Chapter 18: Let me introduce...my brother.

"Good job Perseus," Willow snapped into my ear.

"Who are you?" Thalia demanded.

"I am Antaeus," the giant said proudly, before sniffing loudly, "A son of Poseidon?"

I tensed. "Don't tell me you are too."

"I am," the giant bellowed, laughing. "And you shall fight to amuse me."

"No way," Luke snapped.

The giant glared. "Then you shall die."

"Let us discuss this," Bob finalized, his face white. We huddled in a circle, and Thalia kicked my shin, and I smirked.

"We'll be fine," I said. "I mean, I'll distract him, you guys escape."

"No, he'll spot us," Bob argued. "We need to amuse him in some way..."

"We are not fighting each other," Willow said fiercely. "We need to distract him in any other way."

"Don't worry princess," I said wolfishly. She glared at me, but remembered she couldn't hurt me in any way.

"Focus guys," Bob snapped. "Anteus is a giant who forced people to wrestle with him whenever he spots travelers. He's much of a brawn no brain guy."

"Call the monsters over," Thalia suggested. "They can fight."

"How?" Willow demanded. "They're miles away."

"Hellhounds have great hearing," Luke said defensively.

"Don't tell me you have a whistle in your pocket," Willow said coldly. I grabbed her arm slightly.

"Cool it," I muttered.

Willow rolled her eyes and turned her back.

"I'll head out," Thalia said, "Keep the rope around me so I don't get caught."

Luke glanced warily at the giant and opened the door. Quickly, he grabbed Willow, and she cried out.

"If you leave, she'll be my amusement," Anteus growled. "I'll relish disembodying every member of her body. Let me start with the foot..."

Willow swallowed.

"Hurry up," I snapped, and Thalia walked out of the door and began yelling. It seemed fine and all, except Luke almost fell out of the door.

Yelling, I steadied him and pulled at the rope that held Thalia.

"What's going on?" I shouted.

"The ground flipped vertical," Luke informed loudly, tugging on the rope, hard.

Willow watched helplessly.

I hoped the giant didn't try to help us; he looked like her hadn't showered for years now.

I pulled with all my might, and Thalia burst out with fear written over her face. She bumped into Luke and we all toppled down.

"I hope the amusement comes quickly," Anteus sneered, and tossed Willow away like a ragdoll and she landed on the ground, rough.

We heard growls and yelling as we saw our army burst through. There were hellhounds, dracanae's, telekhines and more.

"Attack!" I yelled as the monsters started attacking Antaeus. He got thousands of scrapes and cuts as sand began spilling out of his wounds. Almost immediately, the earth began healing him as the cuts closed.

"You'll have to do better than that!" he snarled as he pounded his fists, destroying tons of our monsters. He began swiping away any monsters that dared to attack him as we saw our monsters steadily declining.

"Monsters, hold!" Luke ordered as the monsters reluctantly backed away, still snarling.

"Get your monsters under control," Anteus sneered. "Do that again and I swear I'll end you all."

"Here's your entertainment," Thalia snapped gruffly.

"Put on a show," Anteus retorted, "One wrong move and everyone will die."

"Hellhounds, come," Luke ordered. Two hellhounds came with snarling lips. "Telekhines."

The dogs ran up and growled.

"Fight," I ordered. "Winner will match the dracanae. Begin."

The hellhounds looked at me and I swear, they had the look that was telling me that what I was doing is wrong.

Willow was still on the floor, so I grabbed her and carried her to the edge of the wide floor. We all sat next to each other, nervous.

The battle of the hellhounds and the telekhines ended quickly; the hellhounds won and the dracnae stepped up.

"That was ok, but I don't want you to kill until I put my thumbs down!" he ordered, "I want this match to be long and I want entertainment so slow killing please!"

Anteus seemed okay with the battle, but I was still nervous about it. The dracnae slashed at the hellhound's mutt, and it whimpered, before snarling.

I glanced at Anteus, and he waved his hand.

The hellhound toppled the dracnae, and growled on top of the monster. The dog snapped at the monster, and Anteus put his thumbs down.

"Kill 'em," I said.

The hellhound ripped out the dracnae's throat and I winced.

"Good, good," Anteus laughed, "

And that was when the door bursted open. We turned and saw a half blood coming in followed by another.

"Who are you?!" Anteus bellowed.

One half blood gazed up and I blinked. It was a pale Asian dude with black hair and he wore an eyepatch over his eye. I gagged.

The boy glanced warily at the giant. "Ethan Nakamura. Who do you think you are?"

"I'm Anteus," the giant said proudly, "Son of Gaea, and I can break you in a second. Well, that is unless you provide me entertainment."

A girl behind stepped up. She had long raven hair in a braid down her back, but it was swung over her shoulder. Her eyes were sharp and she wore full armor.

"Entertainment?" the girl sneered. "My ass."

Anteus growled and grabbed a telekhine who tried to run off. "Here is a way I can kill someone who defies me. First, I rip the arms off, than the legs, then I take out the eyeballs, and I squish it's corpse."

What was left was a bloody telekhine body. I heard Bob swallowing his breakfast down.

"What do you want us to do?" Ethan snapped.

"Who is the girl?" Anteus demanded.

"My sister," Ethan said curtly. "Ella Nakamura."

"Great," Anteus laughed. "Ella, you shall fight the hellhound first."

"Try me," Ella snapped, drawing her bow and arrow.

The hellhound snarled and snapped it's jaws. They rounded each other, and Ella shot an arrow into the hellhound's flank.

It whimpered, and lunged at Ella. She flipped, but the hellhound quickly followed, biting her leg off. It was the most disgusting thing I've ever seen. Ella screamed and tears fell out of her eyes. No matter how tough you are, a bite from a hellhound doesn't feel to great. I realized she was tough on the outisde, but on the inside...

She limped backwards, cautiously. The hellhound looked up at Anteus who put his thumbs down distastefully. The hellhound approached her, but I got in front of it.

"Heel," I commanded it as it whimpered.

"Jackson!" Anteus yelled as my friends shot me looks, Ethan, being grateful.

"Do you wish to die with her and your friends also?" he threatened.

Another hard decision I had to make.

"Hey," Ella managed to say, "Continue the games. My life is almost gone. Just let the hellhound kill me. Maybe I'll find peace in the Underworld."

"I'm sorry for sentencing you to a horrible fate," I apologized.

"If my brother gets angry and when he gets angry, he doesn't think straight," Ella explained, "Tell him about Nemesis and about sacrifice. This shall help you a lot, and please do me one favor."

I nodded.

"Nemesis told me that with my sacrifice and Ethan's," she said, her breath becoming shallower with each breath, "We will change the world. I think I know what it is. In the end, all the unclaimed. Minor gods...unclaimed...save...betrayed..."

By this time, blood loss had taken its toll. I knew she was seconds from death and there was no way I'd let her die from blood loss.

"I promise," I promised, "On the Styx."

The thunder boomed as she smiled at me.

"Thank you," she sighed as she sank into unconsciousness. I still saw her breathe softly.

I felt everyone's gaze at me. I knew I was going to regret this. I slid to the right, leaving Ella vulnerable. The hellhound approached and ripped her throat out as her corpse lay on the floor.

"No!" Ethan yelled at the hellhound.

I saw Ethan bitterly wiping his tears and Willow was screaming.

"This is inhumane!" Willow shouted. "You sick bastard! Percy, why the fuck did you do that?!"

"Willow, calm down," I said quietly. Willow had a few tears streaming down her face, and Thalia had her lips pressed together.

She collapsed and I steadied her.

"Now that is what I'm talking about," Anteus said with pleasure. "Nakamura, face off with the hellhound who killed your sister although one more interferance, I will kill all of you without hesitation."

Ethan trembled with rage and drew his black sword. He quickly lunged at the hellhound and stabbed its gut.

It whimpered, and charged Ethan. He sidestepped, and the hellhound was about to use the same move it had used on Ella, but Ethan maneuvered his sword so the sword went into the hellhound's eye.

"I want longer battles!" Anteus roared. "If I put my thumbs up, don't kill it. If I put it down, kill it!"

"Telekhine, you're next," I said quietly, and its eyes widened as it flopped to the arena.

The battle took quite a while. The telekhine, too afraid to die, kept on running around. Ethan, however, was quick, but the telekhine was smart.

It stayed still before running off into amazing speed.

"Percy, is this humane?" Thalia demanded.

"It's not," I agreed, "but we need to."

Willow sighed loudly.

Anteus made a sound at the back of his throat. Ethan glanced at him, and he put his thumbs down.

Ethan snarled. The telkhine stood still, and Ethan faked running to it. The telkhine ran and Ethan came the other way around and finished the telkhine.

"Hah, classic!" the giant laughed. The door burst open and we all glanced at it.

It was Bianca, with Nico, Annabeth, and...Rachel Elizabeth Dare?

"Rachel?" I demanded. The redhead glanced at me before squeaking under the giant's glare.

"Ah!" Anteus sniggered, "It just gets better. You shall provide for me entertainment. If not, you all die."

"Percy?" Bianca said in a small voice. I glared at her and she shrunk back. Part of me was so glad to see her.

"Let Nakamura fight the monsters, and the winner shall battle the half-bloods," Anteus said.

"How about letting Nakamura battle the halfbloods?" Thalia asked, smiling sickly, "More the better, am I right?"

I seethed as I realized Thalia's plan. But it was better than Thalia pummeling Bianca. I grabbed Willow's arm anxiously.

"Brilliant," Anteus gloated. "But first, you half-bloods must fight the monsters for my amusement. You, the scrawny one, boy, you shall fight first. Explain to them the rules."

He leered at Nico and Willow's eyebrows flitted.

"Thumbs down, kill 'em. Thumbs up, don't kill 'em," Willow said simply. "Begin."

"That's not fair!" Bianca blurted. "You can't make a little boy like him-"

"Shut up!" Anteus yelled, and grabbed Bianca, who looked like a stick in his fingers. "Monsters, seize them!"

The hellhounds stared confusedly, but rams Annabeth off her feet and the dracnae gagged and bound her.

"Let the battle commence!" Anteus bellowed.

Nico glanced nervously at Bianca and drew this sword. He looked so pathetic like that; he was skinny and barely could raise the sword.

I motioned Rachel over, and I saw fear written all over her face.

"What are you doing here?" I demanded.

"I think what's more important is why the hell is a giant standing right there?" Rachel squeaked. Annabeth and Bianca came to us and Willow and Thalia stepped forward.

"His name is Anteus," I told her quietly, "He likes deaths for amusement."

"Percy," Bianca said again, and I ignored her.

"Percy," Annabeth also said, but more sternly as I looked at her right in the eye.

I saw Thalia whisper something to Bianca, and her face turned white as I sheet. I glanced at her in disgust and rolled my eyes.

She seemed hurt but I didn't care.

"Don't talk to him, bitch," Willow spat.

I internally winced. Bianca didn't deserve that. I couldn't stay mad at her for a long time. Damn loyalty.

Bianca stared down at the floor and watched Nico fight. He did fight pretty decently; he killed the hellhound in ten minutes.

He only recieved a few scratches. The dracanae stepped up and sneered at Nico. He glanced at Bianca, and she shouted cheers to him. I rolled my eyes.

The dracnae cut Nico's face pretty badly, but Nico beheaded the monster. Bianca beamed at him, and motioned him over, but Anteus snapped.

"No, he'll battle the half-blood now," Anteus growled.

"What?!" Bianca cried. "He's just-"

"Shut up!" I shouted. "Do you want us all killed?" Her eyes were murderous.

"Don't tell me what to do," Bianca snapped.

"You did pretty well listening to Artemis whens she ordered you to kill me," I retorted, and I knew I had hit my target.

"Percy," she said.

"Don't say my name," I said, at the same time Luke said, "Don't say his name."

Say my name. Please. Was the thought I had inside.

She was caught in the crossfire. Rachel stared at me in confusion, but I didn't bother explaining to her.

Nico and Ethan circled each other in the arena. They were both deadly opponents. They lunged at slashed and aimed for each other's throat, before Nico's lucky dive had Ethan sprawled on the floor.

"Kill him," Anteus ordered.

Nico trembled, before offering a hand up. Ethan said something, but Nico shook his head and lugged Ethan up.

"I won't kill him," Nico snapped.

"You defy my orders?" Anteus yelled, "Oh, I'll show you what will happen is you disobey me."

Ethan stumbled out of the arena and Anteus lunged at Nico. Nico sidestepped and the battle commenced.

Luke held Bianca back; this was probably the payback she deserved. Watching her brother die.

She doesn't deserve this shit Percy. My mind spoke. She was in shock. You have to forgive her.

"Nico, he's the son of Gaea! You need too-" Bob covered Annabeth's mouth.

"Don't you dare, sister," Bob spat.

Nico stood there for a moment, confused.

He seemed to have figured it out, but I couldn't. When Anteus lunged at Nico, a burst of skeletons erupted and they held Anteus up.

Anteus roared, "YOU DARE?!"

Anteus tried struggling, but the skeletons wouldn't let go. Their grip was too strong. I was happy. I can't believe I couldn't figure that out. If Anteus died, it would help us also.

Nico slashed at Anteus, right and left, and ichor fell onto the floor. He was like a whirlwind, and Anteus dropped with his eyes closed.

There was golden liquid everywhere.

"Nico!" Bianca cried, running to Nico and hugging him. "I'm so proud of you!"

He looked smothered.

I motioned for my crew. "Kill them all! But spare Bianca!"

"And Rachel, and Annabeth, and Nico," I whispered to myself.

No matter how much they hurt me, Rachel didn't deserve to die. Annabeth...I forgived her, although it was still too hard and Nico was the baby brother of my possibly new wife...woah, where'd that come from?

We charged, but Nico took something out and blew something shrill as it bursted.

"What was that supposed to do?" Luke laughed.

I winced and Willow dropped to the floor. A huge, monstrous hellhound bounded in. It was as huge as a Sherman tank and that is saying something.

"Mrs. O Leary!" Bianca yelled.

Mrs. O Leary? The hellhound began lunging at the monsters. Kelli yelled as she was swiped away. Bianca, Nico, Annabeth, Rachel, and Ethan started running, but there was no way in Tartarus I would let that happen. I took out Hellfire and aimed it straight at Rachel's thighs. She screamed in terror as she fell to the floor, whimpering. The others were to busy to notice.

Exactly what happened to me when I tried to escape on the centaur. We approached her as she was shaking and we grinned at each other. This was going to be fun.