Chapter 6 ~ Hands off!
Far outside the U.S., a loud bang shattered the peaceful evening and colorful birds fluttered away from the trees with a startled squawk.
To mortals, it looked like just a few new tourists got out of a cab, since the Mist hid the truth from their unknowing eyes. In one corner, the shadows condensed into black smoke and then spat out two teenagers and a slightly smaller boy. With a yelp, Percy, Bianca and Nico were flung out of the shadows like human cannonballs.
They smacked against a stone wall and then fell on top of each other. Dazed, Percy looked up and blushed a little. Bianca had landed on top of him in a mix of tangled body parts and had her face just a few inches from his.
For the first time, Percy noticed the small details in her heart-shaped face framed by her silky black hair, such as the few freckles on her cheeks. For a moment, black eyes stared into Percy's black and sea green ones, until Bianca became aware of her position and quickly tore away from him, looking away with flushed cheeks.
Beside Percy, Nico groaned and Bianca reached out her hands to help the two boys to their feet.
Percy frowned in confusion.
"This is not where I wanted to go." he remarked dryly.
"I don't even really know where you wanted to take us in the first place, but it certainly wasn't here," Bianca said.
She looked around and then stepped closer to the wall. It was gray and made of massive but somewhat weathered stones. Hordes of tourists were walking noisily on the top. It didn't seem to end to the left or the right and Bianca's eyes widened.
She pressed both hands over the ears of a confused Nico and then almost shouted, "Holy shit, are we in China at the Great Wall?"
Percy sighed heavily and he seemed to understand now too. "Ah fuck, you're right. Okay again line up in a circle and take my hands. Hopefully it will work this time."
The strange group did just that and Percy pulled them into the shadows.
When the eternal darkness that surrounded the travelers had cleared, they stood in a room, with blue walls decorated with images of black ravens. A row of sofas and armchairs stood around a low table, and a television hung on the wall.
Percy looked out at one of the windows and then breathed a sigh of relief. It was dark, but he could of course still see the twelve buildings next to the one they were currently in and the blue Big House in distance.
"Thank the gods, it worked!" He turned with a lopsided grin to the two children of Hades, who were looking around with interest. "Welcome to the cabin of Nyx in Camp Half-Blood!"
Nico clapped his hands enthusiastically and bounced up and down.
"Thank the gods is right!" suddenly said a voice beside them. With a loud click a lamp was turned on, illuminating the pale face of Hades, who was curled up on a love seat away from the sofa area. "What were you thinking shadow traveling across entire continents? If I hadn't intervened, you all would have vanished into thin air. You wouldn't be able to travel such distances by yourself yet you took two additional people with you? Are you crazy?"
"Well then thank you Lord Hades. In the end nothing happened so chill out! And what did I tell you about suddenly appearing in my cabin like a creep? " Percy said while rubbing the back of his neck with his hand.
As usual Hades ignored his complaints. "Anyways thank you for bringing my children back. I owe you one."
Percy looked at Nico and Bianca, who were staring flabbergasted at their father, not even acknowledging the fact, they were about to get killed by shadow traveling with Percy around the globe.
"No biggie. I'll uh, leave you three to it then. I'm sure you guys have a lot to talk about. I think there should be a few more bedrooms down the hallway there when you're done."
Bianca and Nico nodded, still looking at their father instead of Percy.
Without another word, Percy walked down the hallway leading out of the room, past a set of white doors, until he came to the end and stood in front of a green door with a metal sign attached that read 'Percy'.
Percy entered his room and flicked the chain that contained his light armor onto the designated area on the stand in the corner of his room.
The armor activated automatically the moment it was put there and now stood decoratively in the corner of his room, like a guard protecting Percy's bed.
Percy did not even change his clothes, but simply dropped onto the sheets and drifted off to sleep.
Percy was standing in a completely black room. Normally, no one would be able to see anything in it because of the thick darkness and the complete absence of any light source on the black stone walls, but Percy immediately recognized the throne room in the Mansion of the Night. Sitting in a throne was Nyx, dressed as usual in nothing but a black dress and bare feet, her whip of stars curled up at her side.
Percy smiled. "Hey Mom, what's up?"
Nyx frowned and looked at her son. "Perseus, why are there other campers in my cabin?"
"Oh you mean Nico and Bianca? Hades asked me to get his kids out of the Lotus Casino."
Nyx wrinkled her nose and looked at Percy.
"And you just did that? What did I tell you about becoming an errand boy for the gods?"
Percy sighed "Don't. But I did get this cool gauntlet." He held it up.
Somehow it managed to follow him into his dream instead of resting on the stand in his room.
Nyx's eyes widened and she grabbed Percy's arm to take a closer look at the glove. "This used to belong to Erebus! It's an extremely powerful magical artifact, one Part of his original armor! It contains parts of the power of the Primordial God of Darkness! How the heck did Hades even get his hands on this?"
Percy just shrugged his shoulders. "Maybe he doesn't even know what it is and that's why he just gave it to me. Anyways, can Nico and Bianca stay in my cabin? Otherwise Zeus would probably kill them both. And that way you can bug him!"
Nyx pondered, "Annoy Pikatchu? Okay fine I'm in, they can stay." Percy grinned widely. "Thanks mom!"
"It looks like our time here is up, my son. Wake up, there's breakfast at camp soon!"
She quickly swooped Percy up in her arms and gave her squirming son a kiss on his forehead.
The dream slowly faded and Percy felt himself being pulled out of Morpheus' realm...
...by a cold hand around Percy's neck, cutting off his air slowly crushing his windpipe.
Percy panicked and looked up at the hood above him and saw nothing. Above him was his armor, but no one was in it. The black metal-plate leather parts of the armor moved as if by itself, and the silver Cerberus on his shoulder glittered dangerously, as if it too were about to come alive and attack Percy as well. It was bent over his bed like a person would and the armored gauntlet had wrapped around his neck. Since the armor did not have gloves, whatever had brought the armor to life could only use the left hand, which consisted of Erebus' stygian iron gauntlet.
Reflexively, Percy struck for the face, but hit only air. Desperately he kicked and scratched at the armor that had come to life, but it didn't seem to care.
"That's it? That's how it ends? Oh come on! Strangled by my own possessed armor? That's not a cool death! At least let me sacrifice myself for someone or something like that."
Just as Percy was running out of air and wondering what ghost he had angered so much, the armor dropped and a booming laugh echoed in the room, making every molecule in Percy's body tremble. Percy knew only one person with that laugh, and the purple flames that blazed instead of eyes under the hood of his armor confirmed his suspicions.
"Tartarus what in the name of Zeus' pink underpants was that all about?"
"Hahaha, you should have seen your face! Totally panicked when you thought you were about to die! Hahaha... That was for my pink throne, punk!
Tartarus said and giggled like a lunatic. Without another word, the purple flames disappeared and the armor fell in pieces onto Percy, who was still lying on the bed.
"Oh come on Uncle T! Now I've got to clean this place up. I hope he gets Lyssa and Thanatos as bad as he got me!"
A few minutes later, Percy came grumbling out of his room and walked down the hall to the other doors. Two of them now had 'Nico' and 'Bianca' on a small metal sign.
Percy knocked on both of them and called out, "Come on guys, wake up! There will be breakfast in half an hour and I want to introduce you to Chiron first!"
After a while two tired looking children of Hades opened the doors to their rooms. "Good morning Percy." greeted Bianca him.
Nico just nodded in his direction and looked like he was about to fall asleep while leaning on the wall. "I guess guys you talked a lot last night?" Percy asked her.
Bianca nodded. "We worked everything out. Look, he even gave us some weapons!" At that even Nico perked up and proudly twisted a black ring on his left index finger. It morphed and suddenly he held a xiphos, a typical Greek sword made of black stygian iron. Bianca twisted to rings, each on one hand as well and held two black hunting knives in her hands. She then clicked a little bottom at the side and the morphed back. "Oh and I also got this." She ripped a pendant from a necklace and it turned into a beautiful bow, carved out of dark wood with red linings. A quiver with arrows appeared on her back.
Percy whistled appreciatively and nodded. "But you didn't tell us we were in there for 70 years!" she said, glaring at him.
"Sorry, I kind of forgot...?" It sounded more like a question than an answer, even to Percy.
He quickly decided to get off the subject and said "Hey Nico check out my weapon." With that, he reached out with his hand and summoned his black scythe. It was significantly larger than Nico, who was now staring at the scythe and Percy in awe. "Are you the Grim Reaper or something like that?" he asked. Bianca let out a laugh, that was quickly silenced when Percy said "No but my brother Thanatos is the God of Death and he gave me this scythe as a birthday gift. It's a replica of his own."
Percy laughed loudly at sight of their confused face and dragged them outside.
The trio reached the porch of the Big House where Chiron was already standing and drinking his tea. He was in his horse form and the lower body of the white stallion was visible. At the sight, Nico's eyes almost popped out of his head and Bianca clung to Percy's arm.
The hellhounds had left lasting memories for both of them and the sight of the centaur was not very reassuring to either of them.
Percy noticed this and said quietly to Bianca "Don't worry, Chiron is fine. "
Chiron looked up and greeted them with a wide smile. "Ah Percy, good morning. And who are your two companions? "
"Hello Chiron, this is Nico and Bianca di Angelo, children of Hades."
Chiron looked taken aback for a moment but then he recomposed himself ignoring the feeling building up at his back, when he looked at the group of the possibly most powerful demigods alive, and smiled kindly.
"I wonder what is going on in that head of yours."
"Welcome to Camp Half-Blood you two. I am Chiron, trainer of the heroes. "
Nico waved and Bianca just smiled uncertainly over at him.
"Are you really the Chiron from the myths?" Nico asked him in awe.
"Yes, child." He said while looking down at him smiling.
"With 2500 attack power and the additional bonus explosion damage?"
"What? I have no clue what you are talking about. Anyways, even though we know your divine parent, you will have to stay in Hermes cabin, since unfortunately Hades doesn't have a cabin here in camp."
"Don't worry Chiron. My mother has already agreed to let the two of them stay in the Nyx cabin. For their own protection from Zeus. Isn't that right Thunderpants?" asked Percy looking up at the sky where thunder rumbled in the distance.
"Percy you should not provoke the ruler of Olympus. So Hades has broken the oath too?"
"No," Bianca interjected, "we've been in the Lotus Casino for the last 70 years."
Chiron nodded in understanding. "Interesting."
The conversation was interrupted by the booming sound of a conch shell. As if on command, Percy's stomach growled and they all headed for the pavilion, followed by Mr. D, who decided to ignore Percy and the Di Angelos.
Percy, Bianca and Nico settled down at the front table with the number 0, which must have appeared at the dining pavilion along with the Nyx cabin. After the offerings and when all demigods were full, Chiron stood up and tapped his hoof on the stone floor to draw attention to himself. All conversation ceased and the curious faces turned to Mr. D, who had now stood up and placed his Pepsi beside him.
He cleared his throat loudly and said "Brats, today we welcome three new campers: Peter Johnson, Ni-" "It's Percy Jackson!" "Whatever... Nikolas Di Ansos and his sister Tiranda Di Anus!" The campers clapped loudly. It was very uncommon to get three new campers at once.
"What the...? He knows I'm his sister and he still didn't even get the last name right?" hissed Bianca.
Percy collapsed laughing at the table and had to hold his sides "Oh my gods... Di Anus... hahaha..." Nico also laughed his head off. "You'll never get rid of that sis!" Bianca buried her head in her hands sighing.
"Also" said Mr. D "Capture the flag is taking place today. Try not to die you brats. Or do it, I don't care. " At this, the campers cheered loudly.
Since the capture the flag game would not take place until the afternoon, Percy spent the time before that teaching the children of Hades a few fighting moves to prepare them for the game. Bianca was good with the bow for a beginner, but still needed to practice with her knives. Nico still lacked the strength to use his three ft sword effectively, but it was clear to Percy that with a lot of training and with muscle building he had the potential to become a very good swordsman.
Percy had also explained their powers to them.
Bianca found short distance shadow travel relatively easy, but could not teleport more than 30 meters. Nico had landed on the roof of the dining pavilion in his attempt and had to be rescued by Percy. However, he was able to summon 2 skeleton warriors but had fainted when he tried it with with three of them. When Percy re-entered the arena after lunch, he saw familiar blond hair.
Annabeth was wearing bronze Greek armor and was shredding some dummies with a dagger.
"Nice job with the dummies." Percy remarked when he arrived next to her. Annabeth just nodded absently without looking at him. "Wanna spar with me?" he asked.
She stopped destroying the dummy and turned to face him.
"Oh Percy. Didn't know it was you."
"Soooo, the spar?"
"Oh yeah. OK why not." she sighed and walked to the center of the arena.
Nico, Bianca and a few other campers had gathered in the seats and were comfortably watching them as they leisurely digested their lunch.
"Your weapons and armor?" asked Annabeth with a raised eyebrow.
Percy just wordlessly tapped the pendant on his necklace and summoned his twin daggers.
A few conversations broke out among the onlookers as they saw the black leather armor that now hooded Percy's face.
"Till a fatal blow and yielding?" asked Percy.
Annabeth nodded and shouted "One, two, three go!"
The two fighters assumed a stable fighting stance and slowly circled each other. Annabeth held her dagger in a hammer grip while Percy held one in a hammer grip and the other in an icepick grip. Percy decided to make the first move. He stepped forward quickly and struck experimentally with his left arm to Annabeth's side. The latter stepped backwards and then quickly came at Percy with a downward blow. He blocked the blow with his right dagger and stabbed at Annabeth's open stomach with his left. She reacted quickly, however, and dodged to the side and crouched on the ground, trying to kick Percy's legs away.
Percy saw this coming, however, and jumped over her outstretched foot, kicking at Annabeth's head as she jumped, and she had to do a roll to the side to avoid the iron-shod soles of Percy's boots. Both got back to their feet. Annabeth frowned. She made a series of quick jabs and Percy whirled around to avoid them. He fended off the last blow with a dagger and then quickly stepped forward to get into her guard.
Percy swiped at the hand with the dagger and managed to land a cut on Annabeth's right arm. Percy used her moment of shock to strike with the other dagger at her mid section.
To Percy's surprise, Annabeth swung her left arm at Percy's hand with the dagger and managed to avoid the stab. The arm went numb briefly after the blow and Annabeth grabbed Percy's arm with a judo hold. The world was turned upside down as Percy was suddenly on his back and Annabeth aimed at his chest. He barely managed to roll to the side and the dagger stabbed into the sand on the arena floor beside him.
Annabeth kicked with her leg to Percy's side but he caught it with one hand and stabbed her loins with his dagger with the other. The wound was not deep but gave Percy enough time to roll backwards and get to his feet.
Annabeth, however, came at him quickly and applied a low blow. Percy blocked with his right hand and pushed against her dagger. He stabbed at her torso with the other dagger at the same time. His opponent realized she was at a disadvantage in a deadlock with only one dagger and suddenly backed away.
She had hoped Percy would fall forward, but was surprised when he managed not to lose his balance. Percy ran at her and let a whirlwind of his two blades come down on her. She managed to counter the last blow aimed at her neck after some hasty dodges and left a cut on Percy's shoulder. She quickly stepped aside and was about to stab at his side when Percy swung around, deflecting her dagger with his own and catching her wrist with his other hand. He dodged the fist of her other hand into his face, but was still hit in the cheek as he turned his head away.
He slashed the flat of the dagger in his left hand at Annbeth's wrist and she grunted as the force of the blow ripped the dagger from her hand. With a clattering metallic sound, her dagger fell to the floor. She tried another kick at Percy. He dodged the kick to the side and Annabeth did a forward roll to reach the dagger and pick it up.
Before she reached it, however, she felt a cold blade on her neck and a second on her left side, where the kidney was. "Yield!" said Percy close to her ear and she felt the hairs on the back of her neck stand up. She froze and then said, "I yield." Percy took his daggers away and held out his hand. The rows of spectators cheered enthusiastically and Nico shouted "GO PERCY!"
Annabeth looked at him with a tilted head after picking up her dagger.
"What is it?" asked Percy to her.
"I think I want you on my team for Capture the Flag." she said and Percy smiled and then nodded. "I'd love to, Annabeth."
Percy stood among the trees of the forest, waiting impatiently. His armor was activated and in his hand he held his katana made of stygian iron and silver. A few yards in front of him, a small stream flowed, marking the boundary for the two teams. The Athena cabin had joined Nyx, Hermes, Dionysus and Apollo. In the opposing team were Ares, Aphrodite, Hephaestus and Demeter.
Annabeth had told Percy, Bianca and Nico to stay under cover and if the Apollo campers, who were in the middle area, were attacked, the three should attack from the side by surprise. Pollux and Castor, the two sons of Dionysus guarded the flag further back and could prevent the Demeter children from manipulating the plants in case of an emergency.
Meanwhile, the people from the Athena cabin would attack head-on and the Hermes children and the undetermined children would go along the sides to secure the flag. Percy was a little disappointed that he would not be on the attack team and was bored. Beside him, Bianca nervously tugged at her bowstring and Nico tightened his grip on his sword until his knuckles turned white.
"Relax," Percy said softly "We won't be the main target. The Ares cabin will probably lead the frontal assault on their side and will meet Athena. They, along with Hephaestus, will probably overwhelm them, but they will still be busy with some of the Hermes campers, when they see them. We don't have to worry about Aphrodite, her children are not skilled warriors and they are most likely sitting at some corner and talking about make-up. The Demeter cabin is better with their manipulation of plants, but we should be able to handle that as well. For that we have the support of Pollux and Castor. What worries me more are the many magical traps and grenades of the Hephaestus kids." he explained.
Like on cue, a couple of Hephaestus kids in bruised clothes, hands full of bottles with glowing liquids in them, burst through the bushes in front of them. The Apollo cabin archers immediately tightened their bowstrings and Will Solace, the Apollo cabin counselor, was about to give the order to attack when a loud bang sounded. A shock wave came from outside the forest and shook the trees.
Both parties stopped dead in their tracks and the trio came running out of the bushes toward them. "Are there supposed to be explosions?" asked Nico, a bit confused, pushing his helmet to the side so he could see something. No helmets had fit the poor son of Hades and the smallest one slipped over his eyes.
Charles Beckendorf looked as confused as Nico and was just turning to Will when a horn was emitted three times.
"It's the alarm!" shouted Jake Mason "The camp is under attack!"
"Quick to Half-Blood Hill, we need to see what's going on!" Percy shouted. Will nodded and they all ran out of the woods.
As they passed the forest line they met the rest of the campers, some in broken clothes, but all with weapons drawn and running toward the hill. Even the Aphrodite kids were ready and led by Silena and readied some wicked looking daggers.
When they got to the border, they were greeted by many faces. But the term faces applied to those present only to a very limited extent, as they were a small army of hellhounds snarling and baring their teeth dangerously, hungry for the tasty flesh of a few demigods.
Behind them, Scythian Dracaena dressed in wittered armor, showing of their snake legs, put arrows to their bows, ready to shoot them. Furthermore at the left side 5 cyclops, each at least 4 meters high, came over the hill, armed with large heavy wooden clubs.
Percy's gaze, however, was not on the monsters that were crossing the barrier that was supposed to protect the camp as if it was nothing, but on the man standing next to them, his face contorted into a vicious sneer. He was taller than any human could have been and wore a red muscle shirt covered by a golden bulletproof vest, like the ones mortal soldiers wore, that showed off his massive muscular upper arms. He wore a golden helmet adorned with a red headdress. In addition, there were black leather pants and a knife strapped to his belt as well as thick combat boots.
Through the slits in his helmet, Percy saw two small flames where the eyes should have been. In his hand he held a huge bronze claymore.
Next to Percy Annabeth gasped loudly "Ares!" and gripped her bronze dagger tighter.
Her face turned in a sneer similar to Ares and blood began to boil.
"So the traitor shows himself. Hmm, would have thought it would take him a little longer... And where are those stupid Olympians? Shouldn't they be here to arrest him or something? Nah, probably off fucking some poor mortals and mess with their lives."
Percy looked Ares in the eye and held out his hand with his katana. He lunged and then threw it with a flourish over to the mass of monsters, where it flew into the eye of one of the cyclops like a throwing knife. He fell immediately, crumbling to golden dust.
Annabeth looked in disbelief, probably thinking that Percy had gone mad, throwing his weapon away like that. Percy paid her no attention. He hadn't taken his eyes off Ares during his action, who laughed out loud. Then he reached out again and summoned his scythe. Ares' laughter died away.
With more speed than Usain Bolt, Percy ran into the middle of the mass of monsters fighting the demigods and swung his scythe in a wide stroke.
With his long reach, he managed to decapitate three hellhounds at once and cut off the leg of a fourth. Before Percy could swing the scythe again, a black arrow hit the hellhound in the head and it disintegrated. Percy turned to see Bianca firing her bow at more monsters. Nico stood further back and had summoned a skeleton warrior to protect the medics and the injured.
Percy smiled proudly and turned his gaze back to Ares, who was now staring at him. Percy clenched his teeth and whirled around in a circle. The scythe left a trail of destruction. Percy dodged as one hellhound leapt toward him, reached out to grab another with the shadows, and then threw it like a cannonball with hair into the first.
He swung the scythe again and killed them both quickly. The hairs on the back of his neck stood up and he yanked a shadow up, intercepting an arrow and then hurling it with force into the open mouth of a hellhound. The arrow stuck upright between the beast's upper and lower jaws, leaving its mouth open. Percy grinned and rested a hand on the lower jaw. With all the force he could muster, he wrenched the mouth open even wider. The skin on the side of the mouth began to tear and bleed and the hellhound whimpered in pain. With a loud "CRACK", Percy ripped the lower jaw completely out.
He looked at the dracaena that had shot at him and grinned widely. Like a demon, Percy tore the monsters into pieces with his scythe. With ease, Percy countered each attack and banished his way. When he reached the dracaena, he ordered the shadows to snatch her bows and bond her.
Her eyes widened and she said in a shaky voice, "Please have mercy!" as one strand of shadow held her each of her arms and two more wrapped around her snake legs and pulled them apart.
"You wouldn't have shown mercy either."
The dracaena began to scream and writhe as her legs were pulled apart more and she felt like she was being torn apart. A devilish grin appeared on Percy's face. He would not fail to deliver. Percy waved his wrist and another tendril of shadow appeared. The other two pulled the dracaena's snake legs apart enough to reveal a pair of greenish lower lips, when her skirt was ripped. Then Percy formed sharp edges on the last tendril of shadow and thrust it between the legs of the dracaena. She cried out loudly, trembled, and green blood gushed from between her legs as she felt the sharp edges penetrate and slice her insides.
She whimpered desperately for mercy, which Percy granted her by forcing the thick tendril of shadow even further into her until it poked through her belly and finally came out at her neck. The dracaena gurgled green blood and then crumbled to dust. With a mixture of shadows, his scythe, and his gauntlet, which he thrust into the face of a hellhound with outstretched fingers so that its eyes were pierced by the metal fingertips, Percy made his way to Ares.
Ares didn't look so confident anymore, but still approached Percy. "I guess you're the punk who found the master bolt. I don't know how you did it, but you're dead!" Ares grunted in a low voice and swung his claymore at Percy, who stepped aside.
"Not a man of many words Ares? No wonder with the few grey cells in your tiny head." Percy exclaimed with a grin, dodging another blow from Ares' sword that would have separated him from his arm.
Percy pranced to the side and swung his scythe. Ares blocked the blow with his sword and pressed the flat of his hand against Percy's blade. Percy was pushed back by the superhuman strength and had to step back. He just barely escaped a fist strike as Ares managed to graze Percy's arm.
Percy groaned and managed a series of quick swings. Ares backed away in surprise and raised his claymore high above his head with both hands, trying to slice Percy in two symmetrical slices.
Percy jumped to the side and let a wave of shadow slam into the sword from the side. The trajectory was deflected and Percy used the moment to swing his scythe upward from below. Ares had to yank his head back quickly, but the blade of the scythe caught in the helmet, ripping it from Ares' head to reveal a scarred face with a mid-lite haircut and black hair. He would have even been handsome were it not for the fiery pits in place of his eyes, which now blazed with hatred.
"I will drink your blood from your skull when we are done here and I have torn your spine from your body with my bare hands." Ares roared in anger.
"Blood? From a skull? Ugh. Why don't you try capri-sun before you try something that only adults are allowed to drink?" Percy returned.
Percy swung his scythe again and the two exchanged blows. This continued until Percy swung his scythe at Ares' head, who caught the blow with his sword and then kicked Percy in the open stomach.
The armor managed to soften the blow, so Percy probably didn't have any broken ribs, but he was still thrown backwards. In a split second, as he rolled over, he saw Nico dragging away an injured camper and Bianca covering him with her bow. Chiron galloped in a circle around a cyclops, firing arrows at it, and Annabeth fought with her dagger against a dracaena whose bow lay broken at her side, but now had a short sword drawn from her belt.
With a thud, Percy hit the ground and raised his head to see Ares running toward him like raging bull while dragging his long blade across the ground behind him. Percy's head was spinning and he could register just enough to get ready for a sideways roll at the last moment. But this was not necessary at all as a spear drilled into Ares' calves from the side. The spear flashed and electricity shot through the tip. Ares cried out angrily as his calf was briefly numbed by the small bolts of lightning.
With a war cry, a muscular girl in armor whose helmet resembled a boar's head leapt at Ares and kicked him in the ribs, then jumped back and yanked the spear out of his calves again.
"What is this madness father? Why are you working with the Titans?" screamed Clarisse.
"The greatest war in the history of mankind! Imagine the bloodshed." replied Ares with a grin. "Join me daughter, join the side of the victors. Olympus doesn't stand a chance."
Clarisse's face contorted angrily and she screamed " YOU COME TO MY HOME AND ATTACK YOUR FAMILY, YOUR OWN CHILDREN AND THEN EXPECT ME TO JOIN YOU? SO YOU REALLY HAVE BECOME A TRAITOR! YOU CAN ROT IN TARTARUS FOR ALL I CARE!"
"You're rebelling against your own father?" roared Ares and Percy shook his head and as his vision cleared he saw Ares pushing his daughter back. Percy searched for the scythe but he lost it when he Ares kicked him trough the air.
He needed something else, quickly or Clarisse would be torn to shreds by her own dad.
Percy took a throwing knife from his belt and threw it into Ares' upper arm. Clarisse rolled back and Percy ran toward the two, summoning his katana as he ran. Just as Ares was about to lunge at Clarisse again, shadows wrapped around his arm and stopped Ares from striking again. Percy threw another throwing knife into his stomach, but it bounced off the west.
He was able to tear away the shadows that had wrapped around his sword arm like snakes, but Clarisse thrust with the spear at that moment. It pierced the thigh and sent jolts of electricity through Ares' nerves.
He screamed and backhanded Clarisse in the face, who was thrown backward against another camper's shield and did not get up again.
Percy ran at him and with all his strength ripped the spear out of Ares' thigh, blocking a blow with the claymore. The force caused Percy's bones to vibrate, but he held firm. He swatted the sword to the side made a 360 turn and drove the spear through Ares' heel.
He cried out and fell to one knee, using the claymore to brace himself.
"Wave your haaaands in the aaaiiir like you don't caaaaareee! " Percy sang happily as he whirled around and swung his katana from the top. Ares screamed louder than Percy had ever heard as his hand was separated from his arm by the sword. A gush of golden ichor erupted from the wound and Percy couldn't even see the bone through it.
He was swinging his katana at Ares' head as tears welled up in his eyes when his blade suddenly hit another with a loud CLANK.
The other blade belonged to a sword and seemed to be made of bronze and steel, two metals just like Percy's katana. Percy let his gaze wander upward and looked into blue eyes. The 18 year old boy had a tall, athletic, muscular build. He had short-cropped sandy blonde hair, a sharp nose, and the sneaky look like all Hermes demigod children. He wore a ragged makeshift leather armor over his T-shirt and had a mischievous smile on his face.
"Ah ah can't have you killing the little war god already." he said and behind Percy someone gasped "Luke!"
Percy turned and saw Annabeth staring at him in disbelief with widened eyes. "I saw you die."
"Well, that wasn't real. Ares faked the whole thing and transported us both away."
"You made me think you were dead! " Annabeth screamed. "And now you've joined the Titans?"
"Not just now... a few months ago to be honest "Luke said, and with one swift movement swatted Percy's sword aside, forcing him to back away. "The age of the gods is over Annabeth and Kronos will destroy them. I have served him for a long time."
Now Percy recognized the voice. "It was you. You were in Tartarus and you retrieved out the sarcophagus."
Luke jerked his head around and stared at him. "How do you know about that?" he asked sharply.
"Oh you know. Took a walk in the fresh toxic air down there, just wanted some action and that's when I saw you going into the cave."
Luke just stared at him blankly.
"You stole the master bolt." Annabeth gasped, tears running down her cheeks. She was shaking and her dagger fell out of her hand.
"You lied to me, betrayed me." Her voice was trembling now too.
Luke just shook his head in disappointment. "Still a pawn of the gods Annabeth."
Then he spoke up, "Look around you, campers! Where are your parents now. A former Olympian has invaded your home and your parents don't give a shit about you. Where are they now? Join us, join Kronos. He will give you the recognition you deserve."
"Oh please, you seriously think the dude who ate his own children will do you any better? You truly are pathetic."
Percy waved his hand and focused on the pull in his stomach. Then he hit the ground with the gauntlet. Darkness exploded around him and Percy sent it at Ares who was clutching his arm stump, Luke and the few remaining monsters.
A wave of darkness hurled the God of War and the son of Hermes all the way back over the hill, and small shards of darkness shot like tiny projectiles at the monsters, destroying them.
The campers ran over the hill and just saw Luke and Ares disappear in a golden light. Annabeth sobbed when she saw Thalia's tree. Small fires had partially destroyed the wood and many needles were now falling. Black soot covered the lower part of the trunk.
Percy walked over to the stricken hand of Ares and picked it up. "High five? Anyone?" he asked.
Then everything went dark and all he could see was the ground closing in on him.
Thank you for all the nice comments, they really motivated me to first I was a little worried no one would even find my fanfic. What do you think about the chapter? Little thing just for you to know. I will not go with the golden fleece storyline because I want to do something different. Also fuck Sea of Monsters, I don't want to write pages over pages about sailing around. No no, it's gonna be something else. See ya~Deadzio
