-cringes-

I know.

On the plus side, now that I'm updating, you know that I've finished writing this story, and updates will be regular. :D

We tumbled down the hill, falling in a heap at the bottom, the force of the shockwave so huge. Picking myself up, I groaned at the dozens of new brusises that would no doubt show themselves in the morning. If I lived that long. The rest of the campers were also getting up, some rubbing their heads, others reaching for weapons that were scattered around on the ground. They all knew that a fight was coming. Jakob stood up, helping up Alice, and Chiron managed to hip back up onto all fours, stretching and turning to face us. I nodded at them, and together we skirted up the hill. Having no desire to die at the hands of an unseen maniac, myself, Jakob, Alice and Chiron, keeping low to the ground whist the other campers scattered. My mind was reeling over what Jakob had insinuated.

Annabeth, dead? It cannot be true. But, Jakob seemed to have seen her die with his own eyes, and he'd given us no reason to doubt what he was saying in the past. I stored the bit of information for mulling over later though, because we had more important at the moment. Like for example, the murderous teenager currently laughing in the centre of what used to be the safest place for half-bloods in the world could be constituted as a 'problem'.

Dempsey was perched on the Big House, looking around his with a grin that was all teeth and no mirth.

Somehow—I don't know how—he spotted us, sheltered as we were by the ragged tree line at the crest of the hill.

"You going to come out and play, heros?" he asked in disdain, before extending his arm, palm up, and then clenching his fist.

Frost ran up the trees around us, icy tendrils sinking into the bark. With large cracks, the trees began to rain down, bits at a time, until we were surrounded by stumps, parts of tree matter, and open air. The guy didn't even break a sweat. I don't know how he got as strong as he did, but it was disturbing.

It was no use trying to hide. Instead, we made our way down to the clearing, where we stood in a defiant circle.

"What are you doing this?" I yelled at him, as the winds picked up, hurling rocks and debris at our legs.

Dempsey smiled, his blue eyes utterly lacking of warmth. "Why does anyone do anything? World domination, that's what I want," he said.

The Hummer arrived at the bottom of the hill at that moment, Argus skidding to a stop to avoid another car.

This one was a Lexus, a dark metallic red, and it was crumpled at the front, with dents in the hood, the engine steaming, and the windscreen shattered. The driver's and passenger's-side doors were open, the passenger's-side door almost ripped away from the car.

The driver's side was sprayed gruesomely with blood, the red of it standing out against the darker shade of the Lexus' paint job. There was a puddle of it, half-coagulated, next to the wheel, and lying against it was Giac, his face pale in death, a small knife clutched in his hand.

Percy bent down to check his pulse. "He's dead," he said to Argus, before shaking his head. One victim already. Only time would tell if there were anymore.

It seemed heartless to Percy, but they left Giac where he was— not know what else to do with him—and headed up the hill, to the valley that held the remnants of Camp Half-Blood.

Leaving the Hummer idling at the bottom of the hill, Percy and Argus crept to the top, ready to duck in case an errant ball of fire/water/ice/wind decided to fling itself over the top of the hill. At the top, they crouched and looked down.

The valley looked almost deserted; most of the demigods who were present at the camp were sheltering in the tree line, terrified of the teenager who was sitting on the roof of the Big House. There was a group of five at the base of it, along with other demigods who were preparing to fight.

Dempsey looked at Percy and Argus, and Argus shivered. There was something brutally cold about the guy's eyes.

"Ah, the rest of you join the party," Dempsey said, as a strong wind picked up Percy and Argus from the crest of the hill, and deposited them next to the group at the bottom of the hill, who consisted of Jakob, some old lady, Chiron and Nico. There was a little girl—Lily—standing behind them.

Percy looked around. Seven of them, and a few more demigods scattered around. The odds didn't look good.

"How is dear Giac, by the way?" Dempsey asked, smiling as though his was discussing the weather. Percy balled a fist. "Why are you doing this?" he asked the teenager crouched on the roof.

Dempsey rolled his eyes. "I told your friends that not even three minutes ago. It's because I want to rule the world, and to do that, I must summon my master. As to the reason I attacked your camp—" From behind him, he picked up the Golden Fleece, and thrust it up in front of him, the Fleece glinting in the light cast by the torches of the dining pavilion. "I needed the Fleece for sacrificial reasons, and if I happen to wipe out a camp of annoying half-gods…" He was still grinning nastily. "So much the better."

Nico blinked. "If you're so confident in your abilities, why haven't you attacked yet?"

Dempsey frowned. "So eager to die, are you? So be it." He pointed down, behind them. "She'll destroy you."

They looked behind them. The only person standing there was Lily, a surprised expression on her face.

"Who, me?" Lily asked, her tone also surprised.

"Yes, you," Dempsey snapped.

"I don't know what you're talking about," Lily finished, looking resolutely at him.

"Lily? She's innocent," Jakob said, going to stand behind her. "She would never—"

The explosion was so powerful, the ground rumbled. A huge flash of light burst for, etching itself into the retinas of the six, leaving bright pink after-images, and turning night to day. Jakob himself was blasted away from them, into a marble bust—

Ninety-four thousand feet in the air, Hermes winced as his statue was decapitated.

—and crashed into the lake, floating on the surface for a seconds, before sinking below. He didn't move, and his connection to Percy, usually so clear under water, was severed.

Lily stood in a torrent of golden fire, a wreath of blinding light around her black hair. She smiled. "He really shouldn't have touched me."

Dempsey laughed. "Puny heroes, meet Lily Xang, daughter of Ghia Xang and the Light Titan Hyperion."

It was suddenly clear to Percy. "You were the one who killed Giac, weren't you?"

Lily nodded. "He was an unnecessary risk, and I removed him. Of course, who would expect a little girl of murder? No one, until it was too late."

"Lily has been my faithful servant for fourty years, having no small regernative powers herself. Why do you think I knew hwere you were, every time? I even bribed that stupid LeBarbera to pretend that Lily was her slave, despite the fact that Lily could crush LeBarbera fifty times over without trying." He smiled again. Dempsey appeared to be having a nice night. How good for him. "And now she's going to crush you." He sat down cross-legged on the roof. "Take it away, Lily," he said, as though she was doing a high-school performance.

"My pleasure," she said, as Percy and Nico drew their swords, and Alice brought out a tube of what looked like lipstick. "How did that get in there?" she asked, a perplexed look on her face.

"That's Jakob's sword," Nico said. "Uncap it and it—" He never finished, because at that point Lily struck, a blazing human torch with a long sword, twice the height of her, made out of flames that flickered white and red.

"Ya-HOW," Nico said, trying to fight her off. "Hot, hot, hot! Little help, guys?"

Alice uncapped the tube of lipstick, and it grew into a spear, six and a half feet long, made out of solid gold with small emeralds around the hilt. Its tip was sharpened to a needle point, and Alice threw it, striking Lily in the leg. She howled with pain, and the spear magically flew back into Alice's hand, a wicked gleam present in the eye of the old lady.

While she was distracted, Nico managed to push Lily off of him, rolling to the side and lashing out with his sword as he went. Lily screamed out again as a long cut appeared on her back, and for a second her power flickered and then went out, leaving once again a small Asian girl on the grass. But then the fire roared up again, and the five—Nico and Percy with their swords, Alice with her spear, Chiron with his bow and Argus with stones and rocks, anything he could throw—charged.

Lily shot tongues of flame at her attackers, but Nico force up a wall of earth, and the fireballs burst harmlessly against them. Alice threw her spear again, and Argus lobbed a large ball of dirt he'd packed together.

Percy rushed forward with his sword, and swiped at her while she was distracted by Argus and Alice. Riptide hit her in the shoulder with a sickening thunk, and Lily bellowed in agony, her left arm hanging useless at her side. Percy was knocked back by a blast of super heated wind, but landed on his feet, skidding to a stop with Riptide still in his hand.

Water, is what we need, he thought. Lily's not the only person who can control the elements.

Standing there, he closed his eyes as the others attacked—Nico slashing where he could, Chiron firing arrows and Alice with her magic spear. It was at that point—though Percy didn't see it—that Lily morphed into her true form—a tall woman with imposing eyes and dark hair that writhed as she attacked with her flaming sword.

Concentrating on the water of the lake, Percy willed it to become restless, small waves forming on the surface, and a huge bubble of epic proportions rose from the surface, carrying inside of it Jakob, and hovered over the lake. Slowly, exerting rather a large strength of will, Percy brought it over the strawberry fields, over the cabins, and finally over the battle. Dempsey must have seen what Percy was doing, because a strong wind was now buffeting against the sphere of water, and it was all Percy could do to push against it. In addition, the wind was so cold that it was partially freezing the water, and Percy had little dominion over ice. Damn Dempsey was strong. Percy could feel blackness pushing at the edge of his vision, but if there was one thing he couldn't do, it was pass out.

Percy settled for giving one last ditch attempt at pushing it over Lily's head, and then let go. Dempsey let loose another cold blast air, so the ball froze solid.

It hit Lily in the head, melting instantly in her fiery aura. The water splashed down on top of her, and the fire instantly went out. Lily the woman was soaked, water running in rivulets over her, steam rising off of her clothes.

"You—you!" Lily spluttered as Nico struck, thrusting forward with his sword. Two sounds—a sickening crunch, a choked off gurgle, and Lily collapsed to the grass, her fire out forever. She was dead.

We stood there, breathing heavily, exerted by the battle we'd just had, and fearing the one that was about to come.

Dempsey leapt lightly off of the Big House, leaving the Fleece on top of it, and touched down onto the ground with a crouch. When he straightened, wiping grass off of his pants, he looked at them, his face expressionless, though there was a trace of surprise in his empty blue eyes.

He impatiently swept a long blond bang behind one ear, and smiled at them.

"So, Lily failed. I will admit that I am surprised," Dempsey said. "Oddly enough, I feel almost sad. But now you have to face me. And I can guarantee, you aren't going to survive it." He looked at them, almost quietly. "Prepare to die, as Giac, Jakob, Annabeth, and all the other faceless victims have before you."

Annabeth?

For Li: I'm back, dearest. You can find the reasons on my other profile. Expect to see me soon. :)

For everyone: There were errors, since my beta appears to have fallen off the face of the Earth. Ah, well. I'll go back and fix my errors at some other time.

Will our heroes survive? Find out next Friday. :)

By the way, can I say, thank you so fucking much. When I set out to write this story, I certainly didn't envision it would be this great. Thanks for the reviews, alerts and favourites. You mean the entire world to me, and I want to hug each and every one of you. Out of all of my stories, this is my favourite, and this is probably based on my readers. Thank you.