Son of the Moon
Chapter 55
-Percy-
"Ah, little Percy." Kronos laughed, pushing out of the sarcophagus as the marble stone cracked slightly under his presence "I wondered when you would bring yourself to me. I must admit though, I never expected it to be so easy." Kronos turned his golden eyes onto Bianca, "And you even brought your little whore. You were promised to that little irritant Thalia, but I do find myself in need of a new consort. I suppose your wench will do, at least for now."
"Touch her and you'll long for Tartarus." Percy snarled, Anaklusmos in hand and the new shield from Daedalus on his other arm. Kronos snorted derisively, flicking his wrist as a powerful geyser of water formed in the air, rocketing towards Percy as thrust his hand out to order the water to divert around them. The water attack was far stronger than Poseidon's should have been but had nowhere near the control a god of the seas should have been able to use.
"Guards!" Kronos' voice thundered through the keep, a puzzled frown crossing the titan's face, the ruler of time looking down at his hand in bewilderment, flexing the fingers. Instantly, Percy heard the running of feet as monsters and a few demigods burst in, Telekhines, and cyclopes, and Laestrygonians, and more. "Seize them. The boy is needed alive. That means if any of you imbeciles kill him you'll be given to my mother to be punished as she sees fit." That was apparently sufficient enough threat as the horde rush them, the demigods not rushing as recklessly as their deaths would be permanent.
Ducking under the swing of a cyclops, Percy bashed out with his new shield into the monster's ribs, blowing through flesh and bone as the beast exploded into golden powder. Lashing out with his powers, Percy summoned the water around himself that was summoned through Kronos' attack. The liquid began to boil, his control forcing the body of water to stay the same volume as the angry bubbling liquid began to rush around himself and Bianca, Monsters and Men screaming in pain as it pushed through them, the demigods who died from it having their blood ripped out to join in the swirling maelstrom of boiling liquid.
It wasn't enough.
Yelling from the strain, Percy began to focus, his marks glowing like a star. He first made a bubble of safety around himself and Bianca, refusing to risk her safety. That secured he focused outward, finding the moisture in the air and fog of mount Othrys and gave a single command. Boil. All the liquid in the air began to boil as the sounds of screaming extended from all of Othrys, Kronos himself crying out, thrashing and clutching his face. Within seconds though, Kronos ripped his hands away from his face revealing the sea green eyes of Poseidon who began to fight against the boiling air, pushing back Percy's curse even if it was slowed by the pain Poseidon and Kronos felt in their shared form.
"Percy!" Bianca shouted out, seeing Poseidon preparing an attack before Percy did. Reacting instantly, he brought up his shield just in time for it to absorb a beam of raw magic, the bright sea green energy fractioning around him and Bianca, slicing through walls, columns, and the still screaming Titan forces. "Stay strong Percy!" Bianca shouted to him over the din of magic and screaming, pushing against his back even as the combined magical strength of Poseidon and Kronos slowly pushed him back.
"I refuse to let this bastard beat me!" he roared back, making sure Kronos could hear him. He could feel his boil curse still being slowly weakened bit by bit with Poseidon's control over the sea at the front once more. "I have an idea but be ready to get us out when the walls come down." He hissed to her before raising his voice again, "Poseidon ran before! And if Kronos needs him right now to win then I know we'll make it out of here!"
He could feel the magic falter for a moment as Kronos' rage pulsed at the insinuation that he was weaker than Poseidon. "Is that so grandson?" Kronos's voice snarled out, the reduction of the boil curse slowing down. Focusing, Percy allowed it to remain a stalemate, having a different plan. "You are beneath me Jackson, a mortal. I am a Titan, the greatest of Mother Gaea's children. What hope do you have to stop me?"
Silently sheathing riptide behind his shield, Percy drew his Kanabo and readied a different piece of power he had inherited from Poseidon. "I actually have a plan." He taunted, slamming the weapon onto the marble floor, focusing the power of the earth shaker now that Poseidon wasn't in control to stop him. The floor cracked as a tremor shook the mountain, dust and gravel raining around them as the cracks spread up the wall. Bianca grabbed his shoulder and shadow traveled them back to her brother as the fortress of Mount Othrys came crashing around them.
Panting, he and Bianca dropped to the ground as Nico, Amanda, and Rachel rushed over. "What happened?"
"Kronos has a body." He panted, having poured most of his power into those attacks he had performed, the curse alone took an obscene amount of power given he had to fight the fusion of Poseidon and Kronos to keep it up.
"Fuck." Nico growled, helping Percy and Bianca up to their feet, "Thalia?"
"Poseidon." Bianca clarified, grunting when Nico dropped them out of shock.
"Double fuck." Amanda cursed.
"Exactly." Percy nodded, getting up and pulling Bianca with him, "We need to get back to camp, now. I brought down the Keep around them. I know the forces there are dead but there's no way that was enough to kill a fusion of Poseidon and Kronos."
"The Labyrinth's gold path is all that's left." Rachel nodded.
"Then let's move." Percy nodded as the five of them took off running.
-Jason-
Hearing the door slam open, Jason's head snapped up towards the sound, seeing a cyclops dragging Thalia in. "Thalia!" he gasped, rushing over to his sister as the Cyclops dropped her onto the couch.
"I'm alright." His sister groaned, even as her entire body shook, her eyes wide and full of panic.
"The ritual?" Pollux asked her, the four of them ignoring the cyclops who lumbered out.
"Yeah." Thalia winced, forcing herself up even as Miranda came over and handed her a cup of something hot.
"She performed exceedingly well." A new voice spoke up as Gaea stalked into the room, smirking as Jason felt a shiver go down his spine. Gaea looked like a beautiful woman but just being near her scared the shit out of him. "I'm quite proud of our dear little Thalia."
"Something else happened, didn't it?" Pollux asked, the son of Dionysus staring Gaea in the eye without flinching, proof to Jason that the man was insane.
"My son gained his physical form," Gaea answered, a faint smile as she talked about Kronos, "with my grandson as his host he'll have access to their combined power and abilities."
"So what went wrong?" Miranda asked with a frown, crossing her arms and leaning against the wall, staring in Gaea's eyes just as her boyfriend was.
"Jackson happened." Gaea frowned slightly, "He not only broke into Othrys, but he managed to slaughter the garrison there, injuring Kronos in the process."
"What?!" Jason snapped up straight. He had heard a lot about Perseus Jackson from some of the Legion at Camp Jupiter and from his sister's team. He had been sure it was exaggeration, there was no way anyone could do the kind of bullshit he had heard. Killing monsters was one thing but slaughtering a garrison and wondering Kronos enough for Gaea to take note? "How?!"
"He boiled the moisture in the air and fog, even the blood for some that were closer to him." Gaea's tone was uncaring as she talked about the manner of death, "Fifty-seven demigods, two hundred eighteen clear sighted mortal mercenaries, and four hundred eighty-two monsters were stationed at Othrys. All of them were killed either by the boiling liquid or by the falling stone as Jackson managed to bring the entire fortification down around them. Kronos will take at least a day to heal fully, likely more."
"I think I'm gonna be sick." Jason forced down bile at the thought off all those bodies and how they died. He couldn't believe anyone being able to do anything on the scale he just heard by himself. Looking at the others he saw that none of them were surprised. Just what sort of monster was Jackson?