and tipped his hat, "Looks like Tartarus is a real pervert. Figured you'd be more bloody than naked."
Matt started to explain, but it was then that the tall woman practically pushed both Malachi and Talon aside to see Matt.
"Matt! Are you okay? One minute you were there, and then the next-" The woman was having trouble catching her words, "-Tartarus must've taken you here when were off our guard-" She finally noticed, and scrunched her face, "What happened to your clothes?"
Matt shook his head, "Long story, guys. We can catch up later, the fight's not over yet."
Talon nodded, but took time to conjure golden light in his palm. Out of it, came exact copies of Matt's armor, and normal clothes he would wear to put on underneath. They fell into Matt's hands, who nodded a thanks to Talon and quickly put them on.
This entire time, I had been looking back at Tartarus to see if the coast was entirely clear. It was for now, the Primordial was taking his time to get to his feet, apparently those stabs had done a little number on him. It must've looked weird, us reuniting like this mid-fight. Not exactly a lot of time to catch up.
While Matt struggled to jump into his pants, he scrambled to introduce the giant stranger. "Guys, this is Yuri. I can tell you more about her later, but just know that she's on our side, and she's a titan. She's going to help us."
At the information, all of us looked up at her. Even Malachi, who's quite tall in his own right. I put full attention to her then, away from Tartarus. The way she was looking at Matt, things and scenarios began to come to my mind. I could quickly get a read on what was going on here. They must've been helping each other out down here in some way.
She was quite pretty, in an amazon warrior type of way. And did he say Titan? I don't think I've met a female titan before.
The amazon finally noticed all of us, and locked eyes with everyone. "Oh, these are your friends? It is nice to meet you all, I am Yuri."
"Yuri?" Talon said, "You're a Russian Titan?"
Percy snorted, "That's what I thought at first."
Annabeth, who hadn't said anything so far jumped in, "She's not Russian. Her real name is Eurybia. She's Matt's friend."
Everything was happening so fast, I'm sure others wanted to make more comments, but time was kind of on a limit here. However, 'Yuri' found me with her gaze, and kept it there for several moments.
She was a titan alright. Her stare was very intimidating, and I could tell that she was reading my soul, my aura, my intentions. It clicked in my head that she was there when Matt buried the fake me. She might've been trying to figure out if I was another clone.
When she walked slowly up to me, I stood still.
She towered over my frame, and nodded down. "I see, it was one of Tartarus's tricks. You're the real one."
"Yeah." Was all I could say.
Yuri looked to Matt, then back at me and smiled. "Well, I am glad you're alive."
"Thanks."
Matt had finished putting his armor back on, and noticed something behind us. "Guys, later…"
We all looked where he was looking, in my case turning to my right. Tartarus was laughing as he stood up. I hadn't noticed, but he'd already yanked my knife out of his knee.
We watched as he had a full-on belly laugh session, doubling over and spinning around, throwing his head in the air, and howling with laughter.
It was an insane moment. For him, especially. The cracks were starting to show, what was once a one-sided situation became leveled. Tartarus could be on the ropes here.
His howls turned into quiet chuckles. He stared down at the knife in his hand, "How the tables have turned, eh?"
We said nothing.
"You think you've won? Will a few more ants help you against me?" He waved the knife in the air, "You think this thing matters? This toothpick?"
He threw it at us. It clanged on the ground and slid up to my feet, facing up.
I reached down slowly and picked it up, Tartarus pointed at the stab wound on his neck, which wasn't even visible. No ichor, just the same voided body.
"Natural resistance to Chaos." He explained, "I was born from it. I have it imbedded inside of me." His shoulders shrugged high, "Hurts a little, sure, but it's going to take far more than a few shanks to take me down."
"If anything, this makes it more interesting. This has turned into so much more than just a game with you, Matthias, this has turned into everyone's game. You're all involved now. I'm killing every one of you slowly, painfully, and I'm going to smile as I do so." He pointed at Yuri, then Malachi. "From the filthy titan to my wretched nephew. None of you leave here alive."
Yuri stepped forward and glared at him, "The only one that dies today is you, demon. Listen everyone, he's bluffing. Numbers are the key to his defeat. If we overwhelm him, we can exploit his weakness." She gestured over to the giant brain, suspended in the air behind us.
Tartarus looked to it, "That thing? Bluffing? I think you're delusional, Eurybia."
"No, she's right." Matt said, "That's his weakness. That's why he brought us here, so he could make it more interesting." He paused, and sized Tartarus up, "He knows we don't stand a chance out there, but here it's different. It's all a game to him."
"Precisely. Maybe it'll hurt me, maybe not. But you won't be able to get to it."
Malachi paced to the right, shrugging his shoulders, and moving his arms around, preparing for the fight. "I wouldn't underestimate us, uncle. After all, three of us had you on the defensive earlier, imagine what four more could do."
Tartarus looked like he wanted to give a retort, but he bit back whatever comment came up, and settled for "Let us find out, shall we? If you're so confident, then come."
No other words were said. All of us looked at each other, a seven-way exchange, then we all looked at Tartarus, who challengingly cocked his head.
All right let's do this.
So we must've decided to all go at him at once, because there was a collective boom behind us that signaled seven launches. Every one of them passed by me, we all became a straight arrow, with the sharp tip that was Malachi, a ball of lightning in his hand.
Tartarus straightened, and anticipated the strike perfectly. His moves told me for sure that he was giving more effort. He no longer had this sluggishness, or this casualness to his posture. Whether he'd admit it or not, he was serious.
Once Malachi entered his bubble, his arm passed in the air over Tartarus's shoulder. Tartarus leaned back and kicked up at him, sending him flipping over his head. Talon came next, and Tartarus made a single step forward and elbowed him in the face. One by one, as they crossed him, he knocked them out of the air.
When it got to me, I decided to flip the script. I trusted that by the time I came into the picture, somebody would already have recovered, and could help me out. There were too many of us now to be making little mistakes, or leaving wide open shots. We had to overwhelm him.
I kicked my legs forward and stopped myself on the ground, Tartarus flinched to punch me, but realized my momentum had slowed.
Then he went on the defensive. I stabbed at him with my sword, and he simply leaned back and placed his hand on it's side, pushing it away.
By that time, everyone had already gotten over their initial attacks. Malachi, now having the Curse, took no damage at all. Any time it took him to recover was the mere nuisance of distance.
This time he had his trademark lightning spear. He jumped high in the air and stabbed down at Tartarus with a reverse grip. Tartarus pushed hard against my sword and sidestepped his attack without even looking behind him. When Malachi landed, we both pressed him harder, with our respective weapons.
No sooner than our first step passed, a foreign lightning bolt came from right field, from Matt's weapon Viribus. Tartarus either wasn't able to, or just chose not to avoid it, it hit him on the side and pushed him to the opposite.
People kept appearing left and right, in all directions. It was relieving to know they were all on my side. The tall titan, Yuri, met Tartarus with a reared back fist, meaning to nail him right in the face.
But Tartarus just reached over his shoulder and grabbed her wrist, hoisting her over his back and throwing her several feet into Matt.
Walls of ice materialized around him, and Tartarus stopped moving altogether. I glanced in the direction of white hair and saw her hand out in the air, keeping him in place.
It was enough for both me and Talon to react and strike. Talon easily formed another golden sword in his hand, just like he did earlier. Both of us slammed them down on either side of his neck, aiming to cleave into his chest as hard as we could.
But just as they were about to make contact, small tendrils sprouted out of his skin and grabbed our blades. He pushed back and easily stopped our combined strength. At the same time, the ice around him burned and melted to the ground.
Instead of immediately sending us on our asses, his head snapped to his left, towards the direction of the brain. Then, he pulled us hard by the swords and let our chests hit his forearms. I don't know about Talon, but I felt the wind get knocked out of me.
He let go and we were left airborne. I managed to catch a glimpse of what he'd been looking at. In the air, going towards the brain, was Percy, and he was holding Annabeth by the waist.
"Not a chance." Tartarus growled, and thrust out his palm. The claws at the end of them lengthened a little, and then shot out completely from his fingers to hit Percy in the back. They stuck him like small knives, and Percy groaned in pain.
But not before he tossed Annabeth higher and gave her Riptide. She was well on her way to contacting the organ, they were high up in the air. Had maybe another second passed, she might've. But Tartarus made a movement with his head, and the invisible force of telekinesis did his bidding. Annabeth was stopped and shot out of the sky.
All of us tried to go at him again, but this time he trapped all of us with telekinesis. He forced us to our knees as we struggled and strained against the invisible might. He kept Percy and Annabeth free though.
Tartarus walked forward, to the middle of our little circle and twiddled his fingers around. The fog on the air gathered and swirled to make a soft landing for the two.
They fell off and rolled right in front of Tartarus, who greeted them.
"The Son of Poseidon and the daughter of Athena, we meet again. Third time, is it?"
Percy's aura flared around him in a bright green outline, he ignored the pain in his back, with a simple flex he actually forced all of the black knives out and made them rain to the floor.
Percy reached behind him and threw his hands at Tartarus. Instantly, air turned to water, a giant, ten-thousand-gallon wave of condensed energy that Tartarus just looked up at. He opened his mouth, and a jet of fire erupted to meet Percy's wave. The water morphed to steam and billowed past.
He punched Percy hard and quick in the face, blood flew out of our friend's mouth and he recoiled down to the ground.
"Don't touch him!" Annabeth shouted.
Tartarus turned his attention to her, and started to walk over with his hand behind him, like he was going to slap her. But little did he know that Riptide was hidden behind Annabeth's legs. Right as he flinched his arm, she wrapped her fingers around the hilt and slid Riptide towards Percy.
Percy easily picked it up and sliced up at him. It was a powerful, two-handed cleave, aided by the sea's aura.
It hit Tartarus in the waist and came up through his opposite shoulder, actually cutting clean through his body, and nearly in two. The telekinesis was broken then, and it was an all-out assault.
Or at least, we planned it to be. Matt was the quickest and the first to reach him, punching one half of his body off the other, no ichor, nothing. Just a sandy mannequin that tumbled thirty feet away.
For a moment, while Matt was still in his attack position, everything was quiet, and nothing happened. But the next, a new Tartarus rose up from a puddle of black water under Matt. He took shape of a tall, voided man and palmed Matt's head, pushing him down face first.
Yuri sped up behind him and wrapped her arms around his, bending her elbows and placing her hands behind his head.
"Go for the brain!" She shouted, and grunted from the struggle of keeping him still. Malachi aimed to help out by grabbing one of his arms for her, while I decided to go for the brain myself, along with whoever else wanted to.
But even with them holding him back, I still missed the window. No sooner than when my boots left the ground, I heard Tartarus snap his fingers. The sky of darkness shifted immediately to match what a stereotypical universe would look like, or a galaxy. Or hell, maybe even a solar system. I don't know. But what shone above me was completely different from what I saw before.
Instead of the blackest black you could imagine, we now had millions of stars above us, all scattered around like a night sky on a wide-open farm, with bigger and closer planets to match, all of them recognizable. One of them was red, the other was blue, and…I think that's Jupiter.
It didn't really matter what solar system they belonged to, because the one that looked like Earth had fallen out of it's orbit, and came hurdling at me.
It had no energy, so I couldn't tell if there was any real threat behind it, or just another illusion. But Matt must've seen something I didn't, or maybe I'd just been staring too long. He jumped next to me and pushed me out of the way to intercept it's path.
"Harper, heads up!"
The mock Earth met his hands. The shockwave that it produced, and the way the ground shifted at the force told me there was definitely a threat here. Matt, in his red aura held it up with both hands, one leg bended forward and the other straight. He grunted and buckled a bit, his muscles were strained and bulging out of his armor. The mock Earth itself was no bigger than a basketball, so definitely not as massive as the one I'm used to, but there seemed to be a considerable weight behind it for Matt to be struggling the way he is, albeit only in his Red Aura form.
"Impressive." Tartarus said, kicking Talon to the side when he tried to hit him, "That's about one hundred Earths you're holding right there."
Matt ignited the Master Bolt's power again and easily palmed the mock Earth with one hand. He spun around and spiked it like a pitcher.
It travelled fast, even to my eyesight. Tartarus reacted by pointing his finger straight ahead, letting the Earth hit it in it's center. It shattered on impact like glass, little pieces of blue and green fell all over the place.
A sphere of black energy surrounded by lightning replaced it quickly, the same one that he used earlier on us by the Styx lake. The energy collected far faster here though, within a second Tartarus was ready to fire it.
And he did. With Matt's guard down, he could only widen his eyes and watch as the supernova like attack spun towards him.
Then out of nowhere, Malachi jumped down from above and stood in the middle of Matt and the blast with his hands outstretched.
Matt yelled and tried to get Malachi out of the way, but the blast was too quick. It hit Malachi square in the palms.
Matt
What was he thinking?
I tried to get Malachi out of the way. I wasn't about to let him take that hit for me, especially one like that. I know he felt the energy behind it, that thing'll obliterate him!
"Mala-" I started, but I'd already wasted half a word talking. Malachi had already caught the blast dead in the palms, and he actually absorbed it.
I watched on in shock as Malachi's hands never changed color, not even the slightest single or black spot. Even though I could feel the heat from here. He held it until it fizzled out, it's embers actually throwing themselves inside the pores of Malachi's skin.
And then if things couldn't get any crazier, his aura actually increased a fraction. A sizable fraction at that. Malachi stood up and shivered at the power gain, closing his eyes, and breathing out of his mouth with satisfaction.
I couldn't believe it. It was like absorbing energy for the cannon, only he kept it, and never released it. From what I could tell at least, the gain was permanent. And you know what, it's not just that. He's gotten far stronger anyway since I've been gone. But…how? It couldn't have been that long, could it?
I looked sideways at him in disbelief. After a moment, he caught my stare.
"New trick, tell you later."
I nodded, and smirked. He had a lot of explaining to do. "Gotcha."
Tartarus laughed at us, and gestured for us to come at him with both sets of fingers. He straightened his right hand and out of it, spawned a longsword, as dark in color as him. It had a long blade and a long handle, meant to be wielded with both hands. But of course he proceeded to show off and spin it around with one.
"Come on, you two. Let's see how good you really are."
Malachi and I both charged at him, me with Viribus and him with a lightning spear. We both attacked him from the front, at each shoulder. I hadn't paid much attention before. I was glad that everybody was here, but I couldn't get caught up in the sentiment just yet, we had a fight to win.
So I hadn't noticed his increased speed and strength. All of his attributes had been boosted by a million, or maybe even more. In fact, he's probably stronger than me right now. Man, I'm falling behind. Both he and Harper have left me in the dust.
When Tartarus leaned back out of Malachi's stab, and gave one of his own with his longsword, Malachi didn't take the slightest bit of damage. The sword's tip hit his shoulder and clanged off as if it were made of metal. I batted a confused eye for a glance, but didn't question it further.
Tartarus, however, clicked his tongue and hissed, as if he forgot that he couldn't hurt my friend. Am I missing something?
"Pay attention." Tartarus called, and jabbed me in the forehead, leaving a throb behind. I skidded back a few feet and snapped out of it. Malachi and I both decided to go with a different approach, and used different strikes this time. Where as he went for a leg sweep, I went for an overhead smash.
And it worked. When Tartarus jumped over the sweep attempt, I bashed the top of his head with Viribus.
The adrenaline got the better of me, "You pay attention!" I landed, and looked at Malachi, my chest and limbs on fire. "Let's teach him, Malachi!"
"Right!"
We both went to work. We were as in sync as Harper and I were earlier. Tartarus wasn't expecting the combined skill to get the best of him. Malachi feinted a stab with his spear, and when Tartarus moved to block with his sword, Malachi turned around and delivered a kick to his chest, allowing me to sneak up behind him and smack him in the ribs with Viribus.
Tartarus grunted and flew to the side, his legs leaving the ground. A blue lightning bolt enveloped Malachi in my peripheral and took him away momentarily. But not a moment later, another bolt formed on Tartarus's wrist, Malachi came with it, and knocked the sword out of his hand.
It clanged around on the ground, thunder boomed all around us. With Tartarus disarmed, our ease to break his bubble became much more tolerable.
Malachi pressed down on Tartarus's body, forcing him to crash out of the air. I came up and punted Tartarus in the head, causing his body to spin around horizontally like a frisbee. He roared in frustration and got up, but by the time he did, we were already moving on with phase two.
He and I thrust our weapons out in front of us, dual lightning bolts danced off of them and made their way to Tartarus, hitting him instantly. Like two slugs in the shoulders, Tartarus shouted and stumbled back, with steam billowing from the marks we left.
I hadn't noticed, but it was only us attacking him at the moment. I took a nanosecond's time to roll my eyes around the area, and found that everyone had frozen to watch us.
"Now's the chance, take it!" I shouted, getting them all back in gear.
"You won't-" Tartarus started, but we shut him up really quick. Harper had snapped out of her trance, whatever it was, and came up behind Tartarus to stab him, right through the heart.
I knew there wasn't a heart there, but that's where it would be. In the center of his chest, a good two feet of metal stuck out, as clean as it was before it entered. No ichor. That was odd. It told me that we might just be wasting our breath here, fighting what could essentially be a puppet. Then why would he make those noises? To give us false hope? He didn't bleed when hit with the Heavenly Diamond, so what gives?
Tartarus froze up and narrowed his eyes in anger, he went to grab the end of the blade with his hand, but Harper was quick. She yanked it out and quickly stabbed him in another spot, just a few inches lower, above the waist.
I sheathed Viribus as fast as I could and touched my hand to the watch again. I was getting much more comfortable with the bolt, and summoning it came rather easily now. Before, it felt like my entire body was being lit on fire, every muscle ached, and I could barely breathe. Like when you reach the peak of a mountain, the air gets so thin you can hardly stand it.
But now, all of that had left. Now it was like holding a really warm spear, that occasionally flashed and strobed bright light.
I whistled at Malachi, and tossed it in the air to him. "Hit him with it! Combine all attacks!"
Malachi looked like he wanted to ask if I was crazy, and maybe I was. But when he caught it, I knew he felt the insane power too, and it seemed like he enjoyed it. Him being a Son of Ouranos, it probably felt very comfortable in his hands. I'm glad it didn't reject him, I figured you had to be a direct relative of Zeus's to hold it, but Ouranos is close enough, so it's an acceptable loophole, I guess.
I put my hands together and gathered energy rapidly, from all sorts of different places. Harper knew what was coming next, and got out of the way. She backed up and pressed off the ground, jumping high in the air. When she did, she brought the sword back behind her and sliced at the air. Another pink line came of it, only this one was much bigger, and even more powerful than the others. Seemed like she gave a bit more effort on that one.
When it got about halfway to Tartarus, Malachi and I fired. I let the cannon loose and he, based on instinct, threw the bolt.
The bolt was a bit faster than the cannon, but both reached Tartarus at roughly the same speed. Red burning cylinder and a glint of blue soared across the distance, along with Harper's attack, all three hit Tartarus, dead on the mark. Bullseye.
There was a shaking roar, and the noises of impact. The thunder of the bolt, which by itself was ear shattering and earth rumbling, but combined with the whirring sound of the Cannon, and whatever Harper's attack was, it sounded like the end of time was upon us, or the gates of hell had been opened. Nothing should sound like that, it wasn't exactly glorious or pleasing, but the sight of Tartarus's writhing silhouette was.
With the cannon still lighting him up, my palms still connected to it, I noticed that the rest of our party hadn't just stood there and watched, they acted. Talon had his revolver aimed up towards the brain, it glowed golden and white, signaling that he was using the power of Nikandreos.
And Percy was right next to him, having already sent an attack mirroring Harper's. A line of sea green energy heading straight for the brain.
Talon fired his shot, a bullet made of nothing but golden light, which at this distance looked like a small pebble, soared and pierced the atmosphere. They hit the brain and two colors collided to create something bright and unrecognizable.
Tartarus now screamed in pain, louder than he did before with all of our attacks on him. This was new, before he merely grunted or reacted to certain attacks, but now he was full on being tortured. It sounded almost like a pig being slaughtered or something. If it weren't him, I might've had to turn away. But it was him, so I reveled in it.
I only got to enjoy it for a few seconds, because almost immediately, the sounds, the strobing of colors and the screaming stopped. It was quite an aftermath, but when the dust and the debris cleared, Tartarus was left standing there with his chin in the air, and his arms drooped beside him. One gust of wind and he'd fall over.
The brain itself looked even worse. It had a noticeable hole in it, throbbing a golden color on it's edges, where Talon fired. Next to that, a long scar that trailed from bottom to top, like a burn, where Percy attacked.
We'd done it. We actually hurt him.
Tartarus lifted a shaky finger and tried to flick it, to do something. But Yuri and Sera were having none of it. Thinking the same thing, they stepped forward and used their elements to throw him off balance. Puddles of ice formed below him and water formed over the top of him, both slammed against opposite parts of his body, shins and neck, and threw him on his elbows.
Then Talon came up with his revolver in hand, aimed at Tartarus. The Primordial noticed and laughed.
"You want to shoot me? Come on then, shoot me."
Talon wasted no time in riddling him with lightning speed holes. They appeared all at once it seemed, and I could barely comprehend how he had that much time to fire that many shots. The entire chamber was emptied out in several explosions, six golden holes filled Tartarus' side, where his ribs would be. The force of the shots recoiled him to turning over and showing his back.
He'd fallen limp, and didn't move. We waited several suspenseful seconds for him to get up and start laughing again, pulling another one of his tricks.
But the body never even twitched. However, his voice sounded off all around us.
"Stupid, aren't you? You think I'd leave myself that vulnerable? Why don't you take a look at who you really shot."
I heard his fingers snap, and when he did, the body 'revealed' itself to us.
Tartarus's black form morphed right into Harper's.
There were several gasps. I might've, but I never heard it. I could only hear my heart pounding in my ears, a dread like no other fill my chest.
"No!" Sera shouted, enraged. White snowflakes spread out from her skin, her aura flashed, and the temperature around us dropped. I assumed she was about to go Absolute Zero, but Tartarus negated it with a simple gesture of his head. The invisible force must've washed over Sera, because her aura fleed and she fell to her knees.
Annabeth stood back, glaring at Tartarus. She looked like she really wanted to do something, but was fighting with the choice. Couldn't blame her, if she makes one wrong move, she's dead. Hell, the same goes for all of us. He tricked us, he replaced himself with Harper and masked her with his form. We didn't even notice. I mean, how could we?
I looked around and expected to see the real Harper standing among us, with some kind of gag over her mouth so she couldn't let us in on the big trick. But it wasn't a trick. She was only found on the floor, turned over, with golden bullets in her side.
Talon looked on with horror and guilt. Anger took over, and he started to roar at Tartarus, all the while firing an infinite number of bullets.
Tartarus dodged most of them, but one caught him right in the arm, and left the Primordial grunting in pain.
Then Percy tried to sneak up with an attack of his own, but Tartarus got frustrated, and shouted.
All at once, energy hit us like a horrible wave, or a brick wall. We were all knocked back on our rears, and slid across the newly slick ground like water and glass. Tartarus stood with his hands outstretched.
"Foolish little ants. I can do whatever I please here!Did I not already warn you of that?!" He jumped at Talon, who barely had enough time to materialize his golden sword again. He brought it up just as Tartarus swung down with both his fists.
Tartarus pushed and chuckled, repositioning his forearms a couple of times to gain even more leverage, while Talon, underneath him, strained and struggled.
Percy, relentless, jumped up behind Tartarus and aimed to slice him in half, but Tartarus was much faster. He turned around and grabbed the son of Poseidon with his other hand, by the throat.
Percy choked and beat at his fist. The others were starting to come together, and went at him all at once.
I started to get up, but I kept looking to Harper. I had to heal her…I couldn't lose her for real, not after seeing her again!
I looked between Tartarus dodging my friends strikes and delivering frequent ones of his own to Harper's limp form. I had to decide now!
That's when Yuri came over to me, "Give me the club, I'll heal her."
I started to protest, but she didn't want to hear it. She practically snatched the necklace off of me, "Use that bolt again! Use whatever you can! If this continues much longer, we stand no chance!"
I nodded, and saw Yuri run off. But Tartarus saw it too, and he quickly dispatched of everyone just so he could deal with my titan friend. He ducked under a flurry of stabs and swipes and ducked to the ground, spinning with his leg out, sweeping everyone off their feet.
He snapped his fingers and a volley of black arrows materialized in mid-air, right in front of Yuri. As soon as they appeared they hit her in several places, two in the shoulder, one in the leg, and one in the gut.
"Yuri!" I shouted; eyes wide.
They hadn't gone all the way through, but they stuck her pretty good. Ichor trailed out of her mouth when she smiled challengingly at Tartarus.
"Is that all you've got?"
Tartarus's eye twitched, just as Malachi and Percy snapped up behind him, both weapons drawn to cleave him from opposite sides.
Tartarus leaned back and pushed his palm against Malachi's spear so hard, it shattered into little lightning sparks, and even knocked the Master Bolt out of his other hand. He grabbed both of my friends by the heads and had his way with them, picking them up easily off the ground with his height and slamming them down face first, angrily.
"I'll kill you just like I intended from the start," He said to Yuri, "I own it all. You titans, Olympus, everything! Hell, the Underworld too!"
He snapped his fingers again, and another arrow came out of nowhere, it hit Yuri in the opposite arm. She made a painful whimper, and fell to one knee.
I'd watched enough. I got up with a growl and placed my hand out towards where Malachi lay. The bolt actually sensed my presence and came back to me, hurling itself at my palm.
As soon as I caught it, I wasted no time in lining up a shot, or aiming with my other hand. I just fired it.
The bolt soared far faster than light, but Tartarus clearly saw it coming. I imagined he smirked as he simply leaned his shoulder out of the way and dodged it.
I watched with my chest in my stomach as the brilliant blue light of the soaring bolt comet plummeted in the background, lighting it up like a white sun. I'd missed, and wasted my second shot left.
Only one more…
Tartarus laughed, "What an idiot. Any hope of you being an actual threat is completely lost now, Matthias. I almost feel sorry for you."
Tartarus stalked towards me, and I knew…I had to use the last one. It was all I had left. I'd find another way, like I said, to beat Ouranos. This was the here and now. I had to survive.
But in that moment, time seemed to slow down, as it normally does when something that changes the game happens. What looked like two spear tips sprouted out of Tartarus's shoulders, coming through the blades on his back.
They came through clean, and then whoever threw them, pulled on them to latch. I looked past Tartarus and saw that they were attached to chains. Black chains that seemed to stretch on for miles.
But it wasn't miles, or even a hundred feet. Maybe half that, standing away from us, with the chains in his hands…I recognized Hades, god of the underworld.
"On the contrary, Tartarus. Only I own the Underworld."
The tables had turned in a second. What the hell was Hades doing here?
Tartarus grunted, "Puny Hades…come out to die too?" He reached for the sharp chain tips to pull them out, but Hades yanked harder and only tore more flesh, if you can even call it that.
It seemed to have an effect on Tartarus though, because he made a small noise of pain, while Hades cocked his head, "Decided to go on the offensive, that's all."
I was still reeling from the fact that he was even here, and I almost missed him locking eyes with me, and gesturing his head to Harper.
Heal her. He was saying.
I nodded, and ran off to help her. Passing Yuri, I assured, "You're next, I'm coming back!"
But she scoffed, "I have natural healing, focus on her!"
I ran over to Harper and pressed Viribus to her body. For a moment, I was afraid that it wouldn't work, because I remembered the last time someone got shot by one of Talon's golden bullets (Malachi) it didn't work out so well for him. Talon had to heal him himself.
But Harper's wounds closed up, not instantly, but at a much faster rate than I expected. I gasped with relief, and could only be grateful for the fact that it was Zeus's aura in it, rather than anyone else's. That had to be what it was.
"Harper, hey, wake up." I shook her, "Harper, can you hear me?"
Her eyes shot open, she held on to the sword tightly with one hand and grabbed onto my arm with the other, squeezing.
I winced as a sharp dose of pain shot up my bicep, "Easy, easy. Don't break it off!"
She noticed what she was doing and let go quickly, looking back between me and the raging battle behind us. "Wh-Why the hell were you guys beating me up and not him?"
I chuckled, though I probably shouldn't have. "Another one of his stupid tricks. Come on, let's go."
"Come on let's go?" She asked, and blinked at Hades, "Hold on, is that-"
"Yeah, that's Hades. We don't have much time; this could be our only chance!"
But as soon as I said that, Tartarus looked our way, and his eyes widened when he saw Harper upright.
"Keep him still!"
They each grabbed onto Tartarus by his limbs, stomach, waist, wherever they could get ahold of, they had it. Tartarus shook violently and writhed in their grips, all the while, Hades still had his chains sunk into his flesh. It was a clear opportunity for us to hit the brain.
I grabbed Harper by the wrist, "Get the knife out, hurry!"
She listened, and unsheathed the Heavenly Diamond knife. I picked her up and spun around, letting her go when I saw the brain in my sights. She shot out and left trails of sonic booms behind her. I worried that I threw her a little too hard, but remembered she almost broke my arm with her strength, and that washed away the guilt a little bit.
Harper closed the distance within a second and stabbed the brain right in it's pink center with the knife. There was a horrible groaning noise, ichor gushed out of the brain once the knife hit it, not even trickling, but oozing out in geysers next to where the knife sunk in.
Tartarus screamed, and shook the entire area around us with the volume.
"AGHHHH!" He said, and writhed even harder to get out of everyone's grip. "YOU BASTARDS!"
"Harper, stab it again!"
Harper pulled it out, and ichor gushed all over her face. But she ignored it and went for another jab. However, Tartarus really started to freak out, and roared at the top of his lungs.
Something related to adrenaline must've filled him then, because he threw everyone off of him at once, and far faster than any of us could comprehend, he darted around and hit us all in gut. He ripped out Hades's chains, reappeared in front of him first and brought his fist up into his chin, knocking the god back. Then it was our turn, he moved around and tagged each of us, me last.
I felt the force hit my stomach and I was on my knees, my vision blurry. I made out the image of him pulling Harper down from her perch on the brain with his telekinesis. He made a gesture with his hand, locked on to her with his invisible force, and yanked her down.
I watched as she fell, she turned quickly and her arm appeared by her opposite side. She had thrown the knife. It's blue shape glinted once in my vision, and then twice, right in front of Tartarus's face, spinning around. It's hilt was facing him, I knew once it spun around again it would hit him right in the face.
But Tartarus just brought his hand up and smacked it on the handle, bashing it to the side. He then pulled even harder on his string, and Harper came crashing right into his ready fist.
She fell on the ground next to me, groaning and clutching her face, with blood on her hands. Tartarus had probably broken her nose just now.
He looked at us, breathing heavily out of his nonexistent nose. He sounded more frustrated than fatigued. I couldn't help but wonder, were we any closer to beating him? Damn, he just took a direct hit to the brain with Heavenly Diamond, yet he's still standing, and he just downed all of us, including Hades!
Tartarus paraded around, finding anyone that dared to shakily stand up. Malachi was the first.
"When will you learn to stay down? Any of you!" He grabbed Malachi by the hair and pulled him up to waist level. Malachi uselessly beat against his arm, but Tartarus wasn't budging.
"No matter what you do, I always come back. Nothing stands in my way." He hit Malachi hard in the jaw and held on to his hair. I watched as no blood came out of his nose, but Malachi seemed to feel the force of it at least, and he was put on the ground.
"Even with a god's help, even with a titan's help, you're nothing." Tartarus bragged, and went over to Hades, who had just gotten up, and was getting his chains ready again.
He put both in one hand and thrust out the other. Green fire erupted from it and threatened to engulf Tartarus. But the Primordial just rushed through it like a bull and extinguished it. He kicked Hades in the kneecap and there was a loud, disgusting crunching sound. He'd broken it in half.
Hades cried out in pain and fell on his face, clutching his knee. Tartarus leaned down and then back up, raising his foot high in the air, he speared Hades in the back of the head.
"Nothing at all," He mumbled.
He turned his back to us and stalked towards his next victim. In that time, I heard someone crawl over to me, it was Yuri.
She wiped blood off her mouth before she spoke, "Matt, listen to me. We can't win like this."
"What are you talking about?" I whispered.
"We need a single, big, strike. Something that will destroy that brain for good, giving him no time for a contingency."
I looked around, "What do you suggest?"
She looked towards it with her lips tight. She had this look in her eye that I didn't like, for some reason it set me on edge.
"Yuri…"
"I promised you I would get you out of here. You and your friends, even if it kills me."
I hardly paid attention to anything else in that moment. Tartarus could've came over and decked me right in the face, and I probably wouldn't have noticed. I backed up a little on my hands.
"No…you can't-"
"On the River Styx, Matt. I promised you." She smiled, "Whatever it takes."
I could barely move, I was paralyzed.
"No, Yuri. Don't do this!"
She ignored my pleas, "I just want you to know that I'm grateful for our time together. Thank you…for everything."
Then she cut off any yells or protests I could give by powering up her aura.
A bright blue ignited around her, brighter and more powerful than anything she'd released so far. It sent Harper and I sliding back several feet, and nearly blinded both of us. Tartarus even turned away from what he was doing and reared his head back.
"What the hell is this? I thought I made it clear that everyone has to wait their turn."
Yuri wasted no time in even responding to him. She blitzed out of thin air faster than light, her form could barely be seen through the blue comet. It soared upwards towards the brain, with her silhouette inside.
Tartarus stumbled from the wind that her shockwave produced, and whipped around to gawk at her.
"That little-" He cursed, and started after her. But I'd finally gotten to my feet.
I jumped after him, and wrapped my arms around his midsection, squeezing for dear life to keep him from catching her.
Tartarus made a noise of frustration, then noticed just how close she was getting, and roared in anger. "Get off!"
He freed his arm and elbowed me in the face. He used his other hand and thrust it at the ground, releasing a telekinetic shock for good measure to knock everyone back and stall them. With me out of the way, he went after Yuri.
Tartarus's form grew, just like earlier in the fight, to a massive size. He became as tall and as big as the Empire State Building, his head and neck appearing right in front of the brain, blocking Yuri from it's path.
Her blue aura was like an ant in comparison to Tartarus's size, but it's brightness and warmth somehow, if you couldn't sense the aura difference, seemed more intimidating. When I read it, I could tell that it was far beyond anything she should be capable of. How had she gotten such a boost all of a sudden? What was she planning?
Then it hit me. The words she said…I figured she'd do something stupid and sacrifice herself, but she wasn't planning on just charging in and hoping for the best. She was mixing her lifeforce and her aura together, pushing them to their absolute limits.
She was going to self-destruct.
I saw her draw the sword she'd been carrying, and slam it down towards the brain. Tartarus met it's stride with nothing but his large index finger, flicking the attack away and knocking the sword out of her hand.
Then he reached out and plucked her out of the air, and covered her entire blue ball with his hand, like holding an action figure, just to where her head could peek out.
"Did you really think I'd fall for something like that?"
But I knew what she was really doing. She was getting brighter and brighter, her lifeforce was rapidly depleting itself. Everything was reaching its peak, and she was about to blow, right next to the brain.
All the panic that I felt was suddenly replaced with anger. Anger at the universe, at the gods, the fates, whoever it was, for taking these people away from me. At myself, for letting it happen.
When I looked at her in Tartarus's hand a second time after blinking, I saw my dad. I saw both my dad and my mom switching back and forth, replacing Yuri's face.
Both were my fault. If I stopped the Chimera sooner, my mom wouldn't be where she's at. And if I were strong enough to have beaten Ouranos, my dad would still be alive.
I was about to lose Yuri too. Because…I wasn't strong enough.
I lowered my head to the ground and beat my fist a single time against it. Closing my eyes, I felt adrenaline pour through me, this invigorating feeling enhanced my being, I felt like I could crush the universe, and hell, I wanted to crush this one.
So I would. I'm tired of losing people. If I want to make a change in the cycle, now's the time. It's time to stand up for myself, it's time for me to do something about it. If I want to keep my loved ones around, then I need to step up to the plate.
"No more." I mumbled, and got up to stare ahead. "I'm not letting anybody else die!"
I thrust my hands out in front of me. I had no idea what I was planning on doing with this, I knew a regular old cannon wouldn't do anything long-lasting to Tartarus. And he was right in front of the brain, so that was a lost cause too. I might as well be wasting my time.
But something, maybe my gut, told me to keep going. To draw in as much energy as I could without stopping.
The others saw what was going on and pitched in to help, willingly giving me huge chunks of their auras to power the cannon. Even Hades, who figured out what I was doing, put out his fingertips and allowed some of his energy to float in the air and join the cannon, though he looked pretty freaked out first at the fact that I could steal energy.
Seconds passed, and the glowing orb grew bigger and bigger, quickly becoming the most powerful cannon I'd ever conjured, bar none. I knew it could free her, and maybe even knock this big version of Tartarus on his knees, but…I wanted more. This wasn't just an attack; this was going to be the finisher. I would end it with this, or nothing else. Because nothing else is going to work.
The energy got to be so hot that I smelled burning flesh, and saw that my hands were turning a dangerous blood red, not from the aura color, but from actual burns. I winced and managed to ignore it, block it out somehow. It would be over soon…it would be over soon…
Once I'd drawn energy from just about every place I could think of…I still remained unsatisfied. I needed more, a lot more if I wanted to end this.
Then I noticed the one thing we'd been staring at this entire time. The dark ceiling around us.
It was black as night, and it had never changed since we got here. I could feel energy inside of it, it was laced with a familiar aura, an aura that reminded me of Heavenly Diamond.
Chaos.
Chaotic energy was scattered all throughout Tartarus's little milky way, like stars. If it's tangible, then I can access it…even if it is chaotic energy. It's energy, so why not?
I hadn't done this before, so trying it was a big step. But I had to be quick, because pretty soon it would all be for nothing. Yuri would be dead, and Tartarus would realize what's going on. I'm surprised he hadn't yet, considering the amount of energy I was gathering. But you know, that was always his flaw, too caught up in one thing to focus on others. Numbers were the way to beat him after all.
I released my breath and tapped into the chaotic energy above. When it fell into my cannon, I immediately knew it. It felt different from the other auras, far different. I've felt it many times, but actually holding it, is a different story.
Where any other aura felt warm, like a candle flame, this felt cold, like a dark, unknown room. It was massive and powerful sure, but it wasn't like the sun powerful. It was more like an infinite void powerful, where you just float in darkness, where you can't feel an end in sight, touch any barriers, anything at all. It's just…never-ending. Chaos is never-ending.
Which is a weird way to describe it, but it was the first thing that came to my mind, an infinite void of…nothing. Nothing to the eyes, but to the sixth sense, it was the most dangerous thing imaginable, and the most fascinating.
I took it in like a dam bursting an entire lake of water. When it entered the fray, I gasped for air and felt it's instant pressure overcome me. I hadn't realized just how big this cannon was getting. It dwarfed every other one I've created, and those were huge! This thing was about as big as Tartarus's giant form!
When I thought I would be crushed by my own attack, I saw Harper next to me, her sword tucked in between her waist and her sheathe, with her hands in front her, pushing the cannon beside me.
I felt a shred of relief, and looked at her. We locked eyes, and she gave me an encouraging nod.
Then I felt another shred of relief, my muscles were able to relax a fraction. What was going on?
I looked to my right, and there was Malachi, Talon, Sera, Percy, and Annabeth. All of them had put their hands on the cannon to join me, mixing their powers with mine. Even Hades reluctantly did so too, though he seemed to only do it because everyone else was.
They gave me nods, and smiles that lifted my heart, even though I had no idea it needed lifting. It gave me a flurry of grateful feelings. I had taken them for granted not a few days ago…well, now I know I'll never do that shit again. I had the greatest team anyone could ask for.
No screw that, not team, friends. Sorry, Family. That's the right term, family. The word friend doesn't even cut it.
I mouthed the words thanks guys, though I knew they couldn't hear me. This thing would probably make us go deaf by the end of it. I thought the bolt was loud, but this thing…
I did manage to yell, "Hades!"
He didn't hear me, so I tried to yell in my head.
Hades!
It took a second, but he locked on to my mind. Yes boy?
Get Yuri out of Tartarus's hand! I don't want her to get caught in the blast!
Who the hell is Yuri? He asked.
I wanted to groan. The titan with the blue aura! Get her out!
You know, it may not have been such a good idea to boss around one of the Big Three like that, but in that moment, I didn't really care. I just wanted to see Yuri leave Tartarus's hands so we could get on with this.
Finally, Hades reached out with his own form of telekinesis and grabbed Yuri with it. Tartarus's grip must've not been as tight as I thought it was, or Hades just took him off guard, because with a hard pull, he plucked her right out from him.
Yuri came flying towards us, her aura now gone, the buildup that she caused gone too. It seemed like she was really close to enacting her plan though, because as soon as she fell next to us, she passed out and lay limp on the ground.
I'd have time to process just how close we came to losing her, but right now I could only think of one thing.
This was the most powerful attack I'd ever conjured. It took up the entire foreseeable space. It would hit Tartarus. I felt so much confidence, in not just my own power, but all of ours. Together.
Tartarus looked up, confused at what had happened. When he saw the massive, infinite, Red Beam Cannon before him, his eyes widened so much that they took up his entire face. He actually looked like he might be afraid.
"What the…" I heard him say, barely.
I knew if I yelled, he probably wouldn't hear me. Or maybe he would, I don't know. But I wanted to make sure he heard me either way.
So in my head, I thought out my words loud and clear.
Looks like our time together is over, Tartarus. But hey, look on the bright side, your brother will be joining you soon…if there's anything left of you.
I knew he heard me, because I saw him tense up in the distance. I knew it was now or never, fire this thing, or he'd pull some kind of mind trick to thwart it.
"NOW!" I roared, and that was loud enough for everyone around me to hear. We all yelled as loud as we could and pushed against the incredible force in front of us, almost desperately trying to get it's destruction away and escape for our lives. But as boundless as chaos is, I knew this thing was on our side.
That was all it needed. One concentrated push. The "Infinite" Red Beam Cannon pushed itself forward, and morphed into an absolutely colossal pillar of red energy, mixed with deadly black. It spiraled it's way to Tartarus in a speed far faster than any form of second I can come up with. Nano, or whatever. It was there before I even had a chance to look up for myself.
The last image I saw of Tartarus was his wide eyes, and him lifting his hand up to attempt to block it. But both he and I knew that crap was useless. He might as well have been a normal human lifting his hand up to stop a bullet train coming straight at him.
I watched in glee as the Cannon enveloped him with it's warmth and light, completely overtaking both him and the entire horizon that we could see. The world around us changed from black to red, and reaching out with my aura sensing, in the sea of the exploding energy…I didn't feel his. I knew it was over. It had completely overpowered him on impact. We were very lucky that we were fighting down here, in an infinite void dimension. Because if we were anywhere near the surface world? Dozens of Universes might have been in trouble, and I don't think I'm exaggerating when I say that.
However, we weren't out of the woods yet. We had to hold this thing until it's energy spilled out. If we just let go right now, it would backfire on us, and we'd look a lot like Tartarus.
I knew their muscles were aching, mine were too. I saw everyone nearly buckling from the force, straining with all of their might. I turned and encouraged them.
"Just a little more! Hold on for just a few more seconds!"
Whether or not they heard me, it didn't matter. We were able to stand against it until it finally started to slow down and dissipate.
My mind was racing. What were we supposed to do now? How were we-
The brain.
I remembered the vision I saw of Ouranos and Tartarus, and how Ouranos left this place. He used the brain.
Now, I don't want to think about the fact that Ouranos doing something actually helped me, I'll ignore that. But I was more worried about the brain being disintegrated in this chaos. That cannon was more than large enough to completely overtake it and then some.
So I called out to Hades again, this time verbally. The noise had died down some.
"Lord Hades!"
He looked at me.
"Use your telekinesis to get that brain over here! It should be loose enough to where you can grab it!"
He looked at me like I was crazy, as did everybody else. Guess I forgot to tell them about this.
"Why on Earth do you want that brain?!" He shouted.
"It's our key to get out of here!" They looked like they didn't believe me, which to be honest, I can't really blame them. But at that, I got louder and frustrated, "Just trust me! Grab it, or we'll be stuck here!"
Hades reluctantly reached out with his hand again, and closed his eyes for a moment. I prayed on everything, even to Olympus for the brain not to be completely fried. If it was…then I'm not sure what we were going to do. Hades got here somehow, maybe he could take us out?
I'd honestly rather take the quicker approach. I've had enough of Tartarus for a lifetime.
I crossed my fingers (not literally) and waited in anticipation. When Hades pulled back, and a shriveled up, giant raisin fell on the ground before us, just under the depleting cannon, I wanted to scream in victory.
But I managed to keep my mouth shut. Once we got back, I'd get up and scream out to the world, as loud as I could. That's a promise.
"That's it! That's our way out!"
Talon took one look at it and made a disgusted face, "That thing's dead!"
Looking at it a second time…yeah, it looks a far cry from what it did. The earlier version looked like a normal human brain, just a thousand times larger. This one is burned to a crisp, and shriveled down to the size of a cow.
But still, it wasn't completely gone, so I knew that had to mean something.
"Just trust me! When the cannon goes, everyone put your hands on it!"
I guess they figured that it was our best shot, and it was better than nothing, because looks were exchanged, and they decided to not think I was crazy. Thanks guys.
We waited a few more seconds for the Cannon to die down, and finally, it's pillar, once encompassing everything, became like a thin pencil in the air. And then, blipped to nothing.
I knew that was the most powerful I'd probably ever feel, and the most powerful attack I'd ever conjure. Which…in of itself is insane to say, but I'm confident nothing's going to top it.
However, you can't be too sure with this life.
I'll think about all of that later, but right now, I just want to say this. And yeah, it feels damn good to say these next few words.
Once I knew that Hades had Yuri by the hand, I led us towards the brain. One jump, like a mirror cannon was coming after us, and we all smacked our hands on the burned brain.
The effect was immediate. As soon as we contacted that thing, we were sent into a kaleidoscope dimension, a lot like the one we see when teleporting with gods, or Malachi.
We were all still in a semi-circle, shooting upwards in this cylinder of amazing colors. It was a frame, but I thought it was beautiful.
And finally, I saw the real sun again. We made it home, or wherever this place was. I couldn't be too sure. It definitely wasn't Camp Half Blood, or even New York. We popped right into some barren set of green hills, right in front of an ocean, with no one in sight, no sign of civilization.
Still, I couldn't help but smile, because it wasn't Tartarus.
I'm free.
(000)
Finally free...
Really though, that was insane to write. Took a good bit, I went back and erased some stuff, revised some things, and ended up with this final cut. I think it's a fitting end for Tartarus, and a pretty good fight to send it all off with. How about that Infinite Red Beam Cannon though? Matt's not kidding when he says that's the most powerful he'll ever be.
And that...might be true. Who knows?
Anyway, this was so fun to write, and I hope those of you reading it, now or later on, enjoyed it. Tartarus really got what was coming to him. Well deserved. Though I'll miss writing him, he was quite a character.
One more chapter to go, so stay tuned!
Until Next Time.