Chapter 25: Baited

3RD PERSON POV

Wherever Percy stepped foot on the battlefield, carnage followed. Mountains of gold dust from the beasts slain piled up across the field from the campers and hunters, as did the bodies of slain demigods from monsters. Percy paid them no mind; he didn't have the time to. He continued to hack and slash his way through the droves of monsters that plagued the field.

Artemis was just as demonic as her Guardian. Silver clothing and hunting knives continuously flashed through the monsters' ranks and left gold dust in their wake. A small smile even crept its way onto her lips whenever she felt another pulse of aura coming from her crush from across the battlefield.

The Hunt was managing, but their numbers had dwindled slightly and would only continue to dip lower. Artemis and Percy both felt this and while it saddened them both, it also fueled the fiery determination that was present in both of their eyes.

PERCY POV

'Too many lost. Always too many,' I thought bitterly as I destroyed another two dozen hellhounds with Riptide and Frostbite. I reset myself and sheathed them both to draw my katana and one of my hunting knives. 'A little less range and power but a little more speed,' I mused before my eyes widened at the aura that popped up right behind me and I ducked out of the way.

"Oceanus," I spat at the Titan of the Seas. "Jackson. I can't wait to take your head and throw it at your father's feet," came his reply and I clenched my teeth. I got into a ready stance and waited for his charge. We circled one another for a bit before he rushed in.

'There's too much to do. I can't waste time with this one,' I thought as we exchanged strikes, his snake sword with my katana and hunting knife. Unfortunately for me, my water powers would be next to useless against Oceanus. Fortunately for me, I had my fire powers from Hestia to even it all out. "Why no water attacks, Jackson? Already know that they're useless?" Oceanus taunted to me and internally I smirked while my face was stoic and unchanged.

Instead, I coated both my blades with Greek Fire and charged again. In the rush, he parried and blocked most of my strikes, but I overwhelmed him enough to litter him with cuts through the chinks in his armor. He matched some of the cuts I gave him, but the true nature of the battle was back and forth for around 20 minutes.

I threw my hunting knife coated in Greek Fire as part of my plan, ensuring it caused the area around it to burn as well after he dodged. I then charged with just my katana and gave him a series of diagonal slashes that he parried some but not all. The real effort of those was to push him back, which it did.

Once I had, I stepped into his guard as his snake sword bit me and I let out a small grunt of pain but pressed forward. 'Guess the immunity to pain went down with time,' I mused as I charged a fist with earthshaker abilities and planted it in his gut, driving him within range of the fire that was started earlier with my knife.

I sent a mass of water at him as a distraction and he laughed. "Pathetic!" he roared and sent it right back toward me, obscuring me from his vision long enough for me to fire travel to the fire behind him where my knife was. I scooped up my knife and ran my katana through his back, piercing a lung. He gasped and choked on his blood, but I slit his throat with the knife without another word.

I fire traveled back to the camp for brief cover so I could treat my wounds with fire healing from Hestia, water from my father, and a quick dose of ambrosia and nectar, before leaping back to the battle.

THALIA POV

The battle was hectic, even by battle standards. I couldn't bring myself to look down at the fallen allies. There were too many of them, campers and hunters alike. There were always too many of them. But I pressed on for them because we still had so much to lose and so many enemies to defeat.

I hadn't been counting how many hellhounds, cyclops, telekines, empousai, or other monsters I had slain. I wasn't entirely sure I could even count that high; I know for sure that the Kelp-Head couldn't. He was around the battle somewhere, but I had no idea where. I just know he wasn't dead and that was enough.

I mowed my way through another wave of the forces and finally came to the clearing of the Giant I had been waiting for. "Porphyrion," I spat to him and he picked his head up to look at me and smiled sickly sweet. "Well, I didn't get to end that brat of Jupiter's in the last war. I suppose the Daughter of Zeus will do nicely in this one. Maybe I'll take you like I will Hera," he cooed and I nearly threw up.

I was a little jealous that Jason got to fight this asshole next to Dad last time, but this was my turn. Mostly I was just excited to fight alongside Dad. Like back to back. I sent an electric charge through my spear and banged it against Aegis to show I was ready and sent up a mental message.

'Dad. You. Me. Porphyrion. Let's do it,' I said and in a brilliant flash of lightning and booming thunderclap, Zeus appeared on the field next to me, making sure to decimate any nearby monsters with the dramatic entrance. I rolled my eyes.

"Porphyrion," he spat similarly to me. "Time to die, Zeus," the Giant roared back and the three of us charged. Dad was wielding his Master Bolt and Porphyrion and I spears, but I was the only one with a shield. The two of them were trading blows back and forth with such power, it was a miracle that I did not get blown back with the monsters that didn't get clear.

But I pressed on because I hated being outdone by anyone; I especially hated being outdone by my brother or Percy. I charged into the fray and danced around Porphyrion's legs and stabbed his ankles and calves and charged each one with electricity. I served as more of an annoyance, but it was giving my father openings he could use.

Luck would run out however as the Giant cracked the butt of his spear to my father's ribs and sent him sprawling before turning on me. I raised Aegis and blocked, but even the weight of the blow shook me to my bones. I let out a primal scream and a massive strike of lightning came down from the heavens on top of the Giants head.

He hissed in anger and pain from the strike, but before he could attack me again, Zeus came back from the hit and zapped him with the Master Bolt with even more strength that I had. I caught on quickly and ran to stab the Giant in the back of the knee, bringing him down on it. I yanked my spear out as Dad barreled into him, knocking him onto his back.

I leapt up in the air higher than I should have been able to (I subconsciously used the winds I figured out later) and landed on the Giants chest and ran toward the head. Porphyrion attempted to get up and had his upper back off the ground and himself propped up on an elbow when I leapt from his chest.

As I leapt, Dad's Master Bolt shifted to a sword and he stabbed the Giant King in the heart. Seconds after the sword pierced, I thrust my spear through his eye all the way to the brain. A few more seconds and the Giant King was only dust blowing in the wind.

I looked up at my Dad and smiled through the panting. He gave me a shaky smile as well and summoned me some ambrosia and nectar. "Thanks, Dad. Make sure you tell Jason about that one," I said with a wink and he laughed as he flashed out of there to go heal. 'Ain't no rest for the wicked,' I thought as I charged back into the fray.

ARTEMIS POV

I knew Percy was out there, but I had no idea where he was as I continued to take down multiple monsters at a time. I felt sick with how many hunters and campers had perished, but the line from the prophecy kept echoing in my mind. 'Huntresses alike must take a dive.'

The more I thought about it, the dive in numbers made the most sense. 'We're going to lose a lot of them today. We haven't lost half… yet,' I thought bitterly as another half dozen hellhounds fell by my hand. I continued to fight and fight until I came across another Titan.

"Lady Artemis. A pleasure," he said and I snorted. "Leave the ass-kissing for Prometheus, Koios," I spat and he drew his sword to prepare for battle. He wasn't overly strong by any means like Atlas or Perses, but Koios was like fighting another Pallas or Athena. He meticulously analyzed and picked people apart.

So I did the same thing I did against Pallas: I attacked faster than he could analyze. A blur with my knives yet he was blocking and parrying everything I threw at him. I had only managed to get several cuts in the chinks of his armor and he got a few on me as well.

I wasn't paying any attention to anything else around me so I didn't know how long we were fighting for, but he was starting to get used to my style. I bit on a feint he threw at me and I was going to be too late to block, so I closed my eyes waiting for it. But it never came.

"Need a hand?" came the cheeky voice I had secretly fallen in love with. I opened my eyes to see Percy standing over me with his own hunting knives in an "X" position that caught Koios' sword. "You're late," I said to him and he mock pouted before putting his stoic mask back on. I planted my foot firmly in Koios' chest and kicked him away so Percy and I could recover.

"How are we looking?" I asked as we traded blows with Koios. With the speed of the two of us, he didn't stand much of a chance. "Not great. Too many dead. Always too many," he muttered and snarled as Koios caught him with a punch to the ribs.

"Two Giants left standing, plus Koios here and Prometheus. Still a shit-ton of monsters," he finished as we switched places in the assault again. We charged in with me right behind him at unmatched speeds, but right as Percy was going to strike he yelled in pain. Koios kicked him back and he clutched his head.

"Arty! Buy me some time," he grunted and I didn't know what was happening, but I growled at the Titan of the North and dashed in again.

PERCY POV

'Perseus!'

'Terminus?'

'Yes! Monsters are invading New Rome! I can't keep them out any longer!'

'Shit. How many?'

'Too many!'

'Fuck. I'll send help. Do what you can!'

'JASON!'

'Perce! What's wrong?'

'New Rome. Terminus. Monsters. Take Frank, Hazel, Reyna, and Lupa. Minimize damages. Protect the temples'

'Got it!'

ARTEMIS POV

I wasn't making much ground against Koios when I felt Percy enter my mind. 'Ready to end this?' he asked and I smirked. He fire traveled behind Koios and stabbed through the front of his shoulder and tore it hard to get him to drop his sword. His grip loosened and Percy planted a kick (probably with his earthshaker abilities) to his back and set him sprawling toward me without a blade.

I stabbed one of my knives in his stomach as I caught him and tossed him over my shoulder and quickly followed his body down and stabbed my other knife through his heart. I cleaned off my knives and Percy ran over.

"You okay?" I asked hurriedly. "Yeah. Monsters in New Rome. I sent Jason and company to minimize the damages," he said just as hurriedly and charred a monster approaching the two of us.

'Annabeth!' Percy yelled in the shared mindspace he created. 'Yes?' she replied. 'Have we heard from Olympus at all,' he asked and I felt Annabeth frown and knit her eyebrows. 'Nothing.'

Percy was quiet while his mind raced. His eyes went real wide and he cut the mental link.

"Shit. This is a distraction. The bait!" he yelled and my eyes widened. "I'm going to Olympus. I have a feeling Tartarus is there with more forces and they took my dad and the other by surprise. Tell Annabeth," he said so fast I almost didn't get it.

"I'm coming with!" I yelled and he stopped me and gripped both of my shoulders. "I need you here. Two Giants left and we need a Goddess that can fight outside of the camp," he said and I numbly nodded. "Huntresses alive must take a dive," I whispered and Percy shook my shoulders out of it and did the last thing I ever expected him to do.

He kissed me. Right then and there on the battlefield with monsters and demigods fighting all around us. He kissed me so gently and quickly, but it held the firmness that said, "I might die for this but I have no regrets." He looked into my eyes and I stared in total bliss into his emerald eyes that held a bit of fear, but mostly determination and love. "Stay safe, all of you. I'll be back," he said and I was still floating in the searing passion that lingered on my lips.

I hardly noticed he left immediately after.

3RD PERSON POV

'Gods, that has got to be the dumbest thing I've ever done. But dammit I love that goddess,' Percy thought as he tried to fire travel to the Throne Room and found he was unable to. Instead he found himself at the elevator in the Empire State Building. That made his palms sweaty in fear that he was right that the Pit was here.

He stepped in the elevator and pressed the 600th floor after grabbing the key and began the ascent to the Land of the Gods. He popped another square of ambrosia into his mouth and dumped water on his head to replenish and waited. The elevator music must have been playing on the situation because it was "War Pigs" by Black Sabbath. Percy let out a dry chuckle and drew his hunting knives, opting for speed to start.

He stepped out of the elevator and let a gasp escape his lips before his stoic mask settled back in with an unquenchable rage pulsating in his eyes, providing proof of his power.

Olympus was ablaze. The Pit was here. And the final battle was upon him.

AN: Chapter 25! Enjoyed this one too. Drawing to a close here whoo! Until next time!