"No way" Apollo muttered. A figure staggered out of the dust. Percy Jackson. And he seemed angry. No, angry was putting it mildly, even saying he was furious was an understatement. The air around him rippled and warped, his eyes glowed a poisonous green and the blood leaking out of his mouth didn't help.
"h-h-how?" Porphyrion stuttered. Percy gave a demonic grin, almost crazy look that made Artemis question whether he was still sane or not. "Hardened water helps with the impact, you know" Percy replied, still grinning like crazy. Suddenly, the look disappeared, to be replaced by pure rage and concentration. "Enough games and talk Porphyrion, we end this NOW!" he roared. He lifted his arms, and the earth cracked as several geysers exploded out of the ground. Water from the river flew over, and Percy pointed at Porphyrion. They hardened, and flew at Porphyrion, a massive cloud of hardened water spikes, slamming into him, one after another. Ichor flowed like a waterfall as Porphyrion roared, he sent another blast of lightning at Percy. He lifted the sword, angled it, and the bolt deflected off his sword and flew right back at Porphyrion, hitting him square in the chest. He tumbled.
Then Percy seemed to be directing the water around him, lifting him higher, and Artemis realized that he was surrounding himself in water. Soon, Percy had made a 30 foot tall water giant, with him right into the middle. Percy stomped towards Porphyrion, and began to beat the crap out of Porphyrion, mercilessly driving his fists into Porphyrion's face and body. Porphyrion attempted to fight back, but it was clear that Percy had the upper hand. Artemis marveled at Percy's strategy, Porphyrion's fighting style was fighting smaller beings, if he used the same tactics against the same size being, he'd lose.
There was a triumphant cry as Porphyrion managed to stab his spear straight through the water giant's stomach, but then his cry turned to a shriek of horror as the water hardened around it and ripped the spear away from him. Momentarily distracted, Percy took the chance to draw back his hand and hit Porphyrion with a massive upper cut, so strong that Porphyrion flew up. Instantly, the water giant disappeared, and a huge, thick, massive spike stood straight against the ground.
Artemis's eyes widened in anticipation as she realized what Percy had planned. A split second later, Porphyrion crashed onto the spike, screaming in pain as his butt was raped by the spike. Everyone, the monsters, the conscious demigods, and the gods winced. Even Hades managed to look paler than he usually was. Porphyrion attempted to stand, but cried out in pain again.
"Wow, Percy's control over water is great" Artemis thought dryly
"You.. You will die painfully, Sea scum" Porphyrion gasped out.
"Yeah, I'd be worried if it weren't for the fact that you're obviously constipated" Percy replied, smirking.
"Now, get ready to be crushed!" Percy yelled. He slammed Riptide into the ground. Poseidon's eyes widened,
"Get off the ground! And protect the demigods!" Poseidon roared. Instantly, all twelve of us lifted off the ground and levitated the demigods off the ground just as a huge, massive earthquake, like magnitude 16 shook the ground.
All Artemis knew was that it was far more powerful than anything Poseidon had ever conjured. Porphyrion was knocked around like a billiard ball when they get hit by the cue ball, and all the monsters instantly crashed to the ground. Even with all the shaking, she couldn't help but notice that the cracks that branched out from Riptide seemed to be going in an oval shape, at least a football field long. As the quake subsided, water from almost every direction came rushing in. Percy seemed to be directing the water straight into the cracks, which didn't make any sense, until Percy wrenched Riptide out of the ground.
He raised his sword and arms up, and with a huge groan and massive shaking, the entire football field sized chunk of land began leveling and floating out of the ground. All the gods gasped. Percy was glowing with an aura of power, his green eyes so intense, it could've burned through titanium. The island rose higher and higher, with the column of water surging upwards, pushing up. Then Percy turned his hand so it looked like he was holding a bowl, and the water shifted, mimicking his shape exactly, so that it looked like a watery hand was holding a big rock. Strike that, a really big hand holding a ginormous rock
Porphyrion had staggered to his knees, being a big dude, the earthquake had rattled every bone in his being. And being butt raped did not help. He did not appear to have noticed that Percy was getting ready to crush him, for he was still yelling, " I will smash you, Perseus Jackson! And I will have intense pleasure on seeing you crushed to pulp!" he roared.
"Talk about irony…" Artemis thought.
He looked up. And his mouth literally dropped wide open.
Percy gave a wicked grin, "Who's crushing who?"
and he brought his hand down as hard and fast as he could. The water mimicked his movements, throwing the island at incredible speed, smashing into Porphyrion so hard that the island exploded as it crushed him. There was a roar of pain and a lot of wince inducing snapping sounds, the ground trembled, then stilled. The gods were shocked as they stared at the mound of broken rocks.
"Is he destroyed…?" Zeus asked. They flew over, picking up the demigods as they went, and stared at the newly formed crater. Porphyrion, or more like his horribly deformed body, lay in pool of ichor, enough to fill Lake Michigan.
"Awww, poor thing, here, let me help you" Artemis said. She drew back her bow, nocked an extra bright silver arrow, and fired it straight into what she supposed was his head. It hit with an explosion of silver fire, and slowly, his body disintegrated. The ground shook, and a silent scream was heard, a scream that chilled everyone, even the gods. Then silence. There was a distant thud, and Artemis whirled around to find Percy lying face down in a pool of his own blood.
"Percy!" Artemis cried
She and everyone else rushed over to him, she flipped him over and press a hand to his chest, feeling, praying for a heartbeat. He was stark white and his breathing was shallow. She felt a very faint thump, thump signaling a dangerously slow heartbeat.
"Apollo! Get over her- ''
"Already here, sis, now move aside" Apollo said. He laid his hand on his chest, and sent a pulse of golden light into him. He frowned. This time, he bathed his whole body in golden light. Percy coughed, spluttered, and said "Ahhh, what happened? I just blacked out…".
"You used too much of your powers, cuz." "Don't worry, I've got you covered, now sleep" Apollo replied.
He nodded, and then he relaxed, the colour already returning to his face. Everyone let out a collective breath.
"Hey Apollo, think you can wake Annabeth up? She's been out for a while." Thalia asked. Apollo took a look and sent a jab of golden light into her head. Annabeth jerked, and she instantly woke up.
"Whoa, where am I? Wait, Percy! Is he alive? Where is he?" Annabeth almost shrieked.
"Hey, hey, calm down, he's alive, all is well." Apollo said.
"Oh. Good." Annabeth said. "Argh, my head hurts."
"Hey, can you wake Jason up?" Piper asked.
"No need, I'm awake. Other than feeling really weak, I'm fine…" Jason mumbled. He looked around and his eyes widened.
"Wait, where's Porphyrion?"
"He's destroyed" replied Zeus
"Oh. How did he die?"
"Erm, painfully. Very painfully. Let's not get into details. At the hands of Percy Jackson, no less" Zeus.
Jason's eyes bugged out, "Holy crap, he killed Porphyrion?"
"Yes. It seems us gods are once again deep in his debt…" Athena grumbled.
"C'mon people, it's time to CELEBRATE!" Hades said. Everyone started at him. "Hey, just because I'm the god of the dead doesn't mean I'm downcast and gloomy. Whatcha waiting for, brother? Let's go to Olympus, reward our heroes and have fun!"
"Um, yes, yes, of course" Zeus replied, still surprised a bit at his brother's behavior.
He snapped his fingers, and everyone was engulfed in a golden light as they were transported to Olympus. Percy regained consciousness on arrival, and had regained enough strength to lean heavily on Frank and Hazel to walk. The gods sat in their thrones, and Zeus began a speech, talking about the bravery of the gods, blah blah blah. Artemis hardly paid any attention to it, she was very tired. And she wondered what Percy would say when Zeus would most likely offer him godhood. Again. Part of her hoped that he would accept, even though she had no idea why, but she knew that he would turn it down again out of his love for Annabeth.
"And now, let us reward our brave and courageous demigod children, without whom I am sure it would have been ah, difficult to win the war…" Zeus said.
"Difficult?" asked Percy.
"Ok, fine, near impossible…" Zeus grumbled.
Percy
(Ok, I have no idea what the rewards are for the other people, so I'm just skipping to Percy's.)
"Perseus Jackson!" Poseidon's voice boomed out. "Ah hell, I can barely stand" Percy thought. He staggered to his feet, and tried to walk as straight as he could in front of his father. He bowed to his father first, then knelt at Zeus's feet.
"Well Perseus Jackson, we once again offer you godhood. Do you accept?" Zeus asked. He said it in a very I-know-what-you're-going-to-say type of way. Percy smiled.
"Ah, with all due respect Lord Zeus, but I'm pretty sure you know what my answer will be. And please don't take offence." Percy said. He glanced back at Annabeth who was gazing at him with starry eyes.
Zeus sighed. "Well, I can't say I'm surprised… Is there anything us gods could at least give you or something?"
"Well, come to think of it,- he turned to Hephaestus- Lord Hephaestus, can you take Riptide and make an exact duplicate of it? Same in all aspects? And instead of two pens, just one pen when I take it out, and if I wish to take out the second, I just reach into the handle to pull out the second one?" Percy asked. Lord Hephaestus thought about it.
"Hand me Riptide"
Percy handed it over. Hephaestus uncapped it, and watched as the sword sprang to its full form.
"Hmm, very well made, it should take me only a day to replicate this down to its powers and whatnot." He said. Then he asked another question, "This is extremely good craftsmanship, who made it?"
Percy turned his head upward, looking at his favourite constellation: The Hunter.
"Zoe Nightshade made it, Lord Hephaestus, and it is imbued with her immortal power." Percy replied.
"Ah, that explains it" Hephaestus muttered. "I'll return it to you tomorrow, at 3 o'clock, fighting arena, sharp."
"Thank you Lord Hephaestus" Percy said.
"Is there anything else you wish from us, Percy Jackson?" Zeus asked.
"Yes, m'lord"
"Well, what is it?"
"I've been thinking, can you make gives Hades a throne on Olympus and restore Hestia's throne?"
There was a lot of surprised looks at this, and plenty of grumbling, mostly on Zeus's part.
"Well, I suppose that in light of your services, I will honour your request." Zeus said. He clapped his hands, and a two massive thrones burst through the ground, one that was a glossy black, made of obsidian, with all types of gems studded at its base, for Hades, and another throne that glowed a warm red, bits of it on fire, for Hestia. Hades looked at me with gratitude and surprise in his eyes as he sat in his new throne, while Hestia just gave me a shy smile.
"Very well, then, now let us celebrate the end of this war!" Zeus yelled, and snapped his fingers. Instantly, the Muses cranked up their tunes, Dionysus and Demeter made food appear all across the tables, and Zeus even pardoned Dionysus from his punishment for a tonight and let him drink.
After dancing with Annabeth for a while, and getting clapped on the back and drowned in congratulations, I lounged near the pool that held the Ophiotaurus.
"Percy Jackson"
I jerked, startled, and turned around and saw the last goddess I wanted to see. Athena. Not wanting to get on her bad side, I bowed and asked her, "Yes Lady Athena?"
"I'll let you stay at camp for a couple of months to train."
"Train? For what?" I asked, confused.
Athena's eyes glinted, and I instantly had a feeling of dread.
"Why, you're going to prove yourself, Perseus Jackson."