THANKS FOR YOU OPINIONS. Now enjoy!
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The funny thing when you're a magician, anything is possible, literally.
I wasn't anxious to replay the mini battle of Manhattan all over again, but we had no choice. Despite our individual strength, the Titans' massive strike force simply overwhelmed us by sheer numbers.
Explosions bombarded the gym. Monsters were coming at us like a plague; there was just no stopping them. "We need to regroup!" Percy called out to the rest of us. He was taking down monsters with every swing of Riptide, but it wasn't enough. This army was like a hydra; cut off one head, two more grow back, but in this case, it seemed like five more always took the place of one. The magicians outside stumbled into the gym. I couldn't help but notice that less than half of them were present, and all of them weren't looking so hot. The ones that had staffs were using them like canes instead of for offense, and the ones that didn't were leaning on their allies for support. They looked very far from the elite magicians that Amos had prepared for this night.
"Find the son of Kronos!" I ordered to whoever can hear me. I figured, if we found him first, and bring him to camp safely, then Atlas' and Hyperion's plans would've been ruined already. It was a long shot, but we had no other choice, unless you count us running away like little girls, which would never happen.
"How in the bloody hell are we gonna do that?" Sadie demanded.
The crook and flail glowed with power; Horus was helping me on this one. I felt power surge through me, the powers of a king. In one burst of energy, I struck the floor with the flail, the three whips at the end cracking the gym floor. The cracks slithered like snakes all the way to the army. The ground opened up, like a mouth, and swallowed almost half of the monsters. Beside me, Sadie was summoning divine words with her staff. One word, and a monster would either spontaneously burst into flames, turn into dust, or freeze in a block of ice. Her gaze was concentrated on one spot in particular. I tried to make out what she was glaring at, when I saw a transparent figure standing in the back of the monsters, reading off a scroll.
"Setne." I growled through gritted teeth. I still haven't forgiven that guy for almost trying to kill me, Zia, and Sadie on multiple occasions. I blasted my way towards him, the power of Horus continually replenishing my energy.
"You're dead!" I bellowed. Setne looked up from the scroll. When he saw me, he smirked evilly.
"Technically, I already am." He quipped. I lashed at him with the flail, but it just passed right through him, like he was an illusion. His whole form shimmered, like a mirage, and reformed. I saw an annoyed expression evident on his face. "Could you not do that? I may be dead, but I still have feelings, you know." I struck him with the flail again.
"What are you doing with the Titans? They're going to destroy the world!" Setne only laughed. "Don't you think I know that, silly boy? And frankly, I don't care, as long as they keep their end of the bargain." He read of another spell from the book, and a Tjesu Heru formed out of smoke. Its twin heads were snarling at me, and Setne laughed manically behind it.
"Oh, this going to be fun! At least, for me." The Tjesu Heru snapped at me experimentally with one of its heads.
Bad move.
I sidestepped, and brought down the flail on its neck, decapitating the head cleanly in one quick slash. The monster hissed, but the other head back off, now wary of my weapons.
"What could you possibly want from them anyway?" I asked Setne.
"The one thing I've wanted for thousands of years." Setne answered, choosing his words carefully. I gave him a scrutinizing look. He had given me a pretty vague answer. I was half-expecting him to say that they will give him Zia as a wife or something, or let him rule over the Olympians, but from what he said, it could've been anything. The only thing I was sure of, it was very personal.
"And what could that be?" I asked.
Setne laughed. "I won't spill my secrets yet, Carter Kane. You will find out when the time comes. But in the meantime, try not to die." He pointed a bony finger at me, and the Tjesu Heru charged full-force.
I did the natural thing: I charged. I know, pretty stupid of me, right? But when you have the power of the war god coursing through your veins, stupidity was probably a natural side-effect, plus, it seemed like the best choice at the moment.
Five feet, four feet, three feet… I counted down in my mind. Just as the two-feet gap between us closed in, I summoned my avatar. The golden body of a falcon warrior surrounded me, and the brunt force of me and the Tjesu Heru's impact sent both of us skittering backwards. I slammed into a wall, and probably took out some monsters with my body. I smiled inwardly as the Tjesu Heru was sent straight back into Setne. As the monster neared him, his smirk slowly changed into a frown.
"No, you cursed beast. Stop, stop!" he disappeared under a big, dead carcass.
With my remaining strength, I willed myself to stand up, which was hard considering that every part of my body ached in pain. From where I was standing, I saw the entire battle. Hyperion was taking on Nico, while Percy was fighting some monster with a tail that shot barbs. I looked more closely, and saw that it had Mr. Thorn's face and eyes. I couldn't believe what I was seeing; there were monster in the prom already? From the corner of my eye, I saw Atlas locked in close combat with a girl in a silver dress: the goddess Artemis. "You would pay for what you did to Zoe, Atlas." Artemis hissed. I briefly saw Diana within the chaos, but shrugged it off as my mind playing tricks on me again. She couldn't be here. She'd have to be crazy to stay here.
The two immortals fought like they were in a dance.
[Yes, Sadie. A dance. Did I ask for your opinion?]
Atlas would strike, and Artemis would dodge it with grace. She would then counter-attack, which Atlas would either block or dodge, and the process continued. I saw her hunters fighting bravely, but the sheer number of the monsters alone overwhelmed them. I saw a hellhound bite down on a girl no older than Sadie. The girl screamed to her friends in fear, but the hellhound shadow-travelled them both away. I didn't think of what would happen to that girl. Though the battle was still early, we were already losing ground. It was getting hard to keep track of all that were on our side, since most were lost in the sea of the attacking monsters. Zia appeared behind me, her dress in tatters and her staff cleaved in two.
"Carter, we need to retreat." She sounded like she was pleading. I surveyed the battle one more time, and saw that she was right. We were getting beaten badly out there. Percy's swings were getting too sloppy. Sadie was beaded in sweat. Summoning that much magic…it's a wonder she didn't burn up yet. Nico was betting his ass handed to him by Hyperion. The others…well, some lay on the ground, their faces contorted in a face of agony, while others were fighting back-to-back, staring down the countless of monsters that faced them. The magicians were surrounding, doing the best they can to fight, but it was futile. Finally, I gave the order.
"Sadie, create a portal! Forget the mission, we have to retreat!" I shouted over the cries, screams, roars, and hisses. I felt like a failure. It was our mission to bring the son of Kronos alive, and even in that one I had failed miserably. Now, magicians, hunters, and demigods were dying left and right because of my failure.
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The battle wasn't pretty; we had expected to at least hold until reinforcements come, but we never expected this battle to be a quick massacre.
After I blew up another monster, I heard a hissing sound come behind me. I turned around swiftly, but then someone screamed, "Don't!"
I managed to make out a flash of silver run in front of me, blocking my view of whoever it was. Slowly, the girl turned to stone in front my eyes. I recognized the silver parka, and the bow she was holding. She was a hunter.
"Another one for my collection." I heard a female voice say. I peered over the hunter-turned-statue, and saw a nametag.
Ms.M.
I had the urge to look at the creature face-to-face. It was like there was a voice, nagging me to take one quick look.
"Don't look at her eyes!" I heard Annabeth scream from somewhere. I immediately looked down.
"Oh, don't be like that, dear." Ms. M said. I saw her feet striding closer and closer to me. Before I even realized what I was doing, I was already backing away, but straight into a wall. Ms. M finally caught up to me. From her shadow, I saw something slithering in her hair; they looked suspiciously like snakes.
"My my. And to think that you defeated Chaos." She sneered. "You don't look like a fighter."
That made me mad. Nobody, and I mean nobody, underestimates Sadie Kane! Blindly, I pointed my staff towards her voice. "Heh-sieh!"
Turn back.
Ms. M was turned around, like some invisible force had yanked her. I took a second to look at her properly, and saw that I was right. She had snakes in her hair!
I immediately recognized the monster. Medusa!
So that's what the M stood for. I mused. Medusa turned her head towards me, and I immediately turned my eyes away. How do I defeat something that cannot be looked at? I doubted that making her look in a mirror would be useful.
Suddenly, I heard a very familiar noise: the sound of a monster disintegrating. I turned my head up, and saw Annabeth, holding her knife, and glaring at Medusa's ashes.
"She got on my nerves." Annabeth said nonchalantly, frowning at the ashes.
All around me, the dying screams of our comrades were heard. Behind me, I heard Carter scream, "Sadie, create a portal…" I didn't need any more motivation. With the last bit of my strength, I pointed my wand towards an intact portion of the wall and shouted, "Sahad!"
The vortex of swirling sand opened. "Done!" I shouted back.
The others sliced, hacked, blasted, and fought their way to the portal. The magicians went first, seeing as how badly beaten up they were. I made a mental note to berate them later for not doing their jobs properly. Percy and Annabeth went in next. Percy was a bit unsure of the portal, and kept giving me quizzical looks.
I rolled my eyes. "Come on! Don't be a scaredy-cat." I pushed him inside, and Annabeth followed. I heard an echo of a string of Greek curses sprout from the portal, probably from Percy.
Carter, grabbing Zia's hand, threw her in next. "Follow me next, alright?" he asked, but I think it was probably an order.
Me, being my usual self, answered, "I'll think about it. Now go!" Carter gave me one last look, like it would be his last, and jumped through the portal. I understood the boy. This battle wasn't exactly going in our favor. For all I know, it might be the last time we see each other. I tried not to think about it.
The other hunters went in next. Drea and Iris followed them. The two were now officially a couple, but it was rather hard to act it when one of them is bleeding from a stab wound on her shoulder. Iris gave me one sympathetic look before escorting Drea to the portal.
"Found him." I heard Hyperion say. I looked amidst the monsters, trying to find him. I finally saw him next to Atlas, who was digging his foot into the body of Artemis. The goddess of the hunt groaned in humiliation. Hyperion was carrying a boy on his shoulders.
Atlas spat in Artemis' face one more time, before kicking her hard in the stomach, which sent the goddess rolling over next to one of her hunters. As they turned around to leave, I caught a glimpse of the boy that Hyperion was carrying I made out black hair, tan skin, and golden eyes. I paled. Ariston had a nasty cut on his forehead, and his eyes were unfocused.
I quickly ran over to Artemis, blowing up any monster that stood in my way. I kneeled in front of the goddess quickly checking to see if she's still breathing. When I saw her chest start rising and falling, I blew out a breath I didn't know I had been holding back. Of course, I knew that being a goddess, she couldn't die, but it was instinct to see is someone was still alive, you know, in battle.
"Ariston!" Someone shrieked. My gaze lingered to a lone figure standing within the ranks of the monsters. Her gaze was locked with Hyperion, who smirked at her before disappearing in a flash of light. Diana threw the sword she was holding, but it was too late. The two titans were already gone.
The monsters were now training their eyes on her. They were probably thinking, Fresh meat! We kill it now!
"Ha-di!" I shouted. A bunch of monsters that were nearing her turned to dust.
"Come with me." I said, grabbing her hand. Diana frowned, and she slapped my hand away.
"I need to find my brother!" she declared, turning around, but I knew that there was just no bloody point. Her brother was gone, taken by those two.
"We can! But not if we're dead!" I argued, eyeing the monsters.
"No! I am not going to leave my brother! Now stay away from me, you freak!" That last comment got on my last nerve. I've been called lots of things, but never a freak. Nonetheless, I grabbed her hand, and yanked her towards the portal. Before she could even argue, I pushed her in.
Just as I was about to jump in myself, a pang of pain erupted in my stomach. I looked down, and saw a sword point sticking out of my bellybutton. I just had enough time to realize that I've been stabbed before I collapsed inside the portal.
The last thing I remembered before blacking out was seeing a pair of chocolate-brown eyes, cradling my head and begging for me to hold on.
*Le gasp* Is Sadie going to die? Well, did this one at 2:30 in the morning (my time). Review, people!
Spoiler Alert: MAJOR SADICO MOMENT NEXT CHAPTER!