Disclaimer: I do not own Percy Jackson and the Olympians
Story: Guardians of Light and Justice
Chapter 18: The Underworld Revolution – Part 2
Underworld
Nico's POV
My father's army held the high ground, therefore we had the advantage. The enemy would have to attack us; we weren't going to allow them to goad us into an offensive move. "However, I do need someone to reconnoiter their force structure." Hades said. My father's eyes glowed with dark energy. Suddenly three creatures dropped from the darkness of the air above us, and then landed next to me and my father. It was the Furies; Alecto walked forward, and approached our position.
"My lord." She said with a bow.
"Alecto, I want you and your sisters to investigate the enemies strengths. Be careful as those bat creatures are numerous, and appear to be very fierce." Hades said. Alecto bowed again, and then joined her sisters. They spread their wings, and took off into the darkness. "Sergeant of arms." A large skeleton soldier around six feet six inches tall walked towards us wearing ancient Roman armor. He bowed low to my father.
"Aye, my lord" He said with a shrill voice.
"Bring forth all of the trumpeters. The enemy will use their bats to investigate, and to attack from the air. I want continuous round the clock trumpeting. The noise shall disrupt the bats internal radar. It will blind them." Hades said. A smart move, but Hades was actually a very intelligent general, sometimes I wondered if he wouldn't give Athena a run for her money. "Now for the ground forces." My father's eyes glowed again. Suddenly, a flat bed wagon emerged from the darkness pulled by four large skeleton horses. The wagon stopped in front us. In the back of the wagon were four large wooden trunks. My father motioned for the skeletons to move forward. A few soldiers opened the chests, and inside were thousands of rounds of celestial bronze ammunition. "All soldiers with guns load up, and prepare for battle." I looked at my father in disbelief.
"Dad, this had to cost a fortune for that much celestial bronze." I said. Hades chuckled, and then he looked at me mischievously.
"It did, but I have been planning for something like this for a while." Hades said slyly. I smiled at my father; he would have been a good boy scout, always prepared. Well, except for the part where he tortures enemies, punishes the wicked, and controls an army of skeletons and hellhounds. All of our forces arranged themselves in lines, the front lines were for long range weapons, and the secondary lines were for short range weaponry. Also, dad setup a line for Macedonian and Civil War cavalry that could flank the lines of the enemy, and strike them at will. Lastly, a group of World War Two U.S. Army Rangers were placed in a group under my command to strike at weak points during the battle, this way we could shore up our line when needed.
"Good, everything is in place, my boy take care of your team, and let's kicks some monster butt." Hades said as he walked off to join the main battle lines. I turned toward my men; they wore their olive drab uniforms and helmets. They carried a combination of rifles and machine guns.
"Soldiers stand ready, wait for our signal, and then we attack." I said. My soldiers yelled in agreement, and then continued to ready their weapons and ammunition.
We heard a loud horn sound in the distance. I looked down the hill, and I saw the enemy advancing. Five hundred giants ranging from fifteen to twenty feet in height carrying large wooden clubs and celestial bronze axes walked up the hill towards us. Behind them slithered and crawled over five hundred giant snake/lizard creatures. Some were very long, around thirty to forty feet in length. Some had massive foot long fangs that dripped with venom, while others had massive jaws like a crocodile. Lastly, over three hundred giant bats came forward; they crawled along the ground with their giant foot long fangs dripping with drool. Their eyes were blood red, and seemed to pulse with power.
I wondered why none of the bats were flying until I heard a sound like wind whipping around a building. I looked up to see one hundred bats chasing Alecto and her sisters. The Furies made it across our lines as trumpets blared toward the flying enemy. The bats started to turn in tight circles, and I could almost see them panic as they hit each other in mid-air. Our archers and sharp shooters aimed, and then fired towards the flying enemy turning most of them to dust. A few made it across our lines, and crashed into our front line soldiers. The sound of battle echoed throughout the underworld. I looked down the hill to see the enemy's ground forced head up the hill. I pointed toward the massive stalactites that extended from the rock ceiling of the underworld.
"Rangers; aim for the stalactites, and fire." I yelled. My gunners hit the stalactites sending dozens of massive spike like rocks hurtling toward the ground. They struck with the force of an explosion sending the enemy ground forces into disarray. Dozens of the enemy exploded into dust. This gave our front lines enough time to regroup after all of the enemy air forces had been dispatched. I listened as my father reinforced the main lines.
The enemy ground forces finally regrouped, and pressed their attack. They hit our main battle lines with a huge collision many of our front line soldiers were destroyed with the impact from the giants and lizard creatures. Our long range line of soldiers was decimated as the giants threw boulders and Greek fire at the line. Our short range ground forces intercepted the enemy, and were at least holding their own. My father sent in the cavalry to outflank the enemy. The cavalry attacked the left flank of the enemy weakening it considerably until our cavalry were decimated by the bats that attacked from the ground.
"Attack the bats, now." I yelled as I ran forward with my group of army rangers. We attacked the bats while our remaining forces continued to do battle with the enemy's main battle line. I took out my Stygian iron sword, and began slashing bats into nothingness as the rangers shot the enemy to pieces.
I noticed the giant lizard creatures fighting our group of hellhounds. The fight was incredible. At the end, all of the lizard creatures were destroyed leaving only one hellhound remaining, Cerberus. I cut the head off the last bat creature, and turned around to notice my entire group of rangers destroyed. I, like Cerberus was the last one of my force. I ran over to Cerberus, and then we entered the battle to help my father. We fought hard for another hour until only my father, Cerberus and I remained. The enemy forces were destroyed.
"My boy great job, we have won." Hades said.
"Not so fast." A voice said. We all turned to see Thanatos and Tartarus walking toward our position. "You still have to deal with us." Thanatos said.
"Gladly." I said. Thanatos eyed me warily.
"Son of Hades, second in command of the Guardians, we meet at last." Thanatos said. I nodded in agreement.
"Give up Tartarus, your army has been destroyed." Hades ordered. Tartarus just looked at my father in disgust.
"By the looks of it, your army is destroyed too." Tartarus said. My father narrowed his eyes at the primordial god.
"You dare challenge me." Hades yelled.
"Yes" Tartarus said plainly. My father charged Tartarus, and they fought sword to sword sending sparks and dark energy cascading down the hilltop that we stood upon. Thanatos extended his wings, and flew toward me. Two can play at this game. I extended my wings, and flew to challenge him. Our swords struck with a tremendous collision. The sound and energy released seemed to bounce off the walls and ceiling of the underworld. The noise of these two fights reverberated throughout the land of the dead. As we fought I could see spirits watching from Asphodel, Elysium and the Isle of the Blest. Our battle was now personal; Cerberus abstained from the fight. I knew he wouldn't interfere unless our enemies decided to fight dirty.
Thanatos was a good swordsman, but I was better. My training with Percy had honed my skills to almost perfection. I parried every single blow from his sword. He moved quickly, and tried to use his power to pull my soul from my body. He looked on astonished when nothing happened.
"Immortal, remember?" I said sarcastically. Thanatos's eyes narrowed, and he struck again. This time I tucked my wings back as I maneuvered below the swing of his sword. I grabbed his ankle as I descended toward the ground as gravity pulled me. I used my weight to make his ability to fly useless. I could feel him struggle with his wings, but my momentum was too strong. I descended at an incredible rate, the weight of my armor making me move faster. Once we reached terminal velocity, I waited for my opportunity. At the last moment before we struck the ground I extended my wings, but at the same time I let go of his leg. He had no time to react. I easily pulled up from the dive, but Thanatos wasn't as lucky. He hit the rocky ground with a loud explosion of dirt and rock.
I landed near the edge of the crater that he created. I looked down to see him start to stand up, but before he could move, I jumped into the crater feet first. Both of my feet struck Thanatos in the chest flattening him into the ground. I stood back as he crawled up to his knees. I pointed my shield at him, and began to pray to Astraea. My shield glowed until two tendrils of light shot from the shield, and then grabbed a hold of Thanatos. He screamed in agony as the magic of the shield turned his body into light. The tendrils retracted back into the shield pulling the illuminated form of Thanatos into the shield. The shield glowed with Thanatos's dark energy. He was now trapped within my shield.
Cerberus returned to my side after the battle. I placed my hand on one of his heads, and scratched behind his ear.
"Good boy." I said. I turned to the sound of the last battle raging in the distance, the one between my father and Tartarus. Cerberus and I ran to the edge of their battle to see my father and Tartarus fighting. They both looked tired, and they had several cuts and lacerations across their bodies. Even with their armor, they were still able to exact damage to each other. Tartarus had clearly grown weary of the sword fight as he dropped his sword, and balled his hands together as he created a ball of red energy. The ball of energy crackled with power. He threw the ball at my father, who intercepted it with a shield of pure hell fire. The collision was so explosive that both gods were thrown off their feet. They each hit the ground hard.
My father stood up first, and walked toward Tartarus. Tartarus stood finally, he looked much worse than my father now.
"Give up Tartarus, I don't know what they promised you, but your partner has been defeated." Hades said as he pointed toward my glowing shield. Tartarus was breathing heavy, when he saw my shield I could see him sigh in defeat.
"You have won, what will you do with me?" Tartarus asked. Hades looked at the defeated god before him. A smile of pure disdain and vengeance was plastered across my father's face. Even I cringed at the look. Tartarus stared at my father in fear. "Please don't" My father smiled, he looked toward Cerberus with an evil smirk.
"Cerberus, here boy." Hades said. Cerberus bounded toward my father causing min-earthquakes as he ran. The giant king of the hellhounds stood before my father. "Take him back to the pit, and don't worry about playing too rough." If a three headed hellhound could smile, well I would say Cerberus was smiling now as he grabbed Tartarus around the throat with one mouth, and then used his two other mouths to grab his shoulders. I could hear the crunch of bone, tendons and cartilage as he clamped down upon the helpless god. He ran off towards the pit; Tartarus muffled screams could be heard throughout the underworld.
I felt the wind move, and I looked up to see the three Furies flying toward us. They landed in front of my father, and bowed. Alecto walked forward to address my father.
"My lord, you called?" Alecto asked.
"Yes, my loyal subject. See to it that there is something left of Tartarus to punish when I return." Hades ordered. Alecto smiled viciously.
"As you command my lord." Alecto said as she and her two sisters took off into the air after Cerberus.
I walked up to my father, and kneeled before him. "Stand up my son." Hades ordered. I stood in front of my father proudly.
"Father, what did you mean, when you return?" I asked. My father stared into my eyes, and I could feel the power of darkness within him.
"I will not allow the enemy to reach Los Angeles; I plan to join you in this fight." Hades said. I nodded, and gave my father a warm smile. "Let's go my son." Hades grabbed my shoulder as we disappeared into the shadows.
AN: So the underworld is safe, and aren't you glad that you're not Tartarus? I can't imagine how Cerberus might play with him.