Disclaimer: I don't own Percy Jackson or Harry Potter
The Unrelenting Frozen Seas: Symphony of Tempering
Chapter Twenty One: Dancing with the Devil
Beta: ShadowofAxios
As the battle for Camp began, Thalia waited with half of the Campers from Cabins Five, Nine and Ten on one side of Zeus' Fist whilst the other half waited on the other and watched as despite the accurate fire from the archers of Apollo Cabin, more and more enemies streamed out of the Labyrinth entrance underneath the pile of rocks.
"Is it time yet?" Someone asked. Thalia didn't catch who. It hadn't been the first time someone had asked either.
"We have a plan." Thalia hissed for the umpteenth time in the direction of the question. "We're going to stick to it."
Even if it was getting really hard to watch Percy, Rhode, the Demeter, Athena, Hermes and Dionysius kids try to hold the line at their pathetic excuse for a palisade with only a bunch of magical plants to help them. Though they were doing a fine job so far, it still hurt to not be able to help.
As if that wasn't bad enough, the defenders had a whole new thing to worry about as suddenly Kampê burst forth from the Labyrinth and everyone sucked in a breath in horror at the sight of the monster. She had snakes for hair; a black colored, four legged draconic lower body with white stripes down her back; hundreds of violent darting vipers sprouted from her legs; green reptilian skin that covered her humanoid upper body; gigantic claws; huge dark reptilian wings; a huge venom-dripping scorpion tail; and a churning mass of flesh where the humanoid upper body met the draconic lower body from which ferocious mutated animal heads that constantly changed shape kept boiling into existence. All in all, she was a terrifying monster and certainly lived up to her reputation. Hearing or reading about her didn't do her justice. Seeing her in the flesh was something else entirely.
And something that everyone in Camp had been praying they wouldn't run across even though they'd heard that the Crooked One's dread jailer was part of the invading army.
Not all of the Campers were frozen in horror at the sight of the dragon woman though as even as the she winged toward Camp, a barrage of bullet seeds, manticore quills and ice shards shot her way and Thalia knew that Rhode and Su were on the case.
Relieved she turned back towards Zeus Fist and saw the steady stream of enemies had finally slowed down to a trickle and after what seemed like forever, the last of the Titanic army had made their way out.
"Now!" Thalia roared and the nature spirits who had kept them hidden dropped their concealing magics even as they joined the Campers' ranks and charged at the enemy's rear.
Leading the charge with her copy of the horrific shield Aegis, Thalia sent any of the enemy in its path running at the first sight they caught of it and thus routing a whole section of the Titan Army. Sadly, that singled her out and suddenly in a flash of Celestial Bronze and steel, a mechanical arm hooked the edge of her shield and with an almighty tug that quite likely pulled her arm out of its socket, ripped her Aegis right off and tossed it into the chaos of the battlefield.
Howling in pain, she transformed into lightning to give her some distance from her attacker.
There goes the charge in my spear. I only have one left. Thalia thought as she transformed back next to a tree which she braced herself against and used as leverage to pop her shoulder back into its socket.
"Thalia," her attacker greeted as he walked over almost nonchalantly, escorted by a squad of Laistrygonians that surrounded the area like a bunch of fleshy walls, keeping any other Campers from coming to her aid.
Trying her best to shake off the pain, the raven haired girl held her spear and pointed it towards her attacker.
"Luke," Thalia hissed back as she surveyed what he'd become. It seemed that Su had really done a number on him back on Othrys and he'd had to replace his right arm. In its place was now a new automaton arm. One that looked like the front limbs of a praying mantis but which ended in his accursed double-edged sword made of tempered steel and Celestial Bronze. An arm that at full extension was probably longer than he was tall.
"Good to know the benefits of the Titan Army." Thalia couldn't help but remark, slightly stunned at how monstrous his new prosthetic made her former friend look.
Luke just shrugged and lashed out with said new addition to his anatomy, the twisted blade at its tip easily cutting the tree behind her in half as she just barely dove out of the way.
"It's not the prettiest." Luke admitted, as faster than she could aim he brought the arm close to somehow use it to block the static burst she shot his way. "But it's got its uses."
Thalia didn't bother to reply, just leapt back to her feet and charged at him. She considered using her last charge for her lightning speed technique but thought better of it. She might need it later. Instead she shot bolts of lightning at Luke to force him to keep his arm close so it wouldn't lash out at her as she closed.
Something that seemed to work, though the confident smirk he wore worried her a little.
She shoved that worry away as she got within range to run him through with her spear and jabbed it forward only for Luke to spin out of the way. Worse as he did, a sword, a normal Celestial Bronze one this time thankfully, appeared in his left hand and he used it to expertly disarm her in a show of swordsmanship that in any other circumstance would've left her impressed.
"Too predictable, Thalia." Luke critiqued blandly even as he lashed out with a kick that sent her flying.
She was only airborne for a minute though before that monstrous automaton arm of his lashed out and the cursed blade at its tip pierced her flesh. Rhode and Percy had described being wounded by the blade as immensely painful. Like being burned alive. Well, being pierced was ten times worse. She felt like her insides were trying to claw their way out of her body!
"Get over here!" Luke said with a chuckle as he pulled Thalia towards him and ripped his blade out, leaving Thalia collapsed in writhing agony at his feet. "Always wanted to say that."
"C-Comedian." Thalia hissed as she shot him a glare even as static danced around her body.
"What's wrong with having some fun?" Luke asked with a pout.
One that Thalia was more than happy to wipe off his face as in a burst of light, she transformed into a bolt of lighting and shot right through Luke. As he was still screaming and spasming from getting electrocuted, she stopped short, right behind him and transformed back and with a burst of electromagnetic manipulation summoned her spear back into her hands before stabbing it right into his back.
She felt it go right through his spine, and watched with satisfaction as Luke's legs collapsed like their strings had been cut. Even as he let out a rasping scream of agony, she pulled out a drachma and aimed it down.
Creating parallel charges down her arm, she flicked the coin and sent it flying, trailing a beam of plasma as her makeshift railgun sheared off her former friend's legs at the waist.
"You're done Luke." She said, her voice small as she felt something in her break a little as her former brother howled in agony. And it had nothing to do with her pushing past her limit on her high end techniques, leaving her utterly drained and leaning on her spear to just stay standing. "It's over."
She would've finished him off but before she could catch her breath, he was teleported away in a burst of darkness allowing him to escape the trial that he so rightfully deserved for all his crimes.
"L-Lucky bastard," she wheezed even as a Laistrygonian collapsed next to her with a spear through its brain and Clarrise riding its body down to the ground.
"Thalia, catch!" The daughter of Ares said, tossing a bottle of Nectar Thalia's way.
Catching it more on instinct than anything else, the daughter of Zeus proceeded to drink the whole thing in only a few gulps.
"Thanks, I needed that." Thalia replied as she dropped the empty bottle. The tingling burn from the drink of the gods ran through her unpleasantly as it restored her stamina even as she added. "You see my shield?"
"Here," another Ares Camper, too far away for her to properly recognise, shouted as he tossed it to her Captain America style and she caught it with her electrokinesis.
"Thanks!" She shouted back as she began strapping her Aegis back on. "Let's kill us some monsters! For Olympus!"
Her battlecry was picked up by Campers all around her in the messy melee that the fighting in their area had become and it was to the sound of it being repeated time and time again that Thalia ran towards a Cyclops that was giving a couple of Hephaestus kids some trouble.
The moment Kampê had flown out of the Labyrinth on her huge dark reptilian wings, Rhode knew she'd be a problem.
"Su," she called out to her wife even as she pulled water from the magically expanded canteen on her belt before proceeding to call on her cryokinesis to freeze it solid into lances of ice that she sent hurtling through the air at the monster.
The brilliant daughter of Demeter didn't need her prompting though and had already transformed a host of Helel's vines into manticore tails and sunflowers and was blasting away at the ancient monster with quills and bullet seeds. Not that they, nor Rhode's ice lances, did any good. Kampê's hide must have been super thick as they all just bounced off it harmlessly.
"That tickles," the monster shouted as she dove towards them.
"Shit!" Rhode, or was it Su, shouted in dismay as Su wrapped one of Helel's vines around the daughter of Poseidon's shoulders and the latter spun on the spot causing them to disappear in a pop.
They reappeared a short distance away, just in time to see Kampê smash into the watchtower that Rhode and Su had been occupying like a missile, leveling it and the section of the palisade in front of it like they were made of nothing more than matchsticks.
"Over here, you old hag!" Rhode shouted as loudly as she could.
They had to draw Kampê away from the palisade. If she was allowed to wreck more of it then the rest of the Titan army could basically just walk into Camp and that wasn't even accounting for what she could do to any Campers all on her lonesome.
Su was on the same page if the way she proceeded to slam the fists of her Ent Armor into the ground and cause a massive collection of roots shaped like a hand to burst out of the ground to grab the Crooked One's Jailor up before tossing her towards them was any clue.
"Su, did I tell you that you're awesome today?" Rhode asked even as with an angry hiss Kampê spread her wings and leveled her flight, before taking a second to survey the battlefield.
"No," Su said with a grin even as the dragon woman spotted them and began diving towards them. "But fight now. Flirt later."
"Yes, Honey." Rhode said with a chuckle even as she raised her hand towards Kampê and gathered her magic. "Επικαλούνται: άβυσσα φυλακή [Epikaloúmai: ávyssa fylakí / Invoke: Abyssal Prison]!"
Even as the ancient monster was surrounded by the prison of abyssal water conjured by Rhode's spell, she held no illusions about it being able to hold her long. It did however buy them a precious few seconds for Su to apparate them even further away from Camp.
They had just rematerialized when in a primal roar of rage, Kampê burst free from her prison by cutting through the sphere with two wicked looking scythes.
Her nostrils flared for a second and suddenly the dragon woman shot towards Rhode and Su like a rocket. She'd moved so quickly that neither of them really had time to react.
Thankfully, they didn't need to. Seconds before the ancient monster could reach them there was suddenly an avalanche's worth of rocks flying at her. Moving too fast and caught too much by surprise to react, Kampê was hit dead on and crashed to the ground, buried under tons upon tons of rock.
"Kampê, I'm not afraid of you anymore!" A massive giant with one hundred arms that protruded from his chest shouted.
"Then I shall remind you why you should, Briares!" Kampê roared as she burst out from under the mountain of rock that the giant had buried her under. "You are a fool to have come here."
"Yes, but so are you." A terrifyingly familiar voice said from behind Rhode and she spun around to see Tanya the God Butcher hovering in the air some distance behind Su and her with her gun pointed in the direction of Kampê.
Before Rhode could do anything. Not that she knew what she wanted to do. The immortal sorceress pulled the trigger and sent an immense beam of light flying towards Kampê that consumed the ancient monster in seconds.
Annabeth was standing on the battlements that they had built around Camp and like everyone on the battlefield was suddenly blinded by a flash of light in the distance. Acting on well honed instinct, even blind she slit the throat of the Dracanae that had been climbing up the ladder in front of her and pushed it off, sending the piece of climbing equipment crashing down to the ground.
Only then, blinking spots out of her eyes, did she turn to see what had been the source of the light and felt her blood freeze at what she saw.
Hovering in midair over the woods was the Devil of the Rhine and a stream of gold dust was flowing into a pouch she wore on the belt around her waist. Essence that if the missing form of Kampê was anything to go by, had come from the ancient monster.
And to get it… She killed Kampê!?
Annabeth didn't have the opportunity to try to further make sense of the situation as just then with the sound of numerous pops, dozens of wizards apparated onto the battlefield and immediately began indiscriminately attacking both sides.
Ducking under a fiery orange beam of light that was shot her away along with a shout of Confringo from its caster, Annabeth rolled away from the explosion the spell caused and leapt to her feet just in front of the wizard who she promptly disarmed by using her dagger to relieve him of his wand hand.
So Celestial Bronze works on them? Good.
He screamed bloody murder but Annabeth silenced him with a quick slice across his throat. Yes, she'd killed a mortal, but in a battle as chaotic as this, she had no time for mercy. Besides, he'd tried to kill her first. She had no sympathy for him.
"Don't hesitate!" Annabeth shouted at her fellow Campers, as she ducked under a brace of poorly aimed conjured arrows and threw her knife, burying it inside the head of the witch who had attacked her. "Kill the wizards before they kill you!"
"Annaberh is right! Don't hesitate!" Malcolm shouted, even as he caught a wizard by surprise from behind as he rushed to check on the woman that Annabeth had just killed and ran him through with his sword.
Pushing the corpse off his blade, he proceeded to pluck Annabeth's knife out of the dead witch's head and tossed it back in her direction.
"Thanks," Annabeth said with a grateful nod at her brother as she pulled the knife out of the palisade where it had embedded itself from his throw.
"Don't mention it," she absently heard him reply even as she spun around to decapitate a Telekhine that had been climbing the wall behind her and took a moment as she pushed its ladder down to survey the battlefield.
Thanks to the wizards, things had gotten even more messy than it already had been. What with them running around trying to kill anything that they could and the streams of golden essence belonging to monster, half-blood and nature spirit alike that was now flowing through the sky and towards the Devil of the Rhine as they died. The cursed sorceress was taking advantage of the battle to reap a bloody harvest.
And we can't do a damned thing about it!
Well, that wasn't entirely true. As off in the distance she could see Briares let out a warcry in the ancient tongue as his many hands began tearing massive chunks of earth from the ground that he proceeded to throw at the sorceress
Yet, for every volley he threw, the Devil danced around his projectiles with a manic laugh. Even as Rhode and Su added their own projectiles to the barrage being thrown at her, the child-like immortal continued to evade it all with ease and an unending deranged laughter.
The Hekatonkheire however refused to yield. Not even as he began to fearfully back away from the demented creature in the shape of a human as she slowly but steadily closed with him.
"You won't be getting away, little Hundred-Handed One." The immortal taunted even as Annabeth distractedly stabbed a Laistrygonian trying to climb the wall without a ladder through the eye.
"Stay away!" Briares shouted fearfully even as transforming herself into a beam of light, the Devil of the Rhine shot across the remaining distance separating them.
The Hekatonkheire weaved his hands into a shield of flesh in one last desperate bid to protect himself. Yet it meant nothing as Tanya's magical blade sundered through this last desperate defense like it was nothing. With Briares' hands in the way, Annabeth couldn't see clearly but the immortal must have hit something vital because with one last horrendous gasp, the giant's many famous limbs began falling lifelessly to the ground.
The death gasp seemed to silence the whole battlefield and everyone turned to Briaries as his few still mobile hands clawed at his chest as if not understanding what had happened.
"And so ends a legacy. Goodbye, you malfigured coward." The Devil said dismissively as she flew away from the giant's body as it collapsed to its knees and began to disintegrate into gold dust. Dust that flowed into the pouch tied to her belt. "Join your faded brothers, creature. Forever lost."
Annabeth felt a chill go down her spine at those words. Though whether that was from the words themselves or the fact that she'd just seen two of the most ancient figures of the Hellenistic mythos killed, she couldn't be sure. What she did know though was that she needed to-
"Snap out of it!" She barked at her fellow Campers. "We still have a battle to win."
We can worry about everything after we win.
"Did you see that?" Lee shouted in dismay to Emily, Gaige, Penny, Deathtrap, Fergus and Atlanta as they massacred their way - there was no other way to describe it with the ease with which they were dispensing with their enemies - through a phalanx of Dracanae. "The Devil of the Rhine just killed Briares!"
"Is she coming to join the fight?" Emily asked absently as she swung that whip of hers at a group of fleeing snake women and decapitated the lot of them.
"No, but-" Lee began, only for Fergus to cut him off.
"Then ignore it!" The Scotsman shouted as he crushed the skull of another snake woman with a punch of his gauntlets. "We have enough shite to deal with."
"I wouldn't really call this a problem." Atlanta said as she took out a Laistrygonian that was heading their way with an arrow through the eye. "This is more like pest control."
"That's true." Gaige said as she and her two automaton children blasted away at a pack of Hellhounds that tried to flank them with their energy weapons.
"Lee Jordan, is that you?" A familiar voice shouted from nearby and Lee spun around in the air, the wings of his flying sneakers beating extra fast in reaction to his surprise, and spotted Marcus Flint of all people blasting away at a group of Telekhines with Exploding Charms.
"Oh cripes, what the Pit are you doing here, Flint?!" He shouted at the graduated Slytherin as he flew over to him.
"Killing monsters and mudbloods to collect their essence for Lady Tanya." The Slytherin said with a shrug. "She says she needs it to buy us some supplies."
"You're working with the Devil of the Rhine!?" Lee asked, horrified. "Why!?"
"'Cos she promised to help us drive out the muggles occupying the Wizarding World that's why. Besides it's not like these folk," Flint said with a dismissive gesture at everything around them. "Are worth much."
"You're the one who isn't worth much, you waste of space!" Emily shouted as her whip lashed forward quickly and snapped Flint's wand in half.
The wizard didn't seem to even notice as he spun towards Lee's friends and shouted, "Bombarda!"
Except instead of causing an explosion in the midst of the half-bloods, with his wand broken, his spell backfired and he was consumed in a small explosion that left him a screaming, burned mess.
"What's a wizard without his stick? A little mere mortal." Emily smiled coldly over the man's screams.
Screams that were silenced by a plasma round to the head courtesy of Deathtrap.
"Hostile silenced." The automaton said, sounding almost proud.
"Was that necessary?" Lee asked with a frown as he used his throwing knives to kill a flock of Stymphalian Birds that were flying their way.
"Yeah, just in case he somehow got back up." Gaige said with a shrug. "Or did you forget Battle 101?"
Lee frowned but nodded. Gaige was right.
"We can talk about having to kill your friend later, Lee." Atlanta said as she peppered a dragon that had been giving Mr. D's twins some trouble with her arrows. "But right now we have a battle to fight. So compartmentalize."
"Penny, go help Pollux bring Castor to the Big House!" Emily ordered. "He looks like he needs Chiron yesterday!"
"Yes, Creator Two!" Penny replied as she ran to help the two sons of Dionysus, even as the dragon turned its attention towards them.
"Think Castor will make it?" Gaige asked as she adjusted something on her Tesla cannon.
"No time to think about that." Lee grimaced as he sent another knife sailing, sinking it into the head of a traitorous half-blood that thought to exploit the distraction of the incoming dragon to ambush them.
"I want me a dragon leather coat!" Fergus shouted as he ran towards the monstrous reptile.
"Let's just kill this thing." Atlanta said with an exasperated sigh that was shared by everyone there except Deathtrap, who wasn't programmed with the emotional depth for it.
Typical Fergus. Lee thought with a bemused smile as he and his friends once more fought for their lives.
"Bad cyclops, bad cyclops. Go back to Pit." Percy heard Tyson, his own cyclops brother, scold his traitorous brethren as they laid the smackdown on a group of them. Percy with Riptide and his hydrokinesis and Tyson with a good old fashioned big stick.
They were just about done, Percy had just slit the throat of his last opponent and Tyson had bashed the head in of his, when suddenly a flurry of beams of light shot their way.
Percy easily used the water he'd surrounded himself with to surf away and thankfully Tyson had the good sense to duck under the barrage.
"Who the hell-"
"Hello, sons of Poseidon." A tall and extremely handsome young man with chiselled features, dark hair, and bright grey eyes in wizard's robes said as he stalked towards them. "Lady Tanya sent me to reap your essences and I must oblige. I'll have to send my apologies to Rhode after I'm done."
"You know sister?" Tyson asked as he stood, ripping a chunk of earth out of the ground as he did that he promptly tossed at the wizard.
Who just waved his wand and transformed the boulder sized ball of dirt into a flock of birds that he sent flying back at Tyson.
"We went to Hogwarts together." The wizard said conversationally as he spun on his feet, avoiding Percy's water bolts even as he finished the move needed to apparate and reappeared behind the son of Poseidon in a bang. "Colloshoo!"
Percy tried to spin around to face the wizard but found his shoes were suddenly stuck to the ground, so he ended up twisting his ankle even as he fell to the floor.
"Deprimo!" Percy heard the wizard cast even as he slipped out of his shoes and used his water to heal himself, just in time for the wizard's latest spell to cause the ground under the son of Poseidon to explode and send him flying.
"The name, at least in this life, is Cedric Diggory." The wizard said with the same nonchalant air he'd maintained throughout the whole fight as he turned away from Percy, who was busy using what water he had left to heal his many injuries from the blast.
"I think I'll let you heal a bit before finishing you off. I do like a fair fight." The wizard said with a predatory smirk. "So for now. Fumos."
His latest spell conjured a smokescreen that obscured Percy's vision.
"Oh, and just to make sure you don't interfere before I'm done with the cyclopes. Confundo." The wizard cast, causing a haze of confusion to fall over Percy's mind.
For a moment, he forgot where he was and what he was doing. It lasted for only a minute though before a pained cry from Tyson snapped him out of it.
"Tyson!" He howled and zeroing in on his brother's voice he ran through the smokescreen straight in his direction.
"Damn. You shook it off already?" The wizard said as he turned away from where he had Tyson trapped in a large bubble that was slowly constricting him despite his best efforts to break free. "You half-bloods sure are resistant to magic."
"Let my brother go!" Percy roared as he used his hydrokinesis to pull some groundwater together and caused it to erupt under Diggory like a geyser, only for him to apparate away.
Expecting it this time, Percy dove out of the way before whatever spell he had in mind for him hit. At least he thought the wizard had cast a spell but there was no light beam for it so he couldn't be sure. Though the popping of the bubble trapping Tyson behind him seemed to imply there had been.
"Well damned," the wizard said as he swung his wand at Percy at Tyson. "My own Sea Urchin Jinx puncturing my Ebublio Jinx? Talk about friendly fire. Confringo."
Even as he spoke, a barrage of fiery orange spells flew at the two brothers and they both rolled and ducked out of the way respectively. They were still getting their bearings from their rapid evasions when suddenly they were caught up in explosions and were sent flying.
"Ah~! The good old Exploding Charm. A bit dull, but a classic nonetheless." The wizard said appreciatively as the two sons of Poseidon struggled to recover from the blasts they'd been caught in.
"W-When?" Percy managed to wheeze out.
I really hate magic.
"What did you think just because I said one incantation that meant it had to be that spell? That I only cast one spell?" The wizard taunted with a laugh. "Subvocalizing is a thing, sons of Poseidon. And so is deception."
Percy officially hated this guy. He knew he went to school with Rhode, but damn did he just want to stab him.
"N-No light." Tyson noted as he staggered to his feet.
"And some spells just don't have any big guy." The wizard said as he raised his wand at him. "But I think I've had enough fun. Time to end this-"
"Like Pit you will!" Annabeth shouted as she dropped the invisibility of her Yankees hat and literally cut off the man's hand, wand and all.
"Ouch," Diggory said as he spun on the spot and apparated away. "What a rude young lady you are. This is a rental! And just my luck that working for Lady Tanya means we're considered not-mortal by the Ancient Laws. The Overgods are jerks for making that rule. It makes HR a nightmare."
"You talk too much!" Clarisse shouted as she tossed a javelin at the man who amazingly stepped out of the way whilst absently pulling a new wand out of a pocket with his remaining hand and casting a spell to cauterize the stump of his other one.
"I am good enough to do so." The wizard said with a shrug, even as he eyed the area around them and noted that the ring of his subordinates that he'd used to keep away interlopers were either dead or unconscious, allowing Campers to flood the area.
"Percy, here. Have some ambrosia." Will Solace from Apollo Cabin said as he fell to one knee next to where Percy was using Riptide to struggle up to a kneeling position and handed him an ambrosia square. Even as one of Will's sisters went to check up on Tyson.
"Tch, looks like this battle is lost. I don't need my Supersensory Charm to see that" The wizard said with a frown, all whilst almost casually dancing around the various projectiles and elemental attacks sent his way. "Oh well, I'm sure Lady Tanya has harvested more than enough essence already. I guess I'm free to leave."
With that he spun on the spot and apparated away, causing the latest salvo of attacks headed his way to sail right through where he'd been standing.
"I really don't like that guy." Percy announced as he finished his ambrosia square and stood. "How are we doing?"
"The Titan Army is retreating. A lot of them got roasted by the wizards and their surprise attack. We did better there. And now with this guy gone, I'm thinking the wizards are gonna follow his lead." Will told him helpfully.
"They are," Annabeth said as she rushed over. "Percy, you alright?"
"I'm fine." Percy reassured his girlfriend. "Tyson?"
"Good to fight." His brother said, smacking his club into his open palm. "Still monsters to smash."
Percy glanced out from the cluster of Campers that surrounded him and noted that Annabeth and Tyson were right. There didn't seem to be any more wizards on the field but there certainly were plenty of monsters still. Like the group of Hellhounds and Dracanae that were charging their way.
"Let's kill some monsters!" Percy shouted as he and his fellow Campers charged into the fray once more.
Rhode and Su could only stand helpless, the Devil of the Rhine flying around their attacks like they were mere minor inconveniences, as the accursed immortal finished off Briares.
"You monster!" Rhode shouted as suddenly she was enshrouded in the aura of purple crackling and snapping flames of Lord Dionsyus' blessing. "Sagitta Infernum (Arrow Hell)!"
Pointing Spellbound at the pixie-like Tanya far above, she sent hundreds of green and purple arcane bolts hurtling at the enemy. Energy bled from them as they exploded with far more force then they usually had as she tried to box the immortal in.
"You know, if you want me, all you had to do was ask." Tanya said with a deranged cackle as she dove towards Rhode and Su.
"Su!" Rhode shouted even as her wife wrapped a vine around her shoulders and apparated the both of them out of the way.
Unlike Kampê though, Tanya didn't crash into the ground and instead managed to gracefully pull out of her dive and with a barrel roll type maneuver turned in their direction and opened fire.
Su though was ready for that and even seconds before the lasers started flying, a sturdy wall of roots shot out of the ground and shielded them. The brilliant light of the lasers bore into the rapidly growing roots, tearing through them but by the time they blasted through neither half-blood were there.
"Scorpionem Seras (Crossbow Bolt)!" Rhode incanted as she rematerialized from her apparation right above Tanya and stabbing down towards her with Spellbound, sent a supersized ballista bolt shaped, green and purple bolt of arcane energy flying at the surprised sorceress.
To her credit, the Devil of the Rhine managed to jink out of the way and the arcane bolt exploded harmlessly on the ground, throwing up a large cloud of dust. She was not however able to evade as Su shot through the cloud on her broom and proceeded to decapitate her with her Celestial Bronze sword whilst she was overcoming her surprise.
"I hate losing my head." The decapitated head said as it fell to the ground only for its body to catch it before it hit the earth, even as Su caught Rhode before she too touched the soil and with the ease of practice she slid behind her wife on the daughter of Demeter's broom.
"Holy Olympus!" Su breathed in horror and Rhode could only gulp in agreement as Tanya put her head back on the stump of her neck and cast some kind of healing spell and was then right as rain again. All in the matter of seconds.
"You will have to do better than that to put me down." Tanya said tauntingly as she stretched her neck. "But good try, it's been a long time since I lost my head."
"What does it take to kill you, you bitch." Rhode hissed, her aura flaring and its flames crackling viciously as if in response to her incredulous anger.
"I'll let you know if I ever find out." Tanya said with a shrug. "Now then, shall we continue our little dance?"
"Su!" Rhode shouted in warning even as her wife was already pouring on the speed with her broom as they shot away from the sorceress as she unleashed a storm of lasers that obliterated the stretch of forest ahead of her and lazily began shifting her fire towards them.
"She's playing with us." Su noted with dismay. "She's not really trying."
"I know." Rhode hissed even as the sky rumbled in warning and she sent a Sagitta Infernum at the sorceress only to have her spell completely consumed by counter fire.
Uncle, for the love of Olympus, just give me this one pass! Please! Rhode prayed in her mind. Against her, we need everything we can get!
Zeus wasn't listening though and a bolt of lightning streaked down towards them. Thankfully, it was preceded by one last warning rumble and Su and Rhode managed a hasty apparation before it shot down from the sky.
Rhode rematerialized right on top of Tanya and the lightning homed in on them vindictively. Just like planned.
"Wha-!?" The sorceress managed before the bolt hit them both, throwing up a massive explosion that sent Rhode flying. Her Pallas Armor and various other protections kept her mostly safe from the blast and any minor injuries she sustained were already healing courtesy of the water her Armor generated.
Thank you, Uncle. Your genius knows no bounds.
The sky rumbling in distinctly confused appreciation was her only reply.
"And now I'm toasted." The immortal said as she staggered out of the crater the lightning had left behind looking like a charred zombie though already her blackened, burnt skin was flaking off and revealing fresh, unhurt skin underneath.
That was exactly when Helel's vines shot out from the edge of the clearing that had been created in the woods thanks to their fight to wrap around Tanya's limbs and pulled hard. Hard enough that in sprays of blood, her limbs were ripped from her body.
"And now I've lost my limbs." Tanya whined as Su stepped into the clearing, tossing the sorceress' arms and legs as far away as she could have Helel throw them. "Do you know how bloody inconvenient it'll be to regrow them!?"
"Do we look like we care?" Rhode asked as she rushed over, skewered Tanya by her torso with Spellbound and stabbed her into a tree. "Bombarda."
The Exploding Charm blew what was left of the sorceress' body into a fine red mist.
"Thanks for that." The accursed loli said from behind Rhode and she spun around to see said mist reform into her whole, unscathed but unclothed body behind her. The only article of clothing she had on was the belt and satchel around her waist that she was using to collect the essence of the fallen. "That sped things up by a lot."
Rhode hastily called on the water in her magically expanded canteen on her belt and used it to raise a wall of ice to protect herself but the laser Tanya sent at her was more than enough to blast through it and send her crashing through the forest.
"You done goofed, silly girl." The psycho said with a laugh as she shot into the air and effortlessly danced out of the bullet seeds and manticore quills Su shot her way.
"Oh go jump into a volcano." Su shouted as she kept firing even as the crazy just kept cackling. Not stopping even as Rhode added her own spellfire to the mix.
"Did that, not as much fun as you might think. Anyways, I'm bored. You two are boring me." The sorceress replied after a minute or two of just laughing at their helplessness before her. "I'm going and I'm taking my not dead minions with me. I need to get a new outfit anyways."
With that nonplussed declaration, the blonde transformed into a beam of light and shot away from Camp.
"I hate that woman." Rhode hissed as she walked over to Su who had collapsed to her knees and was sipping from a bottle of Nectar.
"Same." Su said as she pulled out another bottle of Nectar and offered it to Rhode.
"We need to get back to the battlefield." Rhode said as she gratefully accepted the bottle even as Lord Dionysus' blessing faded and her aura disappeared, leaving her feeling exhausted. "I know it was the plan but we've gotten pretty far from the fighting."
"It looks like I'm late." Grover noted with a frown as he ran through the woods past fleeing monsters that were too scared and busy running away to even pay him any attention, much less try to eat him. Not that he was particularly afraid of that at the moment. Not with the power of Pan coursing through his veins.
Spotting a particularly tall tree, he climbed it with a series of graceful leaps that he would've never managed before he'd met his late god in the Labyrinth and received his deathbed blessing. Reaching the top of the tree, Grover surveyed the area around Camp and confirmed that, yes, the battle was indeed winding down. Most of the Titan Army were fleeing like he'd seen earlier, many in an outright rout but some like the Dracanae and traitorous demigods in a semblance of order.
He felt a rumble in his chest, gnawing at him at how late he was. He could have helped, done more.
Now? Now, he could only cry out.
What came out of his mouth wasn't a startled bleat like would usually escape his lips though, instead it was a mighty roar as channeling the power bestowed upon him, he let loose his late Lord's famous Panic and sending the remainder of the enemies on the field into confusion as they began running for their lives as unnatural fear filled their hearts.
"To the Pit with you." Grover said with a smile of satisfaction at the sight even as his strength left him and he collapsed against the trunk of the tree and sat down on the sturdy branch he'd been perched on.
He might've been late but even so, he was at least able to do something for his family.
"You did good, Grover." Juniper said as she stepped out of the tree and wrapped her arms around him.
"Juniper?" Grover asked, blinking in confusion at his dryad girlfriend's sudden appearance. This wasn't her tree. How had she managed to just show up like this? "How?"
"Pinefresh here is my friend, she let me walk through her." Juniper explained. "You won us the battle."
"I just helped with the mop up." Grover said honestly.
"Nonsense," Juniper said with a shake of her head. "The Dracanae and the traitors still had plenty of fight in them. If you didn't show up and used Panic, we'd still be fighting. You won the battle, my goaty hero."
"If you say so," Grover said disbelievingly.
"I do say so!" Juniper said, giving his forehead a tender kiss. "Now let's get you down, how you bounded up here was amazing."
"It was nothing," Grover said tiredly as Juniper picked him up in a princess carry and leapt down from her friend's branches with effortless ease.
"Humble as always, my goaty hero." Juniper said with a bemused smile as she carried him back to Camp and their friends. "It's good to have you home."
"I'm home, Juniper."
"Welcome back, Grover."
Done and done! Thanks to Nameless and Axios as always!
Another rollercoaster of a chapter huh? Big fight scene and we are really belting these out. Two books in only a few chapter arcs each? Crazy. Anyway, hope the battle was to you guys' liking. We tried to change it up a bit, like we usually tend to do. With new leaders, skill sets to exploit and other ideas, it was fun to try and test what was going on. Like Luke, and his new… arm. Yeah, Kronos was not so forgiving when it came to that. Good on you Crooky, making your lackey look cyberpunkish. And Thalia busted out her new move, as shown with Luke probably needing new legs and a spine. Poor traitor.
Nameless: Just to clarify, Kronos gave that arm to Luke as punishment. He'd prefer his vessel be all nice and intact but since Luke couldn't manage that, it was punishment time. After all, he only needs his vessel for a little while so he can make do with a crappy one if need be but letting someone disappoint him and get away with it? That kinda precedent is long lasting.
And for reals, screw Tanya. Curse your cursed immortality! You deviant loli hag! Wish we killed that horse of hers though, too bad he wasn't there. At least Rhode got to use her blessing from Dionysus and got Zeus to be actually helpful! So now Rhode has purple, yay purple! Maybe it'll let her drink more? Who knows.
Nameless: So the main thing about this chapter was showcasing how scary Tanya can be and to a lesser extent her minions like Cedric. Hopefully, we managed that. We especially liked how even with Dionysus' blessing and a dose of Zeus' lightning, Tanya just wouldn't stay dead. Do you agree? Let us know.
You know what to do! Smash that review button and tell us what you love! No flames and peace off my peeps!