Zane Williams and The Gods of Olympus

by thesuperone342

Ever felt like Jason Grace is a complete disappointment and a failure to what a son of Zeus should be? Ever feel like Thalia was a waste and was thrown away too quickly? Well, this is the fanfiction for you. Join Zane Williams on his quest to be the strongest. Current Arc: The Last Olympian. Yaoi. (Anime Elements/AU) [Bad First Chapter, Needs Rewrite]

34. I Fight My Giant Cousin

Alright boys, chapter thirty two is here. Sorry for the decently long wait, I had a lot of schoolwork that needed to be done and honestly didn't feel like writing for a solid week. But I'm back and I'm here with the next chapter. Let's get into some reviews.

Echoxenvy: "Amazing. This chapter was a breath of fresh air in my opinion. The change in tone is insane in this chapter, going from all out fighting and being in a big group, to two people on a peaceful island. You made it flow though, and it worked somehow without feeling like too big of a shift. Gotta be honest, I really like Zane and Calypso as a pair, they compliment each other well. I wonder if he/she will ever be free, and If Zeus will actually go for it. Hopefully so.

Zane's reaction to Percy…man, hit me in the feels. That was so sad.

As for Zane, this chapter he felt…different. I don't know what it was, maybe him reeling from Percy's death, but he just seemed so tired, so down and drained of energy. Like go with the flow Zane. It was interesting to see. And his lines and thoughts in this chapter were some of the best in the fic. The dialogue between Zane and Calypso felt fluid and natural. The lemon was well written too, and didn't feel rushed or forced. I understand why Zane did it, even though cheating is wrong, it made sense.

Annabeths reaction was heartbreaking. Purely heartbreaking. Hope to see an emotionless and rage filled Annabeth in the next chapter, kind of like we did with Percy in book three when Annabeth was captured. Also this feels like the perfect time to put Zane and Annabeth's friendship in the spotlight. Maybe have Annabeth kill without mercy or something, like Zane once did, and have him reel her back and tell her the path isn't worth it, and Percy wouldn't want that. A really good potential dynamic for the two.

Anyway, that's all I got. Amazing as always, but this one was exceptionally good. Can't wait for more.
P.S. Loved the Matt reference. I've planned a Zane one for the next chapter, you'll like it."

Response: I'm glad you liked the chapter, man. And I'm also glad you liked Calypso and Zane as a pairing, since I really enjoyed writing them. And if they ever get free, well, you'll have to see down the line if they ever do. Zane did feel different writing this chapter. He's burnt out, he's fought immensely powerful beings for years, seen countless die and now one of the dead is his best friend, no, his brother. And Annabeth in this chapter is going to be very different. You'll definitely see in that regard. Anyway, I hope you enjoy this chapter, bro.

SaUvE ViPeR: "Okay...can't say I was expecting that. But nether the less, it was expected. Zane is reeling from a traumatic event, and while it's wrong, it's understandable. I really liked Zane's thoughts this chapter, and how he isn't his usual prideful self. It really says a lot about how close he was with Percy, they were like brothers. As for Zane and Calypso's relationship, I gotta say, it's quite nice. I still like Taylor and Nico better, but his relationship with Calypso was sweet. It showed a side of Zane I didn't know existed. But oh well now it's over. Maybe Zane will have that talk with Zeus at the end, huh? Anyway, great chapter. Can't wait for the next."

Response: Thanks for the review, bro. Like I said in Echoxevny's review, Zane is so tired and burned out right now, but don't expect for that to be permanent. And I'm glad you liked Zane and Calypso, as I thought I honestly jumped the shark with that one. Anyway, hope you enjoy this chapter, man.

Zutama: "Okay...I'm not a big fan of lemons, but this chapter was great either way. I may have skipped the lemon, sorry lol, but I liked every other part of it. Zane reeling from Percy's death was emotional, and seeing how it impacted him. He seemed a lot more humble in this chapter than usual. I liked what you did with Calypso, and the subtle changes were good. This story went from a simple retelling with an OC to basically a complete AU. I love it. But seriously, Zane and Calypso are a great pair, and honestly should just be freed from the island, and join the Zane, Taylor, Nico triangle, and make it a love square or something, because if the relationship is poly, then can't anyone join in? Correct me if I'm wrong, but it would just feel wrong if Calypso stayed trapped by the end of this book. Also Annabeth finding out about Percy was sad as hell. I'm excited to see dark Annabeth in the next chapter, and having Zane hold her back from doing bad things. It would be a complete one eighty and parallel to the Sea of Monsters, when Zane was a pretty bad guy and Annabeth was reasonable."

Response: Lol, It's fine if you skip the lemon, that's the reason I put a warning right before anyway. And yes, Zane is reeling. And this being an AU is now fully a thing, such a thing now that I've literally put a warning sign on the summary of it being a AU. Not sure on Calypso joining the love triangle, as I'm still planning things, but you'll see down the road. And get ready to see Dark Annabeth in this chapter, as it will focus on her pretty clearly. Anyway, hope you enjoy the chapter.

Shadowhunter2077: "Wow, you actually killed Percy, even if this is only temporary, it is still a bold move because most people don't even dare do that and when they do it's only in end with a big heroic sacrifice "that change the course of the fight and help save all the gods from a enemy that only Percy a demigod who never trained in his life can beat" , in this his death was basically in vain because Prometheus is still alive and well and his armor is still intact, so this is a impressive change in the story and I'm exited to see where this will go.

Also I think it's to see a Dark Annabeth, if only to see how much Zane has grown as a person and him trying to take Annabeth from that path.

And about Typhon I think a being as powerful as him just need a single flaw to be able to escape, like one breach is enough to him to break free, it would be nice to see Zeus speaking about Typhon, Prometheus and Percy sacrifice and giving Zane some advice on how to deal with Prometheus.

And man I was seeing the feats from other pantheons in their myths and saw some impressive things if you want I can PM them to you."

Response: Yep, Percy is dead. Whether it's temporary or not, you'll have to see as the story goes one lol. And yes, it was basically in vain because Prometheus didn't even feel it. That armor of his is completely insane. And yes, Dark Annabeth is coming, and she coming in hard. Zeus will speak to Zane about things, but Zane will have to figure out how to defeat Prometheus by himself. You'll see. Anyway, hope you enjoy this chapter, bro.

VincentFS: "tHeY wIlL fEeL mY WrAtH

bOoM

This is just one of the cringey moments littered throughout the first chapter. Honestly, the idea is cool. The execution of the idea? Not so much.

Now, let's get into what's wrong with the story instead of just talking shit. There'll still be a lot of shit talking though.

You're not very good at descriptions, emotionally charged scenes only come off as awkward instead of the emotion you're actually trying to convey, and the fight scenes are lacking. Let's also not forget how you seem to rush the story along, barely taking time to describe something before moving onto something else.

So, overall, this story comes off as just another run-of-the-mill patchwork job you can find anywhere. One which you, the author, happen to use to feed your own fantasies.

This barely counts as a story, as you weren't really writing one. This reads like a daydream you had while sitting bored out of your mind in class, I've been there. I can tell you such stories are always going to suck, mostly because they're rushed as you try to hastily scribble the dribble coming from your mind onto paper.

That's happened to all of us at least once.

You've got a decent grasp on the english language, though you could still use a little fine-tuning. Grammarly could help you there. This really at least needs to be edited and perhaps re-written at most. It just reads like most other Percy Jackson fics on here, not the good ones either.

Good luck!"

Response: Alright, so lets go ahead and dissect this one. So you have a lot of really good points about the first chapter. It's bad, it's cringe, it sucks and I agree with you. However you made one fatal mistake when it comes to reviewing a story, you didn't go past the first chapter. When you talk about lack of descriptions, yes, you have a point. For the first chapter. My descriptive writing was bare bones ass back then, and I couldn't describe anything for shit. But in about ten chapters after the prologue? My paragraphs are too descriptive, too big. I've had to tone it done a bit. And yes, even when writing the story, I thought the scenes were emotionally lacking. It was difficult to convey emotional connection to characters that died you just met. I'll give you that one. And the fights? Yes, early fights weren't amazing by any means, they were too quick and didn't have much stakes, but later on the fights, in my opinion, are top notch, straight out of anime. And you have a point that it needs to be rewritten, but honestly, I don't have time anymore for that. All I can ask is for you to just look past the shit and press forward, it gets better from there.

MaximumTK: "The first chapter was to put it short; mediocre. But I decided to give it a chance and read the entire thing. While I'll admit, it does get better, or at least less boring to read, it still has a number of flaws and weird things going on. I only want to give constructive criticism, so don't take this as a flame. I'm gonna go with the good old format of talking about the good and the bad. This will be long, but I hope you take the time to read it.

The good things.
-First off, I think you care about this story. Which is important. Not many writers on here actually put passion into what they're writing, and people can tell. You genuinely seem to enjoy writing this, so that's a good thing in my eyes. I'd say Percy and Annabeth are pretty well done, they remain interesting, and you put a decent amount of spotlight on them for this being an OC story.
-Zane himself is a cool concept. A son of Zeus that lets power get to his head, but changes over time. I like the idea.
-Some of the intended comedy lines are pretty funny. I like the king sized bed and the "fuck" running gag.
- The fights are pretty well written. Some are repetitive and pretty boring, but a few are genuinely really good. Not bad on that part.
- Interesting changes. I guess you diverted from canon completely to make this something more than a simple retelling, which would be very boring to read, and the changes you make are interesting. Such as introducing Atlas early and having Prometheus as a villain.

Now the bad.
-The most noticeable, are the paragraphs. Jeez, could they be any longer? It makes it really hard to read and just doesn't look right. Read other fanfiction, or a book really, and you'll get an idea of how to space out dialogue, descriptions, and all of that stuff. Dialogue shouldn't be included in a big ass paragraph, it should be on it's own. The first few chapters actually do this right, but a chapter like 21? Dear God, that was rough on the eyes, man. Might want to go back to the earlier format.
- Cringiness. On Zane's part, honestly. Reading lines like "I twitched my ultra muscular bicep when he poked it." Or "I flexed my rock hard, super muscular pecks." Things like that. Or Zane going "Enough." Or "They will feel my wrath." Badass lines don't have to be like that, they should be subtle, not over the top.
- Zane. Now this is where we run into a problem with the MC. He's not as bad as others I've seen, not by a long shot, as there are some really trash written OC's out there. He's got some depth, but some things about him don't make sense. Why does he have an innate urge to kill? I understand the pride and want to be a leader, that's fine. But murder? Why is he so okay with casually murdering innocent people? Talking about how it's his nature? Wtf? Percy isn't automatically like Poseidon "because it's his nature." If demigods were exactly like their parents, it would be bad, and there would be chaos. So the whole urge to kill thing doesn't make sense, and why Zane basically goes on multiple murdering sprees is weird.
- The romance. It isn't horrible. I mean some of the lines are cheesy and the constant nuzzling, ruffling of the hair is ugh, but It's not bad. Kind of interesting to be honest. Just don't write about it every other word of the chapter, it kind of gets annoying.
- The constant vibe of being influenced by something else. What do I mean by this? Every chapter, there's some kind of irrelevant reference or thing that shouldn't even belong in this universe. Like why are there even auras in this story? And why is everyone so powerful? If you're following the Riordanverse, the gods shouldn't be this insanely OP, let alone the demigods. But if this is a complete AU, then you should've said so. The actual myth gods beings these kids parents makes a LOT more sense than the ones from the canon books. I don't know, this entire story just reads like you wanted to make a Dragon Ball Z fic, but decided to put just about every thing from that show into a PJO story. Make it your own thing, and stop using everything else from other media, like the "Mikiri" counter thing from one of the chapters. Why was that in there? Lol has Zane just seen every movie and played Sekiro? Doesn't make sense.
- This Matt kid. I also read that story too, and it basically seems that you're tied to this dude Echoxenvy's coattails. Bro, why do you mention Matt every chapter? Does Zane have a crush on him or something? The whole crossover thing is weird too, you guys act like it's some big event. I could understand if the stories were much more popular, but it just comes off as out of nowhere, and takes more time from your actual readers that want the story to progress, and not read some random other OC fighting yours. They want the story, not mentions of another. Also, using an original element like Heavenly Diamond from that guy's fic to defeat a main antagonist of your own...dude, that is lazy. That's probably the biggest flaw of this fic, is that Deus Ex Machina bs. At least in his story, he sets it up early on, and it's HIS original creation. Were you not clever enough to come up with a way for your characters to defeat Atlas? Imagine being a reader, not reading Son of Hercules and seeing that come up. That is the most random, out of place and poor decision I've seen in a fanfic. Instead of the characters coming up with a plan to defeat Atlas, using their heads, you just throw in some random, Deus Ex Machina metal, never been mentioned before, and have Zane shank him. Cool. Okay.

Honestly anymore would just be nitpicking. Those are the main ones. This story has heart, but it feels like it's not your own, at least not anymore. It's being controlled by all of the media you consume, and it feels like your just throwing elements from that into this fic, instead of your own. But at the end of the day, it's your story, and you write what you want. It's not the worst story I've ever read, but it's a far cry from the best. I'd give it a 5.5/10. You can fix the problems, man, you have a good grasp on grammar and English. Hope you don't take any of this personally, it's just constructive criticism. Good luck with this."

MaximumTK 2: "Rereading my review, I felt I was a bit harsh and missed a couple of pros and one con.

The pros I forgot to talk about in recent chapters, is that of Prometheus. I should've dived deeper into why having him as a villain is a perfect choice, but I didn't. I'll tell you now, it's great. His motivations are there, and he is unique in the fic. He's well written and I think you've done a good job with him.

The other is killing Percy. A thing you do best in this story is build the relationship between Zane and Percy. His sacrifice felt emotional and earned. So good on that.

The con i forgot about can't really be fixed now, but early on, Zane was unrealistically dense to Nico and Taylor. I understand this is supposed to build tension, but it was a bit excessive. Not overly so, though.

Listen, you've executed this pretty well, it's better than a lot of stories on the tab. You just need to work a little harder and maybe switch some things up, flesh Zane out a little more, and it will be for the better. I'm changing my rating to a 6/10. I'll be reading more to keep up, because I have hope it will improve and become perfect."

Response: Damn. A full fledged movie review of my story. And…ouch. This kind of hurts, but I understand it's valid criticism and It is something to help me get better. I'll go over the whole thing at the end of the chapter, so read on to that to get the full response to your review, because It's going to be long.

Enough with reviews. Let's blow this pop-stand.

(Disclaimer: I don't own anything portrayed here (Except the OCs). If the fact that this is on a fanfiction site didn't tip you off, you're fucking retarded.)

(000)

Over the next couple of days, me, Nico and Annabeth prepared for the second half of the quest, you could call it. Which mostly meant Annabeth took care of the planning and research, while Nico, along with Chiron, caught me up with everything that had happened at camp.

The two of them gave me a quick rundown of everything that had happened in the past couple of weeks. For one, and the biggest and most important thing, was that Quintus was gone. Our swordmaster who Chiron had hired had simply vanished nearly a week ago, according to Grover's girlfriend, Juniper. Vanished into the Labyrinth to be specific, even leaving behind his pet Hellhound Ms. O'Leary.

Quintus had to be a traitor then. He had come into the camp from the Labyrinth, once again according to Juniper, and when things started to get dicey, he left through it. Chiron told me he knew that there was a chance that Quintus was a traitor, but when he had hired the older demigod on he believed he had no other choice, as help and extra hands were starting to get a little scarce ever since war preparations went into full swing last solstice.

Speaking of Grover, the Council of Cloven Elders had officially taken away his searcher's license, despite my command to drop any charges of blasphemy against him. Since I had 'died', the Elders thought they could do what they wanted in regards to Grover. I honestly didn't care that much. I was simply more worried about Taylor's group inside the Labyrinth that had gone with Grover to search for Pan, so a superficial thing like a searcher's license didn't mean that much in the grand scheme of things. Grover had disregarded the Council's order before when he when searching for the Wild god in the Sea of Monsters, so I don't think he truthfully cares what the old goats think or say.

Anyway, me and Nico spent quite a bit of time together in the past couple of days, the two of us trying to catch up with each other some more. Nico was quite a bit more clingy and possessive than he usually was, but I didn't mind at all since I had 'died' two weeks ago. Despite spending time with him, I felt awkward and distant around him quite a bit, as the memory of what I had done with Calypso was still fresh. Nico either didn't seem to notice, or if he did he didn't comment on it. He was likely too happy about my return to care about it regardless.

I still hadn't told him about what happened yet, and I wasn't sure to even begin to approach him about it. I can't really just say 'Oh, hey Nico! While I was on an island for two weeks in another dimension, I fell in love with a Demi-Titan who I also had sex with while you thought I was dead! Isn't that cool!?' I can only imagine how well it would go over. However, I knew I needed to tell him soon, as the guilt over what happened was starting to eat me up on the inside.

On Annabeth's end, she had gotten to work on finding Rachel Elizabeth Dare as soon as she left the Big House after she told us she was going on the quest still. She worked more efficiently than Batman, literally hacking into the social security network, finding her parents and where she lived in literally hours. She, with help from Beckendorf, had built some kind of hacking supercomputer in the Athena cabin, so the security of the Social Security Network could do nothing against her intelligence. She told us that she only needed a day or two to plan more things and gather some more supplies, and then we would hit the road.

Speaking of Annabeth, her mental state was….questionable, to say the least. Her face was carefully blank at all times, never changing once when she spoke. And when she did speak, it was clipped and efficient, never wasting any words whatsoever. I could feel the underlying rage and hatred in her aura, which didn't hide her emotions very well. I couldn't sense emotions directly, that was an ability of Matt's, but using my telepathy, I could sense Annabeth's anger clearly, and oh boy, she was furious. Her hatred was almost overwhelming, all of it directed towards Prometheus, the bastard responsible for Percy's death. It almost scared me, if I'm being honest.

And being more honest, I felt a familiar hatred burn inside myself. I'd felt hatred before. For Ares, after I believed he killed Percy. For Hyperion, for my defeat at his hands and the battle with him when Matt crossed over didn't dim that feeling. For Atlas, who had defeated me so casually, as if I was an afterthought and for his actions against me and my friends. For Luke, who had betrayed the camp and everyone he knew for power and petty vengeance, harming anyone who got in his way. I thought I felt true hatred before, especially for Luke, but that thought changed when Percy sacrificed himself to save me from Prometheus.

I hated the Titan more than I've hated anything, more than all of the hatred I felt combined. Prometheus was responsible for the death of my best friend, no, the death of my brother. All due to the Titan's quest for vengeance against my father. Percy was dead and gone because of him, and because of my own weakness. I swore on both mine and Percy's life I would destroy the Creator of Mankind when I saw him again.

However, it wouldn't just be for vengeance. I wasn't going to let hate and anger cloud my judgement, as it was no doubt doing for the daughter of Athena. I was going to focus my anger, focus my rage to the logical aspects of my goal to end the Titan's existence. Prometheus had to go, not even considering my personal feelings to the matter.

He was dangerous, not only thanks to that armor and his amazing massive sword, but also due to his mind. He had already tricked gods like my father before, and only beings like Koios and Athena could match his sheer intelligence. Mix that with his impressive cunning, and his immensely dangerous armor, he was one of the biggest threats to Olympus there was, not counting Luke himself, as he had fused with Kronos.

With all of those factors, it was only logical to kill the Titan, not to mention my own personal feelings. I wouldn't deny I would relish Prometheus' death, but it wasn't the only reason. I only hope I could extend my reasonings to Annabeth, as she was tunnel visioning on the vengeance aspect, or at least I could tell she would. I knew she would stop at nothing to see Prometheus dead, and that made her unpredictable and dangerous to all of us. I would have to curb her rage as best I could, despite my own anger.

At dawn on the third day after my return, Annabeth led us into New York to find Rachel Elizabeth Dare. Using the little supercomputer she had built, she found her address, her school and even what she was doing today. Apparently Rachel was part of some sort of fundraising club for her school, and today she would be in Time Square raising money for kids with some sort of modern art project. I didn't ask Annabeth for any more details, mainly because the daughter of Athena looked more focused than Nico did in a Myth-O-Magic duel.

Before we headed out, I stood over a chest that I had pulled out of my closet. Before my group had headed off on the first half of the quest, I mentioned something called the Last Resort. This was that. I opened the top of the chest, unlocking several padlocks and combinations as I did so. In the chest was a full Greek Battle Armor made out of Universal Titanium. This was my secret I had kept from everyone at my camp, except for Charles Beckendorf and my friend group.

After me and Matt defeated Grayson, one of the members of the Big Four in Matt's universe, I had gotten several chunks of his massive Universal Titanium mech suit and brought it back in secret to my universe. I hadn't told anybody except my friends and Beckendorf, not even Matt or Chiron. I gave the pieces to Beckendorf and commissioned a suit of armor from him made from the pieces. I would have preferred Hephaestus make it, but his son was the next best thing. This was my secret weapon and was something I wish I had used sooner. Maybe Percy would still be alive.

My new armor was in the design of a spartan mixed with a medieval knight. A full cuirass with Greek inscriptions and designs of my father, along with pauldrons and arm armor that covered my arm completely in full plate, complete with a mix of Gothic style gauntlets mixed with Greek style bracers. The cuirass even had a gorget to protect my neck, which didn't connect to the helmet. My legs were also completely covered by the armor, which the plate extended all the way down to the new greave and boot combination covering my feet. My helmet was one of Spartan design, complete with a blue and black plume over the top of my helmet running down the middle of my head. I basically looked like a really silver knight with a Spartan helmet and Greek designs all over my armor. I almost looked like a silver Hyperion, just none of the fire.

While we waited for Argus to finish loading all of our stuff into the suburban, my friends stared at me as I wore my new armor. They knew of it's existence of course, but they didn't say anything. After two consecutive defeats at the hands of Prometheus, I think they understood why I had adorned the armor. Argus drove us into the city with the Camp's suburban, mainly because flying in there like Superman would have looked bad, Mist or no mist. I felt guilt and determination, as well as bubbling hatred as I recognized Percy's apartment as we drove through the city's traffic.

Chiron had told me Percy's mother hadn't taken the news of his death very well at all, which only made me feel more inadequate. Another reason to kill Prometheus popped in my mind. If I wasn't going to kill him for vengeance or logical reasons, I was damn sure going to kill him for Sally Jackson. Annabeth looked at the apartment almost longingly, a stark difference of an expression that had been on her face for the past couple of months. Nico looked at the apartment solemnly as well, as Percy had been his friend, too.

Argus dropped us off in the middle of Times Square, where Rachel was according to Annabeth's information. We grabbed our refilled supplies, as we hoped to find an entrance to the Labyrinth in New York, hoping Rachel Elizabeth dare would help us find it. After Argus drove away, Annabeth led us through the crowds, hopefully to where Rachel was, as I didn't ask her. In the craziness that was summer time Times Square, I didn't look all that much out of place if I was being honest. I got a few looks, but between the topless women and a dude who looked like a giant, overgrown baby posing for pictures, I just looked like an enthusiastic cosplayer. I hoped the mist hid Thymos from the mortals, though.

Annabeth eventually stopped in front of the Marriot Marquis, where five kids all around our age stood up on a small platform in various different poses. All of the kids were completely covered in some kind of color. One was gold, another was silver, one was bronze and the other two were emerald and sapphire. All of them were painted metallic and were standing completely still, as if they were statues. If not for the small traces of aura I picked up from them, I could have been fooled into thinking they were.

Annabeth pointed right at the girl who was painted metallic gold. "That's her." The girl I assumed was Rachel didn't even react at Annabeth words. Annabeth walked up beside her. "Let's get her and get going." Annabeth grabbed Rachel's arm, dragging her off the platform.

Rachel finally reacted to that, as she tried to pry herself from Annabeth's grip. "Hey! Let go of me! Who the hell are you!? Help!" I nearly facepalmed at Annabeth's method of getting Rachel to come with us. I know Annabeth wasn't going to take any shit at the moment, but kidnapping was a little extreme for her.

The other metallic painted kids immediately stopped posing and made to help Rachel, as did several bystanders, but I scrambled all of their minds with my telepathy, making them completely forget about us. Annabeth dragged Rachel into an alley, as me and Nico followed after her with a deadpan look on my face and an expression of uncomfortableness on Nico's. Annabeth harshly threw Rachel against a wall of a building and stood over her on the ground. "What the hell is going on!? Who are you people?"

Annabeth stood over the downed mortal, a blank and cold look on her face. "We have a problem and you're going to help us with something, whether you like it or not." Annabeth's tone was cold and almost venomous. I guess she either was just that determined, or she really didn't like Rachel. I wasn't sure why, but then it hit me. I don't think Percy told Annabeth about Rachel or anything. Possibly in fear of her getting jealous or something, I'm not sure. I don't think finding out about a secret female friend your boyfriend had from somebody else after he died wasn't exactly good.

Rachel shrunk from Annabeth's tone, and she looked out at the streets where everyone was walking. She looked like she wanted to yell out for help, but then she looked like she remembered something unpleasant. Annabeth had overpowered her like she was a child, and nobody helped her earlier thanks to my mind manipulation, so maybe she realized she wouldn't receive any aid in this situation.

Rachel looked up at Annabeth. "You have to be stupid if you think I'm going to help you after you basically kidnapped me! Now tell me, who the hell are you people!?" Rachel finally noticed Nico and her eyes widened. "It's you! That shadow guy from the dam! You helped Percy save me from that big lion monster guy! Your name was Nero, right?"

Nico's eye twitched at the name Rachel called him. "It's Nico. Not Nero." He held out his hand and warped a few shadowy tendrils around it, grinning slightly. "And yeah, I'm that shadow guy from the Hoover dam. And you're that mortal girl Percy saved when he skewered Thorn like a pig. Your name was Rachel Dare, right?"

Rachel sat up from the ground, her earlier fear and hostility gone. "Yeah!" She looked at Annabeth. "Why didn't you guys tell me you knew Percy? You wouldn't have had to kidnap me then." She looked around at our group, noticing the son of Poseidon wasn't among us. "Where is he? I gave him my number at Orientation after he saved me from those vampire chicks. Why hasn't he called me yet?"

Annabeth looked angrier and less reserved with every word Rachel said, sending alarms through my brain. She looked like she was about to blown up on the clear sighted mortal at any seconds, and I knew I had to step in. "Why would he call you? You're just a mortal. Percy has better things to do than talk to people like you." A look of hurt crossed Rachel's face and I knew that was too much already.

Before Annabeth could say anything else, I put a hand on her shoulder, prompting her to turn around and glare at me. The glare didn't affect me, or at least I didn't show that it did. I hadn't seen that much hate in the daughter of Athena's eyes since the Sea of Monsters, not since I killed a bunch of innocent people. "What?"

I shook my head at the daughter of Athena "Annabeth. I'll handle this. You and Nico make sure no one interrupts, okay?" Annabeth looked like she wanted to argue and was about to, probably about to say she was the leader of the quest and didn't have to take orders. I glared at Annabeth, shutting her up immediately. "Now, Annabeth." Annabeth walked past me without another word, taking Nico to the end of the alley with her to watch out for people.

I sighed as I held out a hand to pull Rachel up from the ground, which she took. "Don't take what she said to heart, she's just going through a lot right now. We all are…" I muttered that last part, which Rachel didn't hear.

Rachel shook her head, and a smile came back up on her face. "it's fine. She looks like she has anyway." She looked back at me from the daughter of Athena. "So, who are you? And what's with the whole armor get up?" She motioned towards my Universal Titanium armor and noticed my Heavenly Diamond Morning Star. "Oooh, what's that? It looks so pretty and cool."

I pulled off my helmet, revealing my face to the clear-sighted mortal. I shook my shoulder length, black hair free. "I'm Zane Williams, son of Zeus. Percy's best friend." I smiled and looked down at the armor. "And this is my new armor I broke out very recently. Incredibly tough and extremely rare. Hopefully it makes a difference." I took Thymos off my belt and held it up. "And this is Thymos. A Morningstar made out of one of the most deadly and powerful materials in the universe. A gift from my father." I looked back at her and noticed she was looking at my face, a bright flush clear on her cheeks. "What?" I frowned.

She looked like a deer in headlights for a couple of seconds, before coughing and feverishly shaking her. "N-Nothing! It's just…" She trailed off again, staring at me some more. Oh. Ohhh. Okay, now I understand. She thinks I'm hot. "…nothing. Yeah. Totally. Hehe.." I looked at her awkwardly, unsure what to think about this new piece of information. She coughed again. "Anyway, Annabeth said you guys needed my help with something?"

I nodded in affirmation. "Yes. It's a complicated matter, so It's best if I just explain it from the beginning." I told her of the Labyrinth, how the Titans wanted to use it to move their armies through America, how they wanted to destroy our camp and how we needed to find Daedalus before the Titans did if we were to survive. I told her how we needed a clear sighted mortal to help guide us through the Labyrinth, as we had gotten lost several times when we tried by ourselves. "So that about covers it all."

Rachel had listened patiently throughout my several minute explanation, not interrupting me once. "So you want me to guide your through this Labyrinth, somewhere I've never been before and the reason you think I can is because I can see through this Mist you kept mentioning?" I nodded at her question. She looked at me again, a bit of hesitance on her face. "Is this going to be dangerous?"

I was dreading this part. I had to convince her to come with us willingly, because I didn't want to kidnap her. This was Percy's friend and I didn't want to dishonor him by forcibly taking one of his friends to help avenge him. I nodded again. "Yes. It will be very dangerous. Probably more dangerous than anything you could ever do in your life. Monsters usually don't care for mortals all that often, but we'll but going up against more than monsters. Luke, a traitor from our camp, leads the enemy. It doesn't matter if you're a mortal, he will kill you if you get in his way."

Rachel was more than a little hesitant after my explanation. "I…I'm not sure if I want to do this. I mean, you just said I could die if I go on this trip." She looked at me, an expectant look on her face. Where did that come from? "Where is Percy? If this quest is so dangerous and important, and if he's as strong as I saw six months ago at Hoover Dam, why wouldn't he go on this quest?"

I sighed at her question, the now all too familiar guilt and anger building up in me. "He did go on this quest. Hell, he was with me since the beginning of it, before the quest even truly started. But he's not on it anymore." I closed my eyes and tightened my fists. "He's….dead, Rachel. He sacrificed himself to save me." The visions of the fight returned to my mind. "We were battling the Titan Prometheus and I got poisoned and lost my power. Without both of us against Prometheus, we couldn't win and he sacrificed himself to save my life, blowing himself up in the process." I was silent for a few moments, waiting for her response with my eyes closed. When I didn't hear anything, I opened them in confusion. "Rachel?"

The clear sighted mortal had a similar look of determination on her face that Annabeth had, but her anger was very clear and not hidden, unlike the daughter of Athena's. "I'm in." I looked at her in shock. What? Rachel elaborated for me, seeing the confusion on my face. "I said I'm in, Zane. Percy was…my friend. I didn't know him for very long, or even very much, but he saved my life back at the Hoover Dam and I'll always be indebted to him for that. Now I here he's dead and I have a chance to help bring down the bastard's responsible for it. Prometheus is working for this Luke guy, right?" I nodded. "Alright, then. It's settled. I'll help you guys out."

Annabeth was clearly listening to the conversation the entire time, as she walked back to us as soon as Rachel made her decree. She looked at me, a false look of curiosity on her face. "Is she going to help us?" She already knew Rachel was, she just wanted to pretend she wasn't eavesdropping the entire time. I nodded, which prompted the daughter of Athena to nod as well. "Good. Now we need to find an entrance to the Labyrinth, then. There's one at Camp Half-Blood, but the camp is off limits to mortals."

She turned to Rachel. "The entrance could really be anything, but what we're looking for is the Mark of Daedalus." She pulled out a piece of paper and wrote a Greek delta sign on it. "This, but glowing blue." Annabeth's tone was less hard than earlier when she spoke to the clear sighted mortal, no doubt sympathizing heavily with her.

Rachel's eyes widened at the sign. "I know that symbol! There's one in hotel basement where we store our costumes, on this big metal door. Let me get changed and I'll take you guys to it." Rachel led us back to her fellow students doing the posing to get her clothes, with Annabeth, me and Nico following behind her, in that order. Me and Nico looked at each, and then looked at Annabeth in worry. We didn't speak it aloud, but both of us were worried about Annabeth's behavior. I would keep a close eye on the daughter of Athena from now on.

(000)

A good ten minutes later, the four of us stood in front of a massive, rusty iron door in the laundry closet in the basement of the hotel Rachel had talked about. A quick glance at the door allowed me to just barely make out the blue delta symbol, which almost blended in with the rust. Rachel walked up to the door and tapped on the metal. "I don't think this door has been used for a long time. I'm the only one who can even see it. It's pretty much invisible to my classmates." She gestured to the handle, which looked obscenely rusted and jagged. "I tried to open once, just out of curiosity. I didn't even make it budge. It's rusted shut."

Annabeth stepped forward, a stony look on her face. "No, it's not." I looked at the handle, knowing I could effortlessly rip the door clean off the hinges. I wouldn't do that, however, as I was going to let Annabeth do her thing. She was the leader of the quest after all. "It just needs the touch of a demigod." Annabeth put her hand over the fade, blue delta symbol, and sure enough, it glowed a bright blue as soon as her hand made contact. The rusty metal door creaked, before opening up like a Star Wars door and revealing a dark staircase that seemed to go down infinitely.

Rachel stared at the sight, unaffected by it. "Wow." Her lack of surprise made sense, especially since she had apparently interacted with the Divine world twice before. A door opening wasn't that surprising. Rachel stepped forward a couple of feet, a bit of golden glitter still in her hair. She had changed from the golden dress into a more casual outfit, which was comprised of a Museum of Modern Art T-shirt and black, sharpie coloured jeans. She looked back at us, a bit of nervousness on her face. "Uh….after you guys?"

I motioned towards the descending staircase with a raised eyebrow. "Well, you're the guide, so I think it's best if you go first." Rachel didn't really look too reassured but she made her way down the dark staircase first and we followed behind her. As soon as we entered the Labyrinth, it's shroud obscured my aura sensing once more and I felt as blind as a bat.

The staircase led down for what felt almost like an hour, and it finally led down to a large, brick tunnel. "Zane. Lights." Annabeth commanded beside me. We didn't have Arthur with us, so it was apparently up to me to be the group's glowstick now. I held out a hand, creating a small bolt of lightning that illuminated the brick corridor. A soon as the light filled our vision, Rachel yelped in surprise. Above us on the roof was a chained up ten foot tall skeleton, one with only one eye socket. Annabeth didn't react to the sight at all. "A cyclops. Too big to be Tyson, and definitely too old."

Annabeth walked right past the cyclops skeleton without another word. Rachel still looked a little spooked as she stared at the cyclops skeleton, almost gaping at it. "Tyson? You guys know a cyclops named Tyson?" The mention of Tyson brought the thoughts of the other group into my mind. I thought about Taylor and how he was alone with Arthur, and my thoughts started to wonder. I knew the son of Ares would never do that to me, but I also thought I would never cheat on Taylor either.

Nico walked by Rachel, giving the cyclops skeleton a quick look. "Yeah, we do. He's with the other half of our group, though. He was Percy's half brother, as all cyclopes are." Everyone's face fell at the mention of Percy's name, and I noticed Annabeth's eyebrows furrowed even more than they normally were. Nico noticed what happened and a guilty look crossed his features. "Uh…sorry, let's just keep moving."

Rachel took the lead again, stepping under the cyclops skeleton as she did so. We followed the clear-sighted mortal for about fifty feet, before we hit a crossroads in the maze. Ahead of us, the brick corridor continued, but the paths to our right and left were different. To the right was a hallway of marble walls and columns, and to the left was a dirt tunnel of roots. I looked at the left pathway. "That kind of looks like the path that Taylor and the others took last time we saw them. Maybe we should head that way."

Annabeth shook her head. She motioned to the right path. "No, the architecture on the stones to the right shows that this path is very old. It's more likely to lead to a more ancient part of the maze, and closer to Daedalus' workshop. We need to take this path." I was about to argue with her, as I wanted to find Taylor and the others as quickly as possible, but Rachel spoke up before I could say anything.

"Actually, we need to go straight." Both me and Annabeth stared at Rachel, confused at her words. "You don't see it? Look at the floor." Rachel pointed towards the floor of the continued brick path in front of us. "There's a slight brightness there. It's very faint, but I'm pretty sure it shows that this is the correct way." She motioned towards the other paths. "The left path, down the tunnel about twenty feet, has moving roots in it. I don't like it and it sets me off. And around the same distance down the right path there's holes in the wall, probably for spikes. I don't want to risk it. So straight is the best path."

Both me and Annabeth looked at her in silence, and I was pretty stunned. Rachel just made an incredibly tactical deduction with just a few seconds of study. I was honestly inclined to believe her, but to my left, Annabeth wasn't so easily convinced. "I don't believe you." Annabeth stared the mortal girl down with hard eyes, which made her back up a bit. "You could have easily just made that up. I don't see anything you've pointed out."

Annabeth was being unreasonable. "Annabeth." I said, causing the daughter of Athena to turn to me. "You're being unreasonable. She can see through the Mist, so of course she'll be able to see things that we can't." Annabeth didn't say anything to my words, though she looked like she was swallowing a lemon. I sighed. "We can't argue with our guide the first time she gives her guidance. Plus, I can read her mind and it says she isn't lying."

Annabeth's face looked like it was chiseled out of marble for a few seconds before she turned back down the brick corridor. "Fine. Let's keep going then." Annabeth stood against the wall, waiting for Rachel to take the lead once more with a carefully blank look on her face.

Rachel took the lead once more, walking slowly down the brick corridor. We all followed behind her, not saying a word and keeping an eye out for traps or any monsters. After a few minutes of silence, Rachel spoke. "You said you could read my mind, right?" I could literally feel the uncomfortableness roll off her as she asked me the question. "So….can you like see my deepest darkest secret?"

I chuckled at her question and shook my head. "No, I can't. I can only read surface level thoughts." Then I paused, thinking about what to say. " Actually, I could if I really wanted, but I would have to force my way into your mind. Everyone has at least some basic form of defense around their mind, or they wouldn't have intelligence. Everyone's strength just differs." She still didn't look any less uncomfortable at my answer. "Don't worry, I wouldn't look that far into your mind unless it's an emergency or you want me to. I respect boundaries."

That made her look a little bit more relieved. "Ah. Well, thank you for that. Now I don't have to constantly worry about whether you're reading every facet of my mind or something." Suddenly, a loud creaking noise could be heard down the hallway, like that of a really old metal door painfully opening. Rachel jumped at the noise and looked in the direction of it. "What was that!?"

Nico looked at the shadows like there was something coming from it. "Definitely nothing good." Suddenly he tensed and his eyes widened. "Watch out!" He grabbed Rachel and pushed her up against the wall, a knife sailing past right where her head had been milliseconds before. He looked back down the hallway and growled. "Scythian Dracaenae." More knives flew in the general direction of our group, but I appeared in front of their path and caught every single one before they could even make it within ten feet of our group.

I heard giggling down the hall, one that belonged to a woman. Out of the shadows, two Scythian Dracaenae stood. Dracaenae were snake women, and these ones were fully armored and armed. One carried a large, bronze spear and the other carried an array of throwing knives. However, the voice didn't come from either of them. No, the giggling came from a figure that stood in between both Dracaenae. She was around Annabeth's height, had black skin, dreaded hair and an hourglass figure. She wore a cheerleader outfit that was stained with blood. She also had a weird, bronze mechanical leg. But what was weirder was she had a goat leg for her other one. She grinned at me like I was a piece of meat. "Well, well. You're a fast one."

I scowled at the vampire looking cheerleader. She had red eyes and fangs were clearly visible. Empousai. "And you're uglier than most monsters I've seen." Her face soured and she bared her fangs, causing me to smirk. To my right, Rachel looked like she was looking at a ghost. I raised an eyebrow. "You recognize this bitch?"

My words only made the empousai even angrier, but she didn't attack just yet. Rachel nodded her head fervently at my question. "Yes! She's one of those vampire chicks that Percy saved me from a couple of weeks ago!" Rachel looked at the empousai, unease clearly on her face. "How the hell are you alive? Percy ripped you apart with his water powers!"

The empousai only chuckled at Rachel's questioning. "Didn't anyone tell you? Us monsters reform after being destroyed. Perks of having no soul." The empousai's words shot a few questions through my mind. Was Kampe even dead? I had killed her with Thymos, my Heavenly Diamond Morningstar, so I assumed she would never return. However, if she had no soul to begin with, what became of her? The empousai looked at me and licked her lips, sending a shiver up my spine. "And just who are you, hottie?"

I shuddered as the vampire monster looked at me like I was a meatpie before glaring at her. "Barking up the wrong tree here, you ugly bitch." The monster's face twisted in anger and I turned to Rachel. "Mind telling me what this bitch's name is before I incinerate her?" I asked the mortal girl, the lightning bolt in my hand becoming more intense and brighter.

Rachel seemed to gain a bit more confidence after my question. "This harlot's name is Kelli or something. She attacked me and Percy at orientation for our new school. She's some vampire chick or something." As Rachel spoke, heavy footsteps could be heard from behind us. I quickly turned, only to find a massive, eight foot tall Laestrygonian with burning red eyes and stained yellow teeth. Rachel gasped as she saw the giant, her confidence fading quickly.

Kelli laughed more at Rachel's reaction to the massive monster. "Is the puny mortal scared of the big, bad giant?" Kelli's grin became more sinister. "Oh, and I'm aware of what became of Percy Jackson. I heard he perished fighting our lord's current second in command. I wonder how delightful it would have been to hear his screams-" Kelli was cut off by a dart entering her left forearm. "AH!" Her eyes fell on Annabeth, who had her arm outstretched in a throwing position.

Annabeth had a look of utter fury on her face. "Do not speak his name, you disgusting harpy." The Dracaenae moved into action to attack Annabeth, but the daughter of Athena threw two more darts into the arms of the monsters. Both of them turned into dust in nearly an instant. I raised and eyebrow. Celestial bronze darts? How come Kelli didn't burst then?

Kelli, who pulled a dart out of her arm with a slight yelp, glared at Annabeth before turning towards the Laestrygonian. "Kill them!" The Laestrygonian tried to smash Rachel first, who screamed in terror. However, I appeared in front of the massive monster and drove my fist into it's chest, turning it into a pile of gore that faded away into golden dust. Kelli tried to retreat, before she collapsed on the ground, huffing and puffing. "W-Wha….t? W-What is happening to me?"

Annabeth marched up to the empousai, kicking her in the face. Kelli grunted in pain as her head slammed against the brick floor of the tunnel. "A poison dart. Should completely immobilize you for several minutes, easily long enough for me to kill you." She withdrew her dagger from it's sheathe and rose it to bring it down on Kelli's face.

I appeared behind her and held her arm back. "Annabeth, wait." Annabeth stopped and turned to glare at me, but I didn't back down. I looked at Kelli, who was gasping in pain from the poison. "She mentioned how Percy was killed by her lord's current second in command. Prometheus was the one who killed him and he has mentioned working for Luke before." I crouched down above Kelli, grabbing her by her cheerleader outfit. "Where is your master, monster?"

Kelli, even while in pain from the poison, chuckled at my question before spitting blood in my face. "You….can't be…so s-stupid as…to think I….would reveal where he is…" I felt a brief flash of rage and anger as I wiped the blood off my face, but I suppressed it. We didn't need her dead yet.

I smirked at her downed form. "No, I'm not. Of course you wouldn't reveal it. Not willingly of course." I motioned towards Annabeth, who stared down at the empousai in cold fury. "You see, Kelli, Annabeth here is the daughter of Athena. That means she's very smart and very creative. After what you said earlier, I have no doubt she wants to show you just how….creative she can be." Kelli's face went cold at my words and she glanced at Annabeth. My smirk deepened. "You wouldn't want that, would you?"

Kelli's face twisted in anger and she spit in my face again. "I will not give my lord up! You can go to Tartarus and suffer!" I stood up and nodded at Annabeth, who returned it. Annabeth pulled out another knife, one smaller than her normal blade, and stood over Kelli. Kelli looked at Annabeth, her eyes wide. "W-What are you doi-!" Kelli was cut off by the sound of a blade piercing her flesh. "AAAAHHH-!"

The next several minutes were pretty excruciating to watch. Annabeth's knowledge on anatomy was very, very detailed and she knew how to cause immense pain with just the smallest of movements. The sounds of savage cuts, flesh squelching and Kelli's agonizing screams filled the tunnel. Nico looked incredibly uncomfortable and Rachel even threw up. I looked on at the sight, uncomfortable not at the gore, but at how Annabeth was acting. Blood covered her face and she just had a look of sadistic fury as her expression.

"Annabeth." It was time to stop this. Kelli was screaming, begging for it to be over but Annabeth was showing no signs of stopping. "Annabeth, enough." Annabeth didn't hear more, or just chose to ignore me. "Annabeth! Stop! She's had enough!" Annabeth didn't hear me, and continued to torture Kelli. Kelli's screamed filled my ears and I knew this had to stop, now. "ANNABETH! ENOUGH!" Annabeth finally stopped; her blade covered in Kelli's blood as she breathed heavily.

Annabeth looked at the tortured form of Kelli, and then down to her bloodied blade. She breathed in and out and had an angry look in her eyes. She looked at me, an cold expression on her face. "I…." She didn't say anything else and simply walked a few feet away, standing against the wall with an annoyed stare on her face.

I sighed at Annabeth's demeanor, knowing it was definitely not good. I kneeled down beside Kelli, who looked all kinds of fucked up. Her lips were split, and her face was sliced up by Annabeth's knife. The rest of her body was covered in stabs and deep gashes, along with torn flesh and her goat hoof had been sliced off. "You ready to tell us where Luke is?"

Kelli didn't respond initially, and I wasn't sure she was still conscious. Eventually she coughed up some blood and answered me. "H-He's…near-nearby…..I can-n….l-lead you….there…" Kelli's voice was raspy and strained, no doubt from all the screaming she had down while Annabeth tormented the life out of her. "J-Just…please….s-stop…"

I nodded at her plea, before motioning to Annabeth to pick her up. "Annabeth. Get directions from her as well walk through the maze. Rachel, you stand beside and make sure we don't walk over any traps, got it?" Both of them nodded, however Rachel was obviously hesitant to stand beside a blood covered Annabeth and a nearly dead Kelli.

We moved through the Labyrinth, Kelli guiding us through as Annabeth held a knife to her throat. Rachel made sure we didn't walk over any traps, and luckily there was none. Even more surprisingly, the tunnel Rachel had said earlier to go down was the way Kelli directed us down. We would have ended up here regardless of whether we ran into Kelli and her group of monsters.

We stood in front of two, large bronze doors that looked like blood had been cleaned off of them one too many times. My aura sensing was still scrambled by the Labyrinth, but I could tell whatever was through the doors was incredibly dangerous. Kelli panted as Annabeth carried her, blood dripping on the bricks below. "Here….i-it..is." Kelli looked at me almost pleadingly. "W-Will you….let…m-me go…?" The question shot through my mind, and before I even said anything, I had my answer.

Before I could even get a word out, Annabeth slammed the tip of her celestial bronze dagger into Kelli's neck, causing her to grunt and turn into a pile of golden dust. I looked at her in shock, as did everyone else. I know she's incredibly angry and now very violent after Percy's death, but she just murdered Kelli in cold blood without a shrivel of remorse. I mean, she was a monster, but Annabeth wasn't like that.

Annabeth looked at everyone's expressions of surprise with a cold look. "What? Were we not just going to kill her anyway?" I mean, yeah, but Annabeth just did it with no hesitation. I would have expected something like that from myself or even Nico, but Annabeth was surprising, even with what she was going through. She huffed. "It was the logical thing to do. She was a monster, one who is working for Luke. She needed to be eliminated."

Everyone stood in silence at Annabeth's words. Eventually, I was the one who spoke. "You're right, Annabeth. Let's just….forget about this and move on, okay? We don't have much time and we need to find Daedaelus quickly." Annabeth nodded and pretended nothing had happened. I sighed and pushed the bronze doors open.

On the other side of the doors was an area. The arena was not in the style of the Roman Coliseum like the arena back at camp was. No, this arena was smaller and less grand. The floor was a dirt circle, and the bleachers and seats were on another level above the fighting pit. The walls and pillars were adorned with skulls, some of them cracked and dry, and other bloody and wet. Several doors lined the sides of the arena, no doubt leading to the second floor or other places. The arena wasn't anything special, besides the whole skull design.

Up on the second floor of the arena, dozens of different monsters sat. Laestrygonians, Empousai, Dracaenae, gorgons, hellhounds and many other different monsters I didn't recognize. In the center balcony of the second floor sat two figures which stood out among the rest. On the right was an absolutely massive figure, a giant. He was the height of two Laestrygonians and was even taller than Titans by a half. He was immensely muscled and wore nothing but a loincloth. His whole body was covered in tattoos and markings in a Greek style, including his face. His facial structure looked familiar, including his long, black hair.

While I didn't recognize the giant on the right, I did recognize the figure on the left. It was Luke, or I guess you could call him Kronos now if you prefer it. He looked similar to how he did six months ago, with only a few differences. I couldn't exactly tell with him sitting down, but he was a couple of inches taller, and somewhat more muscled. He still wore his armor and his grey hooded cloak, but the cloak was down at the moment. His face was one clear view, showing the cracked skin around his eyes which had only gotten deeper. His eyes were an even brighter yellow, almost bordering on being orange.

Fighting in the center of the sinister arena, was a Laestrygonian and a Centaur. The Laestrygonian was clearly winning, as the centaur looked panicked and on the defensive. The centaur was doing his best to defend against the Laestrygonians attacks, fighting him off with a sword and shield. The Laestrygonian had a javelin the size of a light post and was easily dominating.

Eventually, the Laestrygonian kicked the Centaur in the gut of it's horse body. The centaur yelped in pain and fell to the ground, it's legs kicking around wildly. The giant stood on top of the Centaur, it's massive foot pressing down on the half horse man. The Laestrygonian looked up at the massive giant among the crowd, as if asking for his approval. The crowd was cheering, chanting the words 'Death! Death!' over and over again.

Eventually, the massive giant grinned and held out his arm, pointing his thumb down. The crowd cheered loudly and the Laestrygonian raised his javelin. The Centaur's eyes bugged out of his head and he wildly looked around, trying to find anyway out of this situation. Eventually, his eyes landed on us. "Help me!"

I didn't even hesitate. I appeared right in front of path of the Laestrygonian's javelin, effortlessly catching the spear. The Laestrygonian's eyes widened, but I didn't give it the luxury to do anything else. I jumped up in the air, spinning around as I did so. I kicked the giant's head off in one strike, causing it to turn to dust. As I landed back on the ground, I turned to the Centaur. "Run."

The Centaur didn't even hesitate, bolting out of the arena and through the open doors of the Labyrinth without another word. The crowd immediately started jeering and booing, before one incredibly loud voice broke out. "QUIET!" The voice belonged to the huge giant in the stands. After the crowd of monsters and traitorous demigods silenced, he turned down to me and glared. "Who are you to disturb the halls of Lord Antaeus, son of Poseidon and Gaia?"

I raised an eyebrow at the claim of the giant. A son of Poseidon and a primordial? He had to be incredibly strong. "I'm Zane Williams, son of Zeus. The traitor beside you already knows who I am, and I'm pretty sure everyone in the crowd does, too." I crossed my arms, glaring at the giant. "As for why I'm disturbing your…'halls', if you can call it that, is because I saw someone who needed help. And I'm all too glad to do so."

Antaeus was silent for a few seconds, staring down at me with an unreadable expression. He then turned to Luke, who still hadn't stood from the makeshift throne he had been sitting upon. "Lord Kronos, do you know this filth?" Antaeus' voice was a whole lot more subdued talking to Luke, as if he was afraid to make him angry.

Luke finally stood from his throne, his yellow eyes staring down upon me hatefully. It seems he was taking his loss from last time we fought pretty badly. Eventually, he smirked. "Yes, Antaeus. I do in fact know him. He has been quite a thorn in my side for the past three years." His eyes surveyed over the rest of my group. "I know the rest of them as well, except the red haired one. No matter. They will all be killed soon anyways."

Luke turned back to Antaeus, a dark smirk on his face. "Antaeus, as our gracious host, you would allow me to…deal with potential problems, yes?" Antaeus was silent for a few seconds, which prompted Luke to stare at the massive giant with a glare. "You would, yes?" Luke's voice had a hard edge to it.

Antaeus jumped slightly and stammered out, "Y-Yes, Lord Kronos. You can do what you want to these interruptions. My hall is yours." Antaeus was terrified of the traitor. That only spoke volumes to how much stronger Luke must be now.

Luke smirked at the cowering giant and turned back to us. His eyes surveyed our groups, before resting on Annabeth. "Annabeth." Luke's tone carried no familiarity, and his gaze was cold. Any feelings of seeing Annabeth like a little sister were no doubt gone now. "You are up. Antaeus is famous for requiring entertainment from his guests, as payment for being a good host. You are going to fight a champion of mine, for the entertainment of us all."

I wasn't just going to let Luke have his way like that. "And who says she's just going to do what you want, Luke? We're not your fucking playthings." I transformed into my Thunder Form and withdrew Thymos, creating cracks on the ground and nearly blowing my group back. "And what's to stop me from killing you now?" Anger filled my very being as I looked at the person responsible for pretty much all of this.

A rush of wind filled my ears and vision, and I felt a hand on my shoulder. "Because you simply have no choice in the matter." I whipped around as fast as I could, only to find Luke standing behind me with a smirk on his face. I didn't even see him move. I could tell he didn't even use his time stop to get behind me, as the air had been disturbed. "The only reason you are all alive in the first place is because I allow it. Antaeus needs his entertainment, and personally I would like to see you all die horribly and slowly. That is the only thing keeping you alive."

Before I could even say a word in response, Annabeth spoke up. "I'll do it." I looked at Annabeth in surprise. I thought she wouldn't take any shit due to her current mindset, especially not from Luke after his subordinate killed her boyfriend. Annabeth glared at Luke. "I'll cut through any opposition if it means getting one step closer to killing you, Luke. No matter strong you've become."

While Annabeth's stony face and fierce words impressed me, they didn't impress the traitor. Luke smirked. "That's the spirit, Annabeth." Luke ruffled her hair with a dark smile on his face, and Annabeth tensed at the contact, clearly uncomfortable and filled with anger. Luke didn't care about Annabeth's feelings and continued to speak. "We have a new recruit who needs to prove himself." Luke turned his head to the monsters on the second floor. "Let him in."

Only a few seconds after Luke's command, one of the doors opened up to reveal a figure being herded into the arena by two Dracaenae. The figure was incredibly thin and wiry, so much so that his Greek style armor hung on him loosely. He looked a little younger than I did, probably about sixteen or so. Hee had glossy black hair and his eye was covered by an eyepatch. The figure stabbed his sword into the dirt and pulled off his helmet. My eyes widened. "Ethan Nakamura!?"

The son of Nemesis stared at me with dead eyes. Or…eye. Ethan was definitely the strongest demigod of the Nemesis children, and was something of a ringleader for them. He disappeared around a month before the Atlas quest, and we had assumed he had been killed by a monster or something. I had never really spoken to him before, if I was being honest. Ethan bowed on one knee to Luke. "What is your bidding, Lord Kronos?"

Luke smirked at the display of respect. He pointed to Annabeth. "Your task is to kill her. Bring me her heart when your are finished." I almost did a double take at Luke's command. I knew Luke was evil, but to think he was so far gone in fusing with Kronos that he would casually order Annabeth's death like that. "Do this, and you can officially count yourself as part of my forces."

Ethan Nakamura stood up, putting his helmet on as he did so. "It will be done, my lord." Ethan pulled his sword out of the dirt, before entering a fighting stance towards Annabeth. "As he said, you must die. Defend yourself." Annabeth didn't say a word to the son of Nemesis, before drawing her two daggers, her normal one and the steel one she used to torture Kelli.

Luke smiled at the sight and turned back to me. "I wouldn't interfere in their battle if I were you, Zane. Their fight needs to be clean and by the books. Fair and square." He glared at me, completely serious. "Interfere, and you will suffer the consequences." He smirked once more. "You don't want to end up like Percy, do you?"

I saw red at Luke's words, and I nearly attacked him right then and there. However, I held myself back. He would be able to kill me before I could even react, Universal Titanium or not. I couldn't sense his aura due to the Labyrinth, but from his display earlier and with the way he carried himself, I could tell he was far more powerful. "Fine." I said, dropping my Thunder Form and sheathing Thymos.

Luke smirked at me and floated in the air. "Good boy." His words shot a burst of anger through me, and I remembered just how much I truly hated this bastard. It really said a lot about my self-control that I held myself back from attacking him. "You, Nico and the mortal girl can stay here and watch the fight. I have something special cooked up for you in particular, Zane."

He didn't say another word and floated back to the stands. I shifted my eyes back to Ethan and Annabeth, and found the two of them circling each other with their weapons drawn. The two stared each other down, not saying anything. Everyone, even the crowd was silent at the display, the tension filling the air.

Eventually, Ethan Nakamura attacked. With a yell, he rose his blade over his head and struck fast and hard. Annabeth swung her left handed dagger to parry his downward strike and brought her right dagger to try and pierce him in the neck. Ethan barely avoided the thrust and staggered backwards, completely off balance from Annabeth's parry.

Annabeth then pressed the attack, whipping her daggers into quick flurries and jabs that Ethan was immediately pushed back by. Ethan deflected every deadly strike, and the ones he didn't deflect bounced and scrapped off his armor. Ethan attempted to counterattack, lashing out with deadly swipes and stabs of his own.

Annabeth blocked a particularly strong attack from Ethan, which sent her skidding back on the dirt. Ethan attacked once more quicker than Annabeth should have been able to react, given her speed. However, she seemed to just…dodge out of the way on instinct. Ethan blinked at the sudden and insane dodge, before attacking the daughter of Athena again.

Annabeth ducked under a running slash from Ethan, casually avoiding the attack. Annabeth even dropped her guard, her blades hanging at her side in her hands. Ethan growled at Annabeth seeming disrespect and attacked with a furious barrage of slashes and thrusts that should have had Annabeth on the backstep, barely being able to defend from her attacks.

And yet, Annabeth dodged every attack effortlessly, almost lazily as well. Some attacks she didn't even look in the direction of. Actually, in fact, her eyes were closed. Ethan almost couldn't even believe what was happening. "Stay still!" Ethan struck out with more attacks, ones even faster and deadlier than his previous ones, as if he was putting his rage and fury into the attacks themselves.

Annabeth, however, wasn't fazsed whatsoever. She weaved and ducked through the barrage, almost like a ballerina. Ethan was moving too fast for her to even be able to dodge in the way she was dodging, but Annabeth seemed to know exactly where Ethan's attacks seemed to come from and knew before he even did. Annabeth lazily dodged to the side from a downward slash, her eyes still closed. She spun around and kicked Ethan in the jaw, forcing him to spit up a wad of saliva. He looked at the daughter of Athena incredulously. "Why can't I hit you!?"

Ethan tried to stab Annabeth right in the stomach, but Annabeth lifted her leg up in the air and stepped on the flat end of the blade. Ethan gawked at the casual counter, and Annabeth's face remained stony. "Because…." Annabeth opened her eyes, revealing pure white, glowing orbs staring at the son of Nemesis. Ethan jumped back in surprise, doing his best to keep his composure. "…I know every move of yours before you make them."

Ethan's eyes widened in surprise at Annabeth's word, and he nearly dropped his stance in confusion. "W-What are you talking about?" Annabeth lunged forwards with her two daggers, forcing Ethan to try and counterattack. True to her word, Annabeth seemed to know the attacks were coming, and avoided them without even looking. Annabeth suddenly dropped her guard and turned her back to Ethan. "What are you doing…?" Ethan asked, confusion lacing his tone.

Annabeth didn't even smirk at Ethan's confusion, and her face was still blank and cold. "I'm turning my back to you and shifting my vision from you as well. I don't even need to defend. I'll know whatever move you make regardless of anything you do." Annabeth pointed to her glowing white eyes. "I call this the Eyes of The Owl. A new technique or…form, you could call it."

Ethan seemed angry and annoyed at the casual dismissal from the daughter of Athena. "What the hell does your new, weird glowy eyes have to do with anything?" His hands tightened around the sword as he growled. He looked like he was about to attack at any second.

Annabeth noticed this as well, and her hands gripped her daggers more tightly as well. "Simple, ultimate calculation." Everyone in the room rose an eyebrow, even the more inhuman monsters. "By combining both my ability to predict and calculate probability, as well as help from my mother, I can perfectly predict any outcome. Inside and outside of combat. Simply from your muscle movements and your fighting style, as well as your anger, I can predict any movement you make."

Ethan was silent for a few seconds, before drawing a small spherical object from his pocket. A grenade. On closer inspection, a Celestial Bronze grenade. I didn't even know they made those. Ethan smirked. "You say you can predict any move I make? What about this?" He pulled the pin of the grenade and threw it at Annabeth's head faster than a meteorite. However, before he even threw it, Annabeth had already dodged the projectile. Ethan's eyes widened. "What!?"

Annabeth turned back to Ethan, her glowing white eyes staring into his soul. Looking closely at the eyes allowed me to see very small, ethereal owls in them. "I told you. No matter what you think, what you decide, or what you plan, I have already predicted it." She rushed the son of Nemesis, attempting to stab him in the neck.

Ethan tried to defend, however, with Annabeth being able to predict everyone of his movements to a tee, he stood no chance. Within fifteen seconds, Ethan's blade clanged on the ground, knocked completely out of his hand from a swift swipe from Annabeth. Annabeth kicked Ethan in the side of the knee, hard enough to send him in a kneeling position. Annabeth kneed Ethan in the nose, breaking it and stunning him.

Annabeth stood over the beaten son of Nemesis, a cold and blank look on her face. The crowd began chanting, almost all of them calling for Ethan's death. Annabeth stared up at the balcony with her glowing white eyes, staring directly at the traitor son of Hermes. Antaeus looked hesitant, as if making a decision would offend Luke somehow. Luke however, nodded down at Ethan. Antaeus held out his arm, pausing for a second, then he turned his thumb down.

Annabeth didn't even hesitate. She turned her steel dagger right down into Ethan's shoulder in the blink of an eye. Ethan yelled in pain, but was quickly silenced from Annabeth Celestial Bronze dagger slamming into his stomach. Annabeth ripped out other dagger out of Ethan's shoulder, before planting the same dagger into Ethan's back.

Ethan yelled out in agony once more, as blood spew from his front and his back. Annabeth pulled the son of Nemesis to his feet, causing even more blood to squirt everywhere. Ethan, despite the intense pain, looked at Annabeth pleadingly. "P-Please…" Annabeth didn't even let Ethan finished his plea, before twisting the daggers and pulling downward. Blood splattered everywhere as Ethan's intestines spilled on the ground.

Ethan tried to pull his entrails back into his torso as he fell to his knees, a look of complete horror on his face. He didn't get to do anything else, as Annabeth stuck the sides of his head with both of her daggers. Ethan's movements stopped completely as Annabeth twisted her hands, turning Ethan's head completely around. Ethan's body went slack as Annabeth ripped her blood soaked daggers out of his head, and his body hit the floor.

Annabeth stood over the dead son of Nemesis, completely covered in his blood. Annabeth closed her eyes and took a deep breath. When she opened them again, her eyes were back to normal, as if they never changed. The crowd was cheering loudly at the son of Nemesis' death, and even Antaeus was visibly entertained. "Bravo! Bravo!" The massive giant laughed and clapped his hands together. "I was worried at first, however, you understand spectacle, my dear. Very entertaining!"

Annabeth immediately snapped at Antaeus. "I didn't kill him for you. I just killed him so this farce can be done with quicker." The sheer venom in Annabeth's tone shut Antaeus up immediately, and he didn't even have the courage to try and rebuke her. Annabeth looked around at the crowd. "Now who's next?"

Antaeus quickly regained his bluster and even some anger. "You think you're hot shit or something, daughter of Athena!?" Antaeus grabbed a sword, one that was nearly as large as he was, and jumped down from the balcony to the fighting pit. "You will face me. I will honor my father by slaughtering one of Athena's brood! Your cries to your mother will be music to my ears."

Annabeth's eyes turned bright white once more and she entered a fighting stance. Before any fighting could break out, I appeared in front of the daughter of Athena. A look of confusion came over her features. "Zane? What are you doing?"

I looked at Annabeth as I dew Thymos from my belt. "Antaeus is a son of Poseidon, Annabeth. Not to mention the son of Gaia. The Labyrinth makes me unable to determine his strength, but I don't want to take any chances." Annabeth opened her mouth to argue, but I held up a hand to silence her. "I'll be the one fighting him, Annabeth. We need to be safe, and I don't want someone who I could have saved die on my watch. Not again…."

Annabeth's face softened a bit at my words and her glowing white eyes faded. "Fine." She nodded, before sheathing her bloody daggers and walking over to where Nico and Rachel were. "Don't die." Annabeth said as she walked away, prompting me to nod.

Antaeus swung his sword in circles over his head. "So you are going to be my opponent, son of Zeus?" Antaeus smirked as he held his sword in both hands. The blade was in the design of a Roman Gladius, just much, much larger. "It's been a long time since I've killed a child of my father's sworn enemy. I look forward to sacrificing your head to him."

I twirled Thymos in my hand. "You'll be sacrificing nothing, you overgrown sack of shit." I appeared in front of him, swing Thymos right at his right thigh. Antaeus quickly brought his massive blade up to parry my attack, and he didn't stagger at all. He quickly pushed me off of him, and swung right at my neck with his massive sword. I blocked the blade with Thymos, and was sent skidding back in the dirt.

Okay, he was a lot stronger than I was expecting him to be. He appeared in front of my vision, swinging his blade downwards to try and bisect me in two. I batted the massive blade to the side with Thymos and punched Antaeus in the stomach. Antaeus staggered back a couple of feet, but was otherwise completely fine.

Antaeus tried to tear to me shreds with a barrage of high powered, high speed slashes, but I masterfully deflected every one of his attacks. I drew Thymos back and slammed it into his blade, the force sending both of us skidding back. Antaeus grunted as he righted his stance after he stopped moving. He looked at me with a smirk. "You're a lot stronger than I expected, son of Zeus. Definitely stronger than that Heracles guy."

I scoffed at Antaeus praise before righting myself as well. "I can say the same to you, Antaeus. Yet you fight like an overgrown child, relying too much on your power instead of skill. Let me show you why that's a fatal mistake." I rushed the giant as quick as I could in my base form, appearing to his side quicker than he was expecting.

I dug my fist into his side, my arm sinking in to his torso. Antaeus roared in pain and clutched his torso. I expected my air to be covered in blood and bits of bone and gore, but all that it was covered in was sand when I pulled it out. I looked at the sand in confusion, before I was backhanded by Antaeus' massive fist.

I slid into the ground, clutching my now dislocated jaw in pain. I stood up to crack my jaw back into place, just in time for the sandy hole in Antaeus' torso to completely disappear. I looked at the sight in surprise as the last bits of damage from my jaw completely healed. "Heh. Surprised, son of Zeus? A gift from my mother. With her blessing, I cannot be slain!"

I shook my head. "Not really that surprised, no. You're not the only one who can heal." I motioned to my now completely fine jaw, which made Antaeus' eyes widen in surprise. A lightbulb went off in my mind and I pointed at the giant. "Ah! I remember you now. You're that one giant my brother Heracles killed back then. Your weakness was that you could be killed in the air."

I outstretched my hand and allowed my telekinesis to take hold of Antaeus. Antaeus floated up in the air and his eyes widened in shock and panic. I started to apply telekinetic pressure on his whole form, and Antaeus started to grunt in pain. "Let's see how much power you can take before you pop!" I increased the power tenfold and Antaeus started to yell in pain.

Sandy cracks started to appear on Antaeus' skin as he yelled in pain. The entire arena started to shake at the power of my telekinesis and the dirt floor started to crack as well. "N-No!" Antaeus grunted out as he was being crushed. "T-The strongest son of Poseidon will not go down so easily!" The entire ground began to shake, and it was not of my doing.

Antaeus' form…shifted. A bright green burst of power erupted from his entire body, and his sea green aura became visible. My telekinesis no longer was doing any damage to the massive giant, and said giant threw out both of his arms. "RAAGHH!" A burst of sheer aura power shot out from Antaeus in all directions, completely overpowering my telekinesis and sending me flying back.

As I slowly stood up from the now completely shattered and cracked dirt ground, I took in Antaeus new power. He was the same height, but now his skin was completely blue. A closer look let me see the water now clearly visible in the place where his skin should have been. His forearms below his elbow and his legs below his knees were completely made of a blue fluorescent rock and a burning sea green aura surrounded his frame.

Antaeus dropped back down to the ground in a superhero landing and looked up at me with a grin. "That was a nice try, son of Zeus. But you were a fool to believe I would be defeated that easily." He lifted his massive gladius and pointed it at me, it's blade now glowing a bright, oceanic green. "This is my true power. I call it my Poseidon Form. Even gods tremble at the might of my power now."

I was completely in shock looking at Antaeus' new form. It was the exact same form Percy had, his Earthshaker Form. Now it was just called something way dumber and in the hands of this petty giant. The memory of Percy's sacrifice came rushing back into my mind and I began to grow angry.

Angry at the giant for having something that only my brother should be in possession of. Angry at myself for letting Percy die. But the true rage was directed at Prometheus. I would destroy him and his soul when I saw him again. I started to shake in rage, which is something Antaeus noticed. "Heh. Shaking in fear already, son of Zeus? I don't blame you. My power is quite fearsome."

I glared at the giant son of Poseidon and lightning erupted from my form, as did the small blue aura that surrounded my skin. The arena cracked and shook more at my entrance into my Thunder Form, and Antaeus' eyes widened in shock. "No." I growled out, sounding almost like a wild dog. "I'm simply enraged." I appeared in front of him and punched him in the gut.

Antaeus grunted in pain and staggered back a few feet. "It's something you wouldn't understand." I attacked him once more, unleashing a barrage of slashes and lunges with Thymos. Antaeus growled and defended from every attack, matching my speed to a tee. He threw his arms out with a roar, sending a blast of green energy in every direction. I brought up a telekinetic barrier to block, but I was still sent back a few feet.

Antaeus breathed a little heavily, before glaring at me. "As I said before, you're much stronger than I expected, son of Zeus." He grinned before his aura intensified. "But this ends now! I have reached my limit for entertainment today." He pointed his thumbs down in my direction. "It's your turn to die now!" He rushed forwards with a roar.

We entered a fierce trading of blows, or attacks becoming blurs to anyone except for us and Luke. I was wrong in my assessment of Antaeus' fighting style earlier. He wasn't unskilled, no. Simply a strength based fighter, but he had the skill when he needed it. Antaeus, while our blows were colliding at hundreds of times every millisecond, suddenly twisted his hand down beside his waist.

Water materialized from the air, as if created from the oxygen itself. The water wrapped around my arms, leaving me wide open. Before I could wrestle my arms free of the glowing water, Antaeus pulled his blade back and prepared to stab me in the chest. "You were very entertaining, Zane Williams! I will be sure to honor you for years to come in this arena!"

Antaeus slammed his blade into my chest with incredible force. But instead of it piercing my chest and putting me in a whole world of hurt, it bounced of the cuirass of my new armor harmlessly. "I-Impossible! What is that armor!?" Antaeus' eyes widened in surprise at the lack of effect, but I didn't let him do another thing.

I created a burst of lightning all around me, breaking the water coils restraining me and shocking Antaeus. Antaeus grunted in pain as the lightning surged through him and grunted once more as I slammed my lightning encased fist into his face. Antaeus slid back into the dirt and land on his back, stunned. "Your knowledge on divine metals is pretty lacking, Antaeus. This armor is made from Universal Titanium, one of the toughest metals in the universe."

I charged lightning into Thymos, causing the Heavenly Diamond Morningstar to light up like a Christmas tree. "And this…well, I don't really blame you for not knowing what this is." I appeared in front of his downed form and lifted the weapon high above my head. "I'm not sure what this does to a half god, half primordial. However…." I smirked down on him. "We're about to find out."

Antaeus grabbed the hilt of his sword beside him and swung the massive weapon from the ground. "I think not!" I brought Thymos down to block Antaeus' massive gladius, and we entered a bit of a struggle for a few seconds. I then charged more energy into my weapon, causing it to brighten even more. Eventually, the blade of Antaeus' sword literally exploded into a burst of chaotic lightning and wind.

Antaeus was knocked back down on the ground from the explosion, breathing heavily. He looked at the broken gladius handle he held. "Impossible…." He quickly looked back up to me and lunged forwards with a growl. I slammed Thymos into the side of his face, taking out quite a large chunk of it. Sand replaced what should have been blood and gore as he clutched his head in pain.

Antaeus touched the side of his face in shock. "W-Why…why is it not coming back..?" Antaeus was right, the part of his face I had hit had not regenerated. He looked at me, terror clear on his face. "Why is it not coming back!" I appeared to his side and slammed the spiked ball of Thymos into Antaeus' gut, opening up a massive hole filled with sand and his torso started to crack.

The giant was terrified, but I would lie and say I didn't take any pleasure in it. "Well, this metal is called Heavenly Diamond. It's filled with chaotic energy, and pretty much corrodes anything it touches. It weakens auras and it even permanently kills gods and removes their immortality." Antaeus looked stunned at the explanation, and I grinned at him. "Let's see what it does to you."

Antaeus' face quickly shifted from stunned to terrified and he held up his arms in surrender. "Wait, no! Please! Don't-!" I quickly charged up Thymos with some lightning and hit Antaeus right in the chest. Antaeus popped like a balloon into a massive pile of sand and he didn't reassemble. Eventually, the sand faded away and Antaeus' aura was completely gone.

I felt a little ashamed to admit that felt good as hell. I shouldn't have felt pleasure in another's possibly permanent death, but I did. Antaeus was everything my brother wasn't, and he should have never received the Earthshaker Form as a gift from Poseidon, if the form worked how mine and Nico's did. He was vile, cruel and petty. If that was the benchmark that most children of Poseidon were, then what did that say about the god of the sea?

The sound of clapping brought me out of my thoughts. I turned to the source of the sound, only to see it was Luke. He had a smirk on his face, and he was floating above the balcony. "Bravo, Zane. You truly have become more magnificent since the last time we saw each other. Antaeus was even stronger than Percy and was a peer of you and Prometheus, yet you dispatched him like a child."

It was mostly thanks to my superior skill, better weapon and my armor, but I wasn't going to let Luke know that. Luke continued. "And with Antaeus death…" Luke turned mid air to the spectators in the arena. "Many of you in the crowd no longer have a master." He smirked. "We're always looking for recruits in the Titan Army, but we only take the best."

He motioned to the monsters and demigods in the stands and pointed at me. "And today, the best is who can kill Zane Williams and his friends! Whoever brings me their heads, you can count yourself as one of my right hand men!" With Luke's words, every monster and demigod not already part of his army stood up and cheered. Dozens of powerful, deadly monsters looked as if they were all about to charge us at any moment.

Luke grinned down at me and my friends, a slight orange glow surrounding his form. "Now…my vengeance will be complete." With Luke's words, chaos descended.

(000)

Alright boys, that was chapter thirty-two. Sorry that one took a little bit longer than it should, a few things happened, and I started working on my YouTube Channel a bit more lol. Go sub to General Simpwalker if you're interested in some Battlefront 2 gameplay and compilations. Anyway, the one year anniversary for this is coming up next month, which is unbelievable to me I'm still going strong with this story. I've had a few slips and missteps, but I won't stop until I'm done. Oh yeah, Annabeth's new form will be explained next chapter. Later y'all.

(So this little section here is going to fully address MaximumTK's review of the story, so if you're MaximumTK or interested in what I'm going to say, read on.)

(So first, large paragraphs. And you're completely right in that regard. So much so that I've actually gone back and changed some of the chapters around so they're easier to read. Half of them were unfortunately written on an Ipad, so the large paragraphs are somewhat of a result of that.)

(For cringe, and yeah, I'll admit it, some of Zane's inner thoughts are kinda cringe. And so is some of his dialogue. And a good portion of it is kind of on me, but you also need to remember, Zane is a kid, or a teenager now. He's gonna be pretty cringe, like spout some one liners or something before killing somebody. But cringe is something I hope will be toned down as it goes on, as Zane will mature.)

(Okay, about Zane, this is going to be the longest one. I'll go ahead and say that all your questions about him have legitimate answers, most of them actually planned from the beginning. It's just I've never really focused on answering them in the story, and that's on me. So Zane's nature is just his justification for his actions in his head. He believes his darker traits come from his father, as his father has done some fucked up things in the past, but in reality, he's just a psychopath. He, deep down, likes murder, death and destruction. He simply shifts the blame on his father's 'nature' so he doesn't have to confront it. That's the real answer, which was something I am going to explore in a future arc post PJO. And actually, a good portion of non main cast demigods are actually like their parents, with two examples being Antaeus and Chrysoar. Both of them perfectly capture Poseidon's darker, more moody and violent half. Even Annabeth comments on this in Mark of Athena.)

(Romance is honestly just on me, because I'm a lonely piece of shit so It's just me projecting a little. Sorry lol I'll try to fix that.)

(So with this being influenced by other things, I'll just be honest. It is. And that probably won't stop. I'll admit putting things like 'mikiri' counter in the chapter is weird, but I'll change that when I go through and edit the paragraphs for that chapter. And I'll also admit, I should have put an AU warning earlier for the story, as not everyone likes the Anime elements. But I don't need to make this my own thing 100%. This is just a fanfiction. This isn't completely original work and I'm not writing my own book, not yet anyway.)

(Okay, so with the Heavenly Diamond Deus Ex Machina and Matt and all that, you're kinda right. At least with the Heavenly Diamond part. The problem was when writing the Titan's Curse, I made Atlas too powerful and the main cast had no way to defeat him. So that's a big flaw on my part, and if I rewrote the story, I would have just had Zeus come in and save the day instead, since Zane and the cast just could not win. But you're right, it came out of nowhere and I should have introduced it more.)

(So about the crossover, besides the Matt mentions, that's just nitpicking. Yeah, it's not a big event because we both don't even have three hundred reviews on our stories, but it was something we both planned for months in advance, so we may have gotten a little bit hyped about it. And the constant mentions of another just simply comes from the sheer coolness in my head that we did a little crossover. I can tone it down, but it won't vanish entirely. Sorry, I'll die on that hill.)

(So all in all, you have some very, very good points about the flaws of this story, and I hope to improve as I get done the road. Writing is something I strive to always get better at, and valid criticism like this is very helpful in that regard. I thank you for taking your time to read this story and that you'll stick with it a little bit, so I hope you enjoy what is to come. And 6/10? That fair, tbh. Anyway, thank you and see you later.)