Hazel and Nico transported all of us directly to Mount Olympus. We were running out of time. The bridge between the realm of the gods and the human world was quickly fading. The chaotic aura I felt on Olympus when me, Percy and Grover faced Kronos all those years ago was present, but ten times stronger. We were running out of time. I wondered how Percy and Grover felt about the new, stronger, and more powerful chaotic energy.
"We gotta move!" I exclaimed.
Frank turned into a stallion and I immediately mounted him. As I rode on Frank's back, the rest of us ran. We suddenly stopped and Frank came to sudden halt. Melinoe stood there facing us.
"You fools. You're too late! The Bane of Olympus is already doomed. Even if you should get past me, do you really think you can face Diana and her allies?"
The Bane of Olympus? Does that mean... Oh no...
Reyna glared at her. "We won't be intimidated by your mere words! There's twelve of us and only one of you."
"I may be outnumbered, but you are the ones who are outmatched. Do you really think you can face me and my assistant?"
A figure with a black cloak walked forward. They wore black gloves on their hands as if they were trying to hide something.
"So, what do you think?" She turned to her ally. "Do you think they can stop me?"
The figure spoke, "They do not have a chance against us."
That voice sounded very similar, no, wait, exactly like Margaret Hamilition.
But she's been dead for a long time. How could it be? I thought to myself.
"You guys go." Nico commanded.
Thalia got out her bow and several arrows. "We'll stop the goddess and her apprentice."
"But..." Percy started to protest.
"Go!" they both shouted at us.
We continued onward. Athena had also cornered us, forcing Grover and Reyna to stay behind to try and defeat her. On our way to the Hall of the Gods, we saw all of the remaining gods on Olympus knocked unconscious.
"Oh no..."
"Guys, look!"
Hazel pointed to the throne room. Horatia was carrying a pithos about three feet tall with black and white drawings and designs. She carried a blade on her belt. Was that? My train of thought derailed itself as I looked at the pithos. As she held it in her hands, Atlas and Hercules punched the glass with the Ophiotaurus. I gasped, realizing what her plan was.
"This glass is tough!" Atlas complained.
"Keep going!" Hercules ordered.
"Hold it right there, Horatia!" I got off of Frank the horse and got out my weapons. "Your conquest ends now!"
She laughed at us. "You're too late, little heroes. As of now, the hearth has been destroyed and all hope is gone forever!"
She threw Pandora's pithos onto the ground, shattering it into a thousand pieces. A girl emerged from the Greek vase that once held so many evils. She appeared as an eleven year old girl with short black hair, sad blue eyes and she wore a long orange dress that reached to the floor. She had a flickering bright yellow aura around her.
"Elpis..." I whispered.
"The spirit of hope..." Percy added.
"She is no longer with you. You can't hope to stop me!" Horatia looked towards Atlas. "Atlas, deal with these intruders while me and Hercules finish what you two started."
We fought against Atlas. As the eight of us tried (and miserably failed) to stop him, Diana unshethed the blade on her belt and slashed the glass of the aquarium relentlessly. Hercules punched the glass walls with both of his fists.
"We have to stop them! If we fail here, the world is doomed!" I reminded them.
"Oh yeah, no pressure!" Jason sarcastically commented as he dodged one of his punches.
Piper tried to stab him with her dagger, but he shook her off effortlessly. Calypso fired a beam of energy at him, making him more back a few feet. He screamed loudly, which made all everyone except for me, Diana, Calypso, and Hercules go airborne and crash on the ground. Me and Calypso jumped in time, successfully dodging his energy wave attack. I put on my invisibility cap as Atlas made his way over to Calypso.
"Tell me, Calypso, why do you defy me? You aided me in the First Titan War, why do you do this? You should be helping me!"
"No way am I ever helping you! You were a terrible father!"
"Terrible father? I didn't swallow my own children like Kronos did!" Horatia cleared her throat and glared at Atlas. "Sorry boss."
She resumed trying to break the cage. I stabbed Atlas in the back with both my dagger and my sword. He was so angry and he unintentionally knocked off my Yankees Cap, rendering me visible. My sneak attack wasn't enough to defeat him, but it did injure him. We continued to fight him.
"How tough did they make this blasted cage?!" Hercules asked his mistress over the ruckus of fighting.
"We're almost there!"
"Try using Backbiter in its true form!" Hercules suggested.
She held the blade and I gasped. It turned into Kronos' scythe.
Percy too gasped and stood with his mouth agape. "Backbiter?! But it was destroyed in the fires of Hestia!"
"That's what I wanted you to think." She held her scythe with one of hands and twirled it. "I'm afraid what you saw was a mere illusion. I claimed that sword and kept it with me, even in death! Now you shall soon face death!"
I saw cracks form in the cage and suddenly the glass broke. Water spilled out everywhere. Percy used some of his water to attack Atlas, which affected him slightly, but alas, it was not enough. I saw Horatia slay the Ophiotaurus by stabbing him (or was it a her?) with her blade. In no time at all, the Ophiptaurus was dead. I ran towards her, but Hercules grabbed me by the neck and held me in his grasp as if I were a scrawny kitten.
"Let me... go!" I gasped.
"If you thought you could hurt my queen, then you were mistaken!"
He threw me directly into Athena's throne. My head spun. I noticed that Atlas was finally knocked out by a blast of water from Percy, but I felt so weak. When I finally managed to stand up, I saw that Horatia was standing next to a flame.
"I hate to break it to you, but your time is up. The sand is at the bottom of the hourglass!" She dropped the entrails into the fire. Many of us gasped in terror. She was engulfed in a rainbow colored light. She rose up into the air as the light surrounded her. Hercules smiled as we stood there in shock and in terror. She laughed evilly. "Yes, yes, YES! I can feel all of the power in the world at my fingertips! This world is mine!"
She unleashed bolts of purple lightning at all of us.