Nico's POV
As soon as I saw the army, I knew we'd either be deeply screwed or survive, but with incredibly low survivors. Large volumes of monsters poured out of the labyrinth with even larger waves somehow following. Not wanting to give the army a chance to get closer, the hunters and the children of Apollo began to shoot waves after waves of arrows, easily decimating over fifty monsters in one go. They kept shooting arrow after arrow, but no matter how fast they shot, it wasn't enough, and soon enough, the monsters got too close to be shot with arrows. As soon as this happened, Clarisse screamed "CHARGE!" and all of the Ares cabin charged forward in a phalanx formation and quickly cut down any monsters near them, with Clarisse stabbing monster after monster with her electric spear, and slowly we started to gain ground. I pulled out my Stygian Sword and stabbed it into the ground and forced as much power as I could into the sword, and soon enough, a large crack appeared on the ground, which continued to grow and large skeletons poured out, all of them wearing black armour with a range of weapons in their hands, varying from spears, to swords, to daggers, to even staffs with two sharp tips. I let out a small groan and pulled out my sword and pointed it at the opposing army and they rushed forward, chopping as many monsters possible. I took a few more seconds to regain my lost energy, and rushed forward and hacked at any monsters that I could, and for a second, a short sweet second, it looked like we might make it out alive, but then, a powerful roar shook the very ground and all the fighting stopped. I looked around trying to find the source of the voice, and my attention snapped to the labyrinth where it looked like something large was attempting to break out. As soon as I was going to move towards it, a second roar escaped and almost burst my eardrums. I raised my hands to ears to cover them, and when I looked back up, I saw a monstrous beast standing at the back of the army. Kampe.
It looked like it was angry beyond comprehension and was staring around with eyes full of a blend of anger and hunger. Its eyes scanned over the army until it landed on me. Its eyes narrowed, and it took a step, with the earth trembling under the force. It took another, and another, and another, and another, until it was almost in front of me. It beared its sharp canine teeth and hissed, "Son of Hades, I will enjoy tearing you apart for what you have done". And with that, it rushed forward with surprising speed and attempted to slash at me with its poison green sickles, and I narrowly avoided them, and before I could comprehend what happened, I felt myself being flown back with me hitting several trees on my way. I nearly screamed from the pain of this and tried to stand up, but the pain was too much and I fell onto one knee. I forced my neck up a bit and saw Kampe approaching me, with its sickles ready. "Father, please help me, I know we haven't met often, but please, help" I whispered to nowhere in particular, hoping my father heard, but nothing happened, and I closed my eyes, awaiting the final blow. I waited for a second and then another, and suddenly, I heard a loud clang just above my head and turned to look at what happened, and I must say, what I saw surprised me even more. Kampe's sickles were just above my neck, but blocking them was a sheathed katana that was somehow able to bear the force of Kampe's sickles. I turned to look at who was stopping my death and to my shock, it was the man who saved me from Thorn at Westover.
The man turned to look at Kampe who had a look of shock on its face. "Tut Tut Tut Kampe, now now, don't you think it's unfair that you're attacking a mere child of Hades, perhaps you should try your luck with me, after all, I'm sure my cousin has told you who I am". I was slightly angry at the fact that he called me a mere son of Hades but then became slightly confused. He called Kronos cousin, and then I remembered what Bianca told me about him. He had primordial parents, that explained it. I looked at Kampe who had a look of shock on its face. Almost immediately though, it tried to slash at him, but he merely swatted the sickles aside like they were nothing. and with the bottom of his sheath, he hit Kampe's stomach who flew back from the force of the hit and ended up killing a large number of monsters from how she landed. I quickly stood up and turned to look at what had happened to the fight and saw that all of the monsters were still fighting, but the hellhounds simply sat like nothing was happening. The guy snapped his fingers, and as if a command had been issued, all of the hellhounds let out a powerful howl and rushed away from the battle into the shadows and disappeared. Everyone couldn't help but look in shock, myself included. As if a pause button had been pressed, everyone stopped fighting and looked at the guy in pure fear. I too was staring at him, but I was snapped out of shock by a voice.
"You cannot win, as long as the labyrinth lives, the monsters will try to overrun the camp". I turned to look at the owner of the voice and to my major surprise it was Quintus, I mean Daedalus.
Before I could reply, the guy spoke. "Son of Athena, as long as you live, the labyrinth will live. As Janus will have informed you years ago, two paths stand before you, which will you take. Choose well, the fate of your siblings and the campers rest on it".
Daedalus looked at the figure with a look in his eyes that I couldn't properly explain, and he replied, "You are correct heir of darkness, but should I die, Minos will ensure that I end up in the fields of punishment".
I heard a scream and turned to see a young camper around the age of 13 as she was impaled by a sword, and knowing it was the only way to make sure that more people didn't die, I turned to Daedalus and said, "I will personally make sure Minos isn't on the judging table for your judgement if you make the right choice".
He closely looked at me and raised an eyebrow, "You may be his son, but you hold no power over such matters, your father has for as long as possible upheld traditions, and you are not the first of his children to ask such a request to your father, what makes you think that things will be different". I couldn't come up with a response but fortunately, I didn't need to.
"His father owes me deeply son of Athena, I will ensure that you are judged fairly, but you must make your choice rapidly, for Kampe is nearly awake, and my sisters will not permit me to stay here much longer" came the response of the guy whose name I did not know.
Daedalus carefully analysed his face, and after a minute, he sighed and turned to look at me. "I have lived my life for many years, and I have seen how careless the gods have become. Promise me that you will make sure that the gods claim their children, promise me". Just as I was about to respond, he held up his hand and said, "Take care of Mrs O'Leary and make sure to give my laptop to my sister who accompanied you", and with that, he unsheathed his sword, he readied the sword at his chest, and with a great push, he shoved it inside himself, with the tip of the sword being visible from the back, and slowly but surely, the life was drained from his eyes, and it all ended with a groan.
As soon as this was over, the guy turned around and cracked his knuckles and said, "Now that that is over, I shall deal with what remains of the army son of Hades". And just like that, he unsheathed his katana with a fluidity that only the great samurai of the past could dream of achieving, and he stared at Kampe, and in the blink of an eye rushed forward and stabbed the monster through the stomach before swiftly pulling it out and chopping of the head of such a hideous beast. It didn't even get to make a noise before it exploded into golden dust. The figure wasted no time and he rushed forward decapitating what remained of the monsters within a minute. As soon as all of the monsters were finished, he sheathed his katana and turned to look at us. He walked towards the remaining demigods, but before he could get too close Zoe spoke.
"Get away from here devil spawn, or I shall force thou out of here".
The figure looked at her with a small grin on his face, and said, "Do you truly believe that you can defeat me daughter of Atlas. Your father is a mere Titan, my parents are primordial, I am in a level of power beyond your comprehension. You should feel joy at the mere knowledge that you live another day, had it not been for my aunt, I would have happily enjoyed watching you die at the hands of your father. You should feel lucky my sisters do not believe your survival to be significant or they would have snapped your thread as soon as they saw what I did".
I looked at Zoe, who for once couldn't come up with something to say back. After a few minutes, she managed to form a somewhat of a response. "Thou darest speak to me in that tone, I shall castrate thou right now".
He looked at her, and the small grin he once had, was now a full-blown smile. He quickly said, "Do you believe you have a chance when the greatest warrior Olympus has produced struggled, who I shall remind you was your goddess, was unable to land a hit on me. Do you believe yourself to be above your lady? If so, then go on, try your luck, but I can assure you that you will not even make it a step before your head rolls off your neck. Zoe looked infuriated, but just as she was about to step forward, a large flash appeared, and once it died down, it showed the three old women that I had seen at the bus stop selling wool.
They spoke together with a bellowing voice, "Our brother is right daughter of Atlas, you only live right now because of him, you should feel grateful and learn some humility, or perhaps we shall follow our original plan and cut your thread".
This seemed to shut Zoe up, and she let a stream of curses escape her mouth as she stormed off away from the fates and headed towards the Artemis cabin.
The Fates turned around and looked at the guy before nodding, and flashing out. The guy looked around for a second before his eyes settled on me. He slowly walked towards me, but before he could take more than 5 steps, Clarisse, shouted, "What do you want with him?!".
He looked at her, and said, "You are a great warrior for someone your age, but you should learn to not involve yourself in matters that do not concern you, it is a lesson that will help you later on in life". Clarisse looked dumbfounded by his compliment, and I could swear I saw her blush, but I shrugged it off. He slowly made his way towards me and as soon as he was in front of me, he said, "Son of Hades, you will have to make a choice soon, and whatever choice you make, it will result in either the survival or destruction of Olympus. Do not let the sacrifices of your comrades be in vain. Until we meet again". And with that, he shadow travelled himself away and I just stood there thinking about what he said.