Disclaimer: I do not own Hero: 108 or Percy Jackson and the Olympians.
Chapter 12:
Hawk frowned as he summoned everyone to Camp. There were lots of grumbling, especially since there was just a meeting on Olympus. Hawk scanned the demigods anxiously, relieved to see Percy already recovering. It seemed as though he had experienced this before, because he seemed well-off as he chatted to those around him.
He cleared his throat, causing everyone looked at him. Lëi frowned. "What is it that you forgot to tell us earlier, Hawk?"
Hawk didn't rise to the bait. "I have only recently found out that an army of Twin Masters' is currently marching in this direction, and will arrive in a matter of hours. With Twin Masters." The minute the words left his mouth, panic erupted among the demigods.
Twin Masters with an army? Not good. Usually, it was just Twin Masters, or an army. Not both at once! Hawk, seeing them panic, immediately stomped the ground twice. Two large earthquakes immediately shook the ground, silencing them as they looked at the son of Lëi.
Hawk straightened up. "It will be no use if we panic. We must be ready to face the army. Each deity will take a cabin with them. The minor gods and goddesses will come as well. The deities will join with one major or minor god. The Olympians must have an extra deity with them. So must the Cohorts, unless there aren't enough numbers. Most of the Chinese deities will take the Cohorts, while the Japanese will take the minor cabins, and try to scout ahead to see what will happen. See if you can ambush them."
The gods nodded as they separated and set about their tasks. The cabins of Nemesis and Janus immediately started to head out. Hawk looked down, before he felt a comforting arm on his shoulder. He looked up, seeing Lëi's concerned expression. Lëi smiled in worry. "I know that I said some things that were hurtful, but I never meant any of it." Hawk simply looked up, frozen. Lëi continued. "I do not want you to get hurt, Hawk."
"I won't, father."
Lëi sighed. "But you have a tendency to get into trouble even without trying. Ever since your…death, and Tian's…" Hawk kept silent, remembering his faded mother. "You are the spitting image of her, Hawk. I don't want to lose you as well."
Hawk glanced up, smirking cheekily. "And, if you do, mother will find a way to haunt you and make you regret it for the rest of your life as well."
Lëi smiled in return. "Oh, so you think that I will cower away?"
"Yes." Hawk nodded innocently. Lëi shook his head in amusement, before leaving to join the First Cohort. Hawk smiled, but as soon as his father left, his expression turned weary once again. His eyes widened as he saw the Nemesis and Janus cabins come running up to him, Benten and Bishamon close behind them.
"What's wrong?"
Benten reached him first. "We had less time than you thought. They will be here in an hour." Hawk's blood turned cold. Why were they accelerating their plans? Lin Chung said that it was in a few hours, right? Yes, he did. Did he gain the wrong information?
Hawk frowned. No. Twin Masters must've suddenly decided to accelerate the plans to catch them by surprise. He looked at the preparing campers. No. It wouldn't do to tell them. They would only panic and make careless mistakes. He turned to the two cabins Japanese deities. "Do not tell anyone yet. I will try to hold them back."
They nodded, and rushed over to join the campers and gods in their planning. Making sure no one was looking at him, Hawk changed into a hawk, flying up into the air. His piercing gaze found Twin Masters' army, which was still marching ahead through several small streams and trees, entering the forest of Camp aHalf-Blood. At the speed they were going, they were going to have less time than Hawk thought.
Growling, he landed on a tree nearby, changing back into a human. He took out his ivory bow, notched an arrow, and fired it straight at a cyclops in the middle. The arrow landed in its eye, and the creature fell to the ground with an audible thump. The army stopped, causing Hawk to grin. He placed his hands forward, palms forward, and made a pushing motion.
A large wave of energy suddenly pushed the army back several metres. However, they recovered quickly continued to march onwards with more force. Twin Masters looked around suspiciously, before his eyes glowed, and a fiery orange shield appeared, covering the majority of the army. Hawk growled as he drew closer, starting to pick off any minor creatures at the corners of the shield.
Twin Masters stopped once more, scanning the area until his eyes spotted Hawk, smirking cheekily from where he was perched on the tree. He sent a blast to him, which Hawk dodged, and then leapt down in front of another cyclops. Twin Masters fired again, but Hawk ducked, and the blast knocked out not only one, but four cyclops behind him.
The Chinese god smirked as he moved in front of another giant. Twin Masters fired yet another blast, causing Hawk to duck and a giant to get obliterated. Hawk then landed on both feed and stomped his foot twice. An earthquake shook the ground, before the ground opened up and swallowed more than half of the army.
Hawk smirked once more before vanishing. Twin Masters growled in outrage. His eyes glowed, and some of the monsters duplicated themselves. Herint stepped forward, his eyes glinting. "Master?"
Twin Masters turned to him. "Go ahead…and start the first round without us."
Nodding in glee, the champion of Twin Masters set off immediately.
Percy watched the upcoming army with trepidation, though he frowned upon remembering the grey head that had interrogated him…violently with magic. He shuddered upon remembering the long knives, and daggers and, and…stop! Don't think like that, Percy. He scolded himself. He tightened his grip on his sword as the army got ever closer
Or what he thought was the army. There was only a lone demigod and several monsters behind him. The monsters charged, and most of the senior counsellors finished them off quickly. The demigod, however, engaged Percy in combat. Almost everyone held their breath as they watched the two fight.
Herint charged at Percy, but Percy dodged to the side and tried to land a blow of his own. Herint blocked the blade and struck again, only for Percy to duck and try to kick the other's legs out from under him. Herint leaped into the air as his eyes glowed, and his magic sent Percy flying out to the cabins, where he stiffly got up, still bleeding.
Out of nowhere, there was a hawk's screech and Hawk landed in front of Herint. Hawk immediately engaged Herint in combat, countering everything that Herint threw at him and the demigods. If Herint tried to start an earthquake, Hawk would stop it. If Herint tries to attack some demigod, a shield would protect the demigod, and Hawk would slash at Herint. Herint growled under his breath, before using his magic to fling Hawk in the air.
As soon as Hawk was up, he changed into a hawk, dropping his blade and letting it drop several metres below him, before reaching for it and changing into a panther. The panther watched Herint closely. Herint tried to tackle the panther, but Hawk kicked his legs out from under him while he moved aside easily. Hawk changed back to a human, snatched the blade once again, then stabbed the blade through the demigod's chest.
Everyone froze, and Herint looked at Hawk in stunned surprise. He looked down at his chest, where a gleaming blade was poking through, the hilt sticking in front and with blood covering the end. Hawk looked at the dying person emotionlessly. Herint looked at Hawk once more, before speaking. "You'll never defeat him. He's too strong."
Hawk nodded, before ripping his blade out from Herint. "But so are we."
Percy watched, groaning as Wong Tai Sin healed him, before glancing at Hawk in horror. He had just killed someone mercilessly. Hawk turned around, still clutching his blade, which changed back to his ivory bow. "Prepare yourselves! The main battle is about to begin."
The campers nodded as they drew their weapons. Celestial bronze gleamed from the Greeks' side, while Imperial gold shone in the bright rays of the sun from the direction of the Romans. Percy uncapped Anaklusmos, which had appeared in his pocket when it disappeared.
The campers watched the upcoming army with anticipation, tensing once Twin Masters was in sight. And he did not look pleased. Within seconds of appearing, the army charged at the campers, roaring in fury. The campers tightened their shields before charging as well, shouting a war cry.
The two forces met in the middle, much like the battle in the Japanese mountains. Magic flew around everywhere. The weather changed considerably; snow, rain, hail, thunder and lightning all erupted from above, while the ground shook with an unknown ferocity. Skeleton soldiers climbed out of the dead to fight with their masters. Blades clanged, weapons struck, and monsters fell to blades and arrows.
It was complete chaos, and Twin Masters greedily sucked in the negative energy in everyone right now, while engaging Hawk in combat. Lëi sliced a monster in half, and blasting the minotaur away from Nico. He turned, approaching the front of the battle. However, he froze upon catching sight of someone was coming to him, his dark eyes gleaming.
Lëi didn't move, still watching the figure, until the figure stopped and drew a blade. He charged forwards and engaged Lëi in combat. Lëi reacted quickly, drawing his blade as well and blocking the strong strike. Lëi was put on the offensive as the person tried to slice and strike him, one hand holding a blade, the other a dagger.
When the blade came to stop Lëi's blade from attack, the dagger would be ready to strike. However, Lëi's blade was too quick, and would block the dagger time and time again. Campers and monsters soon stopped fighting as the fighting pair moved through the army's ranks, destroying any monsters or demigods that came within arm's length.
Only one other battle raged on and caught the campers', gods' and monsters' attention: the one that Hawk and Twin Masters were currently having. Hawk struck Twin Masters in the eye, before turning into a hawk to he dodge a blow. Hawk then turned into a panther and struck the deity, running away as he dodged and avoided any blows from the fearsome creature.
He soon reached the sea, where he turned into a shark and vanished beneath the murky depths of the water. The demigod and Lëi fought on, unaware that the two had suddenly came right up to them. Hawk immediately sprang up from behind the supposed demigod, while Twin Masters tried to attack Lëi, only for the two to block or dodge the blows.
Hawk kicked the demigod back into the cabins, where he stood up and finally gave the campers a good look at his face. They froze, as he snarled at them and then charged back into battle against Hawk.
Yuki-Onna's eyes widened. "Lin Chung."