Chapter 26: Dancing with the Pit

3RD PERSON POV

Percy sprinted through the streets of Olympus, his knives in hand, as he decimated the monsters that were left to ravage the nature spirits and minor gods. He didn't stop to assess the damage as he blazed a trail of destruction on his way to the Throne Room and bursted through the door, making his eyes widened in shock.

Ares was lying in a crumpled heap of ichor at the foot of his throne. Zeus in a similar state next to the hearth and Athena not looking much better in a crater in one of the walls. Hades was in the Underworld recovering his strength from the fight with his Bane and various minor gods/goddess littered the rest of the once magnificent room. Hestia was watching with tears in her eyes from the hearth, clutching to the pithos Percy had given her nearly six years before.

The room itself was cracked and had various small fires burning throughout it with the mix of the gods' weapons. In the middle of the room in front of Zeus' throne was the embodiment of the Pit himself, clutching Poseidon by his throat. "Perseus Jackson," Tartarus boomed and his voice echoed throughout the Throne Room. "Come back to me again at last," he mocked the Guardian who growled in response.

PERCY POV

"Let my father go," I spat to the most evil being I had had the misfortune of encountering in the Greek world. Tartarus tossed my father to the floor at his throne and he could only weakly pick up his head and look at me.

"I told you, boy. This is your fate. The hunters are dying by my children's hands, and your precious gods lay at my feet where they belong," the Pit said to me smugly. "I will send you back to your wife," I growled to him, receiving a maniacal chuckle in response. "Come little demigod. Time to end your suffering," he cooed to me and I steeled myself.

'I'm severely outclassed in power. Speed,' I thought as I gave my hunting knives a single twirl and my armor sprouted from my necklace. I charged.

3RD PERSON POV

Percy surged forward at blinding speed and threw a feint to Tartarus' chest to open the fight. Tartarus bit and Percy ducked under the strike to slash even lower at his thighs, but Tartarus was quicker; far quicker that Percy anticipated. He summoned a longsword of a nightmarish blood red metal and blocked Percy's strike. The force from Percy's strike was nothing to sneeze at, even with the limited power of the knives, but Tartarus caught it with his own blade and didn't budge an inch.

Before Percy could retreat, Tartarus kicked the demigod in the chest and sent him back flying into the wall near Athena. With the air being rapidly expunged from his lungs, Percy gasped and sucked down all the oxygen he could just in time to avoid a diagonal slash from the Primordial. Percy managed to score twin slashes on the immortal's legs as he dodged forward and the platinum ichor dripped from the cuts.

If the Pit even felt them, he showed no visible signs of it. The two whirled around to engage once again in the dance of death. Percy spent most of the exchange dodging and parrying for all he was worth as the adrenaline flowed through his being. He didn't dare try to block the blows from the sheer power of each alone was enough to make Perses' strikes look like a kitten.

So he sped up and danced his way through the Primordial's strikes, scoring minor cuts on the few openings that were left for him to expose. 'Faster. I need to go faster!' he chanted in his head as the half-conscious Poseidon could hardly follow the two's movements. He scored another set of cuts to the Pit's limbs, but slipped on the ichor that pooled on the floor in his attempt to retreat.

Percy's eyes bugged out as he raised his knives in an "X" position just in time to catch the immortal's fist that sent him careening through the Throne Room again, and launching his blades to Hades knows where. That time, Percy didn't fall; instead he skidded back across the Throne Room in a crouched position and pulled Diagrapsei off of his back, allowing the Herculean ax to take it's full form.

Percy traded his superior speed for power, but with all the ADHD plaguing him, it was only a minor drop in the prior, while allowing him to stand and block the blows, rather than having to dance around them. Percy charged in with renewed aggression with a gutteral snarl and the shockwaves from the blows alone caused the flames to flicker violently.

Percy took a hefty swing at the immortal's midsection, channeled with his earthshaker abilities and Tartarus spun out of the way, only for Percy to fire travel and complete his swing. He caught the Pit off guard and sent him skidding across the length of the Throne Room with a grunt.

Tartarus' armor had a mighty gash from the blade, but it had not gone all the way through. The Pit, however, did have a few cracked and bruised, possibly broken ribs from the demigod's strike. 'Now I have a weakness in his armor at least,' Percy thought before he threw Diagrapsei coated in ice toward his opponent. The blade sailed faster than what should have been possible toward its target, but was batted away with said target's sword and impaled itself in the marble of the room.

The ax throw however, was a distraction; and one that filled its role as Percy drifted into existence from the vapor with his katana and sliced the gash in Tartarus' armor, giving him a long cut to his midsection. Percy spun as he slid and launched several throwing knives that couldn't be traced only for one of them to embed itself in Tartarus' shoulder. Percy was panting, though not overly exhausted by that point as his enemy roared in pain and pulled the knife out of his shoulder, allowing the platinum lifeblood of the Primordials to drip onto his armor rapidly, matching the cut to his midsection.

"You're better than I gave you credit for, demigod," Tartarus spat and charged with increased speed from before, sending Percy entirely on the defensive; back to dodging and parrying all the blows he could again. Tartarus landed several cuts to the boy's arms, legs, and even his cheek; his blood beginning to stain both his armor and the floor red.

Percy leapt back, but before he could take a breath, Tartarus was in front of him with a killing blow. With no other options than to block, Percy raised his katana to intercept, but the force from the Primordial's strike shattered his katana into hundreds of fragments; some piercing the Guardian's already dripping cuts.

Percy hissed in pain before he received a boot firmly planted into his chest, sending him sprawling with his ribs most definitely cracked, probably broken. Before he could get up, the Pit was over him with his blade coming down to end it again. Percy's trident materialized in his hand, catching the blade in the prongs and locking it into place.

Percy didn't have the luxury to see the proud, yet half-lidded gaze of his father for his weapon choice as the metal of the weapon groaned underneath the weight. "Give it up Jackson, and I'll let you die quickly," the Primordial of the Pit hissed from above him. Percy let out another feral growl from the back of his throat and kicked Tartarus in the kneecap which faltered his balance and allowed Percy to catapult the immortal over him several meters.

Without missing a beat, Percy sprang to his feet, spun, and heaved his trident with enough force to rip through any mortal's body toward his enemy. Tartarus rolled and popped up from the ground just in time to see the forked weapon sailing toward him, but not with enough time to dodge completely.

The left prong sailed by his shoulder, the middle grazed the outside of it, leaving a deep gash, and the right pierced all the way through it, mirroring the throwing knife wound on the opposite side. Another deafening roar from Tartarus stirred some of the gods back into consciousness and they watched with awe and horror as he ripped the trident out of his shoulder and threw it hastily to the ground behind him.

"I will kill you, Jackson!" he bellowed and Percy took one last deep breath as he drew his twin swords, Riptide and Frostbite, and the charge renewed again.

POSEIDON POV

I could only watch in sorrow, anger, pride, and terror as my boy was placed into another scenario that likely weighed on him more than the weight of the sky. 'Fates, why must it always be him? Is this my penance for falling in love with a mortal?... Sally… I would do it all again in a heartbeat to share even a moment with you and Percy,' I thought as the battle raged on.

HESTIA POV

'Because Hope survives best at the hearth' the boy said to me with a lopsided grin.

That memory - that line from my now Champion - replayed and echoed in my head as I watched him do battle with the incarnate of evil that was the Pit of Tartarus. 'Fates… please… protect my champion. Even if he is far better than we deserve,' I thought and clutched the pithos tighter to my chest.

3RD PERSON POV

Slash, duck, stab, parry, block, roll, counter; if one's senses were fast enough to follow the movements of the young boy and the hulking purple figure, that is what they would have seen. Not a movement wasted; not even a single wasted breath as the very definition of a David versus Goliath fight occured in the Throne Room of Olympus.

Percy Jackson was cut and bruised. His muscles ached as the seemingly endless fight to the death continued. Every cut he received from the Pit burned with relentless fire, but he grit his teeth and pressed forward to defend his home and his loved ones. His determination was symbolic of being crafted in the Forges of Olympus themselves, but those who knew of him and his story also knew that they were mercilessly pounded and strengthened in him from the pain of loss.

Tartarus, the Primordial of the Pit was by no means unharmed either. Cuts riddled his purple figure and he bled more platinum ichor than he had ever remembered bleeding since his creation in the universe. He too was fatigued, though perhaps not to the same degree as the demigod who stood opposed to him. 'He's a mere demigod; a filthy HALFLING!' his thoughts raged as he traded even blows against the dual wielding demon; The Destroyer.

Sparks and the clang of metal reverberated through the air as the blood red blade clashed with the twin swords of bronze and ice blue. The only other sound that could be heard between each strike was the heavy breathing of the two warriors who were duking it out.

Percy delivered a flurried combo of slashes and stabs drawing even more ichor from the Primordial, who roared in response and sent a hasty strike toward his head. Percy swiftly stepped inside of it and brought down Riptide to cleave a brutal gash in his opponents shoulder; nearly to the collarbone. The Pit responded in kind by grabbing the demigod's left shoulder; his taloned fingers piercing to the bone as he threw him across the room behind him.

"Why, Jackson?" Tartarus asked in a pained grunt. "Why do you rush to defend these weaklings who see you as nothing but a weapon at their disposal?"

Percy rose to his feet shakily before steeling himself and fixing his piercing gaze that pulsated with the power of rage and resolve on the being who questioned him. "To protect them...when they can't protect themselves," he panted out. Tartarus snarled. "THEN I WILL GIVE THEM THEIR HERO DEAD AT THEIR FEET!" And the charge resumed.

PERCY POV

I was getting pushed back. My wounds were numerous and my blood flowed endlessly. Tartarus visibly wasn't any better, but that was only visibly. He was an immortal; a Primordial and one of the first beings in existence. Granted, he looked like shit, but I knew he had power to spare while mine was dwindling.

I received another kick to the gut that sent me flying back in a near toe touching position and I heaved for breaths that seemed to never come. Through my spotty vision, I could see Tartarus approaching and fast; it wasn't looking good.

Just as he was five feet away, the atmosphere shifted. Nearly 50 gallons of salt water came crashing down on the two of us in the Throne Room, momentarily stopping his advance. I looked over to my father to see a weak smile as he slumped over again. I internally smirked, but externally gripped my blades tightly and thought about everything that I had lost.

'Silena, Beck, Michael, Castor, Pollux, Bianca, Luke, Zoe… Mom and Paul,' raced through my mind and the rage swelled up. Building and building, begging me for sweet release. Then I thought about all I had to protect. 'The Seven, Nico, Reyna, Clarisse and Chris, Chiron, Camp, the Hunt, Thalia, Lora, Rebecca, Kiani, Jessica, Leah,... Estelle, Hera and Hestia, Dad and Apollo,... Artemis,' followed quickly behind the other thoughts and unbreakable determination bubbled to the surface, swirling and blending with my rage.

My eyes glowed with the newfound strength and power within me and I froze the water around Tartarus' ankles to buy even a fraction of a second. And then with a primal roar, my power exploded outward, knocking down anything that dared stand to it. The water rotated violently around me, pulling in the ambient vapor from the air to make storm clouds with raging winds and lightning flashes. Greek Fire pulsed around me, adding itself to the mix of my lineage. The water in my immediate vicinity formed jagged ice shards that twinkled and spun rapidly into the concoction. And finally, the world began to shake and quiver before me forming cracks all throughout the ground.

If Tartarus was impressed or surprised, he did not show it. He only snarled and met my flare of aura with his own. "COME, DESTROYER!" he yelled over the howling winds and I charged.

~After Percy left CHB~

ARTEMIS POV

Death. So much death all around me. Miles of monster dust coated the clearing, making it look like a meadow in Elysium. But with the remains of the enemy, remains of allies were piled high as well. Too many of them. Greek and Roman campers, some that couldn't even be identified, were taken one by one back into the barrier so that they could be given their rights.

Not just campers either; hunters. My hunters. 'Huntresses alike must take a dive,' taunted me in my head and I watched with a numb expression as the bodies were carried away. The prophecy had meant a dive in numbers; of that, I was certain. The Hunt had lost more than half of our numbers. Now, only a measly 14 of them were left.

Thalia, Atalanta, and the little ones were all still alive. 'Thank Gods,' I mused as I sensed to identify all of the others that had perished. Thalia passed out from exhaustion with only minor injuries after she and Clarisse helped me to defeat Periboia, Bane of Aphrodite. Unfortunately, some campers and hunters were killed by the Giant before she was killed.

Clarisse had a major stab wound in her midsection, but Apollo was able to stabilize her and she was resting with Chris at her bedside. Speaking of the male, it took him and nearly two dozen other campers, along with myself to finish off Mimas, Bane of Hephaestus. 'Too many died,' I thought bitterly as I surveyed my hunters.

The little ones had minor cuts and were dizzy from blood loss, but otherwise fine. The camp was in full hospital mode immediately after the last of the monsters either died or ran away. 'We're going to have to hunt them down after we recover,' I mused. The Seven were helping tend to the wounded and I had joined them at Thalia's bedside after wrapping my fallen hunters in their silver shrouds.

We lost almost 500 of our original force of 800 in the battle. New Rome was protected and the monsters either slain or driven back and the Amazons were on their own road to recovery on the other side of the country. It was a desolate mood that lingered and shrouded the camp like a blanket as wordless voices sounded around me tending to the wounded to be saved.

"Lady Artemis," Annabeth began before she was interrupted by an immense spike in power; the size that could rival some gods. A demonic roar and shaking of the earth was felt by every immortal being and some of the more powerful campers that were conscious. Estelle started crying and shivering uncontrollably.

I quickly rushed to her. "Estelle, what is it? What's wrong?" I asked gently and worriedly. "B-Brother," she sobbed and my eyes widened.

I immediately flashed to the Throne Room, followed by the flashed of other gods who came in response to the energy surge. What I saw made my heart nearly stop.

~Just After Percy's Energy Spike~

3RD PERSON POV

The two cataclysmic forces collided, producing a shockwave that smothered all present flames that weren't the hearth. From the outside, no one could see what was happening; they could only hear the faint clash of swords between the rumblings of earth and thunder. The only saving grace from decimating the entire Throne Room was Hestia putting most of her energy into a protective barrier in front of the thrones and gods who had yet to gain consciousness.

Inside the storm, the two warriors were moving even faster that they were when they had started. The strikes and dodges would have been too fast for immortals to follow even if the storm didn't obscure their vision and that only amplified the already tense atmosphere further.

'I can't hold this much longer. I'm burning out fast,' Percy panted in his head. Just then he made a fatal mistake by overextending a thrust with Riptide. Tartarus' blood red blade came down in a deadly arc, fighting against the winds of Percy's hurricane. Percy raised Frostbite to try to lessen the blow even a fraction, but raised it too far.

Tartarus' blade collided with his armor for a millisecond before the sea-green metal yielded to the blood red challenger and continued through, cutting Percy's left arm clean off, just below the elbow. Frostbite clattered to the ground with a deafening clang, even through the storm. In his anger at both Tartarus and himself for making such a foolish mistake, Percy channeled nearly all his power into a straight kick to Tartarus' chest with his earthshaker abilities, snapping his own tibia and most likely his fibula in the process, and sent the purple behemoth back and blinding speeds.

Percy felt Riptide resettle in his hand again. 'Let's finish this how I started it, right Zoe?' he thought and his knuckles turned white from his grip as he poured every last ounce of his strength into his charge, shattered leg be damned. A concussive burst of energy resulted from the collision of The Destroyer and The Pit.

When the storm and dust settled, the two figures were standing hardly a foot apart; the shorter one hunched over slightly and the taller one slightly arched back. The raven-haired Guardian had his left arm pooling blood on the floor at his side, and more blood pooling from the sword now embedded in his gut. The Primordial of the Pit had a look of shock on his face before he smirked and coughed up more platinum ichor from the sword that was now piercing his heart.

"Damn you, Jackson." Tartarus then coughed more ichor and his voice gurgled slightly. "I'll be taking you with me, little demigod. Then no one will stand against me when I return," he chuckled again before he exploded in platinum dust.

Percy then collapsed on the floor and sprawled on his back, completely drained as all of the gods and goddess flashed in.

ARTEMIS POV

"PERCY!" I screeched through the tears and was at his side in an instant. "Percy! Percy!" I begged through the sobs and cupped his face as Hestia and Hera sprinted to join me. Poseidon limped over as fast as he could.

"APOLLO!" I screeched again as I cried hysterically. "H-Hey… Arty," Percy croaked and the tears rushed out with renewed fervor as I still cupped his face, uncaring of the blood. "I-I have some-something… I h-have to tell you," he said, but his voice was getting quieter.

I shook my head vigorously, "It can wait," I said as I went to grab his hand but only reached something wet and warm. I looked down and shakily turned my hand over to see it covered in blood; Percy's blood. I choked back a sob,but not the tears as Apollo appeared at his other side and began tending to his stomach

I ripped my silver parka off and wrapped it around the bloody stump that used to be his left hand and cupped his cheek in my right hand. "Arty," he whispered and I nodded, not trusting my voice. "I-I broke the o-oath," he said and I tensed. "I f-fell for one… o-of the hun-ters," he continued and I was one more comment away from losing myself to anger. Anger at him, but mostly anger at myself for falling for him.

"W-Who?" I nearly spat and sobbed at the same time. The softest, kindest smile I had ever seen played across his lips and his eyes showed all the mirth they used to hold again, making my heart clench. "You."

'You.'

That single word echoed in my head for what felt like an eternity. I wanted to fight the tears that were spilling rapidly down my cheeks. I wanted to, but they were tears of joy; of love. A watery smile broke my features and it was soon followed by a shaky chuckle. 'He loves me too,' I mused despite the gravity of the situation.

"Artemis," Apollo said sternly and I whipped my head to look at the serious expression and my heart clenched in fear again. "The fixes are temporary right now. I need to get him back to my temple ASAP," he said and I wiped my eyes and nodded.

"Poseidon, Hestia, I need both of you there as well. He has your abilities so I need your help to heal him. With the three of us it'll be close," Apollo said and gazed at me and Percy and had a small smile. "But I think my cousin here will continue to do the impossible," Apollo finished and I nodded to him.

The three left hastily to my brother's temple to get to work and I had my Hunt to check on. Zeus declared a council meeting for tomorrow and everyone left to rest and mourn. My last thought as I flashed out as well:

'He loves me too.'

AN: Chapter 26! Loved writing it. Sorry I had to go all Empire Strikes Back/Naruto Shippuden with the hand thing, but fuck it yo next chapter or two or three idk yet are gonna be wrap up and conclusion stuff. Time skips through Pertemis' relationship etc. Until Next time!