The King's Dilemma
Ascension of the Fallen: Chapter 25
The night was silent. The chirping of the crickets, the singing of the birds, the ribbits of the frogs- all absent.
Eight figures stalked towards the city of New Rome, their faces obscured by dark hoods. Their footsteps were quiet, nearly silent, even as they made their way through the forest and towards the Pomerian Line.
The lead figure suddenly held out his arm, alerting the rest of them to stop in their tracks. He gestured to another hooded figure.
"Valx, if you would."
"With pleasure."
A daimon stalked towards the front of the group, before flicking off her hood. Magenta eyes peered towards the city, before she nodded. She took an archers' stance, an ethereal fuchsia bow forming in her hands, an arrow already knocked. She drew backwards with a practiced ease, tightening the string. Magenta energy crackled around the bow, increasing in intensity as the string was tightened further and further. Her eyes seemed to light up with power, as a cocky smirk formed on her face.
She fired.
The resulting shockwave blew their hoods off.
A streaking bolt of purple left arcs of magenta in its wake, as it hit the barrier of New Rome. The barrier crackled and groaned. It imploded into a violent sky blue color, giving way, and the bolt of energy carved its way through buildings, hitting the center of the city. The resulting explosion caused the ground to creak and moan violently, as if the Earthshaker himself was exerting his power.
There was a moment of silence, then screams ensued. Screams, chaos, panic. The barracks were a mess, soldiers stumbling out of their beds and shrugging on armor as fast as they could, tripping over each other in the process. The attack had been sudden, too fast for them to react in time, and too strong for the barriers of that Terminus god to stop.
Everything they had wanted.
Slaine allowed a cruel smirk to dance across his lips.
"We will enter the city and continue wreaking havoc. If our sources are correct, the titan lord and his lot will be attacking that Greek camp soon enough," he chuckled deeply, his eyes lighting up with fire, "The Olympians, should they, against all odds, choose to intervene, shall have their forces split between these two camps. And unfortunately for him, he cares about the demigods too much. A weakness to be exploited. The question is: Which camp shall he come to?"
In Camp Half-Blood, everything was quiet. Peaceful, even.
No one was on edge. And why would they be?
They had just had a fun night of Capture the Flag (well, fun to the hunters of Artemis, at least), and a night of singing around the campfire, telling stories and jokes. Monster attacks had decreased recently, and there had been few casualties in the past few months. The night was calm, quiet, the bright moon carefully gazing over the camp, keeping watch.
Until the ground abruptly opened up near Zeus' fist.
The ground shook, creaking and groaning as monsters poured out of the Labyrinth in numbers unseen since the Golden Age of Olympus. Hellhounds, hydras, empousai, drakons, laistrygonian giants, cyclops, basilisks, telekhines, among others surged forward, eager to feast on the unsuspecting demigods.
Cries of alarm and shock rang throughout Camp Half-Blood, as monsters rampaged about the camp, pouring into cabins at will as demigods frantically scrambled for their armor and weapons, many of them caught with their pants down, literally and figuratively.
The hunters were the first to respond coherently. They fanned out of the Artemis cabin, quickly settling in a defensive formation and firing at the monsters with practiced accuracy, the twang of their bows the only consoling sound.
Still, the deprivation of their three most experienced huntresses left their leadership significantly weakened, as the newly sworn in lieutenant of the hunt was inexperienced and unused to the weight of responsibility. Without the guidance of Zoe, Phoebe, and Celyn, they panicked when the monsters fell on them. They had to break formation, separated by the vast amounts of monsters that had wisely chosen to eradicate the bigger threat first. More than a few of them began to fall. Despite their prowess in wielding knives, daggers could only do so much damage up close, with a short length. Getting up close and personal with monsters was dangerous, and small knives were prone to getting stuck in muscle and bone.
All of this spelled disaster for the huntresses, had the Ares cabin not come to their aid.
The berserker sons and daughters of the war god fell upon the beasts like they were beasts themselves, alleviating some of the pressure off of the hunters. The other cabins joined in after they had cleared their own cabins of the monsters. The battle raged throughout the camp, demigods valiantly holding the line, and actually managing to push the monsters back towards the entrance of the Labyrinth.
Until they came out.
Echnida. The mother of all monsters slithered out, along with the fire-breathing Chimera. Kampê, the jailer of the Hundred-Handed Ones emerged from the entrance near Zeus' fist, hissing in glee and delight.
They were fucked.
Oh so very very fucked.
"Let me go down there!" Artemis furiously hissed at her equally angry father, "Even you know that the Ancient Laws are just a bunch of arbitrary laws that no one cares about, so why won't you let us go down there!? My huntresses are down there, and they're being slaughtered! The demigod camps need help! If you haven't noticed, Echnida and Kampê are down there! There are unknown assailants ravaging New Rome!"
"No," Zeus denied, "The Ancient Laws are a set of rules enforced by the Fates that prohibit us from interfering with the demigods. We shall not break them."
"That's bullshit, and you know it!" Apollo narrowed his eyes at his father.
"Zeus is using the demigods as bait to draw out Perseus," Athena deduced, stormy gray eyes narrowing.
Upon the god of thunder not denying it, the room burst into an uproar.
"I cannot believe you!" Artemis spat at Zeus, who did nothing to stop the accusations.
"You are disgusting, father," Hermes narrowed his eyes, "Using our children as bait just because of your paranoia. We all know Perseus was ten times the king and god you will ever be."
The room's atmosphere grew almost oppressive at the name of the former king of the gods, darkness seemingly creeping into the corners of the room.
"Silence!" Zeus hissed, his face red with anger, "If such baseless accusations continue, you will be banished as a traitor to Olympus!"
"Wow," Apollo drawled, "We care so, so much. Unfortunately for you, I care more about my children. You can't stop me from going down there."
Zeus opened his mouth to retort, but Apollo was already gone.
Along with the rest of the council.
He turned to look at his wife, but she only looked at him in disdain, before flashing away.
A cruel smirk began to spread across his face. Today, Perseus would fall.
"Perseus!"
Pallas, titan of warcraft, burst into the room, his frantic eyes settling on Perseus.
"What is it?" the god stood from his desk, pushing back his chair.
"Both the Greek camp and the Roman camp are being attacked!"
"What!?"
It couldn't be, at least to him. The attack was too sudden; he'd been caught off guard.
"The Olympians haven't sent any of their own down to either of the camps!"
Perseus narrowed his eyes. They were trying to lure him out, he realized. Whoever went would have to defend against the Olympians and the monsters.
Unless this was his chance…
He'd been complacent. He was sure the Olympians would protest against Zeus' tyranny, and they would leave, against the rules of his arbitrary ancient laws. That left only Zeus to be taken care of.
He would let the battle rage; his forces were more than capable of defending the two camps and themselves from the Olympians. He would take the throne.
With the convenient click of a button, his voice was broadcast over the entire base.
"Both demigod camps are currently being attacked. Atlas, Hades, Poseidon, Thalia, Nico, Bianca, Zoe, Celyn, and Phoebe will go to defend Camp Half-Blood. Be wary of the Olympians. Pallas, Menoetius, Mars, Kratos, Heracles, Hecate, Nemesis, Styx, Dione, and everyone else to New Rome! Go, go, go!"
Immediately, flashes throughout the camp were seen, as immortals began teleporting to either of the two camps, Hades and Atlas dragging the hunters and demigods with them as they went to Camp Half-Blood.
They could only hope they weren't too late.
In New Rome, the battle raged badly. Monsters poured and pushed against the hastily reformed legion, not finding gaps between the strong formation of the Twelfth Legion Fulminata.
Yet the ranks were broken by flaming arrows fired from Lelantos, the titan's power boosted by Slaine. Legionnaires cowered behind their shields as the arrows set the night sky aflame, burning the Field of Mars.
Slaine himself dueled Bellona, the Roman goddess of war, with a cruel smirk present on his lips. His flaming greatsword swung with a speed that belied its weight, causing Bellona to have to block over and over again, struggling to parry it under the fire daimon's strength. The flaming great sword burned her, and she had to bear the brunt of it. She was forced on the backfoot, unable to even get a hit in.
Valx let her arrows loose against Jason, who hastily parried away the shots. She knocked triple arrows, sending them flying against him, and knocking him backwards with explosions that rocked the ground they were standing on.
"Come out and play, son of Jupiter," the daimon purred, swaying her hips slightly, causing his gaze to flicker down and linger for a second, "You're no Perseus, or as you Romans know him, Deus, but you'll have to do for now."
He surged forward, trying to engage her in close range, but the daimon pirouetted, slamming three arrows into the crevices of his armor. She tutted disdainfully as Jason cried out in pain, and she slammed her heel into his back, forcing him away.
"I thought a child of Jupiter was supposed to be better than this," she mock pouted, avoiding a wild slash, "But I guess I thought wrong."
Jason let out a cry, a thunderous bolt of lightning falling from the heavens. It smashed into his opponent with tremendous force, rocking the ground. He let out a sigh of relief.
"That was better."
He whirled around, managing to get his shield up in time as three arrows slammed into it.
Celra's knives hovered around her, as she directed them into a spinning formation against Reyna, who hastily turtled behind her shield.
"Aren't you supposed to be the child of Bellona? You're awfully weak for one of them, don't you think?"
Reyna made to respond when the knives spun like a saw against her spear, causing her to backpedal. She grit her teeth, trying to go on the offensive, but this daimon outmatched her with ease, forcing her on the backfoot with dozens of knives that threatened to bisect her. She shot a glance towards Jason, who seemed to be in a similar situation against his own opponent. She jabbed three times with her spear, before trying to bolt towards Jason.
"My apologies," Prelate of Knives smirked as her daggers forced Reyna away from Jason, "Your fight is with me."
Suddenly, dozens of immortals appeared on the battlefield, forcing the eight rampaging daimons to take heed. They stopped in their tracks, confused.
Pallas charged towards one of the daimons who was wearing a silver cloak, the two of them locking halberd and spear. The titan pushed, trying to overpower the daimon, but the daimon's lean frame belied his strength, and Silver kicked Pallas away.
"Back for a rematch? I thought you wouldn't want to eat shit so fast, but it happened anyway," the daimon smirked.
"It'll be your turn to live in Tartarus this time," Pallas snarked back, twirling his glowing spear in his hands.
"Oh I already have."
Pallas faltered in shock, and Silver took the opportunity to whip around the blunt end of the halberd. Pallas blocked, thrusting the spear rapidly with force, all of it deflected by Silver. The daimon let out a beam of pure power, and Pallas spun his spear rapidly, blocking. The beam slammed into him, causing him to be pushed back, dirt scratching against his heels. When it finished, the Prelate of Silver was nowhere to be found.
"Right behind you."
Pallas dropped to the ground in a crouch, sweeping the daimon's legs out, or at least trying to. Silver jumped over it, slamming his heel into Pallas' face, causing him to stumble backwards. Pallas blocked the next thrusts, going on the offensive.
They went back and forth, engaged in their own dance as they continued to block, parry, and send back attacks at each other.
The Prelate of jade fought against a slew of minor gods, Kratos, Heracles, and Hecate teaming on him to cause confusion. He manipulated jade daggers, slicing and dicing with his flamberge sword, but Hecate used her illusions, each one lasting merely a brief second, but that brief second was enough for her allies to get hits in on him. Jade growled, pushing for Hecate to snuff the fire.
Bellona faltered in her step against Slaine, the Prelate of flame slamming his great broadsword into her shield over and over again like a berserker, chipping parts of it away. He roared, beams of fire bursting towards her. She turtled behind her shield, but she was sent backwards, her feet digging into the dirt. He swung again, and she lost her shield.
He brought his flaming broadsword down with tremendous speed, and Bellona knew she couldn't dodge. She knew she was gone.
Until a lightning bolt slammed into the ground.
Jupiter, king of the gods, manifested in front of her. His electric blue eyes glowed with power, as he raised a hand to the sky.
With a bolt of lightning hitting him, an axe manifested itself in his hand.
Jupiter charged with Bellona against the flame daimon, who looked concerned for the very first time.
Across the battlefield, minor gods struggled against the superior daimons, being pushed back. Minor gods joined Jason and Reyna, helping them against the powerful prelates. With the aid of the minor gods forcing the daimons to go all out, they realized with horror just how much they had been toying with them beforehand.
More and more monsters poured onto the battlefield against the Twelfth Legion Fulminata, who, despite their incredible formation, were giving ground slowly but steadily due to the absence of the praetors. The centurions were doing their best, but a legion without a praetor was always weaker than one with a praetor. They were being pushed back to New Rome.
Menoetius fought a calm Prelate of gold, Sentinel picking apart his defenses one by one. The titan of anger channeled his own, using it to lay heavy strikes with his battle axe into the daimon. The daimon deflected them all with his spear, striking the titan with the heel of his boot. Menoetius stumbled slightly, but didn't let up, instead pressing even harder on the offensive.
He was so tunnel visioned on getting revenge that he didn't notice when a leviathan axe slammed into his flesh from the side.
The titan flew across the field, grunting as he came to a stop. The armor had bored the brunt of the damage, but he had no time to assess his injuries as Sentinel fell upon him again.
The leviathan axe slammed back into Cobalt's hand, as he turtled under his shield from the rampaging god of war.
Mars was a flowing move of combos and strikes. One moment he was wielding a halberd, the next he was dual wielding swords, the blades slithering past Cobalt's shield, and then he was bringing a war hammer down on his shield.
The shockwave blew both of them away, but they soon recovered, and continued their fight.
Mercury dashed around the deadly titan Lelantos, narrowly avoiding the arrows as he tried to slam his staff into the titan. Lelantos was agile, ducking under his lightning fast strikes and returning slashes of his own. His daggers lit up with a deadly silver fire, and the slashes began to leave trails of silvery fire in their wake.
Mercury gulped, narrowly avoiding the strikes as he dashed around, trying to find an opening, but Lelantos nicked him, causing him to shout in pain. A boot slammed into his chest, causing him to tumble away.
They were losing the battle, the legion being pushed back towards the city. The minor gods and immortals were only just able to stop the heavy hitter daimons from attacking the legion, but the leagues of monsters were just too much for them. New Rome looked like it was going to fall.
That was, until they showed up.
Majestic phusias, sea dragons, entered the battle field by the hundreds. With green scales, they breathed fire into the ranks of the monsters, and annoyed the daimons.
Mercury grinned, suddenly on the offensive. It was their time.
Olympus was quiet. Abandoned. Shops empty, parks deserted in the middle of the night. There was no audible sound other than the sound of his own footsteps.
Perseus stalked towards the throne room, lowering his hand after he'd called the phusias to their aid. Zoferos was in his right hand, the blade dragging along the concrete, sparks igniting as it did so. His dark eyes smoldered with power, strands of time and shadows floating around him as he began twirling his blade in his hand.
He blasted open the throne room's doors, only to find Zeus lounging upon his throne.
Perseus narrowed his eyes, not sparing any minced words.
"Little brother. I have come back for my throne."
Zeus smirked.
His eyes began glowing with raw, untapped power, an aura of power casting itself over him.
Perseus' lips turned into a frown. Zeus was a bigot for accepting power from Ouranos.
It didn't matter, though. At the end of the day, he was only a vessel of power, not strong enough to pose a sizeable threat to him.
Zeus launched his master bolt at him, a crackling torrent of power that threatened to overwhelm him.
The earth instantly tore itself apart, coming up to defend him as he layered shadows over himself. He tugged on the strings of time, begging them to stop the master bolt, but even time couldn't slow down the speed of lightning.
It slammed into him with force.
It was nowhere as powerful as Ouranos' bolt that had sent him to Ogygia.
Still, even if he took no damage from the blast, he was sent flying off Olympus, and Zeus followed him. They battled in the air as they fell, thousands of strikes being exchanged in mere seconds. For every hit Zeus landed on him, Perseus traded back five more, constantly manipulating the strings of time in his favor.
As they landed on the ground, the god of mountains began utilizing his power. Spikes, walls of earth sprung up from everywhere, shadows constantly stabbing at Zeus.
Zeus fended it all off with a wall of pure electricity, manipulating it and sending it in waves at him.
The god of darkness bore it all with shadows, before sending strings of time at him. Zeus' eyes widened, knowing that if he was caught in them, he would be immobilized and at Perseus' mercy.
Zeus retreated, fending off Perseus' attacks as he pushed and pushed. Beams of darkness were followed by spikes of earth, and strings of time.
He deftly dodged, continuing to run as the god of time chased him relentlessly. Zeus fired bolts from his person like never before, but all of it was parried away by Zoferos as he fired blades of darkness at him.
Zeus blocked with a shield of lightning, then redirected it to attack Perseus, who rolled out of the way. Spikes flew upwards from the ground, but Zeus began hovering, and despite the hundreds of spikes that jolted from the ground at random moments, the god avoided all of them.
Still, Perseus managed to land one of the glowing strings of time, allowing him to slip by Zeus' defenses and slash at him with Zoferos. Still, the god of lightning was able to conjure a celestial bronze shield to protect himself.
Zoferos hummed, leaving an arc of gold as it slammed into the celestial bronze shield with the force of a mountain.
The resulting shockwave blew Zeus miles away, a resounding explosion that shook the Earth.
Perseus stood over the kneeling and out of breath Zeus, who heaved for air. Ichor was flowing freely from numerous places on his body, gashes visible even beneath his armor. A simple blow that had been partially blocked had left his little brother reeling.
It was time to end it, once and for all. Perseus allowed a cruel smirk to dance on his lips.
"You can't defeat me!"
Zeus gasped, ichor flowing from his mouth as he coughed up even more of it. Even so, he looked smug, like he'd just defeated him.
"Oh I know. But he can."
Mount Saint Helens erupted in the distance.
A massive giant arose from the ashes, roaring to the heavens.
He must have been thousands of feet tall, his heads reaching to the sky, even dwarfing the height of Mount Olympus itself. His face was more or less humanoid, but that was where the similarities ended. He was large enough to use the Empire State Building as a puny baseball bat.
On each hand, he had a hundred fingers tipped with red-eyed serpent heads. He had massive leathery wings and long matted hair that smelled like volcanic smoke, his legs the bodies of boa constrictors.
A hundred serpentine heads with fiery orbs hissed, causing a terrible clamor that tormented ears, sounding even greater than if all the gods turned to simultaneous wrath, or the beasts of ivory and horn that prowled the gloomy wood, shaking the foundations of the loftiest mountains and issuing tremors through the Earth.
Perseus took a step backwards.
The father of all monsters.
Typhon.
"What have you done…"
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'til next time!
-thann3